Australian Ironman 2009 - My Learning experience

Australian Ironman
Pt Macquarie 2009.


So I have come off some interesting results.
WA Ironman saw me pull in a 10 minute PB although an ITB issue put the breaks on at around 8 k’s into the run so a 11hr:14 min was the end result – Yes a PB but not what I was aiming for.
Off to Geelong for the 70.3 and for me, I was able to put in a really solid race with a 12 minute PB and a time of 4:47.

So now I’ve headed to Pt Macquarie with the family in toe to compete in the 2009 Australian Ironman.
My training has been solid and I have really focused on losing weight. My final weigh in came in at 71.3. This is the lightest that I have been in a very long time.

In the lead up to the race, Northern NSW has been flooded with Pt Mac recording 70mm on both Wednesday & Thursday (Coffs Harbour which is North of Pt Mac had recorded 660mm in a 24hr period and was then declared a Natural disaster zone by the state government)

The rain had made the few days prior to the race a little difficult to train as most of my training was swimming. The Hastings river was brown and with all the fresh water being flushed into the river, there was NO salt in the water at all – Just lots of sticks and rubbish.
So I missed my swimming until Friday (only a 15 minute swim) and then on the Saturday with Coach, Deb, Gavin, Big Boy and the rest of the ETPA (http://www.etpa.com.au/) crew. We swam for about 25 minutes in total with a few 100 mtr efforts to blow out the cobwebs.

Mentally, I’m feeling well. I’m not as nervous as I have been and I’m just enjoying myself this time with Jess & Oskar.
So with daylight saving changing and giving us all and extra hours sleep, it’s sure to be a nice night prior to the race …. Mmmmmm, not really. Boy did it rain, and rain and rain!!

SO the morning of the race comes and Mat, Big Boy & I head down to transition and all is good. My trusty rig has survived to rain well as I have placed my crank and cassette cover on the day before so that no mud or addition water would get into the vital components.
I kindly help out the fella next to me as it was his first IM and I could see that he was quite nervous (just like I was). I help him out with some tape, a plastic bag as he forgot to place his ridding top in his T1 bag, some last minute lube for his chain etc.

From there, I catch up with the lads and wait around for a while as this year the pro’s have a 35 minute head start on us standard age groupers. So off they go and I haven’t even got my over sized wetsuit on yet.
I get my wetsuit on and walk down to the swim start and say my goodbyes. Into the water I go and do a couple of 20 mtr efforts so try to get the blood pumping into the arms and shoulders. This year I have a white cap on which is second in order of expected swim times with Blue being first. I see a fella that I met the other day who is a Tri coach from Spain (his English isn’t too good – but a lot better than my Spanish …. Duo polo perfervour … 2 chickens please!!!)
I wish him good luck and he has a fantastic reply ….. “The only people that need luck are those that don’t know what they are doing and really bad bull fighters” imagine that in broken English with a Spanish twist …. It was gold.

So the race:
The cannon goes off and we are away. As normal, the first 300 – 500 mtrs is a free for all and anything goes. Naturally there were a lot of arms and legs going everywhere and I copped my fair share. Other than that, like most swim’s it was the first part of what was to be an eventful day.
As I get out of the water, the clock say’s 1:11 … Mmmmmm not good as Busso was 1:03 and I have been on the improvement in my training. Never mind .....
Into T1 and through the mud, I get changed and grab my bike …. So far so good.
I get about 1 minute into the ride and I lose my Jetstream “yellow filter” when I hit a small bump in the road.
I get through the hills on Pacific Drive , down Mathew Flinders and out on to the flat. By this time, my legs are starting to warm up and I’m feeling good. I start to count the in lots of 5 the people that I catch …. And I was doing this quite well. The first lap was good and I was now in a rhythm. Off I go again for lap 2 and again I’m picking off a few. As I get back to Mathew Flinders I’m half way up the climb and “Bang” my rear hub has disengaged and I had to quickly unclip so that I didn’t fall and run with my bike to the top of the hill. I quickly “played around with my pedals and the hub seems to re engage and off I go. Back into town through the rolling hills and no problems at all. So the final lap is on and my legs are still feeling good and no issues at all. From memory, I was on track for a 5hr 20ish ride and that was right on the money for me.
Out and back and all is good until I hit Mathew Flinders for the last time. Once again, I’m half way up the climb and I have just got out of the saddle to drive over the top and “BANG” …. Phuck …. Its happened again. My pedals where spinning but the rear wheel was staying put! Phuck this …. I’ll have to dismount and do the same as the last lap …. Well this time its a lot worse. Nothing I could do would fix this issue so I start walking with my bike towards the Pacific Hwy with some hope that the Shimarno mechanics will come past. So I start running with my bike, then walking, then running but no sign of help. I must say, I had plenty of people and fellow athletes ask if I was alright and if they could help. My general reply was .. “do you have a spare bike?” with an attempted smile on my face. 40 minutes later I'm back on my way!!!
I finally roll back into transition, grab my T 2 bag, get changed and off I go into the run however my head still wasn’t where it needed to be! (which isn’t the right thing as there are a lot of people who would have had bigger issues than me)
The run was reasonably uneventful Plenty of encouragement was coming from the spectators. I was looking for my good mate Chappo and I did see him on the ride in the lead AG pack. I then see him on the run course and the lad is moving very well. I give him the “push Chappo …. Your looking strong” he actually replies with “your looking strong too KP” …. Who me??? Typical Chappo …. Always giving a positive message …. That’s the sort of fella he is. While we are on Chappo (Trent Chapman), he goes on to finish 8th over all …. Yes, over all. He beat guys like Mitch Anderson & Jason Shortis (9th & 10th respectively).
So I’m still plodding on and I finally finish in a time of 11:47. This is about 30 minutes slower than Busso and definitely NOT what I wanted.
HOWEVER – I did FINISH and I need to be proud of that …. And I am J
The day after says a lot. I’m not sore as I have been (it’s more like the soreness of a Half Ironman) after an Ironman so I can tell that I didn’t push myself in the run at all. This was all in my head!
So at the Kona roll down I saw Anthony from CBD cycles. I went up to him with a smile on my face and said “ I have a cheap set of gravity zero’s …do you want them?” He looked at me and just turned his head away from me …. He was sitting with the two fella’s that my mate Chappo beat! I guess I wasn’t good enough to be in their / his company!
What did I learn from this experience?

CBD CYCLES will never see me again nor will I recommend them to any fellow athletes, family or friends. This falls on the back on the way they treated Komo when he was in the market to purchase a road bike. After purchasing many bikes from them, they wouldn’t even let Komo take a bike out on a test ride! What are they thinking. I’m sure that our cash is the same as the “super fast” athletes.
So I will be staying away from them …..
I have since been to meet the guys at CYCLESPEED (http://www.cyclespeed.com.au/ ) and they are now looking after me and my new rig is about to be ordered.
Andrew at cyclespeed (who I have never met before) greeted me with “How you going mate – do you want a coffee”
Well F&*k me …. This is the first time that any store owner / worker has offered me a coffee … so he had me straight away J.
And after the coffee, he treated me like a normal person ....... and thats all I want.
So what are the key take outs from the experience
Continue to trust your coach. I know Mat (ETPA) is getting me fit and strong and I’m just around the corner from doing something personally special.
Take this race as a great learning experience. Not everything goes to plan and you need to deal with it and trust yourself.

I do want to thank Mat, Komo, Jimmy M, Big Boy,Jimmy D, Ronny Z, Pistol & Archie for their help in training between WA & Pt Mac. This was the first time that the local crew haven’t done Pt Mac so I was on my own for a while. These guys all chipped in and offered training help & support when they could …… and it was awesome.

I now have to work out what I want / need to do over the winter. Do I look at Japan IM? Maybe Busso Half? What about the Melbourne marathon? There is plenty of options! Well I have the Easter long weekend to think about a few of the closer races and discuss them with Jessica.

Speaking of Jessica, she once again has been a rock. She continues to support me 110% and that make all the difference. She also does this while being the best mum in the world to our champion little fella Oskar Marley …. He rocks too J. She knows that doing this makes me happy and keeps me fit & healthy so that I can be as good a partner to her & father to Oskar as I can be …… and this is the most important thing in the world to me.

So now to enjoy the Easter break with my family & friends

KP