Tauranga Half Ironman

Pre-race

Slept well from about 10:30 till just before my alarm went off at 3:30am. Normal routine of coffee, 3 slices of jam on toast and then another cup of coffee. Seems to work well to wake me up and get me buzzing. I felt good, no aches or pains and I was ready to trust the calf. No run for 5 weeks worried me (hugely) but I made the decision that even if it 'went', I would walk and finish.

Got to transition just after it opened at 5am. Very quiet and still a bit dark. Set up my bits and pieces and then had a wander along the beach to the other end of Pilot Bay. Had a nice stretching session and a bit of a jog on the road. Felt good. Love not having to rush race morning.

Just starting to get light

Back to transition, wetsuit on and glasses left on top of my bike shoes (not put away in my bag like I have mistakenly done in the past). Used my goggles with the prescription lenses which I had re-sealed the night before. Into the water just after 6am for a warm up before the 6:32am start.

The Swim

The water was surprisingly warm as it was a cold morning. I swam out to a boat's mooring float thingy and just lay on my back to see what the tide was doing. I quickly drifted towards the Mount. It was definitely going to be a quick swim out but a mission to get back.

Time went quickly and it was ready for the Pros to go at 6:30am. They lined up at the wharf and then proceeded to float away into the distance on the tide before the start. I don't think there was much they or the race directors could do so they eventually started about 50m from the 'line'. It was pretty much the same for us Age Groupers.

The start was a fair distance from the wharf and it was just a mess. The 'mess' continued for pretty much the whole swim. It was definitely my worst swim in terms of not being able to find any space, getting hit, hitting and generally not really knowing where the hell I was in between buoys.

Going out was fast but coming back to shore and then heading for home was a nightmare both in terms of finding the buoys and fighting the tide. It was a short 1st loop (750m I think) and then a second larger one (1250m) ... did 1st loop in about 12 mins and thought maybe I'd be able to finish under 40 mins. Unfortunately I struggled even more on the long return home on the 2nd leg and finished in 41:30. More open water swim practice needed! I did one of the Shorebreak swims the previous Thursday but next year I will do a few more. 

Once again I cramped in the last quarter of the swim. It wasn't as bad as Rotorua as I think I was more able to feel the cramp coming on and take evasive action but it was still painful and still cost me time. The worst cramp came just after I took my wetsuit off and my left quad just went rigid. I tried not to panic and just waited for it to pass, which it did quite quickly but again it was painful and time wasting. Need to sort that out.

The Bike 

I had ridden the bike course twice in the last few weeks in similar wind conditions to race day and so knew what was in store. A slight headwind on the way out, nice tailwind on the way back but with the wind increasing for the second lap. 

I felt good on the first lap and didn't have the usual sicky feeling from swallowing sea water. At least that was one positive from the swim. On the bike I was drinking my usual mixture every 15 mins and it was going down well. Speed was averaging 32km/hr by the 'turnaround' and I knew that I'd be able to get it up even more by the end of the first lap. I had a great ride back and finished the first lap in just over 1hr 20. I knew the ride out was going to be harder but I was hoping for a Sub2:45 bike finish. 

Throughout the ride I saw loads of people getting done for drafting. The procedure followed a similar pattern. I, and others in a legal pace line would get swamped by a 'pack' coming through. Some of the packs were three wide and it was almost impossible not to get trapped in the mess. On the first lap there seemed to be a draft marshall on a bike coming past every few minutes so I was careful not to get 'trapped'. I asked one of them at one point "is this distance OK?". Bit further back was their reply so I slowed down a bit more.

At one point a pack came past and so I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a drink. I slowed down to keep a legal distance, had a drink and then heard the marshall giving the poor woman behind me a 3 minute penalty because presumably she hadn't slowed down enough. I'm all for busting drafters but it seemed to me that they weren't punishing the big groups moving through the field but just sitting on the back of them and busting the people getting swamped. 

Can you see what this rant is building up to??? ... At about the 60k mark, the same story. Three people come past me. One pulls in front, one beside him and one to my right. I fall back but obviously not far enough because a few moments later the marshall is pulling beside me with the yellow card and a 3 minute stand down penalty. Gutted! Nothing for the other riders. Very random. I vowed never to do the race again. (yeah, whatever)

I knew where the penalty box was and so decided to put the hammer down until I reached it as I'd have a bit of a rest there. I had been keeping my HR in the low 140's but got it up into the 150's for the 5k or so till the box. There were about 7 of us in there while I served my 3 minutes and I know that every one who gets busted is going to argue that they are innocent but we all had similar stories. Get swamped, find yourself at the back, busted ... nothing for the pack that goes past.

Oh well, I served my 3 minute sentence and set off to try to make up some time. Had a great ride back and finished in 2:47 (32.3km/hr Av).

Now for the unknown. I hadn't had more than a few minutes jogging for the last 5 weeks. My calf felt OK but ...

The Run

I set off on the run with a hat full of bits and pieces. It was stuffed with arm coolers, a gel, energy beans from the race pack and roll on sun tan lotion. I decided not to carry a water bottle and to rely on the aid stations. This had worked well at the TECT off-road race and it was nice not to have to carry a heavy water bottle. My strategy was to run between the aid stations and walk them to make sure I got a drink and got my HR down. This worked really well for the first lap although the bit around the Mount without an aid station seemed to take forever. I managed to get my arm coolers on during the first bit of the run and got them hosed down at each aid station. A cup of water under my hat also helped to keep me cool and I never felt overheated. The plan of taking 2 waters (one to drink and one to pour under my hat) and one coke also seemed to be working.

First lap going onto the Mount basetrack. Pace was great and all was good in the world. 

My pace was around 5min/k (even with walking the aid stations) and the calf felt good but it wasn't to last. As I come off the Mount base track and started the nice flat straight bit along Pilot Bay the calf tightened up, became painful and went into it's 'threatening to pull' mode. Oh well. It was good while it lasted. I took the pace down to a shuffle and did a shuffle:walk and thankfully it didn't get any worse.

Coming to the end of the first lap in shuffle mode. Great to see Jo at this point 

The hardest bit was the return back to the turnaround which seemed to take forever. I thought a few times about pulling out but the shuffle:walk combo didn't seem to be doing any more damage to the calf and it hadn't 'pinged' so I carried on shuffling.

Once I made the turnaround it became easier to keep going as I was 'on my way home'. The Mount Basetrack actually felt easier to tackle than the flat. I was able to shuffle up the 'hills' and was surprised that I was keeping the average pace in the low 6 mins/k. I was calculating what pace I needed to keep below to get Sub6 and I figured (with my tired and scrambled brain) that I could afford to drop to 7min/k and still get Sub6.

With a decent run (perhaps more controlled on the first lap) I should have been able to get Sub5:30 (and that will be my goal next year!) but my current pace was coming out at about a 5:50 finish so I was really happy to cross the line in 5:43.36 (48 out of 74 in AG). I have to be happy with that. I met my main goal of just 'getting round', even if the calf didn't quite last the whole run and it was also a 14 minute PB.

Hobbling to the finish

So, I'll be back next year (if I can get registered) and try to smash that 5:43. Some better navigation in the swim, no draft penalty on the bike and being more 'run-fit' ... what could be easier?!?

Although the calf didn't last I am sure that it was, in this case, an over-use issue. Running a half marathon as the first run back after a 5 week lay off can never be a good idea :) Two days after the race and my calf feels no worse than the rest of my legs so no real damage done. Couple of weeks off running and I should be OK. Plan is to start back slowly with Jo on a couch-to-5k running plan and then build up to the Mount Jogger's Half Marathon on the 2nd June. I'd love to do the UCAN2's (Jan 28th and Feb 3rd) but not sure about those. Maybe me and Jo can enter as team and she does the run. Now there's a plan! :)

*Thanks to Jo and Tui for the pictures*