Everyone had warned me of the Ironman Blues, I can confirm Im feeling a little lost without a training program to follow ... I suspect Coach knew this as I have a debrief today ... and I suspect we will start planning future goals, just smaller ones for now as life will get very busy again and I have a new wife to pamper.
Unless ofcourse I get a magic slot for Kona (find out April 14th), in which case bring on the Kona Ironman, October 12th, 2013
... will you join me ?
Lots of love
CANTAB Chris
Unfortunately the Kona dream was not to be there in 2013, however I did secure sufficient brownie points to sign up for the NZ Ironman 2014. This time I got to do it with my very good friend Gussy. And of course my beautiful wife was by my side during the journey and at the line, together with family and friends!
Thursday 7 March 2013
Branded
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| Yes I know Im a whimp! |
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| Don't panic, it is ink not blood. |
I rang Mum as soon as I got home, she just laughed. keep in mind I have no other tattoo's and have previously never had the desire to get one!. Thank goodness mum offered to break the news to Dad. Thanks mum :) xx
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| Final version |
The Day After
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| Finisher Medal |
Worst sleep this week, the body is aching. I nod off for a
few hours but wake up when I try to move.
Eventually I gave up and let Liza have a sleep-in. I enjoyed a Nespresso in the lazy boy chair,
whilst checking all the texts, emails and facebook comments from Liza’s updates
during the race. They are all fantastic
and there are so many of them!
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| Steves Trophy for winning his age group |
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| Awards Ceremony |
We managed to score a few more tickets for the awards
evening so Mum, Dad and Camp Mother joined Liza and myself.
The Support Crew
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| From left CM (with the signs), Gusy and Nana (black top) |
The journey has been awesome, not for one moment did I expect to meet new friends who would dedicate their time to train along side me, just cos they wanted too!, cheers to you Camp Mother, Gusy and Nana! Other key folks include my Coach, Sue Dorman, whom I would recommend to anyone considering taking on a similar challenge! and Julie Dean my masseur, who was the only person to sort out problems I thought I had with my hips but turned out to be IT bands. The body came thru perfectly! And Bro (Nigel) without your words of wisdom and agreeing to coach me thru my first Half Ironman I never would have considered I would be capable to complete something this big. You are my inspiration !!
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| Me and my beautiful wife, Liza! |
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| Fi looking very enthusiastic |
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| Jill, Fi and CM |
I would like to thank my sponsors!, CM for the use of your race wheels, Im sure this is why I managed to pull off a solid bike time. CM for the use of your wetsuit, without it I would either have still been swimming due to the drag of my suit or covered in chaffing. Jen for the use of your goggles, they did not leak at all! unlike my other ones. Graham for your cycle top which I wore during the run, it was the only top I had with a full zip, without it the toliet stops on the run would have been rather tricky.
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| Team photographer No.1, Shano |
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| Loving the hat Gusy! |
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| The crew setup on the bike course |
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| Bethan's IM cake creation! |
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| From left, Julie, Jill, Gusy, Liza, Me, Shano, Fi, Dad, Mum CM and Claire |
The Sweepstake
On Friday night the crew had agreed on sweepstake, I wasn’t
allowed to see the times, this way I couldn’t be bribed to speed up or
slowdown. Each person selected a time
for each leg (swim, bike and run) and then the time of the day I would cross
the finish line. Obviously those who had
been training with me would have the advantage as they knew what I was capable
of, however it didn’t account for conditions on the day.
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Race Day - the run
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| Leaving Transition |
There was the support crew, I felt like a super star with
all the cameras. Shano was running ahead
then turning to get some shots, I wasn’t about to give him a break so made sure
I kept running, although I did slow down every now and then.
First turn round the large Nutri-Grain packet, and on with
the first the run lap arm band. They had
different coloured arm bands representing each lap, same applied for the bike
leg. In the run it was white for lap 1,
then blue and then orange for the final 3rd lap. Bring on the orange band!!
My initial race plan was to run as much of lap 1 as
possible, walk/run the next lap then do whatever it took to get round the final
lap. The race rules stated crawling was
allowed, so I would resort to this if needed.
With the race plan in mind I held a steady run for the first 3k, then I remembered
one time after I had ridden Kopu Hill with Gusy and CM, I had to run off the
bike and I really didn’t want too. I
ended up negotiating with Gusy to run two lamp posts and walk one, this seemed
to work. I didn’t notice the lamp posts
but there were lots of cones so opted for walk 2 cones run 10 cones. When I ran I made sure I held my technique of
standing straight, shoulders back, open chest, head steady, eyes up and quick
feet. I had both Gusy and coach in my
head repeating these instructions.
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| Looking good |
Despite further instructions from coach who was stalking me
on her bike, which at the time I heard but didn’t engage. I stuck with my plan 10 and 2 and walk up
hills, run down hills. It was pretty
warm on the track, I suspect 25-29 degrees with a hot wind. Thank goodness coach had me training in the
afternoon Auckland heat for this very reason.
Apart from hot feet the heat didn’t really bother me. At every station I tipped a water down my
front and another down my back, down half a tube of gel followed by a
water. The run belt was a pain in the
ass as it kept slipping down and I had to keep pulling it up. Coach kept yelling for me to ditch it, so I did
at the end of the first lap, but I did it legally at the assigned drop zone.
I was doing well on the run, no cramps, no sore tummy. I did have to pee at the portaloo on each of
the first two laps, so I knew I could slow down on my fluid intake. I ran out of gel mid-way which was a good job
as not sure how much more I could stomach.
From then on I resorted to iced flat coke only, not normally a treat,
but today it was heaven. On several occasions
I tipped a water down my front which had ice in it, that caught me by surprise
the first time, but it was so hot that within minutes I had recovered from the
icy cold shock. I took advantage of
every garden hose although some folks had it coming out like a fire hose.
The support crew were fantastic and had setup camp outside
our holiday rental, which just happened to be on the run course, what a
score. We had no idea when we booked
it!. More signs and screaming support
with lots of high 5s and hugs when I passed by.
Unfortunately it was at the top of an incline so of course I was always
walking, but as it was part of my strategy I didn’t care. One time round I had just past the house and
a fellow competitor came up from behind, he run to catch-up. He had asked if I was the famous CANTAB
Chris, of course at this time I didn’t know I was famous ?? Anyway he wanted to shake my hand and said I
had the best support crew out there. I
already knew this !!! Anyway I had 3 other
people who did the same, wanted to shake the hand of the famous CANTAB
Chris. Well blow me down!
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| Still running |
I managed to get back to running 2 and 10. The support crew were awesome, riding bikes round the course yelling encouragement and Gusy practically ran a marathon as she ran on the other side of the road. The cheeky thing however stopped at a shop to buy an ice block, then skipped in front of me to place the wrapper in the bin, quietly letting me know how delightful it was. What a cheek eh!
Come to the end of the second lap my attempts to apply the blister plaster was not working so I took advantage of the medical services at the station on the main drag. They applied strapping to the left foot, this at least stopped them rubbing together. Yay back to running again and on with the final orange band, sweet!!. And still no cramps or other issues.
The run didn’t feel like a marathon, in that I wasn’t
thinking 42k, I was thinking 3 laps.
This seemed to make a huge difference, I was surprised when I was still
doing my run 10, walk 2 at the 30k mark.
Midway down the final leg out, coach ditched her bike (in the middle of
the track for the returning runners I might say) she gave me a massive hug and
told me I would be an Ironman in a few hours.
I didn’t realize at the time she had a few tears and text Liza to say
she was sending me their way. She needed
to get home to the family so would not see me at the finish.
The final leg, as I past the supporters house I stopped
momentarily to give everyone there a hug, especially mum, dad and the
wife. Liza jumped on the bike, she had
already told everyone she was taking the final leg to the finish. The stations were well stocked including flat
coke, carbo drink, water, chips, pretzels, chocolate bars, barley sugars, power
bars, bananas and oranges and including fluro sticks, and since it was starting
to get dark, approx. 8.30pm. If you were
handed a stick you had to wear it, race rules.
The support for the run was awesome, many local residents
setup camp outside their homes, many had their stereo pumping, although one
group had crap songs like “Lady in Red” which were not so inspiring. But everyone got a cheer, and when they saw
you were on your last lap you got an extra cheer.
4k to go … I told Liza to get a move on to the finish line
as I had planned to run the final few ks.
As I hit the main street I picked up the run and took in the
cheers. Your name is on your race number
so of course everyone is calling out Chris, at first I kept looking to see if
it was someone I knew, but soon gave up on this. But I did notice a few people in the crowd,
including someone I had worked with a long time ago, someone who had seen me
when I weighed 157kg. I think they were
a bit surprised to see me on the track, I was surprised they recognised me.
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| The Moment!, You are an IRONMAN!! |
As I hit the red carpet I was keeping an eye out for the
crew. I had thought long and hard on how
I would approach the red carpet, I thought I would walk, take my time and give
everyone high 5s. It turned out I had
running fever as I spotted the crew I high 5ed a heap of hands and then I kept
running for that finish gantry, it read 14 hours, 6mins and 59 seconds.
(14:06:59). As I was about to shed a
tear or two, someone put a medal round my neck, thru a towel round my shoulders
and I had a catcher either side holding me up.
No time for tears as someone removed my timing chip and I was whisked
away for post-race weigh in. Pre race
was 78.8, post race was 78.0, awesome work on maintaining the fluids. I was quickly released from medical to
collect my finisher t-shirt. I was also
handed the race bag I had thrown in the truck at the beginning of the day.
The recovery tent is an interesting place, as you walk in the medical section with folks sitting around
holding arms and legs awaiting for the medics to do their rounds, then a small
drinks station, t-shirt pickup then it opens out to an area with chairs and a
table of hot and cold food. At the far
end are the massage tables and a seated queue.
I took a look at the food, they had muffins, sweets, tomato soup and
rolls, and other hot options. But
nothing appealed and I was feeling good, just tired the only real pain were the
blisters on my left foot, and a massage wasn’t going to fix that. So I high tailed it out the tent and went to
find my family and friends.
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| Liza, Me, Dad and Mum |
Someone had said that after you finish you will be on such a
high you will want to go clubbing, well not me!. I was happy to have a quiet
ride home with Liza, enjoying the heated seats of the beemer J. The crew were meeting us there. I managed to crawl from the car, it appeared
long periods of no movement was not good.
I was as stiff as a plank and smelt very potent so was quickly rushed
into the shower. It was here I picked up
on the chaffing between the legs and under the boobs. Im sure everyone heard the squeals !!. Thank goodness I could not feel these during
the race.
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| Loving the Lazy Boy Chair and the Beer |
Dried and dressed I found the lazy boy chair and a beer! What
heaven. The girls brought Pizza and
chips, I slowly nibbled on a couple of pieces, cautious that the stomach hadn’t
seen real food since 4am that morning. I
managed to join a few of our supporters outside to cheer on the last few as
they came on by, including tail end charley Jenny or Ginny (not sure of spelling)
we heard the next day she had 60sec remaining to make it down the red carpet
and thru the finish gantry, despite a mis-step she finished in 16:59:39, WOW
20sec before the cut off!. And in
Ironman she had more cheers and was more famous that the person who won the
race 8 hours earlier. I love it!
Race Day - the bike
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| Leaving transition |
As I moved thru transition, collected my bike and ran over
the mount line, all I could think about was the carnage I had seen at the ITU
Age Groups race where people were rushing and were falling off before they even
started. So I stopped and took time to lift
my leg over the bike and clip in my shoe.
I saw the crew before the mount line but I couldn’t stop to talk as
folks behind me, but as I was getting on the bike I heard my coach yelling
out. I was so excited on my swim time I
yelled “did you see my time”, she
replied with “yes come on get on your
bike”, she didn’t seem very interested at all, nothing like a little
refocus!
My goal on the bike was to hold a steady 30kph average which
should get me around the 6hr mark for 180k, publically I had told a few people
I wanted to beat my coaches bike time when she did the Ironman (6:45). What I didn’t tell anyone was my secret goal
to go sub 6 hours. But I knew it was
going to depend on the conditions which were hot and the breeze/wind was
building.
On the first leg out to Reporoa I remembered from a book I
had read that if you plan to eat solid food, which I was, then begin to prepare
the stomach by drinking water first. So
this was my focus for the first 20min, that and getting myself up the small
hills coming out of Taupo township.
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| Passing thru town |
Once on the straight I moved into the aero bars and got
underway to build that 30kph avg I was hoping for. The outward leg is sweet, gradual downhills
allow you to build a good speed, rocking along around 45kph. I knew from the Taupo Half IM that the return
leg is gradual uphill and normally headwind so I would need the extra speed now
if I wanted to hold the average. I focused
on eating and drinking. From my race
plan I knew I needed to drink at least one bottle of fluid for every hour on
the bike i.e. 6 bottles. I read a sign
on the side of the road that mentioned “CANTAB Chris”, oh shit that’s me. Then I started looking for and reading all
the signs. I reckon there were at least
40-50 signs on the bike leg that I saw.
It seemed that for every 5 signs for ME, was 1 sign for someone else. Each sign brought a massive grin to my face
and encouraged me to keep pushing for a good ride time.
I came across the first hydration station, threw my empty
water bottle in the drop zone and started yelling water to the volunteers who
had a selection of drinks available (water, carbo drink and coke). The volunteer would hold out the bottle and
run with you a little so you could grab it and keep riding. As I was yelling out “thanks mate!” I realized I hadn’t quite figured out how I was
going to get the nuun tablet from by pocket and drop it in to the water whilst
I kept moving. Determined to stick with
the race plan and recalling the cramp I had in the Taupo Half IM I stopped a
few metres up the road and fluffed around to get the nuun in the water. This stopping wasn’t helping to maintain my
30kph average!
At all the intersections of Broadlands Road supporters had
setup camp, as I was passing one of those intersections I saw Gusy and Camp
Mother preparing to unfold the deck
chair so yelled out a loud “YO YO YO” to get their attention. It worked and I got a big cheer!
There was a new drafting rule for this race which stated you
had to be 10 metres behind the front wheel of the person in front of you. Well good luck with that in the first 40+ ks
as not so easy when 20 odd riders all travelling at the same pace. Lucky for us I think the technical officials
gave some leeway on this, initially anyway.
We had the guy on the motor cycle next to us yelling for us to sort out
the drafting. Overtime this became
easier as the groups started to stretch.
At the turnaround point at Reporoa the technical guy was there reminding
us of the drafting rule and threatening to ticket us from now on, this would
mean a 4min penalty, on your 3rd warning you would be disqualified.
As expected the return leg was significantly slower with a
headwind to start things off. Because I
know it was coming it didn’t throw me, I just stayed focused on nutrition and
maintaining a speed as close to 30kph as possible. All the support signage was entertaining as I
tried to make sure I read every sign I spotted, I had lost count now of how
many there were. I passed the support
crew at the same intersection, they were smart and had crossed the road, good
one! They were also better prepared, deck chairs were out, more signage was up
and Im sure I spotted a chilly bin of goodies.
This time they had spotted me coming, lots of screaming and
yelling. Was very cool!!
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| High 5s to the Crew |
Approx 10k from Taupo is what riders call Heartbreak Hill, I
remember it well from Taupo Half IM as it did break my heart as I slowed to a
crawl. The hill itself is not
significant, however add a headwind and some fatigue from the riding you had
already done, then you know all about it!
I was better prepared this time as I knew it was coming. I stopped looking at the Garmin and focused
on looking ahead, I kept reminding myself it was OK as the avg was sitting at
31.8kph and I knew that this was temporary and the ride into town was predominately
downhill which gave me an opportunity to pick up speed again.
As I was heading out for the 2nd lap I passed the
90k marker, I took a quick look at the Garmin and it said 2:55, sweet on track
for a sub 6 hours J. I was on the lookout going up the start Napier/Taupo
road out of town, it is an uphill leg, a good place for spectators as you have
to slow down. Yup there they were, the
crew in their Team Chris t-shirts. Two
groups spread the length of the pathway.
How could you not smile with all this support!
OK, back on the straight and back to work, the wind was
building and I managed to crank the bike up to 50kph, I knew this mean’t the
leg home was going to hurt!!. With some
more practice at the bottle swaps I had worked out if the lid was not to tight
I could unscrew it whilst I biked. With
a little juggling and using the mouth I could get the nuun tablet into the
water bottle without stopping. Although
as I found out not so cool when you don’t screw the lid just right and then squeeze
the bottle, once I did get doused in a half bottle of water. Buggar!
At one station I had picked up a carbo drink but I took one sip and
threw it back and got a water, then stopped down the road to add in my own
carbo powder. Much better! I wasn’t about to take any risks with
nutrition.
At one point I wondered if I was pushing the bike leg to
much, after all I did have to run a marathon yet. But I felt Ok and certainly no worse than any
prior training session, so I continued to push on. As I turned at Reporoa for the final time I
began to notice that the folks around me looked pretty dam fit and they all had
full carbon bikes with expensive looking wheels, much flasher than my entry
level carbon bike. I was feeling pretty
good about this, especially when I started to notice how many folks where
behind me. Essentially as I was on my
final leg anyone riding towards me was behind me. This gave me the pep to keep going and
distracted me from the almighty headwind which I have been expecting. I knew after 170k Heartbreak Hill was going
to be a real tester.
You do see some sights! For me it was watching a guy who had
just past a station with a portaloo, take a wee wee on his very flash bike. He was biking very slowly and the wee was
running a steady stream down his legs and into his shoes. Man o man, surely that is not a cool move, I
mean I could understand the Pros, but this for this guy, surely it would be
uncomfortable, smelly and it would stick with you all thru the run leg. Yuk! I
made sure I past him with a wide berth so I didn’t get any splash back and I
gunned it so he wouldn’t have the opportunity to pass me either.
I swear I saw more signs on the return leg than what I had
seen the first time round, but I was pretty sure no
one had been adding any
?? I remembered Camp Mother had asked me
what I was going to do on the bike for 6 hours, for example Gusy apparently
plays a word game. For me it turned into
a spot the sign game, much more fun J
As I approached the crews intersection I noticed it had grown in size, with a
few more faces. Many had their hands out
so thought to go for a few high 5s, but at the last minute thought better of
it. I mean how embarrassing to fall
off!!
The headwind was hard work and you could tell folks were
getting tired, this drafting rule was a pain in the ass, you would get a
plonker who would speed past then sit up to take a drink or a rest, which meant
you have to slow down to ensure you got 10 metres back before the 20sec was
up. I got a bit pissy after the 5th
person did this to me, so I cranked up a gear and blasted past a heap of them and
kept riding to make sure I got away.
Unfortunately it was an on-going issue and as a result I had to give up
on my sub 6 hours and became resolved to merely beat coach’s time.
Here we go, heartbreak hill.
The good news, only 10k of the bike to go!, bad news this is going to be
slow and it’s going to hurt for a wee while.
Now part of the signage had
photos of the support crew, including some who were there in spirit, I wondered
if the person who placed the signs knew how ironic it would be to have a
picture of Bryan half way up Heartbreak Hill?
I suspect not. When I saw his
face all I could think about was his witty one liners, in particular “pain is only weakness leaving the body”,
of course it is a load of @#$! But it made me grin into the head wind and keep
going. I had stopped eating solid food
on the homeward leg and focused on finishing all my carbo drink.
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| Off at the dismount line |
When I approached the dismount line, there was some of the
crew cheering me on, awesome!. The bike
was handed over to a catcher and I ran to collect my T2 gear bag. Just like T1 your number is called and a
volunteer is holding your bag ready for collection as you head to the change
tent. This time, as soon as I sat down I
could smell myself, yummy! I kept
apologising to the volunteer who was helping me change. I stripped down to my nana nickers and bra,
put on clean pants, top and socks.
Remembering my brothers advice I took time to ensure all clothing was on
correctly and that I had all the bits and bobs I would need for the run. Really I was in no hurry, I knew I had done
well on the bike (6:12) and in fact I was 2 hours ahead of where I thought I
would be, giving me just under 10 hours to run/walk a marathon, easy right??
The poor volunteer had to pick up my stinky, sweaty gear and
stick it in the T bag. I apologised once
more then headed for the station in the transition zone. I downed
a tube of gel, as practiced, and topped up the water in my race belt to
give me a brew of nuun, just in case.
Then a toilet stop, it was so hot in the portaloo, I held my breath and
carried on …. Then out on the run, I had no doubt this was going to hurt!!
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