Ironman New Zealand - Race Summary.

"Still No Hawaii"

It's a week now since Ironman NZ, and I've had a bit of time to reflect and relax.  I suppose overall I am still disappointed with the race last weekend.  Disappointed not to have got a Kona slot, but mainly not to have raced to the best of my ability. I’ve had a few days now to think about what went wrong and I’m still not that much wiser!

I think really it came down to a combination of three things

1. Head not there (mental preparedness)

2. Nutrition

3. Short build (lack of run base)

I had played down (in my mind) the task and underestimated just what an ordeal Ironman is mentally and physically.  I had it in my mind I’d done 9:48 and 9:29 and so should be able to do 9:15 this time.  I’d done the training and it would just happen.   Perhaps all the changes of coming out to New Zealand and the time it took to get my bike here and get into a routine may have had an impact on my training.  It was only really a 12 week build and although I got some really good volume into that time, it might not have been the best quality.  My longest run was only 2:20 and that was a race, whereas last year I ran 1:45-2+hrs maybe 8 times. 

In terms of nutrition I didn’t change much in terms of calories and carbs from the last two races. The difference was I didn’t carry all my own food,  I was relying on the Powerbar stuff that was at the aid station and not training with that may have had an impact. 

In terms of the race everything went great until the run.

There were only 1250 competitors so T1 wasn't as busy as other IM I have done recently and this was te same in teh lake.   It was a stunning swim, the sun was rising on a pretty calm lake as we lined up for the 7am start.  The helpicopter was out tracking the pro's which always adds some adrenaline.  I had some help from my new locals mates (thanks Dee) sneaking into the quiet loo's about 6:40 before quickly heading down to the lake for a warm up.  Fresh water swimming is so good compared to the sea and I felt pretty confident on the line.  

I  got a good start from the front on the inside next to the buoys, so I was able to sight clearly, I had some feet from about 10mins in and quickly settled into a good rythym on calm clear water.  I kept those feet or others pretty much all the way around.  I checked my watch at the turnaround (bit under halfway) and I was on 27:30. I was stoked and that positiveness kept me pushing all the way home, I got out of the water at 57:30 on my watch which I was over the moon with as I’d been struggling to get the splits I wanted in the pool the last few weeks. 

Transition is quite long, maybe 600m including some steps up to the T1 park, I had a good quick transition and was onto the bike in just under 62mins, all was looking great.  Out on the bike the legs felt ok, maybe not great, but within 30mins my heart rate settled.  I let a lot of guys go, but had it in my mind I would ride 5 and a bit and still be on target.  There was a bit of obvious drafting on the way out with the wind, which I didn’t get involved with (maybe I should), but I still hit the first turnaround averaging 36kph. After the first lap I was still on the same pace, I was comfortably on for 5hrs.  The second lap the wind had picked up, as I'd anticipated.  dave and I had discussed this and I concentrated on eating and took it steady to the turnaround, at which point the wind had changed a bit and I didn’t find it too bad back to T2, I was cruising and rolling through a lot of guys.  

I hit T2 in 6:20 ish, a little p’d about the time but remembering your words from Dave not to fret about the time and at this point confident I’d left enough in the tank for the run to be a good one. I nipped through T2 (I think fastest of the day!) in under a minute and although the back was a bit tight I settled myself down into low 4:20 k’s for 3:10 a marathon.

After about 5k I started to slow, there was a headwind, but I just didn’t seem to have my run legs. I kept expecting to get a second wind (I was still taking regular gels at this point), but by 10k I was starting to die on my ass, the 2^nd quarter back towards the finish of lap one we had a tail wind and I kept rolling on, albeit slowing, but once I turned back into the wind for the 2^nd lap the wheels came off.  It was a real struggle to get back to the final turnaround and there were spells of walking from about 24k onwards. In the end all times went out the window and it became a battle to just finish.

The 10.5k splits for the marathon were 57mins,53mins, 1:06 and 1:16.

The finish was nothing like Switzerland, I was exhausted, but more mentally.  I just felt hollow and ruined and wanted to get out of there.  So I did!  This is the first Ironman I've left feeling I wanted to do it again, I might have to come back next year and smash it...

My Age Group (30-34) was madness.  By far the most competitive of them all,  7^th place in 30-34 (the last guaranteed Hawaii slot) was 21^st overall in a time 9:21 and the last Hawaii slot rolled down to the 11^th in AG who did 9:31. I would have needed to run 3:10 to get that slot.

I've spent more than 2yrs chasing this Hawaii dream and perhaps it's time to take the pressure off myself and have a rest? I know I can do it, but I'd need a perfect day and a perfect build to get one of the slots.  BUT I'm not sure I can quit this without achieving the goal I set myself. 

In terms of my wider 'life' plans things have taken a bit of a change in the last few months, the work here is pretty great, especially in terms of opportunities.    I'll be here until at least Christmas, perhaps longer.  

I'm thinking of enjoying some racing for the next couple of months, training hard through summer (NZ winter) and having a crack at Ironman Western Oz (WA) in December. Keeping NZ in the back of my mind.

At the moment my cycling is probably weakest (certainly weaker than I'd like it to be) so a real stint on the bike over the winter as well as perhaps another marathon would be good. I want to be able to do sub 5, even 4:45 easily at WA in December and not feel I've got to kill myself on the run to go sub 9:15.

Thanks as always to everyone, friends, family, colleagues for the incredible support, kind wishes and patience over the last few months (years). This is a very selfish thing I do and I do appreciate the impact it can have on those around me.

Special thanks to Dave Parry (HPU) for his continuing invaluable advice and guidance and all the guys in NZ that have made me so welcome over the last 3 months and helped me very quickly get back to some good form; Dee, Mike, Mel, Helen... You guys Rock!!

Some pics to follow.

Laurence

Ironman New Zealand T-14hrs

I thought I'd pen a few thoughts as I have a few hours to kill, keeping out of the sun and resting up as much as possible before Ironman New Zealand kicks off in 14hrs at 7am, here in Taupo, North Island, NZ.

Another incredible NZ venue (Lake Taupo, 8am Friday 5th March '10)

This time last July I was in another hotel room, keeping off my feet and trying to relax before Ironman Switzerland.  Certainly there are a lot of similarities to that day, I'm pleased to say I'm pretty relaxed this time. Experience really does make these things easier.

I went into Switzerland thinking I was in 9:15 shape and in the end just touched under 9:30, albeit with a brief pause to fix a puncture.  After missing a Hawaii slot there by 15mins I said I'd come back here in sub-9 shape.  Now I'm not sure I'm there, I'm not going to put a time prediction on tomorrow, but I feel good.  I've had 12 fantastic weeks of solid training out here in NZ.  My mileage and training time is the highest 3 months  ever, across all disciplines, so I just hope the 12 weeks build is enough.

Conditions for tomorrow aren't perfect for speed, with a 20mph SE wind, we will get a headwind on the return leg of the two bike loops, i'm not looking forward to the last 45k back to town much!  The lake here is incredible, it's crystal clear fresh water. But, as we are situated at the north of the lake there will be a bit of a chop with the wind, that said it shouldn't be terrible and with only 1250 competitors it's not like some of the huge Ironman mass swim starts.  The run is also a two lap affair, with some gentle undulations. As we follow the airport road out of town to the South East, at least the last 10k of the run we'll have wind assistance.

There are 162 competitors and 7 World Champs slots up for grabs in the male 30-34 age grouper.  The last three years they have rolled down as follows; 2009 - 9:45.11, 2008 - 9:43.23 and 2007 - 10:05:24, so you'd hope sub 9:30 would be good enough for that golden ticket...  That's a big ask on a slow(er) course but I've got my support crew trained up as 30-34 male spotters and I'll do everything I can to get the slot...

I'm feeling good, the bike and all the bags are checked in and there's nothing to do but relax, eat and drink well and try to get to sleep in good time.  I'll post a note as soon as possible with an update but don't forget you can track results live at www.ironmanlive.com (race starts 6pm GMT Friday 5th March).

Thanks for all the kind wishes,  Laurence

3 weeks to Taupo

So three weeks to go until Taupo (Ironman New Zealand).  It's been a sharp training block this time and I feel good for it.  Arriving in NZ on the 1st Dec I was pretty out of shape, so it's been 10 weeks of decent training to get me up and running again.

I've done slightly more volume in all disciplines than I did in the last 10 weeks coming in to either Arizona or Zurich and until this week I've managed to feel fresh throughout.  This week it's been feeling tough, (maybe something to do with the huge rugby 7's weekend last weekend), but I'm hoping that just means I've done enough and I'm ready.  One more decent week next week, finishing off with a local half marathon on Sunday 21st Feb and then a couple of weeks of taper and I'm off.

I'll be chatting to Dave about the taper, but it seems I don't respond too well to dropping off hugely in the last two weeks, so it'll probably just be a bit less volume and an opportunity for the legs to get fully recovered.  Plus it's now I need to start getting my mind ready.  I've maintained better training discipline than ever before in this block and I'm feeling more confident in my ability than before.  Plus I'm trying not to put a time on my performance expectations.  I'm just keen to get out there, get through the swim and bike without any F ups and start running. 

Taupo looks to be a slow(er) course, with some undulations on the run and a heavy chip surface on the bike, so I'm probably not going to break any records...

But we'll see...

Tussock Traverse 27k trail run

Last Saturday I ran the Tussock Traverse, something a bit different and a great way to see a new bit of NZ, plus it would be a decent training run! This 27km point-to-point climbs through the dip between two active volcanos in the Tongariro National Park, namely Mt Ruapehu on our left shoulder and Ngaruhoe on our right. 

It was an incredible event and has opened my eyes to how tough trail / fell racers are, no wonder Brownlee is so damn good.

examples of the crazy terrain...

The first 2k were straight up, see pic below for the start line between two flags, I set out at what I thought was a fair pace (just above walking!), by 2k I was around 5th, then we turned off the 4*4 track and it got silly.  Apparently this is a relatively easy course, but I was impossibly slow going down over the scree and rocks.  I got overtaken by 4 or 5 others on the downhill and that was pretty much it for the next 25k.  Push hard when it was flat and I could actually run and take back a few places then lose them on the downhill.

After about 5k I started to get cocky and decided I this was easy, I looked up for a moment, to see how I was doing and promptly fell flat on my face.  It's not like running on the road!

By 20k I was in 4th and I think I just sneaked into 3rd for a few minutes before a local chap from Welly and a 17yr old girl (thankfully she is an amazing up and coming mountain marathon runner in NZ) overtook me heading down towards the finish, I had nothing left and crossed the line in 5th.

Finish time of 2:22 for 27k (5:15k's..) but the most incredible part was an average HR of 174bpm! That's 10k HR for over 2hrs.  No wonder I was ruined.  It was one of those finishes where you collapse, stand, collapse, and then jsut don't know what to do with yourself.  20min later I pulled myself together enough to cheer Leonie and Helen across the line and collapse again onto the grass with a brew and a sausage sizzle - Kiwi's know how to look after their athletes!

Next day I was in Taupo to check out the IM course and somehow managed a 5hr brick session, including a full lap of the run course (half marathon).  Needless to say this week I've not been running much. 

I guess it can only make me stronger - as it didn't kill me!

2nd at Scorching Bay - Wellington Day Tri

I had a great a local Olympic distance race today. Nice to have no travel stress and to race on home (kind of) roads. I forget how hard it is racing like that short thought, my legs are pretty beat up this evening.

It was another cracking race and mentally much better than last weekend. We had a bit of wind swell in the sea swim and my wetsuit came undone in the first 200m so I had to pause at the first buoy to do it up, I lost maybe 20secs and the back of the 2^nd pack, but was really pleased with how I swam after that. I pushed back through the field and came out about 12^th, still pretty crap (I certainly swim much better in calm seas), but it was a positive swim. And I learnt to double check my wetsuit zip.

After feeling i'd ridden a little beneath par last weekend I just went out to kill it today. It was a normal Wellington windy day so times were down a bit, but I went from 12^th to 3^rd on the bike with the fastest split of the day. HR was constant around 155-160 to the end and I was really pleased with the even effort.

Run was a bit of a battle of wills to start with, just getting the turnover going and keeping form, but by the 3^rd k I was tapping out 3:50’s and finished with the 2^nd fastest run split in 38mins, and 2^nd overall. Time wasn’t great at 2:10, but I was pretty pleased to put in solid race in pretty windy conditions.

It seems there are rarely position prizes in New Zealand, but I won a bag of coffee in the spot prize competition, plus it was a free race, given to me for marshalling last month. Sometimes you've really got to love the way they do things out here!

Everything is looking pretty much on track for Taupo. I've a few big weeks now, plenty of time on the bike and some big 5hr tempo rides. This weekend I'm up to Tongiriro for a 27k trail run and then Sunday I'm nipping to taupo for a 1/2 IM simulation on the Ironman course, so I'm be even more beat next Monday.

Below I've thrown up a few pics from Wanaka last weekend. Check out the hot new Human Performance race Team Kit!

Lake Wanaka Half - Crashing Back to Earth

You never stop learning with this sport, yesterday was another tough race and brought my sky-rocketing confidence levels back down to earth with a necessary bump...

(picture of the swim course last night)

Firstly, what an incredible event in a truly breathtaking location. If anyone reading this ever gets the chance to visit or race Wanaka, don't let it slip as this place is stunning and the whole town gets behind the race. The atmosphere for 16+hrs yesterday was exceptional.

I entered the new Lake Wanaka Half event back in the UK before Christmas. Having heard about it last year I pencilled it in as ideal preparation for Ironman New Zealand at Taupo (in 7 weeks). This was the first year they ran a Half event along side the full Challenge Wanaka but the event ran seamlessly so all credit to the Challenge crew.

4 months ago, imagining New Zealand to be a pretty small place I assumed I'd be able to catch a ferry from Wellington to the S.Island and have a simple drive down to Wanaka for the weekend. Turns out it's 3hrs on a ferry and 10hrs driving. So I soon scratched that idea, took a day off work on Friday and flew down early doors to Queenstown. Renting a car I drove the hour over Crown Range and down Cardrona Valley, trying to stop myself being the tourist I am and pulling into every lay-by to take pics...

I got into Wanaka about noon Friday to find this view from my Hotel bedroom window (from my private deck). That'll be transition , the finish line and lake Wanaka on the other side of the road, perfect!



As a 'proper' event we had a full on registration, briefing and bike and bag hand in on the Friday so I got all that sorted, grabbed too much food and hit the sack ready for what was forecast to be a calm, slightly overcast race day.

Race morning came and the weather was awesome, not a cloud in the sky. 6am it was already pleasantly warm, calm and light. Makes a change from UK racing I can tell you.

We'd been advised in the briefing that the lake water temp was not quite 15 degrees and felt a little fresh!! But the reality wasn't anywhere near as bad as the anticipation. The weather being on our side and the very respectable 8:15am start, made it all very bearable.

As I mentioned in my last post I've been swimming a bit better the last few weeks, so I positioned myself on the front of the 250 odd individual racers with the plan to go hard and try to hold onto some good feet. It worked pretty well, the first buoy was a decent way off, so by that turn we'd spread out and I was towards the back of the main pack (with a few driving off the front). I held my own in this group, avoiding my normal fade and apart from a slight lack of concentration at around 20 mins was very happy with my swim. Coming out of the water in 17th and 29mins, not the best of times, but with the fastest only managing a 25mins it seems it was an honest if slightly long swim - I was very happy.

I flew through the bagged T1 (2nd fastest T1 of the day) taking a few places on the way, so was onto the bike course in top 15, or so. Although I could have been anywhere in the top 100 for all I knew as we were mixing up with full Challenge athletes already.

Then things took a slight downwards turn, there was a small climb out of town to start the bike course and I was overtaken by a couple of guys in the first 5mins, my legs just felt weak. I pushed the first 20k and was just about holding my own, but my HR was high, my legs were dying and it didn't feel sustainable. I don't think I can blame the new bike, Mike, Paul and the guys at capital Cycles have done a great job sorting me out there...


...I'm just not where I need to be yet.

The course was tough, there was no let up, rolling and some decent hills, on really slow large stone chip. But it was the same for everyone. I've only been back on the bike since early Dec, so I guess I'm just a bit weak - or maybe Kiwis are just that much better on the bike than us Brits??


(rough stone chip!)

At about 40k I came down a great hill, spinning out in the 53x11 and managed to lose my chain outside my front ring, it then wrapped itself around the rear mech and I had to stop and unhook it, in total I stopped for a minute, but I'd gone from gaining on the guy ahead to losing 2 places. I told myself not to let it get me down and to push it too hard to get back to where I was. But in doing so I think I dropped off the pace, I lost another 5 - 10 places over the last hour and was pretty despondent when I rolled into T2 with a bike split of 2:44 - my worst middle distance bike leg since HIMUK in 2005!

The good news is I came off the bike feeling pretty fresh, I guess because I'd not been riding that hard! Another good transition, this time 3rd fastest of the day. Onto the run and I immediately started cruising through the field. All the eating the day before the race caught up with me and I had to take a pit stop (another minute lost) at 8k, but I was soon back charging through the field. I haven't worked out my position at T2 (I guess low twenties), but I clocked the 3rd fastest half marathon in 1:25 and was really pleased when i heard I'd got myself back up to 10th overall.

I feel like I should have been 10mins quicker on the bike - there is certainly some work to be done there - but it gives me something to concentrate on for the next 7 weeks until Taupo.

Apparently the bike course there isn't quite as tough, surface or hill wise, so 5 hard weeks on the bike and I should be ok.

All in all, an enjoyable trip to a fantastic event and location. A 10th place is ok and lots of lessons learnt to take to Taupo and consider over the next 7 weeks training I'll get proper race pics up shortly, but in the meantime I'm off for a day or so of rest before getting the bike out. A lot.

Laurence

Wellington Splash n Dash

Celebrate the small victories!!

6th Overall and 1st in Age Group

Last night I completed my third splash n dash in Wellington (ocean swim and run). The distance of 750m followed by a 3 or 4k run couldn't suit me less - lots of swimming time, no biking and a fast run! The first one I did in December, the night after I arrived in Welly, I struggled home in 11th place in a time of 24:30. Two weeks later on a slightly faster night (there weren't too many white horses) I clocked a 24:25. After a few weeks solid running I'd picked up some pace on the run, but was still disappointed in my swim.

However, a Christmas on the beach (with the wetsuit) and generally putting in the hard yards and my swimming has come on a notch. I was out of the water last night in 7th, a quick transition and I hit the run in 6th. Even with an extra k of running (last night was 750m, 4k) I managed to clock a 26:03. Nearly 2 mins off my swim and T1 time from early December.

The AG group win was nice, and to be 6th behind some Sprint and Olympic specialists is no disgrace . A perfect confidence boaster for the Lake Wanaka Half on Saturday.

I've had a rest day today (treated myself to a massage) and will be heading down to Queenstown and Wanaka first thing tomorrow. The field seems small, with the big guns going long on the full event (Challenge Wanaka), so maybe I can scrap a top 10 or even better!

Will post Sunday / Monday with an update.

Laurence