Why so soon after the marathon? Well in my mind there was no need to muck around as the clock was ticking towards Ironman and as a vehicle for recovering after the marathon, jumping on a bike is a pretty good one as it's low impact on joints and keeps things moving. And in keeping with my way of entering events to stay motivated, I entered a couple of minor ones - a duathlon in Auckland in late June 09 and a cycle event around Cambridge in August. I picked these events as they eased me into using the bike as since my initial foray onto a bike back in August 08, I hadn't gone near one as I had focussed solely on running.
The duathlon in particular interested me as it was my first dipping of the toe into the water of multisport events. A standard duathlon is a run/bike/run and this one was fairly short - run 5km, bike 20km, run 2.5km. In my mind with all of the running training I'd done over the previous 9 months, I could get away with doing minimal run training and instead of focussing on getting used to riding a bike for longer periods. Strategy worked fairly well and on race day I'd only been for 4 training runs...which isn't much considering the marathon had been 8 weeks earlier!
Contact Duathlon Series Auckland (5km run, 20km bike, 2.5km run)
28 June 2009
Target Time - no idea whatsoever!
Actual time - 1.15.44
Body weight - no idea. I gave up counting after the Rotorua marathon
In what must have been an omen for my Ironman day, it chucked it down with rain that day! Not just showers but full on rain & wind...but I still really enjoyed it. That I came last in my age group (and overall there were only 6 people behind me) didn't bother me in the slightest.
After that, the running shoes were well and truly put away and weren't really touched for about 8 weeks as the focus really shifted to the bike. As I had done a lot of biking when I was younger, I was very comfortable in the saddle and didn't mind riding during the wind & rain early in the mornings - remembering that it was the middle of winter at that time. What amazed me was that when the conditions were at their worst, there were a ton of other nutters out there doing the same thing as me! I thought I was the only crazy one...
So onto Cambridge one weekend in mid-August for my first cycling event. Riding by yourself on the roads is one thing but it is something else to ride in a big bunch and as this was my first time doing that I was a bit nervous...OK quite a lot nervous. Reason for the nerves is that when you're in a group like that you always have to be watching what's going on around you as one slip could mean a lot of riders come off their bikes. There's also a certain etiquette about bunchriding like making sure you take your turn riding at the front - being at the front means you get hammered by the wind first and have to work harder whilst others behind you get an easier ride. In the end it's a quick learning curve and after a while you learn to relax and enjoy it!
Wakaroc Winter Ride Series - race 2 Cambridge (70km)
16 August 2009
Target time - honestly no idea however had between 2.45-3 hours in my mind
Actual time - officially...did not finish!
If I learnt anything from the ride was that riding in bunches really does make you go faster as for the first 56 kms, I was gunning it and on target for a finish time around 2.20hrs...but then I heard the sound that all cyclists dread which was air escaping from my tire as I ran over a piece of glass. It was also then I discovered that you need a decent pump as the one I had would not inflate my replacement tube. So without a means to pump my tire up, I had to sit on the side of the road and wait for the van that follows tail end charlie to come pick me up. Not impressed at all...and the first thing I did the following weekend was go out and buy a decent pump that worked!!
Post the race, I immediately entered the Lake Taupo cycle challenge at the end of November. Much in the same vein as the marathon in Rotorua, the Taupo cycle challenge offered the chance to really test whether I could cope with the demands of the Ironman bike leg. The distance was 160km and the course was pretty tough with a lot of hills for the first 100km and then the mother of all hills after 130km. It was also around this time that I was first told about a Half Ironman event in Cambridge in mid-November - 2 weeks before the Taupo cycle challenge. Doing a Half Ironman is a natural stepping stone to the full Ironman however what concerned me was the timing of the event to the Taupo cycle - which was my main focus - so I decided that I would do the Half Ironman in a team with me doing the swim & bike, and Roger doing the run. That way I could get a good feel for the Half Ironman but not destroy my legs totally prior to the Taupo event.
To really add to the busy schedule, I entered the Onehunga Half marathon at the end of September. With Ironman less than 7 months away, I was now having to not solely focus on one discipline but had to start mixing the training up to include all elements. This meant getting up at 5am and going swimming in the mornings at the Olympic Pools prior to work 2 mornings a week, and alternating to either run or bike during my lunch breaks at work. Then on the weekends I had to do a longish run and a longish bike ride...so yes it was becoming time consuming. But the results were showing...
27 September 2009
Target time - 1.53.18 (previous PB)
Actual time - 1.41.01 (new PB)
Shaving 12 minutes off your personal best doesn't happen that often so I was understandably very happy. It helps when you have a dead flat course and someone running with you who can help push you along (thanks Peter).
One of the key drivers throughout all of this was the satisfaction I felt when I reached mini targets. Running the PB in the Onehunga Half was one, the first time I swam 1km without stopping was another. It even got the stage that I was taking days off work so that I could cycle from Maramarua to Cambridge (115km) just so that I could say I had cycled over 100km for the first time! But it's these little things that keep you sane and keep you going because there are also bad days when you feel like nothing goes right or you're out there running and you feel like rubbish! The good/bad days are all part and parcel of putting yourself through this type of thing...and was in full evidence during the Karapiro Half Ironman.
14 November 2009
Total team time - 6.09.48 (first in our age group so we got a medal...OK we were the only team in our group)
My times - 4.51.06
It was a bad day at the office...no other words for it. What didn't help matters was that on the Monday & Tuesday prior to the event, I was in bed with a vomitting bug meaning I wasn't eating and definintely not training. The lack of training I could probably get away with but the not eating will cause issues as one of the key components of doing an endurance event is making sure that the week prior to the event that you're eating things to help you ge through the event - lots of carbs specifically! Because I didn't eat anything for 2 days, I really paid for it on the Saturday. I got through the swim OK however when I got onto the bike there was no energy in the legs and it was a struggle. And to top it all off, I punctured about 10km from the bike finish...I think someone was telling me not to do any more events in Cambridge!! Luckily my pump worked this time and i was able to get moving pretty quickly. Probably the only positive I took away from the day was that even when I was really struggling, I knew in my mind that I was always going to complete it which showed me that the mental toughness was there.
Having such a bad day at Karapiro made me more determined to have a great day at the Taupo cycle challenge. Peter decided fairly late on that he was going to enter to keep me company and G came up from Wellington to cheer us on. So on the last Saturday in November, I lined up with 10,000 other cyclists for the biggest cycling event in the Southern Hemisphere.
Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge (160km)
28 November 2009
Target time - 6.00.00
Actual time - 5.41.39
Well...it was a great day! Weather conditions were perfect (drizzle and no wind) and I really enjoyed myself...although going up Hatepe Hill was tough and there were a few words spoken under my breath that can't be repeated here! I spent most of the ride in several bunches which meant that I was able to go for faster longer than I would have if I'd been by myself - however after Hatepe I was pretty much by myself until the finish. But I was very happy at the end to finish the distance and know that I could carry on for the extra 20km that would make up the Ironman bike distance - which again comes back to the mental side of Ironman. Remove the mental doubt about whether you can do the distance and you go a long way to reaching the goal of completing it.
Natually after Taupo I was very keen and ready to push on for Ironman - which was a little over 3 months later in March 2010. I hadn't entered at that stage as I wanted to be absolutely sure I could do it before I paid the substantial entry fee...over $750.00. After completing the Taupo cycle challenge, I was then in a position to say that I could do it so was ready to enter. However something occurred that I hadn't planned on with R being made redundant from her job with HRG/APX. Suddenly without the second income coming in, spending that amount of money to Ironman became a very low priority. So we both made the joint decision that I wouldn't be doing Ironman 2010 and would delay it for 12 months and instead do Ironman 2011.
Hindsight is a great thing...and with hindsight it turned out to be a very good decision!
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