The journey of my "Midlife Crisis!"...part 5 (Ironman NZ)

You cannot imagine the feeling of excitement that I felt when I got to Ironman registration in Taupo on March 3 and they put the athlete's wristband on my wrist. At that moment, everything I had been working towards for the past 3 years had been worth it and it all of a sudden felt very real. Just being in Taupo itself - being part of the atmosphere and seeing all of the other athletes was a sensational feeling. I will admit that in the week leading up to Ironman there were quite a few nerves but they all went away as soon as I got to Taupo.

Thursday & Friday were spent relaxing mostly although I did go for a quick bike, swim, & run just to stretch the legs. Following registration on Thursday I attended a seminar run by Tony Jackson - who had completed all 26 of the Ironman NZ run to date so as you can imagine with someone of his experience he had quite a few tips. There was also the carbo-loading party on Thursday night which is where all the athletes load up on pasta, bread, & salad ahead of Ironman - essentially the last big feast. Friday saw another seminar run by a well known coach named Jon Ackland who gave more advice for first timers doing the event. By that time G & Sally had arrived and  the support crew was nearly complete - R & I, G, Sally, Peter, Mum, Glen & Linda...collectively known as "Team Orange". Plus there were a heap of friends who were going to follow my progress on the internet such is the beauty of the modern world. All support was gratefully appreciated by me as having people there to cheer you on does give you a big boost and spur you on.

Not surprisingly given what I was going to be doing the next day, after a big plate of spaghetti bol (thanks Peter), I was in bed just after 8pm. I thought I would have difficulty sleeping but I actually didn't...but I had an inkling that I would be awake early so I wasn't surprised that at 3.30am I was lying wide awake in bed.

Ironman Day - 5 March 2011
I was up at 4.45am so that I could have a big breakfast and by 5.30am I was in the car with G & Sally heading down to the Taupo Domain which was headquarters for the race. I had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast all week and it had suggested that there would be showers early in the day with light northerly winds and clearing in the afternoon. Well they got one part of it right - the wind was coming from the north. When I woke up, the rain was bucketing down and showed no sign of letting up...which was a preview of the day ahead as apart from some brief respites it didn't let up throughout the whole day. I didn't however get too worried about it as the weather is the one thing that you cannot control and it was the same for all the competitors - from elite down to novice.

As my bike had been checked in the previous day, all I had to do was to make sure that the tyres hadn't gone down overnight and to load up the bike with the first lot of drink bottles I'd need on the road. After that, it was into the change tent to get out of the wet but also to have some down time ahead of the start. The mood in the tent was subdued as everyone was thinking about the day ahead so there were some nerves and not a  lot of chatter. After getting into my wetsuit, there was a 400 metre walk down to the lake front for the start. Surprisingly there were no nerves on my part when I was down at the lake as I was determined to enjoy the day - and if anyone has seen the official Ironman NZ TV program (showed in April) and saw my 3 second appearance on camera, the big grin I had on my face would back that statement up. The elite athletes are given a 15 minute head start, so after they had taken off at 6.45 it was the turn of the rest of the field (age-groupers) to swim out to the start line. Getting into the water was such a buzz, and when you get to the start line and are surrounded by 1450 other people the buzz intensifys - especially as before the start we all let out a big cheer. (One of those spontaneous things!) Still no nerves on my part and in the final couple of minutes leading up to the start, I reflected on my journey to get to that point and it felt so worth the effort that had gone into it. The 10 second countdown came on, then starting cannon went off and I was away.

Swim leg - 3.8km

In the previous triathlon/half ironman events I'd done, I knew that the start of the swim would be a bit of a bash & smash fest as people jockey for position and for clear swimming space - it's normal to get hit by flying arms & legs. And this event was no different in that regard however the only difference is that I continued to get bashed for at least the first 1.5km. Swimming 3.8km is a long way when you look at in totality however based upon the advice from Tony Jackson the previous Thursday I broke it down into 2 legs - the first leg being 1.8km to the swim turnaound markers down the lake, and the second leg being the last 2 km coming back. This philosophy worked well for me. One of the biggest challenges in the swim leg can be the boredom of it so you try to keep your mind active with silly little things - one of the ones I used was to try and count the number of golf balls I could see on the lake floor from the Hole in One golf challenge. I also tried to keep directly behind a swimmer in front of me as that forced me to concentrate on their feet so that I didn't get hit by them - the other benefit of that is you go quicker because of the reduced drag from swimming behind someone. I got to the swim turnaround markers (after initially aiming at the wrong one) and I felt pretty good as I headed back to the start line. By this time the field had spread out so the bashfest had stopped, and it was gratifying to actually be passing some people. The only difficulty I experienced on the return leg was my swimming goggles fogging up near the end meaning I couldn't see particularly well, but apart from that the swim went as well as I had expected. Before I knew it, I was back on the beach and starting the 400 metre run to the transition area.
Swim time - 01:19:07

Bike leg - 180km
The 400m run is a good way to get your legs working properly again after the swim, and what I remember of the run was running along this green matted path which was quite narrow and being surrounded on both sides by cheering spectators. Into the change tent, out of the wetsuit, and into the cycling gear. Due to the weather I had to make a choice on whether I would wear a second cycling top over the one I had worn under my wetsuit, and in the end I decided that I would. With hindsight this turned out to be a very good decision!
Out to the bike, and exited the transition area just under 10 minutes after I got out of the water.

The bike course is 2 x 90km laps to the town of Reporoa. The course itself is considered undulating with some small hills at the start which is then followed by a lot of flat roads to Reporoa, so I initially took it easy until I got warmed up. The rain hadn't let up and was tipping down making the roads very slippery and the chances of puncturing a lot higher than normal. One of the other considerations on the bike is the non-drafting rule meaning that you cannot be within 7 metres of the front wheel of the bike in front of you. If you are within this distance then you get an advantage of being "towed" along by the person in front. If you're caught by one of the officials, you get a 4 minute time penalty - thankfully I wasn't caught but I did get warned once. One of the real benefits of Ironman is that all of your food & drink requirements are catered for, and the aid stations on the bike course were approximately every 15kms. These contained a lot of items - banana's, mini moro bars, cookies, energy gels, coke, water, electrolyte drink...a real smorgasbord. You basically yelled out what you wanted, someone shoved it into your hand, and you keep on going without stopping. I got the hang of it pretty quick!

1 hour 42 into the bike I got to Reporoa for the first time, and turned to come back to Taupo. The wind (what there was of it) which had been a headwind going to Reporoa all of a sudden became a tail wind which meant that my speed increased. The biggest risk on the bike is going too hard and completely blowing out your legs so that by the time you get to the run you've got nothing left. I was very conscious of this so played it conservatively. One of the hills on the course is known as Heartbreak Hill and is the last "big" one coming back into Taupo, and it's one that I'd heard a lot of stories about...but I soon found out that the reality is no where near as bad as the legend suggested and before I knew it I was over it and on the downward ride into Taupo.

Coming back into Taupo the first time was a great feeling as the spectators who were braving the conditions really spurred me on. The return leg from Reporoa had only taken 1 hour 30 minutes, and heading out of Taupo again towards Reporoa for the second time I was feeling fantastic.This feeling continued until about 15kms from Reporoa when the wind (which was a head-wind again) decided to increase in velocity and combined with the driving rain made for very unpleasant conditions. I again thanked my lucky stars for my choice of wearing the 2nd cycling top as I saw a lot of cold athletes who were shivering in just a single layer.

Turning at Reporoa for the second and final time, the total time on the bike was just over 5 hours and it was time to change my eating & drinking habits. Up to that point I had been using a mixture of liquids, gels, and solid food however in order to make sure I avoided any stomach upsets during the run leg I switched to just using liquids & gels - and I now introduced flat coke as well for the instant sugar fix. Up and over Heartbreak Hill for the final time and I was still feeling mentally & physically OK - although not as good as I had felt 90km earlier - and just after 3.15pm I entered the transition area to complete the bike leg. (To put some context on how good the elite guys are, the overall Ironman winner Cameron Brown had just finished the whole event just as I was getting off the bike!)
Bike time - 06:39:36
Total time to that point - 08:08:42

Run leg - 42.2km
Getting off the bike after 180km felt very good and my legs were in pretty good shape, but I knew that the run leg is the leg that gets people. The run course is a 2 x 21km lap course from Taupo Domain to 5 Mile Bay and like the bike course is considered undulating. None of the hills would bother me on a normal day, but Ironman is different...

After coming out of transition in just under 7 minutes, I started off at a gentle pace just to ease my legs into it. The advice I'd been given was to take it easy for the first 5-7kms and then assess how things were after that. Running down the Lake Terrace, I got a surprise to see "Team Orange" standing on a stage that was reserved for the entertainment...the rain was still coming down and it was the only place to keep dry. Seeing them lifted me and I sailed through the first 10.5km in just over 1 hour 4 minutes - which wasn't too far off normal pace for me. Unfortunately that pace wouldn't last.

Coming back from 5 Mile Bay, I started to get sharp pains in my lower stomach and they got worse the more I ran. It felt like a pulled muscle or something along those lines as it was very intense and localised pain. However if I walked then the pain wasn't as bad so for a fair percentage of the way back to Taupo to complete the first lap I walked - I did run some of the way but it was only in very short bursts. This wasn't ideal but could have been a lot worse. I trotted back into Taupo to complete the first lap in just over 2 hours 30 minutes, and turned around to go back to 5 Mile Bay...this time wearing a very fetching yellow poncho to attempt to keep me dry!

It was at about the 25km mark that I started to be able to run for longer periods and found that the pain had pretty much gone away - and it was also a good way to keep warm as by that stage it was after 6pm so it was starting to cool down. By this time my stomach had had enough of energy gels, electrolyte drink, and flat coke so I started eating orange segments and found that they had a great effect on me so I continued to eat them for the remainder of the day. Bodywise at this point apart from the earlier stomach pains, I was feeling fine and didn't have any doubt that I would finish - and at that point I started to think about what my finish time might be. I had given "Team Orange" an estimated time of where I would be at certain parts of the day with a finish time of between 14 hours & 14 hours 45 minutes, but I had found that the more oranges I ate my running pace was quickening instead of slowing down - meaning that I was on track to finish a lot quicker than I anticipated.

When I turned around at 5 Mile Bay for the second and final time I knew the end was in sight - only 10.5km away. My running cadence was still going well and unbelievably the rain eased up...for about 10 minutes anyway! As it was now after 7.30pm I was given a yellow glowstick to go along with my fashionable yellow poncho...so I looked a real treat!! Mentally on that final leg I got my biggest lift coming out of Rainbow Point - which was about 5km from the finish - as I knew at that point there were no more hills and it was all down hill to the finish. My speed really picked up from that point on and it felt like I was positively sprinting...in reality I probably wasn't but after 13 hours on the go it sure felt like it! Running down Lake Terrace by the lake, it felt like my feet weren't touching the ground and I was feeling brilliant - I was still getting cheered on by the hardy spectators who had stayed out after dark (as it now was!). Turning into Tongariro Street, I ditched my poncho & glowstick as (call me vain) I didn't want the photo's at the finish line to be of me wearing those. I saw Rochelle in the crowd as I ran down Tongariro and that thrilled me immensely that she was going to see me finish. I continued down Tongariro, turned left into Taupo Domain and enter the finishing chute...and there was the finish line! I can remember having the biggest grin on my face running down the chute as the people were cheering me on, a high 5 for G who was in the crowd, a high 5 for some random person, and then across the finish line with the voice of Ironman Mike Reilly saying "You're an Ironman, Aaron!".
Run time - 05:12:03
Total Ironman time- 13:27:38

Immediately afterwards, I went into the finishers tent with my medal & my towel across my shoulders. I had some of the best soup I had ever tasted, got the obligatory post event massage, and chatted to other finishers - some first timers like me, others who had been there done that before. About an hour afterwards, I came out to see "Team Orange"...and I then went to McDonalds for a Quarter Pounder & fries! And it tasted outstanding!

So what's next?
That is a question I have been asked a lot post Ironman as once you reach a peak like Ironman, what else can offer the same challenge? I did go through what is known as the Ironman blues which I hear is a fairly common occurance - it basically feels like a relationship break up (not to be too dramatic) as there is a real sense of emptiness after putting so much time & effort into something like Ironman. I soon got over that...

So what's next...the answer to that question is my family! I could not have achieved what I did in Ironman without the immeasurable support of them - and it is now well overdue that I spend some time with them. I will still continue to do the odd event but for at least the next few years it won't be anything as big as Ironman.

Would I do Ironman again...absolutely! The mantra I repeated to myself over & over during that day was to enjoy it and I really did enjoy it. I do see myself doing Ironman NZ again in the future and hopefully I will have as much fun as I did this time around.

The End...for now. Thanks for being part of the journey!