Ironman Geelong 70.3 - Feb 8, 2015

Righto, it’s been long enough for me to dissect the race that was Ironman Geelong 70.3, 2015.

In short, it was a race that went 98.95% to plan… the numbers were correct, the nutrition was correct, I had a great swim time (for me), a good ride and a solid run.

Pre-race my predicted time in good conditions was 4:20hrs – 4:30hrs… I have been riding and running strongly in training and all pointed to a solid final official hitout before the laser pointer was being aimed wholly and solely on Ironman Australia on May 2.

Setting the scene; no family for this one… race prep for Port Macquarie maybe, when all will be staying at home again… just 2 mates. Andrew “Roo” Mildren and my old man, making his debut as a race traveller sans the rest of the family.

Good company.

The life and times of TA Scott, the Holbrook submarine, Gavin Miller, the big merino’s massive balls… the list goes on. Random conversation, plus the Grill team & Triple MMM one the radio and some Sufferfest soundtracks made the trip a breeze. Arrival… 3pm?

Easy stroll down to register for the race to get it out of the way, and a quick swim… very low tide, squishy slime between the toes, lots of reeds… but got a quick swim in to get the body moving. Good gear. Walk back to the apartment to settle in before strolling across the road for fish and chips.

Saturday morning greeting us with a downpour of rain… nicely timed to steam everything up for a morning ride! Only lasted 5mins though before clearing and there was no more for the rest of the weekend.

40-50mins of very easy riding. Roo, Chris Fuchs, Tim Lang, some fella and I give the course a very quick look over. I’m all good with that as I raced last year… following the actual course map would have been better… but close enough. Easy run after this… 20-25mins easy, then feet up for a bit before fixing up the bikes for check-in.

I’m feeling quite blasé writing this… but seriously everything went to plan. It is a 70.3, I think this was my 12^th race of this distance and I had everything prepared with nothing to buy except for some compression calves which I had forgotten to bring. My only hiccup prior to the race was an elevated Heart rate when putting my arm around Crowie for a happy snap… good man that, actually stopped to have a quick chat before posing for the obligatory photo… oh, that, and the massage I got may have well had been done by Helga the destroyer… a thickly set blonde lady absolutely savaged my calves and quads and left me feeling very uncomfortable the afternoon before the race! Lesson learned… if I do it again, tell them to take it easy!

Hahaha… a warning to the Melbourne IM participants dragging the chain… I do believe I heard she is working the IM, but only starting at 7:00pm… good luck to those people :)

Great to catch up with old mate, Simon Belleflamme and his lovely fiancée Giulia as well. Back from Belgium and here to stay… very gracious of them to accept my poor pre-race dietary habit of McDonalds :) Don’t hate people… just think… fats, carbs, protein, salt, calcium and protein… everything you need for an endurance race of this nature! No, it aint for the every day diet and I barely ever eat it… but I cant ever remember having stomach issues after Maccas either, so it’s winning all round in my book.

Ok… enough of the chat… race time.

Pre race nutrition on the money… followed the plan. Easy… then walk down to Transition.

Carefully and methodically set up the bike and T1/T2. Again… easy. I have a ton of gear in the bag, but barely anything is ever left in transition… where does it all go?

Helmet on the ground with the straps folded out for easy put-on… runners next to that and behind them both is the cap with sunnies folded up inside… and that’s it.

I swim with my race belt already on and a couple of gels already in my pockets… and my cycle shoes are on the bike, rubber banded up for ease of entry.

Done.

The Swim – beach wave start.

After best wishes to Roo and not being able to locate Fuchsy I go test the water before lining up on the second line of swimmers in my Age Group. Normally I would have started front line in this race but my cohorts already waiting for the gun were not giving an inch. All good, I am no superfish so I was quite happy to run and dolphin dive before trying to find some space… and maybe some feet.

Not much to say on the swim… it was relatively calm, although just enough movement to make the turn buoys hard to sight. I concentrated on staying calm myself and holding as good a technique as I am capable of. I thought I did ok to be honest. I grabbed some feet here and there but also felt comfortable and solid throughout with no low points and no moments of “How much longer is there!!”.

No one hit me and my goggles weren’t flicked off.

Swim done in 29:46 according to Multisport Australia. Given I had predicted 33-35mins, I was clearly happy with this.

T1 – wetsuit off in a flash, and chucked. The Aquaman suit was actually a treat to get off and was off to my waist (along with cap, goggles and ear plugs) before I was even out of the water.

Helmet on easy, crab the bike off the racks (as the bar never fits on the Giant Aero bars that well), and run to the mount line… someone bumps me, one of my pedals clips something and bang… rubber band holding my shoe in place comes off…. Only a minor detail… but gee it was a pain in the bum to get my foot in the shoe after that… you see, the Specialized Trivent NEEDS the rubber band… or it needs to be put on when in transition. They are not easy to get your foot in while riding as they aren’t as rigid as most shoes on the top side.

I struggled, I got the shits and the conscious decision had to be made to calm the fck down and take my time.

That’s the ticket… I’m off.

2:14mins – 20^th in the AG in T1… I can do better but it was pretty good seeing as the shoe issue would have been part of the ride.

Ride.

Up out of transition… sitting up, easy gear, high cadence up the hill to the gardens area, before dropping the gears and lighting some fires out on the main road.

A relatively simple course to follow and quite fast in areas. The only hindrances were the one climb out of Transition, which you do twice, one longer elevation on the road out of town, a couple of minute rollers and an unsuspecting breeze in parts. Nothing diabolical though and my bike time… or should I say, the bike time of Chris Fuchs points to this being a fast course when the conditions are right.

The weather was perfect from a sun and temperature point of view. Mid to upper 20’s with cloud cover.

I stuck 100% to my numbers on the ride. It took about 20mins for the HR to drop down into range after the swim and T1, but once it was down I pretty much had it on the money for the entire ride.

I got out of the saddle once or twice to go past a competitor here and there but by and large I stayed aero for most of the way with just a few small patches sitting up… albeit on my drop bars which are still quite low.

Chris Fuchs and Tim Lang caught me at the half way mark… at the end of lap 1. I gave a small burst to keep up with Chris… but no chance I was going to be up to it… he was slaying this course good and proper… so I let him and TL go.

A couple of Roo sightings while out there… but no catch today… unlike the flying Roo in Port 2013 who went past so fast he didn’t even see me!

Lap 1 – 1:14:19 / Lap 2 – 1:15:12 – total time 2:29:35

57secs difference in it indicates I was pretty consistent through I guess… and I was more than happy with my ride by the time I got to T2. Legs were good and ready to run. I had eased off slightly coming back through the park and downhill to T2 and the legs were fresh.

My gear… perfect. No bottles dropped, the XLAB torpedo did its job, the TLR wheels would have rolled to the end of the earth, the helmet had perfect ventilation… no sweat issues whatsoever, and the GPP Tri shirt was as comfortable as it gets. Perfect… no issues is what you want.

T2 – nothing to report… I exited my shoes, re-thought my idea to do a flying dismount and got off calmly and bolted for my T area. Easily found.

Rack bike, helmet off, shoes on, grab cap and run. See Tim Lang exiting transition at the same time and exchange pleasantries… well I did… TL was furious about 2 busted spokes on the ride and could feel cramps in his legs… I ran with him for about a km before he tailed off to re-gather himself.

1:32mins – 4^th in the AG for T2… that’s more like it!

The Run

This is what is was all about for me… well it was all about the ride run combo in that I wanted to pace myself and get off the bike ready to run well… so far so good, it was time to see if I was better placed for a run off than in Forster.

2 out and backs to the left of transition (into town) with an out and back run through the park (up the hill and to the right of transition) sandwiched in between.

The 2/3 of the run on the CBD side was good gear… I held a good pace throughout that section. I lost a little time when heading up into the park area… actually that part of the run stung the legs a little, but as we finished the run in the CBD and the footpath with the crowds it wasn’t too bad.

A highlight for me was having Crowie looming up for an inevitable pass… I tried to quicken up to run with him for a bit (and get a photo opportunity), but I was no chance. Sub 4 pace for me, Crowie was easily down into the 3:30’s or even lower…. Stop it clown I thought, slow down or you are going to ruin your run!!!

So I did… and promptly ran my race.

I don’t recall overtaking too many on the run… but apparently I did… all said and done though, I held a 4:04 pace for the who run with it being sub 4min pace for the first 8km… I had dreams of sub 4 pace… but they just weren't to be on the day. I ran well I thought though and clocked in a good time.

1:25:52 – 8^th fastest in the AG.

Total race time: 4:29:01 – as predicted, between 4:20hrs and 4:30hrs.

http://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/Home/IndividualResult?clientId=1&raceId=1209&eventId=1&athleteId=472130

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/693367091

The wash up

When all is said and done, I had hoped to place high in this race… top 10 was the provisional hope… although one of my big goals in this sport is to finish top 3 in an Ironman event.

In hindsight, the record books show even 4:20hrs is a struggle to get top 3 here… so it probably wasn’t going to happen just yet… it will one day though.

To quote Crowie after Kona 2010: “happy with the performance, disappointed with the result” (the placing). 15^th is nothing to sneeze at though… and neither is 4:29:01… not at all… sometimes you just have expectations though, and on this day, they were not met. I was beaten by others better on the day.

On the whole though, the performance was a cracker from an IM point of view.

I was consistent.

I swam well for me, I rode to my numbers… with great consistency as well… and my run was solid… not spectacular… but very solid and unwavering in the end.

The execution of this race was exactly what I wanted with a 12week IM prep coming up.

I shan’t be getting my hopes up too high for Port Mac… but a good result is possible.

I have the physical and mental tools to get the job done.

I have good equipment which will be maintained as well as I can.

My result on the day will come down to who else is in the field and who can deliver as well as (or better than) I can. I know I will be 100% ready though… and my performance won’t be in question.

Thanks

Huge thanks to all the support I get from my team, Big Sexy Racing and all the great sponsors involved. Too many to name and I may not race using them all, but I certainly train using a lot incl. Zoca Gear, Newton, Bonk Breaker and Ruby's Lube to name just a bare few.

Thanks also to Colin @ TLR Performance wheels for making my race wheels very affordable... and also huge thanks to Pro4mance Nutrition for adding me to the team, thus making important nutrition such as energy gels and protein a lot more accessible.

Very much appreciated.

Last but by no means least, huge thanks to my great friends and family. My mates who I train with day in and day out... always challenging me... I have improved out of sight this season with their assistance so far and look forward to it continuing if possible... AND... my lovely wife and 2 boys (soon to become 3). No chance I could do this stupid sport without their help, assistance and patience. Its a huge sacrifice to let me travel to places like Geelong without them... and again to Port in May while leaving them at home... and I cant say thank you enough. xxx

Baby #3 next... then Onward I march to Port Mac and Ironman Australia 3.0.