Ironman Western Sydney 70.3 - Nov 29, 2015

Another swing and miss @ automatic World Champs Qualification in Western Sydney… but overall, I am happy with this one, and I will be back as I loved the course!

Good ride, good run… undone by wetsuit non-wetsuit swim.

Western Sydney was originally looked upon as the local race for me. Didn’t come with great wraps about the course… boring… hot… etc… but I entered none the less as it was an easy bird to take down that was relatively close to home. As it was both mine and my sons birthday, I decided long ago that this would be a smash and grab race… drive down and back (90mins each way) on Saturday to drop my bike in and register… then drive down again on Sunday to race.

Worked out quite well actually as I didn’t get caught up in the pre-race nervousness, the hype… the expo… I simply dropped my bike in, go a couple of supplies and headed home for dinner and my own bed. Perfect.

Up early the next morning, 3:30am, got dressed and left. The only negative of this was the traffic line up at the venue. Single lane, 2 lines of traffic covering several lanes all converging into a single lane entry road. Next year I will leave early so I get more than 15mins to set up my transition. 15mins is enough, it does add pressure though when the clock is ticking.

I forgot my disc valve cover… and in my haste I dropped an ear plug for the swim. All good.

To the race itself; the Swim was good… the murky waters of the regatta centre weren’t that bad. You could see the ropes underneath the surface and the water didn’t leave a foul taste or have any smell about it like some lakes can.

I DID know though, that right from the start… right from when I was swimming from the waters edge to the start line that it was going to be a slow one. I did a short warm up and it felt like I was moving nowhere hahaha!

The race started and I took off all guns blazing… like I do at every club race… up there with the front men for the first 100m or so… although based on my swim ability this was probably more like the first 30m, not 200m :p

Swimming fast, but at my limit, I quickly jumped on the toes of a swimmer starting to gradually pull away from me and I held on tight… better than I normally can. Very happy at this point… swimming faster with slightly less effort, I start to wonder if I can jump on someone else’s feet if they go past both of us… done… another swimming going slightly faster… in I go.

I hold this until the first turn at the far end… I turn… and I lose the feet on the acceleration out of the corner… I work hard, but can’t quite muster the speed to get back on. The fella behind me goes around me and I get his feet to the next turn.

Rounding turn 2 we have caught up to the stragglers from the wave in front and some navigation is required. I lose my tow-truck… for good this time... and the swim down the back straight is a looooong solo one. I look forward a few times to sight to the buoys and I see the other lads just up ahead… but alas I just don’t have the turn of foot in the swim at this stage and I can’t catch up. Still, I felt strong and continued on. I had 2 blokes on my feet clinging to my every move so I couldn’t have been going too bad.

I started counting strokes to get me to the end… in the pool, it takes me 23/46 strokes to swim 100m normally, so I just counted them down and sighted after each 23… hahaha it felt like I was going nowhere a couple of times. I got there though… having dreamt about a 32-33mins swim (after my 28min in Port), I was pretty shocked to see 36:50 on the Garmin. Not disappointed… but shocked. I have never really swam fast at the Regatta Centre so I shouldn’t have been surprised… but it was what it was… I moved on and ran out of the water up to T1.

52^nd in the AG. Top 50 is usually my benchmark for a fair swim for me, so I’ll take it, despite the time lost…

                                    

T1…. A little hard to get the swim skin off… and tough to then also get the sleeved Tri suit up over my shoulders when soaking wet. Not the slowest Transition I have ever done, but easily my slowest 70.3 transition in quite some time, and way slower than my fellow 35-39’ers. To be vastly improved.

Comment on the Blue Seventy swim skin – the jury is out. I felt tight and snug in it… and as written, I felt fast… and I felt the goods… but I was not fast and it was hard to get off in the heat of the moment. I only got to test this out in the pool once and it did have some advantages according to the Garmin, but obviously not as much as a full wetsuit. Also; any practice I did… it was hard to get off… and surprise surprise in the race itself, it was no different. Funny that!

Onto the bike… being politically correct, I got onto the bike and got my feet into my shoes close to the worst I have ever seen a fully functioning human being do it. It didn’t take me long mind you, but it was slapstick. Think Chris McCormack v Marino VanHoenacker in Kona 2012… that was me… and it’s not the first time I have tried to do this too fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfpe_xEfLA4

My issue this time was that I bumped my bike getting around people in transition and the rubber bands I had holding my shoes snapped and the shoes flapped loose… normally no problem… but it was not was I was prepared for. I do like to mentally visualise each part of T1 when coming to the end of the swim… and this was not part of it…

Anyhoo… no biggie. Boom time!

Out on the bike and I am flying. I did a velodrome TT the week before to simulate this ride and hit 2hrs @ 38.4km/h… perfect. If I can hold that I will be riding a 2:21 ride in relative comfort and be ready to run.

On the way out of town I looked down to see a 41km/h average. I didn’t feel too much wind tbh, I just felt good. I checked the HR and the Power and while HR was over slightly, I went with it for a wee while before concentrating on getting it in check and around the 80-85% mark max. Perfect, done.

1:10:25sec for the first 45km.

A new 40km PB for me in 1:02:01hrs

For me, I was smoking and feeling great. I stayed aero for just about the entire trip that I can think of and had zero issues.

I obviously didn’t know it at the time but I had moved up from 52^nd, to 31^st.

Lap 2 was almost a carbon copy of lap one except I seemed to have run out of “I” AG’er bunnies to chase down. I still overtook a few but it was noticeable at the far end that I was well behind the leaders. I won’t say there was drafting going on BUT they were very easy to spot a couple of times… and I knew how far behind I was. In addition to this, I was riding solo… that’s damn hard work for 90km when especially when chasing a group that is feeding off each other. No matter how hard I thought I was trying, it was no use trying to catch a pack when riding solo… so I settled in and did my thing.

I felt like I TT’ed the h*ll out of the course.

Lap 2 was almost a carbon copy of lap 1 according to the splits. 1:10:52secs and I had moved up to 23^rd… going by feel, I thought I might be around the 15^th mark and in with a shot at a top 5 or 6.

   

T2 was a lot faster. Not awesome, but a lot faster than T1. Newtons on, I grabbed my hat full of gear and ran.

I do like this run course out here… its wide open and there are plenty of bunnies to chase, you can see everyone… and of course you have the spectators to cheer you on just about the whole way around the run course!

Aprt my poor run in Port, I enetered this race with one goal… run well. I had to start leaner… and I had to start faster. I started out with 1 goal from the outset…  to run 4min pace for the first km or 2. Establish my running legs and get a feel for it.

3:55min and 4:03min… check. Time to settle in to goal race pace and hold it before a final kick. Goal race pace was a minimum of 90mins so 4:16 was the benchmark to stay on or under…

4:05, 4:07, 4:02, 4:08, 4:03… I’m doing it… so I drop my goal to 4:10pace minimum… with the exception of 1 or 3 km over that new goal pace I did manage to hold it quite comfortably… well as comfortable as you can be in a 70.3 race and your HR being mid 160’s to mid 170’s.

At the 3km to go mark… the far turn point from the finish line, I decide its time to have one last crack.

I’d seen my great mate Shane Chamings out there having a great run a few times in passing but I hadn’t passed him yet… so I decided I would at least catch up to him (albeit a lap in front) and then go from there… the tough bugger made it harder than I expected though hahaha and I think I caught him with 1.5km to go or close to it. It was a highlight for me… that and cheering on all the other locals that I saw out there and swapped encouragement with.. Shane though, was having a belter. Catching up to Shane involved me running 4min flat pace, then 3:55, before finally winding up for the last km in 3:38mins with a 180 max HR… wowzers!

 

Crossing the line I thought top 10… not quite there in the end, but chuffed enough to see I dropped from 52^nd out of the swim, to 23^rd off the bike… to 12^th after running the half marathon… I went past exactly 40 people after getting out of the drink… I’ll take that, now I’ve just got to get out of the water sooner!

4:28:22hrs - not quite a PB for the distance, but damn close! A time good enough for 5th last year...

To summarise the race; again, disappointed in 12^th. I am hoping to Qualify for the 70.3 World Championships off one great result… a top 5 or 6 should do it… BUT, I am very happy with the turnaround from my Port Macquarie Ride (where I had mechanical and nutritional issues), and my Port Mac run, which I just didn’t have in me that day.

In Western Sydney, I had it in me… and then some… I had a personal point to prove in regards to my 1:35 run in Port… and I did that… and possibly even had a little bit more in me now I reflect on how fast I finished and I look at the numbers… not too much more though and I will bank it.

Massive thanks yet again to Big Sexy Racing, for being such an awesome team to be in. Wonderful group of people, being led by 7 x IM champion Chris McDonald.
PRO4MANCE Nutrition - Yet again; no nutritional issues at all during the race and full of energy from start to finish! No cramps, no flat spots or stomach issues... perfect!
The TLR wheels kept me rolling all day as usual... great wheels!

Also a HUUUGE thanks to my wife and boys... allowing me to nick off on my birthday... and my son Harry's birthday :) 

As far as the World Champs are concerned… I WILL be there by hook or by crook. I’m currently 6^th on the 70.3 season pass rankings, with 2 in front of me already Qualified… so technically I’m 4^th.. and currently in a WC’s Q spot based on the 75 slots being allocated via normal allocation procedures… fingers crossed I stay on track.

Ballarat next up. Seems like a similar profiled course… not sure what the weather is going to do, but hopefully I at least get to don the wetsuit again!!

A Freebee to anyone who cares… this is my mental strategy to a 70.3 Half Marathon…

* Start Fast, with very fast feet. 100 cadence (or close to it). Don’t look at the HR at all… it’s going to be high from the adrenalin rush of transition… calm down after 1km or 2km

* Then… know the pace you want to hold (you should have trained for the course and the pace you want)… I then try to hold that overall race pace consistently, or just under… if 90mins is my goal, I now stay on or under 4:16pace. I have the early advantage from the first 2km… so I am ahead.

* Start to rationalise the pain… if I am hurting… I only have to hurt for XX more minutes. If I am 8km in… then I only have 13km to go. At 4:16 pace, that is 55mins or under. I have done that heaps in training!!

* Get past that 12km barrier… I always find around the 12km mark to be the hardest. It’s all mental… guess what though… if you have made 12km, then there is only 9 to go!! That’s approx. 40mins left! How many times have you ran uncomfortable for 40mins. You can do that!

* 14km, 15km, 16km… all equal 7km, 6km, 5km… the distance is ticking down.

* Pick a point in the run you can identify as the final stretch… the HR gets up to 175 for 10 to 12mins… the final 2 to 3km… and just go for it. I look at the watch now.. there’s only 1.6km to go… there’s only 1.43km to go… it’s now 1.25km… count some strides… beauty, now its 900m to go… whats left in the tank… go… 600m, 400m… I do 400m reps all the time… there it is… finished!

* If I want one final distraction… I count steps! I did this twice in this race. Pick a minute mark and then count the steps you want to have before the minute is up. I am always looking for 90/180 strides per minute. eg. @ 32:00mins I count my next 90 steps (one foot count)… when I get to 90 steps, I then look at my watch to see if it has hit 33mins or not… if not, or it’s hitting it exactly, my cadence is perfect… if my cadence is too slow and 33mins has already passed, I look to up it… if I am ahead… well then good for me!

Data for anyone who cares…

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/969568740

Pics credit to Finisher Pix (yet to purchase)... looks like I need to be more aero on the bike... will get another bike fit... and a P5... one day in my dreams hahaha!