Sunday 24 July 2011

Outlaw Ironman Distance Triathlon - 24 July 2011

1st ever Ironman Distance Race

Had lost motivation in weeks leading up to race so did not have the best taper Period. However i felt good going into race

Pre race
Up at 2.30 for breakfast, had peanut butter bagel and tin of rice pudding.
Got to venue about half four to finish setting up.
Had a SIS energy drink about 45 mins before and a torq gel about ten minutes before.


Swim
Started at 6.00am and started reasonably near the front, took it really easy on swim as aimed not to get out of breath at all. Felt really comfortable and strong and started to make ground up on people (including the relay teams)

Swim time= 1:02:05, was actually 29th in the swim including relay teams so was pretty chuffed.

T1
Was relatively calm in T1 as not many people around. Was good as managed to get HR to drop and even managed to get a seat

T1 time = 4:48


Bike
Felt good getting on bikes and soon settled into HR Z1. Biking is always the weakest one and and started to get people passing me but kept focused on my race plan which was 0-30 miles @ Z1, 30-60 @ Z1-2, 60-90 @ Z2, 90-112 @Z2.

I kept in Z1 for 0-30 and then few Z2 efforts in 30-60, However the course was really windy especially on slow uphill out the back of the laps. Could only really manage Z1-2 on 60-90. Was planning on a final push at 90-112 but pulled over for toilet at 90 miles at side of raod and had BTF motorcycle pull and and take my number with the quote that it depends on race organiser if i would be disqualified. Well head went completely there are was thinking whats the point in pushing for last 22 miles only to be pulled of the course. Just kept to Z1.

Nutrition went according to plan which was
0-20 mins - only water
20-40 mins - 2/3 of Power bar & water
40-60 mins - 2/3 of Power bar & water
60-80 mins - 2/3 of Power bar & water
every 20 mins thereafter was Powerbar Gel and water with SIS electrolyte.

Had to go to toilet a lot though but thought better to be hydrated (about every hour)

Average Speed = 18.5mph
Total time = 6:03:43

T2
Was really nervous going in just in case i was stopped and pulled off the course. However this did not happen. Felt OK during T2, got changed efficiently not rushing, had to go toilet again though for No.1 but was looking forward to getting onto marathon as i always worry about biking.

T2 time = 4:21

Run
Felt good starting off but did not want to set of to fast as thought would pay for it later. First half of the marathon went off pretty well, alternated between SIS gels and water. Around the half way mark it started to get hard so started incorporating coke at the aid stations (which i was now walking through. from 18-24 was a bit of a nightmare but carried on running and pushed through it as the last 1 1/2 was around the lake which was good as its not to bad when you can see the finish.

Run Time = 04:07:30

Total time = 11:22:26
Position = 104th
Age Group position = 8th



Finish
And there it was the finish line, felt really good to finish especially within my target time of 12 hours. Was good to have Sam, Damien, Elaine, Rachel and Ben at the end as was pretty spaced out.

Things that went well
- Good swim
- Good pacing throughout the day
- Nutrition plan seemed to work pretty well


Things to improve
- Biking (both endurnace and Muscular endurance) including time on TT bars, this should help running as well.
- Mental aspect as got affected by the BTF bike taking my name (could of got under 6 hours for bike otherwise)
- Could of perhaps pushed a bit harder in run but did not want to blow up

1 comment:

  1. good effort mate.

    something that might interest you:

    http://interlaken2012.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete