Run - 4h45m10s

Onto the run and I was feeling so happy that I was no longer on the bike. It felt so great to be running after such a long bike ride.  My main problem was trying not to run too fast.
I generally always run well off the bike. I was speaking to my friend Bill (who was also doing the Ironman) and we think we might run better off a 20km bike leg than we do when running on fresh legs.  It felt like I was going at walking pace, but my GPS watch (that I had moved from the bike to my wrist) was showing the pace dipping under 5 minute kilometres which I knew would not be sustainable with my lack of run training.  I picked out an older looking guy in a bright orange top who looked to be running well and decided to sit behind him - as long I resisted the urge to pass, he should keep me under control.
My heart rate was a fraction high, but well within the range I had planned and the running itself felt effortless. It was probably the most enjoyable part of the whole race but knowing that I hadn't been able to put in the run training, I knew this feeling was not going to last.

The run initially heads south to the base of Oliver's Hill (the path remains very flat).  It is a little depressing to be running further away from the finish line, but we only head that way for about a kilometre before turning and begin heading towards St Kilda.  After we get back past the transition area the route winds around a lot. At times it feels like we are running in circles and once we get on the Kananook Creek path (shown in the adjacent photos) it feels like we have truly started the run.

My nutrition plan was to grab 2 gel blasts at each Aid Station which were situated approximately every 2km.  When I asked for Gel Blasts they handed me a full packet with the top pre-opened - this was much better because I was worried the gel blasts would get soggy in my sweaty hands.  With the packet in one hand I was able to easy grab a blast whenever I wanted and I alternated between water and Gatorade at each Aid Station.  Sitting on the aero bars for nearly 6 hours on the bike must have pinched a nerve that runs between my elbow and hand, because my hands were now extremely stiff and sore.  Most of the time I had to carry the nutrition in my left hand, otherwise my right hand would start to cramp quite badly.

The picture on the right shows me running on the road directly opposite my house.  Elaine had situated herself on a deck chair out the front drinking a glass of wine.  I knew she hadn't been there long, because she was in Frankston when I started the run and also took the pictures of me above on the Kananook Ck trail.  She beat me home from Frankston by riding her pushbike.

At this point in the run I was still feeling pretty good.  It no longer felt like I was running extra slow, but my legs were feeling good I was feeling confident that I could at least make it to Mordialloc (about the 20km mark of the run).  The first official live site was just up the road at Keast Park (next to the Carrum Bowls Club).  We crossed over to the coastal trail for about 300m before we entered the park.  Kevin from Gravity Zero had his marquee tent setup along the path and it was good to see another friendly face (or even Kevin's for that matter). I've forgotten whether the 10km marker was just before or just after Keast Park, but I remember thinking the first 10km had been easy.

After Keast Park we returned to the left lane of Nepean Hwy and this was a section I hadn't been looking forward to.  Obviously I'd never run down the left lane of the highway before, but I had ridden it numerous times and I knew it had a nasty camber. My fears were well founded as it didn't take long for the camber to upset my knee.  Strangely enough I found my knee felt less pain when I ran faster, so I upped the pace about 20 secs per kilometre.  This raised the heart rate a little, but it was still within an acceptable limit. Plus I was not worried about running out of fitness, I always knew that it would be my body that gave up first.

At some point along Nepean Hwy I started to feel sick, not badly, I could just detect a slight disturbance in the disgestive forces. With this in mind I decided to hold off from the Gel Blasts for a while and switch to having Gatorade at every Aid Station to try and make up for the carbs.  This approach seemed to work as my stomach slowly settled back down and later on I was able to continue with the Gel Blasts.

Northbound cars on Nepean Hwy limited to one lane because of the race were brought to a standstill.  The competitors were literally travelling faster than the cars.  I doubt the usual amount of Nepean Hwy traffic would be a problem, but so many people were trying to follow friends in the race.  I beat Elaine to Mordialloc because she caught the Ironman Shuttle Bus.

About the 17 or 18km mark I started to feel fatigued. If the run was only 21km, I could have easily pushed on, but with the majority of the Marathon still ahead I slowed the pace right down and moved into survival mode.  Luckily my knee pain did not come back, even though I was still running on a cambered road.  Up till this point I had been picking off railway stations and things had been moving well.  Now the distance between Aspendale and Mordialloc seemed so far.

I was very happy to finally arrive in Mordialloc, it had been one of my pre-race goals to run all the way to Mordialloc. The happiness was dented a little when I realised I was still less than half way.  Dave was at Mordialloc to cheer me on, unfortunately Elaine was still stuck on Nepean Hwy in the bus.  From Mordialloc we ran on the path next to the beach.  This was one of the nicest parts of the run, especially after suffering so much from the cambered road.

We headed back to the Beach Rd path around Beaumaris and predictably it was a very steep ramp between the beach and the road.  This was the first (but not the last) section of the run I walked.  Once on Beach Rd it was nice to be such familiar ground.  It helped take my mind off how sore I was.

I was now reduced to a very slow shuffle. I was walking longer and slower at each Aid Station. In the picture to the left you can see my friend Matt keeping me company on the bike. Whereas the bike leg was extremely lonely, the run leg was full of familiar faces.  The Aid Stations popped up more regularly and they always had lots of encouragement.  Our first names were printed on our Race Bib.  One of the advantages of moving so slow is that it was easy for people to read the names and even strangers cheered you on using your name.  In the photo on the right, good friends Rob and Sue are cheering me on.  They have both done multiple Ironmans before, so knew exactly how I was feeling at this point, which off memory was around the 24km mark.
My longest ever run before this had been 22.5km, so I was now breaking new ground.  And I was breaking new ground after swimming 3.8km and riding 180km.  The picture to the left is just after the 30km mark.  Even at the slowest pace I can run, I am doing everything I can to hold form. Because I know once I start to slump forward everything will very quickly fall apart.  This is where the Core Strength exercises really paid off.  By engaging my core muscles, I could hold my posture high - this will reduce the strain on the hips, legs and back.  I could feel my core muscles starting to ache, but nowhere as bad as my legs.

Racing in your home town has the advantage of local support and I had heaps.  Of special mention are my wife Elaine and good mate Dave who together continually popped up to cheer me throughout the whole run course.  I've already mentioned Matt who rode next to be for a while and above right is a picture of a good friend Peter who rode with me for the last 10km. Despite seeing me struggle terribly over this period, he has decided to sign up for next year's race.  The other photo shows Dave, John and his son Jake who all cheered me on at North Rd, which was great because this was probably my lowest point of the whole race.

Just after the 37km mark my knees gave out. Up till then they were about the only part of my body that wasn't aching. But once they went I was reduced to a walk.  I continued walking for about a kilometre and during this time I was passed by a club member Bill who looked like he was going to finish very strongly.  After about a kilometre of walking I came to the conclusion that walking was just as painful as running, so I might as well run - as this would get it over and done with quicker.
The last 4 kilometres were absolute agony. Every step caused intense pain, but I knew that if I kept going I could stop once I passed the finish line.

The last 2 Aid Stations were magnificent.  They were manned by Triathlon Clubs and were full of so much energy and were willing the competitors on.  As I entered St Kilda there was a group of 40 or so people that weren't an Aid Station, they were just there to rev up the competitors and the noise they made as I ran through the middle was almost deafening.

Every part of me wanted to stop, but the crowds were now getting bigger and everyone in crowd was yelling encouragement.  People were holding out their hands for low fives.  Nobody in the crowd cared what time the athletes did, they were just so impressed that you were finishing the event.

I was in so much pain, I forgot to smile for the camera when I crossed the line.

 But I managed a smile (of sorts) for Elaine.

Transition 2 - 5m43s

My calf muscles had not felt great on the bike but there had been no hint of cramping since the swim.  Nevertheless I was still a little concerned about taking my feet out of my shoes, an action that has caused cramps in the past.  They came out easily with no issues which was a relief.

Generally my legs were feeling quite spent which is understandable after nearly 6 hours of riding. As I rolled towards transition I tried to massage different parts of my legs and I was pleased to discover that nothing was feeling particularly tight.

Usually in a Triathlon you dismount from the bike and then run it back to your spot within transition. Not in Ironman, you dismount and immediately hand your bike over to a bike handler and then head straight for change tent.  However in my case I headed straight for the portaloos.  There were about 10 portaloos in transition and it took me a little while to find a vacant one. Competitors are a bit fatigued by this stage and most of them had forgot to lock the door - I think I opened 5 doors before I discovered one that was actually empty.

This made it 3 toilet stops so far when I was only expecting to need one.  In a Half Ironman race I have never felt the slightest need for a toilet break, so I was very surprised that the situation was so different in an Ironman.  I have several thoughts about this, first you tend to consume more in an Ironman because proper nutrition is so much more important, you are not going as fast so bodily functions are more active and the weather for the race was quite cool so my sweat rate would have been way down.  Speaking to others competitors after the race, most of them had more toilet breaks than expected.  One of my friends Chris who has 20 Ironmans under his belt set a new personal record of 9 stops on the bike.

I felt great jogging into the change tent.  There was obvious relief from going to the toilet, but the biggest pleasure was the fact that I was off the bike.  Everything in Ironman is too long and the last 20km of the bike was very uncomfortable.  Even in an Olympic Distance race which only has a 40km bike leg, I am always very relieved to be off the bike, so you can imagine how I felt after 180km on the bike.

I found my bag easily and this time there were heaps of seats available. Again the helpers were doing a magnificent job, running around getting things like vaseline for competitors, helping people repack their transition bags - it is definitely the 5 star treatment.  My needs were pretty simple, take off helmet, swap race bibs (different ones for bike & run) put on socks, runners and cap, shove helmet and bike bib number into the transition bag and I was off.  You drop your bag into a large container just outside the change tent and then start the run.

Even with the toilet stop my second transition was quicker than the first.  I was feeling great and not suffering any of the cramping issues I experienced after the swim.

Bike - 180km - 5h44m50s

In shorter races I start the bike leg with my shoes already attached to my pedals for faster transition times. An extra 10 or 20 seconds is never going to be an issue in an Ironman, but I much prefer to run thru transition in bare feet rather than bike shoes with cleats on the bottom. However I was now worried that my calf muscles would spasm when I tried to insert my feet whilst riding. After a very conservative bike mount, I very carefully slipped my feet into the shoes. Luckily I had remembered to leave them wide open and my feet went in without an issue.

The crowd thinned once out of transition. Elaine managed to snap the following photo of me and I saw Jan wearing our Triathlon club top cheering me on. The first section was through the shopping district of Frankston. As I approached a large round-a-bout a Marshall was yelling at riders to be careful of the big bumps in the road, saying that some riders had already come off. After my big crash at Geelong I wasn't taking any chances and took the round-a-bout very carefully. I saw the large bump, but I'm still not sure how it caused some riders to crash. I have a friend who crashed in the first kilometres of an Ironman bike leg - knocked himself out and had to pull out of the race. Such a terrible outcome for anybody after you have spent so much time (and money) training for one race.

All of my pre-race thoughts about the Ironman bike leg were based on Eastlink. I was surprised and a little frustrated how far I had to ride before I reached the Tollway. A fair portion of this was on the Frankston Fwy, but unlike Eastlink it is quite bumpy in places. I was also regretting my decision not to wear the cycling top and arm warmers. A regret reinforced when I noticed at least 90% of the riders in view were all wearing warm clothing whilst I only had a tri-top and tri-shorts (I wasn't even wearing socks).

My mood improved as soon as my wheels touched the super smooth tarmac of Eastlink. The wind was extremely mild and there were numerous good riders around me, although I was still cold. The pace line slowly sorted itself out as slower riders were overtaken and faster riders disappeared off into the distance. There was a little bit of drafting (which is illegal) early on whilst riders tried to gauge where they should sit, but there wasn't any blatant drafting like I often see in other races, and we did have several draft busters watching us over the first 20kms. I passed Heidi (a club member) who had a better swim, and she was far more sensibly dressed than me.

I was happy with the pace. We were sitting just under my planned wattage and heart rate and it wasn't peaking too much up the hills. Everything was starting to come back to plan. My computer beeped every 7.5 minutes to remind me to take on nutrition. The top bottle of Optimizer was supposed to be consumed in the first hour, but at the 30 minute mark I had drank less than a 3rd so I had to start taking bigger mouthfuls to catch up. Even though the first lap out to Doncaster is the uphill section and a slight headwind, the miles went by quickly. It felt a lot easier than when I road this same section back in November as part of the Eastlink Ride, but the wind was much stronger that day.

An official looking car coming the other way alerted me to the fact the lead pro's were about to go past. First on his own was Clayton Fettell. He is a great swimmer and very good cyclist, so he tries to generate a big lead before the run starts. But he only had a few minutes lead to the main Pro pace line that contained all the pre-race favourites including Crowie, Cam Brown, Eneko Llanos, Luke McKenzie, Greg Bennett and Luke Bell. The next group of Pros including the likes of Jason Shortis and Mitch Anderson was a fair way back and surprisingly this group also contained the 2 lead women in Carolyn Steffen and Rachel Joyce who were already building a sizeable lead over the other Pro Women.

Just before the far turnaround, the bike leg goes through the Eastlink tunnel, which means we ride through it 4 times. A lot had been written about the tunnel and how steep it was coming out the other side, I'd even read claims of a 13% gradient. The thing is you go down before you go up. My bike computer is GPS based which doesn't work in tunnels, so I don't know exactly what speed I reached, but I'm confident it was approaching 70kph. When you hit the bottom of a hill at 70kph, it doesn't really matter how steep it is, the speed is going to carry you a fair way up and the gradient eased off the further up you went. I was in my lowest gear (39-23) for the 2nd half of the climb, but I even on my last lap (4th time through the tunnel) I didn't feel like I needed an easier gear.

The pace line spread out as it approached the tunnel, because like me, nobody wanted to be in close proximity to other riders when they were going that fast. Once past the tunnel, the pace line started to reform when 3 riders pulled off into the penalty box. They were obviously busted for drafting and now had to serve a time penalty (I think it is about 5 minutes).  I had seen the draft busters talking to some riders, but had assumed they had just received warnings. It would seem they are much stricter in Ironman which I believe is good thing. If you don't understand the rules by the time you get to Ironman you never will.

The turnaround seemed a long way past the tunnel, much further than when I did the Eastlink Ride. I think the tunnel had upset my GPS because it seemed to be showing extra distance - at the end of the ride it showed 185km. So we rode more than a kilometre further than my bike indicated we should.  Needless to say I was impatient for the turnaround to appear (but I wasn't really cold any more).

By this time I had finished the bottle on my handlebars and had already starting drinking from the larger bottle on the down tube.  Before heading back into the tunnel again, we passed an Aid Station - they were situated every 15km along the bike course.  The start and end of the Aid Stations are marked by Mini Skip bins and you are only allowed to dispose of used bottles and other stuff between this area. I threw my bottle towards the Mini Skip left handed, it bounced on the rim and then landed inside. The marshall was very impressed and he probably didn't even realise I threw it left handed. Even though I didn't need another bottle, I thought I could use the practice, so I grabbed a Gatorade bottle as I rode past. The only other time I have grabbed a water bottle on a ride was at a Half Ironman at Geelong and they were using the smaller water bottles. This was a large water bottle and only just squeezed in behind my computer (lucky I wasn't planning to drink from it). As I rode past the rest of the aid station, I also took note of where they were situating the toilets - 2 portaloos in the middle. My original plan was to go to the toilet when I picked up my special needs bag at the half way mark, but I didn't feel like I was going to make it that far.

I was now becoming reluctant to drink because I could feel the liquid building in my bladder. Just after I came out of the tunnel from the other direction another rider passed me and then proceeded to urinate on his bike. I have no problem with people doing this in a race, but I'm not sure why he felt the need to pass me before doing this. Naturally this made my own toilet issues more prevalent. Fortunately the next Aid Station had a toilet free, so I could jump straight in. I couldn't believe how long it took, I didn't think I had drank that much. Maybe it just seemed long because I knew lots of other athletes were riding past while I was literally standing still.

Back on the bike I no longer had a good group to ride with. It didn't really matter much, because the wind seemed to have picked up a little and it was a tailwind, plus the trip back is mainly downhill. I was enjoying this section, but I had to be careful not to enjoy it too much, there was a big temptation to go too fast. The whole way back to Frankston I was picking off riders ahead. There was always someone in the distance to chase down, I just had to make sure I didn't chase too hard. During this time I finished my second bottle of Optimizer, unfortunately this time my throw did not land in the bin, so I didn't get a congratulating clap from the Marshall. I grabbed a water to have with my Energy Chews. The water was in the Pump branded bottles you would buy from the shop (I was expecting bidons filled with water) and they hadn't broken the seal, so it took a lot of effort to open it whilst riding - it actually took me a while to realise the seal wasn't broken. The Energy Chews were good, but it took me almost 2 minutes to chew each one and by having 3 each 7.5 minutes, I was pretty much constantly eating (which I didn't think was ideal).

Coming back I saw the Pros again. Clayton Fettell was still out in front, but looked like he was falling apart and the main pack was very close behind.  Carolyn Steffen was still sitting in with the next men's group, but Rachel Joyce had dropped off, however she was still miles ahead of all the other women.

It was generally pretty lonely out on Eastlink. Each overpass contained 20 or so spectators who cheered loudly every time a bike went past (or under) and some of the on-ramps contained spectators, although I'm told Eastlink complained and had them removed. At one point I passed my friend Alan who had managed to sneak across onto the inside medium strip. As an experience Ironman himself, he obviously knew the tricks to sneaking around the course.

Again the section between Eastlink and Frankston seemed long and I definitely missed the smooth roads of the Tollway. As I headed towards the turnaround at Frankston I was greeted by one of the biggest crowds of the race. A commentator was revving up the crowd and they were roaring cheers of encouragement towards the riders and an even bigger cheer when the commentator announced each athlete's name and town. It may of helped that living in Seaford (the next Suburb down the road) I was seen as a local.

The Special Needs Station was just past the Aid Station as we headed back towards the Frankston Fwy. They had spotters ahead calling out numbers to the bag handlers so that I could grab it without stopping. However I wanted to apply more chamois cream (which I had in the bag) and couldn't do this whilst riding, so I had to stop anyway. My original plan was to combine this stop with another toilet break, but the toilets were over 100m back, so this was not really practical. Instead I swapped my water bottles and re-applied the chamois cream in the street amongst lots of spectators - not quite how I'd planned it. This stop seemed to take forever and combined with the awkwardness of the situation I think the chamois cream idea was a major mistake which just ended up costing me lots of time.

Now there were no good riders to be seen and I was riding back into a headwind. The headwind wasn't strong, but it would have been so much better to be in a nice pace line. I passed 2 more club members, first James (Heidi's brother) and then David. It turns out I had a faster swim than David, but he obviously passed me during one of my stops. And of course having not gone to the toilet at the Special Needs station I now needed to go again. I was busting by the time I arrived at the next Aid Station. There was a queue for the toilets, but I was not going to last another 15kms. David re-passed me while I stood in the queue and I think this is when the frustration started to set in. I'd been riding well, but the 3 stops had ruined my bike time. The 2nd time out to Doncaster containing 2 stops was 10 minutes slower than the first lap which I thought I took pretty easy. Ironically I passed David back again whilst he was taking a leak on the side of the road - illegal in a race, but only a problem if you get caught.

The rest of my ride out to Doncaster was pretty uneventful. I saw the Pro's come back for the last time. A different rider had replaced Clayton Fettell out front. I mistakenly thought it was Mitch Anderson, but later discovered it was another Pro I'd never heard of before who simply rides the same bike as Mitch. Up till now my saddle sores had been behaving themselves unbelievably well. I had done very little riding in the 3 weeks leading up to the race to give everything a chance to heal and the smooth surface of Eastlink definitely makes a difference. But as I approached the far turnaround for the 2nd time things were starting to get uncomfortable. I don't know if was me moving into different positions on the seat or just a result of a long ride, but not long after this my knee injury started to play up as well.

Despite the saddle sores, I felt like I could still power back for the last lap of the bike. But with my knee starting to hurt, I could not risk starting the run in a bad state. So I backed way off for the last lap and ended up riding 9 minutes slower than the first time back (and the first time included a toilet stop). This just led to more frustration. The conditions had been unbelievably good and it felt like I'd wasted a great opportunity for a really fast bike time.

The last 20km of the bike really dragged on. By now the saddles sores were really getting my attention and generally I'd become bored with riding. During this time I saw the last riders still near the beginning of their 2nd lap. I couldn't even contemplate how long their day was going to be.

The rough roads as I headed towards Frankston didn't help the saddle sores. By now I was almost sitting side saddle. I finished the last of my 4 Optimizer bottles with just a few kilometres to go. I didn't throw my last 2 bidons away because they were special insulated bottles I'd bought for $20 a piece (I usually never pay for water bottles). The Pros and lead Age Groupers were well onto their run by now, so as I rode through the turnaround section, the crowd was only a fraction of what it was before.
4h45m isn't too bad for an Ironman bike split. Before the race I was expecting 5h30m, but I wasn't expecting conditions to be so good. If I didn't have the 3 stops (edit: it was actually 4 stops, because I also had to stop to fix my chain that came off around 150km mark) and didn't back off due to my sore knee I truly believe I could have gone more than 30 minutes quicker using the same energy. What's more, I think I was too conservative on the bike leg and could have gone harder without affecting my run.

Ironman is mostly about survival and getting through the race. This is how I approached the day and possibly why I was able to finish. Mentally I just want to race and any lost time is extremely frustrating which is probably why I don't think I am well suited to longer races such as Ironman.

Transition One - 6m06s

As I headed up the ramp towards transition I was worried about how the cramping would affect my race. I've cramped many times in swim sessions, but never before in a race, so I had no idea how I would feel once on the bike.

There was a massive crowd as I exited the swim and I heard my name being cheered on from several directions.  It is hard to pick out individuals in such a packed crowd, but I did see my swim coach John Van Wisse and he gave me heaps of encouragement.

The first section of the transition tent contains the bike transition bags all lined up on numbered hooks. Once you have grabbed your bag you continue through to the changing rooms, different sections for males and females. In flat conditions, a 1h15m is probably a fraction on the slow side of average. This meant I was entering a very congested changing room and it took a while to find a vacant seat.

There are heaps of helpers in the changing room and they treat the triathletes like residents in a nursing home. There is nothing the helpers won't assist with. Not used to this level of assistance I declined help removing my wetsuit and quickly regretted the decision. If there is one thing that will trigger more cramping, it is getting a wetsuit off.

With the weather forecast predicting cooler temperatures and possible early morning rain, I had included a cycling top and arm warmers in my bike transition bag. However the weather had seemed quite good up to this point (although difficult to judge whilst swimming) and I decided to leave the extra clothes behind. After applying liberal amounts of chamois anti-chafing cream I stuffed my wetsuit, goggles, swim cap and extra clothes back into the transition bag and headed out of the changing rooms. A fellow club member Stuart who was volunteering as a marshall for the day directed me to where I drop off the bag and then I headed out to grab my bike.

It was full daylight now, so very easy to locate my bike.  Helmet and sunnies on and then a casual jog out of transition towards the bike mount line. My calf was starting to loosen up and I was slowly regaining feeling in my face. Again there were heaps of people lined along the outside of the transition, but I did pick out my friend Alan who videoed me as I strolled past.

A transition time of 6m06s was slower than I expected, but I lost time trying to find a seat and also took things very easy as a result of my cramping.

Swim - 3.8km - 1h15m

With the lead swimmers having crept a long way forward it meant people were far more spread out than normal, which resulted in a very docile swim start (at least for me). I was happily swimming in a nice draft when the swimmer directly in front of me stopped to see where he was going - very annoying, why wasn't he simply following everybody else. Even if you stopped to have a look it was too dark to see the buoys anyway. This incident caused me to slow down, find a gap and then pass him. I was careful to avoid contact with other swimmers because I was hoping for a stress free swim without errant arms whacking me in the head, or feet kicking me in face like what happened at Geelong. I was back enjoying another nice draft when exactly the same thing happened again. By the time I got past this 2nd annoying swimmer, the main horde had well and truly caught up and arms were flailing everywhere. At this point I gave up my aim of a fast swim and tried to find a little bit of space to the side. Getting through the swim relaxed was more important than a fast time.

I fell into nice rhythm and started to really enjoy the swim. We passed the first buoy but didn't seem to really turn. We passed the second buoy and I was feeling great, but again I didn't sense us really turning around the buoy. Maybe the turn was more of an arc around several buoys, difficult to tell in the dark. Daylight seemed to happen very suddenly and now I could see the shoreline. Then it dawned upon me, we had not turned at all, we were still heading towards the first turning buoy, the two we had passed were simply sighting buoys. We weren't nearly as far into the swim as I thought.

When I finally arrived at the turning buoy I discovered it was a completely different shape and colour, and now we were definitely turning. The next turning buoy was quite close and easy to see and once around it we headed back towards the pier which was lit up with what looked like street lamps all the way out to the end. I hadn't noticed this before, but I really hadn't paid much attention to anything to do with the swim course, a fact that was becoming very obvious now. My swimming was still going well. People were quite spread out in the water, at least 50m across, I was roughly in the middle so I guessed I must be swimming reasonably straight.

The glowing lights on the pier made it obvious we were not in full daylight yet, and it also made the pier appear closer than it was.  It almost felt as though I was swimming into a current, but I suspect this was just in my head. I was still finding decent swimmers to draft off, but they had a tendency to go offline, so I'd continue swimming straight waiting for another swimmer to come by. I figured I must have been still swimming OK, because I could feel people drafting off me, a nice tickle on the toes as their hands occasionally brushed against my feet.

About the time I reached the pier, my calf muscles gave their first hint of cramping. This was not a good sign, because getting back to the pier was only the half way mark. I eased off the kicking, but this meant losing the draft I was following. In fact the people who were drafting off me started to pass. I kicked on and off intermittently but the cramping was getting worse.  Whereas the first half of the swim I felt like I was keeping pace with those around me, now it was a constant stream of other swimmers going past. To make matters worse, I was starting to get a headache. I wear different goggles in the pool and wear them quite loose. But when I swim in open water my race goggles are more on the tight side to avoid having to stop and fix leaky goggles. This is OK for shorter swims, but now the extra pressure was causing me grief.

With 500m to go I experienced a massive cramp spasm in my calf forcing me to stop for about 10 seconds while I tried to stretch out my leg. At this point I didn't think I'd be able to finish the swim, but slowly the cramp subsided a little and I gingerly went back to swimming. I not only stopped kicking completely, I also stopped trying to keep my toes pointed and continued swimming with my feet pointed down like small anchors. My headaches were getting worse and I could barely feel my face - I was well past enjoying the swim.

I would usually swim as far into shore as I can, and then porpoise the rest of the way through the shallows. Not this time. As soon as I saw fellow competitors around me walking, I stood up. The water was still almost waist deep but I needed to stretch my calf muscle out as much as I could. It was a very slow wade through the water without any urgency at all and once on the beach it was a very casual stroll through to the transition tent. As I removed my goggles I discovered my entire face had gone numb - welcome to Ironman.

A swim time of 1h15m is slower than I wanted, but better than expected considering the difficulties I encountered in the second half.  Without the cramping I think I would have come close to my target time of 1h05m.

Before the Race

The alarm went off at 4:30am and I was already awake. I didn't feel nervous going to bed, but I barely slept all night. Once up, the first thing I did was make a cup of coffee. It was going to be a very long day and I did not want to suffer a caffeine withdrawal headache. Plus I wanted the diuretic effect of the coffee to take affect well before the race began, so the earlier I had the coffee the better. Elaine had made a Frittata (containing eggs and vegetables) the day before, so it just required a quick reheat in the microwave and breakfast was sorted.  After the Frittata I had an Optimizer drink and that is all I consumed before the race.

We left home about 5:30am and Nepean Hwy was already busy with athletes heading to race. Road closures near the start line were already in place, so we had to drive through some of the back streets in Frankston. There were no good parking spots left, so Elaine dropped me off as close as she could and then went back to park the car by herself. I had about half a kilometre to walk to the race start, but with race check-in the day before I didn't have too much to carry.

Just as I made it to my bike in transition, the commentator announced that it was 6am and that transition would be closing in 30 minutes, so I had plenty of time. I pumped up the tyres, attached my bento box full of nutrition, configured and attached the bike computer, attached the bike shoes to the pedals, put the bike in an easy gear and left my helmet and sunnies next to the bike. Once I was satisfied everything was ready I set about making sure I could find everything in the race. This meant taking note of the rack number and I also walked through the transition tents to remind myself where my transition bags were hanging.

Now I had to drop off my 'Special Needs' bags. I found the 'Special Needs' truck on the other side of the transition tents which meant walking around the entire complex. During this walk I noticed that the toilet queues were very long. Suddenly I no longer felt I had plenty of time. I'd already been to the toilet twice already, but had planned a final stop closer to the race start.

The weather was quite cool, but by now the nervous pre-race energy was in full effect so I didn't feel the cold as I stripped down to my race gear and starting getting into my wetsuit while I waited for Elaine and a good mate Dave to arrive at our meeting spot. Despite the long toilet queues I had witnessed, I decided I would still line up and hope I made it in time. The first queue barely moved for nearly 15 minutes, but then I noticed another queue which was not only shorter but definitely moving much quicker. Sure enough after switching queues I had the toilet stop out of the way in 5 minutes and the original queue had barely moved. Now I was feeling more relaxed because everything that needed to be done was done.

The Pro Men started at 7:00am and the Pro Women at 7:02am. It was still fairly dark and the crowd around the beach was huge, so we weren't able to see any of them start. The crowd was so thick, everything was gridlocked and I couldn't even make my way down the beach. But once the Pros had set off, the Age Groupers starting entering the water and gaps started to materialise in the crowd allowing the rest of the competitors to make their way into the water.

The water temperature wasn't too bad or maybe I was just warm due to nervous energy. I started to slowly swim out and then realised I was actually swimming towards the swim start line, which was convenient. The Age Group wave start was at 7:15am, 15 minutes before official sunrise, so it was still a little dark. I could not see the buoys we were supposed to be swimming towards, but they had stand-up paddle boarders that would stay ahead of the lead swimmers. So theoretically if everybody else followed the leader we should generally keep in the right direction.

It was not clear where the exact start line was, but the swimmers at the front continued to creep forward. In the end I'd say the front swimmers ended up nearly 100m past the start line when the starting horn went off.  I was about 30 metres behind them and I'm told that some unfortunate competitors were caught unawares still standing on the beach.

Race Eve

My progress can be followed on the Internet via ironmanlive.com.  My race number is 798.

The race is scheduled to start at 7:15am.  Below I have estimated how long it may take me to finish each leg.  This should assist any spectators who might be looking out for me.

Swim
  best - 1h05m
  expected - 1h12m
  slow - 1h20m
  bad conditions - 1h30m or slower

Transition One
  hopefully less than 5 minutes

Bike - lap 1
  best - 2h35m
  expected - 2h45m
  slow - 3h00m
  bad conditions - 3h15m

Bike - lap 2
  best - 2h40m
  expected - 2h50m
  slow - 3m10m
  bad conditions -  3h30m

Transition Two
  may take longer than 5 mins if I am very stiff & sore

Run - Seaford (about 9km mark)
  best - 48 min
  expected - 54 min
  slow - 59 min
  walking - 80 min

Run - Mordialloc (about 18km mark)
  best - 48 min
  expected - 54 min
  slow - 59 min
  walking - 80 min

Run - Brighton (about 33km mark)
  best -  85 min
  expected - 90 min
  slow - 105 min
  walking - 150 min

Run - Finish
  best - 55 min
  expected - 65 min
  slow - 74 min
  walking - 92 min

I expect the above reference points to match the timing points on Ironman Live

Ready for Bike Check In

Time to pack the transition bags which have to be dropped off today. On the right is the gear laid out for my bike transition.  The main items are race bib, chamois (anti-chafing) cream, towel and sunnies.  Due to the recent weather forecast, I've added a cycling top, arm warmers and cycling shorts (to go over the tri shorts) in case the conditions are not great - possible early morning showers are predicted.  Since taking the photo, I've removed the sunnies as I was worried they would get damaged in the bag.  I'll now leave them in my helmet which will be in transition next to the bike.  The helmet (& sunnies) and bento box that will hold my nutrition will be placed in transition tomorrow morning before the race.
The run transition bag, pictured left, will have my race bib, runners, socks, cap and more anti-chafing cream.  I'll need to confirm that sunscreen is supplied in the transition tent, otherwise I will carry the sunscreen that I pick up from my bike special needs bag.

I've toyed with the idea of having a complete change of clothes for the run to try and get a fresher feel.  But when I ran off my 180km training ride I didn't feel the need to change, so I haven't bothered packing extra clothes here.  Less to do is less to think to about - keep it simple.

The last picture is my bike ready to be checked into transition.  A spare tubular tyre (in case of punctures) is taped under the seat and the race sticker is attached to the seat post.  During the race the bike will contain 2 water bottles, race computer and bento box full of nutrition - all of which sort out on race morning.

As part of bike check-in, I'll be weighed for medical reasons and photographed with my bike for security reasons.  The first sign of race nerves are starting to appear as I begin to worry that I've forgotten something.

Lots of gear to get ready

This is the bag I received my race kit in.  I took the photo with the bottom section separated.  It is designed to carry your wetsuit and any other wet gear and it zips onto the bottom of the main bag or can be used alone as a small backpack.  The main part of the bag has a drawstring top and several small zippable pouches inside.  Next season I expect I will use this bag to carry my gear to all my races.

The next photo on the right shows the race gear supplied within the race kit.  There was also lot of advertising, 2 water bottles, a satchel of gatorade and a few other odds and ends, but we will ignore those for the moment.  Going clockwise you can see the 2 race bibs already attached to my race belts (one is Elaine's on loan), blue bike transition bag, red run transition bag, red run special food bag, blue bike special food bag, red swim cap, stickers for the helmet and special food bags and the sticker for the bike.

Finally the last photo shows all my other gear needed for the race spread across the downstairs coffee table.  This includes race top and shorts, wetsuit, shoes, bike pump, running cap, sunnies, goggles, towel, water bottles, chafing cream, nutrition, heart rate monitor, socks and sun screen.  For some reason my bike helmet didn't make it into the picture.

I've had my gear laid out here since Sunday.  I wanted to make sure I had everything and didn't want any worries during the last week.

The last things I purchased were the 2 water bottles on the far back corner.  They are insulated and I'll use these in my bike special needs bag.  Hopefully they will keep my nutrition a little cold.

Starting to get very real

Last night I ventured down to Ironman HQ in St Kilda for race registration. A very large tent, almost the size of a soccer field, has been erected in the park land just South of St Kilda Baths. Inside is an expo with 30 or more vendors, big screens playing pro triathlete interviews or scenes from other Iromans, the registration desks and a small theatre showing the race briefing every 30 minutes. The race briefing was 15 minutes of information, too much information to absorb for someone who has never done an Ironman before.

The race kit came in a very impressive bag specifically designed for Triathletes, I'll put a photo up of it later. Inside the bag were 2 different coloured plastic special food bags (1 for the bike leg and 1 for the run leg), 2 different coloured mesh transition bags (1 for swim to bike, 1 for bike to run). The transition bags have my race number attached in very big writing on one side, whereas we are supplied with stickers (containing the race number) to attach to the special food bags. There is also a sticker for the bike (attaches to the seat post) and for the helmet. The race bibs themselves are plastic sheets, slightly small than A4 that you can either pin to your top or attach to a race belt (nearly everybody uses a race belt). We are supplied with 2 separate race bibs (same number on both), one for the bike and one for the run - the only reason to have 2 separate ones is to put different sponsors on each.

The bag itself has a tag attached with my race number on it. This can be used as a gear bag to stow the clothes you take off before the swim. It will then be transported to St Kilda to be picked up after the race.

At registration that attached a wrist bracelet. I need to wear this until the awards banquet on Monday night (ie. 6 days). It looks like I've escape from a hospital ward.

Maybe it was sleeping with the Ironman bracelet on my wrist or just the excitement starting to stir, but I had my first Ironman dream last night. In fact it was a nested dream where I was dreaming in my dream - I'd wake up after my dream and realise it was a dream, but I was actually still dreaming. The good news is that after some weird happenings in the race lead up, my Ironman ended well in my dreams. You might say I've already had my dream Ironman.

Race Plan

Swim

A good swim will mean hitting the bike course surrounded by better cyclists. Even in a non-drafting race (must leave a 12m gap between riders), being amongst fast cyclists still makes a difference, especially if there is a strong headwind. However expending too much energy on the swim could spell disaster for the rest of day.

The secret to a good swim is to draft off a faster swimmer (sit on their toes). This will not be easy with over 1,600 other competitors all trying to do the same thing. Add to this the fact that the swim start is 30 minutes before official sunrise and you can start to imagine how crazy the swim leg will be.

So plan A is to try and start towards the front of the field (probably front 25%) and risk a few small spurts of speed early on to try and latch onto a group of fast swimmers. In this context I am regarding anybody faster than me as a fast swimmer (everything is relative).

If I don't find any toes worth following in the first 200m I will revert to plan B which is to simply cruise through the rest of the swim without any regards to how long it will take.

Of course I haven't even mentioned what I'll do if conditions are rough, mainly because I don't want to think about it. Choppy waves will not only make it more difficult (and tiring to swim), it will make it harder to navigate between the buoys (risk swimming off course, further distance) and trying to follow somebody else's toes can become impossible.  Water conditions early in the morning are usually calm, hopefully Sunday will not be an exception.

A best case scenario should see a swim time of around 65 minutes (calm conditions and good draft). Hopefully the worst case scenario will not blow longer than 1h20m, otherwise I'll already be tired before I even get on the bike.

Transition 1

It is common to see very long transition times in Ironman as athletes use the opportunity to relax, recover and mentally recharge for the next leg. Unless my swim was very slow, I will be trying to not waste any time in T1, otherwise those fast cyclists will get too far ahead. I'll be wearing my heart rate strap, triathlon top and shorts under my wetsuit, I won't wear socks on the bike and my bike shoes will be attached to my bike. So after removing my swim cap, goggles and wetsuit, I'll attach my race belt, grab my sunglasses and helmet and head out to collect my bike.

Bike Leg

Mistakes with pacing and/or nutrition on the bike is what wrecks most peoples' Ironman races.  Every 10 minutes faster on the bike will usually cost you 20 minutes on the run and nutrition mistakes can blow the run out by hours.

Eastlink is very open to the elements and any sort of wind will make one direction very difficult. Ideally I would like a tailwind (northerly) on the last lap of the bike coming back into transition, but this would mean a headwind for the entire run. A southerly wind would give us assistance heading up to Doncaster which is predominantly uphill - but of course this would mean the last 45km (when I am most tired) would be fighting a headwind.

The plan is to try and sit in a pace line (a line of bikes, each separated by 12m) during the headwind sections.  If the pace line is too fast I risk blowing up and if too slow it is probably not worth the bother.

Ignoring the conditions, I intend to conserve as much energy as possible during the first 45km (Frankston to Doncaster) as this is the most dangerous time as far as pacing mistakes go (because you are still relatively fresh).  The next 2 laps (90km) I will concentrate on riding around 190 watts and keeping my Heart Rate in the low 130s.  With 45km to go I will be feeling pretty stuffed and will no doubt have some nasty saddle sores, so the plan will simply be to get back as best I can.

At approximately the half way mark of the bike I will pick up my 'Special Needs' bag.  It will contain 2 new water bottles filled with Optimizer, sunscreen and maybe a special treat (I haven't worked out what yet).  I'm sure there will also be a need for a toilet stop somewhere on the bike - I suspect these will be available at the aid stations (I'll try and hold on until I see one without a queue).

Transition 2

You don't have to rack your bike in Ironman, you simply pass it across to the bike handler and they take it away and put it on a truck that will transport it to St Kilda to be picked up after the race.

There is no need for speed in T2, but there is also no point wasting time. I'll enter the transition change tent in bare feet because my bike shoes will still be attached to the pedals. Once I've found a chair I'll put on socks, runners and a cap and keep the same sunnies from the bike ride. I'm told you can get helpers to apply sunscreen to your shoulders while you get changed.

Run Leg

The first few kilometres wind around Frankston, firstly to the base of Oliver's Hill and then along the foreshore. This will be a good time to relax into the run starting at a very slow pace.  Once I've got through this section which should include the first aid station, I will try and find a rhythm.

Unlike the bike leg, I will not have a heart rate alarm for the run, so there will be no beeping if my heart rate gets too high. I'll keep an eye on the heart rate to make sure it doesn't go too high, but I'm concerned about finding a nice easy rhythm. The more I can get into a flow, the less strain it will put on my body. With the injuries I've had I am more worried about my body giving out, in particular my knee.

I expect to make it to Mordialloc (about 17km) without too many problems.  Every aid station after that point that I am still running will be a bonus. The last special Live station before the finish will be Green Point, Brighton. This is less than 10km from the end and as long as I'm in some sort of condition, I think reaching this point will be huge psychological boost - because less than 10km does not sound far.

Race Nutrition Plan

I follow some basic nutrition rules

• Max of 300 Calories per hour
• Max of 60g of Glucose per hour
• Up to 30g of Fructose per hour
• Roughly 600ml of hydration per hour
• Electrolytes (sodium, potassium) - I'm not sure how much

The above is roughly what the average digestive system can handle whilst exercising at a fairly high aerobic pace (ie. Ironman pace).

With this in mind I have tried to devise a nutrition plan that meets these requirements and will be also be easy to implement. The result is that most of my nutrition on the bike is in liquid form and all of my run nutrition will be obtained from the aid stations on course.

Bike Nutrition Plan

This is primarily based around Endura Optimiser and SaltStick capsules (essentially salt tablets). I will start with 2 bottles (one 600ml & one 800ml) of Optimizer and pick up a replacement 2 bottles in my 'Special Needs Bag' at the half way mark of the bike leg. Water (picked up from the aid station), Winners Energy Chews and Endura Gels will be used to fill in the gaps where my Optimizer has run out. If I run short of anything, there are aid stations every 15km on the bike leg that contain Gatorade, Water, Energy Bars and Gels.

I'm hoping to ride under 6 hours, but it will not take much for it to blow out.

Stage	Product	Calories	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)	Potassium (mg)	Water (ml)	Caffeine (mg)
	Salt Water	some		heaps
1st Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	138	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
2nd Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	138	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
3rd Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (20g)	77	15	138	57	150
	Water					450
	Energy Chews (12)	191	45	52	24
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	268	60	405	144	600
4th Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	138	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
5th Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (80g)	306	61	35	225	600
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	306	61	353	288	600
6th Hr	Bike
	Optimizer (20g)	77	15	138	57	150
	Water					450
	Gels (2)	212	52	17			9
	SaltStick (1)			215	63
	Total	289	67	370	120	600	9

Run Nutrition Plan

Due to the injuries I have suffered throughout my training, I haven't managed to test any of my run nutrition. So it is based more on past experience, in particular the 2 Half Ironman races I completed.

I will retrieve all my run nutrition from the aid stations. The basis of the plan is 2 Powerbar Gel Blasts and roughly 40 to 50ml of Gatorade or Water every aid station. In the second half of the run I will substitute Coke for Gatorade.

The plan assumes running at 6 min kilometres, so with an aid station every 2km, I will hit 5 aid stations per hour. You'll notice the last 2 hours contain more calories and carbs - this should not be a problem, as I expect them to actually take a fair bit longer than 2 hours (hopefully not too much longer).

There is a 'Special Needs Bag' at the half way mark of the run, but I haven't decided what to put in this yet, maybe something like donuts. I may also consider carrying some SaltStick capsules.

Stage	Product	Calories	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)	Potassium (mg)	Water (ml)	Caffeine (mg)
1st Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Gatorade	50	14	110	30	240
	Water					360
	Total	270	64	145	30	600
2nd Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Gatorade	50	14	110	30	240
	Water					360
	Total	270	64	145	30	600
3rd Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Cola	110	31	70		240	23
	Water					360
	Total	330	81	105		600	23
4th Hr	Run
	Gel Blasts (10)	220	50	35
	Cola	110	31	70		240	23
	Water					360
	Total	330	81	105		600	23

Taking it Easy

I am now in the taper period, since the long run on Monday I have done one 30 minute run and one 2km open water swim.  The rest of the week will probably contain 1 swim, 1 short run and 1 short ride.

Hard or long training sessions overload the body.  During subsequent rest/recovery periods, the body heals itself which is referred to as adaption - the newly formed or repaired muscle fibres are stronger than the ones they replace.

After a long Ironman buildup, you typically need a 2 week taper for the race to ensure the adaptions get time to complete.  Any extra overload in these last 2 weeks will not have time to adapt and will probably interfere with onging adaptions.  So any training during the taper is usually short and easy, designed mainly to stop the body from getting stiff and help you maintain good technique.

You would think that althletes would love the taper period - they no longer need to train hard, but are fit and strong as a result of all the previous training.  However without the long and hard training sessions, this times feels like it drags on forever.  You are focused on the race and just want to get it over and done with.

My knee continues to improve.  There are a few small aches and pains throughout my body but I expect they will clear up as we approach closer to the race.  Unfortunately my good friend Bill tore a muscle in his groin at a race last weekend.  Unlike me, Bill's training had been fantastic, including a 30km run most weeks, but now he is only a 50/50 chance of being right for the Ironman.  So I should be grateful that I will probably start the race under-trained but relatively injury free - much better than being well-trained and injured.

The knee seems to be improving

On Sunday I did a very easy 50km ride and my knee pulled up with no pain at all.  This weekend I have gone back to using the foam roller to keep my quads and ITB under control - something I forgot to do when I had the hip injury.  I'll need to keep using the foam roller for the next 2 weeks and hopefully with the reduced training load during my taper, my quads and ITB will end up in great shape for the race.

This morning I ran for 2 hours and covered just over 21kms.  On one hand it is great to be able to get in another long run, which means that my knee is definitely on the mend (and the hip is pretty much fully healed).  Of course 21km is way under the planned 30km long run.  But the more frustrating aspect is that it took me 2 hours to run a half marathon and whilst I could have run significantly faster if it was a race, I did not feel like I could run another 21km at the end.  Considering I did this run fresh, it would suggest that my aim of a sub 4 hour marathon in the Ironman after a 180km ride is no longer a possibility.  I still believe I could achieve this with an uninterrupted block of training, but the injuries have simply robbed me of the required mileage (in fact I believe I could go close to 3h30m).  And without a sub 4 hour marathon, the chance of doing a respectable Ironman time has gone, which is extremely disappointing - but maybe good that I am realising this now.

It is not all doom and gloom.  I ran the 20km this morning with no nutrition or hydration (I did eat breakfast beforehand).  In the race I will be grabbing food and drink every 2km, so hopefully this will make a significant difference.  Running a touch slower should also help.

This afternoon I dropped my bike into Cyclespeed to get serviced and had another massage with Burkey.  The usual muscles were tight - ITB, quads, calves & hamstrings - but nothing was too bad and in general I seem to be in reasonable shape.  I have one more massage booked the Thursday night before the race.  Burkey is booked solid with massages for the next 2 weeks, hopefully his magic hands will hold up under the strain.

This week I'll do a couple of 10km runs and concentrate more on swimming.  Saturday I plan to join a group swimming the Ironman course at Frankston.    Sunday will be a bike ride at the club Velodrome session - this will be my only bike ride before the race.  The velodrome will be a good location to test my bike post service and make sure everything is working perfectly.  I've got the race wheels (and tyres) on the bike and I won't collect any glass whilst on the velodrome.  I will avoid riding on the road with my race tyres.  90% of the Ironman bike leg will be on Eastlink and it would be almost impossible to pick up any glass on Eastlink.  So any puncture experienced during the race is most likely glass picked up in the week beforehand or on the couple of roads in Frankston that lead to the start of Eastlink.

In summary, this first week of taper is on reduced training load with a focus on swimming (ironically it will probably be more training than last week).  Next week will be an extremely easy training week.

Approaching Taper

Nagging pain has persisted in my knee.  I can still swim, bike and run but my knee does not feel anywhere near as good as it felt a week ago.  I'm worried that it will give out during the Ironman run leg and once it gives out I'll be walking the remainder of the race.

Training this week has been pretty leisurely so far.  It should not affect my preparation much, as this close to the race you would usually be starting to wind back the volume (although not usually this much).  So far I have done 2 swims (5km), 1 ride (65km) and 3 runs (20km).  Today's ride was supposed to be longer but I punctured right near the start and therefore lost the pack.  Then my knee was getting a little sorer the more I rode and I was keen to run off the bike.  The run was only 5km but the knee felt fine, however it has been aching a bit this afternoon.

Tomorrow I'd planned a 100km ride, but I'm now considering riding much less.  Monday I plan to try and run for 2 hours (hopefully around 20km) and don't want to do anything to jeopardise this.

Next week will be another easy week.  The only planned ride will be on Sunday at the velodrome where I will test out the bike in full race kit (it is being serviced next week).  Depending upon how Monday's run goes, I'll probably sneak in a few 10km runs and hopefully several swims.  On Saturday morning there is a swim organised at the Frankston (the race venue), so I'll probably do this instead of my usual Saturday group ride (weather dependent).

Knee injury flares up again

The weekend just gone (being 3 weeks before Ironman) needed to be a big weekend of training.  My legs felt quite fatigued after the Saturday bike/run session but I was still determined to do a long ride on the Sunday.

Despite the constant rain for the first 2 hours of the ride, I managed to clock up 179km and then follow this with an 8.3km run.  This lifted the week's training to over 16 hours - it included 3 swims (7.3km), 2 rides (254km), 6 runs (29.8km) and 4 core strength sessions - 305 Slowtwitch points.  Not the 20 hours and 400 points I would have liked, but still a pretty decent week of training.

My injured hip handled the big weekend without a problem, but unfortunately my patella tendon injury was not so lucky.  The hard Saturday ride followed by the very long Sunday ride stiffened up my quad muscles and when they get tight they pull on the patella tendon.  I had intended to run 10km off the 179km ride on Sunday.  The run had been going surprisingly well.  Despite the very long ride I was easily able to maintain my target run pace and felt no discomfort from my hip.  However I experienced 3 short pangs of pain just below my knee within a 30 second period, so I stopped running and walked the rest of the way home.

At first I was devastated, worried that this indicated that I would never be able to finish the run in the Ironman.  This was one of my few tests of running off the bike and it had ended with failure.  But now I believe it was simply due to my quads and ITBs getting too tight - a combination of the two rides and me neglecting my quads whilst I paid more attention to the hip injury.

I had a physio session for my hip this morning which went well.  It would seem the hip injury is becoming a non-factor, but I'll know better once I get some longer runs under my belt (although time is fast running out).  Tonight I have a massage booked with Burkey and I'll get him to concentrate on loosening up my quads and ITB.

Even though I have such little time left (considering people usually have a 2 week taper for Ironman), I will still have to tread very carefully with my running this week.  Whilst every extra kilometre I can run will help me, any injuries at this stage will not have enough time to recover before the race.

Hip Coming Good

The hip is now improving at a good rate which is very encouraging.  Wednesday morning's run was only 3.4km, but I ran 5km without pain on Thursday evening (before the swim session) and another 8km off the bike on Saturday morning.  The last 2 runs could easily have been longer, but on both occasions I simply ran out of time.

Thursday night's swim did not go as well.  Again I was in the 2nd fastest lane, but this time it was really flying, matching pace with the fastest lane.  I lasted 2.3km, but had to hop out completely exhausted.  This decision was vindicated when I suffered a bad cramping spasm in my feet just trying to get into the car.  I'm not too worried about not being able to finish the session, it was my 4th swim in 5 days after a 2 week break, I had run 5km just before the session and the speed of the lane was much faster than usual.

Still suffering from saddle sores and now being able to run and swim again, I stayed off the bike during the week.  Saturday morning was a tougher ride than expected due to continually being cutoff from the group due to traffic lights.  But despite the extra effort I felt good on the run off the bike, so my bike form must be OK.