After writing this blog entry, I realise I have rambled on an awful lot. So I’ve added a short version at the start for those that don’t want to fall asleep reading such a long race report. I’ve also added a summary to each section before the far more detailed report.
Short Version:
Fantastic venue and probably the best run race we have ever done. Elaine had a great race, smashing her previous PB by nearly 30 minutes. I was a victim of ambition exceeding ability. Going for the age group win I completely blew up and finished 9th, missing one of the 4 world qualifying slots in my category.
Long Version:
Pre-Race
We booked our Accommodation at Quest Mandurah, about 400m from transition, 1m from the swim start and about 800m from the finish line and expo.
Above is a photo from our favourite cafe in Mandurah called Tea and Coffee. It opens at 6:30am, which is handy when your body clock is still on Eastern Daylight Savings Time (3 hours ahead of WA). Also handy that this cafe is about 40 metres from the race finish line, registration and expo.
Above is a photo of bike after transition checkin on the Saturday. This was the day before the race, so we don't get our other gear (ie. bike shoes, helmet, runners, sunnies etc) ready until the morning of the race.
On the morning of the race Elaine and I went through the usual process of applying the race number tattoos. Every race previously (including the recent Duathlon Worlds), this has been a very easy task. However this time it was a nightmare trying to peel off the backing. After a lot of effort and swearing we managed to peel the backing off 3 of the 4 tattoos. I gave up on the leg marking (that identifies age group) and got Elaine to draw an M on my right calf with a Sharpie pen instead. Not really the experience you want to go through just hours before a race. We overheard lots of people that also had troubles with the tattoos in transition before the race, so it wasn't just us.
The tattoos were probably the only failing of the whole race organisation, so we can’t complain too much.
On the morning of the race Elaine and I went through the usual process of applying the race number tattoos. Every race previously (including the recent Duathlon Worlds), this has been a very easy task. However this time it was a nightmare trying to peel off the backing. After a lot of effort and swearing we managed to peel the backing off 3 of the 4 tattoos. I gave up on the leg marking (that identifies age group) and got Elaine to draw an M on my right calf with a Sharpie pen instead. Not really the experience you want to go through just hours before a race. We overheard lots of people that also had troubles with the tattoos in transition before the race, so it wasn't just us.
The tattoos were probably the only failing of the whole race organisation, so we can’t complain too much.
Swim 1.9km
Summary:
After losing touch with the lead pack early, I sat behind slower swimmers to save energy whilst swimming into a mild current. At 31m37s, a slow swim over 2 minutes slower than hoped, but not a disaster
Detail:
Expectations were high for the swim leg. Coming off my biggest ever block of swim training I believed the new wetsuit (Roka Elite) and drafting should see a sub 29 minute swim. Being a canal swim, it was unlikely to be rough and I’d heard that previous years’ swims were all current assisted.
During transition check-in on Saturday the rumours were circulating that this year’s swim was be against the tide. Opinions ranged from a medium to zero current, however the general consensus was that there would be no assistance - disappointing. But at least I still had the wetsuit and drafting.
I bought my new Roka Elite wetsuit via the Internet (Half price sale, so it only cost $380). Reviews had regularly rated it the best wetsuit available. There is a more expensive one in the Roka lineup called the ‘Pro’. However the extra features on this model are either seen as gimmicky or only relevant for better swimmers. Problem was I had never actually got around to swimming in my new wetsuit yet. I’d tried it on in the lounge room at home and it was a perfect fit, but you never really know how it will go until you swim in it. There had been several planned swims, but something had always come up. So I thought I’d have use my swim recon swim before the race in Mandurah as the wetsuit’s first hitout, but I never got around to this either. The race was going to be the first test of the wetsuit - I was really hoping it was not going to chafe.
Our accommodation (Quest Mandurah) was next to the swim start at Sutton’s Farm. When I say ‘next to’, I’m talking less than 1 metre away. Standing in our accommodation (putting on my wetsuit) I watched the pro starts. When travelling for a race, I like our accommodation to be close enough so that we do not need to use the port-a-loos (I don’t mind using the port-a-loos, just hate the long queues). In this case our room was closer to the start than the port-a-loos.
Each wave was called to enter the water about 5 minutes before their start time. Not really enough time for a swim warmup. More an opportunity to get your head under the water and breathing under control before manoeuvring into position for the start. Waves were separated by 3 minutes, so once the horn went off for the previous wave you moved into position between two large yellow buoys.
We had a 2 minute, 1 minute and 30 second warning. After I the 30 second warning I slowly counted to 20 and then pressed the Start button on my watch. This would mean I’d record 5 to 10 seconds extra on my swim, but would not have to worry about starting my watch when the horn blew - important when your arms are required for swimming, not pushing buttons on a watch.
We had a 2 minute, 1 minute and 30 second warning. After I the 30 second warning I slowly counted to 20 and then pressed the Start button on my watch. This would mean I’d record 5 to 10 seconds extra on my swim, but would not have to worry about starting my watch when the horn blew - important when your arms are required for swimming, not pushing buttons on a watch.
In most races I know between 10 to 50% of the competitors in my age group. So I know who to line up next to. Being on the other side of the country, the only other person I knew in the race was Elaine and her wave start had already gone off 20 minutes beforehand. Furthermore with the swim being held in a canal (a little narrow) and 100 athletes entered in my age group, they had split the wave into two. Sorting alphabetically meant I was in the second wave. So I positioned myself at the front and hoped for the best.
The horn blew and I thought I got a reasonable start. Almost immediately I had a swimmer either side of me, both of whom seem to be trying to merge into the exact space I was occupying. Sometimes in these situations I simply stop and let the swimmers fight it out amongst themselves, but I was keen on having a good swim today so persisted in holding my position. They probably held me up a little, especially as they often restricted my arm movement, but I eventually broke clear and sat on the feet of what looked like a reasonable pack.
About 100 metres into the swim we had the first buoy which is also the first turning point. As we approached this buoy, all the swimmers I was drafting off lost all speed. It was although they believed the swim leg was just a 100m sprint to the first buoy. I made my way through the pack and as I turned around the buoy discovered that the lead pack of 7 swimmers had got away and established a gap of around 10 to 15 metres. Having turned around the buoy we were now on one of the the major canals. This meant we were now in the section that would be against the current. Past experience has taught me that trying to bridge a gap of over 10 metres to the fast group is just a good way of tiring yourself out and with the current against me it would be even harder. Seeing no other choice I continued on alone.
After another hundred metres I was keeping the lead pack in sight, but could definitely sense I was swimming into a mild current. Looking around I saw two athletes swimming together around 3 metres to the left behind me. Assuming that they would be similar ability to me, I backed off and jumped onto the feet of the second swimmer. Instantly the pace felt much much easier. It was not going to be a fast swim, but it was going to be very easy, so I accepted this and happily cruised along behind the other two, making it a group of three.
The lead athlete in our group was not the straightest of swimmers. This was very frustrating as he was constantly drifting off into the middle of the canal where I believe the current is the strongest. He was also starting to tire a little and the pace was dropping, but neither myself nor the second swimmer were showing any signs of taking over the lead. The lead swimmer from the female 18-24 wave behind us swam past just over half way through the swim. I tried to jump onto her feet, but predictably she was too fast, so dropped back and resumed my spot behind the other two.
With about 500m to go, the swim turns into smaller dead-end canals. This means the current is really no longer a factor, so I took this opportunity to leave the other 2 behind and venture off by myself. By this stage we were surrounded by other slower swimmers from the earlier waves, so it wasn’t as easy to spot all the swimmers, but I few quick glances back confirmed that I had dropped my previous two companions. A look at the results after the race confirmed that I gained a full minute on the other 2 swimmers and also passed another swimmer who had dropped off the front pack. Unfortunately my swim split was still slow at just over 31 minutes, with most of the lead pack 2 or 3 minutes ahead (exactly where I wanted to be).
Transition One (T1)
Summary:
Went well, much faster than most of my competitors.
Detail:
The swim exit was a temporary stair case that took you out of the water and onto the canal bank. Then it was a reasonably long run to the bikes, which was probably a good thing as this would be the first time I’d had to get out of this wetsuit - good not to have to do it in a rush. The photo below shows an athlete (no idea who) running through the shower setup just before transition.
Being a Half Ironman I was not looking for a lightning quick transition, so went through the motions in a pretty relaxed manner. Luckily the wetsuit came off easily and everything else went according to plan. Like a lot of my recent duathlon transitions, it went so quick I don’t remember much of it.
My T1 split was 2m07s, 2nd fastest in the age group and a minute or more quicker than 5 of the athletes who beat me overall. I thought I was pretty relaxed through transition, so I don’t know what the others were doing.
Bike 90km
Summary:
2 laps, Tail wind out, head wind back. Probably went too hard over first 20km with tail wind. Started to struggle a little on last 15km (saddle sores and sick of head wind). Bike split of 2h20m was pretty much exactly what I predicted pre-race.
Detail:
According to Training Peaks WKO4, my mFTP (modelled Functional Threshold Power) is currently 332 watts. Using the pacing guide from the book ‘Training and Racing with a Power Meter’ in a Half Ironman you ride 80 to 85% of FTP. An FTP of 332 would mean racing at between 265 and 282 watts. However the mFTP is largely based upon my riding up hills in the Bayside Classic and Bright Training Camp. I’m suited to hill climbing, so I tend to find it easier to hold a high power climbing that riding hard on the flat. So I knew the mFTP was probably a little inflated.
Knowing the bike course was fast and that my swim had been slow, I probably pushed a little hard for the first 20km to the turnaround. I kept my power below 270 watts, but this was probably an ambitious target. My bike training over the last 3 months has gone really well, but still lacked the big volume required to really smash out a Half Ironman bike leg. Hopefully I’ll get a few more long rides (i.e. 140+km) before Geelong 70.3.
Flat courses (like Mandurah) are infamous for big bike packs and lots of drafting. My plan was to catch the group from my age group and sit in a legal pace line on the way back into the headwind. Then I would try to break away with the tailwind on the second lap. Another reason why I started the bike leg on the fast side. However I never saw any packs in the whole race, let alone my age group.
I was constantly passing competitors on the bike, but couldn’t see many from my age group. It didn’t help that most people were not wearing the calf tattoo that identified their category. Obviously had the same problems I did trying to peel off the back, but unlike me did not manually write the letter on with sharpie pen.
Below are the 5km splits from my Bike Leg extracted from Training Peaks:
You can clearly see that the first 60km are pretty strong, but it starts to fade away over the last 30km. Just holding back a fraction over the first 30km could have made a big difference to the whole race.
I was only passed by one rider , a younger competitor with 15km to go. Going by how fast he passed me I was amazed how good a rider he was. But checking the results after the race, it was not that he was going incredibly fast, it was simply that I had slowed down a lot. That brings me to another table (I'm in a data analysis mood). I've cherry picked the intermediate bike splits for 3 competitors:
The following table shows how Luke simply had more endurance than me and didn't fall away in the 2nd half, however he did have a relatively slow run of 1h37m. Far more importantly, it shows that Robin rode the first section slower than both Luke and myself, but then posted faster splits for the rest of the bike and still ran a 1h29m half marathon. Highlighting the importance of holding back at the start.
Rob 41:55 25:55 42:31 30:24 (2:20:46)
Luke 41:54 25:16 41:26 28:45 (2:17:23)
Robin 42:18 25:00 40:12 27:57 (2:15:29)
| Lap | Start | End | Duration | Moving Duration | Kilometers | TSS | IF | NP | Avg Power | Max Power | Avg Speed | Max Speed | Cad | Elev Gain | Elev Loss | Work | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00:00 | 0:07:32 | 0:07:32 | 0:07:32 | 4.99 | 8.0 | 0.83 | 249 | 241 | 520 | 39.8 | 45.4 | 91 | 5 | 0 | 107 | 107 | |
| 0:07:33 | 0:14:30 | 0:06:57 | 0:06:57 | 4.99 | 8.8 | 0.90 | 271 | 270 | 391 | 43.2 | 46.3 | 101 | 5 | 0 | 112 | 112 | |
| 0:14:29 | 0:21:13 | 0:06:44 | 0:06:44 | 5.00 | 8.0 | 0.88 | 263 | 261 | 336 | 44.5 | 52.1 | 99 | 0 | 5 | 105 | 105 | |
| 0:21:14 | 0:28:48 | 0:07:34 | 0:07:34 | 5.00 | 8.1 | 0.83 | 248 | 247 | 468 | 39.6 | 46.3 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 112 | |
| 0:28:48 | 0:36:45 | 0:07:57 | 0:07:57 | 5.00 | 8.7 | 0.84 | 251 | 250 | 351 | 37.7 | 44.1 | 96 | 0 | 5 | 119 | 119 | |
| 0:36:45 | 0:44:54 | 0:08:09 | 0:08:09 | 5.00 | 8.0 | 0.79 | 237 | 233 | 411 | 36.8 | 50.4 | 90 | 21 | 22 | 114 | 114 | |
| 0:44:54 | 0:53:13 | 0:08:19 | 0:08:19 | 4.99 | 8.5 | 0.81 | 243 | 242 | 351 | 36.1 | 50.3 | 95 | 5 | 0 | 120 | 120 | |
| 0:53:13 | 1:01:10 | 0:07:57 | 0:07:57 | 5.00 | 8.0 | 0.80 | 240 | 239 | 340 | 37.7 | 42.3 | 96 | 0 | 5 | 114 | 114 | |
| 1:01:10 | 1:09:23 | 0:08:13 | 0:08:13 | 5.00 | 7.7 | 0.77 | 232 | 224 | 647 | 36.5 | 44.3 | 91 | 5 | 0 | 110 | 110 | |
| 1:09:23 | 1:16:46 | 0:07:23 | 0:07:23 | 4.99 | 7.5 | 0.81 | 242 | 240 | 531 | 40.6 | 44.5 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 106 | |
| 1:16:46 | 1:24:09 | 0:07:23 | 0:07:23 | 5.00 | 7.1 | 0.79 | 236 | 233 | 443 | 40.6 | 43.3 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 103 | 103 | |
| 1:24:09 | 1:31:22 | 0:07:13 | 0:07:13 | 4.99 | 7.0 | 0.79 | 237 | 236 | 330 | 41.6 | 47.3 | 94 | 0 | 5 | 102 | 102 | |
| 1:31:22 | 1:39:35 | 0:08:13 | 0:08:13 | 4.99 | 7.8 | 0.78 | 233 | 228 | 425 | 36.5 | 44.6 | 91 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 112 | |
| 1:39:35 | 1:48:16 | 0:08:41 | 0:08:41 | 4.99 | 7.5 | 0.74 | 222 | 219 | 318 | 34.6 | 46.4 | 90 | 11 | 5 | 114 | 114 | |
| 1:48:16 | 1:56:34 | 0:08:18 | 0:08:18 | 5.00 | 6.7 | 0.72 | 215 | 209 | 438 | 36.1 | 48.9 | 87 | 16 | 21 | 104 | 104 | |
| 1:56:34 | 2:05:43 | 0:09:09 | 0:09:09 | 4.99 | 7.3 | 0.71 | 214 | 212 | 329 | 32.8 | 36.6 | 91 | 0 | 6 | 116 | 116 | |
| 2:05:43 | 2:14:40 | 0:08:57 | 0:08:57 | 5.00 | 6.6 | 0.69 | 206 | 205 | 306 | 33.5 | 37.5 | 87 | 0 | 6 | 110 | 110 | |
| 2:14:40 | 2:19:46 | 0:05:06 | 0:05:06 | 2.72 | 3.1 | 0.63 | 190 | 178 | 474 | 32.1 | 38.8 | 82 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 53 | |
| 2:19:45 | 2:21:26 | 0:01:41 | 0:01:41 | 0.00 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 9.08 | 22.0 | 80 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- |
You can clearly see that the first 60km are pretty strong, but it starts to fade away over the last 30km. Just holding back a fraction over the first 30km could have made a big difference to the whole race.
I was only passed by one rider , a younger competitor with 15km to go. Going by how fast he passed me I was amazed how good a rider he was. But checking the results after the race, it was not that he was going incredibly fast, it was simply that I had slowed down a lot. That brings me to another table (I'm in a data analysis mood). I've cherry picked the intermediate bike splits for 3 competitors:
- Rob -> Me
- Luke -> winner of my age group with category's fastest bike split
- Robin -> winner of 18-24 age group (passed me at 75km mark)
The following table shows how Luke simply had more endurance than me and didn't fall away in the 2nd half, however he did have a relatively slow run of 1h37m. Far more importantly, it shows that Robin rode the first section slower than both Luke and myself, but then posted faster splits for the rest of the bike and still ran a 1h29m half marathon. Highlighting the importance of holding back at the start.
Rob 41:55 25:55 42:31 30:24 (2:20:46)
Luke 41:54 25:16 41:26 28:45 (2:17:23)
Robin 42:18 25:00 40:12 27:57 (2:15:29)
Transition Two (T2)
Summary
Entered T2 in 4th position, started run in 3rd position.
Detail
Having not really enjoyed the last 15km of the bike I was pretty happy to enter transition. Unfortunately my calf muscle cramped very badly as I dismounted the bike, I was lucky not to fall over. While far from ideal and a definite sign I went too hard on the bike, I was not overly concerned as my calf muscles are usually tight after the bike and loosen up on the run.
As I ran down the aisle in transition, I counted 5 other bikes already racked in my row. With 100 competitors entered in my age group, we pretty much took up the entire rack, so I assumed all these bikes were from athletes in my category. Knowing I had ridden fairly hard I was hoping all 5 bikes were from the earlier wave (remembering my age group was split into 2 waves). So I figured there was a good chance I was in a podium position.
In reality, on corrected time I entered T2 in 4th position. My transition split 1m13s saw me leave transition in 3rd. I didn't rush, and took time to put on socks. However there were a couple of things I did to save time - put a big dollop on sunscreen in my hand and applied it as I ran out and also carried my race number belt in my hand until I had finished applying the sunscreen and then buckled it up as I was running. It would be kind of stupid to do these things while standing still, but all the competitors who beat me had slow transition times. Then again, maybe it is better taking advice from the people who beat me.
Run
Summary:
Started well, moved into 2nd position by 6km and was gaining on the leader. Things started to unravel around 8km and then continued to get worse. Limped home in 9th positionDetail:
My target pace for the run was 4m15s pace. However I had been having a lot of leg issues over the last 6 weeks. My legs (especially the calf muscles) had completely locked up during the last Brick Repeats training session (3 x 60 min ride / 25 min run) prevent me from doing the last run and my legs had also locked up on the Bright Training Camp preventing me from climbing Mt Hotham on the last day. With this in mind I had dropped my expectations down to a 4m20s pace.
Once I started running the calf muscle cramping almost instantly went away. It felt like I was moving very slowly, but every time I checked my watch it was around 4m15s pace. I was actually putting in effort to slow down and hold back my pace. At this point I was starting to feel very confident, especially since the other runners (from different age groups) who came out of transition with me had all dropped away.
I could ramble on for a long time describing the run, but the chart below (1km lap splits of the run from Training Peaks) tells the sorry tale:
Once I started running the calf muscle cramping almost instantly went away. It felt like I was moving very slowly, but every time I checked my watch it was around 4m15s pace. I was actually putting in effort to slow down and hold back my pace. At this point I was starting to feel very confident, especially since the other runners (from different age groups) who came out of transition with me had all dropped away.
I could ramble on for a long time describing the run, but the chart below (1km lap splits of the run from Training Peaks) tells the sorry tale:
| Lap | Start | End | Duration | Moving Duration | Kilometers | rTSS | IF | NGP | Avg Pace | Max Pace | Avg Heart Rate | Max Heart Rate | Cad | Elev Gain | Elev Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00:00 | 0:04:14 | 0:04:14 | 0:04:14 | 0.99 | 6.3 | 0.93 | 04:18 | 04:14 | 04:05 | 153 | 158 | 93 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:04:15 | 0:08:26 | 0:04:11 | 0:04:11 | 0.98 | 6.1 | 0.93 | 04:18 | 04:11 | 04:00 | 160 | 163 | 94 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:08:26 | 0:12:46 | 0:04:20 | 0:04:20 | 0.98 | 6.0 | 0.91 | 04:24 | 04:20 | 04:00 | 161 | 162 | 94 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:12:46 | 0:17:02 | 0:04:16 | 0:04:16 | 0.99 | 6.1 | 0.91 | 04:23 | 04:16 | 04:09 | 72 | 72 | 94 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:17:02 | 0:21:31 | 0:04:29 | 0:04:29 | 0.97 | 5.9 | 0.88 | 04:32 | 04:29 | 04:10 | -- | -- | 93 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:21:30 | 0:26:26 | 0:04:56 | 0:04:56 | 0.98 | 6.0 | 0.85 | 04:44 | 04:56 | 04:20 | 71 | 73 | 92 | 11 | 0 | |
| 0:26:26 | 0:30:53 | 0:04:27 | 0:04:27 | 0.99 | 5.5 | 0.85 | 04:43 | 04:27 | 04:08 | 73 | 76 | 92 | 0 | 6 | |
| 0:30:53 | 0:35:43 | 0:04:50 | 0:04:50 | 0.98 | 5.9 | 0.84 | 04:44 | 04:50 | 04:25 | 123 | 159 | 92 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:35:43 | 0:40:29 | 0:04:46 | 0:04:46 | 0.98 | 5.6 | 0.84 | 04:47 | 04:46 | 04:35 | 133 | 161 | 92 | 5 | 0 | |
| 0:40:29 | 0:45:25 | 0:04:56 | 0:04:56 | 0.98 | 5.4 | 0.80 | 05:00 | 04:56 | 04:27 | 159 | 161 | 89 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:45:26 | 0:50:30 | 0:05:04 | 0:05:04 | 0.98 | 5.2 | 0.78 | 05:08 | 05:04 | 04:48 | 156 | 161 | 90 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:50:30 | 0:55:48 | 0:05:18 | 0:05:18 | 0.98 | 4.8 | 0.73 | 05:29 | 05:18 | 04:57 | 156 | 159 | 89 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0:55:47 | 1:01:15 | 0:05:28 | 0:05:28 | 0.98 | 5.4 | 0.76 | 05:17 | 05:28 | 04:39 | 157 | 169 | 87 | 11 | 6 | |
| 1:01:16 | 1:06:29 | 0:05:13 | 0:05:13 | 0.98 | 4.7 | 0.73 | 05:31 | 05:13 | 04:56 | 153 | 156 | 88 | 0 | 5 | |
| 1:06:29 | 1:12:04 | 0:05:35 | 0:05:35 | 0.98 | 4.8 | 0.71 | 05:37 | 05:35 | 05:09 | 151 | 154 | 87 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1:12:04 | 1:18:07 | 0:06:03 | 0:06:03 | 0.98 | 4.8 | 0.69 | 05:50 | 06:03 | 05:12 | 150 | 153 | 86 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1:18:07 | 1:23:27 | 0:05:20 | 0:05:20 | 0.98 | 4.5 | 0.71 | 05:40 | 05:20 | 04:59 | 146 | 149 | 88 | 0 | 5 | |
| 1:23:27 | 1:29:15 | 0:05:48 | 0:05:48 | 0.98 | 4.6 | 0.68 | 05:53 | 05:48 | 05:13 | 147 | 150 | 87 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1:29:15 | 1:34:46 | 0:05:31 | 0:05:31 | 0.98 | 4.8 | 0.71 | 05:36 | 05:31 | 05:13 | 150 | 152 | 88 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1:34:47 | 1:40:35 | 0:05:48 | 0:05:48 | 0.99 | 4.6 | 0.68 | 05:53 | 05:48 | 05:19 | 148 | 152 | 87 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1:40:35 | 1:46:00 | 0:05:25 | 0:05:25 | 0.98 | 4.7 | 0.71 | 05:36 | 05:25 | 03:53 | 150 | 156 | 88 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1:46:00 | 1:46:31 | 0:00:31 | 0:00:31 | 0.08 | 0.5 | 0.85 | -- | 05:01 | 04:54 | 156 | 157 | 90 | 0 | 0 |
My heart rate monitor obviously stopped working properly between kilometres 4 and 9, probably due to a large bag of ice shoved down the front of my trisuit. Right from the start I walked through every station drinking lots, pouring lots of water over my head and putting ice down the front of my suit.
After laps of 4:14, 4:11, 4:20, 4:16 & 4:29 the 6th kilometre was the first split slower than 4:30, but this included some hills and an aid station. According to the athlete tracker than had a timing mat at the 6km mark, I had now moved into 2nd position and was gaining on first. The 7th kilometre was back to 4:27 but then the signs started to show in the 8th kilometre that blew out to 4:50.
The next 3 kilometres I tried to go into damage control with splits of 4:46, 4:56 and 5:04. My thinking was if I could keep my pace at or below 5:00 pace per kilometre I could still salvage a reasonable run split, especially with the relatively quick first 7 kilometres. A podium finish was still on the cards, or at least 4th place which will still give me a Worlds qualifier slot.
But then things started to fall apart and 5 min per km pace was no longer possible. The splits of 5:18, 5:28, 5:13, 5:35, 6:03, 5:20, 5:48, 5:31, 5:48 & 5:25 tell the sad story. Funny how running around 4:15 pace in the beginning felt ridiculously slow and then 5:30 pace took all my effort in the second half. The athlete tracker shows that I had fallen back to 3rd place by the 11km mark, 6th place by the 16km mark and 9th by the 20km mark.
I've often seen professional triathletes on TV out in front and looking in control before everything goes to shit. It is not unusual for the leader of the Hawaii Ironman at the half way mark of run end up not even finishing the race. I had one of these days.The photo on the right is Terrenzo Bozzone who finished 3rd overall. He is looking strong right around the spot where things started going pear shaped for me. They actually have a photo of me looking quite good near this section, but they want $30 to download a digital copy of a single photo (I don't look that good).
Looking at the heart rate values when my strap was working (ie. ignoring between kilometres 4 and 9), it was not a cardiovascular problem. It was simply my leg muscles not being strong enough to go the distance at the pace I wanted. As I write this 10 days later, my legs are still far from recovered. In particular my calf muscles and right glute.
Another photo of Terrenzo in the finish chute. Isn't he photogenic. I sure as hell didn't look that good at the end of the race.
Elaine
Elaine swam 45m38s. Not her fastest half ironman swim, but pretty good when you factor in that over half the swim was into a mild current.Her bike split was 3h17m59s which is absolutely blisteringly fast for Elaine. This gives her an average speed of over 27kph for 90km. I cannot remember her riding that fast in Sprint Distance race.
The run was a little slow at 2h45m06s, although she really struggled and walked quite a bit (paying the price for going so fast on the bike). A good half ironman run for Elaine would be around 2h30m, so it is not too bad. And when combined with a reasonable swim and blisteringly fast bike it is no wonder she took nearly 30 minutes off her Half Ironman Personal Best time finishing in 6h54m10s
Unfortunately Elaine was not wearing a sleeved trisuit like I was, nor did she apply sunscreen as she ran out of transition. As a result she has some of the worst sunburn I have ever seen.
Overall Elaine absolutely loved the race (and the days spent in Margaret River afterwards). There have been several times over the last week when she has asked me if we are doing Mandurah again next year.
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