Ironman New Zealand, March 7th 2009

[Dermotbailie]

Ironman New Zealand, March 7th 2009

Entering Ironman New Zealand seemed like a great idea, after a week’s cycling in Lanzarote. I’d been there the week before Ironman Lanzarote and it had got me fired up and I wanted to do one myself.  I hadn’t really thought about the practicalities when I entered the NZ race – I’d have to train through the depths of winter for a hot weather race.

I arrived a week before the race so I could get over the jet lag and acclimatise to the New Zealand weather. Apparently it was autumn and temperatures where in the mid to low 20’s, exactly like the weather I’d been training in, I wish! Well at least I wouldn’t be getting frozen toes on the bike leg. I also had to raid the local pharmacies for anything that might cure the stinking cold I’d annoyingly picked up on the journey over.

Come race morning I felt good and ready to race, although I thought it was going to be one of those days when I managed to burn my porridge and smash the cafetiere! Arrhhh! After a second and more successful attempt at making breakfast, it was off to transition to check over the bike and load it up with the food and drinks for the day ahead.

It was an amazing feeling getting in the water at the start, accompanied by a traditional Maori haka which created a real atmosphere around the shore. The water was so crystal clear and almost warm when compared with swimming at Portobello! Even better, the water was perfectly still – prefect conditions for racing.

A huge cannon fired to signal the start of the race. The swim was one 3.8km lap and it proved to be fast despite being quite a boxing match. I lost count of the amount of kicks I received, and even had someone grab onto my leg at one stage. I made it out of the swim a very pleasing ten minutes ahead of my predicted time in 1 hour 5 minutes and feeling quite fresh still: a good start to the race.

The 180km two lap bike was surprisingly flat and I was quickly catching the faster swimmers. However, after 15km my saddle-mounted bottle cage, where I was keeping my spare tub and gas cans, came loose and I lost them, as well as my spare drinks bottle. Disaster!!
The roads were very course and do bump and throw you around a lot. I stopped a little later when I came across a service crew who tightened the bottle cage up and gave me a spare tub. I probably lost about 10 minutes to this but at least I could carry an extra drinks bottle on the back.  I was very tempted to put the hammer down and try and make up the lost time but I knew it would come back to bite me later so I just kept at a steady pace.

Later on I dropped my energy bars, which I had to stop and pick up, again the roads bumping everything around. Unfortunately when I stopped I did the old amateur trick of not unclipping in time and fell over. I ended up with my energy bars a nice gash on my knee and a rather large dent in my pride. 

Not much more could go wrong today? And thankfully nothing did for the rest of the bike leg, safely back to t2 in 6hrs 05 mins. I had hoped to go a bit quicker than this but due to the few hiccups and the amount of pee stops I made, I lost a fair bit of time.

The legs felt good as I set off on the run leg and I had to consciously stop myself from going off too fast. At the end of the 1st lap I began to struggle – my mind and legs were doing fine but my guts most definitely weren’t! The pain forced me to slow my pace almost to a crawl. The crowds really helped as they kept shouting encouragement to all the competitors and there was a real buzz all along the course – I was impressed how far the locals had got behind the event, with many local businesses ‘adopting’ foreign competitors to cheer them along the course. As well as all the local support, my fiancé Vik was cheering me on which really gave me a lift every time I saw her.

I made it to the turning point of the second lap and dug in, as I knew it was time to head home. With 2k left my guts were feeling better and I started pushing harder, and with 1k to go I gave it all I could and felt like I was flying. I crossed over the line in 11hrs 36 mins 34 seconds and didn't even hear the “you are an ironman” as I was so gobsmacked that I'd finished.

I was very happy with how the race went, even considering the few problems I had. I would have loved to have gone a bit faster but I can learn from my mistakes and go for it in my next one, maybe!

I know it’s a long way to go for a race but I really recommend it and it’s totally worth it. The people of Taupo got behind the event 100% and really supported everyone out there making it an amazing day for the competitors.  The scenery was also pretty spectacular and the mountains, lake and even thermal areas, were a great distraction as I was pounding out the distance.  There are also plenty of activities to get further adrenaline rushes if the Ironman wasn’t enough.  I heard reports of a competitor doing a bungee jump the following day, personally I opted for sitting in a naturally heated thermal spring to sooth my weary legs.

(some photo's from the race on facebook)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=99534&id=601371907


Cheers
Dermot