IMNZ 2011: Swim

This was the biggest race of my life to date for sure, I had all the pressure on my shoulders that I was placing myself to exit the swim plus the expectation of the people present on race day and within the team.

I remember saying to my board paddler, Sarah, that "this was a huge day for me" I was talking about my personal expectation to exit the water, she could sense the tension and partial fear hardened into steely determination.

As the cannon went off we let the main pack go, my strategy was to swim my own race, to not let anyone dictate my swim, my strategy was also to 'dominate' my swim, not to let anything get in the way of completion.

I must have had a good swim as I passed people in the water, "that never happens" When we got to the turn at half way I noticed that Sarah was really starting to put the pressure on on the return trip. She was really increasing the direction and support to encourage me to swim the best swim I could swim on that day.

I turned the can at the end of the course, there was only 200m to go, there were people screaming both on the water and on the beach, when I reached the beach I stood up and at that moment I looked up and saw the timing clock, it said 2:11, I looked to my right and Wayne Reardon was standing there ready to high five me, I had said to him last year that I would be back for that in 2011. What really cemented it for me was Mike Reilly shouting "You will be an Ironman Today"

I met Adam at the water and we ran to T1, that is quite a run up T1 after a 3.8km swim. I am so glad I took the decision to ask him to be with me on that day, he was the perfect person to be there with me as would prove itself later in the run.

T1 went very smoothly, Adam stripped the wetty off and got me ready to ride, the crowd was great on T1, the weather was wet at this stage but the rain would get harder during the day and prove to be a major factor on the bike

The Taper: so close to the race , an up and down time

The taper, is a time when my huge training load of 30-30 hours a week is cut back to almost nothing by race week, so you would think that I would be pleased about that, right? But last week I was feeling the lowest of lows, and this week the highest of highs, Lynley, (Coach) says it's all part of the process of getting to the start line as a properly put together athlete for IMNZ.

Someone asked me what was the difference between last year and this year, I said that this year I have a team behind me and that I cannot fail, where as last year I was effectively on my own,

I have been feeling very up and down during these last two weeks, I suppose it has been as a result of not training to the level that I have previously been and the realisation that the race is just around the corner and the pressure is really on me to perform on the day, so I have been feeling the pressure a bit on some days and on others I have been feeling elation at being lucky to have the opportunity to get another shot at my dream.

Then I think of the team that is around me, my coach, partner, business manager, all the important people that will get me to the start-line and I wonder whether I would be in such good shape mentally without their help,I doubt it! I know I am in a stronger position going into IM2011 no question about it!.

The swim of the season

Last Thursday I had my big Time trial in the pool, I was always going to swim a long Time trial, the full Ironman distance, 3.8km. I swam the distance in 2hrs 8mins, which was 12 mins under the cut off time for the Ironman. Both I and my coach Ali were really pleased with that swim.

It gives be a lot of confidence going up to IMNZ on many levels, I know I can do the swim under the cut-off time and in the lake I will be faster with a wetsuit on, not having to make so many turns as in the pool.

So, I go up to IMNZ with confidence that I will exit the water under the cut-off time, in approx 2hrs 05 mins. Set the stop watches and get ready for a great show!!!

A typical week's training for me over the last two months

This is a typical 7 day cycle for me over the last 2 months since Christmas, it represents how much training I have been doing over that period

Monday
Rest Day..... Yay!!!!!

Tuesday
Squad Swim Kilbirnie
I had a great swim, I felt snappy at squad, which is nice, the 25m is always good to swim in, we were swimming 100s all the time I only have 10sec rest in between so I don’t get much rest which builds my endurance.

Wednesday
Spin,
I had a great class, I had an amazing adrenalin rush in the last 10 sec of class, it was incredible, like I used to get running, it was really nice to get it again,

Thursday
Squad
We swam 200s again I only had 10s rest, we swam at 9,7,9 intensity I felt really good in the 50m which was unusual, I don’t feel comfortable in that pool usually so that was an improvement

Friday
Sea swim
I did Fountain Laps, my first lap was a bit scratchy, I was getting warmed up, but the second lap felt really good, I was comfortable and stretching out, my breathing had settled down and was comfortable, I felt under control and it all felt good and strong.

Saturday
Long ride, 6:21 170km My nutrition was well planned and executed, we rode to the top of the Aka’s then to the plateau and over Blue Mountain’s Road and back into town and home via Lyall Bay, my hydration strategy was a bit off as I lost water going out of town . The run off the bike felt the same as in Taupo, my legs felt zippy, which was unusual, I was expecting them to be more deadened, I’m pleased with that though at this stage of the season.

Sunday
Split run, 2 hrs in the morning I ran down to Owhiro Bay around to Island bay over to the top of Buckley Road, then down via the hockey stadium through Beremphore and up through Kingston Heights and back home. I had a recovery over lunch and then ran for an hour after lunch back to Kingston heights down through the golf course to Beremphore and back up to Kingston heights and up to home via the Ridgeway.
My legs felt good on the second run right up till the last 10 mins, when they blew up, but that is to expected really, I was impressed with how the legs went on the weekend,

IM Training Camp at Taupo: an outline of what I did over the weekend

The following is an outline of my Anniversary Weekend up at Taupo, it was a wet weekend of hard training, although it did stay dry for the long bike, which I was glad about.

IM Camp Diary Taupo Wellington Anniversary Weekend 2011
Friday
Swim 40 mins
• Felt anxious in water restricted in stroke
• Sighting better / developed with practice
• Swam well into the chop
• Very windy conditions, not pleasant swim conditions

• Friday night sleep uncomfortable, woke up with sore lower back, felt this in Saturday morning swim

Saturday
• 1hr swim
• Again water not very nice to swim in
• Had difficulties with breathing / relaxing
• Had an ‘emotional moment’ when the negative thoughts took over, wasn’t able to recover that moment and carry on
• Did finish the swim as planned

• 6 hr bike
• 2 laps IM course
• Most pleased with nutrition strategy
• Eating went well, as did drinking, need to get a more stable / safe eating / drinking platform
• Turned around on 2nd lap at Broadlands, total distance 160km

• 3omin run
• Felt springy, for the run, very pleased about that
• Ran to Rainbow Point – return
• Negative splitted run
Sunday
• Slept much better, changed beds for Sat night, no lower back pain
• 3hr run – 2 laps IM course
• Started out too fast 5:25 pace, dropped back to 6min pace, should have started out 6min pace then increased to 5:25 on 2nd lap
• Great idea to refill bottles with flat coke, very nice to drink something different
• Quads felt fine after run, almost unstressed, hamstrings/ gluts were blasted
• Stretching after LR good to ease tension, legs still stiff on Monday

Monday
• Swim IM course
• Used techniques talked with lynley about to relax pre swim, 10 big breaths
• When in water took more breaths to further relax
• Felt relaxed in water, breathing was good
• Water was rough, lake was tidal and southerly, head wind, tough swim
• Turned round at ½ IM turn

Taupo Half blog

Swim
I had talked to lots of people about the best place to start, far side to the right, so that was were I positioned myself, on race morning, the morning dawned cloudy and cool... it had been very hot and cloudless the previous two days in Taupo, so I was pleased about the lack of heat. Athletes tend to do a lot of chatting in the moments before a big race, the bigger the race, the more the amount of chat.
So as the gun went off I started my swim, I had a time in my head, 60 mins out of the water, which meant 30 mins to the turn. My swim to the turn was good but not great, I still haven’t got over the tendency to pause every 30 strokes for navigation or some unknown reason, It’s starting to bother me as I don’t do it in the pool, it’s an open water only phenomena.
I had great support from Surf Lifesaving NZ to lead the way to the top mark, so thanks to them for that, and according to my team I made the top mark in 30 mins which was on schedule. By this point in the morning, approximately 7am the wind had got up and the lake was beginning to chop up, this was an omen for later in the day as well.
On my return leg as I breath to my left I kept on getting mouthfuls of water each time I would turn to breath which along with the choppy conditions slowed my time down to 42 mins, giving me a total swim time of 1:12.
Overall I am a bit disappointed with the swim, given the first leg down to the turn around set me up to swim a 60 min swim which was on exactly what I needed to swim.
Bike
I was really happy with the first leg of the bike out to Reperoa, my leg speed was fast and efficient, I maintained a fast average speed which was great, it gave me a time of 1:10 mins, which is fantastic. The trouble happened on the return leg when the wind got up and I encountered the head wind / cross wind.
For me cross winds are particularly dangerous with time trial wheels as the winds tend to push the bike over and I cannot hold up the bike against the wind.
I can handle a head wind with ease but in a cross wind things become very unstable very quickly, hence my return to Taupo time of 2hrs 3mins giving me a 3:13 bike time.
Run
Now it is said, and I can say that it is true that in Ironman, the race begins for real at the start of the run. This was especially true on race day, as my legs had taken a bit more of a beating on the bike than I was comfortable with going into the run. The run was going to be a test of mental as well as physical endurance.
The run at Taupo is a two lap course of 10 km, the first lap is good to iron out the kinks from the run, it hurt a bit, since the legs had been cycling for 90km previously. My team of wonderful supporters were there on the run course (the GO NICK GO team) to support me through out the course which was great, it really makes a difference knowing that at the top of that hill there is a van full of supporters shouting for you to carry on, it adds to the 10% of the race that is mental that all athletes need a bit of help with occasionally .
Overall there are some aspects of the day that I am very pleased with, my first lap of the bike was great, I’m really happy to run under 2 hours and I’m happy to do the first part of the swim in 30 mins. There are other aspects that will need to be worked on and improved in the next two months. That is what Jan / Feb is all about for me, consolidating and building to the big day... March 5 2011

Race Week

It’s Half Ironman Race week, I’m filled with all sorts of emotions this week, excitement, expectation, a bit of fear but mostly I just can’t wait to get up to Taupo on Thursday to start my race preparations.
My race build up has been on the whole really good, I’m feeling really strong physically, I want to take the 31 min time I did at the Scorcher two weeks ago and finish the 2km swim in around 60 mins. My bike is looking great thanks to Silas and the new TT set up and with the new shoes that I’ll pick up from Shoe Clinic this week my race plan has me finishing in 5:45 mins
The last two weeks have been a bit up and down as I have moved house with Karyn, we move into a new house in January so are temporarily staying at Karyn’s house in Brooklyn, moving house is stressful , I’m really glad its over now.
We travel to Taupo on Thursday and I will do a light training on Thursday and flush my legs on Friday, then... its race day.