IRONMAN New Zealand 2017: 5th in a gale
5th, 8:31:01. Swim 51:07, bike 4:40:36, run 2:54:24.
Wow, what a day!! Ironman #2 is in the books and it could not have been more different than my first one a year ago. The competitors this year woke to gusting and howling winds on race morning, which was chopping up the lake pretty ferociously. I initially was pretty excited about this, as I like a bit of chop and thought it would break the race up a bit. Well I was wrong about that, there were still two main packs of favourites separated by 5 minutes with me smack bang in the middle of this on my own. It was one of those swims that felt like the wave frequency was perfectly anti my stroke rate. I could not find a rhythm, kept swimming off course and generally struggled to get my bearings.
I was so happy to get to shore, even though it was 3.5 minutes slower than last year and 8th position. Onto the bike I believed in my strength and ability to pull the majority of the field back so I just got to work and put the swim out of my mind. Hearing I was 3-3.5min down going up the first hill was a bit more than I had thought but I love to ride fast so it was a great challenge. And fast riding it was. With the wind up it was a very strong tail wind most of the way out to the 45km turn point. I maxed out at 79km/h, which shows how strong the wind was as it's hardly a steep down hill. This felt amazing, fun and very scary at the same time, with some of the gusts really taking it to my deep Zipp rims.
About 30km I started to see some of my competitors ahead. Over the next 15km I pick off 4 of the 7 that were out the water in front so I made the turn for home in 4th. The wind over the next 15km was not too bad but then around the 60km mark the head wind kicked in again and it was a grovel back to town. I actually felt embarrassed at how slow the riding was in that section, age groupers were smashing it in the opposite direction and I was probably not even going 25km/h. Through town it was nice to get on some smoother surfaces and get a change in wind direction then it was back up the hill for the second lap. The splits to Terenzo, who was leading, were still ballooning but I just had to tell myself that 'if he holds this pace good on him he deserves to win'.
I enjoyed the tail wind out again and at about the 130km mark I caught and passed Marko Albert to move into third. The way home again was much the same, embarrassed to be riding so slow and dreaming of getting off the bike. Marko passed me back at around the 150km point and I could not respond. The positive was that the splits to Terenzo had started to come down. At one point someone shouted around 10mins but by the end of the bike it was around 6.5 minutes and I was in 4th. On to the run and what a contrast to last year! I felt amazing last year, probably the best I have ever felt getting off the bike. This year I got off and felt like I had already run 21km. I honestly thought there is no way I can run 42.2km.
My body and mind was screaming for me to just pull the pin and sit down. But as I ran I saw my family, my friends and my supporters and I just couldn't do it. I had to battle those inner voices and do my job. I really did suffer like I never have before for the first 21km. Cam and Cyril passed me around 18km and at 20km I stopped stood there for a minute and gathered myself. Here I told myself to get to the special needs bag where I had a Horleys lean water and flask of gels. Boy was I glad to get to this point and get that nutrition in me.
It was amazing, I have never felt a turn around like it. Within 1-2 minutes of getting the Lean Water and gel down me I felt a new surge of energy. I started to stride out, I became more positive and I felt like I was running well. Even better was this energy lasted. I got to the end of the 2nd lap (28km) and saw that Terenzo was not too far ahead of me and potentially blowing up. At 34km I had him in my sights and at 36km I made the pass. This was a big moment for me as I truly respect and admire Terenzo and could not believe I was making a pass at such a late stage of a marathon. Running home through the crowds was amazing and to get to that red-carpeted finish line in 5th place in a time of 8.31.01 in those insane conditions was such a relief.
The best way I can compare my progress in Ironman #2 is to last year and to that of Mr Consistency himself, Cam Brown. In 2016 I was 22 minutes and 40sec behind him (in 10th), this year 2017 I was 6.29 down. This is a significant marker for me, and to run a 2hr 54 minute marathon made my day! I train to improve and I feel that this was a great improvement. I am still pretty young in terms of Ironman so I just hope I can keep improving. Thanks for reading and for all your support.
What I’d tell an athlete now
I stopped at 20km. Stood there for a minute, seriously thinking about pulling the pin. Then I got to special needs, took the gels and the Lean Water, and inside two minutes I was a different athlete. I passed Terenzo at 36km.
People read that as mental toughness. I was empty, and the fix was about 300 calories. So when an athlete tells me they blew up in an Ironman marathon, the first place I look is what went in on the bike. I ran 2:54 that day off a slower ride than the year before.
This report was written in 2017 and has not been edited since, beyond reconstructing paragraph breaks that were lost in the original PDF. No wording has been changed.
