Paul’s Race Report

That’s me...on the left......out of focus but still on shot !! I’ve finally made it to a Delly Carr Sportshoot gallery – my life is nearly compete !! ( see link for some of Delly’s amazing work !!) http://www.sportsphotography.com.au/

Well, it’s taken a bit to get this down onto the computer from my quick hand written notes of the day so will be from memory so hopefully all flows ok.

If you read Daz’s and PJ’s reports you’ll get a full picture of what the day was like, plus like the many other forum posts I have read on what happened on the day pretty much sums it up for most people

Woke at 3am with no problems at all – you’d think after 5 months of early morning start the main day would allow you at least a half decent sleep in ?? Scott up 2.30 so I politely told him we still had half an hour to go !!

Breakie of a muffin, sustagen and water...then a shower (just to wake me up) quick stretch (may as well start that campaign today !! ha ha !!).....out the door by 4am. Fellow Amigos getting in Daz’s car and all subdued and game faces on

Parked a bit from transition so Scott could get his car out later, and walked the 5 mins with my gear shared between us. Was a nice moment to share with Scott looking around at the other athletes doing the same. The sky was getting lighter and looking to be a pretty darn good Ironman-ning day. Straight forward bike setup – tyres pumped all good (thank god) bento box on, first two hours food into the helmet to go into the back pockets, double check triple check...walk away just walk away

Handed pump and bag gear off to Scott at the mechanics tent – a few people getting stressed with a some bike probs, mechanics doing their best to remain calm and appease them that all will be ok. Wetsuit on after a liberal lathering of Bepathen (baby nappy cream) quick photo op with the Amigos and off we go to swim start

First gel of the day down, quick gulp of water and watched the pro’s go off in the rockstar format...that was pretty cool. Shuffled over to swim marshalling and saw a few familiar peeps and said g’day and shook some hands. Amigo’s quickly regrouped and said our well wishes and acknowledged the semi confidence that we had done all we could to get to this point. I was pretty relaxed and it probably helped feeding off the different energies of Daz and PJ – different polars with Daz focused and PJ excited and apprehensive.
Very proud moment to be standing next to PJ & Daz – Daz with his game face and executable plan ready to go - knowing he had it in him to get it done... and PJ – I could tell he so wanted this for many years and to be right next to him for his first ever Ironman was pretty special.

Stuck with PJ til we entered the water and before you know it -- bang – we were off. In hindsight I should’ve started more up the front as I was working my way thru the crowd and took about 10-15 mins to get clear with some like swimmers and look for some feet to latch onto. Wouldn’t change it tho’ as to me it’s a bloody long day and starting with PJ was something I really wanted to do after 5 years full of constant chats between us of how cool would it be to be exactly here at this moment !!
Did have a moment right at the start where a woman was waving for surf rescue, I watched her as I got closer then she was on her back doing a back paddle thing......so I stopped and asked if she was ok – she didn’t reply but I said just take it easy and it was a long day...hopefully she was ok for the day

Out to the end of the jetty, couple of little swells to contend with that whipped up the butterflies in the belly..nothing to overly worrying tho’. Did then notice my arms and chest were getting a little sore and feeling a little tired, was hoping the swim back would be easier...no mouthfuls of Busso sea water so all good.

Turned at the buoy, rode the current to the next buoy that marked the leg back in to the beach. Got stuck right there and then.... didn’t feel like I had actually moved any distance for at least 2 or 3 minutes as the Underwater Observatory didn’t look like it was being left behind in my wake ! – the current was playing a little havoc which everyone has been commented on. Pushed on and managed to get going and concentrated on finding some feet, which was a little difficult as most swimmers were going all over the place. Nice little moment as I looked down I saw a red swim cap lying in the sea grass, distracted me enough to wonder which pro was missing their cap !! ahhh.....anyways...kept sighting and before I knew it (that good old Ironman race report statement) I was touching sand with my hand and time to stand up...1.08..not bad – was hoping for 1.04-1.05 just to beat 2006’s time..

Into transition T1...mmmmm.......now here is where I lost at least a full 5 mins in the day !!

As I ran in from the swim I noticed the toilets on the left, now I had tried to pee in the swim but was just too much a mental block to get over and get the flow going ifyouknkowotimsayin (have done it before but just couldn’t this time)... so made a note that if I peed now I’ll have to get out of my wettie and then squeeze into the portaloo blah blah so I decided all too hard and that I’d go on my way out to the bike, there would surely be toilets there.....

Into the tent and the nice volunteer Richie Burnell smothers me in sunscreen, I dry my feet socks on and get sorted for a nice day out on the bike. Ran out and realised there were no toilets in the bike area  ...doh !!.....so back I go right around to the swim exit and go there......no bother – it’s a long day !! ....yeah well, 5 mins may not seem a lot then but we’ll see what happens the rest of the day !!

Got onto my bike and was straight away thinking – oh... I didn’t get any cream on my legs......I’d better stop later at a bike aid station and get them covered...that thought soon disappeared later on in the day as I soon realised there wasn’t any sunscreen out there (well, not that I saw) and in the end I realised I’d probably be burnt everywhere else anyways so I let it go. Noticed my speedo wasn’t working so pulled over at the just out of town and made sure all was working ok..right, off we go again

First lap was controlled into the wind and  first 20 mins feeding only on water – 21 mins and then straight into the nutrition plan....eat eat drink...amped up the pace a touch with the tail wind sections but was careful not to go too hard. Plenty of people passing me but just let ‘em go.....will see them later for sure maybe !

Really enjoyed this bike course plenty going on to keep you interested, the section out to Capel was as little tough but not un-expected. Great boost seeing Mr Bikesure Roddie and Ben out there at the Capel turnaround in their Bikesure gear – cheering us on...very nice surprise.

Back towards town and looking forward to seeing the family support crew who had planned to setup at the Layman Rd roundabout. Saw them off in the distance, waved to get their attention and was such a great boost to get some familiar acknowledgement...goosebumps to see them even if it was just a fleeting moment as I whizzed past on the bike !! Pretty chuffed on how the first lap had gone and knowing in about 20 mins I’d get to see them on the way back !!

Second lap was a fair bit harder especially into the wind which had appeared to whip up a bit, was thanking myself for still pushing a controlled bit on the first lap as conditions appeared to be getting a little harder the longer the day went. Saw Daz stuck on the side of the road with his flat tyre – he looked pretty dark...stopped to see if I could help but didn’t have a short stem tube – was going to put on in my special needs whilst packing at home but found an old 80mm which went in instead – special needs was only 200m up the road as well – so coulda been a easy fix! He told me to keep going and said his day was done, I left him and said he needed to finish it off, no matter what....

Had a interesting to-ing and fro-ing with a few athletes, one Japanese guy who couldn’t work out his pace and kept surging back and forth which made it hard to maintain the 12m draft zone....and a chick who kept over taking me as I kept bloody stopping along the way (wee stop, Daz stop, hair check..)

Maintained eating, drinking, and was back in town turning at the town roundabout ready to go out for one last lap. Mitch Anderson was coming into transition to start his run and looked good. At this stage I was pouring bidons of water over me as it was getting hotter and was picking up at least 2 bidons at a time. Sometimes they were pretty cold so it was a constant juggle working out which one I was worth drinking or pouring over me...popped a nurofen at 130k and by then eating solid foods was getting a lot harder to do, had finished everything in the bento box including the vegemite sandwich

Switched to the 4 gels I had and a couple of oven baked bars which I had as spare as I figured I really needed to keep the food intake going...didn’t think the gels I had would’ve been enough for the last 2 hours – and still didn’t trust picking anything up from the aid stations so grabbed my spare gel in the bento box and scoffed that too. I picked up some awesome water bidons at eastern turn around that had fresh ice in them which went straight over the body, was tempted to drink them but tasted a little funny so used it for cooling effect only just in case ice was a bit dodge. Had a guy come past and comment on how cool it was to get the ice in the bottles – yeah baby, imhearinya !!

Was soooo good turning left back onto the home straight knowing a little effort and tail wind of sorts would get me home. Past the crew again, quick wave and felt bloody good if not awesome !! That feeling of coming down the main drag with people lined up (albeit a little less now the run had started for the pros), into transition T2 and off the bike a bit gingerly but still moving to grab run gear. Felt reasonably ok so with my bag in hand found a seat and two lovely volunteers were straight over and waiting for directions on where I wanted sunscreen. Well, I did warn them the last part of my getting ready would be ugly as I had some Sorbelene to ‘administer’ where they assured me they had seen it all before as they were nurse so with no further ado a big squirt and on it went (won’t describe where it went but you get the idea). Amazing the naked bodies again in transition – 5 years ago I commented on a couple of guys who just dropped everything, and this time yep – there they were stark bollock naked...no-one seemed to care so good on ya, go for it

Got my sunnies cleaned also as I had been riding with crap all over them for the last 70k or so, and was worried it was contact lenses playing up but was just crap over the lenses. Lucy irish shamrock hat on and out the door with everything I needd for a 42k shuffle around the foreshore of Busso – 7 mins or so this time so again so faffing around wasted some more precious minutes ...no rush...ho-hum...out the tent - saw Scotty, quick wave then a quick retreat to have another quick wee just in case I couldn’t hold on til wherever the first aid station was

Soon as I ran out I was a little confused if we were supposed to grab a wrist band (brain not thinking straight) as the hander-outers were right there ....so took off without (which was the correct thing to do !) and as I really hadn’t studied the run map enough that I sorta just followed everyone else and hoped I was going the right way !!

Ran alongside the finish chute and what a great idea just to tease you as you roll past on your laps.......not quite there yet mate !! As I ran out I could see they had the 3 podium getters with champagne up on stage.....very cool. Turned right and heard Roddie and Ben shouting from the VIP upstairs pub giving me a wave !! Out to the west and man, the path just full on people cheering on, was so good. Starting passing a fair few people who were walking and the further I got into the run the more I realised that some of these people didn’t even have their first lap wristband on so they were walking straight away...not good. It got more uglier as the day went, loads of people stopped, walking or just shuffling...actually felt guilty about keeping a fairly decent pace but there is something all powerful about passing people after a 3.8k swim and 180k bike knowing that your pacing has been spot on.

The first lap I turned out in 55 minutes and had to reset my head as i was thinking I’d cut short the course somewhere (was still playing on my mind I didn’t fully know the course) I was even surprised we actually ran in front of the Equinox and Goose Restaurant, in my head it was all going around the back of it this year ?? mmm....anyways, just keep running

So with Daz’s number 1 run tip in head I slowed a bit and backed off the pace, first lap should be 30-40 secs slower than targeted pace...
Missed Shell and the kids on this lap as I was probably a bit late after a few minutes out what I’d told them, saw the chalk marks the kids had done the day before but was too busy to take in as I was trying to see where they were standing......Back into town and picked up the first awesome lap wrist band (got cool IM logo on them) Last year when seeing a few friends who did the race with them on I decided if I did this race there was going to be 3 black bands (1 each lap) for the kids and the orange one (final lap) for me to keep !! ...off again around the loop to the west turnaround, still passing heaps of people and feeling damn good....second lap wrist band thankyou very much...Roddie yelling at me how good I was still looking – and still drinking beer he was ! Saw the crew this time at the western turn and was a great lift.....love the way they all tell you you’re looking good !!

Kept to the plan of gel a hour with alternating Gatorade and Cola each aid station, along with a salt tab – started on coke right at the end of the first lap. Ice went down the front of the suit, zippered up, and ice under the hat...would have loved to have shoved ice down on my quads but just got too hard to comprehend how to do it with a one piece suit.  Got to the near the end of the second lap and was still feeling really good. Only had a few people pass me and they were looking damn good too, ran with Michelle Bremer (eventual female winner) for a bit but she was just way too quick...saw the fellow Amigos and acknowledged a fair few supports. Got that 3^rd band and job done as far as I was concerned – no arguing from the kids about getting a wrist band each if I dropped dead right there and then !! Made sure I grabbed them off the same lovely volunteer and quietly said to myself I’ll see you in a hour and a bit.

Some cool moments along the way, the euro back packers around the back of Signal Park...I showed them my boob to side of my tri suit and they got excited and called me ‘sexy man’, Aaron Robertson on the wall near the Equinox giving some great encouragement, Scott popping up at different spots which was great, Stenchy snapping picks and on the run interviews and just some fantastic supporters out there giving it their all.

Shell had moved on this lap so I missed her and the kids but coming back thru where the kids park is she came running up and said I was looking great (even tho’ I felt like I was fading) she said she’d see me soon and they’d be on the left. That there and then kept me going in that last lap...... I knew then I didn’t have far to go.....an hour and a bit to go and I’m done – I couldn’t do any sums again looking at the kilometres done marker boards so gave up on timing for pace and thought ‘just keep fookn running’...Had a low spot then where I backed off all intake instead of water only for about 5k’s, jelly beans just weren’t cutting it neither was the Gatorade or coke

At one point I felt my little toe ‘catch on fire’ as such and I could’ve sworn my sock was filling with blood from a blister that had burst ??....have struggled with squished up toes in training so thought here we go, but in the end was all ok...did think running could go to crap right here and now but I persevered and eased off the foot fall effort a little that by the time I got going properly again the burning toe feeling had stopped. Ran with Andy IronHos Hosgood for a bit and was like 2006 all over again – politely told him I was off (he was having a bad run with vomiting but finished strong) We had joked when he caught me on the bike that I wasn’t going to run with him again this year !! ha ha !

Daz was slowly reeling me in and caught me just before the eastern turn – he said to go with him as he was hurting but I couldn’t ..he was on a mission to make the most the day that had robbed him a awesome pb. I let him go and I made sure I still walked that end aid station, then ramped up the effort and forced myself to focus and get it finished.....

Missed the second last aid station and was passing people like they were standing still (well a lot were just walking) was motoring now and got to the usual alley of tri clubs tents and upto the Stadium Tri Club tent.

Well, getting emotional is a understatement here – they had playing very loudly from their stereo a favourite Death Cab For Cutie song of mine – You Are A Tourist... I could hear it a few hundred meters off and was starting to well up thinking of what an awesome day, weekend, 5 months training, loving family, great friends and life I have had up until this very moment.....

This got me thru to the skate park section and knew I only had 2 and a bit kays to go......this is also when a stitch started in my side......oh sh!t I thought – not now...kept going thru the special needs station and was struggling. Wasn’t acknowledging anyone at this stage, was way too worried about having to walk the last 1k...man that seemed so in-comprehensible that I still had run around the back of the Goose Restaurant, then out along Queen St to the finish.......aarghhh.........called out passing at the last aid station as wasn’t taking anything on and just wanted to everyone out of my way, turned left and knew there wasn’t long to go til I got that orange band that said say – yep, you are allowed into the finish chute

Now it felt a million dollars coming up to that lap point (forget the lows I’m taking this high !!) – round the bend pointed to the dude with the coloured wrist bands got one for me there champ ??...politely declined another black one......thank you very much mate. Round the corner onto that bloody spongy matting stuff they had laid down, hoping I wasn’t going to go arse over.......up a bit and yep I have a bloody orange wrist band Miss Volunteer – yes you can turn left sir you are approved to finish !!

What a feeling.....

I want I bottled..... I want it in a locket on a necklace..... I want it on video..... I want the merchandised coffee mug that displays me running up that finish chute... ..

.....if anyone has the chance to do this....... do it, you will not regret it

Ran along high-fiving every one, Craig and Sue from Northcoast were there.......then saw Shell and the girls...just knew I had to stop.
Big kisses and high fives ...and a absolute awesome high-five from Bikesure Roddie.... then went to take off and realised I hadn’t seen Aiden !!......double backed - Bridie picked him up (he didn’t have a bloody clue what the hell was going on – he was just happy with his lolly pop) tried to give him a hug but sorta just squeezed his cheeks instead !! ha ha !!

Off running towards that ramp and finish arch....had mentally told myself no stupid Fonzie salute this time so fisted the muppet arms into the air and up over the line........DONE......very happy...

Pb’d 2006 time by 24 minutes.....(more if ‘faffing around’ time was reduced -- don’t really care – I like faffing !!) Lovely volunteer catchers led me away and asked those loaded questions to see if you need any medical – all good for me. One of the catchers was a lady who had sorted my sunscreen in T2 for the run and she remembered me too !!.... into the recovery tent and see Daz there with some ice on his shoulders and a can of Pasito.......I’ll have some of that thanks !!

Me and Daz chat and reflect on a mixed day for both of us – both knowing we were extremely privileged to be able to finish. Into the food area and time to catch up with Shell and the kids. Get out and see PJ coming up to finish, would have loved to have been on the over side to high five him but the legs weren’t working that well to run over and make it so just gave him a massive cheer as he ran past

So there you go that’s it done.....5 years later from the last one and 5 months of training such a damn fantastic day out, awesome weekend away and a special time with family and friends

Usual thanks:

Shell for putting up with all the training, washing, food requests, constant pasta meals, purchases from Chain Reaction and the non-conversations to a sleeping body on the couch at 8.30pm each night ..  I love ya lots !!.........and for the very long ‘cheap weekend holiday in Busso’.... having to do all that same stuff as mentioned above in the days before culminating in 12 hour day standing out in the sun with cranky kids !

The girls Bridie and Ellie for inspiring me to keep as fit as I can as I roll into my mid forties....some of my best memories are swimming at the Arena whilst they trained and those early morning starts and the couple of times they came out riding on their bikes alongside me as I a ran up the coast from home...gotta do a lot more of that in the next few years

...Aiden who again doesn’t really get what is going on but hopefully is proud of his dad

To Amigos Daz and PJ..... as mentioned - for this race, were two compete polar opposites to what they wanted from the day.
The knowledge we all brought to each other each week was invaluable, I feel we had prepped perfectly and all got there in pretty decent shape.  I will remember many a day day- dreaming as we rode or ran along pondering what it will be like on race day at this point or that point....it never got boring.... Thanks guys....

The Three Amigos did it !! ......we swam, we rode, we ran and we had a bloody lot of fun along the way
Damn proud of you both and those special memories are locked in forever and, recorded in this blog forever too........love it ! .....can’t wait to do it again.

Runners World crew for the caring and sharing including the one on one pysch sessions with Phabbie Phil (about 1 more than 2006 )

Scotty for starting all this off and being there for us on the weekend, one day mate.... we’ll be lining up together I'm sure – PJ is proof of that, we’ve got a few years left

So that’s it – blog finished...hope it’s been as fun reading as it has been writing.......til’ next time

Adios Amigos

Cheers

Paul