Challenge Wanaka Race Report

Just reading through my last post on Challenge Wanaka eve I asked for a calm lake and a tail wind home - it now seems like someone up there was taking the piss out of me...
We got down to the lake at about 5.45 to a reasonable breeze which was blowing straight onto the lake causing a fair amount of chop.  And it was slightly chilly.
The good part about doing a race with only 450 individuals is that we got a park right outside the marquee with only 45mins until race start, and the other good part is that I didn't have to wait for a portaloo all morning.
Another good thing about doing a race with only 450 individuals is that the Pro's just get a 10m headstart instead of a 15minute head start which is not good for people who can't swim.

SWIM
The swim was a 2 lap rectangle course and was choppy the whole way round with a slight reprieve for the shortest leg where the chop was behind us.  It was pretty easy to stay on course as it was well marked and I tried to choose feet who kept a good pace.
As I came around towards the end of the second lap I saw the Half people bobbing around about to start.  This gave me great excitement as I thought they were starting at 7.30am which meant that my swim time would be just over an hour - OMG! Turns out the Half actually started at 7.38 so guess what? Another sucky swim. Although looking at other peoples times it seems that the faster people were a couple of minutes off normal and harder conditions slow the slow down down even more which perhaps bring my time to around the 65min mark which I would be happy with.
Had a major muppet moment running into T1 and missing my bike bag - I'll blame it on the numbness spreading throughout my body coupled with the disappointment of learning from another swimmer that we actually swam 68mins not the 62 that I had thought.

Opps, got it.

T1 was very slow due to my numb hands and fingers and a bad choice of arm warmers which while nice and warm, were a little too tight to get on in a hurry while wet and frozen.
Onto RooRoo I went.

BIKE
I shivered my way through the first 30km and then started to warm up a bit.  The first section of the bike was was pretty undulating and a bit more interesting with Half people sharing the road with us.  Once we split at Luggate at 70km us full people were on our own.

I had heard all the warnings about prevailing headwinds on the way back and the lonely roads so was preparing myself for the way back from Cromwell.  I made the turn and headed back every now and then passing someone who had passed me earlier but also having lots of "am I going the right way" moments as the roads were very empty.  I didn't get passed by a single individual athlete from about the 90km (only 2 team riders) onwards and came across many people who had passed me earlier who had obviously blown their foofoo valves on the first half.

Tailwind and fun times

Got to 120km and felt pretty good, figured I could average 30kph for the last 60km to come in just over 5hrs40 - considering I had averaged 32+ up to this point it seemed pretty achievable.  Hung a left hand turn just before the 140km and BOOM! Headwind! Sidewind! WIND! What a slog for the next 40km, I actually laughed at the 30kph average plan as I powered along at 23kph... Lucky there was a bit of downhill for the last 5km but I was already pooped and had been on the bike way longer than I ever thought I would.

RUN
The run course at Wanaka in about 75% offroad, about 20km of bush trails and a few nasty uphills, ie. not easy.  I started out aiming to hold 5min km's and this worked for a while but my speed slipped a bit through the bush section.  It's pretty isolated with aid stations every 3km and not many people around through the offroad sections and more than once I wondered how long it would take someone to find me if I keeled over and died.  I was also aware of the very fast moving river alongside some of the tracks which could carry my lifeless body about a km in two minutes.  Do other people have these thoughts during ironman?

Overenthusiastic supporters making things a bit more bearable

It was pretty windy but also hot in the sheltered sections.  My support crew popped up a few times and kept me amused and gave me updates on what else was happening in front and behind me.
I passed another pro girl after about 15km so I knew that I just had to finish to get some prize money, it's amazing how money can motivate you.
The second lap was very slow but amazingly I was passing people who were actually running slower than me.

Sammy the Seal - one person I was running faster than. I am sure it won't be long till he gets me though

 The good thing about doing a race where a lot of run is through the bush means that there are toilet opportunities everywhere.
My feet hurt from the gravel and stones underneath them and my legs hurt from my lack of run traning, it wasn't as painful as Ironman NZ where I had hip bursitis pain from the 8km mark, but it was still painful and I was oh so glad to finally reach the end.

Thank god that's over

The race director Victoria Murray-Orr was at the finish to welcome me with a hug - not just a polite little tapping on the back hug, but a real cuddle hug which was so nice and just highlights what the Challenge family are all about.

My finish time was 11hrs26 and I was 9th female overall (9th Pro), I was aiming for between 10.30 and 11hours so I was well out.
I really need to stop doing Ironmans off the back of an injury with only the minimum (or not even that) amount of time to train because it is really not working for me and I am getting slower.  I am embarrassed by the time I did and I don't want to do Ironman again until I can go faster.

So time to take stock, do some proper planning and training and get fast.  You are only as good as your last race so things can only improve from here.

*sigh*

Challenge Wanaka eve...

Oh my goodness how slack am I... Oops.
The last few weeks have been mostly biking and running, a bit of swimming, some work and a lot of pissing around.

Hen's games

The Hen in all her glory

 The weather in Auckland had been a bit iffy so I did a couple of long rides in some not so nice weather and I did my longest run for Wanaka down in Tauranga while watching the Port of Tauranga bunch riding champs, I mean Half Ironman...
Wanaka training has gone pretty well, I haven't had as much time to build up my running as I would like so my 25km run long will hopefully get me through.
Swimming was going well until I got abducted by the aliens at Pilot Bay as a team swimmer for Tauranga Half so now I am really unsure how the swim at Wanaka will go.

Guess what word starting with F is coming out of my mouth...

So I have now been in Wanaka for 3 days and had 2 days in Queenstown on the way through where I learnt how to play frisbee golf.  It has gotten pretty windy down here and yesterday morning I had genuine concerns for my life while I was swimming in the lake but fortunately it has settled down a bit.  The forecast for tomorrow is ok - a bit of a chilly start but should end up being fine and maybe a bit breezy.  I am being uber cautious about not getting cold on the bike (as is my trademark) so will be taking a bit of time in T1 to put a few extra items on.

J-rad's new office

We have a little crew down here with Sammy the Seal doing the full and Jess the Hammer doing the Half, J-Rad and Nick will be heading the support crew after Nick made the tough decision to DNS after an unpleasant last couple of days making friends with the toilet.

So now the bags are all packed and RooRoo is ready to go.  Fingers crossed for a calm lake and a tailwind home...

Big Jo training - the rest of December...

SWIM

Following my swim of redemption at Taupo I have been feeling a bit better about my swimming and figured to keep going with the long swims.  The whole Christamas/New Year thing is always a bit of a pain so I have only managed one long swim of 6km and the rest 3-4km.  I had a seemingly trivial sunburnt lip from the half which got infected and ruled my life for a week or so and I had to miss 2 swims in order to keep it dry.  Thank god that has cleared up now and I don't look like I am walking around a dead fly on my bottom lip.

BIKE

I took the week followed Taupo pretty easy and got back into it by the weekend with some efforts and a 4hr ride.  Christmas Day (being a Sunday) was a long ride day so got in a 4hr+ ride with not too much traffic which was nice.
We went down to Cook's Beach in the Coromandel after Christmas and a friend from swimming was staying around the corner and was keen to ride the K2 course.  I have ridden both halves of the course and the Tairua/Whitianga section many times but never the whole thing so after a bit of convincing I was pretty keen.  We decided to do it in reverse to get the Tairua-Thames section out of the way because that would be the busiest, I wasn't sure if that made it harder or easier than the usual way.  Since it is about 15km each way from Cook's Beach to SH25 we actually missed the Whitanga-Cook's Beach section on the way back and caught the ferry back otherwise it would have been about 220km which is just ridiculous.
We were going well until the 120km mark a bit before Coromandel town which my riding buddy experienced a nuclear meltdown.  We stopped for some lunch in Coromandel to refuel with only 40km to go to get to Whitianga.  Unfortunately this was the toughest section with some very nasty hills and headwinds, I actually felt pretty good considering it was the longest I had been on my bike for in a very long time however my companion was not in quite as good spirits and ended up having to walk up one of the last big hills and probably didn't really appreciate me standing at the top laughing.  Anyhoo we made it back to Cook's Beach with 184km on the Taptap - so there is my Wanaka training done in one hit.

View from some hill before Coromandel - looked a lot nicer in the flesh

 RUN

Trying to squeeze some long runs in without hurting myself so I have been doing only one or two runs during the week then 90mins+ in the weekend.  Managed 1hr45 today in about 1000% humidity - my eyeballs felt like they were overheating just having sunglasses on.  I think I will be slightly underdone in the running department for Wanaka but it is going to be hard either way.

What's everyone waiting for?

One for you Coach Lawson

Taupo Half Ironman race report

My main goal for this race was to break 5hrs and earn a super cool MINI coat from my dear friend Neilio - he suggested a PB to earn the coat but I thought that would be too difficult at Taupo since my PB is at Tauranga where the bike is as flat as a pancake.  I figured swim 33mins, bike 2hrs40, T1+T2 6mins (T1 includes a 400m run from the water...) which would leave 1hr 41 for the run - considering my recent comeback and therefore lack of running it could be tight.

SWIM
I started in the 2nd row of the swim and was a bit worried I would get trampled but it actually turned out ok, had a little bit of contact with other swimmers but probably mostly me swimming into other people... I felt like I was swimming well, I went pretty straight and followed feet pretty much the whole way.  I wasn't wearing a watch so hoped there would be a clock at the swim exit, so many times I think I have swum well then I get out of the water and see a disappointing time so I was dreading seeing a clock. As I came out of the water and looked up I saw the seconds say 57, 58, 59 and in front of it was a 31 !!!! I almost had a party there and then.  Then of course I thought it must have been short but I decided to bask in my glory for the meantime anyway.
I ran pretty hard up to T1 having to pass a few people along the way - why do people run to transistion so slow, don't they know it's a race?! When I got to my bike for once I wasn't the lonely bike on the Elite rack - Rooroo had company! Not for long though, my friend Two-Piece had swum about 30sec quicker than me and was just about to head out as I ran in.  I then saw Sammy the Seal across the rack from me who always swims quicker than me so I suspected then that perhaps the swim distance was legit and I'd actually had a good swim.
I then forgot how to put my helmet on properly and lost about 45sec trying to figure that one out.

Looking very calm on my way to T1 but secretly partying it up on the inside

 BIKE
Once on my bike my initial goal was to catch Two-Piece since she wasn't far ahead of me which I did within about 5km.  The weather was a bit yuck and not really as predicted - very drizzly and foggy and by about 1hr it hadn't let up and my hands went numb.  Eating got very difficult and I had to shove my Em's Cookie Bar down my top because I couldn't navigate my pockets properly.
I rode pretty steady and took advantage of the downhills on the way to Reporoa.  I saw J-Rad go past in the second group with Davo on his wheel which I was impressed with, only to see actual Davo go past a few minutes later - the cold must have affected my eyeballs.
I got to the turn at Reporoa and started the long slog back only to realize that we'd had a slight headwind on the way out so a tailwind for the way back - yeeha! This made the hills in the last 20km not so bad at all and I realized the I would make 2hrs40 easily, once I got closer I thought 2.35 would be possible and I finally rolled in with a 2.34 - the clock at T2 had a cumulative time of 3hrs10 so I had 1hr50 to run to break 5hrs - easy!!

RUN
After a quick toilee stop I started my trot.  The Gayman took a while to fire up but I planned to hold 4.30's which would give me 1hr35.  The first few km's were quick and then I settled into 4.30ish pace.  The first 10-12km were pretty good, but about 13-16km I was starting to get a bit wary and times were creeping up into the 4.40's and then 17km came and BOOM! I was over it, baby steps to the finish.  I had a girl from about the 18km mark who was slowly coming back to me and I wanted to try and catch her but just couldn't quite do it.  There was a nasty uphill in the last 500m which I went up at absolute snails pace but by the time I got to the top and made the tun to the finish chute she was right in front of me.  I am not known for my ability to sprint but thought what the hell so I gave it a go and I got her! As I ran towards the finish I saw 4.49 on the clock so I had made it with over 10mins to spare.  Run time was 1hr37 which was a bit over what I wanted but as Coach Lawson says I have to be happy that I can now do a whole race, run included, so I will take it.
The finish line area was pretty poos with only water and Balance on offer - no food, get your act together Taupo Half - $245 entry and no food at the end! How bad is that.

So overall a pretty good effort I think - exceeded my swim and bike expectations and held together for a reasonable run.  And not wildly far off the big girls either.  PB by 4mins and 7th girl overall.  J-Rad had a solid performance to be 8th overall in 4.14 with a run PB and Captain Pudding punctured but perhaps wasn't meeting his KPI's for the race anyway.

Hopefully some more photos to come...

Big Jo training Nov 21 - Dec 3

SWIM

After my sloth-like swim at the Auckland Tri I have been at a bit of a loss over what to do with my swimming.  I seem to be swimming better in the pool but had such a slow swim at the race that I don't know what to think and I certainly don't want to be floundering around doing 7km sets in the pool if it's not helping.  Over the last two weeks I did Stroke and Stride and the Kohi Summer Swim series which pretty average results but not as bad as the Auckland race.  So I have decided that the true test will be at Taupo Half next weekend - if I swim slower than 33-34mins then I will definitely have to change my tack.  Oh you sub 60min Ironman swimmers don't know how lucky you are...

BIKE

~11hrs and 270km per week for the last 2 weeks which was good.  Had a pretty solid Hour of Power last weekend and was reasonably sizzled afterwards. 
I was in the closing stages of a 20min effort the other day and Kezzle and J hyphen Razzell were tootling behind me waiting for me to finish, I passed some guy who immediately jumped on my wheel.  He said to Kezzle "wow she's a rocket, I bet she doesn't like me sitting on my wheel" to which Kezzle replied "no she doesn't" so what did he do? He continued to sit on my wheel, by then Jared had come up beside me and alerted me that I had a cling-on and to drop him so this guy was busting his arse to stay there. WTF is wrong with these people?!! If someone passes you let them pass you!! ARRRGGHH!!!

Post training feast.  What a non-broken eats to keep themself non-broken

RUN

I am still reveling in the fact that I can actually run, it's pretty exciting.  I did an hour last weekend and 1hr10this weekend and seem to have slotted right back into my pre-leggie issue pace which is good.  In fact my long run yesterday was actually the fastest pace I have done on that course which was interesting.  It wasn't particularly easy but wasn't any harder at the end which was surprising.  So now I just have to pull out a 21km next weekend which may be a little bit more difficult, if I could run under 95mins I would be absolutely ecstatic.  The course is pretty flat though so fingers crossed...

In all my glory, nerdy calf sleeve and all

 IN OTHER NEWS

Our new friend Scraggle-Anne, much in need of some love and food

   

Auckland Tri Race Report

This wasn't my best result and wasn't an A race so will do a picture report...

J-Rad and Nick sharing a pre-race moment

Jess hitting up Sarah about wearing the same wetsuit as her

Neilio and Alistair being fab supporters

Lou leading her wave out to battle

Far right. With a stroke like that how come I was so slow?!

Hello RooRoo

Up Gladstone

Jared Razzle big bottom

Sneaky Kezzle tucked in behind Haymey

One man pain train

It runs!

It can run well after a 30min puncture stop

10km got me to about here - someone measured the course well...

Our hero Garth

Big Jo training Nov 14 - Nov 20

SWIM

~15km

7km long swim this week!! I did my pre-squad 800m or so and as I was approaching the end I noticed that no-one had got in for squad and more importantly the lane ropes were closing in on me until it was only about Jo-width.  The swim coach had decided to forgo the lane ropes and do some kind of open water swimming practice which involved swimming in zigzags all over the place and beating each other up swimming in circles.  As fun as it was I was very agitated not being able to keep track of my distance so I abandoned the squad and made an impromptu program to get me to what I think was about 7km.
Did 1500m the Kohi Swim Series on Thursday which involved a bit of wading through the water as the tide was a bit low, I was only a bit outside of my goal time and thought without the water wading I would have been a bit quicker so had high hopes for the race in the weekend.  Oh how wrong I was.

To walk or to swim? Lucky my arms are short so I can usually swim the furtherest (?) before beaching myself

 BIKE

Not a big week on the bike with some shorter rides towards the end of the week due to the Auckland Tri and obviously no long ride on Sunday.  Nothing much to report here really.

RUN

Only ended up doing one run during the week of a bit over 4km and then a brisk trot on Saturday which involved some uptempo work which nearly killed me.  I didn't get the memo that the 2nd km was uptempo and wondered why the pace was so hot.  We then did an easy km and then one last uptempo which I clocked 4.05 for and thought I was going to die.  The head wind didn't really help.  Given my time off running I wasn't surprised that running uptempo hurt (my entire body not my shin) but was able to see that it wasn't going to be a fast 10km the next day.

Brief Auckland Tri race report to come...