Well my season this year is not what I would consider normal, with Kona only four and a half month away now I am starting to get a little nervous of what lies on the road ahead (excuse the pun). I have this overwhelming feeling that I shouldn't be running every day, and should be spending more time on my bike. I know I should be focusing on my first objectives - Christchurch Half Marathon and the Treadmill Marathon World Record attempt (more on this soon), but this Ironman thingy is just so new and different that it still fills me with nervous anticipation.
Just going back a few months to the night before Ironman NZ, I was amazed at how nervous I became. I have been running competitively for 20 years now and have done several of the world’s biggest races including a couple of World XC Champs & a Commonwealth Games, but I don't ever remember being that nervous. I put it down to it all being so new. I knew I had done the work, and I knew I was ready, but it was just all so new, it was a leap into the unknown...it was scary.
I knew I would get through the swim ok, I knew I would manage on the bike ok, and I have run 15 or so marathon all under 2:28ish, but I just didn’t have any idea of how my legs would feel coming of the 180km ride. And that was what freaked me out. The evening before the race I was literally crapping myself – so much so I had to make a trip to the chemist to get some medication to stop me up. It was all very bizarre.
The race itself went well....very well actually. Pre race I thought that if I had a good day I might swim 60min, ride 5:25, run sub 3hrs....but it was all guess work. I ended up swimming 58:30 odd, riding 5:09 (15min faster than anticipated) and running 2:54 (which I was happy with, but I can run faster). My Final time was 9:09.52. I was 12th overall and 1st age grouper. Just as an aside I would have qualified as a pro...which I find amusing.
Anyway that’s enough for now...I'll explain about the Treadmill Marathon World Record attempt in my next post.
