For me today’s ride ended up being 124k’s and by no stretch of the imagination was it in anyway fast (this was on account of having to keep the bunch together). But nevertheless if I may be aloud to put my humility aside for a wee while, I totally DOMINATED THE DOJO!
Lets have a closer look at this. King of the Mountains went to me as I made the top of every climb except for one first(due to the fact that I was talking on my cell phone – naughty I know … but I managed to pull it back for a close second). I won every stage, and needless to say I won overall. I also biked the farthest by 25k’s (as I biked from home to the start to get a bit of a warm up).
The first 50k’s was from Orewa (north of Auckland) down the East Coast Bays, and was easily the hilliest 50k’s I’ve ever ridden. There was a bit of competition to start with but the roadies quickly popped and I DOMINATED!
The day was fantastic with barely a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind, it was nice and cool and really just perfect cycling weather. Having support vehicles was something a bit different (even if they did ensure we didn’t go to fast and stopped regularly to make sure the bunch stayed together). It was great having them pass out bottles and Power Bars while on the move, real Pro Tour stuff (in my mind at least).
The total time biking was 5 hours 29 minutes, so as I said, not very fast, but still very satisfying. I DOMINATED everyone, and had a great time, and due to the easy pace I don’t feel particularly worn out. Plus we raised a bunch of money for the Rescue Helicopter, so all in all a great day
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Back on the Bike
Yip it was back on the bike again today in preperation for next Wednesdays "Race". I picked a rather tough route today which was pretty much all short sharp climbs with very little flat stuff. This was really a bit of a test to see how my bike fitness was holding up (given that I've done bugger all riding since Ironman NZ) as well as good chance to ride over some of next Wednesday's course and test out my race strategy. As an added bonus I'd also put my race wheels back on and had to make sure that I'd tuned them in right (although the clusters on my training wheels and race wheels are identical, on the race wheels they're closer to the hub meaning that I have to re-tune the gears every time I change - somethings I'm getting pretty good at)
On Friday I finally got details of the race course. Its not quite what I'd thought and basically involves a number of short stages between bank branch's. With a fair bit of male pride and corporate bragging rights on the line, I have a feeling that this will mean a lot of sprinting to get line honours throughout the day. Sprinting on a time trial bike is not really my thing, so my plan is simple. I don't want to wait to the final sprint at the end of every "stage", so my plan is essentially to launch attacks right from the start until one sticks and then make it stick. I'll be putting the hammer down all day knowing that I'll get a bit of a break at each branch, still there's a fairly good chance that I'll blow to peices at some point during the day. Its going to be fun though!
Also I figure I wouldn't be much of an Ironman without making it a bit more challenging. So I'll be riding an extra 30k's to get to the start line in the morning, and then go from there! I'm really looking forward to it. And if anyone wants to sponsor me or through some dollars my way (the whole thing is for a charity remember) don't forget to check out my fundraising site
On Friday I finally got details of the race course. Its not quite what I'd thought and basically involves a number of short stages between bank branch's. With a fair bit of male pride and corporate bragging rights on the line, I have a feeling that this will mean a lot of sprinting to get line honours throughout the day. Sprinting on a time trial bike is not really my thing, so my plan is simple. I don't want to wait to the final sprint at the end of every "stage", so my plan is essentially to launch attacks right from the start until one sticks and then make it stick. I'll be putting the hammer down all day knowing that I'll get a bit of a break at each branch, still there's a fairly good chance that I'll blow to peices at some point during the day. Its going to be fun though!
Also I figure I wouldn't be much of an Ironman without making it a bit more challenging. So I'll be riding an extra 30k's to get to the start line in the morning, and then go from there! I'm really looking forward to it. And if anyone wants to sponsor me or through some dollars my way (the whole thing is for a charity remember) don't forget to check out my fundraising site
Saturday, May 17, 2008
It's been a while!!!
It been a long while since I've blogged anything, but I've decided that I should stop being lazy and start up again.
Why bother? I hear you say!
Basically because it makes me more accountable. I have a couple of goals which are now fairly firmly set (in a loose kind of way), and I figure that in order to blog you should really try and have something to blog about. Hence the restart!
I do however need to come up with a catchy new blog title, KieranMischewskiNZIronman2008 isn't really relevant anymore - its yesterdays news (so to speak). I'll ponder that for a while and come up with something spectular, or failing that just something more fitting.
So what have I been doing since Ironman New Zealand?
Well immediately following Ironman I was all fired up to do more. Thankfully after a couple of weeks that desire subsided, I don't think my marriage would last another Ironman, or at least not yet, and I do really like being married.
So I've spent a bit of time mostly running, with my main and most immediate goal at the moment being to get a PB (or PR for those in North Americia) in a mid year half marathon which I did last year. By the way a PB for me is sub 1 hr 45. 1 hr 30 is the dream goal, so I need to get a bit faster. This is going to feed in well to my half ironman buildup later on in the year, as I simply don't run fast enough, or indeed as fast as I could.
What I've noticed in most of my races is that I ever cross the finish line fully spent. I think that comes down a bit to experence, in that I haven't done a lot of running races (or races that end with a run as in triathalon) so have been holding back to ensure I have enough ounce to finish. This year I'm making a concerted effort to run HARDER. I'm doing this by upping the intensity for short (under 10 k) runs at the moment. The idea being to keep my heart elevated above my normal target zones and hold the pace. The result initially was a very tired Kieran. But as things have progressed the effort has become more managable, and the times have stayed quick (for me). The next step is to increase the distance whilst maintaining the effort.
However, to put a slight spanner in the works, I've just committed to a 100k charity race on the 28th May - two weeks away!(bike race that is - I'm not game enough to run that far just yet). Here's the story:
I work for a bank which sponsors a Resuce Helicopter trust in New Zealand, and every year they hold a fund raising drive which all the bank staff are involved in. In our area one of the things which they're doing is holding a bike race with distances ranging from 10k through to 100k. I am, of course, doing the 100k ride. The opportunity to do a fully supported ride on a work day was to good to pass up. The only catch is that I need to raise some money (by the way, if anyone reading this wants to sponsor a good course you can do so at fundraisingonline ). The thing is though this ride is shaping up to be far from social with a number of roadies working for the bank (apparently cycling is the new golf) making a bit of noise about making the trigeek suffer and crack ... we'll see about that!!!
So this has meant me suddenly switching back to the bike after a bit of a lay off. My heart rate on the bike is a couple of beats higher than it should be, meaning I've lost a bit of bike fitness, but I'm hopeful that this will come back fairly quickly. My aerobic engine is still working fine, so it should be sweet, and after all it is only 100k's! What's more I don't need to run a marathon after the bike so there's no need to hold anything back! The course hasn't been set yet but I fully intend to put the hammer down within the first 10 k's and see what happens(the race starts in a hilly area and ends in a flat area, so there's a good chance I'll be able to get away at the start, problem is I'll then have to do something like a 70k time trial with a pck of roadies following behind). Wish me luck, or better still sponsor me (or rather the charity)
Why bother? I hear you say!
Basically because it makes me more accountable. I have a couple of goals which are now fairly firmly set (in a loose kind of way), and I figure that in order to blog you should really try and have something to blog about. Hence the restart!
I do however need to come up with a catchy new blog title, KieranMischewskiNZIronman2008 isn't really relevant anymore - its yesterdays news (so to speak). I'll ponder that for a while and come up with something spectular, or failing that just something more fitting.
So what have I been doing since Ironman New Zealand?
Well immediately following Ironman I was all fired up to do more. Thankfully after a couple of weeks that desire subsided, I don't think my marriage would last another Ironman, or at least not yet, and I do really like being married.
So I've spent a bit of time mostly running, with my main and most immediate goal at the moment being to get a PB (or PR for those in North Americia) in a mid year half marathon which I did last year. By the way a PB for me is sub 1 hr 45. 1 hr 30 is the dream goal, so I need to get a bit faster. This is going to feed in well to my half ironman buildup later on in the year, as I simply don't run fast enough, or indeed as fast as I could.
What I've noticed in most of my races is that I ever cross the finish line fully spent. I think that comes down a bit to experence, in that I haven't done a lot of running races (or races that end with a run as in triathalon) so have been holding back to ensure I have enough ounce to finish. This year I'm making a concerted effort to run HARDER. I'm doing this by upping the intensity for short (under 10 k) runs at the moment. The idea being to keep my heart elevated above my normal target zones and hold the pace. The result initially was a very tired Kieran. But as things have progressed the effort has become more managable, and the times have stayed quick (for me). The next step is to increase the distance whilst maintaining the effort.
However, to put a slight spanner in the works, I've just committed to a 100k charity race on the 28th May - two weeks away!(bike race that is - I'm not game enough to run that far just yet). Here's the story:
I work for a bank which sponsors a Resuce Helicopter trust in New Zealand, and every year they hold a fund raising drive which all the bank staff are involved in. In our area one of the things which they're doing is holding a bike race with distances ranging from 10k through to 100k. I am, of course, doing the 100k ride. The opportunity to do a fully supported ride on a work day was to good to pass up. The only catch is that I need to raise some money (by the way, if anyone reading this wants to sponsor a good course you can do so at fundraisingonline ). The thing is though this ride is shaping up to be far from social with a number of roadies working for the bank (apparently cycling is the new golf) making a bit of noise about making the trigeek suffer and crack ... we'll see about that!!!
So this has meant me suddenly switching back to the bike after a bit of a lay off. My heart rate on the bike is a couple of beats higher than it should be, meaning I've lost a bit of bike fitness, but I'm hopeful that this will come back fairly quickly. My aerobic engine is still working fine, so it should be sweet, and after all it is only 100k's! What's more I don't need to run a marathon after the bike so there's no need to hold anything back! The course hasn't been set yet but I fully intend to put the hammer down within the first 10 k's and see what happens(the race starts in a hilly area and ends in a flat area, so there's a good chance I'll be able to get away at the start, problem is I'll then have to do something like a 70k time trial with a pck of roadies following behind). Wish me luck, or better still sponsor me (or rather the charity)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Ironman Blues
Yep I got them, the post Ironman blues. Happily I’m pretty sure that I’m over them now. For those who don’t know the Ironman Blues are common enough to have their own name and basically is a mild depression that besets the Ironman finisher a few days after the big race. Its not surprising really, after all the better part of a year has been focused on this single big event, every waking thought (and quite a few dream time thoughts to) have been centred on making that day a success. We watch what we eat, keep detailed training logs, and generally have our lives planned out months in advance, and then the big day arrives. As an athlete you become the centre of everyone’s universe as volunteers and strangers go out of their way to cater to your every need, and that’s all before race day. On race day itself you have thousands cheering you on and urging you forward, and then, before you know it, its all over.
Life gets back to normal, the only problem of course is that normal is now very abnormal to the Ironman athlete. All of a sudden there’s no need or driving purpose to training and, almost over night a big hole has been place in what has been a very full and busy life. Friends and family don’t really understand, they’re just happy its all over, that you made it through and that now they get to spend more time with you.
There’s also the equally significant factor of hormone change. After a year of pretty intense exercise you have become addicted to endorphins, that natural drug which produces a “high” and which the body pumps out in vast quantities to suppress pain during your Ironman. After a week of recovery and probably not a lot of exercise (as in my case) you start to get withdrawals which of course add to your sense of malaise.
But now I think I’m over it. I’ve just come back from a 16k run and feel great (that would be the endorphins). It was a fairly leisurely run done simply for the fun of it and the joy of running, although in saying that I did throw in some fartlecks as part of a plan I’m formulating.
After having done Ironman I’m hooked, I would love to do another one. Its going to have to wait though as I don’t think either my finances or my marriage could handle another Ironman year at this point. Maybe as a late 35th birthday present in 2011. This Ironman thing seems to be something that my body naturally agrees with. Those of you who get a copy of the book are going to be surprised a just how small my training volume actually was, probably somewhere between 60% -70% of what the average training program would recommend. And my actual build up time (including some initial marathon training that I did before committing to Ironman) was about 14 – 15 months where most other recommendations that I’ve seen are for a 3 year build up, prior to that I was sitting around getting fat and 9 months ago I couldn’t even swim (not more than a 25m length anyway). It isn’t my intention for this to be a self congratulationary rant but I am very proud of where I’ve come in my Ironman journey, so I make no apologies.
I feel really vindicated in my training philosophy and my training program. I was self coached throughout (apart from 5 swim lessons). The challenge was always to get the best possible training done in the short space of time I had, as I didn’t want to sacrifice my family time, although they did get a little less of me during the year. It turned out that the year of Exercise Physiology that I did all those years ago has finally paid off. The key thing for me was to ensure that every training session had a measurable purpose and that there were no junk miles and no wasted effort. To complicate things this had to be done in a very versatile fashion to fit in with my family demands. A big part of my training philosophy was to be an active dad, and really be high energy with my kids, this ensured that while I wasn’t doing specific training I was being active and getting puffed, and therefore getting some sport specific benefit from good old fashion fun. I think I largely achieved that and I’m really proud of my result. I am left wondering the big “what if”, what could I have done if I had focused solely on Ironman? I suspect that’s a question that everyone who isn’t a professional athlete asks themselves and a question that very few people get to answer. The reality is that its not a question that I want to answer, because to do so would mean sacrificing to much.
So what’s next? Not Ironman.
I decided on my run that the focus this year will be on getting faster over the shorter half ironman distance. Specifically I want to improve on my swimming and my running. The bike can largely stay “as is” for the time being as I’m not loosing time on the bike and as it stands could easily push harder if I had more confidence on my running. So this year will see m do lots or running and swimming drills in training in order to get better and faster, time wise this will largely have to fit in with my lunch breaks.
For events I’m pretty tempted to run the Rotorua Marathon in early May, but probably won’t (due to the expense and the travel required). I will however do the North Shore City Half Marathon in July which is part of the Auckland Run Series (I’ll be targeting that for a PB), I’ll also do a 10k which is part of the same series in May. Next on the list will be the Harbour Crossing, maybe the Auckland Marathon (although it’s a bit naff – to many people) with my “A” race being the Rotorua Half Ironman. I’m tempted to do the Taupo Half Ironman which is the week before as it’ll be a bit of a trip down memory lane and its flat and a good race to get a PB, so I’ll see how we go.
To throw something a little different into the mix I’ve been asked if I’m interested in doing the Mountains to Sea Multisport race. This is a adventure stage race held over three days in October. I’ve said I might be interested in doing it as a team (as I don’t feel like picking up a paddle and doing the kayaking bits again – its been a few years and would involve to much training), so watch this space.
All in all I think this is going to be a positive year. Here’s the goals:
1. Spend more time with the family
2. Get faster at racing
Life gets back to normal, the only problem of course is that normal is now very abnormal to the Ironman athlete. All of a sudden there’s no need or driving purpose to training and, almost over night a big hole has been place in what has been a very full and busy life. Friends and family don’t really understand, they’re just happy its all over, that you made it through and that now they get to spend more time with you.
There’s also the equally significant factor of hormone change. After a year of pretty intense exercise you have become addicted to endorphins, that natural drug which produces a “high” and which the body pumps out in vast quantities to suppress pain during your Ironman. After a week of recovery and probably not a lot of exercise (as in my case) you start to get withdrawals which of course add to your sense of malaise.
But now I think I’m over it. I’ve just come back from a 16k run and feel great (that would be the endorphins). It was a fairly leisurely run done simply for the fun of it and the joy of running, although in saying that I did throw in some fartlecks as part of a plan I’m formulating.
After having done Ironman I’m hooked, I would love to do another one. Its going to have to wait though as I don’t think either my finances or my marriage could handle another Ironman year at this point. Maybe as a late 35th birthday present in 2011. This Ironman thing seems to be something that my body naturally agrees with. Those of you who get a copy of the book are going to be surprised a just how small my training volume actually was, probably somewhere between 60% -70% of what the average training program would recommend. And my actual build up time (including some initial marathon training that I did before committing to Ironman) was about 14 – 15 months where most other recommendations that I’ve seen are for a 3 year build up, prior to that I was sitting around getting fat and 9 months ago I couldn’t even swim (not more than a 25m length anyway). It isn’t my intention for this to be a self congratulationary rant but I am very proud of where I’ve come in my Ironman journey, so I make no apologies.
I feel really vindicated in my training philosophy and my training program. I was self coached throughout (apart from 5 swim lessons). The challenge was always to get the best possible training done in the short space of time I had, as I didn’t want to sacrifice my family time, although they did get a little less of me during the year. It turned out that the year of Exercise Physiology that I did all those years ago has finally paid off. The key thing for me was to ensure that every training session had a measurable purpose and that there were no junk miles and no wasted effort. To complicate things this had to be done in a very versatile fashion to fit in with my family demands. A big part of my training philosophy was to be an active dad, and really be high energy with my kids, this ensured that while I wasn’t doing specific training I was being active and getting puffed, and therefore getting some sport specific benefit from good old fashion fun. I think I largely achieved that and I’m really proud of my result. I am left wondering the big “what if”, what could I have done if I had focused solely on Ironman? I suspect that’s a question that everyone who isn’t a professional athlete asks themselves and a question that very few people get to answer. The reality is that its not a question that I want to answer, because to do so would mean sacrificing to much.
So what’s next? Not Ironman.
I decided on my run that the focus this year will be on getting faster over the shorter half ironman distance. Specifically I want to improve on my swimming and my running. The bike can largely stay “as is” for the time being as I’m not loosing time on the bike and as it stands could easily push harder if I had more confidence on my running. So this year will see m do lots or running and swimming drills in training in order to get better and faster, time wise this will largely have to fit in with my lunch breaks.
For events I’m pretty tempted to run the Rotorua Marathon in early May, but probably won’t (due to the expense and the travel required). I will however do the North Shore City Half Marathon in July which is part of the Auckland Run Series (I’ll be targeting that for a PB), I’ll also do a 10k which is part of the same series in May. Next on the list will be the Harbour Crossing, maybe the Auckland Marathon (although it’s a bit naff – to many people) with my “A” race being the Rotorua Half Ironman. I’m tempted to do the Taupo Half Ironman which is the week before as it’ll be a bit of a trip down memory lane and its flat and a good race to get a PB, so I’ll see how we go.
To throw something a little different into the mix I’ve been asked if I’m interested in doing the Mountains to Sea Multisport race. This is a adventure stage race held over three days in October. I’ve said I might be interested in doing it as a team (as I don’t feel like picking up a paddle and doing the kayaking bits again – its been a few years and would involve to much training), so watch this space.
All in all I think this is going to be a positive year. Here’s the goals:
1. Spend more time with the family
2. Get faster at racing
Monday, March 3, 2008
Kieran, you're an IRONMAN!
Be prepared for a loooonnngg post
I’ve spent the better part of a year visualizing what it would feel like to have Mike Rielly call me in with those words. Well now I know how it feels, and it feels awesome!
I finished my very first Ironman in 12 hours 56 minutes and 21 seconds and I’m totally stoked to have made it home in under 13 hours. I had serious doubts about whether or not that would happen with 10k’s to go in the run, and was desperately doing the maths in my head and coming up a few minutes short every time, but more on that later.
Ironman day started at 4.20am for me, my crew chief Clint and my wife Helen, although I was already awake when the alarm finally went off, in fact I hardly slept at all, and didn’t have a great sleep the night before. My mind was far to busy going through what I was about to put my body through. The rest of my support crew (being my two kids, Sam and Eve, my sister-in-law, Liz and her husband David) were up a bit later to say a prayer, which I think sustained me through some of the dark patches, and to see me off as we left to head down to the start. Steve from Alpegear.com had provided supporters tee shirts to promote the book. These were bright red and I would keep on seeing them on my guys as well as on the other Alpe Athletes supporters throughout the day.
We got down to check in at around 5.30am and the process of getting body marked and checking the bike was a great way of settling things down. Checking the bike was interesting. My bike was fine, everything still worked, the drinks were topped up and the gels attached, but most importantly the tyres were inflated. That was a lot better than some other people. There were plenty of poor folk ripping off tyres which had popped and doing a quick change. I also heard at least one tyre explode as I was walking down the line to my bike. It happens in bike races to and never ceases to amaze me how people who should know better still try and squeeze a few more PSI (pounds per square inch) of pressure into their tyres and end up exploding them right before the race start, certainly not the way I’d like to start race day.
After checking the bike it was down to the swim start. Again we were there in plenty of time, so I had a chance to relax, take a second nervous pee, and soak in the atmosphere. The forecast for the day was rain with some heavy showers and strong northerly winds, however as it turned out the morning was almost perfect. No wind and only light clouds (although you could see the big black ones coming), the result being that the lake as smooth as glass.
Eventually I got changed and checked in my bag for the finish before kissing my wife good bye and heading for the start. In Ironman New Zealand there’s a Maori Haka done before the race (for those of you outside of New Zealand a Haka is like a war dance, it’s a challenge laid down by those performing it). Its awesome and intense, a Waka (war canoe) comes out of the mist with 20 or 30 warriors on board and lands on the beach next to the swim start, at which point the disembark and lay down the challenge. The right thing to do is to stand and face the Haka and accept the challenge, which is what I did before getting into the water. One way or the other I was going to be accepting the challenge of the day emerge from it in glory (even if only in my mind). What a way to start the day.
The swim went pretty much as expected. I managed to stay out of trouble for the first part and found a few feet to swim on as we headed down the first leg of the swim. Things got a bit congested as I rounded the first mark and I took a fairly solid knock to the eye, luckily I didn’t loose my goggles and managed to keep going without breaking stride. By the end of the first leg (its out and back) my time was 41 minutes, which was right on track. The way back was uneventful, this was actually reasonably noteworthy as for the first time in an open water swim I had actually managed to swim straight (I normally veer off to my right, which cost me a load of time in my last couple of swims, but had been working on this over the last couple of months). I came out of the water in 1:25:49 which I was plenty happy with (my goal time was between 1 hour 20 and 1 hour 30). It was then onto the long 400 meter run to T1.
The run to T1 goes along a marina road before heading up a bunch a steps in an embankment. It was at the bottom of these steps that my support made their first appearance with my kids waving signs and yelling support. That gave me a real boost and I flew up those stairs.
It was then into T1 to get my wetsuit stripped and into my bike gear. I took my time and had a much smoother transition than I did in my first (and only other) triathlon. Sure does pay to practice and visualise. By the time I got out to the bikes there weren’t a whole lot left, looking at the results I was well down at the back of the pack by the end of the swim. That wasn’t a surprise and was what I expected, the swim is easily my weakest as anyone who has been following this blog will know this time last year I couldn’t really swim.
After getting onto the bike it was time to get into my work. The bike was always going to be the place where I’d make up time and placings. The bike course consists of two 90k loops out to a little town called Reporoa with only a couple of hills along the way. I’m fairly strong on hills and would have been happy if there were more. The first one is only a couple of k’s from the start of the bike course and I figured that it would set the tone for the day, if I rode that strongly then I’d probably ride the whole course strong.
I passed a lot of people on that hill and I kept on passing people all day. The forecast wind showed up early on in the bike meaning there was a very stiff headwind all the way out to Reporoa. Whilst I don’t particularly like headwinds, it still suited me fine. Its very slightly downhill on the way out to Reporoa, and conversely slightly uphill on the way back, so a headwind there and a tail wind back is probably the best result if it has to be windy.
On the first lap my average speed was a relatively slow (for me) 27kph. But on the way back it was much quicker and I spent a lot of time sitting around 44kph. By the time I was heading back the rain had started. I hate riding in the rain, and in fact the day got quite miserable with the wind really driving the rain, and yet there were still thousands of people lining the course a various points, including one local farmer trying to tempt the athletes with a nice cold beer as they wizzed past. My support crew was doing a brilliant job, popping up a various parts of the course to cheer me on. I really can’t overstate the value of this kind of support. At one point I was going through a bit of a dark patch and they right there, at the right place at the right time to lift me up out of it.
By the second lap the wind had picked up some more and shifted a little as well (meaning it wasn’t quite a tailwind on the way back). At one point I was down to 17kph on a flat bit of road, that lap was hard work. I managed to stay aero for probably 95% of the ride, which was really good, especially on a windy day. Unfortunately by the second lap my water proof bike computer was starting to fill up with water and it was getting hard to read, so I didn’t know what my averages were. I also started getting some stomach issues by the second lap, nothing too bad and not enough to throw out my nutrition plan thankfully, but it didn’t bode well for the run.
Coming back from Reporoa for the last time I really buttoned off on the pace to get some recovery in, as I really wanted to give myself the best chance possible of doing a good run (or at least actually running the marathon and not walking it). The end result for the ride was an average speed of 28.3kph and a time of 6:22:04 (I think that includes the transition time though). This was a bit slower than my prediction of 30kph, but given the wind I was happy enough with the effort. What was really good was that I absolutely ripped the field apart and made up close to 350 places on the bike, I was only past by 3 or 4 people all day. I also finally got to meet Sub6 as he yelled at me when I was coming back into town for the last time, I'd see him again and actually exchange some words (although I can't recall what they were) later on the run course, he's a bit of a celebrity so that was real cool.
The run is what really makes an Ironman in my humble opinion. It’s during the run that things start to hurt, and where you can no longer hide. By the end of the bike I was pretty wet and my feet were soaked thanks to the rain. Fortunately I’d thrown some spare socks into my run bag, they weren’t my best pair (being an optimist I was wearing those on the bike and not planning to change) and I normally wouldn’t have picked them for use in a marathon, but given the situation they were a God send.
Coming off the bike I had a very tight muscle on the outside of my right foot and I was quite worried about this as I started the run. Happily that particular pain eased away and eventually disappeared altogether. The first lap went alright, although I was having stomach issues and couldn’t tolerate anymore gels, in fact pretty much whenever I put anything other than water into my stomach it repeated on me. So I stuck to water, coke and a little bit of Replace from my nutrition pack. I also managed to force down a little bit of banana and some pretzels. The one thing that I had no problem with was some soft lollies I had ducked away in my nutrition pack and some hard lollies I picked up at a couple of the aid stations.
The first lap of the run went alright and I maintained a steady pace, it certainly wasn’t a pace that would get me a marathon PB (personal best) but it was good enough. Leading into the race I’d been a little worried about how the run would go as I hadn’t done a lot of running or brick workouts due to a tight ITB, so I was very pleased to see the legs turning over. On the way back in to town from the first lap (it’s a two lap course) I was beginning to enter into the outskirts of Hurtsville, and it was a huge lift to see my family waiting for me on the course. My son, Sam is still in a wheel chair due to his broken leg so my sister-in-law, Liz, ran next to me pushing Sam along for a short spell. Again this was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it, and lifted me from a big slump which I was going through.
The second lap saw me go deep into Hurtsville and had me starting to answer some big questions, like how hard could I actually push. At this point of the race the crowd support was phenomenal, I can comfortably say that there is no way that I could do an unsupported Ironman. Without the volunteers at the aid stations and the crowd support along the way I would have just stopped. I kept on thinking how easy it would have been to stop ad sit down. Instead I kept on running. My goal for the marathon was to actually run it (only walking the aid stations), and I kept on thinking about the challenge I had accepted at the start of the day, and how I wasn’t going to give in to weakness. And I didn’t. I ran the whole course and met that goal.
A mentioned above coming back from the last lap I had doubts that I would get back in under 13 hours. I still had doubts until 2k’s to go where some guy, standing by himself went crazy. He was looking at his watch and screaming at me that I could do it if I just kept up the steady pace I was on, and that I was looking really “solid” (I didn’t feel very solid). With that screamed encouragement from a complete stranger ringing in my ears I somehow managed to pick up the pace. Half an hour ago I didn’t think I could go any faster, but it’s amazing what you can do when motivated. Somehow I was tapping into reserves that I didn’t know I had. The last 2k’s from the 40k mark hurt more than anything else I can remember, but somehow it also felt really good, that must have been the endorphins.
Coming around the outside of the domain and going into the last 200 meters is a bit of a blur, I remember seeing my wife and crew chief, as well as Steve from Alpegear.com and his camera man, and then I was coming down the finishing shoot.
At that point it stopped hurting. I could see that I was going to make it in under 13 hours and as I was catching the person in front of me I eased up a bit after making sure there was no one close behind me. I wanted to really enjoy the moment and I didn’t want anyone ruining my finish photo. I went down the finishing shoot pumping my fists and grinning like an idiot. Crossing the finish line I grapped the tape and held my arms up in glory! This was the moment that a whole year had been building up to and it was awesome, one of the best moments of my life, just behind my marriage and the birth of my children.
Hearing Mike Rielly saying “here comes Kieran, a 32 year old father of 2. Kieran, you’re an IRONMAN!” is unforgettable.
Was it worth it? Definitely.
I’ll do another post race blog in a couple of days, but for now I’m still enjoying the moment.
I’ve spent the better part of a year visualizing what it would feel like to have Mike Rielly call me in with those words. Well now I know how it feels, and it feels awesome!
I finished my very first Ironman in 12 hours 56 minutes and 21 seconds and I’m totally stoked to have made it home in under 13 hours. I had serious doubts about whether or not that would happen with 10k’s to go in the run, and was desperately doing the maths in my head and coming up a few minutes short every time, but more on that later.
Ironman day started at 4.20am for me, my crew chief Clint and my wife Helen, although I was already awake when the alarm finally went off, in fact I hardly slept at all, and didn’t have a great sleep the night before. My mind was far to busy going through what I was about to put my body through. The rest of my support crew (being my two kids, Sam and Eve, my sister-in-law, Liz and her husband David) were up a bit later to say a prayer, which I think sustained me through some of the dark patches, and to see me off as we left to head down to the start. Steve from Alpegear.com had provided supporters tee shirts to promote the book. These were bright red and I would keep on seeing them on my guys as well as on the other Alpe Athletes supporters throughout the day.
We got down to check in at around 5.30am and the process of getting body marked and checking the bike was a great way of settling things down. Checking the bike was interesting. My bike was fine, everything still worked, the drinks were topped up and the gels attached, but most importantly the tyres were inflated. That was a lot better than some other people. There were plenty of poor folk ripping off tyres which had popped and doing a quick change. I also heard at least one tyre explode as I was walking down the line to my bike. It happens in bike races to and never ceases to amaze me how people who should know better still try and squeeze a few more PSI (pounds per square inch) of pressure into their tyres and end up exploding them right before the race start, certainly not the way I’d like to start race day.
After checking the bike it was down to the swim start. Again we were there in plenty of time, so I had a chance to relax, take a second nervous pee, and soak in the atmosphere. The forecast for the day was rain with some heavy showers and strong northerly winds, however as it turned out the morning was almost perfect. No wind and only light clouds (although you could see the big black ones coming), the result being that the lake as smooth as glass.
Eventually I got changed and checked in my bag for the finish before kissing my wife good bye and heading for the start. In Ironman New Zealand there’s a Maori Haka done before the race (for those of you outside of New Zealand a Haka is like a war dance, it’s a challenge laid down by those performing it). Its awesome and intense, a Waka (war canoe) comes out of the mist with 20 or 30 warriors on board and lands on the beach next to the swim start, at which point the disembark and lay down the challenge. The right thing to do is to stand and face the Haka and accept the challenge, which is what I did before getting into the water. One way or the other I was going to be accepting the challenge of the day emerge from it in glory (even if only in my mind). What a way to start the day.
The swim went pretty much as expected. I managed to stay out of trouble for the first part and found a few feet to swim on as we headed down the first leg of the swim. Things got a bit congested as I rounded the first mark and I took a fairly solid knock to the eye, luckily I didn’t loose my goggles and managed to keep going without breaking stride. By the end of the first leg (its out and back) my time was 41 minutes, which was right on track. The way back was uneventful, this was actually reasonably noteworthy as for the first time in an open water swim I had actually managed to swim straight (I normally veer off to my right, which cost me a load of time in my last couple of swims, but had been working on this over the last couple of months). I came out of the water in 1:25:49 which I was plenty happy with (my goal time was between 1 hour 20 and 1 hour 30). It was then onto the long 400 meter run to T1.
The run to T1 goes along a marina road before heading up a bunch a steps in an embankment. It was at the bottom of these steps that my support made their first appearance with my kids waving signs and yelling support. That gave me a real boost and I flew up those stairs.
It was then into T1 to get my wetsuit stripped and into my bike gear. I took my time and had a much smoother transition than I did in my first (and only other) triathlon. Sure does pay to practice and visualise. By the time I got out to the bikes there weren’t a whole lot left, looking at the results I was well down at the back of the pack by the end of the swim. That wasn’t a surprise and was what I expected, the swim is easily my weakest as anyone who has been following this blog will know this time last year I couldn’t really swim.
After getting onto the bike it was time to get into my work. The bike was always going to be the place where I’d make up time and placings. The bike course consists of two 90k loops out to a little town called Reporoa with only a couple of hills along the way. I’m fairly strong on hills and would have been happy if there were more. The first one is only a couple of k’s from the start of the bike course and I figured that it would set the tone for the day, if I rode that strongly then I’d probably ride the whole course strong.
I passed a lot of people on that hill and I kept on passing people all day. The forecast wind showed up early on in the bike meaning there was a very stiff headwind all the way out to Reporoa. Whilst I don’t particularly like headwinds, it still suited me fine. Its very slightly downhill on the way out to Reporoa, and conversely slightly uphill on the way back, so a headwind there and a tail wind back is probably the best result if it has to be windy.
On the first lap my average speed was a relatively slow (for me) 27kph. But on the way back it was much quicker and I spent a lot of time sitting around 44kph. By the time I was heading back the rain had started. I hate riding in the rain, and in fact the day got quite miserable with the wind really driving the rain, and yet there were still thousands of people lining the course a various points, including one local farmer trying to tempt the athletes with a nice cold beer as they wizzed past. My support crew was doing a brilliant job, popping up a various parts of the course to cheer me on. I really can’t overstate the value of this kind of support. At one point I was going through a bit of a dark patch and they right there, at the right place at the right time to lift me up out of it.
By the second lap the wind had picked up some more and shifted a little as well (meaning it wasn’t quite a tailwind on the way back). At one point I was down to 17kph on a flat bit of road, that lap was hard work. I managed to stay aero for probably 95% of the ride, which was really good, especially on a windy day. Unfortunately by the second lap my water proof bike computer was starting to fill up with water and it was getting hard to read, so I didn’t know what my averages were. I also started getting some stomach issues by the second lap, nothing too bad and not enough to throw out my nutrition plan thankfully, but it didn’t bode well for the run.
Coming back from Reporoa for the last time I really buttoned off on the pace to get some recovery in, as I really wanted to give myself the best chance possible of doing a good run (or at least actually running the marathon and not walking it). The end result for the ride was an average speed of 28.3kph and a time of 6:22:04 (I think that includes the transition time though). This was a bit slower than my prediction of 30kph, but given the wind I was happy enough with the effort. What was really good was that I absolutely ripped the field apart and made up close to 350 places on the bike, I was only past by 3 or 4 people all day. I also finally got to meet Sub6 as he yelled at me when I was coming back into town for the last time, I'd see him again and actually exchange some words (although I can't recall what they were) later on the run course, he's a bit of a celebrity so that was real cool.
The run is what really makes an Ironman in my humble opinion. It’s during the run that things start to hurt, and where you can no longer hide. By the end of the bike I was pretty wet and my feet were soaked thanks to the rain. Fortunately I’d thrown some spare socks into my run bag, they weren’t my best pair (being an optimist I was wearing those on the bike and not planning to change) and I normally wouldn’t have picked them for use in a marathon, but given the situation they were a God send.
Coming off the bike I had a very tight muscle on the outside of my right foot and I was quite worried about this as I started the run. Happily that particular pain eased away and eventually disappeared altogether. The first lap went alright, although I was having stomach issues and couldn’t tolerate anymore gels, in fact pretty much whenever I put anything other than water into my stomach it repeated on me. So I stuck to water, coke and a little bit of Replace from my nutrition pack. I also managed to force down a little bit of banana and some pretzels. The one thing that I had no problem with was some soft lollies I had ducked away in my nutrition pack and some hard lollies I picked up at a couple of the aid stations.
The first lap of the run went alright and I maintained a steady pace, it certainly wasn’t a pace that would get me a marathon PB (personal best) but it was good enough. Leading into the race I’d been a little worried about how the run would go as I hadn’t done a lot of running or brick workouts due to a tight ITB, so I was very pleased to see the legs turning over. On the way back in to town from the first lap (it’s a two lap course) I was beginning to enter into the outskirts of Hurtsville, and it was a huge lift to see my family waiting for me on the course. My son, Sam is still in a wheel chair due to his broken leg so my sister-in-law, Liz, ran next to me pushing Sam along for a short spell. Again this was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it, and lifted me from a big slump which I was going through.
The second lap saw me go deep into Hurtsville and had me starting to answer some big questions, like how hard could I actually push. At this point of the race the crowd support was phenomenal, I can comfortably say that there is no way that I could do an unsupported Ironman. Without the volunteers at the aid stations and the crowd support along the way I would have just stopped. I kept on thinking how easy it would have been to stop ad sit down. Instead I kept on running. My goal for the marathon was to actually run it (only walking the aid stations), and I kept on thinking about the challenge I had accepted at the start of the day, and how I wasn’t going to give in to weakness. And I didn’t. I ran the whole course and met that goal.
A mentioned above coming back from the last lap I had doubts that I would get back in under 13 hours. I still had doubts until 2k’s to go where some guy, standing by himself went crazy. He was looking at his watch and screaming at me that I could do it if I just kept up the steady pace I was on, and that I was looking really “solid” (I didn’t feel very solid). With that screamed encouragement from a complete stranger ringing in my ears I somehow managed to pick up the pace. Half an hour ago I didn’t think I could go any faster, but it’s amazing what you can do when motivated. Somehow I was tapping into reserves that I didn’t know I had. The last 2k’s from the 40k mark hurt more than anything else I can remember, but somehow it also felt really good, that must have been the endorphins.
Coming around the outside of the domain and going into the last 200 meters is a bit of a blur, I remember seeing my wife and crew chief, as well as Steve from Alpegear.com and his camera man, and then I was coming down the finishing shoot.
At that point it stopped hurting. I could see that I was going to make it in under 13 hours and as I was catching the person in front of me I eased up a bit after making sure there was no one close behind me. I wanted to really enjoy the moment and I didn’t want anyone ruining my finish photo. I went down the finishing shoot pumping my fists and grinning like an idiot. Crossing the finish line I grapped the tape and held my arms up in glory! This was the moment that a whole year had been building up to and it was awesome, one of the best moments of my life, just behind my marriage and the birth of my children.
Hearing Mike Rielly saying “here comes Kieran, a 32 year old father of 2. Kieran, you’re an IRONMAN!” is unforgettable.
Was it worth it? Definitely.
I’ll do another post race blog in a couple of days, but for now I’m still enjoying the moment.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Last "pre race" blog
Yep that's right, the next time you see I new post I will officially be an "Ironman". The family and I are heading down to Taupo tomorrow afternoon to get all set for the big day. So I'll be spending tomorrow morning packing, unpacking, repacking, checking and rechecking (you get the idea).
I think at this point the thing I'm most nervious about is not fitting everything in the car. That's a bit of an improvement on how I was feeling last week and is largely thanks to a sensational final ride I had on Sunday. It was raining and windy and I spend the first 20 minutes of it sitting on the indoor trainer watching the rain drops fall before toughening up and heading outside. In the end I had one of the best rides I've had for ages. It was 70k's and I averaged 35kph without feel particuarly challenged (I suspect the wind was working for me for a change).
Although I wasn't to keen to head out in the rain, it now looks as though that may have been the best thing. I've just seen the long range weather forcast and its for rain in Taupo (and pretty much everywhere else) on race day. Which is a bit rough when you consider that there's been a bit of a drought lately, still I guess the farmers will be happy.
My preference is for ot and sunny, and I don't normally perform all that well when its cold and wet, but on last Sundays effort it would appear that warm and wet suits me just fine.
So I reckon I'm ready, just need to figure a way to squeeze everything into the car (including a wheel chair which is causing me some logistic problems, but I'll work it out!).
I think at this point the thing I'm most nervious about is not fitting everything in the car. That's a bit of an improvement on how I was feeling last week and is largely thanks to a sensational final ride I had on Sunday. It was raining and windy and I spend the first 20 minutes of it sitting on the indoor trainer watching the rain drops fall before toughening up and heading outside. In the end I had one of the best rides I've had for ages. It was 70k's and I averaged 35kph without feel particuarly challenged (I suspect the wind was working for me for a change).
Although I wasn't to keen to head out in the rain, it now looks as though that may have been the best thing. I've just seen the long range weather forcast and its for rain in Taupo (and pretty much everywhere else) on race day. Which is a bit rough when you consider that there's been a bit of a drought lately, still I guess the farmers will be happy.
My preference is for ot and sunny, and I don't normally perform all that well when its cold and wet, but on last Sundays effort it would appear that warm and wet suits me just fine.
So I reckon I'm ready, just need to figure a way to squeeze everything into the car (including a wheel chair which is causing me some logistic problems, but I'll work it out!).
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Glad its not this weekend
I'm so glad that Ironman isn't this weekend. All day its been raining and blowing a gale (well not quite a gale but it is very windy). At the moment there's a storm over half the country which has largely put the breaks on any training for today. Not that I much planned, pretty much all I have left to do is a 70k ride (at some point this weekend - if it doesn't work out I'll resign myself to the indoor trainer tomorrow), and a 2k swim on Monday or Tuesday - and that's it! No more training for me (for now anyway).
So this time next week, assuming everything goes well, I should be well into the run. Of course if things don't go well then .... who knows.
As I'm not doing any training today I've kept busy buy finishing up my bike seup. The race wheels are now on, and the bike computer set up (not as easy as it sounds as the sensor magnet isn't made to fit a tri-spoke wheel, nothing that duc tape can't fix though). I've glued a broken in tubular onto the front and have resigned the old one as a spare.
Tubulars are great, but they're not perfect. On the plus side they hardly ever puncture (in fact I've never had a puncture while using tubulars) and they're generally faster than clinchers. If you do happen to puncture they're also much quicker to change (as you simply peel the flat one off the rim and slap a new one one.
On the negative side they're quite a bit more expensive to replace and if you do happen to puncture then they're basically a write off. Also if you're unfortunate enough to puncture while out on course you need to take it easy on corners as most people aren't in the habit of carrying a pot of glue with them, and theres a reasonable chance they could roll off the rim (for this reason you carry used tubulars as spears so they stil have some old glue on them which will hopefully re-activate). The oher big downside is that carrying spares is a pain as its not simply an inner tube that you carry, but the whole tire.
So the other thing I've been doing today is fitting two spares onto my bike frame under the seat. Originally I was going to carry one in a bottle holder behind the seat and simply use two bottles on course (picking up drink as I go, as well as having a bottle in my special needs bag), but now I'll carry three (two electrolyte and one water) so I'm not as reliant on the aid stations mixing the drinks properly (in my experence the seldom do). I'll still need to pick up drink on course, but I just won't be as reliant and will be able to ride through a couple of aid stations - thus saving a few precious seconds!
I'll be writing down my race plan (both "A" and "B") over the next couple of days. I've got a pretty good idea of how things will go for the swim and bike, but the run could be a bit dodgy. My main aim for the run is to actually run it (barring the aid stations, which I'll walk). If I can do that then my run time will be OK.
So this time next week, assuming everything goes well, I should be well into the run. Of course if things don't go well then .... who knows.
As I'm not doing any training today I've kept busy buy finishing up my bike seup. The race wheels are now on, and the bike computer set up (not as easy as it sounds as the sensor magnet isn't made to fit a tri-spoke wheel, nothing that duc tape can't fix though). I've glued a broken in tubular onto the front and have resigned the old one as a spare.
Tubulars are great, but they're not perfect. On the plus side they hardly ever puncture (in fact I've never had a puncture while using tubulars) and they're generally faster than clinchers. If you do happen to puncture they're also much quicker to change (as you simply peel the flat one off the rim and slap a new one one.
On the negative side they're quite a bit more expensive to replace and if you do happen to puncture then they're basically a write off. Also if you're unfortunate enough to puncture while out on course you need to take it easy on corners as most people aren't in the habit of carrying a pot of glue with them, and theres a reasonable chance they could roll off the rim (for this reason you carry used tubulars as spears so they stil have some old glue on them which will hopefully re-activate). The oher big downside is that carrying spares is a pain as its not simply an inner tube that you carry, but the whole tire.
So the other thing I've been doing today is fitting two spares onto my bike frame under the seat. Originally I was going to carry one in a bottle holder behind the seat and simply use two bottles on course (picking up drink as I go, as well as having a bottle in my special needs bag), but now I'll carry three (two electrolyte and one water) so I'm not as reliant on the aid stations mixing the drinks properly (in my experence the seldom do). I'll still need to pick up drink on course, but I just won't be as reliant and will be able to ride through a couple of aid stations - thus saving a few precious seconds!
I'll be writing down my race plan (both "A" and "B") over the next couple of days. I've got a pretty good idea of how things will go for the swim and bike, but the run could be a bit dodgy. My main aim for the run is to actually run it (barring the aid stations, which I'll walk). If I can do that then my run time will be OK.
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