World IM Championships - 11th

Hey guys,

What a day! Just a quick update on the race, will have a more detailed one in the next couple days.

It was an amazing day and I loved it from start to about half way through the run, then I started to blow up big time, my pace dropped and every stride was a struggle. Until then I was working my way through the field and had top five within reach. Unfortunately the rest of the guys didn’t struggle home as badly as me and I dropped just outside of the top 10.

It was an unbelievable experience and I learnt a great deal. I left everything out there on the course and when I crossed the line in 11^th Place I was exhausted both physically and mentally. Not to mention the swelling, I looked like an Umpa Lumpa with most of my body swollen up due to my insides shutting down. Thankfully swelling has gone but chaffing and sore muscles are making up for it.

Congratulations to everyone who competed, it was a tough day and just to get through it is a major achievement.

Thanks everyone for the words of support and encouragement.

Already looking forward to next year

Get your engines running

So here we are, 3 days away from the biggest race on the triathlon calendar, The World Ironman Championships, here in Hawaii, Kona. The town has transformed over the past week from a quite, relaxed town with no traffic into a small Triathlon City with hundreds of athletes running up and down Ali’i Drive and cycling along the Queen K Highway… in their lycra and compression socks! I can see the local thinking “what the hell?”

Preparation has gone well over the last 2 months and the last 10 days have been mostly about recovery with a few small hard workouts to keep the engine running. I am fortunate to have one of my massage therapists from New Zealand, Ian McKellar up here with me looking after my body and making sure my muscles are ready to go come Saturday. He assures me my body is in a better place than before IM Germany! My Coach Jon Ackland arrived on the weekend with my folks and Kelly. It is great to have Jon’s help and expertise advice leading into the event and having my folks and Kel fussing over me and making sure I don’t have to worry about anything is the best.

Also a big thanks to Chris “Macca” McCormack for inviting me out to Kona in August to hang out and train. He is a great athlete and top guy who didn’t have to think twice about sharing any information with me.

There are a great number of supporters from back home and around the world coming over to cheer me on so thanks guys. I have also done interviews with TVNZ and TV3 so that should screen sometime this week

You can follow the race at www.ironman.com on Saturday 10^th October, we kick off at 6:45am Hawaii time, which is Sunday at 5:45 in NZ. Hope the coverage is great and you all enjoy it.

Thanks everyone

Kona Camp & Roughwater Swim

Hi,

We are about 3.5 weeks out from the big day and training in Kona has been going great. Chris Macca McCormack has helped a great deal in my preparation and has been showing me the ropes. What to do and what not to do come race day. Hopefully it should cut the amount of learning years down by a couple!

Last weekend we headed over to the main island, Oahu for the infamous Waikiki Roughwater Swim. It is the original swim race that the Ironman was invented from. See, there was and still is a 3.8km open water swim, a 180km around the island bike race and the Honolulu marathon. At a function after the events there where a group of guys debating on whose discipline was the toughest and they decided to throw them all together for the ultimate champion. So there was a lot of history in the event and a large amount of hype as it is world famous. We all crashed at a buddies place, Tim Marr, sleeping on couches and blow up beds was not the ideal pre race routine but we made it to the start line.

I felt like I had a great swim… I did have a great swim. Unfortunately my goal of beating all the girls out the water was not achieved, the first chick passed me at the last buoy and got 20seconds on me. I finished about 10^th in 47 minutes just at the back of a big pack. Just to illustrate the talent of the guys who competed. I am an okay swimmer, I have been brought up in the water, I come out in the front bunch in most triathlons. The young Australian who won was 4 minutes in front of me. That’s 1 minute for every 1 kilometer, that’s 6 seconds per 100 meters. I take my hat off, respect!

I have just finished a big week of training and my tan is coming along nicely. I have a few easy days before a big workout this weekend which will be a good indicator of where I am fitness wise. Macca has left the Island for the mainland for a couple weeks to catch up with his girls… I think he was struggling too much to keep up!!!

One of my training partners from New Zealand, Mark Cross arrives tomorrow. Looking forward to hearing the good old Kiwi accent again.

Will touch base again before the race

The Shiv

So we have been here in Kona for almost a week. Our pad that we are staying in is off the hook, it is right on the water off Ali'i drive. We have Ozo, the guy who is in charge of taking care of the house, who is also a Chef, cooking for us and Chris’s buddy Michael Gillian taking care of our massage needs and hydration while out training.

Our new Specialized S-Works Shiv (TT bikes for the World Champs) were here waiting for us and a team from Specialized, Mark Cote - Engineer and Aaron Vogel – videographer where here to assemble the bikes and film our crossover from the Transition to the Shiv. We had a great time, got some good footage and learnt a heap about the new bikes. The data is incredible, especially in a cross wind which will play huge advantages to us here in Kona where the wind is one of the biggest elements on the bike course.

Recovery after the Philippines 70.3 has been slow. I think the heat of the race up there did damage a bit deeper than expected.

Will keep in touch and fill you in on how the preparation is going.