2009 Gold Coast Half Ironman – The Hard Way

Challenge 7x7 rolled into October with the 2009 Gold Coast Half Ironman event. A 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and a 21.1km run was the task for the day and plenty of lessons were learned……. the hard way.

This was only my second triathlon ever, the first being the same event last year. When I wrote the story of my 2008 Gold Coast Half Ironman ironically I titled it "Things Can Only Get Better". Well little did I know how very wrong I could be. Clearly I have a lot to learn when it comes to long distance triathlons, actually probably any triathlons for that matter.

I thought I was reasonably well prepared for this one. I had taken it easy in the Byron Marathon and felt quite fresh, certainly better than I had before the Brisbane Marathon anyway. I had even been for 6 or 7 swimming training sessions in the lead up to this and was confident I could smash my swim time from last year. Actually I worked out that in total I should be able to take 15 minutes off my 5hrs 45min time from last year. After all I had done this before so I knew everything there was to know about triathlon right. Wrong.

Heading up to the start line I was so well organized and the fear of death from last year was replaced by full on excitement about the day ahead. The swim, the bike, the run, the distance, none of it scared me; there was no part of me that even considered I may not be able to pull it off.

Bang, off we went, the swim was under way. I had hoped to do the swim in around 42min which was still very slow but would have been a big improvement on last year's 48min saga. My plan was to find some feet and just keep following those as long as I could. No worries I thought, she'll be right mate then something completely unexpected occurred. My chest tightened up, I couldn't breathe, bugger me I was having a full on panic attack! I had to stop and do breaststroke and even then it felt like my heart rate was maxing out. I thought to myself this was going to look really stupid if I dog paddle over to the rocks and get out after only a couple of hundred metres.

So I was left behind but I started to calm down and was able to get back on with the job. Things improved quickly then and I felt like I had reached the turnaround point much easier than last year. I was stoked, this felt great until of course I rounded the buoy and started heading back, INTO the current that had carried me so far. Still, nothing was going to dent my spirits now and I grafted away on a mission back to the harbour.

Even though I was happy with my progress I was still sane enough to realise that more waves of swimmers should have come over the top of me by now. I looked up and there they were a continual line of swimmers about 20m or so off to my right. Yes once again I had decided to swim my own course, otherwise known as off course. I should never bother trying to get back on course as this same thing seems to keep happening anyway. My subconscious was on my side though working to keep my spirits high as around the fourth time I looked up to find the rest of the competitors swimming a completely different course to me, I convinced myself that I was actually on course and everyone else was lost. I don't know where that came from but whatever helps hey.

I didn't feel too good coming out of the swim and as it turned out later, Therese assured me that I didn't look too good coming out of the swim either. That was ok though because now I was on the bike it was time to start reeling some people in.

After only a minute or so on the bike I realised that I had forgotten my Megaburn bar and banana which were supposed to be a major part of my fuel supply for the 90km cycle leg. Feeling bullet-proof at the time, I stupidly opted out of going back to get the goodies and settled on having a breakfast of carbohydrate gels and sports drinks.

The first 60km of the bike went well, I was grinding away nicely and very happy with my progress. However I was rapidly losing my appetite for carbo gels and sugar drinks and I was hanging for something solid to chew on. I managed to force one more gel down before my stomach decided to close its doors completely. From then on sips of sports drink and water were all that I could manage to squeeze through the cracks and even at that my stomach was protesting loudly.

With fading energy and strengthening winds the final 20km on the bike was much slower and I really started to feel weak. I never thought I would say this but I was actually looking forward to getting off my bike!

Back in the cool shade in transition was the food that I had missed so much. The thought of heading back out into the heat for the 21km run leg was a little daunting and in retrospect I wish I had just lay down for a few minutes and taken the time to feed myself well. Rush, rush though for some reason I was in a hurry to get back out there. I managed to force half a banana down and shuffled out of transition a little dazed and weary. After about 500m I realised I had forgotten to attach my all important race bib which gave me visions of being disqualified from a race in which I was coming next to last anyway. There was no turning back though. I kept telling myself that if they tried to DQ me I would refuse to get off the course.

After the first 7km loop I decided to put my mind at ease and head back into transition for my bib. My body was in no condition for scaling fences and my mind was definitely sharp enough for explaining to race officials why I had become so off course. Negotiations over and I was back on course, shuffling along. So far just the thought of eating a carbo gel made me feel sick so I was just chugging along on empty. Cramping up and feeling drained but still with 7km to go I decided that I had to eat something so a gel it was. I didn't like it, but I had to do it and unfortunately within another kilometre I was bent over on the side of the road throwing my heart up.

Strangely enough this series of uncontrollable dry retches was the precursor to my feeling the best I had in the whole run. Knowing that I only had 4 or 5 km to run and that I had no chance of catching any of my mates, I felt more comfortable just cruising to the finish.

I don't know if I finished happy but I certainly was happy to finish. Another challenge done and several more lessons learned. I am happy to admit there is a lot more to these triathlons than just swimming, running and riding. You have to put it all together on the day and there are obviously many mistakes that a novice like me can make. Falling into the traps can make you pay big time and pain will happily become your companion for the day. What I hoped would be a 5¹/₂ hour journey turned into a 6 hour saga leaving me with a feeling of unfinished business. This experience definitely motivates me to do more of these triathlons in a bid to finally get one right. Hopefully I don't have to wait a whole year again for the next one.

Big thanks again of course to the wonderful Fossy. Geordie and Leigh of course were right there to lend their support again and make sure I was rewarded with a beer at the finish. Thanks also to Megaburn for providing me with the Ammo and Bars that help me along.

Next event is a 300km round trip ride which will include the Rainbow Ride. No swimming so bring it on!

FIRST SUN MARATHON – Byron Bay

Byron Bay put on perfect conditions for the inaugural First Sun Marathon which was the September event for this Challenge 7x7 series. Needing a marathon for September, I thought it was time we organized our own marathon and what better place to do it than Byron Bay. So with the help of my mate and Byron Bay local, JP, the First Sun Marathon was born and we hope it will become an annual event.

Once again Ben volunteered to run this one with me and he also suggested that we cycle to Byron the day before. We had a stiff southerly wind in our face for the 100km ride but this just added to the adventure and I think the ride worked well to loosen me up.

JP mapped out a spectacular course which kept us mostly on the beach and out of the way of traffic. We started just after sunrise at Byron's famous lighthouse and ran down onto Tallow Beach which provided beautiful scenery and a relaxed atmosphere, setting the scene for what has to be one of the most picturesque marathons around.

Ben and I were joined by Therese and our mate Rachael for the first half, while JP and another mate Jo drove ahead to set up our drink stations. Now any race organizers out there wanting some tips on setting up drink stations I suggest you give JP a call as his service was first class. His esky full of chilled goodies was just what we needed on this warm day.

Heading over Broken Head the trees brought some welcome shade from the sun however that hill seemed to be much longer than I remembered so we were pretty glad to get over the top of it. After this it was on to Seven Mile Beach and down to Lennox Surf Club, our turn around point. JP and Jo who planned to run the return leg with us decided to take off early to give us a target to chase down. Therese and Rachael took over the drinks job, while Ben and I set out to reel in the two red Noodle Box singlets up ahead in the distance.

We picked up our pace by a whole minute per kilometer as we aimed to negative split this one in a big way. This meant increased effort of course which was ok along the beach but once we hit Broken Head again the pain really started to kick in. Once again this hill turned out to be longer than I expected but I really wanted to push as hard as I could as I was determined that we would catch JP and Jo by the top. Finally just at the summit we got them but then they took off down the other side to maintain a little lead on us.

Back down to the beach for the final leg back to Byron, eventually we caught JP and Jo. Not for long though as Ben's stomach turned on him and he had to stop for a spew. Nowhere to hide on a sparse open beach, he just had to let it rip in full view of everybody. Trying to chase down those red singlets started to seem like the impossible dream but as we got back to Tallow Beach we had them and they weren't getting away this time.

Cruising towards the finish line in front of Byron Surf Club it became apparent that we were going to be just over a kilometre short of the marathon so we had to add in a second lap around the surf club, back up towards the lighthouse road and then back to the eventual finish line at the surf club. As we crossed the line together, Ben and I were both crowned Byron Bay marathon champions! We received our medals at an official ceremony held at the Beach Hotel where it was announced that we were also First Sun Marathon record holders with a time of 4:05:51.

As it turned out Therese and Rachael were crowned champions of the Byron to Lennox leg of the First Sun Marathon and JP and Jo were crowned champions of the Lennox to Byron leg. Every participant on the day is now the current champion and record holder of their particular event. How's that for customer satisfaction.

Thanks to Megaburn for supplying my Ammo which was the official drink of the First Sun Marathon. Corronas courtesy of Jo and Espresso Martinis courtesy of Rachael were the official post marathon drinks. Big thanks to official organisers JP, BC, Marley and Hayden. Thanks also to our supporters Moni, Marieke, Gareth Jan and Chris.

Next challenge is Gold Coast Half Ironman, a 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run. Bring it on. Don't forget to get to my Everyday Hero pages to donate money to SIDS and Kids and the Garvan Institute

Thanks for your support.