Sunday, August 09, 2009
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
We scrub up quite well don't we?
The finish line conga party - Cougie, Crashie, Kanga and Bedders.......
My mentor FB
FB put up with more stupid questions over the last 6 months before IMCH than I think most people could have reasonably put up with!Cheers mate - without you it would have been twice as hard (and less fun!)
Video reminder
IMCH splits
Swim - 1:13.56.7
T1 - 6.39,7
Bike - 6:34.17,0
T2 - 8.54,0
Run - 5:07.31,5
Total - 13:11.18,9
Overall place - 1495
Place catagory - 232. M45
Pic of me and Gordon, the world's best sherpa and great mate.
Thanks for everything.
IMCH race report from RW site - part 3
Run - well the first 10km was a run. Felt OK if totally sick of gels and flapjacks. The second lap and things started to go wrong. I felt sick and hungary at the same time. My legs had zero energy left in them and my mind was starting to play little games like "don't worry only 30km to go........". Mid way through lap 2 Kanga overtook me - then 3 mins later I over took him and this happened about 3 times before we decided that we may as well run together. Kanga's words were "slow and steady"...........and for the next 25km that's what we did. Living and eating off dried aprictots and soup as that was all my stomach could take. Barley joined us for about 2 laps and the three of us kept each other going. The support from the Pirates was superb. Guys - you were just brilliant. Major, Gordon (my sherpa), Oxy and the rest at Crazy Station were awesome and the Pirates at the end shute were just so motivational it was tear jerking stuff. With about 2km to go and Barley asking us if we would like to do another lap with him to keep him company (no thanks mate) we joined up with Cougie and Crashie (I think sorry guys if this is wrong as my mind was playing games at this point) and the four of us entered the finishing shute. A conga to the finish. I dropped back a bit as it was a very emotional moment for me. I had been playing this moment over and over in my mind for a year. Like everyone there, all the hard training, moments of doubt, up and down times in the last 12 months replayed through my head in the 200m to the finish. There to see me were FB (many thanks again mate for your wonderful mentoring) and Petal, TB and so many others. Finally my sherpa Gordon who was nothing short of exceptional the whole day. A finish time of 13:11:18
And to you, the Pirates. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart. You made us newies most welcome before, during and after the event. I feel that this is just the beginning. All over the course supporters from all different countries were shouting "come on Pirates" - you seem to have really made an impact and i was proud to be part of it. Till the next time - see you all in Roth 2010
IMCH race report from RW site - part 2
Bike - after about 150 m of the bike course something sounded horrible and I looked down to see my front wheel was stuck - a SIS gel had come free and lodged itself in a number fo spokes. Major D came running up seeing me stop and asked what had happened. I am not sure I was that lucid but a few swear words later and I was off again - "GO PIRATES" ringing out everywhere (even chalked on the road). I am not a strong cyclist and new this would be tough bit for me. In summary I was overtaken in the first 30 mins by around 1000 lycra bling-cyclists. As they flew past I just gritted my teeeth, mumbled "crap swimmer" and carried on. Up to The Beast for the first time. I was quite excited. Having no hills here in Holland to cycle up I was one of the few I reckon who was dead excited about seeing a hill to cycle up. But it did go on a bit - then Egg which I actually thought was worse. Anyway, on to HBH where, it has already been said many times, the suppport was stunning. Chalked on the road on the approach was JFDI and HTFU. If that didn;t inspire you then nowt would. The hill itself was steep but the Pirate supporters were at their best. It bought tears to me eyes literally. The onto lap two. Not much to report apart from the fact that half way up Egg I saw a few Pirates (Bryan et al) cheering and clapping and I did actually burst into tears. It suddenly came home to me that after a year of training, all that effort was about to pay off as I was going to make it. Last time up HBH and I nearly cracked again (what a softie!) as a lady came across my path and shouted "Go - you are an Ironman!" Home in 6:34 which was about an hour quicker than I expected so again could ot quite believe it.
T2 - after a comical dismount which gained a round of applause, I ran to T2 and could not find my bike rack. Completely lost. I stood for a few secs undid my helmet and tried to remember what number I was. Immediately I was called over by a marshall for undoing my helmet before racking.....in all wasted 8:50 in T2IMCH race report from RW site - part 1
OK. Here goes - a little background. I came into this having raced just two sprint tris last year so while having stuck to the Don Fink 30 week plan, I had no idea as to how I would cope.
Swim - I was a little late getting to the start line as I had decied that rather than wait for the potaloos to be free I would go back to the hotel, grab a quick coffee, "go" there and come back. So my plan to be at the back and on the left hand edge at the swim start eventually had me in the middle desperately trying to get across 2200 people and then as I tried to get to the back, the first warning sound thing went and that was it. I was swept into the water hopelessly out of position and looking forward to a real scrap. And I wasn't disappointed. I can safely say that for the whole of the first lap I did not see any clear water ahead of me. Simply loads of neoprene Germans and Swiss zig zagging their way in front of me. At about 300m I doubted my ability to even finish the swim let alone the rest but after a few duckings around the turn, decided on lap 2 to be as assertive as I could be. Lap 2 problem was that within 500m I had cramp of the whole of my left leg. So to plan B.... but there was no plan B so ended up simply swim using only my arms both as paddles and weapons of war. Was stunned and relieved to get out in 1:13:56. Fantastic Pirate support on the swim exit and it set the tone for the whole day
T1 - there is nothing like getting your monies worth so I got changed and spent a full 6:30 in T1. Next time I will swim with my cycling gear under the wetsuit. But gear on, jels in pocket and taped to tri bars and off to bike