Wednesday 21 December 2016

Ironman Hawaii 2016

My 7th and final Kona!



I came in to the race with an overloaded hamstring, but it really only affected running and I had still done some good work in the build on a Lanzarote camp. I experienced the usual race nerves but had a ½ decent swim, the course was accurate for a change. Out on the bike I felt ok, but 30mins in someone overtook me and pulled across quickly, I seen it too late and hit the road at about 40kph. I lost a fair bit of skin but my hip took most of the impact and it didn’t want to move after that. It clicked and made it difficult to focus on the race. I was bleeding a lot on the arm/elbow and it was sticking to the tribar, I struggled mentally and it became a very tough day. 
I pushed on as much as the body would let me but I lost a lot of time. At the start of the run the hip was very stiff and it became a slow process, but I tried to keep positive and aim for staying under 10hrs. I thought I was moving ok until I seen other people passing me :-) I made it to the finish line but missed 10hrs by 1 minute, the first time I’ve slipped over 10! but still I was happy that I finished when many times during the day I thought I couldn’t. Kona never fails to challenge! :-)

Swim: 1:02
Bike: 5:25
Run: 3:25
Total: 10:01






Challenge Roth 2016



High fitness heading in to this race, but I felt a bit flat in the water and on the bike. Bashed in the swim, had Garmin smashed. Never felt strong on the bike, lost the pack 50k in while slowing down to pee, so had to work hard against wind alone. Took a while for hr to drop on run, found rhythm after 5k but had to dig last 10k to stay under 3hrs, and subsequently 9hrs. Didn’t feel it was a reflection of fitness but could have been worse. Was hoping to be faster on the day, but still a nice race and great support. 

Swim: 1:00
Bike: 4:52
Run: 2:58
Total: 8:56
Position 7th (34 OA)