Russell Cox’s Blog: Ironman New Zealand (08/03)

I’ve been quiet of late. I spent a lot of February unable to face blogging because I didn’t want to admit to the world how slow I was. Once I’d got over Epic Camp and started hitting the training again I was soon in a world of fatigue. Everything felt like hard work and I began wondering if I was actually up to racing!

You start to play funny little mental games or at least I do. This time round I decided there’d be no shaving of my head or legs until I was approaching race shape. I would have grown a beard too, but it didn’t take long to establish I didn’t like it. February was the first time in a couple of years I had properly hairy legs!

All that excess hair came off last weekend. I finally felt race ready and marked the occasion with a shave down! There’s something quite satisfying about the process. Drawing a line between the uncertainty of training and the transition to race fit. Fortunately it was also just in time for yesterday’s Ironman New Zealand.

For all those doubts in February I didn’t like to admit I was quietly confidant about my race shape. Not certain, but I had a feeling I was ready for a decent performance. A few little test sessions here and there showed signs that when I wasn’t beating myself up with hours of training I was in good shape.

The night before the race I was bold enough to put some predictions up on my website. I like to put something out there as the sense of accountability helps motivate me. Strong goals go a long way to making me push that little bit harder and really working.

My first goal and probably the most significant for me was to swim under the hour. The swim has always been my weakest point and I’d been spending a lot of hours at the pool to try and fix this. Enough that I was certain I should be able to come in under an hour, especially when all I heard was how fast the swim was in Taupo.

I’ve always been a little concerned that my doubts about swimming mentally sabotaged that stage of a race. If you expect to swim badly then you more than likely will. I was very deliberately confident about the swim, placed myself in a prime position and went for it when the cannon fired. The result of all that extra work was a very comfortable swim and a time of around 0:58. There’s nothing better than starting a race well and putting yourself ahead of the game.

I’ve had the odd wardrobe problem in transition with my wetsuit clinging to me like glue. After mentioning this following Ironman Western Australia I was very kindly provided with some samples of 2 Toms Sportsshield lubricant. I’d amply applied this to myself and the wetsuit prior to the swim. The result was the wetsuit came off in seconds and if it wasn’t for the 400m run into transition I’d have been out on the bike in no time.

Once you’re out on the bike it’s important to reign in some of the initial excitement and adrenaline. It’s all too easy to go out far too hard and suffer later especially when the course starts with a few little hills like Taupo. Equally you have to remind yourself that everyone’s in the same position as people go racing by. You’ll see them later before the 180km are over.

I made steady progress on the bike and was surprised how quickly I settled into a comfortable pace. Things were going well till about 40km. Caught in a frustrating pace line I got fed up having to ease off as different people assumed the lead and slowed us down. I powered to the front only to be immediately overtaken then pinged for drafting!

My first time in five or six years of triathlon! There’s not protesting, the quickest thing is to take the punishment and get on with your race. I’m not sure what I’d specifically done wrong, but clearly the marshall felt I’d broken the rules. So four minutes on the side of the road whilst other athletes flew by. I remained calm and relaxed despite having lost the advantage my swim had given me.

Back on the bike I’ll admit the rest of the first lap was a little bit jaded. I kept a reasonable pace, but didn’t feel I had much oomph. Somewhere around 100km in I ate some chocolate powerbar and once the carbs kicked in I was off. Perhaps I’d gone light on the fuel early on. From that point on I stuck to a careful regime of topping on nutrition at very regular intervals.

A strong push for the rest of the second lap saw me move forward through the fields. As the South easterly winds picked up I was only motivated more. This was just like Wellington, I knew headwinds well now! I took some personal satisfaction in flying past pretty much everyone who’d been around me earlier in the day by the end of the bike. I’d reclaimed a lot of ground, but had to hope it hadn’t cost me too much.

As I headed out on the run it certainly didn’t seem to have done much damage. I checked pace on my watch and the first kilometre had gone by way too fast. Despite the mental note to ease off the second kilometre wasn’t much better. It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth kilometre I reigned myself in a little. My thinking though was it felt good and so far I’d gone through this race pushing and seeing what happens. I wasn’t going to slow up anymore than necessary.

There’s a lot of undulation in the Taupo run course. Throw in a sizeable wind and the leg out of town becomes a lot tougher. The first lap I could comfortably push through this and with the wind behind me the return leg felt a lot better. I kept my nutrition simple, but insured I was regularly taking something in. Every other aid station for a gel was the simple solution.

You will hear this again and again from triathletes, but somewhere around the 30km mark is where things really got tough. A sure sign I’d worked a little too hard in the first leg was how slow a few of those kilometres were in the late twenties and early thirties. The wind seemed stronger and the hills steeper. It was a mental battle to keep pushing forward.

I was on the losing side for a while until a couple of guys from my age group appeared on my shoulder. I was going to have to work and in the couple of kilometres at the far turn around I managed to turn on the pace a little and burn them off. Clearly their move had been a little premature and they couldn’t stick to it.

Ten kilometres to go, the wind at my back and a few hills in the way. I tried to focus on getting myself across the line as quickly as possible. It wasn’t proving to be that rapid and at around six kilometres out another 30-34 age grouper passed me. Once again I dug deep and latched on.

We stuck together at a solid pace for the next four kilometres eventually chatting about our respective race histories. Then as we closed to the finish he suddenly cramped. Friendly as out time together had been there wasn’t enough solidarity for me to be waiting. I pushed hard home.

The last kilometre was hell, I’d not eaten in the past thirty minutes, knowing I was going too hard to digest even a gel. My body ached and seemed on the verge of rebelling. I knew the line was there, only minutes away and wouldn’t let it slow. As I closed in I saw one more competitor to pass and pushed hard down the finish chute to take a final place in the last 200m. The race isn’t over till you cross the line.

I wasn’t overly happy with the run. I’d suspected my run fitness wasn’t there yet and my pacing was wrong. It’s something I’ll be working on for races later this year, I need to get myself back to running 3:10s and then improving on it. It got me to the line and I’d moved through the field some more so there’s only so much I can complain.

Overall my time of 9:31:12 was a little off my goal. That placed me 30th overall though more remarkably only 10th in my age group. The field had definitely stepped up on a tough day. The conditions, particularly the wind made it challenging. I like tough days and New Zealand didn’t disappoint. It was a great race and definitely ranks highly in my list of events.

As with any race thanks have to go to Jaggad for providing the distinctive and comfortable kit. Also to 2 Toms for helping me get my wetsuit off so quickly and to My Sporting Times for the wetsuit itself. They all helped to get me through a tough day and record another good result.

My pre-race nerves are long gone and I’m fired up to be getting out there and competing again. After a little bit of recovery it’s back to the UK and then out to Lanzarote for a six week build up to the Ironman there. I’ve big goals for that race, but more on that another time.

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