Well, with IM WA Busselton 2008 complete, so ends my current "Ironman" chapter.  It is by no means over, it's just a hiatus that will span 1,2,3, perhaps 4 years (undecided at this stage).  I still have the IM bug and Kona awaits, but I just need time out from Ironman.  


For now, I wont quit the sport and turn into a slob, I plan on reducing my training volume, increasing the intensity and racing the various HIM races across the country.

Ironman WA 2008
My preparation was spot on,  I felt like I nailed all of my training.  The approach Mat and I took was slightly different this time around, my runs where given a higher priority and I found myself out there often for close to 3h or more on my longer runs.  With a solid bike base I've build up over the years, I was hoping that I could up the ante with the run training and hope that this would give me the faster marathon that I seem to have lost.  

Leading up to race day, it was a very relaxing time at the Busso Beach Resort, stayed with Jimmy, Fay and Harry Bietzel.  There were quite a few ETPA'ers staying there too.  WRT my family, I left the girls behind in Melb due to school / dancing concert commitments so it was a rather strange feeling (not something I'll do again) racing an IM and not  having them at the finish line, it was somewhat empty.

Everything went to plan leading into the race, I'd once again gone for the mostly liquid carb load the day before but had the shits all day, everything in went straight back out and that pattern continued from midday until about 10pm when there was nothing left to expel.  My fingers were crossed that this would stop by 6am tomorrow or it was going to be very very messy.

Good news, I woke race morning at the customary 3:45am and the shits had left the building and it turned out to be an uncustomary race morning, one visit to the shitter and that was it, normally I'd hit it 4 times.

The morning looked superb, the sun was coming up, the sky was pink, the flags flutterning ever so slightly and the water was glass like.  Things were looking very very good indeed.  A great day for racing.

The Swim:
Xav and myself had discussed a strategy pre race.  Basically, I was gonig to sit on his feet for the entire swim (I can sit there and swim with him but if I lose his feet he is too fast for me).  Well, all was going to plan for approx 15mins and then we got swamped by some swimmers who were following the jetty to closely and then knocked me off his feet and that was the end of the story.  I ended up finding other feet the entire time and came out in 1:01 which was 3min in arrears of Xav.

The Bike
Decided to ride the 1st 40km hard to try and catch up with a group and then sit legal, switch off mentally and cruise.  Covered the 1st 40km in 1:00.26s, so bang on 40kph average.  Felt comfortable but knew 180km at this pace was suicide so I didn't want to bury myself so backed off and planned on riding mid 4:40s which was rather comfortable.  I could see the group that Xav was on and they just kept extending the gap by 30secs here, 1min there, it was just too hard to get on that group.

At about the 150km point, the VMOs needed a rest, starting to cramp, so I decreased my cadence to about 75, slid back in the saddle and used the bigger leg muscles for about 10km until the cramping subsided.  

All in all, a good solid bike, about a 4:47 ride which was a 4:50 including T1.

T2
Decided pre-race to change from the ETPA race suit into the running shorts and singlet.  In hindsight, did not offer any advantage and it's something I will NOT do again.  Just a waste of time really.  I did think I would be more comfortable in the heat but it held water that I splashed on myself far more than the race suit would.

Run
Onto the run.  Started off rather well, legs felt OK.  The clock from memory was around 5:53 total accumulated time coming in off the bike and I figured a solid 3:30 and I have my sub 9:30.  Best laid plans hey!  Well, it wasn't to be, the run got progressively slower and I really slowed from 21-30km, legs suffering, cardio wise, no problems at all.  I think I just temporarily fell into a hole mentally and after 28km came out of it and started to run with rhythm again.

At this point I ditched the HR strap and just ran, tried to give it all and in the end, I was satisified with my 9:46 which was a course PB and an Ironman PB to boot.  Not the 9:30 or 9:29 that I had hoped was on the cards, I honestly thought that I had done the work to land a 9:30, but not to be.  Perhaps a 9:46 is my limit for now.

Thinking back the 6 weeks or so to the race, I am satisfied with the result.  A PB is a PB no matter which way you slice or dice it and for me, the longer I am in the sport, the harder it is to get a PB so I will take it and can say that I am ecstatic with it too.

What now?
I am following a self tailored program now that is fluid in nature with a very heavy bike focus.  IM racing is on the backburner for at least 1-2 yrs for now and I do plan on racing some HIM and getting into road racing (crits and road).

I've really enjoying training again and cannot get enough off the bike.  After all, cycling is the passion and is something I love to bits.

Adios.

Komo