What a day! I came into this race with what I thought was full respect to the Ironman distance and now I leave as a finisher with so much more respect (and fear) than ever.
The day itself was full of all different feelings from excitement, nerves, immense pain, feeling great, wanting to quit, thinking I was going to finish in the top 5, then thinking I was going to walk 21km and even a little boredom during some stages of the 180km bike ride haha.
Once we landed in Western Australia on the Wednesday before the race both Abbey and I were feeling a little under the weather but my last few days of training leading into the race were really good so I was confident it wasn’t anything to serious and maybe just a little nerves mixed with some long travel and the fatigue that can come with a taper sometimes.
I slept really well the night before the race. I was pretty fatigued most of the Saturday before the race, so I was happy to put my head to rest and get some good sleep before the big day ahead. Alarm went off at 3.40am Sunday morning and I was excited for the prospect of competing in my first Ironman. All went smooth in the morning leading up to the race start.
The gun went off at 6.35am and I had a great start off the beach and found myself in a nice position early on in the swim, I was sitting on the feet of Lachie Kerin, Blake Kappler and Joel Wooldridge. Unfortunately once we made the turn at the first bouy another athlete I won’t name but is a total wanker in my eyes thought he would grab y legs and constantly pull me down and under water to fight for position in the group. After a few hundred meters of this I was pretty fatigued and couldn’t hold onto the group any longer and a gap opened up to some really good athletes. I ended up leading a small group (including wanker) around for the first 2.2km lap and once we made the aussie exit I decided to drop back and let someone else do some work for the remaining 1.6km. The swim ended up being around 200m long and we exited the water in 54mins. The swim was particular hard once I found a rhythm again after the earlier incident but I was quiet frustrated to be 2min behind the group we started in, but thats life and couldn’t change things now.
Photo- Korupt Vision
Onto the bike we had a small group of 4 athletes. I found the first 50km of the bike really tough! I was struggling to keep up and finding it hard to push power. After 50km I seemed to settle in and everything started to feel a lot easier so I was able to calm down a little. Between myself and Levi Hauwert we pulled 99% of the time on the front for our group, which really wasn’t a bad thing because we had a technical official riding with us most of the time so its always safer being on the front and avoiding any drafting penalties. The crosswinds on the bike were really tough and made for some really difficult sections on the course, at some points it was hard to stay upright and on the road. I tried to make a move around 150km to get away from the group but I just didn’t have the power and energy to really make the move stick and once we pulled into a tailwind the group pulled me back in, so I decided to just take it easy over the last 20km.
(for anyone that cared in the lead up to the race, I did try to do my first piss while riding and I was unsuccessful haha)
Photo- Korupt Vision
By the end of the bike I was excited for the marathon ahead. This was the main discipline my coach and I wanted to nail and my legs felt good to go leaving T2. I had to have a quick stop in T2 to go to the toilet which felt like an eternity! Once I was on the run course my legs felt really strong and I was ticking away at 3.57 per Km for the first 10km and it was coming with ease. But as its happened to so many over the Ironman distance with the flick of a switch the whole day became really hard. My pace started edging over 4min per km all the way up to the halfway point. I was still on track to run 2hrs 50 marathon but once I started the 3rd lap my running quickly became a death march and I was just trying to keep my pace under 5mins per km.
The pain I felt in my quads was like nothing else and I was complete helpless to the fact I was in real trouble! I tried my best to stay motivated and keep running the fastest I possible could no matter what the pace actually was. I had faded from 7th to 8th and at 32km Fraser Walsh came past to put me into 9th. I could see 10th and 11th coming after me but I was determined to not give up any more positions.
At the final turn around at 38km I could see Joel Wooldridge running well and only 50seconds behind me. I told myself I had to run as fast as I could and even if he caught me I would know I gave it everything I had and I can live with that at the finish line. There was a slight tailwind which gave me a boost, I was able to get back down to around 4.15 per km pace and hold off Joel to finish 9th place in a time of 8hrs 30min 5s.
The day as a whole was beautifully hard. The highs were high and the lows were low. I was overcome with emotion at the finishline when I saw my wife and family. The preparation into this race was by far the most enjoyment I have had getting ready for a race and working towards a goal. I can’t thank my coach Ryan Williams enough for the work and dedication he puts in to make me the best athlete I can be.
I would like to thank my sponsors for all their ongoing support and belief in me as an athlete and a person.
As always the biggest thanks of all goes to my beautiful wife and family for everything they do for me day in and day out.
Until next time!
Cheers,