Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3

it’s all about Kona, but I really wanted to have the performance I am capable of when I’m getting in good shape. I knew I was getting in good shape.

Yes it was the inaugural Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3. Yes it’s a chance to one day be a World Championship event. Yes some of my sponsors are sponsors of this event and it would be great if I win. Yes I haven’t won a race since Kona last year. All those other stories aside, I was here because I wanted to go fast. I wanted to test my body as I get a little stronger and wiser – after all that is my main motivator for me in this sport, to see what my body and mind is capable of and can I get truly be in peak shape one day.

Training for Hawaii has been going great. Although the last week I’ve had more flat/rest days than not. So it was perfect timing to have this race at the end of this week. I don’t train to a schedule, either daily, weekly, or monthly. I train by feel. So last week I didn’t train a lot just because I didn’t feel like it. With so much rest I figured there was a good chance I’d feel good on race day. But then, the day before the race I got intense stomach cramps and had to lie down for 45mins. Then I woke up and felt ok, rode the hour down to the race briefing, did a quick photo shoot, racked my bike, then headed to the hotel room. Around that time my hips and back felt really tight and sore. I haven’t had any tightness in all my training, but some stress Saturday morning caused it to pop up, and threaten being able to get through the race without ceasing up. Race morning wasn’t much better, but I did what I could to release my muscles and hoped for the best.

The swim started well, I lead to the first buoy, Clayton Fettell came around me and took the lead and I worked to stay on his feet. After the last buoy I took a separate line to give myself room should a wave come through to catch into shore, and luckily enough I pulled onto a wave that no one else did. That 10 second advantage meant I could jog a bit easier up the beach and the 300m to transition. With Casey Munro and Sam Appleton we made a front group of 4. I was keen to test my strength and went to the front of the pack more often than not. As we came through the hilly section at 50km point I pushed the pace and only Clayton stayed with me. I stayed on the front for the last 40km and felt strong into T2. Clayton gave me some encouraging words in T2 and confirmed what I thought – I was feeling good and riding strong.

My back was a bit tight as I started the run, so I jogged easy until it loosened up around 7km. I then picked up the pace and negatively split the run as I had hoped to do. And as I did a finish line interview it was great to be able to cheer Jaimie on as she headed out onto the run (I started 30mins earlier than her wave) for another great race in 4hrs 50min! It’s awesome to be able to race in the same races together and to be there to present her with the medal (very proud hubby) – although not sure we want to try that in Kona just yet 🙂

I am very happy with how I felt (especially tight hips/back considering – and will not be present in Kona), and that I was able to push my body and use the training I’ve put in for more than just Kona. I put in a lot of effort to stay focused, balanced, strong, healthy, learning, growing, working, recovering and everything else that I do is for the goal of getting in the best shape I can, and it involves lots of sacrifices but I have not done a ride, run, or swim that I haven’t enjoyed doing. And that is what is making the difference. If I’m not enjoying it, it’s not worth doing.

I’m looking forward to what I can do in the next couple of weeks and into my taper. We head to Kona on October 2^nd.  Feeling confident that what I’ve been doing is working.

Thanks everyone for your support and kind words. Now I’ll put my head down and get ready for the big dance.

And to finish, a quote from Robert De Castella’s book “De Castella on Running”:

“Fun running is fun when runners train and race within their physiological, anatomical and lifestyle limitations, i.e. below their training thresholds.”

All the best

Pete

Check out this great video by the team from Ironman Asia Pacific