Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Cairns IM Race Report
Quote | Reply
The triathlon that I just couldn’t be bothered doing…IRONMAN CAIRNS 2013

When I think of my recent forays into of Iron-distance triathlon, on the day of any race, I’m usually wracked with nerves, excited and scared at the same time, just want to get the swim’s first 500m out of the way to make sure I survive the onslaught of blokes who can all outsprint me initially (but then can’t swim so fast over longer distances) and get on with the business of finishing the long day ahead. My fourth IM triathlon - Cairns 2013 was not like this.

To start with, I managed to get a tendinitis (medial knee plica) 6 weeks pre-race after I stepped off a gutter funny and it ‘pinged’ and hadn’t been able to do any more running save for a plodding 14km 2 weeks out prior to the event. Then, as Murphy’s Law would have it, I picked up some kind of virus on the flights up to Queensland from my home state. I began to feel quite ordinary on the Wednesday afternoon pre-race and by the Thursday, I had no energy, a killer sore throat, and what any medic would term “general malaise”. With a constant supply of paracetamol on hand, I pretty much did nothing in race prep other than sloth on the couch and take my bike for a 15 minute spin to make sure I’d assembled it all in good working order before Sunday… all with the thought in the back of my mind that I might not even bother racing anyway. I was a bunch of unhappy during this week (make worlds smallest violin motion with your fingers at this point and sad face for me!)..yes yes, it was my annual leave, it could always have been worse.. I could have been stuck at work in the middle of a cold winter in the Southern States of Australia!

Once in Cairns, I asked at the “help desk” for the IM if there was any chance to drop down to the half distance event and the answer was a polite but firm “no” (interpret as “it’s full, not a chance in Hades!”). Ok. So it was either the full distance or nothing. I bought a pair of race socks and a new race singlet in the hope retail therapy would improve how I felt, after all, spending money on tri gear is some of what I do best…. Alas, it did not, and now my credit card was hurting too L.

Race morning ticked around and at 5am I hauled myself out of a rather comfy hotel bed and had a lengthy discussion with myself in the mirror of the bathroom about how I should just suck it up and give the race a go. Fortunately I had also received a very encouraging email that was the tipping point for me to go to the start line rather than back to bed! However, at the start line I was still unmotivated to race and was talking to another Age Grouper in my category (but infinitely faster than me) who also encouraged me that I’d done so much work in the lead up “I’d be fine” for the day. And so I got in the water (and tried not to think about all the pee 1500 athletes had done in their wetsuits/water surrounding at that exact moment!).

THE SWIM: While the water was warm, it was quite murky. The swim is set alongside the river delta on the right (swimming offshore) and against the outgoing tide coming back into shore. The access to the swim is from the pier and therefore getting out of the water is a bit cramped to get up the steps and onto the ramps to run a few hundred metres back to the T1 tent. I tried to start out wide for the swim as I know it’s impossible for me to out sprint hundreds of revved up blokes over the first few minutes of the hectic swim start. However there was a boat and the kayakers/board paddlers kept the field fairly tight. I would much prefer the swim to start in waves as it does for the 70.3 race as at least breaking it down into men’s and women’s starts would be less violent and hectic I’m sure.

The swim started and I had completely not paid attention to the buzzer until I realised everyone around me was thrashing madly off the start line. And so it began. I swam off as best I could but I was repeatedly smacked in the back of the head by a Neanderthal who was sweeping a huge muscly arm out wide with ever stroke (high elbow people, I tells ya, HIGH ELBOW, grrrr!!). But there was no-where else to go due to the crowd. I’m usually not too slow a swimmer but being stuck in traffic did not help my enthusiasm for the day, so I did a lot of head up swimming, trying to find some clear water which never seemed to materialise, and mashed my way around the first lap of the swim. The second lap was somewhat better with the field spread out but some idiot kept grabbing my feet – honestly, learn to draft without being such a pest! Frustrated with that, I pretty much stopped to let this rocket scientist past and I tried to clear off to the outer side again.

Finally the swim was over and I waited patiently to get to the steps and out of the water. By the time I ran over the timing strip I’d done a 1:09 swim – my slowest in my short IM history but meh! Who cares!

T1 was a bit of a disaster as the two volunteers who sauntered up to me after finishing their conversation didn’t have a clue what to help me with so I directed one to please help remove my wetsuit from my ankles, and the other to tip out the bike bag so I could find my socks, shoes, and helmet etc. After a tedious 5 minutes I had shoes in hand and trotted over to the bike racks. Again, not exactly amped up to do this event I decided that I wanted to try the bike out as the course looked stunning and it was turning into a beautiful looking day. I thought I could do a leisurely ride and just see how I felt. No knee pain thus far, and not feeling too crappy after the swim, I set off on the bike towards Pt Douglas…maybe this might not be so bad after all.

THE BIKE: the bike course did not disappoint; it’s beautiful. The road is heritage listed and follows the coast from Cairns to Pt Douglas save for the first 20km-ish of highway to get to the coastal road. The surface is generally good although there are a few “chip and seal” bitumen patches which cause considerable vibration and I have never seen so many pricey drink cages, bottles, tubes, tyres, CO2 canisters etc scattered along the roadside from simply vibrating loose.

By the time I reached Pt Douglas my HR was steady but due to the road surface my wheel magnet had vibrated itself off and I’d lost speed and cadence data. I am not blessed with a power meter so HR was it from here on in. I was still on track for a good time and was really enjoying cruising along the picturesque course. If it wasn’t a race, it would be a great ride to dawdle along for photo opportunities (so long as there was no traffic to share the road with!). Unfortunately after much vibration on a particularly bad stretch just before Pt Douglas on my second loop I realised I had lost my entire fuel bottle from behind my seat only noticing this when my timer went off and I reached for it (D’Oh!). After that I only managed to score one gel from an aid station and as the headwinds picked up (South-Easterly up the coast) I lost energy and slowed down as I was starting to feel very flat on the home stretch.

The ride has undulations and a few “hills” but not mountains. The steepest longest hill is the marker for the turn-around point and by the 4th time over this hill on the way back to Cairns T2 to complete the ride, it felt a lot bigger and steeper than it really was. The last 20km of the race seemed to take an eternity and my ambitions for a great bike time for me (considering I was just going to ride and not bother with the run – these were the plans formed in my head on the first lap of the bike) became far less lofty and I finally finished the ride in 5:37.

At T2 I was completely ready to pull out and end my day there and I would have been quite happy with my efforts to make it that far into the day. However after considering that T2 was still 20km from Cairns, the sag wagon might take ages to come around and I was still in the first half of the field, AND that I had to get back to town somehow I figured I might as well start the jog/walk marathon …if the bus came past me at some point I could just hop on then. Notably my enthusiasm was underwhelming and at the lowest ebb of the day.

I sucked back the strongest caffeinated gel I had (b’zing!!! Awake again!!!) and asked for copious sunscreen to be applied to my shoulders by the lovely T2 volunteers who willingly obliged, missing just a couple of streaks -enough for me to be smarting at the end of the day when I showered!

The run was exposed and quite hot. I walked, slowly jogged, stopped to chat to a couple of kids at an aid station as they filled my small drink bottle, walked with another lady for a bit who went on to jog just ahead of me and try as I might, I never caught up to her again that day. Generally, I just plodded along from one aid station to the next, grabbing ice and water to top up my own fuel drink, taking my stock of gels as required and salt tablets and anticipating some more paracetamol after the finish line!

The run continued through roads lined with cane fields and onto the highway into town. Then at around 20km the pathway became the footpath to the esplanade in town and I had to run up and back for 2 and half laps (5-4-3-2-1 in my head for each length) to get my black, then white wrist bands before being mercifully directed into the finish chute. During this last 20km the sun set, the rain came, and then went, and then it came back again. While it did make for soggy feet, it was refreshing and cooling.

One brief toilet stop later, and I was on the last lap, emptying my poor, old, feeling-quite-sorry-for-myself, tank for the day to finish the final 2km with a run to the line as best I could muster. In reality, I just needed th[/url]at finisher’s towel to facilitate the week of sitting by the pool/beach in Pt Douglas I had planned as a post-race recouperation holiday!

After 11 hours and some 25 minutes, far from my best and far from what I had wanted for my day had I been healthy and uninjured in the lead up, I finished the Ironman I didn’t really want to bother doing in the first place. I waddled off to the athlete recovery area to collect my ego boosting finisher t-shirt then traipse back to the hotel and find that bed I still wish I’d stayed in half a day earlier! In reality, I am glad I did the event, and even more pleased that I finished it after the numerous small and large obstacles I encountered in the lead up and during this event.
I am so appreciative of the support from so many different people and places to encourage me to get there and I can see that had I been healthy and uninjured I would likely have finished higher in the field. As it was I am happy to have finished 8th in my AG and somewhere in the vicinity of the top 20% of the female field.

Lessons learnt:
· I have a lot more stubborn in me than I realised to start and then finish this event.

· Wear a mask on the plane, who cares what it looks like, I’m not getting sick in transit again!

· Other athletes, friends, and complete strangers can be the best motivation when motivation is lacking internally.

· Use more body glide.

Onward and upward to the next event.. but first, there’s a giant tub of ice-cream and chocolate sauce with my name all over it!!! J
Quote Reply