IM 70.3 Western Sydney

Sunday the 27^th was Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney. This was my first Professional race and was fitting as was out at Penrith Regatta Centre where I did one of my first triathlons back in school, the distance just a bit longer this time!

Was up early race day, 3.40am, to get there as was just over an hours drive away from Bondi. Start time was 6.15am and was a non wetsuit swim. Little nervous but more anxious and excited to get underway and see what it would be like to race with the pros and have a pretty flexible race plan as was going to be a good test race, gather a bit of data going into the start of my Race season.

I started the swim on the feet of Dan Wilson and Ryan Fisher as thought why not sit with the fastest guys in the pack. I was fine for the first 400m but lost touch with them and ended up swimming between the front pack and second. I decided to join the second pack and came out of the water 90 seconds off the front guys, so not a great swim but felt pretty fresh coming out of the water because of easing it up. T1 transition was super quick, being a non wetsuit swim. 

Was out in the bike and happy with how I was able to settle in quickly to the bike and was riding with 2 others, one being last year’s winner. I stayed with them for a good 15km but then felt like they were pushing about 15 watts more than I could manage for the 90km. I then road the rest of the 75km solo and finished with a Normalized Power of 297. Nutrition on the bike went well and felt good coming off the bike.

Coming into T2 got a 15 seconds time penalty for undoing helmet before racking my bike, little brain snap there.  Out of the run , felt good first few kms, running at 3.25 per km pace but then started to feel a little heavy and couldn’t  get myself to run under 3.35s. Maybe feeling the half marathon a week ago in the legs. It was pretty hot half way through the run so nice bit of hurt towards the end, was able to pass a few guys in front and get from 9^th to 7^th. Pretty happy to go under 4 hours, time of 3 hour 59min.
Few lessons learnt would be, hold onto that front pack in the swim even if means pushing it a little harder than 70.3 pace. On the ride, now that I know I can manage holding 300w for the 90km and still run 78min, stay with them as means I’ll be able to run with/ run down more guys.

Next up is Taupo 70.3 December 10! 

Queenstown Half Marathon

Stoked to take the win in the Queenstown Half marathon yesterday, Saturday 20^th November. Been keen to race a half marathon for a while now and was awesome that it was a home race. The Start line was literally 1km down the road from home so pretty cool to be able to my warm up from home to the start line. Think there were around 10,000 people racing both full and half marathon.

First couple of kilometres were pretty quick before the things settled down and I locked into a good rhythm, running around the 3.15 to 3.25min per km pace. The majority of the run is on the Queenstown Trail, which makes it a little tougher but far more scenic and entertaining running. Was running with one other guy Mike Phillips who won the race last year, until about the 10km mark, where there is a steep climb. I made a move there and was able to create a gap between us and then built a substantial lead from there.  Felt strong the whole way, a little tender for the last few kilometres, but all round good race and executed to the plan I had set out.

Took the win in 1 hour 12 min 23 sec (new course record), 2min30sec in front of second. Was wearing the Hoka Claytons, which were perfect and Skins tights and socks so was in complete comfort. 

Western Sydney 70.3 is next and is my first professional race so has given me a nice confidence in my running before that race.

Thanks to my coach Bevan (fitter.co.nz) and thanks to my sponsors, Hoka One One, Skins, Balance Sports Nutrition