Tauranga Half Ironman Race Report

I've just spent the last 3 days in bed, a headache, coughing, and generally feeling pretty lousy. I had planned a grand celebration after the Half Ironman, but I fell asleep instead!

On Friday I left Whitianga, on route to Tauranga. It was a pretty uneventful drive, apart from sussing out the hills between Whitianga and Tairua, with the idea of biking there this week - the traffic is still pretty busy, and the hills steep, so will avoid this!

I arrived and checked into my motel, I was feeling unexpectedly tired, so had a brief nana nap, hoping I'd feel a little better afterwards. Woke up with headache and cough. Grabbed some panadol, headache sorted. Tried to ignore the possibility I was coming down with a virus, I wanted to race in the morning!

I got my race pack, and caught up with Kathy, her mum and boys. You may have heard this before Kathy, but your mum could get away with saying she's your sister! Kathy was guarding her new 'Iris' - I had a quick checkout - it certainly looked really smart and fast!

I was getting a little pysched out with all the flash gear, flash bodies and crowd, so sneaked off down town. The shops weren't that inspiring with the headache that had come back, and still feeling tired.

The compulsory race meeting was at 5.15, so went to that, then grabbed something to eat, sorted my gear out, and went to bed. Not a great nights sleep due to the cough and heat.

I woke up to pouring rain! Well at least it wasn't going to be hot!

I got ready, and headed down to the Mount. There was a real flurry of excitement and nerves amongst everyone. I got myself ready, managing to get my wetsuit on without needing any help!

As I got into the water (oh it was colder than here at Whitianga), I felt good. I made my way over to the start. Wave starts this year - the elites, then the men, then the ladies. 2 minutes apart. The current was quite strong, so a few of us went over to the wharf and held on. When the gun finally went off for us, I found myself quite a long way behind the front of the pack - perhaps 100m. This made the swimming easy, but was a big disadvantage time wise.

There were a lot of jellyfish, which didn't phase me too much. I actually thought I was swimming well, but the other ladies just got further and further away. Then the lead men caught me, right at the last buoy, and at the end of the second lap the lead teams swimmers caught me. This actually slowed me down, as I tried to keep out of their way. At Rotorua there was more room, and I was sucked with the faster swimmers.

I was pretty tired and disappointed when I looked at my watch - 52 minutes. I basically walked to transition, and took my time getting ready for the bike - a long T1. I felt good from the start of the bike, and had a bit of company for the first lap. However, I was soon by myself in the dairying area of Papamoa. I was a little despondent here, as I was getting lonely, thought I was working pretty hard, but the speedo didn't respond.

Back into town and into the crowds my spirits lifted - it's great being cheered on. I saw the leading men and women, wow, they're so fast!

My laps in town were fast - the road condition is smooth and fast, and the crowd helps.

Back into transition - I mucked around a bit, and headed off for the run - wow I was feeling good! My parents were close to the turnaround, so got spurred on by them, and friends from Ngatea were at the beach turnaround, and stayed all day to cheer me there - I'm very grateful. Then of course there was Mike and his family and Kathy's family who yelled out encouragement. While others might get in the 'zone' and blank out all the noise and support, I had to lap it up!

I ran ALL the way around the mount, and between aid stations. It was only the second time around the mount that I started walking the hills, even then I ran more than I otherwise would, as I knew I was getting close to the cut off.

The girls joined me running up to the finish, where I was whisked away to be interviewed for the local paper - felt like a real celebrity - perhaps it's not so bad coming in near the end!!

I actually felt really good straight after - no cramps, sore tummy or muscles. My muscles recovered well, it was just the underlying viurs which come to bite me in the bum later that night.

I'm pleased I did it, but very disappointed with my time. This may or may not be because of the virus, but has given me some incentive to build a better base over the next few months.

I'll get some photos on here shortly.

The big race is tomorrow!

This is the weather forecast from fencepost:


Light variable winds on Saturday, cloudy periods with the odd sunny break at times. A few light showers may develop from evening.

For me this is IDEAL. Of course for marlin mad husband, it would be ideal for fishing too! But he is going to come and support me - with the girls, so I'm pleased about that.

I have had an interesting taper week. Since I also enjoy fishing, I have had 4 whole days out on the boat, two for the tuna tournament (only caught albacore, no yellowfin!), and two gorgeous days on Monday and Tuesday. I only missed one cycle, but I did miss my swims. This was for a couple of seriously good reasons.

First swim: Had rash on neck from forgetting to put on cream - ok poor excuse, the water is warm enough to swim without wetsuit.

Second swim: Was kitted up (without wetsuit), in the Cove on Great Mercury Island. Brian was fishing, reel and rod went off, so decided to see what he had caught - 2.5 m shark - swim aborted! This reason I think was sort of justified, even though I don't think sharks attack swimmers at the Mercury's, but I wasn't willing to be the first statistic!

I went to bed with a headache last night, this is despite being well hydrated, so when I woke up this morning after coughing a lot last night, and the headache remaining, I have become a little annoyed. I hope it goes away.

I had a good swim (the water is very warm - and salty!) The temperature when we were fishing got up to 23.5 degrees C, which is why the pelagic fish are all here at the moment.

As far as aims tomorrow are concerned I have a couple of main ones - to get nutrition and hydration right, so that I don't cramp up or end up with a crook guts.

Time wise - I want to beat last years time of 6:51.02. I would love to do 6.30.

There's a neat programme where you can compare yourself, against other athletes. It's quite a laugh really, I did it to see where I should aim to wave at the race leaders. Another aim is to make sure the winning ladies don't finish before I start running. (I was lucky - slow - enough to see the battle between Kate and Jo last year down the final straight).

I'm happy to say that after a couple of panadols, and writing this, my headache is easing.

I'm off for a quick bike ride shortly - major excitement in Whitianga last night - I've got to check it out. The Placemakers building was on fire - there were lots of fire engines coming past us from Matarangi, Kuotuna, Tairua and Cooks Beach and Hahei!!