That is my new mantra, 'suck it up Buttercup' will help you through when the going gets tough! But we'll get to that, lets start at the start of the day for what was Half Ironman number 3 in my race repertoire!
Did things a little bit different this year and drove down to Ashburton on race morning which meant a 4.30am wake up call. I'm ok at that hour of the day but Geoff was also racing, him and his 2 brothers had entered the half as a team, that meant getting Mr I'm not so good in the Mornings out of bed as well...... He did really well actually, it did help that I planned a 15min leeway into the morning plan so that I wouldn't need to stress! Worked perfectly and we arrived in Ashburton on time. It was a slightly nervous drive down tho as its the first time I have taken the bikes out on the open road on my flash new roof racks but all went well!
I got the necessary stuff (registration, body numbering) out of the way quickly so I could potter about setting my stuff up in transition while eating my breakfast, this worked well and I seemed to have stuff everywhere before managing to create some sort of semblance out of it all.
The plan for the swim was to give it a good nudge and see what I could do, I have been swimming quite well in the pool lately and I have always done the swim at the half at a steady/comfortable pace and I figured it was time to see what I could do if I put some effort in. I got myself nearish to the front alongside Geoff's brother Roger who was doing the team swim, I figured that was a good place to start as it was likely that Roger would beat me out of the water. It was a bit bedlam at the start but nothing too crazy, after all a bit of biffo in the swim is just part of the day really. I was swimming quite hard and felt good until I got to the second orange bouy where I had to swim quite a few polo strokes while trying not to throw up! Hmmm, thats not good, here's hoping that feeling goes away! It was gross, I would put my head in the water and then couldn't breathe out for fear of puking and there was no way I could swim polo for the next 1200m! Quick refocus, told myself I was ok and just got on with it! Had a similar but shorter episode again but quickly got on with it and just swam!!! Out of the water and running to transition I snuck a look at my watch once I got my arms out of my wetsuit sleeves and was stoked to see that I had swum 35mins!! Woohoo, my quickest half IM swim ever and right on target!! Was really surprised running into transition to hear Geoff cheering me on as I expected him to be out on the bike already, turns out Roger had a wee panic just after the first bouy, he hadn't realised quite what he was letting himself in for with that swim start! He came right tho and ran into transition as I left on my bike, I then managed to hold Geoff off for a massive 900m!!! haha!
On the bike I was pleased that I had decided to wear a long sleeve top cos it wasn't warm at all!! The knob helmet was good to wear today tho cos it meant my head and ears were nice and toasty :) Start of the first lap was busy! People everywhere while everyone settled into their groove and spaced themselves out, I was getting passed by quite a few people but consoled myself with the fact that I had swum quicker than them and it was a long day where anything could happen. It took me awhile to get onto my aerobars, I have a mild paranoia about them since crashing off my bike when on them last year. Its esp nervy when its wet out as it was when I crashed. After the first wee turn around a few kms into the race I told myself to stop pissing about and get on my aerobars, telling myself that everyone else was using them and I needed to just get on with it. And get on with it I did and was cruising along pretty nicely feeling fine! First lap went ok except for the fact that it seemed like every female rider who went past me seemed to have an E on her calf indicating that she was in my age group, it felt like my whole age group was passing me! Back into transition for the half-way turn around I saw Geoff heading out for his second lap and I was feeling good that he hadn't gapped me by too much given his superior bike strength and the fact that he didn't have to run afterward I didn't really expect to see him again on the ride. Heading back out for lap 2 it was as if someone had flicked a switch, all of a sudden I was miserably uncomfortable on my bike, it ached to sit on my saddle, my back was sore, my stomach was feeling ick and I wanted out and I wanted out now! Had a wee chat to myself and made myself stretch more on my bike thinking that I would come right once I turned the corner off the main road. Hmmm, I didn't come right, I got worse! Turns out it was hideous period cramps! I knew it was due, only figured this out early that week and there wasn't anything I could do about it except hope that it didn't come on race day as the first day is the only day that I usually feel like crap, every other day is fine. So there I am out on the bike feeling hideous and every turn of the pedals makes me ache but I need to keep turning the pedals or I'm not going to be going anywhere! All I want at this stage is some panadol or something to take the edge off the pain but I don't have any on me, I had some in transition but that was 30kms away! At this point, 60km into the ride, I start to bawl my eyes out, great big ugly shoulder shaking sobs!! And I can't stop, I ride like this for about 3km and this is where the suck it up buttercup starts kicking in! I've heard this saying before when people when about stuff (it seems to be one of John Ellis's favourites!) and it got stuck in my head so I'm biking along telling myself to 'suck it up buttercup' and occasionally telling myself to 'suck it the f**k up buttercup!!' I said it out loud more than once and I feel sorry for anyone who passed me in this dark dark part of the race. This seemed to sort me out and everytime I slipped back into wallowing in the pain it was straight back into 'suck it up buttercup!!' With 15km left to go I had to give myself a virtual slap and tell myself that 15km was easy, for crying out loud its only a ride to Sumner, thats easy, anyone can ride that far!!! That bollocking got me through the next 10km, then with 5km left I just wanted off my bike, lucky I'm a slow runner or I think I would have got off and run my bike in! Instead I berated myself yet again and told myself that 5km wasn't even as far as biking to work and that if I couldn't bike that far I had some serious issues!! It hadn't helped that I was passed by 1 or 2 more girls in my age group in that last 15-20km, either that or I was hallucinating F's on everyone's calves.....
Finally after what seemed like hours and hours and hours I arrived back at transition and could get off my bike at last, I racked it thinking that I would be quite happy to never see it again! I sat on the ground and the first thing I did was reach for the panadol and slugged them down hoping that they would work some magic cos I could barely move at that stage, my back, stomach, thighs were all aching and quite frankly all I wanted to do was curl up on my towel in transition and have a sleep until I felt better. But no, I was good and I pulled on my shoes and socks. Geoff came over to talk to me cos he was loitering around in transition, I told him what had happened and started having another cry, he gave me a big hug and wouldn't let me stay in transition so I headed off with everyone cheering and telling me to run. Hmmm, lets see you lot try and run when you're in that kind of pain! Honestly, it was hideous, if I had been at home I would have been in bed with a hotty! Having said that if I had been at home I would have had better access to pain relief and probably would never have felt that bad! I headed off at a very slow pathetic pace just hoping that I would come right cos I didn't fancy a 21km sufferfest as well. Just after I started the run the boys (Paulie Davies and Andrew Black) ran past and cheered me on telling me I looked good, I guess I did from behind, I cheered them on as they were on their last lap and were sitting in 2nd and 3rd overall which was cool then figured I better summon up the effort to run or it was going to be a much much longer day than it needed to be. I trundled off and started the 'suck it up' mantra again, it really works by the way! A lady ran past me and started walking... hmmm, walking..... hmmm, that looks nice.... quickly reminded myself that my race plan was to only walk the aid stations, that is the aid stations and nothing else! So I kept running, yay! Headed round the back of that lake to discover that first aid station was a bit further away than it was last year...... suck it up, keep running! So I did, then I grabbed myself a nice cup of coke and had a lovely wee walk while I drank it. By this stage I was starting to feel heaps better! It must only take 10-15 mins for panadol to kick in, that and the relief to be off my bike I guess. From then on I stuck to the plan and ran from aid station to aid station only walking to suck down my gels and to drink. It felt good too I must say, only thing is, people need to have respect for your race plan and know that its ok for you to walk just after you pass the finish area cos thats an aid station and its ok to walk that part if its in the plan! Managed to kick it up an extra notch or two in the last 4kms and passed a few folk, to be fair not all of them were on their last lap but I still passed them so mentally that helped me along the way.
Overall I was about 15mins slower than last year and that can pretty much all be attributed to the crappy bike ride I had. And it turns out that I was passed by pretty much my whole age group cos I had the fastest swim time in my age group!! Woohoo, not bad for someone who not that long ago couldn't swim 50m without stopping! Run time was almost the same as last years at 2.15, so while its a minute slower than last years run time its the most I've ever run in the run part of a half Ironman so I'm still happy with it. I think I'm running better than I ever have, must be those flash Newton running shoes!! Overall time was 6.10, so 15mins slower than last year but tougher conditions with the weather and being a girl. Can't win em'all, but am pleased that I was able to put the cycle leg behind me and stick to my run plan as well as focus on sticking to my nutrition plan throughout the day even tho I felt like crap.
7 more weeks of 'suck it up Buttercup' and Wanaka will be done and dusted! Bring it on!!
Ohh and I love my bike again now, I forced myself to go for a wee 20min spin on her this morning, I was worried I would really want to sell her otherwise! A wee spin in shiny new kit and all is forgiven!
And, the boys did good in their team, they were 3rd male team so are pretty happy with that for their first foray into triathlon. Geoff had the 4th fastest cycle time in the teams so he is quite stoked with that.
