Week 14- IMNZ ( Just watching !!!)

I squeezed in a couple of training sessions before flying out to NZ to watch Ironman at Taupo.  Wednesday morning was quite wet. A big storm came through about 4am, but I decided I would roll down the hill to the squad ride anyway. All 3 of us turned up!! I think I am beginning to turn into the guy on "the I am training for Ironman video". I was on autopilot when the alarm went off. I didn't even think about the wet morning outside, all I could think was I have a 2 hour ride on my program.  I knew I could rely on Leigh and Yas to be there as they never miss a session.  Anyway Mark decided to cancel the ride as the storms were still around. I did a river loop pretty much all to myself ( what a rare sight, I only saw one other cyclist in the hour or so I was riding around).

We flew out early Thursday morning. We should have arrived in Taupo at 4 in the afternoon. But Qantas managed to damage the plane with aerobridge so our flight was cancelled. Anyway we got put on a Air NZ flight, but arrived in Auckland minus our bags. Oh well, we got our bags at 12 the next day so it didn't turn out so bad. Things are worse in life than that.

Taupo is a lovely town on a gorgeous lake. The people of Taupo love Ironman. People were so friendly and supportive. I get the feeling after visiting Port Macquarie last year during IM that Australians are not as keen about having an Ironman in their town.

Taupo certainly turned on a tough day for my friends racing IM. We awoke to pouring rain on Saturday morning. The swim start was awesome as ever with the cannon going off.  The rain showed no signs of relenting and everyone endured a very wet 180km ride.  I was so pleased to see the first timers and my BTS friends Alicia and Sarah complete the first lap ( 90kms) in just over 3 hours and they were still smiling.

Despite being soaked and cold for the better part of 16 hours we didn't want to miss anyone so we stood for most of the day cheering everyone on.  I was encouraged by the strength everyone showed to get through the day alone let alone the conditions which added an additional element to the challenge of Ironman.

It was so great to see Sarah and Alicia both finish in under 13hours, I know they are 2 determined ladies and that certainly showed on the day. They raced smart and paced the day accordingly. I think their long suffering, but very proud  Ironman weary husbands were also glad it was finally over too!!

Whilst in Taupo I went to a presentation by John Ackland who coaches a number of the pros including Terrenzo Bozzone and Sam Warriner ( 1st place elite female 2011 NZ IM) who were also guest speakers.  Ok yes Terrenzo is very cute, but really I was going to hear John speak and not Terrenzo. The key message that John delivered for first time Ironman athletes was keep the pace easy for the swim, bike and first 20km of the run should be treated as easy session, only the last 20kms of the run should be raced. I think this is great advice and whilst I would love to "race the last 20kms" I think I will be just aiming to finish. I noticed a number of people sprinted out of T2 onto the run course at 10km race pace only to be reduced to walk a few km's up the road. This is a good lesson in pacing.

At the end the presentation John put up some finishers photos from the previous night. I got quite emotional looking at the expressions on people's faces as they crossed the finish line. For those people who had raced well into the night in the pouring rain it would have taken that extra resolve to finish.  I can only imagine there is nothing quite like running into the finishers shute! I look forward to that day in just over 13 weeks time.