I have spammed it everywhere else so why not here too!!
Gold Coast Half Ironman 2007
Having completed 2 half IM’s before, this year was the first time I was actually prepared to race the distance. Last year I completed the course in 5:57 with a :39 swim, 3:04 bike and a 2:14 ‘run’. I achieved that on a very short and limited training schedule after a year or so of no physical training due to illness and other commitments. At the time, I was over the moon with that result as it was a 20 minute PB over my first Half IM in Hawaii at Honu. To be fair, I have completed two full Ironman events since last Gold Coast Half so have had some fairly consistent training especially in the endurance area. I did Busso 2006 in 13:52 and had a pleasing outcome at Port 2007 in 11:29.
Nearly a year ago to the day, I looked up this bloke I had read about on the internet. Billed as a nutcase with some out there coaching ideas, I honestly was a bit apprehensive about approaching him to coach me but I bit the bullet and met up for a chat after the finish of the Gold Coast Half in 06. Absolutely the best move I ever could have made. Allan Pitman is an absolute coaching genius. Full stop. In our initial conversation, he told me that if I gave him two years where I did what he said, he would get me a result. At the time, his idea of a result and mine were vastly different as I think he had more belief in what I could achieve than myself.
Fast forward the year and September 30 rolled around at long last. I was jumping out of my skin all week not knowing how I was going to go. I had done some very hard and consistent work over the year and had some break throughs in training that had be confident I could go under 5 hours. All I had to do was employ a bit of discipline and courage on the day and I would deliver, that I was sure of. I had a ‘stretch’ goal of 4:49 which would have been the time to outright qualify for Ironman last year without having to get a roll down or Lottery slot. I thought that was a big ask but of late I seem to be exceeding my time goals so I locked it in stone by telling the coach on our last run session Friday before the race. I find I need to put my goals out there in the public eye for a bit of accountability on the outcomes. It can be too easy to make amendments to goals when no one else knows them.
Swim
Being a self taught swimmer in my late 20s, I have always been well down the back of the field in this leg of the race. Having done quite a bit of work on this I have slowly crawled up the standings and more towards the front than the back these days in my age group (M30-34). As a result, I would always line up at the back of the pack for starts, wait for the gun to fire, count to 3 then start swimming. I would always end up swimming off to the outside of the course to stay out of the way of the faster waves following. This year, the plan was different. After a pre race strategy session, I decided I was going to go in like a Big Dog and mark my territory right at the front middle of the swim. I paddled to the front and floated up onto my stomach waiting for the gun. I looked left and right at the guys around me and thought to myself ‘If you p***ks come near me I am going to tear you apart’. We practice mass starts in the pool every Thursday with up to 12 in the lane at a time. They are very, very messy and an actual race start for comparison is like a church visit.
Off we go and every single person must have read my mind as I swam the entire 1.9km on the racing line without one bit of contact. It was like swimming in an empty pool. Fantastic. I grew and grew in confidence over the half hour or so as I knew that if we had this aspect right, the plan I had in my head for the rest of the day was right too. Exiting the water, I looked at the race clock but it was crazy wrong and my watch on my wrist told me I was out in about 31-32 minutes. Official times are not out as yet but that is a good result for me in the water at around 7-8 minutes personal best. Normally I would walk to the bike area and get my breath but I really wanted to keep my heart rate up so I could settle into the bike plan straight away and sprinted my ring out to get to my pushie.
Bike
At check in, I was the first in line and as a result, scored pride of place right next to the entry exit gate for the swim and bike. That makes it very easy to find. Normally, I can find it anyway because transition is pretty empty when I manage to flop in. Not this time though.
I had tinkered extensively with my position since Busso last year where I had a very uncomfortable day. My bike position I feel is perfect. According to all of the ‘rules’ it is nearly exact but on top of that it feels fast and powerful plus, I can, and did stay aero the entire 90kms (90.95km?? on my speedo??) with no pain anywhere.
The bike plan was to ride a heart rate window of 160-165. No more, no less. I got a tad excited on the first climb and pushed it up over 170 for a minute or so but got things under control and settled into a groove. I had not put my Profile Aero drink bottle onto the bike since I attached my new (old) aero bars. Turn out I could not see my speed with it on. This was a good thing as I believe had I been able to see my actual speed, I would have pulled back and not rode the heart rate zone.
Conditions were pretty good to excellent the first lap with only a couple of kilometers of rough surface. I passed quite a few people on the way out but eventually settled in with another two guys who I seemed to roll through with for the rest of the leg. Having never found myself in a position where I was surrounded by good cyclists, I was actually a tad nervous about getting pinged for blocking or drafting by mistake. The draft Marshals were all over us like a fat kid on cake for the entire leg. They must have been taking turns in watching the kilometer ahead and behind me because I heard bikes all day. I went out of my way to make sure this did not happen and probably took it a bit hard when passing but oh well, it didn’t hurt me in the end. I hear that there were complaints from others that the Marshals were non-existent on the course. Heh, obviously not around my little area. We picked up a pack of guys along the way and they sat in a full on road racing style peleton behind us. The drafties would have none of that and took them apart. Great job.
I ended up negative splitting the bike with a 1:11:xx and a 1:10:xx for the two laps and a bike time of 2:21:44 for the time. I was absolutely dumb founded when I saw this. I knew I was going to ride well but not quite that well. Again, not an official time and there will be transitions added onto that but it will likely be somewhere around 2:25 which still is well and above expectation. It turns out those 4 months of solid ride time put in after Ironman paid off. This is the first time I let any doubt creep in for the day and I really wondered if I was to be able to run off that effort.
The Run
I had give some internet advice about the run based solely on theory. I decided that the first kilometer of the run was going to hurt no matter what so don’t even think about it. Run fast or slow it is going to suck. Run it then assess your run ability. I took my own advice and dropped the hammer out of transition and put in a 4 minute kay up and over the sharp pinch out of transition and over the other side. Mmy guts were feeling a bit suss and I nearly chucked up near the top of the hill but I just pushed and pushed until I got to the top. I grabbed a water and just could not drink it but kept it so I could drink it soon when my throat settled down. Just like I expected things came good and I felt like I was at the start of a run the day after a moderately hard training day. I put much of that down to my bike set up and that I hit my bike nutrition perfectly.
It was pretty warm and I am told it got up to 35 during the run but to be honest, I did not feel too bad. I had the start of the feeling of cramp forming in my quads and put a stop to that quick smart with two at a time cups of Endura at the stations as well as a big handful of salt. I gagged a bit when I took the salt and quite a bit ended up in my nasal cavity. Boy did that burn. I blew it out with snot rockets but some crystals remained up there. A good lesson for the future to drop the salt into the cup then to eat it raw like I normally do. First and last time I let that happen.
I wanted to do the same plan with regard to heart rate for the run and my 160-165 window ended up seeing my heart rate nearly stuck on 163. That was a great sign. I held consistent 5 minute kilometers for the rest of the leg and coupled with my 4 minute first kilometer saw somewhere around 1.45 exactly (unofficial again) for the event.
Finish Line
Total time 4:43:15 (unofficial)
1 hour 14 minute pb.
6 minutes UNDER my stretch goal.
I am one happy chappy.
I left nothing out there. No regrets.
Official results!!!!
Swim 32:30
Bike 2:25:07
Run 1:45:49
Total 4:43:3616th in M30-34 and 101st overall.
6th fastest bike split in category.
(for me anyway). It has been 12 months of hard training and I am about to see whether it has all been worthwhile. 
) 
due to heading over to Busso.
who rode the lead male runner bike, he informs me the course was 900m long. Another bloke I know said each lap was 400m long on his Garmin. I had the bike as nearly a kay long. Last year my age group swim time was 2 minutes out as they got the relative start time wrong.