Iron Jack

Sunday dawned bright, clear and cold (hmm, I’m sensing a theme here - no it never rains in Rotorua). The babysitter arrived to look after the toddler, we offloaded the four year old at his friend’s house (again, another theme…) and we headed for the forest (theme number three, tick - you’ve gotta love living in Rotorua!).

The occasion was a bit more serious this time, however, as Mike and I were taking on the first event in the RATs winter duathlon series. Being new to this whole exercise/triathlon thing, we hadn’t been involved in these events before, but had heard they were quite good and pretty popular. Even though the temperature gauge in the car was only reading two degrees when we arrived, there was already a large group of people gathering and a long line waiting to enter.

Stamping our feet and clapping our hands we took our place in the queue to enter - and bumped into more people there than we have at anywhere else we’ve been in Rotorua. Finally, we are locals. Multi-sporting locals.

Twenty minutes later we were still stamping our feet in an effort to keep warm while we waited for the start gun - the temperature hadn’t improved at all but it was a stunning day. We were both feeling very grateful for the new Reebok compression gear - Mike borrowed one pair of my new tights while I was wearing the other - I can tell these are going to be a major bonus in this cold weather!

The event is split into two courses - long and short. Mike and I were both doing the short course, along with his boss Grant. We were facing a 3km run (two laps of the run course), an 8km mountain bike ride on forestry trails and tracks (mostly up!) and then a 1.5km run to finish.

I had woken up with a cold threatening but was determined to give it my best shot anyway. I’d already done the run (well, an extended version due to getting lost) and the bike (also an extended version, also due to getting lost) so I knew I could comfortably complete the course. However, I also had a pretty good feeling I would be considerably slower than everyone else.

The gun went and we were off. The front of the group quickly headed up and around the corner out of sight. I had a few people in my sight but they also moved out of view. I continued my plod. I have this mental and physical barrier when I’m running. It’s absolute hell for the first four minutes - I want to stop, everything hurts, my breathing is haggard - and then magically, as soon as I hit four minutes I’m away. Sure enough, four minutes came and went and I settled into my very comfortable plodding pace - carefully watching for slippery ice and frozen mud.

I really enjoyed the run. My breathing was pretty rough thanks to my first winter cold, but I still really enjoyed it. I raced to my bike (the only one left!!) and attempted  to pull on my bike pants - not an easy task - but eventually got them and my helmet on and managed to run out of transition.

I’m glad I had done the bike section before - twice actually, even better. I knew it was a long uphill ride, but I also knew I could do it. It was very rough and a lot harder to ride beause many of the rydges, hollows and puddles were completely frozen. The bike’s tyres behaved in a completely different way. There is a nasty uphill section on The Wash - very rocky and bumpy. I actually managed to pull in two competitors there - a very proud moment.

I finally reached the top and whizzed my way down the downhill section - stopping to collect a nine-year old boy who was also participating and was most upset because he thought he was lost. The mum in me simply couldn’t leave him behind so we slowly made our way back to transition. I got passed during this section but it was worth it - there was no way I could leave him on his own. I should note at this point that he completely kicked my butt on the final run.

Anyway, into transition and I decided not to stop to take the bike pants off. It turns out they’re not so bad to run in so will be keeping them on over might tights from the beginning next time. Mike and Grant were waiting for me by the bridge to spur me on - they’d both had great races and done good times. As I headed up the path again, I could really feel my legs and was starting to wonder if I would be walking some of this section. No way, said the voice in my head. And so I did. Once I got past the first uphill I was away and cruised around the course and into the finish line - winning a chocolate bar spot prize for my troubles! I might be a slow plodder, but I always get there in the end.

It was great to be in an event again, it’s been a while since King of the Bays. Congratulations RATs on an awesome event. See you for the next one on July 5.

It always surprises me when I jog past shop windows and I don’t look like Sam Warriner.

Sam is the 2008 ITU World Champion, a kiwi, a redhead and, by all accounts, a down-to-earth, allround great person. You can check her stuff out at www.samwarriner.co.nz

In my mind, I look like her. When I’m running I feel 6 feet tall, slim, strong and powering down the road. It’s always such a shock when I catch sight of myself in a window and I’m the complete opposite!

The shop window incidents came yesterday while I was “Lapping the Lake” - at least that is what running around Takapuna’s Lake Pupuke was called when I was 10! That was about the last time I ran around that lake - and even then I never ran, it was more a jog/hobble/walk and drag - the drag situation on the part of my mum as we participated in a local fun run. My dad got to run on ahead, while she juggled me, my younger brother and sister and a buggy. We even got our picture in the paper - clearly I was destined for a career in the media from then. My brother went on to achieve great success on the international yachting stage, while my sister has collected three degrees and has just entered the ballot for the 2010 London Marathon. So obviously Mum did the right thing getting us out on that fun run.

So yesterday’s effort was a bit like tracing our family history - or as one of my Twitter friends so eloquently put it “a great run around memory lake!” Thanks IronmanLongRunr (http://www.twitter.com/IronmanLongRunr).

It started off well enough - until I hit the throngs of high school students heading out their school gates - I had completely forgotten it was (a) hometime, and (b) that there were four high schools within a stones throw of each other. Hopefully they were inspired by my panting elephantine efforts rather than horrified.

My sister doesn’t like Lapping the Lake. She thinks it’s boring and goes on forever. It’s certainly hillier than I remembered, but because I grew up around this lake, I felt like I knew every step. I actually enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard going. At nearly 6km it’s the longest and furthest I have run to date, but it wasn’t an unpleasant experience. And it was certainly very satisfying.

Until I hit the shop windows on the home stretch.

So, Sam Warriner I am not, but maybe one day, after Ironman 2011, I might be a lot closer.

Absolutely sensational ride this morning.

It was zero degrees this morning when I took the rubbish out - just one hour later I was riding around the lake. It was unbelievably beautiful. Ice crunching underfoot, clear blue sky, and the sun was twinkling on Lake Rotorua.

It was one of those very special mornings that I have been missing for most of my life. Missing because I have never been out and about doing this stuff.

I found some new trails, rode across bridges, around bright yellow sulphur fields, through towering eucalypt trees and right next to the bright, sparkling lake. It was freezing cold, my fingers were numb, my eyes were streaming, and it was amazing.

A great day to be living in Rotorua and a great day to be out on the bike.

It used to be that we got babysitters to go out to dinner or the movies. Now we get a babysitter so that we can go training. How things have changed.

The long weekend dawned cold and grey and icy on Saturday morning. The sort of morning when you just knew it was snowing on the Desert Rd. But the babysitter had been booked and there was nothing else for it. We got ourselves organised, extricated ourselves from the kids and headed out to the forest. It is now just one week until the RATS winter duathlon series and since I have coerced Mike into doing it, we figured we better do some training for it.

You may recall that I attempted the bike section of the long course earlier in the week. Not today. Today was an attempt at the short course, including the run. The run is two laps of a 1.5km course, followed by an 8km bike on forestry and mountain bike tracks, followed by 1 lap of the run course. We headed off.

You would think that having been on the same tracks already that week, and with Mike with me, and with some maps, that I would know where I was going. Unfortunately it seems that I am forestry-challenged. After running for a lot further than I thought we would need to, we reached a junction I knew was not on the map. Back we go. We eventually found the turnoff on the way back down - Mike ran it back, I did not.

Having already run the distance of both the run sections, we headed off on the bike. I thought (alright I admit, I hoped) that the shorted bike ride would be easier than the long one I’d done last week. Again, unfortunately not. More or less up for over 4kms, on some pretty rugged forestry tracks. It’s actually pretty much the same course as the long version, just without the dreaded Tickler.

We reached the top just as the icy rain started. The 4kms back down was an icy blur as we whizzed down Red Tank Rd and back to the carpark. It was completely invigorating.

All that time we wasted at the movies when we could have been training.

Roll on Sunday!