Iron Jack

I have often compared Ironman training and childbirth - usually when I’m slogging my way up some hill in Waikite Valley. Most of the time I’m swearing black and blue that childbirth is easier!

And today I can confirm that some of the aftermath and recovery from a big bike ride are exactly the same!

Today I finally rode the Taupo Half Ironman route. The Taupo Half Ironman is now less than two weeks away. I’m completely petrified. But that’s another story.

Another 5:30am start saw me breakfasted and collecting today’s riding buddy, Deborah, just after 6am. Rather than drive all the way to Taupo, we parked at Reporoa and road the route in reverse, down Broadlands Rd to Taupo and back again. This is also the full Ironman route - albeitthe full route takes in two laps. I had tried to ride this route once before with Mike - it didn’t end well!

So it was with some trepidation that I set off this morning. First and biggest mistake today - trialling some new chafing cream. I’m out of Bodyglide, but have also found some other cream that is doing the job even better. I’d run out, they don’t sell it at my bike shop and so I tried a new one - highly recommended by my bike shop and many others. And our club legend Jamie (who rode the Extreme Enduro 8x laps of Lake Taupo non-stop last week!!) swears by it.

But it didn’t work for me. We’d only done an hour and my bottom was absolutely burning. I was really worried I was going to open up my wound it was so sore.

I managed to put it to the back of my mind into Taupo - got off the bike for a toilet stop and actually felt pretty comfortable and more than capable of riding the 45km back. We set off again - this time to tackle the Napier-Taupo Highway hill. This hill keeps me awake at night. When I first left Auckland to take up my first journalism job at age 21, I flatted just off the Highway - and I recalled many a late night stumbling up or down the hill or my way to or from the pub. Today, I got up it no problem. It wasn’t a speedy climb, but it was fine, and nowhere near as bad as some of the hills we’ve been climbing in the Waikite Valley! So that was a big mental achievement.

Next were a series of quite quick downhills, managed to catch up a lot of speed and increase my average. Very happy. And then, with about 20km to go, all on the flat, my bottom really let me down. Every pedal stroke was an absolute burn. It was agony. I literally crawled my way home.

On the plus side, I did it, quicker than I thought - even with crawling the last 20km. My average speed was better than ever before. I know I can ride up the Napier-Taupo Highway hill and I have ridden the Taupo Half Ironman route. On the down side, a sore bum is just the pits and can ruin the ride - and your speed.

So lesson learnt, stick to the chafing cream I know and love!

Which brings me to childbirth.

When I came home from hospital with Oli nearly six years ago, my sister-n-law presented me with a tupperware container containing a pad which had been frozen in a tea tree oil and water solution. Just the trick for sore, tender bottoms apparently.

And it was! Absolutely bliss, numbs the area and the tea tree oil helps take care of any bacteria that might be hanging around.

So here I am, back to the beginning. And I can confirm, that an old wives tale for soothing sore tender bits after childbirth is just the best thing ever for a numb, sore bumb after a long bike ride! Thanks Sarah!

I had my own special spot on Radio NZ this afternoon, sharing my version of the “Best Song Ever Written” on Afternoons with Jim Mora.

Being the news junkie that I am, I’ve been addicted to listening to Radio NZ National for over 10 years. In the car, at work, when I’m working at home, its always in the background to keep me company - and up to date with all the latest news and current affairs here and around the world. Its my news fix!

And I always manage to find myself in the car, just after 1pm, many days a week - just in time to listen to other people’s nominations for the “Best Song Ever Written”. And they’ve had everything - jazz, rock, Sinatra, the works. Mike and I both have a pretty diverse taste in music so I’ve enjoyed nearly all of them - apart from Bob Dylan, sorry just don’t like him!

And every day I drive along thinking “I really must nominate a song one of these days”.

That day came last Thursday. I had travelled to Auckland on my day off ahead of some meetings on Friday. Having mucked up my long run the day before, I took the opportunity to get for a run around Cornwall Park - or One Tree Hill - in the centre of Auckland. Mike and I used to walk around there before we were married, and then with the dog before we had kids, and then with the dog and the buggy! But I hadn’t been there for years and had forgotten how gorgeous it is. Three and a half laps around Cornwall Park later and my long run was done. And an hour and a half of music from my MP3 player reminded me that I really had to make that nomination.

So I sent off my email with two nominations - one The Boxer, by Simon and Garfunkel, and the second, Lightning Crashes, by Live (and that’s a whole other story!). And they came back the next day asking me to be on the programme today! The Boxer it was to be.

So at 1:05pm today I found myself lined up and next on the show. I had a wonderful interview with Jim Mora - of course I can’t talk more than five seconds without getting onto my favourite topic - Ironman - but it is also a topic that’s very relevant to The Boxer. I’ve loved this song for years and years. My parents had lots of LPs so I grew up with them, and this song always struck a chord (no pun intended), with me. Its about a boxer, fighting to survive the long, harsh winter on the streets in New York - and its about never giving up. Which is what I think about all day, every day - never giving up on achieving my Ironman.

Every time the song comes on my MP3 while I’m out training, I replay it three or four times before I let the music move on. Its completely inspiring and it helps me get through.

Its definitely my Best Song Ever Written - and its helping me achieve my journey as well.

I’m having problems loading the interview into this blog post, but here’s the link to the website where you should be able to pick it up! If the post moves, you could search for Jacky James.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons