Iron Jack

Whilst running the risk of missing anyone out, some heartfelt thank yous are long overdue in relation to my journey to and through Ironman.

So, in no particular order:

·         Dr Alice – for giving me the encouragement and support to set the goal in the first place – and then to loan me her road bike so I could physically achieve it. Our family thinks you’re just awesome – thank you!

·         LeeAnne – for getting me started and giving me the self-belief to do it.

·         To my bosses, Scott and Glenn and everyone else I work with for the support to get my training done, including the team in Wellington.

·         To George, Rhys and Julie – your phone call on Half Ironman day was spectacular and helped enormously!

·         To Shels and Ben – our oldest, dearest friends who got us into triathlon in the first place – look where we are now!

·         Tupara, Donna, Andre, Bailey and Nieve – I actually don’t have the words for how I feel about you guys, what you’ve done for me, what you’ve been through and for being there on that long day and night, you guys are amazing – looking forward to the next journey together.

·         My family and extended whanau

o   Mum and Dad – I’m here because of you; thank you for your support and for looking after the boys on the day, it took a load off my mind!

o   My brother Bruce and his family – I was stoked that you could be there, and love how much you embraced the day, it is special

o   My sister Deb and her Mike – a very long way away but always on our minds

o   Jane and Tony – my other parents and major support crew, thanks for everything

o   My other sister Sarah and her husband Ben – so cool to have you there – and everywhere on the day! And to Ben for loaning me his super awesome quick wheels for race day! Hope the seed has been laid…

o   My other other sister Nicky and her husband Mark – again, a long way away but always here

o   And the Aunts, Uncles and cousins who were all there in spirit

·         My incredible support crew on the day – hope I don’t miss anyone out, but…Cushla and Nick, Leonie, Sue and Becky, Vance and Lee, Aunty Helen, Rach and Beth, and more!

·         My amazing friend Leah – for giving me a smack on the hand when I really needed it, and for driving over from Rotorua to Taupo at 10pm on Ironman night, in the pouring rain, to make sure I finished! I’ll never forget seeing your face as I come up Tongariro St, it meant the world.

·         The RATs crew – the last two years have been a blast and I look forward to so many more major events in the future – special thanks to Jamie, Steph, Katrin and Sarah for all the help and advice, and all my swim squad buddies, Nicky, Matt, Sharyn and Clarrie.

·         Kelly and Nathan – what can I say, you guys are amazing, thanks for all the training hours, friendship, support and love – we love having you as part of our family; thanks for supporting Mike and my Dad on the day; we look forward to returning the favour next year!

·         KT and Dave – special Ironman work colleagues

·         Alison and Deborah for the rides, friendship and support – it was a very very special time

·         Mary Ann and Nina (aka Mrs P and Nemo) – without you Mary Ann none of it would be possible, thank you so much for your friendship and support; and Nina, thank you for patching me up, handing me tummy pills and all of your advice, it was all very much appreciated

·         Coach Kathy – without you I wouldn’t have made it to the start line, let alone across the finish line! You are an amazing, inspirational person; I love your style and your sense of humour and I can’t wait to work with you again – if you need a super-sensational coach, Kathy is your woman!

·         The Fit Goals crew – training camp was a blast, love the new friendships we have made, and the support on the course on the day was fantastic – Pete, Di, Jodi, Gina, Lynette and more – looking forward to the next outing!

·         The online crew – I have made so many virtual and now real friendships through the triathlon forums on Twitter and Facebook – just to name a few: Donna, Toni, Mel, Matt and so many many more.

·         Canterbury Toni – we met through Facebook and quickly made a connection that has turned into a firm friendship – your journey was made all the more inspirational due to your survival of the Canterbury earthquake just two weeks before Ironman, I’m honoured to know you and can’t wait for the next one!

·         Ironman Mel – you found me and I’m eternally grateful that you did! Love the laughs, advice and stories and am looking forward to many triathlon adventures together in the future!

·         Ironman Stu – well I call him Ironman Stu, he could also be called Graperide Stu, Endurance Stu and pretty much Legend Stu! Met through Twitter, friendship gained through triathlon. Watching him complete Ironman in 2010 was inspirational, and his adventures since have been even more so. Thank you for the friendship, support and contraband! Looking forward to our family spending much more time with yours in the future.

·         Bryce and the Cyclezone team – you guys are amazing! Without you, its unlikely my journey would have gone much further. Thank you so much for sorting out my bike, my riding, my seat…the cycling list is endless! Love being part of the team.

·         Heidi and Marcello – to Heidi for fixing my broken body (and mind) and for Marcello for making my bike look like a speed demon machine! And for the unwavering support from you both.

·         The Reebok and Speedo team for the fantastic sports gear to get me through the training and the day; I’m very grateful for your support, it made a huge difference.

·         The awesome Gu people – thank you for the nutritional support for those last few weeks, I’m so grateful you came on board. I truly believe in your product – it worked for me like nothing else had. It really works and I highly recommend it to anyone else for long-distance training.

·       And while we’re on the subject of nutrition, my awesome nutritionist, Rachel Scriven - really helped me get on the straight and narrow with ensuring I was eating enough for training (I wasn’t) and eating enough during training (I wasn’t) and eating enough afterwards (I was eating too much!) - you were a huge help and the cheeseburger at hour six was inspired!

·         Lawrence and Lisa – for the middle part of the journey and especially the super-spin classes!

·         All my wonderful girlfriends – Donna, Rach, Kim, Louise and Lisa.

·         Tony for the awesome Ironjack logo that fits me to a tee! Mark for the great website. And Lee for the sensational Ironjack t-shirts for the support crew!

 

·         And last, but by no means least, my ever-patient husband Mike, and our two wonderful (ratbag) boys, Oli and Toby. I couldn’t have done any of it without you. Thank you for the endless hours spent looking after the boys so I could train, race and sleep; for the unwavering support, belief and pride; you guys are my rock.

 

I sincerely apologise if I have missed anyone – no doubt I have – but thank you again for all your support. I couldn’t have done it without you!

 

My race preparation for the first official triathlon of the 2009/2010 season wasn’t ideal.

 

I drove out to the Blue Lake with Mum and Oli to register and collect our race packs. The only downside to living in semi-rural Ngongotaha (which we love) is that we are now on the absolutely other side of town from the Blue Lake – and on the opposite side of Lake Rotorua! On a good day it’s at least a 25 minute drive – which, when everything else is only five minutes away, it’s a bit of a pain. I know, all you city folk, we’re lucky!

 

Anyway, we rocked up on a bit of a timeframe. It was Mum’s birthday – a bit of a milestone for her – and we were due out to dinner. The boys were both fractious and we needed to hurry. We collected Alison on the way, who had brought her wetsuit with her for dipping. I hadn’t. I had read on the race instructions that all the wetsuits would be dipped before racing to prevent the spread of a noxious weed, didymo, to our beautiful North Island lakes. However, I completely missed the bit where it said that you couldn’t collect your race pack until your wetsuit had been dipped.

 

Bugger.

 

No amount of begging and cajoling the DOC warriors would convince them to let me through. They informed me I could just dip it and then collect my race pack in the morning.

 

There was absolutely no way I wanted to do that. I have enough problems with my stomach on a normal day, let alone with pre-race nerves, so I didn’t want to add to that pressure.

 

We drove all the way back to Ngongotaha, I got dressed into my party clothes, and then Dad and I drove all the way back to the Blue Lake again. And then back halfway to home to go out to dinner.

 

Dinner over, it was home to prep the race bags, get the number onto my race belt and spend two hours looking for my tri pants. Then off for a semi-early night.

 

Alarm went off early, and Mum and I managed to get out the door early. And arrived at the Blue Lake to find ourselves the only people there. We had taken the concept of “being prepared” to a whole new level.

 

Actually we needed to be. In my infinite wisdom, I had told the folk at TriNZ that Mum and I were doing this triathlon together for her big birthday – they thought it was a great story and lined us up for interviews for TriTV which screens on TV One later in the season, and also Sky Sport. We were followed by cameras for most of the event – a hilarious feeling, we felt like real sports stars.

 

At least it distracted us from the fact it was pouring with rain and the lake was bitterly cold.

 

Finally the pre-briefing was done and we suited up and headed for the start. After testing the water I had thought it was slightly cooler than two weeks before. Wrong! It was freezing. Really took my breath away and made it very difficult to swim. I felt like I barely made it to the other end and the whole way, all I could think about was finally getting out!

 

I eventually rounded the buoy and headed for the beach, knowing it had been an average time to say the least. The cold really took its toll and it was a long walk up the hill from the beach to transition. I only broke into a run once I could see my bike!

 

Really quick transition into my cycle shoes, out the gate and off. I felt great on the bike. It was pretty warm. I had decided to just wear my Reebok singlet with my tri pants and it worked really well under my wetsuit. Really comfortable and dried quickly.

 

The route out to the turnaround point went pretty well, hills included. I was actually enjoying the ride and went absolutely whizzing down the hills, passing lots of people. I made a good turn and started for the return leg. And promptly lost my drink bottle. Bugger. I’ve been having quite a few problems getting dehydrated lately and this wasn’t a good start!

 

The hills back up felt much longer and harder than they had previously. I eventually got there though and headed back to transition. By this time most of the RATs club had arrived at the Blue Lake to help marshall for the next event. Everyone was cheering for me – it was absolutely awesome. Mike was also there with both the boys, and Dad yelling from the sidelines:

 

“Come on knickers!” Well no event would be completely without that from my Dad so it was all good.

 

I’d also been keeping an eye on Mum and she was doing really well.

 

Transition into running shoes and off. The 3km run leg was up for 1.5km and then down. Its quite a challenging run as I know from experience. I couldn’t wait for the turnaround, and then I couldn’t wait to get back.

 

I had quite a strong finish, but got passed at the last minute which was gutting!

 

The highlight, however, was a big hug from World Champion Triathlete Sam Warriner at the finish line. Absolutely awesome. I’d also caught up with her earlier in the day. That will have to be the topic for the next blog post because this is already the size of a novel.

 

I grabbed a jacket and headed back to meet Mum. She wasn’t that far behind and had run the whole way. She had an awesome event and loved every minute.

 

So overall, a good first hit for the season, but I felt like it was really hard work – much harder than the short one I’d done with Lawrence just a few weeks ago. I felt like I hadn’t improved much over the year at all.

 

Until the next day. Mum charted our results against the one we did in January, and there were some definite improvements! Then I asked her to chart it against all my results from earlier in the year and it turns out I knocked two minutes off my previous best time – and on a much harder course. So eventually I was stoked!

 

So, results from the 3:9:3 – 300m swim, 9km run (except it was 10!) and 3km run:

 

Swim including T1:     10:38

Bike including T2:       29.43

Run including T3:        22:30

 

Total:               1:02:51

 

First race of the season…done!

 

 

Saturday morning dawned cold, bright, clear and windy - very windy. But having postponed a ride the day before, I knew it was time to literally get on my bike.

I looked spectacular, if I do say so myself. Reebok compression tights, Reebok compression top - both on the bottom layer. Next layer, olive green thermal top, padded bike banks. Next layer, Reebok windbreaker jacket, purple stripey long johns - the sexiest pants you have ever seen. Next layer, fluro yellow cycling top. Boootiful.

I met fellow RATs club member Irene in town just after 9am, dropping Oli at a friend’s house on the way in. We saddled up and headed out of town, deciding to ride around Mt Ngongotaha. I hadn’t done this ride before, but had wanted to for a while, I just didn’t want to do it on my own. We live in a suburb just out of town called Ngongotaha and our block looks onto the mountain. Even though I grew up in Auckland, we are so at home here that I claim it as my maunga - or mountain, which is what anchors me.

We took a slightly longer, less busy route to get there. This route ended with a nasty hill taking us onto another very nasty hill that was the beginning of the around mountain ride. Nasty. Irene absolutely kicked my arse. She has been riding a lot longer than me and this was really only my second proper ride, but even so, she cranked up the hills. At some places I felt like I was practically going backwards! But I’d get around the corner and she would always be there waiting for me.

There were about three killer hills on that lefthand stretch of the mountain. Cold, icy, up. Then we whizzed down into Paradise Valley - very carefully given some of the ice patches around.

“That was a bit better,” I breathed as we rounded up at the bottom.

“Yeah, but you know what - now that we’ve come down, we’ve gotta climb out!” she said cheerily.

We both agreed that the way out and up this side was a lot easier going than the initial hill sections. And it was. Stunning actually. Sunny, views out over farms and native bush. Just gorgeous actually. I loved it. There were still some hills, but I was finally brave enough to try and get up on my pedals - what a difference. I can’t go for very long standing up, but it was a bit of a breakthrough. Every hill we can across for the rest of the ride, I stood up. Awesome.

We eventually came out on the main highway and rode back into town - into a head wind. We eventually made it back to the cars two hours and 31 kilometres later. Way too slow for me for the Half Ironman in January, but a good breakthrough ride and definately a confidence booster. Looking forward to the next one.

My Ironman 2011 quest just got a whole lot bigger.

Reebok and Speedo have come on board as sponsors of Ironjack for my 2011 challenge! I am absolutely blown away by their support, thank you to Michael Lim and all the team at Reebok and Speedo.  I won’t let you down.

I’ve just been to try some Reebok gear on at Rebel Sport and a really BIG congratulations to Reebok for having real sizes!!! I have been literally squeezing into the largest sizes of some other brands, but in Reebok I can fit size 16 with room to move - finally, a sports brand that is built for bigger people! Yah!

I have to confess that there is a strategy behind putting myself right out there in this way - the website, the blog, sponsors. It’s all about making this quest so big that there is absolutely no way that I can pull out of it. I figure that if I tell as many people as possible about my quest and its objectives, I quite simply have to go through with it - I’m eliminating as many potential mental obstacles as possible.

There is absolutely no doubt in mind that this will be the biggest physical and mental challenge that I have ever undertaken (yes bigger than Outward Bound, yes bigger than running my own business). I am fully expecting to be completely petrified and full of self-doubt - but isn’t that what life is all about? If we didn’t put ourselves out there - put ourselves beyond the comfort zone, we would never do anything different, we would never experience life to the fullest and we would never grow.

This is completely outside my comfort zone, but it’s the right thing to do for me, for my health, for my sanity and for the future of my family. Bring on the challenge.