Iron Jack

Forgive me father for I have sinned…its been over two weeks since my last blog post!

But that doesn’t mean that the training has stopped - it just means that our lives are even more manic than usual, and that I may have even broken my own record in my level of busy-ness.

The new job is amazing - I’m in my happy place and I feel like its the job I’ve been waiting my whole life for. I don’t think many people get to say that about their place of work so I do feel very privileged. Its also regularly a manic adrenalin rush, which has taken me closer to my triathlon goals than I ever would have thought - and I mean literally closer, as in right on top of both the Ironman and the Half Ironman course!

With five minutes notice, last week I found myself holed up in the Mt Maunganui police station, overlooking the swim course and transition area for the Tauranga Half Ironman in January. If I squinted my eyes I could just picture the excitement and chaos of race day. And it only scared me a little bit!

The week before, work had taken me to Taupo. Rather than just drive straight down State Highway 5, I decided to drive into town on the Ironman cycle route - I’m still not sure if that was a good idea or not! The turnaround point for the Taupo Ironman cycle stage is Reporoa, a tiny country town that is home to a dairy factory, a school, a general store, veterinary clinic and not much more.

We’ve based ourselves at the turnaround point for two Ironman events so far - the first time to cheer on a close friend (and accountant!), and this year to see the leaders go around for the second time. That’s right. Its not just a long way into town - you have to do it twice!

Now that I’ve spent a bit more time on the bike, I’ve started looking at these roads in a whole new way. The route is certainly a lot flatter than I remembered it being the last time I drove that way. For the most part, its long and straight, with just a few undulating hills - apart from the climb out of Taupo township on the way out. It seemed to take a very long time to drive that day. And this time I’m not afraid to say I was scared just a little bit.

The main training highlights in recent weeks have been on the bike and in the pool. Apparently I’ve made a massive improvement in my swimming stroke, so hopefully that bodes well for improving my times. Swim squad at 6am is going really well. In fact I love it and I really struggle now to swim on my own.

And, the bike has indeed become my friend and I miss it if I don’t get out on it several times a week! Hills are also becoming my friend, and I’m getting much faster. I rode around Lake Rotorua on Sunday - 50km - and I did it 20 minutes faster than the last time, which gave me a huge boost.

The other big highlight has been the people I’ve met and the new friendships I’ve made just in the last couple of weeks. The online triathlon community just keeps getting stronger and is hugely supportive and motivating. At the same time, I’ve met many like-minded people here in Rotorua with similar goals and speeds and we’ve formed new little training groups for swimming and cycling. Its much easier to get out the door when you know you’re due to meet someone at Lane One! I’ve also met new people around New Zealand who are also working towards big goals. Its good to share the good times - and the bad - and it all helps make you feel like you’re not the only one slogging it out every day and weekend to get to the finish line. What a team.

“Are you going riding tomorrow?” I asked a colleague at a posh do on Friday night.

“Nope,” he grimaced. “Bad back. You?”

“Yup, tomorrow I’m riding the Tinman course at Mt Maunganui,” I boasted proudly. “Its completely flat, the Mt to Papamoa, really looking forward to it.”

“Oh bugger about the flats,” he said. “You want to ride around the lake here, at least its undulating.”

“I’ve been around the lake here,” I boasted again. “And I’m over the hills and looking forward to the flats.”

After he left the table I leaned over and whispered to my husband, “why on earth wouldn’t you want to do flats?”

He shrugged, agreed he was mad and got on with the show.

Well, aren’t I just eating some humble pie now?

Yesterday Oli and I drove over to Mt Maunganui - its a coastal surf town attached to Tauranga City. I’ve been holidaying there my whole life, as my grandparents retired there when I was about five. Every school holidays was spent at their house, hanging out at the beach and walking up “the Mt”. Now we live in Rotorua its only 45 minutes away. I’m sorry to say that we still don’t get over there often enough, but we try to make the most of it when we do.

My folks were going to visit my Nana for the weekend. So I thought it was the perfect opportunity to ride the bike leg of the Tinman, which I’m racing on December 6. I’m doing the Standard distance - 1500m swim, 40 km ride and 10 km run. It will be the longest distance for me yet, and hopefully good preparation for the Half Ironman almost exactly one month later. According to the Tinman website, www.tinmantriathlon.co.nz its 104 days, 13 hours, 47 minutes and 48 seconds and counting until splash off.

The forecast was perfect, so for the first time all winter I didn’t need to wear my long johns - good bye to the stripes! It was fantastic to get out in shorts and a T-shirt, summer is coming! I planned to ride from my Nana’s house into the Mt - the opposite way to race day - and from there out to the turnaround point at Papamoa and then back to my Nana’s.

I pedalled off, successfully negotiating the traffic lights at the end of the road and managing to unclip my bike clips with plenty of time before the red light. A good start.

After just a short while I ended up on the long straight road into the Mt. Riding along I could see the Mt ahead of me, looming in the distance, and to my right I could see the beautiful blue sea, with crisp white surf banging into the beach. Loving it.

I was managing to keep my cadence up in the late 80s and 90s for most of the way, every now and then breaking over 100. My legs were spinning well and I was loving it. I also thought I was going really fast. Funny how pride always comes before a fall - not a literal fall - but a knock to the pride regardless. I got to the foot of the Mt in what I thought would be record time.

I should know better, turnaround points are always a mental problem for me. I always think I’ve gone further than I actually have, then I realise that I’ve got even further to go, I get despondent, I slow down and it all turns to custard. Need I say more. I’d done the 12km in 33 minutes - just a fraction faster than standard times on undulating roads. Gutted. I thought I had gone a lot further, a lot faster.

So I turned around and started heading out to Papamoa. My legs were starting to get really tired and I was really annoyed with myself. And then I realised what Greg was meaning about the flats. You don’t get any break from them. Your legs need to keep spinning all the time. At least with hills and undulating ground you get to rest on the way down. Not so with flats, major reality check. Something Lawrence said about “hills being my friend” also started to tick away in my mind. Okay, thanks guys, I’ve got it now.

By this time I was feeling thoroughly annoyed with myself and fed up. All of a sudden I came up to the turnaround point.

“This can’t be right,” I thought to myself. “It’s not nearly far enough.”

I suddenly had this sneaky feeling that perhaps the route required two laps. Two laps of the flat, straight, ‘never-get-a-break’ ride. Bugger.

I went a bit further than the turnaround point, mainly to get some more time on the bike, because I knew I didn’t have time to do two laps. The first thing I did when I got home was check the site, yup, two laps.

There are a number of positives to take from this ride - despite the disappointments.

(a) it was a beautiful day and I was out in it, exercising, and lots of other people were just standing in line for ice-cream

(b) I can easily ride 26km just like that, when in January I struggled to ride 10km

(c) I now know what to expect for the Tinman and Half Ironman (same course) so I will be mentally prepared

104 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 10 seconds until splash-off…and counting.