For those that despise the swimming and the running... look away NOW..!!
Just got back from a wonderful/horrible/wonderful/horrible trip to Port Macquarie for my first ever Half Ironman... Sensational place, sensational race with amazing atmosphere and volunteers, pretty hard bike leg with a beautiful little hill we had to do twice, 15% gradient, apparently, and with about a 15 km UNDULATING section and also, a flat section, so all in all was a great bike leg.
Despite doing my best to completely ruin my chances, I still managed to snaffle myself a qualifying spot for my first Ironman next year *fingers crossed*
Best swim I have ever done in my life, 1.9 kms, 32 mins
bike leg of 2hr41 mins, including, 7 minutes!!! in transition from swim to bike leg trying to get my goddam top on and numbers fixed up! (Lesson Learn't 1)
so that blew my bike time out of the water, nothing like finally getting on the bike and for the first 30 minutes, thinking I should be at least, 3 kilometres further up the course... *sigh*
Lesson learn't 2: I cannot complete a Half Ironman on just 1 Gu pack and some jelly babies, water and gatorade, as I found out 8 kilomeres into the run, although good for mental toughness, hit the preverbeal before I even reached the hilly section of the run leg.
But I have 2 more practice events, to fine tune my racing skills, Canberra and Tasmania.
I have some photos coming as well, had to laugh at the photo of 3 volunteers, man handling me away from the finish line, and apparently, I was pretty wobbly staggering back to the recovery tent, so bad the Doctor had a friendly chat with me, including, some questions;
"Do you know where you are ?"
"What day is it ?"
and last but not least
"How many fingers am I holding up ?"
after a couple of seconds I got the answer right!
bed. sleep. still recovering. especially after the drive back.
Just got back from a wonderful/horrible/wonderful/horrible trip to Port Macquarie for my first ever Half Ironman... Sensational place, sensational race with amazing atmosphere and volunteers, pretty hard bike leg with a beautiful little hill we had to do twice, 15% gradient, apparently, and with about a 15 km UNDULATING section and also, a flat section, so all in all was a great bike leg.
Despite doing my best to completely ruin my chances, I still managed to snaffle myself a qualifying spot for my first Ironman next year *fingers crossed*
Best swim I have ever done in my life, 1.9 kms, 32 mins
bike leg of 2hr41 mins, including, 7 minutes!!! in transition from swim to bike leg trying to get my goddam top on and numbers fixed up! (Lesson Learn't 1)
so that blew my bike time out of the water, nothing like finally getting on the bike and for the first 30 minutes, thinking I should be at least, 3 kilometres further up the course... *sigh*
Lesson learn't 2: I cannot complete a Half Ironman on just 1 Gu pack and some jelly babies, water and gatorade, as I found out 8 kilomeres into the run, although good for mental toughness, hit the preverbeal before I even reached the hilly section of the run leg.
But I have 2 more practice events, to fine tune my racing skills, Canberra and Tasmania.
I have some photos coming as well, had to laugh at the photo of 3 volunteers, man handling me away from the finish line, and apparently, I was pretty wobbly staggering back to the recovery tent, so bad the Doctor had a friendly chat with me, including, some questions;
"Do you know where you are ?"
"What day is it ?"
and last but not least
"How many fingers am I holding up ?"
after a couple of seconds I got the answer right!
bed. sleep. still recovering. especially after the drive back.