RR: Port Macquarie Half Ironman

[MikeyOz]

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.

 

[DaveB]

Way to go Mikey. I was thinking about doing a half (I think about this
each winter) but having struggled through another half-marathon I've
realised how far away that half-tri is. I dunno what the transition
setup was like but if you've ever done the Sandringham Sprint tri, 7
mins doesn't sound that bad. I swear it must be 5kms from thebeach to
transition, all up the side of a mountain (ok maybe it seems a bit worse
than it is at the time). Look forward to hearing the race report from
the Ironman.

DaveB

 

[ritcho]

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.

Great job - I have Shepparton in a few weeks and Canberra as well... I won't get near your swim time, but I still might scrape in for a qual spot.

Ritch

 

[alison_b]

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.

congratulations! That was a very tough run course (I didn't even want to walk down to Shelley Beach!), and I think the description of the bike course needed *relentlessly* included before the "undulating hills"! I rode much of it a few times over the Friday and Saturday - the downhills were fun at least. The full Ironman apparently goes out beyond Lake Cathie; I went for a ride out there over the weekend and the hills return with a vengeance Very pretty scenery though...

cheers,
Ali

 

[SuzieB]

Congratulations! There is nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a triathlon I reckon. Mind you, I'm still in baby class doing the Melbourne Brooks fun tri's but my goal is to be fit enough to do the Gatorade series next year and who know after that.

 

[Absent Husband]

Well done Mikey - awesome effort!!!

Interesting nutritional strategy *laughs*, but terrific result. Good
luck for the upcoming events...!!

Abby

 

[Tamyka Bell]

alison_b wrote:
>
> MikeyOz Wrote:
> > 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.
> congratulations! That was a very tough run course (I didn't even want
> to walk down to Shelley Beach!), and I think the description of the
> bike course needed *relentlessly* included before the "undulating
> hills"! I rode much of it a few times over the Friday and Saturday -
> the downhills were fun at least. The full Ironman apparently goes out
> beyond Lake Cathie; I went for a ride out there over the weekend and
> the hills return with a vengeance Very pretty scenery though...
>
> cheers,
> Ali
>
> --
> alison_b

I heard they had more volunteers than competitors, which is great to
hear. (IM Canada etc have a 3:1 volunteer to participant ratio). I'll
refrain from making rude comments about USM.

Tam

 

[MikeyOz]

alison_b wrote:
>
> MikeyOz Wrote:
> > 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.
> congratulations! That was a very tough run course (I didn't even want
> to walk down to Shelley Beach!), and I think the description of the
> bike course needed *relentlessly* included before the "undulating
> hills"! I rode much of it a few times over the Friday and Saturday -
> the downhills were fun at least. The full Ironman apparently goes out
> beyond Lake Cathie; I went for a ride out there over the weekend and
> the hills return with a vengeance Very pretty scenery though...
>
> cheers,
> Ali
>
> --
> alison_b

I heard they had more volunteers than competitors, which is great to
hear. (IM Canada etc have a 3:1 volunteer to participant ratio). I'll
refrain from making rude comments about USM.

Tam

yep, they sure did..... they had 3 people to each person finishing the event to help them over the line, I know I needed it..... makes for a pretty funny photo as well.

the volunteers were fantastic and the organization amazing, the entire community was behind the event, including total road closure.