Ironman Western Australia Race Report - 9:42 - by Shane O'Neill

14/12/2011 12:17:37 PM

Type your content here...Ironman western Australia race report (9:42)

I arrived in Busselton on Thursday afternoon and immediately unpacked and assembled the bike to make sure that all was in working order, after that I headed into town to register and see what was going on around the place.

Registration was a breeze, took a total of 5 minutes then I had a look around the expo and familiarized myself with the layout of transition. One of the first things I noticed was the heat, Thursday was 33c but with quite low humidity. I went for a quick walk around the town and then decided to listen to my inner child and get the train to the end of the Busselton Jetty, guaranteed the only ironman swim in the world you can walk!!

That same evening Mitch Anderson was giving a talk about race day nutrition at the Fat Duck bike shop over a few pizzas so that was dinner sorted.

Friday morning was up at around 6:30 to head to the Blue Seventy swim practice area to familiarize myself with the water. There was a patrolled section of beach around 200 meters wide and 500 meters out to sea along the jetty, I swam out as far as the bend in the jetty to try get a good idea of what I could use for sighting on the way in from the swim. The water was fantastic, crystal clear and about 21c.

After the swim I did an easy loop of the run course and met up with Courtney Ogden, (last year’s winner), whilst out on the run and exchanged a few words and good lucks!

Then breakfast at the equinox cafe and back to the hotel to do a lap of the bike course.

The bike course is totally flat apart from one slight rise of about 100 meters on the way out the ocean road. It is also very exposed both to the sun and the wind. I set about getting my gearing, cadence and heart rates setup for the head wind and tail wind sections. The road surface, as with every other road I was on in WA, was fantastic so I knew that the bike would be fast if managed correctly.

That evening was the carbo party and welcome ceremony which was good fun. The quote of the night was a video clip played by Pete Jacobs from Hawaii where there this dude telling him to “Eat the pain!!”. Needness to say that was to be shouted at everyone on the run on Sunday and chalked on every bit of the run course!

On Saturday the dreaded pre-race nerves set in. I was sure that everything was wrong with me, I was coming down with a cold, I had a pain in my back, my arms were killing me, I had a headache, I thought I was dehydrated but i couldn't possibly be, my feet were sore the list went on and on and I was feeling pretty ordinary, I decided to go for a swim to see if that would settle me, whilst I was swimming I was feeling great, an hour after I was a hospital case. The only solution was to get Victoria and her family who had come over to watch and head out to the wineries!! Being the designated driver took my mind off things and I started to feel better, we got back from our day out at around 5 and I went to bed for 2 hours and had a great sleep, got up,  had dinner, chicken and a bread roll and went to bed at 8:30 with an alarm set for 3am.

I slept right through and when I woke at 3, I felt fantastic and I knew at that moment it was going to be a great day. Brekkie was two crumpets and Vegemite with an up and go and a biddin of SIS GO electrolyte.

Got into transition, pumped my tiers and got out of there ASAP.

About 20 minutes before the start I had a gel and then it was down to the beach. My plan was to stay away from that part of the swim where people think it’s a good idea to go mad and swim over everyone so I got in early, had a lovely warm up and positioned myself in the front row about 2/3rds of the way between the jetty and the swim can. I aimed for the end of the jetty got horizontal in the water as we have been doing for weeks at the open water swim sessions and waited for the hooter.

All I was thinking was just stay calm, then the hooter went and we were off, I put in about 200meters at just above race pace and settled in, much to my surprise and delight I still had clear water and I hadn't been touched during the traditional softening up period! The rest of the swim was the same I got with a group of about 4 or 5 and we statyed together to the end. There was a bit of a swell near the end of the jetty but it wasn't causing any problems after all the open water training in Balmoral, I spoke to people later who complained about how choppy it was but like I said, the open water training sessions with Bern, Nic and Bruce really stood to me. The swim time was 58 minutes.

Quick in and out of transition and on to the bike, the plan was simple, push hard for the first 20k don't eat anything for 20 minutes just sips of water that got me to the first turnaround at the coast road, after that I had a normal SIS gel every 30 minutes and consumed a biddin of gatorade over the course of each hour. I had my computer set to go off at 5k intervals and every time the alarm went off I would alternate between water and Gatorade. I was also wearing arm coolers so I was constantly pouring water on to them to keep me cool as the temperatures got up to 33c. At 135 k the plan was to have a caffeine gel and another 30 minutes later as a substitute to the normal gels, as much for the mind as the body. Then in the last hour of the bike I also took two salt tablets. I hopped off the bike in 4:58 which I was delighted with.

My goal for IMWA was always to break 10 hours, that was the most important thing to me on that day secretly I wanted to go under 9:45 and wasn't willing to do anything to potentially risk that like trying to chase a Kona slot and blowing up in a big way, i felt that I had to do this first and the plan another go for a crack at the big dance!!

So with that in mind and knowing that I was off the bike and running in under 6 hours I planned to run a pretty conservative marathon to get myself in under the 9:45. Just as I started my first lap Petr Vabrousek who came 6th with a 2:58 marathon was about 200 meters ahead of me on his second lap, I decided to try to catch him and see if he could pull me along for as long as I could hold the pace, this worked out well and I did first lap with him before deciding that the wise thing to do would be to dial it back. And that's the way the rest of the run went, it was hot and humid as there had been a rain shower which had turned to steam but there was plenty of ice and cold water at the aid stations after 20k I started alternating coke and gatorade at every second aid station and just kept chipping away and walking the aid stations + about 30 seconds after.

Eventually after getting my final orange wrist band I crossed the line in 9:42:42 absolutely delighted, I had done what I wanted, the time was important to me not the position so i was really surprised and delighted to see that I came in 55th overall including the pros and 8th in my age group.

There are a few things I did differently on my 4th Ironman than the other 3 and also some new stuff I tried. I’ll just summarise them.

1)    Get a coaching plan:
This was probably the biggest change for me. Bruce designed a plan to get me to the line in tip top shape with no injuries, I didn’t so much as get a blister whilst on the training plan even with pretty large volume. I can’t recommend this enough, we all make investments in bikes, helmets, wetsuits, race entry etc. but getting a coaching plan in my opinion is probably where you can gain the most time.

2)    Test your nutrition:
Train with what you are going to race with. Simple. I changed over to using SIS a few months ago and have found their products great, as well as them being a club sponsor which will give you a pretty good discount. I used their normal and caffeine gels and their GO Electrolyte drinks as well as the magic ReGo post workout drink that they do during training.

3)    Equipment:
De Soto 400 mile bike shorts: All I can say is just get a pair, they are ultra-comfortable both on the bike and for the run and have handy pockets for keeping salt and gels.
Arm Coolers: for a hot day with lots of direct sun these were great and when you keep pouring cool water on them they keep your temperature under control.
Salt Stick: Really handy for keeping salt in on the bike.

4)    Training:
90% of my training was solo but I could not wait for the usual BTC track session each week, the open water swims, the brick sessions and Lews spin sessions at the club house. BTC is an amazing club with amazing people and I really appreciated all the support, encouragement and competition that is present in the club, it’s a great atmosphere to realise your potential in.

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Shane O'Neill IMWA Ironman