"Ironman Compressed": Taupo 2006 Race Report.

I must admit, I stole the title from Mike Coughlin [blog], a fellow Canadian who, like myself, discovered triathlon in Ontario and now lives in Oceania, arguably a somewhat easier climate for all this training stuff.

The day started at 4.30am. Actually, I was awoken several times earlier in the morning by the weather. Coming from our apartment in Melbourne, our apartment in Taupo was generally VERY quiet, except on this night. We woke up with no power so finding and turning off my alarm was a considerable challenge (come on, it's 4.30am!). From the fact that I could hear the weather, I knew we were in for quite an adventure. But, I couldn't wait to get out there.

All the usual pre-race stuff. Get body marked, organize your bags, hydrate, pump tires, etc. But, this morning was noticably different. It was cold and VERY windy. Because the wind was so bad, we were told that there would be an announcement shortly about the safety of the water. This went on for a couple hours until they announced an 8.15am briefing. So, we hung out in the tent to stay warm. Ran into Kevin MacKinnon ... hence the photo of Lynn and I on Ironmanlive. That 8.15 meeting eventually happened just before 9am, outside the tent since support poles were dropping out every couple of minutes. Some guy killed time by proposing to his girlfriend. She said yes. Lynn and I got a call from some guy in Indiana, USA who insisted I was cursed. Must have been a wrong number.

Looks to me like a good day for a swim


To our disappointment, a bike-run of half the distance (90k-21k) was the best they could do under the circumstances. Take it or leave it. Pros first, each seperated by 30 seconds. Then age groupers, locals, then males, then females in alphabetical order seperated by 5 seconds. Cam Brown went at 11.00am. Robinsons would go off at roughly 12.30pm, 8 hours after waking up, which required some on-the-spot nutrition modifications. My brother would be 5 seconds in front. I informed him that he would be the first one I would pass. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the nicest thing to say to a guy in his first "Ironman compressed" event. As if the day wasn't already enough of a mental roller coaster, getting heckled by your little brother was a little uncalled for. Sorry dude.

So, scratch the Ironman plan. Insert half Ironman plan.

Here is Jay, myself with a goofy look on my face and another Robinson. Some fashion sense, that guy in the middle has.


So off we went and Jay happened to be the first one I passed, about 300 metres down the road (again, sorry dude). Right after I passed him, I got a couple of serious cross breezes off the lake, some near misses in front of me with cyclists all over the road. I made the call to ease up and stay out of aero until I turned up the hill, 2.5k away. A very nervous 2.5k in fact, as my 70kg and the aero wheels below me got thrown around at random. Survived to the hill and with the wind at my back, I began the ~10k climb out of Taupo. Not a tough climb really, just long and gradual. In the excitement of being able to race, my heart rate was out-of-sight, so I backed off and just rolled up. Turning on to Broadlands Road, I was amazed to be climbing at 38kph. Yay for the tailwind! Stick to the plan ... keep the heart rate at 165, regardless of speed.

Speedy it was. Cruised down one hill at 73kph, roughly the wind speed back at the lake. Was going so fast that it was hard to avoid roadkill ... it just came so fast. Got a chuckle out of this and thought that Quarantine back in Oz would have a few things to say ... "excuse me sir, you have animal carcass residue on your bike wheels" ... anyways, cruising along at a blistering pace, knowing full well that this would not be the case coming back. Saw some pros go by and they were struggling. Ein Alar had just caught Cam Brown when I passed by.

With ~800 athletes in front of me, there wasn't a minute without passing somebody. It certainly wasn't lonely. Only got passed 3 times out towards the turn around in Reporoa, two of which were by Cervelo P3 Carbons ... it's hard to compete with that. Made it to the turn-around in 1.04 (and to compare, it would take me 1.34 to get back -- that's some wind!).

What can I say. This was the worst wind I have ever biked in. It was tough, but we all knew it was going to be. It started out as a cross-head breeze, but as we climbed the hill back into town, it was straight on. Climbing at 14kph was a real confidence booster. Not a fast return leg, but passing people at roughly the same rate as going out, so I was happy with my effort. As you can imagine, this 94 minutes felt like eternity.

Back into town, people were everywhere, some with little concern for all these bikes flying by. I got a complement on my dismount techique. Oh yah. I love transitions. I had the 36th fastest transition on the day (59 seconds), a mere 7 seconds behind Cam Brown (too bad he put 27 minutes into me on the ride and another 20 on the run).

Feet out of shoes, ready for the dismount. Try to imagine the trees dancing wildly in the background ... 'cause they were!


Onto the run, out of laziness (and in an effort to keep my transition time down), I kept on the arm warmers. By my rough guess, I still had about 500 athletes (including John G, Mike C, Greg S, Philgoode, Ian G) in front of me, so there was a lot of traffic, especially for a rather small running path.

That guy has funky hair.


Oh yah. This guy is fashionable.


Fought a stitch for the first 3k of the run. Ran through it. Heading out into a big head wind was tough going. Saw John around 6k out. He's in a world of hurt, but is moving along quite briskly. Gave the thumbs up to Philgoode around 9k. Gave Ian a high-5 around 10k ... crap, that hurt. Hit the turnaround and was drinking Coke. Mmm. Not feeling peppy but had the wind at my back now. Saw Jay and then George in quick succession.

Funny little section where there were 3 or 4 Marks in the vicinity. This seemed to excite the nearby crowds and they yelled something funny at us.

Over my heart rate limit for a good section coming back. Starting to pop and looking forward to this being over. For the last 2k, it was quite difficult to run with such a cross wind. Couldn't run in a straight line and my one leg kept blowing into my other leg. Really annoying.

I'm guessing the run was long, based on the times people put in.

That's basically it. The mental output of an Ironman in tough conditions, but none of the benefits on an Ironman finish. I left it all out there, so I'm quite pleased with my result. Kona will be there next year. Dunno whats next, maybe a couple olympic distance races, but, I'll be back at Ironman and hungrier than ever.

Finish T-113th overall, T-18th in 25-29, 6th Canadian.

Thanks to Lynn for all her support and sacrifice ... I owe you large. Georgie, Ian, Rimmer, Philgoode for all the Portsea, Boulie and Beach Rd rides, Mitch for the program, Dave Chambers for the pool sets (maybe I'll get to swim next time!), Antho at CBD for the constant great work, a bunch of people at WEHI that think I'm a total freakshow but wished me all the best, friends and family who were constantly checkin in on this little obsession.