It has now been just over nine weeks since I did my first
Ironman. I began to write this immediately after the event as I wanted to get
some words down on paper before the pain in my legs subsided.
Two weeks after returning from South America I was badly
suffering with the post-holiday comedown and thanks to Virgin’s timely specials
email I booked 10 days in New Zealand’s south island. I intentionally booked it
for late February over the weekend of Challenge Wanaka, just in case. I have
always looked at this race knowing that it was notorious for variable weather
conditions, wind but at the same time it is known as one of the world’s most
scenic races.
When I got home in November I went through a battery of
tests again to see where my cancer was at. It was a huge relief that outside of
an elevated TSH level that simply required a medication adjustment, the tumour
in my chest and mass in my neck remained relatively stable and unchanged. So I
jumped at my chance of competing in an ironman. With minimal fitness after five
weeks of eating, drinking, not training and a couple bouts of gastro I entered
Challenge Wanaka and started to ramp up my k’s. I was training in fear. Ironman
racing has scared the crap out of me for as long as I have known about it. I
have been asked numerous times “when will you do an ironman” after I started to
race long course triathlons in 2009. I have respected the distance, time,
energy and sacrifice that come with training and racing the iron-distance and up
until then I really hadn’t been ready to commit to that.
Taper time celebration champagne
Why do people do ironman? Throughout the prep I had to push
aside the guilt that was placed upon me for not partaking in certain social
events. Thankfully, most of my good friends understood what this meant to me
and have had a front seat to the challenges I’ve faced the past two and a half
years. I’m still unsure that I will ever do another one again. I’m sure as the memories
of the pain, discomfort and shear struggle I went through during the 2nd
half of the marathon fade that I will toy with the idea of another. Belinda Granger
assures me that I have to do at least one more because the conditions I faced
on race day were among the hardest she’s ever seen (note that this lady has
done over 50 iron-distance races and has won Challenge Wanaka twice!).
My dad always says, ‘you can’t stop time,’ and before I knew
it I was tapering for my first iron-distance race. In all honesty I felt
underdone. I had suffered 4 weeks of a left hamstring overuse injury which saw
me unable to run for a few weeks around the crucial time of my preparation. I
decided not to race the Hell of the West at Goondiwindi as I wasn’t fully
recovered and didn’t want to jeopardise my race at Wanaka. I now know this was definitely
the right decision as the hamstring didn’t bother me in the slightest on race
day. The negative was that I had absolutely no idea what shape I was in when I
arrived in New Zealand.
I arrived in Queenstown on the Wednesday afternoon and was
picked upped by Haley with Belinda and Justin Granger and taken to Wanaka on a
rainy, dreary afternoon. My good friend Charlie now lives in Wanaka and offered
a place to stay. He reported that the weather has been perfect in the two weeks
leading up to the event however things were taking a turn for the worse. I
dumped my bag at his place and we headed into town for some dinner and a long
overdue catch up. Thursday morning was dark and gloomy again. I donned on my
wetty and joined the organised swim familiarisation that morning. The lake was
choppy but surprisingly warm, sitting around 17-18 degrees Celsius. I completed
a lap and realised that the swim was going to be the least of my worries.
Getting out of the water was bloody freezing (for an Aussie!). I made a
decision that I would put on arm warmers and a vest for the bike, regards of
what everyone else was doing.
I registered and went to pro briefing which I hated. At that
moment I felt 100% underdone, unfit and chubby when I looked around at the
other lean and fit pro women that I would be racing in two days- time. I got
out of there ASAP and spent the rest of the day horizontal apart from a quick
cycle between downpours and hitting the Mexican place for dinner. I let myself
sleep in the next morning before all the pre-race rigmarole of touch up
training, bike racking, special needs and transition bag drop offs and scoffing
as many carbs as possible. The weather still looked ordinary.
The Race:
I woke up due to the howling winds, checked the weather
forecast for the millionth time that week and came to grips with the fact that
it was going to be windy. Really, really windy. I had a couple slices of toast and
a coffee and panicked when my normal emptying ritual failed. Charlie was so
helpful on race morning keeping me relaxed, calm and helping me set up my
transition. I managed a couple visits to the port-a-loos before I was
standing on the beach ready to go with the rest of the pro field.
Swim
We were all in our ‘get set’ stances before Vics announced
that the swim start was delayed for 15 minutes due to the buoys needing to be
re-adjusted as the wind was sweeping them off course. Once we were off I knew
that I was probably unable to stay with the front group and staying with Julia
Grant was a more realistic goal. I did just that and before the end of the first
and very choppy first lap I was leading her and a pro male (who kept tapping my
feet for the whole 3.8km!). The second lap was much calmer and I entered T1 in
6th place. I had swum under the hour so I was pretty happy with
that. Julia wasn’t far behind me and exited T1 in front of me due to the time I
took putting clothes on! Those tough kiwi’s must have thought it warm!
Nervous laughs with Stef Hanson
Bike
I passed Julia again within the first couple of kilometers
and Tamsyn passed me before the turnaround at Treble Cone. The other girls were
a ways up the road and I was sitting in 7th with Simone monstering
through the bike. She passed on a hill just after 40km making me looking like I
was standing still. I knew this girl could ride and run. The Wanaka wind was in
full force that day. The headwind out to Lake Hawea was nasty, but not as bad
as the crosswind that hit us when we went over the bridge once we finally made
it there. I was leaning over so far to the left I thought if this wind stops at
any moment I’m going to fall for sure. It wasn’t just windy and hard, it was
downright scary. It was nice to then have a long stretch with a well-received
tail wind. During that stretch (and only this moment) I was telling myself how awesome
this is and how much I loved it…. I also told myself to remember this moment
when things went to shit which I was anticipating. We then had an out and back
section to Sandstone Point that only the full distance had to complete. Riding
out with a nice tail wind made me fully aware of what we faced coming back.
Alyssa passed me during that section. I was now in 9th. Aside from
Yvonne and Laura, the rest of us were all within about 8 minutes of one-another.
I was actually pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t totally rubbish. I was riding
time into Anna and not losing any time to April. I needed to be patient. Coming
back along that section was quite possibly the most frightening cycling experience
of my life. The cross wind was unpredictable, sweeping me left and then a huge
gust from the opposite direction blowing my bike all over the place. I was too
scared to stay on my aero bars and thought it best to stay on top and grip on
for dear life. I reached a little crest and could see something in the middle
of the road further ahead and knew that someone had come down. As I got closer
I realised that it was Alyssa. Cars in each direction had stopped and were
flagging down oncoming cars to keep her safe. All I could see was blood. All
over her face, her legs and the road. She honestly looked like a horror movie
victim and was looking around like she didn’t know where she was or what had
happened. I felt guilty in riding past and on but she had plenty of people with
her to help. It scared me silly. My thoughts went from aim around 10:30hrs to
just finish to don’t get blown off your bike or get hurt.
Smile or grimace? I think I was swearing at this point!
Photo credit: Stef Hanson (Witsup)
By the end of the first lap I had caught and passed Anna.
The second lap was just as eventful. I passed Tamsyn on the side of the road
with mechanics and an obvious flat tyre and then at the Sandstone turn around
Simone was on the ground, unconscious with people all around her. Gina was
no-where to be seen and I later found out she had pulled out. This had
catapulted me into 4th position and I entered T2 with Anna.
Run
I ditched my clothes and picked up all my run gear. I headed
up over the bridge onto the run course. Charlie was there extremely excited
with the update that I was in 4th. ‘Run for a podium position Rach,’
he yelled…. Which I thought was a little optimistic. He told me 3rd was
only 2:40mins ahead and that I was running far better.
My legs actually felt okay and I was running at around 4:50
pace. I ticked off the first 8-9km at that pace before things started to really
hurt. Julia ran past me around 8km in chatting, looking comfortable and extremely
strong. The rain started falling and the undulating trail became quite
slippery. Then I found out about the notorious Gunn Rd. I managed to run up it
on the first lap before I felt both my quads cramp up at the 12km mark. I knew
the next 30km were going to be tough going. Anna caught me at around the 19km
mark. We bonded here. She asked me, ‘how many times have you thought about
pulling out today?’ To which my reply even surprised me, ‘I haven’t!’ She said
it had crossed her mind at least 20 times. Her tummy was a mess and my legs
were failing me. She continued to make toilet stops and I would then run ahead
of her, she would catch me up and then stop again for the toilet. It was a lot
of cat and mouse. The second lap was so hard. I felt horrid, walking each aid
station not believing that my legs would let me run again after each time I
walked. Somehow they continued to respond. I made a pact that if I got to Gunn
Rd that I would allow myself to walk up it, which I did. The next stretch was
the worst. It’s a long section of gravel footpath in the suburbs and it ran
straight past where I was staying. My general call at each aid station was
‘coke, water, lollies’ I got to the point where I was picking the green, red
and orange lollies out of a bag whilst telling the volunteers that it was quite
possibly the silliest thing I’d ever done! At least they were getting a laugh
out of me and were so encouraging telling me how fast and how well I was doing.
They were amazing. At the 2nd last aid station I knew that the end
was only about 4km away. I told myself that I had run 4km off every long bike
every weekend for the past few months and this was no different. I really
needed to port-a-loo at the final aid station but unfortunately someone beat me
to it seconds before I got there. I knew there were toilets at the yacht club
carpark and thought I might make it there….. unfortunately it was probably 500m
too far away and I made a quick detour into the bush. Sorry Wanaka but I really
wanted to cross the finish line with some dignity intact! The final 1500m
seemed like another 42km. Running down the main street in Wanaka towards the
finish line wasn’t as exhilarating as I expected. The finish line seemed to
move further and further away. The red carpet took you on a final ‘U’ shaped
run way and when I was on the final straight I slowed to a walk. I was a bit
emotional when I finally walked across the finish line in 5th place.
I was so happy to see Justin and Belinda there to welcome me home. Belinda
cried, I cried, she told me it was a tough and feral day which made me feel a
bit better about being around an hour slower than I had hoped for. Anna came
across about 3 minutes later. I hit the massage table hoping for some hands on
relief for the incredible pain in my quadriceps. I don’t know how I got through
the last 10km of the run.
My right big toe had an enormous blister under the nail and
feel off a few weeks later. I had a deep cut across my left ankle where the
timing chip rubbed into my leg for over 11 hours which is now a permanent scar.
There’s a reason why people have those soft timing chip straps! I was unable to
stomach even a slice of Vegemite toast that night and couldn’t venture too far
from a toilet. I could barely sleep that night. Amped up on sugar and caffeine
made it really hard to wind down. I had to walk downstairs backwards for the
first couple of days and low chairs and toilets scared me due to the inability
to trust my quads. I also realised I had incredible DOMS in my arms the next
day due to hanging onto my bars so tightly for the 6 hours I spent on the bike.
The next day was the awards brunch. After sitting there for
over two hours I thought I might need a crane to get me up from my chair.
Charlie, April and I spent a lovely afternoon at Rippon winery before venturing
back to town for the after party. I didn’t really last long. We had a couple of
drinks and went for dinner and then all I wanted to do was go to bed so we
called it a night. I spent the next 5 days in the beautiful town of Queenstown
where I licked my wounds, went sky diving, read two books, drank wine, ate a
lot of food, saw two movies, went canyoning and just chilled out.
Just for future references I would recommend waiting at
least 5 days post your first ironman before sky diving. One of the important
instructions is that you need to lift your legs up with knees extended for
landing and never put your feet on the ground. Three days after Wanaka my quads
still felt like they were torn to pieces and on landing my feet weren’t far off
hitting the ground! I was more panicked about the landing than actually jumping
out of the plane! Canyoning should also be held off on for at least a week. I
was quickly aware that scrambling up slippery rocks, abseiling and jumping off
ledges requires very powerful quads contractions which I think lead to more
micro-tearing of my muscles.
Unfortunately a few days after my race I was informed that Challenge
Wanaka pays in regards to overall gender position and not where you place in
the professional category. Definitely a downer on a great achievement as two
age groupers posted faster times than me I therefore received 7th
place prize money. I respect that this is Challenge Wanka’s rule but have a few
issues with this rule:
- The pro race is completely different to the age
group race. I didn’t get pulled along in the swim or the bike by other
athletes. I spent the whole bike leg out there on my own. The swim was a lot
calmer for our second lap which meant that the age group athletes likely had a
much calmer 3.8km than we did.
- Why bother having a professional category if
prize money is awarded by overall gender position? It might as well be an open
age race so at least the top age groupers can still partake in the prize pool.
- That you may have no idea that an age grouper is
actually in front of you time wise when they start 15 minutes behind you. If
you knew where each of your gender specific competitors were positioned then it
may have changed the way top athletes have raced. Eg. 3rd and 4th
were less than 5minutes apart. 3rd was an age grouper and 4th
a pro. The Pro crossed the line in 3rd (with a minimal chance of
ever catching 2nd but had done a lot to move up to 3rd
when coming off the bike in 6th) but once the times came in she ended
up 4th female. Who’s not to say she would have pushed a bit harder
having known what the time difference/ overall placing was? This also means
that the the 9th placing pro male gets zero as he was pushed outside
of the top ten by age group racers.
- There was no mention of this rule at the pro briefing.
- I apologise if I am wrong, but I am not aware of
any age groupers being subjected to drug testing at Challenge Wanaka.
This rule is another realisation that at no point to I
regret going back to full time work. These types of rules devalue being a
professional triathlete and make it ten times harder for anyone to want to be a
‘full-time pro’. I will be the first to say that I do choose races that are
likely to be profitable for me because as much as I still love the sport I also
need to pay my rent, bills and costs of living (and training and racing). I chose
to race pro as I’m still (kind of) competitive. This was my first real
international pro race post cancer diagnosis but I have won and podiumed in a
number of races (that have paid me well) since finding out I was unwell.
Once home I had to pull myself together quickly as I had
entered Mooloolaba Triathlon about 10 months prior. So on account of poor
planning I raced an Olympic distance triathlon 3 weeks after Wanaka. It wasn’t
pretty. I felt shocking from the get go, had a terrible swim, felt good on the
bike for about 30km and ran one of my slowest 10kms ever. I did the slowest
time I have ever posted on that course since I started racing. I took another
full week off after that.
I ventured to Melbourne for Easter with a couple of my school
friends to celebrate our friend Susie’s wedding. It was a fantastic weekend
with three days of wedding celebrations, shopping and I was also able to see my
best friend from college.
The following weekend mum and I headed out to my home town
of Roma. I became friendly with Wayne Bryant when he was a TO at the Hell of
the West after a technical altercation (many of you will know that story). He is very involved in the
Maranoa Triathlon and Multi-sports club out there and I was honoured when they
decided to name their annual event after me. I grew up in Roma and hadn’t been
back for almost three years. It was a lovely weekend with my mum, running park
run with her on Saturday morning, catching up with old friends, being able to
race and win a triathlon in my home town and raise valuable money for my
charity of choice; CanTeen Australia.
After weeks of very causal exercise and sleeping in it was
also the motivation I needed to get back into the swing of things. I will race
Byron Bay triathlon next weekend and then spend the next couple of months
planning the second half of the year. Who knows what will be on the cards, but
right now it’s still unlikely to be an Ironman!
Finally a huge shout out to all my sponsors and supporters. Thanks to Ryders Eyewear Australia and Mizuno Running Australia who continue to back me. To my colleagues Adam and Therese who keep my cervicogenic headaches, neck scarring and running injuries under control. Meg Franklin, the best masseur on the Sunshine Coast. Belinda and Justin Granger for an accelerated 6 week iron-distance program. Jason Cheshire from Infinit Nutrition not only the supply of some great nutrition but also getting me through my long bike sessions. Vanessa for bottles/ cages and Bel for the loan of an aero helmet. Cyclezone Mooloolaba for putting up with my weekly bike issues and Allez Sport Mooloolaba for all those consumables.
Rachie xox
