Well my Start into Challenge Wanaka involved completing a
challenge to get the entry to line up for the challenge. Making a super large
sign saying “Pick Me for Challenge Wanaka” and heading out to Doctors point with
a mate to abseil off a 75m cliff and holding this above my head for an action photo!
Anyway with no other competition for this challenge my challenging pic had me
score the entry thanks to Lake Wanaka Tourism who put the entry and this
challenge on!
Anyway the build-up in training for an iron distance
triathlon involves some hard work and quality sessions in order to have the
body trained and ready, as well as to
minimise the pain and suffering on race day if you are poorly prepared. The
training for Challenge Wanaka proved to be a challenge of time management for
me, having a full time job and a young family with Oscar 3 years old and
Charlie 1 year old you have to maintain balance and make sure you don’t become
centred around training and totally absorbed in the event preparation. So for
me to be a good Dad and Husband as well as pull off work well I had most of my
training complete very early in the day. With 5am starts done at the pool and
long cycle and run training underway at similar times allowing me to fit in a
good 5hour ride for example and be back home mid-morning and still have quality
family time for the rest of the day. With the exceptions of shorter run sessions
and open water swims during more normal hours of the day.
Anyway with all of my training and preparation complete Cherie,
Oscar, Charlie and myself headed off to Wanaka on Thursday prior to the race
and started to enjoy the weather and surrounds that Wanaka has to offer. Friday
was registration and briefing and this is when you start to feel nervously
excited about the event with the bustle of many athletes in town for the same
purpose.
Anyway the night before there was quite strong winds blowing
and we had Oscar our little 3 year old not so happy about the winds and had me
up to him 2 times in the night, broken sleep is something I have become very
used to over the last 3 years since having little ones!
Saturday morning arrived and I was up early in order to get
some breakfast into the tummy before heading down to the lake for the start of
my first crack at the Challenge Wanaka full iron distance race.
6.40am and we were away 10minutes behind the pro field into
the water for the 3.8km swim. There was a small chop on the water from the
wind. It was important to get stroke and breath timing right to eliminate any
big mouthfuls of water. I had put some good work into my swimming and enjoyed
the swim course, the biggest challenge of this was seeing where to go on parts
of the swim loop as the sun made a glare across the water. After 1hour and
30min I exited the water and felt good about having one of the 3 disciplines
for the day ticked off.
Into the transition change tent, cycle kit and sunblock on
and I was onto the bike for the 180km cycle stage. The cycle was the part of
this event that I had anticipated to be the one that could make or break me.
180km is a long way to ride before having to run a marathon! The bike ride
proved to be challenging with lots of undulation and small hills/rises along
with a few parts of the 2 lap course having head winds just to suck a little
more sting from the legs. Anyway when you break the ride up, firstly into 2
laps of 90km and then take into account that every 25km there is an aid station
the ride becomes very manageable mentally. The ride pretty much involved just spinning
away and grinding into the head winds when present while ensuring I was taking
on plenty of food and drink at each aid station – I ate enough Bananas and Bars
on the bike to kill any craving for these for a while to come! The cycle stage
took me 7hrs and 5min which I was happy with and I felt I managed my energy and
fluid consumption well as I came off the cycle stage not feeling destroyed at
all.
Onto the run… 42.2km - business time, there is a common
saying with triathlon that you “Swim and Bike for show and run for dough!” I
wasn’t going to be running for any monetary dough with my speed or lack of
rather the only dough I’d be running for is that of the bread dough of the
Subway Sandwiches in the finish tent!
The effects of having exercised for just under 9 hours
before taking on a marathon distance run starts to shine once you get going
into the run. All along I had known that the run would be very slow and hopefully
not too painful. I headed out of town and ran the first 2km looking good ( you
have to run this bit looking good as there are so many people watching you don’t
want to look soft in front of too many people!) Once I settled into the run it became
apparent that the heat and wind were/had sapped me of energy a little and the
run became a mission to consume enough fluid and food as the tummy would allow
to get me through this run. A fair bit of running and walking was on the cards,
I think this was common for many, anyway near the end of the first lap of the
run I came across Cherie and the boys there cheering me along, form here it was
down the main street before taking on the second lap of the run.
Onto the second lap and I started to feel a little better
than on the first as the temperature had dropped a little. My muscles were
feeling fine and at no stage did I encounter any cramps it was more the lack of
‘spark’ due to a bit of fatigue I guess. Anyway coming up to the 40km marker on
the run I thought I would use all the reserves that I had to blast out the last
2 km of the run - surprising myself I managed
to run 4min30sec kms for the last 2km – a whole lot faster than any other part
of the run. Coming down the main street to the finishing area is a real buzz
with all the supporters and the sense of achievement that floods through your
body as you cross the finish line an realise that you have just completed and
iron distance triathlon all under your own steam!!14hours and 30minutes was my
finish time and one I am very happy with.
From the finish line it was into the finish tent and the
first thing the race officials do is have you jump on the scales. I weighed in
prior to the race at 84kg and in the finish tent clocked in at 78kg – so 6kg of
weight loss equates to a lot of fluids. In the finish tent it was time to
rehydrate and eat in order to start the body’s recovery of energy used
throughout the day. From here it was onto the massage table to have a few tight
muscles relieved with a good 20min massage. From here home to a refreshing
shower and then bed.
Waking up on Sunday other than the obvious fatigue from a
big day out on Saturday I felt pretty good, surprisingly good which has me reflecting
on parts of the race that in a future attempt I could push a little harder on
and make improvements to other things such as nutrition to slice some more time
off another crack.. I know form having been involved in triathlon and multisport
endurance events for many years that they become very addictive and there are
many intrinsic factors motivating future challenges.
So after the event it was a great week relaxing in Wanaka
for the best bit of a week, a great little place in the world to chill out and
spend time in.
Massive thanks must got to R&R Sport for sponsoring me
in my adventures with quality gear and support along with Lake Wanaka Tourism
who put the challenge out there and sorted the entry into this event.
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