Shepparton 70.3 - A Race Report

Me - with my medal and tears in my eyes

On Sunday 18th Nov, I raced my first (half) Ironman event. This event consisted of a 1.9km swim, 90km ride followed by a 21.1km run.
This entry will be everything I can remember about the day but I am sure there will be things which I will add at a later date...

The morning started out in a bit of a panic... I woke up at 4:45am but as my accommodation was only just around the corner, we arrived way before the 5:30am opening time for transition set-up. I decided to tune out from everyone and just listened to my music whilst I set up my transition.

I have never set up for long course transition before, it is slightly different from all the races I had done previously as I had more things to place next to the bike:

• Decided at the 11th hour to ride with socks (due to new shoes causing small blisters during training) - best idea ever for 90km using new shoes. This meant that I didn't have the shoes on the bike and didn't run through transition bare feet. A few seconds slower but it would have been torture if I rode barefeet with blood.  
• Had nutrition next to my bike rather than taped to the bike (due to my bike being too small to tape any gels on) so I could place it in my back pocket when I enter T1.
• I had knicks to wear on the bike leg this was placed below helmet.

Once I thought I had done everything I needed, I realised that I forgot my tool tub which had my spare tube, CO2 x 2 canisters, CO2 valve and my tyre levers. Luckily I had a little helper who rushed back to my accommodation and came back with them. I felt a slight anxiety attack when I was waiting in transition for about 20min for the tub to arrive but I decided to control my anxiety with some music and just smiling. Close to 6:20am when transition closed, I was all set up and ready. 

The last trip to the toilet saw me waiting in a long line. I controlled my anxiety once again by listening to music. After the toilet stop, I ran to the TA Taj where I rushed to put on my wetsuit (being part of the first wave of competitors for the day). I then had my first gel at 6:45am and then walked over to the start line. 

A quick warm up in the muddy lake and then before long, the siren sounded and off we went. I started on the right and 2/3 of the way back amongst my group. The first 50-100m was tricky as I found myself trying to swim past (slower) people already. I found my pace early in the race and I made sure that I stayed on the right so I would have less people trying to swim over me. The 1.9km swim was good and only had a few incidences of excessive aggression in the water. I had an incident of someone swimming over me but I just kicked and I think I actually kicked (him) in the groin. The other incident occured when I caught up with someone and they kicked me in the teeth. The swim got really crowded as well towards the end too when people increased their speed. I came out of the water really well and didn't feel tired at all. I looked at my Garmin and saw 40min and was so happy. I think I had a goal of 45min on Friday before the race. Running towards transition, I dropped my swim cap on the ground and decided to not pick it up (although I loved the swim cap due to the quality and it had the Shepparton 70.3 logo on it). I have since contacted Shepparton 70.3 commitee to see if they can provide me with a replacement one.

In transition, I put on my helmet, glasses and then as hard as it was - put on my knicks over my wet tri-suit. I could tell that the knicks were not completely pull up during the ride as my chamois was bunching on at the front of the saddle which caused me some saddle sores. I also ate half a banana in transition so that my stomach would not be empty but I ended up riding the entire way with a cramp/stitch. I then put on my socks and tri shoes and then off I went out of transition and onto the bike leg. 

For some reason, my "bike legs" were not agreeing with what we had to do - they felt like they were made of lead and didn't want to ride that day. They were heavy and even on the easiest gear on my cassette, it was still painful. I had so many people pass me on the first lap of the bike course and to be perfectly honest, I was slightly demoralised. 

The bike course is pretty much a rectangle course so if there was a wind, you would get two cross winds, one head and one tail. I looked forward to coming back into Kialla as I knew that it was a place where the Tri Alliance squad would be and the thought of them supporting me on the course was what lifted me up at the 40km mark. The U-turn on the course was a very uplifting feeling and one which I would remember for a while. 

The 2nd lap I felt I was stronger as my lead legs were gone but at the same time, the winds had picked up. At the 75km mark, something happened and my Garmin decided to shit itself and stopped working and I stuffed around a bit on the return home trying to figure out what had happened. My total bike leg time was around 3:13.

Coming into transition again, there were no numbering of the rack on the other end and so I ended up going up the wrong end of the rack but luckily, my placement was close to the top. I ended up not changing socks and just changed shoes, swapped gel flasks, grabbed my cap and then off I went on the run course. 

I love my bands!

Believe it or not (looking back), I really enjoyed the run course. I would 100% attribute it to two things - the amount of support on the course and the consistent training I had done during the year. I only went to one toilet stop and it was done on my second lap of the run course and that showed on my splits. I had 1.5 serves of gels on the run course and changed to drinking only coke and a small amount of red lollies along the last 7km of the event. The last lap of the course was perceived to be my quickest (due to the sugar and caffeine in the coke) and it was one which I enjoyed the most as I knew I was nearly home. What I loved about the run course is that we got these bands to put on our wrist to show how many laps we had done. 

The last lap of the run course was also a lonely one. I actually ran with someone for about 3km and we chatted about the event and our up and coming races. He was doing Busso in 3 weeks and this was his first half ironman. He didn't get on the coke like I did on the course and so I ended up passing him and then just kept running at my pace. 

My finisher's medal

The run into the finish chute was the best feeling. I had people along the side cheering me on and I was so happy I did a double punch of the air with both my fists. I was so happy! Nola was at the finishers tent when I finished and I started to cry when we embraced. I was filled with mixed emotions at the end - I couldn't believe that I have finished, I am now an 70.3 finisher, I had just finished a 1.9km swim, a 90km ride and a half marathon....I just couldn't believe it all. 

We received a Finisher's Medal at the end with a towel and for the first time, this is a medal I am so proud to show off. I have carried it everywhere with me since Sunday.

I am so proud of what I had achieved. The experience is defininiely something which I will cherish for a while.

My full results are shown below:

When I walked past the notice board with the results, I thought I had come 2nd last in my category but I later found out that the other result sheet had come off the notice board.

Photo of the results pinned on the notice board

Out of the 30-34 (Male and Female) - I came 155 out of 183 competitors who had finished. It was not possible to seperate out the male and female competitors. Even though it was not my quickest race, it was my first race of a long course distance. I am so happy that I had ticked off this distance and well under my goal time of 6:30. Pretty happy about that!