The Ironman - Its not just about the distances.

Yesterday, we had about 35+ Tri Alliance athletes who raced the Busselton Ironman in Western Australia - 3.8km swim, 180km ride and a 42.2km run.

Our Tri Alliance (Vic) squad - Nathan S, Peter H, Dale B,
Brett A, Greg N, Jody B, Paul O'D, Marina J and Jay M

There are four official triathlons branded as IRONMAN - this being IMWA - West Australia (Busselton - Busso), IMAus - NSW (Port Macquarie), IM Melbourne (Asia Pacific Championships) and IMCairns (formerly Challenge Cairns).

I was glued to my iPhone yesterday as I was getting updates from the cheer squad in Busso about how our fellow squad members were holding up from start to finish. Towards the end of the day (their race), the magnitude and weight of the Ironman race was made ever more clear to me.

The last 2 days have been a real test to me in terms of training, balancing family/triathlon and mental strength. On Sunday, we had 130km on our program to ride. I was tossing up between riding from my house or drive down to Brighton to start with the crew. Knowing that the winds would pick up with the heat, I decided to start my ride early (from my house) and mentally, it would appear like a shorter ride as I get to also finish the ride 15km earlier than the rest. The ride down towards Humphries road was a breeze as we had a tail wind and we road as a group for most of it. As none of us had done the Two Bays loop before, we ended up just doing hill repeats of Humphries. I then decided to ride towards Canadian Bay Rd and then turn around and head back towards Brighton and then home. The head wind picked up (winds up to 40km/hr Northerly) but I just kept as close to 90rpm as I could (large chain ring still but riding on my 26 gear) and in aero position. It was a hard ride but do-able.

The ride was cut short however as I was stung by a bee on the inside of my cheek. The bee must have been on my drink bottle when I took a sip of water. I didn't know what the painful sting was on the inside of my mouth until I spat out the bee. My heart was thumping hard from the adrenalin and didn't notice the pain slowly increasing in my mouth. This happened around Mordialloc and due to the increase in pain, I decided to just ride home. My ride ended up being 100km (30km short of my program). Mentally, I gave in to the pain of the sting rather than pushing through it to finish my ride.

The rest of the day was spent in Geelong with the family. I noted the route to Highton along the freeway and noticed that bikes are only allowed on after Werribee and before the Midland Hwy. Some people ride along the freeway along the emergency lane as it is quickest but other say that that route is dangerous due to trucks and cars travelling at 100km+ and there is much debris (glass and truck tyres) along there. I will need to investigate further on how to ride down to Geelong real soon as I would like to do a few of these rides within my break.

On Sunday, it was back to Fairfield for the endurance run. The program had 16 km (at half marathon pace) but I ended up running 15.7km at a T2-3 pace. I ran with one of the guys from the squad and we spoke about our respective feelings on the Ironman race. It would be the first Ironman for both of us and we both have our strengths and weaknesses. We both agreed that an event like this takes mental strength more than physical. You can (and will) hurt but it is your mind that gets you (eventually) over the line.

The water temperature in the river was no longer cold enough for any benefits of soaking so I drove home and bought 2 bags of ice and soaked my legs in the bathtub. After a long yum-cha lunch with the family (2 days in a row spent with family!), it was back to the house to monitor the ironman race.

Whilst I observed both twitter and facebook feeds about IMWA, I noticed how the feeds were about how tough the day/race was and how long they have to go. This brought a weight upon my shoulders as now I will have to balance family and triathlon more than ever and at the most busiest time of my triathlon life. My parents are trying to settle in Geelong (renting/buying house, furniture and general life settling things) and they would want me to be with them through that journey and helping them make family decisions whilst I am trying to train for the biggest event of my life.

My non-triathlete friends (and family) cannot comprehend the thought of spending 6+ hours on the saddle and running for hours on end but I am also not able to explain why I need to do triathlons or why I actually enjoy it, I just do it. It is just what I do - my own challenge.

Mental strength is something which I currently lack and I know that it will either make or break me come race day. I have a few plans to help me with this hurdle and hopefully I will overcome it and flourish on the day.  The Ironman race is not just about swimming 3.8km in what can be described as a washing machine filled with salt water and arms and legs punching and kicking you, it is not just about riding a bike for 180km on a road alone and it is not about just running (walking and jogging) a marathon - it is about keeping a strong mindset for 8-17 hours. The longer you are on the course, the more strength you need to push on through. As I am not a seasoned triathlete and this being my first ever Ironman distance race, I have no doubt that I will be on the course for over 13 hours. I am aware that it will not be an easy day (if it was easy, everybody would be doing it), it will be a tough day out there but I know that the day will be filled with support, love and I promise to smile the whole way through.