Coach's Notes
At last, Ironman Greg Mathe tells his story about IM NZ!
It has been a few weeks since I completed Ironman New Zealand and I have had some time to reflect on the accomplishment -- also to forget some of the more miserable moments.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience. Almost indescribable, but I will try...
I got to Taupo exactly a week before the race and was one of the first athletes in town. I did the normal unpacking and putting my bike together...
First complication, my front wheel was knocked out of true -- for non-cyclists, that means my wheel was not straight. Note to self, when traveling to a different country, make sure you bring all the tools you need. Being in a small country and even smaller market for triathletes/cyclists, they don't have all the same equipment that the US market does. Needless to say it took me three days to find a bike shop that could fix my wheel.
The week leading up to the race was probably the most relaxing time that I have had through the whole six months of training. Which is hard to believe consider how close you are to starting a 140.6 mile torture test. Regardless, the weather was great, the excitement of the town was growing with anticipation each day as more and more athletes rolled in. The atmosphere generally was a nervous clam before the storm. Having over 1,100 fit, athletic, determined and focused people, let along hungry, in one place kept an order to the day's activities that allowed your mind to wonder off and not stress. It was quite nice actually. Except -- second complication, during registration the volunteers gave the wrong person my race bag...frustration, not the emotion I wanted to feel at this time. Lucky it worked itself out within 45 minutes and I chalked it up to: rather have something go wrong now then on race day...might as well get it out of the way -- lucky I did.
Ok onto Race Day - forecast: wind, rain..I think they might have said monsoon...
Thankfully the day didn't start off the way they predicted.
Swim 2.4 miles (or 3.8 k for those metric people):
One loop in crystal clear calm chilly water. Wetsuits legal. Nerves a must. Ah, how do I describe the swim...washing machine seems so cliché..so I will say: remember when you played kill the man with the ball when you were young...well, it was kinda like that -- except in the water and there was no ball. Actually, my swim start wasn't too bad -- wait, third complication, watch strap came undone and my chip strap around my ankle slightly loosened up...lucky the chip didn't fall off and I was able to put my watch back on.
I was happy with my swim, just concentrated on finding feet to follow and draft off - leap froging from person to person, group to group. Unexpected turn of events happened about 2/3 into the race. So close to being done and the pack of people converge, what seemed like a conspiracy, directly onto me. This was like a washing machine and I was the lonely sock caught in the middle -- I though I would become the missing sock, but lucky I was able to fight my way out and exited the water in 1:00:10.
Bike 112 mile (or 180 k for those metric people):
Never judge a course by its elevation profile -- it never tells you the wind or how really hilly the course is. So, two laps of 56 miles, one way slightly down hill...the way back, slightly up hill with a headwind...or as it was on race day: raining, all up hill, and a swirling wind. Needless to say I had a great first lap...I think my split was quicker than my total half ironman bike spilt. SO, I'm thinking, WOW, good for me, hooray for me...then as I start the second loop up the big hill out of town, the guy next to me asks me if I think it will rain -- I say "no way, power of positive thinking, there will be no rain today..." well, ah, guess I didn't quite have the power to overcome mother nature. The rain started about 30 seconds after those words exited my mouth.
Second loop, awful. At least I learned how to pee on the bike. Come on, it was raining, like you wouldn't do it...I must say it is easier than you think...Well, back to the ride -- looking back on it, you would think 112 miles would seem like a mind numbing, never ending epic. But in reality, it goes by pretty quickly. You are so preoccupied by eating every thirty minutes, drinking every fifteen minutes, water every five minutes, remembering to have fun and look around, oh and remember to then eat and drink. Your mind is so consumed with all the other stuff, that 5:35:04 seems to go by pretty darn fast.
Run 26.2 miles (or 42.2 k for those metric people):
Never judge a course by its elevation profile -- it never tells you the wind or how really hilly the course is. Sounds familiar, right? I really don't remember too much of the run, other than it was wet and not that much fun. I was surprised by a few things -- 1) when you get off the bike after 112 miles, your legs don't feel like your legs -- they feel as if someone has replaced your strong, nimble legs with petrified wood. 2) after about 3 or 5 k, your petrified legs turn into strong, nimble legs 3) after about half way, your legs turn into trembling twigs. The amazing thing is that they hang on...your legs don't crumble, they don't wilt...they just become robotic, and just keep on moving on.
Many people have asked me what happened in the last half that made me slow down -- I would say the 127.6 miles beforehand had something to do with it..I was, surprisingly, feeling good up until about 8 k from the finish. I am not sure what happened, I think it was a combination of not eating enough in the first half of the run and drinking too much water. I was just through the second-to-last aid station when my legs got all lose on me and I felt like my sodium levels were low. I really couldn't run so I had to walk to the next aid station 2.5 k away - there goes me breaking a 4 hour marathon and a sub-11 hour ironman. Once I took a shot of flat coke and a piece of candy bar I was feeling fine, and ran strong through the finish. 4:18:28.
So, was it a great experience? YES
Was it everything I was expecting? Even more so
Will I do another one? Already planning for one in 2009
Here are some stats:
Swim 2.4 miles, 1:00:10 (42 in age, 246 overall)
T1, 5:53 (average time was 7:21)
Bike 112 miles, 5:35:04 (45 in age, 241 overall)
T2, 1:43 (average time was 3:53)
Run 26.2 miles, 4:18:28 (67 in age, 477 overall)
Finish time: 11:01:19 (56 out of 108 in age group - 298 out of 820 males - 324 out of 1,100 overall)
If you would like to see all my race pictures, I have posted them to shutterfly, of course, I have attached a few of my favorites.
<http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2IcMmLVm3ZOOA&emid=sharview&linkid=link4>
Watch me finish. Once you click on the below link, scroll down a bit and click on the watch me finish button -- the video starts a few minutes before I cross, so be patient.
Posted On Monday, April 07th, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Greg Mathe finishes IM New Zealand with ease!
March 1, 2008 will go down as the day Greg Mathe went "down under" to not only finish Ironman New Zealand, but do so in an amazing time of 11 hours and 1 minute. Keep in mind this was his FIRST Ironman. Neither rain nor wind could slow this WindSpeed athlete down. It was truly the race of his life! Unbelievable! More to come....
Posted On Saturday, March 01st, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
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