Race Report Ironman Busselton December 2nd 2008

Here we go again.

In hindsight, my preparation for the 2008 Busselton event was very good. Many of my sessions in the lead up to the race were benchmark performances for me and they all pointed to a successful outing on race day.

The only concern leading into the race was my left calf. It had locked up on a training run eight days out from the event, and, although I had it treated by the very best in the business, it was still a major unknown. I did get through the last few days run training without incident, but there was always a question mark about how it would handle the stress of a long course triathlon.

My swim was very good. I had a great start, felt powerful and fresh right from the beginning and was able to swim in the main pack with relative comfort. I went to sleep a bit towards the end of the swim, and this, along with some bad luck in transition, and my calf, would destroy my race.

After swimming comfortably with lead group for the majority of the swim, I relaxed as we were swimming into the shallows, and let almost everyone exit the water ahead of me. To make things worse, I put my sunglasses on prior to the official telling me I had to put my own wetsuit in my transition bag. The sunglasses fogged up, of course, and I couldn’t see anything. After fumbling around with my wetsuit and bag for 20-30 seconds, I finally exited the change tent to realise just about all my competitors were cycling like maniacs 400 metres up the road.
I had a decision to make there and then – either chase very hard and catch the group early, or cycle my own race and pick them up later when the pack disintegrated later in the day. I chose the latter, and it was a mistake.
The pack formed in front of me and stayed together for the majority of the cycle leg. I was cycling well, but the group was taking 3 minutes out of me every lap, with the majority of the participants generating far less power than me to do so. It was very demoralising at the time.

I did keep my chin up with the knowledge that I was running very well, and a ten minute deficit was by no means an insurmountable gap.

Unfortunately when I started the run, I found that my calf was going to be an issue at some point down the track. I was able to get through the first lap of the run in reasonable shape, but three kilometres into the second lap, my calf gave up the ghost.

It was extremely disappointing considering the fitness I had developed in my preparations for the event.
These things happen though unfortunately.