Ironman Hawaii 2008
I ended up finishing 18th I was hoping for better but I gave it what I had on the day.
Warming up for the swim start there was a Turtle swimming infront of the start line close to the surface, I was a little worried for his safety but am sure he moved out of the way. I had a good start and was behind Potts and Sanson but couldn`t stay with them so had to move across to the main group and stayed in the midst of that till the end and came out in 9th a fine start.
Onto the bike and I had been told that the first 10km would be fast and it was. I lost the front group at about 15km and kind of slipped back throught the bike leg although did pick a few off who struggled in the 2nd half. Oh yeah, I also got stung by a bee that flew into my helmet and lost my sun glasses shaking it out of the helmet, that was fun:)
Coming off the bike I was probably in the mid 20’s position. I felt really bad, my back was very stiff and I was struggling to get any pace going, but after the first turn around I got going and tried to push on as best I could but I seeemed not to have much spring in my step. Then my elastic laces on one of my shoes snapped, (I do not know how this happened but it is a nightmere I have had a few times about my shoes falling off during the run, So I had to stop and tie a knot before they came fully out) it did not take long to fix. I got to 12km to go and was catching a few and there was about 3 or 4 guys in catchable distance, so I pushed as best I could and passed 2 and was withing touching distance of 2 more with 2mile to go but I must of used what energy I had as I started to lose ground on them and then was trying to hold off the guy behind who passed me with half a mile to go and I tried to go with him but he left me and I came in 18th.
It was a great race and I learnt alot about how I need to race here.
Then to see Bella finish in 7th was the best and has made this trip a great success. She has worked so hard and smart to achieve this result.
Well done to Chrissie, Erica, Bella, Belinda, Hillary, Donna and Steve.
Warming up for the swim start there was a Turtle swimming infront of the start line close to the surface, I was a little worried for his safety but am sure he moved out of the way. I had a good start and was behind Potts and Sanson but couldn`t stay with them so had to move across to the main group and stayed in the midst of that till the end and came out in 9th a fine start.
Onto the bike and I had been told that the first 10km would be fast and it was. I lost the front group at about 15km and kind of slipped back throught the bike leg although did pick a few off who struggled in the 2nd half. Oh yeah, I also got stung by a bee that flew into my helmet and lost my sun glasses shaking it out of the helmet, that was fun:)
Coming off the bike I was probably in the mid 20’s position. I felt really bad, my back was very stiff and I was struggling to get any pace going, but after the first turn around I got going and tried to push on as best I could but I seeemed not to have much spring in my step. Then my elastic laces on one of my shoes snapped, (I do not know how this happened but it is a nightmere I have had a few times about my shoes falling off during the run, So I had to stop and tie a knot before they came fully out) it did not take long to fix. I got to 12km to go and was catching a few and there was about 3 or 4 guys in catchable distance, so I pushed as best I could and passed 2 and was withing touching distance of 2 more with 2mile to go but I must of used what energy I had as I started to lose ground on them and then was trying to hold off the guy behind who passed me with half a mile to go and I tried to go with him but he left me and I came in 18th.
It was a great race and I learnt alot about how I need to race here.
Then to see Bella finish in 7th was the best and has made this trip a great success. She has worked so hard and smart to achieve this result.
Well done to Chrissie, Erica, Bella, Belinda, Hillary, Donna and Steve.
posted by Stephen at 8:33 AM
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