Talk about have the perfect pre-race inspiration.......my training partner, Susan Williams had the race of her life and won bronze in the Olympic triathlon despite crashing on the bike a few days before my big day.  We had joked before we both left Boulder that we would think of each other while racing and that I expected her and Loretta (who had also been training in Boulder) to inspire me with their great performances.  Well, talk about put the pressure on.....silver and bronze medals - that was going to take some beating!  As normal, I had piled the pressure on myself and certainly felt it as race day loomed....I had been looking forward to my return to Ironman racing for 3yrs and here it was, judgment day....would I have improved since Canada 2001?  There were no excuses this time, I have been training full-time for over a year now and had a great preparation at altitude in Boulder since early July.  I knew 5wks of Ironman specific training wasn't going to be enough for an amazing race but I felt ready to kick some butt.

Darcy & I sharing a hug in transition before the start - the nerves were beginning to set in, smiles were for show only!

The weather had been crap since we arrived in Canada the week before the race with lots of rain but it was looking better for race day and sure enough, race morning dawned fine after rain through the night.  Cookie and I were staying at one of our HK friends parents house, as they had gone camping for the week, with Dicky, Elaine and little Charlie (their 14mnth old daughter).  Dicky was also racing....I am not sure how he does it - IM training, looking after Charlie and working ridiculous hours every week as a lawyer, many a day not getting home until gone midnight!  Makes me realize how lucky I am on a daily basis.  After stuffing our faces with bagels, bananas & oatmeal, we headed to transition with Cookie.  He was going to be on media duties for the day, sitting on the back of a big Harley with Curly, his driver (mmmhhhh, should I be getting worried about the dubious company he has started keeping since I have been on the road more?).  It would be so cool to see him out on the course and I am sure all the Hong Kong crew appreciated seeing a friendly face out there, albeit clinging onto a hairy curly for all he was worth!  We had 8 people racing, Jody & I looking to break 10hrs, Dicky, Darcy & Ben looking for a PB and three Iron virgins.....Marco, David Howell & Dave Reid. 

(Me, Dicky, Ben & Jody getting ready for the start - see right)

If I hadn't already mentioned this, I don't remember the last time I was this nervous before a race........I had tears before the start and just couldn't wait to get going, so after a big hug from Cookie, I decided I should get in the water before I became a complete blubbering mess!  The pro's had a good start area this time round with at least a 20m gap from the age-group athletes.  I remembered starting out next to Peter Reid (multiple Ironman Hawaii Champion) last time with only a couple of meters on the rest of the field and getting completely beaten up.  I found Joanna Zeiger (Sydney Olympian) on the start line, who I know from Boulder and we chatted as we waited for the start.....I was feeling pretty special with my pink cap for media recognition as Cookie was my media person and needed to be able to see me from all the other athletes.  It's pretty cool when you get special treatment over the REAL stars out there!
BANG....we were off.  It's funny as I kept waiting for a hoard of age-group men to come piling over the top of me but it never happened and I soon settled into a good rythmn.  This is the most comfortable IM swim I have ever had.....plenty of room, I felt strong and it passed much quicker than I seem to remember from previous races. I guess I shouldn't be surprised after all those hard 6km sessions Siri has us do, 3.8km steady should have felt good! In hindsight, I should have pushed a bit harder but it's going to take a few races before I get the pacing right and I hit the timing mats in 56:04.  Quick change into my bike shorts and jersey....I decided to race in my favorite training gear in the hope I would be comfortable and stay aero for the whole bike.  I headed up Lakeshore Drive as 1hr passed on the clock....so far so good except my legs felt like they had done the race the day before....mmmhhhhhhhh - not part of the plan!  Surely this would pass, right?

WRONG.......the muscles in my legs felt sore, which is really strange as I had been really careful to fully taper for 10days but I tried to shut that out and focus on the fact I was eating, drinking and my heart rate was fine.  We had a headwind for the first 70km but it was slightly downhill so I was able to maintain a reasonable pace passing a couple of pro girls in the process.  As we neared Richter Pass, the famous 3km climb on the course, Sandra, Barb, Christine and Pamela all passed me but there was little I could do with my legs still not co-operating and I decided to focus on my own race and keep eating. 

I remembered some of Gordo's advice from Ironman legend Dave Scott....when you feel good - EAT rather than go faster on the bike - surely this should apply when you feel bad too, right?  So, I decided I would eat my way through this.....banana's, gel, mini Mars bars, cereal bars, sandwiches...you name it, it all went down.  At least I should go down the other side of Richter fast with all this extra weight!  Jody passed me looking really strong during the descent and Cookie had told me Dicky wasn't far behind me.  As we hit the 100km mark, someone must had flipped the switch as I suddenly started to feel good and powered through the rolling hills on the way to the Cawston out and back.  It was great to see all of Jody's family, who live on PEI in Canada screaming for us during this section of the course and Cookie was there too to give me splits......22min back from Joanna and Gillian who were leading the women's race.  Ok, that leaves some work to do............
Once you get through this section, the course heads slowly uphill to a steep climb to Yellow Lake about 30km away then you can enjoy a long descent back into town.  This was the section of the course where I really died 3yrs ago and I am not sure how I even made it up the final climb....I seem to remember Coke having something to do with it!  I held a good pace and felt strong this time round and caught one of the girls who had passed me going up Richter, it is so easy to get pushed up the hill by the hundreds of spectators banging pans & shouting encouragement Tour de France style.  The descent is beautiful and I worked hard coming into town confident I should be able to gain some ground back in the run....I was certainly better fueled than in my previous races.  I hit T2 with a 5:32 bike split, so I was pretty happy with that considering everything. Quick change into run shorts and shoes - only 26miles to go - sounds easy right? 

I headed out onto the run feeling good and the legs did the switch fairly seamlessly, which I can only put down to  Siri's training schedule.  I am not sure of my exact splits but I ran pretty quickly to start with considering it was a marathon even though I kept telling myself to slow down but I just felt really comfortable.  I was able to pass a couple of age-group athletes who had biked really strongly and a few pro women before we headed out of town at 5miles.  By the time, I reached 10miles, my legs were certainly starting to show some signs of feeling tired but when we hit the hills at the far end of the course and I was able to pull away from a couple of girls, who I had been running with.  This section of the course is about 5miles and I found myself in 7th place...not bad out of 21 starters if I could just hold on.  I am not sure why I seem to find the flat sections harder but this was the case as I followed the lake back towards town and Heather Jorris passed me again....we had traded places a number of times earlier in the run.  I managed to stay with her until the edge of town (5miles to go) but by this time my legs really were in bits and I was fighting off cramps big time.......this is where the mental battle really began and I had to fight hard to keep going.  After a very tough couple of miles, I could smell the finish and seemed to find my pace a bit better as we hit the last uphill through town.  The relief of reaching the top of the downhill towards the finish line was short-lived as my hamstring cramped....WOW, this was like a repeat of 3yrs ago.  I took a quick stop to massage my muscle in the hope it would hold out to the finish 1.5miles away.  I started running again with a shortened stride trying to stop another full-on cramp and made it back to Lakeshore Drive.  It is hard passing the finish shoot and having to run another 1mile out and back but the crowds were amazing. 

As I headed up the road, Heather passed in the other direction and gave me the thumbs up but my smile was short-lived as I came around the final turn-around........Christine was right behind me....DAMN.  I had passed her at 12miles into the run but she must have felt better as I had started to die.  I picked up my pace deciding it was all or nothing and if I cramped, I could always walk to the finish - I would rather die trying than wonder, What If?  First I could hear the claps behind me getting closer, then the breathing and the footsteps........it was less than 100m to go and we were almost on that magical finish carpet when she made the pass....I tried to go with her but just didn't have anything left, so I had to settle for 9th place by 5 seconds!  This happened to me last time I raced IM Canada......but at least I tried to hold her off this time....maybe it would be my time to win a sprint finish next time round and it ensured we both got a mention on the live website coverage.

I fell into Cookie's arms in 10hrs11 - a PB by 25minutes and getting closer to that elusive 10hr mark.....oh, you will be mine one of these days. I had to be helped to massage as my legs had given up completely but there was a smile on my face.  Not a bad day out and I was happy to get a PB & a top ten in a tough field even if I did miss the money and the 10hr mark.....there will be plenty of time for that.  It was a nice feeling knowing things hadn't gone perfectly but I had still nailed a solid performance.  As much as it hurt as I lay on the massage table, my brain was turning over and thinking about another 5months training and having had the experience of this one under my belt, what would be possible for the next one. I can only imagine this must be like child birth where you forget the pain or we would have all been extinct long ago!

(Dicky, Darcy, Me & Jody at the Awards.......what a gorgeous group we make!)

To say, I was walking like a crippled version of John Wain without the horse later that night and the next day is a bit of an understatement!  I still managed to pull on my party gear for the awards dinner & party the following night.....it was also going to be a final farewell to Jody who had left HK to relocate back to Canada with HSBC.  Scary night is about all I can say and thanks to Cookie & Darcy for the entertainment in the nightclub but don't give up your day jobs yet, boys!  You will need more dollar bills than that...................

Happy Training.....more news from Hong Kong soon.
Cheers Claire

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