Ironman Cairns 2014 - My ticket to Kona!

Preparation

I had a great lead-up to Ironman Cairns. I was able to train consistently and had my last training-less day on February 13 and held that until an imposed rest day during my taper. My swim was much better than before, stronger on the bike than ever and running well. Continuing to make progress in all 3 disciplines. Enjoyed the Saturday long rides with my mates of the Banana Prata Triathlon Club in SG! https://www.facebook.com/pages/BPTC-Banana-Prata-Triathlon-Club/153786598002087

Although I lost some of the "off-season" fat, I started this race 2kg heavier than IMWA 6 months ago. Tried to loose more weight at some point but didn't want to sacrifice strength and speed gains for a few kg. The flip side is that I felt strong and healthy whereas before IMWA was having colds and a bit of a flu.

Only issue  in the preparation was that an old achilles injury flared up again about 6 weeks from the race. Was struggling with the same leading up to IMWA but at that time was completely recovered before the final build-up. Now it was ups and downs but always at least tight calfs, often painful.

My taper was good but for me very focused on trying to heal my Achilles with support from www.singaporephysio.com (Thanks Bevan and Ness!) and diligent twice daily "eccentric heel drops" it felt a lot better at race day. Controlled my weight and weaned off caffeine (painful!!) to guarantee a strong caffeine boost on race day.

Cairns

Arrived on Friday and had rented an apartment in central Cairns with Brett Woodwiss who was going to nail his first Ironman, never having run a marathon. We went for a swim at the starting point Palm Cove. The sea was rough, swell, surf and a strong current. It was great swimming out there (despite the risk of stingers and crocodiles) but it was hard to imagine swimming in these circumstances for 3.8k. The water in prior years’ location was flat and calm as it was a more protected bay. I was getting worried about the swim and thought they might shorten it or even cancel it. How would the oldest competitor of 81 years old survive this?

When I had built up the bike it was already getting dark so just did a 30min bike with 8 or so moderate minutes. I felt good on the bike.

The opening night of the race was inspiring, the highlight was the inspiring speech of Sharn McNeill,  who had done the half Ironman in Cairns 2 years ago and always wanted to do the full IM until she was diagnosed with ALS. Her friend Craig Gruber asked her to do the full Ironman together. He would swim and pull her on a Kayak, ride with Sharn on a trailer and push a wheelchair on the marathon. Superhuman! They had great support from their friends as part of the team  Shining 4 Sharn. Very humbling and touching that a woman with this disease that will will limit her more and more and will kill her in a few years could be so positive and have great humour. She could only climb on stage with support from two men and her speech had some slurring. "At the party after the race, you will all walk like me. And after a few beers you will all speak like me. So we are all the same and I am just ahead of all of you!" Puts all our little injuries, issues and inconveniences in perspective. Unforgettable....

On Saturday, I did my bike session with disc wheel and felt good, even in the very strong wind. We checked in the bike at transition.

Racked and Ready!

We were planning to go for a quick swim but the sea was even rougher than the day before and no one else was swimming so we decided to save our energy for the next day.

Palm Cove - as advertised

Palm Cove - the day before race day :)

Plenty of Wildlife!

Race day

This day started the way it would be all day: pouring rain. The wind however was largely gone and would only come back somewhat halfway through the bike. The sea was a lot calmer than prior days and the course laid out was very clear with big buoys. The mud in transition was more than ankle deep. Went for a warmup swim and watched the pros start.

Swim 1:05:23

The water was quite choppy and there was swell. However, by far not as bad as the previous days. Cameron Brown said at the award ceremony it was the toughest swim conditions he had ever experienced in an Ironman.

I felt that it was also quite rough between competitors as I got a few kicks and hits and got pulled from my leg. Felt better on the second lap than the first lap.

T1 3:41

Good transition. Out of wetsuit, helmet on, gone. Ran through the mud to the bike. Carry the bike through transition avoiding the mud, last 10m over carpet that I tried to use to get the worst mud off my feet while running for the mount line. Jumped on board of my P3 and my new Mavic Tri Helium shoes were great to get into quickly. Lost too much time in transition in Busso 6 months earlier so happy to do better now :)

Bike 4:56:24

The start of the bike was through some narrow windy streets of Palm Cove, they had cobble stone speed bumps with rubber mats over them. Some people who were starting the bike aggressive lost some nutrition bottles in the first few 100 meters. Somehow my chain came off from the chain ring and had to stop and get off to quickly fix it. Never happened before but cost me a minute I guess. There were also deep street wide puddles of water we crossed, crazy!

Also during the bike the rain was continuous. Was riding for a  long time by myself, overtaking many as usual. After maybe 120k I was riding in a pace group. They would overtake me on the uphills and I would overtake and lead on downhills and flats. Some were drafting me and got warnings, no time penalty so some kept sucking my wheel.

During the bike I was actually getting worried that I was far from the leaders in my age-group. In the race you can't really recognize your competition unless you know them (and how they look). About half-way through the bike I estimated Bevan to be ahead by at least 6 mins and my speed was not as high as I expected based on my previous race and I faded quiet badly in the second half (with some headwind). However, I overtook many in the last 20k in headwind as others seemed to be fading more than me. There were also many punctures in the race. Luckily not me!

Nutrition: had about 1.4L of Ensure plus and some salt pills. Drank sports drink and Coke in the last 30k.

T2 2:18

Had a good transition into T2. All carpeted and a volunteers helped clean some of the mud off my feet quickly as I was wearing socks and shoes, took my gels and salt pills, left my sunglasses and vizor in the run bag and headed out. Just 42k to go!

Run 3:24:34

Really had no idea where I was in the field when I started the run, but didn’t feel confident to be in a position to earn a Kona slot. I just set out what I was there to do which is run a fast marathon. Felt my Achilles from the start but more of a strain / background pain than a sharp pain. Quickly settled at 4:22 pace and did so for the first 5K, but it didn’t feel as easy as the run start in IMWA.

There were many mates and pros racing that I knew and with a 3-lap course we were running out there together, very inspiring. There were a lot of turnarounds in the run course so good to keep track of others. Age group was marked on most competitors right calfs. 40-44 was “K”, so I was chasing K’s, regardless which lap they were on. The pro leaders Cameron Brown and Tim van Berkel overtook me on my second lap as they were finishing their last. The run was completely flat on concrete, tarmac and boardwalk. Some small sections were mats laid out over muddy grass and there were a lot of puddles that could not be avoided.

Bevan (the only Kona contender in my AG I can recognize) seemed to keep his pace well in the beginning and I ran my own pace, more than 6mins behind.

I hit a tough patch from 28-33k. Stinging pain in the stomach. Felt like a side stitch but in my stomach, reduced the pace a bit but kept going. Drank coke at aid stations. Then at 33k I started to feel better again. I was able to stomach another caffeine gel.

I felt stronger, was somehow able to increase the pace and overtook Bevan at 36k, tried to convince him to stick with me as he had pushed me 1.5 years ago in IMWA, but he told me to go ahead and so I did. I overtook many people in the last  5k, running really hard as I felt I had a bit more in the tank. I overtook several of my AG and this final mad rush to the finish (and luck in the roll-down - see below) got me my Kona slot in the end!

Roll-down ceremony

For non-triathlon knowers: The original Ironman was done in Oahu Hawaii in 1978. Since 1981, the race moved to the Big Island - Kailua Kona and this race became the world championships. The race happens every October and you have to qualify to participate (1,800 slots) or win the Kona lottery (200 slots). Here is the Emmy award winning coverage of the race in 2013:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANpuXzWnQ_k. This is a legendary race and Kona is an aspirational dream for most if not all triathletes. It definitely was for me.

When I started with triathlon and heard about Kona first, this was too far away. I participated in the Lottery a few times with no result. Completing my first Ironman in 2011 was a major milestone. The problem with that is from that moment I was hooked. Through consistent training I improved my times every race until my PB time of 9:15 at IM Western Australia in December 2013. At that time I just missed qualifying for Kona.

For this race, IM Cairns my goal was to qualify for Kona. Because of a tougher bike it was likely not going to be a PB, so that was not my goal. At the end of the day you just give what you have on the day and the time and ranking within AG is just a result of that.

The roll-down ceremony is where Dreams come through as Kona slots are allocated to top age-group athletes of the race. Being sixth in my AG with 4 Kona slots, I needed two roll-downs. I knew that #5 already qualified so I needed one more. However, the first 4 all took their slots.

I was the luckiest person in the room as the male 70-75 age group didn't claim his Kona slot and it was reallocated to the 40-44 AG! I was extremely happy and excited to get the slot, a dream come through. Lot’s of planning to do!

Kona - here I come!

Hiromu Inada - 81 years old finisher and multiple Kona qualifier!

Overall – 9:32:20

Very happy with my Kona slot, that was my goal for the race! I find it hard to judge how I did compared to IMWA. I was 17 minutes slower but this was definitely a tougher race. I finished 6^th in my AG.

By discipline: swim – given the rough circumstances I am happy with 1:05. Bike: I felt good but not great also because my average speed was low. I should have somehow be able to ride away from that pace/draft group. Run: didn't run as fast as I planned, but was able to push harder towards the end where it really counts.
I moved in my age group from 43rd  after the swim to 10^th after the bike to 6^th at the finish.  Comparing the bike and run times with top 15 finishers in my AG, my run time is relatively better than my bike time.

 Time comparison

	My times Stefan Leijdekkers	#1 Cameron Brown	#1 AG Paul Walton	#3 AG (podium) Chris van Dorssen
Swim	1:05:23	55:16	55:41	1:01:11
T1	3:41	2:26	4:16	3:15
Bike	4:56:24	4:36:20	4:54:50	4:50:27
T2	2:18	1:19	1:54	1:39
Run	3:24:34	2:44:54	3:08:43	3:24:01
Total	9:32:20	8:20:15	9:05:24	9:20:33

Next focus: Rest and Relax in June and then prepare for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona on October 11. Looking forward to experiencing Kona with Serene, Lotte and my parents! Thanks for your relentless support :)