Ironman New Zealand Race Report
March 9th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »2010 is now underway and I am happy to report a podium finish in my first race of the year. Throughout my training cycle and race week, 2 questions seemed to pop up over and over again. Why Ironman New Zealand and how does a Vermont girl prepare for a winter Ironman. There are many reasons why I chose to go back to Ironman New Zealand. New Zealand is a beautiful country and is one of the most active geothermal and volcanic areas in the world today. The swim is held in Lake Taupo, the largest fresh water lake in Australasia and was created by the world’s largest volcanic eruption of the past 5000 years. The beauty of the island combined with the exceptional race management, made Ironman New Zealand an easy choice.
As to how a Vermont girl prepare for a winter Ironman, well that was easy to answer too. I want to race well, so I simply do the work. I have always refused to let the fact that I live in a cold climate limit myself as a Triathlete. I designed my training plan in December and I stuck to it. I am a very motivated person, but I am not a machine. There were definitely days when I looked at my bike on the trainer and said “Oh you again!” My Husband had to remind me a few times, that we all have days when we don’t want to go to work, but we get out of bed and get the work done! I stuck to my plan of 2 months of quality work on the trainer and treadmill, followed by 2.5 weeks of high volume training with Cliff English and his pro squad in Tucson. I went straight out to New Zealand from Tucson and shortened my taper to just 12 days.
The plan seemed to work well for me. I started the race healthy and mentally fired up to race. The Professionals started the race 15 minutes ahead of the age groupers. I prefer the company of a mass start and find I can swim about 5-7 minutes faster with a group of feet ahead of me. Being a weak swimmer, the small Pro start definitely hurts me, but it makes for a cleaner bike race. I entered T1 with a 14 minute deficit. This is a painful way to race. There is no staying calm and cool, biking steady and conserving energy for the run. I don’t have the luxury of this! I have to go for it on the bike and run. Sometimes I blow, sometimes I hang on and sometimes, I run really well. I have to take chances on the bike and put myself within striking distance on the run. As my Long Island Niece puts it, I gotta book it!!!! I took the first loop out hard to try to close the gap and managed to put some time into the top girls. My new Parlee TT and Zipp 808/1080 combo felt fast and most of all comfortable on the chip sealed roads. However this is Ironman and halfway through the second loop, I hit a bad patch. My lack of bike volume showed and my charge slowed. I entered T2 in 6th place. I laced up my new K-Ruuz K-Swiss racing flats and focused on the next task at hand; a strong run. It was a very windy day which made the first 10k feel like one giant hill. I didn’t feel great, my pace was slower than what I had trained for, but I knew with the wind, times would be off. Shortly after the 10k mark, I moved into 3rd place. I was chipping away at 2nd, but the amount of time I lost in the water, was just too much to overcome. I crossed the line in 3rd, Congrats to Jo Lawn who went on to win and set a course record in the process and Gina Ferguson on her 2nd pace finish. The kiwis are tough on their home turf!
I am very pleased with where my training is for this time of the year. To have finished feeling so strong and most imporantly uninjured signals that I am on track for a promising year. I am looking forward to a ski vacation this weekend with my family and friends. Then I will sit down and map out the rest of the year. I have many thank yous to extend. I have an amazing support crew and could not do this without it. I didn’t get third, WE got third! I’d like to thank my homestay hosts; Graeme and June Spence for all their hospitality (I had an amazing week and will definitely be back!), my sister Kelly; for the run coaching and pushing me through the cold icey runs and treadmil workouts, my swim coach, Gerry, (we’ll get it one of these days!!!!), my Husband for keeping me healthy and sharing my goals, my family and friends for all the encouragement and all my sponsors who are continuing their support in 2010; K-Swiss, Parlee, PowerBar, Zipp, Sram, Blue Seventy, Vasa, Fuel Belt and the Ski Rack. See you at the races!



























