Race report - Part 3 - T2 and the Run

Transition 2 (3.29)

I felt pretty good coming off the bike, and was dying to get onto the run, so I made my way quickly through T2. I decided to change my socks, just in case it had been the socks that added to the hot feet. (I don’t think it was) I grabbed my cap, which contained my gel flask and a ziplock bag with electrolyte tablets, caffeine tablets and  spare sweat band. And I launched myself out onto Alii Drive with a big smile!!

The Run (42.2 km)  

Time – 4.28.46

1314/1918 overall

304/476 females

57/78 in 35-39 Age Group

So on to “my leg”. I have been blessed that although I was a sprinter or middle distance runner as a kid, endurance running, during my 6 years of triathlon has come very easily to me. Time and time again I have been shocked by my good run results in triathlons, and marathons, and rarely have I suffered a bad run in a big race.



Starting out strong



With a 3.28 run in Ironman France under my belt, I knew I had a good run in me. So, brimming with confidence, but obviously planning to start conservatively, I started out on Alii Drive at a comfortable pace.

I had not taken on any water in transition, just to make sure my stomach could settle, but I did throw a cup over my head to keep the cooling process going. I had actually run out of water during the final 15-20 min of the bike (the last aid station was quite a way before town) and I can remember feeling very thirsty within the first kilometre or so. At the first aid station, I took a very little sip, being careful not to have too much, and got a cup of ice to put in my tri suit to keep me cool.  I settled into a nice rhythm, and was feeling really strong when I got to “team Hawaii”, our super support crew, outside the Wyndham hotel. (4 km into run) Sean happened to be going the other way at this time, and helped himself to the seat that our crew had put out, while he did his shoelace up!! This really confused me, as he crossed the road to do that, just as I was going past, and I hoped he was ok!!

Running with Alison at about 15 km

It was another 4 km to the turnaround at Kamoa point, near the old church. By the time I got here, I was beginning to feel that I was getting my temperature under control (although it was really hot, and I was heating up in between every aid station). I had been joined by a lovely American athlete called Alison, who had qualified at Ironman Coeur D’Alene. We ran together for about 8 km, and were talking a bit, and fairly comfortable at about 5.20-5.30 min/km pace. We passed the crew at the Wyndham, and within the next kilometre, which I think involved a bit of a climb, I was really struggling. I didn’t feel like my legs could survive the pace I was running at, and was getting strange feelings, like aching in the arm and hand that were holding the cup with ice in it. (Now I may not be THAT strong, but surely I can carry a cup of ice?) I told Alison to go on, I was going to have to slow down. She said “Oh no!! But you’ll catch me later – I’m sure”. I said “I’ll try”. She went on to hold a similar pace and finished in 11.20, with a 3.58 run.

I slowed to about 6 min/km, and turned off Alii Drive towards Kuakini Highway and Palani Drive. I remember telling a much older guy that I was struggling, and the run was usually my strong leg. He said “in that case, be patient, you will get back into it”.  At this point, Pete and Lyndsey were on their bikes on the side of the road. I had told them I was feeling really bad, and I said to Pete “I want you to come with me”. (The plan had been for him to ride out on the Queen K, wait for me to come flying past, then head back to the finishline to wait; it would have been a LONG wait!!). Pete headed off up Palani to meet me on the Queen K and Lyndsey, bless her just rode near me, while I shuffled up (I refused to walk!!). Occasionally she said some words of encouragement, but I think she knew how much it was hurting.

But I reached the top, and headed left, onto the Queen K. This was about 17 km into the run – still a LONG way to go! I really don’t remember much about the next 10km to the turn off for the Natural Energy Lab. Pete rode on the other side of the highway. Close enough to shout encouragement over the road. But most of the time he just rode, silently. It must have been so hard for him. I changed my race plan, to “plan B”, which was to run, no matter how slowly, but walk for 1 minute AFTER every aid station. This was so that rather than slowly walking through the aid station, there would be some purpose to the walking sections. I stuck to this regime without fail, although there were stages where I got Pete to remind me that the minute was up, so I didn’t end up extending it too much!! At some point I was bursting to pee, but didn’t know where the nearest loos were, so had to go on the side of the road, holding onto a pole!! There’s no shame when you feel that bad!! I remember seeing Sean on his way in, and shortly after him, Kristy was FLYING home. She looked amazing, and I remember telling her that. After my pit stop, I did feel slightly better. On that note, I had to go twice more in the next 10km. I have never had to go during the run of an Ironman before, and considering my weight was the same when I finished as when I started, (despite copious bladder evacuations), I suspect I was hyponatremic, or low in blood sodium. I have kicked myself ever since the race for not actually looking at the balance of electrolytes I was taking more carefully, and as a scientist, I am determined to learn more about what happened. But on a positive note, hyponatremia can have really nasty consequences, and I got through it ok.



On the way out to the Energy Lab

Once I started to feel slightly more “with it” I remember that I started to talk to Pete occasionally. I remember saying that I was OK with how the run was going, as it was all part of the Hawaii experience, and if it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be such a special race. I also started to make a conscious effort to really encourage other athletes, especially those that were passing me. (It is usually me that is told I am “looking really strong!”).

At the 27km mark, I reached the entrance to the Natural Energy Lab. Pete could not ride into it, and he told me that he would be waiting for me and I had to stay really strong. He really was amazing. I actually relished going in there – it was the only part of the run that I hadn’t seen before the race. It involves a gradual 2km descent, then the same 2 km climb back. It is notorious for the stifling heat, but this applies to the pros, which go through it at least 2-3 hours earlier. By the time I got there, it was approaching sunset, and it didn’t feel hot at all. The support form the volunteers at the aid stations down there was phenomenal – they had been out there for so long, and they were so enthusiastic. It made me vow that I would volunteer at an Ironman – probably Ironman Melbourne, and I told Pete this when I saw him again. (Just one of those random things that must have REALLY made him think I had lost my mind!!)

All this time, although I didn’t feel as dizzy or sick as I had earlier, my legs still wouldn’t allow me to run any faster – my heart rate was sitting no higher than 120 beats per minute, and most of the time it was about 110-115. (I had raced Ironman France with a heart rate of 128-130). I really started to hurt muscularly as I approached the end of the Energy Lab, which was the 30 km mark, so understandable. Pete had posted a motivational message for me “WINNERS TAKE CHANCES”. One of my mantras. I laughed when I saw it, and thought “I’m not really capable of “taking chances”!! But it still gave me a nice little boost.

I came back out of the Energy Lab and Pete said I had got back there faster than he expected. We resumed our positions, with me shuffling along the left side of the Queen K, and Pete riding along on the right. I was determined to make the most of this final 12 km, regardless of how much it hurt. At every aid station I thanked the volunteers, and even managed a little “dance” through one aid station that had music!! It started to get dark, and this made it harder to stay so positive. (One of my race goals had been to finish in the light, or sub 11 hours). But I plodded on. My pace had slowed to nearly 7 min/ km by now. Every now and then when I slowed even more, Pete would just say “keep going, little girl. I’m so proud of you”. I remember asking him if it had been hard to watch. “He said, “only because I don’t like seeing you hurting like this, but I’ve really enjoyed it”.  I joked at one point that at least I wouldn’t be trying to chase a time, and I was going to walk down the whole finish chute! This gave me something to really look forward to, and although everything in my body was hurting by now, I was relishing the thought of getting back to town. It was amazing that there were still people coming the other way, who still had nearly half the run left. You forget that 12 hours is still way up the field, even in Kona. At one point, near the end of the Queen K I asked Pete if I was going to miss the 12 hour mark, one of my secondary goals. He said “Maybe”. I said “well, it doesn’t matter”. But even at this point I kept trying to eek out something else, just in case I could still do it. But the numbers tell the story. In France, my final 5 km was faster than the previous 10 km pace had been. In Hawaii, each 5 km split got slower, even to the end. I had nothing left.

I got to the top of Palani and Pete said “I’m going to leave you now and go to the finish. You stay strong, and when it really hurts, look at your wrist and remember what you can do”. We and all our friends got “M dot” tattoos (the emblem of the Ironman) after our first Ironman in 2008. Pete and I got them on our right wrists, and there have been several times since, when things are hard, that looking at that has given me strength.



Big high fives



The run down Palani HURT!!! But as soon as I got to the bottom, I knew I had less than 2 km to go, and I started to get excited. But wow, what a slow 2km!! It seemed to go FOREVER!!! There was lots of support as I turned onto Alii Drive, and past the Banyan tree. And there it was. The finish chute of the Hawaii Ironman. The mecca of endurance sport, and I knew Mike Reilly was there waiting to call me in. I DID walk that chute. I “high fived” every hysterical American I could see. I absolutely savoured every single second of it. Mike Reilly called me in, and for once I had the time to hear him. “Come on Jo Coombe. JO, JO, JO, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!”

My Race in a sentence :

The most amazing but hardest thing I have ever done, it made me realise that this is more than just a race, or a sport for me; it is and I hope will always be a major part of my life.

Postscript:

There is no way I could have come this far or achieved what I have without a lot of support from some very special people in my life. I am going to thank just a few, but to ANYONE who was in any way involved with this journey,from training with me, just to caring enough to ask and listen to me talk about it, you all know who you are and I thank you all.

Specifically, my parents – thanks for instilling drive and determination into me. I would never give up, and for that I thank you.

All my team mates – for support, shoulders to cry on, coffee and breakfast!! Especially Kristy Hallett, who inspired, supported and was an amazing Kona buddy.

My supervisors and Mel at Uni – for making sure I didn’t feel self indulgent chasing this dream, and respecting how important it was to me.

My amazing coach, Sean Foster – So intuitive with what I needed in my training, but also so enthusiastic, and has given me some of the best mental skills, so important to excel at this sport.

And last but obviously not least, my rock – Peter, my husband. I wouldn’t do ANY of this without you. It is a wonderful journey we began together, and this phase of it keeps getting more exciting! I see us both at Kona in 30 years, trying to beat that 17 hour deadline together!!

And the future? Well clearly this sport means so much to both of us. It is more than a sport. We train so we can race, but we race so we can experience life. The Hawaii Ironman was the ultimate, but I don’t want the fact that I have done it to mean that I have reached the end of the journey. I still have unfinished business out there, and I still have improvements to make. For now, I will set my sights "lower" (or shorter anyway). I’ll try to pull off some good performances at shorter distances. I will sign up for another Ironman, but I will choose one for its destination, and one that Pete and I can enjoy together. If I can’t qualify for Kona again at the next one, it will just make me more appreciative and hungry when I do eventually get back there.

Race report - Part 2 - The bike

IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
 8^TH October 2011 - Race report part 2. The Bike

THE BIKE - 180.1 km
5 hours 57 min 18 sec
1328/1918 overall
285/476 females
53/78 in 35-39 age group

0-14 km - I set off at what I thought was a fairly conservative pace. The first 14km (which is the out and back down Kuakini Highway, then up to the Queen K) I had planned to just settle into a rhythm, sip on some water and as long as my stomach was ok, take my first gel 15 min into the bike. I found I was incredibly out of breath for this first section, but was otherwise ok. My heart rate monitor didn’t start working for the first 2 hours of the bike, so I had to just go by perceived exertion. By the time I got onto the Queen K highway I was feeling OK and reminded myself to start taking in the “bonus food” (which is anything above my nutrition plan that I can stomach during the 1^st half of the bike). The rest of my nutrition plan was:

 2 Perpetuem solids every 30 min (from 30 min into the bike) until 3 hrs then drop to 1 per 30 min if my stomach started to struggle with solid food.

1 gel at 15 min past each hour of the bike

An endurolyte electrolyte tablet every hour (on the 45 past each hour of the bike)

Any bonus fuel I could stomach (eg powerbars, bananas, sips of energy drink)

14-60 km – This section is the Queen K highway, through the lava fields to Kawaihae. You pass landmarks such as the Natural Energy Lab (at about 20 km) and Waikoloa (at 50 km), which had a HUGE Aussie fan contingent. On the way to Waikoloa I passed a girl called Megan, who had Aussie gear on. I cruised alongside for a minute, and she told me she was from Sydney, and about to move to Melbourne. I shouted back –“come and join Melbourne Tri Club – it’s great!!” This section of the course involves “big” rollers – sustained climbs, but not my kind of 25 km sustained climb, more like 2 km at a time. Lots of people overtook me on these, but I just ignored that, and focused on pushing over the top and keeping my heart rate up on the descents, when I expected others may take more of a break. I overtook quite a few females on these sections. I was feeling strong as I approached Kawaihae (60 km). Up to this point my heart rate monitor wasn’t working, so if anything I felt I had been a little on the conservative side, but reminded myself that anything lost on the bike at this point would stand me in good stead for “my leg” – the run. At the end of the Queen K there was a big crowd, and there was a buzz of helicopters as the lead male, Chris Lieto came back the other way.

60-95 km – As you roll past Kawaihae, you  pass the harbour on the left, then there are a couple of short sharp climbs and descents past an industrial area, and then you veer right to start the climb to Hawi. (68 km) I was really looking forward to this, as I love climbing, but I found that the first 8-10 km wasn’t very steep and the more powerful cyclists were still powering past me. Then at about 80 km, after a short descent, the climb REALLY started. The next 15 km was steeper, and the roles were reversed as I got in my climbing rhythm and started reeling people in. The pros were all streaming past on the other side of the road, so there were plenty of amazing athletes to see! I remember seeing Julie Dibens MILES ahead of any of the rest of the  women’s field, and started looking out for Chrissie Wellington, but hadn’t seen her in at least the first 8-10 females. I said to a guy as I passed him “where’s Chrissie?” he said “I know, there’s no sign of her”. I thought, “She must have crashed or had a mechanical, there’s no way she would still be this far down on the field”. I honestly loved this section, I just got into a good zone, and was able to sustain a really good effort. After the race most of the people I spoke to talked about the headwind on this section, and how tough they had found it, but that wasn’t my recollection at all. Besides, I was picturing the hideous winds we had encountered on Tuesday, on our drive up there, and it was nowhere near that bad!!

 What did start to happen in the second half of the climb was that I started to get “hot feet”. Anyone who has had this on the bike will know exactly how painful it can be. I had only had it once before, during the Alpine Classic. There are multiple theories about what it is – the most accepted is that swelling (from heat) around the metatarsal bones of the feet cause pain receptors to be activated. The pain is like a vice is slowly being closed on your foot, and is really difficult to get rid of, without stopping and taking your shoes off…..Clearly not an option!! I tried to stem the onset of the pain by loosening my shoes, and pouring plenty of water on my feet, but it had started by then, and I knew I would have to try to just block it out. On the way up, I saw Sean on his descent, and made a note of the time – 4hrs 15 into the race. I noted where we were at that point and thought “I must work out how far behind him I was”, when I passed the same point on the descent. (It was 40 minutes later) I also started looking out for Kristy, as I got closer to Hawi. I saw her as we passed a ranch, probably about 5 km from the top of the climb. I also made a note of the time at this point, and I passed it on my descent 20 minutes later. I can remember being pretty pleased that I was only that far behind her so far into the ride.

95-125 km – 95 km into the ride is the turnaround in the quaint little town of Hawi. There was a great atmosphere here – the crowds were really vocal, and I was grinning from ear to ear – after all, what comes next is the descent!!!



Enjoying the descent from Hawi!!



Woohoo!! I was FLYING the first 4-5 km of the descent (60 plus kph) I thought about maximising my opportunity, just as I had in France, and I pedalled every time my speed slowed slightly. I also kept thinking “hold your nerve” throughout the cuttings, where the famous sidewinds hit you as you are descending. Again, these were nowhere near as bad as they could have been, but I still really needed to keep my focus to not get shunted by some of the gusts. Once the steepest section of the descent was over, I focused on keeping a decent effort up. My nutrition had gone really well to this point, but I had started to feel a little bloated just before the end of the climb, so I had cut back the perpetuem to 1 solid per 30 minutes, and I stopped eating anymore powerbars. The hot feet started to return with a vengeance, and was only slightly improved on each little descent, as the wind cooled my feet where I had wet them. I got to Kawaihae, and the “little kicker” as Sean called it, at 122 km. This didn’t feel bad at all, and I was feeling in good shape other than the annoyance of the feet as I approached the Queen K.

125 – 140 km – Kawaihae to Waikoloa. As soon as I turned onto the Queen K the headwind hit me. “Not fair!” I initially thought, as this had been headwind on the way out too! (I have since found out that the wind changed and us slowcoaches at the back copped it both ways!!). But then I remembered my pre – race promise to just take everything as it came on race day, and I shifted my focus to what Sean had advised for this section, which was to keep a constant effort on the climbs and descents. I was sitting on an average speed for the ride so far of about 30.4 kph when I turned onto the Queen K, and with every few kilometres I could see this average dropping. The hot feet were becoming more than just an annoyance, and I was struggling to keep cool. I remember in this part of the race looking down at my compression socks, which are dark blue, and they were white with salt from my sweat. My shorts had salt crystals clinging to them!  But my legs still felt fairly strong, and I still felt well fuelled.

140 – 180 km - At Waikoloa I knew I had 40 km to go, but there were a couple of big climbs ahead of me. My feet were absolutely killing me by now, and I was starting to hurt, physically and mentally into the headwind. I could still see my average speed falling, by now it was down to about 30.2 kph, and I desperately wanted to hang onto the 30 kph average, for a bike time of sub 6 hours.
I thought about Pete waiting for me back in Kona. I thought of all the friends that would be watching Ironman Live at home. I thought about my friends who have recently come though accidents or injuries. And I thought about my Dad. I don’t often find the time to speak to him back in the UK, but I had a little imaginary chat with him out there on the Queen K! I thought of when I was a teenager and I would be so “into” whatever my latest challenge was. He always made me believe that my dreams were possible, and whatever the outcome, I always knew that he was proud. Somehow, I realised that if I didn’t break that 6 hours, it didn’t matter, what mattered was that I finished the bike in a positive way, and gave it the best shot I could.

From 150 km to 170 km was the hardest part of the bike. This included some long climbs, through the lava fields, and I just focused on each climb. I was actually passing a lot of people though, and I still felt physically strong.

With 10 km to go, just around the airport – TAILWIND!!!! It was so bizarre, I had been ready for the continued slog all the way into town, into headwind, and lo and behold, it changed! I checked my average – 30.1 kph. Wow, I might just make the 6 hours after all!!  I started to smile, and really enjoyed flying back towards Kona.

When I got to the turn off the highway, with 3 km to go a film crew drew up alongside me. I chatted to them and said “my leg of this race is still to come!.” They said “Are you ready?” and I said “OH YES!!” I flew into town, and into transition, ready for “my leg” – the run.

Race report - part 1. Race week, the swim and transition

IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII.

8^TH October 2011 – race report - part 1

Pre – race

            I was racing with fellow Melbourne athlete Kristy Hallett and our coach Sean Foster. We had spent 10 days in Airlie Beach to acclimatise from the Melbourne winter to somewhere closer to the hot and humid conditions we might expect in Hawaii. This period had gone really well, I started my taper while I was there, a week earlier than the other two, and despite a few niggly doubts about this, looking back, I still feel that this was the right decision.

            The plan was to arrive in Kona on Thursday 28^th, 9 days before the race. A massive storm at Melbourne airport and a cancelled flight meant a 2 night unscheduled stop in Auckland, and a late arrival in Kona on Saturday. This added a lot of stress to the journey, but we still had plenty of time to recover and settle in before the race.

Amazing swimming the course

            Race week was even more amazing than I always imagined it would be! Looking back I think I overdid it a bit, but don’t regret that at all. I had to keep telling myself that I deserved to be there, but honestly, I qualified with a dream result in a race that suited me down to the ground, and I don’t know how likely it will be that I will get back to Hawaii in the near future. So I wanted to relish every single second of the whole experience. Swimming the course every day was amazing, including the coffee stop on the way in at the Coffees of Hawaii raft!!

Riding on the Queen K highway the Saturday before the race seriously gave me massive goosebumps, and I just couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I checked out the famous Lava fields while I cruised along on the fabulous FAST road surface!! I just kept thinking ”you are going to be racing Hawaii” and laughing out loud with disbelief!! My first run in the heat was a struggle, but with 6 days still to go I was pretty confident it would be manageable, and a lot of the fears about how the heat would affect me were disappearing. My fears about the legendary wind however were only exacerbated on Tuesday when Sean drove us out to the turnaround at Hawi (….km into the bike). We got out of the car about 2/3 of the way up the “17 mile climb” which goes from Kawaihae to Hawi. The wind on Tuesday was measured at 42 mph (that’s a mere 67 kph) and there were gusts of up to 60 mph (96 kph!!). It was hard to stand upright. I had no idea how you were supposed to stay on your bike in that!! BUT I knew that the forecast was for Tuesday to be the windiest day, and that Saturday was meant to be far calmer. Regardless of that, I resolved that whatever Madame Pele (the name for the volcano – the main reason for the changeable conditions) threw at me, I would embrace it. After all, that is an integral part of what racing in Kona is all about. Another really important point about the wind that Sean raised was how it swirls so much, that you really can’t expect tailwind on the parts where there was headwind only a few hours earlier!! It is true, as I would discover on race day.

There is so much to say about race week, but I have to get on to the race itself, so I will briefly summarise the highlights

“Dig Me Beach” – The sight of zero body fat triathletes in skimpy swimwear may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is pretty amazing to see some of the fittest people in the world on the beach. Training every day over a coral reef takes some beating too!!

With the great Natascha Badmann - my favourite Ironman Champ

Lava Java café and star spotting – I was on a mission to have a “star a day” photo taken!! How many Olympic and World Champions can you spot in one tiny café?? Plus the breakfasts and coffees are AWESOME!! Star of the week though, had to be meeting Dave Scott at the K Swiss after party, which we schmoozed our way into – legend.

Free stuff! – EVERYONE wants you sporting their goods! So we just had free stuff THROWN at us!! We have so many free powerbars and gels, we won’t need to buy any for a few months, and our wardrobe will now have to be cleared for all the free t shirts we picked up!!

The “Undie Run” – a charity 2km fun run, again, consists of several hundred scantily clad triathletes!! Great fun.

Race Day

            I think that the overriding emotion I had been feeling all week (hell who am I kidding? – for the past 12 weeks since I qualified!) was being completely overwhelmed. This is not an entirely good thing, as it means that you are completely burning all your adrenaline WAY too early. AND it meant that the feeling of quiet confidence and readiness I had at Ironman France was replaced by nerves and doubts that were very similar to my first Ironman in 2008. But it also means that I was under no illusions of grandeur about how my race might go. I was completely sure that I would finish, even if it meant crawling like the famous Julie Moss. I just reminded myself that I was here on merit, and to “relish every moment” – this became my mantra for the race.

            The hour or so pre-race is a bit of a blur. I sat waiting for Kristy and Sean and read and re-read my race plan and nutrition plan. I will add these to the end of this report. Once they arrived, we quite quickly made our way through numbering, transition, and came back to say goodbye to Pete, Dan and Lyndsey, our partners and wonderful support crew. We walked across to the swim start, all hugged each other and walked down to the water. Kristy and I discussed how early it still was (there was still 20 minutes to the start) so we stood for about another 5-6 minutes in the water, before swimming to the start line. We all ended up starting very close to each other and before I knew it BOOM! The cannon fired and we were off.

The swim – (3.8km)

Time : 1.16.22

1219/1855 who finished swim

280/476 females who finished

47/78 in 35-39 Age Group

            I always expect the first 300-400m of an Ironman swim to be rough. My strategy used to be to try to “feel my way” through this first period, but now I am a stronger swimmer than I used to be, and with my history of playing rugby, I actually relish the physicality of the swim start. But Hawaii was a WHOLE level again!! Everyone in Hawaii has fought for their place, and they are going to fight for every second in the race too !! I was punched, kicked, dunked under, punched again…..etc etc etc!! Wow! I haven’t even had that much contact in a sprint race.

Bottlenecks at the buoys

 At every buoy (they were about 300m apart) for the first 3 buoys, there was a big bottle – neck and any rhythm I had developed was out of the window as the punching and kicking started again!! I was swallowing a lot of water, and actually spluttered a little as I inhaled some. But I remembered my plan, to embrace all aspects of the race, and I thought “Ok if this is how my Hawaii swim is going to be, so be it”. I knew how critical getting on a pair of feet had been in France, and I focused on trying to find a nice big pair. As a guy came past me, I jumped on to his feet, and just kept thinking “Don’t let them go !!” Sure enough, we started to consistently pass people, and I possessively guarded those feet against anyone else getting them!! Even though there was still extra traffic at each buoy, he forged a way through, and I just clung onto him until the boat at the far end of the “out” section of the swim. I glanced at my watch as we made the right hand turn, and it said 32 min. I think the “across” section at this far end is only 100m, so 32 min for the first 1.8 km or so was really good. With retrospect, this was probably due to the fast start, getting on those feet, but mainly that there was a current with us on the way out. I managed to stay on “my feet” as I regarded them across the 100m, but almost as soon as we made the second turn, towards the finish, I lost them. DAMN!! I quickly scanned ahead of me, and thought I saw them again, but when I put on a brief spurt of effort, I easily caught the guy ahead, and realised it wasn’t him. Unfortunately for the rest of the swim, any time I swam on someone’s feet, it felt too easy, and I was actually overtaking more people than were passing me (a good thing, but I know that swimming on my own was less efficient than following the guy in the first half). The current was against us all the way back – I could see the minute particles in the water flowing towards me. I just focused on a nice smooth stroke, regulating my breathing as much as possible, but there must have been some chop as well, as I remember swallowing a lot of water in the final 300-400m of the swim. But before I knew it, I could see the spire of the church on Alii Drive to my right, then the finish chute, and the crowds at the exit of the swim.

Transition 1 

            I walked up the steps and through the showers, and tried to start running, as usually I aim to save time in my transitions, but I felt really disorientated and a bit dizzy.

making my way into T1

So I walked another 50m or so then tried to slowly jog around to the change tent with my bag. I sat down, and looked around for a volunteer to help me with my stuff (there are usually loads around). I emptied my bag out, and started to look through my gear. Finally someone came over and started helping me. But by then I had already put my bike shoes on and realised that I hadn’t put my calf compression sleeves on!! Off came the shoes again, and I finally got myself dressed. All this seemed to take forever, but I was very wobbly, so it at least gave me a chance to settle down a little. My usual lightening T1 time was out of the window though (6.47).

Counting down the final days...and coming full circle

Here it is. The last blog. Well, until the race report, which (hopefully) will be the best instalment of them all!!

But before I get ahead of myself, I’ll give a brief run – through of the past week, and endeavour to share some of my pre-race goals, hopes and dreams!!

What a week. The monster 25 hour weeks I racked up recently were a breeze in many ways compared to this week, but I can’t say I haven’t relished every second of every drama that unfolded this week!

My last ride before leaving for Hawaii

Training. Well it doesn’t really warrant much of a mention!!! I’m tapering fully now, so sessions have been shorter than normal (about 2/3 normal volume) and only limited quality. Kristy left Airlie beach on Sunday, Sean and I were travelling Monday, so we did some 500m builds during Monday’s ride. Tuesday I did a normal swim squad session, which went really well, and a run- fartlek session in which I flew. (A note on the “coming full circle” aspect of that session later). On Wednesday I had a great ride with the club down Beach Rd. It was warm and windy, so perfect Kona training.  Wednesday night we were travelling, and since we would be crossing the dateline, the next scheduled session was to be a recovery swim in Hawaii 36hrs later (but still officially on Thursday!!)

As usual I had been super – organised and had already scheduled a massage in Kona on Thursday, plus a service for my bike, ready for my ride on the Queen K on Saturday.

Well….Best laid plans and all that jazz. Those of you on Facebook know what happened next, but for those that aren’t -

One of those freak spring storms hit Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon/evening. Carnage. The Royal Melbourne Show was fully evacuated, lightening struck all over the place, and the ground crew at the airport were not allowed onto the tarmac to unload or reload planes for safety reasons. Our 17.30 flight to Auckland was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. And then at 22.30 cancelled. We were told we would be repatriated and flown out the next morning. But no way would we make the Honolulu flight. It was pointless picking our bags up, leaving and returning for a 6am check in, so we stayed at gate 10 overnight with half a plane full of Kiwis!! By this stage, “super manager” Pete had already spoken to Air New Zealand (who were brilliant I might add) and rescheduled our Honolulu flights to Saturday.  I managed to rebook the Novotel at Auckland airport. (Pretty lucky with the Rugby World Cup in full swing!) Kristy and Dan were also delayed, but they were flying via Sydney, so only lost 1 day.

So why did I enjoy all this? Well ok, sleep deprivation DOES tend to curb your sense of humour a little, but while I was at Airlie Beach, my overwhelming feelings of nerves and a little dread about the race had evolved into that wonderful feeling as you go into the taper of excitement  and anticipation, but also the resolve to absolutely soak up the final 2 weeks and just relish every moment, good and “bad”.  So all of a sudden, a situation, which with a different frame of mind could seem awful, actually becomes a bit of an adventure. We got to spend more time relaxing between flights, but got to a pool and had a gym, so we managed to keep our taper sessions going.



On the Queen K Highway

We finally flew to Honolulu on Saturday, 2 days late and after 3 hrs sleep at Honolulu we hopped over to Kona, and arrived at 6.30 am Saturday morning. Exactly the time that the pro triathletes will start 7 days later. (Age groupers start at 7am). We got a taxi to our accommodation, which is absolutely massive and lovely! Then assembled the bikes, and headed out for my first taste of the Lava fields on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway. Amazing. Words can’t describe the feeling of cruising along, nodding (and being nodded back by!) amazingly fit looking triathletes. The lava fields are a sight to behold, and the view across to Hawi, where the bike turnaround is, breathtaking. Sean and I did a jog off the bike, and he took me down to Alii drive and along to where the finish line will be. I had to fight back the emotions. (Save them for the real finish!). We capped off an amazing day with a short swim along the buoys from “Dig Me” beach.

 I CAN’T WAIT to be out there in 7 days, savouring every moment, good and bad.

So on to the nitty gritty of the race and my goals, aspirations, dreams.

I set some targets for myself almost as soon as I returned to training 12 weeks ago. These were deliberately set as soon as possible after the race in France, while my confidence was at its highest. My “ideal” race would go like this:-

Swim = sub 1hr 15. I swam 1.08 at France, in a wetsuit. I know that I am likely to be slower at Kona, but hopefully if I can stay on some feet, 1.15 should be comfortable.

Bike = 5.50. With a 5.49 at France, on a bike course with 2000m of climbing, I felt that 5.50 was a realistic target.

Run = 3.45. At the time that I set these targets, I felt that this one may be the hardest to achieve. With the legendary heat at Kona, if anything was going to give, I felt it would be the run.  

Transitions – approx 5min total. 

Overall target time = Sub 11 hours

I also set myself “acceptable” targets – those times that I would still be happy with. Honestly, I believe that now that I have done all that I wanted to do in training, the “acceptable” targets are no longer relevant, but if things do go awry, it is good to be able to aim for “target number 2, or 3 etc”.

I have also re – evaluated my bike leg in recent weeks, and realise that if I struggle into the headwind, it could affect my bike time by a lot, not to mention the potential knock - on effect on my run. So on reflection, my “acceptable” targets are likely to be

Swim = sub 1.20

Bike = sub 6.20

Run = sub 4.00

Total time = sub 11.50 (still faster than S. Africa!!)

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not having a confidence crisis, or refusing to back myself, it’s just that I am acutely aware of how the heat (and BOY was it hot today) , humidity and wind can affect your race out here. I will do everything I can to repeat my “perfect race” in France, and if I do…… Who knows? But if I don’t ….Guess what? I will not stop going forward until I cross that line, with a huge smile and no doubt some tears of joy. This is Hawaii, and I am racing the Hawaii Ironman World Championship. What a life.

 A note on the “full circle” comment.

I started running in 2004, with Kristen Hennessy, one of my dearest, dearest friends. Now she is in Boston and I miss her terribly. She had already run a Boston marathon when I met her, and I looked at her running with awe. In the early days we used to run from the vet school at Melbourne Uni , round Princes Park, and back. A total of about 5km. I could barely make it. She would be talking me through the final kilometre, just to nurse me home.

 I ran my first 5km fun run there about 1 year later, 20 min 50, far better than I’d hoped for.

 In 2008 I ran a 30km race there at 5 min/km pace in the lead up to the Sydney marathon (I now run my “easy runs at about 4.55/km).

 Last year I had a shocking run there in a half marathon, and finished in a crumpled heap of tears.

 On Tuesday last week, I ran my last fartlek session before the Hawaii Ironman. It was one of the fastest fartleks I have ever run, and I felt fantastic. What a journey.

And now some thank - you's

At a time like this I also tend to reflect on who I really have to thank for getting me here. I was running on the Queen K Highway today, up the final hill I will tackle before I head down to the finish line. As the sun beat down on me, and I started to struggle with the heat, I thought about all the people out there who would LOVE to be here right now, doing what I am going to do. And also about the people who will be supporting me when I take on that hil, with 3km to go.

All my team mates, current and past, who day in and day out lend their support, encouragement and advice. Kristen and Nathan, there from the start. Melbourne Triathlon Club, all my Oui Tri buddies, Mark and Lynn, Ian and Lavinia, the touch football crew, skiiing crowd, and right back to the glory days of playing rugby. All these people have lent their support for many years, and still give me amazing strength and encouragement.

My work and Uni colleagues who have been incredibly suppportive of this whole experience.

Pete's Mum and brother. They were there in Florida at the half - Ironman worlds. They were there to see me qualify for Hawaii in France. Unfortunately they can't be here this week, but I know they will be here in spirit.

My own family - who have always taught me to follow my dreams and believe in myself. My mother taught us to be strong and determined. My father epitomises the phrase "Anything is Possible". Despite a physical disablilty he has worked a physical job for over 40 years and raised a family.

My coach. Sean Foster. I cannot begin to say how massive his influence has been in the past year. its not just about a program, it's not about individual sessions, its not about advice. It's about being coached by someone who ABSOLUTELY LIVES for this sport. He calls us "his" athletes. He is thrilled about everyone that achieves, on whatever level.  He's great.

And the other half of "Team Coombe". My husband. "Thighs of Justice", Peter. He knows how much he means to me. I'm sure everyone else knows how much he means to me. Without him by my side, none of this life we have chosen to live would have the same excitement. His name means "The Rock" and he is my rock. He can't do this Ironman with me, but we have many more Ironmans to do together in years to come.

So thanks to everyone in my life who I know will be gunning for me while I am out there on saturday. I'll make you all proud.

DAYS TO GO = 5

Hours trained this week = 11 hours

Swim = 9km

Bike = 146 km

Run = 48.36 km

Acclimatisation and changes in expectation

After a couple of days of settling into an out-of-the-ordinary routine (always a challenge when you throw 3 Ironman triathletes into a new environment!!) We found our rhythm this week. Of course we had "the program" to follow, although mine was already slightly moderated as I had started a slight taper this week.

Our days basically consisted of waking (slightly later than in Melbourne, although the body-clock still had me on the 5am start for a while), coffee (which I never normally do before training; Foz and Kristy have converted me!!) a small snack, and out for the first session of the day. Back for breakfast (usually more like lunch), shower, do some work, massage or stretching, or core/pilates sessions, shopping for food then out for the second session of the day. This was usually a swim, as it worked better to do our bike or run sessions in the morning and swim in the afternoon. Back for a mega feast for dinner (chez Team Hawaii REALLY turned on the culinary skills!!) Then an hour or so of relaxation, and bed time. It's amazing how quickly a week passes repeating the above 7 times!!

Highlights of the week - 

Before the 5k swim

1. Our impromptu "OD swim!!" - Pete had arrived on Tuesday, to spend the rest of the week up here, and he hired a car. So on Tuesday night, we drove to Proserpine, where there is a HEATED 50m pool (Only Jo Coombe could actually get HYPOTHERMIA swimming in an unheated pool in Queensland!). The swim set, as designed by "The Red Baron" (our awesome swim coach Ben) was 4.7km. This included fins, and we didn't have any, so I didn't expect we would swim that far. But Kristy and I got quite into the session, and when we'd finished the full set in 1 hour 46 minutes - I said those dreaded words....."Well I'm not going to finish on 4.7k when I could just do the extra 300m and tick off a 5k set". Kristy, who had just taken off her swim cap promptly put it back on and we duly finished the 5k!! I haven't swum that distance since before my first Ironman in 2008, so it was a great session to tick off.

2. Seeing Holly and Ash, our great friends, who we originally met in Melbourne, and who now live in Mackay. We took a drive down there on Wednesday, and spent a fabulous evening catching up with them. I also got to run the Catherine Freeman Memorial Walk for my tempo run on Thursday. It was pretty motivating to be training on a walk named after an Olympic Gold medalist and inspiring athlete.



If only Kona had THIS kind of climb!!



3. My final "long" ride. By long, I only mean 80k (the other two rode 150km!). But I got to do some sustained riding into a fearsome, hot headwind back to Proserpine from the Peter Faust Dam. It gave me some much needed confidence in my mental strength into the wind, but the stats on my computer and heart rate showed me that my expectations of how my bike leg may go in Kona need to be VERY realistic. I qualified in France on a mountainous course. It suited me, as I climb well, and descend like a maniac!! The descent also left my legs quite fresh for the run. While Hawaii is hilly, there will also be long stretches that suit the time trialler. I have yet to really develop my strength in that respect. But I am OK with that. I said at the start of this preparation that my goal was to get to the race knowing that I had done everything I could to have my best race. And I have. That ride gave me enough time to be able to calm my mind about what might happen out there. I may rethink some of my goals, but I will talk about that next time.



And so to the race. Well the countdown clock on the Ironman website as I am writing says just over 12 days. I head back to Melbourne tomorrow, I've got one and a half days to unpack, wash, repack, train and get on the flight to The Big Island. We arrive in Hawaii on Thursday, so by the time I write my final blog before the "Big Dance" we will have settled in.

Weeks to go = 2

Total hours trained = 17.75

Swim = 16.5 km (record swim week!!)

Bike = 181 km

Run = 47.01 km

Watching from the sidelines…..and living the dream



In my rugby days



In the days when I played rugby, injury was just a fact of life. With a contact sport like that, it is rare that you don’t at least go from game to game with bruises, sprains and niggles, plus lots of strapping!! The queue for the physio at Wasps, my club, was never a short one! But with a start-stop sport like rugby, you can usually get by with those niggles.

With endurance sports, it’s a bit different. When you are doing any activity repetitively, be it swimming, cycling or running, it is only a matter of time before you are going to turn a tightness, or niggle into something that could potentially stop you training altogether. You can imagine on a 2 hour run, where each foot is likely to land 80-90 times per minute, how much more risk of exacerbating an injury there is, compared to playing on the wing in rugby where sudden injury is more of a risk, but more chronic injuries are not.

So I went into this past week nursing a really minor tightness in my left peroneal muscles (towards the base of my calf). In the early days in the sport, I would probably have trained through this (the rugby mentality was still strong!). But also, my goal used to be to finish a session, no matter what it took. Now, the end game has FAR more importance than individual, or even multiple runs could possibly have.  



Deep water running



Luckily, I was still able to do full bike and swim sessions, so missing a couple of runs would probably have more of a positive impact (allowing me to really train well in the pool and on the bike) than negative. At this stage, it is so important to believe that the benefit of being conservative and getting to the start line 100% far outweighs the risk of trying to add a tiny amount of extra fitness. Plus, I got to do a fartlek session as a deep water run session in the pool! (which actually turned out to be quite a lot of fun!)

I had also discussed my taper with Sean, and because I have always performed well on a 3 week taper, this week was going to be my last full week (with a slightly shorter long ride and run at the weekend).

So we flew to Airlie Beach for our acclimatisation camp on Thursday. I had a little bit of trepidation about the trip. This kind of trip is what the pro triathletes do to prepare for the world champs. I don’t see myself as an elite athlete. I try my best to train like one, eat like one, learn about sports physiology, psychology, recovery like one. But I’m just an ex  rugby - playing vet, studying for a PhD, who happens to have qualified for a world championships, aren’t I? Isn’t it a bit decadent to be taking myself off just to train in the heat? Even if it is a chance to be "living the dream" of a pro.

I know what most of my wonderful friends would say about that comment. But we all have self – doubt. And going to Airlie Beach carrying a bit of an injury wasn’t ideal. I was prepared for the fact that Sean and Kristy were going to be doing bigger sessions than me, as their taper is shorter. But it was pretty tough to be finishing my runs when they were only just warming up for theirs!! At least it meant I had the chores done when they got back!!

At Dingo Beach

We had a cracker of a ride on Saturday – to Dingo Beach (130km for me; Sean and Kristy also went out to Lake Proserpine, finishing up with an epic 180km ride). I had another niggle on the bike, in my hip this time. Not what I needed after the calf issue. But it seemed to be pretty transient, and probably related to pushing quite hard into headwind on some REALLY rough road!! (At least the road in Kona is meant to be smooth!) It gave me a bit of a scare though.

But most importantly, I came to realise (thanks in part to a great message from Pete) that it doesn’t matter if I have injuries at this point that force me to shorten or even miss sessions. The reason I am here isn’t for the training – I did all the hard yards back in the cold and wet in Melbourne. I am here to acclimatise, and look after my body so that I go to Hawaii with the best possible preparation I can.

Elite? Maybe not. No stone unturned? Absolutely.

Weeks to go = 3

Hours this week = 18.25

Swim = 14.4km

Bike = 273km

Run = 15.62km