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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Tauranga Half Ironman

Let's be honest, Tauranga Half was a bit of a flop.  I wasn't expecting to set the world on fire and I certainly didn't.
The day before the race we were faced with solid rain and gale force winds - I have never done a race where they have cable tied the bikes onto the racks until now.  My race pack got so wet walking from registration to the car that my number sticker wouldn't stick because half of the backing paper come off with it.
Lucky for us the rain stopped overnight and we were faced with an overcast but rather breezy morning.
The swim went well, a bit aggro at the start but good once I found my place and I came out of the water in a bit over 32 and half minutes which is a good time for me.
The bike was a 40kmph+ average on the way out and 30kmph (if I was lucky) on the way back.  I wasn't using power so am not sure if I over or underextened myself but the level of effort seemed about right.  With the size of a field a shadow of it's former self there were no giant packs like we used to get.  I remember last time I did it getting stuck in a bunch that was so huge people were riding 3 abreast.  There were small bunches and a few times I had people around me but maybe the lack of people on the course explains the slower bike times. I got locked in a battle in the last 20km with another girl who seemed to take exception to me being in front of her so in the end I gave up and let her take the front thinking I would catch her on the run (spoiler alert: I didn't).
The Tadpolemator running smoothly thanks to  new rear derailleur, cassette, chain and chainrings...
I thought my bike time would be about 2.35 including T2 - try 2.39 excluding T2.... Hmmmm.
Onto the run and my trusty Garmin was not playing the game and couldn't connect to the satellites. I crossed paths with Jared at about 1.5km and as I had seen him walking when I was coming in off the bike, I knew it was not his day.  So I did what any good wife would do - asked if I could use his Garmin.  He was most obliging so we did a swap and I could finally see how fast I was running.  My Garmin of course starting working fine once I gave it to him.  I ran pretty steady for the first 7km but then started to lose it around the Mount base track and once I got back onto the road couldn't pick it back up enough.  Cut a long story short I didn't really enjoy the run, got slower as I went and was glad to see the finish.  Run time was 1hr42 - not the worst time in the world but had thought under 1hr40 was achievable.
Check out the giant Garmin
The less we say about Jared's result the better.
I came 3rd in my age group (the 35-39 AG by the way, I am 9 months away from turning 35 and almost pulled my entry when I realized I would be in that AG) - I looked at the small start list the day before and thought a win in my AG shouldn't be too hard so maybe I was being punished for being cocky.
On the bright side we had a fabulous long weekend away with some great company and weren't even put off children after spending 4 days with a 2 year old (in the throes of potty training) and a 5 week old.
Now Jared is preparing to ride from Wellington to Auckland in mid February so I have been keeping him company on the bike, my hamstring has been a bit niggly since Tauranga so have just done some short runs and I bought a new pair of togs to make me want to keep swimming.
Until next time tri-fans!

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