11:11:58
Well folks I have to say its good to be home and to be home a very happy and proud man. When I signed up for this race last year my one and only goal was to get back to Kona. I knew I would have to up my game to qualify, not take anything for granted or view qualification as a formality.
I Arrived at this race in really good shape phyically, I was four kilos lighter than my race weight last year and feeling really good. On the other hand this was the first time that I felt a bit under pressure going into an IM. I felt a huge weight of expectation on my shoulder… For months I heard nothing else but Irish record this, Irish record that… I didnt give a damm about any record, all I wanted to do was be on Dig Me Beach come Oct 8t. If I did that with a 9:30 0r 9:45 no problemo☺! Now to to the race itself!
Race Morning
I was up at 3.45am to find my wife in the hotel kitchen cooking porridge. After breakfast I took the bus down to T1. It was cold!! I hate having too long to wait around before the race starts, I just wanted to get in the water and go. No more nerves, it was now or never! It was a long walk to the lake from the bike park, I was in the zone. At the race briefing they told us it would be a water start, I was glad of this because I thought it would be a safer option.
The music was pumping, my heart was pumping… we were being giving a count down from the 5 minute mark, my original plan was to start on the left hand side of the pier where the faster swimmer were meant to be, but having looked at it it didnt seem very logical as it was not a straight line to the first buoy so I opted to go right… 1 minute to go I heard… please enter the water to the start line I heard… I walked calmly but wondered why everyone was running… I was wondering why? sure they can’t cross the line anyway… I swam slowly toward the start line, wondering how they were going to get all the people back that had crossed it…Tons of people were passing me, I still hadnt realized that the race had started ☹ .When I did.. I left myself with an up hill job, right from the start! GREAT!! My planned swim time was 1:58 with a bit of luck. Whilst trying to climb over all the weaker swimmers to make my way to the front, a dude kindly pulled my hat off and pulled my goggles up onto my head. After some fancy back stroke work and I fixed mygoggles. After I got round the first buoy it was pretty un eventful. Up until I got to the canal, which looked like the M25 during rush hour there was simply too many people to swim through, so I just cruised. When I saw my swim time 1:05 to say I was pissed off would be and understatment! Already i thought Kona was out the window! Although after a long run into T1, which was pretty uneventful, my transition was smooth. Onto the bike ☺.
Phyically I felt good, my legs were a bit heavy but I knew they would come round soon, my big problem was I was still gutted over the swim… I knew i was pushing harder than I wanted, I knew I had to make up even more ground on the other guys in my age group. All i could do was my best! Its a two lap affair, and I was turning at 2:20 to start the second lap, that gave me a boost, I felt good knowing it was possible for a 4:40 bike.. that surely would have moved me up in rank… It was then I started to think about the run, what was the point in biking 4:40 and then having no energy to put a solid run in, I eased of the gas a bit.. thank God I did! going up the last long hill my little legs were screaming at me… they were saying something like ( what the f*** are you at) I was hurting!
Apart from going through some crash barriers at 43 mph thankfully not hitting them (thats what I get for riding head down and flat out going downhill) the bike was good. I knew things were not going too badly when I stopped passing people. Before the race my target was 4:50 into the second transition and I hit that bang on! Into T2 with no problems, it was uneventful andthen on to the biggest test of all, before the race I knew it was all going to come down to the run.. in the off season my coach Mark White (TBUK) had me running in several new heart rate zones, I think the goats on the cooley mountains thought I was one of the family for a while. At the beginning I was doubting this maddness because I was running so slowly! Thankfully I listened and stayed with the plan.. Thanks Buddy☺
During the run my plan was to run to pace, and from the start I felt brand new. It took a little while for my garmin to pick up signal, my plan was to hit the first mile at 7:30 until I got signal I was running on feel, when it came online I was at 6:45 so I slowed and stayed to plan! I got through the first 21k lap so easyily, one part of my mind was saying “go on!” and another part was saying “easy boy, you have been here before, its a long way to go”.
Going into the last 10k I was still waiting for the little man to appear the one that tries to get you to slow down, or stop. I had read Maccas book and which had given me some good tips. I was ready for HIM!! He never showed up I was running on air ☺. However the whole time the swim was still on my mind and still had no idea if I was on pace for Kona. I remained focused and the longer I was running the better I was feeling by the second last mile I thought my time was going to be 9.10. I put the gas down and was running at 5:45min/mile pace, in the last 300m heading to the finish some american guy in the crowd shouted that I was on for sub 9 IM god only knows what pace I was at then! My run target was 3:05-3:10 and I actually ran a 2:55 ☺ I turned for the finishing chute 8:58 holy s*** batman!!!
I did it! I ran up the ramp and turned to wave at my wife before crossing the line, which took my time to 8:59. I didnt give a shit! SUB 9 BABY ☺. I did break the Irish record, but Martin Muldoon broke it by even more, congratulations to him. What a gent he is, there is no better man to hold that title. I on the other hand achieved what I set out to do “ALOHA”☺
There are tons of people to thank, but the most important is MY WIFE!! As all you sports people out there know “you ain’t no good without family support” and I have the best family in the world! I couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without her, thank you babe XXX. My coach, I have said it before but when you have someone constantly instilling belief in you it becomes second nature to believe in your own ability, thanks Mark! So now I have a week or two down time then its round 2 cant wait☺!! Thanks every one!
P.S i suppose alot of you are wondering what the 11.11.58 is at the start of the artcle Its my race time from my first IM here in Austria in 05 ☺
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