Saturday, February 2, 2013

Challenge Wanaka - 3rd times a charm!

Gosh its been 2weeks now since Challenge Wanaka so i thought it was about time to reflect on the race and some other cool races i did leading up to it!
If you are in the Otago area and are looking for some reasons for next season they are all worth checking out. Really well organized and would be great to see the field grow
Nov - Rolf Half Ironman (Ashburton) 1st
Hmm looking a little worse for wear at Ashburton!

Dec - Southland 75.6 Challenge (Gore) 1st and Lake Hayes Olympic Tri (Queenstown) 2nd

 
Simone and i at Lake Hayes. Hot! hmm white belly!

and for those in the North Island i really enjoyed the Rotorua Olympic Tri where i came 2nd on a good honest course.

Right now on to Wanaka. I was feeling a little unsure heading in to the race with lack of sleep during race week and then usual no sleep the night before, not to mention the sound of the wind howling outside. It is crazy how you can have a gorgeous day up there the day before the race then full on winds race day year after year!
So at 3.45am and realising there was no point staying in bed any longer as sleep was not on the agenda it was time to get up and shove in some brekky, then down to the course to do any last minute checks.

Swim time...the chop was definitely there when we were warming up but didn't seem too different to any other year, well that was until we started (pros 10mins ahead of the rest) and i felt like our small group of 20odd people had been chucked off a ship in the middle of the sea!  That was due to the fact that 100m in to the race most of the pros had left me for dust and i couldn't see the buoy line, kayaks, big corner buoys, land! Luckily it looked like was Candice was in the same boat and anytime i thought i was drowning it was reassuring to look over and see her there.  I don't think i have ever swallowed so much water which gave me quite a sore gut going on to the bike.

Bike time....heading out on the first section i managed to pick up two places putting me in 4th position. And i stayed there for the first 100km then rocket Simone passed me riding really strong. I decided to let her go and just keep riding alone, well not so much as a decision but the way it was going to play out as that girl was flying! Then maybe 10-20km later Candice flew by me, also riding really well so i was once alone again. It didn't bother me much other than the fact that my speedo broke over the 80km mark so i wasn't quite sure of much! But i knew i had a decent gap to the girls behind and was feeling comfortable.  So i just tried to maintain what i thought was a good pace.  Other than getting stung by a bee twice the bike was pretty uneventful other than some good old wind to keep me company :)

Run time...on to the run and learning that a couple of the pro girls had pulled the pin somewhere during the bike i felt pretty safe in my position still having quite a lead to the others behind. I knew the girls up ahead were all really good runners, so just plodded along (something i am working hard on changing).  Have to remember to RACE until the end and i really should of made those legs of mine try and catch up.  Highlight of the run would have to be picking up one more place in the last 6km to finish 5th overall.  Its a long day out there and its important to race as best you can right until that finish line as you never know what could happen.

Yay still standing at the finish! Thats a first :)

A huge congrats to every that raced out there. It was a tough day.  Nice work to the champions Gina and Dylan.  Thank you to Victoria and her team for putting on another awesome Challenge Wanaka no matter what the weather has in store.  A big thanks to Keegan for coaching me and believing in my ploddy legs - they will get there :) also to him having a great race for 4th and Candice for kicking arse to get up to 2nd. A huge thank you to Ron and Helen Horner and family for letting my stay at their house during race week as well as over the summer holidays. Was very well looked after and could have never left!
Top 5 Females

Lastly to my Sponsors. It would not be possible without you. Miff at R and R Sport - and especially the Dunedin workshop guys Jeremy and Aaron who always are so willing to lend a hand, Sorrelle at Shoe Clinic for putting me in some great Asics footwear, Stacey at 2XU kitting me out in training and racing gear and Anne at PhysioPlus for looking after me with all the massage and physio the body needs.

Right now I'm getting back in to training with a crazy mountain marathon "to toughen me up" so the coach says and then a couple of Ironmans in Australia.
The crazy Moonlight Marathon i am about to do


Happy training everyone
Tams