This is actually a picture of New Zealand. This is where two guys that I knew in Korea did their own Ironman, the New Zealand Ironman. I think it was on the 2nd of March. We were quite competitive, me winning a race, and both New Zealanders doing pretty well and sometimes beating me too.
What is important for me, even if for mere academic purposes, is that they left Korea in September I think, and started training with 6 months to go for their races. So they did a huge amount of training in a huge amount of time, on home turf. I did about half of what they did once I arrived in South Africa, and even less in the last month.
It looks like their training went without a hitch, and without girlfriends to distract them. One guy reached his goal of going under 10 hours, he did a 9:57:58. That's a good time, wherever you are. With a time like that he would have easily gotten a slot in South Africa, but of course, in New Zealand, the race is an insitution, and Cameron Brown is an almost permanent fixture as runner up, or second runner up the the world champion.
These results are encouraging because I feel I am at the very least just as good, if not better, at this sport, than these two fellows that I introduced to the sport. The guy who went under 10 hours did a 58 minute swim. I believe I can go faster than that, I'm sure he can too, but then he'd trained like a maniac so was this his best? A 5:24:18 cycle (I believe I can go a lot faster than that), but I am quite impressed with the run, at 3:26:26. I think I can do a 3:30, but faster than that will be a stretch for me. I doubt whether I can go much lower than a 3:15. But I would like to be my best at this distance, before I turn 40, at any rate. Despite what seems like a fairly good performance, this time was only good for 18th place out of 186 competitors. That's nowhere near being in contention for a slot. Sorry.
The other guy went almost an hour slower, at 10:48:38, but I think he had a problem on his cycle, maybe multiple flat tyres. Maybe he just ran a lot, and neglected the cycling training. I know in Cheolwon he charged from behind aftyer losing about 6 minutes to us in the bike. That's quite a big margin in a half Ironman event. I know he can sometimes pull out a kickass run, and he did here.
His swim: 58:18, so they obviously swam together, cycle 6:15 (mine was 6:00 on insufficient mileage), run 3:13. That's a great run.
In the half Ironman we did in Korea, I was in pretty good nick, and after the cycle was about 5 minutes behind the leader, a pro, and about 2 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack. Both the New Zealand guys were pretty far back. My run let me down, or perhaps I cycled too hard, but I also just completely overheated and ended up dropping from 2nd to 21st and was passed at about 3km on the run by first the stocky freckly guy, and then by the taller gangly dark haired guy (at about 9km). Both then ran up to 5th and 6th place overall.
Obviously I need to stay healthy as a bare minimum, if I want to be competitive, if I want to race very fast times, but as an overall ambition, I just need to make sure my legs are strong on the run. I know I have the ability to run fast. I have run a 37 minute 10km, and a 1h39 21km. My best marathon time is not my best, if you know what I mean: it's 3:50.
I see myself being able to pull off a 50-55 minute swim, 5:00 - 5:15 cycle, and a 3:15 - 4:15 cycle. I know that is a broad band for the run, but I really can't say how it will go. I do know, have a better idea how to train for my running. I don't have a problem training too little, I train, if anything, with too much intensity, and too little variation, when it comes to the run. That and additional weightloss should see me through. I can also channel time that usually goes into cycling, my favorite, into running, and also spend less time on the swim. The legs and core muscles also need a lot of strengthening. My left ankle was in a lot of pain towards the end of the Ironman. I also felt a lot of weakness in my inner thighs. Need to do gym regularly to keep myself strong, and flexible.
In the end the lesson I learn from the triathlons of these other guys is that I have the potential to do very well, and I am even more encouraged by my own results, given my levels of preparation, to bring my times into line with my abilities. That's an amazing thing to undertake, and I'd like to try each year to cut large slices off my time, and see ultimately, how fast I can go or a course that urges, time and time again, to go slow, conserve, be patient.
That's a challenge and one I will enjoy pursuing. The next step is obviously to identify the next Ironman. Where will it be? I want to do it in Brazil but it is too soon, it's next month or something. Will have to explore the options in detail and then get cracking.
(The answer to the above question is simply: Come and see for yourself!)
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