Karen and Kate's journey to Ironman and beyond

Had a swim on Friday evening, the first since Ironman, the wetsuit even had Taupo grass on it still as I had just dried it and put it away 3 weeks ago.   We did 1600 metres up and down the length of Maraetai beach, it was a nice swim and the body doesn't seem to have forgotten how to do it, that's reassuring with that 2.8km harbour swim booked for a couple of weeks time. Now the running is going pretty well, I'm on a 3 run per week programme based on the 'senior runner' recommendations by running guru Hal Higdon, link here .  I have finally recognised that I can legitimately claim the title of experienced runner, so when he points out "you know what you are doing", I can almost believe him now.   Mr Higdon was actually the catalyst for the first marathon we did.  I found an old edition of one of his books in a second hand shop and for some reason carried it up north for the Christmas holiday, I read that book from cover to cover and the tiny little, long...

Well, I know what now for me, I'm doing Ironman next year, after a few events on the way, the usual suspects...Rotorua marathon, Taupo Cycle Challenge, Rotorua half Ironman, and probably a few more tucked in there for interests sake.  For example, just today, Kate has convinced me I really want to do the King of the Bays ocean swim on the North Shore in a few weeks...madness, I loathed the swim training and this is now Autumn going on for winter! What now for the blog though?  We have achieved what we started out for, we are Ironmen (people, women, athletes?) admittedly a wee bit late, and we plan to have a cheque to present to a representative of the diabetes services in Christchurch, hopefully at the NZSSD conference in Napier in May.  Donations still being collected here .  The question Kate and myself asked each other was does the blog still have any reason to exist, or has it run out of legs now that you have journeyed with us through 2 over indulgent Christma...

Funnily enough I haven't noticed the predicted 'gap' in my life after Ironman, this is mainly due to two things...being at last fully able to participate in (motivate/encourage/bribe/cajole/drag along) Weetbix tryathlon preparations for the two girls without having to worry about it's impact on my own training, and being back in marathon preparation....albeit gentle. So Saturday was the whanau bikeride, the expressed desire was for the bikes to be put in the back of the ute and trucked off somewhere flatter, but I held out for riding direct from home.  The intention was to do an 8km there-and-back to Te Puru park, stopping to have a look at the offshore powerboat racing on the harbour.   I love watching this, the noise is amazing and I'm fascinated by the bevy of tiny helicopters dashing along just out of the plume of water shot up in the air by the bigger boats.  What actually happened was we got to Te Puru and the girls wanted to keep going to visit their cousi...

I've done it, I've signed up again for NZ Ironman. One of the questions in the entry was "why?", and I wrote "hooked". That's a bit simplistic really, but definitely part of the picture, I would probably be more accurate to say "not cured".  There was  a bit of stuff going on in the time before the 2013 Ironman that made the journey less than ideal, and I rather feel that I want another chance to do things a bit better, not necessarily improve my time, though that would be nice, but actually feel that I gave it my best shot rather than just a shot which (thank goodness) ended with getting the t'shirt on the day.  There is also the fact that it is the 30th anniversary event in 2014, now that is a great number and I suspect it would be well worth being part of such milestone celebrations.  While trying to make the decision (which wasn't hard, I knew I wanted to sign up the day after), I thought about what would I do for the coming yea...

Kate will probably kill me for posting this, but I cant resist, it comes from the latest Franklin County News,  I especially like the comment that Kate "...appeared to be having the time of her life, rather than taking part in a competition only the most steel-willed human being could handle."  Who else could manage to take on Ironman, blitz her predicted time, and turn it into an opportunity for enjoyment all at once? Proud to be on the same planet as ya Kate!

I slept well and the alarm went off at 4:45am. breakfast and off down to the race start by 6am. It was all very exciting. There were people every where. I managed to see most of my training partners and my coach before we started. big hugs, not much was said. I got into the water and tried to warm up with 1400 people! I got myself into the place I wanted but why were there so many people standing behind me. Oh well I will just have to get on with the race. The cannon went and off we went. lots of kicking and pushing. I am in the middle somewhere...... I had a man swim next to me and for once he was swimming at the same speed and technique as me. Wow I can draft I thought. He also protected me from the other swimmers. We swam together for the first lap 1750m. I went around the markers and turned around on the homeward straight. I counted the buoys and felt good. I was going home. I came out of the water with a time of 1hr 26 minutes. I jumped up and down the green strip, the famil...

Its taken me a week to sit down and put my thoughts together, so here it goes..... I arrived in Taupo on the Wednesday before the event. I wanted loads of time to get ready. As I arrived in Taupo I had a txt from the daughter in Dunedin, can you ring me. My heart dropped, she never asks me to ring, what was the disaster that had happened. Well I rang and the problem was that she had a blister on her foot from playing netball. whee it was ok. We had hired the same house as last year which is a lovely big house, room enough for the 2 families. I cooked dinner, which was a shock as I have not cooked for months now. We planned a bike ride and a run in the morning, nice and early before the sun comes up. This was mainly to check that the bike still worked. We had to register on the Thursday and get our race pack. It was very exciting, we had tattoos to put our race numbers on. I went to the carbo loading party and then discussion on the race. The joke was that as we had done a ha...

Over the finish line.  It's all over.  Well, not quite, and a week later there is still a sense that there has to be more to come, was that all? First, what happens after you race (limp, hobble, jog, stride etc) down the finish chute and go under the arch, get your name called out, and at last can let your legs slow down. For me, I was full of fresh energy on that last bit, I raced across the line, saw nothing except a blur of light and dark and red in the final moments, heard nothing except a roar of strangers voices, and then I stopped. After 15 hours 42 minutes of constant motion I came to a crashing halt. There was a strange sensation of 2 years of effort piling up like countless dominoes, tick tick tick behind me, stopped.  I got a medal hung around my neck, and a towel draped around my shoulders, and a volunteer came and took my arm and tried to lead me to the scales to check my weight, but I resisted, I wanted to walk a bit. Experience with finishing events like ...

Ironman day, what a day, strangely it was only 5 days ago but I have to look at the pictures to remind myself that it actually happened...to me, well, me and 1400 others.  Saturday the 2nd March, up before the alarm went after less than 5 hours sleep, it was dark.  Breakfasted on rice porridge, milk and fruit, sunscreened and anti-chafed, dressed in bikini bottom, sports bra with warm clothes over the top, ready to go.  Are you ever really ready for something like this though? Kate's friend Rachel took us down to the startline and we saw other Ironpeople being dropped off, they were walking along the footpath, each on their individual mission, carrying their black swim transition bags and wetsuits, all serious. Into the big tent,  we were signed in under the artificial lights, I had fouled up my transfer tattoo having handled it with wet hands and the bottom number disappeared, someone kindly marked the '3' back on, I obviously wasn't the only person who had done t...

Well, now I am back in Auckland with computer and internet access I'm trying to put so many memories in order from an absolutely amazing few days. I thought perhaps I should start with getting ready just before IM.  On Wednesday, packing the huge amount of gear required to get down to Taupo, I thought "have I got everything" and at the same time "we cant possibly need all this stuff".  2 adults and 2 children need a lot of things for 5 days away from home though, and if one of those is a triathlete it just increases exponentially.  2 bags for clothes, 2 bags children's toys/books, 1 large chilly bin, 3 bags of sports gear (one for each discipline), bag of footwear (including kids rollerskates), bag for bike paraphernalia (pump/tools/helmets), bag of linen for the accommodation, folding chairs (for supporters)...you get the picture, the car was groaning. The accommodation was the same as last year, a lovely house a short walk from the lake-front.  Kate had ...

It's Sunday evening, I'm home, peeling potatoes.  I am an Ironman, so is Kate. 7am yesterday morning we stood in the beautiful lake Taupo as the sun woke up alongside 1500 or so other athletes, 15 hours 41 minutes later I was finished. The Voice of Ironman called my name out and told me I was an "IRONMAN", Kate had the same nearly 40 minutes earlier. Me just over the finish line, Kate has already been in for over half an hour We were both awake in the early hours of this morning, couldn't sleep, the first breakfast was at about 5am.  A little run proved that my legs worked and I had a look at the remnants of the day long celebration down by the lake, then sat on a chair to survey the start line and think for a bit. I've eaten more mini-meals today than I can count and not much of it would make it past the nutritionists.  The car trip home was a bit tough, I'm glad I wasn't driving because I kept drifting into puddles of tiredness which I came ou...