Counting down to Ironman Western Australia

Well it’s less than 10 days until I leave for Australia and I am at that part of my training program that I dread the most - the taper! It’s just one of those things that I cannot get used to after the long hard training, ridiculously early mornings and careful diet. It’s almost like you are cheating, like I should be doing more, yet I know that my body is recovering well and that I have done all the hard work already. Now it’s time to get ready to race.

Australia may seem a long way to go for an Ironman but I have heard fantastic things about the race there, not least of which is the fact that the course is classified as a fast one. Since my virtual rival headed off to Roth this year and posted a 9h46, I had to find a similar styled course to measure myself on. Sure there are lots of people out there that say Roth is not quick but if you look at the times that have been posted by both Pro’s and AG’s, its certainly quicker than the rest. Similarly the course in Busselton has produced some very quick times, albeit not quite as good as at Roth and this year the organisers have put up A$50,000 for anyone who can break Luc van Lierde’s 10-year-old world record of 7:50:27

My build up has been acceptable. The usual things came to play but that’s life, you just deal with them and keep going. As such I am at least as good a shape as I was for the LD World’s in Canberra this time last year and if I can stay healthy up to race day, I should be able to do a good race.

Staying healthy may seem simple enough but as we all know the last few days before taking leave are frantic and I will be working some long hours to ensure that everything runs smoothly in my absence. Then there is the small matter of a long haul flight across multiple time zones to deal with as well as getting acclimatised upon arrival. All of which stress the body in different ways but I am preparing mentally to ensure that these are dealt with in the most efficient way possible.

What does have me a little worried though is the climate. Under normal circumstances there should be little change for those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere but Joburg has not had summer yet (the last 2 days have been good so here’s holding thumbs) and most my training has been done in the cold or rain. On the other hand (Darren), Australia is experiencing their worst drought in 100 years and temperatures have been steadily climbing which is bound to make it tough for everyone come race day.

The good news is that I will be spending a 4 days in Perth before traveling down to Busselton, where I will spend another 4 days before the race. This should give me enough time to recover from the jet-lag and to get a feel for the surroundings and the beauty of the area.

So what about the race itself? I have spoken with a number of South African’s that went over last year and they all rave about it. The organisation is impeccable, the course is friendly and there is a holiday feel about the whole event.

The swim which goes out and back alongside the pier is quite unique and I am looking forward to that. The bike course is on good roads with reasonable protection from the wind and assuming I am feeling good, I want to push a little here to go under the magic 5hr mark. The run is the least spoken about but as far as I can determine it’s only challenge lies in the fact that it comes after 183.8km’s of racing, which as we all know is enough to make it hard.

Come the run I will know what is required to post a good time and I have a number of strategies and contingencies worked out. I plan to follow Torbjorn Sindballe’s logic of running an even pace and will even try to achieve the ultimate of a negative split. Since running is not my strength, I am hoping that this conservative approach will pay dividends and that I won’t find myself blown with more than 10km’s to go (as I usually do).

Time? Well I would be foolish to guess not having seen the course but I am going to put my head on a block and say 9h45. Just enough to see me past my longtime rival and to give me bragging rights until Ironman South Africa in 2008.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 4:31 am and is filed under Australia, Busselton, Challenge Roth 2007, Ironman South Africa 2008, Ironman Western Austrlia 2007, Luc van Lierde, Nikola Tosic, Perth, Torbjorn Sindballe, world record. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.