BUSSELTON IRONMAN 2004

I’m a relative ‘newbie’ when it comes to triathlons with Forster earlier in the year being my only other race over the IM distance. I managed to finish in 11h 19min, which I was fairly happy with seeing it was my first race. Finishing Forster put a different perspective on Busso for me as you might expect. I now knew that I could cover the distance. Now this could be taken two ways. You see, some time goals started creeping into my head and although this can be good for motivating yourself to push a bit harder, on the flip side it can make you do some really stupid things as well. Unfortunately I knew all to well about the latter.

My training had gone well with no injuries to report of and I was feeling ready to go. The only thing lacking was some swim fitness as our town pool only opened at the beginning of October but I figured with the use of a wetty I would manage to struggle through. All that shark talk wasn’t bad motivation either to get to the beach a little faster.
I called into Budgie HQ on the way through to Busso and got the bike set-up fine-tuned and went through my nutrition and pacing plan. Then only thing left for me to do then was to try and control the nerves as the big day approached.

Race day started a 4am with the alarm clock yelling at me to get up during what seemed like the only bit of sleep I had all night. To be expected though. I felt good despite the restless night and calmly started to get the day underway. Stuck with the usual method of no solids before the race and downed a full strength Opti for breaky. Had a peek outside at this time to see what sort of day we’d be in for. Didn’t look to good but it’s the same for everyone so no use worrying about it. Rounded the family up, grabbed the wetty and headed off to the start.

Arrived and went straight to check-in. Got body marked, put in the special needs for the bike and went to set the steed up for the long day ahead. With everything in place on the bike, I headed out and found the support crew in the park next door and jumped into the wetsuit. With about 10 minutes to go, I shoved a gel down the throat and said seeya to the family and made my way down to the start.

It was a bit choppy out there but I had a swim down on the course Friday morning when it was a lot worse than this so I wasn’t to stressed. I made my way into the water and lined up with all the other light blue caps and waited for the start.
With the blast of a shotgun I began my day. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly it opened up and after what seemed like only 15 or 20 metres, I found myself in clear water. Sighting the top turn was hard in the conditions and I was doing a lot of polo swimming to try and stay as straight as I could. It bunched back up at the first turn, which is normal, and this is where my only hiccup occurred. I managed to cop a kick to the face, which pushed my left goggle eyepiece down onto my eyeball and nearly sucked it clean out. A quick stop to put my eye back in and I was underway again.

I had swum a 1:15 in Forster without a wetsuit so I was hoping for around the 1:08 to 1:10 range as my swimming really sucks. Imagine the surprise when the clock said 1:04 as I stood up. Didn’t that put a smile on the dial. Found out later it was rumoured to be a bit short but I haven’t seen any proof so I’m claiming it!! I was off to a great start and ran into T1 pretty pumped. I had my race gear under the wetty so it was just the socks, shoes, race belt, strap the helmet on and I was heading to the bike.

The first thing on the agenda was to get the HR under control. The plan was to stay under 150bpm, which is a tall order with all that adrenalin pumping. I decided to cover my bike computers display with tape so that all I could see was the time. This was to take away the temptation to push for a certain average speed and allow me to focus on HR and cadence. Weird I know but in the end effective.

Nothing out of the ordinary on the first lap and just concentrated on getting into a rhythm and eating as per plan. The rest of the bike pretty much followed along those lines until about 2/3rds into the last lap when it felt like I sort of ‘lost control’ of my HR. By this I mean I didn’t have to worry about keeping it from going over 150bpm anymore as I was having trouble even getting into the 140’s. I had a flat spot like this in Forster so I knew it would pass and went by feel instead of trying to push for the HR. The wind had got up for the last lap and it was a bit of a grind for the run into town but overall it had been an uneventful ride. I glanced down at the speedo before I handed the bike over and it showed a ride time of 5:03. Stoked! So I ran down to T2 thinking about how well things had gone so far and was on a real high. Always a good thing before starting a marathon.

I grabbed my bag and sat down in the tent and started to slip the runners on and had the second one half on when I spotted the new socks I had put in for the run. So I ripped the shoes back off and was in the process of putting on my right sock when the whole leg locked up tight in a full leg cramp. Owwwww! I had the helper pushing up on my foot trying to stretch it out and after what seemed like forever but was probably only 10secs or so, it let go. Great. That’s the end of my day I thought. If your cramping before even leaving the tent for the run I couldn’t see things getting much better. I managed to get the runners on without going into a full-blown cramp again and after a quick pit stop, headed out onto the course.

Started nice and steady and surprisingly had no signs of the cramp from T2 so I stretched it out a bit and got into a comfortable rhythm. I’d had a very ordinary run in Forster with a time of 4:36 and I was keen to improve on that. My running had been the big improver during the lead up and I had planned to hopefully run 5min k’s if everything was going well. I ran through the first 10k in 49min’s and felt relaxed and in control. So far so good. The crowd support was just awesome and the multi lap course worked a treat because there was always someone yelling out your name and encouragement to push you along.

I came to the end of my second lap and couldn’t believe that I was only 4min over my 5min per k pace. Man, the Gods are smiling on me today, but I still had a lap to go and as we all know this is where the real race begins. I headed out to the hospital for the last time, thanking all the volunteers who were simply fantastic, and was running past the jetty waiting for the gorilla to jump on the back when the thought first popped into my head. I could go sub 10. A quick calculation, well not so quick as the brain was pretty fried by this time, but holding this pace I would break 10 hours. Not even in my wildest dreams had this ever been entertained as a possibility but here I was with only 7.5k’s to go to make this a reality.

I settled down and got the mind back on the task at hand and concentrated on just getting to the turn-around. It wasn’t until the 2k to go mark that I allowed myself a peak at the overall race time on my watch and it was then that I knew I was going to do it. It’s hard to describe how it felt running that last km knowing that you were going to do so much better than you could have ever expected. I ran along the road fist pumping the air and soaking up the crowd before turning into the finishers chute. I saw my family and ran over towards them and got told not to stop, just run.
I took nearly an hour off my previous marathon time and ran a 3:40 to cross the line with a total time including transitions of 9:57:52 and 79th place overall. I saw Budgie as the helpers let me go and he looked just a stoked as I did after he did a double take and realised it was me, which was great. After a back slap and some guidance on what to do now I grabbed a Pepsi and headed for a massage. What a totally amazing day.

Looking back I was lucky enough to have one of ‘those days’ where someone is definitely looking out for me and everything just clicked.
I want to say thankyou first of all to my wife Mandy and my two beautiful little girls, Breanna and Ashlee who have supported me all the way and have had to put up with a part time dad and husband. Hugs and kisses.

A big thanks to Budgie who helped me to reach further and push harder than I ever thought I could and showing me there really is no limit to what you can achieve. Your advice and guidance on those rare times I do call has always been invaluable. Thanks mate.

Finally to my partners in crime, Johno and Barb, who help push me along and make the rides and runs as enjoyable as a 6-hour ride can be. Thanks and looking forward to getting back into it with you.

Well, for all the people who have kept reading to here you will be happy to know that I have finally run out of things to say and plus I have got to go start training for Forster 05.

See you all next year at Busso.
Cheers
Darrin Jones