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Ironman WA - by Nat Sumner My initial thought when asked to write a report on my race day at the Busselton Ironman was, "ummm perhaps they should ask someone who had a better day than I did" But then, after only a few minutes, I thought, "Hey... if one person can be inspired to start triathlons by reading my race report, then it's worth doing." My first exposure to triathlons was in Year 11 Physical Education Studies, and unfortunately it wasn't a positive experience for me. I had two things that let me down. I was quite unfit and I had a bad attitude. Our first in-class tri consisted of a few laps of the school pool, riding to the beach and back and then running around the boundaries of the school. I came second last. (I think the girl who came last had an ingrown toe nail.). At the end of the triathlon unit in P.E Studies, I wrote a card to my teacher saying, "The one thing that I have learnt from doing triathlons is, that I'll never do another one again." If she had told me that in 6 years time I would be an Ironman, I would have laughed and told her to re-read my card. Who would have thought, that a few years later, that same teacher would go on to inspire me to start triathlons, teach me everything I need to know about the sport, become the best mentor for me, and ultimately, show me how to love and enjoy the sport. Thanks Hels. Now, onto the big day. November 28th, it came so fast. It reminded me of a quote someone told me about a roll of toilet paper...the closer it gets towards the end, the quicker it goes! How true. Unfortunately for me, I had gone to bed the night before without dinner. I know the importance of nutrition, especially the night before an Ironman race, but I seriously couldn't get any food to go in my mouth. I did try, and after about half an hour of staring at my food, I think I managed to get 4 strands of pasta and a few pieces of chopped fruit to go in. Members of my brilliant support crew lovingly created both meals and I felt horrible that I couldn't stomach them. An hour later, I was in the toilet spewing it up. Luckily for me, I spent most of Saturday carbo-ing pretty well. At first, I just thought all this hoohaa was me being nervous. 4am (I think) was the time set on my phone alarm, which was set to a nice, relaxing, calming tune to slowly bring me out of my restful slumber. In hindsight, I probably should have set it to an extra loud techno beat to get me up and moving! I woke up feeling worse than I did the night before, feeling spewy and light headed. I think I looked it too. My stomach was flat (there is usually a bulge) and the thought of having to eat breakfast and knowing that I couldn't, made me feel like crying. No dinner, no breakfast = no good. I managed to drink a whole bottle of high 5 during breakfast and on the way to transition and nibbled and ripped apart my toast, trying to convince myself that I ate most of it. Thank you to Renette, who sat with me during breakfast telling me."Don't worry Nat, you're going to do great." Once I arrived to transition I felt a little better. The atmosphere was unreal! So many bikes! So many people! I bumped into Budgie and got an instant hug. Then I had to think about starting to organise myself, getting my special needs bag in, being numbered, putting nutrition in my rather tacky looking decorated bento box and slipping my wetsuit on. I bumped into Marijke, Jen and Hels who were all doing a brilliant job at volunteering, I threw down a Gu and I was off!! I found the swim to be quite pleasant, even when people were using my jaw as something to push off. I was happily swimming along, thinking about my good friend Dory the fish off Finding Nemo and repeating to myself her quote of "just keep swimming, just keep swimming!" when all of a sudden, I spotted one of those white flags that symbolised a shark device. Just a white flag would have been fine to swim next to, but this flag had a great big black outline of a shark on it! Hello! I then started to imagine all bad dark things swimming around me. Happy thoughts of Dory disappeared and were replaced by frightened thoughts of Bruce the shark. I began to swim faster and exited I think in about 1.07 hours. The thought of getting changed in front of others scared me at first, but I then told myself to grow up and get over it, quickly. So I did. Plus, the lovely volunteer told me not to worry, as everyone is too busy to look anyway. She was right. Off goes the Orca suit, and on with the cycle gear.I headed out of transition and looked at the clock, which said 1.15 hours. I was pretty happy with this as I was previously hoping to just exit the water in this time. Unfortunately, this is where the race started to go down hill for me. Just over an hour into the race. Not happy Jan. Threw another Gu into me with some water and headed out for what was going to turn out to be a longer than expected day. I started to feel average again and I began to worry about how the lack of food was going to affect me. At about half way through my first lap, I had my first spew. It was then that I knew something was wrong. I wasn't nervous at all, but still couldn't eat anything without fertilising the side of the road. (To put it nicely). Luckily, the High 5 and water seemed to be working a treat and didn't seem to be causing me too much trouble. I managed to have some Gu, but came back to transition with a lot more in my Bento Box than I should have, I only had 1/3 of a high 5 bar and was planning on eating 2. My nutrition plan was all beautifully set out before the race and worked well in training, but you never know with Ironman and what's going to happen on the day, you just have to go with the flow. I knew exactly where my flow was going. The cycle leg definitely had its highlights, I met a lovely young chap along the side of the road who was my age and also competing in his first Ironman. He began to try and tell me how he was warned for taking both his hands off his bike whilst waving to the crowd. Very funny boy. I also spotted Vicki driving into Busselton while I was out riding at about the 160km mark, I heard a beeping coming from a car, I looked up and it was her! What a surprise! And what perfect timing! The last lap was definitely the hardest, as I'm sure it was for most people. But it was here that I really had to talk myself into continuing while trying to enjoy it as much as I could. There was no way I was coming all this way and just giving up, but trying to enjoy it while your sick is hard. I arrived into town to be greeted with my wonderful support crew and family, still waiting and cheering for me. I was very happy to see that bike finish sign, and even more happy to see that the bike catcher was one of my buddies Han! At least I knew my bike was in good hands. Into transition 2, but this time with a growing confidence in the very open and exposed clothes-changing situation I found myself in. No probs at all I thought, those volunteers know exactly what they are doing. Two girls even gave me a human shield to hide behind, I didn't even have to ask! No need though I said, I'm perfectly fine with getting changed in front of strangers. I've become a new person after that bike ride! Strange. Onto the run and oddly enough, I didn't even think about it in terms of a marathon. I just thought to myself, just get to that finish line, and preferably in a vertical position. The run was absolutely amazing, the people were awesome, even complete strangers would yell out your name and tell you how well you are doing. Even though I wasn't feeling the best on the run and even when I added another spew to my tally, so many people out there made my day. To the people who wrote chalk messages on the foot path, people who made banners, cheered for the whole day giving support, to the new friends I made out there on the course, to my other brother Glen and other City Tri Club people who came out looking for me on the run, and those who kept me going on my last lap, thank you, thank you, thank you. Reaching the finish chute is definitely a moment in my life that I will never forget. 14.26 hours it took, and although the race took me longer than I planned, I learnt a lot more about myself (and about my friends and how gorgeous they all are) during this particular race than I probably would have in a drama free 12-hour race. To me, that's what Ironman is all about. Doing something that you normally wouldn't do and finding out how you deal with things when they don't go your way. I've come away from this race with a lot more positives than negatives and I would strongly recommend anyone out there who is thinking about doing an Ironman to give it a go. There is no way that I could have got to that finish line without the help of a few people. Firstly, to Helen G for not only getting me into triathlons, but for keeping me in the sport with her continual support and encouragement. Thanks Hels for always giving me great advice and for always reminding me to eat and hydrate!! And to Paul G and Les - the other members of my wonderful support crew!!!
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