GOLD COAST HALF IRONMAN 2006
by Dougal Burton

Having completed all my long course racing at Busselton it was time to expand the horizons this year with a race on the Gold Coast. It would also serve as a good test point before IMWA.

We were a little late (parking was pretty ordinary) so we didn’t have much time to provision the bikes and get ready for the start so things felt a little rushed. Probably just as well as I do not enjoy standing around and using up nervous energy before the race.

Swim – 25m30s

Due to the number of entries and the narrowness of the canal in which we were swimming, age group wave starts were the go. The 40 – 44 age group were to start 9 minutes after the Pro’s. The swim course was a large L shape with the far turning point being a small man made island.

The hooter sounded and, as always, it was a mad rush for the first 100m. I settled into a good stroke and had caught the previous wave by the first turning point. From then on it was a matter of picking your way through the slower swimmers and remembering the buoy rounding techniques from the old surf club days.

I took the last turn back into the main canal a little wider than some (you could say they cut the corner) which let a couple of my age group through on the inside. I maintained my course direction and concentrated on a long easy stroke as the wetsuit had started to get quite warm by this stage of the swim.

I was happy being 3rd out of the water in my age group as the swim had been trouble free. It could have been nasty with the narrow nature of the course and in particular if a crowd had arrived at the exit point (a steep single lane ramp) at the same time.

Bike – 2h45m28s (including both transitions)

Having only completed long course on the flat roads of Busselton I was not too sure how I would go on the rolling hills of the Gold Coast. To make matters more interesting the breeze had started to increase so this would present its own challenges (although, after Busselton IM last year, any wind could be considered easy).

The first section of the course was through the Coomera Waters estate and was rather tight & technical. It was soon off the hot mix and back onto the country roads for the slog out to the turn around. As a strong swimmer this is the period I usually get to watch or the ‘uberbikers’ and first timers tear past (usually get to see the latter again in about 50 – 60km once they blow up) and this race was no exception.

I quickly got into the hydration and gel routine and put my head down to push out to the first turn around on the old Pacific Highway. Some pretty big groups were forming at numerous stages on the bike and if the draft busters were going to be as tough as they said, there would be some real carnage. Sure enough the penalty box at the first turn around was pretty full.

The course has many rolling hills which gave plenty of opportunity to get out of the saddle and required numerous gear changes. By the mid point of lap 1 a loose collection of us had formed that would continue to change position. This was handy to maintain pace however you end up spending too much time thinking about drafting and looking over your shoulder rather than working on your own race.

The first lap was soon completed and then out for the second. During the early stages of the second lap I started to loose concentration/focus (taking in the view and thinking about the others around me I guess) and noticed that my heart rate had started to drop. Soon got the mind back on the job and shortened the time between gels from 40min to 30min to make sure I was putting enough fuel in the tank to be able to push for the run.

Given the nature of the course I was happy with an average speed of 33.7 kph for the bike with the heart rate average at 83%.

Run – 1h55m16s

Transition was pretty slow as there was a change of socks and resetting of the watch to get the foot pod operational.

The strategy for the run was ‘hang in there and see how we go’. This is my traditional struggle leg and I have done some good work over the winter and was starting to see some reasonable improvement.

Right hand turn out of transition and then straight into the only hill on the course. Only a little bugger of about 150m but it was very sharp with a false flat near the top. This was soon over and then onto the flat section that weaved through the residential development.

The first lap passed uneventfully with the nutritional strategy of Coke and water working fine. I was surprised at how different the legs felt to Busselton. The usual pain in the quads was absent although the general foot soreness did remain, unfortunately.

Into the second lap I started feeling very sore in the stomach and on one occasion had to pull over to be sick. On reflection I think I had taken a salt tablet too close to the Coke. Combined with the heat and stage of the race this had caused my stomach to cramp. I kept moving and re-found my composure after 25 – 30 minutes.

It was soon into the last kilometre and time to stand tall and look good crossing the line. I looked up at the time on the finishing clock and was a little disappointed to see the time of 5h15m as it felt a little faster.

It was not until I checked my time on the internet a day later I realised my mistake. I had to take off 9 minutes due to the wave starts which gave me a completion time of 5h06m16s (a PB by 2 minutes).

Some of the race day highlights would have to include:
- seeing Chris McCormack in race mode again 3 weeks out from a major assault on Hawaii;
- surviving a congested swim course in murky water where you could not see your hands during the swim stroke;
- experiencing a real cane toad incident on the bike course (mind you he was already looking pretty flat and dry by the time I rode over him);
- very black and poisonous looking snakes to help maintain the motivation for a fast run split (they had slithered out of the bush to cross the road);
- fellow Budgie disciple Luke Goard taking out the 25 – 29 Age Group with a combined time of 4h23m18s.

This race was a good opportunity to test myself on an alternate course, check the status of my training and nutritional strategies 9 weeks out from the IronMan.

As always I feel I have learned something from this race and will look to implement this in my training and future races.