Jenn on the Run: 2013 06June09 - Ironman Cairns full and 70.3

Bike check-in was on Saturday afternoon.

The advantage on staying just 300m away from the starting line is befitting.

However, walking to the swim start jetty is *ouch ouch* nearly 800m on pebble stones walking path.

The start of the walking path. Give yourself a foot reflexology by walking barefooted.

My feet was numb by the time i reached the jetty.

Deep water start. Really cloudy the day before.

My 2nd Ironman event.

Bike porning is always a must.

It's like window shopping.

Met a pro at the section. KS kept asking me to take photo with her.

Paiseh....i don't quite know her. Not personally, just that i don't read magz or keep updated to know her =p

But these 3....hmmm...niceeee

Seriously.

When I actually do an Ironman distance race, it is not going to be ONLY gels as my lunch.

My bike setup area.

Target next year, Tri bike =p

Run bags

Kinda worrisome on your sunnies. I left mine in the casing.

Doesn't matter if it takes time to take it out.

Bike bag. Rekky the place to make sure i run into the correct aisle.

First time entering changing room.

Don't really like walking on grass when wet.

It sticks to the feet when you wanna wear your shoes.

RACE REPORT

Swim - 1.9km

Sighhh...rookie mistake. I thought since I stay nearby the starting line, I had time to go back to the hotel and use the toilet facilities. However, the bloody jetty was so far away, by the time I got to the starting line, it was already final call. Plus since its a deep swim start, we had to swim out about 50m to the line. No stretching, just jumped in the water and swam. The gun fired before I reached the starting time. Thankfully the sun has not fully rise up yet. So no glare from the sun. KS's Ironman start had the full force of it though. Pretty straight forward route.

Bike - 180km

The 1 sports that is my weakest. I can never seem to sit comfortably. Coach KS had me training on the trainer for 3hrs straight to help me get use to the non-stop movement of my legs. The good news is that it helped. Plus, had my bike's crank arms shorter for me to spin easily. The bike route was scenic with some parts coastal, rolling hills. it did rained a little at the end of the bike route. T1 & T2 at at different locations.

Run - 21km

I might have put too much into the bike because I felt tired when I started my run. This is what happens when I don't train brick session enough for long duration. Running from T2 towards the Esplanade felt long (around 10km worth). I had to alternate walk/run in between. Funny incident was a fellow racer whom I passed suddenly shouted at me "Don't you dare stop!" when I was starting to slow down =p. We kept together until about 500m away when I started sprinting to the finish line.

After I had completed my race, I went back to the room to recover. Then, drive to T2 to pick up both bikes (early flight out the next day).

On the way back, we drive alongside the runners. I actually noticed KS hobbling away.

I stopped my car on the side. Had his glasses with me. Asked a water station assistant to pass it to him. As it was getting dark, wearing sunnies is kind of difficult. Plus it was pouring on & off.

He said he wanted to give up already as he was not feeling well & he hurt. I told him to try to get to the Esplanade first then judge from there. Unfortunately, the Ironman racers had to run 3 loop around the Esplanade (passing the finish area each time).

After much encouragement, KS WALKED 11km worth to complete the race.