Shepparton Half Ironman
Sunday 18th November 2007

If it’s November in the Melbourne triathlon world, then it means the Shepparton 1/2IM is on over a time tested and enduring course…this year being the 10^th anniversary. It’s a great event in an otherwise quite dull location, and also a great social weekend for meeting up with friends at the start of the triathlon season.

For me it was my 5^th time around in the race that has proved a to be a place of mixed fortunes and frustrations. But the fact it doesn’t change much is also a drawing point as it serves as a great benchmark…although as we found this year (and last) the climatic conditions can play a big part in the day!!

So with some familiarity of the event I knew what to expect of the course. And with a lot of familiarity with racing I knew who to look out for in my age group…make no mistake, I was here to race, and knew exactly (almost) who were likely to be the main competition. Without allowing for “blow-ins” it came down to 2 people – Sean Foster and Matty Lewis. Other age groups didn’t matter, and we even had our own wave start just to heighten the competition!!

Like a prize fighter, I knew each of their strengths and weaknesses, and how the race might unfold in respect of each of them. Knowing that makes it tricky…do I stick to my race plan or change according to what unfolds? It is a ½ IM after all – no place for the faint-hearted and can end in tears of fatigue and discomfort if/when it goes pear-shaped. Geez, I know that all too well.

For me, well I was going into the race quite fit, generally, but really lacking in the race fitness department. This kind of training just hasn’t gone well recently and I knew I was underdone and not feeling sharp at all…n contrast to Matty who has been ripping up the race track recently. So it was with an air of wishful confidence in my form I lined up, all to aware that you won’t do in racing what you haven’t done in (recent) training. Uh oh!!

I find that having our own wave start is great since you can tell exactly where you are, helped by being close to the pointy end from the get-go. And get-go it was for the 300m or so to the first turn buoy. 2 swimmers emerged from the crush alongside me. 1 guy went ahead and I was left to eyeball the other guy, stroke for stroke. After about 500m I decided this was silly and dropped back onto his feet, in 3^rd place. And there I stayed for about 1400m, following behind as we negotiated around many, many slower swimmers from the earlier waves. But we took a great line around the side of them all and got through cleanly.

Throughout I was feeling sluggish and with heavy arms, just missing that extra race gear, even this early in the race. But I clung to his feet right through to shore and stood up to discover it was in fact Sean Foster’s feet – phew, that’s good because I feared it was him that swam away from us. So the race had already been on for the 27:08mins swim – about 55sec slower than last year. Ugghhh. And it was raining.

Sean is notoriously slow during transition and so I beat him out onto the ride and set off. In the unknown of my ride fitness I set a fairly conservative goal based on wattage, of about 230-240 watts – I though this would be sustainable. The power meter is a fantastic tool to race with.

The rain was light but consistent, and the wind blowing stiffly – a head wind going out. My power was up around 250-260watts but into the wind this was OK – swings and roundabouts – as it would be less in the other directions. Without looking back…the race is always in front of you – I expected Sean to ride up to me quite soon, and then it would be race on again. But it didn’t happen, and I didn’t look around wondering. I passed the swim leader at 8km and was now at the head of our age group!!

My power meter was fantastic. On the main display it shows:- current power, normalised power, cadence, HR, Intensity Factor, speed, distance and time!! A lot of data in front of you, but the main number I was focused on was current power and to lesser extent normalised power, cadence, HR and speed. And with this I rode very consistently and controlled. End of the first lap and it was raining heavily and still no Sean Foster…this made me feel good that perhaps he’d dropped off…but I was unaware of where Matty was after his (usually) slower swim. But the race is still ahead of you, up the road. Normalised power in first lap = 232watts. Perfect.

Second lap the wind changed direction and blowing quite a bit. Quite uneventful and lonely. Rain eased. Normalised power in second lap = 232 watts. Perfect!! And there I saw Sean Foster beside the road, DNF. Turned out to be a puncture…and I thought it was that damn Movember growth on his top lip!!!

Third lap and the wind changed direction again and I was still feeling quite good and happy how I was riding. Then ½ way around this lap I started to tire a little and felt myself slowing a bit and that lack of race fitness. I kind of wished I had some company to gee me up a bit – my power dropped about 10watts or so, and speed slowed in the last 15km, but still noone went past. I rolled into T2 glad to get off. Final ride stats:- normalised power = 231watts; Avg Hr = 148; split (incl T1 & T2) = 2:23:57. Apart from the last 15km, a good, conservative ride…I thought. Elapsed time 2:51:05hr.

Onto the run not knowing how far back Matty was, again my aim was to run conservatively and protect my current lack of confidence in my race running form. But it felt really easy and I felt great to start with. This was a good sign early on.

Like the bike, I know the run course very well. 3 laps and good opportunity to see others in the race. At 4km and first u-turn I saw Matty, and he was a lot closer than I expected – about 2mins or so behind!! Sh*t!! And he’s in great running form at the moment…maybe I’ve got enough buffer to hang on. Just keep running.

There were lots of familiar faces out there, and lots of cheers of encouragement. And there were faces I didn’t recognise, but who still cheered – you guys are great. Apologies if I missed returning your cheers…you see, I was running scared. Through the first lap OK, on close to 80min pace, and still feeling great into the 2^nd lap. At the next u-turn at about 11km Matty was about 1:50min behind – hadn’t closed much gap, but I was starting to feel a bit tired. Geez, I hoped like hell he was tiring also. I was doing the calculations on what it would/might take to just hold on, taking into account slow-down rates. Damn those calculations.

End of 2^nd lap and slipped to about 81min pace, but my competitive race was coming to a close with still another 7km to go. Can I at least hold onto 4min/km?? Just keep going…and looking intently for signs of Matty as we ran around the lake. He was looking good. And I was starting to bonk, I mean BONK!! Oh dear…this is all too familiar…and it feels completely crap each time. I was on the canvas again with the referee looking over me for signs of life in my eyes. Nup. But don’t wave the towel yet, buddy!!

As I was getting ready to take a time check at the last u-turn, with 3km to go, dammit, Matty is right there. After 100km of racing in the lead, time gap now is 0secs, and going into negative. He was away and I was gorrrrnnnn. Just get home. Don’t care about anyone or anything. Ignore that dazed feeling and stars in your eyes. Just get home. Oh man I hate this feeling…

Finally onto the lake path in time to hear them call Matty over the line – what a top performance he had, and well deserved. 2mins later I stagger across the line, almost falling backwards…I felt a little faint. In fact, felt a lot faint. But 11^th overall, 2^nd in 35-39 and 4:16hrs – not such a bad result.

 But my race wasn’t over yet. I literally staggered to a chair and collapsed and just slumped like a rag doll for minutes and minutes and minutes. I was completely drained, but thought perhaps I should stand up and move a bit. Uh oh. Not such a good idea…that was enough to bring up the first of about 3-4 really good, full volume chucks. Count ‘em…3 or 4 and I felt like sh*t. But once that was done I was like a new person…OK Matty, let’s go back to that turn around and start the race again, punk!!

 So there goes the Shep 1/2IM 2007. A really great race to do.