Cairns Ironman was my 5th Ironman. It was my fastest ever Ironman by a significant margin, and I am so proud of what I achieved. The race execution was a marked improvement from previous races but there are still plenty of areas I believe can be lifted. Some things worked much better than previous races and some things fell apart just as in previous Ironman races.
What went better this year?
If you look at purely time perspective I improved across the board.2 minutes in the swim, 19 on the bike and 9 minutes on the run.
Swim
A 4 minute improvement in the swim from the last time I did Cairns was amazing. It equated to an 8% improvement. Especially when it started pretty shakily with me taking 2 steps and going face first in a hole running down the beach to the water. So the take away from the swim was that I really don’t need to improve it much. If I can come out of the water roughly the same time. I will be right up the front of the race in my age group. If I can replicate the time and possibly get a little fitter and get out of the swim in even better shape, that will set me up for the rest of the race. Investing more time in to the swim that I have previously is time poorly spent as the other areas need a bigger improvement, that will make a much bigger difference come race day.
Transition 1
I was 1 minute slower than 2 years ago. So I can see some transition practice in my future. Getting out of my wetsuit quickly and learning how to get in my shoes when they are already on the bike could easily shave of nearly 2 minutes from this years transition. which for a little practice that wont take too much energy. It is a good investment of time to gain some free time with out actually expending any extra energy on the day.
Bike
The biggest improvement I made timewise across the whole day was on the bike. A drop in time from 5:23:58 to 5:04:15. A 19 minute improvement is massive. I was super happy with this improvement. Super happy. But it deserves to be broken down. My average speed jumps from 33. 3 km/h to 35.6 km/h. My average power however dropped from 230 watts normalised power to 220 watts Normalised power. So 19 minutes quicker for less output in an even better outcome than just going faster. Because going faster with less power means you are saving energy.
A 19 minute improvement equates to a 6% improvement. So think Nike Vapour fly’s but 3% more than the super shoes. If I was to aim at another 6% that would take my time to around 4:45:00 to be honest I am not sure that I can improve another 6%. equals a 37.8 km/h. Don’t get me wrong I would love to go that fast and be able to get of the bike and run a marathon. But I am not sure I am capable of going that fast with out severely sacrificing my run. My goals pace will be 4:55:00 which is still a 3% improvement. A 9 minute time improvement but I believe I will be able to get there and still be able to get off the bike and run.
T2.
I was 30 seconds slower than 2 years ago. But this one did involve a toilet break. Again given that next year I don’t need to stop or a toilet break I think I can know about a minute of here. Again a free minute for no energy expenditure. Take that to the bank.
Run
My marathon time of 4:11:00 was 9 minutes quicker than my previous best of 4:20:38 a 3% improvement. A good improvement. Not where I wanted to be. But an improvement none the less. For my to get to my goal time I need another 7% improvement. This is previously mentioned this is the leg that I need to improvement the most. But also believe that I can improve the most. This year at around the 18 km mark of the marathon I was looking good to go faster than a 4:11:00 but by the time I go to the 23 km mark the wheels had well and truly fallen off and I was reduced to walking for likely about 10 - 15 minutes. It was here that my legs felt like just gave up. I also had bad muscular cramping that didn’t subside for nearly 10 minutes.
I turned up this year fitter that any other race I had done previously. I know that for sure. I was confident and relaxed and ready to go on race day. My training for the event was super consistent and this result gives me confidence that further improvements are just around the corner.
I made great strides and made big improvements. But I want more. The next blog will cover what I believe will bring the biggest improvements going forward.
Mick