IM ARIZONA 2014 RACE REPORT

                                                


So....Home I came from Kona, after a week of no training it was Monday morning again and the 5.30am alarm went off. Time to hit the pool again! nothing like a 6k swim to kick start the body back into training. The only problem was getting out of bed that morning was a struggle.. Normally I am awake before the alarm goes of. My body whilst not fully recovered from Kona was feeling ok, My mind was the opposite. Although I was in for AZ I still had not fully made my mind up to travel. Still the disappointment of Kona lingered in my mind. I did go to the pool, and continued as if I was going to race. But to be honest I was just looking any excuse to just not go. I was tired..grumpy (always am) and motivation to put my body and mind through the IM ordeal was zero. 

On one of the mornings I got up to bike it was cold, dark and raining.. Sitting in my back kitchen feeling sorry for  myself I made my mind up I was not going. Ash walked in and asked what I was doing..I replied "I am not going to AZ" "I couldn't be bothered" Her reply was "By F**k your going, now get out that door and HTFU"  She hit me with a few facts..How I was as fit and strong as I had ever being.. How she never seen me train so hard. And was I going to let something I could do nothing about in Kona ruin my whole years training! 

Mission AZ was on! And after chatting with Alan, who deals only in facts, he reminded me that although I was not at pre Kona numbers there would still not be many Age groupers that could match me. And I still had 3 more weeks of training to improve on my fitness. 

I left for AZ on the Monday before the race.. As I knew ash would be glued to the laptop race day my last words to her leaving the house was.. " No matter what you see on the screen race day..no this! I will be giving it my absolute best from start to end.. Not one negative thought will cross my mind..no matter what happens" 

Got to AZ with no drama, and was delighted with the weather.. My swimming was going good and out on the bike course my numbers looked very good indeed.. Running just may have being a bit down but not very much. I think on my second to last run whilst doing some efforts I was hitting pace but felt heavy doing it.. Then on the last 2 something just clicked.. All off a sudden my legs felt light and I was running with ease..It just felt like the rubber band that was holding me back snapped and I was running free again... From that second I knew I was good to go! 

The night before the race I was nervous..but in very good spirits.. My brother sent me a video of my nephew and niece wishing me good luck... Great I thought..This is the ammunition I need.. And even though what was a very quite hotel all week.. A wedding changed that.. Even the noise didn't bother me.. I was in a very good mental place.. ( Still crapping myself though) I woke up 3.15am and spoke to Ash on the phone quickly.. I reminded her of my promise.. And she wished me luck! just as I was walking out the door she sent me a photo of Her and Emma.. This did make me a bit teary but again it was another positive mental image! I was ready:)

As I waited for the shuttle down to T1 I noticed something that was not present all week... The trees at the front of the hotel were blowing... Then I knew it would be a windy one.. Not like all week when wind was very calm.. Actually before I seen the trees blowing and judging by what I was doing during the week on the bike I was confident of biking 4.35 or below.. Again this was not bothering me as it would be windy for everyone.. Into T1 to get everything ready and the usual butterflies started, and the usual self doubt.. The only difference this time round I was very aware of my promise to Ash..and myself. All was good and I just wanted in the water.. 

THE SWIM:

The swim entrance is pretty narrow here and there was also 400m or so to swim to the start line.. As discussed with Alan I positioned myself dead centre and at the very front.. Last year I went far left and got pummelled. When the cannon went it was a relief.. I took of not at max effort but seemed to be pretty much out front.. Jesus I was thinking whats happening here! I am actually still at the front.. At that point as I breathe to my left I could see the wolf pack coming... Ah bolix I thought! This is normally the point I back of.. try and let the what I assume is the faster swimmers round.. Try and get on their feet..but this never works! I always let them swim over me and in turn get stuck behind slower swimmers... Today I decided just to hold on for another min or so..And then see where I was.. Good choice! For they didn't come round and my decision paid off as it was the most clear an clean swim I can remember.. I swam side by side with some guy for the entire swim.. I felt comfortable and was happy to see 1.01 on my watch when I stood up.. 

T2 went well and I was out on the bike in no time.. Right from the off the wind was up, my thoughts of a fast bike split were dashed..but again this didn't bother me as it was windy for everyone not just me.. I was very aware that I needed to be mindful and not go to hard to soon.. HR was a tad high but so was power.. I was doing all the passing as usual until 4 or 5 guys passed me some of which were in my AG.. I jumped and went with them, but looking at my power and only judging what they were pushing I didn't think it wise to continue so let them go.. steadied my HR and Pw and settled into a nice pace. And just as I thought as I started to climb the beeline for the first time I passed all of them:) For those who don't know the Bee line is the main climb on a very flat course..It is 10-11 mile long and whilst not very steep, its enough to soften your legs... Especially when you've 26 mile to run after it.. And with the strong head wind that was present today the race would be won by the smartest athlete.. The nice thing about the wind was that coming back down it was 40mph job.. There is nothing nicer than hearing the roar of a disc and 808 to raise your spirits.. ( Sad I Know) 1st lap I rode mostly on my own..at the beginning of the 2nd a guy passed me and I thought it wise to go with him.. He looked strong but judging by the size of his legs I knew he was only a biker! I have done all the reading and research about riding draft LEGAL! and the energy and watts than can be saved is a lot.. Even though I felt I was riding slower than i would be had I went it alone.. I knew I was making the right choice.. At the start of the 3rd lap i had a wheel sucker on me.. That I couldn't stand for and gave it some extra gas.. I got rid of the wheel sucker but also my big legged buddy.. I was very aware of the increasing wind and did ease of for the final lap.. HR came down and from then on I was in get ready for the run mode.. Even though I eased of..no one was coming round me! It was pretty hectic for the last time going up the climb as people were all over the shop with the wind.. People bumping into each other and some getting blown of by the wind.. Just stay safe were my thoughts.... Although I didn't find the bike easy.. Those mental images in my head of the video of the kids..and the pic of Ash and Emma made it easy riding... I was loving it!! One thing that did surprise me was the amount of fluid I was going through..I didn't find it that hot..but was going through the same amount as I did in kona.. between Energy drink and water I took on 11 bottles!! On top of that gels and those lovely mini snickers bars.. Again I was happy because when you are fit to take all this on with no trouble things are generally going well.. I can tell you though when I was approaching the dismount line i was happy to be getting out of that bloody wind.. Into T2 and it was just me in the tent.. Nice feeling that.. Although I had no idea where I was position wise i knew I  could not be doing that bad. I was just wishing I was like others who had there team mates out on the bike course giving them splits.. That way i would know where I was:) ( Isn't that right)

Out onto the run and feeling real good.. I thought getting of the bike my battle with the wind was over.. Nope! A strong head wind out bound but in all fairness my mind was in a good place.. and i didn't care. I had a plan and I was sticking to it.. The first 2 people I passed were a male and female pro.. I was running strong but it was still very early in the run.. At about 2-3 mile into the run I noticed the "TEAM" standing with laptops..i pads..i phones every gadget under the sun.. taking splits and passing them on.. I actually thought that would make me mad..but it had the opposite effect.. Now I don't know if they were giving splits again me but in my opinion its a solo race and that's the way it should be. Enough about that anyway..

I completed the first lap and my plan was to up the pace.. just like i planned to do the previous year! Last year when I tried I just didn't have it in the legs.. Today I did! I didn't run that much faster..but I was still running faster.. At mile 14 I think I was running behind a guy with 40-44 on his leg.. At this stage the run course was getting pretty full And I was not to sure if he was only starting his 1st lap..or if he was actually ahead of me. ( See theres the advantage of getting splits) Either way I was running faster and when I passed he said good job.."you are now in 1st" Two things crossed my mind.. One was " Ah bolix now I have got to keep running" 2nd was " How the feck did he know that" Or how did he know me!  So either way I was 1st in my AG or 1st AGer overall.. That meant Kona ticket was in my hands..And no way on earth was I letting it slip! The 2nd loop was going pretty quickly and bar me completely blowing up all would be good.. I eased up a bit with about 5mile to go as just to be sure the unthinkable did not happen.. My plan was to run sub 3 which was on plan.. but that changed to just get the job done..and save something in the tank in case someone got a late burst of energy.. Again it was not until after the race I realised I had a 12min cushion over 2nd place so I could have went for the sub 3.. ( Wish I had someone giving me splits) But it didn't matter I reached my goal and could not have being happier.. Job done ! KONABABY2015

That's my season over...done and dusted! Alan agreed to give me some time off which I am grabbing with both hands.. I owe that guy so much this year. It was my first year working with him and I am super excited about next year already.. Thank you Coach!

But special thanks must go to my wife.. The woman that steadies the ship when the waters get rough.. And believe me, living and putting up with me the waters get rough pretty often! THANK YOU HONEY xxx

I have nothing planned yet for next year apart from Kona so far, I will chat with Alan and together we will come up with the master plan:) But one thing for sure is I will race more.. For next year I am trying to get some sponsors on board.. Any one that can point me in the right direction please do. Also in the not so distant future I have some more exciting news, which I am looking forward to announcing.. but more about that later... Until then my friends its over and out from me..thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings:)

OWEN

KONA 2014 RACE REPORT

At long long last I have finally got/found some energy-mojo to sit down and write a race report for this years Kona. Normally I jot some words down soon after the race, I always like to do this as you still have the emotions and feelings, good or bad that come with a race. This year post Kona I was deflated..Not with my result, As any day you cross a finish line is a good day! But disappointed in me! Not my performance, but how I dealt with things that was thrown at me that I could do nothing about.

As I sit here now writing this I have raced again and qualified for Kona 2015.. That I am happy about, but it now gives me two pieces to write about, two races with completely different outcomes. I had planned to write this one on the plane to AZ.. but with the discovery of wifi on the plane I spent the time looking at FB and twitter! :)  Just being honest!

My objective of my next two blogs will be to show how one simple thing either can help you have a great race...Or ruin everything! I am not going to go into it but hopefully when you read both you will get what I am saying. So for now I am going to step back in time and AZ has not even happened yet.

KONA PRE- RACE:

I started of this season Jan 1st after a long break from what was a long 2013... I changed coaches this year from Mark White...... a good friend who I will be forever grateful. I felt I needed to challenge myself more this season and was happy when Alan Couzens said he would take me under his wing. After a long talk with Alan i told him I believed I could go top 10 in Kona.. It was decided that my build would be a long long one with not so much racing in between. The weeks and months flew by and I think/hope I surprised Alan with what I could handle.. There is no doubt that leading into Kona I was at Pro level fitness. Alan loves those numbers and everything he was telling me, and what I could see for myself was pointing more Top 5 than 10.

I left for the Big Island 2 days earlier than before as to give myself more time to adjust to the heat..and also to try and get my body clock back to normal. But alas I had not even got out of LA and that's where things (In my head) started to go down hill. In short British Airways lost my bike and they had no idea where it was. This put my head in a complete spin... There I was in the best shape of my life and no bike..no nothing as most of my stuff was in the box! I did take swim and run gear in my carry on as 4 out of the 5 years my box has gone missing. The only difference this time was they had no idea where it was.. I cannot explain how much this affected me mentally! I have never being so negative and defeated leading into a race. I did hire a bike and done a 2-3 hour ride.. all this done was tweak nearly every muscle I had from the waste down. ( shows the importance of a good bike fit) This took me down mentally even more. To add to all this Kona was the hottest I have experienced.. I normally love the heat and seem to thrive in it.. Ashling spent 2 days solid on the phone and she tracked my bike. It arrived 5 days late but at least now in my mind I was back on track.. ( Or at least I thought I was) On the rides I did I noticed my Power/HR numbers where not as they would be at home..I had no problem with this as I knew the heat was taking longer to adjust to.. On my running I was way slower than normal..Again I was confident all would be good before the race. But still in the back of my damm mind was those 5 days of the missing bike!

RACE MORNING:

As mentioned in previous blogs I have come up with a strategy for the night before big races and this helps me get a decent amount of sleep.. I woke feeling rested..but not excited!! Here I was with the honour of racing in the biggest race of them all and when you feel you HAVE to race..that is not good! That simply is not good enough when you bust your ass all year in all types of shite weather And here I was not giving a shit!

Into T1 to get bike ready.. And that took about 10 min, then it would be wait for the helicopter time.. This is when normally the butterflies start for me.. My plan this year was to start way left to try and avoid the macho man crap that always takes place.. BOOM the cannon went and it was just a great relief to be finally started... A bit of biff boff bosh but nothing to bad and quickly I was into a steady controlled pace.. I knew pre race the surf would be up but whilst i was not getting thrown around to much, looking down I just got the sense that someone was picking me up and dropping me down 20 foot to the left of right.. This was making me feel a bit sick..and I was thinking about swimming with my eyes closed as to take that weird sideways motions away! In keeping wide left though I swam most of the swim solo..this suited me fine! That was until I stood up and seen 1.13.. I wont write down my exact words here, but you can guess! Right there and then my plans of a top 5 went completely out the window.. I was deflated!

Onto the bike and in my mind everyone who I would be challenging was so far up the road that I would need to be Tony Martin..not Owen Martin to catch them. I knew coming into the race that I would be down time getting onto the bike..but if numbers were to be believed I would catch ALL before the end of the bike. I settled my mind by the time the out and back section was done and started to climb Palini before heading out onto the Queen K. And then thats were some idiot decided to go up the inside of me and the guy to my right.. There was contact and both me and the guy to the right let him have it with both barrels.. Firstly Palani is a no pass zone and its a pity the refs didn't see as as he would have got DQd.. Secondly if the refs had of seen it they probably would have DQd me for the language I used!  There he was going up a hill as if he was Froome himself.. This dude was going to win the race I thought...And all in the 1st 10 mile of the race... By the time I reached the top.. All of 1 min later I felt bad.. I was thinking I was putting out bad karma..and we all know when karma bites back its a bitch. Another 2-3 mile passed and low and behold here is Chris froome himself blowing smoke out of his arse going backwards!!! I guess he should of went up the hill at a pace he could actually do ( F**king plonker) But I decided I would clear the air and bring back good karma and get on with the race.. As i passed him i said sorry for the language and wished him luck... That made me feel good.. Onwards I went and a short time later that's were everything went pear shaped! Chained slipped when changing gears and jammed between the frame and crank.. Before this I was making good ground as usual on the bike.. had to stop and fix it and the 1st time it didnt take to long.. I can tell you watching all those people pass you that you just passed is not nice.. after the 3rd time you can only imagine what was going through my mind.. As far as i was corcerned all my training and efforts would be ruined.. all from an idiot trying to be a hero in front of crowds of people. After I fixed it the 3rd time i decided just not to change gears and ride fixie style.. Around this time I passed Paul Deen and he told me everyone had a crap swim and he and Martin swam 1.08.. And despite me stopping 3 times i was gaining time.. The wind was savage to put it nicely.. but this was playing into my hands i though.. my power was very good, Hr also.. I started to climb to Hawi and shortly before the turn I seen my old buddy going in the other direction.. this filled me with confidence as the gap was not that big and I still had nearly half the ride to go.. The tailwind on the way back down was great.. I am flying i thought.. The tailwind turned to head as expected and then the fatal blow came... On one of the uphills I changed gears and of the chain came for the 4th time.. this time i was pissed... I stepped of the bike and the wind just blew it out of my hands.. It took ages this time to fix and by the time i got going i had gone from being in a positive mood to completely disheartened.. All the thoughts of the missing bike box came back..everything that went wrong in the build up filled my mind.. I was hoping a race car would come so i could put my bike in and get a ride back to town.. For me my race was over! but in my mind i kept picturing a photo my brother sent me pre race of a poster my nephew and niece made for me.. plus thinking there was no way i wanted to let Ash down.. for I knew she would be more gutted for me than i would be..for me! That was enough to get back on a keep riding.. At this stage i was not riding easy but neither was i racing..My bike broke twice again after this but at that stage i didn't give a shit.. I was never as glad to be getting back to town.. I pulled up to the dismount line in a very casual manner.. I took my time getting of, kept my feet in the shoes..none of that fancy dismount stuff you see on the videos.. I walked though T2 having a chat here and there.. I was actually finding amusement at the strange looks I was getting from the helpers.. They were all looking at me having a nice stroll whilst everyone round me was in full flight to get out onto the run..I was in no hurry... My mind had switched to AZ.. And to be honest i even though about not even doing the run.. There was nothing wrong with me except for a extremely negative mindset!! I ran out of T2 and stopped to have a quick chat with Ash and tell her my plan of just running to every aid station and saving my legs for AZ.. Well I can not write down here her response to that idea... It went something like ( You will and you're F**k..You will run) Gota love Ash x

Still even at that my head was elsewhere... I was in complete feel sorry for myself mode! The run this year was not as hot because of allot of cloud cover.. But I found a pace around 7.15/20 felt comfortable at that and just decided to hold that..I did however get a great mental boost when running down into the energy lab.. Una ( Irish girl who lives there) had tricolors everywhere.. It was a sight to behold and did make me feel proud.. I decided to up the pace, but cramped in my belly when my HR went to 146/7 when HR was at 144/5 all was good.. So again i just settled and ran steady back to the finish line. Regardless of how crap i was feeling in the head the sound of Mike Reilly does give you a boost.. I made sure to enjoy the final mile..Because right there and then this was going to be my last Kona for sure.. 26 mile is a long time and gives you loads of time to think.. In my mind I was thinking all my years work was for nothing.. Wasted!! All because of 2 things I could do nothing about.. Idiots loosing my bike.. and a plonker who thought he was froome!! I crossed the line gutted but happy to finish.. It was why me time!! I enjoyed the banter in the athletes area..but still in my mind i was done with Kona! For me I was extremely grateful to have completed a race 5 times that most would give their left arm for.. The next few days over a few beers and lots of bad food my mindset changed.. My thinking was if I had of prepared badly for the race through lack of training, bad diet etc and got a bad race..Well so be it.. That i could take and would deserve.. But I trained great.. and all that fitness was still there.. The only thing that let me down was my head..feeling sorry for myself over stuff i had zero control over..

You can be as fit and strong as you like.. but if you're most powerful tool is weak don't bother even doing the training. This was a harsh way for me to learn a very valuable lesson.. But I have learned

Onwards to AZ i went!!

To be continued........