My first half Ironman distance race - 'Swashbuckler' - post race report

So many thoughts and feelings running through my mind right now, so I will do my very best to be concise but also give you a feel of how it was for me yesterday.

Started out by getting to Buckler's Hard, New Forest on Saturday for race registration. This was fairly straight forward. Whilst there I met up with a lot of my fellow club mates #ThamesTurbo and handed out the t-shirts I had had made up and tattoos.

Attended the race brief which was informative. Made our way to the Travelodge, which was situated off the main highway, not fun for triathletes having to wake up at 4am in the morning. Accommodation was simple and most of my club mates were staying there aswell.  The evening was nice and relaxed, met up with my fellow turbos for a pre race meal. Can't say the food was that impressive but it was lovely to catch up with my mates before the race. Went to bed early and attempted to get as much sleep as possible. A little bit hard as I was/am suffering a stupid head cold.

Alarm was set for 4am, and 4am I awoke. I actually did sleep pretty well, it was a deep sleep. Felt like a long time but was a solid 6 hours. Preparation was relaxed, got kit on, ate some food and pretty much made our way to the race.

Arrived at Bucklers Hard and you could feel the atmosphere, the sun was slowly rising, it was a beautiful morning. I wasn't nervous at all, just really wanted to get started. Pretty much got into transition set up camp next to my team mates and got everything positioned ready for race. Baby oiled the body so the wetsuit could easily slide on and off (at least that was what I was hoping for).

So onto the race!!!

SWIM - 1.9km

It was a mass start, all competitors were instructed to get into the water. My instructions were to get in and position myself towards the back, allowing for stronger swimmers to proceed ahead, completely fine by me. Once in the water, I surprised how lovely it was (14.5 degrees roughly) and it was salt water. We had 1.9km to do and it was two laps. With all my swim training in Italy with the amazing Dan Bullock from Swim for Tri, and the lake swims I had done since returning from Italy, I was actually looking forward to the swim. The horn sounded and we were off. I didn't care about anyone else, I just kept reminding myself of the calm words spoken to me by Dan Bullock, just get in there and do 1.9km of excellent technique. That is exactly what I did. I did my best to sight, the turning buoy was too lighter shade of pink and directly in line of the sight with the sun. I felt good. My breathing was relaxed. In my head I wanted to do it around 46 mins. When I exited out of the water I looked at my Garmin and it had 49 mins. I was happy with that.

T1

The run from the river bank to transition was about 300 meters uphill. In the process I took the top half of the wetsuit off, got into transition and proceeded to get ready for the bike leg. Was in transition for about 3+ minutes.

BIKE 80km

In my mind the bike leg was to be my strongest. In my previous post I said I wanted to do this under 3 hours and that was my intention. I can't say this was my best riding to be honest. My bike position was not right, my saddle bag kept coming undone and dragging against my back wheel, my nutrition intake was terrible. My good intentions went simply out the window. Having my time on my wrist didn't help me measure the zones I needed to be in either. My bike position didn't allow me to use all the power I have to really kick butt. The course was lovely and scenic, lots of headwind, crosswind etc. So I found that to be a bit tough. I rode 98% in my drops but as my ITB started to twinge, I sat upright. I found the bike to be tough and unfortunately didn't make it in under 3 hrs. Time was 3:10. I am proud of myself because 6 months ago I could ride at a 25kph average over this distance, I was around the 20 - 22kph, so big improvement. Now I just need to get to the magic 30 - 32kph average for Melbourne IM. Massive thanks to the cheers I got from the Turbos out on the course and also cheering from the sidelines. Make a big difference.

T2

As I came in to dismount on the bike, I swear I felt like I was last. I got some big cheers from the Frame family (thanks ladies), thank you. Got in and thought okay, now time for a little run. In my head I kept saying to myself, maintain your pace, go slowly allowing HR to settle and then find rhythm. As I was running out, I saw many turbos on the way out for their second lap, and also my cheer squad @ironmantri1976 who managed to get a great pic of me as I ran towards the exit to begin the run.

RUN - 22km

What can I say other than the run broke me. First lap there were still plenty of people out there on the course so I wasn't feeling lonely. The nutrition I took whilst running was a #biestmilchbooster and I drank at every water aid station along the course. The first was okay, I kept saying to myself manage your heart rate, short sharp arm movements like a choo choo train. Maintain posture and mental words were strong, determined and focused, to the beat of 1,2,3,4 etc etc. The run in up the hill to finish my first lap was tough. So many people had already finished, but as I made my way closer to top of the hill, I could see a load of Turbos sitting in pole position on the hill to cheer everyone through. I was really worried that I was not going to the make the cutoff, and Roland kindly said to me there are people behind you, you will be fine, just keep going. I also then caught Tom's eye and saw his encouragement and the arm moving Cmon Tarsh keep going, then I saw Super H and yelled out my ITB was hurting ALOT, she yelled back to me, its all in your mind, keep going, you can do this, finally Darren (@Ironmantri1976) yelling come on Tarsh, get going, keep smiling.......at this point I'm like cmon Tarsh, get strong, stay focused, the pain is in my head. This mantra kept me going for a few miles but then I started to break mentally. The pain in my ITB was now referring all the way down the side of my left leg and it was sharp pain, then I felt every time my foot landed that i needed to pee. So I stopped and pee'd against a tree. I kept going, it was a mixture of run/walk/stretch. I even stopped and stretched on the ground to eleviate the pain. This worked well enough to keep me going till mile 12. This is where the trail begins, the final 2 miles. I was in pain and mentally I was broken. I stopped at the final aid station, took on drink, drenched myself in water and then took off knowing this trail was the yellow brick road to the finish line. 

At the beginning of the final 2 miles I started to cry, I was so emotionally broken that the only way to regain my mental strength to complete this race was to cry and get it over and done with. So I did, I ran and cried for about 750m, then I remembered a saying in my MaccaX team 'Embrace the suck' and this is when I had a good bloody stern conversation with myself, 'man the fuck up Tarsh and get on finish this freaking race' and bloody hell that is exactly what I did. I embraced the suck, parked the pain and ran the final 2 miles at a pace which I could manage. 

Coming up the hill for the final time, there were not so many people anymore, so it was lonely, then I saw Charmaine cheering me into the finish, then out of nowhere a fellow MaccaX team member, Stuart G had made his way down to the course to cheer me on and as I was coming in to the finish, I looked to my left and a load of my turbo team mates and other triathletes were there, I did feel like a superstar at this point. I crossed the line, looked at my garmin (thanks Daddy) and saw I made it in 6:59!!!!!! 

                                          What a freaking effort! All for this amazing medal!

* Need to get refitted on bike to take advantage of the power I know I can produce

* Must relook at nutrition and practice this diligently on every ride

* Must strengthen body - core and flutes

* More long runs required 

* Following my race plan set by coach - i tried and then it all went out the window

What did I love:

* I loved the swim, thanks to my daily training for 2 weeks with Dan Bullock from Swim for Tri, I really loved the swim.