What a mental few weeks it’s been and in usual fashion I’ll keep this blog to the point and hopefully entertaining!!! Please forgive my pigeon English.
It starts as we leave for Ironman Lanzarote from Boise Idaho.
Flights consisting of: Boise-Seattle-Iceland-England-Madrid-Canary Islands.
We arrive to the beautiful Lanzarote, I love the white buildings, the water and the people!
What I don’t love : The Wind.
Race day shows up and so does the wind. YAY
The swim: I stayed in the front group and only took the lead once during the 3.8k. I knew the bike was going to be hard, so I was in energy saving mode early on.
Bike: HOLY NEW LEVEL OF PAIN!! I was riding within 30sec of the lead until about 90km, That’s when I climbed inside the hurt locker. “It was pretty dark in there” At one point I was riding 9kph uphill pushing over 400watts into a head wind. After shedding a few tears, I got back in the grove and kept pushing on. At 4:40mins I had my second really rough patch (this is when I'm usually getting off the bike and I still had 40min to ride) That 40min was an emotional roller coaster. (I think all IM’s are)
Below are some bike pic's from the race.
Anyways I came off the bike and started to run. I was surprised that I felt ok. After 30km I was pretty gone and was doing the classic "Ironman Shuffle" I ended up with a 3:30 marathon.
The positives: I now know I can blow up twice on the bike and still run a 3:30 marathon. Not suggesting that I’m content with a 3:30 marathon, but I have to find the positives in every race and that’s this one.
We spent a few days post race having a look around Lanzarote before heading to Venice for a few days. (I spent most of my time in the clear waters of Lanzarote hanging out with the stunning sea life) Flashback: During the race I saw the biggest Manta Ray ever, wanted to stop, it was HUGE…. I’m 192cm tall and it was MUCH bigger than me!! Crazy.
Venice = see pictures. I’d never seen Venice before and it was on our bucket list of places to visit. it’s a crazy maze of alley ways and canals and I loved getting lost there!
Then it was off the the UK for a night before heading back to Perth to set our lives in order before returning back to the US.
The second set of flights (with a stay over here and there)
Lanzarote-Grand Canaria-Madrid-Venice-Madrid-Heathrow-Abu Dhabi-Perth.
From when we left Australia 3.5weeks earlier we had 20+ individual flights and have flown a full loop of the globe!! For some-one that doesn’t enjoy flying this was less than ideal, but pretty cool all the same!!
Upon getting home to Perth, I was struck down with man flu (much worse than a regular flu) and spent a week feeling sorry for myself.
It was great to have a little taste of a Perth winter before heading getting back on a plane and shipping out for the USA. This time we are Boise bound until late October/early November.
3rd set of flights: Perth-Auckland-Los Angeles-Portland-Boise.. arggghhhhhh
Kate made me do a 25KM trail race two weeks ago. It went straight up and straight down. My legs have never hurt so much. They were on par with my first ever Ironman. Lucky all my toe nails have fallen off or are already black.
Then Last weekend we went and watched Mick Hall race at Ironman Coeur d Alene. Sadly it didn't end the way he wanted. Unless of course he wanted a hospital visit?. (Pretty sure he didn't) Still it happens to us all. Ironman is a hard thing to get right every-time and we all know Mick was the fittest he's ever been. Next time Mick!!
Ok that should bring every one up to date!!
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