The Missing Photos from Texas Blog!!!

Here are the photos missing from my last blog post!

         My awesome home stay family in Texas, Andy and Heidi Wilson and the beautiful Kitten MR!

Ironman Buffalo Springs 70.3

Ironman Buffalo Springs 70.3

10th PRO---- 4hrs 42min----

I have heard many travellers say that sometimes its purely the people they meet in places that makes them special and will draw them to return...... for me Lubbock Texas is now one of these places.

In amongst the mass expanse of flat land that Texas is, down in an unexpectedly beautiful canyon is the home of my amazing home-stay family, Heidi and Andy Wilson and there 2 sons. They welcomed me into there home and made me instantly feel like I was amongst family despite the fact we had only just met. So even though my race was not the break through I was planning on with there support and friendship the whole experience was a success.

To be honest I picked Buffalo Springs 70.3 for the course, its accessibility to Boulder and for the past start-lists as a race that would be a true challenge but podiums would be in reach. However this year turned out to be the strongest PRO female and male fields ever assembled in the 24 years of the race history. Similar to the quality of the Asia Pacific champs in Auckland, if not stronger. However despite this change in the depth of the field I was still eager to race and get in amongst the top competition.

Training had been going really well up in Boulder and I was loving the opportunity to train full time and train with a great group of mostly Kiwi athletes, specifically Jo Lawn and Armando who had taken me under there wing and been really helpful with training and altitude adjustment advice. I was tired going into the pre race week as had had 2 solid weeks of training but was confident that my body would adjust to the taper week and recover in time for Sundays race.

I had been super prepared for the tough conditions and heat that are tradition for this event and was determined not to suffer the cramping I had in Hawaii. However another break in tradition occurred for this race with very mild Texas temps in the 30's for the entire race which was welcomed by everyone I am sure!

I had not slept well at all  pre race but still woke up excited and ready to race, with the promise of great race conditions and the opportunity that lay before me i was really looking forward to the day ahead. My home-stay very graciously let me choose the pre race music in the car ride to transition and so with my favourite pre race song blearing race energy was ramping up.

The swim was near perfect with a mill pond calmness despite the winds on the flatlands above and with a beach start I got off to a great start. I was with the main group at the first turn and then settled again at the front of the back group of girls as the field spread out. I didn't feel great in the swim but kept things consistent and came out in a PB swim just behind another girl who at the end of the day came in 4th place.

It was great to get out on the bike and after the first few hills were done my legs started to feel pretty good so I settled in to make up the ground lost in the swim. Although I enjoyed the bike course it ended up been a very solo day and I spent the whole ride pretty much in no mans land except for a few glances at the field at some of the turnarounds. I tried to keep my head in the game and keep trying to make up some time but it looked like a long line of girls in front and to far in front obviously for me by myself to get onto the train.

I came into T2 feeling pretty good, a bit disappointed to have not made the gains I normally would on the bike but had felt like I had ridden well with in myself and figured the next girl was only a good days run ahead and still within reach.

So i got a bit of a shock to find that my legs felt heavy and tired as I ran out of transition. I told myself to not panic and just ease into the first couple miles that my legs would return, however as the miles ticked over and my legs continued to feel like i was lugging an extra few kg's of luggage on each leg the reality of the day started to sink in that i was not going to be able to catch the girls unless some one severely broke down.

 As I ran along Energy Lab 2 road I could see the girls in front on there way back from the turn around and apart from the leader they were all relatively close to each other... just too far away for me at the pace my legs were putting out. I switched off from that fact and dug in and made myself just keep chugging along and thankfully.....finally !!! at mile 8 my legs started to free up and i began to pick up my turn over and i felt the relief that one feels when your legs remember how to run and you can finally feel like your a runner again. I dug in and made the most of the last 5 miles that I could, trying desperately to salvage the damage to my race that the first 8 miles had created.

I ran home as fast and as strongly as I could not dearing to dwell on the questions that my mind was threatening to linger on....... why why did it take 8miles to feel like this ......... If only my body had sprung into action earlier............ I refused to dwell on these nor think to much incase my legs reverted back to the pace of the first 8 miles in anarchy of my ungratefulness. These were questions to be shelved and asked only when once the finish line was crossed.

It was hot and getting hotter and my right foot was burning. Yet despite this I held onto the relief i was running...... running freely and surged on the adrenalin of the familiar cheers and comments of surprise at someone running well near the end of the race. Which I now know I sub consciously feed off as a driving force to push harder and firmer, without these in my sluggish state I had felt lost .......

Once I crossed the line the relief that one feels when the distance has been accomplished was quickly overwhelmed as the previously shelved questions came flooding in. I didn't know my time but knowing it was not where it could have been and quite lost as to the reasons why I  headed straight for a small place in a corner of shade to take in and deal with the ambush of emotion and thoughts.

My legs and body once the line was crossed and the effort button released felt good but why when they felt so terrible for such a large part of the run..............

I guess the great part of been amongst such a good circle of people even when so far from home is that you can  only allow your self a short time to question and then you have to absorb and celebrate with those around you, those new friends and fellow competitors for there success and accomplishment and hold onto all the facts not just the hard ones.

Those been that I had beaten the cramps of Hawaii, that although I had not ridden nor run as well nor as fast as I know I could I had still managed to pull out a top 10 place in very strong deep international field. That I had held it together and not checked out even when my body felt like it was not going to show up to meet the challenge. Nothing went wrong nor badly, my body for what ever reason just didn't fire to its full capacity.

So that is the challenge that now lies ahead I have 5 weeks till my next race the Boulder 70.3 on August 4th and more than enough time to make the changes needed to get the body to show up fully in another stacked field on Aug 4th........

As I said in my last race review its ONWARDS AND UPWARDS and I am still on that pathway ........I have still gained some ground..............the hill was just a bit steeper than I planed for and it may take a bit longer  than I originally thought............It maybe a bit disheartening and very frustrating........... but its not so steep that I wont make it to the top.

........In the constant battle that dwells within the river ....between the water and the rocks.......... the water will always win..... not due to brut strength ....but to pure perseverance.........











My Home-stay family and there youngest family member....MR

*****Congrats to Andy and Heidi on there great racing on the weekend too! *********