Race Day

Well race report fans, settle in grab a tissue and come on a journey into the world of chasing dreams. I am sure many people look at me and my efforts the get to the big show to race with Jo and think I have either lost the plot or am just one of those try hards who lives in denial of their short comings. Well you would be right, option b it is; except for the living in denial bit, I am fully aware I will never run a Kona qualifying run split, nothing to do with the time bomb in my back, I just do not have the run talent or whatever you want to call it.  I can, and do train religiously, I research and understand as much about the sport as I can. But, sorry to be the burster of bubbles, that, in the absence of some talent does not a Kona athlete make.  So what do I do? Chuck it all in and give up? Hell no, I plan to put together the best race I can and I cross my fingers at roll down.  I will keep doing that until it either works or I grab a legacy spot. There are three certainties in life. Death, tax and me racing Kona at some point.

Anyway, back to the race report.

The mysterious Mr X

So after South Africa this year a man approached me and asked to meet.  For the sake of secrecy, let's call him Mr X. (Worst spy name ever by the way) he said he thought he could help me race with Jo, he had a race he thought might work and he also thought he could help my running. He is a 95kg guy who can run a 3hr marathon. Hmm I thought, if I am trying to do what he does, maybe I should listen. Jo was so excited by the possibility that we decided to give it another final shot.  You don't want to die wondering you know. So the plan was hatched.  I asked Mr X if he would coach me for the attempt and he agreed, he would let me join his TEAM.

(Remember that this race report will be way better if you affect the Star Trek accents while reading it. Out loud would be best, but in your head is okay if you are in public and don't want to be arrested!)

The JVW swim leg

Everyone knows I am an okay swimmer, I am pretty proud of that. I also tend to annoy coaches etc because I have some fairly strong opinions on what works and what does not for triathletes trying to be swimmers. John Van Wisse is a huge positive influence in our lives. A man who can look down on everyone from sporting point of view but chooses only to boost others and support them.  It is this attitude and his acceptance of the view I have on swimming that means he is the only person I take swim advice from.  Thanks Johnny.

The swim course was sort of two laps with a tiny beach run in the middle. Like 5 metres, just long enough to have a timing mat to run over for a handy split! I was in the third wave of the swim. The start line was about waist deep for me so thankfully no running! The wave ahead goes, and we walk into the water. I walk straight out to the front and position myself in the spot I want, I know the land marks that I want to spot. I stand in front of a bunch of Americans and am looking around to check I am lined up. One of them pipes up, "Hey man just follow everyone else", "Sorry mate", I say "but I am going to be first out the water, and will be through the second wave guys by the second lap, so I need to know where I am going". It just sort of slipped out, I am not usually such an arrogant prick, Oops.  "No way man, our buddy here is going to win the swim, he went to Nationals last year".  Right. The hooter goes and I drop Mr Nationals in about 20 metres.  I am like totally alone after the first 100, and onto the back of the second wave in about 300. Not bad seeing as they had a three minute lead.  These guys are in for a long swim!

Captain

Yes Scotty

The engines are warming up Captain, everything seems within parameters.

Can we go any faster Scotty

I can give you another 10% but I would not advise it, she could shake herself to pieces!

Okay, steady as she goes.

So the back markers of the second wave seem to be having a wonderful time, chatting, laughing and not getting in my way at all, which is very nice of them, I am picking a line through them easily, it is at this stage I notice I have a passenger. One blue cap, making like a limpet on me. Captain America and his mate are no where to be seen at the 1km mark, but limpet man will not go away.

Swimming into the beach turn I actually slow up hoping he will pass so I can draft him for the second lap, he slows, clearly he is not interested in taking the lead. Never mind. I stand out the water and check my watch, I am swimming 1:19 per 100m pace. Wow, that is smokin! I hear Xavier, sorry Mr X, shout. I look up, "wow that's fast!" I say. He just about herniated himself laughing.

Scotty

Yes Captain

We have a Klingon I want to get rid of!

I can push her 5% Captain! but any more.....

Yes, Scotty, she'll shake herself to pieces, you are such a drama queen

so Mr limpet will not move, he is attached to my feet. But what can I do? I back off, no need to burn myself for the sake of ego.

Mr Limpet - right.

We hit the finish ramp, and Mr limpet legs it up the ramp, beating me by 6secs over the mat. Under 55mins, nice.

T1

I go full gas through transition, the run out is about 500m, awesome in my bike shoes! Then, without warning, life ambition fulfilled.

Whit Raymond announces, "Here comes Peter Coombe. Peter, you are currently winning the 40-44 age group. Wow, what a swim!"

To say that put a smile on my face would be a huge understatement.

The Bike

I don't know how to describe the bike course. It is truly stunning visually, the road surface is amazing but it goes up and down more than cheap hooker when the navy is in town. I measured 2550m vertical,  I am in no doubt that every metre of that is there. If you are going to race here, (and you should, it is amazing) you might want to consider some hill rides, in fact you might want to consider moving so you live on a hill and then chock your bed up so you sleep on a hill. The course is 24kms of flat then 156kms of no flat. I know some courses say that, but this one actually means it.  The fastest bike split of the day was over 5 hours.  I was top 20 with a 6:23!

So the bike plan was this, 24km at 250watts, then climb at 270watts, descend at whatever I could to average 245W for the day. And so it started.  But after about 60kms it all started to go wrong.

Mr Chequoff

Yes Kiptin

We seem to be being overtaken by other ships, check our parameters Everything is working fine Kiptin.

But it cannot be, we are being overtaken, look, there's another one Kiptin, we seem to be being iffected by a deep space grivity well.

Can we break free of it Mr Chequoff?

No Kiptin, we are stuck for the next 5 hours.

So I am riding well, EVERTHING check outs but I am being caught and overtaken because the laws of physics dictate that this will happen on this course.

The pattern continues as we go on, but the numbers passing me decrease, I count only 10 by the time we get to the top of the big 14km 800m vertical climb that comes at 100kms so in reality I am actually going pretty well. But that is not what my head says.  My head says I am a failure, my head says I am not good enough to get this race done and race with Jo, as I get over the top of the climb at 114kms I suddenly burst into tears, "I don't want to not be good enough" I repeat to myself about 500 times as I start the descent. Tears in my eyes at 79kph are not great, reduced vision plus high speed plus 500m sheer drop off side of cliff is not a good combination. So I pull my shit together. I am actually at present, realistically speaking having a text book race. It is just that my text book is not as fast as I might like over the hills.

So I am not in a happy place, and this guy, number 602 has been ahead of me but within sight for the last 100kms. He has spent almost every second on someone's wheel, the most blatant deliberate drafting I have ever seen. So I catch him on one of the less hilly sections because he has lost his latest lead out rider, as I pull alongside him I totally unload on him. Like totally. I then pull past him and staggeringly enough he just immediately jumps on my wheel.  Okay, so I have just shouted a lot at a man who does not understand English. Either that, or he does and he is the dumbest man alive. I sit up and inform him "Get the fuck off my wheel or I will come back and push you off your bike". He pulls back rather rapidly. He's the dumbest man alive.

So the bike continues, I continue to race a perfect race, right power, right heart rate, right everything. I also continue to tell myself I am a failure, I mean like seriously OMG WTF.  Things take a particularly bizarre twist when I ride past a dairy, I can smell the cows, Jo likes cows. Jo, the person I can't race with because I am a failure. Holy shit (literally) what is going on in my head? More tears, wow what a mess. As I arrive at T2, I see Marina and X, they give me a cheer on..... Hold on rewind... Marina, she is racing today, how, what, when? So into transition, jump off the bike and check the time, just over 6:20. I am pretty totes devo. But clearly the course is insane so I get on with getting on.

Scotty, systems report

Well Captain, we have burnt a lot of fuel but everything still checks out
Do we have the new stabilisers on line? You mean the ones we broke in South Africa? Yes Aye Captain but I don't know how long they will last.

 T2

Dump my bike, grab my bag, run kit on and off we go. I head out on the run and all is pretty good.  I know I am off the pace but anything can happen, I just have to keep pushing. So this is the first 8km of the run.

The Run

2km road uphill, not too steep.

1km road uphill steep.

3km uphill, off road, pretty much too steep to run, no shit.

2km off road through very large potato field.

This is possibly the most bonkers 8 km I have ever run in my life, I am running along thinking, this is awesome I am running okay, off road, in a potato field, in Japan, in an ironman. Very, very surreal.

Needless to say my pace was not great, but that is okay.  So we head onto the downhill that will take us to the lake for the last bit of the run. What I don't know at this stage is that the time bomb is ticking. Tick tock, tick tock.  5km steep downhill, tick tock, concrete road, tired legs, tick tock. I can feel the impact of my foot steps starting to compound in my back, the pressure building. A feeling I know all too well, but have not felt for several years. By the time I get to the bottom at about 13km I have been pounding by back for about 30mins with my poor running form downhill. All is not well.

Captain, we seem to be experience field containment issues in the engine room.

Can you fix it Scotty?

I don't  know captain, I'll see what I can do....

It is becoming very clear to me I am in trouble, I cannot feel my right leg at all. I am still running but my foot is dragging every so often, I pass Marina and X at 18km. They speak, I don't hear.

Run to 20kms I tell myself. At 19kms we head away from the main road to a smaller road beside the lake. It is beautiful. Trees overhanging, a view of the lake, breathtaking in fact. Run to 20kms I tell myself. I check my watch. Tick tock, tick tock, 19.9kms; BOOM. My right leg fails underneath me and I find myself face down on the road. Both legs now numb and not really working. I am out of the race, lying on my face. Those athletes around me ask if I am okay. I say there is nothing they can do so no one stops and I just lie there.  I manage to roll onto my back and pull my knees to my chest.  This relieves the pressure in my back. I look like a stranded turtle, rolling around on my back in the middle of the road, in an Ironman, in Japan.  It takes me 5mins to stand up. I am out of the race for sure now, I mean seriously.  So I head towards the crash barrier on the side of the road for something to lean on.  I am slouching over it feeling pretty pissed. So this has finally pushed my back to breaking point.  What the hell do I do?

Captain
Yes Scotty
Looks like were screwed. We are down to half impulse power.  She can barely make headway
Just get us home old friend, looks like the scrap heap for the old girl

Well this is what I do, I feel shit, I cry again, I feel like a failure again.  I cannot yet stand up straight.  It is not that I am in pain, it is that things don't work.  It takes me a couple of minutes to get upright and balanced.  I make a deal with myself.  Walk to the next aid station and pull the pin.  I start walking, pace, 15 mins per k.  Bearing in mind I swam at 13:50 mins per k, I am not impressed.

I get to the next aid station, I walk straight through, I am not in pain so why stop?  I then do another deal with myself.  I will walk to the finish line - not to finish - but there is a turnaround there at 28km, with an out and back to finish.  I will walk to that.  Still 15 mins per k, I have 7 kms to go that means 1:45 to cover the 6ks. Fucking great.  So onwards I trundle.  I have a few more sit downs, have a few chats with some people, including Renee who is winning her age group by over an hour!

For the next 60 minutes I come to terms with the fact that this will be my last ever Iron distance event.  I am pretty convinced I will never toe the start line ever again, I mean, I have finally broken myself right?  So part of writing my retirement speech (I am sure WTC will want to YouTube it) I go through all my previous races in my head.  Port Mac, South Africa, France, South Africa, Los Cabos, South Africa, Malaysia, South Africa, Japan. All tough honest races that I have started and completed all but 1, soon to be 2.  I then think about every race and what each of them meant to me and the whole experience of each one.  As I approach the 28km mark I see Ryan, he has a nice amount of vomit on his chin and he looks really really bad.  He had crossed the line in 4th and he has "been to the well".  Around 11 hours on that course on that day was an incredible performance, very proud of you mate.  He still looked like shit though.  So I get to the turn around, which is meant to be the end of the race and I stand there and have a vivid flash back to 2010.  I sat in T2 in South Africa for 25 minutes trying to "unfreeze" my broken shoulder so I could start walking the marathon.  My thought process then was, "just cross the line" so what has happened? Why cant I just cross the line today? I have over 5 hours to walk 14km, even at 15m per k I can make it.  Have I become so obsessed with trying to be better and faster that I have forgotten that getting to the line and finishing what you started is actually pretty awesome.  The answer is an obvious yes, I have.  So after giving myself a fairly stern talking to I turn my skinny, shuffling, overambitious arse around and head out again.  My speed starts to increase, I am now just under 13mins per k, just a little faster than I was swimming!  But I am moving, I see Ryan again - "get yourself to Medical" I shout at him, he agrees and heads off.  So for the next 60 minutes it is all about getting over the line in my final ever Ironman.  I will still aim to do tri's just not the big stuff.  One step followed by another.  I am pretty upset by the thought but what can you do?  So I am now 6 kms from the finish, and I am enjoying a stroll with some rather tired looking friends.  They now have onion soup at the aid stations, I stop to enjoy some, yum. Salty goodness.  Then a ridiculous thought occurs to me.  I can swim (oh yes!) and I can ride my bike pretty well, no issue.  What if I can do that and then walk every marathon?  Well then I get to do these events all over the world and have an awesome time doing so.  What if for ever I have to walk the second half of the marathon, does it matter?  Well yes it does because that would mean I still have serious back problems.  But what if I get it all checked out again, the damage has not progressed too much and I can run/walk again, what does that mean, does it mean I am ok? No. Does it mean I am broken? No. What does it mean? Confused?  I was.

Take a step back, put all the emotions aside and make a plan.

Do I want to keep doing these events? - Yes
Can I deal with not "Racing"? - Shit Yes, I used to be all about that
Why did I feel so bad before? - who gives a shit, I feel awesome now

****Press Release****

Peter Coombe's much maligned retirement from Iron Distance events has been cancelled.

I walk for a few 100m with X, He films me "Hey I can swim faster than I can run" I proudly announce.  I feel like I have lived a lifetime in that 14 hours and cannot wait to do it again!
Finish line - uh oh Gun Show.

Kiptain, we are approaching the starfleet scrip yards
New orders Mr Checkoff, change course, take her out again
But Kiptain, we only have impulse engines and Mr Scot says he has no idea if the warp drive will ever work again
I know that Mr Checkoff. Scotty, we are heading out again, I need warp drive again at some point
Captain, have you got a haggis loose in your head, it might never work again
You said might Scotty, and that is good enough for now
Ock, I dont know why I bother.

The Credits

Jo Coombe - my partner in life who always inspires me, looks after me and keeps me strong.
Mr X - Xavier Coppock and the TEAM guys - for giving me self belief and looking after me through my build and on race day
The Trifitness crew and JVW for making swimming so awesome.
MTC and Fluid Movements who have been part of my whole ironman journey
Pic's peanut butter - oh yes you know you want some!
Wheelscience - these guys are just awesome! www.wheelscience.com