Kat & Mick - Worlds Toughest Half- Auburn Half Ironman, California 31 May 2009


Course Record by 25min - Race #1 accomplished

Well, I’m finally fit and racing again over here in the USA. 5weeks back into it and I’m happy to say the hip is recovered and training seems to be going well. My first race back was Auburn Half Ironman, also known as the ‘Worlds Toughest Half’ with 6000ft of climbing on the bike course. Steve Larson, one of the best triathlete cyclists, managed a 2.36 for the 90k which is saying something. The race definitely lived up to the hype and the bike course was one of the toughest but the most beautiful that i have ever done. The run wasn’t too bad- still with a bit of climbing but after that ride your legs are shot!

The swim went well, all of the women and the relay teams started together 5 min after the men. The good thing about this was that i never really had to sight where to go. I actually had a good swim. I was out in front (except for some relay teams who i tried to stay with but they took off like mad men) this actually was good for me as usually i’m just trying to sit on feet which never really works. I got into a rhythm and came out by myself with a 28min.

Onto the bike and i was prepared- i just got in my granny gear for every climb knowing there was more to come. This paid off as towards the second half there were a lot of men blowing when i was just getting comfortable. It was actually scary at one point, on a skinny road a little ferret thing ran onto the road- they do it all the time here, normally they are quick and cross before you get there but this one was late and saw us so stopped in the middle of the road so we slammed on our brakes, so it couldn’d run into our wheels (i’ve heard horror stories of that happening to people), and the other guy behind me who saw it too, for some reason or another his back tyre popped and he came skidding down the road- i really thought he was going to crash right into me but he managed to hold it up and we were all ok. Anyway- i managed a 2.55 on the course which i was estatic about. I really didn’t think i would be doing much under 3.15.

Onto the run and i was in first place. I hoped that my ride would give me a big enough buffer as to hold off the runners. I felt good for the first 3 miles and then it hit. My legs were cactus and my quads were cramping up. The hills really paid a toll. I really wanted to win this race though because it was a free return flight to anywhere in the US. And when i saw a girl close at the turnaround of the first 10k loop i started to get a bit nervous. She didn’t come around me for the second loop and then with about 2miles to go i saw she was even closer so i just put everything into it to keep her away- she couldn’t take it now after so long! I was hurting pretty bad but i pushed on up the hill to finish 1st !

I ended up finishing with a 1.42 run which was also pretty awesome on this course and a 5.07 overall time which broke the course record by 25mins!!! I learnt then too that the girl behind me wasn’t even in my race- she was doing the duathlon. (there were a number of races being held at the same time). I’m glad she was there though.

Micko did really well too, he was first out of the water and then first off the bike by 15min! He had matched the bike time ridden by Steve Larson which was truely amazing, he was running great too and then finished in second by 6mins only to be told that he had been wrongly told to an extra loop of the run course twice instead of just once- which would have taken off 8mins or more which could have made for a very cool win. Its all Ironman training. Next up is Kansas 70.3 in 2 weeks.
Kat