Name Russell Cox

Race Date 7 December 2008

Race Type Ironman

Race Name Ironman Western Australia

Location Busselton, WA

Age Group Result 7^th

Overall Result 48^th

Pre-Race Preparation As my last major race of the year and the first chance to qualify for Hawaii 2009 I was particularly thorough in my preparation. After a very consistent build up of training over the last few months I entered a 3 week taper. To really get myself ready I headed to Busselton 2 weeks before the race and trained with the local Tri squad on the course. By the time race day came I’d swum round the Jetty, rode on the race course and run along the beach front many times.

Race Day Race day gave perfectly calm conditions for the swim so it wasn’t likely to be too hard and should be pretty fast. I placed myself up the front ready to go out and try and hang with some of the faster swimmers. The swim is my weakest leg, but I was hoping to come in around the hour mark. Once the horn went we were all off with the usual struggle to find your space in the first few hundred metres. I made it through intact and once things settled I had feet to follow and an excellent draft the whole way round. A draft makes things a bit misleading, the swim felt very easy and comfortable, but I had no idea how I’d gone. So exiting the water and seeing 58 minutes on my watch was a surprise and a real bonus. I was starting my race on a positive.

The 3 lap bike course is almost perfectly flat, the only challenges are the wind and remaining comfortable in the aero position for 5 hours. I went out a little bit too hard in the first lap and with light winds early recorded a pretty fast speed. Fortunately I didn’t over do it and soon reigned my effort in using my heart rate to control things. Settled into a comfortable pace that should see me to the end of the bike still ready to run I went into the second lap. By now the winds were picking up a little and things became tougher. I kept pushing on all the time watching the average speed and my heart rate, my aim was to keep the speed up, but never to push the heart rate too high. I had a sub-5 hour bike goal in mind and knew what sort of pace I needed for that so as long as I kept above it the goal was in reach. Coming into town for the third time I knew I’d made it and took the time to stretch out a little in preparation for transition to the run. I entered transition having clocked a 4:54 on the bike and still ahead of my overall race plan.

Out onto the run and in the early stages my aim was to reign in my performance. I can’t say why, but I always feel great in the first 10km of the run and if I’m not careful run them far too hard. So checking my pace at the distance markers I held things back and tried to take on enough nutrition at the aid stations. The first lap went well, I felt good and I completed it only a little ahead of the planned pace. It looked like the goal of breaking 3:10 for the marathon might be in my reach. The second lap started to get tougher, but I’d expected this and focussed on keeping my running form good. I got round the second lap having slowed a little, but still with the opportunity to hit my target if I maintained the pace. Then the third lap put up a real challenge, with 10km to go my pace had dropped and I had to walk an aid station. Then shortly afterwards I still felt low on energy and decided to walk for 1 minute. Being strict to try to minimise time loses I stuck to that and got myself moving again. A few hundred metres down the road I was relieved to feel my run legs come back. Once it was only 4km to go I started to push and that was it till the line. I worked hard right to the end when I could collapse into the arms of the catchers. No 3:10 marathon, instead around 3:20. I can’t complain though as I hit my overall race goal and set a new Ironman PB of 9:20:22!

Jaggad Gear Performance I chose to use the Sprint Shorts and Glide Jersey for this race. This might seem an odd choice for the Ironman distance, but I prefer to keep things simple and so kit without pockets or other features is ideal. I didn’t opt for a Grip Removable Chamois in the shorts again to keep things simple. Any long ride can get uncomfortable, especially when there are the odd sections of rougher roads, but the shorts did their job admirably. The sun was out for the run and conditions hot but again the kit all worked perfectly. I rolled up the Glide Jersey a little to help keep myself cool and it stayed in place without problem. The gear may seem to be best suited to Sprints to many, but I wouldn’t discount it for longer races. It combines good fit, comfort and simplicity and the Glide Jersey in particular has a striking look.

Summary Racing hard to a new Ironman PB and my first top 50 placing!