Ironman Australia- Race Review- Will Larkin
Ironman Australia- 7/5/2023- Port Macquarie- Overall time: 11:57
Swim: 58:37, Pace: 1:30/100m (3/32 Age Group, 83/966 Overall)
Overall I was kind of messing around with my family so I actually didn’t really get the start position I was hoping for. Was pretty far back. I was just aiming to keep the swim really relaxed, I didn’t really care much about putting down a good time. There was a lot of overtaking the entire swim. I felt good though and was just making moves on everyone the whole time. There must have been a bit of a current on the way out because it said we were averaging 1:15 pace. Current didn’t feel too strong when going against it though. My other mate Liam who is a good swimmer kind of snuck ahead for his swim start as the crowd was moving. He ended up coming out of the water about a minute early. There was someone on my toes the entire way and grabbed my ankle twice. Turns out it was one of my mates who’s goal was to stick with me. I was never really behind anyone the entire swim, they would always be too slow so pretty much did the whole swim with no drafting. Me and my mates ended up coming 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the swim for our age group, all under an hour. I was stoked since to be honest, I kind of neglected the swim training a little bit. Looking back I wish I had done a bit more technique work because in the last 3 weeks of training I started to make some changes and realised there is plenty of room for improvement. I kind of just relied on ability. I think I would gain a lot having someone look at my stroke since no one has since squad days when I was 17. I thought I was just cruising but when looking at my heart rate data it said i was in the 190s. Honestly I didn’t feel out of breath at all and was alternating between breathing every 4 strokes and every 2. Came out feeling relaxed despite the heart rate.
T1: 6:40
Had a banana and a gel asap. The boys who came out with me were getting changed so I got a bit of a jump on them.
Ride: 6:23, 28.23kph (18/32 Age Group, 522/966 Overall)
I started out on the bike and it was very quiet for the first 10km. Not many people on the road and as usual was getting passed by the poor swimmers and good cyclists. My mate, Liam who came second in the swim passed me about 10km in. He is known for being a decent cyclist and I actually held his pace for practically the entire ride. Every turn around he would be the same distance in front of me. I started the ride pretty easy, had a bit of discomfort with my balls on the seat but this went away after a while. The whole ride I was just focusing on “Ride the Terrain”. There was a couple of sections where I was just playing cat and mouse with some other people. I would go up in my lowest gear, they would pass me on the hill and then as we reached the top I would get in the TT position and fly down past them. I had to pee about an hour in and had to hold it for 2 hours until the personal needs turn around. I was laughing to myself throughout the race because I just couldn't bring myself to pee on the bike. I think because I was still pedalling, I would have had to stand up or something hahaha. Was pretty uncomfortable but I didn't want to stop to pee. I slowed down at the aid stations to pickup water and spray it over myself. I probably could have saved a bit of time by just riding straight through since I didn't need any nutrition. My friend who came 4th on the swim, Justin is a good cyclist and should have passed me early on but he just never did. Turns out he rode over a tac on the road. Was rocking tubeless setup and didn’t have a spare so had to spend 45 mins off the bike waiting for spare tires to rock up. He ended up bonking pretty hard on the ride and run, had a shocking day.
Another mate, Ethan who is a gun cyclist passed me early on (This is my friend who did it in 10:30 and is going to Nice as he qualified for the world champs). Then I held this 3rd place spot for the entire ride. Another mate, Finn got close to me towards the end and he ended up getting out of transition just before me. As you said, once I hit 150K I was a bit over it. Especially because with the new course you come back into town and then have to head 20K South with a headwind. Was struggling to stay on the bars because I had some pain on the saddle at that angle. This was probably the worst part of the bike leg. I kind of took it easy coming back into town for the final time and riding through the streets just to tick my legs over. My left knee was pretty sore at the end of the bike, would hurt when I got out of the saddle to ride up the inclines.
T2: 8:44
Lost my Oakley sunnies :( Had to pee which took a long time.
Run 4:20, Pace 6:03/km (13/32 Age Group, 362/966 Overall)
I felt really good on the run. By this point I had had 2 x caffeine gels. I was running between 5:20 and 5:45/km between aid stations. This felt good and natural and my heart rate was pretty low. I would chuck ice and water on myself at the stations and then either gatorade or coke for a couple of sips. Had all my own nutrition having either 20 or 30 mins apart. I also walked up the only hill on the run course every lap to save my heart rate. The main stops I had to make was a stop to poo at 20K. Then 21K was personal needs. And 22K I had felt a blister coming on and I wanted to be proactive so I stopped for a 3rd time, took my shoe off and got some vaso onto the blister. I’m not sure how much benefit this had, I ended up just running through the pain. Then it was smooth sailing until 34K where my right hammy just started to feel a little bit weak. I said “oh no” but I upped the nutrition and it actually held out fine. Was alternating between caffeine and normal gels. At this point I was still running strong, granted the pace between aid stations was a bit slower. Averaged about 6 minute ks. I actually had 8k to go and went to grab my last gel but it must have fallen out so I was just relying off the aid stations for the last 8K At 40k.
I was running past someone and the right hammy I was nervous about, finally cramped up. I had to stop and stretch it out. Then ran a bit more then stretched again. Made it to the aid station and pretty much had everything they had to offer. Had a bunch of pretzels for salts per the guy’s advice. Then I ran until the final aid station. I probably could have skipped it but did not want to cramp on the red carpet so made one final stop to stretch and get some nutrition in before the final dash.
The last 2K despite the cramp felt so good knowing I had gotten through the whole day. I never chose to walk (excluding the aid stations) and stuck to the plan. A lot of my mates who were behind me looked to be in a lot of pain and were either walking or running sloppy. My family and friends all commented on how fresh I looked and I held my cadence/technique. Heart rate stayed steady the entire day. Averaged 155. My heart rate is never that low running in the heat in QLD.
All the training paid off, without the plan I would have 100% gotten injured or gone in under prepared.
I definitely learnt a lot throughout the entire process. The 3 main things that stand out for me are:
1. Your body is capable of a lot lot more than you think it is.
The amount of sessions where I just thought there was no way, and I would end up getting them done. The brick sessions and some of those big ones like the 190k ride and 30k run. I used to always say “just keep showing up” which is stolen from Ned Brockmann.
2. Consistency is key.
Just how constantly focusing on getting the session done adds up over time. Before you know it you’ve finished another week. Looking back you see the improvements but it’s all about the day to day gains. Also with injury, if you’re having extended periods of time off then you get injured when you come back and end up in a cycle. This was happening to me before this program and i think a lot of people fall into this trap.
3. The perspective of doing a long race like that.
Any race/event feels achieve able now and I’ve learnt I have the ability to stick at something for a long time.