Ironman Australia Port Macquarie 2023

TL;DR:

- A very tough race because of the hilly bike course and the state of the roads. 

- fantastic to be racing in Australia, but hard to get on the podium

- I loved every bit of it, except for the last 8km. 

I feel a bit inadequate to write a race report as it was my first full Ironman and I became 42nd in my age group (out of 131), so no podium or anything. 

For me it was just to hear them say the words "You are an Ironman!" at the finish line, and that is what happened.

Race Prep:

I flew in on Wednesday morning to enjoy the atmosphere and to have time to do a course recon for swim, bike and run. 

Keren (coach) made me do some running on Wednesday, easy biking on Thursday and swimming+running on Friday, which I could all do on the course, so that helped me a lot in getting familiar with the place. 

I booked massage for both Wednesday and Friday afternoon as I pulled a muscle in my back a week ago which radiated to my right leg. It seemed that it helped me just in time to be pain free, but in general my preparation was marred by injury/accidents. End of February I pulled my hamstring during a long run which made that I lacked good running practice for most of March and 4 weeks before the race I crashed with my bike which gave me so much road rash that I had to stop swimming and running for a bit. 

Anyway, no preparation is perfect and it is what it is. It did make me fear the marathon-part though as I didn't run for more than 22km in training, which is way too low.

Fueling:

I've learned a lot about fueling over the past 6 months and I practised it a lot as well. During practice I notice how I could bike for 6 hours straight without having breakfast and then go for a 10k brick run, just by drinking liquid carbs... amazing, a whole new world opened up.

I found that the Maurten CAF 100 gels (25g carbs, 100mg CAF)) are just pure rocket fuel. They give me an enormous boost, especially on the bike.  The SIS betafuel is also quite tasty and gives me 40g carbs at a time, so I used those as well. 

I chose the following setup:

Pre-race:

- 3 days of carb loading, with mainly rice and some pasta. Night prior to race some sushi, but not too much

- brekkie: 1 white bun with nutella 

- 1 bottle of Maurten 320 mix disolved in water

Swim:

- SIS beta fuel 40g carbs 10 min before the race

Bike:

- torpedo-bottle in front: just water with electrolytes (1 SIS electrolyte tab)

- 660ml bottle in cage: 3 Maurten 320 mix dissolved in water (240g carbs) (almost like you are drinking gels)

- 500ml aero bottle: 2 SIS beta fuel mix dissolved in water (160g carbs) (even sweeter than the Maurten   )

- bento-box: 1 gel every hour, starting after 30 minutes (SIS betafuel 40g, Maurten 100, Maurten CAF 100, Maurten 100, Maurten CAF 100, Maurten 100)

Run:

- Water & 2 gulps of electrolyte at every aid station

- Gel every 8km (Maurten 100, Maurten CAF 100, Maurten, Maurten CAF 100)

I also packed some salt pills, but unfortunately they got wet, and apart from 1 that I could still swallow, I missed out on those. Next time I will mix the salt in the electrolyte and carb-bottles. Easier to take it in that way. 

Total:

Total calorie intake before/during the race: ~3,000 (=750g carbs). During the bike I took about 90g carbs per hour, but during the run only 20g carbs per hour, which might have been too little to sustain. 

Total calories burned during the race (according to Garmin/Oura): 8,000-9,000, but likely to be over-estimated.

Race - Swim (1:15):

At every race I regretted the swim the most. So much anxiety that would paralyse me. This time Keren made me swim 3 times per week and I had some great sessions in Hayama with Mark and the others. Especially the last time, in super-rough conditions, I gained the confidence that I could do this. 

By the time we got in the water it was already past 7.30am and the sun was up and shining. The water was nice temperature (20 degrees) and the water was flat, no waves at all. 

It felt great from the start and I didn't even have to get into my groove for the first 500m. I immediately went off and quickly noticed I probably should have seeded myself in a slightly faster group as I was only passing other people. It was very busy, as they rushed everyone in the water at the start 4 at once, so I did have some issues "fighting" with some other swimmers left and right of me, but with a few strokes I could clear them (never knew I had more than one speed in me). Super surprised to pass a guy with a centre snorkel! What the F@*& is what I thought. Not sure what his deal was and how he got away with it, but maybe he had a condition or so...

In Port Macquarie you have to cross a weir twice which is actually a great distraction as it let's you get out of the water and your supporters can cheer you on, on the weir. 

Anyway, in short: loved the swim. Very easy, could have gone on for another few km and would say this part is probably the best part of racing in Port Macquarie.

Race - Bike (5:50):

I was able to stick to my plan of keeping to 75% of my FTP. Avg Power was slightly below, NP was above, so I think I nailed that. 

Furthermore the course is quite hard for two reasons. It is very hilly with over 1650m of elevation and the road surface is as awful as it can get. I've seen at least 50 people with flats. I've seen many bottles on the roads that weren't thrown there, but rattled out of the cages. I also almost lost a bottle but someone pointed it out to me, and my computer came loose at the end of the ride, but I was able to fix that. Luckily no flat, which was a miracle (mental reminder: swap those old tires for new ones for god sake). 8km before the finish line you have to climb Matthew Flinders Drive which is only a minute of steep climbing, but it is about 20-25%, so it seeps all your energy. 

Apart from all that I was able to ride constant power and get all my nutrition in apart from the salt, so not too bad. 

Was a bit tired though as I arrived at the disembarkation line, so my right leg didn't swing too easily over my saddle as I was trying to get off. Instead it got stuck on my rear-cage bottle and I went to the ground hard. Broke off my aero-bar and some road rash on my leg and hand was all that I got out of it, so quite lucky. A bit rattled though especially when the folks in the medical tent in transition couldn't find any band-aids and neither seemed to be in a hurry, so I decided to not wait for them and just get on with the run.

Race - Run (4.44):

Keren told me to walk the aid stations and once I trained a run-walk scenario, but I actually should have trained much more on it, as it was a good strategy for me, in my state. 

I walked every aid station and took a cup of water and at least 2 gulps of their disgusting Gatorade lemon-lime to force myself to drink enough. I could keep that strategy for the first 28-30km or so, but then it got a bit harder. Mentally I tried to stay within 7min/km and would celebrate every second as bonus seconds I gained by making sure I was slightly below that 7min/km pace. In the mean time it had gotten dark and the course wasn't very well lit. In town it was quite easy going with all the supporters, but once out of town, in the dark the wind caught you. A really strong and chilly wind bringing temperatures down from 22 degrees to 8 degrees in a matter of an hour. 

The last loop of the 4 loop course was therefore hell, and it became a mental battle with myself. Once finally returning to town I could pick up the pace and finish strong, but the 3-4km in the windy dark felt like ages. 

Finish-line (12.03:49):

My wife in the chute, ringing the bell as a first-timer, Pete Murray shouting my name and those words "Arnout Hemel, you are an Ironman!" they felt like it was all worth it. 

After finishing (7.30pm) I soon crashed. Could hardly eat/drink anything. Went straight to my wife who took me to the hotel but those 400m felt like another marathon and I began to shiver all over my body. Back in the hotel a hot shower and then warming up in bed, trying to eat and drink something. Cramps in my legs and toes for hours until I finally fell asleep while still hearing my fellow Ironman athletes crossing the finish-line. I really felt bad for my friends who only came in at 12am. 

Learnings:

- race: need to spend more time running (interval & long-runs), could save me 30-45 minutes

- fueling: salt intake mixing in with electrolytes and liquid carbs

- bike: make sure tires are in good order. A flat ruins your race

Thanks:

A big thanks to Keren Miers, my coach. The Friday Morning Pain group: loved those hill repeats and brick runs, Steve Siegel from Swim Friends: these Thursday nights made me level up my swimming, and Mark Shrosbree et al at Hayama: the swimming there really helped me prepare for OWS. Thank you all at TnT, really grateful I could join the community.