TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE

Hi All, well, well, well ... it sure was a tough day at the office today!

I had one of those days where nothing went to plan.  It started last night when I went to the pool with the kids to cool off before going to bed and I got stung by a bee.  I thought I was ok, but by morning my lower back was all swollen.  I iced it before heading to the start of my 10th Hawaii Ironman World Champs and then got underway with my usual Ironman pre-race preparations.

The canon sounded at 6:45am for the start of the 3.8 km swim.  I was swimming alongside 2007 World Champion Chris McCormack and was still part of the main group going around the half way bouys, but then a slight gap opened ahead of us and the group split.  I swam beside Macca for the remainder of the swim and was 1m40s down on the lead pack which had a lot of the contenders.

The pace on the bike was on from the get-go as we tried to make in roads on the lead pack.  I didn't feel too bad at this stage but once making the turn at Hawi my back started to tighten.  I went from pushing 288 watts for the first 90kms and by the end of the 180 kms I couldn't even push 220 watts.

Going onto the run I was in at least 30th place, with a daunting marathon ahead in extremely hot conditions.  I ran the first 15kms reasonably well and got into 20th position by the time I reached the Queen K H'way.  The heat was unbelieveable - hitting 40 degrees celsius in the Energy Lab.  Coming out of the Lab with the shimmering heat rolling off the tarmac and a slight breeze on my back took its toll.  I stammered home, with an ever decreasing stride to finish 22nd.  Definitely a race to put behind me! 

It wasn't all doom and gloom out there in the lava fields for the Kiwis though, Terrenzo Bozzone's debut here was awesome.  To take an 11th placing in his first Hawaii Ironman World Champs was fantastic.

Jo Lawn also had a great day in the Kona heat and chipped away at the field in the bike and run to move into 8th place.  Another awesome effort by Jo.

So it's bye from me, thanks for all your support, I now look forward to a few weeks break before I start my rebuild for 2010. 

Mahalo, Cameron

 
At 125km on the bike ... and hurting!