Ironman 70.3 Race Report

Dear Family and friends,

Like I promissed here is the bigger race report of ironman 70.3 newfoundland. I had a good preparation before the race and decided to do nothing anymore the day before the event. I had a good chat wit Graig Alexander (World Champion IM70.3 2006) and Mirinda Garfrea (World Champion IM70.3 2007) on saturday. She was just like me waiting for her bike.

On Sunday morning I got out of bed and had breakfast, lot's of water, gatorade and bread with Nutella chocolate pasta. Some grain Bars and Powerbar Fuel Up. I had the Bus to the race site at 5:30AM so I had a nice 2 hour preparation before the actual race began. We got our numbers and checked in. I got my wetsuit on and was ready to race. We had some swimming before the startto get warmed up.

The swim
The swimstart was massive and I had a good position in the begin, the shallow water made it hard to start swimming, running was better. When I hit the water I felt good and everything went as I had planned untill I got passed and the person wich passed me kicked me in the face. He did not really hit me hard but I got some water in and was disorientated for a little while. The rest of the swim was tough but I managed to get out of the water in 37 minutes plus. I had a good transition and took a gel before I hit the road.

The bike
The bikeleg was on a rolling course heading to Cornerbrook with a 4K climb wich was steep. We had to take the hill twice. I had no problems pacing but could not reach for my rear waterbottles for a while. I needed salt as I felt cramps coming up. I eventually got the waterbottle and was glad to get some salt before I ran out of it. Salt is very important during long rides especially when you are on speed. Because a hard winds straight on our heads we had a hard time fighting the wind. I passed a total of 70 cyclist during the bike leg and got of the bike in quitte a good time, 2 hours and 36 minutes.

The Run
I started the run in front of my age group, I knew I passed all my age group athletes but I wanted to keep up the pace because one of them was a good runner. The weather conditions where brutal with high humidity and 28 degrees celsius. On the tarmac that was even more than 28. At every Aid station I took whatever they wanted to give me taking Gatorade, water, Ice, Gels and Sponges with Cold water. I had to cool down my body. I ran a solid first 10.5K and was on course to finish under 5 hours but the second Lap was killing, everybody was melting under the sun. The last few Kilometers looked to take for ever, they where slightly uphill so that made it even more difficult. I finished in 5 hours 8 minutes. I was a bit dissapointed about not finishing within 5 hours but given the conditions this was a very good result. Ironman Newfoundland 70.3 is one of the more difficult courses in the world.

Awards Banquet
Later that day after a bit of rest in the afternoon we had the Awards banquet. First they had the pro's on the podium and after the Pro had there price money and Graig and Mirinda had a talk about the race and there preparations for the World Championships in Kona and Clearwater later this year it was time for the age groupers. I ended up first in my Age group wich was nice, I had to get up the podium besides Tyler Cole (second place) and Brian Boyle (3rd place). We got our prizes and I toke my spot to Clearwater later this year.

After the ceremony I had a chat with the Brian and his mom and dad, I'm sure I will see them some where else on Ironman Races around the globe, they are really nice people. I went back to the Motel to get some sleep because it was a hard day working for an athlete.

I got some problems concerning calling, that's because there is not much support for my provider over here. i will contact some of you when I leave tomorrow. Try to get in touch on wednesday. Don't be afraid I'm still alive ;)

That's about it, sorry for not posting a dutch version but English is an universal language. I'm going to get myself hydrated and fuelled up again. See ya!

Henry Piek