hoops time suddenly flew by.
I almost decided not to write on here again, but because this weebly website provides visitor numbers and I can see I am still getting weekly views, I know you are still out there in cyber space visiting. I always appreciate a visit so here is a update.
To sum things up quickly after having Flynn in March, I got back into the swim-bike-run of things. I ran and won a couple marathons in Wanganui and Auckland. Elliot Flynn and I travelled to Bintan Indonesia where I raced Bintan 70.3. I got injured, injury got fixed (thanks Paul Taitoko and Kristina Campbell). I registered and prepared for Western Australia Ironman. I found out I had melanoma. I had to have surgery to remove the melanoma which got infected and I had to withdraw from Western Australia. I needed time off. During my break I was lucky to get Tineli on board providing some long sleeve race tops for sun protection, thank you Tineli I started training again and raced and won Rotorua half ironman. Then the year was finished and 2016 ticked over. From here I raced our New Zealand Long course National Championships placing 2nd to Amelia Rose Watkinson (who is going to achieve some great things on the international triathlon scene). This carried through to a really good six week build up for Ironman NZ, note; a good build up with a baby is completely different to my former 'good' build up concept. Regardless, the work got done and I was looking forward to finally racing over the iron distance again.....or at least I thought I was.
Ironman New Zealand was in March. The race conditions were absolutely perfect, it cannot be described any other way. Both winners Meredith Kessler and Cameron Brown broke course records. It was Cameron's 12th win out of 19 races in Taupo, at 43 years old he came home in 8:08hr. Beyond impressive. Meredith went sub 9hour in 8:56hr just amazing.
I was a bit further back off the leaders! But raced where I thought I would be.
I expected I might be about 9:40hr and came home in 9:35hr. It was the second fastest time I'd completed on that course which isn't bad, I guess the conditions helped make up for the fitness I lacked. I placed 9th out of a field of 24.
What I hadn't experienced before while racing an ironman was a complete disconnection from the sport I once really wanted to excel in. Ironman requires a TONNE of training, it's expensive and pretty consuming. Training for one can make you incredibly tired all. the. time. There is so much time, effort and money is going into the build up to a race. Racing pro means there is prize money to be made which is usually paid out to the top 10 athletes, while this is great and definitely appreciated, the downfall is that takes between 8-16 weeks to finally receive your paycheck, this can make the business of being an athlete difficult. Without sponsors it is very very difficult to move forward in the sport. However, the thing that has always overridden any negatives I had was a deep desire to improve, a love for being active in the outdoors and an unquestionable Fire In The Belly. Unfortunately when I lined up to race Ironman NZ, I realised pretty quickly that the fire that once raged like a crazy wild bush fire in high winds just wasn't there, it was more like little embers slowly fading out.
In an ironman race there are so many moments of adrenaline, exhaustion, competitiveness, loneliness, fear of not achieving what the training should have prepared you for and great fun and seeing supporters, I have usually always loved travelling to races and seeing what I could do. However racing an ironman, when you really don't feel like racing an ironman isn't that much fun. It's actually pretty tough. Instead of having my head in the game I was really seeing it from a whole new perspective..."oh so I have to ride up and down this road four times!!" I felt like the many gels I once saw as my vital nutrition were just rotting my teeth, the coke I used to lap up on the run felt like it was rotting my insides, I was paranoid about the direct sun on my skin (despite sleeves and heaps of sunscreen) because of the melanoma risk. Mentally I wasn't in it and I decided that this would be my last ironman race for a while, perhaps forever. I'm not sure at this stage. I always wanted to experience racing at Roth and Kona as a pro, perhaps I will experience these later in life, maybe not. Cameron Brown is still achieving great things at 43! Potentially there's still a bit of time there, but until I get the desire back, swimming 3.8km, time trialing 180km and running 42km without desire is not going to happen.
Of course I will always remember and appreciate the support I have received from my sponsors, friends and family for helping me achieve results and experiences I am really proud of. Thank you.
To keep fit, I still intend to pursue some running events and I have continued to work with Keegan as my coach.
The best thing about sport by far is the people you meet. Ironman has some pretty special .....and perhaps unique characters, which I love and running does too, so I look forward to making some progress over the marathon and other distances. My next race is Christchurch Marathon June 5th.
I almost decided not to write on here again, but because this weebly website provides visitor numbers and I can see I am still getting weekly views, I know you are still out there in cyber space visiting. I always appreciate a visit so here is a update.
To sum things up quickly after having Flynn in March, I got back into the swim-bike-run of things. I ran and won a couple marathons in Wanganui and Auckland. Elliot Flynn and I travelled to Bintan Indonesia where I raced Bintan 70.3. I got injured, injury got fixed (thanks Paul Taitoko and Kristina Campbell). I registered and prepared for Western Australia Ironman. I found out I had melanoma. I had to have surgery to remove the melanoma which got infected and I had to withdraw from Western Australia. I needed time off. During my break I was lucky to get Tineli on board providing some long sleeve race tops for sun protection, thank you Tineli I started training again and raced and won Rotorua half ironman. Then the year was finished and 2016 ticked over. From here I raced our New Zealand Long course National Championships placing 2nd to Amelia Rose Watkinson (who is going to achieve some great things on the international triathlon scene). This carried through to a really good six week build up for Ironman NZ, note; a good build up with a baby is completely different to my former 'good' build up concept. Regardless, the work got done and I was looking forward to finally racing over the iron distance again.....or at least I thought I was.
Ironman New Zealand was in March. The race conditions were absolutely perfect, it cannot be described any other way. Both winners Meredith Kessler and Cameron Brown broke course records. It was Cameron's 12th win out of 19 races in Taupo, at 43 years old he came home in 8:08hr. Beyond impressive. Meredith went sub 9hour in 8:56hr just amazing.
I was a bit further back off the leaders! But raced where I thought I would be.
I expected I might be about 9:40hr and came home in 9:35hr. It was the second fastest time I'd completed on that course which isn't bad, I guess the conditions helped make up for the fitness I lacked. I placed 9th out of a field of 24.
What I hadn't experienced before while racing an ironman was a complete disconnection from the sport I once really wanted to excel in. Ironman requires a TONNE of training, it's expensive and pretty consuming. Training for one can make you incredibly tired all. the. time. There is so much time, effort and money is going into the build up to a race. Racing pro means there is prize money to be made which is usually paid out to the top 10 athletes, while this is great and definitely appreciated, the downfall is that takes between 8-16 weeks to finally receive your paycheck, this can make the business of being an athlete difficult. Without sponsors it is very very difficult to move forward in the sport. However, the thing that has always overridden any negatives I had was a deep desire to improve, a love for being active in the outdoors and an unquestionable Fire In The Belly. Unfortunately when I lined up to race Ironman NZ, I realised pretty quickly that the fire that once raged like a crazy wild bush fire in high winds just wasn't there, it was more like little embers slowly fading out.
In an ironman race there are so many moments of adrenaline, exhaustion, competitiveness, loneliness, fear of not achieving what the training should have prepared you for and great fun and seeing supporters, I have usually always loved travelling to races and seeing what I could do. However racing an ironman, when you really don't feel like racing an ironman isn't that much fun. It's actually pretty tough. Instead of having my head in the game I was really seeing it from a whole new perspective..."oh so I have to ride up and down this road four times!!" I felt like the many gels I once saw as my vital nutrition were just rotting my teeth, the coke I used to lap up on the run felt like it was rotting my insides, I was paranoid about the direct sun on my skin (despite sleeves and heaps of sunscreen) because of the melanoma risk. Mentally I wasn't in it and I decided that this would be my last ironman race for a while, perhaps forever. I'm not sure at this stage. I always wanted to experience racing at Roth and Kona as a pro, perhaps I will experience these later in life, maybe not. Cameron Brown is still achieving great things at 43! Potentially there's still a bit of time there, but until I get the desire back, swimming 3.8km, time trialing 180km and running 42km without desire is not going to happen.
Of course I will always remember and appreciate the support I have received from my sponsors, friends and family for helping me achieve results and experiences I am really proud of. Thank you.
To keep fit, I still intend to pursue some running events and I have continued to work with Keegan as my coach.
The best thing about sport by far is the people you meet. Ironman has some pretty special .....and perhaps unique characters, which I love and running does too, so I look forward to making some progress over the marathon and other distances. My next race is Christchurch Marathon June 5th.
Finally at the finish line of IMNZ
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