IRONMAN OZ 2011

It's long - grab a coffee/beer/Endura etc. and enjoy !

I won my age group! That’s it, it doesn’t get any better. Here I am on Monday morning at 3AM, a little more than 12hrs since I finished and I still can’t wipe the grin off my face. The usual post IM discomfort has descended upon me making for a sleepless night. Sunburn, nicks, cuts, blisters, excess caffeine et al make it pretty hard to sleep, so here I am banging out my race report, this is hot off the press !! I’ll follow my usual race report protocol – training, pre race, race day then any other thoughts.

Training: This took on the familiar Matty Lewis regime of: Swim which is dictated by whatever the VU swim squad coach dishes out (thanks Nick), rides covered by various sessions – 1 long, 1 hard, 1 hill & a couple of recovery sets and running which followed the same format as the ride with high importance placed on recovery runs/walks. Bricks varied in lengths and intensity and were kept to 1 per week.
Training highlights were few and far between this time round due to Melbourne’s crap summer. A that spring to mind though were G-Trains ‘JB’ ride, it was a ride that will stick in my mind forever, the Marysville/Lake Mountain Challenge where Robbie Taranto, Gary Pertot & I turned up only to be greeted by ex Olympian Shane Kelly and crew on their bikes with their mega thighs oiled up glistening in the sun. It was a 160km ride with the first few hours spent at an ave. above 40km/h! I broke away from the pack at the 90km mark and soloed from Alexandra, up Lake Mountain, down into Marysville, then waited 23 mintutes for the 2nd place rider to come in. Running was a steady progression from low km’s / intensity after suffering a stress fracture in my tibia towards the end of 2010, it progressed to a maximum of 2.5hrs of low intensity endurance stuff and 2 hrs of high intensity runs where I could hold 3:45min/km pace at an ave HR of 145 bpm. It felt the way it used to pre accident which was comforting.

Pre Race: We had a tough decision to make about our Pt. Mac. holiday. Tilly is in Yr11 doing VCE subjects, we had to leave her with friends so she could attend school which was pretty sad, her enthusiasm on race day is incredible and was missed.
We set off on ANZAC day which was also a bit wrenching as I missed dawn service, but we had tee’d up to see my Exercise Physiologist, John Quinn who now lives in Sydney and is in charge of the new AFL side, GWS Giants & its Sports Science dept. It was great to see Quinny and along with his wife Nat, made us feel most welcome. We had a chat about my training, injuries and a few other things and it was amazing how positive he is and put my mind at ease on a few little niggling things. A spin out here was he had some guests staying with him who were coaches from the Miami University Seminoles, 2011 American Football College Champions !! We were watching the ANZAC day clash between the Pies & Bombers with Quinny, Marie & I explaining the rules of the game to them along the way, it was piss funny. We arrived in Port on the Tuesday only to be greeted by torrential rain, which was pretty much on and off until Friday. Team Manager Stevo, Fee & Rochelle flew in on Friday to complete the ‘Team Lewis’ picture (minus Tilly of course). Training during the final week was typical taper/preparation type stuff. I trained a bit with Gary P, Sam Stewart, Brett Sniegowski and Christine Jell which was great as it is a pretty social time and great to have a few more experienced people about to throw some ideas around with. A couple of interesting bits was riding the new part of the course, which looked to be fast & included some pretty cool scenary, and trying on the Rocket Science wettie (Thanks Scotty & XOSIZE) for the first time. The wettie felt great and had me comfortably sitting on Brett’s toes for a couple of swims. This gave me great confidence as Brett swam 54 minutes in 2010. My bike and race kit set up went well, a quick trip to the TREK demo centre to get a few bits tightened on the Speed Concept being the only issue here. Carbing and electrolyting up was the usual fair and seemed to work well with no issues to report.

The RACE: I woke at 4:30AM, 10 minutes before my alarm was set after a great nights sleep, I could hear quite a strong wind outside, but no rain, there was a 5% chance of rain for the day with a sunny max. of 23C. I had my usual 1000 calorie brekky, this year consisting of a large tin of Creamed Rice (the norm) on top of Apple & Cinnamon rice cakes, a bowl of Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes and 2 x English muffins smothered in marmalade. Race start was 6:30AM, I had arranged to meet Gary P near the finish chute at 5:40 to walk over. At 6:25 I was fed, suited up, suit juiced up, chipped and ready to rock ‘n roll so Team Lewis Manager (Boss) Stevo and I set off to pick up GP. Pre race stuff ie: pumping tyres, putting the wettie on etc. was all done effortlessly. We had plenty of time up our sleeves so we lined up to go over the timing mat and into the swim start, only then did I start to feel a little nervous. The water temp had dropped a little from earlier in the week, but was still quite warm. The current from the river (not too sure of its name) was pushing us down to the far starting buoy so things were starting to get a little congested where I had seeded myself, BANG, the starting gun went off so I had no time to push back around. The start felt pretty tame. I didn’t get knocked about and settled into a nice rhythm quite quickly. The first lap of the swim went along without a hitch - stroke, glide, pull (all the way through), exit. I felt good and actually worked on keeping a good technique rather than fighting for survival. The 2nd lap got a bit congested as people started to tire and stop or slow. At the top turnaround point one of the board riders stuck the nose of his board out near the buoy & a smacked it with my hand. It was right on top of one of my old footy breaks – yes, there are several !! and hurt quite a bit. I emerged from the water in 1hr 03mins, equivalent to 1m39sec 100’s – I’ll take that, I was pretty happy about it, still thought I could’ve gone under 1hr though….. Onto the bike with a minimum of fuss after a quick T1, and straight into Ports coastal hills. It wasn’t until I hit the Golf Club that I got comfortable & settled into ‘the groove’. The wind I heard lying in bed turned out to be a thumping SW wind, which was a head wind on the way out and ‘the hand of god’ pushing you back into town. My Polar HR monitor had really decided to go on strike, not only did I have no HR as it had broken down earlier in the week, I was now getting no speed reading. Shit, I’ll just have to pull out the white cane and stumble through this, or ‘fly by the seat of my pants’. I decided on being brutally honest with a perceived effort (PE) scale of 1 to 10, trying to keep myself mildly uncomfortable on the bike ie: moderate (not heavy) breathing and a noticeable HR which wasn’t pounding through my chest, I called this ‘6’. This worked well and the usual ride tactic of ‘pick ‘em off and discard them’ came into play. This was THE FIRST race where I feel the draft busters worked their butts off. They seemed to be quite fair, initially warning packs, which 95% of the time dispersed. This is great for racing as it looked as though a lot of people took it upon themselves to race fairly. The only beef I have here is the Penrith Institute of Sport (PIS) fellas. They all say they race for the fun of it, enjoying the company/challenge/mateship/beers etc. BUT, I think this mateship extends to the bike and when they race. To say they are a close knit bunch is right, even closer when it comes to riding with each other during this race. On the start of the 2nd lap the 70.3 race was streaming out, with some Male Pro’s and the top Female Pro’s coming out at the same time as I went past the transition area. I got tangled up a bit with their race as Jo Lawn & Belinda Granger were jockeying for position with a few of the slower male pro’s trying to clear out of the mess. I grabbed a gel and washed it down when Granger & Lawn hammered past me at the Golf Club, it was pretty interesting as the full effects of the head wind aren’t felt until 500m up the road from there, they hit the wind & both seemed to go backwards. My plan for the last out bit was to absolutely hammer it into the wind, running a perceived effort of 8.5 or what I thought would be a touch below sprint race pace. The plan was to get to the turnarounds at Laurieton, re-assess then drop back to my previous level of 6, rehydrate, carb up, enjoy the wind back in and get set for the run. Just after Lake Cathie I had quite a funny experience – I caught up to Caroline Steffen who was leading the chicks, she had a lead out motor bike, one behind her to the left of the road and another, the 3rd, sitting a bit further back in the middle of the road. I road up to the left of the 3rd motorbike (which was a Triathlon Official) and was a little unsure how to effect the overtake. To say I was paranoid was an understatement! I yelled out to the TO if I could pass on the inside of him and he said it was OK, I then said it was going to take me longer than 25 seconds to pass the 2 motorbikes and Caroline, he gave me the thumbs up so off I went. Caroline was pushing a massive gear, I reckon she had a 55 on the front, it was huge! & she was sitting well down the lower half of her cassette on the rear. The rest of the ride went well, save for Matthew Flinders hill where I reckon I looked like a track rider taking off in a pursuit on my 39/23, man it was hard, but the crowd played a huge part here in getting me up & over. I made it to T2 in sub 5hrs – 4hrs 59mins – bloody awesome to break 5 !!
My nutrition worked superbly, it was my usual fair, here is a breakdown of it: 1st hr – bidon of choccy Endura Opti & 1 x coconut Powerbar, 1 x Endura Coffee flavoured gel, 2nd hr – 1 x bidon of my watered down concentrate formula* & 1 x coconut Powerbar & 1 x Endura gel, Hours 3/4/5 1 x bidon of concentrate & 2 x Endura gel. SaltStick Caps are taken at 45 min intervals as well. Pretty much 100 grams CHO in hrs 1&2 then 80 grams CHO in hrs 3/4/5. To explain my term ‘concentrate’, I use a Jetstream on my front bars which is used for hydration throughout the race, I carry a 750ml bidon (which has texta marks dividing it into 4 equal sections) on my down tube which has a concentrated mix of 8 scoops of Choccy Opti and 4 scoops of Raspberry Endura which makes a ‘Chocberry’ concentrate. When I finish the Opti in the 1st hr. I simply squeeze a measured amount from the bidon into the Jetstream then fill the rest with water I pick up from any aid station – a very safe option!
A quick T2 saw me out onto the run course and I was feeling good. I had good stride length, no tightness, no niggles or twitches and settled into getting my chicken wing arms out and getting in the groove. I thought I had come into T2 with possibly 3 x 40-44 AG’ers in front of me. I passed one in T2, didn’t see any others, then I spotted Matt Koorey. He is a pretty well built fella, about 5’8”, light on his feet and was moving real well. I passed him on the way out to the Settlement Pt turnaround on the 1st lap. He stayed close by, he knew we were racing for 1st in A/G. & that is how it remained until the start of the 3rd lap. I went past the finish line at the 21 km mark and fell in a huge hole. I was running along the breakwall with a massive urge to spew, piss and walk. Near Town Beach is an aid station. I thought I’ll go for the leak at a porta loo first, walk to the aid station which is close by, down a heap of Coke and see what happens. I reckon I drank 5 cups of coke, lost about 3 mins then headed off. The hill part was coming up so I waddled up that, went down through town feeling horrible then when I hit the Bowling Club the lights came back on. I knew Matt had passed me at the aid station so now it was a case of finding him, then hunting him down. I caught him on the way out to Settlement Pt on that lap & sat on his shoulder for 2 km’s, he knew I was there and tried a few variations in pace. All of a sudden he darted off to the side of the road before we were about to head back into the houses at Park St. I thought ‘cunning bugger’ as he now wanted me to set the pace, I kept to my perceived effort of 7 and didn’t play any games. I walked every aid station to ensure I got enough fluids in as it was quite warm and continued on with the Coke, a gel every ½ hr and a SaltCap now every ½ hr. At the start of the last lap I did something which I never do, at the start of the Breakwall I looked over my shoulder to see where Matt was. I couldn’t see him. Again at the end of the Breakwall I looked, still I couldn’t see him. Shit! Was all I could think. I put the hammer down, lets really put this beyond doubt and kick him while he is down and struggling. I felt the first twinges of cramp starting, still there was 7-8km’s to go. One massive cramp may loose me a minute, then the subsequent cramps and slowing down meant this race was still finely balanced. I ran past Team Lewis at the bottom of Clarence St & let them know I was in 1st AG place. They had worked it out and yelled heaps of encouragement. Billy Sinclair was on the ball as well, knowing what was going on and his encouraging words were gold. I kept pushing, little twinges getting me in the upper hammy every time I had to jump over a gutter or change direction around a fellow competitor, the course was by now getting quite crowded and the twinges weren’t bad enough to slow me. Over the 2 bridges, down into Settlement Rd. then I hit the turnaround, a sign said 3 km’s to go, surely not I thought. I did a time split at the turnaround to see how far behind Matt was, I passed him after 1min 40sec’s. That’s great, 3min 20secs in front with 3 km to run, Mmmmmmmmm. I turned off Settlement Rd, headed towards the bridges then over to the footpath near Panthers. Here the footpath goes down onto the road, you have to jump over what is quite a high gutter, I did it and twinge……. Not a full blown cramp but the 1st stages of one. I slowed a little and by this point I could look across the Hastings River and see the finish line, I could even hear Mike Reilly. The last cramping ‘event’ I had was running up the slight incline just before the William St. bridge. It was nowhere near as big as the Panthers cramp and I knew then that I had it. I crossed over, then down past the supermarket & transition area, a quick high 5 off Billy who was awesome all day, then into the massive crowd towards the finish chute. I had to work hard to spot Team Lewis, saw them then in my eagerness to get over to them nearly tripped over some finish chute matting. The crowd who were making a lot of racket gasped when I nearly fell, but I laughed so everyone cheered. Hugs and kisses all round for the team, then off down the rest of the chute dishing out about a hundred high 5’s, & across the finish line for Mike Reilly to launch into his immortal lines – ‘Matty Lewis, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN’. A catcher was there ready for me but some how Shane Smith saw me & bolted over with a grin from ear to ear and gave me a hug. Stubbsy followed not long after and he confirmed that I had won my A/G and had finished 14th overall. I went and sat off to the side for a while and got a bit emotional. I had a pre set timeline of events from the past 2 years that I wanted to retrace in my mind over the last couple of km’s of the run. This didn’t happen as cramp and being chased by a gun A/G champ like Matt Koorey put paid to this. I sat there for 5 mintues thinking of 2 yrs and 15 days ago, My life nearly ended, my body was broken, I was told I would suffer brain damage (BJ shut up !!) and the possibility of me ever running again let alone walking without a limp was pretty high. I was bed ridden for 4 weeks, in a wheel chair for 2 months, on crutches for another 3 months and things were looking grim as my pace of physio was to great for what had been set out for me by my Hospital Physio’s and my recovery temporarily slowed. Then along came John Quinn, a man whom I cannot speak highly enough of. I won’t go on about it here, but all who know me know that if given the time I can tell some great stories of how he got me up and going. My family too, strewth, what I’ve put them through. My boss reckons Marie is a Saint, I’d prefer a Magpie but I know exactly what he means, Marie, Tilly, Tom and Meggie are all great support and are quick to ground me when I get ahead of myself . They are what makes me, me. Thanks also to Team Lewis – Stevo, Fee & Rochelle, great supporters and Stevo is the boss when it comes to all things IM and its organisation of the TEAM. GSP – great wheels mate, Training partners Hepps, Gary P & Robbie Tarranto. Scotty Hollow and Team XOSIZE what they do for me is absolutely priceless and Rapido Cycles – Robbie Bell again another great supporter of mine. Finally also thanks to Gregory Farrell and G Train – they know why !!
HAWAII here I come !!!!!!
Matty