THE T:ZERO BLOG
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 Hi everyone, I’m home now from my 2019 “A Race.” I am so stoked with my race that I thought it would be a good idea for this month’s post to be my Ironman Cozumel race report. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, I made a few mistakes throughout the day but I’m happy to take onboard a few lessons for future racing. I am super happy to come away with an overall time PB, swim PB and Bike PB. I am excited to share with you how my day went over in Cozumel. Race Morning I woke up after a really good night of sleep in our little villa and started the morning off with oats for breakfast and a coffee. I felt calm and focused while ticking everything off my pre-race checklist. 5:00 am rolled around pretty quickly and so it was time to leave the villa to pick up the rest of the T:Zero crew (TB, Robbie, Murph, Loz and Crackers) and head to transition 1. We piled into the 8-seater van, then Damo drove us to Chankanaab Beach for T1 check. We agreed on a quick stop, “get in, do your business and meet back at the van.” No one had any major issues with their T1 set up so we were on our way to find the swim start nice and early. Luckily, we were a couple of cars behind a huge Ironman bus so we followed it which took us right to the start of the swim. Although, Damo and a couple of the guys may or may not have had to sweet talk a security officer working on the boom-gate to let us into the Marina. A quick goodbye to Damo then we made ourselves familiar with where we’d need to line up for the rolling start, then we made our way back to the marina for some time to chill. We found a nice quiet spot right next to a multimillion-dollar boat parked in crystal clear water, which had a huge barracuda swimming off the back. This was a good spot to do some final stretching. I played over in my mind what I’d like the day to look like, I then ate some Clif Bar, put on one last body glide and carefully placed the swim skin on (big shout out to my friend, Jody, for sending me her swim skin - thank you). All of a sudden it was time to drop the morning bags off, have one last toilet stop and head to the swim start. I enjoyed starting the day off surrounded by a group of larrikins, I’ve never laughed so much before a race. We watched the Male Pro and Female Pro races start and then we seeded ourselves into the rolling start. Before I knew it, we’d all said good luck to each other and the group of age group athletes were quickly moving forward through a makeshift doorway and out onto a skinny, light blue, slippery pontoon. I somehow ended up on the rear side of the pontoon so I was trying my hardest not to accidently fall in on the wrong side. Ha-ha. I saw Robbie make a B-line for the very right-hand side and enter the water with a powerful dive so I followed his lead, although I didn’t look as graceful entering the water. Go time!  Swim – 52:37 I took it pretty easy for the first 300m as I couldn’t do a proper warm up. Then a pair of feet came swimming past me which looked to be going at the perfect speed for me to jump on their feet. We swam to the very right of the group which is perfect for me as I breathe on my left. It was quite choppy for the first half of the swim but the water was still clear enough to be able to see the feet in front of me. I stayed with this athletes feet for a couple of kilometers until we got to a section where we had to work our way through a few athletes, this varied our speed and I remember touching his feet for the first time all morning about 4 times in a row. Oops! He did not like that! I got kicked so aggressively (although, I didn’t end up with a black eye like two of my team mates – it was brutal out there) and then sprinted off. I could still see him so I spent the next 500m lengthening my stroke feeling strong to try and jump back on his feet but he seemed to always stay at that illusive 20m ahead until he all of a sudden disappeared. In the last kilometer I couldn’t really find any suitable feet to sit on so I found a rhythm and was happy swimming by myself. I knew that this swim was always going to be fast with current assistance but I couldn’t believe when I hit turn buoy. Where did the time go? I got to the ladder and tried to pull myself up but my legs went to jelly and I fell back into the water. Ha ha. Up I went on the second attempt. I hit lap on my watch and realised why I swam so fast, the course was about 300m short. Transition went so smoothly apart from nearly missing the female change tent, I ran to where my bike was racked, grabbed it and started heading towards the mount line, thinking, “gee that went a little too smoothly, I hope I didn’t forget anything...”
Bike – 5:01.57 Successful flying mount for the first time using my new Bont cycling shoes and Speed Play pedals which were all clipped in ready for a fast transition. Hmm, so you know how I was saying how comfortable my swim skin from Jody was and how quick my transition felt? Yeah, well, about 1-2km I slid my hand along the outside of my thigh on the way to grab some nutrition out of my rear drink bottle and as soon as my hand hit my outer thigh I realized I still had the swim skin on. I made a quick decision to get off my bike completely, take the swim skin off and stuff it down the front of my tri kit. I didn’t want to throw the swim skin away so it came along for the first lap with me. The bike lap was made up of 3 x 60km loops. I experienced head winds and slight cross winds on the far side of the island but then on the other side of the island just after going through town there was a hooking tail wind. During the first lap, things seemed to be going to plan, I was approximately pushing the power I needed to, hydrating and eating well and I’d even managed to find a group to legally ride with. At the start of the second lap, I remember thinking how much fun I was having and how fast I was going but the heat really started to pick up this lap and I had to stay focused on nutrition, dodging athletes who were starting their first lap, and hydrating properly. Halfway through the second lap I made a decision not to stop to collect my special needs because it would have meant losing the group I was with while riding through the head winds (which at 12 meters drafting makes a difference) so I’d decided to drink the on-course hydration/nutrition for the second half of the bike leg. Each time I drank a bottle of the on-course nutrition I would throw up a really pretty pink coloured vomit over my tri bars and top tube. None the less, I was still happy I’d made the decision to stick with the group and knew I had to get calories in so I really focused on consistently eating whatever Clif Bars and Bloks I had left on my bike. Just before coming into town at the end of the second lap, I freewheeled around a corner and at the same time I hit a hole and bumps in the road which threw my chain off. My chain managed to get stuck between my frame and power meter magnet and then it also came off my jockey wheels and locked up between the jockey wheel and its housing. I pulled off into a safe spot, got off the bike, stayed as calm as possible and after a few attempts I managed to get everything running smoothly again. I’d lost a bit of time to that group so I made the decision to try and ride back up to them, in hindsight, I should have known that this would come back to bite me, especially with already losing nutrition and the day had really started to warm up. After about 10-15km of chasing, I started to cramp really bad. Each time I would cramp I’d have to back right off the pedals, rinse my mouth with Crampfix and eat more calories and the cramp would be relieved and I’d find my groove again. I would go to over-take someone and then I would suffer from a cramp again, I looked like a real jack*ss on the last lap, overtaking people and then slowing right down after making a pass because the sniper was out and he was after my right adductor. I remember hitting lap with 20km to and thinking if I ride no slower than 32.5km/hour I’ll into T2 with a sub 5 hour bike split. I enjoyed having this as a carrot to keep me moving forward. I got to the 180km mark in 4 hours and 58 minutes but I didn’t realise the bike course was a couple of kilometers long. So anyway, I rolled into T2 licking my wounds and a little anxious about the run but at the same time I was really looking forward to using different muscle groups.  Run – 3:51.31 Transition felt like a hot sauna. I sat down to put my shoes on and my adductor locked up a couple more times. I rinsed my mouth out with some CrampFix and then didn’t see any cramps again until the final 10km of the marathon. Coming out of T2 I had a 19 minute lead on 2nd place and realized that I wasn’t feeling great and that the heat was pretty gnarly. I saw Damo at the start of the run and he let me know that it was a super-hot day, I wasn’t going to set any marathon records but if I wasn’t smart I’d be walking the final lap of the run. He advised me to pick a comfortable pace I could hold onto, keep eating and to stay cool. The marathon was made up of 3 loops as well. The first lap I found a pace that felt comfortable and like I could hold that pace all day. Each aid station I able to chuck ice and cold water over me to bring my core temperature down thanks to the awesome race volunteers. I was eating Clif Bloks every 2km until I got to the 12km mark were I realized that somewhere along the way my second packet had accidentally dropped out of my sports bra. I sort of started to panic a little, very briefly, then I came up with the solution to drink coke and sports drink at each aid station. Once again, the volunteers were great and I didn’t miss a cup. I got to 16-18km and just felt like I wasn’t getting enough calories in and that I was drinking too much liquid so I tried one of the on-course gels. It was weird and made my stomach feel weird so I avoided them and stuck to coke only until I got to the 22km mark where my special needs bag was waiting for me with 2 more packets of Sodium Clif Bloks and a few more CrampFix sachets. I felt instant relief and was feeling confident that I’d make it to the finish without walking. Second place had put 3 minutes into me in the first lap and then another 3 minutes again on the second lap so we seemed to be slowing at the same rate, even though she was running faster than me.  I started out on the 3rd lap trying to do some calculations. I ran past Damo who let me know that I could secure the win if I just kept moving forward, no plodding along and no walking. I left for my last lap feeling super determined to lock my pace in and not slow down. I also know that anything is possible in an Ironman so I was running pretty scared for that final lap with my head down incase 2nd place had a miraculous last 10km. I suffered from a cramp at the 30km mark, right before an aid station so I rinsed my mouth with a CrampFix, walked through the aid station grabbed two cups of coke and drenched myself in ice cold water, the cramp stopped and I was right to go again. This happened again at the 34km and 38km mark. It was relieving to know with a rinse of CrampFix and intake of more calories that my cramp would be temporarily relieved. I didn’t know where second place was so I didn’t waste any time down the finish chute. I was so relieved and happy when I reached that finish line simply because I knew I’d given it everything I had all day.  Post-race (Overall time – 9:51.46) - 1ST F25-29 I’d never been this sore after a race before, I was worse than after my first Ironman. I hopped into the ice bath in recovery and my calf locked up. It was sooo painful I let out a huge yell. None of the Mexican volunteers knew what to do (poor things) but another fellow athlete grabbed my foot and pulled my toes towards my shin which seemed to do the trick. It was a team effort to get me out of this baby pool. Ha ha. It was pretty funny trying to walk around, I waddled through recovery, found Damo waiting at the end. He let me know of my position which was pretty rad to find out that I’d won the F 25-29 AG and secured my spot to Kona 2020! Damo put me in a taxi to get me home not long after I’d finished as I was shivering and in a lot of pain. I would have rather do another Ironman again with fresh legs than to have to bend my legs to get into a taxi after the race. Ha ha. The next day I was so hungry when I woke up so I suggested to Damo that I ride into town and he meet me there so we could get Subway for breakfast. About 7 hours later he ended up with the start of some pretty severe salmonella. He stayed at home for presentations and roll down. After getting home, I realized he wasn’t getting any better that night. We decided to drive him to the nearest hospital at 11pm. The staff at the Cozumel General Hospital couldn’t have been more helpful and caring. We were super lucky to have Damo’s sister there who could speak fluent Spanish to the Doctors and Nursing staff. After spending the night in hospital and recovering the next day we were finally able to celebrate with a scuba dive and a few sunset drinks with new friends on our final day in Cozumel. I’m now looking forward to some down time before we start building for next year’s season.  Thank you to “Team Ash” To set a goal, work towards it and then actually achieve it is a pretty surreal feeling. There is no way I would have been able to have the race that I did without the help from many. Here are just a few people that helped along the journey that I am incredibly grateful for: My Coach, Richard Thompson – thank you for always believing in me, also, for your incredible balancing skills between the art and science of coaching. I am truly lucky to have you guiding me through this journey. My swim coach - Coach Lise - Firstly, thanks for creating the best environment to train in! I am very grateful to be under your watchful eye in the pool, its pretty rad to think how far we’ve come in the last 2.5 years since I started swimming with you. Thanks for showing me how to believe in myself among many other things. Race Day Support – Thank you to the Collins family (Brad, Cristina, Alana and Damo), Leanne & Richard Crack and Wil Delfin for coming all the way to Cozumel to support me. It was pretty special to see you on the sidelines. My Cycling training buddies – Thank you to Erik Dodwell, Brendan Cooper (aka Coops) and Peter Westrup (aka Crabs) for riding with me over the last 6 months. I still look back at some of the rides we did and think that we’re slightly crazy. Haha! I always felt stronger and safer knowing I had you with me. I want to also say a big thank you to each of your families for allowing you to be out helping me which no doubt was taking up valuable family time. I am very grateful for you legends! To my local school communities – Thank you to Chancellor State College, Beerwah State High School and EPC Relief Teaching for always supporting me and trying to work around my training schedule as best as possible. To all the lovely staff who I admire so much thank you for your support and kindness. To my friends and family – I have missed birthdays (sorry Harry for your 18th) and many other important events or I’ve shown up after a long day of training and haven’t completely been there. I thank you for being patient and allowing me to do what I love. Looking forward to catching up over off season! Innovation Podiatry – Thank you for keeping my body in one piece over the last 6 months, Ness. I feel so lucky to have found someone as passionate, knowledgeable and experienced as you are. Andrew Duff at Sports and Spinal Physio– thanks for all your time and effort at the start of the season getting me injury free. My parents and older bro – for always being up for a chat on the phone whether it was a call because I’d be feeling tired, down or anxious and I just needed to speak to you or simply just a phone call to share my day or week of training with you because I know you would listen. Thanks for always being there and for your support. My supporters & Sponsors for making it possible to spend more hours training and less hours at work, thank you for everything you do:
My brother Jordan, kudos to you for living with two Ironman triathletes. Thank you for everything you do for us. I have treasured our time living together again. Last but not least, my partner Damien Collins – thank you Damo for being my rock throughout this journey, picking up the slack around home when I couldn’t and always listening to me ramble on about my training. Love you heaps! 
I look forward to sharing next year’s build with you towards my 2020 Ironman World Championship and 70.3 World Championship campaign. Thanks for following along, Ash Hunter
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