After 6 months of hard and strenuous training, I finally achieved my goal of completing the Ironman 70.3 in East London this last weekend. The 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run was a goal which I set myself shortly after giving birth. Thanks to some gentle persuasion from a few of my girlfriends I decided it would be a great achievement to get fit again and return this mommy's body back to its former state - that of an endurance athlete! I'm proud to say that I completed the race in a time of 6 hours and 34 minutes, well within my time of wishing to beat 7 hours. I was elated to have finally conquered this challenge after many hours of training, tiredness, exhaustion, struggling to stick to my training programme and continuously motivating myself for the last 6 months.
The conditions on the day were perfect: cool, overcast and little wind. We couldn't blame a poor performance on the weather. I was very excited to do the race - actually I was tired of all the training and just wanted to get it over and done with. So the nerves were calm as I didn't know what to expect. I had a very good swim, with no kicks or punches in the face and exited the water after 42 minutes. Running to the transition zone on wobbly legs while trying to strip off a wetsuit was interesting. Once on the bike, I tried to use my Tri bars as much as possible to rest my body but the harsh rolling hills didn't allow for such comforts. I had to be careful not to slipstream other cyclists as referees were continuously monitoring everyone's following distance. Transition into the run was slow as I slapped on as much suncream as I could before trying to find a steady rhythm. I started the run with a stitch and couldn't run very easily. I panicked as I thought of 21 painful kilometres to look forward to. So many times I felt like giving up - my body was sore, aching and had no energy. I pushed through and by 10kms felt alot better. I kept looking forward to the feeding points every 2kms where I would walk and drink as much as possible - that was the only thing that got me through the run. There was a nasty 1km hillclimb as well which saw me walking it both times (the run was 2 laps). I just kept telling myself that every step I took was one step closer to the finish. And finally the red carpet was there and I had done it!
Jaco and Milli supported me all the way! It was a long hot day for them but their cheering got me through my run. They were the best supporters that a mom could ask for!
I've been asked whether I'll do it again. The sore achy legs are enough for me to decline right now, but perhaps I'll look back one day and only remember the highlights and forget the pain!
Milli is 8 months old today and weighing 8kgs. She has found her voice in the last couple of days and babbles away non-stop. She is getting faster on her hands and knees and loves following Constance around the house. She is exploring every space in our flat which means we need to watch her every move. When there's silence, you know she's up to mischief. I miss those days that I could just plonk her down on the carpet and know she wasn't going to go anywhere....sigh!! You always want what you can't have ;-)
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