I started so I will finish…….
…..well the blog at least!Sadly my journey to Kona did not end with a triumphant run along Alii Drive to get a medal and a garland of flowers. It ended in the medical tent having been diagnosed with abdominal ischemia - basically the heart stops giving the stomach blood because it is shunting to other parts of the body.But onto the race….Woke up really excited and very nervous! This was the biggest day in my tri career and I was hugely honoured to be on the start line with so many fit endurance athletes from all over the world.It was amazing to be close enough to see “Macca” setting up his bike in transition and to wish Chrissie Wellington well as she walked past me…what a race she had!!The gun went off at 7am,we were off! What a scrum! I swam very wide but still got battered every which way! thats what is going to happen when you put alot of severely competitive athletes of similar swim ability in a restricted piece of ocean! Before I knew it we were at the turn point and not a fish in sight! I was surprised that even on the way back I got well clobbered when normally the field spreads abit…hey ho.It seemed like the swim was over in a flash and into the change tent where I got my bike bag and some sun cream put on me(as it turned out,nowhere near enough!).Onto the bike and passed the crowds who were going bonkers with excitement.A brilliant moment. Saw Jimmy, gave him a wave and set off…the first part of the course loops around the town with some very wooshy corners which I apparently took at speed….It is a fun part of the course. I settled onto the tri bars, prepared for the bike leg,checking my heart rate,eating my banana and having a swig of fluid.For the first part of the course you are on about 40 miles of straight, undulating highway. At this point I was going well, averaging between 16 and 18mph, spot on for me. The HR was looking good and the nutrition was going in well, with the right amount of carb per hour for me. The wind was against us but ok and no worse than a day on Lanzarote. I was pleased to turn off the highway and onto the climb up to Hawi. The road twists up for abit and is much like riding in Kent. The Pinny was brilliant here, she is such a versatile bike and I started picking off a few people who had passed me on the highway. I was looking forward to my bagel at the special food station at the top of the hill…The second half of the climb got tough into the wind which had picked up. I had set myself a target of reaching the top of the course in just over 3 hours, I was just off this but still happy with the ride.The top of the course is where the trouble started. Despite yelling my race number, no one got my food bag. In hindsight I should have stopped,got off and got it myself but was going well, I had food on the bike so the bagel was not essential..would have been nice though! I was shocked that the wind had changed and found myself working really hard to get OFF the climb. When I reached the bottom, I got the first stomach pain. I sat up, slowed up and hoped it would pass. every time I got back on the tri bars I felt sick so had to sit up. Now on a course where good aerodynamics are essential this is not good. I felt ill when I tried to give myself any nutrition and knew I had problems. Earlier this week I wrote about race visualisation and the “what ifs”. I knew the stomach had shut down and could not put anything in, I knew I had to make it back. You can see the bike splits drop off at this time. So nothing went in for at least 60km back. I got back to transition, was helped off the bike, sent to the med tent and evaluated and diagnosed…30 mins later I still could not drink any water and made the toughest, hardest race decision I have ever made - to put my health first and withdraw. It was without doubt the hardest thing for me to have decided, it was absolutely the the right thing to have decided too. To say I was devastated is a huge understatement…end of part one.
