Hammer's Hell of the West race report

The night before the race at the pasta party I met couple of guys – 1 who had done a 100 miler footrace and another one who had his Kona number burnt on his shoulder. Instantly my instincts of beating the shit out of them in the race vanished. It didn’t helped when they told me that they have done 4 hr ride on Saturday. They were aiming to complete the race in 4:10 something. I quietly ate my pasta and told them I wanted to complete the race in 5:30 hrs. Still quite a big jump from my marathon effort in Yeppoon of 6:55 hrs.

The night before was humid and I felt its going to be hard tomorrow. I slept well as I can’t be bothered to be anxious anymore, especially when the banks of the McIntyre River were only 10 strokes away from the centre. Early start at 3:00 and was at the transition area by 4. After numbering and checking out the various hot (female) contestants with their hot bikes it was time to move towards the river for the start. 5 mins before the start people swam to the middle of the river. I didn’t want to swim a single metre more than required so I stayed at the bank. Stupid and costly mistake as I realized later. As soon the horn blew I jumped in and … jumped straight out. The bloody goggles was leaking. Swam back, adjusted the goggles, and went in again, goggles still leaking, swam back again, readjusted them and finally went back again… quite a start.

The water in that river is BROWN. Couldn’t see a thing for the first 10mins. I was just following a light at a distance and surprisingly swimming well and confidently. There was so much weed and stuff in the water that I became oblivious to it. After about 15 mins the fast guys of the next wave went passed me. I had no idea of the time as I couldn’t see the time on my watch. To the turnaround the slight current was against. From the turnaround my form deteriorated a bit and I had to correct my direction quite frequently to save time. The finish line appeared all of a sudden and I started kicking a bit harder to get some blood flow into the legs. Out of the water in 53 mins which was satisfying (Mooloolaba 1.5k – 55 mins, Yeppoon 1.9k (with wetsuit) – 1:03).

After a long transition run I ran to grab the bike. No bikes were left in my section. The announcer yelled at the mike that the first guy (Luke McKenzie) has reached the 20k mark on the bike just as I was about to mount which was a bit discouraging. The first half of the bike was a breeze. Sat at 38k (avg) and maintained a good cadence. Temptation was there to go hard as and make the most of the tail wind but I kept within myself. A Douche bag was racing me and kept on overtaking me (in his biggest gear out of the saddle). I was annoyed but waited for the 40 k turnaround. Once we took that turn didn’t saw him again. And uh …. Got chicked 3 times.. I unchicked once but the other 2 just went away L
That wind is real and demands respect. My Speedo dropped 10k as soon as I made that turn. To keep the cadence high I had to drop to smaller ring in the front. I was hovering between 28-32km/hr all the way back and I overtook heaps of people just in return which was very satisfying :D. There were sections where the wind was just outright abusive. Passed three dead pigs and 1 live snake in the meantime. Didn’t have the time to even give it a second thought. Finished the leg in 2:29.

Back at T2 I had a bad transition. Off the bike I realized that all my toes are numb and painful and I could barely walk. The rough road didn’t made life any easier. But once I put on the running shoes I was alright. Forgot my race number as I started going out of transition so had to run back and collect it. Lost 30secs there... Overall bike time (including transition was 2:33)

Out on the run I was in a rhythm immediately. At this point I would have to admit that I was getting chicked left right and centre. But I had to hold back to stop from blowing up. Nutrition on the bike was good so I was hoping for the best. I kept moving along making full use of the aid stations drinking heaps and using the ice in plenty. It was nice and cool, a bit of a let down from the famous dreaded heat on the run. The locals were great and they had home made sprinklers etc on the road to cool the athletes. A few were singing on their guitars as well!!. Did the first lap in 36 odd mins (for 6.67k) and I was on thinking of 2 hrs for 20k. I had a gel at the end of 1st lap and started finding my legs again so I stepped it up a bit, and still could maintain it. Second lap was the easiest of the 3 and went without any dramas. Only when I had the second gel at 13k mark, the trouble started. I had a big stitch on my right abdomen area which was probably because of the gas due to the gels. I had to push from here as I was not going to stop and walk. I was grunting and panting but kept going at the same pace. Picked up quite a few people on the 2nd and 3rd lap which was again a good feeling.
3k before the end the stitch was worse but I hung on. It eased up a little with a big burp due to the coke I had. No further dramas from there on as I completed the 20k run in 1:48 which is a full 12 mins faster than what I expected. Compared to the half marathon in Yeppoon (2:20) this was just great.

I was ecstatic at the finish line. I had a quite celebration, just because I finished strong, didn’t have cramps and felt good throughout. Total time of 5:17 , 13 minutes faster than what I wanted. Nutrition was good; heart rate was within 155-170 range throughout. I felt that I nailed this one right!

The race was so well organized. A cute girl gave a nice massage at the end to top of the day. Had a litre of milk afterwards which was a terrible idea as on the way back I had diarrhoea. Had a good feed later on as we were leaving the town. I’m going back next year for sure. I think I have a sub 5 hr in me.

Highly recommended race for all. If only IMG can take a leaf out of these organizers, a lot of HIM will be much more fun.

Regards

Hammer