firstoffthebike.com - Interviews

Josh Rix's Ironman WA

Text by Josh Rix

Without a doubt my Ironman performance last weekend at Busselton was definitely one of the top three in my triathlon career. On a day that produced some challenging conditions with vicious heat, lashing winds and even a small period of humidity, it soon became more than just about covering the Ironman swim, bike and run distances –nutrition, pacing and being able to alter any pre existing strategies to deal with the elements became the key to a successful day.

Race morning came and I was up and eating super early. The race started at 5.30am, a record in my books, but thankfully my body considered this 8.30am Melbourne time and it wasn’t too much of a stretch to roll out of bed at 2.30am. I have a cracker of a place to stay in Busselton, at the “Busselton Guest House,” which is only a short walk to the race site and so I was able to spend 10minutes walking to the race with some good quiet time thinking through what was about to happen. I was hoping to swim 50minutes, ride 4hrs 30mins and run just under 3hrs, which would give me around 8hr20mins. My Powerbar nutrition plan was locked into place for fuelling my body for the next 9hrs and kicked off with the first of many, many, many, many gels 30mins before race start.

Ironman WA has morphed into one of the biggest and best events on the Australian calendar and with all the key ingredients – including an amazing organising committee, a cracker venue and a local community that wants the event to be there, it is a formula for ongoing success. With this in mind, the organising committee decided to add a “rockstar” element for the professionals and so we were introduced to the crowd of spectators and age group athletes, one by one, as we entered the swim start. We were also able to choose a song to play in the background as we were introduced but unfortunately my email reply didn’t get through so I had a random song played. For those wondering, I had hoped for “Before the Storm” by Darude.

With the usual “rolling start” the professionals were released and we took off bound for the far end of the Busselton Jetty – almost 2km straight out to sea. It was a lot bumpier than other years but I got a pretty good sit in the front pack and thankfully I was able to cruise there the whole swim without any issues of being whacked by the others or swallowing too much seawater. As a result I was pretty relaxed as we exited the water and I took account of the race situation. I could see that I had the German race favorite Timo Bracht with me, as well as other contenders such as Matty White and Maik Twelsiek. I knew that Fettel and Mckenzie would be already out riding and so as we hit the road I was surprised by the relaxed tempo we initially set. Considering the headwind we faced on the outward bound section it was still pretty pedestrian speeds and this enabled Leon Griffin to catch up to our group.

With 3 laps and quite a few turns we were able to see how far ahead the two leaders were and Fettel was riding like a train with a fierce grimace on his face. McKenzie was only a couple of minutes ahead of us and by the 130km mark we had caught and passed him, leaving only Fettel in front. The heat on the bike was also a major factor and so I made sure to be grabbing 2 water bidons at each aid station, but by the end of the 180km it still felt like it hadn’t been enough. Whilst our speeds into the wind were a bit low, they were the opposite with the tail winds and my Rolf Prima disc simply loved the conditions. I didn’t find it to be affected at all into the wind but with the cross winds and tailwinds that thing is amazing – where have you been all my life baby???? We hit our second transition and I jumped off my Giant Trinity: Boom – things were still on track as I’d ridden a 4hr 30min bike leg. I handed my bike off and ran for the change tent.

I grabbed my red bag and found a seat; as I was scrambling for my Brooks socks and shoes the super nice volunteer lady was covering my neck and shoulders with sunscreen and then even slapped some Vaseline under my arms to stop chafing – what a LEGEND, I don’t think my wife would even do that for me, I probably wouldn’t do it for her either though, I was so gross and sweaty at that point of the race! I grabbed more gels and my Garmin and headed for the next leg, the marathon. If there is one reason I can find for my PB performance last weekend it is this – quite simply I have finally got my head around the marathon run.

I ran out the door with all the other guys around me and sat shoulder to shoulder with Griff until 2km, when our Garmin’s beeped and we saw 6min54sec for 2km. WAY TOO FAST! I learnt my lesson from last year’s Busselton about going out too hard and so I immediately backed off to 4min/km pace. Griff and Matty White took off with Timo Bracht and I was sitting in 5th place with the likes of Farlow, McKenize and Twelsiek not far behind. By the end of the first lap the pace took its toll on Griff and I passed him moving up into 4th. I had broken the run down into its 4 laps rather than saying the distance and this helped as I set a goal for each lap. I saw Matty fade a little during the 2nd lap and so with lifted spirits I went into the 3rd lap hoping to make up some ground. I came across him half way through the lap and at the 26km mark I moved up into 3rd place.

Timo Bracht had surged away up into the lead, passing Fettel who still had a big lead on me. I kept running solid and things were still feeling good until a couple of km into the 4th and final lap. I could see old man Shortis charging on the run and I was assessing the ground he was making up at each turn. With 7km to go in the race I saw that he was flying and I was in trouble. I tried to lift my speed but my legs were locked onto their steady pace. At 38km Shorto steamed passed me and even had the breath for a few words of encouragement.

I knew there were still plenty of quality athletes not far behind me and the threat of being caught by Ironman UK winner Aaraon Farlow had me running scared. Thankfully my legs were on their way to running a 3.07 pb marathon off the bike; and I held onto to 4th place. My time was 8hrs 30minutes so I hadn’t quite finished off with my goal time but I had been on track to get it until 32km into the marathon, and on a day that most consider very slow, and no age grouper broke 9 hours; it was a very satisfying result and a great way to finish 2011.

Right now I am on another plane jetting to Singapore hopefully in time to watch my amazing Wicked Witch Wife perform the opening night of her show. We will spend the next 5 months based out of Singapore which is going to be an exciting time, meeting new people, training in new venues and exploring one of Asia’s main hubs. Thankfully I am taking a few weeks to let my body rest up before I begin preparing for Ironman Melbourne in March 2012; so there will be a lot more eating, drinking and adventures than usual.

Once again a big thank you to my fantastic sponsors who help me to perform at my best in this awesome sport – 2XU, Giant, Brooks, Oakley, Powerbar, Engine and of course Craig and Sam at Bicycles Inc who always have my bikes running smooth!

I also have to thank Mike and Beth at the Busselton Guest House who gave me such a warm welcome back and made me feel so at home, especially as I sat drinking my morning coffee in the kitchen as Mike whipped up my scrambled eggs, bacon and hash brown each day! See you guys next year!

Swim 00:49:38
Bike 04:30:23
Run 03:07:05
Time 08:30:59