Tauranga Half 2024 Race Review
Starting 2024 racing with a bang!
This has been my go to race to kick start each year since 2021. I absolutely love heading up to Tauranga, or more specifically, Mt Maunganui and getting to blow the cobwebs out on a flat and fast half distance course.
This year was no exception as I was keen to kick off the start of my 2nd year racing as a professional long course triathlete with a decent performance. Especially after reflecting back on the massive learning curve that was 2023 making the leap into the pro scene.
The icing on the cake is that I get to stay with my cousin, James, and his partner, Chloe, who are outstanding people but unfortunately because they live so far away, I never get to see them as often as we all would like.
For me, heading into this race all eyes were on preparing for Ironman New Zealand in Taupo on March 2nd and so I was fully intending to train as normal right up until I arrived in Mt Maunganui on the Thursday, 2 days before race day. I did exactly that with the body feeling like it usually does on a Thursday after a fairly solid start to the week. This was nothing new as I had been training really consistently over the previous 6 weeks and was following the exact same pattern of leading into a big “Saturday Ironman prep day”, except this time it would just be a race rather than a training simulation.
Race Day
Race morning came around quickly and I went about my usual routine as I do every morning.
Arriving at the transition area it was pretty calm, and conditions were looking really good for a fast day out. Pilot bay where we would do the swim was dead flat which is always a pleasing sign for a weak swimmer!
Warm Up
I went about my usual warm up routine of 5-10mins of easy jogging followed by some dynamic movements and stretches as well as some short but fast strides. This is all done to bring my core body temp up and get the neuromuscular system firing, especially important when the race kicks off before 6.30am!
I then went about my normal pre-swim routine which is exactly the same as I do before every swim session in the pool. As I am doing this I am quietly checking in with myself internally to see how I am feeling. Mentally I was calm yet excited and physically the body was waking up just nicely.
We got a decision well in advance of the water opening for the swim warm up that it would be a non-wetsuit swim for the elite field as the water temperature was above the threshold requirement. This would be my very 1st experience of swimming non-wetsuit and with my swim skin in a race. This didn’t phase me at all as I have been having wetsuit fit troubles for ages now and got the sense that the freeness through the shoulders of the swim skin might actually allow me to swim decently for a change…
Swim - 1.9km
I had been swimming decently all week leading into the race and this was no different on race morning. As soon as I got into the water for the warm up I knew I was on for a good one (by my standards). Straight away I had good rhythm and relaxation. This only added to the quiet excitement I had building.
The gun went off and typical of every triathlon race start, you take off like a cut cat for the 1st turn buoy. I had good take out speed for this and was right in the group at the 1st turn which surprised me a little. Getting around the buoys I wasn’t aggressive enough and when we settled into things on the back straight I was just dangling off the main front pack. All of this is know based off of talking to my competitors post race of course. During I had no idea and just thought I was in my usual place but swimming well.
Conditions were great and fast and the 1.9km went by in a flash. The whole time I was waiting for that familiar burning feeling I always got in my shoulders from my wetsuit that slows me down a lot but it never came. I ended up coming out of the water in 26min 5sec with a group of 4-5 guys 10-15sec in front of me. The main pack was 90sec ahead of me with the lead swimmers a further 60-90sec on them.
Getting into T1 and to my bike I had my cousin yell out a split to me - 3min. My response was “To Matt?” (This is a mate of mine who I race against often and is a great swimmer. I compare my swim to his at all races to see if I am closing the gap). My cousin’s response was “No! To the front!” I don’t think I need to say much other than I was taken aback that the front was so close and the excitement to get on the bike and thump it was really bubbling away now!
Bike - 86km (4km short this year due to road works)
The bike leg is essentially dead flat with half of it on the Tauranga Eastern Link which is a toll road that is amazingly smooth and fast, especially when compared to the typical NZ roads! This makes for really speedy bike splits, especially for the bigger guys like me who can push a decent amount of power.
With the small-time gap in mind, I got out onto my bike and settle in quickly. Given the swim was a good one for me, it hadn’t taken too much out of me at all and so my legs felt great, and my HR and breathing were well under control. I got stuck into my work, put my head down and got comfy with that burning sensation in the quads that was going to be my friend for the next just under 2hrs.
The 1st half of the bike course I climbed up plenty of placings and got myself inside the top 10. All bar 1 of the guys up front were biking about the same speed as I was so I wasn’t clawing back much time. The 2nd half was a different story all together, in my favour. Hindsight suggests I was holding back on the 1st half as I was able to hold the exact same power for the 2nd half. However, I was in PB power territory so I had no real gauge of what level of effort would make me blow up or not. In the end this fluked pacing strategy worked well as I clawed back a lot of time on almost everyone. I came into transition with a group of 4 having pulled back about 90sec on these guys in the 2nd lap.
There were 3 guys up the road. The leader was 5mins ahead, 2nd place about 2mins and 3rd roughly 90sec. The battle was well and truly on for a podium spot at this stage. I finished up still feeling decent and was ready to see what sort of run legs would turn up!
Run - 21.1km
The Mt run course is a 2-lap course that has about 15km of flat running as well as running around Mt Maunganui base track. This is a limestone path that is quite undulating with some steep uphill sections. Enough to take the sting out of the legs for sure, especially on the 2nd lap!
On with the running shoes and other gear and off we went. Out of the 4 of us that came into T2 together I was the slowest out - something I have got to work on for sure!
This was my 1st experience of genuinely being in a strong position with the potential to fight for a podium spot. I can’t really describe how that feels other than to say the mixture of excitement and adrenaline takes over in waves and you feel you have another gear to give both in terms of actual performance but also mentally in terms of your willingness to suffer. Certainly, an awesome feeling!
To my excitement, my run legs were there right from the get-go, and I was off. Good run legs for me are running mid 3.20’s/km or a target half marathon time of between 72-74mins.
I settled quickly and into a really solid rhythm. My breathing was under control and the pace was coming with relative ease. I moved my way into 6th quickly knowing that the next few guys weren’t that far up the road. A few km’s later and I was in 5th place. A short time after that I was in 4th.
Coming off the base track and heading towards the turnaround for lap 2 I got a split from my cousin - 4mins to the lead. I had clawed back 60sec and so knew 2nd and 3rd weren’t too far away either. I ran decently for the next 2-3km before an old foe came to life and got me… the dreaded stomach cramp. I have had this before and it has completely derailed my races. Once at this same event 2yrs earlier had me walking the run. And again, at IM NZ last year which made me DNF. This time I recognised it, stopped briefly to relax it and then began slowly shuffling for the next couple of km’s to see if it would subside. Thankfully it did and I was able to get back into some form of respectable running, but this was my shot at a podium done. I was passed and so moved back into 5th and that’s where I finished with a half marathon time of 1hr 15min 55sec.
Finish Line - 3hrs 40min 33sec. 4th Place. $500NZD
Yes, you read that right, 4th place in the end. This is because 3rd place got DQ’d after the race for outside assistance during the bike leg. So, we all got shuffled up a spot. A bittersweet moment for me as I was only 55sec behind the guy in front of me. Goddam stomach cramp!
Despite the “so close, yet so far” predicament I was incredibly happy with the overall result and performance on the day.
This was my best half distance performance to date in terms of time, numbers across all 3 disciplines and placing in a very competitive field. It also gave me my highest PTO world rankings points to date as well.
Safe to say this was a massive confidence booster for me heading into this final 6-week prep for Ironman New Zealand. I am on the right track and can’t wait until race day on March 2nd to really give myself a test out at the full distance. After last year’s DNF and another poor performance in Port Macquarie, I am determined to put a respectable performance on the board at an Ironman.
Happy but never satisfied. Onto the next one!