Well done Chris, anything can happen in an IM and I think you did a bloody amazing job. Well done on dealing with what the day gave you.
Booked a trip on the Quicksilver? 
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To me the quicksilver is the main tourist trips for the great barrier reef, so whatās the kiwi version? Take it itāll be one of the crazy swings?
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Lol,
We did a walk around Hukafalls - saw those guys go up to the waterfall 
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Itās nice area
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This is memorable, if you can get there:
Late to the party but bloody hell Chris great race chapeau!
we did the Huka falls jetboat trip when we went to Taupo. itās wet fun!
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Great suff
A fortnight on think even Iāve lost interest and replaced with holiday thoughts, but Iāve written my own recap so deciding to share since Iāve been open with everything else, and might as well face some people thinking Iām making excuses. Was very downbeat after the race at a perceived failure, but have accepted the positives since.
I became unwell Tuesday with fevers, stomach cramps and vomiting ~10x in next 24 hours. Left with stomach pains and zero appetite for few days, and took til Thursday night to eat anything. Decided I wouldnāt race if still unwell as regretted taking the health risk at Cairns, but gradual improvement and I felt the illness had passed and I was just left weak from lack of food. Struggled through a poor training session Friday morning but ate very well for the rest of that day to convince me I could take the start line and see how it went.
Race day
Good night sleep, waking up feeling better again. Love the Maori welcome and Haka challenge on the beach whilst getting ready. Mentally in race mode, relaxed but healthy nervous energy, first time Iāve felt it for a few years. Glad illness hadnāt just removed all pressure like it did at Cairns - I was there to try do my best, knowing I could just enjoy the day if needed.
Swim
Odd mass start, with a 10 minute warning to swim out to the start, and then the infamous cannon to wake you back up! One person breaks clear and I have nothing, but a large pack forms that I settle into. Felt comfortable but couldnāt go faster, so accept my fate and decide conserving energy is better than fighting it when itās not my day. Assumed that a large pack means itās a continuous stream of the main field meaning a relatively slow time, but only afterwards have I learned it was a pack of 8 that were 4 minutes clear.
50:22 probably only 2 min lost from where I should have been.
Smooth T1, 4:28 with 700m relaxed jog, come out 6th and lose ~30s from not running as hard.
Bike 5:08: AP 226 NP 236 HR 140
Quarters AP 247 236 209 213W
Speed 38-33-37-31kmh
Course is 2x out and back with tailwind-headwind. Set off at best case power at 250-260w trying to go with the race infront of me but after 10km of decide to let it go. Very slowly passed by a female pro at 35km so stayed with her. After 90km aware that power plummeting but felt poor when took turns leading at ~240W so decided best strategy was to stay together, optimise speed for effort and try save for the run.
Lost two full drink bottles from BTS = 1200kcal 50% plan. Grabbed what I could at aid stations (~800kcal via 2x banana, 4xbars and 3xgels) & 3-4x bottles of gatotade. Not a bad recovery but finished dehydrated. Taken by surprise at just how hot NZ felt was for 24C compared to Aus or UK, Eg first time Iāve been sunburned
Start the run in 9th. Mentally it was a struggle from the very start with inner voice saying I was underfuelled and would be unable to manage anything all run, stomach pains would get worse and Iād start vomiting if tried to eat. Demons progressed to saying Iād let myself and fiance down not delivering a result worthy of the sacrifice of not watching her first race, or of training time.
Consciously harnessed the power of the crowd, gratitude for the opportunity to physically take on the challenge, beauty of the lake and remembered whats important to me. And wondered what on earth had happened to my ego that it could be so ridiculous when I was still on for potential top 10.
Physically I was moving ok, and after 30-40 minutes silenced the doubts and settled in, body started blocking out stomach cramps and I started some fuelling. Was at planned pace, and able to enjoy up to 25km at 4:30/km but when the hills came on third lap I hit the wall and resettled into ~4:50-5:00 pace. Somehow others ran worse and I ran my way up to 2nd overall, largely unaware but surprised to discover I was taking my age group lead with 5km to go and then maintained pace to the finish.
Finish 3:15 (4:40/k)
Physically I thought I had a extra spurt in reserve to give, but I mentally struggled to access it and was happy to just get to the line and stay ācomfortably uncomfortableā rather than empty the tank. Obviously I was still destroyed afterwards, and only talking 1-2 minutes for that last 1% of effort but given thatās two races in a row Iāve felt the same doubt I question if Iām losing mental toughness or whether I can say illness disrupted mindset, or whether I just had a lack of physical energy to go harder.
Feel the podium flatters me to be 2nd AGer/15th overall, on another day that physical showing would have me a lot further down. Half an hour behind next AGr, over an hour behind pro winner and beaten by 3x females.
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Probably the most critical self assessment Iāve ever read, about anything, not just a triathlon race.
Unless Joe Skipper rejoined this morning no one else on here is getting anywhere near that effort/ time/ placings.
I wonder why your so focused on the negative aspects of your race? I guess if your think on a dream day you could be a lot better fair enough, but considering the week leading up you probably overachieved.
Enjoyed reading that very precise and very very honest assessment
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Agree with Mungo, youāve been very critical and hard on yourself there Chris. We all know youāre a super top athlete but I think you can cut yourself some slack - going from puking and presumably pooping your life out to producing an extremely impressive performance on race day!
I hope you donāt dwell on what could have been certainly in regards to losing your edge in the swim and bike power - youāve still put in a decent shift and after all an AG win!
Youāre going to have to come back home and win Bolton/Tenby
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@Chriswim I get it completely, and initially felt the same after Kona. It took me a while to realise that even though I felt I had a poor run, many people who I have raced against struggled a lot more than me. Now when I look back at Kona, and think could I have done anything differently or raced any better, I realise that I had pretty much a perfect race relative to my fitness and experience on the day, and I am immensely proud of that.
Other than Wales, I am taking a year out of Triathlon, maybe I will be back next year. I am not abandoning sub 9, maybe there will still be an opportunity before age really catches up
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Whilst i agree with @Mungo2 and @Adam , I think it demonstrates that you operate on a different level than the rest of us and that of course means you hold yourself to a higher standard.
You executed a fantastic race and time will allow you to focus on the positives as well where you think you underperformed.
Outstanding in my book.
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Sorry Matt
I forgot your super human bike splits and improving runs.
Perfect course on a perfect day after a big block ā¦ who knows.
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Add in a bit of luck, like the IM Italy draft fest last year, or perfect conditions in Barcelona, or a current on the Swim in Brazil and on a fast course, with the right prep itās still possible
Going back to @Chriswim, I think that you should be incredibly proud of what you did, Second AG athlete is stunning.
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Sorry, Iām supposed to be doing something else, so have got to be quickā¦
Are you mixing TriTalk up with other on line places? 
Others have already gone before me to say no one thinks like that here.
On the the same day without the illness in the run up would have had you a lot further up. 
All the training and sacrifice you put into this were reflected in a great time despite your problems.
Your time would have been worse if you were ājustā (and you know what I mean) in sub-10 hour form.
Sorry, got to go, take care, Paul. 
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Wot everyone else said
Very well done in the circumstances
Edit - just very well done
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Pretty incredible result in the circumstances 
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Sorry @Chriswim, but if youāre looking for some confirmation bias, you shall not get it here 
I do get it though. Whilst I operate a few stratospheres below you, I used to be incredibly hard on myself. No matter how well Iād done, I focussed on how I couldāve done better etc. My friends always used to take the piss cos I was always in a grump after a race. Just really hard in myself.
But the way I see it. If you lack that and just go āyeah whatever, it was fineā, then youāve lost some of the edge which creates these awesome performances. You need to know the dragon still lives inside. Feeling that pang of regret or āwhat ifā is proof that heās alive and well. And itās him that gets you fired through those dark moments in training or racing.
That said. As Iāve got older (and supposedly more mature), I have got much better at seeing the positives as well. And there is a need to be balanced with the positive panda 
and the firey dragon 
.
Achieve your 
if you will.
Stoke the dragon. Stroke the panda. All will be well.
(there is a serious message of support in there if you look hard enough 
)
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