Race Report - Cairns Ironman

Firstly, a confession (or 2..]

My first thoughts when I looked for an Ironman build in the squad library (having completed 9 IM’s over the last 20 years, was where is the build for anyone with serious intentions of being competitive in their age group?? 7 weeks! You’ve gotta be kidding!! That was 8 months out from Cairns and I was seriously considering looking elsewhere for a ‘fair dinkum’ squad...

Then, just in the nick of time, along came Alex’s race report, where he had a spectacular result, made an IM podium, & qualified for Kona. All off the 7 week build...

So, I decided to stick with the squad, and what a great decision that has turned out to be! 
Prior to Cairns, I used the 7 week build for Geelong 70.3 and managed a podium, a couple of weeks recovery, back onto base plan for 2 weeks, then the 7 week IM build. 
Being on a podium at an Ironman race had never been on the radar. A 7th at IM Korea was as close as I’d come, so to be on the top step in Cairns was such a complete shock. The only drama being, that thanks to Covid, there was no awards ceremony & no podium 😩. And, to top it all off, a trip to Kona won’t be happening, due to our government’s tight border restrictions & Ironman disallowing deferrals for this race..

However, I’m totally content to retire with a 🥇after 10 attempts at the Iron distance, and cannot recommend Purple Patch high enough. Thanks to MD and the team for making it happen.