On the bike I knew I had to be conservative. I'm getting getting closer to confirming diagnosis on my quad problem that effected my Kona race. Now that this Ironman WA (and my Kona qualification) is complete I can go ahead and have the problem fixed. In the mean-time, leading up to Ironman WA and for the race itself I had a few techniques that I used throughout the race to manage the problem and keep the quad pain at bay a little better. Busselton bike course is dead flat! But, there are 6 sharp u-turn on each of the two laps so every one of them I stood up for a couple of minutes at a time, then sat down and massaged my quad before getting back down aero. I did the same at other 90degree turns and the same through all aide stations. As long as I didnt push it too hard and regularly opened my hip up, I could keep in under control and still run on it fine afterwards.
The run was going well, I tried to stay relaxed and not push it, to make sure my lack of training leading into the race didn't come back to bite me. The only thing that gave me trouble during the run was the hammy cramps. My hammys started twichting funny again like they did in T2 at 24k's into the run. When I got to the next aid station I asked for salt just incase the funny twitching might start being not-so-funny if it continued. Instead of salt, what I got was a jar of vegemite! Now I know this is very un-Australian but... VEGEMITE! Omg, that stuff is terrible! I looked down at it then looked over to my lead cyclist and he gave me the nod of "it's the only thing that'll get you through". I swirled it around my mouth while screwing up my face in disgust. It was horrible. My lead cyclist and I shared a little laugh as the twitches subsided for a bit.