5 Questions Asked: Luke McKenzie, Fastest IM on Australian Soil
After winning IM Cairns earlier this year and placing 2nd at IM 70.3 Sunshine Coast in the lead up to Kona, Luke McKenzie struggled with stomach issues during the bike leg at the World Championships and recorded his first DNF on the Big Island. Only two months after his disappointing race in Hawaii, McKenzie won IM Western Australia in a record-breaking time of 7.55.58- the fastest ever IM on Australian soil.
Luke, you just crushed IM Western Australia:, posting a bike split record, a 2.52h marathon leading to a sub-8h and fastest IM on Australian soil to date. How close to the best performance in your career was this race?
Like I said at the finish line I am not sure it gets any better than that? I felt amazing all day and everything seemed to "click". I would have to say that's as close to a perfect race as I could ever expect. I definitely rate it as the best performance of my career.
Your victory at IM Western Australia comes 2 months after a huge disappointment with your first DNF at the IM World Championships in Hawaii. Have you been able to figure out what went wrong in Kona?
Yes, I think in Kona I didn't pay enough attention to my usual nutrition plan and got caught up in the race. Then I think I made the huge mistake of trying to get too many calories in at once to "catch up" and that caused me to be sick and vomiting. I should have known better. The good thing is I took that lesson away and followed a strict fueling plan and I had the race of my life.
You were obviously in great shape for Kona, placing 2nd at Sunshine Coast IM 70.3 in the lead up to the Worlds. How were you able to conserve your fitness for such a long period?
Obviously I didn't finish Kona and so I still felt I had all the fitness from months of hard training to utilize. It was a matter of not trying to over-do the training post Hawaii and I was able to maintain great from. I think the motivation to have redemption and prove to myself I was in great shape also helped.
10 days before IM Western Australia you flew to Phuket for the Challenge event that Beth and you raced. How are you able to manage so much travel before big races and still hit the start line recovered and ready?
Beth and I were already committed to this event since last year and when I knew I was going to race IM Western Australia my plan had to change with this event. Last year I placed 3rd in Phuket and I wanted to return and use the event to prime myself for IM WA. The 90km effort on the bike in Phuket really set me up well for my record breaking ride in Busselton. I just cruised 5km of the run and then called it a day so I would be fresh to give my best effort in the Ironman. This isn't something I usually do but proved in the end it was a good move.
Despite a monster 4.08h bike split last Saturday you managed a 2.52h marathon. Is this a misperception or did your run improve since you’re living and training with Beth who’s one of the fastest runners in the women’s field?
Beth pushes me in our run training which definitely helps. I think my best marathon times are to come in Ironman. I know I can break into the 2.40's and it's a matter of time till I produce that. I guess the tactics of riding hard sometimes inhibits my run time? Having the lure of breaking 8 hours in IM WA definitely helped me push to a faster run split.
