Melissa Hauschildt took care of business in Melbourne last weekend. She endured brutal blisters and dominated a world class field to win Ironman Melbourne in 8:52:51 and earned a debut start at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. The two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion thus proved she belongs among the rare first-time favorites at Kona and hopefully will avoid the odd late season injury that wrecked her 2014 world championship dreams.

Slowtwitch: I hope your blistered feet are on the mend and that you might answer a few questions about the race - and about what it means to you to have the way cleared for your long anticipated debut at Kona. To start off,
How much better were the swim conditions than the mighty waves at Challenge Melbourne [which she won] in January?

Melissa Hauschildt: The water conditions from Challenge Melbourne to Ironman Melbourne were like chalk and cheese. I thought I'd been dumped in the middle of the ocean during a cyclone in Challenge Melbourne. Not only that, the water and outside air temp was freezing. And that was the middle of summer. I was sick for two weeks after the race. Melbourne is known for its crazy weather. Fast forward 7 weeks and we had a beautiful day. Hot, dry and calm waters.

ST: How encouraged were you to emerge from the swim tied with Mirinda Carfrae for 4th and not so far behind Annabel Luxford (51:21), Caroline Steffen and Bree Wee (52:43) and well ahead of Yvonne Van Vlerken?

Melissa: I had an average swim. About what I expected. I hadn't been working on my swim much leading into Melbourne IM because it's such a small part of the full Ironman. But also, I tend to go a lot better over the longer swims anyway. I have the endurance to swim that far and I don't slow down. My speed and technique is just lacking but no matter how much or how little I swim it never really seems to change so I focused mainly on the two legs that I know will improve with more time and effort.

ST: That seems to prove that theory that once you give up all your swim time at 1.2 miles, then you never slow down?

Melissa: Yes. Exactly. I still got spat out the back right from the start but then 800 meters in I caught a group of four (including Carfrae). I'm not the best navigator in the water so I was content to just sit behind them.

ST: How much recovered from your September injuries? And how much more fit were you than Challenge Bahrain where you placed 6th?

Melissa: The rib/pec injury in September hurt me a lot mentally. I felt like I'd just lost everything... All that hard training for 70.3 Worlds and Kona down the drain. And although Bahrain was three months later I was still not over it. I had a good break after that, got myself back in the right headspace and started to enjoy training again. When I'm enjoying what I'm doing I will perform well.

ST: Were you surprised you were so close to the leaders after the swim? How encouraged were you?

Melissa: I came out of the water around about where I expected. I didn't push it hard in the water, I just sat as I knew I had a long day ahead of me.

ST: How were conditions on the bike as seven women broke 4:50.

Melissa: The road surface is super smooth with just small rolling hills so I think that's what makes it a fast course. We had a head wind out and tail wind back - 2 laps. The second lap the wind got quite strong.

ST: Take us through your bike leg as you stayed 3 minutes back of Steffen and Luxford to halfway, cut their lead to 1:40 at 135km but faded a bit back to 4 minutes down at the end of the 180km.

Melissa: I was riding to power so I started off pretty conservative. This is the first race I've used power. The second lap into the head wind I still felt good and I tend to go well into a head wind or slight uphill. It's the tail wind and downhill where I usually lose time. On the way home (45km to go) I just couldn't get my power up. My left VMO [the small bulky muscle on the inside of the leg just above the knee] started cramping so that didn't help. The tail wind was really strong so I felt like I was going fast but my power was telling me otherwise. I think I did bonk a little in the last 40km, so I know what I need to work on before Kona.

ST: You had quite a heroic run. What was your strategy as you passed Luxford at the 14k mark, 1:30 behind Steffen? How were you feeling at that point?

Melissa: I felt great on the run (minus my feet). [Her husband] Jared told me to just hold low 4's (4min/km) so I was just ticking them off, staying under 4:10. I knew if I could do that I'd take the lead by half way.

ST: Tell us about running down Caroline Steffen at the 18km mark? How did she look at that point? How soon did she duck into a porta potty?

Melissa: I never actually passed Caroline. I could see her just up ahead but then she disappeared. The special needs table was just before 19km and on a corner. I was too busy looking out for my bag, ripping it open and grabbing out my nutrition that I must have totally missed her jumping into the porta loo. Once I was sorted and looked ahead I could no longer see her. It wasn't until my lead cyclist had to clear the way in front of me and went ahead of me that I saw her shirt said "1st Female".

ST: Tell us what happened at 28k when you slowed down and observers thought you were suffering from cramps? Were you looking for medical assistance?

Melissa: From about 20km I knew I was in trouble. My feet were burning up and blistering. But I didn't want to fully acknowledge it too early. I was on a mission to get as far as possible and when the time came where it got too much I was hoping I'd have a fantastic idea of how to overcome it. That time came at 28km. I just stopped! I rocked back on my heels to get off the balls of my feet and let out an "ahhhh" as if I'd just stepped off the hot coals I'd been standing on for hours. My lead cyclist behind me asked if I was ok and that's when I asked her if there was any medical at the aid stations. She rang ahead and they had band aids but the next aid station was 2km away. That was the longest 2km my life.

ST: Were you worried you could not finish?

Melissa: Yeah for sure. From 28km to 30km I walk/jogged/shuffled on the outside of my feet (that's why it probably looked like I was cramping). It took me about 12 minutes to get through that 2km.

ST: How much did the Vaseline help your blistered feet?

Melissa: While I was shuffling along around 29km in I saw Jared and he yelled out "try Vaseline," so I yelled up ahead to my cyclist again "do they have Vaseline?" She was so helpful. I smothered it on and then put my socks and shoes back on. My first few steps were just as painful but I told myself that it'd take a km to work so I just hammered a km and got back on pace. Did it help at all? I'm not sure!

ST: How soon after you applied the Vaseline did you recover? How soon could you resume full speed on the run?

Melissa: It was just a mental game the last 12km. I gritted my teeth and ran for as long as I could bear the pain then slowed and tried to run on the outsides or heels of my feet then repeated it all the way to the finish.

ST: Did you know how much of your lead had you given back?

Melissa: Once I left the 30km aid station my lead of over 4 minutes was only 45 seconds. But when I WAS running I was running faster than the other girls so I knew I was still in with a chance if I could keep moving.

ST: How painful did your feet remain those last 14k?

Melissa: About as painful as someone sticking a knife in your feet and twisting it.

ST: How did that pain compare to any previous major race discomfort?

Melissa: I've pushed myself to the limits before and I've been in that deep dark place before where you really test your mental strength. You use all sorts of bribes to keep yourself pushing on. This was a totally different pain though. I felt great. My legs felt great and I was not completely smashed so it was just so hard to think that I might lose it all because of stupid blisters. Not that I'm not fit enough, lost my nutrition, competition was better... Blisters! I couldn't give up.

ST: What do you think caused the blisters? I heard you picked the lightest possible shoe style which worked well for your Ironman 70.3 races. What will you do to avoid the blisters in future Ironman distance events?

Melissa: I don't think it was the shoes as much as the socks I was wearing and the hot bitumen road. My running technique forces me to land fast and heavy onto my forefoot which causes heat and friction. I was in some old rough socks so I'll be in my COMPRESSPORT socks next time. I will also test out the rest of the Saucony shoe range to see if a thicker shoe will be better for the marathon. The ones I wore felt absolutely awesome in training but maybe with my run style and on hot roads a different model might be better.

ST: Looking back to last year’s mishap that curtailed your Kona debut, how relieved were you to punch your ticket to Kona this early in the season?

Melissa: I really wanted to do well here. I always want I do well but yes, chasing points all year would be mentally and physically hard so I'm very happy to be all qualified.

ST: Certainly this is really a different course. But how much confidence for Kona did you gain by topping Van Vlerken, Steffen, Luxford and Carfrae?

Melissa: I learnt a lot from the race. I'm absolutely stoked that I aced my nutrition. That was one of my concerns about stepping up to IM. And I know what I need to work on before Kona and now I have plenty of time to do that. So I'm really looking forward to doing it all again in October against the best of the best.

ST: How this Kona qualification affect your schedule of races?

Melissa: I won't be racing Ironman Taiwan in three weeks. That was my back up plan if anything went wrong in Melbourne. And I'm so glad I had that in my mind during the painful stages of the run 'cause that kept me motivated to push on.

ST: Will you race Ironman 70.3 Worlds?

Melissa: Yes. Definitely.