I went into Bolton with good but not perfect preparation,
early on in training I went a bit too deep and ended up getting shingles, with
only really one week lost it wasn't the end of the world, then in June I came
off my bike on a training ride resulting in 3 weeks of severely disrupted
training as injuries and a broken bike got in the way, added to this I had been
heading nicely down to my target race weight of about 71kg, but 3 weeks of
inactivity and I’ll be honest not being strict enough with my diet meant I was
going to race day 3kg heavier than id have liked. Other than that I really cant complain, I've been working hard for
2 years in the run up to this event with my coach, and since last August when I
decided to do this race specifically I've
always known what was needed for a good age group ranking, and I thought it was
achievable so have been working towards that goal. Below is my table, before
the event the best case scenario was auto kona qualification, better was probably
enough to get a roll down slot and the good was my back up worst case scenario.
|
|
Good
|
Better
|
Best
|
|
Swim
|
01:10:00
|
01:05:00
|
01:00:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
t1
|
00:05:00
|
00:05:00
|
00:04:00
|
|
Bike
|
|
|
|
|
Power
|
215
|
220
|
225
|
|
Time
|
05:45:00
|
05:30:00
|
05:20:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
t2
|
00:05:00
|
00:05:00
|
00:04:00
|
|
run
|
|
|
|
|
Pace
|
00:05:00
|
00:04:52
|
00:04:36
|
|
time
|
03:31:00
|
03:25:22
|
03:14:07
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
10:36:00
|
10:10:22
|
09:42:07
|
Come race day, we’d stayed in a nice house the night
before, eaten and gone to bed at 8pm, unfortunately I was uncomfortable during
the night, was attacked by the kitten living there and Katie was pretty
restless as well, I guess asking her to get up before 5am was causing stress
for her too, but its always the way with a big race and Id had a great night’s
sleep the night before so I wasn’t overly worried, I
had everything I needed, a plan for the day and a range of outcomes that I believed would result in possibly sub 10 hours,
but 10:36 was my worst case scenario, i finished in 10:58, and 13th in my age,
but a way off my target time and aim of top 6 in age group, so what went wrong?
Pre race, I was up at 4am, ate the protein bar and
beetroot id placed on my bedside, got up and went downstairs to make some porridge
and coffee, which I wolfed down, went to the loo and we set off for Pennington
flash, I went and pumped up my tyres, and taped some salt tablets to my top
tube and put my bottles on, went to drop off my bag, kiss Katie and then off
for a final toilet trip before getting into the 1hour swim pen, I stood
nervously for about 15 minutes waiting for the gun to go off, I couldn’t quite
decide where to stand as there were a lot of people around me in the gold all
world athlete swim hats, but I knew that people had overestimate their times
massively in Mallorca so reassured myself that 10 rows back I’d be fine…
Swim (1:02:48)
The swim went as well as I could have expected, diving
into the muddy waters of Pennington flash a couple of minutes after the gun
went off I found myself in a good group on the swim, my goal here was to learn
from Wales where I sprinted the whole swim and killed myself in the first hour, so the focus
was on smooth technique, getting the most out of each stroke, good arm turnover and coming out as fresh as one can after 3.8km of swimming.
The first loop was great,
with plenty of respect and no aggression from other competitors and I
came out of the first lap in just over 30 minutes, upon re-entry I spotted a
lady who had caught me at the end of lap one, and due to her gold hat, green
arms and kicky technique decided that she was probably a good set of feet to follow to both keep effort low and pace up for
lap 2, all was going well until the turn when we ran into heavy crowd of the
slower swimmers who’d been set off in a rolling start, and
this made the return leg really hard work as I constantly had to swerve off
course or dive through gaps, I ended up coming out of the water in just under
1:03 so i was really pleased, and focussed for the next stage.
T1 (7:28)
A combination of a longer run than I expected and
pressing the lap button for t1 late giving me a
false sense of how long I’d spent in transition meant I was a bit slower
than expected as I probably faffed a bit but I managed to get a bonus gel in
here which I took as a positive, it was extremely muddy, but on exit of t1
there were some ladies with a pressure washer to help people clean their shoes,
thankfully I’d carried my bike so it was
still clean!
Bike (5:48:41)
I’ve got to be honest looking at my
goals above I’m really kicking myself, I’d looked at power on strava from
previous years and estimated power levels
required from other people, but given that I was at 182w by the end of the bike
I felt I’d
completely blown the bike if I’d known I was
only 4 minutes off my “good” scenario I would have started the run with a
different mind set. Something that I’ve learnt is that I
need to know what speeds are necessary for times, and write down the goals on
my bike so I don’t get pissed off and confused over the course of a long bike!
Back to the bike and straight off the bat things were going well, after a careful exit of
the parkland around Pennington Flash I was out onto fairly flat roads which I knew would
last for the first 20k so I was keen to get ahead on speed and make the most of my choice of a tt bike and as much
aero kit as I could get on! By the top of the
first ascent of sheep house lane I was bang on power and down the first descent
onto the faster section of the course, I was motoring past people (really only
catching up on my slow t1 time) but with the loss in elevation I was building
average speed but dropping on average power. I also became aware that my
stomach was rumbling and that I’d have to stop at the next aid station to sort the problem
out, still my average speed continued to rise, as I took the climbs steadily
and kept the power up on the rolling bits, I got to the aid station, jumped off
my bike and went to the loo only to realise afterwards that there was no toilet
paper left, so I got dressed and change cubicles, jumping back on the bike
having dropped down below 200w on power but feeling much better and off I went.
Shortly after this my bike
computer jumped off (I stopped and shoved it down my top) making it really hard
to know how I was going, I managed to swivel my watch a round on my wrist without having to stop
but it did not make it easy to keep track on speed power or any other data.
The bike course is really
mostly rolling punctuated with 2 significant climbs on each loop, bot had pretty fantastic supporter group on I can confirm the 42x28 is not a low enough gear to spin up the second climb really but I made it up the climb and started the
second lap with an average power just over 200 and an average speed of about
31.5kph, at this stage I was feeling
optimistic that my speed would build over the second lap without having to stop
and id be well over 20 mph and closer to 5:30 and 6.
Up sheep house lane for the
second time and it felt a lot tougher than
the first time, when I got to the top and
speed increased again I could hear a squealing, and at first I thought it was a
puncture, but tyre pressures looked good, then I checked the front brake wasn’t
rubbing and eventually had to stop and discovered my back wheel had slipped
forward in the dropout and was rubbing on the frame, I pulled it back and did
the qr up, hoping it would hold, which thankfully it did, carrying on the second
lap I re-caught all the people who had overtaken one the hill and while I
stopped, but I had in my mind I was going to be a long way off my target time,
I focussed on trying to keep my average speed as high as possible, but was
freewheeling down hills, and really not pushing on at all on the bike.
Going up the climb in Rivington
for the final time felt great and a really stomped on the pedals, which proved
to be a great tactic as I never lost momentum and flew up, much to the
cheering of COLT who were fantastic in their support all day!
Back on to the flat roads I
focused on keeping my average speed above the target but not really looking at
power, as I rolled into t2 I did my best to remove my gloves and overshoes,
which I’d worn for aero purposes having tested my pure tri kit and working out
that I was 15 seconds slower over a 10 mile tt without them!
T2 (6:18)
I managed to grab a mouthful of
a protein flapjack here which was a nice change from the gels id survived on so
far in the day, my socks took an eternity to get on as although I’d put talc in
the socks I hadn’t left a bottle in my bag to make it easy to get them up my
legs. I felt good at this stage and grabbed my bundle of gels and salt tabs and
off I trotted.
Run (3:53:15)
Coming out of T2 there was a
ridiculous section which you had to snake through a load of barriers, I can
only guess this was to create a spectator section, but it felt unnecessary and
wasn’t included in the run distance, but I got out and felt great, my pace
after a couple of minutes was around 4:46 per km so very respectable, I knew
there was a bit of a hill and I decided to walk up it as I was fine for pace
and there was no need to use a load of energy pushing myself up a steep hill
when the rest of the course was flat (or so I thought) it was at this stage I
could feel my tummy rumbling, annoyed that it hadn’t done this in the convenient
t2 I figure I could hang on for the first aid station but tried to pick up the
pace to cancel out as much wasted time as possible, I got to the aid station
and all of the cubicles had run out of toilet paper, one of the security guards
helpfully suggested the pub next to the aid station which I went into, used
their services and left thanking the barman on my way!
I’d wasted about 5 minutes
here, obviously some was down to my stomach, but at least 2 of those were that
the toilets had run out of paper, which seems impossible so early on in the
race…
At this point the reality of
the situation (or perceived) began to hit home on the long hot section of
lonely road on the point to point section of the run, I felt I’d blown my
chances of any of my times, and I was seriously thinking of packing the whole
thing in, not because I felt bad but just I was struggling for motivation to
plug away for a result that I wasn’t hoping for. I convinced myself that id run
into town, not thinking further than that, I got to the third aid station had a
mouthful of coke, a gel and some water and my spirits picked up. I quite
enjoyed running along the towpath and before long I was nearing 10k, so I told
myself to enjoy getting to 10k and focus on 15k, I didn’t enjoy 10k very much
as it coincided with another hill on the supposedly flat run course, which I
walked up, more because I figured I could run a sub 4 marathon without
too much bother but once at the top, I was onto the main lap, and it seemed to
be flatter, and relatively shaded, I ticked along with a few pro men passing
me, a lap or two ahead, the gentle descent into town didn’t lift my spirits
much and I was pretty grumpy by the time I reached Katie but tried to put on a
smiley face.
My mood worsened once I’d left the excitement of town and I
told Katie I was bored which I felt terrible about for the whole of the next
lap especially as she had sacrificed her weekend to come and help and support
me.
I resolved to be more cheerful, my first lap band lifted my spirits but I
had run out of non caffeinated gels, I wasn’t keen to take the caffeinated ones
after my second loo trip so decided to stick to coke until I could get some
more from Katie, by the time I got back to her I was over half way and with 2
laps to go the finish was in sight, I was on track for sub 11 hours and had
begun to make peace with that, enjoying the crowds and trying to keep a gel
going in at each end of the course, the third alp there was an amazing samba
drumming band booming out on the course, and the lap went by pretty quickly,
onto the 4th lap it was only after walking a bit further than before
on the steeper bit of the hill out of town on the final lap that I really
began to try to work out what was needed to make sure of a sub 11 time. At
this point a chap (who through a bit of chatting told me his name was foxy) I’d
shared a few words with pulled alongside and asked what time I was on for, I
said 11 hours just about but we’d need to run sub 5:30 to get there, a bit of a
mutual pep talk followed and off we went, spurring each other on, both
discussing how we were a bit disappointed with our times so far but that sub 11
would be a nice achievement, I began to worry that I might have started my
watch a bit late after crossing the mat or that it had auto paused in t1 so we
picked up the pace a little more to make sure, we still took our time in the
penultimate aid station having a cup or water and coke and I had half of my
last gel before throwing the rest away and on we ticked, we spurred each other on
and the sound of him complaining about the heat and breathing heavily reminded
me to run tall, keep calm and smooth, we ticked through the last 3km in less
than 14 minutes, flew through the last aid station and into special needs where
I grabbed a BTS top from Katie and went thought the fun bit of town with music
and bigger crowds rounding onto the finish chute I pulled ahead (partly as he
was in my age group so wanted to maximise my finish position – not that I’m
competitive or anything!)
Finish (10:58:36)
The feeling of crossing the
finish line of an ironman is so so so special, it’s the end of a year’s work
and a day’s suffering, assurance that with hard work anything is achievable,
and any disappointment is quickly forgotten, I sat down and drank the water
chatting with the people doing similar and gave Katie a chance to catch up,
sharing a manly hug with Jamie to before a marshal pointed out Katie standing
at the fence waiting for me so I stumbled over gave her a big kiss and we she
gave me my phone, I took a quick look and some messages from people who’d been
tracking me from home pinged through, including one from my coach saying I was
14th in age group, not the required top 5 or 6 for a Kona spot but
far better than I thought that time would get me. Katie and I arranged to meet
on the other side of the finish tent, once in there I discovered a world of
fresh pizza, a shiny new t-shirt and free massages, so popped out to say I’d be
a while and went for a massage.
We then headed home on the
basis that 14th in my age group was unlikely to be anywhere close to
qualification and that sleeping in my own bed was much more favourable to being
attacked by the kitten in the place we’d stayed the night before the race!
So as I mentioned above coming
across the finish line I discovered I was 14th in age group (later
upgraded to 13th as a couple of people had been disqualified
including my running buddy Foxy) a much better result than id prepared myself
for on the run, but I was pretty desperately disappointed in my time against
what I hoped for in the day. Having had a few days to think about it, I lost
time in both transitions, the bike and the run. The issue with transition is a
minor one but an easy one to fix, firstly don’t be so optimistic in my predictions,
but I need to practice these if I’m going to go long again I’m sure there are a
couple of minutes that could have been shaved here easily, on the bike id
massively overestimated the power needed for certain times, and I had only
focussed on one metric and lost sight of what my expectations were combined
with my Garmin flying off there are two things I need to take on board, I need
plenty of mental reminders about what my targets are and different metrics to
help achieve those, secondly I need to be more confident in my abilities, I’ve
practices riding for 4 hours at 240w, I’ve done a 100 mile tt at 225w so I need
to keep pushing hard to do really well. Finally on the run id completely lost
sight of my targets, and I could feel my spirits lift with every gel, so I need
to be a bit more regimented/metronomic about eating over the course of the
whole event. Finally I should have asked Katie for an update about how I was
doing, if I’d known I was in 14th on the run it might have helped
motivate me to push the final 25km of the run, as 10:36 was probably still achievable
by then. Nutritionally I was pretty good but not quite as metronomic as I could
have been and the toilet trips were probably a combination of drinking 2 beet
it shots rather than my usual one and eating a bit later than perhaps I should
have done.
Onto the positives for the day.
Firstly, despite a good few weeks without swimming I absolutely smashed the
swim, I stayed calm and steady and flew through, so testament to my three swims
a week for the last two years giving me a 8 minute improvement in speed for a
huge amount less effort, there’s very little id do differently next time. Bike
wise I’m clearly a lot more aero than the average ironman competitor, shown
both in my speed vs my predictions, but also the relative speed I was gaining
on the flat vs my competitors, I think if id been at target race weight I’d not
have suffered on the climbs as much! Physically I was absolutely fine all day
with no soreness anywhere, obviously a lot of this is preparation, but salt
tabs and pretty good nutrition throughout the day were clearly a significant
contributing factor. Kit wise I was very happy, with everything from my wetsuit
(only minor rash) tri suit (a lovely prototype suti from Verge) helmet,
Kit list
Swim
Zone 3 Aspire Wetsuit
Zoggs predator Polarized
Bodyglide
Bike
Verge Protoype Sleeved Skin
Suit
Bont Vaypor Shoes
Velotoze Overshoes
3T Aero Gloves
Lazer Wasp Helmet
Felt IA with ultegra di2 with
55/42 chainrings and 11-28 cassette, flo disc and flo 60 front, latex tubes,
specialized turbo cotton tyres, ism adamo prologue saddle
Run
CEP Ultralight Compression
Socks
Verge Suit
Asics Hyper Tri Shoes
Nutrition
Wiggle Energy Gels mix of
mocha, orange and lemon/lime
Wiggle Tropical Fruits Energy Drinks
Trek Protein Flapjack
