Cartman
Pre-race - Train a fck of a lot, all autumn, winter, and spring. Was a bit ill before hand, but had largely cleared up by race day (just not completely as it turns out). Went out for a ride at the start of the week in 25mph and nearly died. Thank flipping fudge the winds died down for race day.
Swim - Very rough, but amazing visibility. Now like sea swimming a lot ! Had swum the course at a steady pace the previous day in 31:50, so expected to do around 1:04 on the day. Ended up with 1:07 due to lack of experience, positioning, and aggression which like Daz lead to a near drowning experience. Also think I spent too long day dreaming looking down into the depths for sea monsters etc..
Bike - Absolutely amazing bike course, takes your breath away at points. Teh view from Mirador del Rio, wow !!!! But a bit slower than I'd hoped, starting dying off at around 4.5 hours, despite having paced it properly and having done it in training many times. Didn't flog myself, so just settled back into a "comfy" rhythm
While its difficult to have tergat times for the bike on course like that I only averaged 210w (while pedaling), whereas all my training rides had been ~225w. Unfortunately 15w is a few months worth of training !
Ended up with 6:03..
run - Great support. Settled @ just over 8 min/mile pace for first two laps, but had to have my obligatory toilet stop. Things got tougher in the last two laps and I slowed a lot (mainly cos of doing the fck'in aid station walk thing !). Ran with Ian (vitruvian organiser) for the first two laps and wish I had of been able to stay with him (had to let him go when I stopped for the toilet). When I resumed running again I immediately slowed down and stopped running through aid stations. Running with others is definitely something you should try and do.. Also if you are gunning for a good run time don't walk the aid stations unless you have to, jog really (really) slowly if you need to, just don't walk, its a nightmare getting going again, much easier if you are already in a jogging motion. Also ate throughout, at every stop I grabbed a few pits of banana and ate them while running, which is very easy to do, as you don't need water. Must have eaten about 8 or 9 bananas in total !
Final splits were 1:07, 6:03, 3:53 and finished in 11:18, 223rd
have to say that its the best IM I've ever done and the only one I really want to do again. it has that small "caring" local race feeling (e.g. the really nice race director shakes your hand when you cross the line), but has all the razzmatazz and support of an IM race.
of course the support from my Mouse and the rest of the pirates was awesome. Oxy, I'm sorry I pulled out of our hand clap on my last run lap, but I was goosed..
might do another IM before the summer is out, not sure though...
Bouncing Barlist
Race Report - Ironman Lanzarote 2007
Before I begin the report I would like to give thanks and pay homage to the fantastic supporters that accompanied us on our epicish quest. JD, Clair, Holly, Firestar, Gumps, Caroline, Meldy, Jellybabe, Dave, BTS, Debbo and Kelly. Thank you so much for all the encouragement. Seeing you all around the course made such a difference.
Race Day
Before the start
I was nervously confident... errr NO, I was bricking it, ive never felt physically sick before a race before, but waiting around in transition I was shaking like a leaf. Despite the hundreds of people around me I somehow felt very alone. I hung around waiting for Dermot and then heard a familiar tone (squeak) coming from my left and it was Firestar pearing through the outer railings. Words of enouragement were exhanged but I dont recall exactly what was said, it really made helped me though, I dont remember feeling scared any longer. Seeing Dermot also helped and almost immediately we headed down to the swim start, on the way we stopped breifly at the throng of pirate supporters gathered at the showers.
Swim (2 laps) 1:25:43
My race plan was to start at the back and stay out of trouble for the first half lap, then find some space and start picking my way though. True to plan I started at the back and within 10 meters id been kicked in the face, luckily my goggles stayed on and it wasnt a heavy blow. Starting at the back didnt work to well though as there were clearly a lot of swimmers ahead with misguided asperations of their ability who soon began to zig zag accross me and randomly stop, they were also going a lot slower than would of been ideal.
The mele of the swim start (leg pulling, arms grappling at your body etc) continuned until the 2nd turn (approx 600 meters) after which things calmed down and I found some space and began to make some good headway. The remainder of the lap was pretty uneventful though I found being on the left (closest to the buoys) with the beach on the right a bit of a struggle on the return as I was taking waves the brunt of the waves and being a left side breather I swallowed a few mouthfuls.
We had to come out of the water and around a buoy at the beach where all the crowds had gathered, the noise was amazing as I left the water, horns, wistles etc. Just a great place to be and I was enjoying myself. Staopped momentarily before going back in the water to wave at the pirate supporters.. Go Pirates, or should that be go-go-go-go-go :o)
[grab a seat this is going to be a long one, id only intended to type a few paragraphs]
As soon as I started the 2nd lap I found to my dismay that the timing chip on my ankle was working loose so had to stop for a while to try and secure it. Having just been passed by Oxy at the turnaround I was keen to get going again but spent most of the 2nd lap paranoid I was going to loose my chip. All was well though and halfway round I spotted Oxys familiar gait (actually it was his stomach) and we exhanged a few words mid swim. I then put the hammer down to try and break away and didnt want the shylark getting the benefit of my draft :o)
Soon we were leaving the water and after a pretty easy and very enjoyable swim it was on to the bike.
Big massive enormous thanks to Mark my swim coach. I left the water in a great time feeling as fresh as id gone in.
Bike 8:30:43
My plan was to hold a conservative pace for the bike, this never really faltered, I was out to enjoy the day and to finish. If your not going for a Kona slot why rush?
As per my plan I tootled off and petty soon caught up with Oxy, we rode rogether for a little but then got a bollarding by a marshal for riding side by side (pitty they wernt so hot on the drafting packs at the front). Shortly after this I was feeling strong so began to push a little harder, still keeping my cadence high and making sure I was holding plenty back for later. The course soon went uphill with the first major climb (Fire Mountain), its about a 4-5 mile drag from what I remember, nothing much of a challenge. Great to see Kelly halfway up the climb with some other English supporters.
The first half of the bike course was pretty uneventful, no challenging climbs and a lot of flat. The pirate supporters were out around the bike course in the fun bus stopping every 10 or so miles to cheer us on. It can be quite lonely riding such a long bike leg so was wonderful to see them every time, even if on occasions I got some abuse for spending to long admiring the scenery.
2nd half of the bike course is a little more challenging with 2 major climbs, firtly Haria which is about an 8 mile drag (a bit like Box hill x 6), you then decend very steeply down a set of hairpins with 500 meter+ sheer drops just a 1 foot high barrier away. Once at the bottom its another similar uphill to Mirador where your greeted by amazing views acrross to the northern island and Caleta de Sebo. We had a lovely decent from Mirador for perhaps 5 miles, saw the supporters again when I was informed someone had told them they’d seen a pirate ‘resting’ at the side of the road :o) After Mirador IT IS NOT DOWHILL ALL THE WAY TO THE END It was about 20 miles of constant uphill into the wind. Yes 20 miles, I didnt know hills could continue for so long. Eventually though, after this continual climb there is a nice decent for the last 5 miles to transition.
Run (4 laps) 6:11:26 - Overall 16:24:45
Came off the bike feeling pretty fresh, felt good and had well over 6 hours to complete the run. My plan was to do each 10k in approx 90 minutes which would leave me a little time in hand if I slowed of anything unforeseen happened. I headed off for the 1st lap, the pirate supporters were already out on the run course and cheering me on every step (as was nearly every other competitor except the winners who’d already finished). A little way into 1st lap it was a relief to eventually see Oxy coming in of the bike and later to see Dermot, Cartman and Rosey out on the run course, all of whom were looking very strong.
Seeing Oxy so close I realised the race was on, im not usually very competitive but this was my chance, perhaps my one and only chance to beat the little fcker :o) .. and.... rebalance all the burger boy comments of the past. Every turn-around I was checking the splits. The gap was holding (15 to maybe 22 minutes), even though I later found he wasnt even trying to chase me down. My pace was holding up well and my 5k splits were all in the region of 45 minutes. By about 25k in my legs were beginning to tire, my feet felt like they were exploding in my trainers due to the pain I suffer accross the balls of my feet, it was at this point that I noticed the gap had reduced to 12 minutes, down by 10 mins in just 5k and with 15k left to do. $HIT... 8ugger, he’s going to catch me I was thinking, almost to the paranoia that the others were urging him on, telling him the splits etc.. I decided to try and break him by hammering a 5k with all the energy I had left, however whilst this opened the gap considerably, it left me in pieces. Suddenly despite having time in the bank I was suffering badly, no longer able to run I tried to power walk the penultimate 5k. At the last turnaround with only 5k remaining I was beginning to feel very light headed and nauseus, my legs were still stong but my head was going. Passing Oxy id told him ‘see you in the medical tent’ Without dragging it out the final 5k was terrible, I staggered the whole way and for every step of the final mile or two I was almost convinced I could colapse at any moment. Id resigned myself to walking across the line but its amazing what last depths of energy you can summon. The crowd was much larger than I was expecting, the noise and support amazing, bekonning me closer. At last I was near the finish, spotting the pirate supporters in the stands that final time lifted me further and I almost sprinted accross the line, ‘high 5’ing as I went. COME ON !!! Id made it... :o)
The sense of achievement, the overwhelming pride of completing an Ironman puts you on a high no drug could ever do. The feeling is amazing, and still is now days later, and this my 3rd Ironman finish.
Commiserations to Rosey for missing the Kona slot by the slimmest of margins, brilliant performance, youll come back fitter and stronger and get the spot in no time. Same to TC for your collision, good to see you and that your in good spirits and not to worse for wear, also look foreward to your success next time. Well done to Dermot and Cartman on your fantastic performances, same to Daz well done mate.
Thanks everyone for all your encouragement both on the threads here and in Lanzarote.
AND
Lanza is easy, despite nearly loosing it at the end id say far to many people put it on a pedestal it no way deserves.
Oxy and I are writing to the organisers to suggest they add another 1000m to the bike course.
Oxy
Thought I better do a quick race report. Sorry if it’s a bit boring because nothing particularly eventful happened.
I originally decided to do an Ironman because I read Candy’s Austria race report and thought “I could never do that” I was wrong obviously. Once I’d done two Ironman races and heard about lanza, I thought “I could never do that”. So I entered it.
My plan was to actually train properly. But real life got in the way. I would genuinely have wimped out of it if there had not been so many supporters coming out to watch me. It felt just too pathetic to not give it a go and at least reward their journey out to the island by letting them see me suffer a bit.
Its probably worth mentioning my impressive pre race incompetence, I’ve never packed up my bike for flying before. But somehow or other I managed, sadly I also managed to destroy my headset in the process. This would have presented only a minor difficulty, if I had actually noticed, but unfortunately being the total numpty that I am I only realised on my way to rack my bike. I took it to the bike doctor man (5 minutes before transition closed for the night) cue incredulous head shaking and chin rubbing. Anyway, the guys were fantastic and fixed a new one overnight in transition. It was quite a positive thing in a way as it gave me something other than my lack of physical preparation to worry about.....
13 hours later and I’m standing on the beach in my wetsuit, goggles over my eyes in an attempt to disguise the fact that I am in tears. I’ve never been more nervous. The race starts and I amble down to the water, its lovely and immediately relaxes me. I start swimming and complete the first loop without any major drama. I exit the water give a wave to the supporters, have a quick chat with Carl and then get in for the second loop. On the final stretch of the swim I’m grabbed by Carl and we engage in a slightly disjointed conversation. I exit the water in about 1h 26 mins, 10 mins slower than my best, but as it was my first swim of the year over forty minutes, I cant complain.
In T1 I grab my bike, neglect to apply suntan lotion and then I then say to myself out loud. “Hmmm, I think I fancy a little bike ride” I get on and ride off grinning and singing to myself.
Carl overtakes me, and then Dermot, and then pretty much every other person doing the Ironman that is a worse swimmer than me. I overtake no one. But I do not care; cadence and heart rate are my only interests. The supporters in the fun bus keep overtaking and hurling abuse at me which is great and for the first 90k I can honestly say I enjoyed myself a lot. Then the hills arrived but I just took them gently, keeping my heart rate down and plugging away. The views were incredible and it is immensely rewarding to look out over the mountains down to the sea hundreds of metres below and know that you have covered that distance.
The main climbs were tough but really not that bad, although I was glad I hadn’t seen them prior to the race! The downhills were fantastic fun. I am a big ponce though and went quite carefully. During the last 50k I suffered a total humour failure, I was waiting for the downhill to come and it never did, there was just mile after mile of straight road going slightly up hill and completely into the wind. I just started willing it to end. But it didn’t, I got off for a while and sat on a fence for a few minutes, pissed myself and tried not to cry too much. I was amazed to then see someone pass me, I had thought I was last. But I got back on and carried on and eventually it did come to the downhill.
There is a 10.5 hour bike cut off at lanza, and this was my main worry prior to the race. I needn’t have worried I was, oooh, at least a whole 6 minutes ahead of it!! Coming into T2 I saw Rosey on the run and told him he was crap as he hadn’t finished yet. I didn’t realise at the time he was literally running for the line, he seemed to find my joke less funny than me. Sorry mate!
In T2 I applied about as much suntan lotion as is humanly possible to my arms and shoulders, they had been painfully unprotected in the sun for nine hours now and I was really worried about them. I set off on the run feeling massively relieved to have finished the bike but desperately worried about how much time I had left in order to complete the race. I’m pretty rubbish at Ironman, but I reserve a special level of ineptitude for the run leg. My two previous times being 6h 17mins (when I’d trained quite thoroughly) and 6h 40mins last year after a flat bike. I only had 6h 19 mins left to complete this one and I was feeling pretty rough already. My spirits were not high.
My main motivating thought was that I did not want to have to come back and do this again next year. The support on the run course was amazing, from both the pirates and the other spectators. I was also really impressed by the crowds, loads of friendly holiday makers offering encouragement. Although I was slightly unnerved by how amusing the drunk English wendyball fans were finding the site of this fat lump clad in yellow lycra wobbling up and down the sea front. But it was all friendly. By the end of the third lap I knew that baring disasters it was in the bag and I cheered up a little. On the final lap the crowds were incredible, with whole restaurants stopping to clap and cheer me on. Then I could hear the commentator’s voice and knew I was getting close to the finish.
This isnt short at all sorry!! Lanzabore will be my new name!
Coming up the finish chute felt really special. I saw the pirate supporters and tried to high five them all. I could happily have kissed every single one of them because having them there made the race an incredible event, the day totally unforgettable and the whole week just perfect. Thank you so much. It really wouldn’t have been the same without you all.
That was that really, I saw Carl having his drip and told him he was a big homo, Dermot was a star and helped us get our things. On the way back to the villa I started feeling very unwell and thought I might faint, but I didn’t. The sunburn has been spectacular and I have had to remove about a kilogram of skin from the bed this morning.
It’s a great race, friendly and to some extent scenic. I know the conditions were favourable and I think I would have been fcuked if it had been really windy. However I still think as a race it is over egged. It’s a perfectly achievable aim for any of the pirates that finished Germany last year.
Sorry, I’ve rambled a bit.
Iron Rose
There are a couple of reasons for doing this race, its tough, it’s a pre cursor to finding out what Hawaii can be like etc but none of them were in my mindset, mine were, this was the only European one I hadn’t done and it also gave me a good reason to have a 2 week holiday in a warm resort and thus for Kelly not to be taking holidays again for JUST an Ironman.
What then made it a better race to do was a number of people I knew were also contemplating the same foolhardy race, pirates, Chester Tri members and training friends as well. And then the support teams starting mounting up, more pirates, my parents, Chester members just wanting to come and watch and use it as a good reason to get a high volume of training in. I was really starting to look forward to the race.
My aims for an IM are never hidden, lots of people are coy about what they want for their times and their expectations based on the training they have done or are doing. I like to set the target and then train to achieve or better it, this is done in the most part by following a training plan that is set by my coach, the rest is up to me. This started to go a little pair shaped in December when I missed 6 weeks of training but as it turns out not really something that made a lot of difference. So the aims this year, build on last years sub 10 and aim for Hawaii, after checking the results of the previous years and taking into account the conditions it was decided to aim at sub 10:30. Or better ….
A few of us travelled out on the Monday, Gary, Malc, Jason and myself to acclimatise to the weather and sample the famous wind. We weren’t disappointed; the wind for the first 4 days of us being in PdelC was around 25-30mph and the temperatures around 25 degs. Par for the course, however, we were constantly being told that this was to change for the weekend and that we could expect anything from 3mph to 20mph winds and temps from 17 degs to 30 degs. I slowly started to ignore all forecasts as on the day it wouldn’t matter, I did get Kelly who was arriving on the Thursday to bring out a low profile front wheel though as the gusts of wind on the training rides that week were getting a little hairy on the tri bars.
Thursday saw the arrival of my mum and Roger (the cabin boy), Kelly, Chester support, training mates doing the race and the pirate caravan rolling into town. It was now getting close and the resting hours getting shorter.
I have to say at this point that the organisation of the race was first
class, the bike/run check in was painless, the transition areas are well
set out, the helpers were all very attentive, answered questions regarding
all IM related stuff and if they didn’t know they found out.
I was initially disappointed with the La Santa experience of having to
trapse over to the other side of the island to register and the poor selection
of IM goodies to buy and the less said about an expo the better, one bloody
stall selling IM branded goods, not a first class experience IMHO but
the volunteers made up for this hands down.
Sorry, to the race …..
Pre race night is always the same, make sure I have breakfast in, chill out with a few mates the night before, watching a DVD, reading the same cycling mag over and over and then going to bed early. Set alarm for 4am.
Race Day.
Get up, eat brekkie, bread and jam, ham and cheese sandwich, 2 strong coffees and a bottle of Powerbar drink, then settle in for the toilet fuel to work its way through. Apply the P20 in plenty of time for it to soak in and then chill reading for 30 mins or so.
By 5.30 we were ready to walk to transition to finish the set up of the bikes, in a race like this I still had to load up the drinks bottles, fill the bento box with Gels, deflate and inflate the tubs, fill the aero bottle and then get wet suit on and queue for toilet again.
At around 6.30am which is a record for me (too early) I was ready and on the way to the beach, passing through the roped off walkway from swim finish to T1 it was good to soak up the atmosphere, not much music in the air but the supporters were already lining the walkway, I said hi to the pirates, parents etc, gave my shoes to Kelly (which I forgot I had on !!) and lined up 3 rows back from the fast swimmers start, I was joined by Cman/TC/Jason and we casually chatted for around 10 mins while we all secretly peed ourselves in a pretty surreal setting in amongst rubber clad, lycra wearing triathletes wearing goggles and smiling at each other for what seemed an age.
Then for some reason as you do, I remembered what I had handily forgot 5 mins after finishing the last IM….
why am I here, I was never doing this again, then the gun went off !!!!!!
IM Swim.
I started on the right hand side of the swim start, and as we broke through
the inflatable overhead banner I moved about 5 yards further right, along
with half the others with me, it was sort of a run but I was looking down
and with one arm out in front of me pushing the person in front in a kind
of hopping movement to make sure the person behind doesn’t stand
on your heel.
I ran in up to thigh depth and dived forward, then righted myself and
pushed again from the bottom of the shallows to get another few yards
on the people behind me still charging into the swell. It was still chocca
out this far right but I didn’t want to be too far out and waste
the drafting on offer. I got my head down and started the swim with my
entry hand always going in palm forward and fingers up so they don’t
get broken and I can fend people off with a firm push, it also prevents
grabbing people by accident as you swim over them ;-). I also limited
my kick to start with so I didn’t take someone out by the chops or
mask. I constantly battled for around 500 metres to stay just outside
the main channel but not too far right to lose the draft I wanted, I found
this a little tiring at first so I just moved back towards the left and
stayed there, protecting my clear water if I needed to, the clear sea
makes it easy to see feet and bubbles and my own hand entry so I could
concentrate on long calm strokes after the far turnaround buoy to eventually
get my HR down. It took this long for me to see any wildlife as well or
for that matter any buoys lol !! I remember thinking ‘where the hell
is the first buoy’, but saw the far end one first.
The way back to the start was slightly harder and I felt into the current
so I concentrated on the bottom of the sea bed and picked up on the each
person who came past me to draft until I couldn’t stay with them
again. I got out the first lap in 30.18. I heard the supporters including
pirates and family but kept head down and waved to concentrate on not
standing on anything or anyone ;-)
Back in with a thump and this lap was easier to sight as less people but
harder to keep concentration as I start to think of my times and what
I had to do in my head in transition and why I hadn’t swum more,
I ignored future thoughts and got back to swimming.
I think over the period of my training swimming was the hardest for me as I can’t get out of bed in the morning and then I have to do 2 sessions when I finish work so I find excuses not to swim, most people I train with know I use the excuse that I ‘hate’swimming, I don’t hate it, I just never seem to get any better and the main reason for this is because I don’t do enough, it’s a vicious circle and one which you will find out later will have to be broken as all I could hope to improve in swimming is maybe 2 or 3 mins so I concentrate on cycling and running as I can improve more, well 3 mins as they say is the difference between the did and did nots !!!!
Anyway, the swim exit never seemed to get any closer but eventually I rounded the last bouy and could hear the cheering as people were exiting the water, got to a point where I could stand and immediately checked the watch, 1:01 superb, still on target. The run up the beach is only slightly longer than the Nice IM but across covered sand, plenty of time to recover out of the water but tiring, the supporters lining the way make up for the drudge to the road level.
T1
OK, as most will know I like technology and this year was no different,
I was going to use a Garmin 305 for the run, cue trying to work out how
I was going to get it set up in T2 so it picked up the satellites quick
enough to give me my pacing splits, wasn’t going to happen as once
you are moving it takes age to settle down, only thing for it, has to
be on the bike first, right, that means I can use it as a speedo, cool,
downside, it only has a 10 hour battery life and I am heading for 10:30.
Bugger, that means I can’t switch it on until I get out of the water,
which means waiting for it to pick up the satellites again, arrghhhhhhh
!!!!
Anyway, I decided on the following and stuck to it
I raced into T1, had a path from entry to tent worked out, that was fine,
got into tent, took a few more seconds to get off the wetsuit than I planned,
the helpers then started to put sun tan cream all over my neck and shoulders
while I put my helmet on and the 4 gels in my tri suit, stuffed the wetsuit
in the bag and exit the tent. Run to bike, switch on Garmin and then remove
the shoes from the pedals and while the computer searches for the location
put them on and exit. By the time I get to the mount point the computer
is working and I am off. 5 mins in transition by my standards though take
a bit to swallow so forget it and carry on.
M Bike
I use the same strategy again this year as last, I have used a power
meter all year kindly lent to me by Ken but decide the race needs to be
done on HR due to the possible heat and climbing affecting my efforts
so I remove the power cranks and rebuilt bike with standard gears.
The aim is to break the race into 3 x 60km chunks and do heart rate ranges
of 140-145, 145-150 and 150-155 for the 3 chunks but on the climbs use
perceived effort but never go over 170 which is my threshold limit. It
works for me and keeps the pace even as the race goes on my heart rate
rises for the same sort of speeds.
I pass TC within a mile, find out later that he was haemorrhaging bike spares on the beach road and had to stop to pick them up, he was out before me by 2 mins as well but I mad a minute on him in T1. I wasn’t to see TC again in the race as I found out he was forced off the road by an opened car door after the Timanfaya climb into the lave field which damaged his bike and he was still only 2 mins behind me at that point so I am sure would have gone on to have a good race.
The bonus for race day was the change in weather, the winds had dropped
to around 10-15mph and they were SouthWesterly (I think) so the complete
course changed because of it, the climb out of Puerto Calero wasn’t
too bad, and waiting at the top for us was the Chester boys who were to
pop up all over the place while out on their bikes supporting, the run
to the El Golfo peninsula was very fast even into the wind as it was downhill
which meant the climb to Timanfaya came round very quickly.
Normally this climb would have had wind against but today we had it in
our favour and slightly across, what wasn’t helping however was the
stream of coaches thundering up the left hand side of the road punctuating
the cyclists and slowing others up, nearing the top though my thoughts
were interrupted by rain !!! RAIN !!! in Lanzarote !!! Nice, forget the
cold I told myself, concentrate on not getting blown off the road and
head down, this part from the back of Fire Mountain to the new section
at Tiagua was superb, I had to push as I knew I had to take advantage
of the wind behind but also keep the HR down
Up to Tiagua I saw Debbo and Bryan which was a shock as I forgot they were on the island for some reason, then the new part of the course which after riding the old part was actually a good change, superb roads, few climbs and one part of shite road but in all kept the interest high. I went through the first 60km in 1:50 which was surprising at first glance but when you think we had had the wind behind for the majority of the way and had only done 1 major climb it was about right. The middle part of the course along the LZ-30 road I can imagine when the wind is blowing the right direction can be a right b*stard but today I was trying to keep the speeds in check with the HR and pushing out 30-35 mph on the flats, I knew it wasn’t going to last so I pushed a little harder than I should right up the rise into Teguise. The Chester guys were here at the monumento de Campesino which was good to see and I remember JB and Dave around this point as well.
This was about the halfway point, I have no idea what time this was but
I went thru 60 miles in 2.52 so I know the second half was slower. The
second 60km is the climbing third, the climb up to Los Valles is the hardest
I found and was a slow drag, this was where the heat was felt the most,
wind on your back but travelling slowly meant that heat build up pushed
the HR up but I know I needed to save more for the last 3rd and the Mirador
was looming up next. After the LV climb comes the ‘dreaded’
switchbacks of Haria, so instead of doing my usual of descending like
a loon I had a pee, all the way down, that kept the lunatic at bay and
meant that the bit I could really push on after the switchbacks to Haria
town I managed to top out at 49mph, racing a police bike for the best
line I managed to keep him behind me for about a mile and a half ;-).
Haria is a lovely town only spoiled by a left/right chicane at the bottom
of the descent meaning I couldn’t carry the speed through to the
next climb, this was a bit of a bugger as well, and not long afterwards
was a little bit of pave as well to shake the fillings out of you.
All this was doing was prolonging the inevitable climb up to Mirador,
to be honest, if the wind was the other way this would have been a lot
harder but today it was just a climb with a kick at the end and spectacular
scenery, to look over the wall on the left as you crest the last main
bit of climb and see the top for the first time is breathtaking and worth
the trip on its own. The support here is very good though and a pleasant
reward for toughing it out.
Just after here is the 120km point which I got to in 3.42, still on track for a decent time but I could sense it wouldn’t last, couldn’t put my finger on it but it was there in the background, and then it hit me, the wind, what we hadn’t really experienced up to this point was now in my face and at around 15mph it wasn’t as bad as it could have been but I seem to remember us studying the race profile and the first 20km of the last 40km was uphill, how wrong can you be ……….
The descent down to Arrieta is the last time on the bike I actually felt
comfortable, apart from some Slovakian tw*t trying to draft me all the
way down the Mirador descent (cue T de F styley road swerving to lose
him on the way down !) it was very pleasant, once we got across the roundabout
though at the bottom it became a very different course, from here to Tahiche
was all up hill and into the wind, I was concentrating on pushing a solid
gear while trying to maintain around 17mph but my HR wouldn’t climb
as my quads were hurting so I wasn’t able to raise the power levels
enough to balance the both out. So I just went on perceived effort for
my legs and tried to keep the speed constant. One other thing now bothering
me, which it shouldn’t as I have raced for many years was a pack
of guys about 200m in front of me blatently drafting like a damn chain
gang, and I know at least 2 of them were in my age group who by now I
was starting to think about for qualifying, I needed to keep them in sight
but I just couldn’t get near them and I was pushing too hard to try,
so I just went back to slogging it out, getting out of the saddle and
then resting the quads in the saddle and slowly they all disappeared.
Tahiche was good place for a welcome cheer as my support crew had met
up with the pirates and a few others and were busy discussing whem I would
be through when I breezed past them all and blew Kel a kiss, was good
to see all and get a welcome boost.
This was just at the right time as the next bit of road was the worst, Tahiche to Nazaret and up to the main road again was uphill and the road surface was terrible, the bike was shaking so much I thought the carbon wheels would snap and I was doing well to keep both bottles in the cages. This part took forever but led out on to the main road to be greeted by JB and Dave again, cue more climbing up the monumento de campesino against the wind, more support here again as the Chester guys had camped here all day to make sure they saw all of the Chester entrants and cheers everyone else on too.
I really hadn’t seen the extent of climbing we still had to do,
I had 20km in my head but it just went on forever and ever and by the
time I had worked out when it would end I could already see the point
of the hill rise that we had to get to. I was aching all across my quads
but I was going to reward myself with a good pee at the top of the hill
just you wait lol !!
Well all good plans etc, I just couldn’t pee and wasted about a minute
or so pedalling and then slowing to try and then again and again so I
just gave up and enjoyed the ride home. The descent onto the beach road
was great and we had done it a few times that week. I managed the last
3rd of the bike in 1.59 and felt I had worked harder than at any point
so far to get that so getting off the bike would be interesting. I had
to fumble around to get the Garmin upclipped, change watches and then
undo shoes and stand on them as I came into T2. Time was 5.41 for bike
split. Still on target.
IM Run
I knew what I had to do to break 10 ½ hours as I was coming out of T2 at 6:50 on the clock, I need to get under 3:40. However, this year I wasn’t going to make the same mistake as last year and just go for what I needed, I was going to get the best time I could as I knew every minute would count.
Last year I had got to 2 laps on the run at Germany and with 7:58 on
the clock I knew all I needed to do to break 10 hours was to do 2 x 59
minute laps, which is what I did, however I missed out on a slot by 2
minutes and 2 places as I went for time and not to do the best I could.
Not this time.
The Garmin was set to give me a readout of pace/distance/HR and time.
I needed to average around 8 minute pace for the run to get a chance of
the split I needed, so as last year I set off how I felt and the pace
settled about 7:30’s.
My strategy was to run non stop for at least 2 laps and then if I felt OK to keep running through all aid stations until I felt I need a walk, so at the first toilet stop I decided to have a pee !!! Well I actually turned in where the portaloos were and instead of using one, didn’t quite make it and used a bush. Immediately there was a marshall next to me giving it large in Spanish about what a tit I was and how could I have missed the 5 portaloos standing 4 yards away from me and if I didn’t move along there was a yellow card in it for me, so I just kept peeing and saying ‘Lo Sciento’ (sp) and expecting him to go away, which he didn’t until I stopped peeing and carried on my merry way. This kept me entertained for at least ooooohh, 3 mins when the pain settled in again ;-)
I was maintaining a reasonable pace for the most part but the rises in
the road were starting to slow me down so I used the pace guide on the
watch every time I slowed to get me back to speed which made me concentrate
on running upright and falling forward to let gravity do its job.
The turnaround, which we hadn’t been to was MILES away it seemed
but in reality just the longest 5.25km ever !! I now had a time for the
first turnaround and the idea was to try to keep it consistent, I knew
this would hurt but just kept thinking, put one foot in front of the other
and don’t look at peoples armbands.
On the way back I started to see familiar faces coming towards me, Cman/Cmans
friend/Malcolm and then the supporters, the pirate suit is a great eye
catching garment but after a while I couldn’t respond to everyone
vocally so had to resort to waving a pathetic kind of ‘I’m free’sort
of hello sailor effort just without the conviction !!
The turnaround near the finisher chute was electric, I wanted so much
to be finishing but 3 more to go, more cheering from the crowds, first
lap in 51 mins, happy with that.
The second and third laps are the hardest but this is where the supporters come into their own, even if you don’t get a response the lift it gives you to hear your team or name called out is beyond description, any ‘pirate’ shout or ‘Rosey’ ‘go Nick’ from friends or strangers is superb. I reached the halfway point in about 1.46 which I knew was slowing but within the limits I set in my head.
It was at the end of the second lap that the now infamous telling my supporters to ‘f’ off incident happened. I was on my way to the turnaround, about 300 metres out when I heard ‘hi honey, Jeff says to keep your nutrition up’ so I stuck up the V’s. It was the first thing that came into my head, what does he mean keep my nutrition up, what do they think I am doing here ..!!!!!
However, by the time I had got the turnaround and then back to the place where they were waiting again on the 3rd lap I had recovered my sense of humour and apologized by blowing kisses, only to then have the response ‘Is this your last lap honey ??? How many more to go ??!! Bloody hell, what race were they watching, I later found out that they didn’t know if it was a 3 lap or 4 lap run. So they set off for the stands to make sure they got me at the finish. A sherpas lot is never an easy one, shout encouragement and helpful hints only to be given short shrift back, sorry I really am, and not enough can be said for the on the day and leading up to the event that the family and supporters give, so thanks.
I also think the issue here is nothing more than what I call ‘externalising’
This basically means that someone (ME) will do absolutely anything to
remove pain from my mind by blaming everyone else for what I am going
through, I was in a lot of pain in my quads and I was hot and bothered
but to remain calm I was removing the thoughts of anything that could
get in my way by putting them onto others, either that or I am a miserable
git during the race !!!! ;-) which I know I am not.
Lap 3 was also when I started to realize that age groupers around me where
competing for my slots and I had to stay focused, the cheering never abated
which was superb and I completed the lap in 55 mins, at the turnaround
I got a huge cheers from my supporters and others who couldn’t make
their mind up whether I was finishing or not but had pretty much worked
it out from the time. Then they sat there trying to work out what I needed
to get back before 10:30.
The last lap is where I think racing previous events helps and also managing
to push harder and think of anything to help you mentally, ‘its only
6 miles, thats a walk in the park’, ‘ come on, you do this for
fun and you know the distance !’, my aim was to pick the person in
front of me and chase them down, I was getting faster (so I thought) and
I knew that once at the turnaround I had a 3 mile jog to the finish, I
also started looking at race numbers and Age Groups, I picked off one
more at the turnaround and set off to find anyone with 3 bands.
The last leg was the hardest, I knew it wouldn’t last long and I
could stop in about 20 mins or so, I ran through the aid stations grabbing
coke, last sugar rush to get to the end.
I was seeing all my mates on the last lap, all giving me encouragement as I was finishing, at this point I was passed by Simon coming in to finish on the bike, who hurled abuse at me ‘Come on Rosey, I thought you would have been finished by now’ classic line and great timing but he didn’t get too much of a response either because at that point I saw my next target.
I was about 1km out and there was someone in front of me in my age group
with 3 bands, his number had turned in the wind so I knew he was a Hawaii
target, so I turned mine to the front so he couldn’t see it and moved
my bands down my arm to my hand so he couldn’t see me as a threat.
As we went through the last aid station I decided that was it, head down,
I ignored the last aid station completely and set off as if it was the
first lap again, I passed the Chester supporters who later said I looked
in a little pain, I didn’t look back until I was halfway down the
chute, I could see the time was 10.27 something, I was going to make the
sub 10:30 and I had seen off another 35-39’er, superb …..
My supporters starting yelling at me as I was milking the finish, someone
was racing me, I panicked as I thought he was my age group and set off
in a sprint with him, we covered the whole finisher chute together with
him just having the momentum to get there a split second sooner. It turns
out he was a different age group but I was spent, I didn’t care now,
nothing I could do. Run time was 3:36, ecstatic, I couldn’t have
done more on the day.
Aftermath
Bryan was there at the finish to pick me up, I wasn’t feeling too cool but mixed emotions about the time and how I felt along with thinking did I do enough to mmmmm, I fancy a drip, never had one, yep, gonna have one of them ;-)
Got into the tent and actually had 2 drips. Meanwhile Bryan had got me
the provisional results in my age group which put me in 12th with 10 slots
and one of the people had said no.
The next 16 hours or so was a roller coaster of will I/won’t I, people
texting and ringing to see if I had done it, they were checking the results
and my placing kept changing from 11th to 13th and the slots were 11 etc
etc.
It all comes down to this, if you want to qualify you have to finish in the slots, there were 10, I was 13th in my AG. Its not enough, the next stage is a lottery to see if others claim the slots. Which I may add at Lanza is a not a good advertisement, having a time period from 10 til 12 the next day to roll up to get your slot just doesn’t make for a good finish to an IM. Get all in the room, shout out the names and if you aren’t there you don’t get it. Standing around milling outside a doorway while they call names over and over again for 2 hours and then having to listen while others are talking in the same area wasn’t well organized.
Anyway, I missed it, by one slot, it rolled down one place as well but in the end it was 3 minutes, 2 in the swim and 1 in T1. Or anywhere else you want to add it or take it away. I recovered pretty well though and am already planning the race for next year to try again.
Just a quick thanks to all of the supporters from Chester, pirates, family, on the course and at home here in the UK that either knew us or didn’t, it made a hell of a difference. Thanks.
Rosey