Well, I did it, I'm an Ironman!
Long and rambling race report coming up. Believe it or not, this is the edited version, the full account will be expanded in due course, with photos.
My plan was always to take it easy, and just to finish. My estimates were really very accurate, which I'm pleased about. They assumed no cramping in the swim, and no mechanical problems on the bike, and no pulled muscles in the run. I was lucky, I avoided all these.
Swim: Estimate 1:45 (actually calculated 1:42 but rounded up): Real 1:31
Got into the water and after 30 seconds thought "What the hell am I doing here, I'll never make it round those buoys, they are miles away. Best to just stop now." I always feel bad for the first few minutes of a swim, so recognised this, and tried to just get into a rhythm. I started at the very far right, and had plenty of space, and soon was happily doing my bilateral stroke, breathing smoothly every third stroke. I actually love sea swimming, and the buoyancy meant I didn't have to kick my legs at all. When I hit the first buoy I knew I could make one lap. when I finished the first lap in only 44 minutes, I knew I could do another and beat my estimate. I eventually came out in under 1:30, but messed around in the showers and struggled to get my wetsuit off before going through the timer. Place was now 1283 overall.
T1:
Pulled my trisuit top down and liberally covered myself with sun cream. Ate a gel and some PSP22. Ran to my bike and took a comfort break in the handy cubicle. T1 was almost empty by now. Didn't think it was so long, but took almost 12 minutes
Bike: Estimate 7:00 : real 6:35
This is what I was looking forward to. I wanted to average 25km/h, so reigned myself in on the way to the hills. Met Ironchamp who had been having tyre trouble. Hit the first hill, the only steep one, and was surprised to see many people walking up it. Rode past them all. My recent bike training has been great, and I knew I could take the hills as I came out in April for a practice. Sure enough, it all went to plan and I passed many people on the way up to the top. Still sticking to my plan, I never went flat out on the descent, giving my legs some time to rest. The final 30km against the wind on the flat was not pleasant, I though this might happen. I have never trained with tribars, and didn't have any now, so just stayed as low as I could until T2. It was pretty lonely out there by now, I only saw 2 other bikes.
I drank my two 750ml bottles of PSP22, and two 500ml of water. I tried the coke (thinking I'd taken energy drink) but poured it on the road to save weight in the last 20k. I ate loads of bananas, a few gels, and a some Powerbar segments. Had a tropical Go bar but just couldn't face finishing it.
In the end I gained 292 places and was now up to 991
T2
Another fairly empty transition area, another comfort break, some more sun cream, and again, nearly 12 minutes.
Run: Estimate 4:30 : Real 4:26
My longest run ever before today was about 1 hour 10 - maybe 8-9 miles. My estimate was just an extrapolation of this, with a bit on top as it's after the swim/bike. I hadn't run for nearly 3 weeks due to pains in my calves, so I was very apprehensive about how this would go.
My plan was to jog along at a rate that wouldn't make me puff for breath. I noticed that a heart rate of 150bpm seemed to be working, so tried sticking with that. I only bought the HRM last week, and haven't been using it in training at all. The first lap was OK, under 1:04. I caught up with Jim66 here and someone else (whose name I didn't catch, sorry) and we ran the next 5k together. I lost them an an aid station and went back to my constant plodding. I walked every aid station, drinking 1/3 cup of water and maybe some energy drink, and taking some kind of food. I tried banana on salty biscuits washed down with coke, which tasted pretty good. I tried dried apricots, but they didn't agree with me. I tried washing off the copious amounts of salt that were building up on my trisuit with sponges, but it didn't work. At least it cooled me down. At the third turnaround I put in a bit more effort - I really wanted to hit that 13 hours and it was in sight. My feet were very hot, my knees were starting to hurt, and starting running again after only a short break for water was soooo hard. 5 minutes from the end my right leg started to wobble like a loose wheel on a car. I had planned to miss that last aid stop, but stopped to gather myself for the final push. Headed off again and the music was getting louder. Suddenly I heard the announcer say my name, and my daughter grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards the finish line down the blue carpet. "Slow down" I whispered to her breathlessly, "I can't go that fast" as the crowd cheered on either side. And then it was over, I'd done it, I was an Ironman in 12:55:51.
I'd passed another 124 people in the run to take my place to 867, which I'm really pleased with. (187/292 in my age group).
Lessons learned:
Swim faster. Get some coaching and do some drills. 1:10 next time
Change Faster: 24 minutes in transition isn't good enough
Cycle faster: get some tri bars to reduce wind resistance, pump tyres harder, and pedal down the hills
Run faster: try and skip every other aid stop.
Results still online in 2019 here
Just downloaded my Polar heart rate stats:
Long and rambling race report coming up. Believe it or not, this is the edited version, the full account will be expanded in due course, with photos.
My plan was always to take it easy, and just to finish. My estimates were really very accurate, which I'm pleased about. They assumed no cramping in the swim, and no mechanical problems on the bike, and no pulled muscles in the run. I was lucky, I avoided all these.
Swim: Estimate 1:45 (actually calculated 1:42 but rounded up): Real 1:31
Got into the water and after 30 seconds thought "What the hell am I doing here, I'll never make it round those buoys, they are miles away. Best to just stop now." I always feel bad for the first few minutes of a swim, so recognised this, and tried to just get into a rhythm. I started at the very far right, and had plenty of space, and soon was happily doing my bilateral stroke, breathing smoothly every third stroke. I actually love sea swimming, and the buoyancy meant I didn't have to kick my legs at all. When I hit the first buoy I knew I could make one lap. when I finished the first lap in only 44 minutes, I knew I could do another and beat my estimate. I eventually came out in under 1:30, but messed around in the showers and struggled to get my wetsuit off before going through the timer. Place was now 1283 overall.
T1:
Pulled my trisuit top down and liberally covered myself with sun cream. Ate a gel and some PSP22. Ran to my bike and took a comfort break in the handy cubicle. T1 was almost empty by now. Didn't think it was so long, but took almost 12 minutes
Bike: Estimate 7:00 : real 6:35
This is what I was looking forward to. I wanted to average 25km/h, so reigned myself in on the way to the hills. Met Ironchamp who had been having tyre trouble. Hit the first hill, the only steep one, and was surprised to see many people walking up it. Rode past them all. My recent bike training has been great, and I knew I could take the hills as I came out in April for a practice. Sure enough, it all went to plan and I passed many people on the way up to the top. Still sticking to my plan, I never went flat out on the descent, giving my legs some time to rest. The final 30km against the wind on the flat was not pleasant, I though this might happen. I have never trained with tribars, and didn't have any now, so just stayed as low as I could until T2. It was pretty lonely out there by now, I only saw 2 other bikes.
I drank my two 750ml bottles of PSP22, and two 500ml of water. I tried the coke (thinking I'd taken energy drink) but poured it on the road to save weight in the last 20k. I ate loads of bananas, a few gels, and a some Powerbar segments. Had a tropical Go bar but just couldn't face finishing it.
In the end I gained 292 places and was now up to 991
T2
Another fairly empty transition area, another comfort break, some more sun cream, and again, nearly 12 minutes.
Run: Estimate 4:30 : Real 4:26
My longest run ever before today was about 1 hour 10 - maybe 8-9 miles. My estimate was just an extrapolation of this, with a bit on top as it's after the swim/bike. I hadn't run for nearly 3 weeks due to pains in my calves, so I was very apprehensive about how this would go.
My plan was to jog along at a rate that wouldn't make me puff for breath. I noticed that a heart rate of 150bpm seemed to be working, so tried sticking with that. I only bought the HRM last week, and haven't been using it in training at all. The first lap was OK, under 1:04. I caught up with Jim66 here and someone else (whose name I didn't catch, sorry) and we ran the next 5k together. I lost them an an aid station and went back to my constant plodding. I walked every aid station, drinking 1/3 cup of water and maybe some energy drink, and taking some kind of food. I tried banana on salty biscuits washed down with coke, which tasted pretty good. I tried dried apricots, but they didn't agree with me. I tried washing off the copious amounts of salt that were building up on my trisuit with sponges, but it didn't work. At least it cooled me down. At the third turnaround I put in a bit more effort - I really wanted to hit that 13 hours and it was in sight. My feet were very hot, my knees were starting to hurt, and starting running again after only a short break for water was soooo hard. 5 minutes from the end my right leg started to wobble like a loose wheel on a car. I had planned to miss that last aid stop, but stopped to gather myself for the final push. Headed off again and the music was getting louder. Suddenly I heard the announcer say my name, and my daughter grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards the finish line down the blue carpet. "Slow down" I whispered to her breathlessly, "I can't go that fast" as the crowd cheered on either side. And then it was over, I'd done it, I was an Ironman in 12:55:51.
I'd passed another 124 people in the run to take my place to 867, which I'm really pleased with. (187/292 in my age group).
Lessons learned:
Swim faster. Get some coaching and do some drills. 1:10 next time
Change Faster: 24 minutes in transition isn't good enough
Cycle faster: get some tri bars to reduce wind resistance, pump tyres harder, and pedal down the hills
Run faster: try and skip every other aid stop.
Results still online in 2019 here
Just downloaded my Polar heart rate stats:
