Once, Twice, Three Times an Ironman

It's 4 days since Ironman Wales and the whole weekend is beginning to sink in.

I turned up in Tenby looking to seek a bit of justice after what felt like a complete failure in Alpe d'Huez. My plan was pretty simple;

• Get the swim done and onto the bike by the time 1 hour and 10 minutes had elapsed.
• Get back from the ride with no more than 6 hours 30 minutes on the clock.
• Survive the run hoping I had enough of a time buffer from the bike to keep me in the Kona slot places.

My target finish time was as close to 10 hours as I could manage with a 9 something finish time, a bit of a hush hush dream.

You might read this and think nah that's never going to happen in Tenby but the sad truth of it was within the last few weeks of training before taper I'd logged a 61 minute 4000 meter open water swim and a few days after comfortably rode the Ironman Wales bike course at 20 mph with the TT bike in full training spec (training wheels and vented helmet). Admittedly I haven't put in anywhere near the required run volume to be able to put together a quick Ironman marathon but I thought I could hang on to a 3 hours 30 minute split if I was at the sharp end of my age group.

So we headed down to Tenby on Saturday morning to get checked into our hotel and register for the race. I was refreshing the Met Office website every 10 minutes to see what was happening with the weather... the forecast - incredibly unsettled with high winds likely.

I'd managed to book me and the family into hotels on the Esplanade overlooking the finish line, a very good choice in terms of proximity to the transition area and a very short walk to your bed at the end of the race.

After a little mooch around Tenby showing my family where the good spectating spots were, race registration, bike check in and a go on the NormaTec Recovery boots at the Ironman expo I was ready for a pizza and bed and headed back to the Hotel for some downtime.

I slept very well and woke up calm and ready to go, ate my usual pre-race breakfast and headed to transition at 5 am to give the bike one last check over and load up my water bottles. I was pleasantly surprised that at this point in the morning the weather was calm and wind was low... I couldn't believe we had lucked out with a clear day... how wrong I way.

One of the best parts of competing in Ironman Wales is the national anthem before the race start. Even if you're not remotely patriotic, the sound of thousands of people singing the anthem in such a beautiful location will get you blubbing! A few minutes later the gun horn blows and the race is underway.

Swim

I ran into the sea making sure I kept to the right of the archway so I had a bit of clear water. With my most recent 4km swim performance in mind I seeded myself in the 57 minute swim group hoping that I could hold my own. I focused on swimming a smooth and rhythmic stroke and the first lap passed without incident. I hit the Australian exit in 33 minutes and headed out for the second lap. This was a good few minutes behind where I wanted to be. Thinking about it I wonder if I was consciously swimming at an easier pace to avoid a panic attack as happened in Alpe d'Huez... who knows. Onto the second lap and the water had changed... yes it was still cold (around 17 degrees apparently) but had a great deal more swell. The swim out to the first buoy seemed to take forever, almost like I was swimming through treacle. I finally made it back to the beach and stopped the watch.... 1 hour 9 minutes?! What?!

I ran up the beach pulling off my wetsuit, I dealt with a quick flash of cramp in my left quad and jumped into my running shoes to head through town to T1...

Bike

As soon as I got out of T1 onto the bike course I was 100% pleased that I'd taken the time to stick on some arm warmers. The cold swim had sapped my body heat and with the constant wind hitting my body as I rode, the shivers began.

The IM Wales bike course is tight, technical and hilly with a mix of smooth and rough road surfaces. It consists of two loops, one 70 miles and the second 40 miles. The first section of the big loop is fast and lets you build up a good average speed before hitting the technical sections that are to come... I say fast, but definitely not today! The wind was absolutely howling in from the Atlantic making everyone around me twitchy as hell. Every time I approached a gap in the hedge, our only shelter from the wind, I saw other riders swing wildly across the road. This made overtaking a very dangerous endeavour.

In addition to the twitchy riders, the road was narrow, twisty, and covered in fallen leaves. Danger bells were ringing on every descent. This highlighted a bit of a fear I've got with descending in anything other than bone dry conditions. A few years ago I had a nasty stack on some ice and since then, anytime I'm pressing on downhill I end up visualising the bike sliding out from underneath me... not ideal when you're trying to keep your head in the game.

A few miles later on some of the tricky tight descents, marshals holding big signs saying "OIL ON ROAD!" were out in the road shouting at us to slow down... this did nothing for my confidence and made the bike leg a game of survival.

Finally I'd made it to Saundersfoot. By this point my tri-suit was completely saturated and I wasn't sure how much longer I could push on feeling that cold plus the fatigue in my upper back from bracing against the wind for the last few hours wasn't helping either. I knew Heart Break hill meant big crowds and a chance to light up the burners to try and get some heat back in the oven. I hit the bottom of the climb, up out of the saddle and treated myself to a little 400w blast... much to the delight of the hardy supporters that were out braving the rain to cheer us on!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY58G42jKb8/?hl=en

The one thing that really ground on me the entire route was the constant string of riders drafting. The motorbike marshals didn't seem to care as people hitched on for a free ride. My enemy on the bike was bib # 315... a fella wearing full Russian team kit who decided to hang onto the back of me for 105 miles before overtaking on the way back into Tenby with what I'm sure were very fresh legs. It was like a scene that Icarus doping/ cheating documentary.

I rolled back into Tenby with a 5 hour 55 minute bike split. .. a cool 30 minutes behind my desired target time. I knew I'd been holding back a lot to get around safely but looking down at my bike computer revealed my average power was only 213 watts and intensity factor down at 73%. Morale at this point was pretty low because I knew my hopes of a Kona spot were out of the window unless I turned into Haile Gebrselassie... pretty unlikely at this stage in an Ironman.

Run

Out onto the run course and my legs felt good... they bloody should have after riding the bike with an intensity factor 8% lower than my race plan.

My run load this year was pretty short and focused on speed work as I'd concentrated on 70.3 distance events all year so I knew I wasn't going to be breaking any records even with a gentle effort on the bike.

Tip tapping out of Tenby heading up the climb for the first time I was doing the maths in my head.... 'so if I hold for a 3 hour 26 minute run split I could still make a 10 hour 45 minute finish...'. My legs still felt pretty good so I tried to stick to this plan and hold an average of 7 minutes 52/mile.

The first two laps ticked by smoothly and I collected a blue and green armband on my wrist. I knew the fatigue was going to come, I just didn't know when. My furthest run this year was the 13.2 mile run leg of the Brecon Titan half Ironman in June. I think I've averaged 15 miles a week since then so was in no way marathon fit.

POW! The third time I hit the road climbing out of Tenby and my legs just said no. I stopped and had to take a seat at the side of the road munching on crisps and drinking flat coke. I couldn't stand the idea of anymore sugar so headed for the savoury stuff.

I gave myself a bit of a mental kick up the arse and started running again when I remembered I could still make it home in under 11 hours if I could get my pace back up.

This pace chart tells the story; plain sailing until mile 14 when I was reduced to the crisp raid.

I finally made it back into Tenby and supported by the roaring crowds who's throats must have been sore from what was then 11 hours of shouting (GO TENBY!!!) rounded the last bend onto the Esplanade. The finish line was in sight and I was more than pleased to see it. I took a bit more time and enjoyed the experience of running down the red carpet high-fiving people as I went.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY6ZXEnj6-P/?hl=en

No arms raised or smiles when I crossed the line. Just a bit of a lull and disappointment. My finish time was 11 hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds. A new Iron distance personal best and just under 10 minutes faster than I managed in Tenby last year, despite the significantly worse conditions.

Something to be happy about? I'm not really sure. I'm just a bit annoyed.

I have some points to be happy about and some key points for improvement if I'm going to realise my potential next year;

• I need to race in some open water swims so I can get a grip with both swimming close to other people and pacing. This should get me out onto the bike course with some clearer roads.
• I need to master the flying mount on the bike. My transitions are fast but there are free seconds there for the taking!
• My nutrition strategy on the bike is good and kept me feeling strong throughout the ride.
• I need to increase my run load so I can race the Ironman marathon rather than just survive it.
• I need to improve my run leg nutrition strategy. I definitely under-fuelled this one leading to the mile 14 bonk.

I just want to say a big big thank you to both my family (Jo, Mum, Huw, Nan & Nick) who came down to support me in a very wet and windy Tenby. Thank you to each and every member of my Ironman Fan club who were there in spirit and to the absolutely amazing crowds in Tenby and the surrounding villages who braved the rain to keep everyone's morale up and make Ironman Wales the best on the Ironman calendar.

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