IM – 5: Ironman 70.2 UK

This week I took to the seas to compete in my first “M-dot”, official Ironman race. It was the Half Ironman UK, or Ironman 70.2 as they are now called (because they it totals 70.2 miles), over the distances of 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run (a half marathon).

Some stats:

• Swim (1.9km): 36:26
• Bike (90km): 3:21:11
• Run (21km): 2:05:03
• Total Time: 6:12:33
• Nutrition: 2l of electrolyte, 3l of water, 5 powerbar gels, 1 powerbar, 2 banannas, 3 meusli bars, 2 cups of gatorade
• Calories burned: 4378

Several people seemed to have bad encounters at the race previously, so I was braced for the worst but it turned out to be an exceptionally well organised race. Probably the best organisation of any triathlon I’ve ever competed in.

I arrived over on Friday, via the ferry. I set up the tent on a camp site right beside the location for the race, which was hugely handy. To say that the race, at Wimbleball Lake, is in the middle of nowhere would be an understatement. Don’t expect roads wide enough for two cars or phone reception, but do expect a beautiful location and a laid back few days. Registration opened on Friday. There was a small tented village created for registration, tri shops and some other things there, as well as the large transition and changing tents.

I arrived after 6 so I was too late to register on Friday so I simply relaxed for the evening.

On Saturday morning, the buzz was beginning to grow around the camp site and the venue. I swam about 1km of the swim course in the organised swim, which was hugely useful. It was a lake swim, which is my favourite type of swimming. No salt and no chlorine. I registered at 11:30, sorted out my gear and checked in my bike. They operate a “clean transition” there (and maybe in all M-dot events). This means nothing is allowed around the bike in transition. You are given three bags to sort your gear. On exiting the water, you collect your “Swim to Bike” bag containing helmet, bike cloths, sun glasses etc. and change in a big tent, putting the wetsuit into the bag. After the bike leg, you grab your “Bike to Run” bag from the numbered hooks with runners etc. and change into them before dumping the bag (which is rehooked by voulenteers) and legging it off. The bags:

The was a Q&A with the pros in the afternoon before the race briefing at 4pm. It was mildly interesting to hear from the pros although it didn’t seem like they were too pushed to be there. The race briefing was where the excitement started, I think. There was about 1000 (of the 1400 competitors) crammed into a big tent and I was surprised to hear that IM 70.2 UK is considered to be the toughest 70.2 course in the world (of Mdot 70.2s that is). After the race briefing, we drove some of the bike course before getting quite lost on the very, very rural roads and we settled for dinner in a pub we stumbled upon. I was there with a friend from London who had driven over to register on Friday after a rowing race. She was driving back for the finals on Saturday morning before driving back over to race on Sunday.. and I thought I was hardcore).

The alarm went off early on Sunday morning, at 5am. Derude and other 90’s dance were blaring from the finish line a few hundred meters away and the camp site was already buzzing in equal measure with bike tires being pumped up by eager looking competitors and sleeping bags being around worn by people with that “why do I do this?” early morning pre triathlon look. Amazingly, it dropped below freezing overnight and everything was iced up. It had warmed up by the 7am start.

At 6:45, everyone assembled at transition before the walk over to the swim start. This was a mass swim start with 1400 people starting at once. I was assured it would be rough and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve become quite comfortable in the scramble at the start of triathlons at this stage. Here is the one thing I’ve learned: don’t stop swimming. If someone elbows you, keep swimming. If someone swims over you, keep swimming. If you swim on top of someone, keep swimming. It’s that simple.

One thing I remember in the race briefing is that they said it’d start right after we hear the national anthem. I thought this was a joke, but it wasn’t. At 6:59am, God Save the Queen serenaded 1400 people threading water in Winbleball Lake. I’ve never been fired up before for a swim start, but I was for this one. The hooter went and all hell broke loose. I was about a third of the way back and towards the centre. As I said above, the first 50 meters is a scramble where you feel like you’re in a washing machine. It settled down surprisingly quickly though and I got into a relaxed stoke quickly. I took two elbows during the race, one at the start and one at the big squeeze around the first bouy. Both times my goggles were knocked off. It didn’t bother me too much, I just fixed them and went on. I had my strongest swim to date, I swam it in 36:26.

The run to transition was up a steep hill and at the top, I found my racked Blue bag with my cycling gear in it. There was a big tent with seats to change in and volunteers to help anyone who wanted it, which made a big change from the open transitions of shorter races – 2 minutes in transition makes less of a difference in a 6 hour half ironman than a 1 hour sprint.

After the change, I unracked the bike and started the cycle. I noticed then that the day had warmed a lot from before the swim. I checked my watch then to see my faster than expected swim and felt strong. From driving the bike course, and from the fact that I spend almost all of my time training on the bike in the mountains, I knew it was going to suit me a lot – very hilly, with some tough climbs. The first 30km or so on the bike, I spent getting my legs into cycling mode and reminding myself of the plan – to hold back slightly on the first (of two 45km) lap on the bike and to take on plenty of food. I did this, and stuck in the vicinity of a few other strongish cyclists on TT bikes. I took mental note of the climbs – where they ended, how steep they were, and how hard I could push the descents. On the second lap, I somewhat put the hammer down and pushed hard. On the first of the steep climbs, it felt great to leave the TT bikes behind. I noticed the biggest difference in my descents. Perhaps most are unused to cycling in steep hills, or perhaps because I train in mountains more than most, but I was able to push it a lot harder on the descents that most others and it was here that I gained most time.

Two things of note were the extremely well stocked aid stations along with the nicest volunteers I’ve experienced (I dropped a power bar that was handed to me from one and he ran 30-40 meters at full tilt to catch up and hand it to me), and the oasis’ of 50-100 supporters who gathered at the tops of the hardest climbs with cow bells, whistles, drums.. and generally made as much noise as possible. It created a fantastic atmosphere. I got a few grins of acknowledgement from people waving gigantic English flags for the fact that I was wearing an Ireland cycling jersey (it had to be done).

By the end of the cycle, I was still in good shape. I finished it in 3:21:11. The second transition was more of the same, with the bags and the volunteers – mostly dispending sun cream. It had turned into a scorcher and was, I guess, about 25C at that stage.

The run was a 3x7km lap course and the course itself was quite hilly and mostly offroad (which I liked a lot – I much prefer running offroad on uneven tracks to monotonous roads, there’s less time to think about how hard the run is when you’re concentrating on not breaking your ankle with the next step). I was very conservative on the first lap of the run. Owing to all the trouble I’ve had with tendonitus, I really didn’t want to inflame it early. On the second lap, I pushed it a bit harder and when coming one of the bigger hills around the 10km mark, I felt it start to get sore. I think this was inevitable (I’d been making good progress at the physio to loosen out the hip, but the program I was following was still just at 2-3km runs). It ebbed and flowed for the rest of the run and never really threatened to prevent me from finishing. I followed a strategy used by the current IM world champion, which is to walk through every aid station to take on water, food and energy drinks. It worked well and I will follow this for Ironman Switzerland. There really is no point in trying to drink on the run, it just ends up all over your face.

I found the last lap of the run very tough. I’d put this down to the low volume of running I’ve been able to do for the last 5 weeks. The finish line was both welcome and great fun. It was lined with people making a great bit of noise. It’s this Razzmataz that makes the Mdot races worth racing.

I finished the run in 2:05:03 and the whole race in 6:12:33. This put me in 431st place out of the 1450 entrants and 16th out of 61 in the 18-24m age group. I was really happy with my time, even though I know from the 1:36 half marathon I ran two months ago that I could break 6 hours with some more running. Not just completing, but actually racing the swim and the bike make me a lot more confident about Zurich. I’ll move more towards maintenance mode for these two disciplines in the remaining 4 weeks and do everything in my power to prepare for a marathon. It’s going to be tough as hell. But it’s going to be possible.