Kona Ironman - Going all out on the Big Island

Since I secured my place at Kona in September 2015, exactly what the event would be like had remained a mystery. I kept hearing of places such as ‘The Queen K’, ‘Ali’i Drive’ and ‘The Energy Lab’ with no clue as to what or where they were. I’d heard it would be hot, windy, humid and filled with over 2,000 budding triathletes; well think extremes: very hot, very humid, very windy (in places) and so many competitors focused on their single most important race of the year (or even longer). Arriving at Kona 7 days prior to the race meant that I could find these mysterious places, acclimatise to conditions and focus on relaxing, registering, racking and generally preparing for the race.

I took my approach to the entire Kona experience similar to how I approach my training. Yes, the Ironman was the main focus of the trip, what I had been working towards for the past 6 months and I was ready to give everything on race day, however I was also here to have fun both before and after the race, meet lots of like-minded people and get involved in everything Kona had to offer. Whether it was swimming out to the coffee boat, doing the underpants run, hanging out at breakfast, taking part in the Parade of Nations, or just lying in the sun, these were all things that would give me fond memories of the place regardless of how I may perform on race day, and besides who knows if I would ever have the opportunity to go back again.

 

Race day was on October 8th and it started at 4am for me. By 5:30am, I found myself amongst the 2,300 other nervous competitors preparing to start their race. I was desperately trying to ignore a slight virus that had come on a couple of days before, and that would eventually catch up with me on the day following the race, but first of all I had 140.6 miles to knock out. Here's how the race went....

What's it like to be amongst the best part of 1,500 swimmers all heading for the same buoy 1.2 miles out to sea and back again? Well imagine a whole lot of splash, constant concentration not to get kicked, and no idea if you're heading the correct way; with all this continuing throughout 60 minutes of the swim course.

At 6:55am, the cannon fired.  Immediately I chose to go out relatively hard in order to try to find some faster feet to pull me along, and there was certainly no shortage of them, as pair after pair would continually appear in front or to the side. The carnage that followed was something I’d only ever experienced at Nice Ironman in 2010, where the sheer number of people in the water meant no let up in pace and using such concentration to avoid being hit. It was relentless and, even after 20 minutes of swimming, very little had calmed down. As we reached the turnaround point, the entire field was once again pushed together into a narrow stream. Despite everything going on around me, I felt good and a quick time check at the halfway point suggested I was close to my 60-minute target.

After the initial excitement of the start, I had chosen to take it more steady in the second half, not risking the thought of surfacing from the water at all out of breath. As I emerged from the water and into the packed changing tent, I saw my time was 61 minutes, on target with where I wanted it to be.

Coming out of T1 in amongst hundreds of other cyclists, I planned to go very hard and pass as many as possible early on. Who knows what power I was doing, as my power meter was broken from the outset, but it must've been 300-330w. Along the initial short out-and-back, I caught Will Newbury, had a very brief chat as we compared our swim efforts, before heading up on to the Queen K and the view of still hundreds of cyclists stretched out ahead of me.

I continued to put down a fair effort, being very mindful of not drafting anyone and trying to catch some faster trains up ahead. Eventually I caught up with Paul Burton and we sat off the back of a small peloton, cruising steadily down the Queen K. After 30 minutes I felt ready to push on and put in an effort to go past the lot of them. Whilst I potentially paid for this later on, it was my call to race up to the turnaround point at Hawi. My lack of confidence to go much over 35 mph was going to slow me down on the return descent, and I felt I needed to get some time in the bank as a consequence.

80 miles in I was feeling good. I'd gone through at least 5 litres of water/Gatorade, a load of shot blocks and a Clif bar, so was well hydrated and fuelled by my standards, plus I’d had made a fair dent in the field. However the headwind and 'semi bonk' was about to hit. Paul came back past me looking very strong and gestured me to go with him, but I had nothing. That had been a very sensible ride from him, and his decision not to get over confident early (on as I had) was a wise one. The last 15 miles were a real struggle and I was pleading to myself for the run to come sooner. I eased up, which may have lost me 5 minutes in the closing stages however I felt that, by taking it steady, I was far better prepared to start the run.

Now all that remained was the 26.2 miles between myself and the finish line. No mechanicals to worry about, no real possibility of penalties to be handed out, and the best part of 250 other age-groupers to try to work through. By this point, the temperature was well over 30 and I was grateful of the locals spraying us down with hose pipes on Ali’i drive; I was drenched through within 5 minutes, but that was fine.

My aim was to set out at 6:35/mile pace, which should feel comfortable on any other day, and that would bring me in with a 2:53 marathon. Along Ali'i drive I passed Paul, who encouraged me to go and eat up as much of the field as possible.

The atmosphere along the whole of Ali'i drive was fantastic, both from the spectators and other competitors. I'll be honest, I could hardly muster an acknowledgment but the support was much appreciated! As I progressed up the Palani Road (the only major climb on the run), the heat was getting to me and all I was longing for was the next aid station to fill my suit up with ice and take on more Coke and water; this was the strategy I then adopted for the rest of the run course.

Whilst my pace wasn't quite the 6:35's planned, I continued to work through the field and each competitor became a target to chase down. At 15 miles, I was told I was the 35^th age-grouper and, by the time I got to the Energy Lab at 18 miles, I'd moved up to about 20th. Things were going well however the irony was that, shortly after coming out of the Energy Lab, I was so close to falling apart.

Now it was a case of just closing out those last few miles. I looked behind and the road was clear. Up ahead the gaps were too large. I accepted that little could be done on changing my position and so put my head down and prepared to head for home. With 300m to go, and to my surprise, another competitor, who’d obviously gradually been reeling me in, overtook me. I wasn’t expecting that, so cue a Greenleaf sprint for the line and any of the planned high-5'ing down the finish shoot was scrapped. Over the line I collapsed into a volunteer's arms, relieved to have held my position and finished in 9:08:27. I was too delirious to fully appreciate what was going on around me and was more focused on trying to stay upright and taking on water, but at last I’d completed the Kona Ironman.

I finished 53rd overall and 5th in the 30-34 category (turns out 6th place was only 14s behind, so the sprint was worthwhile after all). The whole event was an eye opener to the quality of other amateur triathletes from around the world, and also an appreciation and respect to those professionals who swim, bike and run some frankly insane times.

My race had gone perfectly up to 95 miles on the bike, after which I'm still a little frustrated about the time I lost in those closing miles. Perhaps I over did it too early on the bike or perhaps I didn’t get my fueling quite right, but my feeling at the time was to go for it and this required overtaking some fairly significant groups. I also think I slightly underperformed on the run, however there is little preparation you can do in the UK (or even anywhere) to understand quite how to fare in a marathon of 30+ degrees and after 6 hours of racing. I appreciate I'm probably being over critical of my performance, and I am thrilled with my effort as I left everything out there on the course, but it gives me an appetite to go back for more at some point.

Kona was more than just a one-day race, it was the culmination of training for the past 6 months, and there have been a number of people who have supported along the way:

Huezkateers/RP Stags/Cottage/Pub Laps for pulling me around many laps of Battersea, Regent's and Richmond Parks, either running or on a bike. Thanks guys for putting up with me for all those hours, there’s no way I’d have had the motivation to do this solo.

Mum and Dad for being there right from my qualification at Ironman Wales and then coming all the way to Kona to support. I’m so pleased you were able to make it out here and cheer first hand!

Richard and my Teammates from Freespeed. Since joining the team at the start of 2015, it's helped to give me opportunities to compete in races I’d never even considered doing 3 years ago. Along the way I’ve had the chance to meet all sorts of people across the sport, whether it's other triathletes, sponsors or just others interested in the sport. Having teammates to draw upon for advice and support has been extremely valuable, not only for Kona but also in the lead up and I’m sure all this has helped enable me to racer stronger.

Thanks to all of the individual sponsors who support the team and allow me to train with the best kit and nutrition. Brett and the team at Skechers for providing us with fast trainers and all the support for the team, the team at Clifbar for all nutrition during long bike rides and races, Virgin Active for the use of the gyms and enabling those painful Wattbike sessions, Blueseventy for wetsuits and everything water related, Speedfill for all the equipment to carry water and tools on the bike, Lezyne for all the tools, Precision Hydration for providing electrolytes which are especially helpful when it's Hawaii hot, and Endurance Conspiracy for great clothes to wear to races.

And finally to Anna for all of your support along the way, and for helping me balance and appreciate so many other things to life. I would have loved to have you there on the day, but your enthusiasm and encouragement never ceased, all the way to the end of your very own Kona party.

Back on track at Dublin 70.3

After a slightly disappointing race at Castle Howard in late July, Dublin 70.3 was an opportunity to regain some confidence and put into practice some of things I'd picked up at Castle Howard: notably not to go out too hard on the swim and find yourself shattered for the rest.

With that in mind, I put myself slightly away from the front line of the swim start and took off at a fairly relaxed pace when the claxon went off.

I tried to find some feet, but I just wasn't feeling as though I wanted to push myself too hard at 7:30 this morning, and so found myself drifting backwards in the wave. Not a problem as we were about to catch up with the wave ahead and the prospect to using too much energy to weave in between was far from appealing. So after just over 30 minutes, I emerged from the Irish Sea, not with the quickest of swim times, but feeling fresh and now ready to push it on the bike.

Dublin 70.3 course starts southwest of the city, follows the coast up to the city centre, before completing a loop to the west and finishing in Pheonix Park. This was the first flat course I've done all year, and it felt great to be rolling along at 25+mph for large sections of the course. Having emerged alongside many of the 35-39 and 40-44 competitors, I had no idea where I sat even within my own 30-34 category, so set about reeling a few in. A fair amount of my race was spent shouting 'keep left' or 'coming through', and I apologise to anyone if it may have come across a bit aggressive, but adrenaline was probably kicking in. I made a conscious effort to stay as aero as possible throughout, and I felt good, both aerobically and my bike legs. I was able to attack any climbs (I knew last week's Dauphanee Hill climb had a purpose), and kept a decent speed on the flat. One thing I am considering now is riding to power as everything is done of 'feel' at the moment and my concern is either pushing too hard to taking it too easy at Kona over such a long distance. My other area for development is how to negotiate the 60 odd speed bumps on the route with losing too much speed, but I think that is probably unique to Dublin. Anyway, I rolled into transition about 5th in my wave feeling ready to hit the run fairly hard.

Again, a first for the season, a flat run. With other competitors to chase down, I thought I'd take it out hard and see how I'd fair. My tempo sessions off the bike along the Thames Path have me running at 5:35/mile, so when I started at 5:22/mile I knew it was punchy, but I felt good. I over took the male pro leader (Collins), which caused a bit of confusion to the bike lead, but a quick explanation that I was an age grouper soon cleared that up, and besides I was 2 laps behind. I maintained pace reasonably well, dropping to 5:25/mile, but the slight unknown of which other athletes may be ahead gave a reason to continue to push hard. On the tannoy, I heard a lot of commentary about Brian McCrystal as the first age-grouper, but I had no idea for how much further ahead he may be. So I took it to the end and eventually came across the finish line in 4:04:53.

This put me 4th overall, and second amateur after an outstanding performance by Brian McCrystal almost gave him the win. My Freespeed teammate Sarah Lewis achieved 3rd overall in the women's race, so overall a good day out for the team.

3rd and 4th for Sarah Lewis and myself respectively

Men:
1. Ben Collins (USA) 4:00:41
2. Bryan McCrystal (IRL) 4:00:56 *M35-39
3. Harry Wiltshire (GBR) 4:04:05
4. Andy Greenleaf (GBR) 4:04:53 *M30-34
5. Paul Reitmayr (AUT) 4:06:41

Women:
1. Susie Cheetham (GBR) 4:22:33
2. Natalie Seymour (GBR) 4:25:48 
3. Sarah Lewis (GBR) 4:31:54 *F35-39
4. Anna Halasz (HUN) 4:35:22
5. Claire Hann (GBR) 4:38:06 *F30-34

Victory at Ironman 70.3 UK Exmoor!

I took a late decision to race Ironman UK 70.3 in Wimbleball and very pleased that I did! The week following Staffordshire 70.3, I felt good and so had a fairly hard week. Then a week of low volume in the lead up to Wimbleball left me feeling ready to race.

I much preferred the setup here compared to Staffordshire as it was a rolling start based up predicted upon swim time, so essentially this meant that anyone challenging for the top spots would likely to be starting within 20s of each other.

I put myself fairly close to the front of the pen, which was a bit punchy given that my swim is relatively slow compared to my run and bike. I thought I might be able to find some feet to drag me to a quicker swim, but in fact it meant that, for the first third of the swim, I was actually moving backwards through the field. Towards the end of the swim I found a group much more suited to my pace and came out in about 28:30 (and I would guess about 30th).

On to the bike, and I can honestly say it must rate as one of the toughest bike courses I've ever done. Basically 56 miles of up or down. Straight on the bike I hit it hard and by 6 miles I had moved past my fellow Freespeeder, Tom Higgins, and into third. What then happened was pretty much the bike played out: I was overtaken on the descents, and clawed back the ground on the hills. At about 30 miles, Brian Fogarty came through, followed shortly after by Clive Kennedy-Burn, and both looking very strong. In my mind I thought that as long as I came into T2 within 2-3 minutes of them, there was a chance of catching them in the run. On the second lap, aerobically I felt strong, however my legs found it tough particularly on the short sharp climbs. Bike done without any issue and I came in 3rd, about 3 minutes off the lead. Now to get my head down on the run....

At 11.5 miles on the run (Photo: Huw Fairclough)

The run course is a mix of trail, gravel road and minimal tarmac, and continues the trend of being very undulating. My legs were in bits after the bike but I could see the other 2 competitors ahead and knew that I could dig in and reel them in relatively quickly. By 4 miles I had taken the lead and then it was just a case of keeping things steady and not risking blowing up. I ran very controlled and kept it a consistent 5:50/mile (aside from the hills which I allowed myself to slow up for). The finish line atmosphere was incredible, high-5s, crossing the tape, spraying champagne, just a fantastic experience!

I now feel as though I've cracked my strategy for 70.3's and have come to the conclusion that it's probably my favourite distance to 'race' (as you can genuinely 'race', as opposed to 'hold on' in an Ironman). I take minimal fuel on, in fact today I had 2 gels and a bottle of squash for the whole race, and I find that works for me.

In the days following the race, I came on with De Quervain Syndrome, which sounds rather nasty, but essentially is an inflammation and tendonitis in my wrist. So painful that I actually took myself to hospital for it. I can only assume was from a lot of breaking and climbing on the hood and now, 2.5 weeks on, it is finally just about subsided.

My next Ironman 70.3 is Dublin in August where I'll be up against Clive Kennedy Burn again, and in the meantime I will start to include some longer rides and runs in the buildup to Kona.

An update on training since the London Marathon

I’ve not blogged for a while, mostly due to being away racing for large parts of the weekend, and during the week either training hard before and after work, or out trying to maintain some sort of social life. As I move from focusing on triathlon over the summer as opposed to the cross-country running over the winter, the ramp up in volume of training certainly impacts trying to keep on top of everything else in my life. Anyway, on to what I’ve been up to for the past couple of months…..

My plan for 2016 had always been split into 2:

1. Jan-Apr: Focus on running, with the target being the London Marathon

2. May-Oct: Build up the time on the bike and swimming, with the target being Kona

Since the London marathon, I have gradually built up the time on the bike, so that I'm now cycling 200-250 miles a week, and running 45-55 miles a week, however swimming continues to remains very minimal. As was the case last year, my bike legs seemed to have come back relatively quickly, which suggests to me that aerobically the marathon training converts well, but also that a few Wattbike sessions over the winter coupled with the longer and shorter running intervals are all a good base. I've also re-introduced the 60mile bike/10mile tempo brick session (running at about 5:35-40/mile pace) as I find this is best way to get a long work out down in the smallest amount of time, and a short trip to the Alps in May has certainly reminded me what it feels like to be in the saddle for number of hours and has provided me good endurance in a few races recently.

Peabrain's at the top of Alp d'Huez climb

One thing I do struggle with in triathlon training is to have that regularity in sessions that I achieve with running. My marathon prep is built around a very set routine of short intervals (Tuesday), threshold (Thursday), long run (Sunday). However my triathlon routine is hardly well established: cycle before work if it's not raining, run to and from work steadily, occasional Tuesday running session (although these are much shorter reps now and I don't believe convert well to ironman), higher intensity bike laps in Regents Park once a week, long ride/run brick at the weekend, or a race. Whilst I would love to have a routine, trying to balance the number of hours required to train for long distance along with work/socialising/racing/mending bike/etc. , just doesn't fit into a schedule as something else always comes up. Given this, I've come to the conclusion as long as you put in the required volume, and make sure enough of it is quality, then that is sufficient.

My greatest concern remains the swim, which is hardly surprising given that I am managing just one of two swims per week at the moment. With 3 months to go to Kona, I really ought to push up my swim volume and I am looking for a triathlon/swim group in London that might push me to be able to go a bit harder.

In my run up to Kona, I've chosen not to race any full distance triathlons, and rather focus on 70.3s, given the distance allows me to 'race' all the way (rather than 'hold on' in an ironman marathon), recover relatively quickly, and provide a good opportunity to build up more speed endurance. With this in mind, my first target, and indicator for how training has gone since the London Marathon, was Staffordshire 70.3, shortly followed by Exmoor 70.3 and then Hever Castle Middle distance. Next up is Castle Howard, and then Dublin 70.3 in mid-August. With a week in the Alps in early August, where I plan to do some significant bike miles, I feel that my Kona prep is right where I want it to be at the moment. 

London Marathon 2016 - Nearly a WR, Rio qualification spots up for grabs and silver for the team again

Going into this year’s London Marathon, my target was probably a little punchy, but there’s nothing wrong getting to the start line with a bit of optimism every now and then.

My build up had gone as planned: ticking off a number of Thursday night threshold sessions (these are generally running at marathon pace for 18-24k), shorter intervals with The Cottage Relocated on Tuesdays, and some pacey long Sunday runs around Richmond with Jonathan Poole. The majority of my racing this year has been on the country and I’d picked up a few good results on the way. Only my one half marathon at Cardiff was a little disappointing, but I wanted to put that down to the weather that day.

As the club runners lined up at Blackheath behind the elites, the introducer reeled off who was in field: Eliud Kipchoge (last year’s winner), Dennis Kimetto (WR holder), Wilson Kipsang (London record holder and previous WR), Kenenisa Bekele (previous 5,000m and 10,000m WR holder)….quite frankly an unbelievable line-up and no surprise of the quality of the race that was about to unfold at the front.  Amongst the top British runners were several contenders likely to achieve the realistic qualifying time of 2:14 (the requirement to gain selection to the Rio Olympics), and who would be racing for the top 2 British spots a short distance behind.

By 10am it had warmed up considerably and I set out at my planned 5:20 min/mile pace. It always takes few miles to settle down and I eventually found myself running with Neil Renault, a fellow 14AC’er and who I’d got exactly the same time as at last year’s London marathon. The miles weren’t ticking by as easy as I’d hoped and the north-westerly wind hardly helped keep to my target pace, but I thought a more conservative start was sensible and may well pay dividends later on and so was happy to runner a little slower.

At 15 miles

We reached halfway in 70:40 and, shortly after, we got to witness the elite women racing and then falling over each other on the other side of the Highway. At 16 miles I was overtaken for the first time in an hour and, at 18 miles, it felt as though the wheels were starting to fall off. That’s pretty early on in the marathon to start to struggle, but was a relatively short bad-patch and by 21 miles the physiological boast that I got running for home certainly helped pull me along.

At the Tower of London I passed 4-time Olympian and previous Parkrun record holder Craig Mottram. Kudos to him for having a crack at trying to qualify for a 5^th Olympics and also for going on to finish the race when things obviously weren’t going to plan. Meanwhile, at the finishing Eliud Kipchoge was racing to victory just outside the world record in 2:03:04, with Callum Hawkins taking the British honours in 2:10:52 to guarantee selection for Rio.

Back to the Embankment and at 24 miles, I hit my usual lunchtime route and, helped by some sort of familiarity, my pace seemed to pick up a little. Millennium wheel…Big Ben...Birdcage…The Mall…2:25:17…job done. Although the time was quite a bit slower than I’d hoped for, I’m very happy with the outcome and its given me plenty to think about what went right and what could do with some tweaking in the build up.

As always, the support out there was incredible and great to race with a number of group who have trained together. Now I’ll have a few easier weeks before dusting off the bicycle and starting the prep for Kona.   

Thursday Battersea group - looks like JP, myself and Dave got team silver

Finally got the Ballbuster record

For the past few years I’ve been making the journey to Box Hill to take on the Ballbuster Duathlon - an 8 mile run, 24 mile bike, and 8 mile run. Since the first time I competed, I have had half an eye on the course record of 2:34:40 set by Gary Gerrard back in 2001. The technicality of the cycle course and conditions of the road mean that poor weather can really effect how aggressive you can take on the bike.

Having driven the wet course on the morning of the race, noted the large amount of debris covering the surface, and then been warned about having deep rim wheels on my bike due to the wind, optimism was wearing thin for having a crack on the record. I was slightly pre-occupied with a focus on finishing the bike safely as opposed to an all out effort; but I’d still give the record a crack.

The first run was fine, and made sure I did not go out too hard given the length of the race. I also used this leg to check out the road surface, any potholes and where I should be position on the road for the bike leg. I’ve been doing some slightly longer reps in training recently and, combined with some high mileage, felt this gave me good speed-endurance for the race. I was pleasantly surprised to finish in low-42 minutes having run the first leg solo.

I chose to go for a road bike with deep rim wheels and some aero bars. My rational was partly due to my TT bike currently being out of action, and partly due to having more control on the road bike. In fact, I personally think I’d use this set up on this course regardless of the conditions. The descent through Headley village had to be taken very carefully given the amount of debris on the road, and much of Longbottom Road had leaves across, and I was weary of not taking any risk. Given this, I decided to save my hard efforts on each lap for the ascent up Box Hill.  My bike split was 1:07, bang on what I’d estimated was required for a record, but I was more relieved to finish without incident.

I knew I needed a 44-ish second run for the record, and I split the final run course into 3 parts: the drag up to Headley Common, fast back section along Longbottom Road and one final effort up the Box Hill climb. It took a mile or so to get my run legs back, and after that I dug in and pushed on to Headley Common. I had plenty of encouragement on the way round from other competitors on the bike leg. The back section was fairly pacey, but this is not surprising givne the gentle downhill. As I hit the foot of Box Hill at about 2:22, I thought an all out effort was required for the last couple of miles. However it turns out the climb up Box Hill was a little shorter than I’d anticipated, and I crossed line with a 41:30 second run split and total time of 2:31:56.

I was delighted to finally break the record and it rounded off a successful end to 2015 multisport. Now I’ll focus on road and cross country racing over the winter, before starting the build up to Kona in Spring 2016.

Chris Nicholls (2nd), myself, Dan Bradshaw (3rd)

Picking myself up at Ironman Wales

The afternoon of August 31st I was sat, head in hands trying to comprehend how I’d just been disqualified for a cycling error from the Ironman 70.3 world championships, the second of my 2 main races of 2015. My racing career had never got any lower than this; I had hit rock bottom. Around me were thousands of people all cheering for Jan Frodeno crossing the line in a fantastic 3:51, along with all the other age-groupers that I had been up against just an hour before. In terms of my mood at the time, I was the complete opposite end of the spectrum!

I dropped Richard Melik (who runs Team Freespeed) a message telling him about my disqualification, and that I’d look for another race to finish the season with to at least capitalise on the training I’d done, and to make amends for my disappointment at Zell am See. Whilst I was thinking along the lines of another middle distance triathlon, Richard suggested having a shot at Ironman Wales instead and hence allow a full season to concentrate on Kona 2016. On immediate reflection I thought to myself “no way” given I’d not swam or ridden the distance even in isolation since Nice Ironman in 2010, and my longest run since April’s marathon had been about 18 miles. But then I considered it further, and in fact what was there to loose? I’d averaged about 60 and 200 miles a week running and cycling respectively over the summer, there was no pressure as that had been piled on at Zell am See 2 weeks prior, and there was everything to gain through potentially gaining a 2016 Kona spot over a year in advance. I was sold! So signed up, re-restarted my taper and began to prepare myself (mostly mentally) for the 10 hours of racing I’d be doing in 10 days time.

The days leading up to the race were fairly relaxed, with some runs to/from work, some chilled out swimming and a few laps of Richmond Park; nothing crazy and all done at a relatively easy effort. I had a long talk with my Freespeed teammate Charlie Pennington a few days out who had raced Ironman Wales last year. He gave all sorts of useful information for the race and helped calm any nerves about which bike to use, which wheels to use, where to sight on the swim, what nutrition was on the course, and just general good advice from an 8:45 ironman.

My nutrition in the lead up didn’t change at all with no serious carb loading or change in diet, and even had a few beers on the Friday night to celebrate a friends birthday; I just wanted to make sure I was well fuelled for the big day itself. In fact I was feeling very relaxed about everything, and even slightly confident things might go better than expected…..My only real concern was with the weather (in fact that played on my mind A LOT) and how that may impact the bike course. A few days before it was forecast as wind, rain and the typical weather Wales is associated with and I was sure the chances of coming off the bike were riding high.

I travelled down to Tenby with my parents the day before, collected my number, picked my wheels (Zipp 404 on front, 808 on back), racked my bike, got familiar with transition, took a look at finish line and checked out the bay I’d be swimming in at 7am the following day. At which point I decided to pull myself away from the Ironman buzz and concentrate on my own race.

I’ve built into my triathlon prep a walk through in my head for every element of the race that involves any sort of technicality. What I need to do in transition on the morning of the race, what order to put my bike kit on, do I need to eat anything during transition, what happens if its warmer/cooler than expected for the bike, where do I enter/leave the swim/bike/run etc., and I spent the best part of an hour the evening before going through this again and again to get 100% happy with the setup.

Race day came and I was up at 4:30 to have breakfast (2 Weetabix, banana, slice of bread and jam) [fairly minimal, but I prefer to race ‘light’]. My Dad dropped me in to Tenby and I set up my bike: air in tyres/water bottle on/shoes on/speedo on. Then a final walk through of transition and I was set to go! Transition had its typical buzz of excitement, apprehension and organised chaos as everyone carried out their final checks on the bike before walking down to the sea.

I put myself in the first age-group wave, 5 minutes after the pros were being set off. At 6:55am, the pros started and raced down to the sea. The countdown was on to my race getting underway and at 7am I too was running down the beach and into the water. Surprisingly the typical carnage of a mass start never seemed to emerge and I managed to find an open line out to the first buoy. It was never a strategy to get on someone’s feet for the swim, as I didn’t really think there’d be so much benefit given the waves and current. There were enough people ahead of me that I did not need to sight so often and things ticked away nicely to the first buoy. At that point, we almost did a 180-degree turn and were immediately pounded by the waves moving practically directly towards us. It was a hefty stretch across the pack of the bay and the waves meant that the next orange buoy was harder to make out all the time. At the final turn back to the shore, we were with the current again and that made things far easier but my legs were on the verge of cramping up as I think I’d kicked a bit too hard earlier on.

I came back onto the shore and started round 2 of the swimming circuit, and this time the density of swimmers was far less. I reigned my kicking in through fear of cramping up so early in the race and as a result I think my second lap was quite a bit slower than the first, but at the back of my mind was that I was still within the first hour of a fairly epic race.

Ironman Wales varies slightly from other races in that the swim is a good kilometre away from the transition, so there is a short run through the town once you’re out the water. I stripped off my wetsuit, put on my trainers and raced through Tenby to the bike.

Contrary to what had been forecast earlier in the week, we were very fortunate that the early rain had cleared and the wind was far less than expected. In my transition bag, I had put in extra layers and had about 5 minutes to make a decision about what to wear on the 112 mile bike. Given it was still a bit chilly, I opted for the whole lot: arm-warmers and cycle jersey (the cycle jersey mostly due to the fact it had a load of food in). Once out of Tenby, I started to unleash on the bike and cruised with a nice tailwind all the way to Angle (the most westerly part of the course). I had averaged about 22 mph for the first gently undulating hour and was gradually reeling in a few other age-groupers. However, I had taken on no food or drink for this time and suddenly became very conscious that I still had a monumental task ahead of me and needed to keep my energy levels high for the entire race. In my back pocket, I had a load of Clif shot blocks that I then proceeded to work my way through for the rest of the race and, coupled with bananas and energy drink at the aid stations, felt as through my fuelling on the bike was about right [again adopting the ‘racing light’ strategy].

As the course turned back to Tenby, so the wind was from the other direction and life on the bike got a bit harder. What’s more the undulations got bigger, but that plays to my strengths and, before long, the number of age-groupers ahead of me seemed to reduce. The road the surface was pretty good and generally far better to what I am used to in Surrey hills. The early rain meant that the road was still damp in places and I refused to take any risks whatsoever throughout the whole course. What this cost me in time may have been 3-5 minutes, however I was not prepared to take corners or descents at speed given the potential impact this may have. As per Alpe d’Huez Triathlon or Nice Ironman, the route on the Ironman Wales bike course was incredible, making its way through the Pembrokeshire countryside and every town or village was packed with supporters. 70 miles into the course was the town of Saundersfoot and the climb out of the village felt synonymous with that of the Tour de France as the crowds parted to let me through. Halfway up the climb I was in the red, but kept on pushing to the top purely due to crowd encouragement.

When I returned to Tenby for the first time, the announcer said that I was the first age-grouper so it was now was a case of holding it together for the rest of the bike. The second lap of the bike course encompassed only the hilly parts of the first lap, which I should really be thankful for but, at the time, was quite vocal to myself about how much pain I was in on some climbs. At 90 miles, I'd had enough on the bike and was starting to fade. At the back of my mind was not the 26 miles of running still to do, but the two 15% climbs in the final stages of the bike course. It seems any logic becomes slightly warped after 6 hours of pushing it. Anyway, I dispatched the climbs and cruised into Tenby to finish the bike-no mechanicals, no crashes and thankfully no red cards!

When I got to T2, I spent time cleaning out any sand in my toes, putting Vaseline between my toes and treating myself to a fresh pair of socks as I really didn't want to get any blisters on the run. I drank some flat coke I'd put in my transition bag (thanks Charlie for the suggestion) and got cracking with the run. Whilst the run is my strongest discipline, running 26 miles on tired legs after 6 hours of effort is completely different type of marathon race. During my 70.3 training, I'd practiced running at 5:30-5:35 min per mile off a 60 mile bike, now I had to force myself to run at 6:30-7 min per mile otherwise I'd be bound to detonate catastrophically at some point (my experience in my Nice Ironman was a 1:20HM/1:50HM split, ouch). Needless to say, that plan soon went out the window and I found myself trotting along comfortably at 5:45-6:15 per mile, dependent upon whether I was on a hill or not. Initially I was in complete isolation: the pro in front was way ahead, the next age grouper way behind. I was still aware of ensuring I took on enough fluid, so started to have a few sips of water at each of the aid stations. As time went on and I ticked off the first of 4 laps, the run course was beginning to fill up with the other competitors and the crowds continued to build and cheer in Tenby. In fact the crowds were phenomenal and at no other triathlon has the support been quite so amazing! Lap 2 included a toilet pit stop which never normally happens for me in a race, but after that I started to feel way better and was now just waiting for that wall to hit. My original enthusiasm for running was beginning to wear off and was now being more sensible about pacing. I adopted a 'walk through aid stations' strategy whereby I'd have a cup of coke, walk on and have a cup of water, before returning to a run. That way I got some sort of recovery as well as made sure I got fluids and a small amount of extra energy.

As I started the 4th lap I was aware that I was catching one of the pros ahead, and at 2k out, a very helpful spectator told me I was only 30 seconds behind. Whilst in my mind I knew I was actually 4:30 minutes ahead (due to my wave starting behind the pros), I still thought to put an effort in to try and catch him. Finally I had the finish line in my sights. It had been over 5 years since my last Ironman and the crowd cheering on the finish was just like I can remember at Nice. I did no showboating, summersaults or even a high 5 up the red carpet; I just had one thing on my mind to cross that line. My time was 9:31:01 and this rounded off one of the races of my life. Shattered, drained, exhausted but ecstatic is how I felt, and so pleased to have been able to put Austria behind me.

When the results came out, I had placed 5^th overall and had beaten the next age-grouper by over 30 minutes. 2016 Kona spot was well and truly booked!

There are so many people who helped me on my way to this race, and all is so much appreciated. In particular to Skechers who make sure I always have pair of trainers to go running in, Blueseventy for providing an amazing wetsuit, Clif for helping with that nutrition, and Virgin Active for allowing me to swim/bike/run those indoor miles. Thanks Richard for putting the idea of Ironman Wales in my head, and to all my running and cycling mates who are always keen to help put the miles in. And finally my parents and family who have been very supportive through a tough year, and I couldn’t really have asked for more than them being at the finish line on Sunday.

Top 10 results:

Name	Country	Category	Overall Rank	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish
Thomas, Jesse	USA	MPRO	1	00:54:20	05:03:28	02:52:19	08:57:33
Vistica, Andrej	HRV	MPRO	2	00:57:00	05:05:46	02:52:18	09:03:09
Thomschke, Markus	DEU	MPRO	3	00:57:01	04:57:14	03:12:54	09:14:52
Snilstveit, Gudmund	NOR	MPRO	4	01:02:38	05:03:21	03:08:18	09:22:15
Greenleaf, Andy	GBR	30-34	5	01:05:17	05:20:42	02:55:47	09:31:01
Wiltshire, Harry	GBR	MPRO	6	00:51:55	05:19:21	03:12:47	09:31:33
Holtham, Elliot	CAN	MPRO	7	00:57:01	05:25:31	03:04:54	09:35:47
Schifferle, Mike	CHE	MPRO	8	01:04:07	05:22:46	03:04:56	09:45:26
Manente, Felipe	BRA	MPRO	9	00:56:54	05:37:04	03:03:17	09:47:28
Beranek, Anja	DEU	FPRO	10	00:54:26	05:30:15	03:23:16	09:56:31