Three top tens in three weekends Part 2: Ironman UK

Ironman UK 2010 Race Report

I came into IMUK with a different approach to IM Austria a few weeks before where everything went wrong. I changed my race prep completely, opting to keep volume 50% higher than the week prior to IMAustria and just generally keep training most of the way in. The thinking behind this was that I had rested too much before Austria, and actually I felt much more comfortable training at near normal levels into UK.

The race set up and the location of my homestay made this relatively easy. I went up by train on the Thursday to Bolton, to stay once again with one of my best mates from Uni’s parents – Ernie and Jean Roberts. Big thanks to them for having me again! They live a few miles north of Bolton, and this year the race organisers had moved T1 further South West than last year, kept T2 in roughly the same place, and had briefings at a third location. Without a car this meant that I stacked up 70kms just commuting to the race venues on the Friday, combined with a short bike of a course recce, and then another 25kms just going to rack on Saturday morning. Throw in a couple of swims and runs and I was ready to race!

But you could have fooled me… the Saturday night I was having a crisis of confidence that I’d messed up race prep again and my legs were so tight that I thought I was headed for another race day like at Austria. My poor long-suffering girlfriend had to deal with the fall-out on the phone on Saturday evening (sorry honey!).

Bolton was a bit drizzly on race weekend… perfect UK race conditions! But come race morning it was looking dry if overcast and patchy rain only was to be expected. Ernie drove me the 30 minutes to the race start early that morning, and dropped me off with the words “Hurry up, I’ve got things to do this afternoon” :) Yes, sir!
Ernie’s understated psychological coaching in that car journey had actually settled me substantially – his “don’t worry about something that hasn’t happened yet” advice was good, and I resolved to enjoy whatever the day threw at me.

Swim start and I knew I had better cruise the swim or pay the price. My over-tense legs are a good sign of impending cramping if I push too hard, so I swam easy, and then even easier as the familiar cramps started to kick off in my groin and quads. Less kicking, easy stroke. They passed. Second lap started and the group ahead had gapped substantially. There was open water, but Yvette was along side and going about the same pace so I dropped in behind her. Thanks Yvette! I sat on her feet for the entire lap until she kicked for the finish when I kept with the precautionary principle and got out steadily.

T1 came and went. Happily the field was well drained so there was no mud bath this year! First hour on the bike I felt good and solid, and the wattage was a little above target. But then I just felt flat and apart from the first hour (which was all uphill) that feeling of riding well didn’t really materialise and the average power for the ride was some 10 watts below target by the end. Perhaps I just started too hard, who knows. But what happened next is the interesting part: Having come off the bike in 14th, I had some places to make up.

Within the first 3 miles I moved up into 10th. Then I eased into a final position of 7th (6th MPRO) cracking out a 2:53 marathon. While the course was short, this was only a couple of minutes of Fraser’s and Stephen’s times, so I’m pretty stoked with that. No leg fatigue, no lower back ache. Something worked! There has been some experimenting with bike positioning (that I’ll probably talk about more later in the year), but I definitely think it is helping my running off the bike (thanks to Toby Jones).

Finally I’m getting the run split that I’ve been working for. Among the contributing factors as I see it: 1. The Running School (http://www.runningschool.co.uk/) – Michael has been coaching me on technique since February, and there have been some ups and downs – dealing with acute injury (April/May), dealing with chronic injury (the whole way and ongoing), deciding to bail on Weymouth half in order to maintain recovery etc etc. Not least is the fact that for a lot of this period I’ve been running on very low mileage weekly due to the injuries and trying to implement a sane recovery plan. Thanks to Michael! 2. Bike position – what the trade off in bike time vs gain in run time is I don’t know, but just wait til I settle into that ride position! 3. TPT footballer… this was sent through a few weeks preIMUK and has made inroads into dealing with my calf issues, along with Sid my sports therapist of course. But having the TPT kit means that I can deal with issues on a daily basis. Awesome. 4. Having a really patient coach (thanks Mr Trew!) 5. Short marathon… gotta love it!

IM UK… great British race, mainly due to the incredible British field that assembles. Nothing better than cheering on hundreds of British athletes all out to conquer the ironman distance!

IMUK 2008 Race Report

I just about made it to the swim practice early Friday before race day but quickly decided that the rest of the day was going to be spent indoors at my awesome homestay at the north end of town, avoiding the torrential downpours and blustery winds that were battering Dorset. Saturday wasn't much better in the afternoon and by racking time everyone at the race venue was soaking again. Relative to that, the weather forecast for race day of hardly any rain and just some winds of 16-20mph with gusts up to 30 mph seemed very positive! This was the kind of weather that as kids we used to relish on hiking holidays in Dorset, wrapped up in hardy waterproofs, wellies, with a large thermos of tea to see us through. The kind of weather that made the sheep huddle close to the lea side of the hills so they didn't get blown into next week.

So, positive choice number one: in case of inclement weather, take arm warmers. How I rationalised that arm warmers would suffice for a 16 deg C windy race with threat of rain as the only addition to the same kit I’d wear for a 35 deg C race in blazing sun, I'm not sure, but somehow it worked!

The swim was uneventful. The logistics of getting 1500 athletes into a pond at 6am (and some parking on the run course – never good!) meant that the start was delayed by around half an hour, but this at least gave the morning a chance to go from pitch black to just murky grey. I managed to lose the first group (not surprising given the pace of the first couple of guys) which meant a fair amount of swimming on my own, and then hanging off some age group feet for the middle section, which was fine. I got a little frustrated seeing the gap to the next group widening, but I tried to swim on and quickly realised I wasn't making any headway so sat back in until the feet started to slow down.

Roll back a week to last Sunday. I had to warn my long-suffering flatmate's that I was grumpy. I’d been struggling with a soleus injury for several weeks and it had finally kicked off so badly after a prep race in Bedford that I’d been on a running moratorium for 7 days with little improvement. I was on the verge of pulling out, not being able to face starting another race that I couldn't finish due to injury this year! But Sunday night I had booked in some cupping, acupuncture (the don’t try anything new on race week rule goes out of the window if there’s a big chance you might not be able to race at all!) and an hour and a half of massage (on top of 2 massages earlier in the week). My legs have never had so much attention! Monday rolled round and I procrastinated on the test run, knowing that if it went badly that I’d be pulling the plug. I tooled around all day until 5pm when I finally bit the bullet and went for a broken 25 minute jog. It wasn't great, but it was manageable. Perhaps another massage and a few more days rest. I didn't make the call to withdraw.

Exiting the swim, I was relieved that the hoard of age groupers hadn't overrun me – hopefully I’d not let down Dan my swim coach too badly (Swim for Tri)!. Running to T1, Bella was alongside, and she slid on a muddy corner. I saw her tumble too late and followed suit, wiping out in the mud. Highly entertaining! The bike started uneventfully, though I my aero-helmet felt surprisingly uncomfortable. After a few kms, I realised that I had put the aero side panels on the wrong way round, so they were pointing into my neck at the sides. Ouch – that hurt, though it did make me chuckle! There'll be some strange looking photos from the first 30kms, before I had the sense to take them off.

The first lap didn't seem too bad, but a time check at the turnaround showed that I was well off my predicted pace. On lap two, I started to slow. The combination of increasingly blustery winds and taking two bottles of water at successive aid stations instead of energy drink was making me flag. There didn't seem to be anything extra in the legs and it felt like I was going nowhere fast. Mentally I started writing my race report. The first draft was titled “so this is what being undertrained feels like...” A couple of pros and then some speedy age groupers ripped it past me, and I just let them go. Having little idea of how many had been in the front pack on the swim, I was clueless as to my position on the bike. It seemed pretty lonely out there, the first lap was spent with little sign of anyone else for a lot of the time. The wind and hills had split everyone rapidly, so that even on the last lap, the age group field seemed well spread. I was riding my beautiful orange Trek (Team Timex colours), with Powertap – post race I checked the data. At IMCdA earlier in the year (where I was doing a training brick as shin splints had me off running) I rode a fairly leisurely 5:15 on an undulating bike course... 10 minutes FASTER than my IMUK split, but averaging 20 watts EASIER. That was a tough old bike at the weekend!

Morale was pretty low, but the light in the darkness came in the form some incredible support, some in the form of pompoms and a few Serpie flags dotted around the course. Luckily the rain held off in the most part, so that the support out of the bike course was much more impressive than I had expected.

As T2 approached, I started to feel better, mentally, and having finally picked up some bottles of cola, the caffeine was kicking in too. Autopilot took over for the transition and I was out on the run, full-on bright white compression socks and all. Here’s where I’d find out if my soleus was going to keep it together or not. The dearth of volunteers in T2 watching me struggle with the compression socks made me wonder where I was placed. No one else in T2 was a good sign, right? At some point a couple of kms into the run a kid shouted “you’re in 15th!”. I don’t usually hold much stock in positions being called from the crowd, as I know how uncertain this can be, but it gave me some hope – perhaps everyone found the conditions hard, and it wasn't just me having a bad day. If the legs held together, perhaps I could run down a couple of those age groupers who must have spent themselves on the bike course... So I kept on. Keep it steady. Keep it steady. By mile 5 of the first lap I was contemplating the irony of wearing white knee high socks to what turning into a cross country mud marathon.

Between the castle gates and the centre of town I saw the top three or four running back, so I figured that I was only down about 25 minutes on them. Lap one came and went in a flurry of gels and coke. I did wonder how many more I could take before my body started to reject them violently. On lap two I had a stroke of luck. A Scot by the name of Alistair on his first lap pulled up to my shoulder and we chatted briefly. He was running a solid pace and kept it consistent so we ran together for most of lap two, running a couple of people down in the meantime. I’d counted off at least 3 people by then, so I was hoping I was around 12th. Coming onto lap 3 I caught up to another pro, Kai Soderdahl, and I think that kept us both going for the final loop.

Even at the finish line, I had no idea where I’d placed. A few sweaty hugs later and I had an answer from the Ironman live booth – 6th! I think I was grinning for the rest of the day.

A shower, massage, curry, bath and a lot of tea later, we watched the final couple of hours of the race. The Serpie cheering squad continued to amaze me with their endless enthusiasm late into the evening. For spectators, knowing that the best viewing is the mass swim start and the final few finishers makes it a long day! An endurance event in itself.

And the next day it got even better. I turned down a Hawaii spot last year as an Age Grouper as it is an expensive trip an I had some masters exams to finish off. Having worked out who had and didn't have a spot in the top 5 pros, I figured roll down may reach me... and I was ready to turn it down again, as I really can’t afford the trip this year. Gutting. And then something amazing happened: Rotary offered to part support the trip actually during the roll down. So it looks like I'm off to the Big Island a little earlier than I had planned!

See you in Hawaii... Anyone got a spare bed?!

More IMUK Photos

IMUK Photos

Courtesy of Nadya!

IMUK Race report

What a weekend! I was in two minds about racing at all before the weekend. On the train down I had pretty much convinced myself that the season had ended at Austria and that I'd not get above training pace on sunday. Arriving in Sherbourne picked me up a bit: the sun was shining, the town was beautiful - it seemed an ideal place to race. The atmosphere at the expo and in the school where I was staying with a host of other athletes was infectious. But the weather deteriorated on friday and saturday until by saturday night, Sherbourne had been turned into a mud pit. The rain was pouring, the wind blowing, I was feeling tired and I seriously needed to catch up on some sleep.
Sunday morning rolls around. Up at 3 - a little earlier than anticipated but the cubicle room I was in wasn't very sound-proof, so once someone in the dorm decided to get up, there was no point in trying to sleep any longer. Used to a 4:30 wake up for a 7am start, I found the 6am start time a bit of a surprise (only realising the day before!), and being out of bed before 4 seemed wrong! Having eaten enough to feed a small country over the last few days, I stuffed down the usual pre-race meal and got a lift to the start with Scott, the eventual race winner. Still pitch black, I was relieved that the rain had stopped by the time we reached transition. The wind seemed to have died down too. Getting ready I wasn't too nervous - I had given myself enough sensible reasons to pull out at any time, all based around the fact that my little 'recovery' experiment was turning out the way most people had suggested it would. I was mildly concerned about some GI problems I was experiencing - one of the bagels was not sitting happily. O well, if it reappears on the swim, that's life. And then the sun came up and suddenly we were trudging through the mud to the swim start. Into the water, swim 200m to the start line. And wait. And wait. And wait. At about 6:20 we finally start, numb hands and all. I'd positioned right on the start line, with a couple of female pros on my left and a couple of male pros to my right. After the initial charge, I settled in. The 20 minute stall had settled my stomach and the swim seemed easy. A few bursts to keep make sure the pack I was with didn't drop me, and two laps later it was time to get out, albeit with a bit of cramping in my inner thigh. I just thought: won't need that on the bike, right? I knew the swim had been quick as I had been sticking with two pink caps (women pros) who I figured might be Bella Comerford and if I was lucky Hillary Biscay (turned out to be Yvette Grice) - so if I was right I was guessing at a swim somewhere in the range 52-54. Got hauled out and checked the watch on the run to T1 - it was reading 50 something. Good work!!!!
T1 turned out to be a casual affair, a bit of banter with the crew, and a tough time getting on my arm warmers, which wouldn't go past my elbows, so that's where they stayed for the rest of the race. Already I my mind had worked out that my PB swim could only be validated if I finished the race. Otherwise it was just a straight 3.8km, and it'd never stick. So running out to find my bike, I heard someone shout my name followed by "you're with the pros!". Let's see how long I can stay there.
Out onto the bike course I quickly realised that my chain wouldn't change down to the small ring. Don't panic. Just get up the first hill out of town, then there'll be a downhill section, and I can sort it out there. So my heart rate went up, and I was overtaking a couple of people within 2 km of T1. Not ideal, but I was mashing, so what can you do? About 6km in stop to fiddle with the front derailleur. No joy. Bella passes me. A few other guys do too. Back on the bike, I figure I'll just change it down manually at the bottom of every hill. I try this once. Stopping, changing and restarting bites, and the accelaration seems to be just as bad as pushing a bigger gear than I'd like. And plus I start thinking about the number of times I'd have to go through this process on a 3 lap undulating course. I do the maths: I'm stuck with the big ring. I completely give up all hope of fixing it after the a second aid station answers 'no idea' when quizzed about the whereabouts of any course mechanics.
But the cup is always half full: its all an experiment... let's see what happens if I don't have any fall back gears to spin up the hills with. For the first lap this seems bearable. The course seems empty, and other athletes are few and far between. Pushing through the hilly section I pass the two leading women - I hadn't noticed Hillary pass me on one of my stops as well (EDIT: that's because she got out of the water ahead of me... of course!). Lap two comes and goes - I keep expecting a pack to blaze past, but instead I just exchange places with a handful of other athletes - a few pros, a few age groupers - back and forth. I see a few of the same people a few times as we each flag at different stages then get back on after a bit of a regroup or some extra calories. Eat. Eat. Eat. Drink. Drink. Drink. The wind started to pick up, and by lap 3 it was a pain in the ass. And the legs. And my gearing situation was not helping matters. That MUST have screwed my run. O well... we'll find out soon. The last 20miles really dragged - undulating and into a headwind. And cold.
T2 was a welcome relief. Chatting to the volunteers, it seemed that me and the pro who'd got in just before me were around the 20th mark. Brief disbelief ... but then my swim had been good, and, unbelievably, no packs had rolled past. Guess my 5:15 bike split must have seen me right. Now for the fun bit. Unlike the bike, which we'd driven the day before, I had no idea about the run course. And I'm glad about that. This was going to hurt whatever - not knowing how hilly the course was turned out to be a blessing. The first 5 miles my shins were tight, I kept the pace down, and actually enjoyed the mud on the Castle laps. Only one pro passed me there - the guy who'd got into T2 ahead of me had been slow getting out - and he cramped round the corner. So I'm still in the top 20. But I'm running slow. Even if I hold on for a 3:15 somehow (I'd have to speed up and deal with hills) the pro's are going to start rolling past fairly soon. Second lap of the Castle grounds Paul Perry (a Serpie) blazes past me just starting his run. Like MAN he was flying. I figured it couldn't last too long, but the difference in our paces alarmed me slightly. I really seemed to be fading and was only 5 miles in. But it all got a bit easier. I was eating a gel at every other aid station, trying desperately to keep smiling at all the great supporters, and was faintly amused by the predicament I'd got myself into. There was NO WAY I could do anything but run my ass off at this point. There would have to be a pretty good reason for me to be at survival pace when I'm 5 miles into a marathon and somehow in the top 20. So I speed up a bit. After the second lap of the Castle loop, where it had been getting busy again as more and more athletes were starting the run, I was out onto the other half of the run section - including a horrific out and back rolling dual carriageway section, with a monster uphill into a headwind. Ouch. But on the first lap of it I got to count the runners ahead. 17. 17?!! Holy smokes! And then the fear - having hit the turn around, I knew I was being counted by the guys behind me - very close behind me. I think that's when I really sped up. I don't think I was overtaken on that loop, I can't really remember. But I do remember overtaking two more athletes - including the race's earlier leader, Rhodes, who's calf had blown and was walking his way to the finish. And then it was time to head home. In my mind there was a pack of people waiting behind with strong finishes, and I was just praying that I wouldn't cramp of my legs fail before the finish.
Crossing the finish came quickly. I was pretty sure I was somewhere around the 20th mark, but didn't dare hope for 15th. I'd been assuming that I would get taken before the finish so I hadn't got my hopes up. But there it was. A minute faster than Austria on a much tougher course... also unexpected: my watch had only been giving me section times, not totals.
Awesome. So, a few personal limiters removed: I had been riding too conservatively at Austria; I can run near 3 hours already. I can swim sub-50 already. Good news: I'm ahead of schedule. That's a couple of next year's targets already met - the top 20 finish being one of them too.
So did the experiment work? On balance, yes. I was verging on overdoing it with the high vol fortnight but its what I needed at the time to keep me happy, and it got me mentally relaxed enough to just go out and have some fun.
Awesome.

Here we go again!!

It is with some trepidation that I'm off to Dorset tomorrow for IMUK. Whilst I am beginning to get familiar with the arbitrary way you can feel during taper, and how often it can be quite uncorrelated to how you actually perform on race day, this time the rational side of my brain is telling me that I am feeling flat. This weekend may all go a little pear-shaped. 6 weeks?? Its not going to make sunday any easier!
But on the other hand... just think Rebecca Preston. You never know! Well I guess I've got to see this experiment through - so off I go. If it is all going tits-up, then I'm more than happy to pull the plug and do what I maybe should have been doing for the last 5 weeks: rest. And I'll have learnt a valuable lesson. But then, there's always that faint hope that something might get pulled out of the bag....

Finally summer's arrived...

... and just in time to keep me motivated through a couple of hard weeks. So far, the experiment with 6 weeks between IMs is going to plan - the hard fortnight is now done. Totals for the fortnight came to 62 hours, with approx 42 k swimming, 950km riding and 200km running, with some decent key sessions met, including some intensity sessions. What was surprising was that the running was consistently of good quality - in part because I was running mainly in the mornings and not too much off the bike - but I only had one 'recovery run' where I was suffering and hitting survival pace the whole way round (at the end of the first week... I was quite tired that weekend!!). Had been concerned about generally sluggish riding since IMAustria, which I'd put down to a longer recovery for the bike (I had expected the running to take longer to come back), but the end of my 5 hour ride yesterday gave me a bit more confidence that I've come through that, finishing strongly. Only one run over 2 hours (2:30, last weekend) so relying on early season long distance to carry through.
Whether this is going to be good for IMUK, who knows... we'll find out. Mentally its been a good exercise for me just to know that the fitness is still there, and to keep me from idling through race season. Second, as Austria was my A race, I'm prepared to be a little more cavalier with preparation for UK. At the back of my mind I am considering ditching the marathon if the bike isn't going too well... which may be either due to lack of time since Austria or too heavy a schedule in between. Hopefully, of course, this block will have been just what the doctor ordered and I'll be in good shape come race day. Will be interesting to find out. Otherwise, there's always Vitruvian to finish the season with! ;)
Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow...