So despite a (very) early night last night on the eve of my first Ironman 70.3 I finally drifted off to sleep at around 9pm and managed to have a deep quality sleep until 1.30am at which point I woke up needing a pee.
I knew if I got up that would be it.
This was to prove true as I was to spend the next 4 hours wide awake and unable to get back to sleep, I was just so excited and constantly thinking about my first ironman 70.3 race, I clearly remember thinking to myself that I hadn’t felt like this since I was 10 years old on xmas eve, ridiculous given that I am now nearly 40.
Anyhow at 5am I hears the guy from brazil rattling around and I really wanted to meet the mysterious fellow Ironman athlete that had eluded me up until this point.
I got up to find his door open and his wetsuit laid out neatly on the floor, I introduced myself and we had a great chat about our journey thus far which was to prove a little too enthusiastic for the B&B owner… “shush!!!! It’s 5am and other people are asleep!” he said with a bemused look on his face as if he could not understand how anyone could be so full of beans at such an early hour….but we were both buzzing.
Our chat continued over breakfast, it turns out that the guy from Brazil travels all over the world racing the Ironman events and he was half decent too – he was to rank top 30 in this race, naturally I quizzed him for his secrets, which I have added to my book. – “Do not start like the lion” he was to say before wishing me all the best, he seemed more in a hurry than I was – maybe he just wanted to get away from the crazy guy at the B&B asking him all the questions!
So, having finished my breakfast, I got changed into my wetsuit and I was good to go.
I felt quite relaxed walking down to the Ironman start tent, but a few things were playing on my mind. 3 in particular:
- For some unexplained reason I kept thinking that something would have mysteriously gone wrong with my bike overnight like a tyre burst on its own, for example, why, I do not know, but I did
- That I would not be able to access my bike bag and put my gels /tool in it
- That I would not complete the swim / make the swim cut off time of 1.10
On arriving in T1 I was delighted to observe that first of all, the bike was fine, and second, when you went into the transition tent, there was a team of ladies waiting to put extra things into your bike bag for you.
I noticed that a lot of people seemed stressed out, running around like headless chickens, but I really couldn’t understand why, afterall, surely that was the whole point of doing everything yesterday? No, Not me, as far as I was concerned, everything was perfect, and the lady even complimented me on how relaxed I was looking, which I very much appreciated
. I was just buzzing to be part of the whole thing…..and I was ready to race .
I had been training well for the Ironman Dublin race and knew I easily had the distance in me for both the bike and the run. Despite the swim practice going well yesterday I was still concerned abut the swim element, but I knew if I could complete it the medal would be mine, save technical problems on the bike.
The buoys were out clearly marking the swim course and a helpful local pointed out exactly the route, “keep all the buoys on your left until the last one” he said, sounds easy right?
I could hear the announcer saying that the pros were about to get in the water so I made my way over to the swim start which was a fair walk from the tents, I had bought some cheap slip on beach shoes which came in very handy for the walk. On the way down I was on such a high and was babbling rubbish to anyone that would iisten…. I found that either:
- People thought I was a lunatic and ignored me / didn’t play along
- People fed / bounced off my enthusiasm and joined in
I had learnt by now to surround myself with as many of type 2 above as possible and that is exactly what I did.
I also found that there are broadly 2 types of people at an Ironman branded event,
- serious athletes taking everything hyper serious
- those that are on their first ironman and are just buzzing to be a part of the whole thing,
I was certainly a champion for the latter group and I wanted to savour every second. I must say that the way Ironman itself embraces the latter group is one of the things that makes an Ironman event so special..
Our swim time was based on our age group with a 15 minute gap between each one with my swim time being 7.15am. it was only 6.45, so plenty of time to observe the other age groupers starting their swim.
I was clear on my swim strategy, I would be starting at the very back of the pack.
However when I got to the start line and observed one of the earlier age groups getting into the water, I noticed 2 things:
- there was no warm up / acclimatise time in the water- you were straight in
- 200-300 athletes formed an orderly queue to get down the ramp with the strongest at the front and it took easily 10 minutes for everyone to get into the water once the starter hooter went
Starting at the back I was concerned about getting stuck in slow moving traffic ahead as it was, but in addition I realised if I did this I was now certain to be caught up by a large chunk of the strong swimmers in the group behind.
In light of the above I switched strategy on the basis that I would rather be in the water for a few minutes getting used to the cold rather than stood in a big queue waiting to get in it and I naturally wanted to reduce my chances of getting swamped from behind.
I positioned myself at the front only to be surrounded by out and out animals so I shuffled slightly further back in the pack.
There is something magical about being stood in the start pen of your first Ironman event, I shook hands with the guys around me, we chit chatted with big smiles on our faces waiting for the hooter, the adrenaline was pumping and it felt like we were off to fight a war. I wasn’t nervous, I was ready to fight.
The roar that went up once the hooter sounded will give me goosebumps for the rest of my days.
I made my way down the ramp and into the water and every other athlete burst straight into a swim. Not me, I spent a good few minutes acclimatising to the water, dunking myself at least 3 or 4 times. I must have looked like a certain DNF to the crowd on the bank but I didn’t care, I was doing my own thing.
This was to pay off handsomely as when I eventually sets off (approx. 85% down the pack) I took to it like a duck to water, I didn’t get the initial ‘shock’ of the water you get when diving straight in and instead settled straight into my 4 stroke rhythm.
Within 10 minutes I knew the swim was mine.
I am going to write a separate article about this but open water swimming on race day is just so much easier than practice for 2 major reasons
- Instead of the buoy markers being the size of a small white football bobbing on the surface a mile apart like they are in training, the buoy markers on race day are the size of blackpool tower, illuminous yellow, and spaced every few hundred yards apart – this makes sighting on race day way easier than practice
- Keeping a bunch of fellow swimmers on the side that you breathe on means you never have to look up and can concentrate instead on your rhythm
10 minutes into the swim and I was feeling very strong, my swim training had put me in great shape. I clearly remember feeling angry at myself for stressing so much about it pre race.
30 minutes into the swim I noticed that the caps around me were a different colour, it was at this moment I realised that rather than the group behind catching me up, as was my big fear, it was I that had caught up the group ahead!
Never again will I fear an open water swim.
A swim ‘expert’ had told me that by only breathing on one side I would end up swallowing loads of water – this turned out to be bollokcs – breathing on one side was perfectly fine.
With regard to the horror stories of other swimmers crashing and banging into you, this is nowhere near as frequent as you think it will be, remember you are not in a pool you are in a big wide ocean so there is plenty of room for everyone! In my experience when it does occur one of two things will happen in this situation.
- the person behind/side will try and trample straight over you
- the person behind/side will swim round you/ stop
I have found that thankfully the vast majority fall into the second category, afterall they don’t want you to kick them in the face anymore than you want them to try and swim over you.
With regard to those in group 1, I have also found that 95% of the time, if you hold your line, keep strong and don’t stop, the vast majority will just ‘bounce’ off you and if I am honest I actually love it when this happens, it makes me laugh. it really does.
A great example of this was when one of the leaders from the group behind tried to swim over me at the last buoy and he just bounced between me and the buoy like a pinball.
Can I be really honest and say I secretely enjoy the fight? The biggest thing I have learnt about my journey is that despite the ‘nice boy’ persona, deep down, I am a fighter at heart. Discovering this inner warrior is worth the Ironman entry fee tenfold.
One guy did swim straight over me on the final leg and I remember thinking to myself ‘how rude’ but honestly, it is no big deal, you just take a few seconds to settle yourself and regroup before getting on with it and settling back onto your rhythm.
Making that final turn into the home straight was an awesome feeling.
Swim exit is an interesting experience for a first timer, I literally swam right up onto the exit mat and some hands came from no-where and yanked me out of the water with a resounding ‘well done’ – for a minute it felt like this ‘yanking’ pulled a muscle in my leg but no I was fine.
My swimtime was a very respectable 40 minutes which was slightly faster than my training drills and well within the 70 minute cut off – I was literally buzzing.
I came out of the water on such a high, I knew that the medal was now mine, save technical problems on the bike but that was now in the hands of the iron gods and I was celebrating with the crowd who played along as I made my way to the transition tent.
I spent a laughable 11.30 minutes in T1, .but I didn’t care, it felt like everyone else was stressing and rushing around to get changed but not me, I was still on such a high having completed the swim and I was taking my time and laughing and joking with anyone that would join in.
One guy was going on at me about how he got stung by a jellyfish showing me a big red mark on his hand and was asking for my advice like I was some sort of expert? I told him to go see the medic for some cream – he seemed fine to continue bless him, I had heard talk about these pre-race but quickly changed the subject!- thankfully they never came knocking at my door!
I finally gets out of T1, got my bike and made my way to the bike start line, still high as a kite from completing the swim. I was shouting ‘lets have it’ to the crowd as I ran past and they once again responded to me which I loved.
I was clumsy getting onto the bike on the start line which was a bit embarrassing in front of the large crowd, but we shared a smile and I shouted, ‘thank you for your support, you are all f**** amazing” before finally setting off, still buzzing.
This outburst was to come back to haunt me as when I passed the first bike timing mat I could clearly hear the alarm going off and I convinced myself that I had been disqualified for swearing at the bike start..
I then spent the next hour and a half worrying about this until a fellow athlete kindly set my mind at ease by telling me that the alrams went off for everyone – not just me!
The bike course was nothing too exciting, fairly flat with some steady climbs and a couple of fairly steep hills but nothing like sheep house lane in Bolton.
I had been practicing the Bolton loop in training and this served me extremely well. There wasn’t really any fun bits in Dublin, just more long consistent peddaling and going through the motions. The Bolton loop is way more fun.
I made a point of waving to every single person who was out supporting us on the course and it was very well supported in parts, this gave me such a buzz and kept me going.
I played cat and mouse with a couple of other athletes to keep me entertained and tried to keep myself under reign as I knew the half marathon was waiting for me and would bite on the arse if I pushed it too hard on the bike.
I was a bit disappointed to notice that there wasn’t any distance markers which unsettled me as I had no idea how far I had left,
In hindsight the feed stations made excellent distance markers but still the odd km board would have been appreciated as I kept having to ask other athletes with the posh watches how far we had gone.
Large stretches of the course had full length speed bumps in it which was very annoying and a puncture waiting to happen in my opinion. Also I nearly took myself out on one of the corners near the end, it was a fairly fast approach to a very sharp left turn, the steward on this bend was useless and it wasn’t just me that nearly ended up in the hedge on the opposite side of the road!
I was feeling strong toward the end and was relieved to enter the gates of phoenix park with no technical issues, the bike had once again served me well.
I got round the bike course in 3.04 which I was very pleased with as 3 hours is my PB for the 48 mile loop in Bolton so to do 55 mile in 3.04 was awesome as far as I am concerned.
More importantly I knew I now had at least 4 hours 30 to do the 20k which was only taking me 2 hr in training so at this point I knew my medal was certain.
I then spent a laughable 15 minutes in T2. but I didn’t care, I knew the medal was mine. I needed a dump and that took a while, and I just took my time getting changed and gave my muscles a break, chatting rubbish to anyone that would listen but most were stressed out rushing to get changed which I can’t be doing with, my performance thus far had bought me the luxury of taking my time in transition as far as I was concerned and that is exactly what I did.
I am becoming very aware of how relaxed and chilled out I am on race days, this was even more evident at the Ironman as I would say 80% of the fellow athletes seemed stressed out in transition which I don’t understand. Someone said to me recently that the race day is a celebration of all your training and that is exactly what it felt like to me, a celebration, and I was savouring every moment, including transition, but I know that spending a total of 27 minutes in T1&2 is ridiculous and an easy win from a time improvement perspective going forward.
Onto the half marathon and once you got off the initial grass area you are onto fairly flat tarmac road /path, which was very much appreciated as I hate trail runs, tarmac is heaven.
I saw a couple of guys withdrawing themselves from the run with the stewards and whilst I felt sorry for them this only made me feel stronger as I was ready.
The crowds were out in force again for the run and were shouting my name as I went by which again I very much appreciated this gives you such a lift..
The crowd near the finish line that we would run past 3 times gave me goosebumps every lap..
My strategy on the run is always to take it super easy at the start, let everyone overtake me whilst I wait for my body to click into run mode and then get slowly stronger as the distance goes on, I have noticed with my runs to date that this strategy seems to be the polar opposite to the majority, who I end up overtaking later in the race and this makes me buzz.
I understood that we were to do 3 laps of the run course and would get a band after each lap. It felt like I had been running for ages without getting a band so I began to quiz the other athletes about this only to be told that bands were not being issued which I found annoying.
The other thing that annoyed me was that there were no distance markers on the run course which I was very disappointed about and I expected better from an ironman event. again I had to ask the people with the posh watches how far we had travelled which was not ideal.
I enjoyed tagging on to a couple of the other athletes and swapping stories which helped pass the time.
The run went well, I followed the nutrition strategy I had learnt from the experts and I was feeling strong.
I felt like I was going to get a blister so a quick stop at the st johns ambulance for a plaster sorted that out.
On my final lap I could hear the announcer and the crowd getting closer and this made me very emotional.
When the finish tower appeared in the distance I even had a little cry, thank goodness for my sunglasses.
The final turn into the finish straight and I found myself in a race with 2 other lads, I let them go as I didn’t want them ruining my finish line photo!
The run down the finish straight with that amazing crowd was awesome, very emotional and by far the best experience of my fitness life.
I high fived the announcer then ran down the finish straight with my arms in the air shouting ‘yeeeeeeesssssss!’ the crowd played along and it was honestly amazing, just the best feeling ever.
If you are thinking about doing an Ironman event you simply must do it just to experience this sensation, it will certainly stay with me forever.
The run took me 2:10, giving a total race time of 5hr 56min but when you add in the transition this becomes an official finish time of 6hr.23min. Anything under 7 I was happy with, I suspected it might begin with a 6 and was secretely hoping for it to start with a 5 but hey, 1900 entered and I ranked 1198 so I am over the moon with this.
I finally got my hands on the medal I had wanted so badly and it felt great.
Into the athletes ‘after party’ area and I was shocked to see they were giving out free beer – that was the last thing I fancied but the majority did not appear be of the same mindset and were taking full advantage.
Into the finisher tent and if you don’t want to look like a novice like I did remember to take your timing chip off your ankle and give it to the dude on the door.
Inside we got given our finisher t-shirt, which is awesome, a slice of dominos pizza, a cup of hot chocolate which I passed on and asked for coffee instead but they said there was none, and a glass of cola. I always wondered why they gave cola out at these events and now I know why -it tastes amazing after a race! honestly its like a magic drink and I couldn’t get enough of the stuff.
I was on such a high and was once again babbling on to the people round me with mixed reactions..
Pizza went down well and I passed on the offer of engraving my medal.
I went over to the finish line to watch a few of the other athletes come in and then it was a case of going getting my bike back.
At this point my attention turned to getting back to Dun Leerie to pick up my bike box. I sounded out some of the locals about the best route back and they were like what you are going to cycle back there now? they gave me a look which made me buzz even more before giving me directions first to Dublin and then to the coast road. getting to Dublin seemed fairly straightforward and I knew once I got to the coast road it was just a case of following it all the way round to Dun Leerie, approx. 20km in total.
Time was tight as I had to be at the airport for 5 with a flight at 7 and its now about 3pm.
There was a big queue to get our transition bags but once we had these we could collect our bike and we were good to go.
Cycling back was not ideal, I had a big red ironman bag on one side of my tri bars and a big blue ironman bag on the other and I was naturally tired after the event,some of the looks I got from people leaving the park were hilarious but nothing compared to those I got when I finally arrived back in Dun Leerie after about 40 mins or so…..
I passed the ironman tent where the swim had started from all them hours ago and a couple of guys were in the process of taking it down, when they saw me cycling past with my big blue and red ironman bags on the front of my bike they both double took, put down their tools and just stared at me open mouthed as I went by, this made me feel like some sort of legend. .
This feeling was to continue in the taxi back to the airport.
“How did you get back from Phoenix Park to Dun Leerie?”, asked the driver
“Cycled” I replied
“You did the Ironman then cycled back with all your kit?”
“Yep”
“Jesus, You are a fucking Ironman!” said the taxi driver.
Those words will ring in my ear every day of training until my new mate the Ironman announcer shouts it out for the whole of Bolton to hear on July 16th, 2017.
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