This was to be my first race of the
year as a calf injury had ruled me out of three running races that I had
entered this year. After months of
constant training I was excited to race at last.
It was also Lynn’s big race! I had taken the unusual and bizarre step of
entering her for the race – without her knowing – back in October, despite her
previous triathlon experience being a sprint distance race! I think she was less than impressed with this
gesture! Much of the race build up,
including training in the weeks leading up to the race, was focussed on Lynn’s
preparation.
The race was also a big one for the
club – with between 20 and 30 athletes (that I know about) racing this. A group of us were spending the week in Alcudia,
arriving on the Wednesday before the race and leaving the Wednesday after.
Also, this was to be the first time
my Mum & Dad had been to watch me race a triathlon. A few days before we flew out, they asked if
they could come and watch. Of course they
could – I would be delighted!
I didn’t really have specific goals
entering the race. I have never competed
in an Ironman 70.3 race before (I have done Bala Middle Distance four times but
the distances in this race are slightly different - 2k/80k/20k) so I had
nothing to compare myself against.
Having said that, I had thought I
was capable of going under 5 hours, based on rough splits of 25 minute swim,
2:45 bike and 1:40 run. I suppose my
over-riding goal was to run well after the bike, wishfully hoping for a 1:35
half. However, I didn’t know how my run
injury would hold up, or whether I had done enough run training prior to the
event to hold a strong pace throughout.
Race Day
We were up at 5.30am to get ready
for a 6pm breakfast and although the hotel put a breakfast on (which actually
consisted of pasta!) Lynn had supplied everybody in our party with a pot of
M&S porridge. How about that for
preparation! After breakfast we made our
way up to transition and sorted our bikes out. My bike was on the very end of the 500m row,
right next to the mount line! That
should be easy to find in the race!
I was relaxed about the race ahead,
having gone through this build up in many other races so I made sure I helped
Lynn (and a couple of others) with their tyres so they had less to worry about.
After sorting out my bike and my
transition area, I met up with Lynn prior to her race start and she looked
relaxed and ready to rock! To be fair,
all of the MerseyTri ladies looked ready to go out there, enjoy the race and do
themselves proud!
This race was slightly different to
others I’ve done in that it was wave starts.
Pros were off at 8am, Lynn and the other ladies at 8.10, the 18-29’s at
8.20, 30-34’s at 8.30, my age (35-39) at 8.40, 50+ at 8.50am, the 40-49’s at
9am and then the relays at 9.10am.
Relax, Take Your Time!
I like to have a laid back approach
to the start of races. This time was no
different. I took my time getting my
wetsuit on, chatting to my mum & dad, watching the other waves start before
thinking about moving into position for my race.
I eventually walked into my pen a
few minutes prior to start rather than the 20 minutes that the organisers
encouraged – but this meant I was about 6 rows back from the front. I was a little anxious about this as I wanted
to get a fast start and get onto a pair of fast feet but feared that I might
miss them due to getting to the start line after hundreds of others! I decided not to push my way to front – being
six rows back was a consequence of me taking my time and one I would have to
accept. How hard could it be to swim
past / through these other guys?!
We had a 30 second warning before
the start ... which is when I put my goggles on my eyes. A quick ‘good luck’ to Jamie who was in my
wave and I was ready to go. The start
hooter went and caught me slightly by surprise but I followed the crowd,
running into the water flicking my feet to the side to enable me to run as far
as possible before diving in. I
deliberately swam the first 10 metres water polo style, keeping my head up to
spot gaps in the field and then head towards them. Luckily, a slight gap opened up between the
two guys in front so I wasted no time in going straight through it, knocking
them slightly on my way through. Then
another gap, this time three guys to my left.
I swam diagnonally, straight over three guys legs! Sorry guys!
I was looking up every two or three strokes to spot the opportunities
and see how the front of the field was developing. Unexpectedly, after about 50m or so, I was in
some pretty open water. I could see 6-8
guys in front of me, off to the right, who seemed to be making some good pace. I changed course slightly and headed straight
for them. Another 50m and I was in third
spot in my wave! I was working pretty
hard but still in control of my swim. I
decided that I would stay behind these guys, focus on finding a nice rhythm and
staying controlled. As I neared the
first yellow buoy (about 900m out?), I moved into second position and started
to think how great it would be if I could get out of the water first. I reminded myself that this wasn’t a swim
race, conserve energy and get out of the swim with plenty of energy for the
rest of the race!
Shortly after we made the turn past
the buoy, we started to encounter swimmers from the earlier waves. Initially, these swimmers were 1’s and 2’s –
and swimming on the left and well out of the way of my path - then after making
the turn past the second buoy and headed for home (800m to go?) they increased
in frequency and were directly between me and the swim exit.
I started losing the feet of the guy
in front as we were weaving between swimmers.
I was also having to sight a lot more, lifting my head every few strokes
to make sure I avoided crashing into other swimmers. At this point, a couple of other green caps
started coming through. I was actually happy
to see them as this meant more potential feet to chase! The volume of swimmers in front continued to
increase as we neared the end and I think I actually swam over one of our
clubmates, Natalie (I apologised after the race!!).
I made it out of the swim in 28
minutes 43 seconds, fifth in my age group.
Reflecting back, this swim must have been a little long. Fifth in my age with a 1:30 per 100m average
does not add up!
Coming out of the water, the crowds
alongside were big and loud! I heard a
lot of shouts for me – but didn’t have time to turn and check who was cheering
– and it was fantastic! I made the run
into transition and sat on a bench next to two clubmates – Connie &
Hannah. Both seemed to be in control of
their race and ready for the next leg. Wetsuit
off, socks on, shoes on, race belt on, grabbed Garmin and switched it on,
grabbed helmet and ran off to get my bike, putting my helmet on as I went. Let me tell you now, running 500m to get my
bike at the end of the 500m transition area in cycling shoes is not easy!
Bike
Through transition, on my bike and I
was away. The first couple of hundred
metres were spent dodging people who were fastening their cycling shoes whilst
simultaneously weaving across the road.
I passed Lynn on the bike after
about 5k and she was in great spirits!
She looked like she was enjoying herself too. Bonus!
I sped off past her, relieved and excited. I was relieved that she wasn’t too tired
after the swim, was out onto her bike and actually seemed to be enjoying
herself. Excited that she was going to
have a super day!
The wave starts gave me an unusual
perspective on the race. I am usually
out of the water near the front of the race and then am overtaken by the
quicker cyclists throughout the bike leg.
I very rarely overtake. However,
in this race 800+ athletes must have started ahead of me, giving me plenty of
opportunities to practice overtaking! There
was a long train of riders ahead of me stretching into the distance so I moved
out to the left, and began moving past rider after rider. I was pedalling ‘easy’ too, knowing a full
day of racing lay ahead, but was still cruising at 36-38kph with a heart rate
of less than 160bpm. I was very
conscious not to draft in this never ending, snaking peloton of riders.
In no time at all we had reached the
first aid station at about 15k. I threw
away my water bottle and replaced it, grabbing the fresh bottle at a decent
speed without any problems. Shortly
after the aid station is where the road started to rise, albeit slightly (1-2%)
at this point. The heat on the road was
starting to make itself known. No
breeze, no shade, just full sunshine (26c according to the Garmin afterwards).
The road then kicked up, hitting
between 6-8%. The road surface was
fantastic though, meaning that this climb started off feeling pretty
comfortable. The road was packed full of
triathletes meandering up the hill and I continued passing lots of them as I
went up. My plan was to keep it steady
on the hill, not wanting to ruin my legs for the rest of the race, although at
one point during the climb I debated giving it a little extra effort in the
knowledge that we had a big downhill to come! After about 2k of the climb, I stayed sensible
and stuck the bike into the lowest gear and span my legs. Despite this being a 34x28 gear, I was still
making great progress with very few people keeping up or going past me. My heart rate stayed at about 160bpm
throughout the climb, which meant I was riding well within myself.
The climb did go on and on – I think
about 12k in all – and it was a great feeling to hit the top of the climb, knowing
the rest of the race was either flat or downhill. I had heard that the descent was pretty
technical with lots of switchbacks, tight corners and no real chance to let go
of the brakes and build up speed.
However, I wasn’t prepared for exactly how technical it would be. I can’t really descend very well on a
‘normal’ descent so this was in another league!
So many good cyclists flew past me on this part of the course, with one
German guy in particular getting very irate at my unpredictable cornering in
one section!! For the next 9k I hardly
pedalled, with my heart rate dropping to as low as 117. I reckon I must have lost up to 5 minutes on
some of the better cyclists during this section, as no sooner had they
overtaken me than they were gone out of sight.
I was actually relieved to get to the end of the descent.
45k in 1hr35. I was going to have to really pedal if I was
to hit my pre-race goal of 2:45 for the bike.
1 hr10 minutes for the second 45k of a Half Ironman bike leg. Was this possible? Only one way to find out!
I allowed my heart rate to climb a
little during this section, overtaking some of the faster looking riders, in my
quest to get back to transition as fast as possible! During the out and back section of the
course, I spotted my first MerseyTri rider ahead of me ... and he was wearing
yellow shoes. There is only one rider
who wears yellow shoes. Robbie Collins! Well hello sir! Robbie looked cheery (doesn’t he always?) and
seemed to be riding well. He informed me
that of the MerseyTri contingent only Tim was ahead of me. As reliable as Robbie is, I couldn’t quite
believe this as I hadn’t seen Daniel or Gregg – two riders I expected to have
to chase down during the latter part of the race as they are both decent swimmers and strong bike riders. I had my eyes peeled during this section –
looking over the road to see the riders ahead of me coming towards me. I hoped to spot Daniel, Gregg or Tim to gauge
their lead over me but didn’t see any of them.
Doh! They must be further ahead
of me than I thought!
I didn’t quite make the 2:45 - my
bike split was 2:50:41 (31.7kph) with an average HR of 156. The last 45k were covered in an average of
36kph.
The nearer we got to transition, the
larger the crowds and the noises were amplified. Once again, people were shouting my name but
I couldn’t make out who they were. Thank
you if it was you! Racking my bike in
transition, I took off my shoes and ran / hobbled towards my run bag and the
transition tent. I stopped at the toilet
en route and heard music coming over the tannoy. The song was St Elmo’s Fire - “Just once in his life a man has his time,
and my time is now and I'm comin' alive”.
Inspired, I ran through transition, splashing a bit of suncream on as I
went and out on the run, motivated to blast through the rest of the race.
Run
It was hot when we hit the run. 32 degrees hot! I had been saying all week that I would
prefer to run in the heat than the cold.
Triathlon was made for hot countries.
Stick by your words and suck it up!
It was tough though and my legs were heavy. I managed to run at about 4:25k pace, then I
would get to an aid station and walk through it to make sure I took on enough
water, coke and energy drink. For the first
10k this averaged about 4:40min/k pace and I was starting to feel good. My HR was peaking at 173, which was
sustainable with the aid station breaks.
I had overtaken Tim on the first lap, who was really struggling with
stomach issues, and was about to overtake Gregg who looked like he was running well. I still couldn’t see Daniel though. Although an ambitious plan, given he is a
much better runner than I am, I was hoping I could pick up the pace a little
and try and run him down! I finally
spotted him at about 11k, 20m in front of me!
I was going to catch him, take a moment, and then hopefully go past him.
Once again, the support on the run
was great. Lots of people shouting ‘Go
Mersey’ or ‘looking good Bryan’. I
spotted a few club members who were out there supporting. Ray Handley spotted me, Andy Roberts was
there, Eureka cafe owner was shouting, Alvin & his boys were in good voice,
Amy Martin was there, other athletes wives were on the course. Fantastic!
I kept my eyes open to spot my Mum & Dad on the course, but didn’t
see them.
The run course was also well
designed to enable athletes to see other athletes either ahead or behind
them. Seeing other athletes gave me a
boost and kept me running (relatively) strong.
Dani Trinca was running well behind me (catching me with each stride!),
Nick Rose was also looking good. If I
wanted to stay ahead of these two on the course, then I would need to stay in
control and move well.
I overtook Daniel. Once I’d gone past him I didn’t think I would
see him again. However, after the first
aid station when I walked through, Daniel picked up his nutrition whilst
running through, overtook me and put some distance between us. Doh! I
managed to put a little more distance between us by the next aid station,
meaning he barely overtook me by the time I started running again. However, about 15k into the run and cramp
struck. I had to stop by the side of the
road and stretch and massage my right hamstring area. I had lost about 1 minute and 30 seconds by
the time I started again and Daniel was in the distance. I adjusted my run to keep my stride extra
short - so I could actually keep moving - and was running at about 5min/k
pace. My HR was now down to 162, an
indication of how much easier I was now running. Cramp seemed to stay away and I started
passing people again. Once again, I saw
Daniel in the distance and I was gaining.
I moved past the transition area for
the last time and I spotted Amy. Amy
gave me the great news that Lynn was home after the bike and was now out on the
run. This was the best news I had
received all day! She was going to make
it!!
I caught Daniel just outside
transition and suggested that, with 1k to go, we run in together. Daniel wished me well and suggested that I
carry on solo. Going up and over the bridge
near transition was hard work, particularly with legs that wanted to cramp at
the slightest excuse. Once on the
downhill section of the bridge, I started to enjoy the finish, high fiving
anybody who would stick their hand out and doing ‘aeroplanes’ down the finish
chute!
I covered the 21.1k run in 1:43:17
(4:53min/k), with an average HR of 167, giving me a final time of 5:12:22
Lynn
Lynn’s finish was one of the most
amazing things I have seen in a long time.
Firstly, the fact that Lynn finished a Half Ironman is just
awesome. I have to say it again. Lynn finished a Half Ironman!
The support that our clubmates gave
her towards the finish was nothing short of astounding. Crowds were thin, and the noise had petered
out during the afternoon. However, with
300m to go, an almighty roar, a wall of noise, sounded out. All of the guys who had finished the race –
in their green finishers t-shirts – were waiting for her at the 100m to go
point. They all stood up, clapping,
shouting, yelling. Tears were flowing
from some of these athletes-turned-spectators.
The admiration, love and respect they all had for her to put herself
through this race – and finish – was clear for all to see. Amazing, simply amazing.
Post
race reflections
I was pleased to have a strong race
throughout. The swim was solid (5th
out of the water), the bike was controlled but fast by my standards and the run
was generally well executed (other than a touch of cramp).
I was disappointed to cramp on the
run, but I suppose this only cost me 2-3 minutes overall. Better fuelling in the heat to resolve this
in the future?
This race also reinforced something
that I already knew - I need to learn how to descend properly, particularly on
a TT bike. I must have lost minutes on
that descent – and had a scary time in the process!
This is a race that I would
definitely like to do again. Not only
was it a well organised, fun race it was also a week spent in the sun with my
triathlon buddies. What could be better
than that?!
As for Lynn, she’s officially
retired from triathlon!
