Ironman Barcelona 2014

My perfect race!

Pre-Race

Ironman Barcelona was to be my 10th Ironman (or Iron Distance race) and I had high hopes for it!   I had a race plan and some goals - with the dream goal of finishing in less than 10 hours.  Training since a disappointing Ironman UK had gone well.  Lynn gave me unbelievable support throughout the build up and was really encouraging me to do the best training I could possibly do before the race.  I could not have wished for more.  As well as some great training sessions under my belt, I had lost more than 4kg's in the month before the race, so I was feeling physically ready.

Iron fit?

I flew out on Thursday morning - Lynn and the girls and Nicola and Daniel were flying out on Friday night. I kept myself busy, going for a swim in the sea, a solid hour on the bike and then a 25 minute run. 

Friday morning consisted of another hour on the bike with Gregg, Stuart and the Raceforce guys. A sea swim in late afternoon rounded off my pre-race training. Lynn and the girls arrived on Friday night.  All that was left to do now was relax.  

Some of the support crew!

Ironkids!

Saturday brought the Ironkids race. Great fun for the girls, all of whom received a backpack and a finishers medal. Dropped off bike and bags in transition later in the day before meeting up with everyone for dinner. 

I had a decent nights sleep before waking up at 5.45am to thunderstorms and torrential rain.  Two hours later, it was still the same.  In that time, I had breakfast (two pots of porridge and a cup of coffee), walked 2k to transition, pumped my tyres on the bike, sorted out nutrition and bike computer, put on my wetsuit and walked 1.5k back to Gregg, Paddy, Stuart & Steve’s hotel.  I was so wet and cold.

Quick pre-race photo with the Race Force guys

The race start was delayed by 30 minutes to allow the thunderstorms and torrential rain to pass! Gregg, Steve, Stuart, Ash and myself huddled up by the beach bar and had a cup of coffee whilst we were waiting.

It was cold, wet and miserable.

Swim

I did my pre-race warm up on the beach, doing some vigorous arm swings, a few jumps and some other stretches.  I was too cold to venture into the water for a proper swim warm up.  Instead, I joined the hundreds of other athletes awaiting their turn to enter the water.

I was in the 40-44 year olds wave, 20 minutes after the professionals, 3 minutes after Gregg, Steve and Will (35-39) and 9 minutes after Paddy (18-29).  I couldn’t get near to the front of the beach for our start, instead I had to line up on the 4^th or 5^th row.  When the gun went off we all charged into the water.  Bodies everywhere!  I decided to take no mercy.  These guys had put themselves on the front row knowing they were not super swimmers, I wasn’t going to sit and paddle behind them.  I kept my head up, spotted tiny gaps and just went for them.  I swam over legs, knocked into people’s arms, bustled my way past.  It felt brutal but within 100m or so, I was free!  Clear water.  Well, bouncing water.  It was choppy out there.  It was very easy to swallow lots of really salty water – so I was very conscious of my breathing.  I changed technique for this swim to combat the waves, having more of a high arm recovery than high elbow.  There was no gliding at the front of the stroke either.

The swim was made all the more difficult by the wave starts that had been organised.  Effectively, I had about 1500 people ahead of me – most of whom had between a 3 and 9 minute head start on me.  This was going to be carnage.  I bumped into so many swimmers.  The blue caps of 35-39’s were first, then the green caps of the 30-34’s, then the white caps of the 18-29’s.  I reckon I swam through / over / around / into most of them.  It was a very disrupted swim.

Not once in the swim did I feel tired.  Not once.  Usually the last 800m is a bit of a slog, with heavy arms.  Not today.

Focus!

I exited the water after 54 minutes, 5th from my wave out of the swim and 62nd quickest overall.  The fastest time of the day was just under 50 minutes.  Given the conditions, I was quite happy with that.

Transition 1

I ran up the sandy beach and into the transition tent, stripping my wetsuit as I went.  Surprisingly, the wetsuit came off easily for once.  Emptied my transition bag onto the floor and put socks and shoes on, race belt on, salt tablets into my pockets, helmet and glasses on and then a quick dash to the bike.

Bike

The first couple of kilometres are along a narrow road, with speedbumps, a chance to settle onto the bike and not go off too hard.  The road was slippery though.  I felt my back wheel slide a couple of times during this section.  Easy, easy.

My HR monitor refused to work at all on the bike.  Perhaps from the salty water of the swim?  Whatever the reason, I was going to have to rely solely on my power meter - and my perceived effort.

As per my plan, I rode pretty 'easy' for the first 39k up to the turnaround point.  I didn’t put any real pressure on the pedals, and backed off when I felt my power rise.  That said, I was still riding pretty quickly.  I didn’t sit in any pace lines, just riding on my own (being overtaken a lot!), yet averaged over 35kph for this section, with a Normalized Power of 168w.  Gregg was one of the guys who overtook me on this section.  I was riding at 42kph on this bit of road and he flew past me like I was going 20kph.  Go on dude!

Starting off easy - it's a long day ahead!

At the turnaround point I had decided to put a bit more effort into the bike, increasing power slightly and building into the race.  My normalized power for this section was 175w but average speed for the return leg was 34.2kph.  Will passed me after about 60k, obviously in a good mood, singing "Do You Want To Build A Snowman".  He was looking good!

At the end of the first lap, amongst the crowds, I spotted Lynn and the girls for the first time.  It was a great feeling!  I love seeing them out on the course.

Spotted having too much fun!

This next section I picked up the pace and power again, averaging 36.2kph and 179w NP up to the next turnaround point.  During this section I started overtaking people.  People who had flown past early on were now staring at my back wheel.  It was starting to get hot and I looked around and noticed a lot of people sweating heavily.  I did a quick check on myself – no sweat.  I was 110k into the race and I was feeling fantastic.  I passed Paddy on this section and he looked like he was cruising.

Building into the race

The return to Calella was done in 34.5kph, with NP of 180w.  So that was 150k done and my power was still increasing as the race wore on.  I was eating and drinking well, having Torq energy gels every 30 minutes (with a caffeinated one at 2 hours and 4 hours) and picking up one bottle of water at each aid station.  I was dropping more and more people too.

Gregg and Will were both flying!  Gregg must have built up a 12 minute lead at this point, with Will not far behind.

Spotted Lynn and the girls, Mum & Dad and Nicola & Daniel

Again, I spotted Lynn and the girls, Nicola & Daniel, My Mum and Dad all out cheering!  Awesome!

The last 30k ‘mini-lap’ was done in average speed of 34.3kph and NP of 183.  I was finishing the bike having had no dark patches or stomach issues and with energy still in the tank!

	Speed (kph)	NP (w)	Cadence
Section 1 - Calella to Turnaround	35.4	168	89
Section 2 - Turnaround to Calella	34.3	175	85
Section 3 - Calella to Turnaround	36.2	180	85
Section 4 - Turnaround to Calella	34.5	180	83
Section 5 - Mini-Lap	33.7	182	82

There were lots of people in the penalty tent.  Drafting I guess.  There were so many ‘draft busters’ out on the course, so many penalties must have been given out.  I imagine if you’re at the front end of the field, trying to qualify for the World Championships or make the podium, the sight of some of the drafting must drive you mad.  As frustrating as it was to see, I wasn’t going to let it affect my mood.  I was in my own race, looking for my own performance. 

Riding to conserve energy for the run

I rode into T2 with a 5.10 bike split, averaging 34.7kph and NP of 177 (Intensity Factor of 0.74).  I zoomed through transition as fast as I could, including changing socks.  I grabbed a bag with my Garmin and my gels in and ran out.

Run

Once I’d fired up the Garmin, I realised I 'only' needed to run 3.45 (ish) on the marathon to finish under my Big Hairy Audacious Goal of 10 hours.  To put this into context, in the 9 Ironman’s I have previously done, I have run under 4 hours twice on an Ironman marathon – a 3.59 here two years ago and a 3.29 in IMUK in 2011 (on a short course).  Also, my standalone marathon PB is a 3.22. However, I had a strong belief in myself, in my running, and if I executed the run well then I’d achieve it.

Start off easy - the race doesn't start until the last 20k of the run!

I started the run telling myself to slow right down and not to blow it on the first 10k.  I was going past runners, but knew I was running too fast.  I forced myself to run behind another runner, slowing me right down.  I started running with a British guy but I noticed my pace creep up a bit, so being sensible I slowed down, waved him off and wished him well.

Nice rhythm

I was feeling fantastic whilst running - light on my feet and energetic.  I was taking on energy – gels and not coke this time – with just a couple of sips of water at each aid station. I passed Will after 6k and Gregg after  15k. Both of them looking good and on to great performances.

Again, my support crew were out on the run, making all sorts of noise!  Turbo-charged!

I went through the half marathon in approximately 1:45.  It was here that I started to get a bit emotional.  I realised that the wheels would have to come off completely for me to miss my sub-10 hour goal.  I was still feeling awesome and I had more than 2 hours to run 21k.  This was on!

The support I had on the run was outstanding!  So noisy, so emotional, so invested, so passionate.

Still feeling good!

At about 25k I started getting some stomach cramps – but a quick trip to the portaloo helped.  I held back on eating too much then, only taking another gel between 25k and the finish.  The only other time I broke stride was through the aid station at 36k (ish) when I had a really acute stitch.  I walked a bit longer through that aid station, but soon picked up my run.  Actually, the only walking I did in the race was through the aid stations, and even then it was just enough time to have 2 or 3 sips from a water bottle.

Going into the last lap, I made a decision to slow my pace down.  I didn’t want to get cramp or have any other mishap.  I was so close to a sub-10 I wanted to take no chances. 

This was reflected in the splits. 

	5K Splits	5k Average HR
5k	25:27	151
10k	25:27	155
15k	25:10	156
20k	25:08	155
25k	25:37	152
30k	27:43	150
35k	26:17	150
40k	27:17	148

For the last 2k I picked my pace up.  I ran straight past the aid station, waving at the volunteers as I went.  This was joy.  I turned into the finish chute and high-fived as many people as vigorously as I could!  I was delighted.  Not relieved to finish or satisfied with the performance, but genuinely delighted.

High-Five!

I’d finished the marathon in 3.37 – or 3.39 if you include the transition like the official time did!  What a run!

I love it when a plan comes together!

I genuinely believe that I could not have executed that race any better.  It was perfect.  Physically I was prepared.  Mentally, I believed. 

9 hours and 50 minutes of absolute perfection.