What a difference a week makes. This time last Sunday i was cooking under the African sun wish away the miles to the end of the Ironman, this week I'm comtemplating how to run the London Marathon in 2 weeks.
Last weeks Ironman was my slowest from 4 races but I achieved the highest overall position(27th), a podium place (2nd) and had my 2nd fastest swim (57:43) thanks to a new Blueseventy Helix wetsuit.
So how was the race?
SWIM
Daz Sharpe knocked my goggles 50m into the swim(cheers Mate?), we had both decided to race tactically positioning ourselves way to the left of the pro's taking the straightest line to the first turn. We would swim further but hopefully lead the weaker swimmers. Hmmm me thinks some others had the same idea. The bun fight lasted a whole lap meaning my goggles got knocked a few more times. After the beach run half way (27 min something) I settled to my own pace in clear water. Result 57:43
T1
No help available in the tent. Dropped a few gels from the cycle jersey pockets and mixed the flavours up. Result 2:51
BIKE
The first lap was good. Settled riding, eating the gels and drinking mostly B.fuel by Be-Well. The second lap was ok and slight slower as I made use of the special needs bag to take on more B.fuel which was still cool having been frozen overnight. Lap three was getting tough in the heat and I got a little bilious and had to discipline myself to take the gels regardless of how I felt. The wind never seemed to be in one direction. Did my number 1 with 3km to go. Result 5:12:26
T2
Nice and steady. Lots of suncream on. feeling good. Result 2:25
Run
set of at HR160 as planned to run a 3:10. This lasted a couple of km as my bowels had other ideas. In desperate need of a toilet for 3km I found one in a field around the 5KM mark. One km later I needed the same but had to wait til 8km.Running again at HR148 was comfortable but I drank too many bags of water in the attempt to hydrate and cool but it sloshed in my stomach. I plodded to the 37 Km mark when I had stopped drinking and was using water to cool my arms legs and head. The last 5km was an all or nothing in an attempt to get on the podium. Unknown to me was that 3rd place was 20minutes behind me. I left Roger Canham with 3km to go and pushed as hard as I could. It felt like sprinting. !km to go and I unleashed the fury with all I had. A few high 5's down the shute and an eye on the clock spotted (9:48:54 and counting). I eventually crossed the line in my fourth Sub 10 Hour Ironman. Result 9:49:14
Last weeks Ironman was my slowest from 4 races but I achieved the highest overall position(27th), a podium place (2nd) and had my 2nd fastest swim (57:43) thanks to a new Blueseventy Helix wetsuit.
So how was the race?
SWIM
Daz Sharpe knocked my goggles 50m into the swim(cheers Mate?), we had both decided to race tactically positioning ourselves way to the left of the pro's taking the straightest line to the first turn. We would swim further but hopefully lead the weaker swimmers. Hmmm me thinks some others had the same idea. The bun fight lasted a whole lap meaning my goggles got knocked a few more times. After the beach run half way (27 min something) I settled to my own pace in clear water. Result 57:43
T1
No help available in the tent. Dropped a few gels from the cycle jersey pockets and mixed the flavours up. Result 2:51
BIKE
The first lap was good. Settled riding, eating the gels and drinking mostly B.fuel by Be-Well. The second lap was ok and slight slower as I made use of the special needs bag to take on more B.fuel which was still cool having been frozen overnight. Lap three was getting tough in the heat and I got a little bilious and had to discipline myself to take the gels regardless of how I felt. The wind never seemed to be in one direction. Did my number 1 with 3km to go. Result 5:12:26
T2
Nice and steady. Lots of suncream on. feeling good. Result 2:25
Run
set of at HR160 as planned to run a 3:10. This lasted a couple of km as my bowels had other ideas. In desperate need of a toilet for 3km I found one in a field around the 5KM mark. One km later I needed the same but had to wait til 8km.Running again at HR148 was comfortable but I drank too many bags of water in the attempt to hydrate and cool but it sloshed in my stomach. I plodded to the 37 Km mark when I had stopped drinking and was using water to cool my arms legs and head. The last 5km was an all or nothing in an attempt to get on the podium. Unknown to me was that 3rd place was 20minutes behind me. I left Roger Canham with 3km to go and pushed as hard as I could. It felt like sprinting. !km to go and I unleashed the fury with all I had. A few high 5's down the shute and an eye on the clock spotted (9:48:54 and counting). I eventually crossed the line in my fourth Sub 10 Hour Ironman. Result 9:49:14
2 comments:
Nice write up mate, and a top result too. good luck for London, hope the legs are ok!
Ditto Roy's comments, great effort Mat.
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