Challenge Barcelona - Race report

RACE MORNING!! That’s it! That’s today! Below is a race report of my first ironman distance event!

FINISHER!!

I surprisingly had a good night and woke up in time and really excited! Race breakie was small but I made sure i had a little coffee to avoid my usual headache but not too much to also avoid needing the portaloos! Then it was for the messy job of preparing gels and drinks in the several bottles: 12 for the bike, 6 for the run, plus isostar for the “can’t take water anymore moments”.

Given the amount of preparation done the day before with Ellen, it then was only a matter of picking up bags and go to transition. However, it turned out that some things were not exactly as advertised for the bags, and I had no real idea about where to put the green bag for my change after the race. I was also left a bit wondering what I had forgotten to do in transition as there was just my bike, and that was it! Pump tubs, put bottles and shoes on the bike… that was it! Not your usual Olympic transition area!

Because of the late changes in the transition zone (change bags now being in the same tent than transition ones), it was a bit of a mayhem to get into the wetsuit, but in retrospect, nothing unusual. I wasn’t much in the zone yet as I usually am before a race start, given that I still had 50 minutes before my wave would launch from the beach into the clear water!

Warm-up, how do you warm up for an ironman? Hermmm…. No idea! I’d figure I’d go for a swim with a few accelerations to wake up my muscles a bit. And while doing so, I watched the pros set off in the fireworks bang the organisers used. Still 30min to go for me… That passed quickly!

Interestingly, the music played at that point was “the final countdown” which made me think of “Colin the outlaw” and his beloved Iron Maiden “The final frontier”. There could be no better way to start my race as the guys from the d3 club have been so supportive since I registered for the race a bit less than a year ago. That had me properly pumped up while lining up at the back of my wave group on the beach on the starting mat. I don’t think I have ever experienced such a thrill before a race, mix of apprehension and total readiness, looking at the first buoy, I didn’t see anything else or anyone cheering less than a meter away from me behind the barriers.

BANG!

The fireworks resonated in the air above us and that was it. The release of a year of preparation, of planning, of questions and doubts, and of all that stress that slowly has accumulated over the months. All gone now, all systems go, I was swimming!

The swim start was pretty uneventful for what I read they could be, and I was well positioned at the back left of the group to turn on the outside of the first buoy and not get into the melee of arms as it’s not in the swim that my own race really starts. That worked really well and I found some clear water pretty much all the way along. But swimming a big rectangle out and back felt a bloody long way! The first leg to the turnaround seemed to never end as I kept thinking the yellow buoys marking the central lane were the turning ones! I didn’t make too many errands on the way either, which was a first for me!

A lot of fast swimmers passed me from the waves behind but I didn’t feel too bad, although it turned out to be a little slower than I expected, reaching the turn in 37min only. After this, my goggles started to fill up with water and I had to stop twice to put them back before deciding to close my right eye, breathe on the left only, and press on!

The return part of the swim felt much quicker! It wasn’t, really, but I was on my way to the part I like! Getting out of the water, I didn’t have jelly legs at all, sign that I have been a bit too conservative, but also that I saved these legs for the rest of the race! The showers were totally useless after a sea swim, and would have needed much more pressure to rinse properly that salt!!! But well, no time to waste really, needed to go!!

Thanks to a good preparation of the bags with/from Ellen, I exited T1 in around 4 minutes, and although it should have been much quicker, it allowed me to make sure I was all setup properly!!

The bike start felt pretty strange to get into a good position and for some bizarre reason I though for a couple of Km that I actually had taken someon else’s bike as it felt too small! But it will prove that Richard at @freespeedlondon did a fantastic job when we’ve done my bike fit as I had absolutely no niggles anywhere for the whole of the bike leg, 5h almost completely done in the aerobars!

I Attacked the first lap as there was no wind yet but it was picking up. Eventually settle in a good rhythm with an AG woman who was going very strong on the first lap first. I felt really well and kept eating / drinking / pouring water on myself and through the vents of the helmet.

I have to say that the volunteers at the aid stations handling bottles and everything else have been fantastic! I managed to catch all bottles at almost full speed every time, and from the static point of view that they have, that must be a scary thing to do sometimes!

All in all, I cruised (yes, I felt like cruising!!) the bike and it all felt really good all the way! Some pro Males passed me and I resisted not to follow! But these guys were turning very big gears and I still had the last 42K loop to go. I passed two or three pro females on the way, but that’s nothing to brag about as they must have had a bad day in the office really!

The last bike lap was quick after the two long ones, and by the end I had almost finished all my gels and isostar. I lost count of number of water bottles I used, but it must have been around 12 as I took one at every station every lap.

T2 came quickly and only the hard bit was left to do! I did however get a yellow card for going under the bike racks as I noticed too late I was in the wrong lane. Had I only racked my bike and not done anything more, it would probably have been fine! But this was not going to be a problem as long as I did not do two other mistakes on the way. Shook me a little though, being more used to complacent Olympic races marshals =)

A dollop of sunscreen (thanks to the volunteers again!) and run shoes on… It was time for running… 4 “little” laps! That’s short isn’t it? Meeehh, not really, but I did not think about the full distance at that point. I concentrated on doing the first lap first to see how things were going.

Initially I could not slow down on the first lap. Absolutely impossible to tell my brain to be SLOW!! That’s probably the worst I’ve been at keeping a pace for a very long time, but I think I was probably not thinking all straight at this point anyways. The backlash was coming, I knew it. I tried to get some gels in but after a third of the bottle, my stomach started to warn me that I risked throwing up the next load, so I stopped drinking that. Water was starting to build up too in my stomach and I also stopped that for a while. Sponges helped cool down, but in 29C and in direct sun most of the time, they were only effective for a few Km.

I was slowing down a lot and at the end of lap 2 my pace had gone down to around 5'40" /Km but still holding and fighting for it. But the 3rd lap hit me hard. While I had managed to settle around 5'45"/Km, I had big cramps at Km 28 coming in my quads, and had to stretch and walk for a bit. I picked the pace back up but failed again at/after the next aid station to get some water and energy in. That run was really starting to get tough! There was only 12K to go though!

Kms 32 to 37 went alright, I took onboard some coke and it seemed to both stay in and help the cramps! I was fully ready to get more at the next aid stations… Only to find out that they had ran out of it! I jogging slowly to the next station which seemed a million miles away at this point but I was still moving. I stopped way too long at that one eating oranges and waiting for pepsi to be poured in glasses!! Damn oranges they were too good to keep running!!!!

I Eventually got myself moving again and met my dear love for a few hundreds meters of running before she’d been told off. Not that hundreds of others around were doing the same :-/ but that helped me push through the last 4K at a blistering pace (for the day!!) The thing is, by now I had completely forgotten that in T1, I had to stop my watch because I pressed the lap button twice. This simply gave me a total time minus T1, and I was convinced that I could finish just under 10h30' !! I “sprinted” the end (yeah I see you smiling here, but my last 500m where pretty much at my fastest run pace of the whole marathon… 5'02"/Km =) ) but the clock was saying 10h48… Something wasn’t quite right, there was 4 min missing…

But never mind, I finished my (first ever!) marathon in 4h02' not unhappy that the day was over!

That was tough! But it still hasn’t sunk in yet!

Reflecting on the race, I think I should try to push a bit more on the swim. At least to have the satisfaction to have pushed it a bit. Not think that I took it too relaxed like I do right now. Then hold back just that little bit on the bike and settle for lets say 34kph avg. That would allow my legs to be a bit more relaxed on the run. Again: SLOW DOWN THAT RUN START!! The fact that I could not slow down initially is just showing my lack of experience and control over some things. That will come, and I’m sure that will improve my times overall. And finally: drink coke on the run! I usually never drink coke as I don’t like the fizziness, but on this particular distance/race, it seemed that the little I drank helped me a lot! Go figure…

That was the adventure I embarked almost a year ago when I registered for the race back in November 2010, and this would never have been possible without many many people. Here’s a list of the most important ones, but if you’re reading this, you’re probably part of the story anyways, so thank you too!!

• Kim, you’re in the US now, but I’ll see you next year at the 70.3 Oceanside ironman California! You’d better get your butt on that saddle and show off some good bike handling skills! You’re the one that I looked up to, quite some years back, with your IM training books and your careful and planned approach to training, and you’re the one that motivated me to get back into running! I want to know about your instants of glory when you finish your first ironman!
• The d3 triathlon club guys:
  • Matt for having done the hottest IM in the new forest back in 2010 when everyone was enjoying a England world cup defeat, and set off the desire to do an IM myself!
  • Colin for being totally outlaw! That song at the start was from you I’m sure!! And as you said: just keep going! And like you, I cramped on the run, but I kept going! We’ll race together next year I’m sure! I didn’t have Belinda’s flapjacks, so I’m pretty sure you had an advantage there ;-)
  • Mike for your ever relaxed and controlled attitude. I kept relaxed in transitions, on the bike and through the tough run parts! Enjoy your new bike!
  • Steve for telling me to “smash it”, which I did! (well, pretty much, I’ll work on that swim, I promise!)
  • Sarah to have given me the gift of talking and singing to myself on the bike! Your usual joviality kept creeping in on those long straights and I wish you’d be chatting around at that point!
  • David for being such a great silent inspiration! Your coaching has put me much forward of where I had ever expected to be right now!
  • All the others that count for me: Anthony (“the future”), David (the other one): come back to training(!), Martine and Gabby, Christine (grrr, I’ll get you on the swim some time), Paul (see you at the top?), Ian: you’re next mate!. You’re all part of my memories of training and I hope to see you all very soon!
• Richard at @freespeedlondon for the bike fit. 180Km in TT bars and NO niggles or any other problem. Just power in an armchair!!!
• Marsha from RGActive and your smiles around Richmond park. We never really met, but you reminded me to keep enjoying it and that was the moto of the day! I certainly did and hopefully the photos will show more than my usual race poker face!
• Dad: you will never admit it, but your the greatest cyclist/mechanics ever to me! (61 and still done a 220K sporting at 27kph avg last month!) If you didn’t have your passion for your bikes, I wouldn’t be where I am now! (Now, my rear mech is ticking a bit… =) )
• Mum. I know I scared you with that. Sorry. But if there is one thing you taught me is to live my dreams. And I will keep doing so!!
• Anne my sister, we are not twins for nothing! Sorry to have woken you up that early recently and have drained all your energy remotely. I’m sure you understand!
• Best for last Ellen. Where do I start?? We first met exactly a year ago, and given how our couple is shaping up, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate ourselves than this! Perhaps a race together :-) Physio, masseur, thinking head before and after the race, helper, organiser, stubbornness to kept me going and stir me away from stupid ideas, but before all woman of my life. I love you!!! Don’t change anything, and good luck in Belgium!!

Race details (I spare you the transitions, but they were around 4 minutes each!):

Swim (3.8Km): 1h18'19" GPS/HR data

Bike (180Km): 5h05'45" GPR/HR data

Run (42.2Km): 4h02'26" GPS/HR data

What next? Should I really say it? … Well, first, it will be ironman 70.3 california on 31st March 2012, then the Outlaw triathlon in July! Hopefully Colin, Matthew and others will be there too!! See you at the races!

The return got quite messy, as I stupidly managed to lose my ID card in transition. Now anywhere else that would be “ok” or “not too bad”, but when you’re French, on holidays in Spain, and you’re going back to England, you’re pretty much fucked without an ID or a passport. British Airways customer service, again, was not helpful at all in saying that it would be fine with my driving license and the police lost property declaration. UK, Switzerland and Morocco are the countries around here where you need MORE than a “simple” photo id. Lesson Learnt, I’ll always take ALSO my passport with me and leave it at the hotel in a safe…