Race Week.
I'm not like the typical triathlete in that I won't have a plan written down of what needs to be done leading up towards the race. If I had my own way and didn't have to rely on lifts I'd be down 5 minutes before the start of the race, instead of heading down with Liam a full hour before it started.
So we were flying out on the Thursday, Liam Rang me on Tuesday to tell me to tell Aer Lingus I was bringing a bike instead of a surf board. I've always booked it online and it only gives you an option of surfboard to book a bike on I think you have to ring up. I told Liam I don't want to ring them up and ruin the surprise when I arrive on the morning with a bike. Anyway I had bigger problems like where the hell was my wetsuit. I decided to swim sans wetsuit all last year in an attempt to impress Lisa Howley (it didn't work she still thinks i'm soft).
I had half an idea to swim the channel at some point and thought I'd start building up my body for the cold. Lisa got wind of the idea and sat me down and basically said "you can bluff and Ironman with training and get away with it but you'll be screwed if you continue this approach to swim the channel". Anyway I digress, my wetsuit was last seen in May 2013. So the night before I was due to fly there were some phone calls made to see where it was. Eventually it was recovered in a ball and was duly left in that same ball at the bottom of the bike Bag.
Arrived in Lanza, got out with Liam and Jan to club le Santa to register kept getting asked by officials were we here for the all you can eat buffet or the Ironman because we looked like we had come out for the all you can eat Buffet but were in the wrong que.
Registered no dramas. Headed up met all the Wicklow Tri Crew. Bike drop off was between 3-6 so John C and the others were going through their plans. I said to Liam we'll drop the bikes down around 7 it'll be much quieter. Ended up been a mix up. Forgot to bring Run Bag and Bike Bag and also race number. They let me leave the bike there but told me I had to come back tomorrow morning as we wouldn't have access to the Run bags tomorrow. I was a bit wrecked to be honest so decided not to go back down till the morning of the race. Then told them I found these two bags lying around transition. It was a real surprise when I got in off the swim to find my bag in the correct position.
The Swim.
1:11
I did 1:05 last year and although I hadn't trained as hard this year (was swimming three times a week last year) I felt I'd do around the same time. Last year I had a great swim in terms of free space, this year I couldn't get any. Not even on the second lap could I find space. My legs came out cut to shreds I might have had Edward Scicorshands swimming behind me or something. I was very slow in transition too. Was worried the cuts I had on my feet were going to come back to haunt me on the bike or the run, thankfully they didn't.
The Bike
7:48
Again last year was much quicker 7:35. I actually felt good for most of the bike. I thought despite my very poor swim it must have been the same for everyone so assumed Conor MacGowan, Liamo, Jan might have been behind me. I didn't see anyone I knew until about 50k. I caught Rose going up some poxy hill. Had a good chat with her and she said everyone was ahead of her, I gasped what even Conor MacGowan? Caught up with Lisa who was literally only 100 meters ahead of Rose didn't get to talk to her for long. Kept losing time on descents as I was still nervous from a fall I had a few weeks prior. I did feel like I was climbing ok. I struggled to get the gears moved at the front from the hard to easy, generally had to do it manually so had to get off the bike and move it back on. I didn't go into the easy one at the front that much though maybe four or five times. Rose caught me on a descent and we cycled along together for a while. So told me Liam had come down the other side of Haria. I was delighted for him but was also concious of the fact that he'll be hunting me down and he'll be on a huge high once he gets off the bike. The run is his thing and he'd fancy his chances of chasing me down. So came off the bike in a much slower time than last year but felt more confident going into the run.
The Run
5:05
Transition here wasn't as slow as the first one. Got out on the course and saw Adam very early on. Assumed I'd see him again didn't realsie he was finishing. It's almost like a different race he was doing. As I started to run I was formulating a bit of a run plan in my head. If I can do the first half in under 2 hours that's be my goal for the moment. It's run out 8k back 8k twice (32k) then a shorter loop of 5k out and 5k back. So I got out there and starting hitting sub 6mins per kilometer. Decided early on I would walk the aid stations. When I got out to the first turn around I saw Conor MacGowan, I was delighted to see a familar face and been in the same club there was always going to be a bit of banter so shouted at him I was coming for him. He seemed pretty broken and resigned to the fact I was going to catch him. Eventually caught Conor after about 4k. I tried to get him to run with me for a while as he was just walking at this stage but he'd burried himself on that bike course. So went past Conor and tried to keep going. As the run goes on more and more people start walking it becomes harder and harder to keep it going. I had Mark Franney in front of me from the club but he was miles ahead and couldn't be caught. Behind me Conor was flagging and Liam was starting to walk too. I was trying to limit the walking as much as possible but you had to set yourself a goal of some sort. Towards the end of my last big lap I was working out what I needed to do to get a sub 5 hour marathon. At the current pace I was running/walking it's taking me 8-9 mins to make a kilometer. If I can get the next two k's done in under 8 mins then I'd be going out on the last lap only need 8 min kilometers to get me home in 4 hour something marathon. So pushed it hard and got to the turnaround on target. Now all I had to do was 10k in 1hour 20mins sounds easy?. Got to the turnaround point on target just hitting sub 8's all the way, turned around and started hitting 9mins couldn't go any faster and towards the end was afraid of not making it at all. Happy to cross the line, it may not be a great time but considering all the balancing of life business, family i'm very happy to have done it in that time. Ideally we'd all love more time to do it better but i'm happy with what I got.
Talking to people afterwards there were some amazing stories from loads of people got overtaken by a guy with one leg. There was a blind guy who we passed about 7 times. In our own group though there really were some pretty amazing performances. Adam flew along what was a really difficult course. Lisa Sterrit had a heart operation only last year and suffered a bit when her heart rate was elavated it was amazing to see her come through. Rose Leith had signed up last year but thought she would have gotten over her plantar Facistics injury (she hadn't) she still came out and swam and cycled. Big performance from Jane Evans who was coming on strong on the run for someone who only recently broke their leg.
Then there was the Big Man. 6 years ago this island broke him he came over with a training group and couldn't complete the course. He suffers from Vertigo and basically the drops off the side of the cliffs scares the shit out of him. He came back last year but couldn't do Haria it's particularly hard for him with the drop offs. No one had the guts to tell him that the climb after that was way worse (rio). I was delighted when I saw him coming in off the bike. He needed to complete this course for his head and he did it.
So on to something else now, maybe Greystones 10k swim enjoyed that last year.
Damo.
