Ironman Regensburg Race Report

Race report (I will hopefully go back and add more colour to the rest of the trip, just wanted to get the report done!)

Swim

Might as well start with the swim, I don’t think my prep was any more different from anyone else’s except for all the sniggering at the amount of gels I had taped on my bike (some of which, admittedly, are still there!)

I stood before the start on a beach full of blue and pink hats, stomach tight but not achingly so, along with some 2499 others, probably all feeling the same. Despite the organisers attempts to get everyone clapping and bouncing I thought the atmosphere was fairly tense as the countdown to the start progressed.

There had been lots of discussion beforehand as to where to start to avoid the inevitable biff that would occur as 2500 athletes on a beach 100m wide swam towards a channel about 30 m wide about 50 metres offshore. As the hooter went, I changed my mind, and rather than marching straight down into the water I veered slightly further left than planned and entered the water in front of some trees that went down to the water’s edge.  I think this helped me a huge amount as it meant that there was no one really behind me for the first few hundred metres of the swim, by which time the decent swimmers had gone off ahead and the weaker ones like me were all left trying to avoid any trouble. So the only hassle I ever got in the whole race was when we headed up towards the first turn, there was a low jetty that people had to swerve to avoid, causing a little congestion. Other than that my swim seemed fairly boring, aside from someone once throwing a breast stroke kick to within about an inch of my nose! I didn’t sight an awful lot, but there were always so many people around that there didn’t seem an awful lot of point! Out in 1.20, about 5 minutes quicker than I was expecting, so pleased with that. The furthest swim I’ve ever done J

I took my time in T1. It was lashing down and I wanted to be sure I had the clothing I wanted. I’d read enough from Bala to know that the wrong clothes choice can be terminal to a race, and whilst the conditions were not as cold as Bala, I wanted to make sure, so trotted out in 8:25! The longest T1 I’ve ever done! J

Bike

The bike was wet and a bit windy. Before the race I’d been worried about how I would get on with an 81mm deep front rim in the wind, but come the day I was worried about the brakes and how they would cope!! On descents the rain whipped into your face like hail, it was like having a facial acupuncture. On the plus side the girls enjoyed the exfoliation it gave them.

I knew that the no 1 mistake first time IMers make is going out too fast on the bike so I took it easy as I could for the first 30 miles and tried to suck in the sights through my rain soaked glasses. I remember one kid, under a tarpaulin, looking down at the floor, apparently bored rigid, but relentlessly hammering away at a triangle, and old woman, soaked but still watching, chewing on the most unappetising sarnie of heavy German brown bread and frankfurter sausage, and two old ladies, who probably knew nothing about triathlon, watching and clapping and blowing their whistles like mad at everyone who came past! It had probably been a dream come true for them to see wet lycra clad bodies in such numbers, if ever!! Talking of musical instruments, there was quite a variety on display on the bike course – tubas in the Ooompah band at the top of the hill, buckets, pots, pans, kettles, loudhailers, anything that make a racket was deployed! I did feel very sorry for the poor feed station helpers whose job it was to hand out cooling wet sponges! They would have had more business handing out dry ones! I can’t imagine anyone wanted a wet one all day! Overall, given the weather, the supporters who turned out were great, keeping up a constant level of applause, noise, encouragement the whole time. I really enjoyed interacting with them, blowing a kiss to the bloke in a fat frau costume, egging on the great little village of Mintraching at mile 50/100 to make a little more noise, and on each occasion they responded. Brilliant!

The ride went carried on going well, and I caught a steady stream of pirate uber swimmers – Henny, Waff and Pugsley I think on the first lap, then Mandel, Cougie, and Wild Will on the second lap. Cougie and I span up the second hill together until we got a Paddington Bear stare from one of the marshals. We can’t have been doing more than 10mph side by side, I can’t see how we were possibly drafting but better safe than sorry so we separated. At one point Steve Ho came flying past me, said Hi and then shot off into the distance. About 10 minutes later he shot by me again. I must have looked confused as he yelled “Well that was the longest piss I’ve ever had! Must have been a good 3 minutes!”

Aside from the rain and the fact I didn’t trust my brakes (top speed 28mph / 45kmph) the ride was fine. There were  a couple of hairy moments when descents finished at 90 degree turns, and on one of them I almost had to bail out into a runoff car park which might have caused the spectators in front of it a slight scare! And at one point I accelerated only to feel the back wheel go, and I think it was my backside giving way that caught it as my reactions were never going to be quick enough! The rain was miserable though. At one point I squeezed one hand against my arm warmer on my other arm, only for the water squeezed out to run down to my elbow and fall straight into my bike shoes. Or it would have if they hadn’t already been full of water. Not nice.

Before the event I’d dismissed any thoughts of a sub 13 hour finish as I could not see any real evidence from my long ride training that I could maintain over about 15mph, let alone 17mph on the bike, but I did remember that 17.2mph average would give me a 6;30 bike split, so at the end of the first lap, to be up at 17.5mph without really breaking my HR rules was really good news. So I thought just do the same again and see what happens. And the same thing happened. Which was nice! I had a little cheer to myself as I went through 100.2 miles, as this then became the longest ride I have ever done, and aside from nearly stopping at the huge KFC on the way back to Regensburg, the last part of the ride was uneventful, and I was delighted to get to T1 with a bike split of 6.19. The furthest bike ride I’ve ever done. J

It was great to get into T2. Whilst I’d secretly wanted to give having a pee on the bike a go, the desire never actually came, so my first stop after dumping my bike was to try and stand in cleats in a smelly portaloo. Just about managed that.

Into T2 where I tried to dry my feet (and failed) and put on dry socks and a dry Monaco, and then straight out onto the run. OK, there must have been some faffage as T2 apparently took 8:30, but the frauleine helping was rather nice! The longest T2 I have ever done! J

I exited transition to see new pirate Anna [(not so dinky) Pinky] bounce past, starting her second lap as if she was just popping out for milk! I stayed with her for a minute or so then let her go, as I was run walking, and she was running. Fast. I stuck at my run walk, walking aid stations, taking bananas that had served me well on the bike, and water or coke as I felt, going purely by feel, and felt really good for the first two laps. Seeing the pirates was great, as well as chatting to people of all nations on the course – Germans, Aussies, Saffers, Scots, all in the same boat and all great to run with. I was expecting the third lap to be a bit of a dark spot, but it never really came and I hit 30km feeling as if I should be in more pain than I was, which (whispers very quietly) I wasn’t really in much. My knees were hurting some, but walking was fine as was shuffling, so I kept on doing that. Simples.

About half way round I knew I was never going to do a sub 4 hour marathon, so just relaxed and made sure I would do a sub 5 hour one, to beat 13 hours overall. I could probably have squeezed another 5-8 minutes out of the last 2 laps, but why hurt yourself when it made no difference really? I was so happy collecting my last arm band, and then the joy of turning right into the finishing chute as opposed to left out for another lap was just fantastic! I ran down the chute slowly, sorting out my hair and Monaco, determined to look half decent for the finisher’s photo! What a feeling it is to finish!!!! The longest run I have ever done! J

I don’t think I’ve really captured in the above how I felt on the day. It wasn’t quite what I expected in some ways, but always better. I’d thought the swim would be more aggressive at times (I think I was just lucky though) I thought ride would be more lonely but it was fine, and I thought the run would be harder, especially the second half, but then maybe I paced it well and didn’t try to push myself beyond my own abilities. I thought I would want to quit at times, but I never did. The support, especially from the Pirates, was great. I had so many comments from other competitors saying how great it was, with both sherpas and athletes being supportive to all. And you reap what you sow, with lots of other supporters really getting behind the Pirates. It was an honour to sail on the PSOF and wear the skull and crossbones. Thank you all.

Busted!

Knowing what I'm like, I was worried that if I didn't have some sort of an event to aim for in the autumn, I wouldn't have the motivation to train regualry, which for me is the important thing to be doing at the moment. So in a moment of stupidity I entered the infamous (for good reason) Ballbuster Duathlon, that took place yesterday. The Ballbuster has quite a reputation as a tough Duathlon, and is one of the South East's signature events on the multisport calendar, so I was looking forward to tackling it, having been a spectator a couple of times in the past. For those that don't know, it is an 8 mile run, followed  by a 24 miles bike, then one more 8 miles run for luck.  The sting is in the fact that the course consists of one 8 mile loop round and up Box Hill in Surrey, so 5 times up certainly tests you.  Box Hill is notorious in cycling circles, not hugely steep (about 5-8% gradient) or hugely long (a couple of km), but a solid test of the legs, especially if racing, with a cycle friendly cafe at the top, which, in all honesty, is probably the main attraction!

So, at 8am (on my wife's birthday - going to be paying for THAT oversight for a loong time!) the hooter sounded and we were off! There was a good pirate turnout and I ran a little way with a few of them, before the better ones pulled a couple of hundred yards away, and one or two slower ones a little behind. A couple of weeks ago I'd run the loop just for experience and it had taken 1 hour 15 minutes, so I was pleased if not totally surprised, given race adrenalin and people to cheer us on, to finish the first run in 1 hour 6 minutes. Kanga, BHflyer and Slimshady, fellow Pirates, had been about 100 yards or so ahead on the run so  Iwas surprised to find myself coming out of T1 with them. That suited me fine and I tucked in behind them and set off at a good, sensible pace. Very frustratingly, as I hurtled down the fastest part of the course I could feel something wrong with my front wheel, and after 30 seconds or so it was clear that it was a puncture. Til now I've been very lucky with punctures, having probably only had 2 or 3 in my (admittedly short) cycling career, and always I'd had others with me to help me. Because of this lack of tyre changing practice I took about 9 minutes 50 seconds to change it, the trouble being getting the tyre back on after replacing the tube. Ultimately this lack of skill was to cost me my "Gold" time of sub 4 hours I think.

Having lost a bunch of time and my fellow pirates, I cracked on a little aggressively in hindsight with the first bike ascent, then  calmed down over the next 2 laps, which passed a little uneventfully, except for the fun of drafting a bus for a mile or so.

One of my goals in the race was to unlap myself but with the speed of the winner andthe puncture, I was at the bottom of Box Hill about to start my 4th ascent when Wayne Smith crossed the line to take his (third?) win. I did manage to unlap all but the top 6 I think, finishing the bike in 1 hour 43 minutes.

Once off the bike the fun started. The first mile or so of the run is a gentle uphill which felt OK, but it was clear quad cramps were on the way. I switched into a run-walk strategy that kept them more or less at bay until the water stop after 3 miles where I stopped completely for 45 seconds or so to stretch more properly. From there the next 3 miles are all downhill, which I typically speed up on, so whilst I still had to run-walk, it was more out of fatigue than serious muscle issues. Finally there was just one more ascent of Box Hill to do...it wasn't pretty, but I was able to pick 3 other runners off, which was good for the soul and took my mind off my mashed legs.

The last few hundered yards I could hear the crowd clapping, and it was great to see a friendly face or two, as well as the assembled Pirate ranks cheering me in for a final lap time of 1 hour 15 minutes, as quick as my practice run last week, which surprised me as I thought I'd been going a lot slower with the cramp stops and walking. My final time was 4 hours, 10 minutes and 12 seconds, so I finished inside my original estimate of 4.15. Without the flat I like to think I would have broken 4 hours, but that's one for another day perhaps.

I'm chuffed I finished what is a tough race, feel it stands me in good stead for the upcoming Ironman training, and helped me focus my training to date. Next up will be the 2nd January Tadworth 10 miler or perhaps even the 1st January Knacker Cracker 10km up and down Box Hill. Who knows?

So, leassons learned? I must learn to change tyres better. I must get fitter. I've had quad cramps coming off the bike at Swashbuckler and Ballbuster now. I'm reasonably confident it's not nutrition based, so not sure what else I can do except do more cycling and running!

Where has the time gone?! And have I got better?

Cant believe I haven't posted for 6 weeks, I know it has covered holiday, but still, that's a long time!

So I have pretty religiously stuck to my sub 150bpm heart rate rule. I've had the odd blip, notably the Thames Turbo Tri mentioned below, when I don't think I went UNDER 150bpm, but everyone needs a little fun once in a while, right? My problem has been that my efforts have been sporadic. In the first three weeks of August I managed 6 runs in total, none of which was over 8km long. So I'm not sure how much benefit I was getting.

As mentioned, I did do a Sprint Tri on 30th August (Thames Turbo 4) and recorded a PB overall and one in the pool, though my run was 1 min slower than my best, caused in part by a numb foot coming off the bike, which I have never experienced before. My first km was almost exactly 1 minute longer than my next km. I actually took my shoe off twice in that 1st km thinking I must have had a stone in it or something, not just numb pinkys! Still, off the back of 1 hours biking in the preceding 8 weeks and no speedwork, I wasn't too unhappy. Any PB is still a PB!

Since then, it's got a bit better. I really enjoyed a morning spent marshalling at the Surrey Badger Half Marathon, which was my first marshalling, and it was really good fun. I've got the turbo out for the first time (2x45 minute sessions so far) and as long as the TV is on and I'm keeping to my 150bpm rule it has been reasonably pleasant, though the sweat is a pain!

A Pirate ride of 58km was probably the highlight of recent weeks, training-wise.

However, today's run was what got me back blogging, as I felt I had a good run today, for some reason it just felt a little better - less walking required for one thing! So I compared my 8km runs since I started this little lark..

Date	Time	Av HR	% 'run'
16-Sep	50.15	147	52.1
08-Sep	53.21	148	34.9
01-Sep	51.42	148	44.1
28-Jul	52.37	146	34.1
26-Jul	52.07	146	40.3
21-Jul	53.13	146	27.3

Can I see anything of value in here? Any improvement? Not sure. I read or heard somewhere that you will benefit more when HR training if you use the down-hills as speed training opportunities, pushing up your speed whilst still mantaining your 150 rule, and I think that accounts for some of the increase in 'running' time (defined by me as above 9.7km/h, I don't remember why!) as opposed to jogging (or worse!). I guess I need to see more improvement, but there might be some there. Hope so.

Anyway, I shall keep it up until the end of September, then be more flexible, though still using HR training as my preferred method.

Heart rate monitor training

To date, all training has been very much ad-hoc. I've 'just' gone for a run, or gone for a bike ride etc. Sometimes I've tried to do a longer one, or push the pace a little, or beat a previous time up Box Hill etc but never has there been any real structure to anything. So, with a mere 55 weeks to go to IMR, I thought it was time to get a little more organised.
So, from 16 July to the end of September I have decided to do all my exercise at no more than 150 beats per minute (bpm). Assuming a Max Heart Rate (MHR) of 194 and a Resting Heart Rate (RHR) of 50, 150 bpm is 70% of my Working Heart Rate (WHR) calculated as ((MHR-RHR) x70%) +RHR. Simples!
The theory is that at sub 70% WHR my body trains itself to burn energy more efficiently from my fat stores (I have plenty!) and not from my precious glucose stores. At the moment I'm getting over the ego issue of a) running slowly all the time and b) having to walk a lot, especially when I start going up a hill.
In time (by end of September I hope) my body should be much more efficient at burning fat so I should be able to run faster at this lower heart rate. This in turn should mean that when I put the hammer down (ha!) I should be able to run faster than I can currently. Whilst the latter benefit is well worth having, given that I'm training for an IM, I want to be able to run and bike for hours on end, efficiently and as a low a heart rate as possible. It's likely that aside from hills (and the big sprint finish!) my heart rate will not get much over 150bpm for much of the race, hence the importance of being as efficient and quick at that rate.
So for another 8 weeks or so, I'm having to leave my ego at home and let people snigger at me as they drive up a small hill that I'm walking up!

Why I am where I am...and where I am going!

This is a blog about my journey leading up to my ambition of completing an Ironman Triathlon, specifically Ironman Regensburg, on 7 August 2011. Over a year away, but I fear that time will fly by and I have to get some serious training in before then!

So that's where I'm going I hope! So, how did I get to this point. Midlife crisis seems to be the stock answer I get given when I tell people, which is probably fair as I do rather fit the sterotype. Which is I guess why we have sterotypes!

Anyway, back in 2008 my brother Rowley was bragging about a 100km foot race he'd done in Hong Kong called the Trailwalker. At about the same time an invite came round the office asking for volunteers for the UK Trailwalker. I'd not done any exercise for about 10 years but the timing and the opportunity to (start to) shut Rowley up (and get one over my other brother, Simon who'd not yet done one, was too good to miss, so I did it, and wrote about it here...http://airdsramblings.blogspot.com/

Anyway, one thing lead to another and we did it again in 2009, this time running a good part of it (well, at least a quarter of it!). In 2009 I also fell in with a bad crowd (this lot... http://www.pirateshipoffools.co.uk/) and ended up doing the Swashbuckler Half Ironman distance triathlon in May 2010.

So now it's time for the big one...