I completed another full distance triathlon last month. And consistent with my tradition I barely trained, barely survived, and barely remember what happened.
I’ve organized this blog post into three parts; funny stuff for the casual reader; practical stuff for the Ironman hacker; and finally; specific notes about the UK Ironman.
On the Lighter Side
I was feeling unusually relaxed the night before the race – so relaxed that I decided celebration was in order. For starters I had two glasses of champagne before dinner. Then instead of the traditional pre-race pasta dinner I chose the tasting menu with wine pairings. Five courses and five glasses of wine later, rich sauces, an amazing cheese cart, and a chocolate sundae I was feeling no fear and no pain … oh and frisky too. Micheeeelleeeee? Moving right along …
I find myself in my wetsuit before dawn with the other athletes waiting to be escorted to the water the morning of the race after less than three hours of sleep. I realize that I am already feeling incredibly dehydrated! Luckily there was some water nearby (on my bike).
Bang. The gun goes off and 1,200 of us start swimming in the narrow man-made lake. This was one the most violent swims I have ever experienced. I got kicked in the ribs, three times in the same place. I also got kicked in the right eye so hard the swim goggle was trying to suck my eyeball out of its socket.
Even though I try to avoid kicking when I swim (to save my legs for later) there came a point where the bastard behind me was trying to swim right over me. This went on way too long. I got a bit fussy. So I started kicking super hard, mind you, not for speed. In all honesty, I was trying to cut him in half.
As the athletes left the water, a good number of them littered the shore all cramped up from the cold water. As I soon discovered I had my own problems. Apparently, the goggle eyeball suction problem had rendered my right eye inoperable – something I did not notice while swimming. It would no longer focus – it was like looking through waxed paper. Everything was so blurry it was difficult maintaining balance after coming out of the water. I remember thinking this eye problem would wear off shortly. Nope, I spent the remainder of the race vision impaired.
During the bike leg, there was this one particular moment … roughly 100 miles into the race … I was peddled into the wind. I was in the easiest gear on a flat section of the course – traveling at times as slow as 4.5 mph. Shoot me now.
This race took me almost 15 hours – one of my slowest times.
But unlike the rest of the athletes who went back to their room for a good night sleep – nope not me! I had to speak in Washington DC the next day at 3pm. So with only two and a half hours of recovery sleep after the race, we got up at 4am and headed to Heathrow for a 7am-ish flight back to the States.
My Newly Discovered Ironman Hacker Tips
I started my distance training five weeks out. My plan was to avoid any swim training if at all possible, run two hours every other day and get one long bike ride in the week before the race. My training never goes as planned. I only got six runs under my belt and maybe four rides. And on the only day I had available to get in a long ride, I got a flat less than a mile from my house. I felt lazy. So I rode the flat tire to Starbucks and called Michelle to come pick me up.
I knowingly violated one of my most important Ironman hacking rules … if you can only be strong at one event … it better be the bike, because it is really important to make sure you get off the bike with some legs left. Based on this race I would say that this remains a pretty good rule.
I registered the day before the race and decided not to attend the mandatory race brief. This never seems to matter as most other athletes are willing to tell me (in the middle of the race) things like how many laps and on which side are you supposed to pass on the bike.
The water was cold (60 degrees) which made it very difficult to move my hands and muster up the energy to get out of my wetsuit. As usual, I swam with my bike shirt and shorts under the wetsuit. That turned out to be a bad idea this time. Luckily, I had packed a diverse wardrobe of options in the “swim to bike” bag. I put on my arm warmers, a warm long-sleeve cycling jacket and my plastic raincoat (even though it was not raining) in a layering strategy for warmth. I also put on my full cold weather cycling gloves.
It is hard enough to keep properly fueled in these races when you are not cold. Add cold weather and you burn calories at a whole new level. Thirty miles into the race I was so out of energy I was debating if I could make it. Time to break another rule: never drink Coca Cola until the last two hours of the run. But in this case, I needed energy immediately. So I started drinking Coca Cola way ahead of schedule – a smart move otherwise I may not have finished in sub-15 hours.
Eighty miles into the ride and still freezing my butt off I realized that the water I could see inside my waterproof jacket was evidence that this jacket was preventing me from ever drying off after the swim! So I pulled over and took the jacket off. The idea being I had to get colder to get warmer. Luckily twenty minutes later the water evaporated - I was dry and no longer cold.
I also broke another rule. Never race in shorts you have never trained in (last time I tried this I was rubbed raw). But I had to this time! The day before I left for the race I opened up a package and found a pair of race shorts and shirt sent by the UK Rotary Club. See … I had made a Rotary donation in order to even get into this race – and they expected me to wear their flag, so to speak. Anyway, this time running in unfamiliar shorts turned out just fine. So the rule is now a guideline: it is safest to race in what you train in.
Here are a few other tips:
1. If kicked in goggles and you get negative eye suction, don’t keep swimming with the suction pulling on your eyeball, re-adjust those goggles quickly.
2. If the weather is cold, consider not wearing all your bike gear under the wetsuit. Take the time to dry off and then put it on dry in T1.
3. If you ingest a lot of alcohol the night before … chase the liquor with lots of water … if you can remember to.
Ironman UK Specific Tips
Ironman UK is one of the more beautiful race courses.
Logistics: If you are going to take a train from London, timing is everything. Commuter trains get very full. We were denied entry to the first train due to the size of my bicycle case. Alternatively, if you think a taxi from London might be a good idea – it ain’t. We could not even find a London taxi cab driver who knew where Sherborne Castle was and when they figured it where it was – they wanted 400+ pounds for the trip!
We stayed at the Summer Lodge in Evershot. An amazing place with one of the best restaurants Michelle and I have ever eaten at. It is so good that without great self-control you will become possessed and screw up your pre-race meal (stay away from the wine pairing menu). As we had to get back to London at an odd hour we found a local taxi that took us in a mini-van back to Heathrow for a measly 120 pounds! If you want a local cab and cheap airport service (from or to Heathrow), try these folks:
John’s Airport Travel
Johnstaxi@btopenworld.com
T 01935 472966 – M 07971 656416
Registration: This is a well-organized race. Not as good as Ironman South Africa but much better than Ironman Malaysia.
The swim: The water in the narrow man-made lake was around 60 degrees. Everyone was wearing a wetsuit. Some got in the water then immediately climbed out and quit because it was so damn cold. For those that passed the first dunk test, you have to swim more than 100 yards (a long way for untrained folks like me) to the starting line and then hover around until the race starts. If you arrive early to the start you will be waiting around and freezing for 10 or more minutes. The course is narrow so the good news is you cannot get very far off course. The bad news is you will get the living daylights beaten out of you – think mosh pit. At the end of the swim many athletes were cramped up from the cold. As they climbed out of the water, event staff and EMT’s dragged them off to the side of the course and stretched them out. My girlfriend saw a Japanese athlete stuck in a cramped up gimp position with blue skin being transferred from a rescue boat straight into an ambulance. Key point: it was cold.
The bike: Undulating hills. Wind. Rain. Cold. Hot. Something for everyone and all on the same race day. Best to prepare and carry enough clothes with you and a plan to cover up for rain, warm up, and cool off as needed.
One bloody dude I chatted with mid-cycling was blown over (crashed) when he was riding along next to a large hedge. All was well until a gap in the hedge where the left-to-right wind gust took the bloke down. So be ready for wind.
The run: Hills. Dirt. Mud puddles. Ankle twisters. The main thing about the run is that as the day progresses and the sun sets, there are sections of the course where the lights do not provide the necessary coverage. Be careful not to catch a pothole or tree root and trip.
Also, not all run course toilets are equally maintained so don’t wait for the very last minute to jump in a porta-potty – leave enough time to make it to the next – if the first one is a disaster!
Race photos: After returning home Michelle found a great digital race photograph of me being offered by Action Sports International for 25 Euros (about US$35). Then when the email arrived with the link to the photo, it came with this surprise term of use:
“Purchasing a photo, you may not display, transmit, distribute or otherwise exploit the photo, or any portion thereof, in any manner, including, without limitation, electronic reproduction, publication or any display of photographs, without the prior written consent of Action Sports International. Photos are intended for your personal use only. You may not use or reproduce a photo in such a manner as to suggest an affiliation with or endorsement by any product, person or entity that is not affiliated with you. You also agree not to modify, alter or otherwise manipulate any photo, including without limitation, adding other material to a photo, without Action Sports International prior written consent.”
Just great! I cannot link to the photo or send a copy to friends and family. When we emailed them and asked permission to show the picture in a Facebook photo album even with credits – they never replied.
What a rip off. From an ethical and transparency point of view Action Sports should disclose such terms to the buyer before they take your money. Their current practice is bad behavior. Buyer beware.
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Posted by: Mark Cathcart | November 05, 2008 at 10:03 PM
It’s often been said that to win an Ironman race you need a certain maturity – obviously nobody ever told Phil Graves that.
It’s not that he’s in any way immature but, at just 20 years old, he became the youngest ever Ironman champion when he defeated Stephen Bayliss at Ironman UK back in August.
Even more impressive is the fact he is in his first season of long-distance racing and had already notched up a win at the UK 70.3 in June (again beating Bayliss).
Posted by: Karlee | October 27, 2009 at 01:37 PM