A welcoming club on the North West of Edinburgh
Ironman Switzerland
By CoachKev | Published | No Comments
Ironman Switzerland – race report
Why on earth did I enter another Ironman? I blame Mark Rolland for getting me excited when he entered IM Quebec!
With a month to go I was trying to find reasons to pull out as I knew that I had not done the training – so it was a good job our summer holiday was two weeks in Club La Santa! I call it the reverse taper!
The holiday (training camp) consisted of about 30k swimming (3 outdoor 50m pools and a lagoon to choose from!), 500k on the bike and 95k of running. Much of that was done with Fraser (re ran about 45k and biked 95) giving me some good base pace work.
We arrived in Zurich on the Friday before the race to 35deg c temps and a water temp of 26c! We registered on the way to the hotel and then found our accommodation, a short train ride from the race site.
Fraser and I decided on a lie in on Saturday morning whilst Jacqui headed off early to do a sprint tri (her first race on my TT bike after a 2 minute lesson on the gears the day before!). Jacqui was faster than we expected, the train was later, the excuses are long and poor – we failed to get to the finish before she did!
I have never noticed it, but apparently I can get a bit uptight and grumpy in the lead up to a big race – so it was best for all that we got an early night ready for the 4am alarm race day.
As the water was so warm it was a non wetsuit swim – I have never swum that far without a wetsuit, and normally swim with a pull buoy to simulate the wetsuit body position – never mind, if I thought I was under prepared – I met a guy who started the swim in his undies as he had expected to be in a wetsuit – and decided to give up after a bit of breaststroke in case he drowned….
In the end I really enjoyed the swim – the water was great, and with the rolling start I had clear water – 1hr13 was slow, but to be expected without a wetsuit.
The bike was going to be a struggle – two laps, 112 miles. I hadn’t ridden over 100 miles in 2 years! I did my best to control my effort, and just enjoyed the first lap, including the climbs up the Beast and Heartbreak Hill. I was sorry not to see Fraser as I passed the race centre but he was busy racing in the Iron Kids competition and being interviewed in his club kit for race TV.
At the beginning of lap two on the bike one of my bottle cages fell off, so I could only carry one bottle – with the temp hitting 40deg c I was struggling to get enough liquid, and in a panic decked a bottle of iso drink at a feed station – my stomach did not appreciate that, and a bit later I had to pull over to throw it back up – normally I would do that whilst cycling, but with a 75kph descent ahead I decided that was not a good idea!
I was pleased to get off the bike after 6hrs 09mins, and it was great to see Jacqui and Fraser. The run was 4 laps of 10.5k, and I settled into a comfortable 5min 30 kilometre pace and walking the aid stations. I got into a routine of a sip of water, a bit of flat coke (full fat!) a pretzel stick and then a bit more water. That worked well until I had just finished my second lap, past the finish crowds (the fast age groupers were finishing) and had seen Jacqui and Fraser – I like to stop for a chat! When the wheels came off. 200m later I was bent doubled and throwing up to the extent that I saw the cereal of my breakfast 10 hours before – that worried me, as it probably meant I hadn’t absorbed much for most of the race. A spectator (who probably thought she had picked a poor place to stand) offered me some water, but I didn’t want outside assistance. I walked about 2k to where Jacqui was waiting, and in that time convinced myself I could not go on. Jacqui told me to get on with it and walk all the way if I have to. To be honest, I wasn’t convinced, and when I left here I thought I would go around the corner, sit down and cry; but decided against it in case she saw me! In fact I think she was worried she was going to kill me! I walked for about 6k, trying to take on fluid and some sugars, then felt I could run again, and managed to build up to running (or at least a poor imitation of running) in between the feed stations, and throwing caution to the wind even ran through the last feed station!
At last, I approached the finish line, with one last stop to say to Jacqui how grateful I was for her support – I could not have got there without her. Across the finish – new personal worse of 12hrs 30 – but one of the most satisfying Ironmen as I felt I had given it everything I had.
I went off to shower and find some food, but was soon bent doubled seeing bile – and on my way to the medical tent. I was hoping for an IV bag, as past experience suggests they are a great aid to recovery – but I got board waiting for the medical staff, so after drinking my For Goodness Shake headed off to find Jacqui and Fraser, and then some food and bed!
As Jacqui has said I am not allowed to enter an ironman until I have time to train, I have instead found a new challenge for 2016 – the Isoman, where equal time should be spent on each discipline – so a 7.5 mile swim, 95 mile bike, 26.2 mile run – hope to see someone else from the club there!
