Category: Ironman

The Swim

….it took us about 10 mins to get down onto the beach,I was so looking forward to getting in the sea so I could wee, I was looking around for the support, but spotted no one, and at the last minute I pulled my goggs down and stepped into that chilly sea for the 2.4 mile swim.

The terror I felt in those first few minutes from when my feet first touched the cold water is indescribable. You are along side another 50 people, all seemingly trying their hardest to drown you, I couldn’t see the first marker only 20 meters away, I couldn’t put my head under water, and I couldn’t make a single stroke.  I tried breaststroke, I tried to put my head underwater, I had sea water already in my goggles, I was knackered, I honestly could not believe for a second that I could possibly do this for over an hour and half and at this point my feet could still touch the bottom!

I forced my way to the first buoy, and into a slight amount of free space – my swimming was head above water, breathing either side, and not really making much headway, but then a real bit of space, and bugger me, I started to actually swim – it was the most fantastic experience – then some twat smacked me in the mouth..

From here on in the swimming was fab, the people were not, where ever you swam, there was someone else there, either with their feet, or their body, or hands crawling at your feet, open water is bad enough but at the buoys its hideous. I did notice that I was overtaking people, first time that has happened – everyone in the pool overtook me, but I was motoring along. Stoke, breath, spit out sea water, stoke, breath, pass someone, stoke, breath, bump into someone, stroke, breath, arrgghh somethings touching my feet…

Before long we were nearing the second buoy and the last bit before the end of the first lap – was I.. could I be… enjoying this?

Got into shore and tried to stand, failed, and tried again – woohoo sand, can I run, nah, just walk – empty the goggs, remember that I was almost popping with wee, any fan club, can’t see anything, which way to the sea, ahh remembered to wee..

Second lap was more of the same, the field must have been thinning, but it didn’t feel like it, any open water tho was amazing, I was really enjoying the swimming, until I got to the second buoy again – you can tell you are getting near as you start tasting diesel in the water, sea water is bad enough, but diesel as well, no thanks, unfortunately as I closed in on the final turn for some reason the water started to leak into my goggs, and effectively blinded me. It hurt, and I couldn’t see anything other that some shapes near me, the visibility in and out of the water  was about the same, and my eyes were stinging, it felt like I was zig-zagging all over the place. But the orange splodge was getting closer and then I was out. I was also very drunk, or so it seemed, I was so wobbly. I spotted the support crew, then I was up the zig zag to find my bag.

Tears streaming I got one arm out of the wetsuit and re-atatched my watch – stopping the activity I saw it was 1hr 17 – amazing, far faster than I had expected, a fine start to the day. I got some water into my eyes and stuck my shoes on, walked up the ramp and started the 1Km jog to the transition.

The Cycle.

Loads and loads of people shouting and cheering along the route, it was all a bit of a blur – no idea how long the run took, but before long I was along side my peg, and with no space to sit I took my blue bag and disgorged myself from the wetsuit. Luckily I had used body glide in the morning, so the suit came off quite well, I was a little dizzy, but managed to change into the right things, stuck my swim stuff into the bag and meandered out for another wee and to find my bike.

On the bike, started the GPS, and away I went for the 112 cycle…

There was a fair wind coming from the West, as I headed out of Tenby and turned left into it. I was feeling good though, pedaling was easy and I overtook a few people as we left Tenby and settled into a rhythm. The rules state no drafting, but with so many people around it was impossible, the run out to Pembroke was pretty good, I had plenty of drink, and one of the thins. First real hill was out of Pembroke and all was fine with the world.

Angle was the first feed stop, I made sure I stopped at all of them and took two bottles of water, and waved farewell to my old bottle, one high5 in one bottle and away we go…

Even though the route back should have been with the wind, it wasn’t quite – but all in all the cycle was monotonous, and grinding. I slowed through Sageston where I knew the supporters were, and feeling sorry for them, having to wait around for me to spend about 10 seconds passing them, I turned right through Carew and up the seemingly never ending but only 5 miles of hills towards Templeton.

I think somewhere around here I heard someone say that it was about half way, and I was feeling okay as I headed up the big hill towards Narberth, only once more around this and I’d be done I thought ;o)

Down the otherside and a pretty nice drop to the bottom of Narberth, when at about 35 miles an hour I lost my sight.

My eyes had been quite sore after the swim, but with the wind in them they just shut, and I had a real struggle trying to open them. Tears streaming I had to pull on the anchors and was weaving around, which must have been a nightmare for anyone trying to pass me, not that I could see them. This was something that continued to affect me on almost every slope, a little dangerous and the last thing I wanted to do was to crash out!!!

The hill out of Wisemans Bridge is the “biggy”, badged at 16%, it’s a bit of a killer. It’s not that long, but long enough – luckily for me, I have many hills like that on my training rides, so although not easy it was fine and dandy, passed a load of merry nuns at the top, and it was almost time for heartbreak hill

The most famous spot in Wales Ironman is Heartbreak Hill, coming out of Saundersfoot – it has some fantastic crowds. The start is barriered, so lots of shouting, but as you climb the never ending hill the closer you get to the top the closer the support gets, until they are right along side you – it must have been about one by now, and they were in full spirits, fancy dress and beer and loads of “banter” it really is quite an experience. Once at the top its “downhill” all the way back to Tenby and the second lap.

Back into the wind, and I must admit a little drafting was unavoidable, knowing you had to do all that again, and you start to begin to consider that fact that the pains in your knees are starting and you still have that crazy run at the end. Back through Sageston and the team were in high spirits, so great to see them flash by, up the grind, and finally back on the last leg. Second time up Wisemans Bridge saw some people walking – not me man, support terrific up there and the nuns were still at the top – slightly worse for wear. Then the final hill , the final push up through the still many crowds up and out of Saunderfoot and then down to Tenby and the final push.

Rushing into Tenby and I spotted my team again, at the bottom of, and half way up the hill I had forgotten about and hated with a passion. Just a small cycle though the town, passing all the runners already on the course, and into transition.

I stopped the gps – 7:30, exactly as I had hoped, I couldn’t believe it – two down, one to go!

The Run.

No time to think, into transition, drop off the bike, crowded again, got my red bag #1946. Found a spot to change and felt like I stayed there for half an our, when it was only 12 minutes and I was out on the feet.

This is when it really hit me, the fact that there was a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile cycle in the bag – both the furthest I had ever done in one go, and now I had to do a 26 mile run, just 26 miles, and that’s it done, ..just 26 miles… OMG.

I have finished a marathon before,  and I did two and a half in one go once, which nearly crippled me, and I had only run 18 miles in training, and that was with no other run or swim – but here it is, only five hours to go…

Haha, when I type that, it seems amazing, yeah man nearly finished, only FIVE hours left to keep going – that is completely bonkers! And after two miles, which saw me half way up the big hill I just couldn’t see how my body could continue.

This is where training, and your bonce come into their own – you can’t do it, but you sort of know you will – it gives me goosebumps now, thinking about it, that certainty that you will make it, you will keep going, you will push and push until you make that finish line.

That run is a bastard.

There is just so much up, its up out of Tenby, its up in the flat bit, it’s up towards the first turn around, it’s up to the second turn around, it’s up before the long down, it’s up in Tenby itself, then you have to do it all over again.

I ran the first lap, just stopping at each feed station (of which there were loads – five each lap) and saw the gang at a turn around point, which meant I saw them three times each lap, and in my head I thought, “Second time around I’ll just walk the big hill”, that was my next  challenge, run until the big hill again.

Second time around, walk hill, run the rest – in my head “Next time around I’ll walk the hill, then the other smaller   hill to the turn around, and the small hill before the next one”, just keep moving.

As I came down the hill the second time, nearly at half marathon distance all I though was, one more lap around, then I’ll be on the last one, and that will be it! Haha, what a thought.

Third time around was getting really hard, my back was killing more than anything else, I had some ‘brufen, but it was still bad, but at this point everything sort of blurs together, it’s just a lot of pain and I was so fortunate that it wasn’t impacting my moving forward. When I did the 100K run, I physically couldn’t run for the last 5K or so, it was impossible – here I could, and I relished it. Last time around…  before the final lap!

I got to the final lap, you pass the finish on each lap, which is which is sooo mean, but I was okay, time was of no concern at this point, just get to the bottom of the hill, then the top, then onto the downwards and that’ll be it.

Running down the big hill, the thrill, even at this point is incredible, people are still running up, they have at least one, if not two laps left to go, but you are on the last 2 miles, you are going to make it.

Running through Tenby for the last time, was slow, but the cheers and drunken shouts of support are magical – you are knackered, you hurt, you are both thirsty and hungry and not – all at the same time, and you know that this time, this time around you are not turning right, you are going straight on, straight on through the cordon of people and through the pain and through all the early mornings and through all the hours of slog and through finally to the end – the smile is massive, I couldn’t help but fist pump and skip and raise my arms and smile and smile and smile – and at the end of it all, all of the training and effort and 14hrs and 43 minutes of a Sunday in September, you realise it all – and it is so simply summed up by the loudspeaker shouting:

“Andrew, you are an Ironman!”

The Sign up:

I originally signed up to the Wales Ironman on the 20th Sept 2017, after coming home from the pub. I had really thought about the chance of entering it for a couple of years, but always thought that it would be too big. But once paid, and its not cheap at over four hundred notes, you are pretty committed… Here started my Ironman Journey..

The Training:

I have added a few blog entries, looking back, not that many – to cover the training, but basically I started properly in Jan 2018, and in the eight months I did:

Cycle – around 1500 miles over 45 rides with about 60,000ft of ascent

Run – around 630 miles over 92 runs with about 25,000ft of ascent

Swim – around 37 miles over 32 swims

Taking around 225 hrs which is just over 7hrs a week – which after doing it, seems alot less than it felt!!!

During that time, the longer swim was a mile and a half, the longest cycle 110 miles and the longest run was 18 miles…..

A daily breakdown was – swim, cycle, run, swim, rest, cycle, run

The Weekend:

Ironman is a big event, around 2400 competitors this year – and the “weekend” lasts from the Thurs to the Monday. Thurs and Friday are mostly for registration and the briefings, so I made my way down on Friday afternoon, into Tenby. First up was registration, whre you have to pay another fiver for a race licence, then you go and get your bags and the bracelet you have to wear until the end.

You get a – blue bag for your cycle stuff, a red bag for your run stuff, a white bag for your going home and arriving clothes, a pink bag for your extra trainers (due to the run from swim to transition), and if you have applied separately two “personal needs” bags which are the just in case bags you can pick up on course – if you dont use them they are binned! These are all put in a pretty snazzy ironman bag along with some stickers and your race number. You also have to “read” about 12 pages of rules and disclaimers so if you knacker yourself up it is entirely at your own risk and blah blah blah.

I was quite sad that I didn’t get the “tattoos” for your arms like you sometimes see, but I made do with the stickers.

After this I made my way down to the sea to check out where my pink bag went – this was on the zig-zag own to the sea, where you leave your trainers to pick up once the swim is finished and you have to wobble back to transition for the bike leg. I am very glad I did this, as some guys were really struggling to find their peg on the day…

The day was great, so as I had an hour to kill before the briefing I went and sat in the Imperial overlooking the beach and had a couple of crafty pints.

The briefing was an hour, in an absolutely packed hall – and just went through the gumph they had already published – this was a challenge in itself as the two beers were desperate to leave my body after half of it…

Once that was finished I met the family in South Beach Restaurant for another couple of beers and some pizza, where we bumped into Shane Williams (who whopped my time). And then off home.

On the Saturday it was racking time, this is where you stick your bike on the racks, and your blue and red bags on their racks.

I didn’t realise quite how stressful packing the bags is until Sat morning.      You get one chance really, so you have to make sure you have everything – for the bike there was: helmet, gloves, sweatband, top, bib-shorts, socks, cycle shoes, towel, race belt (with number!), run vest and run vest supplies – steak slice, Ibuprofen, Hi5 zero, glasses rag, Jelly Babies, one bottle of coke one bottle of orange juice and water, a cliff bar and a spare headband. For the run: shoes, socks, shorts, top, run sweatband, spare towel and another steak slice (just in case!).

Bike filled with inner tubes, tools, numbers and tires pumped we set off for Tenby.

Arrived around midday, and the car park we expected to use was full, so tried to find somewhere else, we ended up in the golf-course, which had big signs saying they would clamp us, so although re-assured by my wife they wouldn’t I panicked and took my stuff and told her she’d have to find somewhere else – what a wally. So me and Kate took the bags and the bike up to the transition area.

The bikes were all outside, all 2400 of them, quite a sight. I finally found my spot – 1946 and the bloke behind me, was waiting for his spot, 1947 – quite a coincidence? You get access to the bikes on the following morning, but not your bags.

I stuck my bags inside the big transition tent, along with hundreds of others, and tried to remember where they were. As you leave you get your chip – which is pretty important, and then that’s that.

I found out at this point how to manage your bottles. The way the feed stations work is that they hand out water/electrolytes in bottles, but you need some bottles to start with, so I had no idea how that worked, until one of the guys stated the obvious – you dump the ones you start with – which was very sad as my bottle had been with me for some years. We had a walk a round in the rain, got a pasty and went home.

Fish and chips for supper and bed just after 9:00 for me, and quite a restless sleep.

Event Day.

Alarm clock was set for 04:00, I woke for the fourth and final time at 03:57. Time to get it on!

I had a quick shower, made up my “lunch”, which was four lots of thins with marmite and pate, filled my cycle bottles, got my swim stuff ready: wetsuit, watch, earplugs, goggles, swim hat put on my lucky event pants, , some going down clothes and a couple of pieces of toast.

We got down about 05:40 and the car-park was virtually full, luckily we found a spot, and set off for the transition area to get the stuff on the bike and get changed.

By the time I managed to get into transition and stick my lunch and bottles on the bike it was  06:10, and I had 10 mins to get onto HIgh Street, so I changed into the wetsuit, and got my shit together, and followed the line of penguins down to the start.

Got to my start position, which was pretty much the back, as I had slotted myself into the 1hr 40 bracket, and stood around for 40 mins busting for a wee.

As there were so many people in the queue, I missed the anthems which was a real shame, and at around 07:00 we trotted forward. I stuck my trainers in the pink bag, along with my glasses – popped it on the 1946 peg and this was it – I was about to start the day proper…….

Hmmm, didn’t think this day would actually come, it seemed so far away when all this kicked off, at the tail end of last year. But here we are, two weeks today I will have either made the time limits, or not..

So the last update was two months ago, not sure what has happened since then. I know I have cycled to Worcester which was a good 85 mile, and went out with Mr Marr last Sat for a sixty with a few hills on.

I have ran an 18 miler, up hill and down dale – which hurt quite a lot, and I went in the sea – once.

I guess the question is, am I ready now – and yeah, I am. I think looking back I should have done better, but it’s quite an undertaking to train for one of these – it’s been many weeks of mostly doing something everyday – but looking back, it’s only about 10 hrs a week – which seems less than I thought it would be.

Anyway, I read the instructions, I know where to pour the food stuff and liquid, I know how to cycle and swim and run, and I think if I make it to the run within the 10.5 hr window I’ll hopefully make it around – can’t say more than that.

Other than that, I am pretty much sick of it – I can’t say I have enjoyed the training for this event, nothing like last year and the halves, or even the year before for the “big” run. But two more weeks and it’ll be over.

Maybe I’ll learn the piano next, and certainly have more lie ins.

Arrggghhh – two months to go!

Am I ready? Am I ….

So what’s been happening then in the training world, I now have a regular routine around:

Monday: Up at 5:30, into work in Cardiff for 7:00. Work until 7:40, then swim for 40 mins (1 mile), back, sweating for a meeting at 09:00, then work.

Tues: Out on the bicycle before 07:00, 25 miles, not too many hills (just 245ft) and blast around trying to keep a speed of 16mph+, easy when the wind is with you!

Weds: Run – out for 07:00, at least 6 miles – maybe a flat one, or one with hills (200ft+), my average speed seems to be dropping to around 9:30min/mile.

Thurs: Up at 5:30 again – mostly with a hang over, into work – 7:30 in the pool for an hour – last time managed 1.5 miles giving an iron man time of around an hour and a half (if it was in a pool!!)

Fri: Either run or bike at 07:00 depending on weather – 25mile or 6 miles.

Sat/Sun: have altered this between 12+ miles run, 50+ miles bike, or now I’ll be pushing up to get to 70mile and a half in one session (maybe two weeks before the real thing)

With only 8 weeks left, things are getting tight. I intend to cycle the long circuit for the Tenby route in a weeks time – will hopefully not scare me too much think it’s about 70 miles – so that will give me a really good understanding of what it’s going to be like.

Also need to get some sea swimming in place, may do some in Pembs when I am down, but probably need to get through a few more sessions – not sure where yet.

I did the CarTen a month or so ago, which went well, 106 miles in 7:40, but with 40 mins of stopping – and only 5400ft, the actual cycle is supposed to be 8000ft and an extra 6 miles – so its going to be real tight.

You have 10.5hrs to finish the cycle and swim and get out on the run, and 2:20 to finish the swim with 10mins to get on yer bike. So realistically, best possible at the moment is 1:30 swim, 20mins faffing and out on cycle: 1:50, at the minimum 8hrs on the bike which gives 9:50 – just 40 mins to spare. Then that leaves upto 17hrs for the run, around 6.5 hrs – best marathon 4:30, ultra marathon last 26 miles: about 6hrs, so it looks like, even with a fair wind, I may make 16.5hrs – gulp.

Been having a massage, seems to be making things better, but when I run the next day it hurts a lot. Also have a bad shoulder, which he is working on, but I think it’s just a kind of RSI from working and holding the mouse!! What a shandy.

Also had a leak in the house – into the lounge from the ceiling – Mr Negative here thought i’d have to get the ceiling down, but in the end it was just the toilet value leaking – fixed with a 20p washer (and slightly more than that for the call out).

Been a terrible couple of weeks for the cycling, only went out for a short one in weeks, did run up to Wentwood last week, which was a pretty good, if a bit tiring run – and it was snowing, and I saw some deer and a squirrel.

Still just about managing to get a swim a week in, still doing 1700m, in around 45 mins. I think i might be getting ever so slightly faster (but by seconds not minutes) which is not great. I think I should be breathing less, but I get very out of breath under the water. Pretty much anyone who has been in a lane next to me is faster – which isn’t delightful.

Running is still okay, not pushed the miles at all yet, do try to get at lest one run over 10 a week, with a couple of fours and a six if I can. Although this week I was in Cardiff for two days and had a belter of a hangover on Sunday ;o)

Mr fitness told me all my body is weak, and my “glutes don’t fire”, and all in all I think a bit disappointing. So I have just bought a kettle bell, and he showed me some simple moves – which make me sweat, so from April I will be giving it some.

I also need to stop eating so much..

Bank holiday tomorrow, so I don’t think I’ll get a cycle in again, April needs some focus as middle of May is the CarTen.

Week Stats (so far (sun – thurs)):

Swim: 1700m

Run: 6miles

Beers: None (omg – desperate for one)

I was going to be updating this weekly, so I could keep an eye on how things are progressing – now we are getting towards middle of March, so must be time for an update?

Tried to keep up with a swim and a cycle a week, and he normal 3 days a week running – which is still going okay. It snowed quite a bit last week which meant I gave up on the cycle – but did run through some impressive drifts last weekend – makes the run a bit more tiring!

Going into Cardiff one day a week, which means I am getting some time in the 50 meter pool in Cardiff, its a lot better training in this than when I trained for the triathlon, which was in a tiny pool, about 20 meters – but it does mean there are many more people there – every single one swimming quicker than I am. The other week there was a woman in a buoyancy aid, basically sitting up in the pool, and even she was going faster than me.

One day a week cycle is really probably not enough, and I have only just started to increase the mileage – max was 50 miles with the Tumble (big hill) which was very tiring, the rest have ben a 30 and a 40 – I intend to go out tomorrow, as I have a day ff – but I have the masseur coming at 2:30, so need to be back. Hopefully he’ll sort out my shoulder which is giving me pins and needles and maybe get my calves sorted?

At the moment, I am hoping for a 1:30 in the sea – which at the current speed of 45 mins for 1700 meters might just be doable – you have to get out in 2:20, so I need to aim for 1:30 – which is going to take some speed improvements.

The bike needs to be complete by 10hrs 30, so take away maybe 2hrs for the swim and that’s only 8hrs for the cycle – which is going to be tight – then you have 6.5hrs to complete the marathon – which I need to be looking at perhaps 5.5 for that?

Anyway – going to be tough.

This weeks numbers;

Swim 1700 meters

Cycle 0

Run 29 miles

Beers 10 ish

Trying to remember what happened!

First week of “real” training, been running for a year now – so it was all about the swim and cycle.

Went out twice, after first finding that my chain had welded to my bike through a little rust. First was just an 18 miler, get back used to it, and last Sat did just under 30 – which went okay. Slightly painful on the under-carriage after about 25, but all in all not too shabby.

I have had some new Shimano boots for Christmas, so along with me woolie boolies I was quite toasty.

Also went for the first swim last Thurs, which was a bit daunting – up about 5:30 to get into the pool for just before 7, do I not like swimming with people. In the 50 meter pool in Cardiff, whih is far better than the training I did before in the tiny Hilton pool. Nearly died on the first length tho, but got into a bit of a rhythm and I think, although the gps watch looks odd, I did 1300 meters in about half hour – so currently on track for something like 1.5 hrs or more at the moment, which is toooooo slow, anyway it’s just the first, gotta go back tomorrow.

Probably worth some stat collection:

Weight: dunno – pretty close to 13 I would guess, too scared to find out

Beers: maybe 8 pints, 4 cans?

Hmm, so I went and applied for the 2018 Wales Ironman, and unfortunately as there isn’t much of a selection process – other than sending a few hundred pounds to them – I was successful.

Incase you don’t know, an Ironman is a really stupid idea, it makes you travel 140 miles in a day, well actually in less than 17 hours, in the sea, on your bike and on your feet.

The distance is broken down into a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike, and then, at the end, when you are already knackered, a marathon (26.2 miles) – now that’s just nuts.

As I have been running a bit, I think it’s safe to say that that is the bit I am less worried about. After nearly drowning swimming just 1 mile in the tri, the swimming is the biggest worry, and as I have finished the carten a few times a hundred mile cycle is doable. The big problem is doing all three.

They reckon you need to get the swim and cycle done in 10.5 hrs, then you have a few hrs to get the run in. Now, a month after spending the spondoolas I am getting nervous.

I have had one swim of 1300 meters, which took half an hour, and I have managed a full 28 miles on the bike so far – so a long where to go – but it’s okay, I have three books.

So, it’s 15th Jan as I type just less than 8 months to go…..