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It all started in Jul 2008. My Career Manager told me that I was off to join HMS AMBUSH in build in Barrow in Furness, and after some quick checking I realised that I would be able to get some quality Triathlon training under my belt for a change. My previous year of decent training had been 2005 when I won Glasgow OW Standard Distance (by luck). Anyway I sorted out and agreed a training plan and chose IM France for my first IM as it seemed like a good idea - Friends had done it and I was unaware of quite how tough it was reputed to be – although not as tough as Lanza it is meant to be quite hard!! Suffering with a chronic Achilles injury my training was at first limited but as the months passed, as the Glasgow weather got wetter and colder and the days shorter, my training progressed and I regained my ability to Swim and Run and started the long road to improve my cycling (the previous 2 years had been mostly Marathon Running with minimal cycling due to work commitments). Many thanks to Gav and assorted others who came out on rides in dreadful conditions. I stayed mostly injury free though was susceptible to no end of annoying niggles. March brought the Balloch to Clydebank 1/2M and I ran 1:21 so knew I was going ok (on the back of a 3 ½ hour ride the previous day). On the cycling front I was training with a Powertap, a great piece of kit for long distance events as it really allows you to train consistently, The Lanza,week with GTC was fun, I put in some big miles with Torquil including a loop of the IM course – with a few stops on the way to eat mega quantities of carb rich food – finished off by a 10M TT back in to La Santa – dropping the Big Basque!!!!! By now I had invested in a second-hand Planet X Stealth Pro Carbon – again great bikes and really good value for money!!! April brought London Marathon and a time of 2:56 with a minimal taper – which was fairly steady so I knew that I was on track for the running. Two weeks after that though the wheels came off in style as I hadn’t given enough recovery after London!!! My power output dropped, my heart rate wouldn’t behave properly and I was really really knackered. Two weeks of light training ensued and I started to feel solid again. I then went out to Nice for a bike route recce with Leigh Storey (another Royal Navy Triathlete) who also did the race. (We ended up staying in one of Nice’s many red light districts – and the attractions were a bit on the ropey side) The bike route is good. Climb from sea level to 1130M in 70k, then some good steady downhills followed by a couple of technical bits that needed a bit more concentration. This promised to be fun on race day. Over the whole training period I had tried to get my swimming back up to scratch, with a goal of consistent 1:20 per 100 of the swim. However limitations on time in the water prevented this me achieving this. Many of you will recall the really tired creature who appeared at Sunday night swim sessions virtually asleep after another hard weekend’s training.
By this stage most of the training was done so by Mid Jun I was starting to taper. In the final few weeks running up to the race I just tried to keep myself injury free – meaning no mountain biking for a while) and ate sensibly – there was no need for 6000 Calories a day now – thank god – my digestive system was grateful for the reduction.
I decided to race on my Powertap; controlling my ride would allow me to come off the bike the freshest,. I was planning to ride a deep section wheel for the race but the weather forecast was for heavy showers and a good breeze – an 80mm front wheel in those conditions wasn’t my idea of fun so I reverted to std rims front and back knowing that it would give me more confidence on the descents and any technical sections (in the event the accuracy of French weather forecasters would be on a similar scale to Michael Fish in the great hurricane – we had glorious weather and no rain – virtually no cloud!!!).
I flew out on the Wednesday before the race and there were already a lot of racers around – and some very nice bike porn – I saw a bike in the expo for 8400 Euros. Christ – for most people the easiest way to go quicker would be lose ½ stone of blubber.
I went for a practice swim each morning at 0700. The first morning I found the water really salty but after two further practices I was used to it and didn’t see the salt as posing any major issues – unless I swallowed the Med. Entering the water on race day promised to be fun. The beach was like a boulder field – in a rush of 2500 people the start was going to be bloody painful, as was the exit & re-entry @ 2.4 k. We were promised that the beach would be matted for the exit!!. The weather for the first couple of days was hot but then it cooled on Fri PM and promised to be a bit fresher for the race – well I suppose that is what you get with rain. I also caught up with Leigh Storey. Both of us were acclimatising well, but knew that there was potential to really suffer on the run. The Seafront has minimal shade and I had heard horror stories of people dropping like flies on the run as their bodies – or minds – gave out.
I am lying in bed after the race writing this next section. By rights I should be asleep, it is after midnight, I sure need it, but my body wont play. My heart is beating irregularly…. Thump…. Thump…. Thump thump thump…………….. thump. A bit disconcerting to say the least and the rest of my body is equally confused. .
Last night’s sleep (night before the race) was poor. A neighbour was doing a good job of emulating the Ministry of Sound so despite getting to bed soon after 2100 sleep didn’t really happen, I think that I eventually got about 4 hours. The alarm went off at 0415 and I was out of bed PDQ and applied a liberal dose of P20 suntan lotion. I have heard good things about it, it is highly water resistant and lasts for upto ten hours (post race note, I have only picked up minimal sunburn – result – strong recommendation). A bowl of porridge and a banana provided breakfast and then I left the apartment @ 0515. There was a good sized queue to get into the transition area, but I quickly got all of my kit squared away once in, and was good to go for the 0600 warmup. A quick thrash around and then we all lined up for the off. The beach was wedged and the VERY rocky foreshore promised to be hard on the feet. I ended up standing next to a guy from the Argentinean Army – queue weird conversation for 5 mins. I was getting ready for a stampede at the start so was champing at the bit ready to leg it. At 0630 we were off, pretty much at sunrise, and I got a good start. I got away with the first wave in my section and quickly put in a hard few minutes to get clear of the melee. With 2500 fools rushing off the beach there were some minor scraps; One poor racer ended up all over my legs so I gave him a good kick in the torso and the water was clear for a bit after that. The first leg was 1100m straight out. With the swell, sighting was difficult but I just followed the people infront of me. There were again some tights spots at the turns, before we came into the shore for a quick turnaround and then completed the second leg. Looking around briefly I could see that I appeared to be doing quite well. There weren’t a huge number of flailing arms ahead of me and there were a shed load behind. The second leg was more spread out and I overtook quite a few - I turned up the dial a bit as I was feeling very comfortable. I hit the beach in 54 minutes – better than my expectations, and in 54th Pos – so was suitably chuffed. I took a while in transition. I had elected for a full change and a liberal application of chammy cream and a pair of ASSOS’s finest shorts. I was going to make sure that I stayed comfortable. Once out on the bike I settled into a rhythm. My Powertap benchmark was 215w with a flex of 20W for the hills. I knew this was sustainable and I could run comfortably off it. Needless to say I got passed by loads of people who were going out a lot harder on the bike. Some guys were hammering it and I was unsure whether they could sustain the pace. If they could all credit to them, they were better than me. After about 18k the first climb appeared; a 1 in 10 for 500m. Loads of guys powered up it, but I just plugged away – still pushing out 320w to get to the top, so those guys that pushed it really must have gone in hard. The course out to the 50k point was then undulating. Some up and some fast-ish down. All good fun and I kept overtaking lots of people on the downs, where they were recovering from blasting the uphills and were not putting the power down, I just kept plugging @ 215w. From 50k to 70k the route climbs to 1170m, a big old climb, the views were awesome. Again quite a few guys came past me here, but they had underestimated the climb and I took back a good few places before the top. From the summit there was maybe 30km of mostly downhill, some good, long sweeping turns and I had a real blast, took back a lot of places – over 30 - and just loved the ride. The scenery on this ride is awesome and the descending is fast and flowing, a cyclists dream. After a couple more cheeky climbs we started the main descent. Some very fast sections and some dangerous corners. Unfortunately a few guys had come off. The medical services were present but one looked as though he had gone into a crash barrier at speed and was all trussed up. This bit of descending was awesome and I really got into a groove. Taking more places and I might have even had a smile on my face. Eventually we got back down to the bottom and had a 20k flat section back in. It was only at this stage that I realised that I was on for a sub 6 hour ride. For me that was a good time on this course. I took the final 5k easy just to spin any tightness out of my legs and then got into transition. Throughout the ride I had been drinking and eating as much as I could. I reckon I took on about 5L of liquid, 7 powerbars, 2 gels and 1 banana on the bike, but had reached the limits of how much I could force down after about 4 ½ hours. Powerbar rejection is a pretty definite feeling so I was lucky I had some other stuff with me to eat.
By the time I started the run it was HOT, Nice is not noted for its Arctic-like temperatures and fresh breezes so the heat was a bit of a shock to the system and the thermals had to go back into the bag. Maybe need them for the Norseman if I ever do it. My mate, who was acting as bag carrier, reckoned the temperature on the sea front was 35 degrees and it felt every bit of it, there was also minimal shade and high humidity. Despite everything I had taken in on the bike I knew the run would be tough. The first 10k was fine and I started reeling in some of those who had blasted past me on the bike but from then on the run just got harder. Even though I was drinking as much as I could at every aid station I knew I was getting progressively more dehydrated. I consciously slowed through the aid stations to take maximum advantage of the cool showers, and even though they were only about 1.5-2k apart, I would be bone dry by the time a reached the next one, I just hoped I could hang on to the end without cramping. I kept a fairly steady pace (managed 4:51mins/km for the marathon) and by the time I had done 20k I was overtaking so many people it was daft. The flotsam and jetsam of an Iron Man was everywhere: Stomach cramps, pulled muscles and cramping, vomiting and god knows what else. I just prayed I would be ok. Come 30k I knew I had broken the back of it and knew that unless the wheels come off I would do a sub 3:30 run. My target had been 3:15 but in these conditions I would accept it. Towards the top of the final loop I went past Leigh. He was at about the 15k stage and looked steady, we exchanged grunts and then I pushed on to the end. The final 5k was a challenge. I tried to pick up the pace, but the thin line between running well and pulling a muscle was very present. Completing the final lap and knowing I was going to the finish chute was great. I crossed the line in 10:26.(219th fastest, 14th Brit, 42nd in 30-35 age group), my splits were: Swim 56:34, T1 7:29 , Bike 5:53:01, T2 4:42, Run 3:25:06
Straight away I headed off for a massage and got some water down me, 2L disappeared as if I was a sponge. This is where things came unravelled. I had my massage and that was it, feeling ropey anyway I had heard that the best IronMan recovery was an IV drip (Cheers Maisie), and in my position that sounded like a damn fine idea. I didn’t need to exaggerate things too much and the doctor was quickly called and I was stretchered off to the first aid tent. They hooked me up to a drip and gave me two bags. Within ½ hour I was feeling a right as rain. The best post recovery ever is a saline drip. Awesome. Anyway, from that point on I was sorted. That evening was great. A pint of Guinness, a huge steak, a bottle of wine and chilling out.
A lot of people deserve thanks. Particular mention to my long suffering Girlfriend Iona, she got very used to living with a Zombie, gave me countless Sports Massages and kept my muscles happy, without her support I would have found it much harder to finish. Also many thanks to the lovely people at GTC, esp Gav who I did some of my training with, now get on your bikes and do one yourselves.
Will I do another one. I would like to but I doubt it will be for a couple of years as work commitments are going to get in the way. I would recommend this race. It is a hard one, no doubt about that, but it is an awesome cycle, just brilliant and if your missus wants a weekend away in a place with some fine shops and restaurants I would strongly recommend it. Just extend your credit card limit. Nice is not cheap.
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