Ironman 70.3 UK 2013
Location: Wimbleball Lake, Exmoor, Somerset Date: 16th June Distance: Swim 1900m (lake), Bike 56miles (5905ft elevation) Run 13.1 (1323ft elevation) Weather: Cold, raining (hard), windy
This was my 2nd time competing at this event and I really like the course because it is very challenging and takes you into and around some stunning countryside of which living in London you don’t get to see a great deal of.
My Mum very kindly offered to drive me down to the campsite on the Tuesday before the race ( she would then go on and meet my dad and sister and go to my Aunties for a few days).
It was a really relaxing journey down to the campsite stopping of a few times to break up the journey and to fuel up..
When we got nearer to the site we noticed that the campsite i was staying on was wrongly marked on Goggle earth and was actually a bit further away than expected which in a flat part of the country is really not a big deal but in somerset it is a rather different story.
So rather than being (as told by the owner of the campsite) a 2 min walk to the start area. it turned out to be around 20 mins…….UPHILL.!!!
Oh well..So..got myself all unpacked and tent up and spend the next few days checking the run course and the swim start..the weather was not great as in rained from early morning to about 4pm on most days…
So Friday arrived and I went to register and get my race pack and had a quick look round the expo..
Saturday we had to rack our bike and put our bike and run bags on our number hooks in transition..and there was a big race briefing in the afternoon going though the whole event.
SO race day arrived..Up early at 4am and straight into what breakfast i could eat..( i always fine in hard to eat on race morning).
got my kit ready and started to walk to the transition to get in my trisuit and wetsuit ready for the swim start..
RACE
SWIM: The water was bloody cold and i was quite happy that they mentioned in the briefing they were not going to hold us in the water like they did last year (15mins). I when slowly in just to get used to the temp and then thought…SOD IT and fully immersed myself which was a good idea as it took a good 5-10 min to get warm..
As usual they played “GOD SAVE THE QUEEN” before the gun went off..
The swim went well and I was at a good steady pace throughout…
TRANSITION SWIM-BIKE
Then came the lovely run up to the transition which is where you felt like your heart is in your throat.
Got out the wetsuit fine as baby oil works great..just forgot a towel to dry my feet before putting my socks on, put helmet, arm warmers on and cycle shoes and gloves and my cycle jersey although i realized that the zip had broken when i tried doing it up…I couldn’t leave it out as it had spare inner tube inside …DAMM..so i put my race belt around in and set of the the bike mount line..
BIKE
Good solid bike mount with not probs, The course is 56 miles…oh yes and with 53 hills with the first part going straight uphill.. the weather by this point was getting really bad…very cold and windy with heavy rain (not great with a flapping cycle jersey..)
The bike as a whole went ok..as most of my training has been run based this year it felt a lot worse which was mostly to do with the weather and the fact that I had to stop a few times to sort out my cycle Jersey..
TRANSITION BIKE- RUN
by this time my legs were shaking because of the cold and it was really hard to used my hands so it took longer that normal to get through this part..
RUN
As I came out of transition I saw my Mum, Dad, Sister, Auntie and her partner all cheering me on..their support throughout the run made a big difference.
This was the best part as I felt strong the whole way through and passed good few people..
I was not that happy with the time but due the the conditions and the transitions being slow because of that I pleased…good thing was that my run time was nearly 15 quicker than last year..
TIMES
SPILT TIMES TBC
SWIM:
T1:
BIKE:
T2:
RUN
TOTAL: 7:02:09
PHOTOS TO FOLLOW