Ironman 70.3 UK

The day before the race I had to register, rack my bike and put all of my race things in separate bags (swim,bike and run) then I had a look around the swim exit and transition area to get myself familiar with the layout. I went to the race briefing where there were all 2000 competitors In one tent (quite a sight). after the briefing i bumped into a guy that I have swum with a few times at the Serpentine lido in Hyde Park and his wife and him very kindly gave me a lift back to my B&B. Got back to the B&B for a bath and dinner of a big bowl of couscous a few bananas and some nuts, then hit the sack around 7:30 Got up at 4:30 to sort the remainder of my things, made up some energy drinks for the water bottles, put my BYB and race body transfers on. Had breakfast ( big bowl of Muesli with macca power & coca nibs and a few bananas and headed to Wimbleball lake with Paul O’ Neill  and his wife Sarah, they very kindly gave me a lift from the B&B. There was a queue when we got near the site so me and Paul got out and headed to the transition on foot to get there on time. I got to the transition to do some last checks on my bike and a few people asked about BYB which is nice so I gave them a card and asked them to help spread the word. I then changed into my tri suit and my wetsuit, got my goggles and swimming cap,then we were told that there would be a 15min delay to the start of the race which was nice as I don’t like rushing on race morning. So the time came when we made are way down to the start of the race, Wimbleball Lake.There were two wave (pros, 18-39yrs) (& 40 Plus) as there were 2000 people so they 1000 people in each wave starting 15mins apart. So the time can get in the water, OH MY GOD !!!! SO BLOODY COLD ( I heard after the race about 10 people got hypothermia) well I took about 5-10mins to warm up, so treading water until the gun sounded sorted that..OH yes and of course I forgot to mention that we all sang “GOD SAVE THE QUEEN” before starting gun fired, which was nice. So the swim was really good, the water was pretty clear and you could see ahead of you and to the side,because it was pretty early in the morning the sun was shining straight into your eyes so I had to change my breathing patten slightly. All in all though a good time. So after the swim I started the 400+metre uphill run to transition, it was mainly on grass  and coconut matting, so in transition you had to grab your bike bag from your numbered peg,which contained all of your gear for the bike stage of the race then go to  an area to take your wetsuit etc off from the swim and put them in the bike bag (blue) then putting on your number bell ( with race number) helmet, bike shoes, gloves etc (obviously keeping you tri suit on during the whole race) then giving the bike bag back to a volunteer who kindly re-racks it for you, then i made my way to my bike and ran it out to the bike mount line and started the bike course. The bike course it a little challenging I must say, there are nearly 6000 ft of climbs in the 56 mile course but of course with that there are some descents that you can get some wicked speed up to 70km +. I’m not going to lie, it was a really tough bike course, the first lap was not too bad, but the second was where the hills really started to hurt. On the bike nutrition was I had 2 Zipvit caffeine gels ( 1 per lap) about 4 quarters of bananas, 2 x 500ml of zipvit extreme energy drink and about 10000ml of water. So by the end of the bike stage I was hurting but with all the running I have done during May I should be fine on the last discipline. I got to the bike dismount line and started running to rack my bike in it’s place, I then ran to my run bag (red) where my trainers and cap were and put all of my bike stuff in the bag and gave it back to a volunteer. I saw my parents who had come to watch with my Auntie Jill near the run exit which was a good lift. I started the run feeling pretty good, not knowing what lay ahead as I had not previously trained on the run course. I thought the bike course was bad… the run course was much worse, all mixed surfaces with a killer climb ( which you do 3 times) and up hills at different angles. I did realise that I was still wearing my cycling gloves and arms warmer from the bike stage doh, so soon as i saw my parents I gave them over. I was really hurting about 8 miles into the run but I kept going as fast as I could, at some point not really, but it was great to have the support of my Mum & Dad and Auntie Jill on the run course which really helped. The nutrition I had was 1 x zipvit caffeine gel, flat pepsi, 3 quarters of banana and 2 cups water with about 5 poured over myself. As the run stage neared its last 300 meters I started running faster and by the time I was on the famous Ironman red carpet I was sprinting towards the finish,…yippeee I DID IT !!!!!

All in all it was a really good day, there where lot of support on the course with people shouting “go on BYB” so I hope people will log on the site.

I definitely doing this event again next year and will train much harder for it…..BRING IT ON !!!!!

TIMES:

SWIM: 38:34

T1: 11:04

BIKE: 3:43:40

T2: 4:03

RUN: 2:15:53

TOTAL:6:53:15