Ironman Switzerland - Zurich 27th July 2014
This is it. The big event that I had spent the
best part of nine months training for. Endless hours and miles of biking,
running and swimming to get to the start line in Zurich.
Conscious of making sure that I minimised all
chances of things going wrong, we set out for Dublin in plenty of time to park
the car and get checked in.
Once in the airport we grabbed a bite to eat
and saw Stanley with his family. Stanley and James were watching the
commonwealth games triathlon on the iPad, so I didn't need an excuse to hook
myself up and with it too.
It killed some time in the airport and also
gave me a chance see the Brownlees absolute destroy the field and dominate for
gold and silver. It was great to see them be successful again.
Down at the gate we also caught up with Arran,
Laura-Jayne and baby Jacob. That was three of the Lisburn posse in place,
the other four, being Nelson, Jenna, Aaron and Jonny would be making their own
routes down to Zurich and we would met up with them down the over the next day
or do.
Rather surprisingly the flight to Zurich was
less than two hours and we were treated to some beautiful Swiss countryside on
out decent in to the airport. I did notice that it looked to be pretty
"rolling" and made me wonder if I had put in enough effort on the
hills during training. Too late to worry about it now anyway.
One. Of the biggest challenges of the weekend
turned out to be negotiating the exit from the airport to the train station,
booking tickets and then selecting the train. Somehow Stanley managed to
bag himself some first class tickets for the 15 minute journey which was both
accidental and unnecessary and they wound up with us in the cheap seats.
If we thought that the airport station was complicated,
then we were in a world of trouble I the main Zurich station which was massive.
All of us wandering around like lost sheep
trying to find a way out. Finally after a bit of assistance we got out
and manage to locate our hotel. The McKee clan headed their own way to locate
their residence.
"Red light district. Ooh suits you
sir!"
I knew when I booked out hotel that it was
located in the red lit district of Zurich but dragging our bags up to the hotel
from the station we were literally smacked in the face by it. Hookers I tell
ya, hookers.
All dressed up and no one to blow, was a
thought that went retouch my mind as they stood waiting to pick up some passing
trade. This scene was complemented by the neo-Nazi themed bar a few doors
down.
Food was the priority as it was getting late
and we were all pretty hungry.
Eventually we found somewhere to eat and I
succumbed to the enticement of Stanley for me to have a beer. I had planned to be Alcohol free until the
race but he talked me in to having a beer, or two! To be honest I didn’t need much encouragement
at all!
In true Swiss style the waiter shut everything
down bang on the stroke of Midnight.
Talk about being efficient and on time!
Pre-Race
Prior to
the race I was keen to get some short confidence boosting activities in, not
because it adds any fitness but more that it just calms the nerves and keeps me
loose.
So, Friday
morning saw Arran and I head out for a short 4 mile run out to the start area
and Expo along the lake. This was at a nice easy pace and allowed us to build
the excitement as the stands and finish chute were just being finished off.
Later that
afternoon we took advantage of the great weather and pretty much everyone from
the Club, plus kids and partners headed out to the lake for a practice swim.
At this
stage we still didn’t know if it would be a wetsuit swim or whether they would
be banned if the water temp was above 24.5 Deg C. Fortunately at this stage the water was
around 21 and it felt great. The swim
went really well and it certainly gave me a bit more confidence again. We topped it off with a running entry and
dive in via the Australian Exit. It’s
funny how you can feel like an elite ITU athlete and envisage that you look
svelte and cool as you enter the water with a running dive. The reality is somewhat different when it’s
clear that we look like Buffalo heading in to the watering hole. Not very pretty.
Following
the swim we all headed together to the Race Briefing (in English). This was cosy little affair with just about
700 of us in a marquee in close to 30 Degree temperatures.
Luckily for
me, Stanley and I had to leave a wee bit early to go and collect our bikes
which had been shipped over from Belfast for us.
I would
definitely recommend this option for anyone travelling for an Ironman. It is a
bit more expensive but saves all the hassle of travelling with in ungainly bike
bag and removes the potential for mechanical numpties like me, to make a
complete balls of putting the bike back together with the forks the wrong way
round or something.
Back to the
Hotel and then out for dinner with the whole gang. It was great to get pretty much everyone
together for a meal, even if poor Jonny got completely screwed by the Taxi
driver on the way over. Hopefully the
nice meal took the bad taste out of his mouth, (Happily he managed to get a
tram back to his hotel for a fraction of the cost of the rip off Taxi-Bastard)
I’d agreed
with Arran, Jonny and Aaron that we would take a run out the next morning
pretty early to get a ride up Heartbreak Hill, which is a famous part of the
course near the finish area. It’s short
but steep section which is lined by thousands of people on race day.
As Arran
and I rolled out from our meeting point in the City centre en-route to meet the
other Boys, Arran’s front wheel went in to a Tram Track which then sucked in
the rear wheel.
I heard the
familiar scraping noise as Arran hit the deck on his left side while still clipped in to the bike.
This scared
the crap out of me and I was really concerned for him as he had cut his knee
and leg up and was nursing his shoulder.
In
typically hard-core McKee style he was back up on the bike in a minute and
riding out again. He said he was OK but
the shoulder was pretty sore. (Interestingly he told me that he had broken this
Collar bone about 20yrs ago)
Anyway,
after the excitement of the spill, we met up with Jonny and Aaron and hit
Heartbreak Hill.
Now I’d
been doing quite a bit of training on a big hill near home and when I rode up
Heartbreak Hill I thought it was actually fine and reassuringly, nothing to be
worried about at all. That was a relief
I thought.
The
afternoon was spent watching my good friend Alex compete in the 5150 (Olympic
Distance) race in the pouring rain. It
was pretty miserable but Alex cracked out a pretty impressive time given his
moderate training in the run in to the race.
After
handing over some more of my hard earned cash to the Ironman / WTC benevolent
fund in the Expo and getting even more Ironman M Dot branded things that I
didn’t really need, (but felt I must as it’s important to let every who is ever
likely to see you, know that you are an Ironman by wearing all items of
clothing with an M Dot, drink from an M Dot cup, dry off with an M Dot towel
and shave intimate regions of your undercarriage with an M Dot razor) we headed
back to the Hotel.
Following a
good meal we were off to bed a bit earlier in anticipation of a dreadful
night’s sleep and an really early start.
Race Day
The Alarm
went off at 4AM and it woke me which meant that I must have actually got some
sleep. Surprising but not unwelcome.
Conveniently
the hotel had quite a few Ironman athletes staying in it, so breakfast was open
from 4.30 and it wasn’t a bad spread at all but I had come armed with my two
porridge pots just in case there was nothing else.
The
porridge followed by a roll and some juice was enough to get me set up.
The 5AM
taxi to take Stanley, Nelson, Jenna and I to the start area was late in
arriving. As if we didn’t have enough
trouble focussing the pelvic floor muscles in the act of sphincter constriction
the additional 15 minute wait testing even the toughest bowel control out.
Once out at
the Race site, the lake looked perfectly calm, unlike the aforementioned
bowels, and it was time to go in to OCD mode and get organised for the race.
Once I
checked everything a few times over and was satisfied that it was all in order,
all the Guys from the Club got together for a photo before we split and went
out own ways for the race. I have to say
I think that he photo is fantastic,
The race
this year was in two wave starts for the Age Groupers. The Pros started at 6.45AM, AGs aiming for a
sub 1H10Min swim went at 6.50AM and then the rest of us at 6.55AM. I was happy to stand with Stanley in the
holding Pen for the 6.55AM start. We
kept each other amused as the rather dull Swiss National Anthem was played and
pretty quickly afterwards, the Pros were off.
Nerves were
now jangling.
The Swim.
Well over
1000 of us ambled across the timing mate and on to the small beach for the
start of the swim. Stanley and I were
sticking pretty close together, which was probably stupid, as there was no way
in hell we could stick together in the carnage that would be the swim.
BANG! The gun goes and we’re off, after a few
careful steps to get in to the water I was swimming pretty much immediately and
it was the usual carnage as I expected.
Literally a foaming, bubbling, kicking, punching washing machine of
humanity.
The swim
course is two loops of a square, with the second loop taking a diagonal route
out to the first turn buoy.
From past
experience in Frankfurt I thought that things would even out a bit after the
first buoy which was about 600M out and I might get a bit of clear water. But
no! It was total mayhem for the full first loop and I don’t think I swam for
more than 5 metres without having to slap someone’s feet or have someone swim
over me, across me, in to me or grab my ankles and help themselves to a free
pull along. This was by far the busiest
swim I have ever done, not all that rough, just really busy.
I’d been
hoping for a swim of about 1.15 -1.20 and had worked out in my head that the
first loop was about 200M and the second would be about 1800M, so I hoped to be
out of the first loop at 40 minutes.
As I swam
under the bridge and round to the Australian Exit I was feeling good and pretty
relaxed and comfortable with my swim. Very much under control and this was
reinforced when I checked my watch running across the short stretch of land to
get back in for loop two. I was bang on
exactly 40 minutes. Things were going well.
Loop two
turned out to be significantly longer than loop one. I don’t know how I misjudged it, but it
wasn’t helped by a decent bit of swell that had stirred up over the last 10
minutes or so. There was chop and a as I
turned in to the wind on the leg parallel to shore, it became a much harder
swim in to the wind and chop.
The good
news was that it had thinned out a bit but to be honest at this stage I would
have been glad of some other people to hide behind and draft off but alas there
was a limited choice.
I worked
hard through the rest of the swim and readjusted my goal exit time to 1.26 as I
knew I was going slower with the conditions.
Back round
under the Bridge again and on to the exit ramp.
I got a bit of a hand from a volunteer to get me standing up and then
made my way through to T1. Just over 1H
26Mins for the swim. Not exactly what I
wanted but not bad and I felt really good at this point which was the most
important thing.
T1
My
nemesis. Anyone who has ever read one of
my race reports before knows that T1 is where I tend to enter some sort of
space time continuum and what appears to be just a couple of minutes to me
inside The Matrix is actually more like about half an hour to the normal world.
This time I
was prepared! I was going to race in my
Tri suit, so no need to change in to cycling gear and I had all my gear loaded
on the bike and really didn’t need anything apart from a quick dry off, put on
my shoes and get going.
Jonny was
sitting there as I walked in to the changing tent pretty much ready to go,
resplendent in his Lisburn Tri Club Cycling gear. After a few words of encouragement shared
between us he was off. He was looking
pretty fresh too which was great to see.
Somehow,
completely inexplicably, I managed to take over 9 minutes to get out of T1.
Personally I blame the really long run out for about 2 minutes of that time,
but I still took far too long. No
excuses.
The Bike
This is the
area where I hoped that I would make up some time over my previous Ironman bike
split of just under 7H15Mins in Frankfurt.
I was
disappointed in Frankfurt and all through my training I had worked hard on the
bike, training faster and doing more long rides than last time with the aim of
going faster round Zurich and leaving me in decent enough shape for the
Marathon afterwards. This was going to
be the test now!
The first
30KM of the bike is out through the City and along the lake shore. This is a flat section and pretty fast. My aim was to stay well within my heart rate
zones and keep to a steady 17-18MPH speed through this first section. Within
10KMs I found that I wasn’t making quite the progress I had hoped and was being
passed by A LOT of people. I was averaging the right speed but seemed to be
going a lot slower than others but I just reckoned I would see them again later
on s I hoped they might slow down while I stayed steady.
The first
30KMs passed OK once I settled in, got some fluids and food on-board.
My
nutrition strategy was to drink to thirst and eat a flapjack every hour and
take on a Gel every half hour. It was
noticeable that there was a lot of drafting going on along this flat section,
partly it couldn’t be helped because there are so many athletes but also
because some people are just CHEATING BASTARDS!
After 30K
the course turns inland away from the shore and there is a bit of a climb for a
mile or two before getting in to some lovely Swiss countryside and
villages. The terrain is mostly rolling
and the road surfaces are very good which makes progress very civilised.
Crowd
support was just OK, there weren’t too many people out but those who did bother
setting their Cuckoo clocks and getting out of bed were really supportive and I
would soon get used to the ubiquitous “HOPP HOPP” shouts of support.
I knew that
there were two main climbs on the course, the first of which was called “The
Beast.” On paper this looked to be OK,
nothing more serious than I had done in training and nothing to be worried
about.
At about
the 30 mile mark, I turned on to a side road and there it was! I could see a
Switchback bend up ahead and a steady stream of cyclists moving slowly up a
hill ahead of me. I shifted in to the
small ring on the bike and settled in.
The hill
was definitely tough, not a mad gradient but enough to let me know that I was
gaining elevation rather quickly.
Surprisingly
I felt pretty good and I was the one overtaking people, literally about 50 of
them, on the way up.
I thought
the climb was over as I rounded a bend, only to be confronted by another
stretch of climb, then the same thing happened again – more climb!
At the side
of the road, an English Guy was standing cheering everyone on and saying that
we were near the top. I’d heard that
sort of thing before and was wary of being too optimistic as my hopes have been
dashed on the rocks of lying spectators before.
Luckily for
me he wasn’t telling lies and I was only about half a mile from the top.
All in all
I’d gained over 200m in about 2.5 miles.
Tough but not too much tougher than the Pond Park Road – just longer.
I was now
looking forward to a lengthy descent to the lake shore again, however I
couldn’t believe what was next.
A bloody
relentless climb followed for the next 3 or 4 miles. This was just cruelty. This wasn’t outlined on the course map. Where the hell had this come from. This was harder than The Beast.
Lots of
thoughts of injustice and incredulity but I just kept plugging along and it was
one of those climbs that could be done in the Big Ring but just was a real
grind. So, I ground it out.
It did
eventually end and I was rewarded with a monster descent which included some
fairly hairy speeds which caused a stench of burning rubber from my brake pads
and a stench of “Brown Adrenaline” from the back of my Tri Shorts!
I chickened
out and held the brakes at about 45MPH on one of the descents as the road was a
touch wet and I noticed I was the only one going anywhere near that speed. Did everyone else know something I
didn’t? I like to think I’m a reasonable
descender but I’m not reckless or stupid, so I engaged the brain and slowed
down.
Coming off
the hill I swept back down on to the Lake shore road and back in towards
Zurich. A couple of miles out of before
Zurich City centre I noticed my Son Ben and Stanley’s son Andrew and waved at
them, slightly bemused why they were so far down the course. It turned out that the entrepreneurial Edgar
Boys had decided to raid aid stations for discarded Drinks bottles which could
be taken home, cleaned and sold. No guesses where they get that sort of spirit
from, eh Stanley?
Crossing
the Bridge in Zurich I saw Keara, Rosemary and the other kids and gave them a
nonchalant wave and tried to look as casual and fresh as I could. To be honest I was feeling really decent and
was on for about a 3H15Min first half of the bike.
The next
challenge was back past the Start / Finish area and out to do Heartbreak Hill
which I was feeling confident about as we had ridden it the day before and it
was fine.
Unfortunately
it turns out we had ridden the wrong part of the Hill and when I turned on to
it I was confronted with something quite a bit steeper than I thought it would
be.
“Don’t
panic” I thought, just get a gear and settle in, and that’s what I did. The crowds on the hill were fantastic and it
was a narrow gap between people to get the bike through. That was a real buzz.
Once again
there was another fast steep descent off the hill and then a fast flat back to
the start area for Lap 2. I had gone
through lap 1 in 3H17Mins which was not too bad and relatively on track for
what I had hoped.
I passed
the family again on the way out of Town and settled in for the ride along the
shore.
This time
however I was not feeling so good. Something had crept up on me and I was feeling
pretty weak. My average of 18MPH along
this stretch last time was now a slovenly 15MPH and I was working harder for
that speed too.
The wind
had picked up which didn’t help but I was just feeling rather empty and flat.
I realised
that I hadn’t been as strict about getting my nutrition in as I should have
been. The Flapjacks were proving hard to
get down as they were a bit dry. So I
chucked in a few more gels and decided to stop at the next aid station at 30k
for some gels, bars and a loo stop.
The stop
and gels must have done the trick because by 40k I was feeling better and
stronger again, just as well as “The Beast” was looming again.
I wasn’t as
confident this time around of felling comfortable up it, but as it turned out
it went OK. Not brilliant but OK. I ground it out and manage to pass a few more
people on the way up again.
The English
Guy was still there and when I remarked on that to him, he said “It’s Ok. I can go and get a Coffee and stand here, you
can’t.” Good point well-made sir.
Now that I
knew what was coming with the next big long grind I settled myself for another
slog and decided to try and eat whilst going up this one.
I’d grabbed
a Power-Bar at the aid station, unwrapped it and stuck it to my handlebars.
(Just shows
what sticky sugary crap these bars are when you can actually stick it to your
equipment.)
I ate it OK
and was glad to get to the top and enjoy the descent. Except I didn’t enjoy the descent.
Halfway
down there was a spectator waving his hands at me to slow down. It thought he was just being Swiss and didn’t
like me going too fast but as I got further down there were more people doing
the same and then Marshals with Flags too.
I saw the
reason why.
At the side
of the road was nice Carbon bike in about six pieces. In the field beside me was an Air Ambulance
with a group of medics working on a guy on a backboard on a stretcher with a
drip in him.
Bloody
hell, if he came off at anything close to my speed he was in real trouble.
This shook
me up a bit and brought home the importance of race time versus just getting
round safely.
Back along
the lakeshore, over the bridge and out for another go at Heartbreak Hill.
As I got to
the bottom of the Hill I saw my mate Nelson at the side of the road with the
Bike Mechanics. He shouted to me that
his gears had gone in to his wheel and that he would have to finish in a single
gear. That was going to be fun for him
on this climb I thought.
Sadly this
time most of the crowds had decided I wasn’t worth waiting for and had buggered
off to watch faster people already out on the run. Can’t really blame them.
As I neared
the top of the hill there was a bit of a crowd and the rider ahead of me
decided to put on a show and got out of the saddle and sprinted the 30 metres
to the top. The crowd loved it and
looked expectantly at me.
I waved
them off saying NO NO NO. Then I thought
why the hell not?
So I got
out of the saddle and hit a full sprint for about 30 Metres over the top, and I
got lots of slaps on the back and HOPPS from my adoring Swiss Fans. It was great and I’m glad I did it.
I came off
the Hill and pushed hard back to T2, making sure I was spinning the legs as
quickly as possible to flush them out ahead of the run.
I crossed
the mat in 5H55Mins. Slower than I had
hoped but not too bad and it left me broadly on track for a 13 Hour finish
time. The best news was that I was
feeling pretty fresh for the Marathon ahead.
T2
As I got
off the bike and ran in to transition the thing that I noticed was that my legs
felt really good even running in cycling shoes over grass. This might be a good
sign.
I grabbed
my Transition bag after racking the bike and got my shoes on, slapped on a bit
of sun cream and headed out for the run.
I’m still
not sure how I took quite so long as I didn’t really have an awful lot to do
but it still took me longer than I had hoped.
The Run
As bizarre
as it sounds, I’d been really looking forward to this part of the day.
Running is
what I’m best at. I’m not fast in
comparison to a lot of people but it’s my favourite part of the day and I enjoy
the long distances like Marathons.
In fact
this was going to be my 13th time over the Marathon distance. Lucky
for some and I hoped it would be lucky for me too.
Running out
of transition there was a decent enough crowd and the encouragement was nice as
I headed on to the course.
The
Marathon route is made up of four loops of the same route which would take us
through several parks in Zurich as well as along the lake shore. It promised to
be a pretty nice run and most importantly it was almost entirely flat.
I had
mentally broken down the run in to the four loops which made it easier for me
to get a grip on my approach and mental game.
Loop 1
would be a chance to familiarise myself with the route as I really didn’t know
it at all. It would also be a chance for me to check out aid stations, loosen
my legs and hopefully find some sort of steady pace.
Loop two
would be when I would consolidate the pace and really get the hydration and
nutrition going well. Loop three was one
where I knew I would probably have to dig in as the route would no longer be a
novelty and this was roughly from mile 14 through to 20, typically when things
can go VERY wrong in a marathon.
Loop four
would be the most pleasurable loop as I knew if I was still upright and in half
reasonable shape going in to this loop that I had it in the bag. Should I have to walk it in I knew I would
still be an Ironman again.
So I set
out with the plan in mind.
Almost
immediately I had to run up a small pedestrian footbridge and over some uneven
paving and towards the first aid station.
I also had to slow down as I was feeling great and running at about 8min
per mile pace. WAY too fast.
Shortly
after the aid station we went through an underpass with a short sharp incline
back up to the street. I ran up it and
passed quite a few people who were walking.
I made a mental note that I might walk it the next times.
The great
benefit of a looped Ironman Marathon course is that you constantly seem to be
near an aid station. In reality they are
only ever about a mile apart but in some cases they feel even closer. It’s just a running buffet and I was making
the most of it with Crisps, Pretzels, Powerbars, Water, Isotonic drinks and
Coke. Although I was determined to say
of the Coke until I really felt like I needed it because once you’re on it
you’re hooked. You can’t afford to take
some then come of it as the Sugar spike and then drop will kill you. You’ve gotta stay high all the time man!
The loop
then carries on through a Park and loops out and back a road and back in to
another Park with a little slope that I decided would be a “walker” the next
times around.
As I exited
the Park I was given the first of my coloured bands which signify which lap you
are on. Just another three of these to
go!
The rest of
the course follows through a couple more park areas and out over the main
Bridge at the heart of Zurich and along the other side of the lake shore before
a turnaround point heads you back towards the bridge.
The bridge
was an important point for me as it was where Keara and the kids along with
Stanley’s family had based themselves.
The support
and encouragement from them can’t have a value placed on them. Knowing they are there meant that I got a
spring in my step for about half a mile before reaching them, as I didn’t want
to look like a tired old fart as I got to them and then the encouragement I got
from them spurred me on for another half mile after seeing them.
It’s a long
day for spectators and I was so grateful to them all for being so positive and
upbeat every time they saw me. I’m not
sure I would have been as enthusiastic if it had have been me standing there
the whole day. They were FANTASTIC!
I completed
loop one, which in a sadistic twist takes you literally right past the
finishing chute. This is both motivating
but also tough as you need to run past the finish line and see other people
being called out as an Ironman knowing that I would have to pass it three times
before entering it to get a call out myself.
I just put
the head down and focussed on getting round the next loop.
Loop two
went reasonably well but I started to feel really hungry. At Ironman Frankfurt
they served a delicious Apple Cake at the Aid stations and this meant that I
felt filled up, whereas this time I was relying on Gels, crisps and pretzels
which were giving me energy and salt etc. but not making me feel like I had
anything in my stomach. I was beginning
to worry about running empty and bonking,
I slowed my
pace down to protect my energy reserves and hoed that by the time I got round
to Keara that I would be able to get her to grab a muffin or something for me.
When I did
pass her, I asked her to get something stodgy that would fill me up and when I
got back around to her again on the return leg she had a nice Panetone bun for
me.
Sadly it
was dry and I just couldn’t get it down, even after dipping it in water and
creating a soggy God-awful mess that in normal circumstances I wouldn’t have
served to the Dog, I just couldn’t swallow it.
At this
point I was also in need of the Loo and not just for a quick wee!
I decided
to use the Porta-loos just before the finish line as there were plenty of them
and I wouldn’t have to queue.
I ran up to
one, opened the door and the Gates of Hell burned in to my eyes.
Whichever
poor unfortunate soul had been in there obviously just exploded and left what
was left of their Colon-rectal tract all over the place.
I have
never quite seen anything like it – floor, walls, toilet seat, sink and door
were all covered in the output from a day’s worth of eating gels and sports
drinks.
Holding
back a gag I quickly closed the door.
I waved my
hands at the German Guy standing behind me waiting to go in and intimated for
him to find another loo but he ignored and opened the door to go on in!
As I moved
off to another loo, I could hear him shout out in disgust and saw him quickly
slam the door to the seven depths of shitty hell behind him.
I’m still
not sure if there was a person buried under the piles of shit in that Porta-loo
but I wasn’t going to check, but I do know that whoever it was probably ran a lot
faster as they were probably about 10lbs lighter for the rest of the Marathon.
My loo stop
cost me about 10 minutes, of which about 5 minutes were spent trying to wrestle
myself in and out of a soaking wet skin-tight Tri-suit in the claustrophobic
foul smelling cubicle. It certainly
added an interesting dynamic to the day and made me want to avoid any more
trips to the Loo!
Going in to
Loop 3 I decided that the best way to maintain pace and avoid a potential bonk
was to go on the Coke, and was I ever glad that I did. It was warm and flat which is normally
disgusting but this was Manna from Heaven and I gladly wolfed down two cups at
every aid station along the way. Sugar
Buzz doesn’t even come close to describing it.
I was like
a four year old who’d fallen in to a vat of Skittles and refused to surface
until they were all done.
Feeling
suitably sugared up I kept pushing on. Only stopping outside of aid stations to
get some Vaseline as I was beginning to chafe a bit. FIVE minutes to get Vaseline!!
The Swiss
are so efficient I had to fill in and sign a form like a bloody accident report
just to get a blob of Vaseline!!
Unbelievable!
It would
put you off lubing up…..almost!
Loop three
was the last time I saw Keara and the Kids at the Bridge as they decided to
head back towards the finish area to see me finish after my next loop.
I also saw
Arran on the last mile of his Marathon heading for home and looking good
despite his sore shoulder.
A bit
further on I saw Aaron finishing out his last loop and it was great to say to
him that he was going to be an Ironman.
He was looking pretty fresh and moving well with a big smile.
Big Jonny
was looking good but slowing down a bit and I could tell I was gaining on him
as we progressed through the loops, but he was looking well in control and
enjoying the experience.
Sadly Jenna
was having a tough time. She had crashed
on the bike and was now having some severe digestive problems which had reduced
her last two loops to a walk and she was making slow progress but was showing
massive determination that I admired just to walk and run where possible and
get the job done.
Nelson was
having a bit of trouble with an old injury and was walking a bit when I last
saw him but he was laughing and talking to another competitor and seemed to be
soaking up the atmosphere and crowd support.
Stanley is
one of the best endurance runners I know and I knew he would do well on the
marathon. Every time I saw him he was
looking smooth and he had that easy running style and I knew he was going to
finish really strongly.
My last lap
was when I decided that I wasn’t going to bonk after all and I wanted to finish
as strong as I could. I upped the pace a
bit but still felt very comfortable and pressed on harder than I had done for
the previous three laps.
Coming
through the park I celebrated getting my fourth armband knowing that should I
have to crawl the next 4 miles that I would be an Ironman again.
As I
crossed the bridge for the last time, Rosemary, James and Andrew gave me a
massive cheer and said they would see me later on. I was on such a high that I
think my pace over the last mile was around 8.30 per mile which is not bad at
th end of an Ironman.
As I came
round to the finish chute I was determined to do two things. Firstly do another
jump like I did in Frankfurt and even more importantly I wanted Paul Kaye, the
MC for the event, to call out my name and to hear him declare me an Ironman.
Approaching
the finish chute I saw Keara, Erin and Ben in the stand and managed to give
them a high five and they were going bananas. It was incredible.
I ran down
the finish chute and did another big jump in the air and Paul Kaye was standing
there and as I ran towards him I pointed at my number and shouted for him to
call me out. Obligingly as I crossed the
line I heard, “Jeff Curry, YOU are and IRONMAN!”
It was
fantastic and led me to do another massive jump as I crossed under the finish
arch.
Subsequently
the photo of this has come out and I have to say it is not just my best
finisher photo ever, but one of the best I have seen.
I got the
medal placed around my neck and the emotions and enormity of what I had
achieved just hit me. I was a two time
Ironman and had knocked over half an hour off my last time and finished in 13H
8Mins and 56Secs. I was delighted and glad to be finished.
Within 20
metres of the finish line I had a glass of beer (non-alcoholic) in my hand and
was talking to Keara and the kids as they had come down from the stand.
I just
wanted to get out and hug them all but I had to get round the barriers first.
Once I got
round it was fantastic to see them and see how much it meant to them that I had
finished and done well. They have been
through the journey with me and put up with the enormous disruption to family
life that it causes.
The hugs
were the best and I was on such a high that I just couldn’t stop talking. The weeks’ worth of Caffeine that I had taken
in with the Coke probably played a factor in that.
Eventually
I started to get cold and went off to get changed and get some food in the
Athletes Village.
When I got
back round to them we hooked up with Aaron who had a stormer of a race and was
relaxing with his family.
We were
then all able to see Jenna and Jonny crossing the line and become Ironmen and
then Nelson not too much afterwards.
It was
fantastic to be there with friends and Club-mates supporting each other and
share the emotional high.
Stanley
wasn’t too much longer and it was great to know that all seven of us had
finished and were Ironmen!
My buzz continued
and I was glad to get my hands on a real beer and enjoy it with the guys as we
would be heading off early the next morning on holiday and not be able to see
everyone the next day.
Conclusions
For me this
was always going to be a different experience to Frankfurt as it was second
time around. You always remember your
first and that is very true for most things in life.
I’ll be
honest, I found the training for Zurich a bit harder to keep the motivation
levels as high as they had been two years ago for Frankfurt.
I still
wanted to achieve the finish just as much but I was definitely not just as
dedicated to the achievement of every single training session every week along
the way.
I think
that was partly to do with having a heavier focus on my bike training and maybe
being a little bit relaxed at times about what was coming. I didn’t feel too stressed through training
and I was massively encouraged by obvious signs that my fitness was improving
along the way with PBs in 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Sprint and Half Iron distance
Tris.
I was
literally in the shape of my life and it felt good.
So, did
this equate to the dream race for me. It
was very close but just not quite there, which I think is normal.
I am
delighted with my finish time and all the ‘ifs and buts’ following a race make
me think I should have gone sub 13Hrs but I’m not that worried really.
Training
peaked at about the right time for me but I do think that I peaked about 3
weeks too early on the bike. I really
needed just to carry some of the longer ride endurance through a bit closer to
race time but it just wasn’t possible.
My run training was brilliant and it came through strongly on the
Marathon and I felt pretty much at ease the whole way through that.
I have been
so fortunate to the have the support of Keara, Erin and Ben through the long 9
months’ worth of training, It is a long time and a massive commitment and
disruption on family life. This can’t be
underestimated and Ironman training is a hugely selfish activity which requires
an understanding family, which I’m very lucky to have.
Keara has
been a rock throughout and been supportive and encouraging in the right
measures. It’s a long day out on a solo
effort but the reality is that the training is truly a team effort.
The depth
of the support is reflected in the total training effort to get to the start
line.
292 Training
sessions at 340Hrs
·
Swimming 61 Sessions for a total of 80 Miles
·
Cycling 181 Sessions for a total of 3000 Miles over 185 Hrs.
·
Running 92 Sessions for a total of 722 Miles over 98 Hrs.
It was also
fantastic to be doing the event with Buddies from the Club and also to have
been able to train throughout the whole thing with the club, especially out on
the bike with Mark ‘Psycho’ Vaudrey, Ian ‘Big Ring’ Pollard and Nelson ‘The
Fall Guy’ Shanks. Many others put up
with me along the way but these guys had the misfortune of my company on a lot
of occasions.
I also
credit the introduction of some speed to my running for the first time ever to Brendan
‘Hard as’ Stone for kicking my Ass on our lunchtime Tempo Runs. They hurt like hell at times but really paid
off.
I will not
be doing another Ironman. I will however
continue to do Marathons and other Tris up to the Half Iron distance. This will keep me motivated and hopefully fit
and healthy.
I’ve loved
this experience and would encourage anyone thinking of it just to go and do it.
As Ironman say – “Anything is Possible.”
Sorry for
the length of this blog but I wanted to get it all out there for my future
reference as much as anything else.
