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IM Switzerland - An Turas Fhada
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I've heard it's a tough HIM course alright. This is the bike elevation:Best of luck for the 70.3 in the UK...supposed to be a savage course!
Then again, it's got nothing on the Sally Gap - Wicklow Gap - Sally Gap combination, so I'm not that worried. I'll see what the organisation is like. I've heard the same that it can be hit and miss but it's all relative to the person who experienced it and what races they're used to. Someone who's used to Mdot events will expect a high standard, I would imagine, compared to someone who's just done a few local sprints. I'll know come Monday anyway. It does look like it'll be another chance to get used to some heat. The forecast is for a scorcher on Sunday at the moment.
I probably heard it somewhere and never saw it written down. Whatever it was, I decided I wanted out!Great report very enjoyable. Peleton not pentalon FYI.BTW, what's your plan for Zurich?
I had a lot of trouble sorting out the bike on the flight I had booked with Aer Lingus so I'm flying with Swiss Air on Friday and my bike will be coming on a separate flight (yes, it was that complicated!). I'll fly back over on Wednesday then. I'm staying in one of the hotels listed on the IMCH site.0 -
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IM – 5: Ironman 70.2 UK
This week I took to the seas to compete in my first “M-dot”, official Ironman race. It was the Half Ironman UK, or Ironman 70.2 as they are now called (because they it totals 70.2 miles), over the distances of 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run (a half marathon).
Some stats:- Swim (1.9km): 36:26
- Bike (90km): 3:21:11
- Run (21km): 2:05:03
- Total Time: 6:12:33
- Nutrition: 2l of electrolyte, 3l of water, 5 powerbar gels, 1 powerbar, 2 banannas, 3 meusli bars, 2 cups of gatorade
- Calories burned: 4378
Several people seemed to have bad encounters at the race previously, so I was braced for the worst but it turned out to be an exceptionally well organised race. Probably the best organisation of any triathlon I’ve ever competed in.
I arrived over on Friday, via the ferry. I set up the tent on a camp site right beside the location for the race, which was hugely handy. To say that the race, at Wimbleball Lake, is in the middle of nowhere would be an understatement. Don’t expect roads wide enough for two cars or phone reception, but do expect a beautiful location and a laid back few days. Registration opened on Friday. There was a small tented village created for registration, tri shops and some other things there, as well as the large transition and changing tents.
I arrived after 6 so I was too late to register on Friday so I simply relaxed for the evening.
On Saturday morning, the buzz was beginning to grow around the camp site and the venue. I swam about 1km of the swim course in the organised swim, which was hugely useful. It was a lake swim, which is my favourite type of swimming. No salt and no chlorine. I registered at 11:30, sorted out my gear and checked in my bike. They operate a “clean transition” there (and maybe in all M-dot events). This means nothing is allowed around the bike in transition. You are given three bags to sort your gear. On exiting the water, you collect your “Swim to Bike” bag containing helmet, bike cloths, sun glasses etc. and change in a big tent, putting the wetsuit into the bag. After the bike leg, you grab your “Bike to Run” bag from the numbered hooks with runners etc. and change into them before dumping the bag (which is rehooked by voulenteers) and legging it off. The bags:
There was a Q&A with the pros in the afternoon before the race briefing at 4pm. It was mildly interesting to hear from the pros although it didn’t seem like they were too pushed to be there.
The race briefing was where the excitement started, I think. There was about 1000 (of the 1400 competitors) crammed into a big tent and I was surprised to hear that IM 70.2 UK is considered to be the toughest 70.2 course in the world (of Mdot 70.2s that is). After the race briefing, we drove some of the bike course before getting quite lost on the very, very rural roads and we settled for dinner in a pub we stumbled upon. I was there with a friend from London who had driven over to register on Friday after a rowing race. She was driving back for the finals on Saturday morning before driving back over to race on Sunday.. and I thought I was hardcore).
The alarm went off early on Sunday morning, at 5am. Derude and other 90’s dance were blaring from the finish line a few hundred meters away and the camp site was already buzzing in equal measure with bike tires being pumped up by eager looking competitors and sleeping bags being around worn by people with that “why do I do this?” early morning pre triathlon look. Amazingly, it dropped below freezing overnight and everything was iced up. It had warmed up by the 7am start.
The swim course:
At 6:45, everyone assembled at transition before the walk over to the swim start. This was a mass swim start with 1400 people starting at once. I was assured it would be rough and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve become quite comfortable in the scramble at the start of triathlons at this stage. Here is the one thing I’ve learned: don’t stop swimming. If someone elbows you, keep swimming. If someone swims over you, keep swimming. If you swim on top of someone, keep swimming. It’s that simple.
One thing I remember in the race briefing is that they said it’d start right after we hear the national anthem. I thought this was a joke, but it wasn’t. At 6:59am, God Save the Queen serenaded 1400 people threading water in Winbleball Lake. I’ve never been fired up before for a swim start, but I was for this one. The hooter went and all hell broke loose. I was about a third of the way back and towards the centre. As I said above, the first 50 meters is a scramble where you feel like you’re in a washing machine. It settled down surprisingly quickly though and I got into a relaxed stoke quickly. I took two elbows during the race, one at the start and one at the big squeeze around the first bouy. Both times my goggles were knocked off. It didn’t bother me too much, I just fixed them and went on. I had my strongest swim to date, I swam it in 36:26.
The run to transition was up a steep hill and at the top, I found my racked Blue bag with my cycling gear in it. There was a big tent with seats to change in and volunteers to help anyone who wanted it, which made a big change from the open transitions of shorter races – 2 minutes in transition makes less of a difference in a 6 hour half ironman than a 1 hour sprint.
After the change, I unracked the bike and started the cycle. I noticed then that the day had warmed a lot from before the swim. I checked my watch then to see my faster than expected swim and felt strong. From driving the bike course, and from the fact that I spend almost all of my time training on the bike in the mountains, I knew it was going to suit me a lot – very hilly, with some tough climbs. The first 30km or so on the bike, I spent getting my legs into cycling mode and reminding myself of the plan – to hold back slightly on the first (of two 45km) lap on the bike and to take on plenty of food. I did this, and stuck in the vicinity of a few other strongish cyclists on TT bikes. I took mental note of the climbs – where they ended, how steep they were, and how hard I could push the descents. On the second lap, I somewhat put the hammer down and pushed hard. On the first of the steep climbs, it felt great to leave the TT bikes behind. I noticed the biggest difference in my descents. Perhaps most are unused to cycling in steep hills, or perhaps because I train in mountains more than most, but I was able to push it a lot harder on the descents that most others and it was here that I gained most time.
Two things of note were the extremely well stocked aid stations along with the nicest volunteers I’ve experienced (I dropped a power bar that was handed to me from one and he ran 30-40 meters at full tilt to catch up and hand it to me), and the oasis’ of 50-100 supporters who gathered at the tops of the hardest climbs with cow bells, whistles, drums.. and generally made as much noise as possible. It created a fantastic atmosphere. I got a few grins of acknowledgement from people waving gigantic English flags for the fact that I was wearing an Ireland cycling jersey (it had to be done).
By the end of the cycle, I was still in good shape. I finished it in 3:21:11. The second transition was more of the same, with the bags and the volunteers – mostly dispending sun cream. It had turned into a scorcher and was, I guess, about 25C at that stage.
The run was a 3x7km lap course and the course itself was quite hilly and mostly offroad (which I liked a lot – I much prefer running offroad on uneven tracks to monotonous roads, there’s less time to think about how hard the run is when you’re concentrating on not breaking your ankle with the next step). I was very conservative on the first lap of the run. Owing to all the trouble I’ve had with tendonitus, I really didn’t want to inflame it early. On the second lap, I pushed it a bit harder and when coming one of the bigger hills around the 10km mark, I felt it start to get sore. I think this was inevitable (I’d been making good progress at the physio to loosen out the hip, but the program I was following was still just at 2-3km runs). It ebbed and flowed for the rest of the run and never really threatened to prevent me from finishing. I followed a strategy used by the current IM world champion, which is to walk through every aid station to take on water, food and energy drinks. It worked well and I will follow this for Ironman Switzerland. There really is no point in trying to drink on the run, it just ends up all over your face.
I found the last lap of the run very tough. I’d put this down to the low volume of running I’ve been able to do for the last 5 weeks. The finish line was both welcome and great fun. It was lined with people making a great bit of noise. It’s this Razzmataz that makes the Mdot races worth racing.
I finished the run in 2:05:03 and the whole race in 6:12:33. This put me in 431st place out of the 1450 entrants and 16th out of 61 in the 18-24m age group. I was really happy with my time, even though I know from the 1:36 half marathon I ran two months ago that I could break 6 hours with some more running. Not just completing, but actually racing the swim and the bike make me a lot more confident about Zurich. I’ll move more towards maintenance mode for these two disciplines in the remaining 4 weeks and do everything in my power to prepare for a marathon. It’s going to be tough as hell. But it’s going to be possible.
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IM – 4: The Peak Period; The beginning of the end
This week marks the start of the second last period of training (before the final taper week): the Peak Period. From November to April, I built up strength to sustain long sessions. From March to June I turned this strength into sport specific endurance. Now it’s time to turn sport specific endurance into Ironman performance.
In an ideal world, I would have adequate endurance built up to comfortably complete all three distances easily. I feel I’m there with the swim and the bike but injuries meant I ran late with building up running miles - I never reached the top of the build phase (running 40+ km a week) - and so I will forego the peak running workouts in favour of building up as many marathon pace miles as I can.
Peak workouts are typically shorter and at a constant, high intensity. On Saturday, I went out with a short distance triathlete and did 105km on the bike between a flat session out to Wicklow/Kildare and a 30km time trial. It’ll mean sacrificing some endurance in the hope of boosting race performance and freshness. Fewer sessions over all, and working on 4 hour muscular endurance sessions rather than 8 hour slogs. The same in the pool - 2km at a faster than race pace rather than long race pace swims.
The peak phase starts with a rest week after the Build period (and the Half Ironman last Sunday).I took Monday off and worked on active recovery on Tuesday and Wednesday. I went to the physio also, for a dry needling session. This is basically acupuncture where short needles are used to relieve tight points in muscles (it sounds worse than it is!). It can be a good compliment to deep tissue massage which physios often use for the same ends. It relieves tension with more accuracy but can mean longer recovery time afterwards – my hip was still sore as of Sunday, which was a bit annoying.
Doing four less sessions this week has left with some time I forgot existed. I’ve used this to train for the mental side of the IM the best way I know, reading Dean Karnazes:
“The [race] would be primarily about one thing: not giving up. It really didn't matter how long it took to get the job done; what mattered was getting it done. This was an exploration into the possibilities of self. Being a champion meant not quitting, no matter how tough the situation became, and no matter how badly the odds were stacked against you. If you had the courage, stamina, and persistence to cross the line finish line, you were a champion.”
Three weeks to go. The cake is baked, it's now time to attempt the tricky icing job to finish it off.0 -
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Week IM – 3: Hitting Full Stride
This was a solid week: 4.2km swim, 274km bike and 46km run. I hit a few milestones that I’m really happy about. The first is that I ran, for the first time, a weekly total in excess of a marathon: 46km. Given that I planned to ramp up running last and then hit some injury problems, I wasn’t sure if the last minute ramp up was going to happen at all. So it was great to build up the miles somewhat.
The second is that on a long cycle on Saturday, I ticked over to 25,000km on the bike in the last 3 years. That was a little celebration somewhere between Rathangan and Tullamore.
I did 4.2km in the pool spread across two morning sessions on Monday and Friday. Both were sets of short, fast repeat sets – 6x250m on Monday and 10x200m on Friday.
IM rules state that if the water temperature for the swim is above 24.5C, wetsuits can’t be worn. I saw this for the first time this week. Lake Zurich is currently 23C. It was 22.5 during the week, so there is actually a chance that wetsuits could be banned. That would effect the swim quite a bit. I really notice how much higher in the water (and therefore easier it is) I am swimming with a wetsuit as opposed to without.
On Thursday, I did a 20km bike speed session over the bars, pushing hard. On Saturday, I cycled down to Ballinasloe in Galway. This was a 170km cycle due west. It was a tough cycle as I was going straight into the wind for the full 6 and a half hours. This made it difficult to keep the heart rate below 75-80%. There was no let up, but it was a good chance to go through the bike nutrition plan for the IM, and perhaps simulate the increased effort and calorie expenditure if it’s above 28-30C on race day. This was the route:
The reason I cycled to Ballinasloe was to go and watch TiAthlone on Sunday. My brother and two friends were competing in the open Olympic distance race. There’s always a good buzz around Athlone on the triathlon weekends. Especially this year because it was a European Championship event. It was the first time in 3 years I’ve been at a triathlon as a spectator.
It was a lot of fun but by the end, I really wanted to be out racing. “Patience” is the only thing I could tell myself, “..not too long to wait now”.0 -
Week IM – 2: The Taper Period
Looking at the training time charts, it’s going to look like a mountain descent from this week on. Last week, I broke 20 hours between swim, bike, run and Strength & Conditioning. This week, it was less than 10.
I did the main weekend session on Wednesday, because I was away for the weekend. That was a 13km run followed by an 87km bike over Bohernabrina, through Blessington and Lackin and back over the Sally Gap. It was a really nice evening and the cycle back up hill to the Sally Gap from the west was incomparably more pleasant to the same cycle in driving rain a month ago.
I concentrated a lot on stretching and foam rolling this week – working on exercises to activate the glute when running to try to compensate for the over dominant hip flexor. This probably a result of spending several hours on the bike where the hip flexor and quads do most of the work. It seems to be working well as I haven’t experienced any more problems running. I just did one 1.4km swim session with a 2x600 main set, done at a good pace.
On Saturday, in heat of about 30C, I went running in Paris. I started the first 9Km in a park to the west of the city and then did a loop around by the Eiffel Tower. It went really well, I finished at the pace I’d run a 5km at and had no problems at all with the tendonitis I’ve been trying to keep at bay. Because of space restrictions travelling, I brought the lighter Nike Zoom runners that I’d used for shorter triathlons over the last 3 years. I had been planning to use the more cushioned Assics Nimbus in the IM because of the length of the I run. I hadn’t actually trained in the Zooms for months, but it really went well. I’ll do 2 or 3 more session in the lighter Nikes and if they go well, I’ll stick with what’s worked and go with the Nikes. This was the route I travelled, the Champs Elysees was a bit too far to squeeze in but I did get the Eiffel Tower onto the route.
All in all, this was another good week. I’ve conquered the peak of the training mountain, although I’ll continue to ignore the taper for the run for one more week to try and squeeze in a last few long runs – I really do think they’ll help on the day – both physically, and a lot more importantly, to put my mind more at ease on the bike as my first ever marathon approaches.0 -
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IM – 10 days: The Great Plan
Thursday marks 10 days to go and the last of the build runs I scheduled. I’ve been tapering on the swim and bike for a week now, but I wanted to squeeze in a last few big runs. I did 27km today between AM and PM runs, sandwiched between 20km on the bike.
On Monday, I went out mountain running up to Three Rock. 15km in total. I had planned only 5 or 6 km but it was the type of run where you forget what you’re doing and just keep going. There’s something about mountain running that’s fun in a way that road running isn’t. You’re too busy watching your next step to feel tired and running down a mountain is just fantastic fun.
I think the biggest time grabber now will be the organisation. It’s somewhat symbolic that various planning and stats for the IM has now taken over the entire white board in my bedroom:
I got my bike fit on Wednesday. My right knee had been getting slightly sore on long cycles and it felt like my foot was turned unnaturally so I went to get the bike fit one last time. The cleats had indeed been turned too far in (by me when I originally replaced them). The way to fit cleats, it turns out, is to cycle with your foot on top of the pedal but not clipped in. When you clip in then, the foot&leg should track the exact same – so that the shoe isn’t pulling your foot off the plane that it naturally takes. The cleats should be moved until this is the case. It feels a lot better now.
Training now gives way to sleeping, eating and planning.0 -
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IM – 4 days: The Calm Before the Storm
Last week was week two of the taper and week 39 of the training program. There’s now four days to Ironman Switzerland.
I did more this week than last, owing to the long runs and mountain running I did on Monday and Thursday. I ran greater than a marathon (45km) for the second time in three weeks, which is encouraging. I’m glad I got those last long runs in rather than tapering for the full two weeks on the run. It’ll make a difference starting the marathon, I think.
The last weekend spin of the training program was scheduled for 2 and a half hours. On Saturday morning, I did this 55km out on a flat route over Bohernabrina, Blessington, Kilteel and back. I did my best to keep in Heart Zone 2, which means below 150bpm. This was quite difficult at times, it’s very slow. I’ll be aiming to keep within sight of this for the first 90km of the IM however, so it was good to know in advance what this pace will feel like: frustratingly slow. It’s supposed to reap dividends during the marathon however, so I’ll be going for this strategy.
For the fact that there’s little training to go save for 30 minute swims in the morning, it seems like a good idea to recap the training for the last 8 months. In total, some stats:- Swim: 115.8km (58 hours)
- Bike: 6033Km (252 hours)
- Run: 575.8Km (58 hours)
- Strength and Conditioning: ~90 hours
- Accidents: 1 (coming off the bike on ice in January)
- Cost: Somewhere in the region of €4000 (Race entries, physio, equipment, bike maintanaince, travel)
- Races completed: One Adventure Race (WAR), One sprint (Velentia Island), one Olympic (TriAthy), one half-Ironman (Ironman UK 70.3)
It’s humbling to have cycled over six thousand kilometers and have cumulatively run ten marathons. The hardest past of the training was by far and away the 7am starts in the dark to cycle to the gym for S&C sessions during the winter. In hindsight though, this has been the training that’s paid off the most. You don’t appreciate S&C when it works, because nothing happens. But when it doesn’t work however, you know all about it when you try and go long.
The highlights have been most of the other times: the long cycles, the mountain runs on Lug ná Choille and the races. Velentia Island in Kerry and Ironman UK 70.3 in particular. It’s hard to beat the excitement of racing, especially when it’s turned into a mini holiday.
I’ll fly to Zurich on Friday and the race starts at 7am on Sunday morning. I’m looking forward to getting over there and experiencing the ridiculous buzz and hype surrounding these races now.
So that’s it then. In the words of Dean: “For those of you who do make it, you will cross the line as a different person. You will be forever changed by the experience. You will learn more about yourself in the next day than you have known previously in an entire lifetime”.
The hard part is over; Now for the even harder part.0 -
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