Rocky Road to Rot(h)...

Izoard

Although this is the largest Iron-distance tri (3,300 this year:eek:), it has a more low-key feel to IM CH last year.

I think the Challenge series tries to position itself as a friendlier version of WTC..certainly the pros are very visible - even Chrissie is out and about quite a bit.
There is a lot of talk about the 10 years of Roth, so I expect the race will be great, assuming it stays relatively dry.

Logistically, it is more challenging, given we are staying about 35km from the race site and with fixed bus timetables, have not had a chance to recce the course.

mcos on the other hand, seems to have covered most of it already...:)

Took the bike out for 15km this morning to fix the plenty of rattles that had emerged since the flight.

Weather will be warm, with some showers expected...

Early start in the morning (3.30am), but there will be plenty of hanging around on site, as I'm in one of the last waves (doing Tri Athy has it's uses after all...), going off @0730.

Just want to get on with it now!

nomadic

Good luck tomorrow!

griffin100

Great result man. How does it feel to be a multiple ironman finisher?

Abhainn

Fcuk me impressive stuff Izoard. Following you all day and accoroding to your spits it seemed to work well for you
11:30 friggin well done.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

You seem to have executed that race well. Well done Izo hope the body recovers quick enough for your next IM attempt:)

Izoard

Cheers lads - was just hoping to sneak in under the 12, but to IM PB across all 3 (1.18/6.01/4.02), well, I'm delighted with that.

Got my medal from Andreas Raelaert - New world record holder:)

I'll put the report up in the next day or so, with all the gory details...

mitresize5

savage stuff - well done, Im sure your delighted

Izoard

Friday


Had to fly to Munich, with the added bonus of a hotel in a super-noisy part of Nuremberg.
Roth was 35km away, so we were tied to a fixed bus time in and out of the event site.
Head down for registration with a fairly low key vibe to the whole event. Plenty of pros wandering about – Chrissie W is everywhere, smiling and talking to everyone – she’s a genuine superstar.
Definite sense of something special kicking off on race-day, particularly in light of the 10 year history.
With 3,300 individuals and 2,100 relay participants, this event is massive and showed @ registration – uber queuing!
The pros are out in force at the pasta party, and everyone talking up the best & biggest race in the world…
My cycling top never recovered from the weather @ the HIM in Westmeath, so made a tactical investment there and retreated back to the hotel.

Saturday


The euro-pop club downstairs ensured that sleep was at a premium – good practice for tomorrow night.
Spin out on the bike with handangeo to work out the rattles on the bikes. Some required German mechanic intervention, so we ended up in the Tesco of German bike shops, where one of the on-site mechanics tut-tutted his way to fixing the various ailments.
Sorted and read to head to bike-racking at T1 and to drop off the “run” bag. Kept it simple – runners, socks, gel belt and a catering pack of Vaseline.
The swim start/T1 is great and you start to get a feel for what’s ahead.
As usual, I spent most of the time drooling over the bling on show – incredible.
Head back to the main site for race briefing. Finally catch up with shotgunmcos – he’s giving us the low down on most of the bike course – the boy has been busy since he got here!
Briefing is mainly about drafting and nudity J
Back to the hotel for an Ironman pizza and up to the room for some last minute panicking about race gear.
Brian Campbell is staying in the hotel – someone mentioned on boards he was out injured – he’s looking pretty healthy now and ready to race.
Weather is supposed to be cloudy in the morning with a hot afternoon….
Race Day:
Up at 3.00am - Breakfast of Champions and transfer to the event site at 4.15am.
Given I wasn’t off until wave 10 @ 0730, there was going to be a lot of waiting around.


Spent a good portion ogling the pros – all looking lean and mean and great to see them going through the same as the rest of us.
Start to unpack my gear – Ehhh, where are my cycling shorts? Fcuk!
I wore them for the spin yesterday and never put them back in the T1 bag. The plan was to slip them over the tri suit for some more cushioning – I guess we’ll just have to test the comfort of the Skins suit.
Drop in the bike bag and head to watch the pros start.
In what seems like about 10 mins, they are out of the water and flying through transition.
Campbell is not far behind them – looks like he’s on for a great time…

Swim:
7:30am: In the water and heading towards the start when they lift the rope for my wave – sh!t – was hoping to be in the vicinity of the rope when it kicked off!
Straight forward swim up and down the canal, but it quickly became clear the randomness of some of the waves – I had guys from the wave behind me powering through and was catching guys from 1 and 2 waves ahead.
At one point a guy from the previous wave passed me…doing backstroke!. He powered off into the distance – my efforts to hang onto his feet, lasting about 10 seconds.
Easy swim, but about 3 meters from the exit the guy in front starts to breaststroke and I get a serious right foot to the face.
Head spinning, I’m stumbling up the steps to T1.
1.18.07 (IM CH 1.22)

T1


Easy and relatively fast. Looking at the pros, their transition times are in and around 1 min – what was I doing for the extra 3 mins? Still don’t know….

0:04.17

Bike

Down on the bars straight away.
Nutrition plan was to alternate Nature Valley bars and bananas every 30km, starting at km 0. Liquid was water with Nuun tabs.

mcos had warned us of the first fast turn on the course – he wasn’t joking – the hay bales were there for a reason!
Spinning along at 30kph, but still getting passed by loads of bling bikes.

Biggest climb of the course hits @ 30km – looks steep, but like Switzerland, the road surface ensures it is a smooth climb in a low-ish gear. Plenty of up and down on the plateau after this climb, but the descents are straight and gradual, great for getting some speed up.
The locals were out in force and enjoying the beer from early on – fantastic support.
70km we hit a hill and the support is 3 or 4 deep on either side. Great feeling, but I was expecting more of the Solarberg climb.
2km further on, I realized that the Solarberg was ahead.
What can you say – I was impressed with Heartbreak Hill in Zurich, but this was mental. I was laughing all the way up.
There is just a wall of people in front of you and they jump away at the last minute – absolutely brilliant.
Elation is quickly replaced by the fact that you have ~110km left to do.
Easy spin back to the start of the 2nd loop and still hovering around 30kph – should be knocking 10-15mins off my time from Zurich.
Raelert comes screaming past at one point – looking like he was out for a 5km TT.
No sign of 2nd place pro close to him, however about 15mins later 3 of us are overtaking each other when we hear a Teutonic roar behind us – pro #2 is looking to get past on a fast corner and he’s not happy.
Solarberg had thinned out a bit on round 2, but still a great boost when you are flagging around 160km.
From what I can gather, my 2nd lap split was only 2 mins slower than lap 1.
I drank 5 bottles of water/Nuun, but nothing coming out the other end by the end of the bike.
Should I be worried?

Bike Total: 6:01.54 (IM CH 6.25)

T2
Legs feeling good – armed with runners, gel belt, a fist full of Vaseline and the truth, I headed out on the run.
0:03.20

Run

At this point, a 4:30 marathon would get me to sub-12, so I was torn between protecting the sub-12 and going for the sub-4 run.

My plan was to replicate the IM CH run and try to minimize stops for the first 10km.
Ran the first 4km @ 5:15km pace, right where I wanted to be. However, I was heating up fast and knew that this was going to be a problem.
Once we hit the canal path, I felt I was going to totally over-heat. Now, I usually relish the heat, so this was a major warning sign.
I made the decision that I was going to get sponges and water at each aid station (every 2.5km).
Of course this was going to slow me down and meant that the sub-4 was under serious threat, but the alternative was a meltdown and potentially risking the sub 12.
Interestingly, many of the uber-bikers who had passed me, were now walking/shuffling along and would be lucky to crack 5 hours for the run.
It is said about IM that it is all about the bike, but any time I do a longer distance tri, I’m amazed at how poor these bikers are at running.
Mentally, I’m flagging at this point as I’ve had to throttle back a little early.
However, I’m passing a lot of people, so I’m back on track fairly quickly.
Getting so addicted to the sponges, that my shoes are completely saturated – need to lay off them for a while.
I’m passing the time by hollering at any Irish I see running the other way on the canal.
Generally works well, but the flag is so small on the numbers that I yelled at a few “Patrick’s” from France and elsewhere.
The fact that you are running alongside people coming the other way means you start obsessing about where they are and the various turnaround points.
Invariably, your spirit is crushed when you realize the turnaround is not at the next bridge/around the next corner.
Through half way in 1:59 – sub 4 is still on.
Whether through lack of concentration or the onset of general fatigue, the 3rd sector was where I lost it.
Slipping out to 6:00+ min per km for a reasonable portion of the next 10km was going to leave me too much to do.
At this point the sun had disappeared, so I was stopping less for sponges and water – no excuse really.
Handangeo passed me coming the other looking very strong – he’s definitely on for sub-11.
Force myself to pick it up one last time to try to get to sub-4. It is like the living dead, weaving my way past the walkers and stumblers who looked so strong 4 hours ago.
Back down to 5:45 mins per km.
At this point the sky is pitch black – it is going to chuck it down very soon.
Pile it on for the last 2km and the rain starts to hammer down, but it is too late to rescue the sub 4.
As I head for the line I switch to elapsed time and see that it will be 11:30 – my disappointment is turned to relief and joy – job done and I can enjoy the incredible finishing area.
4:02:51 (IM CH 4:07)

Overall 11:30:26 (IM CH 12:07:07)

Straight across the line and handed my medal by Andreas Raelert – new world record holder.
Incredible that he is here in the pi$$ing rain handing me my medal, 4 hours after he’s finished.

Reflections:

Iconic event and super day, but is slightly hamstrung by the logistics of the before and after.
Crossing the line, I was relieved to have hit the A-goal, and no great desire to sign up again.
However, this morning the delayed satisfaction has kicked in, so I’ll stick something in the diary for a couple of years hence – I don’t want to again break the promise that I made last year of no IM for a couple of years.
Hopefully, this reprise of my IM journey will give some reassurance to fellow Boardsies (you know who you are…) that it is possible to do this with patchy training, demanding jobs and busy family life.
Go for it.

Abhainn

Izoard seems like that was almost the perfect race for you.
Fantastic race and that race report was just an enjoy to read.

Did you know that 11:30 well beat the 11:46 time of the first ever race of this kind way back in in 1978 ?

catweazle

Well done and a very enjoyable report as always - I am sure while there may be no Ironman next year there is bound to be something else thats just as strenuous

nerraw1111

Great job, sounds like it went like clockwork.

Oryx

Izoard, thank you. Thats such a great report of a great race. Massive congratulations on your achievement. Youre an inspiration to peeps like me who are still climbing through the distances on the triathlon ladder.

interested

Super job champ. Based on everything Ive heard from the race this year you executed a very good run at the tail end of a tough day. Congratulations on the p.b and enjoy the break. The bit about the backstroker in the middle of the waves made be chuckle

Izoard

Abhainn wrote: »

Izoard seems like that was almost the perfect race for you.
Fantastic race and that race report was just an enjoy to read.

Did you know that 11:30 well beat the 11:46 time of the first ever race of this kind way back in in 1978 ?

This makes me feel great:)
However, I read a story from Bob Babbit (been reporting on IM since year 0) where he talks about his first event in Kona in the late 70's.
He brought a tent, thinking it was a 3 - day event!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I enjoyed reading that, well done again.

El Director

Super report and a super PB dude. Well done on a very well paced run

Macanri

Great going Iz,
Really well done.