Galway 70.3 Race Report

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For anyone who's bothered to read, Iv'e written my first race report having tackled a new distance. Below is how Galway HIM went for me...

Preparation for the 70.3 in Galway didn’t exactly go according to plan. Having started a new internship only a few months previously and being inundated with paper work, exams and long commuting distances, it was always going to be a balancing act trying to fit the training in.

The day before the race, I was unfortunate enough to have to put in a 12 hour working day in limerick before travelling back to Galway in order to prepare for the following morning. I have to thank the organisers of the race as they arranged to take my bike and transition bags off me two days before the race and rack them the day before as I wouldn’t have been able to do it myself due to work commitments. This meant having to arrange to meet the timing guy on the morning of the race which turned out to be far from ideal.
On arrival in Salthill, as I entered the transition area, I was directed back to leisureland to liaise with the timing guy. Alas, this was not as easy as easy as it sounds. By chance I had also bumped into another competitor who had forgotten to collect his chip the day before and so we both ventured to find the chipie guy. After 20 minutes of confusion and several treks back and forth between transition and leisureland we finally got sorted, exchanged a nod of the head, and were on our way...

There was a great buzz around transition and plenty of big age group players were recognised, some being given interviews by the MC. One thing that really got to me in transition, was the midgets, my god, they were eating me alive and with that decided not to delay. On to Blackrock for the swim start. .

Swim:
As I entered the water, the anticipation really began to build and the nerves were kicking in. Had I done enough training in the limited time I had? Would I pull it off?, were all the doubts going through my mind. As I eyed up the swim course, I took deep breaths and prayed for a good swim. The horn blows, I start slow and steady and try to find my space in the 200 or so other athletes. 5 minutes in and I was feeling comfortable until next, a nice kick into the face, and then one to the chest to follow. That swimmer obviously didn’t want me drafting off him.... Oops! The swim felt a lot longer than I had anticipated and those 400 meters on to the Olympic distance, I really felt. Thankfully I was able, to suck it up and battle on to a swim exit in 42 minutes. Delighted with that as I had pitched for a sub 45 min swim.

Bike:
I had a disastrous start to the bike leg. When I opened my T1 bag, the first thing I taught was that I had brought everything but the kitchen sink. Instead of keeping it simple, I had packed numerous amounts of clothes to cater for every type of weather, tonnes of varied types of nutrition, sunglasses and chamois cream amongst other bits and bobs. What was I thinking; I didn’t need half of this stuff, why did I pack it?? I’ll never know! Against my better judgement, I packed a lot of the nutritional stuff into the back pocket of my tri suit, and the sunglasses on top of them. The first 10km of the bike, I had to stop twice with sh1t falling all over the road out of these pockets. On the second stop, I threw the glasses onto my head, and dumped the rest with the exception of two energy bars. Best choice I ever made. Now I could settle into the bike. Out as far as oughterard was fast and I was equally as motivated by the other competitors as I was by the spectators. Moycullen was particularly special as the support there was beyond exceptional. It was nothing short of a full blown street party and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. From oughterard to mamm was very windy and I struggled some. Somewhere around this point I seen the pro’s on the return journey and calculated that they were approx 30 – 35km ahead. Having started 5 minutes before me (I was wave 1 swim start), that’s bloody impressive. On to mamm, and turn around, the return journey was much faster with a small wind at my back. As I entered salthill again, there were still cyclists leaving and although I knew they had been in much later waves, and all was equal, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them knowing what lay ahead having pretty much nearly just finished the cycle leg. Another satisfaction with the bike over and had my strongest 90km bike time ever in 2:47 min.

Run:
T2: another disaster.... I had been having problems with shin splints in the weeks coming up to the race and was wrapping them in K-tape to combat the pain and so pre race decided that race day would be no exception and I would wrap them. What happened here was nothing short of stupid. It took an eternity to take my compression guards off my calfs due to the sweat, and when I finally did have them off, I could not for the life of me get the K-tape to stick to my legs, again, prob due to moisture. Abandon that, threw the K-tape away having wasted about 7 minutes and back on with the calf guards! Set out on the run then and was feeling good for the first 5 km with no cramps keeping the pace at 5min/km pace. 10km, things starting to slow down, 13km, things dramatically starting to slow down, I look at my watch.. 8 min/km. Oh deary me. Struggling so bad in the head winds coming back up the prom into the sea breeze, there was a lot of talking to myself going on. I was suffering so bad now that I made myself a deal, that I would allow myself to walk through the aid stations for 60 seconds as long as I ran the length of the prom every time. Fantastic plan, and it worked. I continually tormented myself mentally and fought away the negative voices telling me to stop. At the 15km mark, I was greeted by a family member and this gave me a great pick me up. There was also fantastic support from onlookers which helped a great deal, especially being from the local club, they were more inclined to shout me on. 19km passed, 20km passed and I was almost home until bang. I really hit rock bottom, I developed a massive headache and an overwhelming feeling of nausea, I was sure either a vomit or a faint was sure to ensue. Ended up walking the entire last km with the exception of the finish chute and was never so glad to see the finish line, all be it 8 minutes outside my goal time of 6hours.

Run: 2:7mins
Total: 6:8 mins

Post race:
I laid down beside the medical tent, dead to the world for about 15 minutes. I was greeted by one of my fellow club members with some concern for my well being. The race had really taken me to a new level of endurance and it was obviously showing on my face. 10 minutes and half a bottle of water later, I was feeling a lot better and was able to venture to leisureland for a post race massage and some food after a quick chin wag with some family members.
I felt I learned more about triathlon in this one race than I have from any other sprint or Olympic race I have done in the past two years. From nutrition failures to pacing and simply organising appropriate race gear correctly.

“never again” were the first words out of my mouth at the finish line. By 10 pm that evening them resembled more to the tune of “until next year” I am all ready planning my next adventure and thinking of tackling the mizen to malin cycle.

What is this drug? These endurance events?... Every time someone askes me why?? I still never know how to answer. You either understand or you don’t and to the people who don’t, they probably never will. Addiction as it finest!!

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