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The Good Mood Cookbook
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Thank you one and all.
The bike was very tough alright, moreso because the really hard bits are all at the end. It's killer. But the run... Or rather the latter half... I had to dig into everything I had to finish it. But I once I got over 20k I just thought feck it. I want a medal. 0 -
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IMW takes place in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. Tenby is what you would get if you took a typical seaside town, added a medieval ruin, surf shacks and hippies, and shook it all vigorously. It is a wonderful maze of cobbled streets that curl around each other so you are never quite sure where you will end up. The surrounding countryside is varied and pretty, but I said the roads were like the stairs in Harry Potter, they seem to move and change around so you are constantly getting lost.
Pre race
We arrived late on Thursday night, (having got lost, which is a bit of a theme for us) and were up bright and early to head to registration on Friday. Got everything done and dusted, including a practice swim in the sea (I was calm, the sea was not) by lunchtime. My pal who was not competing went off to cycle some of the bike route, I did a half hour with her, before reluctantly leaving her to the befuddling roads of Pembrokeshire, while I went for a snooze. Headed to the briefing alone, but you're never alone at IM, plenty of heads to chat to. I was worried about my friend, but after 6 hours getting lost on the bike she finally got a lift back in a flat bed truck with some friendly welshmen! Saturday I was again up early to rack my bike, which again went so easily. We then got my mate down to the beach where she sneaked into the practice swim just to get a feel for it. Then a long lazy lunch, more snoozing, and a chilled out evening in front of the tv. As prerace prep goes, you cant really get better than this.
Race Day
I hear my nickname is Mrs Clock.:) I like to be early for everything. So at 5am, we were already well fed, parked in town, and having a nice cuppa in an early morning café. Strolled over to transition and set up the bike, casual change into my wetsuit, eat a banana, I'm ready. I have never, ever, felt so calm before a race. I was looking forward to it!
Swim
As it had been for three days, the sea was choppy. I was one of the last onto the beach, due to a bottleneck in the walkdown, but I got there in time for the national anthem. No time to take it in really, all of a sudden the klaxon blew and we were racing! Except this being british, and terribly polite, everyone strolled into the sea still chatting! There was no point running anyway. Too crowded, too rough. You had to negotiate waves that could knock you over. I was at chest depth before attempting to swim. It was insane. The sea was battering you. Other people were battering you. I kept swallowing sea water and having to try and spit out mouthfuls underwater. But I kept calm, somehow. It was fine.
It took ages to get to the first buoy, as the current was against us, and that was so turbulent and congested that again, lots of laughing and chatting among the hundred or so people sculling slowly around it. The next stretch was fast, the current helping, and it flew by. More kicks and knocks though and you couldn't get on anyone's feet, the waves were thrashing us about too much. Twice I got solid bashes where the person who hit me actually stopped and said 'Sorry love!'. Funny as! The last leg onto the beach was full of chop, seemingly from all directions. Very hard to sight. But then onto the beach, to do it all again. I glanced at my watch as I ran, 40.59, so I was happy entering for the second round. More of the same, with no decrease in congestion which is unusual for me. The clever bods of IM had placed a sailboat at the back of the first bouy so the mast was a sighting aid, but I only noticed this on the second lap! Exited the swim delighted to have got it done in a good time 1.27.
Transition involves a 1k run up steep ramps and through the town, which makes it very long timewise. I stayed calm and it went smoothly. 15.11
Bike
As I am a cold creature I layered up for the bike, but I was still shivering as I descended through Tenby and out towards the first loop. The weather was pretty much perfect though. Temperatures in the teens, with hazy sunshine. The first part brings you to the seaside town of Angle, and is known to be the easy part of the route so needs cautious pacing. We had the wind to our backs at first so this felt great. Though this is the 'easy' bit, it was still hilly. IM Wales does not do flat. In fact, no part of the bike route is flat at all. I got that song The Grand Old Duke of York stuck in my head. Marched em up to the top of the hill and he marched them down again... Some nice climbs but nothing really tough. Until you hit the start of the second loop, at Lamphey, that is. Then, the IM Wales bike course started to show its teeth. The climbs became tougher, the descents more technical. You do this section twice, and it has been designed by an evil genius. The last few kms of the loop contain the worst hills, Up through Templeton, up again through Narbeth, a stingy hill through Wisemans Bridge, and then the icing on the cake, an unending slog out of the town of Saundersfoot. Then you go back to Lamphey and do it all again. The crowds were awesome. Cheering, whooping, clattering pots and pans, drunk as lords the lot of them. It was brilliant. Though in spite of the wonderful, unceasing support, at 150k I was sick of banana. Sick of powerbars, and sick of the bike. I did not relish the thought of the hills. I was tired. But I remembered the quote I gave Dory about not despairing, and I ate, drank, and kept going. Counted down the distance, till it was done. 7.39. Happy to have gone sub 8, well within cutoff. Job done.
I lost a good bit of time on the bike through poor skills and faffing around, plus a mechanical, so I know I can make up time if I improve things like dump filling my speedfil on the fly and descending better. All good experience to take from it!
T2 took 5 mins, including a toilet break, so happy with that.
Run
I did not train to do this run. I was not supposed to do this run. I was supposed to do 7k and quit. I set off happy that I had done what I came to do (swim and bike) and I had no expectations after that. The run is four laps, and the first 4k of each is pretty consistently uphill. They call it Heartbreak Hill, and it did break a lot of hearts on Sunday. I ran all the first lap and when I met my friend who asked how it was going, and I said 'Perfect!'. Which it was. The second lap I allowed a few walking bits along the hill, but I still felt ok. The crowds were again, stupendously wonderful. Drunk, noisy and supportive all the way. They really do keep you going. On the third lap, though, my lack of running bit me on the ass. I just fell apart. Dizzy, sick, weak, I couldnt run. But I walked. And chatted to those around me in the same condition. It was a sad and sorry trail of shufflers heading out to get the third of four lap bands. The Ironman Zombie apocalypse. And then my magical friend appeared again. Told me I looked like sh1t. Gave me a handful of haribo and talked to me till she was happy I was lucid. We parted company and I began the last 12k. Somehow, consistent fluid intake and the haribo put me back together again, and I was able to run most of the last lap. I was going to finish. I just kept trotting thinking 'pink lap band, I get my pink lap band now, last one'. 4k from home, I had it on my wrist, and I swear I smiled all the way from then on. I had done it, the run that everyone else seemed to think I would do, but I really thought I couldn't. 5.05
A high five to the commentator, and I sailed up the magic carpet to the finish. I felt victorious. The time was 14.33.19, (faster than Austria for me!) but this was never about the time. This was about coming back from an injury four months ago that literally broke my heart as well as my leg. The Ironman slogan is Anything Is Possible, and with Ironman Wales I felt I proved that.
I recommend this race as highly as anyone can. It is amazing, everything they say about it is true. The welsh people and the venue make it unique and very, very special. Thanks Tenby!!0 -
None of us doubted you'd finish it and I wasn't surprised when you told me you'd transferred to IM Wales, I was more surprised that you weren't going to give IM UK a try
Well done...the ''what would Oryx do'' mantra will return during tough times now
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Even I wasnt stupid enough to try IMUK. :P I was two weeks out of a cast!RacoonQueen wrote: »None of us doubted you'd finish it and I wasn't surprised when you told me you'd transferred to IM Wales, I was more surprised that you weren't going to give IM UK a try
Well done...the ''what would Oryx do'' mantra will return during tough times now0 -
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I did forget to mention the guy who did the marathon on crutches. Flying along. Crazier people than me out there!You are amongst friends here, Oryx - you can tell us the murky details...:D
BTW, did I read somewhere recently, you are contemplating DCM this year?
No you did not read anywhere that I am contemplating DCM. 0 -
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