Underachievers Please Try Harder

joey100

Getting close now RJM, you ok for a power meter battery? I have a few spare P2M ones if you need it quickly, they can be a bit of a pain to get.

The walk sessions, were they run/walk or just walks??

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

Getting close now RJM, you ok for a power meter battery? I have a few spare P2M ones if you need it quickly, they can be a bit of a pain to get.

The walk sessions, were they run/walk or just walks??

Yeah, grand. It's actually a stages I have - the battery is an easy swap and I did it before my session this morning.

The walks are literally just that this week. In other weeks there might be a few pick ups or jogging but I was just strolling around the city for these. I think the idea is just to keep active, and keep blood flow without stressing the body in any way. It certainly seems to help the heavy legs that seem to arrive at the start of a rest week.

pgibbo

Sounds like a close call with the car. Thankfully it wasn't anything serious.

RJM85

pgibbo wrote: »

Sounds like a close call with the car. Thankfully it wasn't anything serious.

Yeah, a bit of a silly incident. The car pulled out in front of me coming into the village and I was riding along behind it, a car pulled out in front suddenly and she had to slam on the breaks - cars stop quicker than bikes apparently.

RJM85

Taper ticking along. Have backed off running and cycling due to a heel niggle. Was in with physio on Saturday for a very painful session to relieve some calf tightness.

Apart from the usual pre race fidgeting and nerves I'm feeling good and looking forward to Sunday!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Best of luck, all the hard graft is done. When do you head over?

RJM85

Atticus Famous Salt wrote: »

Best of luck, all the hard graft is done. When do you head over?

Flying out early Friday morning. Bike and gear gone with shipmytribike late last week.

pgibbo

RJM85 wrote: »

Taper ticking along. Have backed off running and cycling due to a heel niggle. Was in with physio on Saturday for a very painful session to relieve some calf tightness.

Apart from the usual pre race fidgeting and nerves I'm feeling good and looking forward to Sunday!

You're the second person I have heard of in the last few days with heel issues caused by tight calfs. Hoping it behaves for the next few days.

Best of luck on Sunday. Have a great race. It's well deserved!

rodneyr1981

RJM85 wrote:

Taper ticking along. Have backed off running and cycling due to a heel niggle. Was in with physio on Saturday for a very painful session to relieve some calf tightness.

How's the calf now? All good to go I hope

RJM85

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

How's the calf now? All good to go I hope

Seems fine. I was getting a little heel pain which seems to be from a combination of tight plantar fascia and tight calf. Lots of stretching and massage and no running. This morning is the first morning that I'm not even aware of it. I'm not overly worried about it.

joey100

Good luck on Sunday RJM, hopefully you get the result you deserve, I'll be following your race on the tracker.

MD1983

Best of luck, not long now !!

mossym

suffer with foot pain caused by tight calves at times myself. lots and lots of rolling.

best of luck at the weekend, hope you get a good race

Bambaata

Best of luck, as a matter of interest do you sleep on your stomach with foot extended? Im suffering pf issue over a year now. My issue was I let it go too far but sounds like you are very early stages so glad to hear you got it looked at

zico10

Best of luck tomorrow, hopefully everything goes to plan.

rodneyr1981

Good start - Sub 60 swim

RJM85

Aaaaand it went downhill from there!

peter kern

**** happens not the end of the world ...
the training was a good investment anyways

Kurt_Godel

RJM85 wrote: »

Aaaaand it went downhill from there!

It's all about the swim anyways. Well done on <60mins (and on the rest of the race, probably not what you wanted but still a decent showing).

Enjoy some downtime!

MD1983

RJM85 wrote: »

Aaaaand it went downhill from there!

sorry to hear that - not much reward for all the hard work you put in this year but all that work has been done and will bare fruit some race hopefully.

Bambaata

Sorry to see it didn't go to plan. I know its easier said than done but I hope you can take the positives from it and realise you are in great shape and hopefully can make use of it soon!

RJM85

Thanks all. As Peter says, it's not the end of the world. This chap is happy with his medal, and I'll be back! All that training doesn't disappear, and I'll be wiser next time!

RJM85

It’s difficult to know where to start when writing a race report. Like any story, it should have a beginning, middle, and an end; but where is the beginning when you talk about completing a ridiculously long triathlon? Does the story begin on the start line? Or back in February when I paid my entry fee? What about on 4th January when my 2016 training started? Or in August 2015 when I approached Owen to coach me for the following year? In truth, the story probably “begins” with taking a walk in July 2010. That led to jogging, which at some point started to resemble running, this led to the purchase of a bicycle… before long, the whole process of “keeping fit” had snowballed and in a momentary lapse of sanity on a sunny morning in February I decided that the best way to enhance a weekend visiting a friend in Holland would be to swim 3.8k in the Maas river, before spending five and a half hours cycling around the back roads of Belgium, and topping the whole day off with a Marathon. Now that I put it like that, it does seem like a lot of hassle to justify a pizza and a couple of beers…

My initial plan for the year was to do Dublin 70.3, however announcements about the race had been few and far between and rumours were beginning that it may not go ahead. By this time I had done 2 months training, which was going better than I had anticipated, and I began to wonder whether I might be able to put together a respectable full distance race. The timing of Iron Man Maastricht was good, and I had a friend willing to put me up for the weekend. One more rush of blood to the head, a couple of clicks on the computer, and some cursing about an 8% handling fee and I was signed up.

As the season progressed, I ticked off the sessions, chipping away at the plan and built some good fitness. Without going into every detail, I’ve managed training this year that I wouldn’t have been fit for previously. I’ve built upon my first two seasons in triathlon, and while “knowing” that a full distance Iron Man is a whole different kettle of fish, I was excited to see what I might be able to manage come race day. Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t going into the race expecting a result, but I was hopeful of being able to put something pretty good together on the day.

I arrived in Maastricht on the Friday before the race. I was staying my friend Paddy who has lived there for a number of years, and despite good intentions, I hadn’t managed to make it over until now. His house is very close to the transition and it made for a very relaxing lead in to the race, with minimal time on my feet. I headed to bed early the night before, and even managed a couple of hours sleep!

I woke at 4:20am, dressed, grabbed my two peanut butter and jam bagels prepared the night before and started the short walk to transition. Transition opened at 5 and didn’t close until 6:30, but I preferred to arrive with plenty of time to sort out any issues I might find when I got there. Everything was fine though, and I was sitting on the banks of the Maas by 20 past 5 sipping on energy drink and feeling relatively calm.

I made my way through the crowds, down the steps and towards the front of the queuing masses – somewhere slightly ahead of those with expected 60 minute swim times. I have been swimming well in training, regularly doing between 4k and 4.5k and feeling strong. My one race swim of the year at Tri an Mhi Olympic had gone well also and I was hopeful of breaking the 1 hour mark – not that a minute here or there would make a bit of difference in such a long day, but it would be a nice marker to break.
The start line of a race is a funny experience – people deal with these situations differently. These big Iron Man races have a tendency to play to the crowd who like to get pumped up and excited; inviting crowd participation and noise. I’m probably a little more introverted at the best of times and spent the last few minutes visualising a strong swim. With the rolling start, despite all the announcer noise etc. the actual start line was calm and void of any of the kind of behaviour familiar to anyone who has done a mass start. I filed into the water a couple of minutes after the first age groupers and settled into a decent rhythm as quickly as I could.

The swim course was an out and back towards government buildings which were 1.7km up stream. We then had an Australian exit before swimming 1.9km back downstream and then making up the remaining 200m by cruelly having to pass the finish and doubling back on ourselves. The water was relatively warm at 21 degrees but still cool enough to be wet suit legal. On the upstream swim I needed to remind myself a few times that I was swimming against the flow and that it was perfectly normal to feel as though I was moving slowly. I stole a glance at my watch during the Australian exit and saw 30 minutes flat, I was happy with this as I knew the remaining ‘half’ of the swim would be with the flow of the river for the most part. All in all it was a fairly uneventful swim, and I pushed on a little towards the end to ensure getting out of the water under the hour. So far so good!

Transition was relatively stress free – I managed to drop my race belt and lost a little time going back for it, but everything was pretty calm. Once on the bike I focused on staying calm, pulling back the power, reminding myself that numbers that start with 3 are not sustainable, and on hydrating and getting my heart rate down. I settled into it nicely within a couple of km and while my heart rate was still high, it was coming down to more normal levels.

The bike course was 182km made up of two 91km loops which were located roughly 50/50 between the Netherlands and Belgium. The course had three main climbs; the Geulhemmerwerg – a mercifully short ramp of 700m at 7% gradient on narrow roads; the Bemelerberg – a longer, 2km climb at 3% gradient which had a fair amount of roadside spectators; and then shortly after crossing into Belgium at about the 42km mark we came upon the “wall” of Hallembaye – this was the steepest of all the climbs on the course, with sections above 13%, and while it was actually relatively short by distance, it felt much, much longer. The course through Belgium regularly took in concrete country back roads, through fields with plenty of 90 degree angle turns and with all the muck and poor surfaces you could ask for. Before long we also had a fairly biblical downpour making the most technical sections of this course even more hazardous.

I found myself being passed regularly in these technical sections, usually by big Belgian and Dutch guys possibly more used to the terrain, and definitely more willing to take chances than I was. I would gain ground on flats, better road surfaces, even climbs, but because of the nature of the course they would eventually disappear up the road. Between this, and the rubbish road surfaces I probably let things get into my head at this stage, and it was a battle at times to stay positive.

Towards the end of each lap of the bike we had a 10k section of pretty flat and well surfaced roads along the banks of the River Maas back towards the city. I made up ground each time on this but it felt like it was too little too late. Back into Maastricht and across a lovely cobbled section of maybe a kilometre before turning towards transition. Despite my negative feelings earlier, I was finishing the bike in good spirits, and hopeful that similar to my long training rides, I would be able to ease myself into a respectable run pace.

Transition was hassle free, and I was out on the run course in no time, knocking back my first gel and hoping to ease into some decent running. Initially, my heart rate appeared low and while I was moving comfortably at 5 min / km, I wasn’t able to increase the pace at all. I took extra gels in the hope of boosting my energy levels, and while it initially seemed to work, I soon felt bloated and certain that I hadn’t taken on enough water to allow digestion. I tried to manage the situation as best I could, but I never really got on top of it and by the half way mark on the run I was suffering and focussed more on surviving than anything resembling racing. With the benefit of hindsight, I think I should have taken additional 2-3 gels ahead of my planned schedule of one every 20 minutes. The bike had taken almost 30 minutes longer than I anticipated which left me already deficient somewhere in the region of 3-4 gels worth of calories. I started taking on coke at the aid stations at this stage, and while suffering, I had come through the worst of it by the time I entered the fourth and final lap of the run course.

I all honesty, the majority of the run is a bit of a blur. There isn’t a body part that didn’t hurt, and I feel like I lost the internal / mental battle a little in that I spent a fair part of the run (and some of the bike) feeling sorry for myself that things weren’t going my way. There is a huge amount of training, time and sacrifice that goes into racing long distance triathlons. I don’t mean that I make the sacrifices – in a lot of ways, I’m the selfish one out riding my bike, running or swimming. I’m blessed with a very tolerant wife, my parents are hugely supportive, and Owen Martin has been a very patient coach, and I headed into this race in the best shape I’ve ever been in. There was a large part of me at this stage in the race disappointed to not have something more to show for all that went into this race.

I crossed the line in 10:53:28 - a respectable enough first Ironman, but I know that I have a better race in me.

With the perspective of a couple of days at this stage, and some kind and wise messages from those more experienced than me, I have a lot more positive outlook on the race than I did immediately upon finishing. I also intend to be back racing IM distance in the not too distant future, and I will have learned from this experience.

peter kern

you seem not to have eaten a lot before the race ?
if i understand correctly you had 2 bagels from getting up till race start and some energy drink.

RJM85

peter kern wrote: »

you seem not to have eaten a lot before the race ?
if i understand correctly you had 2 bagels from getting up till race start and some energy drink.

2 bagels with a decent helping of peanut butter and jam, about 150kcal worth of energy drink, and 2 gels 15/20 mins before the swim.

You would eat more?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Hey R, did you have power on the bike and if so was it much off against plan/what you had trained at?

RJM85

Atticus Famous Salt wrote: »

Hey R, did you have power on the bike and if so was it much off against plan/what you had trained at?

Yeah had the pm and rode for the most part within normal training parameters. AP and NP were within the normal range of what I would have done in training. That said, my feeling is that you're right to focus on the bike as the first (and main) place where things went wrong. The couple of things I think were the issue are:
- I was slightly overgeared for at least one of the climbs - I was pushing 300w on the steepest climb out of necessity which was about 30w above my planned top of range
- the technical nature of parts of the course (along with me bottling it a bit, and likely subconsciously or otherwise trying to make up for losing time on those sections) meant that that VI was too high and there were too many surges
- while the power was within the planned range, the bike was 30 minutes longer than the worst estimates best bike split had thrown up. The IF, while fine for a 5HR 10 split, was too high for a 5HR 40 split.
- I'm not certain I drank enough water on the bike between the rainy sections and the crappy Belgian roads.
- mental issues
- calories

RJM85

Also didn't mention (excuse the detail here) - I was sick after the race and it was clear that the two energy bars I had taken in the first 2 hours of the bike hadn't been fully digested. Given that they were ingested in excess of 6 hours beforehand whether because they were solids or I didn't take enough fluids either way - that's the guts of 400 calories that were fairly useless to me at the time I ingested them.

peter kern

RJM85 wrote: »

2 bagels with a decent helping of peanut butter and jam, about 150kcal worth of energy drink, and 2 gels 15/20 mins before the swim.

You would eat more?

personally i would almost drink and eat twice that much between 4 and 7 am at the same time i would never take 2 gels at once i think that could expalin( and of course it might not ) your issues.
my rule would be the more i can eat safely before the race and start to digest, the better with the bigest portion of food close to 3 hours before the race start . and then after that i would have roughly what you have .
the first 30 min after the swim taking on nutrion is never that easy . i would suggest a ripe banana and a not to concentrated energy drink rather than gels , or if gels very diluted gels .
gels are something very individual but there is at least a good chance that your nutrional issues come form too many gels to close before the swim and to close after the swim. ( and of course this can work well for somebody else , and there is a differecne if you take a very concentrated gel like power bar , versus a more diluted gel such as SIS

RJM85

Thanks Peter - there's some stuff to think about and try out in training in there.

The two gels wouldn't have been taken simultaneously - it was kind of one while walking to the start and one at the start maybe 5 minutes later. It's something I've done at other races, but obviously a small Olympic or something is different to this. I use kinetica gels which are certainly not as concentrated as power bar, and generally agree with me.

I think one issue I had was that that I was (despite what I might have told myself) stressed and nervous about the race and let myself get more stressed as the race went on. I think some of the things I did nutrition wise were fine in training, but didn't work in the more stressed environment. I actually felt at one stage (maybe about 5:30) that the second bagel had been a bit much for my stomach and was momentarily concerned about how full I felt.