Val Quinn, you are an IRONMAN!

Barcelona Full Ironman 3 Oct 2021; Finish:13:58:47.

Swim 900m/ 14.13mins; Bike 180km/ 8.01hr;
Run 42.2km/5.25hr

My triathlon journey started early 2019, 2.5 years ago with a sprint triathlon in Donegal … what a journey it has been since then. I decided then that I wanted to get fit and lose some weight so landed on Dunlaoire half ironman Aug 2019 as an ideal goal given that I was born and bred there. I joined Piranha Tri club as a friend of mine, Miriam, was a member and spoke so highly of the club and the friends she had made there. At the time I was working a global job, so fitting in the training for the challenge was tough given that I was travelling out of the country 4 days a week. It meant swimming in some interesting places abroad like historic baths in Berlin etc. When I started with the Dunlaoire training, I decided to sign up for the full ironman in Barcelona for 2020, as I figured I couldn’t just do a HALF of something, I need to aim for a FULL.

Dunaloire race happened in Aug 2019 and I had a great race – everything went to plan and as trained and prepared for – I really enjoyed it, despite Dunlaoire half IM claiming to be in the top 3 most difficult half ironman competitions due to the very tough cycle into the mountains with the first 50km of the bike being up hill! Buoyed on by the Dunlaoire experience, and post a few months light training, the Full IM training started in earnest in Feb 2020. Covid struck and thus a couple of months in it became evident that the IM Barcelona was at risk and mid summer was unfortunately cancelled. So only some light training for the rest of the year. Barcelona 2021 (which is actually held 1hr outside Barcelona in a small town called Calella) was then announced for 3 Oct 2021 and real training began again start March 2021. For the first few months, we all weren’t sure that the race would even happen in 2021 given covid but by mid Summer we believed it would so started to take the training a little more seriously. Siobhan Keating from the club also aimed to do Barcelona, so I hooked up with Siobhan, Debbie and Miriam for their long Sunday cycles – for which they liked to get up early on a Sunday to get them done and dusted by lunch…. That usually meant a 6.30am Sunday start for me to be ready and get to meet them and cycle around Rush and Slane etc. I’ve got to say, now that the IM is done, I am going to enjoy a Sunday lie on for a few weeks!!

End of September came around quickly and before we knew it, we were flying to Barcelona with a bag packed like I’ve never packed before, given all the triathlon paraphernalia that is required. I was delighted to have great support with family and friends coming to Barcelona and lots of others downloading the app in anticipation of tracking my progress. No pressure so !! 🙂

I became an avid follower of Calella weather forecast for the week before travel (though friends would say I constantly look at the weather reports no matter where I am!) and it seemed that Calella weather was going to be very changeable. We arrived Wed night before the planned race on Sunday
figuring that it would allow plenty of time to settle, test bike on a little bit of the course etc. I had had a lot of trouble with my bike rear wheel for a few weeks before departure, with several visits to the bike shop and finally on my 3rd tubeless tyre and plenty of sealant. We did a short spin on Thursday, which resulted with a small shard of glass in my front tyre which I gingerly removed and filled with superglue and all seemed fine. Given that, and as all seemed ok, I decided that I wouldn’t touch the bike again until race day.

Thursday night my back was a little sore and by the time I woke on Friday morning, I could hardly get out of bed – my back had seized and I could hardly walk. Luckily mum is a retired physio and gave me some exercises and stretches to do. In addition, Spain is great for OTC medication w/out prescription, so I had a few visits to the Farmacia for those. Debbie (chiropractor) flew in late Friday and manipulated and cracked my back on Saturday and we all felt I could at least make the start line – Phew! Thanks Debbie and mum.

Race eve, we had an early dinner. Nerves didn’t seem too bad all round and we all went to bed early. Didn’t sleep great with race anticipation – I’d say about 5 hours in total. Rose at 5.15am to do the back stretches and breakfast, followed by the 2km walk to the bike area with wetsuit in hand to put the nutrition on the bike at 7.15am to be ready for the swim gathering at 8.15am.

The weather had turned nasty overnight and there was 29km/hr winds with terrible gusts. The half ironman was due to start before us at 8am. The announcer said that everything was being pushed back by 30 min and shortly after that announced that the swim was being shortened for the half and full IM to 900m – given the winds, large waves and very strong currents. The sea was mad looking.

Soon our time came and we all started to move forward towards the sea. We could see that the elites had started and they were all over the place, many missing the 1st buoy. The safety kayaks were being overturned and even the man on the safety jetski fell off! On we marched on the sand towards the sea and to our destiny…. I had a lucky water entry, somehow timing a wave and ducking in with ease. Others were not so lucky with many trying to enter the water and being spat out abruptly by the power of the sea right back onto the beach. At this point, some decided that their race was over for the day and left questioning their IM journey. Another brave soul wanted to get in so badly that he asked the marshalls for help. One took his arms and another took his legs and together they swung him twice and flung him past the large wave breaking on the seashore. Now that is SOME WAY to start the swim course!

Our swim challenge was now 900m in extremely rough sea with waves that felt as high as a one story building. I tried to time it so that I could sight the buoy when I was on the crest of the wave. As I came down the other side other swimmers would fall on top of me and I would push them off as best I could. However mad it sounds, it was actually quite good fun riding the Calella sea rollercoaster. At last the big red IM triangle buoy was reached with lots of people flailing around it. Rounded the bend, sighted the IM arch and headed for land. The strong current now with us made the swim fast and furious. A few metres to the beach with exit being the steep stony incline and many IM volunteers bravely waiting with outstretched arms to help pull us out. I looked up and saw an outstretched arm and was trying to grab it when I saw the facial expression of the arm owner suddenly change (I wish I had a camera to capture the moment!). Suddenly a huge wave crashed on my head, I tumbled and was pulled back out to sea, with many other competitors tumbling around me and into me. A washing machine experience. I found daylight again, gasped for air, threw myself at another outstretched arm and made it out of the water on the 2nd attempt. Normally on swim exit, we would start to pull off our hat and goggles and pull wetsuit to waist level but everyone seemed a little dazed and none of that started until into the transition (T1) area.

T1 was chaotic with people given the short swim, so I was pleased to get out of there in about 9 minutes and onto the bike. Barcelona IM is generally considered a good 1st full IM as the bike course has a reputation for being relatively flat and fast. Personally I wouldn’t say flat exactly! There is a steady incline for about the first 50km and with the extremely strong headwinds the bike was feeling tough and energy sapping. I was trying to find my pace without receiving a penalty for drafting. We reached 36 km where there was a turn and thus relief from the wind for a few km’s – as we turned, I heard the person behind me saying” thank F*** for that!” which did make me smile 60km I suddenly started to feel the bike slide a little. I looked down and realised that my back tyre was extremely soft. I figured I could cycle on the soft tyre and stop at the mecanico station 1 at the 85km point to assess it, so I kept going. I reached the 85km mecanico and pulled in. The mecanico was busy relaxing, listening to music and eating an iberico ham bocadillo. I energetically asked him could he help me remove the tyre and put in the spare tube I had in my bag. He spoke little English, declined and pointed to a bike pump a few metres away. So I quickly pumped the tyre and cycled on. A few minutes later, I reached the 90km turnound, and by the time I had got back to the “mechanic” station 1 at 95km, I stopped again to use Mr. bocadillo’s pump. He told me that there was another “mechanic” 50km away (at the 143km mark). Given that I have tubeless tyres for which it is difficult to take off and fit a tube into it (thus a risky option), I decided that it was may be better to cycle on the “soft” back tyre and stop at the 143km mechanic station 2, to use their pump and then proceed and catch the 2 mechanicos again on the return route – thus managing the soft tyre situation – so that was my strategy and off I set on the road again.

The tyre started to deflate more rapidly now, so with the additional 50km under my belt, I looked frantically for the mecanico station 2. I shouted at an IM steward at the roundabout “mechanico”…”mecanico”…”mecanico”…. he shrugged and that was that …. I couldn’t see nor find the next “mecanico”…. I pushed on. At this stage I was being passed constantly by other competitors and the course was starting to be a lonely place – no danger of receiving a drafting penalty anymore!!

I reached the 145km point and my tyre was so flat that it was practically unrideable. I had 2 gas cylinders in my seat bag and decided to stop and try to give it a blast with one to inflate it and hope that the tubeless sealant would seal any damage with the pressure. I stopped screwed the cylinder gadget in and it didn’t work so I unscrewed it, screwed it again and gave the tyre a blast – this time it worked but went all over my shoe and no air into the tyre! Alone, with no mecanico in sight, my only options at this point were to remove wheel and then the tyre and try to fit a tube to the tubeless tyre and hope that the one remaining gas cyclinder would work or continue on with fully flat tyre and hope for the best. If I went for option 1 and it didn’t work then I would have no wheel and my IM race would be over. I decided that this was too risky an option to take and thus decided to keep going on the now very flat back tyre. It was a tough grind sapping all my energy.

I had stuck to my nutrition plan but by 150km, my stomach was cramping badly. I had worn 2 bike shorts and cycle top which I had tried in training issue free (nothing new on race day!)…. But for some reason today, the shorts bands were digging into me and I was cramping badly probably not helped by the extra effort to cycle with a flat back tyre into gale force headwinds. I started to feel really ill. Suddenly at the 150km mark I started vomiting – 4 projectile vomits – I could have scored points for distance and sound! I vomited nearly the equivalent of the 4x 750ml bottles of nutrition I
had consumed to that point….. better out than in perhaps!

Post projectile vomit experience, I was still cramping but not as badly. I saw, on the other side of the road, the sweeper truck with one bike on the back… dammit, he is now too close…push, push, push Val…up the pace so as not to get caught by the truck and be removed from the race. 20 km to go and alone on the road, a white van slows and pulls up alongside me – the front passenger looks at me and points to the rear tyre and says “Boom! Boom!” he had no English and was informing me I had a flat rear wheel! He pointed to the roadside gesturing help, but I said I only had 20km to go now and didn’t have time to stop at this point – with the sweeper truck looming in my mind. Not that he really understood all that, but he smiled, thumbs up and drove off as fast as he had arrived…

It had started to rain a little and the ground was wet. At last Calella down hill, around the big roundabout and down the hill towards the sea. I saw my family and friends excitedly and eagerly shouting, smiling and waving. With phones out taking pictures and video of my arrival. I slowed a lot
to take the turn but before I knew it, given the flat tyre and riding on the rim, the bike had gone from under me and I was separated from the bike as we both slid along the wet ground with my water bottles flying!

My supporters faces went from happily smiling and shouting to ones of fear and worry! I seemed to bounce and found my feet as fast I had lost them, stood up, grabbed my bike, waved to them, shook myself a little and remounted. 1.5km to go which I did at snail’s pace to ensure no further falls given the back wheel rim on the wet roads. I arrived into transition (T2) 8hrs and 1 min after I had left – an exhausting cycle which should have taken me 6.5-7 hrs, but happy to be off the bike at last. I changed quickly and headed out to the run course, thankful that the fall hadn’t reactivated my back issue and that I was able to walk.

My plan for the run was that I would run the first 5km at avg. pace of 6.15/km and then slower for the next 10km, and after 15km probably walk/run (I had a lot of knee issues for the 6 weeks pre race day with weekly physio to try to sort that to get me to the start line, thus the longest run I had done in training, pre race was 22km). Well nothing about the day had gone to plan and the run was no different at the start, I could hardly walk as my stomach was cramping again. I mostly walked the first 3km and decided to take no nutrition on board and just drink water and cola that was being offered at the drinks stations at least until I might start to feel better again. About 4km in, I started to feel ok and started to run and then run / walk for most of the way. As the water and cola was working, I took no other nutrition. At the halfway mark, I stopped for my special needs bag in which I had a packet of Tayto Salt n Vinegar crisps – that is the best piece of advice I ever got – delicious treat and plenty of salt to help me along. Continued run/walk…run/walk…run/walk…not a bad strategy giving me an avg pace of 7.35m/km for most of the course….

The run course is a v flat 3 loops which means it is excellent for supporters to see you many times – wow – what an experience…I loved it… all supporters looking at your race name and number and shouting encouragements and clapping. I was delighted to see my family and friends many times which truly spurred me on and gave me the belief and encouragement I needed – a BIG THANK YOU to them all. Also, I knew a lot of friends and family at home were tracking my progress – a big incentive to keep going, so a big thanks to them all too. I was on the last leg of my last loop, when I suddenly saw my brother – he shouted at me “the cut off has been shortened – you need to pick up the pace – you have 15 minutes”…. I had approx. 2.5km still to go – my average pace at that point had slowed to just over 8 mins / km and now I was faced with 2.5km in 15 minutes! That means run the last section at a pace of under 6min/km !!! I couldn’t believe it!! I couldn’t imagine failing at the last hurdle and started to sprint as fast as I could tracking approx 5.50m/km for those last very hard 2.5kms. I rounded the last little bend to join the red carpet and knew I was home – I’d nearly given myself a heart attack in those last few km’s…but I’d done it…. I slowly jogged the red carpet to suck up the amazing atmosphere, to wave at my family and friends present and to hear those infamous words at last “Val Quinn, you are an IRONMAN”….

Ps. The cut off time hadn’t been shortened – the announcer got it wrong, but we didn’t find that out till later!