Anything is possible!

Triathlon, well it all began for me at a wedding in Durrow Castle in 2010, there was the usual group at dinner the night before, and the conversation was all about Triathlon; Ivan Eustace was telling us how himself and Mark Swan had launched themselves into the sport. I was sitting across the table from Stephen Eustace and the two of us were hooked.  So started my relationship with Triathlon. After a couple of sprints, then an Olympic or two, by the next year I was signed up for my first Ironman 70.3 in Galway. I will never forget that day in Salthill, we were greeted by seagulls flying backwards and wooden Ironman flagpoles snapped by the wind.  Appalling weather but still, hand on heart, one of the best days of my Triathlon life. Over the next few years, I did two more half Ironman distance races Tri an Mhi and Dublin 70.3 but in the back of my head it was all about going long and it wouldn’t go away. Heeding the sage advice that entering an Ironman is not one of those times to seek forgiveness rather than permission, I discussed it with Orla, my wife, and the stage was set.

In October, 2015 as soon as registration was opened for IM Barcelona 2016 I signed up and instantly went OMG ( Polite Version ) what have you done you muppet? I spoke to Aoife O’Connor who had done all my previous training plans and she instantly put me at ease, if ease can be defined as rising panic every time I thought about the run.  It was always going to be about the marathon for me, I had tried to do three Marathons and never made it to the start line, injured each time. However, the previous August I was shown how to run properly, what a revelation, now I could run with no injuries. I was still as slow as I ever was but crucially, I was enjoying it and I knew it was now or never. Aoife’s only instructions between October and January  were to cycle up to three hours at the weekend and run up to an hour on the other day. Three swims a week, a couple of Turbos and a couple of easy run sessions. No problem there, well with the swimming anyway, I like swimming.

Well, January rolled around, I had followed my instructions and was raring to go. New Year, New Me.  No more messing about; no booze no fags. I was going to be puritanical in my approach to this race. I can still see the look on my wife’s face when I announced this to her, but it was the peals of laughter that hurt the most. Oh, she knows me so well. I won’t bore you with the training but essentially it was three sessions on each discipline; 1 long, 1 Tempo and 1 recovery / easy with 2 S&C per week. Every Three weeks was followed by a recovery week. I entered two races:  Hell Of The West (an Olympic distance) and The Humbert Challenge in Swinford (a 70.3 distance). Both went well considering I was still having a sneaky smoke and glass of Vino every now and again (most weekends). A big shout out to Bernard for doing that 70.3 with me, as it was done at the end of a hard three week’s block of training and my enthusiasm was at a low ebb.

September arrived and I felt good, I had entered the Glendalough swim, a 3.8km distance, to get my confidence up and it did the trick, I was ready. Bring it on- Calella, brace yourself here come the Piranhas in force! My bike was dispatched with Ship My Tri Bike and the tortuous week of Taper had arrived. The Thursday before the race was travel day, it was an early morning flight and Orla (my by now heavily pregnant wife, who had put up with a permanently tired, starving and often absent husband) drove me to the airport. We kissed farewell and I was on my own. Well, not quite, I could hear Moody over the jet engines as I walked into the airport and strangely, it put me at ease.

Race weekend was here. I collected the bike, took it for a spin and listened to the invaluable advice of Steven Moody, who had done this race before. Steven deserves a special mention, he really knows his stuff and if you are taking on anything like this, he will advise you for the princely sum of a scone on a Saturday morning. In fact, you should make use of the vast wealth of knowledge that is in our club, it is priceless.

Having registered, racked the bike collected my timing chip, I read the final email from Aoife my coach.  The excerpt below resonated in my head all day.

“ENJOY EVERY MINUTE of the experience … you only ever get to do your first Ironman once! It is an amazing experience no matter what. So enjoy it all.”

Race Day

I ate breakfast, walked down to the start, fiddled with my bike, loaded up the nutrition, got into my wetsuit. Gel goggles and hat in hand, I watched the sun rise……..then the emotion of it all hit me.

With ACDC Thunderstruck ringing in my ears I was off. The swim was epic, an absolute joy. I even got to plough a few Pro’s who had to do the swim sans wetsuit.

The bike was as it should be, done with a nice and easy heart rate.  I remember looking down at my Garmin, seeing my average pace and thinking this is going really well, I am going to smash this. Until the turn at Montgat and woomf! a head wind hit me that put me right back in my box. I knew then I had to watch my pace and relax. I had a nice cheese and ham roll at 90k and 120k and enjoyed the spin. All the while looking out for the lighthouse in Calella that would signify that the run was looming. In T2, I changed completely as I had been told that the marathon is hard enough, so do it in fresh gear. I took a deep breath and I was off. The run was predominately a lovely track, except up at the far end, grim is not the word but I just kept in mind it’s 3 laps and you’re done. Luckily, I met Pat Linehan at 18K, who helped keep my mind off the pain.  As myself and Pat approached the finishing chute there were a couple of Athletes ahead of us and Pat then delivered a great piece of advice, wait until the chute is clear, milk the applause and show your number and name to the announcer so you can hear those magic words……

Myles You Are An Ironman!

In the end, my times were:

Swim 55 mins

Bike   6hrs 12mins

Run 5hrs 30mins

T1 and T2  I set a record for how long I took,  probably shouldn’t have stopped for a chat with some English bloke

The support from the Piranhas both on and off the course was amazing, I will treasure the memories of this weekend for ever, The shouts of support at 90k on the bike course and the screams of encouragement on the run will stay with me for a long time. A special thanks to Pat Linehan on the run -his calmness kept the demons at bay and ensured the smile stayed on my face for the whole race.

What you are not told

Ironman is expensive and Time consuming but nothing will prepare you for the cost of washing powder and the amount of laundry you will generate from all the training. You will need to budget for this.

Fig Rolls will become your friend on the long lonely cycles

You will end up sleeping in the Tri position by default

Chlorine will be your breakfast of choice and you will smell of it all the time.

You need to break the distance down into manageable pieces to complete the race, but at the end you won’t believe you actually did it.

Ironman is essentially a long day doing the three things you love Swim Bike Run, well I was told that credit Steven Moody but couldn’t find anywhere else to crowbar it in until now.

I will wrap this up with a special word of thanks to my wife Orla for putting up with me, encouraging me and giving me the confidence to see the journey through. Aoife my coach I couldn’t have done it without her wisdom and patience, The Piranhas who made the whole experience a joy from training to racing and supporting, you know who you are. And the 6:20 UCD Swimmers who made me look forward to those early morning swims. AMOS where I work and Tami for her sage calm advice on the lead up to the race. On November the 12^th my son Max was born and I am now living a different life completely and loving every minute of it.