Where it started
It began with the classic do one race, get addicted, do lots of races, oh shit the season is over, what next. Rewind back to a windy winters rainy night in sandymount, club run session, great craic as you can imagine. Well it was this night when I got talking to some more experienced members (hint: impossible to understand cork lad and a wirey character with stick legs) who had told me about there Iron distance achievements.
This got me thinking, if I put the effort in for the next 10 months, was this doable, the main part in question being the marathon, seeing as my debut in the 2014 Dublin marathon was a disaster, mentally it was hard to get around! I’d a fair idea I could hammer out lots of bike sessions and increase distance when I needed to, and the swim, I wasn’t overly worried about knowing the consistency would hopefully iron out at least a few bad habits, and have me cutting through the waves with ease and precision (yea right!).
The Plan
So the rough idea was to schedule in some half iron races throughout the season to see how the training was going. I chose Barcelona 70.3 because it was early season (may) and a good challenge for my first Half Iron distance race, I’d a good few other races thrown in to gain experience and perfect transitions, mainly sprints/ olympics/sportifs/open water swims etc. Entered Dublin 70.3 last minute, this was to be a ‘training race’ which I don’t think exist… ended up going flat out and was happy with the result, the training seemed to be paying off, or maybe it was Ricer hot on my heels…who knows! So it was getting close to the date, soul destroying long spins in full swing, the last race was the Glendalough 3.8k swim, which I used to build confidence in the distance, it went well despite the lake being a giant ice block. Oh there was the last minute day before decision to do the Dublin half marathon, served as my last hard effort with distance, this was 2 weeks out. So began the holy 2 week taper. Kept up training, just cut back distance and intensity with some focus on Strength/balance training. Said goodbye to my bike, handed it over to shipmytribike, who are a god send, highly recommended.
The Race
Having learned from the 70.3 in Barcelona, I didn’t stress over gear as I knew I’d everything I needed so it’s just better off not wasting energy over-thinking it, besides there’s always a huge expo to get the credit card nice and warm. The tripod that was Myself, Mcd (The King of Naps) and Moody (The Pervy Translator) headed out on the Thursday and planned to return Tuesday, allowing plenty of crucial nap time/calzone eating/chill and a reccy of some of the course. Upon a arrival it was a 2 train trip to Calella where the event is based, we met Shane the optimistic Nordy lad and exchanged stories (or tales of despair). Night before the race I felt good, it’s a relief to have the bike checked to transition and out of the way. I’d my nutrition for the bike ready to drop off in the morning, consisting of 5 cliff bars, quartered, a piece every 15 min was the plan (Will Owens copyrighted). There’s a great buzz and some very pale heads floating around transition, quick food drop and tyre inflation, done.
Rolling start, so we line up in our estimated swim times and I went for 1:04-1:09 section, planning to do a 1:15 It’s good to jump up a section, this puts me beside moody who decides to wind up a nervous first timer for a few mins for entertainment, all in good spirit of course! Off goes the cannon and the line starts to move, I reached the mat and hear the Piranhas shouting from somewhere, so I get excited, sprint and dive into a wave and bang the goggles shoot off… first mistake. Afterward, apparently I wasn’t the only one, Roger was knee deep in the water in his clothes, cheering us on! Rolled on my back momentarily and pulled them back on, but the right goggles is full, decided not to waste anymore time and relaxed into a comfortable pace, with the salty eye closed for the whole swim. Uneventful swim from there on, buoys where a bit confusing at times, stood up and ran up the beach into transition.
Didn’t spend long in transition, feeling good I was eager to get on the bike. Out on my first lap of a 2.5 lap bike course, looking at my watch avg speed 38kph, oh shit scale that back, target being around 35kph avg. Due to the nature of the course it got congested at times, which was a little frustrating but not a big deal I just focused on racing my own race. Coming in from the first lap on the bike I hear the shouting of the A-team (Roger, Judy, Belinda, Rachel) this gave me a great boost and I do my best to look un-effected by the Ironman currently punishing my body! The support in general from the Irish on the course was brilliant, and I’d lots of randomers cheering me on. Due to having all my food on the bike ready, I didn’t take a single thing from the aid stations besides fluids. Around the 160km mark the Kms seem to take forever but in general I was still feeling good so I began to run through the next transition in my head as I reluctantly scoffed the last quarter of bar, really put off them for now. Last 5km is windy and technical so I concentrated and came out of the saddle a bit. Dismounted and launched the bike into transition.
Good sign so far, no major jelly legs. Not much hanging about in T2, stuffed gels in my tri suit and off I go. I’d targets in mind for the run, but I knew I needed to dial it back for the first 10km at least and then get settled in to a pace I could hold. The run course is 4.5 laps roughly so, it’s 10km loops, I liked this because I could mentally tick them off as I went. The support crew was about 7km in the loop, and it helped a lot to look forward to the support on each lap, along with the massive Irish support scattered all around. 1 cup of coke 1 of water at each aid station in the later stages of the run seemed to do the trick. Roughly at 25km into the run my hips were getting tight and making it harder to maintain my pace which I think is what caused my pace to go up and down between 5:10 and 5:30 per Km and by now some serious pain and mental games where going on. Reaching the last loop of 10km I knew I just had to chip away now and I’d make it so long as I didn’t cramp. Only cramping was some mild ones in the joints of my arms which where manageable. Linda (piranha) appeared beside me and we ran together for 5k or so before I dropped off a bit, this distracted from the pain in my lower half!
There’s an underpass that’s a slight short sharp hill under the tracks, seems harmless? The last one of these was pure hurt! Down the home straight, watch reading 225kms completed I pass the piranhas yet again and muster a bit of a sprint and when I’m out of sight slow down cause there’s still a km left! Turning off for the finish line the crowds lining either side of the red carpet I gave it anything I had and sprinted by about 5 lads struggling to make forward progress., Point at my number…Kevin You are an Ironman!
Some of the rough targets I had going on training…
Swim Target: 1:15 Result: 1:10:18
Bike Target: 5:15 Result: 5:14:34
Run Target 4:00 Result: 3:53:20
Target Finish was Under 11 dragging bloody stumps if needs be or 10:30 if I’d an ideal Day.
Finish Time: 10:24:44
(Roger watch out for those 44seconds!)
It’s been a long season, and it’s been an amazing year. By far my proudest achievement and I look forward to having another stab at it! Rather than boring you to death I’ll keep it short Big thanks to all the Piranhas, many of which I’ve been extracting information from for the past year and the support crew who came out to cheer us on, great way to justify a piss up in the sun too, and my family for putting up with all the hassle that goes with training for one of these things!
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