Race Report: Mallorca 70.3

By Gearóid Healy.

Sit back, relax and book the next two weeks off work – here’s my Ironman 70.3 Mallorca Race Report.

Prelude

I had considered doing Ironman 70.3 Mallorca in 2013 but the timing of a race mid-May and an expectant wife at the end of May, even to me, seemed like it mightn’t be the best idea in the world. So when I heard talk of a club 70.3 race for 2014 and Mallorca touted as a possible destination I knew it had to be. And after some gentle persuasion (followed by much pleading, begging, dinners out, presents, tantrums, etc.) I had the permission slip signed and I was part of a 20 or so strong motley crew bound for Mallorca.

My own training on the run up to May 10th could probably have been better upon reflection, in that I could maybe even have selected and tried sticking to a training programme for starters. But getting to 2 or 3 coached Piranha mornings swims a week, doing my own few lunch-time runs with a few longer runs crammed in towards the end for good measure, and getting out for about 8 cycles in the 3 months leading up to race day seemed like a pretty decent effort as far as I was concerned. Who needs a training plan anyway?!

Banter and logistical discussions had been good on the run up to departure so I knew we were in for a good time. When I met the rest of my travelling party in T2 of Dublin Airport on bright and early on Thursday morning the mood was already high. You could already tell that some of us were taking things more seriously that others as we sat in Butlers chomping down chocolate croissants and complementary chocolates with our cappuccinos as one member of our party nibbled on an egg sandwich. Then when we arrived in Palma airport and I was starving having not brought any food for the trip and looking for the nearest vending machine this same travelling piranha had moved on to a chicken wrap. I slagged her about her packed lunch (full of jealousy over the sound of my grumbling tummy), but it turns out Aileen Flynn may actually have known what she was doing afterall…

Race Day

The big day arrived and began with most of us meeting for breakfast in the hotel at 6am. There was no cereal to be had apart from sugar puffs, which I figured may not be the smartest of moves so I had my fill of chicken and eggs and bread of a few litres of coffee. I noticed Aileen eating rice pudding, where does she keep getting this food?! And off we headed to leave our water bottles with our bikes and leave our “street clothes” in the post-race area. And then to the water to get the wet suits on and nervously await the gun for our start wave.

Swim

My only plan heading into the swim was to take it at a comfortable pace and to try to enjoy it as best I could. I had promised myself I would stay back from the madness of the swim start and not to hug the racing line next to the swim buoys, which were very generously placed every 150 meters. But of course like all good intentions those plans went out the window and I found myself in the heat of things getting jostled and pulled and punched for the first few hundred meters until things calmed a little after about the 4th buoy. A few minor skirmishes aside the remainer of the swim was relatively incident-free until, with a few hundred meter to go, I had someone pull back on my right foot not once, not twice but thrice. I got majorly pissed off and lashed out my right leg and karma struck back with a whopper of a calf cramp. I was terrified I wasn’t going to be able to run from the water into T1 with it but luckily it faded as the shoreline approached.

Total swim time: a very leisurely 32:50 – http://www.strava.com/activities/139835254

T1

Exiting the water with a gentle stroll before breaking into a light jog on my way to what must be the longest journey into an already massive transition area I got my first taste of the support which would be a fixture on the race course for the day. The crowds really added to the fine weather and beautiful course to make this an event and day to remember.

Upon entering T1 I picked up my blue bag (left-most aisle, top-right row, first section about 8 bags back) and made my way to the changing tent. Wetsuit removed I took an extra few seconds to dry my toes, taking care to remove all sand before putting my socks on. I was taking my breaks where I could and was not rushing transitions I had decided! I dropped the bag with one of the volunteers again and made my way to my bike (leftmost aisle, passed the eroski shop on right, before porto-loos, across from phone box, beside tree) and popped on my helmet and made off with my bike. The first hiccup arrived when I saw everyone stopped getting on their bikes so I went to hop on mine only to have some young-one shouting at me in Spanish that the mount line was up ahead. Balls… Had she waved an infraction card at me? Was I after getting a time-penalty? Should I go to the penalty box? So many questions. But when in doubt just plough on I figured! So off I cycled.
Time in transition: an even more leisurely 5:56 – http://www.strava.com/activities/139822645

Bike

Despite not having done a huge amount of bike training coming into this and not really knowing where I stood in terms of speed or hills or anything else I plucked a figure of 3 hours from the air for my planned (hoped) bike time. I had no idea how achievable this was but it was a target to keep me focused none the less.

The bike course was pretty spectacular it was has to be said. The first 10K is pretty much flat and very scenic before a bit of a drag for the next 10K and then into the serious business of climbing for about 15K. But the dreaded mountain was never too tough at any point and was mostly just a case of getting the head down and getting through it. It was made much easier by the great road surface and also the chat and banter between passing cyclists. Putting people’s first names and nationality flags on their race numbers was genius and every time 2 Paddies cross paths it seemed to bring with it roars of encouragement, which was welcome respite from the gruelling climb. The decent, which I was a little fearful of was actually great craic and again, beautiful if you allowed yourself a moment to take it in. Apart from the odd roar from people (mostly in German it seemed) whizzing by it was pretty plain sailing thankfully. The rest of the trip home was just about trying to power along without getting done for drafting (which was tempting when we hit a headwind for about 10K) as we made our way along mostly flat roads on our way back into Alcúdia. With about 10K to go I seemed to develop horrendous cramps in my quads with I was terrified might cripple me when I went to get off the bike and make running almost impossible, but I figured I was just going to get to T2 and see what kind of shape I was in.

Total bike time: a very respectable 2:52:35 (avg. 31.3 km/h) – http://www.strava.com/activities/139822677

T2

At this point, having achieved a sub-3 hour bike I was thinking the sub 5:30 could be on so there wasn’t so much hanging about in T2. The bike racked and helmet removed I made my way to the bag hangers to grab my red run bag (right-most aisle, left side, bottom row, middle section, about half way in) and ran to the change tent. Runners on I flung my bag to a volunteer and made my way out onto the run course.

Total time in transition: a not so pedestrian 2:42 – http://www.strava.com/activities/139822644

Run

Heading out on the run I knew I wanted to maintain a pace of about 4:44 per km to get in under 1:45 for the half marathon and keep any hopes of a sub 5:30 alive. I was feeling good (apart from lingering leg cramps which could go either way so would just have to be left to their own devices) so I just figured I’d go for it. Immediately once I’d started running I noticed the heat. And the sun. And the lack of clouds. And the zero breeze. There was just a dead heat and it must have been touching 30 degrees.

This was going to be a slog.

About 3 km in I saw my old sparring partner and piranha-for-a-day Karl Swan pass me (we’d earlier taken turns passing one another during the bike) and I decided to hang on his shoulder for a bit. I decided as long as he didn’t dip below my planned pace I’d let him pace me for a bit. I have to admit I considered following him for the duration and if that led to a sprint finish where I pipped him on the finishing chute, so be it! It’s every man for himself, right?! My imagination was clearly running away with itself in the heat. He was running a little faster than I had planned (around 4:35 mins/km) but I was feeling good so I hung on. After about 4 of 5 km of shadowing Karl I took the lead again and assumed he had the same idea as me and was following me now. I had visions of him taking me on the line and had now decided that would be totally bad form. How could he do this. The bastard. Yep, my mind was still racing faster than I was.

The run was pretty much a drag, and despite the support along the way (which was fantastic) I was just living from aid station to aid station. I took on water whenever I could, whether it was drinking from cups or letting people pour bottles or buckets of it over my head. Anything to cool me down for even a little bit. My nutrition plan (ha!) was to just keep drinking water at each aid station and hopefully not need to stop for a pee, or worse…

When I got the third and final scrunchie indicating I had completed my last 7km lap of 3 I got a bit of a spring in my step and my km splits, which at that point had begun to falter and slow, picked up again. I think I ran the final section with a smile on my face, despite feeling like I was dying inside. I turned and ran down the finishing chute feeling pretty elated and crossed the line, already feeling like I had enjoyed the whole thing.

What a day.

Total run time: well under target at 1:38:35 (avg. 4:44 minutes per km) – http://www.strava.com/activities/139822649

Conclusion

Coming into this race I had a few secret goals and ambitions. Firstly I wanted to make it through the cycle in one piece and make it down the mountain safely, having got up it without blowing up. I didn’t know what to expect from the swim but just wanted to make it through without a broken nose or goggles or Garmin or anything else. My total lack of brick training also made me nervous and although I knew my running was usually pretty solid I didn’t know how I’d feel heading into a run coming from a hard bike and in that heat.

I wasn’t sure what time to hope for but had heard of a few people going around in 5:30 so without any basis other than that had decided that 5:30 would be my target time. The thought of being first Piranha home had also crossed my mind and was something that I was secretly hoping for, not knowing that Aileen Flynn was going to have her breakthrough race!!

So, despite my less than perfect preparation and total lack of structured training I was delighted with my overall finish time, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, which was made all the better by a great travelling group of piranhas.

Total Time: 5:12:38 – http://tracking.ironmanlive.com/newathlete.php?rid=1143240091&;race=mallorca70.3&bib=1349

Epilogue

Before the race I had it in the back of my mind that I’d one day go long. Those thoughts are now a lot further back in my mind, if not gone all together! Not only the race itself, which for me at 70.3 miles or 113K seems long enough, but all of the training and time sacrifices for months leading up to it just doesn’t seem like something I’d get away with or enjoy all that much. One thing for sure is that I wouldn’t get away with my wing-it-and-see attitude to training if I was to go long. But good luck in Roth everyone 🙂

I’m very happy with 70.3 as a distance and as an event and see (all going well) a whole lot more in my future. There’s already talk of a return to Mallorca next year, or maybe Norway, or who knows where. One thing I do know, the 70.3 cherry has been well and truly popped and if I am to go again I’ll have the sub-5 hour target in my sights… I might even try a training programme next time around, who knows.