Roth 2016 - demon slaying

My 2016 campaign culminated in a second visit to Roth, to take part in the 15^th edition of the bucket list race operated by Challenge. Based on reputation and personal experience, this is one of the very best triathlons in the world. It dates back to 1984 and for many years was run under the Ironman banner.

Roth 2016 (Click pics to enlarge)

A small historic town located in rolling Bavarian farmland, Roth is fairly easy to get to: direct flight Manchester-Munich, one and a half hours drive north towards Nuremberg. We stayed in Allersberg, a small village 15 minutes drive due East. The race dominates the entire community, everybody at Pension Schneider was there for the event and our hosts couldn’t have been more accommodating, providing secure garage space for bikes and serving breakfast at 3:30 am on race morning.

Pension Schneider

My bike came independently, over land and sea with 20 other bikes and kit bags, courtesy of RaceForce who picked it up the week before in their customized van. Door-to-door service comes at a price but I was more than happy to swap cash for stress. Dismantling a multi-grand TT bike, boxing it up, dragging it through the airport and watching it disappear down the chute in to the waiting arms of anonymous baggage handlers never does ones nerves any good! And before a challenge like this, managing stress is an important part of the preparation. Mike and his crew were great; good communication throughout, full bike check and mechanical support if necessary.

Door-to-door service with RaceForce

Over 3,400 individual participants including ~800 ladies toe the line, plus there are ~650 relay teams. This is made possible by 20 wave starts going off at 5 minute intervals, starting with the Pros and select others at 6:30am. Considering my tug-boat-like swimming, I prefer this format. Big dudes and strong swimmers may like the biff at mass starts, but not me. Ironman Mallorca 2014, ~3000 people on a wide beach funnelling towards the first buoy was a brutal experience and because it was sans wet suit, pretty threatening. PB be dammed, I don’t want to go through that again!

The out and back swim course in the Main-Donau canal

Police estimated a staggering 260,000 spectators around the course. This produces a very special atmosphere - Challenge Roth is an experience that lives with you forever. Pictures of the legendary Solarberg with ~50,000 fans only partly tells the story.  When passing through villages, the route becomes lined with trestle tables behind which sit enthusiastic fans drinking beer and using various implements to make supporting noises. On the climbs, rock music blasts out of huge speakers, turned up to 11 of course. This year, my climb out of Greding was accompanied by Status Quo - cool but not quite as surreal as “Love Gun” by Kiss in 2013. It’s all so bonkers that getting back to the quiet countryside is almost a relief!

Putting in a surge on Solar Hill in front of all my fans!

With all these participants and spectators, you would be forgiven for thinking that there are numerous logistical cockups. No chance. It would be churlish to just say, well this is Germany so of course it’s organised: Felix and his team have put a humongous amount of work in over the years, fine tuning the format so that it runs like clockwork. From registration through bike check-in to bag drops and the finisher tent, all flawless. Smiling volunteers everywhere. 

Bag pick up at registration

The bike course is a dream. The entire route is closed to traffic with police marshalling the junctions. Compared to the Cheshire lanes, the road surface is like polished marble. Conditions were bone dry, light winds initially, picking up later. By no means flat with over 1600m of ascent, but not a technical course: only a few sharpish corners in some villages and three hairpins on the main descent. The wave starts also means there is little congestion. This makes it relatively safe and drafting is minimized. Being in wave 3, I got out on the course nice & early, I only recall 2-3 surges to get away from congealing clusters. Slightly busier on lap two but all good. Contrast Mallorca 2014 which was a total draft-fest, the frustration of which contributed to ridiculous power fluctuations and my eventual DNF.

Bike course: two anti-clockwise loops then into Roth

A brief sombre note, at two separate locations I saw downed riders being attended to by paramedics. More terribly, a 50 year old male was pulled out of the water shortly after his swim start and later died while being airlifted to hospital.

Thursday: Pre-race massage; muscle tone good and legs well relaxed. Indeed, I felt great, training had gone well, I was nicely tapered, weight up a tad but ok, and no niggles. I knew I would be lining up in perfect nick, which in itself is a big achievement. Back home, pack, then travel. All relaxed.

The last supper

Friday. Pick up bike & kit bag from RaceForce hotel. Then off to race HQ to register & pick up transition bags etc. Check out tri porn at expo. Drive recce one loop of the bike course. Lunch. Nap. 30 min easy ride & final bike check. Some knee stress so last minute cleat adjustment. Dinner then a good nights sleep.

Swim recce

 Saturday. Swim recce. Sort out gear. Big pasta lunch. Back to swim start to rack bike and drop off T2 bag. Nap. Race briefing. Back to hotel for 30 minute easy run. Doh! You’ve just dropped off  your run shoes - Muppet! Not going to risk it my casual trainers so another nap. Protein/carb shake and three energy bars for dinner. Final preps then early to bed. All relaxed.

Alarm set for 3 am. Leisurely final prep: shower, P20, race tattoos, suit up, breakfast plus coffee, drive to the swim start. One of the first to arrive so relaxed set up: pump up  tyres, load up bike nutrition, fire up Garmin, clip in shoes, fiddle with elastic bands! Inspect portaloos, then a few walk throughs to visualise T1. Still feeling relaxed.

Early arrival at T1

There was a buzz of activity where the Pro bikes were racked, with media attention focused on Jan Frodeno, 2008 Olympic Gold medallist and 2015 Ironman & 70.3 World Champion. (Watching the 2008 Olympics inspired me to try triathlon). In the run up, Frodo stuck his neck out, saying he was going to attack the world record, set here in 2011 by Andreas Raelert in a stunning  07:41:33. Someone else sticking his neck out was Joe Skipper, a character well known to the Manchester Triathlon Club. He aimed to become the first Brit to crack 8 hours. While Frodo was facing the cameras, Joe was quietly pumping up his rear disk. As much as I wanted to say Hi and wish him luck, I didn’t want to disturb his focus. I was delighted to later learn that both smashed their targets, coming 1^st and 2^nd with times of 7:35:39 and 07:56:23 respectively. On the ladies side, the meteoric rise of Daniela Ryf continued with a winning time of 08:22:04. 

BOOM - wave 3 set off!

Almost show time; say goodbye to anxious Jacky, wetsuit on, drop-off kit bag. Deep water start out in the canal, a canon boom sets the pros off, wave 2 enters and we are corralled. The banks and bridge are rammed with spectators, hot air balloons lift off and a drone buzzes overhead. 5 minutes later we enter the water. 20 degrees, perfect! Murky but tastes clean! At the less competitive Outlaw Half, I lined up at the front. But here, waves 2, 3 and 4 are reserved for “fast age groupers”. No quarter would be given so I lined up further back. Early biff quickly thinned out and soon I had clear water. Felt like I swam strong with good form but exited in 1:06, so a few minutes slower than desired. Within the constraint of three swim sessions per week, I have continued to work on my swimming but apparently without much reward. Not sure where to take it from here. Is this is as good as it gets for an adult onset swimmer? Will more pool time yield improvements that justify the investment?

Help getting back to our feet

T1, pretty slick considering this was only my 3^rd race in 3 years. Volunteers everywhere, helping us climb wobbly steps out of the water and funnelling us towards the T1 change tent. Its busy, think, don’t just take the first free space, pick out a quiet space further inside where a free volunteer can help strip off the wetsuit. I charge out, stashing nutrition in my back pocket leaving the volunteer to bag my neoprene. Did I say “thank you”? I think so! Despite the bag system, helmet, sunnies and race belt all done at the bike. Liberate rear wheel from wooden rack and go, running barefoot on dry grass and mats, so all good. Quiet at the mount line, astride gracefully, smoothly insert feet while pedalling, almost like an ITU pro. Two and a half minutes.

View of passage from swim exit to T1 tent, before bag drop off

Great atmosphere aside, the bike was largely uneventful. I stuck to my usual nutrition strategy. 750ml 10% SiS GO Electrolyte drink every ~10 minutes during the first hour then slugging High5 Isogel at 20 and 40 minutes past the hour. A third of a High5 energy bar plus water on the hour. Two bottles of electrolyte grabbed at aid stations, drinking to thirst so only used about half of each. Total just short of 1500 calories, or 1.1 grams carbs per hour per kg, and it all went down fine, no GI distress. An EFS liquid shot flask in back pocket, “just in case”. Kept a watchful eye on power, heart rate and cadence but also paid attention to how it felt, backing off up the hills and pushing on the downs and flats. One pee stop. End of lap one, average speed 34.3 kph, nice, 34.1 by the end. Garmin bike computer stops on 5:12:xx so 5 minutes down on 2013 but still on for a good time.

Flapy race numbers annoy me!

Crest the final rise, slip feet out of shoes, keep pedalling, turn off the main road into T2, smooth dismount on the move, hear Jacky shouting encouragement, hand bike to volunteer. Another volunteer tells me to move my race number to the front so the next volunteer can shout “444” down the line to the next volunteer who finds my run bag. The tent is busy; thinking on the move again, don’t just take the nearest space, run through to a clear space near the exit door, sit down, socks and shoes on. Grab cap containing run sunnies & salt tabs* and off I go, leaving a volunteer to bag my helmet and deposit it. Just over 2 minutes.

*Plenty of electrolytes in my nutrition and at the aid stations so never needed these.

So finally, the elephant in the room, my performance on the run! The last leg is of course where you find out the truth. Here, everything you have done in training, planning and execution crystalizes. At just under 4 hours, this was my slowest performance, slower even than Ironman Lanzarote 2012 when it was 35 degrees and I was carrying an injury!

Most of the run is along the canal towpath

I felt great! More encouragement from Jacky as I hit the run course, “You look great!”. I kept moving through the first aid station to settle into a good rhythm. But I got slower and slower, finally resigning myself that it was all over in terms of a good time, it was now all about finishing. Indeed, it now took all my mental strength just to carry on, I just wanted to quit like never before. The cool shade under the bushes inviting me to lie down and close my eyes. [EDIT: The sight of Simon Granger flying the ManTri colours gave only a fleeting distraction.] I kept walking the aid stations to take on water, electrolyte and gels before switching to coke and water melon. But I did manage to keep running in between, albeit at a plod, finishing in 3:58:47, so a full half an hour off expectations. 

Made it!

So where did it go wrong? Indeed, I have been wracking my brains all week.

The knee jerk reaction, and indeed my initial one, is “you over-biked it mate” but upon reflection I’m not buying that. Based on a 100m TT two weeks out, I realised that aiming for an average power (AP) of 180-190 watts was too much, so I backed down, aiming for 170-ish, and finished with an normalised power (NP) of 174W. An AP/NP variability index of a perfect 1.00 shows incredibly steady power. I kept my heart rate pretty constant too with a Pw:Hr ratio of only 2.06%, i.e. virtually no decoupling*. Plus I was only 2.5 minutes slower on lap 2 versus 1. So I paced it close to perfection, and indeed, I felt great getting off the bike. 

Splits

By contrast, in 2013, while I was 5 minutes faster overall, lap 2 was 10 minutes slower than lap 1 and I felt totally destroyed getting off the bike. Yet I knocked out a 3:24 marathon. Note also that this year, my biking has been stronger, e.g. knocking 5 minutes off my 50m TT PB. Okay, so now I paced it evenly but did I go too hard? An NP of 174W equates to an IF of 0.75 and 294 TSS points - right in the sweet spot for a good bike. So no, I don’t think I went to hard

In the Goldilocks zone

*Full disclosure. The overall values are a tad flattering. Breaking it down into the two laps gives a more representative picture. Lap#1: 178W/1.05/3.43%  Lap #2: 172W/1.04/3.7%. So, for sure I went slightly harder in the first half then calmed down a bit in the second lap but I finished feeling strong and felt soooooo much better approaching T2 compared to 2013.

Power and HR profiles

I wonder if sometimes self-claimed “over-biking” is a bit of an excuse for not putting in enough swim and run training. Did I train hard enough in the other two disciplines? Not an issue: I swam and ran consistently all year, plus training times and overall volume were very comparable to previous campaigns. I was in fine fettle!

Very happy with training in the build up

Another cause of melt-down-marathons is insufficient nutrition on the bike. However, as mentioned above, I had a tried-and-tested plan, slugging gels and eating bars with clockwork regularity. But did I execute the plan well? We think so: post-race clean up showed the 500ml BTA gel bottle was empty and the 2^nd energy bar was half eaten! However, I didn’t have anything after the 5:00 hour feed, I didn’t have anything in T2 and I ran through the first aid station, picking up my first gel at ~4k. So I did go ~40 minutes at the bike/run interface without fuelling.

Head down, keep going!

Another killer is charging out of T2 and going too hard early on. How fast did I start the run? At the time, I had no absolutely idea, and here’s the kicker. About 10 minutes into the bike, my Garmin 735XT watch packed in. I had tried re-booting but to no avail. What is it about Roth and my Garmins!?! I don’t normally wear a watch on the bike, but in 2013 my Garmin 510 malfunctioned meaning I rode blind - hence the bad pacing. This year, the 735 was for backup on the bike and then run pacing. While initially annoyed, I wasn’t too stressed by now as I had almost the entire bike leg to reconcile that I was going to be running blind.

I chatted with a German dude. We were on first name terms following a conversation earlier on the bike where he asked me about Brexit?!? It was a short conversation!!! “What pace do you have?” I asked. “4:35, 4:45”. Wow, way too fast, ease off a bit and carry on. I still felt very good, if I could hold it together, a 3:30-ish split and another sub-10 overall was on the cards. I walked the next aid station to take on fluid and cold water sponges - by now the temperature was rising.

I kept walking the aid stations to take on fluids and at  ~4 km had my first gel. WTF! Last year, Challenge switched race nutrition sponsor from High5 to 32Gi who supply gels in a snap-back credit card style packet. This caused such confusion last year that at Saturday’s race briefing the company’s owner had to explain to us how to use them!! I even went to their expo tent to see one in the flesh. But on the run it still took me several attempts each time to get the bloody things open. Even worse, they were frickin' awful. I can stomach most gels but the first one, warm banana flavoured goop, made me gag. Did I finish it? I doubt it, I may have even spat it out. I remember having two more, different flavours thankfully, probably around ~8 and ~13 km, but that was probably it.

Says it all really, went out too hard then bonked at halfway

So, not only was I not monitoring my pace but I wasn’t fuelling properly. School boy error, I should have tested the 32Gi products in training. In retrospect, my planning this year was a bit complacent; while I’d thought through the bike I only had a vague run plan. Maybe I was just too relaxed in the final build up?

Looking back, why-oh-why did I not use the EFS flask in my back pocket?? That bad boy contained 400 calories of lovely vanilla-flavoured rocket fuel! I hadn’t used it on the bike so it was still there but I totally forgot about it!!

At some point I became disconsolate. I felt like I was slowing massively and assumed I was now well off the pace. In retrospect, I was doing ok, I just need to keep fuelling and keep going. But it was getting much harder than it should have been, most likely because of the lack of calories. Sub-consciously I gave up and just started making it up on the hoof, switching prematurely to coke, and water melon which was so much more appealing than the gels but relatively devoid of calories.

In the finish chute!

So finally, a picture emerges! It’s taken me all week to figure this out because only today did I have chance to analyse my run splits from the Challenge tracker. I didn’t want to be the guy who blames his tools, so all week I’ve been trying to rationalise an over-biking hypothesis. But when training is based heavily on GPS pacing, not having a functional Garmin in a race where pacing is crucial is a major set back. Putting all this together, three run-related issues contributed to my demise:

1.     Run nutrition. Fail to plan, plan to fail. Without a defined strategy, I didn’t take the opportunity to fuel well at the bike/run interface, plus not testing the on-course gels meant I simply didn’t take on enough calories. Next time, play to your strengths and plan with the same intensity as in the past.

2.     Run pacing. I started far too hard and while I slowed to an appropriate pace, without regular GPS feedback and encouragement, it felt far too slow so I assumed the prospect of my primary target had slipped away. Next time, put a spare watch in the T2 bag!

3.     Mental toughness. 1 and 2 combined led to a spiral of decline, eventually resulting in me giving up mentally. I stopped bothering with gels and spent longer and longer walking the aid stations. Maybe I was physiologically spent, but at no point did I shout at myself to suck it up and just run!! Next time, prepare better psychologically by banking memories of strength to draw upon in times of weakness.

So, my final thoughts. My goals for this race were no. 1, slay my DNF demon from 2014 and no. 2, prove that 2013 was no fluke by turning in another sub-10 performance. In the end, I achieved goal 1 by slugging it out on the run, and while slower than my first ever 140.6, this was a performance that I can be very proud of. Clearly I didn’t achieve goal 2, but in falling short I learnt an awful lot. When it comes to 140.6 racing, the line between performing to your best and limping home is a very fine one. You can probably get away with one oversight but two and you’re in trouble, and my own complacency meant that I forgot the three most important factors when it comes to 140.6 racing: execution, execution, execution! Initially, I was disappointed and convinced that my ironman days were over. Having conducted a full post mortem, now I’m not so sure. The only question remaining is which races do I target next year?

After shower and food, we went back to the finish line party to soak up the atmosphere. After all, despite initial disappointment with the run, this was yet another awesome life experience.

Finish line party