Outlaw Half: Nottingham 2019

My race account was opened last weekend at the Outlaw Half. I’ve done this race twice before, in 2016 and 2017. Those reports were quite detailed so I'll keep this short. 

As per previous editions, it was a great event; really well organised, lots of supporters and on the day, conditions near perfect.

Setting off on the run!

Since inception in 2013, this race has become one of the premier half distance triathlons in the country; it attracts a pretty competitive field and this year there was a strong contingent from Manchester Triathlon Club.

If you don't train you can't expect to compete!

Will Clarke took out the win on the male side in a course record of 3:51:44 before jetting off to take 2^nd at Ironman Brazil a week later. In the women’s race, our own Naomi Keira Wright came third in 4:46:01 – bravo!

48 minutes slower than 2017

I had a great day out; racing again felt good and the whole process was pretty seamless. And while my performance was well below par, considering the amount of training I had done it was a fair reflection of my current fitness. Indeed, I’ve always reckoned that you could blag your way through a half. Now I know you can! 😃

Faded in second half of the bike

The water was “ok”, once we got going the temperature was fine but it was very murky. I had no idea where to pitch my effort on the bike and with very few miles in the tank I faded on the southern loop. Started steady on the run and kept a fairly constant exertion but again, with so few hours on my feet, my pace got progressively slower.

Ironman tactics: walk the aid stations!

A part of me was of course disappointed not to be mixing it up at the pointy end and pushing for a place on the age group podium. One could ask why was I not prepared as per previous years? But the answer is relatively trivial: I simply haven’t put in enough training hours.

A much more interesting question is how on earth did I put in so much training previously? Hopefully I can figure out how to answer this question long before next year’s edition.

Another great aspect to this year's race was that on the Saturday, Jacky took part in the Nottingham Sprint Triathlon. It was her first open water swim race and only her second time in a wet suit. She had a bit of a wobble before the start but then got stuck in and nailed it - supa-proud! 

Jacky exits the water!

Challenge Almere 2017 - perfect execution, almost!

A common question is “What sort of time are you going for?” However, a specific number wasn’t at the forefront of my mind going into Challenge Almere, my A-race for 2017. After cracking out an amazing time in Roth 2013, part of me has been chasing that number ever since, leading to getting sick, a DNF and two sub-par performances.

Crossing the line - BOOM! Nailed it.

So my goal for this race was not a time or a ranking but to try to execute a perfect race. This might sound strange to iron-virgins but once all the training is under your belt it’s all about execution; nutrition, pacing and the decisions you make on the day have a major impact over 226km of swim, bike and run.

The Almere Dream Team: John, Paul & Rich

Talking of training, I was well prepared. I was already in good shape for Gladiator back in July, and since them I’d had a good 8 week block including plenty of big sessions. A short taper to shed the fatigue, then a few short high-intensity sessions to sharpen up and I felt great. Now it was time to execute.

It was lashing it down when we arrived in Almere Friday lunchtime, with rain also forecast for race day - not great for the mojo. But then the Dream Team arrived and the mood lightened. Club mates Rich, John, Paul and Gary were also racing. We hung out at the race briefing, registered and carbo-loaded at Woodstone Pizza & Wine.

Fully loaded, Jacky and I checked into our hotel, the Apollo, right next to all the action. We were only there thanks to some terse negotiating by Jacky. The week before, Apollo staff tried to transfer us to a different hotel some 10 minutes drive away. I’d booked and paid for it in October 2016 so Jacky wasn’t having any of it! Of course I was annoyed too but I was trying hard not to let anything derail me psychologically. Once again, Jacky saves the day!

View from our hotel window!

It was a big relief to finally get to our room; now I could relax, get all my gear organised, sort out my bike, check it into transition and drop my transition bags off. Time for one final leg stretch, an easy 4k run with six sets of strides. Then early to bed for a second great night’s sleep.

Race morning rain!

Come race morning and it was still raining, quite hard. But once in the water it was all good. After the pros, the age groupers were due to start in two waves; the ETU Championship racers at 7:30 then me and the rest of the choppers at 7:35. However, at the last minute the organisers told us we would all be going off in one wave of about 600 people. No complaints from me, hopefully with a good swim most of the field would be behind me once I got out on the bike.

Game on!

There was the usual biff at the first couple of turn buoys but then plenty of clear water. Out in 1:04:xx, an enjoyable swim and a good start to the day. In about 100th position, over 80% of the field was behind me. It was still raining so in T1 I donned a gilet but not the arm warmers and gloves. Slug of EFS Liquid Shot and off to the mount line.

Smoothly on board, a few corners and narrow bike lanes to navigate before getting on the loop proper. Some congestion so a bit of overtaking, plus a series of roundabouts, but tried to control my power and minimise spiking.

Good start to the day

And here was a key part of the plan. At Gladiator, I aimed for 170W but averaged 180W for the first 50km then suffered big time later. Learning from that, today’s #1 objective was to target 165W and stick to it like glue, regardless of what happened around me! Plus, focus on minimising spikes when overtaking and coming out of corners etc. The wet roads necessitated caution which helped with the latter.

Bottom line: I nailed it. Once on the dyke road, I settled into a nice rhythm; keeping a close eye on my Garmin, I easily held 3s power and 10km auto-lap NP close to 165W. Heart rate and cadence were also in nice places, Zone 1 and below 70 rpm respectively.

Nutrition was also going down nicely, every 20 minutes like clockwork; 500ml 10% SiS GO Electrolyte for the first hour then EFS Liquid Shot pre-diluted 1:1 thereafter, i.e. all liquid and calculated to deliver approx. 1g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight per hour. I picked up two water bottles at the aid stations but with an air temperature of 15 degrees I only drank a few hundred mls. Most of it was used to wash myself down after *ahem* teaching myself how to pee on the fly early on in lap 2.

Enjoying the tail wind

Post race analysis showed a normalised/average power of 167/164W with an Intensity Factor of 0.72 and 269 TSS points; that put me right in the sweet spot for a good iron-distance bike leg. Compared to 0.75/305 at Gladiator where I clearly over-biked, this was a much more realistic effort.

Being conservative on the bike pays off!

All I knew at the time was that I was on target and feeling good. On the first lap I had the impression I was being overtaken by quite a few riders. I thought that some might be half-distance racers; they started later but with only a single 90k lap to complete before a relatively easy half marathon they were pushing hard, so I didn't react. However, analysing the results, 32 slower swimmers past me while I overtook 38 faster swimmers, i.e. a net gain.

Whereas many Ironman-branded races are over packed, participant numbers at Challenge races tend to be lower meaning less congestion on the bike courses - a big attraction IMO. And indeed, it was perfectly possible to ride legally at Almere, keeping outside of the 12m drafting zone and overtaking within 25 seconds. I only saw one pack that was suspect and 1 case of blatant wheel sucking.

Feeling good!

By lap 2, it had really thinned out, and boy was I enjoying myself. It had even stopped raining! Because of the flat exposed nature of the course, wind is to be expected. The forecast predicted only 15-20kph winds, so I elected to go with my disc and deep section front wheel. But what was sweet was that it came from the south west, so we had a perfect tail wind along the entire 25km stretch of dyke road. Clipping along at over 40 kph was awesome - this is what it’s all about baby! I was so in the zone I didn’t notice I was overtaking Rich until he shouted out hello!

After Gladiator I raised my front end by 20mm and this worked a treat; I was very comfortable in the aero position, staying low for pretty much the entire ride, only coming out on tight corners and when fuelling.

Bike course; with the wind from the south west, the dyke road was fast!

Back to transition, an elegant dismount with 5:14:xx on the clock, really pleased with that. No dramas in T2; another slug of EFS and I was off on to the first of six 7km laps, with Jacky there cheering me on at the start of every lap.

And here came major objective #2 for the day; for the first lap, keep the pace below 5:00 minutes per km then pick it up a bit if I felt good. And again, the difficulty here is holding back. Before too long, the bike was out of my system and I was running freely. The first two kms passed by in 4:59 - easy tiger, slowed it down a bit, completing the first lap in about 35 mins. At the top end of where I wanted to be but nicely restrained nonetheless. Last year, I went too hard too soon and paid the price.

Aero-tastic!

Picking up a gel and some water from the aid stations every 20mins, my stomach was doing fine. Indeed, I felt goooooood and the pace increased a bit. I kept smiling and staying positive was very easy. This was helped by all the crazy spectators at the various hot spots where there was loud music and lots if cheering, great atmosphere!

By half way I was still averaging just under 5:00 per km but with all the gels I was starting to feel a bit bloated. So I eased back on the gels and started picking up cups of energy drink, then finally on the last lap, cups of coke. With aid stations every 1.5k regular fuelling was easy.

Run course, 6 laps around the lake we swam in.

I knew that with kms being ticked off every 5 mins I was on for a 3:30-ish marathon, and with a sub-1:05 swim and a sub-5:15 bike under my belt, this meant that a sub-10 finish was possible. However, I tried hard not to think about the end result and just stayed focused on the process of 5 min ks. The plan was to see where I was with a lap to go and take it from there. The last two laps required more and more mental focus but I still felt strong.

As I started the final lap, I looked up the finishing chute and saw a 9:35 on the race clock. If I managed 35 mins for the last lap, a sub-10 was long gone but a really solid 10:10 was in the bank.

For those with a keen eye, the story of the ride can be seen in the data.

In retrospect, that was the one mistake I made all day; I had no idea whose time it was and thinking about it now I suspect it was for one of the female pros who set off ahead of us. At the time, I decided to just carry on, looking to hold pace for the last lap. If I had only switched my watch over from (pace/lap pace/HR/run time) to (total race time) I would have realised that with a solid last lap I would be bloody close to 10 hours. With that knowledge, surely I could have found an extra 25 seconds?

In the end, I finished the run in just under 3:32 for a total time of 10:00:24, placing me 98th overall; 70th age grouper and 7th in the M45 age group, out of 570 and 103 respectively. Not bad considering about half the field were competing in the ETU Long Distance Championships.

At first we thought I had scored a 9:55:xx; that’s what it said on the race clock. But remember, at the last minute the organisers sent us all off in one wave, and I guess they didn’t adjust the timing system accordingly. So all the people due to go off in the second wave had swim times and total race times 5 minutes faster than actual. Indeed, my watch read 10:00:28 so it didn’t take me long to figure out there was a mistake somewhere.

Am I irked about the 25 seconds? Of course, but only slightly. While another sub-10 would have been wonderful, I am just totally stoked that after a few races where I underperformed due to execution errors, this time I totally nailed it and executed close to perfection. Not my fastest race but definitely the one I am most proud off, and really pleased how I implemented lessons learned from both Gladiator and Roth 2016.

I was planning on retiring from long course after Almere; now I’m not so sure. Yes, the last 10k hurts but when you get it right, boy does it feel fantastic!

A big thanks to the Almere Dream Team of Rich, John and Paul; we had some great training sessions in the final build up and doing them together was not only productive but also a lot of fun. Training on your own in the final build gets a bit gruelling but having some great training buddies made a big difference. And as always, big thanks to Jacky - no. 1 cheer leader and best ever support crew!

Gladiator - July 2017

Gladiator, my “warm up” iron-distance race for 2017. Based at Buckler’s Hard in the New Forest, this race had been on my radar ever since my first proper triathlon in 2009. Race New Forest have organised a long distance race for many years; originally the Forestman, it was re-branded as the Gladiator in 2016, named after a warship built at Buckler’s in 1782.

Figurehead from HMS Gladiator

The field was small, only about 60 of us but with a similar number taking part in the Boskman, a middle distance race running in parallel. At 5am, all the wannabe Gladiators in their wetsuits climbed aboard a coach to take the short journey up to the town of Beaulieu where the swim was to start.

The downhill swim course

We set off shortly after 5:30; it was high tide and with a good hour of slack water and no wind, it was like a mill pond. Air temperature about 14 degrees but warmer in the salty water that had flowed in from the Solent. Perfect conditions!

Sunrise over the Beaulieu River

Navigating the bends of the Beaulieu back to Bucklers was one of the most fun swims I have ever done. Little jellyfish and moored boats everywhere but only a few people ahead of me. Exited the water in well under an hour, so probably a slight current helping us along the 3.8km swim.

Quickly through T1 and I knew I was one of the first few out on the bike. The two guys who mounted along side me shot off up the road as I settled into the 180km two lap tour of the New Forest. The bike course was also great fun; not fast thanks to typical UK tarmac, plenty of turns and the odd stop to shoo large animals out of the way, but great scenery and not many cars despite the open roads.

Bike course; out via Lyndhurst to Burley, two laps then back via Norleywood

However, I didn’t pace it well at all. My target power was 170W, but I was going too hard. I knew it, but I felt good and was enjoying it. My normalised power for the first 100k was 179W and I would have to pay for it eventually. Indeed, I lost the plot later in the ride; I was struggling to stay in the aero position and my average power for the last 75k fell to 159W.

Good swim

Jumped off the bike in just under 5:40, i.e. 32kph average, not bad for that course although I knew I hadn’t executed it well. But never mind, it was a massive relief to get on the run; two out-and-backs that we had to do four times, a mix of trail and road, not flat but nothing too steep.

 I started out steady but never really found my running legs;  I wasn’t enjoying it much, never felt in control. Jacky kept supplying me with energy gels and encouragement each time I ran through Buckler’s, so I just tried to keep going.

The first half was completed in 1:55, i.e. ~5:25 per km pace, so respectable considering the terrain, but not where I hoped to be. Then came the war of attrition; the temperature climbed to over 25 degrees and my pace slowed to an average of 6:10 per km.

There was nothing wrong with my legs but my brain had had enough; it was constantly trying to convince me that it was okay to quit and that I  was “never going to do this again”.

Finally, after just over 4 hours and 6 minutes, the run came to an end, my slowest marathon to date, for a total of 10:51:17. Yes, good enough for 6^th overall but remember, it was only a small field - 42 male finishers

Lost the plot on the bike

 However, I was pretty despondent; I’d had enough of this game and I convinced myself that it was going to be okay to bail on Almere later in the summer. 

Over the next few days, a sense of perspective returned and I dusted myself off. Sub-11 on a honest course like that was a damn fine effort. And after a bit of reflection, I made three decisions to ensure I had a chance of racing better in September:

1. To adjust my bike position to allow me to hold aero for the full 180k.
 

2. To revisit my power target, maybe 170W was slightly too high?

3. But most importantly, discipline! Whatever the new power target is, bloody well stick to it.

Almere here we come!

Outlaw Half 2017

I wrote a long report on the 2016 edition so I’ll keep this short. Bottom line: executed well, knocking over 5 minutes off last year’s time. Three decisions, two good, one bad.

Swim training has been going well, more on this below. Bike training likewise; the Dukinfield 50 miler told me I was where I needed to be. Running, plenty of volume in the legs but not much hard work as it’s still early in the season: A-race isn’t until September.

Calm before the storm.

Rained heavily on Saturday but the forecast for Sunday was dry with light winds, starting out at 9oC degrees then warming up, and indeed it turned out to be a nice day. Water temperature was only 14 degrees but once we got going it was all good.

Decision #1, start out wide left where the fast swimmers were advised to go. Sounds like asking for trouble but when the hooter went off, I headed further left and found plenty of clear water.

Climbed out with 30:xx on the watch - big PB. While it may have been slightly short, last year I was 180^th out of the water, this year 119^th, so a good result. Really pleased with this; my swim times had been static for several years but hopefully this is a sign that the recent work with Hamish Shaw is paying off.

Start of the last swim wave.

T1 ok, settled in on the lap around the lake before getting out onto the road. Starting in the 3^rd of four waves meant that half the field was in front of me so once again I had great fun carving my way through it.

Pacing. Garmin showing only four fields: 3s power; NP - lapping every 10k; heart rate; and cadence. The plan was to aim for 210-215W, 150-155 bpm and 80-90 rpm. Overall averages, NP 212W, 152 bpm and 85 rpm - bingo!

Nutrition. 500ml BTA bottle with EFS Liquid Shot diluted 50:50 with water, slugged this whenever my Garmin beeped, i.e. every 20 mins.  600ml High5 Zero on the down tube, never touched it.

A guy called “Michael” overtook me early on the bike. An uber-biker, I let him go - and didn’t see him again until the run. A second guy overtook me late on, half way around the Eastern loop. However, he didn’t open up a gap and I found myself soft pedalling to keep out of the draft zone.

Decision #2, overtake! However, I didn’t want him jumping on my wheel and getting involved in a ding-dong so I put the hammer down, maxing out at 405W and HR rising to 160 bpm. Looked over my shoulder at the next turn, he was nowhere to be seen, job done but I kept pushing and used this as an opportunity to focus on the drive home to Holme Pierrepont.

The data tells the story part 1: heart rate and elevation on the bike.

T2 was virtually empty and my watch read a total time of 3:00:xx so I knew a nice bike split was on the cards. Didn’t know it at the time, but leaving transition for the second time I was 21^st overall and 3^rd in my age group.

Out on the run and I felt good, overtook Michael and continued working my way forward. The plan was to aim for 4:15 mins per km, pick up a High5 Isogel at the first aid station then every 4-5km thereafter.

Heard heavy breathing behind me so knew someone was on my tail. “Ian” came past and I realised he was in my age group. Decision #3, go with him. He was a big guy and breathing hard, and we were clipping along at 4:05 - “He’s gonna blow up soon!” He didn’t, I did - bad decision!

"I think I went out too hard!"

After 5k I let him go and got progressive slower, down as low as 4:40 per k into the headwind on the South side of the lake. But I stuck to my nutrition plan and worked on staying positive, and as always Jacky was there to cheer me on.

Just before the turn around on the second “out and back”, I recovered. I saw Rich Hyder coming the other way, he was in the wave ahead of me, and I dug in; maybe I could catch him - sorry Rich!

The data tells the story part 2: pace and heart rate on the run.

When I did, we had a quick chat. I pushed on and even managed to fend off a late challenge on the red carpet. Caught up with Ian in the finishers area, he’d bagged 3^rd so no age group podium for me this year.

Absolutely wasted afterwards, didn’t leave much out there. Staggered to the food tent and caught up with Rich. Back to the camp site for a shower, then to the finish line for a burger and ice-cream. Watched Anna Weaver pick up her trophies - 2^nd female overall and 1^st in age - and cheered the last few finishers over the line.

Scores on the doors: 30:30 for the swim, 2:26:28 for the bike and 1:31:35 for the run, plus 2:29 and 2:04 for transitions for a total of 4:33:06. 31^st overall, 4^th in the 45-49 age group and a nice PB.

A great place to be this early in the season and a timely reminder to race my own race; hopefully I’ll resist getting sucked in to making bad decisions when it comes to the 226s.

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