Staffordshire 70.3 Ironman – Sunday 14th June 2015 Following the successful completion of a handful of sprint distance triathlons, the decision was made to push the boundaries further by registering for the Staffordshire 70.3 Ironman. Online entry opened, the form was completed and submitted, this was followed shortly afterwards by an e-mail from Ironman stating “Congratulations! You are now registered for the IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE 2015 - Pre-Registered Athletes - Individual”, the penny then dropped – it took a few minutes to register the magnitude of what I’d committed too.
I was in the rather fortunate position that this wasn’t going to be a solitary excursion, Martyn Robinson, Andy Lawless and Scott Leadbetter had also suffered from what could only be termed as temporary insanity.
Training suddenly took on a whole new dimension, whilst everyone at BATS got behind us to help us on our way, a special note of thanks has to be directed at one person. Without the support, encouragement and enthusiasm of Mr Paul Howlett aka ‘The Machine’, I doubt I’d have been prepared as I was for the event. Paul took us under his wing ensuring we were prepared for all possible weather conditions by training throughout winter in BlackpooI. I’ve lost count of the number of hours spent being sand blasted while cycling and running up and down the prom.
With the excellent support from friends and family we jointly embarked on the Ironman trail, initially counting down the months, weeks and then days until race day. New terminology was being learnt along the way ‘high cadence’ and ‘granny ring’ to name a couple. These became very important over the last few months of our training.
Training didn’t go 100% to plan, there were injuries along the way (which isn’t unexpected): rotator cuff, Achilles, tendonitis, blisters, IT bands some of these were unknown to me before I started this but I certainly know about them now.
At last race weekend arrived, I’m not sure how the others felt but I was nervous, apprehensive and to be honest scared! If you say 70.3 fast it doesn’t sound too bad but when you break it down to a 1.2 mile open water swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run, it becomes a little more daunting.
On arrival at Shugborough Hall, the place was awash with fit looking people with very expensive bikes, I did feel a little out of place at first! We headed to registration where we were presented with our race pack – wristband, race number and transition bags.
I’m used to a single transition area so it was new to me to have a spilt transition (Shugborough and Chasewater), we placed our running kit in the ‘red’ transition bag and deposited it in the transition tent, ready for race day, while trying to memorise where the bag was located – finding your own bag amongst 2500 red bags with no distinguishing marks apart for your race number could prove problematic in the heat of battle. We also surveyed the transition racking to ensure we knew where to deposit our bikes. Next, it was off to our race briefing where we were presented with all the pertinent points required for race day.
Following this was a visit to Chasewater to deposit our ‘blue’ transition bag (containing all our cycle kit) and also to rack our bikes. Once again we were able to survey the course (swim start and finish points, transition route etc.) in preparation for Sunday.
Race day arrived when the alarm sounded at 4am and the ritual of ‘operation porridge’ began. We headed to Chasewater in preparation for a 7:30am start.
I was really looking forward to the swim element, as this is the one that should define my race. I love the water and expected to get off to a flier. Unfortunately the swim started poorly, I’m not sure if it was tension, adrenaline, being given a black wave swim cap (I have always been told you should wear a bright coloured cap to ensure you are visible), over confidence, poor tactics or a combination of all but I got caught up in the melee of a group start. I couldn’t get my rhythm or breathing correct and it took a while to capture my composure - still a time of 37 minutes wasn’t too bad.
The Bike route was challenging, some may call it undulating but for someone who is used to Blackpool prom it was positively mountainous!! I really enjoyed the cycle, common sense prevailed when I decided to pace this part in preparation for the run. One word of caution, make sure you follow the signs, if you are going to travel at break neck speeds on the downhill sections, be prepared for sharp turns; a number of over-zealous athletes (on top notch steeds) were observed lying upside down in the hedgerow trying to free themselves after missing the turns – this is not a good look!!
The run would be my Achilles heel, the mind is willing but the aging body is continually reluctant to match it. Maintaining a higher cadence on the bike meant that my legs were prepared to propel me forward for the run – this came as quite a surprise. The advice from the race briefing was to run between the food stations (approx. 1.2 miles) and walk the length of the food station (100m), this proved to be winning strategy. The route was three laps passing through the scenic Shugborough estate, each lap taking you teasingly past the finish line where you could hear the cheers and applause as fellow athletes completed the course. After 13.1 miles over differing terrain the finish was in sight, running down the red carpet to applause from the spectators was awesome.
Unbeknown to me, Sharon (who was at home after competing at Blenheim Palace) was able to track me throughout the course through online updates. She was also able to watch me complete the event from the race webcam – technology is fantastic.
So how did it feel? It was tough, it pushed my abilities to their limits but what a fantastic experience - I’m overjoyed, ecstatic and thrilled at the achievement. I’m also not afraid to say that it was also very emotional – a lot of hard work and sweat went into this event and crossing the finish line was quite an experience.
The scale of the event was immense, from an athlete’s perspective it all ran fairly smoothly, the course was swept, roads closed to traffic, pot holes covered, signs in place – nothing had been missed. The support and help offered by the marshals was fantastic. Additionally, the spectators that lined the cycle and run routes shouting words of encouragement was unbelievable.
Lessons learnt – while ‘tri’ may imply three, I’ve found there are 6 elements to triathlon – the obvious ones are swim, cycle and run but the other three may not become instantly obvious to everyone:
· nutrition – hugely important on an endurance event and must be conducted with efficiency. I did seek guidance from a trained professional - many thanks to Clare!
· mind set - keep focused and think positively throughout
· respect – respect the course and don’t treat it like a sprint event
As strange as this may seem, after 11 months of focusing on this event, I now feel a void that needs to be filled, as a result I’ve pre-registered for Wimbleball 70.3 next year (please don’t tell Sharon).
Next year is open to any interested participants if you would like to come and join me (and hopefully Martyn).
A final note - good luck to Andy who steps up the distances again to complete in Ironman Bolton in a few weeks.
