Swimming, cycling and plodding my way to Las Vegas

Provisional result 13.00.12 (subject to change) -

Swim 1.25 - found swim tough

Bike - 6.50 - what a course - highlight was overtaking a model t ford driven by Charlie Chaplin on a descent!

Run - 4.30 - dead at the end

Report to follow when I get back to work.

No change in time in final results but not that bothered about those 12 secs, I wasn't chasing any particular time and I wasn't aware I was that close to sub 13hrs.

@ Interested - Lake was surprisingly warm but the climb out up a ladder after an hour and a half of being horizontal was a nice touch - remember it's called Hardman for a reason!

Hardman IM Race Report

As with all my race reports it's gonna be a long one.........

EDIT: garmin files to follow when I find my USB.

Coming into this race I was worried about the lack of training I had done. My training log showed that since January 1st I had swam approx. 120,000m; biked 2,400kms and ran 1,100kms. Not exactly hard core ironman training. I had only raced three times as well with a grand total of 3 open water swims in a year. My bike in particular worried me. I suffered like a dog an IMUK on the bike last year and that was with more time in the saddle during training. I’d like to say that my lack of training this year was due to having another kid and being busier in work but in reality the real reason is that I’m a lazy bollix and not once this year did I do an early morning week day training session. I also had a more relaxed attitude to missing my long weekend sessions, especially on the bike – any sign of wind or rain and I stayed at home eating crap. The only consolation was that I had done a lot more hill work on the bike this year so I was hoping that that would help (along with my new compact chainset). My swim stroke had also improved thanks to a complete change in style and I was doing 3,800m a lot more comfortably than last year.

So off to Kerry the whole family trooped last week – it now takes two cars to take the 6 of us plus luggage and a bike. Spent the few days in Kerry before the race carb loading on brown bread and seafood chowder. Did a drive of most of the bike course and a 1hr session on the bike on the climbs out of Waterville. Slept very little all week as I was really doubting my ability to finish.

Registration and pre race briefing was on Friday night. The initial information had been that 30 individuals and 11 relay teams would do the race but there didn’t look to be that many at the briefing- in fact there were only 25 who did the race in the end – 9 relay teams and 16 individuals. We had been told beforehand that our bikes would be checked at the briefing and that there was a mandatory list of equipment we needed to have including light sticks and reflective tape. In the end we weren’t required to provide this equipment and the bikes did not receive any scrutiny – as was said to me it’s my responsibility to make sure my bike is fit to ride and tbh that’s fine by me. Interestingly at registration my TI card was taken and held with a description of my bike. I wouldn’t be able to get my bike back at the end unless I matched the person on the card and the bike I wanted to take matched the description held with my card – a nice touch. I got weighted as part of the registration process. The lady weighting me looked at the scales, looked at me again and said in a quiet voice whilst nodding at the scales ‘...is that right?’ – 87kgs – the heaviest person to sign in that I could see and obviously far too fat to be doing an IM. The race briefing was very informative and entertaining. The swim course was set out by the Dundag Masters OW Swimming Club and they gave a good briefing regarding expected conditions due to the wind and gave instructions on how to deal with a lamprey if one attached itself to your wetsuit. I did hear the guy tell someone after the briefing that this would be a tough swim with the conditions. The bike route was the Ring Of Kerry with aid stations every 20kms or so. Each aid station had at least two volunteers from a farming group along with gels and two big 25l drums of water and energy drink. If you wanted to stop you either pulled up and took a cup of liquid or put your bike bottle under the tap and filled up. Run route has been changed to 3 laps of the National Park rather than an out and back on the public road which was a good change to make. All three gear bags (bike, run, post race) to be left beside your bike in T1 and they would be transported to T2 when the swim was over. If you wanted to get naked in transition there would be a tent. No portaloos on the bike, I think the expression 'piddle in a field' was used. I left two feed bags at the briefing – one to be passed at 80kms on the bike and one to be placed at the start of the run lap and passed 3 times. Briefing over off home for final packing.

Up at 3.30am race day for approx. 1,000 cals from cornflakes and banana sandwiches. Not much movement from the digestive system, a bit worried by this. Arrived at race site in pitch black darkness at 5.15am and got sorted out by car headlight. Tried the portaloo – pitch black and no paper but I always carry my own - still no movement – now very worried. Race was due to start at 6am but if had been obvious that it would be too dark at this time so at the briefing we were told to expect a 6.15ish start. Got sorted in transition and had a look a the best marked out long swim course I’ve ever done – 7 huge red upright buoys – a big bonus for someone like me who is blind without his glasses. At 6.25 got a call – 5 mins to start. Feck – into the water, realised I’d no nerves which was good. Water was actually quite warm, a quick warm up and then off we went. Straight out to first buoy, turn right and then two anticlockwise laps. Conditions were ok at first but when we turned again we had the wind behind us and quite a bit of chop. Turn again and wind and chop to side, turn again and wind and chop to face. Was very comfortable in swim, stroking well and drafting within a group of 4-5 for most of the first lap. Towards the end of the second lap I left the group I had been swimming with and pushed on a bit. During the second lap my digestive syetm finally decided to lossen up a bit – this really worried me – a toilet visit was going to be imminent. Arrived a the end of the swim and climbed up a ladder to get out of the water – was expecting to cramp and fall back in but no problems. Looked at watch – 1.25hrs - ohh ffs – how could I have been so slow, 10 minutes slower than last year and I’m swimming better this year. Tougher conditions than IMUK me thinks and also a swim course that was anything but short (unlike IMUK). Still good enough for 12th out of 25 in swim.

Into T1 and wetsuit off, bib shorts on over the tri shorts I had worn for the swim, cycling top on, shoes and socks on and an entire tube of ky jell down the cycling shorts. Decidied to deal with my GI issues once on the bike and took off out of T1 in 7.47 – happy days - it took me 15 mins in T1 last year.

Out onto bike and down to work. Had two water bottles with me. One filled with 10 Hi5 Isogels and one with Nuun. Plan was to take three swigs of gel every 20 mins (approx. 1 gel) and supplement this with an item of ‘solid’ food every hour. At the 80kms feed station I had another two bottles waiting, the only difference being that the second bottle of Nuun was caffeinated. To supplement the isogels I had bananas, ride shots and for second half of the ride caffeinated Hi5 gels and fruit pastille jellies. On the bike I took in total approx. 19 isogels, 4 bananas, 1 packet of ride shots, 5 caffeinated gels and one pack of fruit pastilles. This equated to approx. 350-400 cals an hr. It sounds like a lot but I knew from training that I needed this much. This worked perfectly as I didn’t come close to bonking at any stage and had no GI problems other than my initial ones.

Initially the bike course was brutal – the road surface between Killarney and Killorglin was dire. My poor bike was ratting and banging and I was waiting for bits to start falling off. More worryingly was the strong headwind we had to cycle into. My strategy on the bike was to keep the HR as low as possible, averaging below 150 and certainly avoiding going over 160bpm. Once past Killorglin the surfaces improved but the wind persisted. The scenery between Killirglin and Carhiciveen was fantastic and the climbs were not causing me a problem. A couple of lads passed me on a climb as I stayed in the saddle and kept the HR low. As they passed they were huffing and puffing. I suspected I might see them later on the bike when they started to tire and I wasn’t wrong. Coming into Carhiciveen we had to take a detour up the ass crack of nowhere and do a turnaround to make up the 180kms. Once past Carhiciveen we got some benefit from the wind and the route to Waterville was fast with good road surface. Stopped at Waterville to swap out my bike bottles and lost 4 minutes trying to get the duct tape of my bottles that I had used to seal the lids – I should have just put them into the cages and dealt with it later. Coming into Waterville I made a pit stop – the bike route ran past the front door of the house we were staying in, so I stopped outside, ran in, dealt with the GI issues and was back on the bike in 4-5 minutes. The race rules say you can leave and re-enter the bike course at the same spot and this is what I did. Once back on the bike I felt a lot better. Waterville was really busy with traffic – there was a Charlie Chaplin comedy festival on. Once clear of Waterville the first big climb of the day started and the scenery really was epic. Once at the top of the climb I started a lovely long descent. I’ve always been a crap descender but I’ve done all my hill work this year on Mt Leinster which has narrow unmarked rough roads. The descent off this climb was on a smooth wide road with a line down the middle to help. It was probably the best 5-10 minutes I’ve ever spent on a bike. I didn’t go that fast - 50kph – but I was overtaking cars and at one stage I overtook a Model T driven by a Charlie Chaplin lookalike. The joy soon ended as I tacked the road to Sneem. This stretch of road is without doubt the roughest I’ve ever ridden on. To cap it off it was back into a headwind. I was pushing hard with my HR far too high and only getting up to 15kph – tough. It was 20km of torture. After Sneem the road conditions improved and we were out of the wind. Sneem to Kenmare was ok and after Kenmare I began the climb up Molls Gap. Molls Gap is not that steep but it is long long long – especially after 140kms in the saddle. It was a grind up the hill. Finally at the top the descent once again was just magical. The view was unbelievable. I was a bit slower on this decent as I got stuck behind a very nervous driver and a rain shower had started. From here to Tralee was fine. Some heavy traffic coming into Tralee but it was lunch time on a Saturday and you just needed to be sensible. Back into T2 at 178.2kms according to the Garmin in 6.48.31 – 14th out of 25 (which included at least 2 former semi pro cyclists from what I was told). I was delighted with this especially considering the time I lost at the feed station and due to my pit stop. I had averaged 144bpm HR which was bang on target.

Into T2 and I needed to get naked so asked where the changing tent was. I was directed to a little one man changing cubicle into which I had to zip myself and get changed – no fancy IM changing facilities here. 8.29 T2, again delighted given my 15 minutes in T2 at IMUK last year.

Off in the run. Legs feel great, no numbness or jelly legs here. Plan was to keep heart rate at around 155 but certainly no more than 160 and to run off heart rate and not pace. Ran for about 5-6 minutes to get to the start of the lap section. The feed station was at the start of every lap and had the mountain of food I had left in my feed bag. About 1 mile into the run my only real gripe of the day – I got to a crossroads and there was no signage or any sign of a marshal – where do I go – I asked a dog walker if she had seen other runners and she pointed me in one direction – I ran about 100m down this way when I heard a shout and a marshal on a bike came after me to tell me I was running the wrong way. I was not impressed and had to bite my tongue. The run was 3 laps of approx. 8 miles on the tracks and trails in Killarney National Park and it was a fantastic location. Yes I had to avoid tourists, jarveys, dog walkers and children but I didn’t get held up once and some of the American tourists were very vocal in their support. Keeping the HR at the mid 150’s I was feeling great and was around 4hr – 4.10hr pace for the first lap. However I started to slow and by lap 2 was running 10.05 miles whilst keeping the HR steady. Running faster wasn’t an option as I didn’t have it in me. There were plenty of aid stations on the run with friendly marshalls, all well stocked with drinks and bars / gels – but no coke. As coke hadn’t been mentioned as being available at the briefing I assumed it wouldn’t be so put a can in my feed bag. At the end of lap 1 I decided to wait until the end of lap 2 to drink it and kept going. I was taking a Hi5 isogel every 40 minutes or so. On lap 1 I had run everything, on lap 2 I walked the two biggest inclines. Still moving quite slowly but feeling great. At the end of lap 2 I stopped to get my coke for the last lap. I dropped my feed back and when I bent down to pick it up I got a cramp in my right hamstring that made me scream like a girl, closely followed by the same in the left leg as I fell over. The pain took my breath away and I almost vomited. I had a bad 30 secs or so of trying to deal with it and then started to walk. I walked about 250m before I got the energy to start running again but that had taken a lot out of me. The last lap was slow. I walked all of the inclines as my hamstrings couldn’t take too much abuse. Miles 20 on just seemed to take forever. End of lap 3 and into the finish stretch. Kids at the finish line cheering me on, energy returns and I cross the line with a 4.29.53 marathon, 20th out of 25. The Garmin was showing 25.5 miles with an average HR of 152.

Overall time was 13.00.12 – 18th overall out of 25; 10th individual male home out of 14. A top ten position in an IM race – I think I’ll retire now. That's 50 minutes quicker than IMUK with less training so I'm delighted with that. I'm not bothered by not getting in under 13hrs, I still thought I had half a mile to run according to the Garmin so wasn't pushing for a time, and to be honest I didn't have it in me. My nutrition and pacing strategy worked much better than last year and I do think the experience of having done an IM before was a big help.

Post finish there was a small recovery area well stocked with tea, coffee, cake, sandwiches and coke. I had to sit down here for a good ten minutes before I could move on to the ambulance where a gorgeous first aider bandaged up my destroyed nipples (I had lost my plasters at some stage during the run). Two days later feeling fine and looking at the Lost Sheep in 3 weeks.

As an event it’s hard to beat the location. If you want to be pampered with changing tents, huge goody bags and good road surfaces do an IM branded race. If you want an affordable (€150) friendly race in a great location do this one. Hopefully the minor issues will be sorted out for next year when there’ll hopefully be a bigger field, although I don't think that run route could take more than a couple of hundred runners. If we don’t support local events like this we’ll keep having to pay silly money to do event abroad so hopefully this race continues.

Izoard wrote: »

Maybe you dodged a bullet here...

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=354859

Would have been a long way to go for a duathlon....

Jesus. As disappointed as I was about not going I think I would have been more disappointed if I'd travelled all that way for a feckin duathlon.

15c water temp and 4c air temp does sound like and interesting mix but don't know if it's a reason to cancel a swim, just means trisuits on the bike are a no-no.

Good thing the ITU weren't monitoring the Sperrin HIM last year, I doubt either air or water temps were in double figures for much of that race.