Lanzarote 2013 - Roth 2012 Race report

Going to put up some posts as updates on my training for IM Lanza in May next year. Coaching myself so any tips or ideas would be appreciated!

By way of background I did Roth a couple of weeks ago and have done a very long race report below as the start of this blog. I'm using Roth as my start point for Lanza.

Race Report – Challenge Roth, 8 July 2012
The Background
IM Frankfurt in 2011 didn’t go as planned with some mechanical issues. Motivated to do a fast race and try and get well under 11 hours so I entered Roth. Frankfurt time was 11:36.
Training wise I completed 27 weeks (from 1 Jan) amounting to :

Swim 24hrs 82km
Bike 115hrs 3,073km
Run 79hrs 925km
Total 218hrs 4,880km

This averaged at 8.2 hours a week if you exclude the taper week. If you take the recovery weeks out (where I would half my hours) it averaged 10 hours a week – similar to last year.
Key question 1 is if this is enough hours to do an Ironman – many would say ‘no’. I would say yes but the caveat is that it depends on your goals. My goal for Roth was between 10 and 11 hours.
I read a good quote somewhere “Only a fool does the same thing time and time again and expects the outcome to be different” so I changed a few things from the training last year. T

Swim
If it’s not broke don’t fix it. Just continued doing one or two swims of 30mins each per week.
Still hit 53 minutes again so I will do the same next year and expect the same result which I am fine with.

Bike
More time in the mountains at the start of the year and shortened the long cycles. Last year I regularly biked 5.30-6.15 for the last 2 months. Didn’t think this was necessary after finishing Frankfurt in 2011.
Long bikes (c4-5hours) in the mountains in Jan-April were good. Should take the TT bike up there (Roth had 1400m of climbing).
TT bike came out in April – possibly a bit late and then it was only on the flat. Longest bike was 5.5hours with 3x50mins race pace in the middle – think I needed to do more of these. Most bikes were around 4.5-5hrs – I think the extra hour of just suffering is required. Need to do the TT stuff in hilly places to replicate the race more. The race was not even close to flat – it was either up or down which was very leg sapping. Study topography and train in similar. Power meter may be a useful tool here also.

Run
Joined Cellbridge running club.
Increase in run speed and first time to go sub 40mins for a 10k. Ran 1.37 in Collinstown Half Ironman. Very positive.

Picked up some niggles after Collinstown Half Iron (2nd weekend in May) and then did my back in twice which meant no run longer that 21K from the second weekend in May – big negative – need to get to the bottom of the back issue as I am guessing it negatively affected my run the most. I think my run training was working but just got cut short – need to ensure I did not ramp it up too quickly and this can be worked on over the winter – key message is it was working so something similar with more of a focus on technique I think will work best.

Getting to The Race
The travelling companions were myself, Dave (also Phoenix) and Fran (Active Multisport). We arranged to meet in the airport Friday at 4.45am.

I was up at 3.45am – excitement was building and happy we were going on the Friday (Frankfurt last year we went on the Thursday and there was just a bit too much hanging about until Sunday).
I picked Dave up and as we were heading up the escalator to Departures Dave gets a call from Fran who states that the flight has been cancelled. That’s funny I said, the joking had started already. Unfortunately it was no joke.

Up to the desk and some German woman was basically telling people it was not her problem (even though she worked for Lufthansa). Basically we would have to sort ourselves out as storms last night in Frankfurt meant the flight could not leave. All remaining flights were full. Not impressed we got chatting to a nice Irish girl who booked us on the 6pm Lufthansa flight (she overbooked the flight so told us to be back at the Check in early).
Called Fran’s dad who picked us up and back to Daves. There was a chance we might get on the 12pm flight as we were on standby so Fran’s dad picked us up at Dave’s again at 1030 and dropped us back to the airport. No joy though and we got three vouchers for €50 to see us through to the 6pm flight. We let Fran’s Dad go as he had driven us around enough since the early hours.

We made our way up to the restaurant and loaded up on food for the day – they wouldn’t give change so we had to spend the full amount on the voucher. Got to the till and we were at €62. Okay so we would pay €3 each so as not to break one of the other vouchers and then have a nice meal later with the remaining €100.

The cashier took the voucher and asked us for €54.50. We laughed and pointed out that the voucher was €50. She laughed and said ‘do you really think they would give you a voucher for €50 – that is for €7.50’. Dave had read the ‘7’ as a ‘€’. Doh – so hand over the three vouchers and our greed seen us hand over €40. If it seems to good to be true it generally is!!
Couple of snoozes later and we checked in for the 6pm flight (which was delayed). This was not looking good. Being positive souls that we are worst case scenario was calculated as being in Nurenburg for midnight.

Eventually get to Frankfurt airport and there are no bikes, no people in the baggage hall and our suitcases arrived about 10 minutes ago. Not again!!! Then they appeared – we figured all our bad luck had happened so on to get the van.

Get to the car place at 10.15 (we had phoned to tell them we would be late) only to be told they gave our 9 seater away as we didn’t turn up and basically tough as there were no more. We had pre paid and were not impressed. We were told to get two cars and as the argument heated up with the moody German oul one a younger more attractive model offered an alternative. We wait for 20 minutes and get a mini bus. An hour later we got it.

Okay – now it would be 1am – c2hours drive on the infamous autobahn would be no issue at this time of the night. All is going well – we made a deal to all stay awake as Fran was the only one driving. I lasted about 10 minutes and dozed off. Woke up to lights as far as the eye could see front and back. 4 lanes wide and jammed solid at 1am – wtf!!!! The guys in the front made an executive decision to go backroads – I was dozing on and off – I was slightly concerned as I woke up as Fran rounded a bend too fast – 160kph – we are on the autobahn so its not too bad and I dozed off again to realise a while later the road was very narrow and not the autobahn! Very little traffic, only a few near misses and fair play to the lads and their smartphones for picking the villages we had to go through.

Arrived at the hotel at 3am ish and in bed for 3.30am (at least they had not given our rooms away). 6 hours sleep and a busy day ahead. We had to be organised so the plan was:
- Breakfast by 10am
- Make up bikes.
- Hit the expo
- Register
- Cycle bikes round the T1 drop off point.
- Back for food and bed.
Key points from the day:
- Dave is not sandbagging about his weight – as he bent under the ropes to register he ripped his shorts right along his butt – he got dogs abuse for a while about this!
- You should attend the race briefing (will explain later).

Tested the bikes out and dropped them in T1. All good in the hood – all the bad luck was behind us. Left our run bags in and back to the hotel. Had no time for a run so not good as I had not ran since Thursday night (and then only 3k) but what can you do. The day was too hectic.

Race Day
Got up at 4 and force fed myself and energy bar and drink. Knocked for the guys – had an image of a little leprechaun in Fran’s room dancing on the bed as when I knocked on the door all I could hear was Riverdance. Knocked for Dave and there was no answer – assumed he was in the bathroom. 4.25 and was heading out as we were leaving at 4.30 and cutting it tight – banged Dave’s door, rang his mobile and rang the room phone and he appears at the door in his boxers – ‘oh f**K’. Yeah - shift yourself!!! In fairness he was ready in 15 mins.
No more issues pre race which was good.

Got the bikes checked and they were still okay, into the wetsuit –only the second time I had worn it (first being Collinstown Race in May) so fingers crossed it will be nice to me for 3.8km. I wasn’t out until 7.05. Stood around chatting to Fran as he was at 7am – Dave went at 6.40 (with the fast guys). Had an interesting discussion with Fran last night about people swimming over you so I decided I would try and be nice to the back markers to the wave in front (especially as I knew I would be passing Fran and didn’t want to dunk him!!).

I made my way to the front, the cannon went and three of us formed a group. We hit the back markers of the wav e in front what seemed almost immediately and it split us. Two came back together and we yo-yo’d for the whole swim with me pulling away in the last 200 – think I was out first in my wave which was good. Passed a lot of people and only dunked a few who were zig zaggin so badly that they pulled in front of me and it was me or them. One tried to grab me but he needed to be quicker than he was ;-) Out of the swim in 53.01 – would have been easily under 52mins without the traffic to get through.

On with the cycling jersey and shorts and what I thought was a quick transition (4mins – not exactly that quick). On the bike and it was downhill for the first section – all good. Had 2 bottles of high 5 and planned to take 9 gels with the aim of a 5.30 bike split. Passed a bike lying at the side of the road pretty quickly and was concerned someone came off – as I looked toward the forest I got to see there was nothing to worry about – just some poor girl squatting towards the road – I made sure to look away quickly.

The legs felt heavy – I put it down to the travel chaos and assumed it should pass. Sipped on the drink and still felt bad after 30 mins. Took a gel and felt sick so tried to stick with the fluid. Came to a portaloo and had to stop – spent about 5 minutes in there but my guts felt much better after.
First hour covered only 29km so my 5.30 bike split was looking like it would not be possible. Battled on and the second hour was not much better – it was miserable. I forced 1.5 bottles down me and ditched the last half at the aid station and took water and iso. Took another 7 gels over the rest of the bike. Basically felt good for an hour between 2-3 hours and then back to heavy legs. I thought the bike course was meant to be fast but the general consensus from the athletes was that it was a slow bike today – I hit the 90km mark in 2.51 so I had a good third hour. If I could keep it up I might get under 5.40. Next lap there seemed to be a massive head wind the whole way. The bike course was either up or down. I would get passed by loads even on the tiny uphills and then I would pass them back out and more on the way down. This went on for c 100k so I got to know the names of a few people from this! The last two hours I was begging for the course to be short but it wasn’t and in fact the race signs had me 3km less than the Garmin – thank God this fixed itself toward the end – they were wrong!

I couldn’t stay in the tri bars for more than about 5-10mins – I would then have to sit up and stretch, my shoulders, back and legs were all getting stiff – the bike should not be this hard. Much harder on my legs than Frankfurt. Got off the bike and have never been so happy to see a dismount line. Bike was 5.44 and average hr of 144

Took a long time in T2 – almost 6 mins – full change including compression socks which were great – no sore calfs at all either during race or the next day. And I just started running. After a km or two I started feeling ok – my goal was 4 laps of 1 hour each. Was on target after 10km and planned to hold the pace for the next 10km and then try and up a bit.

Then I hit km 12 and there was no turnaround. Very strange. Kept running and seen a sign on the other side of the path – it said 18km – okay I didn’t attend the race briefing so I had to now work out what was going on. I figured it must be two out and backs but not on the same track as no one had armbands counting laps. Turned out it was a massive loop with lots of outs and backs and it seemed never ending. It was a tough course.

It all fell apart at about 23km. I ended up walking for about 2 minutes – I got some shouts to start running and I did and then seen Dave coming the other way – he was flying along and must only have 6 or 7 km to go. I tried to work out how far I had to go to the turnaround and reckoned 20 minutes but I was way off and just stopped looking at the watch. I offered myself a reward of coke from 25km as I was getting fed up with gels. I made this target and walked for a minute also. I struggled through the next 5km or so with a combination of sponges at every aid station to cool me down in the heat, coke and at 30km a gel and a 1 min walk. I convinced myself it was a final 10k and that I could walk again at 35km.

I started counting down 9km, 8km etc. Got to 35km and started feeling a bit better – less than 5km to go. Watch then broke so I stopped getting km splits, since they were c7mins per km I was not that worried but I felt okay for the last 5km until I realised it was actually the last 7K!!! Still I could start counting down again and I was in single figures – and I was passing people.

I was pretty sure I was heading back to the finish line soon but there was yet another out and back into the town centre of roth – the place was buzzing but this was cruel – it was 1km down hill which meant a mountain to climb on the way back up – as soon as I got through the crowds I was pumping my arms but only walking so I just walked – it was only a small hill but at 40+km this was hell. Some German dude ran up to me and started turning a claxon beside me and shouting ‘come on Darren’ – then about 10 of them started so I had no choice but to run and they all went crazy – thanks to them as I picked it up and passed a few more people right up to the finish line.

Bit of an anti climax to be honest as I was expecting a Frankfurt style finish – it was one sided as opposed to crowds the whole way on both sides of you to the finish and I could not hear ‘you are an Ironman’ (wrong race for this though!!). I crossed the line and was stood there a bit dazed for at least a minute before anyone came near me. I got my finisher medal and wondered through to find food.

I had to wander for a bit – after race food was not great, some rolls and pastries with coke or high five – I forced myself to eat a pastry and had two high fives and just sat down. Some guy from Sligo came to speak to me and he must thing I am rude as hell as I just could not converse with anyone – then Dave and Fran appeared and Fran let us know he ended up falling off the Bike at T2 and getting 6 drips – he was not okay but at least coherent and moving – thank God – its not worth that.

We decided to make a quick exit and went and got the bikes. The idea of cycling the 10k back to get the car was shelved and we got the bus – it dropped us at the field beside the car and we would have 30 minutes to get back to the hotel. In the intervening period I said about 5 words and I think the guys thought I was disappointed. I wasn’t – I didn’t know what time I did until Elaine rang and told me and I was just beat up – I had left nothing on the run course and just had no energy to do anything – I couldn’t even speak to Elaine – I had to tell her I would call her back later. Finished in 11.09 with a 4.22 run split. My last 5-6km were in fact a good bit quicker that the previous 10k so that was positive. Still disappointed not to have broke 4 on the run but nothing I could do on the day so I was still happy with my performance overall.

We starting to feel normal again as we walked toward the van – but couldn’t remember where we had parked. After about 20 minutes of walking round the field we realised we were in the wrong field – it would have been funny if we weren’t all so fecked. We biked the 2 minutes to the other field and got the van. I was never so glad to lie on the grass when this woman came over and asked for a hand with her bike. Me and Dave had to lift her heavy ass mountain bike on top of her bike carrier on the roof of her car – did we look like we had the energy for this!!!

Fair play to Fran driving back – we shouldn’t have been so tight and put someone else on the insurance. Back to the hotel and a quick shower and change and out for a nice dinner and a few beers.

Uneventful on the way home but the trip would not have been complete without the 40 minute delay on the way home on the plane!!!!

Key learns :
- If the race is on Sunday go on Thursday.
- You need to stay healthy in the last 6 weeks of training – it is the icing on the cake (as Dave said) - I missed all my long runs and most long bikes in the last 6 weeks and this just denied my legs the bit of a kick they needed to get me sub 11.
- I was happy with my running up to May and then the injuries had a major negative effect – first the ankle for a couple of weeks and then 2 weeks apart my back went twice. I need to get to the bottom of this. I think I need to strengthen my core and work again on my running technique.
- I think average hours of just over 8 a week need to be increased and will have a significantly positive impact on my performance.
- More biking is needed and I need to Turbo at least once or twice a week in addition to my long bike.
- I have entered Lanzarote – need to focus and get the motivation going around October for this as it is an early season race in May. At least the hills of Roth have paved the way and not too much extra climbing to step up to Lanza!!! Lets get the TT bike on the hills.

Despite all the incidents it was still a good weekend – the spirit was bruised but never broken and the slagging and craic were great throughout. Elaine didn’t like not being at the race due to her nerves for me so she will be in Lanza in May – at least she will get a nice little break in the sun for compensation of me heading off on the bike every weekend for 4-5 hours (its going back up to 5-6 hours for next year!). Ill thank her in advance for next year – she has already told me I need to train more!