Overall, this was a good race. I performed worse than I expected, but I feel I did well. 465th OA and 97th in AG is nowhere near the stats from South Africa, but the Euros are fast blokes! I can’t remember what happened the day before the race very well. We got in a quick swim, a short ride (legs felt good) and a short run (legs felt good again). Went and stood in the huge ass line to check in the bike and drop off the T1/T2 bags. Triangle Events really needs to get this bike check in sorted. South Africa was worse, but standing around for 30minutes is fucking ridiculous. Once inside, it was smooth sailing. Transition is a good 500m long, hence the long
transition times. I made a last second decision to leave my shoes on my bike, so I didn’t leave them in the bag – as we had no access to them in the morning. I was using my road shoes, so they were a little harder to get on, but no worries. After that, Jen and I had dinner and laid out the mornings gear and put the nutrition on ice, no fridge in the room.
Race morning was nice. The start only a few hundred meters away. The hotel was in a great spot. Had some peanut butter and nutella sandwiches and some Inifinit drink and headed down. I eventually made my way to the swim start meeting up with Jen and Rebecca along the way. I forgot to Body Glide my feet, as I always do and thank fully, it didn’t come back to haunt me.
The swim start was sectioned off in “estimated time” chutes. I didn’t pay much attention to them, I just saw the pros in the next chute and lined up. They were small, so I wasn’t front row, but the horribly rocky beach start gave me plenty of breathing room running to the water. No one moved very fast. As the gun went off, I had more trouble than usual getting
started and getting free water. Aside from my first IM, this was the most tugging and kicking I have done. At one point I got dragged backwards by a female! WTF? I turned around and pushed her off, kicked a few times real hard and never looked back. Crazy. I was breathing to one side for the better part of the 1000m+ to the first bouy. By doing so, I was faster and more relaxed, but I also was going off course. I felt I was swimming over/infront of lots of people. The lead kayak with a flag was moving from left to right… I was swimming diagonal. I realized this, but failed to correct soon enough and I was swimming back to the bouy instead of swimming to the bouy. I started on the inside and ended up too far outside. Either that or the current was taking everyone…
Once around the first of three outside bouys, it was back to the shore for a short run. Getting out on the large smooth gravel was ok, not easy, but ok. Back in the water for a short 1400m loop to finish. I had no idea where I was really, didn’t matter. I swam the last loop pretty good I thought, and the splits reflect that (1:37/100 in the first loop, then 1:27/100 on the second).
As I mentioned, the transition areas were really long. At least 500m. No wetsuit strippers either. Transitions are always pretty smooth for me. Lots of people sprinted past me with and without their bikes. Never made sense to me to run so fast in transition. There were over 50 racks of bikes, I was near the front, so I ran a long was without my bike, which is why I elected to run that distance without my shoes on. Also was sure if I could just run with them out of the tent or not since we had to have on our helmets. Got the bike, started the PowerTap and off I went running with the bike. As usual, there was a clusterfuck at the mounting line since everyone has to stop, put one leg over the bike and then get going…idiots. No offense to those who do that, but when you can swim under 60 minutes, you best be getting on the bike faster than that, especially if you just sprinted by me in transition and I just passed you on my bike while you were throwing a leg over the top tube!!! As I mentioned, I was using my road shoes so I had a few extra straps to fix and buckle, but it was fine.
Onto the bike course we go. In preparation for this course, Jen and I and sometimes many others would ride the one mountain in Al Ain and the only other hilly ride we have in the UAE almost every weekend. The mountain gains 900m in 10km and the hilly ride can get up to 2000m in 100km. This, I thought was great prep and it was, just wasn’t my day for bike legs.
The course is three sections, 1/3 flat, 1/3 hills and 1/3 descent. By the time I got to the descent and the rest of the flat I was done. My legs had recovered, but I was done. Long before that I was not in a good space. Things were good leading up to the race, but not so good once it started.
I kept things in check pretty well, much better than in South Africa. I was getting passed left and right by hundreds of people for at least 100kms. Some of these guys were just powering up the hills…I was at 250 watts for the long climbs and they flew passed me as I was standing still. Unbelievable. Unfortunately, I don’t think I say too many of them on the run course, like I would have hope. The Euros are beasts.
Anyway, the bike course is fantastic! Totally awesome and is now my favorite bike course. I have un finished business on that course for sure. I did not get to enjoy the descents as much as I would have liked for two reasons: 1) Legs were hurting and couldn’t push the watts I wanted to 2) Too many slower people. I think the later could have been solved if I could push the descents like I wanted to. I had hoped to “make up” time there, but it wasn’t happening. The last bit of flat was into a tailwind and I did reasonably well against that and coming into town good. I was getting tired and maybe slightly undernourished. I did eat better than I remember in any of my other races. Definitely worth mentioning is the fact that not once did I worry about the run when I was feeling my legs go and not holding steady.
They took my bike once I got to an open rack and for such a crappy bike split, there were 30+ racks still open, I was at #11…that made me feel somewhat better about my performance. Into the tent, on with the socks and socks and out I went. I had planned for 5:20/km pace and to eat every 5ish kilometers which just happened to be at each turn around. The run was 4 loops of 10ish kms. At the aide station following each turn around I ate. It was a good plan and definitely helped me keep on track eating and pacing.
I saw Jen as I was finishing my first lap, she looked good, I didn’t stop to chat. On the subsequent loop I saw her again and I stopped, she didn’t feel all that great. I gave her some advice to try and get food/water in and I was off. The next time I saw her, she was worse and still not able to eat. I was out of options for her to try. The stop was longer as I tried to keep her spirits up. I saw her once more before I finished on my way in and I was really hoping she got things worked out because she wasn’t too far behind me and that was very motivating for me. Not that she was so close, but rather she was doing well and I was very happy and proud of her. It was really good for me to have her in the race, better than having her watch. It gave more motivation and encouragement to know she was really there with me, not just watching.
Some people mentioned it was hot, I think it was over 30-32C (high 80s/low 90s). but it wasn’t a factor and I avoided the showers at the aide stations. I only saw a couple people not run through them. I guess living in the Gulf has it’s advantages. I just wasn’t able to capitalize on them as much as I could have done when I was in South Africa on that day.
I ran in under 11 hours and made it under a 4 hour marathon, which after my bike time, was exactly as slow as I was going to tolerate. My stops with Jen got a little longer as I saw her. I hope and I think I did help her get through some of the race and I didn’t mind the extra time on the clock. I could have saved 5 minutes, but it wasn’t worth it to me.
I didn’t have any expectations going into this race as the bike component was a bike question mark. I knew it was going to be a “slow” day, which is why going under 11 hours was perfectly ok, just not perfect. I learn more and more each time, but as Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” and so I think I am insane sometimes when I race Ironmans. I guess that’s why I keep doing them. It’s better than being Pavlov’s dog.
Post race sucked, no, really it did. We couldn’t find food anywhere. It was close to midnight as we left the medical tent. I should have got an IV along with Jen. I went and dropped off my bike after riding with Jen for her last 10kms. Still unable to eat or drink anything, I asked her to stop, but she wasn’t having any of it. I was with her, so I felt better about being there is something were to happen. And at that point the med tents seemed to sprout up all along the course. I don’t remember seeing them earlier in the day, but I’m sure they were there. I would meet her every aide station where we would sit and/or lay down depending on how she felt. With 5kms to go she ran it in. I waited every once and awhile to see if she was “ok.” I really happy and proud she finished despite her run troubles and even more excited that she did very well in the swim and bike, which means she will me back for more. I told her she needs 30 days before she can sign up for another one.
Again the best part of the awards (until I get on the podium) is the free booze. Nothing like going and getting 4 beers at time! Triangle Events is good about the booze, just wish they would have better food. Every place we ate in France was really good, but for some reason, their buffet for the races are crap. Deserts were good though.
Final Numbers:
Swim: 59:49
T1: 4:09
Bike: 5:53
T2: 4:24
Run: 3:57
Total: 10:58 (97th AG, 465th OA)
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