Ironman UK Race Report

Its been 11 days since Ironman UK and about time I posted a race report. If anyone is still reading this blog I thought I would right this race report and a then a report on our trip to the Hawaii to watch the World Champs before calling it a day.

We arrived in the UK a week before the race and spent time with family before heading down to a cottage near the race site the Thursday before the race. Although the weather was nice the morning we landed it was a short lived phenomenon and for almost the entire week it rained and rained and then rained some more. Much of the country was flooded and rain was accompanied by high winds and low temperatures.

By the time I picked up my race packet I was really beginning to worry about the weather for race day. It had been almost 7 weeks since Lake Placid but I still had not fully dried out and memories of the rain that day were still very vivid.

The Saturday before the race we were joined in the cottage by friends and family and had a very pleasant meal which really took my mind off the race itself. Unlike Lake Placid after I had picked up my race packet I had not returned to the race venue. I had taken the opportunity to do a loop of the bike course and my initial impression was although the course was a bit hilly and the road surface a little rough it was still a fairly nice course - I later came to change my mind.

Race morning we were up early as usual. The race was scheduled to start at 6am which is an hour earlier than most of the North American races. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not raining race morning and although it was not warm it was not too cold either. Wendy, Ben and I arrived at the race site at about 4.30am with the rest of my support crew arriving a little later. For this race I had quite a large fan base consisting of my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my mother and brother-in-law and a close friend of the family.

At about 5.40am I left Wendy and Ben and I had to muster in the transition area from where the organisers were going to shepherd us to the race start. At about 5:45am the organisers started making PA announcements that there were cars on the course which needed moving before the race would start. I also got the impression that it was too dark to start the swim and it was something like 6:20 before we were corralled toward the race start. I had lined up with everyone else but the way it worked out I was very much toward the back of the line as we made our way to the edge of the lake. From the edge of the lake it is another 500m swim to the actual race start.

The Marshall's started to tell us to hurry up as the race was about to start. This was pretty annoying, there was no way of forcing my way to the front and I was worried that I would not make it to the start line before the gun. I also wondered why the race was scheduled for 6.00am as it seemed to me that it was always likely to be too dark at that time in the morning. As it worked out I did just about make it to the start line in time but many others didn't. The 500m swim before the start did give me a great opportunity to warm up and get over the initial cold shock. I think the water temp was about 60 deg and that actually turned out to be ideal for me.

Swim 1:09:00 (341/1295)

As I said I was a little bit anxious that I wouldn't make the swim start but I did manage to the get to the start line and lined up toward the right of the line 1 or 2 swimmers back from the front. The course was a 2 loop swim following a centre line of buoys. The lake did dog leg left which meant that you could cut the corner on the way out but needed to 'bend' round the buoys on the way back.

The start was not quite as busy as Lake Placid but in order to get between the first buoy and the edge of the lake there was a bit of a bottle neck and I had to fight for the first few minutes. After that the race stretched out and I the only other pushing and shoving was at the turnaround buoys.


The lake itself was a bit muddy and visibility wasn't great but as I said the water temperature was just right for me and I had a pretty comfortable swim (I did wear 2 swim caps). When I looked at my watch at the half way point it was something like 32min so I was pretty pleased (I failed to appreciate it wasn't quite half way as I still had to swim back to the edge of the lake where we first got in).

The second loop was much the same as the first. I did get a couple of very short drafts and from the taps on my toes someone must have been drafting off me. I did feel noticeably less tired across the arms and shoulder than at Lake Placid and the long swims had certainly paid off.

I got to the edge of the lake and looked at my watch which read 1:08 so I was very pleased with my swim. There was a great crowd at the edge of the lake and I got out feeling pretty good. Sub 1:10 for me is a massive improvement on my half ironman swims which took me over 40 mins and my Oly swims which used to take me about 30 mins. It was also within my A race goal pace.

T1 (Timings were available but are no longer listed)

T1 went pretty well for me. There were no seats available and not as many helpers as Lake Placid but there was plenty of room. I decided to throw on a pair of arm warmers as there was still a chill in the air.

Bike 5:45:40 (72/1295)

The bike course was a 3 loop course. After leaving transition there was short ride to the looped course which involved a steepish climb. The first part of the course headed due south from Sherborne to almost Dorchester. This stretch was mainly gentle rollers but it did have one very distinct climb half way toward Dorchester. It is worth noting that the road surface on this leg was really rough and actually got pretty annoying by the end of the race.

The course then took a 90 degree turn to the left and there was a very long climb which took you up to the top of the local hill. This section was very exposed and I did have a couple of exciting moments as the wind moved me and my bike (zipp 606 wheelset) a few feet across the road. I would strongly advise against disc wheels if the wind is strong.

After the climbing there was a very fast short descent and then the course made its way through some narrow country roads before the last section back toward Sherborne which consisted of some horrible rollers and was all into a strong head wind. This was by far the worst part of the course for me.

The first loop went reasonably well. I had a slightly different nutrition plan. At Lake Placid there was a very well organised special needs bag drop for both the bike and the run. This allowed me to put 3 fresh bottles in my special needs bag which contained Gatorade along with Carb supplement. At Ironman UK the special needs was ad hoc at best. It was up to you to supply the bag and there was absolutely no guarantee that you would get your stuff back. You would also have to stop the bike and sift through the melee to find your own stuff.

To get around this I made up one bottle which I filled with Gatorade and loads of carb supplement. It tasted like treacle (s@#t) but my plan was to pour some of this mixture into my aero bottle and water it down with the stuff available from the aid stations. At the first aid station I was after Gatorade but was given water. Be aware that the bottles handed out were not transparent and all had Gatorade written down the side but half of them were just water.

After the first aid station I made sure I was getting Gatorade and my nutrition plan seemed to work. I supplemented my drinks with a little power bar and some banana.

The second lap of the course was very lonely and probably due to the bearings going in my rear wheel my bike was making a lot of noise. Despite the wind and the noises coming from my bike I was still averaging 20mph and was pretty happy. By the 3rd lap and mile 70 I started to tire. At IM USA I didn't really tire until the last 10 miles but this time my legs were heavy with another 40 miles to go and a hell of a lot of climbing.

I did end up talking to myself. I was tired and the wind was relentless. The only thing that made it more bearable was that by now I was lapping some of the slower riders and continued to pass some of my fellow 3rd lappers who were also clearly suffering. The last 8 miles before I turned off the loop back toward the start were some of the hardest riding miles of my life and I saw plenty of weaker riders weaving all over the climbs and one or two people reverting to getting off and pushing their bikes.

I was very happy to get back to transition at Sherborne Castle. I did go slightly quicker than IM USA but to be honest it was a much harder ride which I think I can put down to the wind. It is also fair to say that a 2 loop course is psychologically easier to swallow than a 3 loop course. Arm warmers and toe warmers turned out to be exactly the right amount of extra kit for me and one small mercy was that my core temperature remained about perfect. It did threaten to rain a few times but never actually happened.

T2

No problems. Pretty quick and easy. Transition was very quiet and I took the time to wipe my feet and apply sportslick.

Run 04:25:55 (497/1295)

I left transition feeling pretty good. Holden had really worked on my bike to run transition and I found as I left transition that my legs were feeling really good. Unlike IM USA where I left transition and was immediately forced into stopping and stretching this time I was firing on all cylinders.



As you can see from the clip I was smiling and the clock was only at 7:02. If I could hold a 3:30 marathon I was on for a 10:30 Ironman which would have been great.

The run course took you around the castle grounds and an out and back on a dirt track which then turned into a very very muddy pot hole ridden path which followed the castle walls before kicking you out into Sherborne town. The course then weaved through the town before heading back to the castle. You were given a wrist band as you passed transition and had to do 3 loops before you could veer off to the finish line.



The first loop went pretty well. I really wish that they would publish chip times for the various laps as the first one should have been around the 8 min mile pace or better. The town was quiet the first time I passed through it but the dirt tracks really sucked. As I said at the start it had rained all week and the paths were in an awful state. I did twist my ankle in one of the potholes but fortunately not badly enough to affect my run. I saw one guy who had clearly taken a fall and was deciding whether or not he could continue.

The second loop was not quite such a success. I was watching the clock and I started to notice that my pace was slowing. By the time I got to about mile 13 everything started to go 'Pete Tong' and my pace really ground to a halt. I started to get aches and pains all over my legs. My knee caps hurt, my hips hurt, my groin hurt, my calfs hurt, my ankles hurt and to add to my misery I developed a massive blister on my right foot (which didn't happen at IM USA even though I wore the same trainers and socks??). In fact I would say that every injury I had ever suffered in the last 30 years came back to the surface.

I saw my friends and family but I was unable to raise much of a smile. The crowd in the centre of town were great and my race number 118 was the same as the British directory enquiries number which carries the tag line 118 118 "got your number" and features two actors dressed as 1980's runners complete with sweatband and afro hair. If I hadn't of felt like total crap I am sure that the cries of "got your number" from the crowd would have remained funny but to be honest by the third lap my sense of humour was at an all time low.


As I hobbled round the course I did the sums and realised that a sub 11 hour finish had gone by the wayside but a sub 11:30 finish was achievable. I managed to drag my sorry ass back to the castle and I finished in 11:27:07; 191st place overall.

If I am honest this race was not as well organised as Ironman Lake Placid and the course, especially the dirt tracks on the run leg, was pretty awful. The road closures were also a little ineffective and I had to deal with a few cars during the ride. I ordered a medium T-shirt and although I finished 191st there were no mediums available and I didn't get a cap although the announcements had said that they were being handed to the first 250 finishers. The lack of an effective special needs station is a big factor and I also missed the wetsuit strippers. Those in the US who were tracking me on line reported that the on-line timings were not accurate and were eventually taken down before the end of the race. I would be interested in seeing my transition splits and the splits of the individual loops but I am not sure if they will become available.

On the plus side the volunteers were very pleasant and the finishers post race curry and beer went a very very long way to making up for the hardship of the day. A nice cold larger and a spicy hot curry are almost the perfect pairing at the end of an Ironman. Curry is the most popular food in the UK and I am not sure everyone appreciated the food. I did hear one US female athlete asking the caterers if there was anything less spicy to eat. I am also glad that my family and friends got to see me in an Ironman.

It was a massive relief to finish. I have posted a clip of me finishing and my glance back at the clock sums up how I felt. I know if I kept racing Ironman I could go faster still. My race revolves around my inability to hold my marathon together but I am glad to say that I do not retain any desire to try and keep improving my Ironman time.



I am a long way from qualifying for the World Champs but I am glad that I had such a great opportunity to give it a shot. In only 10 months of training Holden and Cadence have managed to take my 6+ hour half ironman personal best and turn it into a sub 11:30 ironman. I have also had the opportunity to meet some great people, not least my fellow Cadence Kona Challenge finalists, and my fellow Grand Finalist, Mary Lou.

I am a two time Ironman and have a great story to tell Ben when he gets older. In the meantime I can now bore people with tales of Ironman USA and UK and can enjoy watching the World Champs with a beer rather than a bottle of sports drink.

We rounded out our 'sporty' trip by watching a stage of the Tour of Britain. I feel sorry for the US riders who must have found the weather during the week a real shock, we were all certainly glad to get back to the warmth of Virginia.



Thanks for all the support.

James

Ironman UK

I am still deep in the English country side and I do not have a phone signal, let alone access to the internet. I am currently on my brother-in-laws laptop but will post a proper race report when I get back to the states next week.

In a nutshell I completed my second (and final) Ironman but I really paid my dues this time. While I finished Ironman Lake Placid feeling relatively comfortable this one really, really hurt.

Swim went well, although I nearly didn't make it to swim start before the gun. I knocked a few minutes off Lake Placid with a finish time of 1:09 (1:08 on my watch).

Bike was a real slog. The weather in the UK has been terrible all week, by Sunday it was dry but the strong winds persisted. There were sections of the bike course that were very exposed and the top part of the figure of eight course was straight into a 20+ mph wind the whole time. I will go into a lot more detail in the race report but it was a tough, tough bike leg and I finished in 5:45.

Run. I left transition with 7 hours on my watch so all I needed was a 4 hr marathon to go sub 11 hrs and a 3.5 hr marathon would give me that elusive 10:30 finish. The run was 3 laps of a 9 mile course. First lap went well and I think I was well on the way to my 3.30 marathon but then at about the 14 mile point the wheels fell off my wagon and my legs started to shut down. I had to dig deeper than I have had to dig for a long time in order just to finish and it was a huge relief to finish, let alone finish sub 11:30.

Bottom line it was not a fun course and it was a real hardship to get through it. I am glad that it is over but I also like the fact that I have a bagged Ironman UK and Ironman USA, it makes a nice set.

Thanks to Mary Lou for the comment and to the Team Z guys who followed my progress from afar. I can't wait to get back the warmth of the Virginia and recoup.

Pictures and Race Report to follow.

have your cake and eat it

I know I have been quiet for awhile but to be honest I have not had a lot to report. Life has fallen back into the same familiar routine that I was following before IMLP. Get up go to work (sometimes train at lunch), come home, train, eat, go to bed, repeat. The weekends are a long ride Saturday and a triathlon brick on a Sunday.

At least I am not alone in my training. I have mentioned Chris from time to time in my blog and his reward for finishing first in his age group (60-64) and setting a new course record at Lake Placid is to continue to give up all his free time in preparation for the World Championships in Hawaii. Most of the team are now able to kick back and focus on shorter course racing for the rest of the season whereas Chris and I are still looking for opportunities to go riding for hours and hours on end.

It works out well for us as I am slightly quicker on the bike he can sit in my draft and still get in a good zone 2 workout and I get the benefit of having someone older and emenintly more sensible making sure that I actually turn up for the long workouts.

Generally things are going pretty well as I approach the last couple of weeks before Ironman UK. Last week I was able to exercise for the first time without any pain and I think I can finally assume that I have recovered from my bike accident. I also got to pick up my new ride last week, a week later than expected but worth the wait.

Here she is in all her glory. The saddle is a loaner from Conte's as the BH importer did not send the Scratch TR saddle I ordered and I am waiting for them to put that right. I took her out last Saturday for what was supposed to be a long ride but unfortunately I didn't have a great ride and had to cut it a bit short. It was however my birthday and Chris surprised me with a birthday cake so we ended up substituting another 1.5 hours on the bike for cake.

To clear up any confusion I have not signed for the Pro Cycling Team AG2R the kit came free with the bike

Sunday was the first day that I finally got to do the full Tri brick, i.e. swim bike run and it felt pretty good. I am hoping that a few of these will really help me when it comes to race day and that all important bike to run transition.

I did finally put the BH through her paces last night when for the last hour of my 2.5 hour ride, Chris and I linked up with the A group at the weekly Conte's ride (every Tuesday at 6.30pm). There were an impressive number of riders there covering the full gambit of abilities and experience. You may remember that I was tagging along on the Wakefield A Group ride but I haven't done that ride for a couple of months and it was a shock to the system last night to be dragged kicking and screaming from my comfort zone.

The last thing you want on one of these group rides is to be dropped so you move heaven and earth to stay on the pace. This particular ride was very hilly and the first few steep climbs really took their toll. My heart rate maxed out and stayed there for quite a long time, it was hot and I started to develop a headache and if I had kept going I was going to start cramping badly. People were getting dropped but I just, by the skin of my teeth, held on to the top of the hill with the leaders and then managed to recover enough to make the next brutal climb. As with most of these group rides even the leaders are suffering and after the initial onslaught the pace on the hills slowed significantly.

In the end I was pleased with the ride but I was disappointed that one of the guys in the ride was also riding a BH G4. He turned out to be a nice bloke but I guess even if there are only a few dealers in the US if you go back to the store where you bought the bike you run the risk of bumping into someone on the same machine - bubble certainly not burst but maybe a little bit deflated.

My finishers video clip

This video clip cost me $15 and to be honest it is terrible.

The only good thing about it is that it features one of my friends, Sebastian, in his Team Z kit in the general montage footage (45 sec, far right hand side, green top, red visor and sunglasses??).

The actual video of me crossing the line is awful and you cannot see my face. My body language makes me look as if I couldn't give a damn when actually there is a huge grin on my face - honestly.

Do you really 'need' a new bike?

I'm back. I didn't know whether or not to keep this blog alive but, as you can see from the new count down timer, I have made a decision to race Ironman UK and I think it is only fitting that I keep this blog going until that race is over.

Why race Ironman UK?

The Cadence Kona Challenge is effectively over and Triathlete magazine stopped following the challenge this month. Unfortunately in the process of ending the coverage of the challenge they printed a very large picture of me in which I look as if I am doped up to the eyeballs. Holden and Cadence are going to keep coaching me through Ironman UK but looking at historic finishing times there is not a hope in hell of qualifying for Kona. Ironman UK attracts some uber-athletes, probably because there are so few M-Dot Ironman races in Europe, in comparison to North America. Last year the winner of my age group did it in 08:56!!! only 20 minutes slower than the overall winner. However, I have paid for the race, I cannot get my money back and I cannot live with the idea of just letting that money, and a place in a sold out race, go to waste.

Secondly I want to know whether I can finish the Ironman distance with a decent run. If I can hold together a half decent run I can drastically improve on my Lake Placid time and at the moment it is impossible for me to gauge how much my crash affected my race.

Finally I would love for my family and friends to be able to watch the Ironman spectacle and it looks as if quite a few of them will be able to make it to watch me race at Sherborne in September. I hope too that Wendy will not be stuck under a tent looking after Ben and may actually be able to see something of me racing.

Life as an Ironman;

The week after Lake Placid was total rest and it was heaven. I ate copious amounts of food enjoyed some nice wine, steaks and icecream. The Saturday and Sunday after the race I didn’t get out of bed until midday, enjoying breakfast in bed, with a paper, and while watching the last two stages of the Tour de France on TV – life really does not get much better.

Life after Ironman

The week after was still very much recovery and I did a short swim every other day but nothing else. This week I am supposed to return to some more demanding training. The problem I am having is that I am still bothered by my injured groin. Holden is keen to make sure that I am 100% fit before we build up for Ironman UK and wanted 3 days where I didn’t feel any discomfort before he started me running again. So far that hasn’t happened and I haven’t been for a training run now for something like 5 weeks (not including a little run during the Ironman). I am frustrated to say the least and after some discomfort during Sunday’s recovery ride the run scheduled for today has been pushed back until Saturday.

Outside of training life is good. I have spent more time with Wendy and Ben and tried to get outside to enjoy the hot weather rather than do battle with it whilst training. Ben is busy growing (very tall) and working on his ability to roll over. He can get about half way and then grunts for 60 seconds before giving up and crying until we either assist him roll or pick him up.

The title of this post comes from a question posed to me by my wife and I must admit it is a bit of a tricky one to answer. For the last couple of years I have harboured a desire to treat myself to a carbon framed bike. My recent participation in group rides with local road racers has not only drastically increased my strength on the bike but has also served to rekindle my love affair with my old road bike (an aluminium framed Orbea) which had been lying, neglected and dusty in the garage. Although I love my old Orbea we are approaching the 7 year itch point and I secretly longed for a younger, prettier and lighter model.

After Ironman I noticed a 2007 Cervelo R3 on sale in my local bike shop (LBS). This is a great bike and is light and relatively sexy. It is pretty in a girl next door sort of way but is not going to stand out from the crowd and in my eyes will never warrant a modeling contract. Still I knew it was a great deal and would serve as a very good carbon framed bike and in any event it was much better than my current bike.

I went back to my LBS to look at buying it to find out it had been sold. I like to think of this as fate because as I looked around the store I came across the BH bikes. BH are Spanish and have been making bikes for a 100 years. They are very popular in Europe and are currently the team bike for AG2R but there are very few dealers in the US. Their top of the range bike is the G4 and my LBS, Conte’s, had one in a small frame which I took for a test ride. This bike ticked all the boxes for me and after doing some research I knew I had found the dream bike I was after (I just needed a larger frame).

It has the supermodel looks but just as importantly it has a supermodel ‘weight problem’ with the frame weighing a ridiculously anorexic 860 grams. It has classic European styling and a bold white, blue and black paint job and is all hand built. Like any supermodel it is not cheap but thanks to Conte’s we were able to play around with the components (mainly the wheels) to reach a great deal. This really is a relative term but with current exchange rates believe me it is a lot cheaper to buy a bike in the US than the UK. I have also worked out that if I water down Ben's milk by using 50% less formula in his bottles and change him every 6-8 hours rather than 2-3 hours I should soon be able to pay off the bike in next to no time.

The icing on the cake for me was that they were even able to get me the Prologo Scratch TR saddle (white) which is very hard to get hold of at the moment but maintains that Pro Tour look. I am very excited and Wendy has even been kind enough to buy me a set of Time RXS pedals for my birthday. It is now just a case of waiting for the bike to arrive. A nice touch is that BH were running a promotion during the Tour de France whereby you got an AG2R jersey and shorts with every bike and it is always useful to have an extra set of cycling clothes.

Bottom line is that no one ‘needs’ a new bike but it sure is fun when you get one.

Before I sign off I wanted to share a couple of things with you. Firstly my fellow Cadence Kona Challenge Grand Finalist, Mary Lou, has written a truly fantastic race report which must have taken her longer than the race itself. It is a funny, entertaining and extremely revealing race report and I commend it to everyone to read if you have the time. To go to her blog click here.

The other thing I wanted to share with you was sent out by one of my Team Z teammates. Triathlon is full of inspirational people and I am constantly surprised when I see disabled athletes and their amazing feats but I have to say that this guy really does stand out. Please click here to see the story.

T+2 Ironman USA Lake Placid Race Report

I hope you are sitting comfortably as this is an Ironman Race Report and for anyone who has seen how long my sprint reports are you know this is going to be very, very long.

I will start where I left off with my T-1 post. The night before the race I was feeling pretty calm but to keep my mind occupied and off the race I went to bed early, at about 8pm, and watched a DVD on my laptop. At about 9:30pm I started to feel sleepy so shut the computer down and tried to get to sleep. As soon as I closed my eyes I started to think about the race. The more I tried to stop thinking about it the more I did. It took me a long time to fall asleep and probably fell asleep about 11pm.

14 hours of this :-)

I awoke to my alarm clock at 3:30am and felt a little bit tired. After a breakfast of "Ironman Oatmeal", very similar to regular oatmeal but just a little bit more expensive, we met up with Mary Lou and drove a few minutes down the road to one of the park and ride pickups. We were straight onto a bus and dropped just up the road from the Olympic Oval at about 5:20am. There were lots of body markers and I was quickly written on before I made my way to my bike and transition bags. All that was left to do at this stage was pump up my tyres, put nutrition on my bike, and in my transition bags, and drop off my special needs bags a mile up the road.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - Mmmmm tasty

With my pre race jobs accomplished I joined the queue for the porta potty and tried to make sure I was not carrying any excess weight on the course. Before I knew it I was in my wetsuit and making my way to the swim start. There were so many athletes that it took a while to work my way to the corral that shepherded you through the entry gate and over the timing mat.

Swim 1:12:00 (Division place 140/238; Overall Place 991/2345; 1:54 per 100m)

I had read several race reports and was not looking forward to getting battered in the swim. I couldn't decide where to put myself. Many people want to keep left and follow the buoy cable that marks the course but this means that the buoy line is a battlefield. Others go way right of the course in order to avoid the melee. I decided to put myself somewhere in the middle of the two and few bodies back from the front. As I waited for the canon I couldn't help but be impressed by the scene. The banks of mirror lake where packed with spectators all screaming their support and there was a helicopter hovering over the water filming the action, it was a very impressive sight.

Time went quickly and before long the canon sounded and we were off. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did not get immediately run over and actually had a reasonable amount of room. I think many of the slower swimmers had kept way back to avoid the scrum and the faster guys were sprinting to get away from the crush. I found a rhythm and started to settle into the 2.4 mile swim.

As I was telling myself how nice it was to have some room I started to get jostled. About a 1/3rd of the way out on the first loop swimmers were coming together and I started to get battered as people tried to migrate toward the buoy line. After a few minutes I stuck my head up and decided that this was not going to get any better unless I did something and repositioned myself toward the right hand edge of the group. I again settled down until we came to the turn around when everyone came together again. A bit more fighting and I was on the way back toward the start line. Every so often I would manage to get on someones heels and draft for a little bit. The first loop was pretty uneventful, I did feel a bit tired in my upper body and can't say that I was looking forward to the second lap, fully aware as I was that this was the farthest I had ever swum.

I got out of the water and looked at my watch which read 34 minutes and change so I was on track for my sub 1:10 hour swim. I ran across the beach and could hear the crowds cheering, it was then straight back into the water where I had to talk myself into getting my arms going again. A lot of people talk about the water flow created by so many swimmers swimming in the same direction but the only time I noticed it was when I got back into the water and went around the corner of the pontoon which was used by the race starter. There was such a strong flow that I was literally whipped around the corner and back out onto the second loop. Unfortunately this sensation was very short lived and I was back under my own steam.


The second loop I settled down into a steady swim, similar to how I would swim in the pool during training. I was very relaxed and started to breath every third stroke rather than every second stroke as I had on the first lap. The entire loop was pretty uneventful. My arms were a little tired but overall I felt good. I did notice as I started the second loop that it had started to rain and I assumed we were having one of the passing showers that had been predicted and hoped that it would not leave the bike course too wet.

I tried to keep my pace up as I tired and a couple of times I was able to again get on the heels of stronger swimmers for a few hundred yards. Making the turn around for the second time was a big morale booster and little by little the shore got closer. I was out of the water and looked at my watch "1:12". I was still on track for my A Race Goal of as close to 10 hours as possible. In my dream race this would break down to 1:10 swim, 5:30 bike and 3:20 run and then take a few minutes off the bike and run to allow for transition. My B Race Goal was very generous and that was to finish before the cut off at 17 hours. Two very different goal times but to be honest the only two things that mattered to me were to qualify for the World Champs and if I couldn't I needed to make sure that I became an Ironman.

T1 5:38

There was quite a long run from the swim to the transition area and the shower that I had noticed during the swim was still going and there were streams of water running down the road. There was a 10 foot wide fenced off coral that marshaled the athletes through the crowds from the lake to the oval. There was a 3 foot wide carpet to save your feet but I decided that I wanted to run so I left the carpet and started to overtake people as I ran on the tarmac. I grabbed my swim to bike transition bag and found that people were already getting changed outside of the tent.

I only needed to put on my helmet, bike shoes and race number so I too decided to change outside of the tent. I had some arm warmers and a cycling vest inside my bag but made a quick decision that the rain would probably stop soon and it shouldn't be too cold at this time of year so I left them where they were. As I went through the tent it was like a Turkish steam bath. There was no light and masses of steam rising from the hundreds of wet athletes crowded into the tent. I couldn't see a thing and I was very glad to have changed outside. As I ran to get my bike I noticed how muddy the grass had become and how dark the skies were, oh well so much for a nice day but the day was still young and there was plenty of time for the weather to improve.

Bike 5:49:22 (Division place 71/238; Overall Place 392/2345; 19.2mph)

The bike is my strongest event but I figured that for any hope of qualifying I would need to do a sub 5:30 ride which equates to an average speed of 21 mph, over 112 miles and in the Adirondack Mountains, please note they are not called the Adirondack Hills. I knew this was going to be a monumental task but I had made a conscious effort to keep focusing on how I was going to achieve the task rather than how impossible it may appear, in order to help me get through the last nine months of build up.

So feeling pretty good I left the oval and we were immediately faced with a very steep downhill that ended in a 90 degree turn. It was raining so hard that you had to ride your brakes all the way down the hill or you risked crashing within a stone's throw of the bike start (I heard that one of the pros did crash out of the race here).

Some of the amazing supporters who braved the weather

I successfully negotiated the turn and started to head toward the edge of town. Before 2 minutes had passed I heard a bang and realised that my rear wheel had a blow out. I had new tyres on the bike and had ridden the tyres and tubes for 2 decent rides so I have no idea why I suddenly had a tyre burst, there really is no obvious explanation. There I was perhaps 3 minutes into my ride, still only a couple of miles into a 112 bike leg having to change the tyre. The rain was pouring down and I had to take my helmet off to see. I was surprised how calm I felt but with deep wheels, valve extenders and terrible conditions it still took me 5 minutes to change the tyre. I also had to stop a couple of times after I changed it as it sounded as if wheel was rubbing, so all in all I probably lost about 8 minutes or so.

I stuffed my tyre levers and the burst tyre in my pockets and set off again. The course started with a 10 mile climb that took us from 1777ft to about 2220ft. This first climb I started to catch back up with some of the riders who passed me while I changed my flat and allowed my heart rate to get up into the 160s while I climbed. At the end of the climb out of Lake Placid we came upon perhaps the most memorable part of the course which was the descent into Keene. We descended 1200 feet in 4 miles which is a very steep descent. I topped out at 47.4mph and I was flying passed some of the other riders. I must admit I was a little bit apprehensive during the descent, no that is far too reserved, I was scared. The road was soaking wet, the wind was blowing and I had just had a blow out a few miles back and a bike crash 2 weeks ago. I looked at the metal railings marking the edge of the road and tried not to think what would happen if I hit them at over 47 miles an hour.

After the descent there was a level stretch that took us to the next town of Jay and it was at this stage that I lost both tyre levers out of my pocket, if I flatted again I was going to struggle. At Jay we turned hard left and there was another big climb before a six mile plus out and back from Wilmington and then the last 12 miles back to Lake Placid which ended in a series of short sharp climbs. Despite the relentless rain which just got heavier and heavier I was feeling pretty good. I finished the first loop a little slower than the 2:45 or better split I wanted but put a lot of that down to the flat.

At special needs the volunteer helped me swap out my water bottles and I ate a banana and grabbed a flapjack for later. Going through town was great but as I went back around the outside of the oval there were streams of water pouring across the road making things very trecherous. My nutrition plan was to drink 3 bottles of Gatorade endurance per lap with a couple of scoops of carb supplement in each bottle. I would supplement the fluid with gel, or other food, as I felt necessary and this seemed to work OK for me. The only slight problem was that with it being so cold it was easy to avoid drinking as you didn't feel thirsty.

As I set out on the second loop I still felt good but by now the rain was getting pretty tiresome. Just before the descent into Keene I thought I saw a green Team Z jersey off in the distance but it would be another 15 miles or so before I would catch up with Sebastian from my Tri Team. On the climb out of Jay I caught up with Elizabeth, another Cadence Kona Challenger who went on to have a great run and secure herself a slot at Kona.

The out and back from Wilmington went well again but by now I was starting to feel stiff in my lower back and neck and I had some cramp twinges in my leg. After Wilmington comes the long climb back to Lake Placid which has a number of steep hills to contend with and ends with Papa Bear which was lined with spectators. By now my back and neck hurt and my legs were getting very heavy with some cramp in my right hamstring. Luckily I was able to get out of my saddle and just about power over the climbs and it was hear that I passed my other Team Z teammate Chris Wren who was well on track to securing his slot at Kona in the 60-64 age group.

T2 3:59

Back at the Olympic oval I handed off my bike and grabbed my run gear bag. This time I did go into the tent as it was a lot, lot quieter and I was able to sit down. I didn't rush and took the time to dry my feet and apply some grease to the bottom of my feet before I put on my socks. I put on my newly purchased Ironman run cap and headed out of the door. Just before I left the tent I was overtaken by Chris who had obviously had a very quick transition and we headed out together.

Run 4:43:06 (Division place 143/238; Overall Place 1081/2345; 10:49min/mile)

Within a few hundred yards I started to cramp in my right leg and had to stop and stretch. I also took the time to stop and take a salt tablet. At this stage I was passed by Sebastian who must have finished the end of his bike ride strongly and was now putting in a good run. I wanted to stay with the two of them but I soon realised that I just didn't have the legs for it. After a couple of miles I knew I would not be able to hold a quick enough pace to get anywhere near my A Goal and with surprisingly little difficulty I made the decision to back of completely and run/walk the marathon.

It was an amazingly liberating feeling and came with two distinct benefits. Firstly I managed to keep any discomfort in my groin down to the bare minimum and even though there was a little bit of new swelling in the area after the race I feel surprisingly well. Secondly I had the opportunity to chat with some of my teammates and interact with some of the amazing volunteers who manned the aid stations. I saw Chris and Sebastian after the various turnarounds and they were both going well. Chris had a great race and won his age group with ease and earned himself a very much deserved slot in Kona. I also saw a couple of other Cadence athletes and of course Mary Lou who despite being nervous about the race had put in a great swim and bike and was now well on her way to becoming an Ironman. A couple of times on the run Dianna came springing up alongside me and gave me some welcome encouragement. Dianna is a Cadence Coach and apart from being an endurance event junkie and very gifted triathlete she is also the lady who looked after my wave at the Cadence Kona Challenge selection weekend way back in November last year - seeing her gave the whole Cadence experience a nice twist as I had not seen her since the selection weekend. Also out on the course was Lisa another Cadence coach who was officiating and gave me a lovely huge cheer as she went past. It was a great atmosphere and despite the rain I really started to enjoy (when I use terms like this I mean them in the context of doing an Ironman - everything is of course relative, this is not the same sort of enjoyment as say sitting in a hot tub) the whole experience.

Just before the half way point I came back into town and the crowds were amazing. I went past the Team Z tent but Wendy was not there as she was changing Ben. I carried on to the special needs bags where I changed into dry socks and although it only lasted 30 seconds I had dry feet for the first time all day and it felt great. I headed back into town and Wendy and Ben were back. I gave them both a kiss and assured Wendy that I was feeling fine and headed back out for my second loop of the run. The second loop was very similar to the first it was wet and long and I continued to run/walk it. At one stage I used a porta potty but it was on the side of the road and at such an angle that I was worried that it would topple over and I could not think of a worse way to end your race. I did do some quick arithmetic and decided that I should finish in under 12 hours without doing anything too drastic.

Ben wrapped up against the elements

When I ran I actually ran pretty smoothly and with good form but after a few hundred yards it would start to hurt and I would walk again. This went on for another couple of hours and then I was on my way back up the very steep hill back into town. I knew that I only had a mile or so to go and then I would be an Ironman. I started to smile to myself and prepare myself for the finish. Luckily the run back into the oval is down hill and I carried the momentum into the oval where the crowds were fantastic. As I approached the line the guy in front was showboating and doing a speed skating impression. I slowed down to let him finish and then it was my turn to cross the line and for the first time ever at a race I couldn't resist the urge to put my hands in the air.

My M Dot Tattoo (don't worry Mum its fake)

Before I go into my conclusion I wanted to just do some quick thank yous:

• Thanks to Cadence for organising the Kona Challenge without which I would not now be an Ironman.

• Thanks to all the sponsors of the Challenge. I have nothing but praise for the all the Cyfac, Zipp, Sidi, LAS and Zoot equipment and the Enervit nutrition (N.B. The LAS low visibility visor works really well but you like to think about putting wipers on your helmets).

• Thanks to Triathlon Magazine for covering the story and a big thanks to NA Sports for allowing me a slot to race (thanks Heather for sorting out registration and thanks to the guy that helped Mary Lou and me get registered when we arrived).

• Thank you to anyone that has taken the time to read or comment on my blog as it has really helped me stay focused knowing that people are reading this stuff.

• Thank you to the two young lads who had been tasked to hand out wet sponges. The idea of taking a wet sponge having been rained on constantly for 7 or more hours was very funny but yet you were both so earnest.

• Thank you to the army of volunteers at Lake Placid. You were all, without exception, wonderful people and your help and infectious enthusiasm on race day was invaluable.

• Thanks to the crowds who braved horrendous weather to support the athletes and perhaps the loudest support came from the legion of Team Z supporters that had made the long haul to Lake Placid just to cheer us on - very generous.

• Thanks to the Team Z cameramen who exposed themselves and their expensive equipment so that we could have some memories of the day.

• Thanks to Dianna and Lisa and the guys in rediculously small cutoff jeans shorts whose encouragement was very much appreciated and thanks to Tara for giving me a shout out on the run (she went on to finish an amazing 28th in her age group).

• Thank you to Mary Lou for the pleasure of her company before and after the race and for the very thoughtful gifts you gave us.

• Thanks to Holden whose coaching has been exemplary and whose positive and relaxed demenour is ideal when it comes to placating and dealing with over anxious A type personality triathletes.

• Thank you to family, friends and colleagues who have offered such kind messages of support.

• Thanks to Wendy who spent an entire day huddled under a tent trying to look after a two and a half month old baby just so that I could indulge my own selfish quest to become an Ironman.

• Thank you to my son, Ben, whose extremely easy going nature (don't know where he gets it from) made it possible for Wendy to spend the entire day under a tent while I indulged my own selfish quest etc.

• If I have missed anyone I apoligise.

Overall 11:54:03 (Division place 110/238; Overall Place 692/2345)
I don't know where to start. I am very sattisfied with the result. I achieved my B Goal, I am an Ironman and I always will be. Despite walking a lot of the Marathon I finished sub 12 hours and before the Cadence Kona Challenge this would have been a dream time for me. I had an opportunity to do something that not many people get to do and thanks to some great conditioning by my coach I managed to do it in relative comfort and could enjoy (as far as that is possible) the run portion and soak up the atmosphere. When I look back to my first half ironman, Black Bear last year, the result seems even more amazing. I ran the entire half marathon at Black Bear but the whole thing took me over 6 hours whereas at Ironman USA I went under 12 hours with a lot of walking.

However, I did not make my A Goal. I was a long way off qualifying. Even if I had run the entire marathon I do not think I would have finished too much under 11 hours and the last!!!! qualifying slot in my age group went to a guy who finished in 9:57. Could I do it one day, maybe, but then you get into the vicous circle of "well if I hadn't flatted I could have gone sub ......", "If the weather was more ... I could have ....", If I hadn't of crashed maybe I could have ....." etc., etc., etc.

Being entirely objective my swim was only 2 mins off the 1:10 I had allowed myself, My bike leg would have been about 5:40 if I hadn't of flatted and I took just under 10 minutes in transition therefore for a 10 hour finish I needed a 3 hour marathon. I honestly believe I have the base fitness to run around a 3:20 marathon but 1. After the ride I didn't have the legs for it and 2. I always seem to struggle getting into the run despite a number of brick workouts. It may be that I am leaving way too much on the bike course to ever run a decent time but then if your A goal is to try and go 10 hours, or close to 10 as possible, you cannot afford to go 6 hours on the bike unless you are a world class runner.

Did my injury affect my time? The pain in my groin is getting steadily worse after the race and it feels like I have been punched where the centre of the bruising was so I am glad that I did take it so easy on the run. However, I was not in pain at the start of the run so I cannot blame my inability to run fast on the injury. Wendy did point out that 8 days before the race I couldn't walk properly and I must admit that at 2 days before the race I sneezed and felt so much discomfort that I started to doubt my ability to finish. So although I couldn't have qualified even if I hadn't of crashed I am very thankful that I was still able to finish the race.

What next? I did not enjoy the Ironman. I did not get the same sense of fun and enjoyment that I do at shorter Olympic distance races. It is a sufferfest from start to finish. It is survival of the fittest, it is conditioning, it is mind over matter but it is not fun. It is however a phenominally rewarding experience. If you know, or can imagine, the enormous sense of achievment in completing a marathon you can multiply that sensation for completing each of the other two disciplines and then multiply that feeling by a factor of 10. Crossing the line hearing the words "[insert your name here] you are an Ironman" is a high that would be very difficult to recreate.

But once you have experienced that high would another Ironman be as rewarding? I was adamant that I would not keep doing Ironman races and I am still stunned by some of the people who keep putting themselves through it. To see some of the brave individuals who are bent over double, trying not to collapse or fall over, so that they can make it to the finish line in the cold and the dark before the cutoff, whilst wearing a t-shirt which declares they have done this s@#t before and know what to expect is bind boggling. That being said I now find myself in a quandry. I have paid for, and I am registered for, Ironman Uk. I cannot get a refund. I know I don't stand a hope in hell of qualifying as the times there are even tougher than Ironman USA but I am still considering it. I do know what to expect and it would give me another opportunity to see whether I can put in a decent run. It would also give me an opportunity to get family and friends to experience the day and more importantly Wendy might actually see me race rather than been stuck trying to protect Ben from the weather. Perhaps the biggest factor is that I can do it without dedicating another 9 months of my life to Ironman training as the race is only a month and a bit away. That being said I know that I will never experience the same sensations as when I first heard the words "James Pearson you are an Ironman".

T+1 Ironman Lake Placid

Just a quick note to say 1. I am now an Ironman and, 2. thank you for all the kind messages of support and I will get around to writing a full race report as soon as I can.

The view from our room a couple of hours ago

Wendy and I left Lake Placid earlier today and took the ferry across to Burlington, Vermont where we checked into the Hilton. I have been for a swim and jacuzzi and then we ordered loads of room service and a bottle of bubbly. Needless to say I am feeling pretty good after all that. Various bits of my body are a little sore but nothing at all serious and I imagine the stiffness will wear off very soon.

Room service including banana splits and bubbly - nice

Before I get around to the full race report, and as a bit of a teaser, I thought I would show you the 2008 Lake Placid video that was aired at the pre-race banquet. Please note that the occasional down pour mentioned actually turned out to be 14 hours of the heaviest, most relentless rainfall I have ever seen and I have been based in Faslane, Scotland. To top it off the rain started 40 minutes after the start of the race and did not finish until well after I had finished.

I finished in 11:54:03. I had a reasonable swim, solid bike and when I realised I could not run a quick enough 3rd leg to meet my A goal I ran/walked the marathon to minimise the aggrevation to my injured groin. Despite not meeting my A goal I met my B goal, finishing, with 'relative' ease. Hats off to everyone who has finished an Ironman I do not care what anyone says it is bloody hard work, also commiserations to those few members of my tri team who did not make it for various reasons. I am very sorry it didn't go right for you on the day and realise that nothing at this stage will make that any easier to swallow.

T-1

My bike is racked, my transition bags are in transition and there is very little more I can do before tomorrow - which is nice.

I am sat outside the hotel room in an introspective mood. Since T-3 I have been for a two bike run workouts. On Friday I went out for a 1.5 hour zone 2 ride. I rode not far off the pace I would like to race at, keeping my heart rate mainly in the 140's. I went out on the course from Lake Placid in reverse for 45 mins and then turned around and came back. Going out was great and I was flying along at 23mph average but coming back was a slog as I went up the series of hills that constitute the overall climb back to town. Unfortunately I have to report that by the time I got off the bike my inner thigh was a bit sore and running was not that comfortable. It is certainly not enough pain to stop me racing but enough to be of concern for such a long race.

That night we met up with Mary Lou and went to the "mandatory" pre-race brief. It was quite impressive to see so many people in one tent. There was an inspiriational video and a very funny video but the brief itself did not throw up any nuggets of information.


Today I met up with Team Z for a very short ride and jog just to get the system going before I went to rack my bike in the oval. When I got there I found that I did not have an allotted space like the other 2588 athletes. The last rack was for 2550+ so I asked a volunteer and he put me on the end pointing in the right direction. I actually have a great position, it is always an advantage to be near the transition exit as you have less distance to run with your bike. My transition bags are on the floor rather than the racks but again they should be pretty easy to find.


Tonight we have a Team Z banquet with slide show and speeches which should be good fun. I am hoping Ben will settle quickly when we get back so that I can try to get to sleep but I suspect that I will nervous excitement may keep me up a good chunk of the night. Tomorrow we will be up at 3:30 and hopefully in town not long after 5:00.

This place is now packed, there are half naked people running and biking everywhere. We have met some really nice people and lots of families are arriving to support the athletes. The weather has been very unpredictable. It rained phenomonally hard yesterday and today has been a bit sticky but despite heavy skies it has not rained. I am about to check the forecast but rumour has it we are looking at high 70s/low 80s which should be OK. The only problem with being in the mountains is that you have to plan for every weather eventuality.

Hopefully next post I will be able to sign off as an Ironman but I am not sure when I will get round to updating again. Hopefully I will have enough energy left to hit the keys after tomorrow.

T -3

We're here. Wendy, Ben and I arrived in Lake Placid yesterday evening and we had a really pleasant trip.

I had an appointment with the chiropractor Wednesday morning and then headed out to BWI airport. We flew from Baltimore to Burlington, Vermont and then picked up a hire car to get to LP. Ben was as good as gold on the flight and even slept through takeoff. The drive from the airport to Lake Placid was beautiful. The easiest way from Vermont to New York state is via ferry across Lake Champlain and it was a lovely little ferry ride. For virtually 45 miles of driving on the New York side of the lake we didn't see a single car and could see the mountains around Lake Placid getting closer and closer - not having seen the bike course I was starting to get worried.

Transition - inside the Olympic Speed Skating loop - before the bikes

Just before you get to the town of Lake Placid you are greeted by the two Olympic ski jumps which I will have to run past on Sunday. We went directly to the hotel and didn't see any of the town and Olympic village until the following day. At the hotel we grabbed dinner and watched the Tour on TV but found ourselves alone in the restaurant at 9:45pm with the lights turned out - they obviously go to bed early here as the restaurant even has a bar and pool table.

The turn around is basically at the far end of the lake

This morning we met up with Mary Lou and headed down to Mirror Lake, the site for Sunday's swim. I was supposed to do a 30 min swim but I was so close to the end of the course at 15 minutes that I kept going and did the full 1.2 mile out and back (you do it twice during the race for a 2.4 mile swim). The lake was fantastic. It was the perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold and the water was clear with a deep green colour. There were a number of other swimmers about but everyone had loads of room and it is a shame that the swim is not more of an individual time trial rather than a 2500+ person mass scrum.



After the swim we headed to registration. There were big queues but because Mary Lou and I were not on the list of names by the door we grabbed one of the officials who then led us through a back door, neatly cutting out the lines. He took us to a desk marked Pros/Problems. I thought it was a bit unfair to label us problems and wondered if we could fool anyone into thinking that we might be Pros instead but by the amount of time we spent at the desk it was clear that we were problems. The lady at the desk was very helpful and before too long had everything sorted out and we had our Ironman Bracelets on and had all the other 'stuff' we are going to need for race day. As well as the usual swim caps and chip you have a plethora of bags for various stages of the race. You have bags for your transition needs and also bags called 'special needs' bags in which you can put in anything you thing you might need half way through the bike or run, e.g. dry clothes, food, fluid, parts etc.


After lunch Wendy, Ben and I headed out to drive the bike course. The course was not bad but is far from flat. After getting out of town there is a massive descent to a town called Keene which looks like it is going to be very, very fast and the descent goes on for several miles but what goes down must come up. I saw 3 or 4 short climbs which looked a bit tough but the majority of climbing should be pretty steady. The last part of the course back to Lake Placid takes you by Whiteface Mountain and the scenery is absolutely stunning.

Whiteface Mountain

Back in town and having been out on the road for nearly 2 hours you realise you have to do that entire 56 mile drive on a bike - TWICE. By that stage I didn't have the energy to DRIVE the run course. I was ready for a nap but after trying, and failing, to get internet access it was about time to go for dinner and we headed out for a bite to eat with Mary Lou. By now town is buzzing with cars, expensive bikes, fit bodies and deep tans. The restaurants were all filling up rapidly by 6pm and we were glad to get a table. After dinner I met up with Ed from Team Z to get my bike off him and I am now back in the room trying to stay awake and get this post out.


If I were to try and gauge how I was feeling in terms of readiness and confidence for the race I would say that I am not panicking but have some concerns. I swam very close to race pace today and felt great but I have not been for a run for over 2 weeks. The sharp pain in my groin has gone but after travelling for a day my entire inner thigh felt stiff and mildly uncomfortable and I am worried how this might manifest itself on race day. I am fairly content, I know under the circumstances I couldn't have done any more to get prepared for this race and I do feel like I have fitness reserves so we will just have to wait and see what happens on the day.

Even if the race itself doesn't go to plan it is a great experience being here and the atmosphere is great. I have never been somewhere that is so entirely devoted to all things triathlon and it is a very surreal but enjoyable experience.

Ben thinking "Same s#@t different Lake" this will be his 4th Tri in 2.5 months of existence

Hopefully I will be able to update the blog at T-2 and T-1 days to race and I realise that Tuesdays post should actually have been T-5. I am going to go for a ride tomorrow and I think I will go back out past Whiteface Mountain and then I will try and go for a very gentle jog to see how I get on.

Last but not least I now have a race number, 2591 (that's right there are really that many people competing). If you want to follow the race you can use the race number, or my surname, to track an athlete, details are on the Ironman USA webpage and there is a link to the right of this webpage. Just before I go the 3 of us wanted to wish my Mother-in-Law, Janet, a happy birthday.

T -4

Sunday, I got in a good 1.5 hour ride. I pushed quite hard sat up on the bull bar but whenever I got down into the aero position I couldn't put any pressure on the pedal without hurting my groin. I was going to go for a very light 20 min recovery run when I got off the bike but as soon as I took one stride I knew it was a bad idea and called it a day.





Monday, I got in a good 1500m swim and went back to the chiropractor. Dr Beck had worked the damaged tissue on Saturday and Dr Booker carried on where he left off. He had me run so that he could assess my gait and as he worked on my hip flexors and abs I did get a bit more range of movement in my hip. However he did ask me whether or not I had seen my doctor as he instructed and I had to admit I hadn't. The problem with my symptoms is that they could also be an indication of a hernia brought on by the impact. If I had a hernia there is not a lot anyone could do and it would be game over.





It was with great trepidation that I went to the Navy Yard clinic today. I have to say the US Navy medical care is amazing. I walked into the clinic which is situated between the car park and my office at 0815. I asked if there were any appointments for today and I was given an appointment at 0830. 0820 I was called through to have my vitals taken and a few minutes later the doctor saw me. After a lot of coughing I was told that I did not have any hernia - whew. He told me I should have stayed on the Ibuprofen and prescribed some 800mg tablets to take upto and including the race. Less than 5 minutes later I was picking up my prescription and I was at my desk for 0900 which is pretty rapid patient service.





This afternoon has been a rush of last minute shopping, dropping my bike off to be taken up to Lake Placid and seeing the chiropractor again. Today I was with Dr Beck who continued to work on the scar tissue. When I got back from the Chiro I went out for a 2 hour ride. I had to borrow Wendy's 650 front wheel for which I have no spare tubes and I realised that I have sent my puncture repair kit with my bike. The ride itself was great. The weather was beautiful and I went back past the scene of the accident. As I went past in zone 2 I was reading 24.5 mph so I am going to reassess my crash speed as a little faster than I thought. My groin didn't bother me. A couple of times I was aware that something wasn't quite right but I was still able to get down into my drops and put some power down.



The bottom line. I have had a good chat with Holden and he assures me that my fitness level will be more than enough to race well despite not training. I should not worry and if necessary I will not run until I actually hit the marathon of the Ironman. Dr Beck said the same thing when I talked about key sessions and his quote is the only key session is the race itself. Everyone has been great and really supportive but as Holden said I just have to be mentally prepared in case my body hasn't repaired itself sufficiently to run on Sunday. That being said my gut feeling is that it will be close but I will be OK come Sunday.



I must go as I haven't packed yet and we are back at the chiropractor first thing tomorrow morning and then straight off to the airport where we are going to annoy all the business travellers with our arsenal of baby gears and 'mobility equipment'.

Whoops wrong Lake Placid - I hope

Next post will hopefully be from Lake Placid itself - that's right I am hoping to blog 'on location'.

I think I prefer the other picture - less frightening than this mass start

One week after the crash - One week to go until race day

I am almost exactly half way between my crash on the road bike and Ironman USA. I have to say it has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster but for the most part I have been pretty down in the dumps.

Not training at all after intense exercise for many months is a strange feeling that can leave the endorphin addicted athlete a little moody to start with, add to that the constant worry that maybe you have blown your one big race and you have a very grouchy individual.

Monday I could only hobble. Tuesday and Wednesday I started to get some movement back but my left groin was still badly swollen. I was getting pretty nervous by Thursday with the race only 11 days away. Thursday night I managed to get in the pool for 30 minutes. I took it very easy with a pull float and I was relieved to find that my back, shoulders and arms were all functioning well with only one minor isolated pain in my tricep. I did however find myself bending at the waist to avoid pulling on my groin and I was not fully extending my arms as it would cause pain in my lower abs.

That day I had also googled Chiropractors and found one in Arlington called Capital Rehab. I chose them as they had 3 positive online reviews and they worked with a few track and field teams and seemed to be very sport orientated. I made an appointment for the following day with Dr Booker.

I arrived at the Chiropractors not knowing what to expect and met with Dr Booker. We had a chat and he asked me how important the race was to me. After I explained
what it meant to me he got his partner in and we agreed that I would see them Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue and Wed. Wendy and I had originally planned to leave for Lake Placid Tuesday night but to maximise treatment we have decided to fly up on the Wednesday.

He put me on a e-stim (tens type machine) for 10 minutes which had my leg jumping all over the place and then worked on realigning my hip and the damaged tissue in my groin, which hurt, a lot. He told me to take some herbal joint relief pills and omega capsules and agreed that I could do swimming and cycling but no running. I did feel better for having the injury worked on and I got a good impression from Dr Booker and Dr Beck. The proof will of course be in the pudding but I feel far more optimistic for the race.

I have managed to get out on the bike for 50 minutes last night which did not feel too bad. I cannot cycle while aero but I wasn't too sore this morning and it was a big psycholigical boost to get back on the bike. Today I did 15 minutes aqua-jog and then a 1500m swim. I also met with Dr Beck who continued to work on the damaged tissue which still hurt, a lot. I felt a bit daft aqua-jogging and I actually blistered my feet on the pool bottom but the exercise itself was good. It is hard to get your heart rate up but it is good resistance work for the muscles.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get in a slightly longer ride and then it will be back to chiropractor on Monday. I have put in a picture of the discolouration near my groin. The dark blue area must be where the stem or handlebars caught me and I have drawn a line around the extent of discolouration. I feel a lot better now the swelling has gone down and hopefully the pain will continue to ease off.

CRASH!!!

It was all going too well. Last week was a tough week with 3 hours of training most days and plenty of lactate threshold intervals but I was just about managing to get through it all. Saturday was my last long ride before Lake Placid with Sunday a triathlon day consisting of short swim, 2 hour bike and 1:45 run. The rest of this week was also meant to be fairly intense with only a short taper before the Ironman.

The Saturday long ride was going well. I went out for 3.5 hours before coming back to the house to refuel. I was holding a good pace and felt pretty good. I decided to swap from my tri bike to my road bike to give myself a break from the aero position for the last couple of hours. I was about 25 minutes from the house on a local bike trail when everything turned upside down, literally.

I was happily cruising along at a steady 20mph+ when I looked down and realised that I was very close to the edge of the trail. The trail was 3 inches of tarmac laid on top of dirt so there was a big drop at either side. I looked at the drop and tried to gently bring the bike back to the left but like a rabbit in the headlights I couldn't stop myself and the front wheel dropped off the edge of the trail and dug in immediately cartwheeling me off the bike.



I am not sure exactly what happened. I have a cut on my nose which I think means that my head hit the ground and pushed my glasses into the bridge of my nose but bizarrely I couldn't find a single scratch on my helmet. My bike was 20 feet away on the other side of the trail and I also landed on my shoulder and back judging by the scrapes, bruises and holes in my shirt. A gentlemen out walking and a lady pushing a baby both came to ask if I was OK and the guy had seen me come off and seemed impressed by the show I had put on.

I was telling them both that I was OK but I was still lying on the grass at the edge of the trail where I had rolled to after I came to a stop and I decided that I needed to stand up. As I got up I realised how sore my groin was. I called Wendy and arranged to meet at the next road to intersect the trail. As I hobbled down the trail I realised just how sore my groin was and it appears as if the kinetic energy generated by a 164 pound man travelling at 20mph was all dissipated through my groin into the stem of my bike.

Long story short I experienced some of the most excruciating pain I can remember and had to fight back waves of nausea. I got into bed where I remained the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday. After 36 hours of ice treatment and Ibuprofen I was able to hobble into work for half a day today.

So what does it all mean.

I have spoken to Holden and I am to rest today and tomorrow and then we will see if I can get back into the pool on Wednesday. He assures me that fitness wise I will be OK however I know it would have helped my race if I had been able to complete these last few hard workouts and transition simulations.

I have spoken to the makers of my wheels, Rolf Prima, and it is going to cost me $240 to get my front wheel rebuilt. I have not looked at the rest of my road bike as it will probably end in tears and I will face that ordeal later.

I am healing up OK. My hobble is speeding up and I am able to move around a bit now. Thankfully nothing is broken and although I am very stiff and sore as long as nothing is strained I should be OK for the race.

Although I am pretty down at the moment it could have been a lot worse. I still see people on the trail on road bikes without helmets which is daft and I am also glad that I had my mobile phone with me or it could have been a bit of a drama getting home.

It is apparently not all that uncommon for accidents to happen in the last couple of weeks and at least it happened now and not next week. I am no stranger to bike accidents and anyone who rides a road bike at speed for long enough is likely to have some sort of accident but it is still pretty shitty timing on my behalf.

Philly Weekend Part 2 - TR***

If you enjoyed Part 1 of this report be warned Part 2 is not going to be anywhere near as interesting. You will see that this has a 3 star Trigeek rating (click here for the rating scale) as it is predominantly focused on Sundays Blood Lactate Testing.

Sunday was at last a little bit of a lie-in. Ben slept relatively well and we were not planning to be at Cadence until 1200. Due to the Manayunk Arts Festival we left a little bit early to allow for parking and the walk into town. When we got to Cadence we met up with Todd Parker who was going to do the testing and we also got to meet Lisa Spohn another coach who helped out with the tests who is herself a 5 Ironman veteran.

The testing was done in Cadence’s test lab. Instead of using my bike on a computrainer this time we used the static bike in the lab which was fitted with my pedals and adjusted to mirror the dimensions of my own bike. I had had a tough week and the day before I had worked hard during the time trial and group ride and there was a good chance that these results may be affected by the week’s efforts. Todd explained how it is not unusual for spikes and troughs in the results if you have been working hard before the test and the body has not properly recovered.


None the less I had tried to take it easy after the day before and although my legs were a bit tired we would see how I got on. After warming up for a few minutes we began the test. The bike was wired to the computer and every 3 minutes the computer would up the wattage by 25 watts and it was up to me to maintain 90 rpm. At the same time Todd would prick my finger and take a sample of blood which was then analysed for its lactic acid content. When that content is above 4 you have deemed to have passed your threshold and the test is over. Comparing the blood lactate level, wattage and HR they can then work out exactly where your threshold lies and what the associated Heart Rate and wattage are for that limit. For more information and to see my last set of results please click here.

It soon become apparent that despite yesterday’s riding my body was still efficiently dealing with the lactic acid in my system. I warmed up at 120 watts and my blood lactate was down at 1.3 compared to 1.8 at the same wattage 3 months ago. We started the test at 125 and my blood lactate went to 1.8 but my body then managed to actually process some of this acid and the figure dropped to 1.6 at 175 watts which looked promising. At 225 watts we were still down at 2.1 and at 250 we were 2.8 still well below threshold and clearly already above my old Lactate Threshold wattage of 240 watts. The bike actually got up to 325 watts before the test ended and by then my legs were really starting to protest but in March I was done at 250 watts.


Todd ran the results for me and it was very reassuring to see that unlike the last tests there had been a significant improvement since the selection weekend in Oct 07 and from my last set of tests in March 08. The first thing that stands out is the actual Lactate Threshold which has gone from 240 watts in March to 277 watts this weekend. This is a significant gain in 3 months but the way my Columbia and Philly bike splits went I am not that surprised. It is clearly a reflection of the interval work I have done recently and I am sure that the biggest improvements came from joining group rides around DC. The Tuesday night Wakefield ride and doing the Hains Point Group ride on a Thursday when combined with long rides at the weekend has paid dividends.

The other thing that leaps out at me is how low the heart rates are throughout the results table. This is a bit of a surprise and based on my lactate threshold interval training out on the road I do not believe that these heart rates are accurate. I normally do my LT intervals at around the high 160s, low 170s according to Sunday’s tests I would be 132 to 138. 132 to 138 is normally what I would see during a pretty gentle endurance ride not an LT interval. I was super relaxed on Sunday and perhaps the low heart rates are a reflection of the tiring week I had had. It is sometimes difficult to get your heart rate up when you are tired.



Before I could do the run testing I had to wait an hour for my body to flush out the acid that had been generated during the ride. This was an ideal opportunity for Wendy to leave me with Ben while she had a look around the shops and I sat quietly feeding him while watching Colin doing another of his very thorough bike fitting. It was actually very relaxing and a good way to unwind. Colin came over and we caught up and then Wendy came back very suspiciously the exact second I had finished changing a particularly smelly nappy/diaper.

The run test is very similar to the bike but this time the treadmill is set at a 1 degree gradient and the speed is increased by 0.3 mph every 3 minutes. During the warm up blood lactate was back down to 1.1 which is nice and then Todd set the treadmill to 8mph and we were off. The run is not as much fun as the bike and you ideally want to start closer to your lactate threshold so that you are not left sprinting away for a long time. I settled into a comfortable but fast pace and started whiling down the minutes. When you have a sample taken you have to straddle the treadmill this gives you a brief respite and looking at the graph it is very comforting to see that my heart rate actually fell significantly at 8.6 and 8.9 mph which was presumably when I was having blood taken. A quick recovery is a good sign of overall fitness.

By 9.2 mph I was beginning to suffer and I was willing the little blue blood lactate reader to tell everyone that I was done and it was time to slow the treadmill down. Luckily my prayers were answered and it came in at 4.1 and I breathed a sigh of relief as Todd turned the speed down. After Todd processed the results it was nice to see a steady improvement in my run results as well. The zones have changed a little and the heart rate figures are all up a little bit. My endurance zone is now a whopping 129-172 bpm and my Sub-Lt zone is a tiny 174-173. I am not sure that this means a great deal but what is significant is the pace I can maintain in these new zones. According to the latest testing in my Sub-Lt zone I can maintain a 6:54 to 7:49 min/mile pace. In theory, if your nutrition is right, you should be able to go indefinitely in this zone and should certainly be able to finish a marathon.



So what does this mean for Ironman. As far as I can tell on paper I am capable of achieving a good result at Ironman. My swim is OK and I have plenty of swim endurance so should be able to finish the swim in a reasonable time. According to my bike results I should be able to put down anywhere from 233 to 277 watts in my Sub –Lt zone and my body seems to be recovering very quickly from LT efforts. Additionally it is not just a case of my LT power going up I have also lost nearly 10 pounds so my power to weight ratio has also improved significantly.

Lake Placid has some hills but my power to weight ratio is not going to play that significant a role as this is not a mountain stage in the Giro D’Italia. However in theory I have enough power in my endurance and sub-lt zone to be able to put in a good bike split without writing myself off for the run. With all the road riding and hill work I should also be able to recover pretty quickly from any climbs and therefore not have to take them overly slowly.

On the run if my nutrition is good, and I am feeling OK coming off the bike, I have the ability (again on paper) to run a 3:20 marathon at 7:38 min/mile pace while staying in my Sub-Lt zone and could just about run a 3:30 marathon while staying in my endurance zone.

BUT (and as you can see this is a “big but”) this is all on paper and is at this stage is pure theory. The three disciplines have been examined here individually and not together as a whole but it does show that there is a chance, if everything goes like clockwork and I have a fantastic day, that I may just surprise myself. It helps give me confidence that there is not one discipline which is going to single handedly scupper my dreams of a slot at Kona and in the words of Sir Mix-a-lot “I like big but[t]s”.

A big thanks to the mechanics at Cadence who gave my bike a much needed full race tune. Sorry to have missed two of Cadence's senior management, Matt Heitmann who normally posts the fastest time at the West River TT and Olympic cyclist Brian Walton, who normally leads out the Cadence group ride, both probably saw my bike split at the Philly Tri and both happen to be missing the same weekend I do the rides - you do the maths :-).