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.