Ironman UK

Ironman UK wasn’t on my race plan initially, but I entered 4 weeks ago, after a disappointing race at Ironman Nice. I knew that racing two Ironman races close together would be tough, but hadn’t quite anticipated how tired I would be post race. It’s now Wednesday, 3 days after Ironman UK and I can honestly say that I am shattered.

In the 5 weeks between Nice and UK I felt like I had recovered and was ready to race again. I’d been up with Yvette Grice to have a look at the bike course and decided I had enough time to get training and reacquainted to my Quintana Roo Lucero. I had also tweaked my nutrition a little to ensure I carried all I needed and just picked up water. I arrived in Bolton on Friday and registered and took a little walk around T1, before heading to the premiere inn, avoiding the rain outside and enjoying a complete rest day, being glued to the television, namely watching the Athletics. The rain and the television continued on Saturday, interrupted by bike and bag racking, race briefing and some stretching!! Having had problems being sick during Nice, I decided to ensure I eat early, so immediately after the race briefing at 6pm I was tucking into chicken and pasta. Bed at 9pm for being up at 3am.

Race morning preparation went without hiccups and I had plenty of time in transition to get myself sorted and relaxed. At 5:30 all the athletes were paraded out of T1 to the lake for the 6am start. I got in the water with some time to spare for a quick warm up. The water was pretty grim, visibility less than Eastbourne sea water due to algae! Hard to believe I know. I managed to position myself well for the start and found a good combination of clear water and feet to follow. I did manage to go a bit off course on the second lap. I didn’t feel like I was swimming particular fast, but exited the water in 1:03. Just shows that being relaxed whilst swimming is the key. After quite a long a long run I entered a heaving and disorganised transition tent and had a slalom course to contend with weaving in/out of changing athletes to exit. On route I managed to slip on a muddy patch and land on my right hip, no injuries just a bruised ego and getting a bit muddy. The rest of transition went smoothly and I was quickly out onto the bike. As I left I heard Steve Clark (Yvette Grice’s Husband and fantastic supporter) shout out that he thought I was first in my age group, which spurred me on. The first lap of the bike went well and I felt good, at the start of the second lap, just before the climb up sheep hill lane, my stomach started to feel funny, so I eased back up the climb hoping it would settle. I did feel a bit better but my tummy was not 100%. My bike split was not a quite as I had hoped/planned, but my easing back, seamed to have helped my stomach and I had been able to keep down gels and drink on the 3rd lap. I came into T2 feeling good and ready to start the run, optimistic that my pre Nice training would see me through. Onto the run I soon regretted putting on my white compression socks immediately, when we hit what can only be described as a 4 mile boggy loop. Squelching through the mud, I lost a shoe in one particularly deep section and spectacularly fell forward, getting covered in yet more mud. I was actually glad to hit the tarmac and start the run down to Bolton. At about 5 miles my lack of hard training on my TT bike began to show as my back started to tighten and spasm, forcing a bit of a stretch stop. Once this was sorted I got back into a bit of a rhythm, but was definitely running slower than I had planned. A couple of miles later my stomach started to rebel again and every time I pushed the pace I started to feel sick. Seeing Yvette (fellow Bodyworks XTC athlete) just a couple of minutes back on what appeared to be a fading Bella motivated me to keep running as much as possible. At the turn around I contemplated pulling out as was feeling so dreadful, but the thought of a DNF, all the money spent and the possibility that my stomach would come right again I carried on. I had been passed by a number of girls at this point and did not know if they where in my age group or not. After mile 15 and a bit of coke, the proper vomiting started. I stopped at the side of the road, so don’t score points for puking whilst running I’m afraid. At this point Yvette came past in the opposite direction in 1st place, looking very strong and running well. I was so excited for her, this being her first Ironman win. The rest of my marathon was a mixture of walking and running when I could. My stomach did eventually come around again 3 miles from the finish and I ran continuously from then on in. I crossed the line at 11:20, well off my goal time and sure that I had not won my age group. A phone call from my boyfriend saw me jumping up and down in front of Bolton town hall, screaming as he told me I had won my age group and I had my Kona spot, having been following the race on Ironman Live.

I went into the race with a number of goals – To have a swim which I felt reflected the swim training hours I had done with Bodyworks XTC over the past year, rather than near drowning experience I had at Nice. To ideally go under 11 hours on what I knew would be a tough course, to win my age group, and get my slot for Hawaii. I should be happy that I did have a great swim, won my age group and qualified for Kona, but a large part of me is disappointed with my performance and overall time.

One of the best parts of the day was actually going back to the Ironman Finish between 15 and 17 hours to cheer on athletes. This was my first time going back to the finish. I had not in Florida – looking after sick boyfriend, Hawaii – gutted having walked with stress fracture, Nice – being in medical tent still! I will definitely be going back and cheering on the finishers at future races. I was so much fun cheering, clapping, dancing and sharing everyone’s post race excitement/ relief. Yvette was giving out finishers medals, but I managed to drag her up the finish chute for a quick dance, for which I’m sure never to be forgiven for. Especially since my choice of song was the Cha Cha Slide and the Macarena, and the young teens were outshining us.

Enough said – Hawaii Bound 