I really should blog more, although with the training for this event, I've often been too tired. However, it was my A race for the year and I guess some of you may be interested to hear about it.
It's incredible how those last 3/4 weeks passed by so quickly and suddenly race weekend was upon me. I took the Friday off work to travel from Northumberland so that I had all day Saturday for faffage and getting set up for the race. So I arrived at the Macron Stadium, Bolton at 2 in the afternoon, registered and was handed my Ironman rucksack containing goody bag and colour coded bags for preparing kit for the different transition zones.
I spent a healthy sum of money in the store on IM merchandise before heading into the stadium itself for the race briefing. There seemed to be hundreds of finely toned athletes and then there was me ! The briefing was very entertaining and now it was all becoming very real.
That evening, in my hotel room, I layed out the three coloured bags on the floor and planned the contents of each bag for T1, T2 and after race clothing. God, it seemed complicated.
Overnight thunderstorms in the west continued all morning. I revisited race HQ and after double and triple checking my bike to run bag, I eventually handed it in at T2.
I then drove to Pennington Flash to rack my bike and hand in by bag at T1. Finally at almost 3pm the sun came out, the temperature immediately went up and the rest of the afternoon and evening was lovely. A warm and sunny race day was on the cards.
'Hello, can I have an early morning call please'
"Certainly sir, what time ?"
'3am please'
"3am ???? "
So the alarm went off, I'll not repeat what I said to myself as I dragged myself out of bed. Kettle boiled, made porridge, had a banana, Danish pastry and tea. In the car and headed the 15 minute drive to the stadium. That felt weird for a start - heading to a triathlon with no bike and no kit except the clothes I was wearing and my wetsuit. Everything else was already in situ.
The buses to the Flash were very efficient and in no time, I found myself looking at my bike, checking tyres and generally wandering around thinking 'What the hell am I doing here ?' I visited the portaloo before the queues got stupid then made my final preparations. Yes, I made mistakes - my juice had leaked and the shirt I wanted to wear to keep warm at the finish was soaked. Worse still, with only 10 minutes to go before we were to get in the lake, I realised that the rubber band which secured my computer sensor to the fork had snapped.
I asked around, was directed to a portacabin, the best they could do was a cable tie. It didn't work, I had to remove the computer and would be forced to ride the entire bike section on feel, unable to check my speed. A good start !
I joined the queue to head for the water, met a friend Tony from my home area, we zipped up our wetsuits and wished each other the best of luck. I wlaked down the pontoon and slipped into the lovely warm lake water.
It been a very long queue to enter water, the announcer on the PA system was encouraging us to get in as it was time to start. The national anthem was blasted out the speakers as I stuck my face in the water and started the swim towards the crowd bobbing around near the start buoys. Now I don't like starting too near the front, but this was a bit poor because I was still 100 meters from the start line when the hooter went off and the masses started churning up the water.
Apparently, the national anthem gave way to AC/DC, wish I'd heard that as I settled into a rhythm and searched the horizon for the turn in the far distance.
The first lap was fine, no dramas except the odd clash of arms and legs when athletes come together to squeeze round the turn. I exited the water at the Australian Exit and ran along the 40 mtrs of grass with an amazing crowd of spectators on either side. I jumped back in and tried to repeat the calm control of the first lap.
It was not to be - my right arm, the strongest arm started to be quite painful in the shoulder. I figured it was probably because the right arm does too much work, so I concentrated on pulling with the left while giving the right an easy time.
That seemed to work, so I carried on taking it very steady, then when I was finally nearing the exit, I started to push on full strength with both arms again. I don't know how many times I looked up to check the two big yellow inflatables which marked the exit, but they just never seemed to get any closer ! But eventually I was there. The legs were still in swim mode as I took three attempts to stand up without losing my balance, then I walked / jogged into transition.
I collected my bag and removed the wetsuit. Wow, that spray lube was good, the suit just slipped over my hands and feet which had not been the case previously. I was dressed for the bike, slapped on a bit of factor 20, then helmet and shoes on, I went out to take my bike.
Cycling through the empty towns of Greater Manchester before 8am was lovely. This was the bit I knew I could do, I'm a cyclist, I can do this. I did have a very strict rule not to push it. Not being a runner, there would be no point in smashing the ride if I couldn't run afterwards.
So that was it, steady away, but I was still passing plenty of riders. I was closing on a guy wearing a Kelloggs Frosties tiger shirt. The name on his number was Dean. I pulled alongside and expresses my disappointment that he wasn't called Tony.
The main climb on the two lap course, Sheep House Lane came early. The bottom was really busy, helped by the presence of the village tea rooms, oh I could have fancied a scone. The climb is very steady for over half a mile then after a quick left and right it suddenly ramps up to a tasty gradient. I got out the saddle on that bit and honked up the climb, I much prefer that rather than struggling to stay seated. A big thanks to everyone supporting on that climb, particularly the lads at the top with the camper van blasting out tunes and the lads dressed in outrageous outfits. Brilliant.
What goes up...there was a nice decent into Belmont and then a steady ride north past more reservoirs eventually turning again at the Hogham Arms which was where I had my tea when I recced the course three weeks earlier.
The whole first lap of the ride was excellent. Residents having breakfast by the roadside and cheering, tri club members on the hills and the helpers at the food stations were fantastic enabling us to have Tour De France style pick ups of food and drink without having to stop.
You know when you are on the second lap. Babylon Lane in Anderton has become the place of choice for local tri clubs to support their friends who are racing. After turning into the road, I was confronted by a three feet wide tunnel of noise and there is nothing you can do except respond and stomp on those pedals to look good for the crown. I passed through the Ricington feed and grabbed the usual juice, bar and banana but then before the climb my feet were hurting so much due to swelling in the heat and I was forced to make a five minute stop in order to remove my shoes and massage my feet. I was soon on my way again though and once more managed Sheep House Lane without to much hassle.
The rest of the lap was just a case of keeping it steady, sticking to my nutrition strategy and not pushing too hard. I had to remove my shoes again a bit later and I stopped in a quiet village where there was a portaloo on the roadside. So I may have added a good 10-15 minutes to my time with comfort breaks !
I rode Babylon Lane for a third time then after the Rivington feed zone, it was finally time to take the right lane to head back towards the Macron stadium ready for T2. I had thought about the achievement of completing the Ironman so much over the last year and when i neared the end of the bike ride I began to get emotional. I fought the feelings back, "What are you doing, you've gotta run a marathon now so don't start getting excited"
T2 was a mix of athletes getting changed, eating, stretching. Nobody was in a hurry as the sun had just come out. I changed into running kit, I wanted to be comfortable for a long day out. I handed in my bag containing bike kit, another toilet stop and I was away. I was immediately joined by another guy my age and we chatted before he decided to walk the first hill. However, we would continue to meet over the next 13 miles and keep each other going, but I never did get his name.
My longest training run had been 16 miles, I wanted to try to run for that distance, but I made sure I ate and drank at each feed station. The sun was blazing now and it was very warm.
The race joins the main circuit after about 8 miles then runs away from Bolton town centre to a turn before going up then down and into the town centre loop past the town hall. By passing the town hall, we also had to pass the finsh funnel on each lap which was pretty tough when faster athletes were finishing. On the long drag away from the centre, I met my new pal again. I told him that we would be at about halfway just after the turn at the far end. He was delighted by this and we were both happy when we passed through the control where race staff hand out the coloured armbands to signify that you have completed a lap. I kept moving, my friend walked again, I never saw him after that. But I did see my wife and daughter, that had a massive positive effect on my resolve and give me a real boost.
The rest of that lap was OK but I knew I was slowing down. I circled the town centre, still knowing that I had the full out and back circuit to do two more times.
I was watching to clock. The cut off time for the race is 17 hours in total. i was fine, I had four hours to do 9 miles, then finally I had just one lap to do. I tried to jog up the steep hill out of town - I failed. When the gradient eased, I tried to jog and still failed. I made a promise to walk the uphill and run down. So I collected my third armband and ran all the way down to the turn, then started walking the up again.
Eventually, I looked at my watch which said 24.2 miles. 2 to go, I can run this. But is wasn't a run, it was a jog/shuffle, however it was faster than walking - just. At the feed entering Bolton, I took a drink of water then into town. Once again, the support in Bolton was amazing, you just feel as if you can't walk with all that support so I ran round the few corners and when I approached the finish, the race official looked at my arm, saw the three coloured bands and ushered me down the finishing funnel.
There was a right turn and then suddenly I was on the red carpet, with temporary grandstands on both sides. The organiser Paul Kaye was there with the mic. He looked at my number, read my name and shook my hand, then said " Stuart, You are an Ironman " I walked over the finish, arms up high and head back in utter triumph 15 hours, 19 mins 35 secs and I just felt satisfied. Yes I got emotional when I saw my teenage daughter. It's not often that she wants to kiss her dad and I was dripping with sweat so I reckon she must have been pretty proud.
After chatting for a couple of minutes, I headed into the finisher area, collected my t-shirt and looked at the food. It was all cake and biscuits. I had just spent a full day eating sticky bars, gels and bananas and didn't fancy cake but just then they took delivery of a batch of pizza from Dominos. Absolute heaven, just what the doctor ordered.
So did I enjoy it - YES, the crowds and the experience was awesome
Will I do it again - Probably
Will I get a tattoo - Just try and stop me
