IM Wales..
starcher
Posts: 126
in General Chat
Well I only bloody finished......
It was a lovely swim which due to a clunky shoulder I had to breaststroke most of the way. 1:39.07
The hardest bike ride I have ever done the 3 more well known hills weren't that bad as such but the whole bloody course was 1 big hill. On the 16% percent damp wooded climb 3 miles-ish away from the end of the bike I was broken and pretty much in tears as it looked like I was going to miss the bike cut off by about 10 mins as I still had the long climb out of Saundersfoot to go. (Dont know what I found inside me to get up the last climb perhaps it was an Ironwill) After grinding up the Saundersfoot climb and doing a bit of calculation I realised that I may just make it with a bit of hardcore descending into town. The descents seem far too short for the ups and they were quite technical so you couldn't get any real speed I was aiming for a realistic nice 15mph average speed but could only muster 13.4mph average and that was with the 45mph final descent into tenby trying to make the bike cut off. 8:22.06
Add my 20 min T1 in the middle and you'll notice I made the bike with about 8 minutes to spare. !!!
Has to be two post due to the character limit...
It was a lovely swim which due to a clunky shoulder I had to breaststroke most of the way. 1:39.07
The hardest bike ride I have ever done the 3 more well known hills weren't that bad as such but the whole bloody course was 1 big hill. On the 16% percent damp wooded climb 3 miles-ish away from the end of the bike I was broken and pretty much in tears as it looked like I was going to miss the bike cut off by about 10 mins as I still had the long climb out of Saundersfoot to go. (Dont know what I found inside me to get up the last climb perhaps it was an Ironwill) After grinding up the Saundersfoot climb and doing a bit of calculation I realised that I may just make it with a bit of hardcore descending into town. The descents seem far too short for the ups and they were quite technical so you couldn't get any real speed I was aiming for a realistic nice 15mph average speed but could only muster 13.4mph average and that was with the 45mph final descent into tenby trying to make the bike cut off. 8:22.06
Add my 20 min T1 in the middle and you'll notice I made the bike with about 8 minutes to spare. !!!
Has to be two post due to the character limit...
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Comments
I believe the tough bike course killed off anyone who was having a bad day as everybody who started the marathon finished 20 mins before midnight. Being an Ironman virgin I was a bit unsure of how well I was gonna hold up in the run so my initial plan was 1:30 10ks would easily see me home. However I felt much better than I thought and went out faster than planned leaving me with 2:30 to finish the last 10k. 5:27.40
Finish time:16:01.41
What could I have different/better? I should have trained more than about 5 hours a week, Learned how to swim better, not got to caught up with walking and chatting to the other competitors near the end of the run.
If I'm honest im amazed I finished, I could have ran harder but I was scared of blowing up and not finishing. Gutted that I was so close to getting under 16hrs if I had really gone for it on the run reckon I would have got nearer to 15:30.
After the struggle torment emotion and pain will I do another??????
Hell yeah!!!!!! just somewhere flatter.
Thanks for all the support and advice guys. If any of the volunteers or supporters are out there you were all awesome, I couldn't have done it without you all sitting out in the cold wind and rain.
Did I mention I'm an Ironman
Just an idea!!!!
That's what IM racing is all about for many an athlete. Not at the sharp end with the 8-9hr finish tirs but the sheer effort, the pain, the worry of flirting with the cut offs. That's racing.
You toughed it out and for that you have a nod of respect from me.
Well done
After finishing in 2011, I volunteered on the swim, bike and the run, awesome to watch, and I'll be back to do it in 2013.