Sunday 19th April – RACE DAY

Woke up at the ungodly hour of 4am, got dressed and headed down for breakfast. Can’t really say I ate much, just a bit of cereal and some toast. There were some people eating loads of stuff, I just don’t know how they do it. We go back to the room to have a few toilets stops and collect our kit. The coaches leave every 15 minutes down to transition – we left at 5am, I noticed that the sky is as clear as crystal – the stars are shining very brightly – a bit of a contrast from yesterday and also on the coach there was a temperature gauge, it reads 25 degrees !!! We arrived at transition, got the bikes sorted and then got numbered up.

Last toilet stop before the race – there are only about 8 toilets so the queue is massive. I can see the swim course from the here and the current seems quite strong today (due to the all the rain yesterday).

SWIM

The swim starts and I start swimming, even from the start it all seemed a bit confusing – couldn’t really spot the buoys that well and with the current every time I went off course it seems a big effort to get back on it. On the last bit when you are swimming into the current I felt like I was in an endless pool, there was a fishing boat about 10 feet away, but 5 minutes later it seemed to be no closer. I looked towards the shore and lots of athletes had opted to walk along the shore knee high in water to get back to the turnaround/finish. Eventually I make the shore/turnaround point in 38 minutes !!! and back in to do another lap which seemed even more confusing than the last – there were people everywhere in the water and no one seemed to know where they were going. Anyway made it out of the water in 1hour 15min…could have been a lot worse I suppose!

BIKE

Leave transition and head out on the bike, first bit is through the town towards the highway, roads are in a very good condition so it feels like I am motoring along nicely. The highway bit of the course is so boring, so hot, so humid and a bit windy. Can’t say how long before the turnaround point on the highway was but shortly afterwards the course heads out through the Chinese villages which is a very welcome relief (something to look at). I reached the halfway point on the bike at about 2 hours 48 minutes which is about where I wanted to be. The wind was a lot stronger on the second lap and temperatures seemed to be going sky high!! At about 90 miles I started getting a really bad headache and then I was sick, from that point on I knew that it was just a matter of getting through the next 8+ hours as I couldn’t take on any nutrition! Finished the bike in 6 hours! I got off my bike and walked through transition to the changing tents where I was mobbed by about 5 Chinese girls who were putting bags of ice on my head, back, neck, etc.

RUN

Wow it’s hot !! Start running but my whole body feels very strange and my legs just don’t want to move. I made it down to the first aid station (2K), I have a rest and soak my neck with cold wet sponges. At 3k I see Nick coming the other way, he is walking but then everyone on the course seems to be walking also. We have a quick chat and he tells me he is thinking of pulling out at 10K, I tell him no way and that to wait for me and we will finish this race together. This gives me a bit of motivation to get moving so I can get back to Nick as soon as possible. Nick is sitting on the curb waiting for me and I gave a great sigh of relief when I see he still has his number on him. We then start on our epic journey of 32.5k to the finish…..

We devised a plan that we would walk 2k and jog 2k to the finish, at about 20k I was starting to feel very bad and wondered how I would have done this all on my own without Nick helping me through! The funny thing was that even though we were walking a lot not many other athletes overtook us. As we reach the 30k mark the sun was now beginning to go down so at last there was a bit of shade, unfortunately all of the midges decided to come out and play so combined with the sweat and sticky energy drinks on your skin they made us their meal of the day! On one of the aid stations I sponged myself down to try and stop the feasting of my skin from happening.

The supporters were great, they were all the local Chinese teenagers and they did such a good job of cheering you on. The last 2k was so hard, even at this point I just wanted to stop and lie down on the grass and have a rest, but Nick got me going and we ran through the town being cheered on by lots of spectators. The finish was in sight just over the little bridge and 50m to the finish line. We ran together, then stopped just before the line, neither of us wanted to go across first so for few seconds we were just standing there, I don’t know what people were thinking who were watching us. We crossed the line together (Nick was first on the results though). Had a massage but couldn’t have any of the food as it was Pepperoni Pizza and Chicken & Ham Soup (I’m a Veggie!) so found a little store that sold some food and had 2 pieces of corn on the cob.

After a short sit down we caught the coach back to transition to pick up our bikes then another coach back to the hotel. Very tired, very sore (with sunburn) – feel asleep very quickly.

MONDAY

Happy 40th Birthday Nick

Feeling not to bad today, went for breakfast, checked out the results on the board in the reception area and then lounged out by the pool area. It was like a who’s who in triathlon, all the pro’s were there drinking beer and (nice to say) letting their hair down ! Lots of tales of woe about yesterday’s race but there was one good tale we heard, we met a Swiss guy called Patrick Wallimann who just turned pro this year and yesterday he was 2nd overall. He is such a nice person and deserved it completely and to make it even more amazing is that he still works back in Switzerland.

Not much more to add just that another race under our belt and another experience of how Ironman can be so unpredictable, you can train your heart out and think that you are as prepared as you can be, but sometimes things are just out of your control, I feel bad for Nick mainly but I know that he will take stock of everything that has happened and come out the other end a stronger person….roll on Roth J

Saturday 18th April

1 day to go……and it is absolutely chucking it down with rain !! I was woken up a lot during the night because of the thunder & lightening and it is like that for most of the day. We had breakfast then at 12pm go to the race briefing, where we are told that the weather for tomorrow will be a bit rainy with clouds! We go back to our room to get all of the race kit bags sorted. At about 3pm it stopped raining so we headed down to transition to drop our bikes and bags off, we decide to ride down on our bike and at some points are wading through water that is about 6” to 1’ deep, not exactly great for the bike I know !!!.


On returning to the hotel we decided to go and do a quick swim in the pool, I then relaxed for about 15 minutes in the Natural Hot Spring Pool (next to the pool). Dinner was early tonight at around 6pm, it’s so busy now at the hotel with all of the athletes and their family & friends. Some more Dexter episodes were watched back at the room before we go to sleep…

Wednesday

Woke up feeling somewhat more refreshed than previous mornings, guess that was something to do with the 8 hours sleep we got. This morning is the first open swim session (oh joy!), we get the bus from the hotel at 7.10am down to the swim start. When arriving I am pleasantly surprised at how flat and calm it looks, so I don the wetsuit and goggles and off I go into the blue yonder (well it’s kind of a brown yonder really!). The first 800m feel great then I turn into the last part of the swim course and suddenly don’t feel so great – it feels like I’m just not moving! I persevere and reach the end of the lap and say to Nick ‘Did you find that last bit hard? He answered that everyone was talking about the current in the water. Looks like another great swim time for me then !!! We left the swim start and made our way back to the hotel to have breakfast. Today is very overcast, we go and sit out by the pool and before our eyes the ocean starts to disappear by a big mist cloud, this then develops into a thunder & rain storm. We retreat back to our room for a while then decide to visit the Spa as we have heard about some pools there that you sit in and you get pecked by a load of fish (eating all the dead skin off your body apparently!) We go to the Spa and get in these pools and YES there are hundreds of little fish biting you all over – it was incredible – only in China. We stayed for about 1 hour and then left as the rain had stopped then went for a short bike which we did 5 minute efforts during. Got back to the hotel , got showered and went for something to eat. Another earlier night.

Thursday

Went open water swimming this morning again to try out the skin suits instead of the wetsuits. Temperature of the water was good but the current was very strong, when you were swimming against it you had to keep swimming for the whole time because if you stopped for 1 second you would start drifting backwards. A lot of people were starting to get a little bit worried about it. Got back to the hotel for about 9am, got a quick shower and went for breakfast. We went over to the expo to pick up some gels, energy drink and gas canisters. Gas cannisters have not arrived yet and are not expected until tomorrow now! So we decide to go into town to one of the bike stores to pick up a hand pump each as a back up plan if the gas canisters never materialize. We get a taxi with the crazy Chinese guy, who seems overly excited to be taking us into town. We get to the bike shop and get a hand pump and also a gas trigger with a canister in it – result. The taxi driver came into the shop with us as he was waiting to take us back to the hotel – he was still very excited! On the way back we have to stop at a petrol station. We had to get out the car as your not allowed to sit in while the tank is being filled up. All of the gas attendents came over to us to say hello and there was this tall Chinese lad who was comparing his height with Nick’s, everyone found it very funny when Nick decided to spike his hair up to make sure he was taller. We got back to the hotel and went to register for the race. Pretty straight forward like all the others we had done. For the rest of the day we chill out by the pool and got to watch a few of the pro’s doing some swimming. Rasmus Hemming was so fast and graceful in the water, it was just a joy to watch. Tonight there is a get together in town for the IM athletes at Pizza Corner so we decide to head out to that. A few of the Pro’s were doing a Q & A session. We left at about 8.30pm for the hotel – I can’t get over how vast a city Haikou is and just how busy it was.

Friday

Woke up and went for breakfast. We made another visit to the expo to see if the gas had arrived and were told 3pm today. We found out yesterday that the organisers have had to change the run course round due to some local demonstrations going on – still flat so not that concerned about it. We went out on our bikes at about 11am, we decided to ride the run course, we went past the transition area which is beginning to look like one now. Did the run route then headed back to the hotel. Nearly forget to mention, Nick almost got taken out on the bike today by an old Chinese woman on a moped – he was riding along when suddenly she just crossed the road, he shouted and she stopped dead right in front of him, his right pedal and back wheel hit the back of her bike but he managed to stay upright - he wasn’t best pleased as you can imagine !! Went to the ‘Meet the pro’s’ at 2pm to ask a few questions, etc. Petr Vabrousek, Tim Marr, Edith Niederfriniger, Jocelyn Wong and Patrick Wallimann (who is a reall nice guy – 1st race as a Pro, he won his age group at Kona last year) were there, it was really interesting. We went back to the room afterwards, watched a bit of TV then got ready for the Welcome Party at 6pm. Oh and Nick went back to the expo and they still have no gas...maybe it will turn up tomorrow, but it’s not a problem now as Ken Glah from EST has very generously let us have some from his stock (Thank you Ken).

Thursday 17th April

Get up early again for another go at the swim course.
Arrive on the second bus at 6:40, today were going to try the speed suits, as yesterday I felt really hot in my wetsuit, especially when I put any efforts in.
Most other people seem to be in their wetsuits, water temp is 23 decrees, so should be toasty.
Water temp feels ok on entering, no chill factor at all. Again only small buoy’s out so sighting will be difficult, take a heading on the far bank and start swimming, I can immediately feel more current today, constantly pushing from the right, but because I’m not wearing a wetsuit, I can put more effort in without feeling like I’m overheating. It’s necessary to hold onto the buoy rope as the current is really strong, Lou arrives and we set off, this leg is 500m downstream, should be a fun ride. I get there in little over 6 mins and wait for Lou. That was fun. The next leg is back towards shore, with a
The current coming from the left, we take a heading 30 degrees or so of where we want to get to and start off, again you can feel the current, and we reach the buoy for the return leg against the current.
This is really fun, I try to keep as flat as possible and keep pulling against the flow, I am going past lots of people that don’t seem to be moving, and I count the strokes between buoys to make sure I’m keeping it nice and fluid. I reach the end buoy 400m away in 10 mins. It’s clear to say that the time you get flowing down stream for the longer leg of 500m does not cancel out the 400m into the flow.

On race day theres supposed to be a high tide which will slow the flow somewhat, but I can see weaker swimmers really struggling to make the swim if the flows anything like today.


I pick up a few last minute things at the Bike tech, which have not got any threaded gas canisters, they are supposed to be on the way, at the moment they only have thread less, so we rush into town to pick up a small hand pump, just in case they don’t arrive!
Today’s registration day so we get that done, it’s all getting closer now.
For the rest of the day we chill by the pool, catching up on reading (me) and sleeping (Lou), there’s another rain storm later in the day.
For dinner, the organisers have put on an Athlete evening at a Local Pizza/Coffee shop so we decide to get a cab into town. Whilst there we get to meet Tim Marr, Mathiew O’Halloran (Who has the most impressive sideburns) and a girl called Kim Leoffler who are all racing pro, get a cab back, another episode of Dexter and to bed early

We flew on Thursday evening from Heathrow to Hong Kong, the flight time was approx 11:30 hours, a non event. Managed to do 4 glasses of champagne, in the first 30 minutes, then preceeded to work my way through the wine list, i lost count a 9 glasses, felt pretty crap, then drifted off.
We managed to sleep most of the way, which was a result. But felt rubbish when i woke up, lou felt fine, must have been something i ate!
We were staying over night at the Airport hotel in Hong Kong, and as we had slept on the Journey, did we manage to sleep in the hotel. No. We did however get up at 3:30am and watch some movies until 7am for breakfast.
Arrived at Haikou on the Saturday got to the hotel at 12:30ish incredibly tired, our body clocks are all over the place. Built the bikes and made a list of the things i had forgot to pack....

1st Profile Design Aero bottle, absolute necessary out here.
2nd A small pump for use during training rides (The bike support don’t arrive until Wednesday so IF we get a puncture between now and then i have no way of inflating on the go). I did bring a track pump, but, too big to take out with us.

So a quick email and phone call to the bike support crew, sorts everything.
Nothing significant happened up until now, only a few people mulling around the hotel, it will get busier though.

Sunday 12th April.

Went for a 40 Minute Run today, headed up towards town, the humidity is really high, as it rained earlier, sweating like a good un, ran through a rural market, it was pandemonium, we were the only westerners here, got lots of strange looks and shouts of Hello, or Nee Haw (Hello in Chinese, excuse the spelling), Everything feels ok, although HR was 10 beats or so higher, still acclimatizing. Food at the hotel is Ok, 4 restaurants, Chinese, Noodle Bar, Asian Buffet and an Al a carte serving Pizza’s and Hot Dogs! Still managing to steer clear of Beer, but the temptation is hard to resist.

Monday 13th April.

This morning we got up early at 6am and went out to recce the bike course. The Hotel whilst really nice, is in the middle of nowhere, so we rode to the Swim start along pretty crap roads, passing paddy fields with Water Buffalo in, You really know your in China!
Location wise the start has moved from last year. The swim previously was in the south China Sea, the Hotel has also changed from the Sheraton to the Crown Spa Resort. It was really convienient last year as we stayed at the Sherton, the swim was right outside the hotel as was the Transistion area. This year were not so spoilt, the swim start is 5 miles or so away, as is T1 and T2.
So we rode as best we could to navigate to the swim start, our Navigation skills are not the best so we ended up getting completly lost, the upshot was we managed to cross over a 500m wide river without even noticing it, luckily Lou saw a sign for the hotel, so we did get back eventually.
The roads are pretty flat and wide, and seem really fast, more than half the bike course is as last year, only the start and end are different. So no real concerns there. Ate at the Chinese restaurant, pleny of Vegge stuff for Lou, only had 1 Beer!

Tuesday 14th April.

Weve given up on trying to acclimatise, by not using the air con, it’s so hot and stuffy at night, we are just not sleeping, so were going to bite the bullit and opt for a good nights sleep instead. See if that improves things.
Trying to keep things as normal as poessible, but difficult when were so used to being so busy all the time, arriving and having so much time on our hands and not being able to train is sooo hard. But you have to bite the bullitt and rest as best you can.
Today did some Yoga, and went for another run just 30 mins this time, Lou’s running well, our HR usually start off with mine 10 beats lower and during the run they get closer. I end up covered in sweat, Lou just get’s redder in the face, By the end i’m soaked, Lou’s Rosey.
Opt for the Al a Carte menu tonight of Vege Pizza and Seafood for me, Really good Pizza’s actually. 1 More Beer to wash it down. Finish off the evening with the last 2 Episodes of Lost and asleep for 10pm.

Wednesday 15th April

Up early at 6:15am again, Much better sleep today, mostly uninterrupted. Today all the fun begins, as the Official swim start opens for practice, on the bus for 7:10 in the water for 7:30. The swim is a large square in the Nandu River. From the shore it looks very brown with not much current, we don our Orca wetsuits and make our way to the river bank. Under foot it’s very squidgy, we see one competitor with a cut foot, the organisors are asking everyone if they have plasters, we were warned to avoid the sharp stone, i try not to sound too sarcastic when i ask if there's only the one sharp stone in the river, i don't think he got the humour!

The water seems warm, not at all cold when you get in, off we set, we arrange to meet at the first bouy which is 500m offshore. The bouys are really small only 12” high so sighting is not easy, added to the fact theres, some mist on the river.

I make the first bouy and turn round to wait for Lou’ wait a minute or so and she arrives, she seems Happy as the water’s nice and warm. I turn round and the Bouy that i was by is now 100m or so away, in the time i waited for Lou i had drifted that far, there’s obviously quite a current. We take our bearings and set off on the second leg of the swim. Which again is a 500m swim. This leg, seems to go by very fast. Again i wait a minute or so for Lou, then we set off this time towards the shore for the third leg, This time the current is pushing us towards our Right, so we need to constantly check our bearings. Again meet up and swim towards the start. This time into the current. I get there and wait, all the other competitors are saying how strong ht e current is, it is quite strong.
We meet up and swim towards the shore and exit the mud.
No cuts so all good get changed and make our way back to the hotel for some breakfast.

Lou’s China Diary
Started travelling from the UK on Thursday night, for once we managed to sleep for a good part of the flight.
Arrived in Hong Kong at 5pm on Friday and left for Haikou on Saturday morning at 11am. It was only a 1 hour flight and then a 15 minute car journey to our hotel. We are one of the first athletes to arrive at the hotel and it seems very empty but I know that will change in a few days!
We get settled in me unpacking the suitcases and Nick building up the bikes then we head into town to get a stock of water. It is very amusing going round the supermarket in Hainan as we were the only westerners in the place and I don’t think they get too many foreigners here so everyone just stops and stares at you! This one little boy was crying his eyes out then suddenly looks up at Nick and stopped all noise and tears immediately and stared with very wide eyes.

Sunday

Not much sleep during the night so feeling very tired today. We got breakfast (which we almost missed) then went back to the room for a little sleep. At midday we did our first bit of exercise for nearly 4 days (that’s what I call a taper week), we swam for about 50 minutes in the outdoor 50m pool, which was quite chilly. We had to get inside soon after as it started to rain which lasted for about 2 or so hours, in this time we just chilled out in the room and watched some TV. When the rain stopped we put on our gear and headed outdoors for a run. The hotel is in a very remote location in the middle of almost what appears to be farmland, we ran out for about 20+ minutes going past many of the locals who looked in complete bewilderment at the two of us. We passed a little market at the side of the road where fish and fruit were being sold. There doesn’t appear to be any traffic regulations out here, people walk all over the place bikes and cars travel along on the opposite sides of the road, cows and dogs stand and lie in the road and everything just goes round them it is quite bizarre that in all the chaos there are no accidents (well we haven’t seen any so far..Lots of near misses though). The temperature isn’t too bad today but humidity is very high. After the run we get showered and then go to dinner. We get to bed fairly early as we want to get up fairly early tomorrow.

Monday

Even less sleep was had last night so wake up at 6.30 very tired still. We get out on the bikes to do a few hours before breakfast. The roads leading to the start of the bike route are pretty shocking but once onto the route they were great - smooth and fast. Got back to the hotel grabbed a shower and headed to breakfast. There are a few more athletes now at the hotel but it’s still pretty quite. Weather is very sunny today so we lie by the pool and relax. At about 3pm we have a swim, mainly drills today, the water seems a lot warmer as well. By the pool there is a natural hot spring pool so I sat in there for a while – it was so warm, lovely. We head back to our room to get showered and ready for dinner. Yet another early night but shall there be sleep......

Tuesday

.......No sleep again and it was the worst night so far, jet lag has really affected us this time ! We go down to breakfast and then back to the room to do our yoga. After this we take a taxi into Hainan City as we have decided to have a look around. Were walking for about 2 hours in total and see lots of different, interesting things. We explored the side streets where all of the local markets are it was very fascinating to see what they were selling. Again though I think they were just as interested in us as we were in them. The older folk look at you with almost a superstitious look while the younger ones look with an inquisitive eye. I don’t think they get to see many foreigners in these parts. We didn’t see any other westerners for the whole time. Got back to the hotel and lazed around the pool area for a few hours. At about 4pm we went for a run, just 30 minutes (God I love this kind of training). Athletes are arriving thick and fast now and we see many out on bikes and running - can’t even imagine what all the locals are making of it ! Much the same thing as previous evenings, got ready, went to dinner, back to room watch a few episodes of Lost and went to sleep – apart from tonight air-conditioning went on and ear plugs were used and finally we got some sleep.