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…..
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.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment