IronMan Switzerland 2009
This was to be my first Ironman. I’d spent the better part of 6 months preparing for racing this distance and though it wasn’t the race I’d originally expected to do I was really looking forward to racing in Zurich. I’d heard so many great things about the race and knowing what a great event the 70.3 there was, I knew that the day would be well run and well supported. The night before I struggled to get to sleep, but realised (by about midnight!) that it was more from excitement that nerves. My training leading up to the race had been going really well and I was looking forward to trying to execute a race that could put it all to good use.
The Pro’s had a 5 minute lead for the swim so we’d have clear water from the HUGE 2,300 other competitors. My swimming has at last come together and I knew that around 51 minutes would put me with the main contenders. With the somewhat anti-climatic shout of “GO” we were off and instantly I felt good in the water and sat in with the main bunch. I could see the lead canoe just a few meters in front so I knew I was in the mix and this is how it stayed up until the first turn buoy at around 600m. The pace felt incredibly easy. The 2XU V1 wet suit has undoubtedly helped improve my comfort in the water and efficiency too and I knew my swimming was going well, but was it really this good at the moment?
The swim is a 2 lap affair, with a small exit to run over a little island, just after 1800m. We reached this point with me in a group of about 10, still feeling really comfortable. I could see that 3 swimmers had gapped us by about 30 seconds as we re-entered the water, but I was happy to stay with this group knowing it meant we must be swimming a fairly good pace. This is how it stayed until we neared the roaring group that lined the side of the swim exit and island shoreline at the end of the swim. Glancing at my watch as I left the water, I saw 52 minutes. It had felt SO EASY, which was a great start for me. I knew I’d not expelled too much energy but I was still with all the main contenders. Wet suit off and helmet on and I was off out of transition knowing that I didn’t have to spend the first 20k’s (like normal) trying to catch up with the leaders
A group of about 8 of us set off for the first 30k’s of the 2 lap bike course, which all went along super fast, flat roads until we hit the first climb at about 32km. we rode legally together sharing turns at the front and hit the 30k point at under 44minutes… including a slow first couple of minutes out of T1, this meant we had been FLYING along at well over 40kph. The Ceepo Venom was once again proving a great bike to ride and I could feel every peal stroke going through the stiff frame and into the wheels. I’d made sure I kept my effort nice and low, cadence nice and controlled and felt great as we turned to go up the first short climb.
This broke the group up slightly, but it all re-formed over the other side and stayed this way until the first “proper” climb called “The Beast”. About 2-3 miles long, it’s not horribly steep, but has enough in it and is long enough to be a good challenge. The group quickly broke up, with 4 guys going away up the road. I was determined to ride my race and not go too hard just to stay with anyone, and so focused on my effort level and cadence. By the time I summated “The Beast” I was about 100m back from the 4 stronger climbers. I worked a little harder over the top onto the twisty descents to catch them back up about halfway up the 2nd decent climb, I was back in with them and without having damaged my legs in the process – perfect.
We descended down and back towards Zurich. Another 10km’s of fast flat road took us to the 80km mark and past transition with the crowds again out in their 1000’s and going crazy as we sped past towards the short 10km loop that included “Heartbreak Hill”. I’d heard about this hill from others who’ve raced here before; tales of Tour De France type crowds screaming and mobbing the roads as you climbed had sounded inspiring. I wasn’t disappointed… in fact I was simply blown away by what greeted us as we made our way up “Heartbreak Hill”. Crowds that seamed to go on, and on, swarmed all over the road and parted inches in front of us. The noise was incredible and made you feel like ‘Lance’ as you went up the short but steep climb. I tried to be careful not to let this euphoria cause me to go too hard though, with another 95km to go I couldn’t afford to go too deep just yet. Thankfully though as we headed back towards the transition and onto our 2nd lap I noted that my legs still felt great and told myself that the target was to be back here (this point on the course) at the end of the bike and my legs still feel like this.
So we headed out onto the 2nd 90km loop. We were now a group of 5 and judging by the motor bike accompanying us, we were riding in 2nd through 7th. This was exactly where I wanted to be and the great thing was that I was still feeling pretty good. As can so often the case though, this changed pretty quickly at about the 100km mark. I had a period of about 15minutes, where I started to really feel “off”. Had I gone too hard? Not eaten enough?... or was this just what happens at some point in an Iron Man? I took a gel and hoped it would bring me round. About 20minutes later and I was starting to come around again… just in time too as “The Beast” was nearing once again.
The 2nd time up it and once again the 4 other guys I was with pulled away. I chose to keep my effort level where I wanted it and so watched again as they pulled away up the climb. This time however, on the descent and next climb I couldn’t catch them all. Torsten Abel did come back to me though and so we rode together in 6th and 7th until we hit T2. Now would be the time when I’d know if I had gone too hard on the bike and also what on earth running a marathon felt like…. This is after all my first time doing this.
I left the Ceepo and put on my Newton trainers, grabbed my 2 flasks filled with High5 gels and headed out onto the 4 lap 42km marathon. The legs, whilst not feeling fantastic, still felt pretty good. I was optimistic that my pre-race targets for the run were still possible. Someone shouted that we had 12minutes to 1st place but only 6 to 2nd and 3rd…. well within my reach I thought, if I could run according to form.
I kept the pace at what felt like “slow” but knew from training that I needed to relax and just run. Panicking now wouldn’t help, and in training I’d felt like this and still run at the right pace. So I just focussed on ticking off each km and the 22minute “gel time” schedule for my nutrition. Passing through 5km I glanced at my watch… 19mins and change… perfectly on time… the legs were waking up and I felt OK. The next 2 places were only 200m up the road. I knew I’d pull them in, in the next 5km.
The 22minute point came and I took on a gel…. And this is where everything started to go “south”. Within about 2 minutes, I was feeling sluggish, my pace had dropped and those 2 guys were now more like 500m away and pulling away… NOT getting closer! I chose to stop at the next aid station, use the toilet, get some fluid on board and try to “re-boot” my system and get my race back on track. I walked for 5minutes to let things settle and hoped that this wouldn’t be a sign of my race falling completely off edge.
After this time passed though, I set off to run again, the legs still hadn’t come back. I couldn’t understand why this sudden turn of energy and speed loss had come about, but right now I just needed to get things fixed. At the next aid station more calories were the order of the day… so I took on some coke and powerade and again hoped that my system would respond in a positive way. Very quickly though I realised that this wasn’t going to happen. With barely 8km covered, there was still 34km to go… that’s a LONG way to suffer and a LONG way to walk/shuffle. But sadly this was clearly the only option I had right now.
And so with the firm decision in my mind that I was NOT going to quit, I set about slowly, 1 by 1 ticking off the km’s until I had finished! The mixture of shuffle, jog, walk then ensued. With one by one, more and more other athletes passing me and me dropping further and further down the field. Final position no longer entered my thinking. At one stage, another athlete, also walking, over-took me and I simply had to laugh at the fact that I wasn’t even able to walk as fast as other people!
Eventually after what seamed like an eternity, I was on the final straight and managing something that resemble a jog towards the finish line. After a very humbling 3h44 marathon and a total time of 9h28 I crossed the line to become an IronMan. Hugely disappointed in one way, but also still proud. Despite the race going so wrong in the end, I’d still finished and not given up. I’d learnt A LOT by the very humbling nature of this race and the distance. Plenty of lessons to learn and try to fix for the next time… there will be a next time.
Thanks to all my sponsors for their support – Ceepo, Newton Shoes, 2XU, Sigma Sport, Total Fitness Music and High5.