Its been a while since last blog entry, but to be honest not much been
happening lately.
I have started running after a few weeks off and
but only doing average 4 miles each time.
Swimming
The swimming going well as I’m starting to enjoy it more. Feeling
that it’s pretty important to relax and not to worry about counting laps or if
others are overtaking me. I’m enjoying doing the weekday 10 mins
freestyle and 5 mins drills (backstroke, one arm drills and a couple of breaststrokes’)
I am trying to get back to basics
and enjoy the swimming as opposed to feeling like it’s a necessity to do.
A few times when I have been coming out of the swim pool to
my car I get the shock of my life when I see a car like mine (before I see my
own one) and for an instant I think someone has damaged it.
Biking
Over last couple of weeks I have been getting back on the
bike since the Ironman event. I have done a couple of commutes to work and
really enjoying these and even a some weekend cycles. I'm feeling like on
the long bike rides I’m trying to push myself a bit harder than the earlier part of the
year when I was regularly churning out the long rides.Although I feel like my speed is increasing and
my time should be lower than previous times , I’m finding that now I’m actually
slower. Not by a great deal but it’s probably a combination of weight gain,
smoking before the ironman event and total lack of training last couple of
months. Thankfully with help of the patches I have stopped the smoking and if I
continue with the training I should improve.
In other news....I got myself branded
Minimalist Running
Tried the minimalist running recently. The theory is that yonks’
ago we all ran about naturally on bare feet with our feet naturally adjusting
to the ground contours.
The recent trend of thick soles takes away the bio kinetic
ability of our foot muscles to adjust, strengthen and increases the likelihood of
injury than forefoot/barefoot/midfoot running.
If you re-adjust to mid or forefoot landing of foot you
should end up with a springlike finish and start of each strike landing and
send off.
Over the last couple of years I have been hearing more and
more about different running styles and I think the jury is still out on the
barefoot style. The book ‘Born to run’ is one of the main reasons the last few
years people are debating whether they should adjust footwear of running style.
Even the major running shoe companies that for years have pumped out the thick
soled trainers are seeing new sales opportunities by developing more partial
minimalist running trainers.
I have a couple pair of thick soled Asics which have done
me fine over last few years.
Last year I bought the Saucony mirage 2 which are 8 mm thickness (I
think my Asics are 12 mm) . I remember the guy in shop advised me not to go
drastically down to the likes of Five-fingers minimalist shoes and the Saucony mirage
trainers are a step down or compromise trainer. To be honest I like the Saucony’s
and didn’t really notice a great deal of difference although I think they are a
bit lighter. So although I will prefer more minimalist for shorter runs, obviously on marathon type distances your form is going to get lasy and it is in those cases you would want the extra cushion to protect your feet I think.
I recently tried to a run whereby at parts I would start to
consciously run on my forefoot. This was a bit awkward as if trying to unlearn
my natural style, but after a while I got into it. At times my forefoot got
sore, so I lapsed back into landing on my heels but I was more conscious of
another thing I learnt about that if you land of your heel this results in a
stiff shock going from heel up your straight leg resulting in lack of spring in
mid/forefoot strike . see another video commentary 40 seconds in -
I didn’t really check my results to see if mid/forefoot
running was quicker for me but I did get a little pain in forefoot area,
probably because I had not done it before. About a week later I tried the next
level of barefoot. I have a pair of surf shoes which are probably the closest
thing to barefoot shoes.
Very little depth to them so I only tried a mile run which
went ok, but I think the jury is still out on whether I should change my style.
I cant realistically see myself in the future doing a marathon forefoot style with
a pair of Newtons or those crazy Five Fingers minimalist trainers.
Stevo Mourne Olympic Triathlon - 31st August 2013
For the second time this year Stephen my brother did an
Olympic triathlon. This one was in the beautiful Mourne area around
Castlewellan. I had hoped to do it with him but because I got a tattoo recently
I wasn’t keen on getting it dirty in the lake.
Stevo arrived calm as a cucumber and set off in the lake for
the swim. Thankfully the water was reasonable around 15 degrees so not too
cold.
After the swim he came out mid pack and quickly got ready
for the long bike ride in the windy weather conditions.
He later reported that thankfully this race he didn’t loose his pro-plus tablets for that
mid section pickup to help keep you going or like last time get his laces tangled up in the chain ring.
I knew from riding with Stephen a
few months back that biking was his strong part and it was good to see him
later set off with a good steady pace for the run.
Whilst my parents and Stephens little supporters waited at
the finish line for him I went down to the lake circuit and got a chance to
cheer fellow competitors on and see Stephen each lap he did.
Now that I have
been doing this sport a few years it was strange to be on the spectating side
of things, but I did enjoy trying to work out different things to motivate runners
at they ran past. At times I reverted to cheering club names and I got a couple
of thanks from some weary runners and saw quite a few fellow triathletes that I
know through races I have taken part on or are facebook friends. Towards the end of the second lap I could see
he was still running strong so I made my way up the hill to the finish area to
capture him finishing.
After Stephen finished he was pretty pleased and thankfully
later got the correct recovery cold bath just above legs (not up to chest and
neck like last time eh Bro!)
Have to say, im very proud of Stephen. Not only did he
complete the difficult Olympic triathlon, but he managed to raise almost £700
for North Uganda Outreach Project . Well done Stephen !
Insanity workout – tried few days of these. I think there is a total of about 60 days workout scheme. Pretty much like a bootcamp free weights circuit type thing. Last about 40 mins with some parts just stretching, but boy do they make ya sweat!
Peanut butter smoothies – only discovered these after trying one in local shopping centre. Yummy. Bananas, milk, coconut, peanut butter, honey chocolate powder and if you want some canned fruit. The great thing about smoothies is you can play about with the ingredients and they are good for you as long as you don’t put too much sugar stuff in them. Better still if you make green smoothies with veg in them.
Well that’s about it until next time. Hope you like the blog
entry and feel free to let me know what you think either on the blog post or my
facebook. Cheers
Since last blog I fell of the wagon in with regards to
maintaining my training plan. Although at the weekends I pretty much kept to
the longer distance workouts, the mid week sessions were almost non-existent. I
did the odd 4 miler run and kept swimming but the swim sessions were 10/15
minutes each time. Unfortunately I occasionally hadn’t given up occasional
cigarettes as well which didn't help.
To be honest a few things were playing on my mind and the
nervousness of the event coming up very soon didn’t make me too confident going into the race.
Despite this, I had prebooked the event about 8 months in advance, so there was no
backing out now.
Thursday – arrival in England
I went over in the ferry and stayed in a B & B at Shaw
which is almost an hour away from Bolton which was reasonably handy. The staff
at the B&B were pretty helpful
allowing me a rear room away from the busy traffic. This helped a lot.
On Friday I went and registered for the event, got my race
pack and bought a few things before heading down for the pre race briefing.
I got to meet and briefly chat to the famous Prof Greg
Whyte from Comic Relief fame who asked me “are
you feeling strong?” I blubbered some nervous reply and shook his hand with my
sweaty hands and let him go on his merry way.
Whilst waiting for a picture with Prof Greg I noticed
someone asking a lot of questions to this tall American gentleman whom I
initially mistaken for Mike Reilly of Ironman fame. Reilly is the guy who says
‘You are an Ironman’ at many races. His quote in triathlon circles is similar
to Arnie’s ‘Ill be back’ saying. Many people refer to him as ‘The Voice’ in
ironman terms. The American guy beside Gregg didn’t turn out to be Mike,
however I heard that his first name was John from a girl I spoke to and shortly
later he ended up after registration sitting at my table for the pre race
briefing.
Just before the briefing after chatting to me a guy next to
me began to chat to John who was sitting next to him. When the guy asked him
had he done IM UK before, the John said ‘no’, it was his first time. When the
guy then said to John have you done any IM’s before the American guy said with
a wry smile “Oh, too many”.
After coming home I tried to find out who this guy was and
found out he was inducted into Ironman’s hall of fame and is probably likely
done more Ironmans than anyone else. In 2012 John Wragg had clocked up more
than 137 ! And is still doing more!!
On Saturday I dropped off my bike at T1 and left my transition bags at each station.
Then I
drove to Pennington Flash reservoir before driving up Sheephouse Lane.
When I returned back to the B&B I loaded up with my carbs
Sunday –Day of Event
On the Sunday morning of the event, I got up at 2am, checked
weather forecast (which was still pretty poor for the day) and got breakfast
before setting off. The night before I had asked the B&B to leave me out
some hot milk in a flask with some porridge, but unfortunately it didn’t
materialise so I ended up just taking some fruit loaf with peanut butter on it
(weird combo) and a banana before going to the Reebok Stadium for the shuttle
bus to Pennington Flash Reservoir for 6am swim start.
Swim - Time - 1hr 28
mins
The swim had a cut offs were entry into 2nd lap
by 7.15am with a total time allowance of 2hrs 15 mins for the 2.4 mile swim,
with T1 exit by 8.30am. In the days leading up to the event I had only properly
read the race instructions and this time when I realised that I might be in
trouble. Looking back at previous iron distance events in the last couple of years
I realised that my swim times were 2hr 40 minutes when doing the Tri Limits
event. I initially panicked when I read this and only the next day when I
checked my time again I realised that I had misread my swim time and it was
1.40, not 2.40 for previous event.
On arrival at Pennington Flash I was like the other 1800
competitors pretty nervous but at the same time exited to get going.
Surprisingly the water was pretty mild, not too cold. It was a bit weird
swimming just as daylight was breaking.
As usual there was quite a few kicks, thumps etc during the
swim and I suppose that’s why they refer to the swim as akin to a washing
machine with all the craziness you just have to expect it and not get to upset
at it.
It was my first Australian
exit ( i.e. two laps whereby halfway through the swim you exit out of water for
short run back into the lake for a second loop) the reason behind this is
historically it reduced boredom for the spectators as they get to see
competitors run out then back in and it saves on manning and marshalling a
larger swim course. On the first loop I managed to draft mostly which I find
really helpful, however the second loop by which stage I was nearing the back
of the pack I found it harder to find someone to draft behind so it was more of
an effort for me to complete.
Thankfully after finishing I found out that I managed to
beat the cut off time as I wasn’t being called off the course, but I had no
idea of what my swim time was.
After the swim I headed into transition tent for changing
into my bike gear.
Transition time in T1 was just over 16 mins.
Bike – 8hrs 12min
Looking back at previous training, I was once again worried
about cut off times. I thought if I roughly took 2 hrs do the swim then I had 8
½ hrs to do a transition and 112 miles on a hilly course. IM Bolton is
notorious for their bike course as it has 1600m elevation gain throughout
course.
My closest training ride was an 85 miler which I did and it took me 6
hrs 40 mins to complete on 1100m elevation gain. I knew I had a reasonable
chance of completing the swim ok, but my main worry going into this event was
to complete the bike course without being pulled off at the end for not meeting
the cut off time of 4.30pm after the start of the race.
I knew that if I got through the bike course without being
pulled off I should be ok on the run. The bike course was a 14 mile point to
point to start off which was a slight gradient throughout, and then you began
the 3 loop section of the course. The beginning of each loop was the hardest
part with the infamous Sheephouse Lane (approx. 2.5 mile steep climb part of
the loop).
Although I saw a few sheep on the road side they didn’t attack
us J
At the start of Sheephouse Lane it is pretty cool seeing
over a couple of hundred spectators ring cowbells and cheering you on. The laneway
closes in on you with spectators so close on either side that they could easily
reach out and touch you. You get a feeling like you are about to embark on one
of the infamous Tour de France mountain climbs such as the Alpe D'huez.This wee clip gives you an idea (on a bigger
scale) of what it looks like from a riders perspective (although I don’t share
Voigt’s opinion on spectators standing on the roads as well as the pathways)
A couple of minutes later as you leave a little village area
that you are in you enter the mighty Sheephouse Lane and its gradual ascent
takes force on your legs. It goes on for a while then just towards the end the gradient
increases and there is a long straight part. To overcome this I found that a
couple of techniques helped me. Firstly, I tried to closely monitor my pace. I kept
focusing on really thinking to go slower than I could comfortably ride certain
parts of the steep climb; in other words, if at parts I felt slightly out of
breath at any part, I purposely slowed down a little and made sure I was just steadily
turning pedal stroke by pedal stroke.
Another trick I had was to avoid looking up ahead. Every
time I looked up each part of the next few hundred metres appeared to be
gradually getting steeper and when I did look up all I could say to myself was ‘ah
shit’ and feed those voices in my head saying ‘awk sure Phil, why don’t you
just walk up this part, then cycle the rest?’ so I purposely avoided looking up
ahead. I felt that the first loop of Sheephouse Lane went pretty well and I loved
seeing the scantily dressed bunch of guys dressed in retro outfits drinking and
cheering us on right at the top of the hill. These guys were pretty drunk but very
funny with what they said and very happy and they brought a welcome smile to
all our aching faces. It was also motivating towards the top of the hill seeing
many painted and chalked messages on the road to motivate us riders.
Here is a video clip of the infamous Sheephouse Lane :-
It rained in fleeting showers but thankfully it wasn’t too
severe during this stage (especially on those dangerous descents).
Occasionally on the bike you would hear a motorcycle coming
up behind you then a loud ‘right’ being shouted (pro cyclers shouting at us age
groupers to get out of their pathway) then the pro’s would wizz past on the fancy TT bikes. God knows
what speed they were doing but it looked pretty fast!
On this type of triathlon there are pretty strict drafting
rules – no drafting within 10 metres of other bikes and 1.5 metres whilst
overtaking within a 15 second time limit. There are penalties and possible
disqualifications if seen to be doing so. Thankfully I actively don’t try to
draft, but I know from experience in the Dublin Belfast Maracycle I did last
year it can save you about 20-30% of effort level if you can draft behind
another rider.
At the end of the section I gave my bike to one of the
volunteers to rack and headed into Rivington School transition changing room T1
(transition 1). On the way out I heard a ‘hello Phil’ and to my surprise was a
fellow Tri Limits athlete Gary who was also doing his first official IM. We
chatted briefly and set our way.
Transition time was just over 15 mins in T2.
Run 4hrs 51 mins. Just under 11 min mile. AHR 146 BPM
The route was initially a 8 miler point to point canal path
run and a bit of road until we got to the main loop section in the Bolton town
centre. During the start of the run point to point section a fellow runner was matching my pace. We at
times took over each other and I can distinctly remember the rhythm of each of
our footfalls matching each other exactly. Although I didn’t know him from Adam
if you picture the classic ‘iron war’ footage of Dave Scott and Mark Allen the
scene was similar to this : -
I decided that I didn’t want to get into some sort of race
with this guy so a went for a quick pee stop and paid my water taxes and
allowed him to run ahead.
My planning going into the marathon part of this event was
to go at my own pace and try to continue running without stopping throughout. In
my first full distance iron event last year I ended up after about 6 miles
turning into a run/walking for the remainder of it. This occurring last year
was pretty demotivating. I realise that
the run/walk technique can work quite well for some people but I find it tough
to get back running when I start walking at intervals.
Fair enough throughout this run I was finding many people
overtake me because I was maintaining a steady pace, but I didn’t mind this. I was very focused and tried to maintain
this focus of mind and not get too distracted. I did regularly thank and clap
hands with spectators as I passed smiling as I did so, however I didn’t stay
too long even at the feed stations. The feed stations were great I have to say
with the young Army cadets manning them and being very helpful giving out
various drinks and energy foods. I tried their gels which happened to be
Powergel which were horrible, so I only had a few of these. The half bananas
that had also been given out during the bike portion were working out well for
me so I just stuck with them every so often.
Towards the end of the run I was
dying for salt as all I could think of was salty meals and I remembered in the
race briefing being told about that after the finish Domino’s pizza was going
to be dished out to participants. I was really looking forward to stuffing
myself with this after finishing. Thankfully the feed stations started giving
out cheesy cheddar biscuits and despite being soggy with the constant heavy
rain I beat handfuls into me as I passed the stations. This helped get the salt
levels back up again.
The run loop was a slight gradient into the town. Nothing
too bad, thankfully not as tough as the Belfast Marathon Antrim Road part.
Although harder going up initially at the start of each loop, you had just left
the town centre after being pumped up from the large spectator crowd cheering
and the music to get you going each time. Even along the route I was amazed at
just how many people there were throughout the day in the rain. This helped us
all and half way up there was a pub which had quite a few ‘happy drinkers’
giving each of us words of encouragement. There were a couple of guys as if
they were on a night out with their pints in hand shouting so loud I could hear
them even at the end of the loop! I gave these guys special thanks on my last
run into town.
Although not of me here is some footage taken of the whole event from another competitors family for the day -
On the last loop coming into the finish of the marathon I saw Gary ( a local lad that I know through Tri Limits events in Dungannon) overtake
me with some speed. I had a rough idea that we were around the 15 hr time and I
knew that I had about 1 mile to go. At this stage I probably could have pushed
myself to go faster, but bearing in mind I had ran the entire marathon without
walking at any stage I didn’t really care about beating the 15 hr time, I just
wanted to finish and not hitting the wall like Sian Welsh and Wendy Ingraham in
the 1997 Ironman: -
On the last loop of the run coming back into town to finish I
began to realise that it was quite likely that I was going to finish ok without
any problems and finally achieve my ambition to become an Ironman.
I became a bit
emotional. The only way I could describe it would be when I hear some women
saying they feel ‘emotional’ and they are not sure why. From one minute to the
next I was so happy, then feeling really sad, feeling tired, and then feeling
ok. It’s hard to describe but instead of the earlier part of the day focusing
on technique, timing,nutrition etc, my mind-set now at the end of the run had its
first opportunity to wonder and think about the journey over the last four
years or so getting to this moment.
I then began to truly appreciate motivational sayings such
as ‘Anything is possible.”
As I finally came into the last bit of the run I turned off
into the finish straight last 100 metres. It was amass with people screaming
and disco lights and blaring music. I sped up and sprinted though the finish
line. I felt as if I was just completing my first marathon and was so pleased
with myself smiling from ear to ear, I was so, so happy.
After the finish line I was quickly presented with my medal
and shown into the finishers’ tent. I scoffed down a few pieces of Domino’s pizza
followed by some yummy Swiss Roll. I chatted to some other folk for a while
before later heading off to collect bike and then back to the B&B for a
much needed cold bath. Needless to say that night I slept like a baby with a
giant smile on my face.
Monday – The day after
The day after it was kind of sad having to rub off my
treasured IM race temporary tattoo. I hear some people simply refuse to rub it
off and will go for days proudly looking at it in proud admiration. Maybe in
the future I might get a permanent one, who knows?
A couple of hours before I was about to set off to get the
Ferry back later that evening home I got a phone call from the Ironman staff to
say that I forgot one of my transition bags. They said they were closing in
half an hour which led me to a speedy panicky drive down to Reebok Stadium to
collect my bag. Thankfully I just about made it in time as they don’t post
lost/left athlete property if forgotten.
After Ironman – What now?
Looking back on the blog I started it in May 2011 with the
view to one day to give myself a view on progress towards making my goal of one
day calling myself a proper Ironman. The idea of a blog was helpful to me as I
charted my progress. At times I could see the positive steps I was making, at
other times I could see the difficulties that I had encountered and overcome
along my journey. Finally I achieved my aim of the whole idea of ‘philtoiron’
namesake of the blog and can say to myself, 'Philip Ward, you are an
Ironman!'
Is this the end of the philtoiron blog?
As for whether this is the end of my blog, I doubt it. The
wheels of ambition have certainly grown on me. Along the last few years I have
met and learned inspirational stories from so many. I have made some friends
and they have not stopped at achieving their initial goal, the goals just
change into new ones. Doing sporting goals whether it be running a 5k or swimming
your first 1 mile in a pool changes you. Its like the quote I hear at the start
of this amazing film (Spirit of the Marathon) I watch each marathon time of
year says ‘when you cross the finish line, no matter how fast or slow it is, it
will change your life forever’
I have memories of loving my runners up high jump medal, or
when learning to swim in early twenties finally making it to the other side of
a 25 m pool without having to stop half way across. These achievements I made
eventually meant so much to me and encouraged me to build on them. Months of
practice doing a flip turn in a pool to loving to death my early days of
getting into my long morning runs of 6 miles before going to work. The
endorphins and feel good factor after a run cycle or whatever should never be
underestimated.
Yes, up until now I have been
concentrating on doing the official Ironman. Yes it takes hard work but I do
feel that you should never feel that you cannot build on your achievements and
try to do build on these. I took a few years and as you can see from what I have done since
2009, but I firmly believe that many people should ‘live their dreams’ and hold
onto that hope that one day they can fulfil these dream ambition.
2009 – 2 sprints
2010 – 2 Olympics
2011 – ½ Iron
2012 – ½ Iron and Full distance
Iron
2013 – Full distance Iron and
Official Ironman
2014 and beyond – who knows!
Cant wait! J
I have a few ideas of what I’d
like to do. I know some friends that make up their own challenges and don’t just
take part in an official challenge. Even in the last few months one on my good
friends went up Donard 12 times in a row and last weekend he did a half
marathon – backwards J From running the marathon with a wheelbarrow to
doing 10 Ironman distances in a row – he’s done it – credit to you Keith!
I listen to a podcast which I would
highly recommend and this guy just does his own self supported ironman in his
neighbourhood -
Or maybe I might work toward
someday doing a 50 miler run or maybe doing a double IM? Is this the end of
PhiltoIron? Definely not, instead of my old PhiltoIron, I can now refer to
myself as IronPhil J
I will finish this post with a
couple of inspirational clips some of which have shown me of the true fighters
that have overcome severe odds to achieve their lifetime goals –
Last years event run by Tri Limits was the Deca Iron Man
challenge. This year their main event for triathlete participants was the Double
iron. Because it is such a huge challenge only 5 people took on the challenge including my good friend Eamonn. I, on the other hand was only doing half this distance.
Preparation for event
Since last blog I continued to follow my training plan apart
from the long swims which to be honest I don’t really enjoy anymore. Its kindof
strange as when I got into triathlons, I came from swimming only background and
hated running and cycling, now I only don’t really like swimming – prob cause I
just do same oul stuff every day with no drills or speed tests or form drills
ect, I just swim for 10 minutes or so slowly then that’s me done.
on the plus side a few days before event I went up to Dungannon and had a practice swim session with Eamonn and some other folk . doing this open water swim really helped me
On one of my last training bike rides I decided to try some
hill climbing. I did a ten mile loop which included a fairly medium
length hill near where I live
I did this loop three times. On the last loop just before I set
up the hill again I took above pic for the aul blog entry. All was goes well
until smart arse Phil falls off the bike as he tries to start cycling one foot
on clips and trying to clip the other one in whilst trying to push hard up the
hill – this was never going to work and silly me fell over. Thankfully I only
scraped my elbow and fell on my side, but the hips hurt for a while afterwards.
Needless to say I was ok for the upcoming big day J
A few days before race Tri limits confirmed that the Lake's water temperature was ok for the event. last year it was cut short a lap as it was slightly colder.
Nite before
The nite before was nothing speacil, just the usual pasta
meal and I have to say I got to sleep ok with no major worries as I was more
confident going into this event than last time.
Morning of race
As I arrived in Dungannon that morning it brought back all
the memories I had from being there last yr – it was almost a year since my
last triathlon and it was good to be back. No sooner had I started to unpack my
bike and gear when cheerful Keith passed by and said, alright Phil, 20 minutes
to go. I then met Anne who was one of the two other participants taking part in
the event and in the distance in the lake I could see some of the 5 double guys
out in the lake that had started their swim at 7am, out start was at 8am.
Me and Anne having quick chat before the off.
during my swim I mostly drafted most laps and I think this helped a lot. near the end my feet started to cool off and I was in two minds at times as to either move then a lot to warm them up and risk a cramp (which I felt slight cramp when I did this) or leave and not use legs and feet so much which definitely would continue to leave feet cold .
this is me a each lap of the 9 loops , thumbs up each time.
bike - 8 hrs.( av 14mph ). start 9.51am
the weather 13 degrees.
To warm up when starting bike course I wore my jacket but took off after first lap.
The bike route was 12 laps loop course totalling the 112 miles. I used my cateye new bike computer to work out how as was getting on as when you are biking for several hours u end up forgetting how many laps u have done.
There was an aid station for the bike loop but only small variety of things and as I had loads of bars/gels/oatmeal bars and buns in a bag at my car with powder sachets for drink bottles I decided on one of my loops to go back to the car and re-stack my bike up with stuff.
Towards the end I thought I only had 2 laps left, but Keith kept me right and advised I had 3 laps. thankfully the course was the same as last years so I was reasonably familiar and it was nice seeing the double guys out joining us after us doing a few laps. towards the end of the cycle route I noticed first of all Paddy finish fairly quickly in front of me after lapping me, then Anne lapped me near the end of my laps. although some people get annoyed at being lapped etc., I didn't mind as I treat these events as challenges for myself , and I am not out there to 'race' other folk taking part. throughout the race so far, both on the swim and the bike Anne and Paddy both looked very strong.
run. 10.30 pace per mile. 4.38 marathon. start 6.06pm
The run went really well from start to finish. I had hoped that because of my increased training since last year that I would be able to run a higher proportion of the 26 miles total. as it ended up I ran the entire marathon apart from one toilet break and several drink/food stops using a self made aid station beside my car on the 1km route which we had to run 42 laps of the loop course.
During the run midway the monotony was broke up with tri limits holding a sprint distance triathlon during the evening. thankfully the run part was not on the same course as the iron distance as only a few of us on the 1km loop was enough.
Paddy during the race had strapping on his knees and needed to walk some of the run. Anne ran most of the run as well with only a few walk breaks. As the night drew in and I watched the sun set I heard the loud claps and applause as I knew Anne had completed in first place. a short time later Paddy was heard to loud cheers as he passed the finish too. after this it was just me left on the course to finish. only when I passed the start loop part did I see other folk. each and every time loads of support crew gave me words of encouragement to continue and cheer me on including the two deca lads Keith and Bob that had been hosting the events all day. they were great as usual. as I was almost at the finish I saw that I might be able to break 15 hrs so the last lap I increased the pace slightly
Iron Distance Finish Times -
Anne Killen 14hr05.
Paddy johns 14hr35
Phillip Ward 14hr57
Does that mean I get the wooden spoon as I was last or the bronze as I was 3rd; or a combination of both :-) the bronze wooden spoon
Overall I was very happy with how I got on. on reviewing last years times with this years I think when I said last year I got time of 15hrs30min it should have been 16hrs 30 mins as I think I finished about 11.30 at night and started 7 in morning. this year I started 8 in morning and finished just before 11pm. that means I either beat my time by either 30 mins or 1hr30mins which is great. my swim went pretty good and was better than expected with no concerns, the bike section was fine with no flats and felt my nutrition plan worked well . As for the run, this worked out very well and to be honest after the event watching the other guys going further and continuing their double ironman efforts into their 40hr cut off timeframe, I finished my race with a desire to some day (hopefully soon) to try a double!
I got a cool t shirt afterwards and instead of a medal I neat trophy that is now I can proudly display
Post race I recovered very quickly as I had a cold bath when I got home followed by cold bath in morning, both of which reduced inflammation and then spent the day few hours walking around Belfast city centre which helped the legs big time.
The good news that throughout the entire race I never had any injury or significant pains from niggling injuries but my old £50 Lidl's surfsuit is really showing its age in wear and tear on the neckline. it was fairly sore afterwards, so I will try and get new wetsuit before Bolton.
After finishing I had a chat with my good friend Eamonn whom
was having a short break during his double ironman challenge. I found it
totally amazing that even after me being at it for 15 hrs Eamonn was still out
there on the course still cycling through the nite and the next morning he
still had 52 miles to run! Crazy!
Tri limits continue to organise some of the best events for
those wanting to go the extra mile in a challenge and their next challenge is
unique as it is the Donard Dozen – 12 times up and down Donard non stop which
Keith is doing at the end of June.
