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.
Friday - Event registration
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.
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!!
Saturday - The day before the big day
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.
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.
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.
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).
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’
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 -
Maybe I might do that next year?
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 –
You are great. Go on – live your dreams!
