Triathlon Europe

Challenge Roth 18th July 2010

As I crossed the finish line in under 11 hrs crippled with achilles tendonitis on Sunday 18th July 2010, I thought ‘never again’  - or at least not anytime soon!  But I was thrilled with my result, given everything that did and could have gone wrong in my training and the race itself.

 

Challenge Roth – 3000 athletes, 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run and 6 months of intense training, physio and sports massage just to get to the start line. It’s an emotional journey to say the least because of the time, effort and money invested and mine began in January 2010 after I had finally recovered from my accident and injury in Ironman Switzerland 2009.  Glutton for punishment or just insane?

 

The race itself was immaculately planned and executed, I couldn’t fault the logistics and organisation that made it a pleasure to race.  The roads were a dream to ride on, unlike my normal Surrey Hills and Windsor training routes and the weather was perfect, if not a little hot at 27 degrees.  The race itself starts and finishes in different locations with split transitions.  The start and T1 is in a small town called Hipoltstein south of Nuremberg, on the canal where the out and back swim course is located.  The bike course takes in 2 circuits of rolling countryside with some slow hills including the famous TdF-like Solar Berg and fast descents.  T2 and the finish are in the town of Roth approximately 10km from Hipoltstein.  The run course was an out and back T-shaped 1 lap course along the canal with turn around points in 2 towns and much to my surprise, mainly off road.  All transitions were clean with changing tents and volunteers to help out which was a novelty.

 

The day started very early in Allersberg, 10km from Roth, with my alarm going off at 3.15am and breakfast at 3.45am.  The hotel very kindly laid on breakfast from 3.30am so I got all my nutrition and drinks ready and my bike transition bag prepared with all my cycling kit in it, double checking that I had everything and loaded up on muesli and bread rolls with nutella (guilt free!).  The bike itself and run transition bag had been racked the day before.  We headed down to the start by car at 4.15am to get there before the traffic and parking became a nightmare. It was still dark!  I had driven over from the UK so it was a luxury, and actually a necessity, to have my own car!  Being at the start before 5am for a 6.20am start gave me plenty of time to check my tyres, set my bike nutrition up, do any last minute checks and then put my wetsuit on which can take 20 minutes! 

 

After putting my bike bag into T1 and my street clothes bag into the truck I made my way to the start and met up with Coach Fi and Georgie Ayre, also competing, for a good luck group hug. We were all very nervous and I could feel myself welling up, I was finally here!  Fortunately at Roth, there are a number of waves (12 in total?) so it’s not a mass start unlike some of the other ironman distance races.  That said, it doesn’t make the swim start any less brutal but the wave gets spread out more quickly.  The water was warm so wetsuits were optional but at 6am it felt cold and I needed the wetsuit buoyancy.  The starter horn went and we were off. I got kicked in the face early on so my goggles came off and found myself swimming on the wide outside on the anticlockwise loop so swam further than I needed too.  Note to self, practice sighting drills!  The swim felt very long as it was 1.5km out, 2km back and a 400m loop to the finish, there could have been more markers in the water but finally after an hour and 13 minutes I dragged myself/was dragged out the water.  I picked up my bike bag and ran into the transition changing tent where much to my surprise I had a volunteer pull my wetsuit off me and pack my wet kit into the bag, including my garmin which I had taken off so that meant emptying the bag out again to find it.  Once dressed and geared up, I exited the tent (leaving the volunteer with my bag) and headed to the bike racks finding my bike pretty quickly, I couldn’t fault the signage! I exited T1 and set off on the bike, keeping an eye on my heart rate. I was under strict instructions to keep to Zones 2 - 3 and as I was in zone 4 exiting T1 this meant a very steady start to keep things under control.  I didn’t want to ride 180km at 171 beats per minute!

 

Once out on the bike course, I started to drink and take on board gels and energy bars, trying to drink or eat something every 30 minutes.  The bike course felt fast and it was warm and sunny so I soon go into a rhythm and relaxed into it.  Going up the first big climb at 10km I found my gears had been knocked and weren’t shifting properly which was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, there were bike mechanics on the course at 50km so I decided to stop and get them tweaked rather than risk crunching my way round the remaining 130km.  I lost a couple of minutes and it was a bit demoralising watching everyone I had just passed, over take me, but it was well worth it as I was able to power more effectively up the hills, especially the Solar Berg, towards the end of the lap which is lined completely with spectators who channel you up the hill a la tour de france and are so close you could ride into them! I had a good strong bike leg and realised after the first lap that with 5 minutes in hand I was capable of going under 6 hours for the bike.  My target time was exactly 6 hours so it was at this point that I considered the possibility of going sub 11.  My second lap was harder work, it got hotter and the wind picked up, and 4 plus hours in the saddle was starting to take its toll. I passed the 150km mark at 5hrs and realised I had lost some time and might not make the sub 6hrs on the bike that I was now hoping for. I pushed on a bit and managed the last 30km in 50 minutes (it helped they were downhill!) rolling into T2 with a 5hr 50 bike split which I was over the moon about.

 

Again coming into transition, there were volunteers on hand to take your bikes off you and to help you with your run kit in the changing tent, which was slightly disconcerting. I like to do things myself! I took longer than expected in T2 (almost 5 minutes) as I was very tired but also made time to put on sun cream and vaseline and take a much needed visit to the loo!  Whilst out on the bike course, I saw a lot of male triathletes taking calls of nature its not quite so easy for us girls.  I then set off on the run, sporting the well documented ironman shuffle!  The first 2km were slightly uphill and I tried to maintain an 8 minute mile pace.  I had been worried about the run as I had been managing achilles tendonitis for 6 weeks prior so hadn’t got as much running under the belt as I wanted to (but a lot of aqua jogging!).  That said it felt fine to start with so I pushed on, but made an effort to take on water at every aid station and a gel every 30 minutes.  After about 6km I started to feel an ache in my calf and realised that the achilles was starting to play up.  Suddenly my race was no longer about going sub 11 but actually crossing the finish line.  I was in a lot of pain and started to walk through all the aid stations.  At the half way mark, my support crew were on hand so I double dosed on nurofen (not recommended) and carried on.  I started drinking coke as well which had a significantly positive effect on my performance and once the pain killers kicked in, I was back running 8 minute miles.  I passed two mates (male – I chicked them!), one who passed me earlier on the run, and one who had passed me two hours into the bike so I was doing well.  I continued to run from aid station to aid station, walking through them and drinking coke but had had a huge second wind in the last 10km posting some of my fastest splits.  I could still feel the achilles but was confident it would hold.  Unfortunately, the last 2 km of the run went over cobbles in the centre of Roth which proved my undoing.  At 800m to go, my calf and achilles seized completely which was utter agony, so I gritted my teeth and hobbled the last half a mile.  I have never been so pleased to see a finish line!  In fact I was so relieved I didn’t even cry when I finished, I was just glad I could stop.  I finished the marathon in 3 hrs and 41 minutes which was a huge achievement, and my overall time was 10 hrs and 54 minutes.   I was 11^th in my age group and 57^th out of 308 women in total who finished.

 

I enjoyed the race, it was excruciatingly painful at times (or for the best part of 10+ hours) and it will be a long time before I do another one!  But, if you are looking to do an ironman distance race, this is an excellent race to do. I am now reflecting on my performance from the sofa with an achilles the size of a football but it was so worth it!

  

Photos attahed here https://www.me.com/gallery/#100026

Ironman Switzerland Report

I arrived in Zurich a few days before the race to give me enough preparation time and help deal with my nerves as a first timer. It enabled me to get my bike set up, inspect parts of the course, have a training ride on the course, a training swim in the lake (which lead to the wetsuit vs no wetsuit debate as the lake was very warm), register and have a pre- race massage. And some much needed rest! The race briefing was held 2 days before and 2, 500 athletes of varying nationalities were packed into a marquee for it. I think it was at this point that I started to get incredibly nervous but fortunately I wasnt the only first time ironman out there! The day before the rac e I racked my bike and prepared all my kit, before having an early supper and bed.

On race morning, my alarm went off at 3.45 am so I got ready and had breakfast. We left the hotel at 4.30am to get to the transition area when it opened at 5am. It was still quiet at that time with a few athletes around so we were able to lay out race kit and prep bikes, pump up tyres, sort out nutrition and drinks and have some quiet time. As I left transition with an hour to spare before race start, there were queues of apprehensive athletes still waiting to go in. I was glad we had gone in early. Once I had put my wetsuit on, I made my way down to the start with a friend who was also competing. We were a bit slow in getting to the start, partly due to my nerves, which meant we started in the middle of the pack rather than the front or edge, and it was a challenge to get to the beach because of the number of spectators. Not long after 7am, the horn went and 2,500 swimmers set off on the 4km swim.

The swim, which terrified me the most as it is probably my weakest discipline, was actually the most pleasant part. At times, it resembled a human washing machine with 2,500 people fighting for a spot in the water and I got kicked, hit, submerged etc but not as often as I expected and I didnt lose my googles once. Whilst being stuck in the melee was slow, I was able, for a significant part of the swim section, to swim in clear water which was a relief. The interesting part of the swim was having to climb out half way round and run over an island and back into the lake before swimming a second lap. At the end of the swim, about an hour and 15 minutes later, we were hauled out of the water up a ramp by volunteers before running into the transition area to find our bikes.

I spent a rather slow 3 minutes in transition making sure I had everything and then set off running my bike out of transition for the 180km ride - 2 laps which included a 7 mile climb called the beast at 70km and 160km in and a shorter steeper Heartbreak Hill at 85km and 175km in. Someone tripped and fell in front of me before getting on the bike so there was a bit of congestion to get out of transition but soon I was on my way. The course was flat and narrow to start with so the main aim was to concentrate on getting clear so I could start to get some fluid and food into me. Unfortunately a bike crash at 35kph about 12 minutes into my 6 hour 28 minute bike leg put paid to any 'fast' time I was going to achieve. Some lunatic (and I didnt get his number) overtook me without giving me enough clearance (2m side and front) and rode onto my front wheel colliding with it. Unfortunately, I lost the battle to stay upright and fell hard but was lucky enough not to get hit by other cyclists or cause a pile up. However, I was very cross and determined not to let my Ironman efforts stall after only an hour and a half, so after checking that I had no broken bones but battered and bloody, I picked my bike up and got back on. My tri - bars were bent and loose so I wasnt able to use them for the remainder of the race, but the rest of the bike was manageable although I stuggled with nausea from the shock at times. It was a somewhat painful 11 hours after that, but I sported my battle scars with pride and they made for topics of conversation with strangers on the rather hilly bike route. Heartbreak Hill gave us all a tour de france moment as crowds packed it and parted just enough to let you ride through which added to the atmosphere, but it was quite a challenge 5km from the finish of the bike leg.

The run was possibly the hardest thing of all, I was in a lot of pain when I got off the bike and nothing seemed to work that well so I did a very slow 4 hr 21 minute 4 lap marathon, as a result of all the knocks on the bike and hamstring injury. The course was flat, but very twisty, designed for maximum spectator viewing which didnt make its the easiest of runs. I adopted the approach to run to each aid station which were positioned more or less every 2 km, walk through them taking on water, coca cola and pretzels and then running to the next. I found my self stilll overtaking people, but my elation was short lived when I saw most of them were wearing more wrist bands than I was which indicated they had done a few more laps. My run whilst very challenging was very much aided by some nurofen express on laps 1 and 3 and handfuls of jelly babies at the personal aid station so I was still able to cross the finish line in reasonable style, although somewhat battered. After a spell in the medical tent to get cleaned up, a bite to eat and a shower I was able to regroup with my friends and drink some well earned champagne!