Sunday 17th June 2012 - 4am!
The alarm goes off
however its not needed as the excitement of the impending day is enough to make
sure im awake before it!
We (my partner Nicki
and I as I convinced her it was a great idea to enter as well) pack up, have a
quick breakfast (Toast and a banana) then head of for the drive to Wimbleball
Lake in Exmoor National Park the location for the 2012 UK 70.3 Ironman Event
(for those of you who don’t know what a 70.3 Ironman is here is what it entails
- 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Cycle and finishes with a 13.1 Mile Run). It takes
about 45 min to drive to the lake however as there are 2000 people in the race
this year coming from 40 different countries…. There is a queue! (Oh how the
Brits love to queue) however not in the middle of nowhere when you have been
hydrating for the last 2 days and you need to get ready to race!
We finally arrive
for the race, do a few checks of the bikes in transition etc then back to the
car to get the wetsuits on to be ready for the walk down! (Now the walk down at
Wimbleball is a 400m walk from transition through the trees then you see the lake!
(DARK, COLD, HUGE)! You are with 1000 (2
start waves of 1000 each this year)other apprehensive looking people ready to enter the lake!
We get in and as
expected its cold! (14.1 degrees to be precise)! You then paddle around for the
next 10 min getting to the start position you want, at the front if you want to
be hit and partially drowned or at the back if you want an easier time of it! I went to the front! The national anthem
played then off we went….
I had an ok swim
(after a shot detour on the first leg, decided to swim towards the bank instead
of the buoy) and came out of the water in 32mins, then the 400m run up the hill
to transition, although its always great to be out of the water!
Quick change then
out onto the bike for what some professional Ironman athletes call the hardest
cycle leg of any 70.3 course. Although its only (yeah, only) 56 miles there are
a staggering 54 hills on the course and it starts with about 5 miles of climbing
to get out of the lake area!
I was hoping to get
round in under 3 hours and ended up with a time of 3:07 so not quite what I had
wanted but it was tough! The support on the course was, as always, fantastic
and it always helps lift you when you hear the cheers and bells ringing on your
way to the top of yet another hill!
So, into transition
for the last time to change ready for the run….Sounds easy, all that’s left is
just a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) however….The runs not flat either! Seriously,
after all that climbing on the bike we now need to also do it on the run! The
run is a 3 lap course that goes out onto the road for a large hill climb then
descent (on concrete) down to the dam, you run across the dam then along the
lake side (which also had smaller hills)! From there its out through some
fields to a turnaround point then back to the lake to start lap 2!
The first lap went
fine and I was starting to get my running legs back after the cycle, lap 2 was
not so bad although I was starting to slow a little then lap 3 with less then a
mile to go….Cramp in my Hamstring! This is something that happened to me in my
last Ironman event and caused me to take a year out as my hamstring cramped so
much that I managed to tear a muscle! I stopped, stretched, it went away so I
started again only for it to cramp again…. Now at this stage I was thinking
about 2 things, my time and not tearing the weak muscle again! It eased and I
was able to continue to the finishing chute! As soon as you see that red carpet
and the finishing clock its all worth it, the months of training, the beer and
wine you couldn’t drink!
I finished in a time
of 5:31 (just outside the target I had set myself of 5:30)!
It was a great day
and I will never get tired of the fantastic feeling of finishing an event like
this and also the amazing support and camaraderie within this sport!
Now its time to
start training for my next event which is the Royal Parks ULTRA Marathon on the
7th October 2012. 50km (31miles)! Oh the fun…..
Catch you soon.
Mark
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