Ironman Mallorca

Pre race

Finished night shifts on the tuesday (wednesday morning) hoping that this wouldnt affect me too much for saturday race day, although I think it may have helped having to go to bed early for a 03:30 alarm thursday morning to get to the airport. Myself and Jo had a short run wednesday to wake the legs up and then finished packing ready for the off. Bikes had already gone last week with shipmytribike who were really good both before and after race.

Early wake up and off to the airport, still not really feeling any nerves about race day but I put this down to having now accepted I hadnt done enough training – or not as much as I had previously done, this race was about getting my 5th Iron distance completed and attempting to enjoy it. Jo felt the same, we had talked and talked about how underprepared we were but figured that having done the distance before we had the mental training to get through.

Uneventful flight and arrived at Palma on time spotting Pudge in the airport who was out to support with his son, had a quick chat about the race and how we werent as prepared as previously…

We stayed in the EIX hotel which had been termed ‘Pirate Central’, we had stayed here the year before when Jo did the 70.3 and its a perfect hotel for this race, ideally located and really cater for cyclists and triathletes. Spotted Pea loitering in the bar area and had a quick chat before more Pirates turned up having been out on the bikes; Little clown, Mrs Digger, Iron Baws, Bobs your father and Trogs, had a quick chat before we went off to register and pick up bikes.

After registering we walked up to shipmytribike to pick up the bags and bikes to take back to the hotel, this was around midday and was very hot at this point, thinking how we would still be on the bike during this period on saturday. We had a short swim later, Jo trying out her swim skin as at this point it had been officially – yes OFFICIALLY announced as a non-wetsuit swim. I had decided before the announcement not to wear one as the water would be too warm and it saves the faff in transition of changing out of it. The rest of the day was spent mainly drinking beer and socialising with the rest of the pirates ending in a nice meal out with everyone.

Friday morning we went for a quick ride out to Port de Pollensa to check bikes and make sure legs still worked ok, everything fine, afternoon was spent sorting out transition bags and then checking bike into transition, during which one of the pro women offered to take a photo of Jo with her bike – didnt have a clue who she was but looked up her name – Jocelyn McCauley who went on to win the race again just proving how inclusive and friendly the pro’s are in this sport. 

Friday night and another meal out with the guys, I had now started to feel some nerves – hate this build up to a race, always the same and then as soon as the swim starts I’m fine. I had planned on not drinking 4 weeks up to race day but that didnt happen….

Race Day

Up at usual early time for an Ironman – 04:15 and down for breakfast which the hotel opened up – mainly due to there being shed loads of competitors staying in the hotel. Went for something different to the porridge from previous races and had a ham and cheese baguette, banana,Soreen and a tracker bar. Also, had a full bottle of high5 before the start. Felt really nervous and a bit sick if I’m honest, eyes felt tired and felt heavy and lethargic – not ideal pre Iornman…

After breakfast we wandered down to transition to add bottles and nutrition to the bikes… “Attention ALL athletes, another water temperature reading has been done this morning and it has now been declared a wetsuit legal swim” queue Italian guy next to me getting out his wettie and saying ‘is alright? is alright?’ yeah sounds like it. Now I had made my mind up already not to wear mine and being a pretty confident swimmer I wasn’t particularly bothered(at this point), however, it now through Jo into a bit of a should I/shouldnt I question. Jo made the right decision to stick with her skinsuit and swam well. It did cause a lot of issues with other athletes though, I borrowed a track pump from a guy who was staying in Pollensa – had no other choice as he had left his there after the ‘Official’ announcement. Anyway, off to the beach and met up with Ironbaws and Pea, quick chat and quick warm up swim – confirmed my decision to go non-wetsuit as it was toastie.

The Swim

Ok, down to business, entered the 1:20-1:30 pen with Jo and the girls, mainly for moral support. I do normally(when fully trainined) swim quicker than this but as I wasnt really bothered about the time felt it was more important to stay with Jo. Got a tap on the shoulder from a race official to be told I was given a yellow card (stop/go) penalty for not wearing a top (I only had on my tri shorts) so because it was now a wetsuit legal swim I was being penalised for wearing the least bouyant kit in the pen!

My first and hopefully last card in a triathlon but it fired me up a bit…

Swim went fine, no sighting issues, didnt have any issue with it being busy – clear water all the way. Exited first lap in about 48 mins, a bit down on last time I did it. Spotted Meldy and overtook on the Australian exit, get back in the water and posed for Seren to take a pic second lap was also fine, no issues, my slowest IM swim time but a very relaxed and enjoyable one. Exited the water and spotted Meldy ahead again! overtook in transition and said see you later… 

SWIM – 1:20:xx

T1 – 10:30

The Bike

Had a quick catch up with Digger in T1 who had PB’d the swim by 10 minutes and was in good spirits prior to the ride – well done mate! I love this course having ridden it 2 years ago and I have done the hill(mountain) multiple times. My plan was to try and go pretty hard in the first half then see what happens for the second half.Off on the bike and some pirate support at T1 exit and managed a high 5 with pudge which honestly didnt almost make me fall off :0 The course had changed in this half since I did it 2 years ago so I was looking forward to some new scenery. After about a mile I caught up again with Meldy (how does she do that!!).

First 15-20 miles are roughly up hill after a flat start but not anything major and I felt I was moving along at a pretty tidy pace – about 19mph average. Somewhere around 40 miles I think came the second incident of the day for me, spotted a pirate top in the distance as we made our way up a shortish climb. From the missing letters on the name on the back of the shirt it appeared to be Hollywood – who I hadnt met before to this point. Pulled along side and had the briefest conversation ever; ‘How was your swim?’ ‘ok, did you go non-wetsuit?’ ‘yes’ then the motorcycle pulled along side and with an angry pointy fingerthe Spanish official said ‘You! Blue card’ and sped off… that will be my second ever penalty in a race and it came in the first half of the same IM!! this did fire me up and I put my foot down for the remainder of the first half, not even sure what a blue card was! I kept looking at the watch seeing I had a chance of a reasonably quick half time, then we hit the loop which was an internal triangle for the first half of the bike, this seemed really fast and managed to keep the pace up. Coming back into Alcudia and spotted the penalty tent and thought i should check so pulled in expecting to be told its a stop/go but turns out its a 5 min penalty Had a quick chat with Pudge and Nicko who both seemed to be disappointed by me being there Then Hollywood popped in as well and attempted to let my tyres down for the incident – not sure why we were both carded it was all my fault – assuming it was for not being under 25 seconds to overtake, I’ve learnt my lesson for next time…

On to the second half and heading towards Pollensa seeing the black skies ahead I thought yep definitely going to get wet at some point, fuelling was going well, high5/salt and vinegar hulahoops/flapjacks/soreen and bananas seemed to be doing the trick. As the climb started I did feel a bit leggy – having done 70 miles already to this point and the clouds were drawing in…some guy came past being quite lary if I’m honest shouting ‘nah, we wont get wet…no chance – it rained at 10 am, be fine, no probs’ hmmmm, not sure about that. It was disappointing not to be able to see any of the amazing views from up the mountain due to the black skies, about a 3rd of the way up I caught up to MandM and we had a brief chat(checking over my shoulder for the motorbike official) then the rain started, felt nice at first – cooling even, then it got heavier and heavier and within a few minutes was torrential, I have never biked in rain like it, I had removed my visor on the way up to keep cool but was now blinded by the sweat and rain water smashing me in the eye balls as I zig zagged up the road trying to wipe my eyes with my salt water saturated gloves. Managed to replace my visor only to have it then steam up and having water on both sides, it was really cold, everything was soaked and also I nearly fell off when a lightning strike and subsequent thunder struck what felt like yards away from me(I didnt honestly scream like a girl and it really was close) Managed to grind it out until the peak, nothing of note to report – I didnt see the dead Barn owl as reported by my wife… When I got to the peak I definitely did say to myself – This is the last one, I’ve had enough, no more.

Descending was fun, even though I went very slow, tracking an Italian guy who was equally slow, in my defense the roads were wet and I have carbon wheels which do not like braking in the wet on to the final 25 miles or so and I looked at my watch thinking I could beat my bike time from this race 2 years ago if I put my foot down, I did, really start to work hard when out onto the higway through campanet in the torrential rain, passed a Spanish guy as I was tucked down on my bars really caning it(felt fast anyway) he shouter ‘wow’ as I went past, kept going all the way through the power station part and legs really feeling it but thought well my run will be crap anyway…

Course PB of 9 minutes 

Bike – 06:23:10

T2 – 11:23

Run

T2 was wet. Glad I added a hand towel to my transition bag as I needed it. couple of key things I did here…1) Pre talced socks worked a treat 2)ate hula hoops and 3) covered my nipples in body glide – another late addition to the bag…quick wee and off on my way Plan was to do 8 minutes run 2 minutes walk for the whole way, it has served me well before. First lap went ok, spotted Digger coming in off the bike, had no stomach issues and felt ok even though thr rain was concerning me due to previous nipple issues :0 carried on the first few feed stationswithout stopping as they didnt sync with my walks and felt good from a nutrition perpective. Past MandM on the other side of the road probably about 5 miles in and was also passed at some point by GoblinPrincess who was moving extremely well.

Got through the first lap no issues, other than having to add more body glide as I felt my nipples were about to start raging, and onto lap 2, at some point around mile 10 or 11 I joined forces with ISB who I hadnt met before but we seemed to be at a similar point in energy levels and so for the next 1.5 laps we stuck together and had some good chats about Ironman and training and life etc, as you do… Thanks a lot ISB for this time definitely got me through that horrible middle part of the race mentally. We were passed by Hollywood and Cheerful Dave at some point also seeing MandM a few times.

The support from the pirates on the run was awesome! each lap at different points, a special mention to team Ghost out on the other side of the course, even though it was mostly abuse given out, it was very welcome and brought a smile The non pirate support was also great specifically a few people near the SPAR in the middle of the lap who were there all race and every lap gave massive shouts out to all runners! At about 21 miles I decided to make a more determined move ahead and bid farewell to ISB, realising my time would be my slowest Ironman anyway I thought I needed to get this over with. Ran a bit more and the km markers seemed to appear more quickly, continued taking on coke,oranges and bananas right until the end. Finally, stomping toward the last bar and breaking into some kind of run(felt a lot quicker than it was) and down the finish line completely blinded by the lights so couldnt see anyone, attempted to hold up my hand indicating this was my fifth Iron distance event but turns out the cameras missed it I planned that celebration for ages as well!

I’m sure I have forgotten loads but it has taken me so long to write this the beer has washed it away…

Run – 05:35:37

Finish time – 13:41:16

A great race and a fantastic time in Mallorca – one of my favourite places, with meeting some great new people and catching up with some cracking mates who we havent seen for a while. Swim was as expected, bike was tough with the weather and climb but pleased to get a course PB and the run as always is a lottery for me, pleased with no stomach or nipple issues. Overall happy with my time considering this years training and even though I said never again, I was lying…