DNFs

We often associate DNFs to injuries. mechanical problems, missing cut off times, etc… and in most cases there is very little one can do about these so mentally we tend to move on reasonably quick. “It just wasn’t our day”.

But what happens when a DNF is within our control? How do you recover mentally from these? A DNF isn't the goal for any racer, and certainly it wasn’t for any of my friends who decided to pull out from Ironman Cork yesterday.  I’m not talking about the average Joe out who likes to quid the minute things get a bit harsh. I’m talking about hardcore National Series racing lads and double-Ironman nutters who faced extraordinary conditions yesterday.

Whatever their reasons were (I suspect related to the cold, rain and general safety – I haven’t talked to any of them yet), it was ultimate THEIR decision and no one else’s to take.

Triathlon is an individual sport and decisions need to be taken constantly while we race: “Should I take the lead in the swim?” “Should I take a gel at the top of that hill?”, “Should I change into a higher gear now?”, “Should I attack now?”, etc… unfortunately, one of the harder questions we face is: “Should I pull out?” and this is where some people confuse “Bravery” with “Absurdity”.

Triathletes are often seen as fully-committed athletes that “Never give up” and we frequently come across to a lot of references, quotations and Marketing slogans on social media where they brainwash us saying quitting is only for the weak.

It is very easy for outsiders to label these DNFers as “weak”, “not brave”, “not manly enough”, “Big girl’s blouse”, etc… … but these outsiders are missing the point; THEY WERE NOT THERE!, THEY WERE NOT THEM!. In my view, no-one, absolutely no-one, is entitled to criticize someone else’s DNF… and I take these sort of comments very personally.

Criticising someone for a DNF is an insult that is exclusively applied to us, athletes with common sense, in an effort to shame us into taking some usually preposterous and irresponsible actions by impugning our frangible athlete’s pride at this very low time in our sporting career.

In my experience, two of the toughest decisions that I have ever made while racing were linked to DNFs (one due to injury and one due to safety)… but these reasons whether they were acceptable by outsiders or not, they were MINE decisions to take and not theirs.

So, this little text is fully dedicated to all the Ironman Cork NOT Finishers who will go home without the so-much wanted finisher’s medal; Race day wasn’t your day, and it wasn’t ok!!

It is understandable that you are disappointed, frustrated and even angry… and you have every right to feel that way after having trained so hard and for so long for this race.

You have my full support for taking such hard decision and I hope you don’t mind me finishing this text using a quote from the amazing ultra-runner Jim Walmsley.  “This sport is not just one race, it’s a big picture. Sometimes you need to fold your cards.”

Yours in sport,

Ernest

Ironman Barcelona 2017

My 6th & last Ironman race:

I finished in around 9h50m, which is by far a very disappointing and yet a successful event.  Why the use of antonyms?

This year has been a strange year, full of running PBs mixed up with my lack of motivation to swim & cycle.

Targets:

I went onto the race with no particular target or stress in mind but I knew that if I was able to control the bike segment, I should cross the line between 9h30m and 9h39m … this decoded my plan B in around my PB (9h47m) and subsequently plan C turned into a sub 10h finish.

Weight:

In terms of weight management, I had done my homework and kept it under control for the past few months… but the day of the race I weighted 1 kilo less than my last month’s average, making it the lowest weight I’ve ever weighted (72kgs).

I celebrated it thinking; “there it goes another kilo less to carry around”… little I knew this would probably be the cause of my failure later on in the day.

Success or failure:

It was a very successful race taking into account the little training done on my swim & bike this year compared to previous IM races (50% & 20% less respectively) … but most importantly it was a very successful race for the mental battle I went through during the final 2hrs+ of the race just to cross the finish line. I really thought I wasn’t going to finish it this year and I am very glad I didn’t throw the towel.

Said that, I must confess that I still have a very sour feeling about this year’s edition.  I was quite disappointed to see that I hadn’t even got to turn this race into a PB but most importantly I was incredibly disappointed at myself for not having run a proper marathon after all the huge training done this year vs my 2014 plan (about 60% more and faster).

I had controlled my race pace and nutrition to the best of my knowledge and I left my body and mind 100% ready for this year’s strongest discipline by far (the run). I even had to keep reminding myself to run slower the first few kms while holding off the pace.

Swim: (3.8kms - 58min)

My swim felt incredibly easy. I had to keep telling myself that I was racing in order to pick up my pace again … I got so easily distracted staring at little fishes swimming underneath me and the wee dunes the waves were drawing in the sand.

Bike: (180kms - 5h13m)

On the bike I was also very conservative as I knew I had definitely not put enough training hours this year. I controlled a very similar race pace to my previous IM race (35.5kms/h) but when the wind picked up on the 2^nd lap & 3^rd lap my average speed reduced to 34.2km/h… (with the same power output). Quite happy with it.


Drafting ... or should I say cheating directly?

Once again the drafting in this race drove me bananas. I ended shouting to a few cyclists riding in pelotons.

I was going into this race thinking “Ernest, there will be a lot of drafting here, let it go, let them cheat if they like. Do your own race” … but when you race as hard as you can and get passed by big groups of cheaters, I must admit it gets quite hard to control oneself.

Eventually, I started calling them dickheads and I got some sort of an inexplicable relief that kept me distracted during the 2^nd and 3^rd lap.

Just to throw a few numbers there so you can see the huge level of cheating on the bike:

- My overall place on the swim was: 157^th.

- My overall place on the bike was: 648^th.

- My run overall place was 165^th.

Run: (42.2km - 3h31m)

The above numbers explain why on the first lap of my run I felt I was overtaking hundreds of runners…. Fat, old, etc.… I was overtaking cheaters and not athletes so there wasn’t any particular pride on doing so but I must admit it felt good to put most of these people back to where they belonged; behind me!  

In-around what I thought it was the 19^th km (My Garmin suggests it happened around the 17^th km) I collapsed to the ground not knowing why I fell off… did I trip over? Has anyone pushed me? Have I stepped on a hole? ...  I re-gained my form and continued to walk/jog and eventually run to the nearest aid station where I was able to fuel again.

After a few thoughts I started to realize that I must have fainted due to de-hydration, so I continued racing but this time more of aware of my body’s needs. Soon enough I started to struggle to even keep running more than a few mins in a row at a decent pace so I took the Run-walk approach; run 800m-900m and walk the rest, obviously walking every single aid station from then on too.

I also made sure I fuelled twice on each aid station and ate jelly beans in between them. I even kept a bottle of water with me most of the time to avoid another pathetic show.

My head kept telling me stop and throw the towel but I couldn’t. I have quit important races before due to injuries and I know how bad it feels days, weeks and months to come so this kept my motivation to keep moving forward…

“I’m not quitting my last Ironman! Not this year!” seemed to be the most recurring thoughts … but I’m not going to lie, there were a whole bunch of other thoughts that went like “This is an absolute non-sense!” “Ironman is stupid, you are stupid! Everyone around me are stupid!” “Why are we doing this for?” “Feck this shit!” “Just stop!” “Walk home and never come back to this stupid race again!” “This is the most boring run course ever!” “Where the hell is the next km mark?” “Have all the sudden changed the km signs into bloody miles?” “Why does my Garmin say I’ve only run 350m if I have checked it ages ago and it said 190m?”

At that stage, there were no more Plans A, B or Cs on my head… the aim was to get to the end of each km so that I could get closer to home and cross the line once and for all.

I must say that crossing the line was very uplifting as I knew I had managed to win the mental battle but I was (and still I am) very disappointed and angry at myself for the very slow marathon time due to a silly nutrition mistake.

The run was by far the strongest of my disciplines this year and having it run 15mins slower than I had planned it was (and still is) really hard to swallow. I know it’s silly but I guess that’s part of who I am.

Nutrition:

I thought I had eaten and drank well throughout the race but it turned out I had lost about 4kgs (on top of the one I had lost the previous day).

After crossing the line, I picked the medal with my hand as if I wanted to throw it to the nearest bin (obviously, I didn’t) and I didn’t stop walking until I was inside the emergency tent…  … They couldn’t do much as I was still walking so they fed me and made me drink a good bit…  It was a long full hour with cold shivers and dizziness (not in the emergency tent anymore) but eventually I recovered somehow and I headed home.

Club mates:

Having seen my club mates on the field made the race a more enjoyable and interesting event… At every turn on the bike course Peter Williams and I were hitting very similar spots so I knew we both were doing what we were supposed to be doing.

If I’m honest I thought I would’ve seen more club mates in the run and I was sort of counting on encouraging each other as we passed along … but reality hit us as 20 people, mixed up with another 3,000 athletes, easily fade away...   … in the event that I would cross a club mate's path, we would both of us be that tired that we couldn’t even cheer each other most of the times.

I actually have been meaning to apologize to my good friend (and my 1^st Tri-mentor), Pearse Fahy for not only NOT encouraging him as I passed him but for also demoralizing him as I was saying something along these lines “oh F**k! This stuff is so hard. I don’t know about you but I feel terrible!” … then he overtook me a couple of minutes later and even though he didn’t say much (he must have been lost in his own mental battle) he touched my shoulder meaning “Come on, lad! Keep moving!, You can do it!” … and this is what you’re supposed to do! And not what I did.

  

Results:

Overall, it wasn’t as bad as I make it look with all my commentary above. Even though I didn’t achieve a Personal Best this time, I certainly got quite close to it… and numbers suggest that I actually had raced harder as I finished higher up in the ranks compared to my last year’s competition.

I have just learned (as I’m writing these lines) that I was the 2^nd Irish man home out of 353 Irish Triathletes. This is something more valuable than any of the stuff I have written above and now I can easily say that I am very happy that I had actually pushed my limits to cross the finish line one more time.

My God, my strength, my child:

This, like any race I do, is solely inspired and dedicated to my lovely boy Killian O’Neill and his amazing parents who I will always hold in my heart, thoughts and prayers.

PS: I love the republican Catalan flag on the background.

Ironman 140.6 Amsterdam (Challenge)

Well, it’s hard to get annoyed or sad about today’s race as my pacing, nutrition and race positioning was spot on where I wanted it to be due to the weather circumstances…  …but if there’s one thing I learned from my last season’s mistakes or achievements was to not take races to heart.

Things go right and things go wrong…. Last year I already achieved what I really wanted to do in the long distance. My 9h47m finish in Barcelona already set my mind to peace with the big sub 10h monster so this year it was particularly difficult to find some sort of a target or a motivation.

At the start of the year I thought it’d be nice to try to get closer to the 9h30m or even try to break it.

Unfortunately, Last April I had an Achilles injury which left me out without being able to do proper speed training until practically 2 weeks before my Ironman 70.3 in Dublin in August and even after that I also had a couple of terrible weeks where I couldn’t even rest my foot on the ground (1^st week of September).

Before that I also had to cancel 3 Triathlon races (an Ironman 70.3, an Olympic and a sprint), 2 Duathlons, 1 aquathon and a few TT sessions with the club.

With all that in mind, I decided to still come here to Amsterdam and go long (Ironman 140.6). I didn’t really mind what the outcomes would be as long as I knew I left everything I had on the field… and fortunately this was the case today.

Yes, I’m going home with a DNF and a pat on the back instead of a finisher’s medal and a T-shirt but I know this is the best I could’ve done today.

By having stayed on the ground, I think I would’ve seriously damaged my Achilles too much to the point of no recovery.

I know I don’t want to go long again but I also want that I still want to compete in more Ironman 70.3’s in the years to come… so having thrown the towel today (even though it’s not a nice feeling) it was the right thing to do.

Swim: It's ok, it's only the start...

The swim went fine… water was around 17degrees and not very choppy. The buoys were clearly visible and it was a very good swim course.

I started at the front and kept there pretty much the entire race splashing around sometimes with a few lads and some times on my own.

At the 1.9k mark, I checked my watch (29mins), which it would more or less mirror what I was expecting to see. A bit slow but such is life!

My second lap was even a bit slower but at least I go to break the hour, which is okish for the amount of time that I spent in the pool this year.

Bike: They have wind turbines for a reason!

Once I got on the bike, I started pushing the watts controlling the bike, which seemed to be a bit of a job due to the strong winds (here in The Netherlands they call them gentle breeze).

It was all-fine until the 18^th km where we had the wind on our right-front shoulder until the 40-41^st km… then, we turned again and we had full-on headwind until the 70^th km…  it was pretty hardcore … we knew it was 20-30km more with the wind sitting on our right-back corner and then again another miserable loop of 60kms with the wind on our heads.

The course is VERY FLAT…. I don’t think there’s any other course out there in the world as flat as this one….  According to my Garmin I was on a TT position for 5h10m and only standing up 10mins (which includes the water stations).

But don’t fool yourself (in case you’re thinking of doing this race) … the course is based on cycling paths, cobble stone streets, speed bumps, cow gates, farmers roads,  and even when you’re on the “main road” this is not the usual crystal-smooth pavement. The road surface was made up of some sort of a red-mixed stones put together.

I was incredibly disappointed by this fact…. But such is life and the pavement and strong winds are there for everyone.

My Achilles started giving out a bit as I was pushing on the second lap against the wind but nothing major though.

I managed to be in control and stay in the front 7^th or 8^th (AG) during the long distance Dutch Championships which is not bad if you think about it. (Everyone’s so tall in this land – I looked like my wee girl with her tiny bike next to these dudes with their very high saddles).

I dealt with my nutrition brilliantly and I started overtaking a lot of cyclists in the last 15kms of the bike. Felt very strong and with a lot of hunger for the marathon’s miles!

T2: Not good news

I got off the bike and I noticed that I couldn’t rest my left foot on the ground.  I limped from the dismount line until the Transition area but the pain was unbearable so I started hopping with my right foot while holding the bike and finding my number to rack it.

The entire ankle was hurting, it wasn’t the Achilles alone… as a matter of fact the Achilles was the less of my worries there.

I’ve never felt this way before during training so it’s was all new news to me. Eventually I drop the bike off and hopped into the changing tent where I sat down, massage my foot quickly and off I went on my run.

Run: Oh, oh.

The running shoe must have absorbed part of the shock as I was able to run without limping anymore.

I set myself to my usual 4:35 pace (which is too fast but I always do the same for the first 2kms) and I kept in under control (4:40) during the first 7 mins.

Unfortunately, the pain around my ankle was too unbearable and as soon as I started the 2^nd loop I realized there was no way I would be able to finish the race.

I decided to see if I walked a bit maybe it would go away but the minute I stopped running and started to walk, my ankle shoot a very strong pain in the ankle that made me fall. That’s when I realized my race was over.

I got up, took my chip off and started to walk back to the headquarters.

The pain was actually worst walking than it had been the entire loop and as I write these lines, the Achilles is reminding me who’s wearing the trousers in this relationship! J

Ah well, as I said, it was only a race… this puts an end to a terrible season if it wasn’t for the Barcelona Marathon in March which is the only thing I take with pride this year.

Thank you all for your support and messages.

Ernest

Ironman 70.3 - Dublin 2015

My first Triathlon this year went pretty much as expected... no real surprises as per my recent training.

Prior to the race I wasn’t nervous at all which from my point of view, this is never a good sign: it means you don’t really give a crap about the race...   ...if anything I was only worried about the temperature of the water as it was my first open water of the season in IRL.

Swim:  

It was a rolling water start... so I stayed in the middle of the group before entering the water. Not a good strategy as I had to swim over 200 swim caps on my wave start... Silly mistake that frustrates everyone: myself and the swimmers that get overtaken so early in the race.

Half way through the swim, I already started passing tens of yellow hats (previous wave) every minute and I clearly positioned myself at the front of my wave.

I then swam in the wrong direction (I was following the previous wave swimmers rather that eyeing the buoys and I had missed a buoy so I had to go back about 100-150m to go around it... not a biggie but pretty annoying as I was leading the wave.

In the end I left the water 5^th of my wave and 38^th overall.

Bike:

Due to my recent Achilles injury I knew I hadn’t done many miles at a race pace lately, so I took it easy and decided to stay in control. I lowered the watts considerably and cruised along.

The race course even though is really flat (according to my Garmin 400m of elevation gain); it doesn’t really suit my non-existing cycling skills.  There are quite a lot of bends, T junctions, Speed bumps, sharp corners, etc...

It’s a shame as I kept loosing positions on the bike at every single corner.

The changing weather didn’t help either... we hardly had any head or tail wind. Most of it was coming from the side. This forced me to move from side to side every now and then as I was riding a disc.  Nothing major, but when it’s wet (it rained a couple of times while I was cycling) I freak out.

At the end, I clocked very similar watts as last year in Collinstown 70.3 but this time with a very disappointing speed average of 34,5km/h.

I lost quite a few positions (understandingly) to a 22^nd of my AG and 97^th overall.

Run:

My run strategy was simple: Keep on running at a pace you’re comfortable and can control throughout the race without jeopardizing my Achilles... and so I did; I started at the 4:30 pace and I maintained it practically for the first two laps (14kms) of the run course.

At the end of the 1^st lap, I saw my god old friend Matt Molloy just 400mts (about 2mins) ahead of me. I need to confess that going for him crossed my mind but I quickly abandoned the idea for two reasons:

1.        I didn’t want to injury trying to catch him.

2.       The lad is in some serious form this year ... even If I lowered my pace by 15secs, it would take me about 8kms to get to him and that would be assuming he was running at my speed. I would’ve been incredibly bollocks by the time I’d get to him and then I’d need to maintain whatever pace he would throw at me. No way!

I always love racing with Matt as we have a very similar level of fitness (obviously not today!) and we always finish so close from each other.

On the 3^rd lap, I struggled a bit with my pace so I slowed it down for 4kms. I also started to notice that my Achilles started to bother me again, so I took it on the chin and cruised at a slower pace.

Then at the 18^th km mark I went back to the original pace and finished the last km just above 4:00.

Not the fastest run I’ve ever done but very pleased with it as not only my Achilles held up like a champion but I also felt great throughout the run (specially the first 14kms which felt quite easy).

Finish:

I finished the race in 4h49m28s which is nowhere near my PB but happy enough due to the circumstances and the lack of speed training since mid April.

In the end, I finished 19^th on my Age Group (out of around 400 athletes) and 95^th overall  (out of 2,460 athletes)... so in the end it wasn’t that bad.

Legs feel very fresh as I write these lines, so tomorrow I’m back to my full Ironman training (with an easy 8-10k run, of course).  Not sure how I’m gonna double this distance.... Just the thought of it, makes me wonder why I signed up for another one.

Thank you all the supporters on the course... they definitely made the difference today!

Ernest

Ironman Barcelona 2014 – Race Report

Setting up the Scene:

Everything started last October 2013 when I crossed the finishing line in 10h01m03s.

My aim that day was to beat my PB of 10h27m but I never imagined I would’ve got so close to the 10hrs mark.

I signed up for Austria and I worked very hard throughout the winter. Unfortunately this put my body under a lot of stress and I got sick from mid February to the end of March where I hardly trained and threw away all the hard work done.

Morally I was destroyed as I felt the pressure of the sub-10 in Austria which was only 3 months away.

Thankfully, my friend Pearse Fahy stood by my side and after a few calls and emails I got back on track mentally. THANKS PEARSE!! You really don’t know how much you helped.

I went to Austria on the last week of June very fit again and with full energy.

The week before the race I started having some serious stomach problems which unfortunately I wasn’t able to shake off until mid September.

That situation proved crucial on race day and I finished in 10h00m51s.

Only a handful of seconds away from my dream goal.

I was very sad and annoyed but this is our sport: ANYTHING can go wrong. The longer you go, the smaller issues can determine your success or failure.

I went to the doctor but we couldn’t figure out what was wrong. All blood samples and tests were good.

After an endoscopy I got diagnosed with a stomach bacteria called HP which in Spanish it would probably refer to Hija de Puta!

I took 3 different type of strong antibiotics for 10 days and I was ready to push hard again without worrying I’d make a scene J (Good news for BCN which it was only 2 weeks away now).

Game Changer: OOB Coaching

My good friend Thomas Rohde (a 9hr Ironman and Kona finisher) called me one day and took me through his OOB’s Guidance plan. I was on holidays in Barcelona and we met up for a wee run... As I got to the track, he said “ready for the first test?” ... what? From that moment, I was an OOB athlete!

  

My training took a big turn that day.  I increased my training load (especially on the bike) from an average of 9-10hrs since march to 11-12hrs a week. 

I went from doing 3hrs of routine bike a week to a proper power-based 7hr/week bike training.

I lowered considerably my run mileage but worked much harder on my running pace.

And finally, I kept my swim calendar but OOBs sessions made it clearly way less boring (new fresh sessions every week).

In summary, it was 9 weeks of intense training following OOB’s guidance plan. It just amazes me how much I learned in the last two months and what the outcomes have been on the bike.

I was planning on cycling a 5h12 (5h10 max) as I knew Barcelona’s course was about 8mins faster than Austria)... little I knew that I almost broke the 5hrs.  Thank God I wasn’t aware of this fact during the race; otherwise I would’ve probably tried to break it and could’ve jeopardized my run afterwards.

Anyway, BIG THANK YOU to Thomas Rohde for putting together that guidance training plan in front of me and the advice given the week before the IM. Your target paces and watts were spot on! I’ve never raced so comfortably in my entire life!

Pre – Race:

It was a crazy morning: a very lightening and thundery day full with non-stop heavy rain and strong winds.  

While we were waiting for the organisers to decide if it was safe to swim, I was completely turned off and full of negative thoughts. Then Cormac O’Riain came along to say hello full with positive energy and optimistic thoughts. Just seeing Cormack with such a positive attitude made me realize that I needed to change my mind and stop worrying about things outside my control.  

The organisation finally simply postponed the race start by 30mins until the electric storm was gone.  

Even though it stopped raining, it was still a very windy day but luckily the wind was LLEVANT (Catalan name for western winds) which meant that it would mostly hit us on the side.

Swim: 58m22s

The swim start went well. I positioned myself on the right hand side of the group-start for two reasons:

• It was shorter to the first buoy (we were turning right).
• I wouldn’t have any swimmers splashing on my face. I saw a lot of wannabes around me.

For the first time in years, I actually started on the 3^rd row (instead of the very first front). Not for any particular reason but simply because I was late.

The sign went up and we hit the water. Within 30secs I was already in the top ten (max) and I turned the 1^st buoy probably on the first top 5 which made it very easy to swim at my own pace.

I struggled with my right goggle which leaked a bit but not too much, I moved it 3 or 4 times in the first 500mts and then it stayed in its place - happy days. Another problem solved!

Within 5 minutes we already started catching up with the group in front which reinforces my belief that wave starts should NEVER be done based on AGE groups. That’s simply stupid. For two main reasons:

• The slow swimmers get swamped with hundreds of other swimmers swimming on top of them – specially when they least expect it as the new swimmers keep coming in waves from behind. It only adds up to their stress and fatigue unnecessary.
• For good swimmers it constantly breaks our swimming pattern and breathing as we constantly have to sort them out. We also have loads less visibility as their heads look like buoys on the water. (Especially if they wear yellow and orange hats).

I went out hard at the start as it felt really nice and easy. The water temperature was lovely.

It was quite wavy on the long stretch home of 2350mts but nothing mayor. Waves were hitting us on the side quite parallel to the beach so they didn’t really change the swimming direction too much.

At the half way I checked my watch and I saw 26:50mins so I knew I was on track (a bit faster than I thought). 

Around the 3km mark, I started feeling hungry & a bit dizzy and some swimmers started to overtake me. I eased on a slower pace and looked for a pair of feet to draft off for a few minutes in order to save energy. 

[Note to self: ALWAYS bring two sets of goggles: one with clear lenses and one with tinted lenses].

I got out the water in 58min22sec which was as planned. (Happy: 1^st discipline ticked the box).

T1: 4min36s

I took a gel before I even jumped on the bike to make it up for the energy wasted on the swim (I was hungry which it’s too early to feel that way).

I also took an Imodium to avoid any stomach surprises.  

Bike: 5h03m44s (35.5km/h)

I rode out of town watching out for the multiple speed-bumps & pot-holes and dodging the big puddles of water (that’s where I had two punctures 2 years ago with brand new tyres and tubes). Average speed was crap (26km/h) but worth taking those precautions.

I hit the road and my average went up to almost 38km/h which I decided to maintain. According to my plan I could still push a few more watts but I decided to be around 5% less as I knew the wind would be on my face on the way back to Calella.

The first 20kms passed by and I realized that fuel stations only provided ¼ bananas or gels.... and also I didn’t recognise the gels’ brand.

Ironman events are supposed to be sponsored by Powerbar and that’s all the products I’ve been training with. Bad mistake from my side for taking things for granted.

I panicked as I only had 2 powerbars and I was counting on taking another 3 from those fuel stations.

I tried to ration them but I knew it was simply not enough. By the 70^th km I had already almost eaten them all.

 

I also had 2 small pieces of dark chocolate which tasted really nice.

... By the time I hit the 80^th km I was forced to take one of those gels they offered on the course. I was hungry and I didn’t have anything else in my fuel bag... it was a Godsend!!! They were incredibly yummy and I ended taking about 6 or 7 throughout the rest of bike course (All strawberry flavour).

Actually, they felt better on my stomach than the bars! (another lesson learned)

My average speed went down (as predicted) to around the 36km/h mark by the time I finished the first lap ... I sustained that pace until the 115^th km by taking advantage of the tailwind from Calella and controlling the headwind back to town [Wind was very strong but it was mostly hitting us on the side throughout the entire race, so VERY HAPPY with that].

The sun was up and burning my back which lacked of sun-cream due to the fact I thought it would rain the entire day.... but the strong side winds kept us fresh.

Drafting this year was particularly bad. I saw about 6-7 big groups of 30 to 50 cyclists together. At times they were even drafting in front the motorbike marshals but they would still not disperse.

It was a bit annoying to see these cheaters pass you while you were working hard on your own. I must have counted about 40 competitors that passed me on the bike in a fair and square manner without drafting.... but then 4 or 5 big groups also passed me on the bike.

Personally, my goal and mind in Ironman has always been focused towards MY FINISH TIME .... but I gotta admit that it hurts to see that 200 cheaters (mostly French and Spiks) have overtaken me dishonestly. An absolute disgrace.... but hey! this is life.

Finished the 3^rd lap with a really good feeling and speed average (35.5km/h)

T2: 4min36s

Something really strange about IM BCN ... why do they have the end of transition matt just before the Run bag tend? It just doesn’t make sense.  Basically my official T2 time was of 1min and the rest was added to our run times. Weird and stupid!

I changed my socks and put on loads of Sun cream which took a toll on my T2 time but totally worth it.

I also took a 2^nd Imodium tablet... I rather don’t go to the toilet in a week than going 3 times in the marathon like in Austria! J  

Run: 3h35m56s

I started the run in great shape and legs felt really fresh running at 4:45 pace for the first 10kms (my overall target was of 5:10).

The 2^nd lap was a bit harder and I dropped my pace to 5:00 which made the first half still under the 5min mark - delighted to see that.

I crossed the 21.1km point and I started making funny calculations (you shouldn’t be allowed to think while running!):  I simply added 2hrs to my time and realized I would finish in 9:58! Great! I thought. I had 2 spare minutes ... hold on!! if something went wrong that meant I would need to sprint the last kms!, oh no!! Panic started.  

A few more kms in and I realized that if I kept the pace up, I’d be doing every lap in about 55mins so I actually was fine.

The 3^rd lap in Barcelona is definitely the worst of all as you’re really tired and you know you still have to do a 4^th last lap!. My average dropped considerably to above 5:20!  The overall average was still 5:05 so I was doing fine.

The 28^th km was a real boost as that’s where I struggled so much last year... as I was getting closer to that sign I kept filling up my mind with positive thoughts! “You’re doing great, man! Keep up the pace, last year you had to do a complete stop right here! You couldn’t even freaking walk 10 mts!, look at you now, still hitting the miles with no a bother!... keep it up!!”

I had written my kids names on my arms to remind me how much Triathlon has taken a toll on their lives in the last 6 months but especially in the last 9 weeks. Niall cried his head out on Thursday night went I left to the airport and Erin couldn’t stop crying while we were on Skype on Saturday evening!

Not to mention every time I had to go for a 5-6hr session every Saturday.

I owed it to them; I owed it to my wife!... I had to keep pushing; this race was as much for them as it was for me.

On the 4^th lap, I checked my watch again and saw that I could potentially go sub 9:50!! Happy days!! ... I pushed a bit harder... 2kms in, my stomach gave up and I thought the Austria experience was all over me again... a couple of farts later and a really bad 34^th km (5:40), I was back on track and I ran my way home clocking the last km in 4:04 feeling super fresh! J

God had definitely been on my side from start to finish on Race day.

I felt that every time I hit a roadblock, something else came along and changed the situation. Coincidence? You might think that but I believe God was taking care of me. THANK YOU!!!

Finish line:

I crossed the line in 9h47m42s

3.8k Swim: 58m22s
180.2km Bike: 5h03m44s (35.5km/h)
42.2km Run: 3h35m56s

After 364 calendar days, 361 training sessions and 420hrs of 207km of swimming, 5.000km of cycling and 2.150km of running, I achieved my sub-ten dream! J.

It definitely sounds like a lot of training for a 14min gain, doesn’t it? J

Thanks everyone for your support.

Ernest

Post Race:

Being able to share this experience with my Mum and Dad is priceless.  

Moltes Merces per sempre estar al meu costat, Us estimo molt!

Ironman Barcelona-Maresme 2013 (Challenge brand)

Pre-Race:

I went to BCN with no pressure to perform as I had encountered a few obstacles along the way in my previous weeks:

-          This year I based my training regime on the middle distance and every time I raced outside that distance I underperformed.

-          My average training time this year has been of 8h21m which it´s a bit challenging when it comes to Ironman. Basically, on race day, I would cover more time and distance than I would have done in a whole week of training.

-          I had also only received the invitation to race 7 weeks before the event (long story).

-          Unfortunately, a few weeks ago I had a terrible bike crash that left me without my racing bike and a sore hip.

-          The result was obvious: I got a bit scared of the road and the longest I´ve ridden in the past 2 months has only been 3 sessions of 90kms and 1 of 100kms. The rest of my longest sessions have been considerably below the 60k mark.

 

Said all the above, I still wanted to get the most out of this event and I was prepared to go as hard as I could.  

During those two months I focused my training on my running and I maintained my swim levels by swimming twice a week.

Race Day:

I was pretty nervous. I didn’t understand why as I really thought the fact of not having any clear competitive target in my mind would make it easy to deal with.

Stupidly, I mostly worried about things that were outside my control at that point: Racing with a training bike, not enough distance on my back, my wheel had a hole on the tyre, there was forecast of winds and rain for the afternoon, fear of the heat, my hip was sore, etc.

I knew I was very fit but I had real question marks around completing the full distance at a decent speed due to my recent lack of training on the bike.

I kept telling myself that I sould definitely try to go for my PB (10h27m) as my run gains should outweigh the bike loss. (I expected my swim to be pretty similar to my last IM.)

Swim:

The sea was in a very reasonable condition and my swim felt quite smooth from the very start.

Most of the time I swam on a straight line and I didn´t think I wasted much extra energy or space by swimming in zigzags.

My goggles fogged-up after 150mts aprox but I managed to see enough to keep going. Overall I had to stop 3 times to clear them off but nothing out of this world. (Note to self: buy a freaking new pair of goggles!).

As I said, I felt pretty comfortable and I was at the top of the group throughout the swim. Mostly, I swam on my own avoiding the masses.

I checked my time at the 3^rd km and I realized that I had clocked 47mins. This meant that I was still on target for my 3.8K swim in about 1hr…  quickly I found out that the last buoy wasn´t really the last one as there was another one at distance.

I pushed slightly harder but when I came out the water and saw my time (1h09m42s), I got really disappointed.

I didn´t quite understand what had gone wrong as my pace seemed fine and I strongly believe I had swam on a very straight line (with the odd small usual turns).

Later on - after the race - everyone pointed out that their swim had been around 8-10mins slower which made sense as everyone’s GPS watches would suggest that the actual distance had been increased by a good 500m (4.3k swim).

 

Usually, I don’t mind this sort of differences as they are the same for everyone but when you’re racing against a specific time, it really changes your plans and mindset.

Anyway, the true fact was that I was 8mins behind my target of Sub 10h27m. Not a pleasant feeling but such is life and this is part of racing!

 

Bike:

 

I went into the bike leg with very little confidence on it (mainly due to low millage trained on it and the fact that I was using my training bike).

I rode the first 3kms quite easy (that´s where I had 2 punctures last May) before I got to the main road.

Unfortunately, the little sticker that covers the valve of my disc covers came off and left a big hole on one of the sides of my back wheel. This was bad news as it meant the air would get into my back-wheel not having a way out so it could only increase the drag. Nothing I could do, so I smiled before I cursed a wee bit and carried on.

 

As soon as I got out of town I made the decision that my race really started there.

I couldn´t allow to lose any more time vs. my 2011 IM, so I aimed to get a similar average (roughly 34.5km/h).

 

On the first lap I felt extremely comfortable with an average of 36km/h. My legs could even still throw-in more power to those pedals but I was aware of the challenge ahead (distance-wise) so I kept holding myself back.

 

At km90, I was still managing the same average (above 36) with hardly any effort and I wondered if I should push a bit harder – I´m glad I didn´t!

After 3hrs on the bike the wind kicked in and started to hit us a bit hard on the side. This meant really bad news for me as not only I was riding a disc with a hole on the side but also it was gonna hit me at the distance that I hadn´t really trained for.

 

 

More “good news” on the way: around the 120^th km, a massive storm covered the road where we were and I panicked. Bad thoughts of coming off the bike again crossed my head and I got scared at every turn or downhill … Not a pleasant feeling but everyone seemed to slow down too so I guessed the wind was also affecting everyone else and not only Catalan donkeys like me afraid of water!

My average went down to 35.7, then 35.5 and 35.0… I lost an entire 1k/h in just 20kms.

I wasn´t happy with it!

As we entered the last lap I got a bit of a boost: “Yes man! You did it!!, you´re on the very freaking last lap and still feeling great”.

 

I kept my nutrition extremely consistent no matter if I was hungry or not. This consisted of a 1/3 of a Powerbar bar every 15kms and drinking in between.

 

On the last 15kms we got another big shower and my average dropped even further to 34.7 but safety and the will to finish with “fresher legs” came first at all times.

As I got back to Calella town and hit the last 3kms of the bike course we were told to slow down considerably as the pavements were very wet (sometimes floated) and full of turns with slippery tiles.

My end average was of 34.6 which was simply 1 minute and a half faster than my previous IM experience.  (5hrs11min).

 

Run:

I started the run feeling extremely strong and fresh.

I ran the first 3kms below 4m30s but I knew I would never be able to sustain that pace. I kept telling myself to slow down but it took me right up to the 8^th km to start racing at the desired pace I had planned for the first half of the marathon.

Every time I drank coke (redbull coke – which has a disgusting flavor) my stomach cramped very badly.

It took me a few fuel stations to realize that so I stopped drinking that coke. Unfortunately, I also realized that I couldn´t eat anything else either as I had the same symptoms straight away.

 

I decided to only drink water and keep going as I still felt ok (just a bit tired) after all. I kept the pace up to the 16^th km but running only on water it´s definitely not enough (especially at this stage of the race) and I quickly paid the price.

I hit the 21km mark severely dehydrated and in desperate need of calories but my stomach wasn´t tolerating anything but water. The REAL Ironman race just started!

Macca always says: EMBRACE THE SUCK! - Well, not sure I embraced it but I surely shared a few long moments with it on the day and I didn’t like it.

I struggled for practically the rest of the race and I had to battle for every single meter left on the course.

Fortunately around the 24^th km I realized that for whatever reason my stomach tolerated isotonic drinks and very small bits of bananas, so I immediately started nibbling those at every fuel station right up to the end.

After crossing the midpoint of the marathon I tried to stay positive thinking I was already on my way home but my hip started to give out.

Sadly, this pain (caused by the accident that I had a few weeks ago) would not go away for the rest of the race but to be honest it was the lesser of my problems.

My weakest moment of the race came around the 28^th km mark where my body suddenly ran out of fuel and my system started giving me cruel signs of shutting down.

I made a complete stop and I put my head down leaning forward while keeping the balance with my hands on both my knees.

No one was around and all I saw was a long straight road in front of me. I felt very dizzy and I couldn´t find any clear reason why I should keep running.

Every effort to stay above the pain line seemed wasted and I thought of sitting down for a moment (which thank God I didn´t). I was desperate for a sugar boost but my body didn´t tolerate anything so I thought I had to call it a day.

The finish line was still very far away (14kms to go) and I knew I had practically run with my eyes closed for the last 8kms (since I pretty much started the 3^rd lap).

I still don´t understand what made me go ahead as I was on a state of extreme confusion and disorder … but I do remember myself thinking that I would try to get to the next fuel station (about 2.5kms away) and drink there.

I strongly believe God was by my side there as I still can´t figure out what made me put one foot in front of the other, then jog and a few meters later run again.

It was a hot day for Irish standards probably around 24ºC but thank God it was cloudy most of the time.

I finally made it to the 30km fuel station and I stopped to drink as much ISO as I could, I also gave the bananas and oranges a shot and kept running.

 

Eventually I made it to the last 4^th lap and my body started to rebuild enough energy to keep a pace between 5:30 and 5:45 which at that stage I was delighted with.

Finally, the 41^st km sign came into sight and the last fuel station with it. Normally in all races I never bother stopping at the last fuel station (specially being so close to the finish line) but this time I did another full stop and drank 3 full glasses of ISO and ate an orange.

 

Obviously, at that point I had no clue that I was so close to the 10hrs. (I had stopped my watch during the race by mistake and I didn´t know my overall time.)

I thought I must have been around the 10hrs and 15 to 18mins so running or stopping at that stage would´ve made no difference. I had already beaten my previous time and I was very with that!

Then it hit me that my watch also had the time of the day on it, so I checked it and I realized it was 18:39.

I knew I had started the race at 8:41 on the dot, so that could only mean that I was 2 minutes short of a 10hrs race!  CRAP!!!

I immediately looked up and tried to figure out how much left there was in the race.

By the position of the 41km mark and the finish line I must have been around 750mts away from the finish line.

I sprinted at full speed hoping the last sign was placed wrongly and I ran my last few hundred yards at a 4min pace (the maximum I could sustain at that moment).

I kept looking at my watch and the finish line every 10secs but unfortunately the sign was placed correctly and the 750mts proved to be too far for a sub 10h race.

I slowed down in the last 150mts, relaxed and enjoyed the very final stretch soaking up the amazing finish atmosphere.

 

I´m very happy to have finished a 10hr (01m05s) Ironman and I don´t regret having done anything on the day that could´ve shortened that time by those 65secs.

  

Few Facts & figures:

- Air Temperature: 21-23º C
- Humidity: 65-83%
- Water Temperature: 20º C.
- Mostly overcastted with a few spread heavy showers and cross winds.
- 11.200 calories burned
- Finishing Position: 123rd out of 1162 AG Athletes.