IRONMAN UK – Aug 2nd 2009 by Fiona Bosher
Swim 3.8km, Cycle 180km and a Run 42.2km!!
(please donate at http://www.justgiving.com/opticianironman09)
To be honest I had completely lost interest in doing this ironman, I had enjoyed the build up/journey to this event so much it meant that this race didn’t appear to flick my switch anymore…….however we’d (Chris Bennett the optician magazine editor and I) already raised £6000 for vision aid overseas and I couldn’t really leave Chris or my training buddy Karl (Chandler) in the lurch!
Karl had arrived in Bolton about 4 days before the event and he sent me a message saying “bring ya welly boots”……obviously I thought he was just being effeminate :-) ...but I tipped up to the registration/transition area to find cars were being pulled out of the mud by the local farmer and his tractor, other cars were left abandoned in anger. Ironically this area was also the camping platform for many of the athletes and their families (including my brother and his chick that had erected their tent knee deep in mud and in the pouring rain)
Saturday (day before race day)... bike check in, reservoir acclimatisation, bike and run route recce.
Swim… a chance to ‘practice’ the swim in the reservoir to get a feel of the water and collect your bearings…..I’d already heard it was 12deg and I knew that was pretty cold so why would I want to prove it plus getting the wetsuit wet and cold for the 6am start the next day wasn’t in my mind a good idea! One thing that did become apparent was that the route from the reservoir to the bike transition area had a gradient of >14% (?)!. I saw my brother trying to walk this and he was blowing ……..perhaps it was the fact he only had 1hr sleep due the torrential rain and the wind whistling around his tent the night before :-).
After racking the bikes there were loads of portable fences tied with tape and of course there were some more permanent electric fences that kept the cows at bay……. Karl, decided to try and escape the farmers field his own way, trying to avoid the boggy marsh and mud, fence tape was lifted and on we marched until there appeared to be a slightly different colour tape and before I could say ‘that’s an electric wire’….Karl made a damn fine attempt to prove he was in fact ‘not a girl’, he was zapped like a fly in a chip shop and he didn’t even complain of a burnt finger :-).
The cycle route was next on the agenda to recce, I had to wheel spin the car and drive 30mph out of the ‘car park’ (also muddy farmers field) other wise I would become another whom would need rescuing by the already over worked tractor. …….In my faithful A2 the car struggled to ascend the 1st 4-6mile climb of the bike course until there was some exciting descents!......by exciting I mean there was a sharp bend left where if you over steered you’d hit a huge lake. Then followed steeper descents, with massive drain covers and pot holes just before a junction, then, just around the corner were headwinds ……….I guess the point I’m trying to make is that the course is technical..……..just like the Surrey and Hampshire hills (my enthusiasm for this Ironman event was beginning to return :]!).
The 26.2 mile run route was left unseen and a trip to the pub to find that my brother was already paving his way through his sleep medicine was a much better idea.
Race Day...
Race day started at the hotel from 3.15am, with Alpen and a Banana. My friend Debbs, Karl and I arrived at the reservoir to a distinct buzz of nervous athletes whom were checking tire pressures, loading up bikes with nutrition and donning their wetsuits. I was chuckling to myself as my brother was camped particularly close to the DJ setup, the DJs mission was to creating an ‘electric’ (scuse the pun) atmosphere at 4am! Meanwhile Karl was mincing around ‘body gliding up’ and zipping up as many male wetsuits he possibly could whilst I was ready and hung around err watching really (wetsuit heaven!).
It was starting to get cold and I couldn’t wait to get into the 12 deg C water!……….we were herded like cattle through a gate and then descended down the steep narrow lane to the reservoir where some swimmers must’ve been treading water for at least 15minutes until all 1500 competitors finally got into the water. There was some confusion as the over zealous DJ was telling us to move back behind the start line, just as the claxon sounded. We were off……..the battle began, it was like being in a washing machine, getting kicked in the face and stomach whilst trying not to drown, kinda took the mind off the water temperature. I thought the crowds of swimmers would filter due to the various swimming abilities but it seemed to take at least 1000m before this was the case. The Bun fights seemed to cease on the 2nd lap, I then realised I was drifting of course slightly and hence headed back to the pack. Karl the super swimmer (esp with his new spot welded webbed fingers, courtesy of the farmers pen) would leave the water after about 1hr 5mins and I’d still have at least a further 20mins, at this point my hands, feet and face were getting numb and I decided to kick harder to revive the circulation……as tried to exit the reservoir but staggered left and left and oops and up and left, it seemed the cold in my ears had affected the balance but luckily there were some fine (err I mean kind ) young men labelled catchers whom physically pointed me in the direction of the steep climb to transition (swim to bike = T1). T1 now had straw and a red carpet to cover the ankle deep mud although you could still feel the squelch as you ran over it. T1 took some time taking off the wetsuit, and slipping into a cycling jersey whilst trying to thaw out a little before embarking on the bike.
Bike – 3 laps of 38 ish miles...
Bearing in mind it was still only 730 am, there was a distinct nip in the air, although we had been warned the sun was on the way – I was worried not to have worn enough clothes but the first climb was underway and the heart began pumping hard. The descent began to the sound of an ambulance and I was hoping it wasn’t Karl that had descended into the unscheduled lake stop, luckily not and the injured party was in safe hands. After that the first lap was pretty uneventful apart from the fact I was enjoying the cycle so much I had a huge smile on my face. The 2nd time around I tried to spin at the long ascent so as not to burn out for the 3rd lap, the 2nd lap proceeded with moments of brilliance to bordering of cramp. I had to back off a little and increase the fluid and fuel intake and then proceeded with a 2nd wind, surprisingly I began over taking people and that’s when I decided to stick to my game plan of 26-27kph average if possible…….. I needed to keep something in the bank for the errr marathon! The big ascent of the 3rd lap caused trouble and I thought I was about to ‘bonk’ – “this can’t happen yet, I haven’t even got to the run”......Chris (optician editor) caught me at the peak of the climb, he said ‘just spin it out’ …..as I descended I span the legs trying to disperse any lactate build up in the muscles and I saw Chris go off in the distance. I remembered the commitment we’d made to raising money for vision aid overseas (That’s a plug – http://www.justgiving.com/opticianironman09/). I had some peanut butter malt loaf and got on with the cycle. By this time I didn’t really know what I was thinking about until I saw a guy fly past, I looked at my speedo and realised I’d been slacking long enough! Down on the tri bars I went, I it was ‘the tour’ ? ……. on the horizon I saw Chris’ familiar shirt, it was just like mine, my mission was to attack! We chatted for a while, took on some Gatorade and then I was off. With only about 20km to go, and only a couple of cheeky ascents but during one climb something jammed in the chain and it came off making a horrible noise, I really thought that was it, I jumped off the bike to investigate but at the same time someone smashed into the back of the bike, luckily I had 2 Gatorade bottles behind my saddle and the tri-bars of the bike behind, popped the bottles out of the cages and took most of the blow. We had a bit of a tumble, I got a ‘face on’ for a moment then proceeded to kiss his ass good bye ;-)………..I was now at transition reverting to an excited smile and ready to tackle the final part of the course- the marathon.
Run – out – back – out (Transition area to Bolton, back and turn to head back to Bolton town hall)
Id already made a big mistake at the London marathon by going too fast too soon and so my plan was to enjoy the run, if I could do 10minute miles I’d be super chuffed. Out of transition I felt great, I smiled and waved at family and friends, chatted with a scouser and a guy dressed as 118. The beginning of the run leg seemed to pass quickly but there were no mile markers, I’d had technology failure and therefore no idea of time or distance covered. I Passed Karl coming the other way along the canal before I’d even got to the 1st turnaround point (in the park near to Bolton), he was looking strong and comfortable. The streets were lined with amazingly friendly crowds, the sun was particularly hot it seemed but motivation and confidence was growing as this gigantic mission was within grasp. The 1st turnaround point seemed to take forever and I didn’t know if this was 10 or 12 miles and there were mixed messages so I didn’t know what to believe. The terrain was undulating in the park so I took plenty of water and a caffeine gel, popped to the ladies and in the words of Forest Gump ‘I just kept on running’. I saw Chris with his VAO (that’s Vision Aid overseas http://www.justgiving.com/opticianironman09/)top on and he appeared to be chilling out at the water station. I headed back towards the transition not really knowing how far was left but feeling that I’d only covered about a 3rd of the run. Physically I seemed to be feeling ok apart from clothing rub and the throbbing of my 2nd toe that I remember hitting whilst exiting the reservoir. Mentally I didn’t know what I was thinking and began to cry, I heard a lady in the crowd say ‘are you ok? why don’t you stop?’ I was ok physically and the girlie emotion passed, although I did see and hear many others in similar situations. The strategy of walking at the feed stations and any steep parts of the course seemed to be working. I caught up with 118 whom had left me early on and I passed many people who were in real trouble. The 2nd time I passed Karl (he was on the home straight) it looked painful and I wasn’t looking forward to my final lap. I saw Chris again as I was on my home straight, he also looked to be struggling now. Suddenly I heard the beep of a garman and I asked a guy how far we’d been, he replied ‘20.2 miles’………ok. so that’s err just 10k left, I decided that I was ‘slacking’ again and I upped the pace (at least I thought so), the hunger to finish was strong but there were moments where my calfs took it in turns to boarder cramp so I still walked at the hills but drank as I ran past the water stops, I could hear the noise of the crowds at the finish line now and all sorts of emotion and excitement passed, I saw this amazing big screen with a clock in front which said 12hrs 42min – I couldn’t believe it I’d guessed I’d be over 13hrs. I saw my family and friends whom were obviously shocked to see me and also expecting me to be collapsing on my knees. I was elated and grinned ear to ear but I always had one eye on the clock so I sprinted to the finish in order to get under 12hrs 45mins……….my time 12hrs 44min and 49secs……...my friend shouted “your 2nd in your class…….and your an IRONMAN”…..if 1st in my age id have to do it all again in Hawaii in two months time – phew!
Karl had been back for ages, massaged and changed. He finished in an amazing time of 11hrs 21mins and was 130th overall and 27th in his particularly hard age group.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/video/88113/