Double Ironman

Kate. How did you get on at weekend? Are you still in one piece?

Andy

Finished 15th out of 54 starters.

28 hours 51 minutes 53 seconds.

Well done you.

Andy

Here is my report (as written for a running website so some references won't be understood). I actually would thoroughly recommend this to all of you who have already done the IM distance. Seriously, ask me about it, I did no 'more' training than I did for a single. It's possible with work/kids etc. Really!

Journey to become DIM!
I didn’t feel nervous at all at the start of the race; to be honest, it was such an unknown to me that I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly wasn’t going to freak myself out with any forward thinking. Before the race I consumed 5 pieces of toast, 2 small pastries, 4 cups of coffee and a bottle of Lucozade. You have time to do that when you get up at 2am! Eek!

THE SWIM: 4.8 miles
6am start Saturday: 3 in a lane, I was wondering how this would work as I was worried that we wouldn’t find a collective pace and there would be too much bumping into each other and enforced stops. In training I’d been swimming 100x25m in about 1 hour 4/6mins and so taking that to its logical conclusion, that would give me a 3hr 20 swim and so YES, I was concerned about the cut off (which was 3.5 hours). No intentional sandbagging. The swim was perfectly set up for me as it turned out. I wasn’t quite fast enough to pull the guys along but could keep up with them beautifully if I was at the back, or even in the middle. We all kept good time (for us), until one of the guys slowed and then stopped. He really struggled towards the end, he had ‘sea’ sickness and a bucket was provided for him at the end of the lane. If I was ever grateful for little things, at that point it was that he didn’t chuck up actually in the water. The last 20/30 lengths were a bit tough on the arms, but I was very pleasantly surprised with a 2.47 swim. 2x500ml sports drinks consumed and a small packet of sports beans. I actually managed to eat the sports beans whilst swimming; you just chew when you turn to breathe... I only got it wrong once. I didn’t actually mean to swim whilst eating them; I just kind of forgot I was still chewing when I pushed off again.

In conclusion, wearing a wetsuit and drafting gain you valuable time. Also wearing a wetsuit means you can pee without being obvious! Win...win...win!
Longest distance in training: 222x25m

THE BIKE
Ok, so 16 x 14mile laps
Getting out of the pool was a relief, I think it was the first inkling that this was ‘doable’. Basically it’s really hard to articulate how I’d been feeling about the double. All the things I said I said I’d do in training, I hadn’t done. I said I would run/ride at night, I’d thought about long brick sessions etc.. I even said I’d write a training program; but I didn’t, well not on paper. What I did do was just go out there most days and do something. I just did stuff, lots of it and I had my own logic, my own intuitive structure. I hate bike/run bricks so why do them? More so, at the pace the double would dictate, what was the point in doing a brick session? From a physiological point of view I couldn’t find a reason... So, training was different and I never did the big distance, longest swim was 222x25m, longest bike 101 miles, longest run, London marathon. BUT, I regularly trained and longish middle distances, so my body was constantly working, one day to the next. Can you see that I could only go into this knowing it would either work or not. There was no certainty that I could do 224 miles on a bike, untested water.

With the help of Waff’s better directional control than mine, I made it to my bike. I can’t remember that bit, all I knew was that it was 9.08 when I started my first bike lap.

My plan on the bike was to take an hour a lap (ride a steady 14mph), that would mean I then had 2hrs+ as a safety net. So off I went, lap one.... Here is my description of the bike course, slight uphill until the only right turn junction. At this junction for most of the time were two absolutely FANTASTIC marshalls with a caravan. They did not fail, as far as I saw to cheer every competitor on, in shit weather for hours. They asked my name and I had a little chat on several laps, we passed them twice in a lap, just seeing the lights of their little camp was a boost as you knew the hill was over (will mention that in a bit) and you were on your way home again for a bit of TLC from base camp.... Anyway, the ‘out’ part of the route was lovely, free speed really, downhill and good flats, it seemed to whizz by. At the 7 mile turnaround, there was a marshall (mostly Wickett; again lovely to see a friendly face in those conditions) counting laps (in case the chip system failed) and you had to turn around a tiny roundabout. Back up was a slog... the hills weren’t big, but they become like the stairs you have to climb to bed when you are a child and are frightened of the dark. I had varying strategies as time went on, to approaching the short steeper little hill over the railway bridge and also the longer one leading up to the right turn marshalls. It either had to be slow steady acceptance or out of seat ‘you’re not going to win’ attack. This was all dependent on mood at the time.

Anyway, I found I could easily spin the course for the majority of laps averaging 15.9mph for a while and then after many laps, this dropped to about 15.3. Cool, I was ok with that and eating up the mileage ok. As I said earlier, Pirate support was nothing short of amazing, i can’t tell you how much I looked forward to every time I got back to base; just to have that contact with people I knew, the words of encouragement and the practical support. The weather was so bad at some points, just driving rain; if it had been a longer course without that contact with the support crew, I would have really struggled, my motivation would have plummeted. Some people have said that they don’t fancy this event because of the hamster wheel effect. Thank f*ck for the hamster wheel is all I can say. I think many more people would fail this distance without it. The other good thing is that from a technical point of view, you get to know every bit of the bike (and run) courses and therefore you know in advance which gear works, how to ride the course to preserve energy etc. That is also of great benefit; and it breaks it down into chunks for you already.

In the early stages of the bike course I was consumed with looking out for Symes, I really needed to know that he had got through the swim cut off. I couldn’t find him for ages as he didn’t have Pirate kit on at that point, but I was very relieved when I clocked him. It was also comforting to see Crashie, GOM and Mon so often, again faces you know in a long ordeal.

Only a few more thoughts from the bike, at one point I passed a woman walking 2 dogs; oh yes one was a GSD, it turned and looked at me, a very girly face, very similar to Mags. It’s gaze followed my bike. “This is for you Mags” I muttered under my breath.
We passed through a village, twice an hour you could see the local pub Saturday evening in full flow; you know, it just seemed better to be doing what we were doing. Can’t explain it.

I had 2 low points on the bike, one was in the first 40 miles; I always have a low round about that point, it takes me a while to really bed down on the bike. The second one was when Mon lapped me, I hadn’t expected to be near her in time, but at that point (about 5/6 laps before the end I think, can’t remember), she looked like she was getting stronger and I was fading. I just wondered if it was the start of my unravelling, lack of experience etc.

So, that lasted a bit but suddenly when it got dark, and after some food and a change of clothing, I got a HUGE second wind. I just felt alive again and was eager to finish the bike and get running. I just wanted to run. What really surprised me in all of this was that there was no point where I felt overwhelmed by tiredness. I didn’t once think of sleep, wanting it or needing it, for that I was grateful. I think with me there’s always the thought that it has to be done, so just get in the frame of mind to do it, you can put it off for a bit but it doesn’t change what is in front of you. Another way to think about it is that it’s time, only time.. and time goes, whatever happens time goes and there is always an end.

THE RUN
After the bike, I just wanted to get the run started; it was 42 laps of 1.24 miles. My plan was to kick out the first half marathon and then stop to eat something. I started the run at 1am (very ish) and settled into a slow steady pace. Mon was already on the run course, but there were very few of us in those early hours. The run felt good, I had planned to eat into the rest of it after the first half, in 5 lap segments, with good comfort break stops to eat and drink every 5th lap... However, that all changed fairly randomly. At the furthest point of the run were the lap counters, towards the end of the first marathon or thereabouts, one of them said to me that the other lady had been asking how many laps I’d done. At that point they said that Mon was only 2 laps (2 and a half miles) ahead of me. Bliddy ell, didn’t expect that, immediately assumed she had gone for a sleep as it was only Mon stopping that would have lessened the distance. At that point I knew I had to run the rest of it without stopping, there was suddenly an incentive to do that, and looking back I’m so glad that there was, it pushed me on, where I would have played it more safely in a different context.
We both knew that the distance between us wasn’t ordinary distance, in this situation each lap takes so much longer than it would in any other race. I just had the incentive to drive thanks to having Monique there; I’m always confident in my run ability and felt strong ....

So, I had a good run in the main, the wheels started to drop off in the last 5/6 laps. I can’t describe this to anyone who hasn’t been there. Your body doesn’t want to carry on, you are hurting it big time, you don’t actually want to carry on but you do. There is just no option to stop. Counting down the last laps was brutal. However such great support from everyone at base camp and great mutual support between competitors on the course; all this made this even so fantastic.

LAST LAP
Trev announced my last lap (the relief of that!), as mentioned earlier, you run it the wrong way, getting all the high fives and congrats from the course (and the HELL of descending the steps)..

To finish is a great celebration of what the human body is capable of if you have the will to believe it and pursue it.

I can honestly say that I actually enjoyed this race until the pain of the last laps. I never expected anything near the time I achieved. I really put that down to one thing and one thing only. The Pirates making me eat and eat and eat and drink and drink and drink. Right there has been the missing piece of my long endurance jigsaw up until now.

Big thanks to Steve and Eddie too; I thought you guys were wonderful 

Wow, Kate! Big congratulations! What a FANTASTIC achievement!


Karenx

Well done Kate, I'll think about your efforts next year when I'm doing my first Ironman.
Interrresting report, made good reading. I wonder how many cals you burnt??

Good luck with your first one Ged, which one are you doing?

As for calories, I can honestly say that I have never eaten as much in one day as I did on the bike, every lap I took something else to eat. I really do believe that your nutrition/hydration strategy is makes or breaks Ironman distance and beyond. I learnt a lesson in ironman France last year when I got it wrong and bonked badly on the bike at around 70 miles, I limped home and finished, but well well over the time I was capable of.

Luckily I got it right at the Double, you just have to make sure you fuel enough.

Hi Ged,
Malcolm and I have read up quite a bit on nutrition for Ironman and long distance racing and have adopted quite different strategies but both work for us.
On the bike I adopt a drink every 15 mins strategy consuming 500ml of energy drink per hr (30g carbohydrate) and eat every 30 mins ( 1/3 to 1/2 energy bar portions -30g carbohydrate an hour)and have a variety of flavours in my bento box. On the run , I take on water, energy drink, coke in a what I feel like rotation and gels every 45 mins , for as long as I can tolerate them!!
Malcolm however uses a product called Perpetuam by Hammer nutrition, which is much more protein based ( 50g carb/ 6g protein) and he uses that and water and thats it.... he's been converted!!

But my race strategy is always stick to your own race plan, ignore everyone else, and nutrition, pacing and sticking to the right heart rate are always key. Ironman run strategy is very different from any stand alone marathon, and is definately unknown territory until you've done one ( on a similar scale to the run at Wimbleball versus a stand alone half marathon!!)

Mike Griffin and I used a similar 30 week training program ( I picked it up from wk 10) and I would recommend that... injury free, not permanently knackered, really good taper and a 10.53 Ironman PB at Roth!!! No complaints there!
What race are you planning on next year? Most of the European ones are full I think.
Steve Price.... would be good to hear about Ironman UK in Bolton this year and your thoughts on that.

Catherine

Hey, well done for Roth!