Swim 3.8km bike 180km, marathon 42.2km - complete within 17 hours
Heading towards IronMan Austria 2024 I was contending with an ongoing knee injury, all info from pre event Blog.
So, onto the 2024 start line, with near 3,000 other participants, with 5 of us heading out through timers and into Lake Worthersee every 5 seconds. Into the water, under the water, breathe, take stroke 1 and we are Game On.
I am not setting out AGAINST the challenge of 140.6 miles. I am setting out FOR.
For? For my wife, and for my daughters. For my mum. For what the race organisers said in the 2024 athlete briefing, 'Just being here is a Celebration of Wellness'. For our amazing, local, friendly and inclusive GTC Glenrothes Triathlon Club. For everyone who has mentored and encouraged me over the last 10 years. For everyone back home who will be signed in today and watching my ongoing progress via ankle transmitter, on the IronMan App. For is always much easier than against!
Austria is not a technical turning swim - it only has two turns, it is straight out into the lake, turn left at 1.35km, a few hundred metres more, then turn left again and swim directly back into the morning sun, back direct towards the final 1km down the narrow Lendkanal.
I had a bad start to the swim, very busy, much contact with many others, just could not relax, let alone get into any rhythm at all. Realised 500 metres in that, caught up in the joy of being at the start line, I hadn't gone through my usual visualisation, deep-breathing, and focus on relaxation. I was about to find out that 'I have done this before, and can easily do it again', is absolutely not applicable.
Pool rehearsals with my usual Total Immersion swim style and relaxed 'both sides' bilateral breathing, immediately all out the window. Breathing only on the right side, and back to the slower and much more physical 'survival mode' front crawl which I was using ten years ago. Swimming in a pool is a country mile of difference from open water, amongst many other swimmers.
At approximately 1.5km into the swim (circa 33 minutes), bam! Cramp begins, goodness me it is both legs, and it quickly worsens. And then it turns into something I have not experienced before when swimming, both legs totally cramped, stuck, unable to move at all, and extremely painful. So I totally stop and bob around in the Lake for a few minutes. Swim again, cramp returns, stop. I end up needing to stop completely four times. Arrive at Lendkanal (narrow canal for final 1km), check my watch and see I am already nearly 15 minutes behind my target swim time.
By now, stuck legs feel only like they are hanging under me, as opposed to behind me. I am needing to sight (look ahead) every second stroke as it is so busy in the canal, and each time I do that my head goes up and therefore my legs drop even further underneath me, I feel like I am actually almost not moving, despite all efforts. Explaining how this part felt afterwards, I said 'Flumping around!' Then it turns comical. Legs are totally 100% stuck so I actually roll over on my back and start hand-paddling backwards down the canal LOL. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!!! I have never seen anyone doing this in an Ironman, there's a first time for anything. A metre at a time, let's get this done!
I give myself a character credit on making it to the end of the 3.8km swim, a full 35 minutes before the cutoff time.
Exiting the water, mutter mutter ... And of course wondering if I can shake off the cramp for the next section.
A quick change in Transition 1, I pop an electrolyte pill to counter the cramp, and head out to begin the cycle section on The Black Knife. Once again, as opposed to being 'clipped in' I have flat pedals and trainers. Not seen any of the other 3,000 others doing the same. If it works for you then it works! Cramp disappears. Bike feels superb, with new updated Fast TT raised bars. So comfortable, I could sit pedalling in this position for hour after hour. Unlike previously, where I have only been able to hold a much lower aero tuck for 3 hours, before the bike turned itself into a mechanism of total torture, and reduced holding speed from near 30km per hour, back down to 22km per hour, due to increased wind resistance from sitting up.
Kilometre after kilometre. 180km = 112 miles. I always think that the single most important thing about an Ironman challenge, is being able to be truly comfortable on the bike.
I managed some 95 overtakes on the bike this year. Many others also overtaking me. It was a two loop cycle this year, so ... after a couple of hours many of those who had started the swim much earlier, and were much faster swimmers, and were riding mega expensive hyper bikes, were now catching up on their loop two, and flying past me at near 50km per hour on the flat sections. I have noticed over recent events that the Canyon Speedmax is proving to be a truly effective and fast bike. My Trek Speed Concept is now nearly 10 years old, equipped with Bontrager Aeolus (Aeolus = God of Wind) aero wheels, and the Fast TT bars, it is absolutely superb for what I need it to do.
On the climbing sections, so as to protect my bad knee, I put 80% of the pedalling effort through the good knee. That worked fine.
On flat sections and downhills, same idea as Tour de France cruising sections, I maintain an overall tempo of no more that 65% total effort, keeping my heart in the 'heartbeat comfort zone', it is tempo all the way, with a focused endeavour to conserve energy for the marathon to come later.
Austria is a technical up and down cycle course, got to have your wits about you, some of the downhills rolling between 70km and 80km per hour.
Overcast and sometimes raining conditions help the 2024 cycle pace, and I made up some of the time previously lost in the swim. Target time to finish the cycle 4.30pm, actual time finished 4.45pm. 112 miles cycled, including the equivalent of cycling up over Scotland's highest mountain Ben Nevis, plus another additional 450 metres vertical, in just over 7 hours.
The overcast conditions would prove to be such a help this year, that the total of those who would not finish was as low as 10% - circa 300 participants DNFs. This is massively down on failure rates in previous years, certainly in contrast to July 2022 when the temperature was 38 degrees, in the shade!
A quick change, Voltarol on the bad knee, on goes the knee brace, and off we go with race walking the marathon. 42.2 kms. The equivalent of Markinch to Dundee, let's Go!
Try and keep everything cool, every 2km stop at an aid station, a glug of cola and a scoosh of cold water over the head. :
After 10km I know exactly where I am with timings and with a full couple of hours theoretically spare, the bad knee is now very much letting its presence be felt, so I decide to back the race walk pace off, by 3 to 4 seconds per 100 metres. Thereby adding a half an hour to my 15 hour target for end finish time, but totally increasing the prospects of actually finishing the challenge. Whilst many Ironman participants are wholly and exclusively focused on their finish times, and setting new personal records, managing myself, actually finishing, getting the medal and T shirt is more important to me, than improving any previous finish time. Some participants have nutritional strategies that include energy gels and energy bars. I am jelly babies for the cycle, with a couple of syrup oat bars, and a few half bananas. Water and cola.
Due to injury and unable to do any running at all over recent months, but able to fast walk, preparations this year included fast walking over 300 kilometres down on Kirkcaldy Prom. Tune your orchestra with what you've got!
Final conditioning sessions on Kirkaldy Prom, I was hitting sub 8 minute per km race walking. In final Final sessions I had worked on significantly quicker 'slightly risk the bad knee, by running 500 metres, then race walk 500 metres, repeat'. On the day itself however, I knew I had enough time to race walk the entire thing. The finish was not taken for granted in any way until I was 10 metres from the end.
The 2024 plan worked!
So that's a new Glenrothes Triathlon Club record. And sharing thoughts with fellow Club members:
Whilst the club has many members who focus on all 3 Triathlon disciplines, there are members who only focus on one or two. Annual membership is £20 - so what are you waiting for?
Many thanks to Sportograf for all race photos, and all official event photos below. It is always the same. The pain of the day itself. Back at the hotel afterwards, legs lathered in Voltarol, compression socks on, and thinking 'Never again!'. Challenges getting up on feet the next day, let alone walking. And the second day is always even worse. But day 3 is always better! And after 5 days you begin to think, 'Well maybe I could do one more?' This time around I am having a very, very good chat with my very lovely wife Gaynor about the Triathlon future.
All best wishes,
Nicholas
IronMan Class of 2024
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