London Heathside

[kennethheney]

Ironman Zurich 2010

Laura and I arrived in Zurich on the Friday morning having driven down with a stop over in Strasbourg. With the 'mandatory' race brief on the Friday afternoon, a quick lunch by lake Zurich, was all we managed before walking round to Landiwiese to register, pick up the obligatory merchandise and cram ourselves into a packed marquee for the brief. The rain that had greeted us on arrival into Switzerland continued to tip down and combined without the unrestricted access to the briefing, the result was an uncomfortable hour, half in and half out of the marquee entrance, surrounded by buggies, umbrellas and supporters. The brief was however, well worth attending, providing a good insight to what lay ahead and at one point, a wave of panic was sent through the crowd when a non-wetsuit swim seemed a real possibility with the present water temperature at 24.4 degrees. The brief also succeeded in stressing me out about my weakest discipline, the bike. The draughting, blocking and many other rules all punishable by time penalties and disqualification, all added to my concern over getting through this discipline.

Bike racking was the next on the agenda, the following day, Saturday. Fortunately, I thought, my time slot was first at 15:30. On arrival in the continuing rain, it was impossible to get the car anywhere near due to there being a series of olympic and sprint distance events going on, and when we did eventually get there the information on where to queue and management of slot allocation was very poor; in fact I suspect that very few people paid any attention to their racking time, and the mass of bikes and athletes just seem to surge from every angle. The weather had started to clear and I was determined just to relax and not let this chaotic swarm irritate and frustrate me.

Eventually, my bike was racked, complete with complimentary bike cover, my route in and out was rehearsed and we were back on the number 2 tram to our hotel. We turned up at a local Italian near our hotel, expecting it to be packed out, for an early evening pasta meal, to find we were the only there. It was only six pm, but with a 03:15 start the next day, an early diner and early to bed was always in the plan. The food was nothing to write home about, but provided the fuel and ticked another box in the preparation build up.

It's incredible how easy it is to get up at 3 in the morning when you've got so much to look forward to that day. How Laura does it though, is another question; she as ever was there throughout the weekend supporting better that anyone. Breakfast was laid on with pasta and rice available for those who wished, but I stuck to my oats and dried fruit all the way from London. We boarded a transfer coach to the start, with everything I could possibly need to effectively re-build my bike (just in case!) and several kilos of energy gels, bars and dried fruit. After checking the bike, adjusting the tyre pressure and attaching all my nutrition needs to the frame, a series of toilet visits and re-checking of the bike followed until I could do no more.

At 06:00 a wetsuit swim was confirmed and the 2200 lycra clad competitors morphed into thousands of identical neoprene vacuum packed potential Ironmen.

Having spoken with Martin Potter about the event, I took his advice and tried to get over to the boundary of the ladies only start, and get a bit of clear water. However, no sooner had I swam out to the start line, the gun went and so it's swim for your life or be swam over.

Now on my way I tried to relax into a rhythm and did find some clear water, but soon realized this was because I was already heading off course. A realignment of my direction, took me back into the mass field and I accepted that, as in many events I've done before, I'd be battered about but I'd give as good as I got and so headed for the turning buoys as direct as possible. Unfortunately, my initial misdirection meant I had the very outside line on the first turning point and as I cut in I took a couple of sharp blows in the back and one in the head dislodging my goggles. I managed to get my goggles back on with most of the water cleared other than a little left sloshing around in my left eye, which I did nothing further about. The turning points continued to be mayhem and the exit from the water at half way, run over an island to get back in proved to be something new and just as manic, but with some periods of relaxed melodic swimming seeing the sun rising on every breath, and the views surpassing those of the Virgin Active 20m pool, my swim was completed in just over 69 mins.

As I had gone into the event with no aspiration for time related satisfaction, but to enjoy as much as I could, I got out of the swim very relaxed and jogged into transition. My wetsuit seamed to slip off with little resistance and my socks, shoes, helmet, glasses and race belt all were donned with no mishaps. I even had a wee tidy of my transition area, tucking my wetsuit neatly under my racking space with my hat and goggles out of the way. I trotted out of the transition with no urgency to pass people, content to get over the mount line in my own time and then my shoes just slipped sweetly into the cleats. This was all going rather well. T1 00:02:27.

As I settled into a fast paced first section of the bike, I was finding it very difficult to avoid draughting with large groups of cyclists all around me that I was catching and being caught by. I kept thinking that it's all about 'intent' and that if I settled into my own pace and avoided where I could sitting on someone’s rear wheel, my intent is not to draught. As the route turned off the side of the lake it became more undulating before several long climbs and fast descents and a further fast flat section took us back to Landiwiese before a small loop including climbing 'Heartbreak Hill' completed the lap.

By the second lap I'd become uncomfortably desperate to empty my bladder and very aware of an increasing problem with my left eye. I had been aware from early stages in the bike that I needed the loo, but was keen to avoid loss of time by stopping, and therefore on the second lap I learned a new skill let's say, which resolved this issue. My eye however, was an issue that was not so easy to resolve. It had become more and more irritated and it was becoming very difficult to keep open and see. I began to have to slow the downhill sections right down, as it really was dangerous cycling with impaired vision at 45mph and above in some sections, and I found myself looking forward to flat sections and uphills.

My second lap as a result, was slower but I had managed to keep up a good pace. During all 112 miles I had also kept to a strict nutrition plan, eating a little frequently, of dried apricot, power bar pieces, power shots and gels all washed down with water or some isotonic cocktail. When I got off the bike I was fuelled to the max and delighted to be running; at least running with one eye is a lot easier than cycling.

Again, I seemed unnaturally relaxed through transition. I found my racking slot, slipped on the runners and cruised out without incident for a T2 time of 00:01:26.

As I started running, I clocked my watch properly and couldn't quite register the time, later to be verified as 05:28:54 for the bike. I had planed for a 6h20 so was getting a bit excited in km 1 of the run as possible finish times started to register in my mind. I made a toilet stop then settled into a comfortable pace wandering if I could keep to sub 5min kms, disbelievingly amazing myself each km as I kept getting further and further ahead of this pace. As cramping of my adductors started at 7km I thought it would be the start of my demise, but I forced myself to run through the pain of this with success. I focused on clean rhythmic running, with no sharp changes of direction and as few kerb drops as possible, getting to the end of the first 10.5km lap in just under 47mins.

Water and sponges at every feed station, with gel at every 2nd station was a strategy I used to get me through my previous Ironman marathon, and one I stuck to again here. I ran through cramping of adductors on both legs, both quads and my left hamstring but each time gritted my teeth and forced the pace to continue. I did slow down as the time marched on and distance increased, and I still was struggling with sight in my left eye, but I knew I was on for a good time if I just kept up the fuelling strategy and worked at this pace. With more and more people joining the run course, there were more and more people to focus on passing and I was seriously enjoying the ability to manage this pain and push harder and further.

With a few kms to go I still deliberately held myself back, as one sharp change in pace could result in catastrophic cramping and a very slow last mile, but by the time I'd reached 41.5km I couldn't help but stride out and take in the applause and atmosphere. Into the finish chute, I felt so strong I could have been at the end of a short training run, threw my arms into the air a lived that moment. Elated in disbelief I then stopped, and that is not easy as my legs went and my balance faltered momentarily, as the Swiss finish line support held me up for just one second. 3h22:15.

In the finish area, there is an amazing array of food, which is bewildering in some cases; chicken stroganoff didn't appeal at that very moment in fact nothing did. I tried a little muesli but could stomach it, so just had some hot tea and water. I showered and then decided I could ignore the fact that I was still partially blind, and visited the medical tent. They immediately diagnosed conjunctivitis from lake swimming, flushed out my eyes and sent me on my way with a bottle of eye drops, and I suspect an invoice will soon arrive, but I had to drive back to London so eye sight was important!

Back at the hotel, I managed a burger and chips in the bar, struggling to keep my one eye open as I fought the desire to sleep until at least I'd managed to eat. Into the hotel room following my last chip and the lights go out.

Delighted with a finish time of 10:04:07, 286th out of the field, I really caught the Ironman bug this time, and I can't wait till the next one. With a bit of work on my swim technique and some more time on the bike, and perhaps both eyes next time, there's still a better time in me yet. I’m loving a sport that’s not all about running, but a good marathon at the end of the day certainly helps.

Kenneth Heney, Ironman!