Now that the dust has settled after an amazing trip to Barcelona i.e. I’m back offshore and on night shift, I thought I’d draft up a wee race report of my journey to the illusive run down the read carpet with the announcement ‘Euan, you are an Ironman’!
My Triathlon history is short having done my first sprint in May 2018 when I was training for the Edinburgh 70.3 in July. Edinburgh was so so – ok swim and cycle, with my usual strong discipline, the run, a leg/nutrition meltdown! I clearly remember thinking I could never image doubling this in a full iron man…feeling that were short lived! After chatting with my pal Craig about doing a full, I came in from the pub one night and let Dutch courage do the talking…Barcelona 2020 was game on! As I work offshore on a 4 weeks on/off rotation, I approached John to devise a ten-month plan to get me ready for the big event. Working 12 hours a day offered limited training time – especially with fatigue after shift (and being hungry!), so I elected to start training before shift with a 0230 rise. Sessions were mainly focused on the wattbike, treadmills and functional over this period offshore with longer rides and swimming on my time off. Events in the lead up to Barcelona were in the form of in two middle distances – Arran and the Beltie coming 2nd and 3rd respectively (both cracking events BTW). These were great indicators for my training progress with both these events completed without the misery suffered during the run at Edinburgh..or DOMs for that matter!!
Having remained in relatively good shape and healthy throughout my training I was dealt a major blow four weeks prior to Barcelona with a muscular knee problem coupled with a chest infection followed by a bout of gastroenteritis. My final two weeks before taper were written off. I was gutted as it felt all the hard work was unraveling around me! Eventually I managed to complete a 135Km bike, 20Km brick which boosted morale. I met John where he re-jigged my plan and built up the training volume to the event conscious not to agitate my knee.
I flew out to Barcelona the week prior which was the best thing I could have done as it not only allowed me to acclimatize to the heat but was huge confidence builder as I was totally exceeding expectations on the bike. I was feeling the knee in the runs but figured adrenaline would see me through on race day. The week leading up to the event saw family arrive along with my pal Craig who was competing – this was the next big challenge to abstain from over indulging on the beers and cocktails with them! Race morning arrived and thanks to some Spanish revelers outside a nightclub near my hotel I only had 3.5 hours sleep….three espressos later soon brought me back to life! We headed to T1 – an astro football pitch which we estimated must have had over £12 million in bikes racked up for the 3800 participants. With a late sunrise, Ironman Barcelona has a sociable start time of 0810 and the nervous vibe in T1 in the dark was quite something. Greeted by a beautiful sunrise and AC/DCs ‘Thunder’ it was time, I placed myself in the 1:10 pen waiting patiently as the pros got started followed mass of age groupers being released in groups of six. A school boy error got the ball rolling – starting the race with my watch was in ‘Swim’ mode not ‘Triathlon’…doh! A minute of frantic button pressing and waiting for GPS I got going. The swim is an L shape one lap swim in the clear Mediterranean and we’d been graced with flat calm conditions. Apart from the frantic mass of bodies at the turns I swam a nice relaxed swim coming out at 01:09:10 – delighted! A quick turnaround in T2 and we headed for the 180Km two lap bike route from Calella down towards Barcelona. Yet again conditions were good with overcast and light winds. The main issue with the cycle is not getting caught up drafting which when there are 3800 competitors can be a challenge. Initially referees issued warnings till the crowds spread out then the yellow cards were shown resulting in a 5 minute stop in the nearest penalty box. These boxes certainly looked busy places and thankfully I’d managed to keep on the right side of the law to avoid any stops as I was having the ride of my life! The cycle finished with a ride through the packed streets – the atmosphere was electric and it was great to see family cheering me on. The bike was completed in 5:15:40 with an average speed of 34.2Kph…something that’s still sinking in!!
With the bike re-racked I headed into the massive marquee to don my running gear. The marathon run is a 3-lap route which firstly teases you passing the finish line, through all the crowds before heading to the north following the coast. The legs felt good and the cheer I got from the four travelling support really got me going. The first 14k lap went as planned averaging 5min/km however the knee pain started to creep in. The next lap was definitely a lot tougher – especially away from the area with the boisterous crowd. My splits were also edging towards the 6m/km mark. Going onto the final lap was such boost albeit my run looked something more akin to a penguins waddle. With an aid station every 2.2km I allowed myself a walk through them with the odd stretch. Running the final few km through the crowed paths was so uplifting and I was beaming from ear to ear as I turned onto the red carpet. ‘Euan, you’re an Ironman’ was announced and my time came up on the display – 10:40:54, a time I could have only dreamed of ten months ago! With no great appetite (except for beer) I left the recovery marquee to meet the family and cheer Craig on as he embarked on his final lap of the run.
The next day was mixed emotions as I had to leave a day early for work (total buzz kill!) but after packing my kit I enjoyed several beers by the pool reflecting on the training journey, the race, and how much I’d enjoyed it all. Before I knew it, Ironman Italy 2020 had been signed up for – not something I’d expected within 12hrs of completing! Debriefing with John I mentioned that it was the only Ironman with full, half and Olympic distances in one weekend, and that it’d be great craic if we made a club trip out of it….in true Fusion enthusiasm a small army seems to be assembling! In the mean time I’m enjoying time out the offshore pain cave!
Thanks again John and Fusion/PE gang who were part of the journey!
