Myself and Lauren my fiancé, arrived in Copenhagen a couple days before my first Ironman race. It was a lengthy car journey; nearly 4 hours but the time seemed to pass quickly as we admired the beauty Scandinavia had to offer.
Finally we arrived in Kalmar. Fairly tired from the journey, we set out in search if food and it was an early night.
The next couple days were spent doing the usual routines as I would for any race (athlete registration, bike rack etc etc). I like to get all the obligatory jobs done ASAP as it gives me more time to relax, get focused and in the zone and do my last couple training sessions before the big day.
The 04:00 alarm clock sets off after having a pretty restful nights sleep. I consumed my usual pre race breakfast, the only difference being the amount of calories consumed, (600-700 kcal) due to the duration of race time ahead of me. I was feeling calmed and relaxed sitting quietly with my thoughts and visualising the race.
We arrived down at T1 early so I could put my nutrition on my bike, make sure tires were good to go and get my wetsuit on. I made the decision not to have a swim warm up as it was a chilly morning and the water temperature was a little on the chilly side and didn't want to risk getting too cold before the start! So I ran through my dry land drills to warm up before kissing Lauren goodbye, and setting off on my first Ironman race.
I put myself at the front of the swim pack as I knew it was gonna be a free for all when the canon blew. 07:00....boom, we were off, i dodged in and around other swimmers trying to cut a clear path to the first buoy and after the first turn I was into a good rhythm. The swim was two laps and bit extra around the marina. My target was 1:05 and I exited the water 1:07 so not bad. A lot of work to be done in what is by far my weakest discipline and will be working closely with Perry over the remainder of the season and going forward into 2014 to make some serious progression.
Out of T1 after a slow transition and on to the bike. It's regarded one of the flattest courses on the circuit, however, the wind was so relentless in large sections of the course you might as well have been cycling up hill and there was a wicked side wind that battered my rear disc and deep section Front wheels. My pacing was good as I closely monitored my normalised power output making sure not to burn too many of those valuable matches. My nutrition and hydration was sound, taking in fluids every 15 minutes and consuming carbohydrates every 30 minutes. I felt good on the bike and as I neared Kalmar, before entering T2 in a time of 5:02, I was confident of delivering a solid marathon time.
The marathon, the final leg. Running out of T2 I felt really good, holding a steady pace not feeling any real discomfort. This was good. Mentally I broke it down into 10k splits. The course was 3 laps and as I started the second lap my pace was still good. I took advantage of the aid stations taking on fluids and carbohydrates. It wasn't until about 26k I started to feel my pace drop a little and my legs start to tire. My body was also starting to reject the sweet tasting gels and fluids that my body needed. Just over the 30k mark my pace starting dropping considerably and this was the early signs of the dreaded 'bonk'. I kept telling myself just one foot in front of the other, keep my cadence and length of my stride up. Those last K's were tough but the crowds of Kalmar spurred me on and as I turned out of the last corner onto the finish straight, I saw the finish line and took in the moment of becoming an Ironman in 9 hours and 24 minutes.
It has been a massive learning experience with lots to improve on. I have no doubt in my mind that good things lie ahead of me in my journey to going Pro.
"Initiative is key. Anybody who wants to be somebody is going to work as hard as they can to fulfill that dream."
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