Ironman debut

So now I have joined the Ironman club and today I´m feeling the effects. My whole body is sore, especially the legs from running and the sun burn on my shoulders and back.

 

11 hours, 36 mins, 38 seconds and 3 flat tires!

Unfortunately the finish time/result does not reflect my ability. My day began with a flat tire in the transition area. We checked the tire pressure at 5:30 a.m., and whilst pumping all of a sudden "bang", the first flat tire. A quick change before heading down to the swim start. The swim was not as daunting as I thought, with 2500 other competitors I expected it to be a bit rougher. Still I did manage to get a kick in the face. No reason to panic. I felt great in the water set for a perfect day. I achieved my first goal for the day, to come out of the water under 1hr. To be exact 59:36. We had to then run 500m to the change tent, here I picked up my bike bag with helmet, race number and sunglasses and then a further 300m to my bike. 

 

My discipline - 180 km ride

Normally this is my strongest discipline where I can make good time. However today was not ment to be. As I settled into my rhythm I noticed that the back tire was not running smooth. We had changed the tube due to the flat in the transition area and most likely the tire was not fully pumped and not sealed properly. Still I kept calm and kept pushing the pace. I overtook a lot of pro women which was great for the motivation. The legs were awesome, a dream form exactly on the right day. I planned to stop at the first Shimano service, which was after 20km however they were not set up. So I kept riding and sure enough after 20km again that fimiliar sound of a flat tire. I pulled over and quickly changed the tire. I noticed that the side wall of the tire was damaged, there was a hole between the seal and the tire. I cannot explain how this happened, it was a new tire. I had nothing to loose and set off again. I overtook more women, the same ones I had aready passed. At the 50 km mark it was all looking good when I overtook a top pro women from France, who ended up finishing 5th, and sure enough the next flat. I though that´s it, my Ironman attempt is now over. A referee came to me and wanted to take my start number as I had no chance to continue (no tube/pump and a damaged tire). A friendly spectator who was following the race with this road bike gave me a tube and pump. The referee was very nice and allowed me to us the tube/pump. Usually you cannot receive external help. So I changed the tube again, for the 3rd time, and pumped away. It was not the best pump and I could only pump around 3 bar pressure. I decided to ride on as I knew there was a shimano service at the top of the climb. It was a long climb and with the low pressure in the rear wheel made things tough. Still I managed to make it to Shimano after passing hundreds of competitors. Lukily enough Shimano has new tires and tubes. Okay so this was my third pitstop with 110 km to go. I had lost around 45 minutes. Sure enough I my total riding time was 5hrs 38mins and the actual time recorded on the timing system 6 hrs 23 mins. I actually comtemplated giving up after the 2nd flat, as my gaol was to finish in 10hrs30 mins and to win my age category to earn a start in Hawaii. However after seeing all the competitors gruelling up the climb with the goal of just finishing I continued on to make the most out of my Ironman debut. The rest of the ride went smoothly, no more flat tires....

 

Marathon - 42 km

After 7 1/2 hours I entered the second transition with a full marathon ahaed of me. I knew I had at least 3,5 hrs of running to complete. This would mean a 11 - 11,5 hr finish time. Not the time I wanted to see in above the finish line, however just to complete an Ironman is a accomplishment. I have respect for all those Ironmen/Ironwomen out there. The first 10km was perfect, I wanted to run 5min/km and managed a 5:07. Unfortunately I could not hold this tempo for the rest of the marathon. The second 10km was 5:42. The hammer hit me at the 20km mark. My body was total empty, the heart rate sank and the breathing increased meaning that I was running on my fat reserves which is not very efficient. I stopped at the feedzone and drank cola and ate biscuits. However it was too late to fully recover. The time spent changing tubes/tires was wasted time, time where I could have been drinking or eating. I think this costed me a lot of energy. The body can only take on a limited amount of carbs. Still I managed to keep on running, only stopping at the feedzones to fuel up. Over 60% of the competitors were walking at this stage. The legs were hurting, which is no surprise after 10 hours of activity. I was happy to enter the finish straight with hundreds of cheering spectators. A great feeling to complete an Ironman. I can now say that I am an Ironwomen! I ended up finishing overall women 43rd and in my cateory 13th. Not the result I had hoped for, however the experience was worth every second.

 

Jörg´s race

Jörg´s day started out a lot better than mine, no flat tires to begin with. Jörg came out of the water in the second group, just 2minutes behind the leading group. An amazing swim time 53:29. He then went on to put in a great bike leg with a total time of 5hrs 2 minutes, coming into the second transition in 10th place! It was going to be a tough marathon having problems with his stomach on the ride. Possibily due swallowing excessive amounts of salt water during the swim. Jörg was unable to take on any energy gels, the body shut down. Jörg experienced headache and stomach pain. Unable to take on energy it is impossible to run a marathon. After the first 10km Jörg was still in the race, however he hit the wall around the 20km mark having to walk the last 10km. His total time was 10 hrs 33mins, which does not reflect his ability.

 

Recovery

They say it takes 4 weeks to recover from an Ironman, so that is what we will be doing over the next month. That is easy training, allowing the deep muscles to recover from the damage. Our next race is in 6 weeks time, a 1/2 Ironman, should be a piece of cake after completing a full Ironman!

 

Hawaii 2010

We will have to reschedule Hawaii for 2010 having missed the qualifing times. The desire and determination is still there. We will give it another go in 2010. This was just a part of the journey and it was never going to be an easy one!