Having competed in my 1st Ironman in 2001 (SA-Gordon’s Bay, cape Town) as a result of a challenge/dare from my brother’s “Ironman” friends, almost dying due to the lack of any proper training (training consisted of a 2 month intense programme which increased my longest cycle & swim ever from 40km – 110km & 800m – 3km respectively) and therefore laying off on completing another Ironman for the past 4 years, I decided that I was ready for the challenge again.

Training commenced in October 2004 with the intention to compete in the PE SA March 2005 Ironman but due to new career opportunities etc I was unable to compete in my home town’s 1st ever Ironman (one which by the way was apparently one of the best ever and one that I will definitely be competing in come March 2006!). The only positive that I could grab from my disappointment of not going to SA to compete was that it allowed me the opportunity to increase my cycling base – cycling is all about time on the bike, experience on the road, learning from those who know, muscles learning and remembering what it takes to cycle long distances etc etc! Like any sport it takes years to become a master and I therefore place myself in the “novice cyclist” category – however in the past year I feel that my cycling has grown in strength, stamina, speed and knowledge and this excites me, knowing that I have only been doing this properly for 9 months! Watch this space in 3 years time!! Only thing to add here is that I owe this improvement to all the great cyclists/Triathletes I have met in London and who I have spent countless hours with on the bike!!

So wanting to do an Ironman (I hadn’t done all this training for nothing) I decided to enter the Swiss Ironman – hearing that it was a great race to do, because other members of our great Tri club (www.sauktri.org) were racing there and because I had never been to Zurich before (what better excuse can one have to go to parts of the world that one might not go to otherwise!!???).

So I was entered and realised that I needed to up my training! Training was always going to be a challenge due to the new job and wanting to keep a balance between work/training/play. This was largely not a problem due to the great tri club, the friends I met through the club and the fun we have on training camps/w-end training sessions/weekly Timetrial & squad swimming session. In the past I had trained mainly alone and one only feels the HUGE benefit of training with other like minded goal orientated people when you actually do it on a regular basis! (HINT – I recommend anyone training for an event to take this into consideration. Not only is it more fun training, but also helps in the learning process and technique improvement!)

So a normal week would look like:

Lessons learnt from training:

• Rest day is crucial! The body gets tired and needs the day’s rest. I also tried to fit in a “rest” week every 3rd/4th week to allow the body to try catch up the recovery! However, one thing I learnt the hard way is not to rest completely. Training seems to make my body stronger and resist the athletes nightmare of flu etc, however when I did do a “complete rest” my body suddenly broke down and I found myself out of the running (excuse the pun) for longer than I wished! I would recommend that you rest but do not stop exercising completely. The body (immune system) needs to realise that it still needs to fight off those daily bugs flying around and training lightly keeps the body alert!
• Working makes it hard to fit in time on the bike (unless you want to wake up at 4.30 and do turbo training sessions) so riding to work and back counts as one of your day’s training sessions – the important thing to do is use it properly i.e. ride hard to work and if on a MTB, use MTB tyres thus adding friction and strength training! However during the rest week, ride to work in a “relaxed” fashion so as to keep the body ticking but resting the muscles!
• Time trial was a good way to try maintain some speed into the running as all the other running sessions were slow Heart Rate (HR) controlled runs.
• Open water swimming definitely is different to lane swimming and should be part of the training schedule.
• Nothing substitutes long rides and the lessons you learn on these long rides
• Training the body to eat & drink - finding what the body will actually take in/reject. I myself discovered banana bread (thanks to some very kind fellow triahtlete wives!) works well and is fairly easy to eat (although not always in 34 degree heat but more of that to come later!).
• Increasing the rpm (amount of revolutions you do per minute). I found I was more comfortable at around 110 but this I think is a personal thing and is all about comfort. My next challenge is to try maintain my high rpm but increase my power output allowing me to use higher gears and therefore generate more speed!
• What I thought to be hill training was not in fact hill training (more about that later!)
• Training camps away (we did 2 – one to Spain for 4 days and one to Bournemouth for 3 days) are fun, challenging and definitely deliver the best training output!
• Training by HR is key to ironman training. I found that my body worked well and lasted for long periods if I remained in a certain HR band (125-145). As soon as I moved out of this band I found my body would suddenly lose stamina and slowly die! This is a once again a very personal thing and is subject to differ for individuals.
• Your body is at times going to react to the massive level of training (sickness/injury etc) – the crucial thing is not to let it get to you (very hard – good time to be with fellow triathlete friends!) and to pick up where you left off (obviously taking it easy at first!)
• A conscious decision was made to decrease the intake of alcohol. I do believe that it is beneficial but a number of us do feel that cutting alcohol out altogether is detrimental as we found we were more susceptible to getting sick!!! Hahaha – allows us to carry on drinking!
• Wear Sun tan cream (hahaha)

So the hard work was done and I was hopefully ready to race the Swiss Ironman!!??!!

I decided to take a bit of a break from work (I can see some of you questioning the lunacy of a Ironman holiday but hey…??) so arrived in Zurich on the Wednesday evening and was only returning to London the following Tuesday. Luckily for me I was able to stay with old family friends – The Baxters – who not only showed me the greatest hospitality imaginable but also, lived less than 1km from the start of the Ironman. I couldn’t have asked for a better location as all of the registration, checking equipment etc was done at the start area.

Arriving on the Wednesday evening at the Baxter’s apartment overlooking the Zurich lake and mountains with their snow covered peaks, I realised that some places have better views than others….don’t quite think my Southfields garden view is quite as spectacular!! What better way to unwind than sit on the deck and enjoy a meal sipping on a cold beer overlooking such a view. It was also great catching up with family friends who had last seen me some 17 years ago as a little jumping Jack 12yr old….only change was apparently the lack of hair…hahaha!

Thursday took in a visit to the centre of Zurich – a very quiet city centre (when comparing to London etc). Noticed that Zurich was extremely clean (almost too clean) and also very expensive!! The afternoon saw the arrival of the rest of my Tri friends and we visited the race site, taking in a swim of the Zurich Lake. The whole time we were in Zurich it was over 30 degrees so cooling off in the lake was constantly on the menu!

Friday we all registered, the excitement already spreading like a wild bushfire as 1500 athletes from around the world arrived, registered, swapped stories and perved over each other’s bikes – now I know this sounds weird but unless you cycle you won’t understand the ability of people to gaze at a bike and just wish…..kinda the same feeling as some people’s fascination over cars (?). Friday evening was the Ironman’s official welcome dinner which always takes the form of a traditional pasta dinner. The evening was a fun one and I ended up meeting a great bunch of internationals – an aussie, 2 yanks and Welshman. It was great hearing all of their stories, training and racing back home as well as everyone’s expectations – a complete mixed bag! That’s one of the best things about Ironman – unless you up there with the big boys and gunning for a win, then everyone is mates and just wants to be included as a “fellow ironman finisher”…regardless of time!

Saturday morning was spent doing touch ups to bike, stretching and generally trying to keep the nerves down to a controllable level. Watched the British Open golf championships on tv which kept me resting and at ease.

Thankfully I managed to get a good 9hrs sleep the previous night because after getting to bed around 11pm on Saturday night I found myself lying in this 30+ heat and finding it impossible to get to asleep. Race strategy, dream finishes, work back in London etc etc all entered my head but no snores!! I must have dosed off at some stage as I remember waking up to my alarm clock at 4am thinking to myself…”do I really want to do this????”

I had arranged all of my stuff the previous evening so all I needed to do was make my breakfast, have my coffee, do the usual pre-race routine (ever athlete will know what I mean here and those who have never raced…guess!). I walked to the start at 4.50am, taking into account the quietness of the road and realising that in 3 hrs time that same road would be swarming with cyclists departing on their 180km quests…but first the pre-race prep and swim!

Entering the transition zone was like entering a scene from star wars (well to the non triathlon person at least)….spotlights shining everywhere, bikes covered in blue plastic sheets, and people roaming around, wearing strange clothing and looking very nervous! Checked the bike, organised my clothing for the cycle and run, sorted out my food, stretched and then climbed into my wetsuit. 30 minutes to go and the questions were flying, nerves in abundance and the excitement levels on the rise!

The “SA group” came together, gave our last chance best wishes, took the traditional group photo (rather photo”s” as the usual story of cameras popping out of every bag like a magicians party trick suddenly merged on the poor friend/supporter who had the task of now holding 8 cameras) and then walked with the 1500 Ironman hopefuls down to the start.

Wetsuits were zipped up, one last high five/hug and we were set to go. My race strategy for the swim was to try keep on Rob’s (a London friend who has been my rock throughout the last 8 months training and a 3 time Ironman finisher) feet for as long as I could keep up (drafting the bubbles created by his body which reduces the work my body is required to do) – why Rob - he swims like a fish! We had entered the water on the wrong side of an outcropping rock pier so we swam around to the start beach. As we rounded the pier we saw what must have been close to all the other 1500 competitors standing on the beach, dressed to kill in their wetsuits and identical yellow swim caps. We realised we were pretty much the last to get in place and were luckily/unlikely able to get front grid starting places. It was also an awesome sight to see (from the water looking onto the shore) and one that I will never forget!

After 2 nervous minutes of screams, shouts from the announcer and buzzing sound from the many spectators and helicopter, the siren went off and we all dived into the lake for what was hopefully going to be a relaxed 3,8km swim. Whatever!!! The 1st 400m turned out to be a war zone and after the 1st 50m I gave up trying to swim behind Rob. It was more a case of survival as it seemed that punches, kicks and everything else imaginable was being chucked my way. After 100m I was struggling to breathe, felt my pulse shooting through the roof and started having a slight panic attack. I realised that I needed to settle down and try find some “quiet” water – eventually found some and steered myself to the less frenzied area whilst trying to get into a rhythm, breathing to each side and slowly getting my HR back to where it should be, in the 115 zone! The swim settled down and I started latching onto people’s feet as and when the opportunity arose. The 1st lap, slightly shorter than the 2nd, was a quick one despite the start and I rounded the small island (covered with spectators) and swam under the land connecting bridge in just under 30 minutes. I realised that if I kept this pace up I would be quicker than my 1h10m expected time. The 2nd lap was uneventful except for one or two cases of swimmers being blind and swimming all over me…with the end result of having my heel kicked into their faces! ONLY THE STRONGEST SURVIVE!!! I finally exited the water to screams of encouragement after 1h03min of swimming. I had taken it fairly easy and not kicked much so was feeling great when I left the water.

Into the transition area, a quick strip of the wetsuit and costume (hopefully not too many people had their eyes on me) and into my racing kit (which I would use for the cycle and run). It took me 3 minutes to finish getting ready and leave the transition area, exiting out of the arena swarmed by what must have been 1000’s of spectators – all trying to get a glimpse of their “hero”. Except for losing the food out of my left hand side pocket (NB mental reminder for future – test clothing with food etc before race!) the switch over went well and I was feeling great. Started getting up to speed on the bike and settled into a decent rhythm at 36km/hr. I thought that I was going a pretty decent speed only to be continuously passed by numerous guys AND girls – I double checked my speedometer but nothing was wrong. I figured that all the top cyclists who couldn’t swim were playing catch-up and left them to it. There was no point in trying to keep up and then burning out half way through the ride. A 180km is a very long way and despite training my ass off since October (covering huge mileage on the bike) I still am a novice on the bike and had to have huge respect for the 180km! As the course unveiled itself (Mental Tip for future – defiantly try cover course before race so as to have no unexpected MOUNTAINS!)

I slowly started respecting more and more the course, the fellow riders passing me and the TOUR de FRANCE competitors on an ever increasing basis! To think that they (Tour de France guys) cover mountain passes such as the one I was climbing on an on-going basis for 23 days astounds me and puts me into place immediately!! The 8km mountain (known as “the Beast”) never seemed to end and kept on winding up and up. Around the next corner I would always hope for a peak of the crowd gathered summit, but it just never seemed to appear. Finally after much sweat and worrying over the next 2 laps it appeared and I was able to collect a fresh bottle of water (the heat was slowly starting to break out and take it’s toll) and start the fast rolling decent to the bottom. The final decent climaxed with a 2km hill that allowed us to reach over 80km/hr speeds. It was a thrill to ride but also a constant danger and one that relied on 100% concentration – not always easy after hrs of racing and post a 8km solid climb…unfortunately worst illustrated by a “near fatal” crash by one of the competitors at the bottom of the decent on the 3rd lap. So the 1st lap was almost complete, just 25km of flat (back along the lake) and one short 2km steep hill (known as “Heartbreak hill” although after “the Beast” it was more a relief as despite the sheer steepness it was not too long and was covered in spectators who lined the whole climb in a similar fashion to the mountain stages in the tour De France – one word..AWESOME!!! ) to climb – returning me back to the start. 1st lap 1h50 – exactly what I was gunning for.

2nd lap was looking the same as the 1st lap from the outset…until I hit the headwind and slowed down to 30km/hr. I started to question my legs and tiredness but realised it was the wind and so just faced up and put some extra effort in…whilst still monitoring my pulse and staying within my set limits (that were hopefully going to get me to the end in one piece!). On reaching the “Beast” again I realised that I was actually already quiet tired and that I was not even ½ way yet! This time the summit never seemed to appear - the only positive I could take out of it was that I was not being passed anymore and the endless hurricane of passing “machines” had appeared to have dried up. Mentally I was starting to feel strain as I was not even ½ way in the 180km ride and already I was buggered….mildly stating how I felt. The crowd on the summit had now swelled up and on finally reaching the top, seeing and hearing the crowd slightly dented the feeling of “I can’t go on anymore…” and the legs relieved to be on a short flat section showed a slight sign of recovery.

Hopefully the training (especially the 2x220km rides to Bournemouth) rides would provide me the stamina to continue at a decent pace! After a quick stop at the food station to collect my special needs bag, containing the food I didn’t feel like swallowing but knew was essential to my completion of the cycle leg and stamina in the later stages of the run!), I was back into the saddle and hurtling my tired body down the fast sections of the course – trying to catch up as much time as possible on the course without bringing my life into harms way. Had to deal with a crazy Italian (Sorry Rob but he was crazy!) who believed the road was his own and started swearing at me and pulling weird signs at me as he tried to express his rights over the entire road. Anyone who has cycled with me knows I am not the best person to take on whilst cycling and in true “Blur the Buhr” fashion I took on the dude – only to leave the poor guy knowing what I thought of him in no uncertain terms! Needless to say, I passed him and never saw him again! So once again enjoying the adrenalin rush of exceeding 80km/hr I hit the short flat section heading back to the start area and “Heartbreak hill” feeling a bit better and wanting to maintain a decent speed of 30km/hr plus.

This feeling lasted about 5km (hahaha!) and on reaching the short steep hill I thought to myself…”how am I going to do this?) but seeing the crowds, hearing their cheers and spotting my friends holding the SA flag up put a tear in the eye and a fresh boost of mental strength that got me to the top in a decent manner. This will probably be the closest experience I ever incur similar to a climb in the Tour de France and the awesome tunnel like crowd support will be treasured for ever!

Passing the start for the last time, knowing that I only had 60km to go, I started feeling ok and realised that all I had to do was tackle “the Beast” one last time and then I was in the clear. The wind had now picked up a bit and I found the flat section into the wind rather tough. I dropped my speed to around 27km/hr but had no fight back in the legs…I accepted the fact and settled down to just enjoying myself (who am I kidding..i was dying out there!). All the time I was trying to stick to my rule of eating every hour and drinking as much as I could. By now the heat was so intense that any food I put into my mouth tasted like dry bread and I was struggling to swallow (in the end I had only eaten one of my three wraps with phili cheese and ham. Hint – try find a moister food substance that will not dry out in heat!). The flat section seemed to go on for ever but this was probably due to the slow speed I was now going at – seemed as if I was dying a slow inevitable death on the bike but somehow I managed to carry on at a semi decent speed and not be overtaken by too many people. Having said that, the IRONMAN starts out as a race but in the end becomes a survival and a race against oneself…and no one else! You soon forget to care about those who pass you – only catching their name on the back of their race number, more out of interest and to try stay the boredom of a 6hr PLUS ride. I finally reached the “Beast” again for the last time.

Feeling like a ass end of a dead donkey, I decided to just relax and take the hill in my stride – I didn’t mean to go so slow but in the end was only capable of going up at 9km/hr – a far cry from the 15km/hr on the 1st lap and over 50 minutes of pain, sweat and mental strain. To my credit I never felt like getting off and taking a rest – no way I would repeat the same personal insult as my 1st Ironman!! I finally reached the summit and knew that from now till the end of the cycle it would be a breeze compared to what the past hour had thrown at me…or so I thought! Flying down the steep hill I found myself not really caring about using my breaks etc as I just wanted to finish as quick as possible – this fatigue induced stupidity soon ended as I spotted the ambulance at the bottom of the hill and the near fatal accident. I slapped on the breaks and carried on the decent at a more sensible pace. Passing the accident it did not look good – I do not know the outcome but I hope all is ok! I reached the flat feeling ok having had a break coming down the hill and realised that if I continued at a decent pace I would get close to the 6hr mark that was my original goal.

Unfortunately as soon as I hit the flat section I started feeling cramping on the inside of my thighs..not too bad at first but over the next 5km it got progressively worse, 1st in the right leg and then in the left, eventually causing me to stop and try stretch the pain out of the leg. Luckily having stretched I managed to spin the legs out of further trouble and onto “Heartbreak hill” for the last time!! The crowd had disappeared by now (due to the lead runners already well on their way in the marathon) and the hill was now a lonely 2km stretch of tar going up and up. I preyed that my legs would not cramp on the hill as this would probably cause me to stop again – I reached the top unscathed and was left with the short decent and the last 5km home, back to the start and the transition. I was able to hold a decent high spinning gear to the finish (essential for the start of the running leg and getting rid of any lactic acid build up in the legs) and entered the transition area feeling half alive (compared to my 1st ironman when I entered not knowing who I was!) – ride time 6h10min at an average speed of 29km/hr for the 180km. I spotted a fellow SA friend (Ev) existing the transition and was relieved to see that I was not alone at the back.

Besides spotting Duncs on the ride course once, I had not spotted anyone and was not sure where everyone was – it was always a dream for us to finish together if we were close at the latter stages but in reality not knowing where anyone was made this dream finish a bit hard.

I did a quick transition, putting on my running shoes, grabbing my cap (which was definitely going to be key in the heat!) and ran out of the transition area feeling ok and able to run (well I say run but it was more resembled a jog!). This feeling of fluidity lasted about, oh…a 1km and the heat and fatigue in the legs soon told me that this was going to be a nightmare – rather than a run! I caught up to Ev and we ran together for about a km before the heat took its toll and I left him (only briefly). After the 4km mark I arrived at the area where our SA supporters had made camp and seeing them was immense relief. I stopped and chatted for a while, expressing how tired I was and asking where everyone else was. It turned out that only Rob was ahead of me (well ahead and I was soon to pass him going in the opposite direction of the looped course about 25 minutes ahead of me – he was in the end able to do the imaginable of breaking 11hrs and finished 46 minutes ahead of me…a true champion!) and the others somewhere behind me on the course. The possibility of us finishing together was still a potential outcome. I left the girls feeling like sh*t and realising that I had to come up with a plan to finish this race in sub 12hrs (initially my goal was to finish the race in under 12hrs. 11hrs would have been the dream finish but realistically I was not at that level yet and I knew that!) – I decided to run to every watering station (2km apart) and then walk the watering tables…. Taking in drink, food and a mental rest! I was able to achieve this for the 1st 2 laps (21km) and was slowly passing people on an ongoing basis. The heat was becoming intolerable and the only solution was to pour water all over myself and sponge the entire body every time I arrived and left the watering station.

This meant the shoes were soaked the entire race but luckily I didn’t get any blisters (a worry considering I had forgotten to put Vaseline over my toes in the transition). On the 3rd lap I started feeling terrible and was slowly mentally losing the strength that had got me so far. I eventually succumbed to the heat and broke my promise to myself and walked in-between watering stations. At that stage I actually couldn’t have cared about my end time and just wanted to make sure I finished. Seeing the supporters and hearing your name cried out as you passed strangers somehow kept the body moving and after what seemed like an eternity I found myself on the home stretch and having only

3km to go. I realised that I had walked the same stretch of road in 18 minutes 2 days prior to the race so knew that walk, jog or run I was going to break 12 hours – a definite relief and one that brought some much needed steal to the heart and mind again! I decided that there was no way I was going to walk the home stretch and I started running again. I finally entered the finish chute and knew that I had achieved what I had set out to do…finish an Ironman in under 12 hours and finish in some style (hahaha!). My final run time was 4h20min, 20 minutes slower than my goal, but at this stage I couldn’t give hoots! I crossed the line holding the SA flag (thanks to Cath for holding for me!) and absorbed the cheers from the crowd. Funnily enough I didn’t feel that bad (think all of the walking had brought me back to a reasonable state) and I managed to collect my finisher’s medal, have my photo taken – all with a smile!

The usual post race activities of limping to the shower, taking in the sport massages (I snuck in 3) and trying to get some much needed food down took up the next 2 hours, during which one by one the SA guys and girl (Trace) finished and joined the ever-growing SA contingent! Everyone did so well, considering the harsh weather elements, the surprise cruelty of the “Beast” and the fact that this ironman was the first for a number of the guys! All grouped together and not wanting to miss out on the traditional Ironman evening celebrations we all exited the finisher’s tent area and joined our loyal supporters (and wives) in the grandstand overlooking the finish chute. We proceeded to dance (yeah…no kidding after a complete ironman we still felt the need to shake our asses and celebrate!!) and cheer the night away…right up to the cut-off time at 11pm when we watched and cheered the last few IRONMAN and IRONWOMAN home!! They are the true heroes of the 17th July!!!