After Ireland 70.3 I spent some time at home in Portstewart and when the weather wasn't too bad I managed to do some good sea swims. I also did some great sessions with a local swimming club. I've known one of the coaches Keith for a few years and he recently agreed to let me swim with his group a couple of times a week anytime I'm home. I love the sessions, I can switch my head off, do as I'm told and swim hard rather than trying to think of a swim set to do or a pace to swim at. I did quite a bit of speed work and really felt a big improvement in just 3 sessions. 

On the way to Wales I stopped off in Dublin to meet up with Rob and Aisling from Wheelworx bike shop. My bike got a quick pre race check and we went for a run in Phoenix Park. After the run we had an amazing picnic in the park in the dark which was great fun. The following day I headed to Wales and I arrived in Tenby on Thursday afternoon. Tenby is such a pretty place and it seemed like an amazing location for a race. My hotel was right on the seafront and right next to the finish line. It was in a perfect location for the race and a big thanks to Rob and Aisling for helping me out with this too!
 
On the Friday morning myself and a few  other pro athletes headed to the local school to talk about the Ironman. It was strange for me to be back in a school when I wasnt there to teach. I have to admit that there wasn't even a little part of me that wished to be teaching but I know I'll be getting back to my supply teaching job soon enough! It was nice to chat to the kids and hopefully we inspired a few of them to get in to sport. 

That day just after the briefing and a quick swim a few of us headed off for a drive around the bike course and I was so grateful that Debs from Trisports Lanzarote (www.trisportslanzarote.com) was happy to drive as if I’d done it alone I would most likely have ended up lost in the middle of Wales. Her husband Daz was also racing and they had Ironman UK men's champion Dan Hawksworth saying with them so we all saw the course together. It's hard to concentrate for that long in the car but the course looked pretty tough.

The day before the race during my pre race bike check I noticed a funny feeling in my cranks or pedals so I took it to the SRAM mechanics at the expo. I have to say a big thanks to the guy there, he was great and he has looked after my Bike at three of my main races this year. This time it turned out that I needed new pedals! Once my mechanical issues were sorted I racked my bike, said hello to Compressport guys at the expo and off I went to chill out and get ready for the race. 

I had been feeling bloated and had a few stomach cramps in the days leading up to the race especially when I lay down to sleep. The night before the race just as I was finishing the preparations for the next day (which always seems to take forever) I suddenly felt a wave of nausea and lay down to rest for a few minutes to see if it would pass. I woke up 3 hours later and was feeling ok by then; I took it as a positive as normally I can't get to sleep at all pre race. After that I had some broken sleep before my alarm went off just before 4am. I made my way to transition after my pre race coffee and set my bike up. It went much smoother than at Ireland 70.3 as I had no mechanical issues. I even had the time to go back to my hotel to change in to my wetsuit.

The swim was a mass start and we had been told that the professionals would be given a good gap from the age groupers at the start of around 30 metres. We were held at the start and given about 5m! This increased to about 10m but by that point it became a deep water start for us and a running start for the age groupers so when the gun went it didn't take long until we (or at least some of us) were swallowed up. It was like a washing machine and for once I wasn't that bothered.

 I swam steady to the first big buoy and just kept a steady pace all the way round trying not to kick my legs too much as I usually rely too much on my legs when I swim. Honestly it felt like the first lap took forever but as I got out I glanced at my watch and saw it was around 27 minutes then I heard I was only a couple of minutes off the leaders! I thought ‘Wow that's fast and I’m not too far behind’. I just kept telling myself to hold it together and relax as I sometimes let it slip in the second half of the swim. I got out of the water in 53.41. Whether it was an extremely fast swim, a short course or both it was still a massive improvement for me and I wasn't too far from the leading girls.

We had a 1K run to transition and I felt quite controlled during this aware that I wanted to run pretty easy which is difficult when you are in a race and dying to get on the bike as fast as possible. I jumped on my bike and set off at what was a fairly steady pace, this time I had a Garmin watch which I borrowed from a friend.  I had changed the settings on the morning of the race and the watch beeped constantly for the whole 112 miles of biking. It became very irritating and I considered chucking it (not seriously as it wasn't mine!). Aside from the beeping it was actually really good to have some numbers too look at even if it was just counting down the K's. 

During the bike I felt like the whole world was coming past me but I decided to stick to the plan which was to go pretty steady for the bike. The bike course was amazing and one that I should have been taking full advantage of as it was hilly, hard and fairly technical, just what I like but I didn't seem to be making the most of if. I was riding very conservatively and was careful not to push the climbs too hard. In hindsight this wasn't the best thing to do, I should have worked harder to make up some time but I just stayed at a pretty steady pace all the way. My pacing for Ironman needs a lot of work as I haven't managed to get it right just yet. 

When I entered T2 I knew I was in second and miles behind first. My T2 seemed to take ages but as I started running I didn't feel too bad. I was telling myself to try to run around 45 minute 10k's. The course looked quite hard but actually when running it didn't feel that bad, at least for the first 2 of the 4 laps. I ran quite well for the first half and was gaining time on the leader but after that I realised I wasn't gaining enough time to bridge the gap and I seemed to switch off in the 3rd lap feeling a little like I was in no mans land with a good gap from 3rd and too much of a gap to run in to first. When I was starting my last lap my coach shouted at me that I was catching a friend from Milton Keynes, he was less than 2 minutes ahead so now I had a new mini focus, I picked up the pace and headed after him catching him with 5k to go.  I ran home to take 2nd place with the fastest run split of the day. I was surprised to have the fastest run split as during the run I had the worst stomach problems I've experienced in an Ironman. The cramps started on the bike and when on the run I had to make a lot of toilet stops! I’m not sure if it was connected to the stomach problems I've had recently or just poor nutrition choices on the day but I will definitely need to look in to it for the future. 

Second place in my third Ironman race and was happy enough. I didn't have a brilliant race but it was a fairly solid performance and I definitely can feel myself gaining strength and confidence with every race I do both good and bad. I had many positives from Ironman Wales, learned a lot from it and I can truly say that I enjoyed the whole day. The funny thing about it was that the whole race didn't actually feel like a race, for some reason it felt like a really big training day. When I finished I didn't have then post race muscle soreness I would have expected,  following day I only had minimal muscle soreness and my by day 2 I was feeling pretty much normal. I'm not sure what I put it down to but I have been taking Extreme Endurance supplement (http://www.xenduranceuk.com/) recently which definitely helps recovery.

I’m not exactly sure of the plan from here. I’m considering one more 70.3 and another Ironman before the end of the season but I will see what happens and make the decision after I have had some time to think about. I gotta say I am looking forward to a good end of season party whenever it might be and I'm pretty sure it will be EPIC :)  

 

Ireland 70.3 was one race that I really wanted to do. I missed it last year as I had already arranged to race in Monaco and I can’t say I was that sorry when I heard about the weather conditions but I knew that it was one that I would like to do this year.

I had done some training out in France to get me back on track after Ironman UK. I spent a week at the amazing Tri Pyrenees (www.pyreneesmultisport.com) and did some training with Tamsin (Lewis). The place was absolutely amazing with spectacular cycling and amazing hospitality. Towards the end of my week out there Tam picked up a nasty stomach bug. I was fine and I left and thinking I had got away with it but as I sat on the plane on the way home it hit me too. Travelling with a bike bag and a load of luggage is bad enough but being sick at the same time, well it was just a nightmare. That trip home is one I would rather forget and one I hope I never have to do again!

The next day I thought I felt better and by Saturday I was telling myself to stop being a woose and get out there so off I went to do a 5k open water swim. I didn’t feel too bad when swimming but after I knew it had been a bad idea, I struggled home and spent the rest of the day in bed in the hope that I’d be ok the next day but I just got worse and that was it for days after. By Wednesday evening I was thinking that I might not be able to race on the following Sunday but deep down I knew I’d be racing. I improved a lot over the next few days and wasn’t feeling too bad by the Saturday. I thought my legs felt ok because they have never had so much rest especially mid season so I didn’t know how I would feel or respond on the day.

So race day arrived and after a minor mechanical we headed down to the swim start on what was a beautiful morning (especially in comparison to the previous day’s monsoon conditions). The swim was a bit of a mess as half the pros took a longer route (which we were told to take) that cost us minutes, (after the pro start they removed that buoy!). Then towards the end it was very unclear as to where we were supposed to go to which was extremely frustrating. On the bike and run I was working seriously hard, pushing and pushing. I was riding so hard but I was just going nowhere, it was like my body was not responding to what my legs were doing. I realised at the half way point on the bike that I was going to be hanging on for second place but I didn’t stop pushing. On to the run and I was just going to hang on and make it to the finish line. I made it but it didn’t feel good and although I was obviously very happy to finish in second place I was disappointed that I had been unable to even give Tine even a little bit of a race for the title. As I commented after the race if it had been any other race in any other country I probably wouldn’t have made it to the start line but I’m glad I raced and I’m glad I made it to the finish line in one piece. I wasn’t as strong as I would like to have been I got a great training session out of it and as always learned a lot from the race.

It was a novelty for me to have some family and friends there on the day and it was so nice to have such great support from the crowds all over the course. A local company were also supplying some excellent recovery nutrition on the finish line, they are a new company who supply fitness equipment and sports nutrition check them out at www.elitefitnessandperformance.com. I had a great time in Galway and was so well looked after by the Hanley family. Staying with them reminded me a lot of my own family growing up.  

After the race I headed home to County Derry. I finally got my appetite back and have been training again. There isn’t much time to dwell on the past or the training I missed as I’m now looking forward to Ironman Wales. I’m not sure whether I’m excited or scared for the race. Probably a bit of both, I seem to like doing things that scare me so in a strange way I can’t wait to get out there. I’m told that there is a good strong field assembled which makes it even more exciting.