Bike check-in day HERE
Swim HERE
Bike HERE
The final part of this epic race report, and the final part of this epic race. I had a quick transition, and decided to walk the first 100m or so, taking the time to put on my fuel belt (as it was so hot, I thought it best to carry water), my Garmin watch and my cap. I grabbed water from an aid station coming out of T2 and no sooner did it enter my mouth as it came straight back out - I think this had as much to do with the change in position and the excitement of getting on to the run as anything, because my stomach was feeling pretty good.
It speaks volumes about the amount of hard work I’ve put into the run that I was excited to get out there and show how much I’ve improved. My previous Ironman was about a strong swim, solid bike, then just trying to screw it all up the least possible by surviving the run. My goal for Roth, all along, was to put in a good run.
The first few kilometres went downhill, then uphill, then wound their way through some woods until eventually coming out at the Main Danube Canal, up and down which a large amount of the run course would take place. Those first few kilometres felt fantastic, and I had to really hold myself back to run at a pace of 5:00/km - my absolute ‘beyond wildest dreams’ run pace (which would have given me a 3:30 marathon). By around 4km, however, that feeling was overtaken by something much, much harder… it wasn’t aided by the fact that the first section of the run was into a stiff headwind. I found two runners - one guy and one gal - who were running roughly 5min/km pace and tucked in behind them, trying to avoid the wind as best I could.
Ok, it didn’t literally implode. I’d had my old Garmin 310xt almost since I very first started triathlon and the waterproof casing had decayed a few months ago, meaning I now only wore it for running. I’d totally forgotten that as I attempted to soak myself down as often as possible and the Garmin rewarded me by skipping through screens at warp speed, beeping loudly and, eventually, settling on a totally useless selection of 4 screens… Great, I thought, tempted to stop right there.
But I knew I’d have tough times. What could I do about it? In retrospect, this is the point that made my race.
I’ll talk more about my nutritional approach in a later post but - to cut that long story short - until this point I’d employed a fat-burning approach to fueling in the whole race so far, taking in a combination of U-Can, amino acids, chia seeds and natural coconut bars. No simple sugars, no gels or Powerbars, and no more than maybe 600-700 calories in total. In fact, that had all been on the bike too - so far, it had just been water on the run. The plan had been to make it to 21k before hitting the sugars, but that time was now, I decided.
After around 15k, on the bridge on the way back over the canal, I walked through the aid station, drunk water, dumped water into a glass of flat Coke and downed that, and grabbed a small chunk of a sort of dense, stodgy sponge cake and shoved that down my throat. That - along with the fact that the wind was now at my back - had me feeling better in no time. Clarity came almost immediately and my whole race changed.
At the next garbage bin, I dumped the annoying (old) fuel belt. I felt lightr and freer immediately. At the next one, I dumped the Garmin which was now also beeping like the Roadrunner at a rave and annoying me and everyone around me. It was dead. Ahhhh, silence…
I quickly got into my stride and maintained it almost to the end of the race. Although it’d have been nice to know how fast I was running, not having that information freed me and I’m certain that I simply ran as fast as I thought I could possibly maintain. I stopped at every aid station (2km apart, more or less) and walked a few strides so I could throw sponges and water over myself and try to cool down - that was actually the limiter more than pace, sore muscles or fatigue, but it was necessary otherwise I knew I’d overheat. I alternated between just water at one aid station and the water/coke mix at the next - when I felt like it (maybe every third aid station) I grabbed a small chunk of that heavenly stodge cake or a sort of flapjack/brownie thing.
Before I knew it, I was at the bottom of the course and had just 12k to go - no further than an easy recovery run, I told myself. Then I was at the 35k mark, where the course left that damn canal behind and headed back towards Roth and the finisher’s stadium. I was eager to ‘pull the trigger and really open up’ but I could sense that I was running pretty well and decided to err on the side of caution a little.
There were maybe 3 small inclines during the second half of the run - the biggest and steepest at around the 38k mark (cruel!) - and I made the decision to walk these. I think it was the right one; I lost some time, but avoided frying my quads. At last, the course flattened and then headed down into town… and I decided to let her rip. The km markers disappeared at this point, which made it really painful - I thought I’d see the finish line beyond every corner - but there was still a good way to go. Some of it over cobbles (ow) as the course snaked through historic Roth, but the fact it wrapped around beer garden tables, where locals sat cheering loudly with giant glasses full of beers made it somewhat less painful.
Then I saw it - the long tunnel into the finisher’s stadium. Big smile, I ran as hard as I could (I had literally zero idea of my overall or run times at this point), passed Our Lass and waved to her, soaked up the atmosphere in the stadium, then grew a huge smile as I saw my overall time… and then BOOM. Nothing.
When they finished with me, I practically skipped out (tho still dripping blood from the hand), so fantastically had the IV revived me. The strong winds and mugginess had turned to full on epic storms outside and Our Lass, Dutch freeloader extraordinaire that she is, had managed to blag her way into the finisher’s tent to take cover… I gave her the longest, tightest hug ever and then devoured around 60% of the German national annual food consumption, before getting a delightful and leg-saving massage.
Run time: 3:42:21
(not perfect ‘wildest dreams’ stuff, but given the conditions still a performance I’m really proud of - a genuinely solid and well-paced run)
Overall time: 10:06:37
I was chuffed to bits with this time and, while there are certainly areas for improvement and things that could have gone better, my overall feeling is that - again, given the conditions - it was a really good performance. Occasionally since, I’ve lamented those 6 minutes, which could have been saved in numerous places, but what do they actually mater? I know that I gave it all I had and that, in many ways, it’s a better performance than the time reflects: 188th overall (including 30-odd professionals). On the day, 153 guys (including pros) went under 10 hours this year, compared to 350 the previous year… goes to show it was a tough day out there.
I’m most pleased that I raced maturely and sensibly and put together a well-paced race but also weirdly pleased that I don’t feel like I had a perfect day. It’s good to know that, the next time I tackle this distance, I feel like I’ve still plenty of room for improvement - just in simple things like a luckier swim start and not riding 20k on a flat… without even getting to improving my cycling or becoming fitter.
And when and where is that next time? Well, I think it’ll be 2016, tho I’m not sure where. I loved Roth and would like to race there again; same goes for Austria; tho it seems like a waste to only see a few courses. IM Frankfurt is convenient, IM UK is near the family, and Challenge Almere is on the doorstep… so, we’ll wait and see.
Thanks for reading. And if you’ve come across this little series of race reports as you prep for a future pop at Challenge Roth, all I can say is that you are going to love it!