Ironman Zurich Review

I know there are a few triathletes and aspiring triathletes on here, so I thought some of you might appreciate my account from the weekend

Warning – very long, lots of pictures

TL;DR – it was tough, but I finished

I had set myself a goal time of 10 hours for the Ironman a few months back. This was considering a perfect race – 1:20 for a 3.8km wetsuit swim, 5 hours for the 180km cycle (average 36kph) and 3:30 for the marathon. This would leave my 10 minutes for transition and a bit of time slip. It was an ambitious target, but my theory is that easy targets aren’t worth setting!

Things started to go wrong at the end of May when I broke my arm. This was supposed to be the time when my training was peaking, maximum hours of swimming, cycling and running, at high intensities. This would be before tapering for a couple of weeks to be well rested for the race at the end of July.

The second cast with vent holes drilled

Not being able to swim or cycle I increased my running considerably, but was concious about the risk of injury from this. I was aware that I had lost a lot of swimming fitness while being out of action, even though I did cut my cast off a week early, so was far from confident about the swim. Despite getting in the pool regularly I was still struggling, not helped by the fact that the Gachibowli Stadium pool was shut for over a week for a junior championship. I managed to secure a guest membership at the Jubilee Hills Club shortly before leaving for Switzerland, the only other 50m pool in Hyderabad, so I could swim twice a day. A few days before departing things suddenly seemed to come together, and I was able to swim 1km without any stops, so my panic about not completing the first leg of the triathlon was somewhat abated!

race suit specially for the event with company sponsor

I was fairly confident with my running, the 3 varied runs every week had been going pretty well. I did however feel that my cycling may be a weakness as I hadn’t got as many hard rides in as I would have liked. During the few days I had in London before the event I had another swimming lesson from the same guy who had dramatically improved my technique prior to my first 70.3 race (half Ironman) last year. He made various suggestions and pointed out a few areas for improvement which I’m sure made a difference.

I arrived in Zurich a few days before the event so had the opportunity to swim in the lake and ride the bike course. The water was beautifully clear and a lovely temperature, however this meant that it was too warm for a wetsuit, so the first leg of the race was going to be a fair amount slower.

Swimming in the lake in the week before the race

The bike course had some long climbs, although nothing too steep, but after all the climbing the descents were over in a flash, hitting speeds of around 80kph, which was interesting with a bit of rain.

on a pre-ride of the course

Pre-race prep went without any hiccups, I was using one bottle on my bike purely for gels (14 of them in total which I would take a swig from every 20 minutes) and a bottle between my aero bars for fluids. This I would top up from water-stations along the route to minimise additional weight of fluids to carry. Bikes were checked in on Saturday evening along with transition bags (swim to bike with helmet and number belt, bike to run with shoes, glasses and cap) then it was just a case of eating and getting an early night.

bike all checked in

Sunday morning, the alarm went off at 4am and I tried to eat some breakfast. The train down to the start almost ended in disaster when changing at the main station, accidentally getting on one going back to where we had come from! A taxi was the simple solution and we were in transition doing last minute preparations with time to spare. Some last minute additions to transition bags and filling water bottles on bikes and it was off to the swim start.

transition on race morning

With 2400 athletes about to embark on a swim, it’s going to be pretty crowded, and the start of a triathlon (especially an Ironman where everyone starts at the same time) is frequently described as ‘the washing machine’ where everyone is fighting for their own bit of water. If you are a slow swimmer towards the front of the pack, being swum over, punched and kicked by lots of faster swimmers, you’re not going to have a particularly fun start to the day! As such I placed myself right at the back and at one edge – getting into the water 20 seconds after the starting horn was small price to pay for having pretty much clear water for the whole time.

nearly ready to go

Being a pretty weak swimmer compared to most, it was the first leg of the race which I was most nervous about. The longest I had ever swum previously was 3km, and that was with a wetsuit, so to even complete the swim was going to be an achievement in it’s own right! However, once I got going and settled into a comfortable rhythm, I actually started to enjoy the swim. The water was a lovely temperature, the visibility was great, I managed to avoid getting kicked and grabbed too frequently, and 1 hour 36 minutes later I was running into transition pretty satisfied. Although I was already 16 minutes behind schedule, this was to be expected as there were no wetsuits, so I don’t think I could have hoped to be significantly quicker.

I didn’t have much to worry about in T1 (swim to bike transition) just put my number belt and helmet on, plus my arm coolers, but as I couldn’t get the left one on over my Garmin watch, I decided I wouldn’t bother with them. No problem finding my bike, grabbed it, ran out of transition, and after crossing the mount line, jumped on. I keep my shoes attached to my pedals and use rubber bands to keep them horizontal while running, which snap as soon as you start pedalling. No issues with them, feet in without problems and I was quickly up to speed overtaking lots of people heading north up the west side of the lake. I was aiming to maintain an average power output of 175 watts during the ride, and not deviate too far above or below this to work as efficiently as possible to keep as much in reserve for the run.

start of the bike leg

I was a bit above this for the first 30km of flat road, about 200 watts and close to 40kph, but was feeling good but there was plenty more to come. Unfortunately just after the first aid station at the start of the first incline my chain came off. In the process it must have knocked off the little magnet which my power meter uses to detect cadence (pedalling speed) and without that it cannot calculate power (power = torque x cadence). While being slightly annoying, it wasn’t going to detract from the job in hand, but I had lost my primary pacing tool. From this point on I was riding by feel and heart rate, making sure I didn’t push too hard. I was glad that I had fitted a decent size cassette to my bike so that my bottom gear was quite low as it meant I could ride up the relatively steep hills at a nice steady pace without exerting myself too much. Not everyone was in the same boat, as several were toiling up out of the saddle expending a lot more energy for a similar speed. The nature of the hills on the course means that you spend quite a long time gaining height, but you lose it all very quickly with steep descents. I was hitting 80kph on the final run down to the lake which with some cross-winds on deep carbon wheels can lead to some rather exciting wobbles! I stopped for a pee at about 100km, which although lost me a bit of time, did indicate that I was staying well hydrated. The temperature was reaching 39 degrees C which for some was clearly on the warm side, but was fairly normal for a training ride for me, so not an issue. The organisers had recommended avoiding aero helmets for the specific reason they have less ventilation (mine has virtually none, plus an integrated visor) and wanted riders to be able to keep cool. My training buddy had bought a new helmet the day before having found his aero helmet too hot during the course ride a few days before. Every 20 minutes I was taking a squirt of nutrition from my bottle which contained 14 caffeinated gels. I wasn’t entirely sure I was taking a full 30ml each time, but checking my bottle at the end it was nearly empty, so I had taken in the majority of my planned calories.

race face on

At about 120km I was starting to feel rather fatigued, and I was noticing my average speed drop. I was no longer constantly passing other riders, but it was nice to have a quick chat to others on the hills where there was no drafting to be concerned about. One nice feature of these races is having your name and nationality on your number belt. That way you can identify other competitors and give them encouragement, overall camaraderie was good between the riders. I did upset one German at one point though, he overtook me just before the top of a climb, but then braked a lot during the subsequent short fast descent. He wasn’t particularly impressed by me using him as a chicane as I swept between him and another slow rider trying to carry as much momentum as possible onto the next climb. We did have a bit of banter later as we passed each other several times, so I think he eventually forgave me! Support on the short steep climb near transition called Heartbreak Hill was fantastic. You could almost feel like a Tour de France rider ascending Alp d’Huez with the volume and density of the crowd!

climbing through the crowds

When you’re suffering at the end of a hard ride, every little helps! My parents had arranged a holiday around supporting me in the race so it was nice to see them as I sped by. Back to transition and it was nearly a text-book dismount apart from losing my left shoe as I jumped off my bike. I wasn’t worried as I’ve done this before and always managed to retrieve it after the race. I manage to run down the aisle to rack my bike, so didn’t exactly hang it up where I was supposed to, hopefully I didn’t inconvenience anyone else too much by stealing their spot! I had missed my 5 hour goal by a considerably 35 minutes, so my overall target of 10 hours was totally gone. Even if I improved on my personal best marathon time of 2:59 I would still be a few minutes over, and that certainly wasn’t going to happen! However, you have to be prepared to adjust your expectations during races and realise when trying to push to hit certain targets is going to be counter-productive. The goal had now reverted to simply finishing!

Again, there wasn’t much in my T2 (bike to run transition) bag, just shoes, socks, cap and glasses which went on without a hitch. I had put a couple of strips of insulation tape on my bags making them more easily identifiable while hanging up which meant I didn’t have to spend any time searching for them. The run was a 4 lap affair, supposedly entirely flat, but I did discover that wasn’t entirely the case. When you’re tired and trying to run as fast as possible, every incline counts! Getting the legs going properly on the first lap was a challenge, and I did walk a few times for a short section which I’ve never done in any previous races.

1 lap down

Each lap you picked up a coloured arm-band to indicate which lap you were on. Towards the start of the run it was rather demoralising to see how many people were one or more laps ahead, however that was reversed a few laps later seeing that I was the one ahead! Seeing my parents each lap was appreciated, and I also accepted the only solid food of the whole race in the form of half a banana from my mum at about half-distance. In retrospect I probably should have taken on board more calories during the run, I think I only consumed 4 gels while it should have been double that. With the run being mainly 2-way running traffic there was ample opportunity to see most of the other runners and I spotted a few friends along the way to give and receive encouragement to and from. At one point in the run the route passed through a part with various fountains and ponds. I spotted one guy lying happily in one of these taking a rest and cooling down, and I quickly jumped in and ran through too. This did cool me down nicely, but also soaked my trainers which I had neglected to consider.

2 laps down

The aid stations were excellent, stocked well with cold wet sponges, ice, water, isotonic drink, coke, energy gels, fruit, biscuits etc.I was putting a handful of ice down my back everywhere it was available which I had discovered in previous races is a fantastic cooling effect, sitting right next to your kidneys. However, when you chuck too much down your back, gravity takes over and it cools other less effective areas! At one point I grabbed what I thought was an isotonic drink but it actually turned out to be hot soup. Quite why anyone would want to consume hot soup while running a marathon in high 30 degree temperatures, I’ve no idea. After one unpleasant sip that was quickly discarded in favour of something cold and sweet! I had hit some pretty low points mentally during the run, and it was a challenge to keep going at times, but once I was on the last lap, the end was in sight and I was sure I would finish.

3 laps down

It wasn’t going to be a particularly impressive time, but I was going to get there. With about 3km to go I decided that I had a fair amount left in my legs, and could make an all-out effort to the finish. My pace up until that point had been 5:30/km, but had dropped to 5:24/km by the finish. I kept on seeing runners with 4 coloured armbands indicating that they were also about to finish, and once one was in my sight I would catch and pass them, and then look for the next. After maintaining an average heart rate of 153 for the run, it climbed to 184 for the finish indicating that I had indeed pushed myself pretty hard!

pain/relief/exhaustion

I did pay the price for that effort though as the legs pretty quickly decided that they had had enough punishment and wanted a rest. I’m sure that had I kept a steady pace until the end I would have been in much better shape, and probably only a minute slower overall, but that’s not my style!

poorly timed Garmin watch stopping

After receiving my finisher medal and having a bit of a sit-down I was chatting to a guy who had crossed the line just a few minutes ahead of me. He was sure that the world championships in Kona had been an easier race and we had just completed a pretty tough event.

looking a bit happier

I found my parents in the crowd who had been cheering me over the line and started on my recovery drinks, specifically designed for rehydrating and replacing the nutrients the body needs after a hard effort.

a bit tired

However these didn’t quite work as intended as within a few minutes of drinking, they would be deposited back on the ground. After attempting to drink 1 1/2 litres and not keeping any of it down, and gradually feeling progressively worse, I decided that another source of rehydration was required. Fortunately the medical facilities were excellent, and a very short while later I was hooked up to a saline drip and feeling much better!

the lazy way to rehydrate

It was certainly the hardest event I’ve ever participated in by a considerable margin. Half Ironman races and full marathons are short and fun by comparison! Having said that I had no intention of doing another any time soon, I seem to already be looking at future events to improve my time!

Cheers, Rich

Great effort Rich and strong result (despite your target). That’s a very good time first out and puts you in a small minority in the grander scheme of things. V impressive. Good write up as well. Mean looking bike that, what is it? Bugger about the water temp, I bet you missed the support of the wettie after trainging in it!

I had had enough of tris a few years ago but reading your excellent write up has got me thinking about an IM again!!!

Chapeau!

THM.

Great write up, Rich. I salute your powers of endurance. It also saddens me that this post will get less replies than that bloody watch servicing one…ho hum.

*waddles off for a pastry*

Good effort, good write-up – that’s really inspiring.

Obviously not in a way to make me want to do one, but inspiring all the same!

Congratulations

Impressive on all counts

I am looking at completing an ironman next year but cannot decide on the location

What do you reckon it cost you for the Zurich one? travelling, event cost hotels?

Well done again

I actually hadn’t trained much in the wetsuit, so it wasn’t a major blow not to be racing in it. I’m not a fast swimmer, but fairly confident, so all it did was slow me down a bit.

The bike is mainly Chinese – frame from Dengfu, wheels from another Chinese vendor via eBay and Ultegra Di2 groupset. Didn’t cost the earth, but seems pretty decent for what it is.

I think I need to have some toenails permanently removed before my next big event, a few get a bit of a pounding in the run and inevitably fall off shortly after. Getting to be a bit of a pain though, one is incredibly painful at the moment 🙁

This post wasn’t intending to big myself up or boast, just an honest account of events. The time wasn’t too bad, but considering I’d invested about 10 months of 20 hours a week, I was hoping to do slightly better than 77th in my age group!

Cheers, Rich

I reckon if you had of shaved your shoulders, you’d have gained a few extra seconds. Those Wookie-esque bad boys look like they create quite the drag 😛

Great write up, and I love the bike. Given the tough bit is the run, is it possible that the increased amount of run training actually helped?

It also saddens me that this post will get less replies than that bloody watch servicing one…ho hum.

I’m sure some enhanced pictures would help…

Well played … what was your run split and total time ??

I’m going to do an IM in my 40th year .. so got two more years of training.

Just read your second post

10 months of 20 hour weeks ….. 😯

That’s a LOT

What the blooming hell you going to do with yourself now with all that time on your hands

Well done on your race, 11hrs is a very respectable time for your first race at that distance.

In our club the advice is that the aim for your first ironman race is simply to finish, after that you have gained the experience needed to begin to race the course. I took big chunks of time off my ironman time during my second race at the distance, knowing what’s coming and understanding how your body reacts to the distance is experience that I think you only get by doing a race.

I wouldn’t be too upset at 77th in age group, remember most of those people will be multiple ironman finishers.

Only adVice I would suggest is to work on your swim, I am in no way a fast swimmer and I did the swim in 1:10.

Chapeau for your first finish!

That’s a very good effort, and a good write up.

I decided at the end of last year that a change was as good as a rest, so after racing in the SDA DH series for 4 years, admitted I was only ever going to be chasing the slowest guy down the hill in Vets, and aimed at IM UK. So after 9 mths of intermittent training, I’ve got about 48 hrs before I’m going through the same pain as you.

Any last minute tips?

Well done. Lovely event isn’t it. I think it still might be my favourite – it was my first 10yrs ago. I’m also glad to see you ended up taking advantage of the excellent medical services! Having a lovely female doctor running her hands over my chest might have been the highlight of the day!

I always found there was a bit of a low straight after the event after all the build up and training – a what to do with myself now issue. I hope you fill it!

p.s. I know someone who might be able to help you to find a way to knock a chunk of time off that slow 2nd bike lap 😉

Any last minute tips?

You can’t eat enough on the bike – seriously get as much carbs down you as you can. Not for the bike but it’s the eating on the bike that stops the wheels coming off on the run. After a few IMs I ended up setting my alarm to go off every 15mins to remind me to have a little nibble.

If the wheels do come off on the run the urge to walk will be massive. If you can resist you must as once you have walked once you will be doing it again and again!

Chapeau indeed!

That piccy looks like you’ve got the drip on the train home?!

Really enjoyed that. I know I’ll never do an IM myself – I’m just too weak a swimmer – but it’s really inspiring seeing the level of determination needed to complete an event like that. I know it must be frustrating to have not hit your target time, but just finishing an IM is hugely impressive achievement in itself – well done! 🙂

That’s a good tip convert, like that.

great write up! the swim sounds rather awful! puts me of the whole idea of a Tri! i remembering reading chrisie Wellingtons book and thinking, yeah they sound ok, glad to read a real world write up!

Cracking write-up, quite inspiring 🙂

The distance between the timing mats for the run clearly isn’t right – I didn’t run as slowly as stated for 33-34km, and certainly wasn’t as fast as claimed for the last 5.2km. I don’t run a 16 minute 5k at the best of times, certainly not at the end of an IM 😀

Clearly my swimming sucks big style and needs massive amounts of work. However I never really learned to swim properly as a kid and only started swimming in the middle of last year, so hopefully I can improve a bit!

I ran my first marathon last year in 2:59 so I was hoping for a significantly better run, my last 70.3 was a 1:32 for the run, so I was hoping to do something similar, alas it was not to be.

No worries about filling a void after the event, I have a marathon 3 weeks on Sunday, and then the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Vegas 2 weeks after that 😀

The medical facility was partly under tents, but they also brought in a coach fully kitted out with treatment beds which was ace!

Not too upset with the time, as has been said, I now have a better appreciation of what to expect for the next one, which looks it’ll probably be South Africa in April 🙂

Cheers, Rich

Fat bloke in picture 13 seems to be doing ok – and he is doing it in flip flops …
As a matter of interest, how much effect did the altitude have? Zurich is at around 400 meters (In CH, I was living at 700 , and walking up the stairs was sometime challenging …

I didn’t notice any affect of the altitude. I live at 600m in Hyderabad, India and notice very little difference between here, Bangalore (900m) and Chennai (sea level). The only time I really noticed the altitude was during MTB Himalaya going up to above 3000m

Cheers, Rich

Good write up!

Sure you didn’t take a shortcut on the bike 😉

I assume you’re referring to the missing timing for the 152km mark – no idea why that’s there, but I have not one but 2 Garmin (910XT on the wrist for the whole event, Edge 500 just for the bike) files to prove I rode the whole thing 😀

If I was planning on taking a short-cut I would make certain I made my 5 hour bike goal in the process 😛

Cheers, Rich

Turboferret – have a look at my post history for context 😉

Congratulations Rich, and great write up. I didn’t realise all those races on Facebook all the time were in probably in support of training for this IM.

Well done fella, great write up.
I’ve been pondering an entry for the Aberfeldy half ironman in August, and you’ve just inspired me to enter!
I turn 40 in December and think I’m going to do the Outlaw (Nottingham) next year.
Cheers
Fraser

Jay, good to see you on here, hope life in Oz is treating you well!

Racing hasn’t all been training, just something fun to do most weekends. In reality I probably would have been able to train more had I not been racing as much!

Convert, just read the relevant post 😀
I assume this was also Zurich, what was his number?

Ask him for his Garmin data 🙂

Cheers, Rich

Great effort Rich! Very impressed, not many people can say they have completed a full ironman so well done.

25% DNF – is that typical for an Ironman, seems high?

Did I mention 25% DNF rate anywhere or have you found that info somewhere else?

Apparently 5% is normal, we were told it was an unusually high 15% on the day. It would be interesting to know how those split up, ie who dropped out voluntarily and at which points, and who missed the various time cut-offs.

Cheers, Rich

Ah, must have been in a different race report I read, have read a few.

Link here

Ironman Switzerland 2013: Full Results and Analysis

Kudos man.

How comfy is the TT bike versus a normal road bike over that distance?

Great Write up Fella and great result.
A friend of mine finished in the womens race too, so its nice to see a bit more detail of what the event is like.
I cant ever see myself competing in a Triathlon as I am a crap swimmer and suffer shin splints as soon as break into a jog 😳 but I do have the greatest respect for those that do.
Good luck in the coming events too

Blimey, great effort and huge achievement. Well done.

That TT saddle probably won’t catch on around there though!

I find my bike pretty comfy, although I will admit that I wasn’t 100% aero for the last 20k or so, but I’m not altogether sure why I wasn’t perhaps I was just getting fed up by then! However, my bike is crazy low at the front and the base bars are non-adjustable, so the difference between being on the base and aero bars isn’t that significant. It might not be particularly obvious from the shots above as I wasn’t aero in any of them, but this gives a comparison

I’m quite lucky in that I’m pretty flexible so can hold a very low crouch without any discomfort and can switch straight from that to running without issues. A lot of folk have the front of their tri bike less severe than a short course TT bike for the exact reason of flexibility.

Obviously a road bike has much more hand positions, but personally getting your weight on your elbows crouched down I find pretty comfortable and relaxing.

That statistical analysis makes my brain hurt ebygomm 😀 However, interesting figures which I’ll look at later.

Cheers, Rich

Yeah, good thanks Rich, just waiting for my pizza dinner! Hats off to your commitment, I just ride once a week these days, but the nearby trails have developed into some very decent riding. We should talk as it were on FB sometime.

great effort, inspiring stuff, a refreshing change from most of the pish on here 😉 🙂

where abouts do you fit into the Trail Addiction scale though? What descents have you done in the lakes? 😉

I can run a bit and cycle a bit, but putting the two together, then making both distances mcuh bigger than normal and adding swimming t the mix is just pretty mind blowing. Very inspiring and really well done on a pretty awesome result!

Where did you get the sponsored tri suit by the way… Possibly interested.