Ironman Zurich Review – Page 2 – Bike Forum – Singletrack World Magazine Forum

turboferret · 2013-08-02T07:31:45Z

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. [img[i]The second cast with vent holes drilled[/i] 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! [img[i]race suit specially for the event with company sponsor[/i] 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. [img[i]Swimming in the lake in the week before the race[/i] 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. [img[i]on a pre-ride of the course[/i] 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. [img[i]bike all checked in[/i] 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. [img[i]transition on race morning[/i] 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. [img[i]nearly ready to go[/i] 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 com...

turboferret

Posts: 466

Full Member

Topic starter

Peter, being facetious is normally my job, but I bit, so well done 🙂

Believe me, if there was good MTBing around here I doubt I would have got started in this silly tri malarkey. Given the choice of gnarring it up and getting muddy, or shaving my legs and toiling out on the tarmac, I know which one I would be choosing 😀

Cheers, Rich

Posted : 02/08/2013 3:45 pm

whatnobeer

Posts: 0

Free Member

Great effort mate, not many could complete such a long and hard event, I definitely couldnt. Think I'd want to call it a day after just the swim.

Great write up too. Well done and thanks for sharing.

Posted : 02/08/2013 4:53 pm

wittonweavers

Posts: 0

Free Member

Great write up! Well done!

Living in Bolton, me and my other half have spent the last 4 years supporting the UK Ironman event. Friends of ours have competed previously and one is in this years event which takes place on Sunday.

I have just got back from the top of the bike route - a bit of early race prep... i'm knackered now!

[img] [/img]

Posted : 02/08/2013 5:29 pm

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