Race report

Worth its weight in gold!

Hard to believe it's all over. By most standards my eight weeks of Ironman training was modest (6-8 months is more common), but I crammed a lot into those 8 weeks, and prepared far more thoroughly than I have for any of my other Ironman races. So it does feel like a lot of water's flowed under the bridge this summer.

I learned a lot about triathlon, myself, my friends and my family during this time. I understand better life's priorities, and I have a deeper sense of why sport is important, and why other things are much more important. 

My boys out on the run course

I was at a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and someone asked me the rhetorical question "why would you possibly do Ironman?". It's a good question, and it demands an answer. The truth is I've known doing the event was purposeful (or I wouldn't have done it), but I couldn't answer the question well when asked, so I laughed it off. But I know why now. The answer's complicated and multifaceted of course, but more than anything, it's because if the process is handled well, it can act as an instrument to motivate and inspire. Not just me, but those around me... my children, my wife, my friends, colleagues, even strangers. Not everyone feels inspired of course. Some people will always think the whole thing is plain stupid, which at face value it is. But that's OK, as it does no harm either. Sport, like science, art, education, architecture, music and many other things form a social fabric that bonds us all together. But this only works if we share our experiences and accomplishments in positive ways. I never thought I'd admit this, but the line from Grantland Rice's famous poem 'Alumnus Football': "not that you won or lost, but how you played the game" is spot on.

About 14 km into the run

One small thing I learned yesterday is not to trust weather forecasts ;-) It turned out to be a cold, wet and windy day. The swim went smoothly and I exited the water just under the hour, through transition and onto the bike a few minutes later. The conditions were challenging out on the bike course, with an energy sapping cold blustery wind. The course headed up the coastline for about 40:km with a strong cross wind that had little impact on pace, but the air temperature was only 10oC and I'd under-dressed... schoolboy error! 

The kit you bike and run in is worn under the wetsuit during the swim, so everything is wet when you jump on the bike. With the air temperature low and the wind blowing hard, I was soon shivering on the bike and had to push hard to warm-up. But after 15 or 20 km I was starting to feel a little warmer and I settled into my rhythm. As we raced north up the coastal road the pace was pretty quick and by the time we took the left turn inland at 40 km I was clocking an average speed of 37 km/hr. But then the rolling hills and headwind kicked in, and the pace began to drop. I knew this would come, so I just tried to settle into a comfortable position and keep the pace from dropping too much. After another 30 km passed, the course headed south on a main road, with another crosswind. The pace began to climb again, and as we approached the end of the first lap, I was averaging a little below 36 km/hr. North again, then back inland and the wind had picked-up, with no obvious tailwind throughout the course, probably because of the swirling gusts. Finally we exited the last loop and took the 15 km leg back into Copenhagen, with the average pace now down to 34 km/hr, bringing me into transition at 5hrs 17mins. Now the test. My feet had been cold and numb throughout the bike section, which because of my freshly broken toe, was a blessing. But as I jumped off the bike and ran toward the changing tent, my feet warmed and the pain in my toe kicked in. Nothing to do by put my shoes on and head out onto the run, feeling more fatigued than I'd anticipated. At around 3 km, Camilla and my boys were stood cheering by the side of the road. Camilla ran along side me for a couple hundred meters and asked how my foot was, to which I just shook my head. The toe was throbbing and the fracture was opening up a little each time my foot hit the pavement. The pain was bearable, but I wondered how much worse it would get. So early in the run, I couldn't imaging running the whole marathon, yet walking would bring me in with an absurdly slow time - and as a roadside banner brandished by a highly-enthusiastic supporter read: "quitting is not an option", so I carried on.  But as the kilometers ticked by, the pain in my foot subsided - I didn't ask why!!

An ugly toe - the morning after

My plan was to run at 4.50 min/km pace for the first 20:km and slow down as little as possible in the second half.  I more or less accomplished the first aim, but the time slipped from 30-35:km which put me off pace by a few minutes. I dug deep, but pulling the time back that late into the race was too big a challenge, and as hard as I tried, I had little to give. My legs were shot, and getting more out of them was off the agenda. So with 3 kms to go, I realized the sub-10 hr goal would have to wait, and I crossed the line in 10hrs 3mins, clocking 3hrs39mins for the marathon. 

Am I disappointed with this - not in the least. I did what I set out to do, which was to dig like a dog and leave nothing at the end. It was far from the perfect race, but I gave it my all. I also beat my previous best Iroman time of 10hrs 21mins which I set exactly 20 years ago. So all is good!

Ashfaq, Angela and Yan - three members of my research group - who came down to support