Friday 27 June 2008

Some photos from Switzerland

I was looking through some folders and found these. Some photos from Rapperswil.


Waggers and myself with the giraffe.


Me on the bike leg.


The Stairway to Heaven, pure hell!


At the end, with my medal.

Sunday 22 June 2008

Amsterdam Marathon

And I'm entered.
October 19th. Information here

Time to think of next year!


I've been thinking about the HIM and in what ways I can improve if I am going to do a full one next year. One way is to stick to a more structured training program. To this end, I ordered and received Don Fink's book, "Be Iron Fit"

It's an interesting read so far, with a lot of it aiming at how to manage your training time effectively. There is a recommendation that all sessions are based on time rather than on distance. There are some training programs in the book too, so when I finish reading it, I'll post up a proper review.

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Post Race

In the days following the race, I was like a zombie. I had to force myself to eat as I was too tired to enjoy it. I was constantly drinking to replenish myself too. Then when we got back to Dublin, we had a tag rugby match to play! It went well, we won pretty easily, with the three new Ironmen doing enough to learn the rules and get some trys.

It took until about Saturday before I felt that I was recovered enough to go and do anything extra. I had a match on Sunday, just a challenge match so not too important. I made the mistake of not getting enough sleep on the Saturday night and that meant that I was dead again come Sunday evening.

Last night I was back in the gym, time to start bulking up now that the big race is over. I have 7 weeks to work on upper body strength before the first round of the championship. More tag rugby this evening and then there is an aquathlon tomorrow evening on Bull island.

Monday 9 June 2008

Race Report

The race day arrived. Up early and down for breakfast. We had brought porridge with us, but in the end decided to go for the hotel brekkie and coffee.
We got all suited up and put on sunscreen. Then over to the transition area to put on bottles and food and pump up the tyres. With all the gear laid out it was now time to go to the toilet (again and again!)

20 minutes to go and no sign of Greg. Went to put on the wetsuit and hop into the water. Heart rate was at 140bpm! Stopped the watch and restarted it, HR down to 110bpm. That's more like it!

Treading water for the few minutes before the start, more people start to arrive. Then the bang and we're off. Not as frenzied as I thought it would be, but once the course narrowed it became kill city! It only lasted for a couple of minutes before the field started to string out. Up to the first turn buoy there were people cutting across and slowing and going past. After the second turn buoy, I found a set of feet and settled in for the last bit. After a few hundred metres, someone else fancied getting in, but a bit of elbow barging and they dropped back. I looked up at one stage and there were at least three people in the snake I was part of! I spotted some faster feet after a while and dropped onto them. This is easy! 200m to go. Everyone is going the long way around the corner, not me, I look up and cut to the inside buoy. Last little bit and then being dragged out. Up the steps, down with the wetsuit and jog to the bike. 35 minutes. Going good so far.

T1 was a blur. Off with the suit, on with the helmet, shoes and glasses. A handful of jellies and I was off. Taking it easy, picking up water at every feed station. Some people going past. Then, 10km in, "Witches Hill". I charged up the first part, adrenaline getting the better of me. Then I settled in to the harder second half. Grab a half a banana at the top and relax down the narrow road. Onto the flat and push a bit, still drinking lots. The next 10km was almost all uphill. "The Beast", and boy was it ever. Cow bells, samba dummers and supporters all the way up. Then the top of the hill. Wow, 65km/h downhill without pedalling. Before I knew it I was back in the town. The girls had written "Éire abú" on the ground and our names. I had to chuckle! Second lap, passing some of the women on the course and then some of the other age groups. The hills went by quickly and before I knew it, it was 80 minutes later and I was taking my feet from my shoes. Into transition and remember where to rack my bike.

Rack the bike, off with the helmet and glasses, on with the socks, shoes, hat and glasses again. Grab a handful of jellies, but why do I always get the cherry ones?! 2km in, this is feeling hard, need to pee, decide to struggle through it. Get to the first food stop, grab what I think is water, but no, Buillion! Gah! Try again, wrong again, coke this time! Grab some sponges and keep going. Into the town, our numbers had our names on them, so people cheering for you by name, it made it all easier. Up the "Stairway to Heaven" (or as we christened it "Gestapo mountain", because it was evil) two at a time, recover on the downhill. Around by the lake and on to the soccer pitch. Got passed by Sergio, held on to him until the running track around the pitch, then lost him. It turned out I got ahead of him. He passed me again after a couple of km, and this time I stuck to him like glue. 1km or so from the turnaround I lost him again, but he had woken my legs up to running. At the turn around, a quick look at the watch, 4:06. A light goes off in my head, I can get under 5 hours! Finally, a goal. Back through the town, once more up the steps, catching more people, feeling good. Get to the running track, only a few km to go. Started to lengthen my stride, 20 minutes for 4km, this should be possible. Picked up some lemon and lime slices at a feed station, they woke me up good. Last feed station in sight, push harder. Up into the turn around point once more, go straight past it and into the finishing chute. The crowd were great, hands up in the air as I cross the line, 4:58:04. Get my medal, chocolate drinks and red bull. Sit down and relax! Waited until the other two crossed the line, then out to relax and get our finishers shirts.

Got out of the athletes area and was handed an Erdinger! How good was that?! Sat down and chilled for a while. Went to get a shower and massage and then for some food. I had to force it down, I was sooooo tired. 3 people at our table went up to collect prizes. We left to get our bikes from transition. The rest of the evening is a blur. We went back to the hotel and at some stage I fell asleep.

The first thing that went through my head after finishing? Never again! Five minutes later after watching people come over the line? Maybe next year. Five minutes later? When's the next one?

This is going to be addictive!

Looking back at Switzerland

On the Friday (our second day in Rapperswil) we decided to go out and do a loop on the bike course. We picked up a German guy as we were leaving the hotel and started out nice and slowly. Myself and Waggers hung at the back trying to get used to the distance we would have to keep. After 10km we turned to go up the first hill. It went on for a bit and this was supposed to be the short one! Once at the top, we regrouped and went gingerly down the other side. I lost the yellow spongy bit from my aero bottle and had to go back for it. This led me to tying it in with cable ties for the race.

We weren't quite sure where to go after that and after going up an even worse hill, and down the other side, we realised that we had skipped a good bit of the loop including "the Beast". But seeing as we had two hills under us, we decided that going back to the hotel was a good idea. It was also quite hot at this stage and we didnt want to be out for too long. We said farewell to the German guy and another girl that we picked up on the way in the next town. They continued around to find "the Beast" and we headed back. An uneventful trip back, no thunder storms or punctures or anything.

We went through the registration process on Friday too. It was quick if a bit confusing as to where we were supposed to go.

After food and resting for a while, Greg and I decided it was time to test the water. A quick 20 minute dip in the lake ensued. The water was cold, but once you got moving it wasn't too bad at all. There was great visibility too. That cleared out the butterflies a little bit for me anyway.


Saturday came quickly and dragged on for days! It was the day for doing nothing. We watched TV and movies and then Pauline arrived. Louise arrived later on before we went to the pasta party. Free food and Erdinger for all! Fantastic :)

Friday 6 June 2008

Some photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/griffinm/Ironman703Switzerland

Some photos that Pauline took while watching and supporting us in Rapperswil.

Wednesday 4 June 2008

It's all over

It's now a few days later, I'm back in work, my brain is starting to come back to life. I'll write up a report over the next few days and post it up here.

I finished in 4 hours 58 minutes and 4 seconds. Waggers and Greg finished it as well, so it was happiness all round.