Iron-Voodoo
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In awe. That really is something special mate, well done to you. Especially given your weight at 94kg - can't even think of the energy it must take to get a frame that size around an Ironman.
Might kill my running thread due to looking rather pathetic ...
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@voodoo said in Iron-Voodoo:
@JK Cheers for the reminder - OK, here is the Race Report:
The Goal
My ideal "everything-goes-perfectly-on-the-day" goal was to break 12 hours - that would mean something like a 90min swim, a 6:10 hour ride, a 4 hour marathon, and 20mins in transition / toilet stops. Spoiler alert, I didn't quite pull it off!Here is how it unfolded:
The Swim
Was a cracking morning in Port Mac - 14 degrees, sunny skies, smooth water - perfect for the swim. I started near the back as I'm a poor swimmer, and I got into a nice rhythm early. It's a unique swim as you walk out and over a weir after about a km, then again on the way back in - gives you the chance to check your pace and wave to any supporters. I was flying at the start which was unintentional, turns out there was a decent current taking us out...obviously that wasn't so useful on the way back in, though I was more focused on not working too hard than my speed, so I just kept plugging away, trying to be smooth and conserve energy.Got out of the water with 81 minutes on the clock which I was stoked with, having expected to take between 90-100. I'd need those 10 minutes later...
The Ride
Brutal. Just brutal.My plan was to ride somewhere between 28-30km/hr, depending on conditions (road, elevation, wind etc). The wind wasn't a factor until the last 60kms, but the road was chippy as hell and really undulating - and I battled to hold my pace. I've never seen so many people get flats, I must have seen 20 people on the side of the road - one bloke I spoke to afterwards said his mate got 3 x flats before he abandoned the race!
Had plenty of dark moments where I thought I was never going to get off the bike, I remember the section from 75kms to 90kms just seemed to take forever, and thinking fck me, I'm still not even halfway through this ride, let alone what comes afterwards.
Managed to keep dialling back in, breaking it down into chunks of 5km, and focussed on nutrition - I got through 4 Cliff energy bars, about 4 packs of Cliff energy Bloks, and I made sure I got water and gatorade at every aid station.
The last 40kms I decided to let up a little to conserve some energy, and I finished in 6:30 with an average pace of 27.8kms/hr. I probably went a little hard, and my ego refused to let me get off the bike and walk up Matthew Flinders (for those unfamiliar with the course, MF is a short but stupidly steep street, 18 degrees I think - they lay out a carpet down the side of the street for athletes to walk their bikes up, and many do so).
Overall, given the road conditions, pretty happy with the ride, and thanks to my faster swim, I was only 10mins behind schedule.
The Run
Probably not that accurate to call this a "run". It was really more of a grovel, a shuffle, a battle of mind over body.The ride really took it out of me, and I was cramping after just 2kms. My 12hr plan needed me to run 5:45/km pace, which I had planned to structure as running about 5:35/km in between aid stations, and then walking the short up/down hill section of each lap (4 x laps total), and to walk fast through each aid station to get the nutrition in.
After the first cramp, I knew I needed to reassess. The next bar in my mind was breaking 12:30, which would have required averaging 6min/km - I had a go at this until about 10kms, when it was clear that my hammies just had to be stretched out more often and there was going to be relatively frequent sections where I would need to walk it out for 100m or so.
So I decided to be realistic, and reset the bar again at breaking 13 hours. The mental arithmetic was actually pretty useful I think to keep me occupied. I knew averaging 6:45/km for the run would get me a 4hr 45min marathon, which should work out to just under 13 hours total time on course - by this point I had already banked 10kms at a quicker pace so had some room to slow up. The plan now was just to hold on, stay consistent, shuffle when I felt Ok then stretch and walk fast whenever I started cramping.
I took water and gatorade at every aid station in the first 21kms, I had my own Bloks, but also grabbed a gel at one point. Fark I hate those things. Was pretty well under the required 6:45/km pace at this stage.
The 2nd half of the run I switched to water and Coke, and I was actually starving - I tried to eat some banana and pretzels, but couldn't swallow them so decided to go without. It was about 6pm by this stage, and the weather had turned massively - wind was up and it was freezing cold. Spectators were huddled in hoodies and blankets, and barricades were blowing over. They handed out glowsticks so we could see other competitors in the less well-lit sections. The ambulances on-course handed out a lot of those tin-foil jackets to competitors wo were struggling in the cold, and a few got helped off course, their day disappointingly over after so much effort.
I'm lucky that I don't feel the cold as much as others (one of the benefits of being 94kgs...) so I was OK with the weather - the wind was tough, but the cold probably helped keep my heart rate down - quite bizarrely for me, my heart rate shows a steady decline from start to end of the run, with an average of 142 which is super low for me - shows how it was the legs that were letting me down rather than the ticker I guess.
Anyway, kms 21-30 were rough, and seemed to take forever. But I had in my mind that if I could just get to the 30km mark, then I was on the home stretch - and even if I had to walk the last 12kms, I knew I could finish from there. Big mental boost when I got to that point.
The last 10kms I tried to shuffle the whole way - there were some small periods of walking and stretching, and boy was it slow, but mostly I kept going. I knew I was going to hit my 6:45/km average target with about 5km to go - by this time I couldn't stomach any more nutrition, so it was water only for the last 40 minutes.
Turning into the finishing chute (as opposed to running past it for another 10km lap) was a pretty epic feeling - running down the red carpet, getting high 5's from the amazing crowd, ringing the 1st timers bell, and hearing the announcer call out my name and tell me I was an Ironman, was a pretty cool feeling I won't forget in a hurry.
Final finishing time was 12:55.12 - not the dream time, but I think respectable enough for a first timer. While the legs didn't have enough in them to run the marathon I wanted, I was pretty happy with my mental game to hang in there when it hurt like hell.
Hats off to those folk who took closer to the max 17 hours to finish near midnight - the mental fortitude those guys showed to battle the course for that long is something I will never comprehend.
The Aftermath
Once I had the medal, it was a quick massage in the tent, then out to see my wife who was amazing support on course. Grabbed a kebab and chips to take back to the hotel room where I also had beers and wine waiting for a celebratory party.I managed about 1/3 of the kebab and half a glass of wine before climbing into bed, freezing and feeling terrible. My feet ached, I was freezing cold by now, and I slept terribly from all the sugary crap I had injested through the day.
Yesterday I felt heaps better, and I smashed a huge brekkie, a pie, a huge dinner, beers and wine - and I plan on doing more of the same all week. I certainly won't be dusting off the running shoes or that evil bike trainer in the next few days.
Immediately after the race I said to my wife "I can't understand why anyone would do more than 1 of these things - after the swim, I didn't enjoy any of that". 2 days later, and I'm already wavering and contemplating going again - I know I can train harder, and I know I can go faster...let's see how I feel in a few weeks...
Just had a little nosey at the official results. I see you spent 16 mins in transition. What were you doing? Catching a movie or sumfink? 😁
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@scribe Ha, yeah I was cruising, was in no hurry!
T1 - 9:16
It's actually a decent jog from the water to transition, up and over a walkway etc. Once I had my bag, I sat down, wettie off, socks and shoes on, opened all my energy bar packets up (they're really finicky to do on the bike), then did sunscreen and chafing cream. Once ready, I hit the porter-loo cos I was busting but also to get the suncream off my hands.A bit to do in there!
T2 - 7:41
No good excuse here, was just rooted
I did take the time to change my socks and get some vasoline on my arms - and another toilet pitstop. But yeah, this probably shouldn't have taken more than 5 minutes (I see the pros take less than 2 minutes...). Interestingly though, you prompted me to take a bit of as look at others T2 times who finished with similar overall times - most are in the 6-8 min range, with a couple of guys even > 10 minutes.
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lots of the weekend warriors take ages in transition, and get fully changed for each leg, rather than just relying on tri-suits (that maxi-pad is not gonna cut it on the bike if you can get decent bike shorts). i totally get this, if i am moving for 13 hours i want to be as comfortable as possible
Getting out of a wetsuit takes fucking ages if you have big flipper feet like me
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@mariner4life Yeah. I had the tri-suit under the wettie and wore that all day - hence the reluctance to piss in the thing...
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@voodoo I wore a 2 piece tri suit both IM I did. Numerous pisses first time (incl on bike, no hanging the old fella out the leg, this was straight through the suit). 2nd race, obligatory piss in wetsuit as soon as I hit the water and then nothing at all for the rest of the race. And I was on purely liquid nutrition (16 gels decantered into a bidon and then energy drink). I reckon I went through prob 10 x 750 ml bottles without taking a leak (but I nailed the race).
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@scribe bodies are weird eh? I would have consumed a similar amount - I got fresh water and Gatorade at all 5 aid stations on the bike, they must have been 600m each I’d say. Then I walked every run aid station (20 ish) to get a cup of water and Gatorade/coke into me. I hadn’t expected to take 5 pisses but it makes sense. You doing just 1 seems the anomaly!
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@Dodge said in Iron-Voodoo:
This is a great thread, hell of an effort Voodoo. The mental strength to complete one of these is entirely beyond me, fitting all this in around work, kids and beer is even more impressive
Mate - thought you might appreciate a race shot of me on the day.
This is the pick of the bunch I think, captures the excitement and nervousness I was feeling
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@voodoo said in Iron-Voodoo:
@Dodge thanks mate. Was a long day, but stoked to tick the box.
And I’m embarrassed to say I’ve basically given all the training benefits back since the race 🙈
glad to heat that. I've picked up a new nickname following a cycling weekend earlier in the year FLAB (Fat Lad At the Back)
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Been a few months...
Happy to confirm that I haven't swum a single stroke of freestyle since the race, and I have taken the bike outside only once. Think I have ventured onto my trainer maybe 2-3 times.
Have been keeping up the running though, mixing longer stuff (only 10-12kms) with some tempo (5-7kms) and a weekly interval session with a great squad that my daughter also goes to. Really enjoying this.
Am 5kgs heavier than race day, which doesn't help the running, so I really should sort that.
Diet starts in Feb...
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@voodoo after about 5 years, I’m back in the pool. What a shock to the system! It’s a 50m outdoor pool; swimming on the weekend it was a balmy 3 degrees outside here in London. Luckily the water temp is 21 degrees. Finding it all v therapeutic and can see why I used to enjoy it so much. Got talking to a guy in my lane who had swum Lake Taupo (40 odd km) and Lake Geneva (70km). Insane but quite inspiring!
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@scribe said in Iron-Voodoo:
@voodoo after about 5 years, I’m back in the pool. What a shock to the system! It’s a 50m outdoor pool; swimming on the weekend it was a balmy 3 degrees outside here in London. Luckily the water temp is 21 degrees. Finding it all v therapeutic and can see why I used to enjoy it so much. Got talking to a guy in my lane who had swum Lake Taupo (40 odd km) and Lake Geneva (70km). Insane but quite inspiring!
Swimming in 3 degrees sounds horrific! Good work though!
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Alright you horrible cnts - I’m back, and I’ve signed up for another round of this torture.
Port Mac again, 12 weeks to get into shape - and I’m coming off a low base.
On the positive side, I guess I know what the day holds.
On the negative, I won’t have that innate need to finish, since I’ve done one of these before…
It’s going to be an effort to train for this - I started a new job in October, and it’s bloody busy with a fair amount of travel. I’m hoping that with a disciplined diet (😂), and some muscle memory, I can get through this.
Wish me luck fellas!
