This is quite a long-winded write up but as I’ve had so many people ask how it went here is everything you could possibly want to know including the data and link to results at the end!

I must say a huge thank you to all my family and friends back in Henley (I’m not going to make a 10 minute speech and ramble on like Chrissie Wellington did in her awards speech!). But it has been fantastic to have various surprise congratulations parties, a welcome group at the airport at midnight and large number of emails, texts and messages on Facebook etc! It really means a lot and nice that anybody cares at all about the results of such a mad event on a volcano on the other side of the World! I certainly didn’t think there would be dozens of people up at 3am UK time to refresh their browsers to find out my results! I would also like to say a big thank you to my friend, coach and business partner, Filipe, who over the last few years has somehow turned me from a fairly average ex-rower trying to keep fit into a World class triathlete (seems odd using that term but I suppose I’m allowed to now!). I’ll be writing a separate blog entry on some of the tips and race prep people might find interesting, but won’t be giving too much away, for that you have to visit us at Athlete Service for all your training and bike setup needs (sorry little plug there but why not)!

Race Buildup

I had little time to think about the challenge in Hawaii in the few weeks run up to departing; Challenge Henley having taken place two weekends before (a successful event in terms of promotion but stressful weekend for Athlete Service). With three very long days on the feet and a few days training missed at a fairly crucial time. I was fortunate to have enough people helping out on our stand and doing the bike support which we were involved in to have the opportunity to step in at the last minute for the Swimovate team relay (bike leg) which was a good final test of bike speed/power on tired legs! We won the team event (no excuses really with a 48 minute swimmer and 2:50 marathon runner!). I was happy with power on the bike @270W average for 4 hours (harder than Ironman race pace). With just enough time to get the shop straight and then pack bike and kit it was a nice break to get on the 20 hour flight literally to the other side of the World!

Myself and Sophie Whitworth (plus husband/team support Mike) flew out 2 weeks prior to race day. The first week seemed to fly by with our super-coach Filipe setting us a pretty hard 16 hour week programme to hone bike and run speed on the course itself. This included a 3 hour ride on the Queen K Highway from Hawi (and the initial climb before the turnaround point) back to Kona (so over half of the course at race pace to get a feel for conditions). With this and a few other rides at Ironman pace it became obvious that all of Filipe’s advice on "using your head" to get best possible speed for the effort would really pay off. Using the hills (slightly harder uphill, tucked in nice and aero on the downhills and flats and particularly into the persistent headwinds on a few stretches. Average speed was up at least 1-2kph compared to our local roads for the power which left me very confident going into the race that I could go well under 5 hours (worst case!) and probably under 4:50 (target time) @ 230W or so while leaving fresh legs for the run. The roads were so smooth it really felt like riding on rollers! As expected there were some windy parts of the course which some athletes seem to dread, but I tend to gain time on the less confident riders when the conditions get tough so they didn’t worry me too much!

We swam almost every day on the swim course and after a few sessions started to feel comfortable in the rolling sea swell, happily keeping up with Mike and Sophie on the various swims so knowing I should be fine on the day in terms of pace and also confident with sighting with a straightforward out and back (1 loop course). It was fantastic to be swimming in warm, clear water with amazing fish-life plus a great atmosphere on "Dig Me Beach" each morning with pros and age-groupers alike having fun in the sea with the turtles!

It became evident pretty quickly that the hardest thing would be managing body temperature on the run. On my first training run at race pace off a 2 hour bike after 40 mins my heart rate began to soar up to high 150s and low 160s unusually high for me (race HR normally around 140)! This was only a couple of days after travelling and in the full heat without extra hydration, but a useful lesson in how the heat could really hurt on the Marathon without full use of feed stations when aiming for anything like 3 hour marathon pace in 30+ degree heat! A few days later a final longer 10 mile run from the Natural Energy Lab back to Kona and along Ali’i Drive felt comfortable at around 3 hour marathon pace and a great session to do to check out the final part of the run route, so was a little happier then.

Race Week

So onto race week and the full Athlete Service team with Filipe and wife Pat arriving and my parents a few days before race weekend for the final prep sessions and chilling before the race. Race week in Kona is pretty amazing to watch develop with 1800+ of the fittest looking athletes arriving from all over the World and every major bike and kit manufacturer seemingly popping up a display in town! I also had the opportunity a couple of days before the race to take a helicopter tour of the island (thanks Mum and Dad!), truly awe-inspiring stuff to see active volcanoes and 2000+ft waterfalls on one side of the island then views of the Queen K and barren landscape where the action would take place heading down from Hawi to Kona on the other side of Big Island.

The final few swim sessions on the course with last minute tips and swim start practice with Filipe were really useful (he of course dropped us all on the starts with zero training..) and Sophie wanted to practice some argy-bargy so all good fun. Some intervals and runs in "The Natural Energy Lab" in the heat of the day off the bike were a taster of the race ahead. My last 3×1 mile efforts at well under 6 minute mile pace felt great along Ali’i drive (with various pros obviously on similar plans!) so mind and body ready for Race Day. Thursday night was the "pasta party" and race briefing which unusually was a washout with a massive downpour just after the opening ceremonies, a real shame for the organisers but hopefully the "Weather Gods" were just getting the worst out of the way before the weekend! Friday, the day before the race, I just gave the bike a final check over and 20 minute ride to transition to check bike and transition bags in for race day. What an amazing sight, a sea of top-spec TT bikes sat on the pier next to the ocean! The organisation is amazing with 5000 volunteers looking after athletes before, during and after the race like no other race I have been to and really feels a special event.

Going into race day I felt charged up with the sun and acclimatised well to the heat with a solid week training two weeks previous and sharpener sessions on race week. Filipe has an uncanny record of predicting my race times very accurately; the final discussions before race day; a "conservative" 65 minute swim, 4:55 (ideally closer to 4:50) bike and 3:10 run for 9:10 to 9:15 or so including transitions sounded achievable but potentially tough in the heat and wind (he did add that sub 9 hours should be achievable with a good race…). Aim was top GB age grouper (knowing that would be around 9:15 from previous years) and top 100 overall, but seemingly every age group male we bumped into during the week was aiming for 9 hours so I let them do the talking, it would be easy to look very foolish predicting times and placings on a first attempt at Kona!

Race Day

A decent night sleep, no real nerves which is unusual! Up at 4am for a breakfast of porridge, bagel and newest addition to race day, a bottle of Ensure Plus for some extra calories!

Down to transition for body marking (printing the black numbers on our arms!), a task in itself with 2-3 volunteers per athlete with rubber stamps and marker pens ("it’s got to be perfect for your perfect day" said the 60+ year old local woman on her 10th year volunteering!). Then off to bike transition to clip shoes on the bike, put food and drinks on bike and final checks and adjustments and it was soon time for the drums to start at 6.30am for the Pro start and time for the age groupers to put on their speed suits, caps and goggles and try to keep calm while the pros thrashed it out in the water!

Swim (2.4 mi, 1:02:32, 1:37/100m 66th in age group, 361st overall!)

Down the steps and into the ocean for a quick warm up swim I was strangely not nervous, just trying to find the best position not too central. Ended up treading water around a couple of canoes next to a floating Ford car on a platform in the middle of the sea! After about 10 minutes of bobbing around and looking for a bit of space for the start to get a decent few strokes to begin the swim the cannon suddenly went and we were off – no time to think! I was expecting there to be carnage similar to the swim in Lanzarote but it was relatively tame as people were generally allowing decent space and I got into a rhythm pretty quickly settling after the first few hard minutes. Just thinking about not kicking too much, controlled breathing and getting hold of the water and staying long (as mentioned in my training post) and making sure I was sighting the buoys on the way out (sighting a big mast on the yacht at the turnaround point). About half way down the out leg I’m sure I was swimming next to Sophie for a few minutes (nice to see a friendly arm!). Things got a bit more exciting at the turn point as everyone goes for the shortest line but I kept slightly out for a wider line and got away with just a good kick in the face (was happy goggles stayed on!). From there I seemed to be passing people who likely went off too hard rather than going much harder myself, but I tried to stay strong and spent the rest of the swim moving between little packs and soon enough could soon see dry land (and a mass of swimmers funnelling into the steps on "Dig Me Beach" into transition). The last 5 minutes seemed to take forever (possibly a current slowing us down heading back) but started to "bring in the legs" mainly to stop people swimming over me and get the legs working and think about getting swim-skin off quickly and under a hose to get as much sea salt off as possible (still ended up with bad chafing but it was a nice thought!). Onto transition tent but it was packed (we were warned for anyone swimming 55 to 65 minutes it would be manic in there so decided to forget the tent and put on number belt gave bag to a helper and ran to bike with socks and sunnies in hand. Realising I’d missed the sunscreen helpers… oh well I wasn’t turning back!… Helmet and socks on as quick as poss and run with bike the whole way around transition area (I was about as far as possible from the exit far end of the pier) to the mount point glancing at the clock and 1.05 with transition so was happy to be slightly ahead of plan already Talking to swimmers afterwards who claim to be 50-55 minute Ironman swimmers who I came out ahead of, it seemed I must have had a decent swim, although it didn’t feel as though it took too much out of me, less than some wetsuit Ironman events I have done the same time!

Bike (112 mi, 4:46:23, 23.47 mi/h, up to 12th in age group and 67th overall to start the run)

I quickly jumped on the bike and into shoes (always amazes me how slow people are at this and all over the road, obviously not thinking of using gears!). The first part of the bike course heads south from Kona along a road between Ali’i Drive pretty much parallel to the Queen K but has a pretty decent gradient (uphill to begin ride) so I decided to get past as many of the obviously "more swimmery" bikers as possible (who were a bit all over the place) uphill then rest a bit and take on nutrition (in the form of a bottle of Ensure Plus) on the downhill. That didn’t work out as I lost the bottle of Ensure over a bump hidden by a cyclist (there were people all over the road at this point 2 or 3 abreast so concentration vital and I think a bit un-nerving for some, really don’t want to crash in the first 20 minutes of an Ironman bike ride!). I decided to keep up the pace (around 270W back to town and up on the Queen K for the main part of the ride before worrying about taking on too much food and drink as it was wider there to take on food and drink. After about 45 minutes at 260W I settled down to a more realistic pace of around 240W but still whizzing past people at 40kph+ and taking on solid food (a couple of bars fairly quickly having not managed to take on the Ensure Plus all I had was water!). With feed stations every 7 miles I took on water (some of which I poured over myself) and energy drink every other station plus the odd banana when convenient and the gels which were on my bike (Torq and Gu gels)

There seemed to be a never-ending stream of cyclists for the first couple of hours looking down the road at times just long lines of riders stretching into the haze but was encouraged by passing athletes really pretty quickly. I noted one person who went past looking really strong about an hour into the ride but he was far from a runner build so thought I’d see him later (proved correct!) so stuck to my pacing ticking over around 240Watts and 38kph average but often going up to 45kph+ on the flat (!) so feeling comfortable and knowing the time would be good at these speeds so any extra effort not really needed! The course heads uphill and into more of a headwind around 20 miles from the turn-around point at Hawi so everyone was going quite a lot slower (I was down to around 30kph) and now getting into the back of the pro women field (who had a 30 minute lead on the age groupers) so still plenty of riders to pass. I was up closer to 270W up the hills to not lose too much time but not wanting to push too much harder either. By this point I had spent a good portion of the ride out in the middle of the road passing people and not worrying too much about making obvious overtaking moves since pretty much nobody was going past, just trying to keep pace and ease past people. Naturally as you go alongside a rider the initial reaction from them is to up the pace a little so it takes a while to "overtake" some riders particularly uphill, especially the stronger ones not used to being passed!

At this point as I was just easing past a line of around 7 riders on one of the longer hills toward Hawi I sensed a motorbike pull alongside in the corner of my eye so, I assumed one of the media motorbikes maybe following one of the women pro athletes but then as I was easing past the front of the line noticed the official on the back waving a red card and saying something in a German accent. I didn’t think much of it as I assumed he was pointing it at someone in the group perhaps drafting but after another look realised he was pointing at me and getting out a notebook! After easing up and a brief discussion I was told I had been given a red flag for "taking longer than 20 seconds to complete a pass" and informed me I had to report to the next penalty tent at the turnaround point in Hawi for a 4 minute stop and go… just couldn’t believe he was giving me a penalty when I was the only person overtaking rather than sitting "in line"! I didn’t bother arguing as he obviously wasn’t a cyclist, otherwise he would understand I’m not going to sprint past every group of cyclists to overtake them, especially on a hill into a headwind! Obviously rather annoyed (I won’t post swear words on my blog!), I thought best thing to relieve the frustration and possibly make up for some lost time is to go pretty much flat out (well, time trial pace) up the remainder of the hill, so 300 Watts for the next 20 minutes (!) and try to pull back some time before having to stop for 4 minutes. Those felt forever having to then watch the people I’d overtaken in the last hour go past! I did some quick calculations while stopped and I was way ahead of plan so even with the 4 minute penalty would come in under 4:50 so just told myself it’s just the same sort of time as having a puncture so try and forget about it and stick to what I was doing, so keep on the pace.

I descended from Hawi well within myself but with a gusty cross/tail wind was obviously spooking some of the riders as I was hardly pedalling but doing 60-70kph still whizzing past people pretty quick while eating and drinking! The next two hours I just put my head down and sat on 240W average, a bit harder up to 260/270W up the rises and slightly easier but really getting aero as much as possible on the flat and down-hills when the speed was up most, so best possible speed doing 38-40 kph all the way back on the rolling terrain. One of the few things I remember is passing a guy with a memorable name, "Viola" on his shorts with about an hour to go remembering his name from an article I read a few days before on "race favourites" he was supposedly one of the top age groupers aiming to go under 9 hours (I think he came in 9.20 so presumably being from the USA the article was quite US-oriented!). So knew I must have made up some decent places – and to put more time into them before the run! The last 90mins on the bike there were far fewer people around so I assumed I was back up near the front of the age group athletes at least, and was passing quite a few of the better women pro athletes, so that was an encouraging sign too.

A couple of gels in the last hour and taking on plenty of water and the odd sip of coke I felt in good shape energy-wise but was starting to feel the bike legs with the various digs since the "red card" and happy for a break – the run! I had done the majority of the ride "on feel" rather than a target power with the rolling hills and wind there were sections at 270+ watts to keep decent speed up hills into wind but also plenty of sections on flat road tucked in aero doing 45-50kph at 200 watts (very cool on this iconic perfectly smooth road on a volcano in the middle of nowhere!). Ideal wattage from Filipe/testing was 240-250W but for the last half hour which was mainly downhill I brought the power down to 220W keeping the speed up at 38kph and bringing the heart rate down from around 150 to 140 in preparation for the run. A quick glance at my bike computer just before transition – average 244W. 4 hrs 42 ride time at average speed 38.1kph. But I knew 4 minutes needed to be added to that as my computer had stopped for that, but still on the aim of 4:50 including transition! Little did my supporters know about the penalty, just thought I was on pace for predicted split!

Run (26.2 mi, 3:07:17, 7:08/mi average pace, 5th in age group, 42nd overall)

So onto the run and quickly through transition (again two volunteers per person getting out my Newton race shoes from my bag while I put on some fresh Balega running socks, while another helper applied sunscreen to my shoulders (a bit late as they were now burnt after 5 hours in the sun. I still have my race number etched in white print on my arms, it’ll soon disappear along with the tan now back in the UK!)).

Exiting transition I put on cap, sunnies and Garmin watch pressing start over the line my legs felt great and plenty of energy. I’m sure helped by all the runs off bike I have done especially the last couple of months (almost every ride I have done a run afterwards). First mile 6.12… Oh dear! Calm down, just thinking keeping steady, smooth, efficient. Second mile 6.50. Better! Ali’i drive is the iconic stretch of road along the sea front heading south out of Kona for 5 miles before the turn point and back to town to complete the first 10 miles. We had done various pacing and interval sessions along the road the previous two weeks (see my other write up on training and tips) so using the mile markers to get pace information the first 5 miles went by quick and I had already passed 3-4 age group athletes by the first 5 mile point (they seemed pretty sparse which I thought should be a good thing!). On the out-and back section along Ali’i drive it was a good opportunity to get a feel for where I was in the race. Obviously the top pro men, the likes of Craig Alexander had been through the 10 mile marker long before we had finished our bike ride but there were various pro men struggling along plus quite a lot of the pro women to catch! Hovering around 7 minute/mile pace felt pretty good back to Kona. Amazing help and support all along the roadside with "Go Rob" every minute or two, even a couple of "Go GB "shouts!

I was using every aid stations (every mile) taking cold sponges, cups of ice (tipped down top), sips of energy drink and Coke. I developed a bit of a routine so kept this going throughout the race to try and delay over-heating and trying to take on enough liquid but not too much; I really didn’t want stomach problems on this race. For the first 10 miles I stuck to sips of water, the odd sip of energy drink but realising that was no-where near enough energy so took the Torq gel I was carrying at around the 10 mile mark, which was a bit of a pick-me-up. But not for long!

Just heading back into town around the 10 mile mark (great to see my group of supporters including my parents and Filipe) the first athlete overtook me – a pro woman! Obviously I’d overtaken her on bike and it was revenge-time although I latched onto her for the next 5 miles or so and went ahead into the headwind from town uphill to the Energy Lab (far end of course) and she was happy to follow, so I kept being shouted at "Kerry" for a good half hour! I was seeing my mile splits drop to 8 minute and over per mile and it felt really hard but was encouraged by passing a number of other age group athletes finding it even more tough (including the guy who whizzed past me on the bike earlier in the day!). At this point about the half marathon mark which I went through in an encouraging 1:29, the pro women were running back into town on the last few miles of their run and seeing the obvious pain and effort and will to win with Chrissie Wellington and Mirinda Carfrae inspired me a bit more to keep up the effort, if not the pace! Though by his time the legs seemed to be working by themselves, and not as quickly as the brain would like!

Down the road into the Natural Energy Lab the heat from the road was remarkable, a bit of pain in the balls of my feet but nothing too remarkable considering the heat and that my shoes were now soaked from ice/water/sponges! Although the legs felt ok they were definitely not turning over as quickly, partly the heat but possibly running short on energy. Reaching the turn at the 18 mile point (again fantastic support out there!) was satisfying as I had done the rest of the run the week before. But nothing (ok maybe doing a lot more training miles and other Ironman races would help!) can prepare for the feeling in the legs and general tiredness last hour of an Ironman in 30+ degree heat!

From there on in was pure effort to keep the legs ticking over. On the hill out of the Energy Lab was a timing point and noticed a familiar name had just gone through, one of the top age groupers. I had hoped the speed would pick up from there as I knew it was mainly downhill and a week or so before I had been easily averaging 4:10/km back to the finish… but not after a tough swim and bike! At this point, about 2 hours in, I started feeling a tingly sensation over quite a bit of my body. Not excitement at seeing Sophie passing the other direction unfortunately, but probably the first signs of a "bonk" coming on! Desperate measures I took on more Coke than usual, pretty much stopping to make sure I got some down on the next couple of aid stations (great that it was ice cold!) and tried to keep up the pace but knowing going faster was not going to be very realistic, I was too far beyond being saved even by Coke! I passed a couple more age group athletes (they were pretty slim pickings now!) and ready for the last couple of miles knew I would make it home in a good time and it would be really close to the 9 hours mark but calculating unless I did sub-7 minute mile splits it would be over (!) but also knew there were a number of quick runners behind plus the guys I’d just overtaken lining up for a sprint finish so wasn’t worrying about the time too much! Really not what you want at the end of 9 hours! So the final few hundred metres were not a celebration as you might imagine but going as fast as my legs would take me when I was really pretty spent; just pipped at the line by a couple of guys I’d overtaken not long before who were obviously lining up for a sprint between themselves and me! Fantastic to see family at the finish and Filipe there running alongside a few hundred metres before the finish in his sandals (presumably shouting to sprint because of the guys so close behind, but I couldn’t quite make that out!).

I crossed the line knowing I’d had a great race and don’t think it could have gone any better (at least what I had control of!). Definitely close to the limit of my capabilities on the day and happy I seemed to manage the heat pretty well. But also knowing without the penalty on the bike I would have been well under the 9 hour mark. But then also realising it’s a good excuse to be back to smash that mark and hopefully much more in the future!

Although I’ve never been a massive fan of the Ironman Global Super-brand which the Pros seem to all have to endorse in their speeches (I won’t be booking in for an M-dot tattoo anytime soon!..) having experienced this particular race it is a very special event indeed, the 30+ years of history, 1800+ of the best triathletes in the World racing in tough conditions in a spectacular location with fantastic crowd support and 5000+ volunteers along the course manning stands for hours on end; no other event can compare and why every serious triathlete wants to come back to challenge themselves year after year. And why I hope to be back fitter, stronger and more experienced to test myself once more!

Results

42nd overall

12th age group athlete overall

5th in age group 30-34 (on podium)

Swim:	1:02:32
Bike:	4:46:23 (including 4 minute penalty)
Run:	3:07:17
Overall:	9:01:43

Link to final results pdf here

Link to my detailed split times here

Ride (Garmin data)

Run (Garmin data)