The magnificent seven and me

I was not one of the Ironman 2012 Ultimate Challenge finishers.  But these seven people were:-

(from left to right) Joe Doyle, John Mongan, Tony MacPherson, Norm Driskell (Mr TOTKat), Kate Stannett, Bethan Fowler (Pro) and Paul Hawkins (Pro).  Eimear Mullan also finished all 4 (1st at UK 70.3 and UK and 2nd at Galway 70.3 and Wales), but as she didn't commit at the start was not counted as an Ultimate Challenge finisher.

I am not jealous in any way of these people.  Yes, I did want to complete the challenge, but it was completely outside of my control that I could not start Ironman Wales.  Thanks to a healthy training schedule, a good plan and pretty good attention to detail with the work I'd been given by my coach (Rich from thetrilife.com), I was ready to get through all 4 races and have no doubts at all that I would have finished Wales in the time limit allowed.  It would not have been a quick race, maybe 15-25 minutes longer than Bolton due to learning a few things and the Wales course being really rather tough, but I am certain that I would have completed had I started.

The view from the other side shows the floating big chunk much more clearly, but we have no light box...

Not being able to race at Wales, I followed the suggestion of Kevin Stewart (Managing Director of Ironman UK and Ireland) and volunteered for finish line duty to hand out medals (fairly safe with only one working arm).  On the day, I ended up unwrapping a good few hundred individually wrapped medals, handed out a fair few bottles of water and recovery drink but placed only one Ironman Wales medal around a neck...

My Ultimate Ironman

...along with an Ironman UK 70.3, an Ironman UK and an Ironman 70.3 Ireland as well!  Despite there being a fanatically over-enthusiastic volunteer on the finish line, who got right in almost every athlete's face as they came through the finishing arch (she drove me nuts all evening and clearly had no understanding of the athletes' situation whether first timer or seasoned Ironman, but her intentions were almost certainly good), a couple of the Ironman UK staff (thanks Laura and Allie for looking after me!) grabbed me as they heard Paul Kaye announce MrTOTKat coming down the finishing chute ("Norm Driskell... you are The Ultimate Ironman!") and propelled me right forward to present the medals and put them around his neck before anyone else got anywhere near him.  Almost all of the other athletes in the race had the Mayor of Tenby (Trevor Hallett) present their Wales medal (and, in fact, he did give another one to MrTOTKat before taking it off again when we told him there was already one on there).

I was actually crying a bit at this point

Ironman 70.3 Ireland (Galway) was quite a turning point and is instrumental in my decision of what to focus on for 2013.  Rich had already passingly suggested that 70.3 might be more fun and productive for next year (more speed work during the week, more focusing on drills and technique) before I set off for Ireland and I had started thinking about it with the beginnings of a plan forming.  After Galway and looking at the stats, taking into account racing and training defensively to get through 4 IM races in my first year of going longer than Olympic distance and the crash and ensuing tricky run, the numbers seemed promising enough to decide to focus on 70.3 with aspiration to execute a top-notch race at Galway in 2013.

Definitely must wear glasses in a race - stinging sand blowing around *hurts* when it gets in your eyes!

So, the plan for now is to focus on rehabilitation of my left arm and shoulder after the surgery to fix a titanium plate in my collar-bone to put all the pieces back in place and together so it heals straight and properly.  Then, we have a triathlon training camp in February at Club La Santa with Joe Beer and crew, followed by Hell of The Ashdown towards the end of February, then a couple of Thames Turbo sprint races up to Ironman UK 70.3 in June, then a bit of a break before Ironman Ireland 70.3 in September, then another big old break before Ironman Lanzarote 70.3 to finish off the season in November.  A really nice spread throughout the year, aiming to peak at Galway for a strong race on a course that seems to suit my strengths.

The call of the next season...

Galway has been a pivotal race for more reasons than stopping me from completing the Ultimate Challenge.

I thought I'd be devastated not to finish the challenge but I'm just disappointed.  I deserved to have finished all 4 races, I'd put in the work, I had the fitness and the determination.  I have no doubt I would have finished Wales to complete the set had I not broken my collar bone.  Yes, it means I don't get to tick that box, yes it means I don't get the cool special jacket, medal and t-shirt and I don't get to tell people I did it.  But, I did deserve to and that's pretty darned good.  I'll always know that even if other people won't and won't understand it.

The other reason for it being a pivotal race is what it showed me about what I could possibly achieve.  Given the close proximity to the final race of the challenge, with Wales only 2 weeks afterwards, my coach and I agreed I needed to conserve my body and limit damage as far as possible to allow for a comfortable day in Tenby.  This meant I could have a bit of a go in the swim and bike but, as Rich said, "doss the run".

Bear that and the crash in mind and look at the performance differences between Wimbleball and Galway.  Yes, Wimbleball is a tougher course, but look at the improvement vs the rest of the field (rank by that stage of the race) and my age category (cat rank for that leg of the race)...

 

 A minor improvement vs the field in the swim and a bit of learning in T1.  Then I've jumped almost 34% up my age category and almost 25% up the whole field in the bike *including a crash*!  Not completely going balls-out and then 5 minutes on my back/arse at the side of the road and then the last 9km at a gentler pace overall (I think) and still I moved from 60% down the age category to the top 25%. That's really very very encouraging.  Yes, the run was not as good as Wimbleball (quicker, but lower down the field - the courses have quite different profiles), but I had two pee stops of about a minute each ('s hard to get your shorts on and off with one hand) and I was trying not to jar my shoulder too much the rest of the time.  I also had an extra 11 minutes in T2 being seen to by the medics which wouldn't be normal.

The race itself felt great and had I not crashed so badly, I think I might have been fighting for 3rd place in my age category.  Not quite enough for a 70.3 World Championships slot without a lucky roll down - I'd need 2nd place for that - but I have to think it might be possible if that had been an A race.  So, in any case, 70.3 might just be my Goldilocks distance.

Right now, next year looks like the year of 70.3 and trying to qualify for the World Championships at Lake Las Vegas either in 2013 or 2014, depending on what races look possible to make A races in 2013.  Current thinking is Wimbleball, Galway and Lanzarote for a nice spread through the season and finishing somewhere warm in November.  It also means I can do some sprints (hello Blenheim! :o)) and maybe olympics as well through the year as it won't interfere with my overall training, so I can have a lot more fun with that.

Hyoooge week ahead!

Biiiig week of training this week from Coach Rich as I'm not at work:-

Yep.  That's 18 and a half hours and I have literally no excuses not to do it all.  Then I get a taper week into Galway, I think.

Ohgod, there's only 4 weeks until I finish the Ultimate Challenge!

Ultimate Ironman Challenge

As if Ironman Wales by itself (with Wimbleball as a warm-up) wasn't enough of a challenge for our first year going long...

Originally we were going to do Ironman Wales, with UK 70.3 (Wimbleball) along the way as a pre-amble.  We were planning and training for that and everything was exciting and a bit scary, but not all that scary.  Even now I can visualise a 70.3 distance, maybe not with monster hills, but the distance itself doesn't hold any real fear already.

 Then Mr TOTKat came across this...

"Dan James, Operations Director for IRONMAN UK, explains: “After launching the Ironman Ireland and Ironman Wales events last year some people started to talk about the ultimate test of completing our four races in one season. We thought this was incredibly hard but knew we had to recognise the achievement if someone could succeed in finishing all four in the same year.”

This is no easy feat as it will require an exceptional effort to complete over 420 miles of racing inside three months. A number of athletes, like Charlie, have already put their names forward for the challenge and Ironman have responded to the idea enthusiastically. The UK organising team have agreed to provide some extra reward for athletes who are attempting the extremely difficult task." 

My first reaction was "you're crazy!".  We've not even done a 70.3 yet, have no idea about recovery times or even how we'll cope with a 70.3, never mind a full distance.  Plus, the last two are two weeks apart!  So, I suggested that coachJoe be consulted to see just how crazy it was. The response came back pretty much as "do it!" (with a bit more about the practical and sensible bits).  So I thought about it and...

Here we are.  Signed up for 4x Ironman events this year:-

"As a result athletes embarking upon the ‘ultimate’ will receive special race numbers and a commemorative package including t-shirt, jacket and a unique medal as part of a special awards ceremony. A ‘Wall of Fame’ will also be created online to honour the success of those who can overcome the odds to finish all four races in the same season. "

So far, there are 9 people signed up for the challenge, and we're two of them.  Now I'm appropriately excited.  I think this has now got to its logical conclusion. There is no more we could realistically do in 2012.  It's not going to be easy, but then it never was doing "just" the two.

I been and gone and done it