In the aftermath of another Ironman disaster, I have no idea
what to do now. Any decision I might make about trying again soon in another
Ironman is going to be at the mercy of how quickly my right knee gets better - that’s
the worst injury I took. It is really sore. I can’t run at all. I can cycle,
but it’s painful and then it stiffens up after I cycle. I can swim as long as I
push off the wall predominantly with my left leg, and as long as I don't kick much, My knee is generally always
stiff and sore. I tried a run last week and it was excruciating. I’ve got a
pretty high pain tolerance, but it was so sore that it drew tears and a dark,
dark mood.
I don’t think I want to end my Ironman career like this, so
the only realistic options I have for using this year’s fitness are two
UK-based races in September. Going overseas to a warmer race towards the end of
the year is too expensive. Ironman Wales is on 18th September – I’ve been
there, done that, and know the “horrors” of that race – a choppy sea swim,
jellyfish, a hilly, hilly, hilly bike, with lots of steep hills, and a hilly,
hilly, hilly run. And great support. But a tough, tough, tough day out. My
friend Matt is doing Ironman Wales and I’ve always said I’d go there to support
him. So that pretty much rules out Wales.
Over the past few years, there has been a non-Ironman
long-course triathlon in Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England. The
Ironman behemoth has taken over this race, and on 11th September (little over 5
weeks away) there will be a half-Ironman and full Ironman running concurrently.
These are non-professional races and there will only be 30 Kona qualifying
slots available at Ironman Weymouth.
My opinion is that Ironman, in the last year or two, are
saturating the market with races, which means each race now has fewer Kona slots
available. It’s generally the bigger age-groups that lose slots, so the male
age groups from 30-34, 35-39 and 40-44, and probably even 45-49 may have had 6 or 7
or 8 slots per age group in the past, and now they’ll be lucky to have 3 slots.
Ironman were recently bought by a Chinese conglomerate, and they are
introducing a lot of new Ironman and half-Ironman races in China – there’s a
couple of new half-Ironman races in China which will have 50 qualifying slots
for the full Ironman world championships, at the expense of slots at full
Ironman races elsewhere in the world. I completely disagree with this. Anyway,
that’s an argument for another day.
There’s not much accommodation left around Weymouth for race
weekend, and because it’s a non-professional race, with only 30 Kona slots, I’d
need to finish top two, maybe top three, in my age group, which would mean
probably top 5 overall. Tall order? In 5 weeks from now? With a ruined knee?
And even then, if I went to Weymouth, and somehow qualified, I wouldn’t be
going to Hawaii until October 2017, which would mean another build-up next
year. I’ve said I’m not keen on another build-up next year. I guess I’d
have to make an exception to go through it all over again if I was going to the
world championships.
But anyway, all these thoughts aren’t worth anything until I
know that my knee can cope with a full Ironman distance, and at the minute I
can’t even run for 5 minutes. I don’t think I want to come down off this
fitness peak and go through another months-long build-up, as I’d have to do
next year. So I’d really like to be able to compete at Weymouth, but I’m not
going to fork out a fortune for entry fees, accommodation, car hire etc, and
drive myself mad trying to train when I’m physically not able, and if I don’t
have confidence that my knee will be OK. So it’s a waiting game, and I’m in
limbo.
I am worried that I’ve done some serious damage to my knee,
so I had an MRI scan a few days ago. I’m currently waiting on the results. The
worst-case will be that I’ve damaged ligaments, cartilage, tendons or bone, and
this may need surgery to repair, and/or extensive rehabilitation and no impact
exercise. In that case, I won’t be able to compete again this year, nor will I
be able to do much else.
The best case will show no damage, but the pain of it
means it’ll still take a while to recover and get better. And “get better” is not
really good enough, I need my knee to be strong enough to do a fast Ironman. I’m
not just going out to run a few miles, I’m trying to qualify for the Ironman
world championships. I need every part of my body to be in excellent working
order. I’m currently waiting on the results of this MRI scan, and until I have
those results, and have a discussion with a specialist, I’m just waiting in
frustration and losing fitness.
I have tried to do a few half-hearted turbo sessions, and
I’ve been in the pool a couple of times. I can get away with swimming as long as I minimise kicking and push off mainly with my left leg. The cycling does cause pain, but the pain doesn’t seem to restrict my cycling. Although I don’t know if the pain is causing more damage when I cycle, or if I shouldn't be cycling at all. I don’t have the confidence in my knee to go out and cycle for hours on end
- the longest I’ve been on the bike has been just over an hour since I got
injured.
Everything was 100% geared and focused for Ironman UK, and now
that it’s over, it’s difficult to motivate myself, and it’s even more difficult
when I don’t have a definite target and when my knee is so sore. It’s so
frustrating. I know that there were some bad injuries sustained on the rocks at
Ironman UK, including broken bones and deep cuts requiring stitches. It was pretty bad.
There are videos online of the 2015 and 2016 Ironman UK swim
starts. Watching the video for last year, you can see people jumping off the front
right of the pontoon with no problem, and you can see that the water must be
well over 2m deep, given how everyone jumps in. It’s tough to watch the 2016
video - people jump in off the same front right spot on the pontoon, as would
reasonably be expected, and they just trash themselves on big, sharp rocks in murky water that was 1 foot deep. No warning, no marshals, nothing.
I’ve allowed myself a bit of a release since Ironman UK – I
think I’d have gone mad if I didn’t, particularly with the injury. I’ve been
socialising, eating burgers and pizza, drinking, playing table tennis, messing about, doing
fun, normal stuff. I could get used to it. I guess when I’m training and when
I’m focused, I’m a long way removed from normality. It will be great, at some point
soon, to draw a line under all of this Ironman business and move on. I just
don’t want to draw the line without having achieved something to show for
everything that I’ve put into Ironman. I’ve been at it since 2010. In that time, I
could have done and achieved a lot of other stuff – I could have become a very
good runner, I could have become a very good tennis player (or any other
sport), I could have become a very good guitar player, I could have bought a
car, I could have had nice holidays, etc etc.
I wonder how it’s going to pan out, I wonder will I be able go to
Weymouth and do a race that will allow me to draw a line, I wonder if I won’t
be able for Weymouth and if I’ll then want to try again next year when the
injury gets better, I wonder, I wonder, but for now it’s just waiting and
hoping…
Grimpeur-mouton et jaune-mouton
The fastest way to go downhill
Every bit as awful as it looks...!
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