Another year has passed. From the point of view of Ironman
and Hawaii, it’s been another disastrous year, to follow after a disastrous
2013. I put everything I could into qualifying for Hawaii, 2 years in a row,
and both years turned out badly, for reasons beyond my control and beyond
anything I could have foreseen. That’s frustrating, because I put a lot of
effort into being the best athlete I can be, and also into trying to control
everything I possibly can. Every decision, every thing I do, I’m asking myself,
“Will this benefit the Ironman goal?” The sacrifices you make are made with the
goal in mind, with the point of view that it’ll all be worth it. It hasn’t been
worth it yet…
The positives from 2014
The negatives
Goals for 2015 and how to achieve them
It has been suggested to me by quite a few people that I
should just pack it in and get some sort of normal life back. It has also been
suggested that I should go and get counselling to help me to deal with the
disappointment and stress. I’ve never thought of this. Maybe if I was a
professional sportsperson, I’d be ordered to talk to a sports psychiatrist. I’m
mentally tough and resilient, and this had never crossed my mind. I’ll just keep trying until I get to Hawaii. I’ll keep learning and keep striving.
If there’s one thing I do know, it’s that I have the physical and mental
ability to do this.
The positives from 2014
Let’s have the positives first. I can take a couple of
positives from 2014. In early January 2014, I ran the Northern Ireland/Ulster
cross-country championships. This event combined the Northern Ireland
International Cross-Country race with the Northern Ireland/Ulster cross-country
championships. This was one of the only races I’ve done where I toed the line
with a reigning world champion. There were quite a few high-level international
athletes in this race, as well as the best of Northern Irish. A few days before
this race, I’d had a wisdom tooth taken out. I had hardly slept, I was in pain,
I was on lots of painkillers, and I had no idea how I would go in the race. As
it turned out, I had a really good run, arguably amongst the best races I’ve
ever done. On the team, it’s the top 6 to score. I was surprised to be 3rd
finisher, 5 minutes off the leading African over the 10km course. I ran
strongly the whole way round, and we won the team prize with gold medals for
the 6 scorers on our team. Nice one, and very unexpected.
IAAF Northern Ireland/Ulster international cross-country championships
Another positive was the Icknield 100 mile bike time trial
in June 2014. I had done this race in 2013, in a time of 4 hours and 14
minutes. I deemed this to be a solid performance, and it set me up for a 5:30
bike at Ironman UK in 2013, which left me leading my age group after 16 miles
of the marathon. Then it all went wrong. I went back to Icknield in 2014, and I
knew I was measuring myself against my 4:14 time from a year previously. Almost
all of my bike training had been done indoors on the turbo trainer, so it was
good to get out on the road and see how my training translated into actual
real-world performance.
The weather was perfect, as it had been in 2013. So, it was
a true like-for-like comparison with 2013. I had hoped that all the training
would have paid off and that I’d go quicker than 4:14. Realistically, given
that I had moved into a tougher Ironman age group, I knew I needed to be
quicker, otherwise I could forget about going to Ironman UK 2014 with
aspirations to qualify for Kona. So there was a bit of pressure. I had made aerodynamic
improvements to my clothing, and now sported a very tight aero jersey and aerodynamic
shoe covers. I had cleaned up my bike. All my frame-mounted water bottles had
been removed, and two bottle cages had been mounted behind my saddle and out of
the wind. I also had my front handlebar-mounted aero bottle. I had bought a
Garmin bike computer, which uses satellites to determine speed. This meant my
magnetic wheel sensors had been removed. Another small aero improvement. I was
also riding with a heart rate monitor for the first time. These aero tweaks
were probably worth a few minutes, but had my own performance and fitness
improved?
I had hoped to get under 4:10. I thought maybe 4:06 or 4:07
was realistic. I didn’t think a sub-4 was possible. I wasn’t riding a disc
wheel, and my position on the bike was not super-aero. The Ironman riding
position is a compromise – you want to be aero, but you also want to be able to
run easily off the bike, which means sitting a bit more upright on the bike
that someone who doesn’t need to follow 112 miles on the bike with a marathon. I
went through 50 miles in a couple of minutes under 2 hours. I was watching my
heart rate and judging my effort, and I felt everything was under control. I got
to 75 miles in under 3 hours, and I knew the sub-4 was possible. The final 20
miles were the most undulating, and I knew I was going to lose time. I was
hanging off that bike. Maximal effort. Legs and lungs screaming. It was going
to be close. My computer read 3:59. I had 100 miles on the clock. Where was the
finish?! I crossed the line in 3:59:39. I was shattered, but very pleased with
that. A full 15 minutes faster than last year. It had really positive
implications for Ironman UK, and should translate into a bike time that would
be starting to get into the territory of some of the pros.
Full gas at Icknield
Another cool thing this year was getting back to France
after an 8-year gap, and riding some of the big Alpine mountains that I hadn’t
managed to tackle in 2005 and 2006. Memorable rides included a blue-sky day
over the Col d’Izoard, a flat-out assault on Alpe d’Huez and a grey day on Mont
Ventoux. Another epic day was hammered out on Tenerife, up over the Teide
volcano and almost making an entire lap of the island before darkness set in,
with 14000 feet of climbing in total.
The negatives
After such a good 100 mile time trial, I knew I had the
potential for a great showing at Ironman UK. I got through the next few weeks
of training and as I was starting my taper, 2 weeks before the big day, I went
for a sports massage. And the rest is history. My legs got infected and went
septic, I got really ill, and I ended up staying a few days in hospital hooked
up to IV drugs. An awful, awful time. This was when I knew the whole year, all
the time, effort and sacrifice had been for nothing. Losing even 1 or 2% of
performance would probably rule me out of the running for a Kona slot. What
would 3 days in hospital do?
Goals for 2015 and how to achieve them
The obvious goal is to qualify for Kona. I’d take it,
however I got it. Top 5 in my age group would guarantee it. Top 6 would probably
do it. Top 7 and I’d be looking at going to the roll-down ceremony the
following day, and keeping my fingers crossed that a qualifying slot would roll
down or be allocated in the event of someone else choosing not to take theirs. I
don’t want to be in this position again. I’d love to cross the finishing line at
Ironman UK knowing that I’d done it. I’d love to get a podium in my age group
and finish in the top 3. I think this is possible. Winning my age group would
be a heck of a thing, and to win my age group (M30-34, arguably the toughest
age group) would put me in with a chance of being the top amateur, competing
with the pros. I don’t know if I’ll win my age group. That’s a huge ask. Top 3
in my age group is a huge ask. It’s so difficult. I’d settle for 6th.
But who knows, the next 7 months is going to be a heck of a 7 months, anything
can happen. All I can do is do my best, as I’ve always done, and do everything
I can to minimise the chances of things going pear-shaped.
I’ll overhaul my diet again. For breakfast I’ll cut out
bread/toast completely. I’ll eat porridge, honey, raisins, almonds, brazil
nuts, peanut butter, and drink fresh lemon/lime water (through a straw because
the acid is bad for tooth enamel). I’ll continue to eat fruit through the day,
but I’ll try to eat a bit less fruit because I will try to cut down on my sugar
intake. I’ll supplement the fruit with raw cabbage, spinach and kale, and snack on this during the
day. For lunch, no more meal-deals containing horrible processed meat. I’ll eat
low-fat houmous, sardines and raw vegetables (broccoli, carrots and cauliflower).
No more fruit smoothies, chocolate or flapjacks. I'll drink loads of water through
the day. My pre-training snack will be porridge and/or a banana. I’m going to
get natural energy gels and bars. Dinner won’t change much – chicken/turkey,
raw vegetables, pasta or sweet potatoes, and loads of turmeric, chilli, ginger
and garlic. I’ll continue with the vitamins, and try to limit the amount of
protein shake I drink. Instead of protein powder mixed with milk, I’ll just
drink milk. Clean eating and drinking. Here’s a photo of a list of good,
natural, unprocessed healthy food. Some of these are alkalising, antioxidant
and anti-inflammatory. All good. I spent a lot of time researching and
compiling this list.
I’ll add in regular sports massage. I’ll have to shave my
legs for this. Whatever it takes! I’ll be sleeping lots. I’ll be doing all my
stretching and core work and weights. Everything I have learned will be
applied. It will be a tough 7 months, but if it goes well, I’ll deliver
something pretty good at Ironman UK.
Watch this space…
My Twitter account is at https://twitter.com/Tri4Kona2014
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