We arrived in Hamburg on the Thursday before the race. Staying at the Ibis which was about a mile from the race village and transition. Room was basic but okay and importantly it had aircon, which given the heat wave that has been engulfing Europe was crucial.
The heat wave however lead to another major issue. On the Friday before the race the local officials prohibited any swimming in the area due to algae levels going through the roof. Anyone who saw the foul smelling water we were meant to swim in would understand. It really was vile and green! The 3.8km swim was to be replaced with a rolling start 6km run.
I must admit I was shocked at the social media response to the swim cancellations. Nobody was at fault for the weather and it was a bit demoralising to read that we didn't deserve an ironman medal after six months hard training, not to mention the time and cost to travel half way across Europe, all because freak weather had lead to disruption. Never mind, I for one still enjoyed my ironman duathlon.
The race was actually pretty uneventful.
First run was a steady 30min plod, after waiting almost an hour to start.
Bike I found tedious. The course was pancake flat out and back alongside a river. 28mile one way into a head wind, turn round and come back. Repeat. With no reason to get out of aero, my backside wasn't happy! I paced it to plan but didn't enjoy it at all. I also struggled with the Enervit race nutrition. I used it for the first lap and it might be coincidence but it made me feel sleepy and lethargic. Switched to coke and water for lap two and I felt much better. Anyone else ever suffered with this?
The marathon was fun. Great support with people partying all through the park sections. I had a steady evenly paced run and I enjoyed every minute of it. With all the out and back sections it was great seeing fellow TA competitors.
All in all I had a good day.
Would I do it again? No. Bike course wasn't enjoyable although run was great.
Splits (from my Garmin):
Run 1 - 30:34
Bike - 5:44:59
Run 2 - 4:15:53
Overall time 10:43:51
Wednesday, 8 August 2018
Monday, 23 July 2018
23rd July 2018
All done bar the shouting!
Heading over to Germany in a couple of days for the IM.
Feeling good. Everything on a similar level to last year really.
Swimming ok, biking did my last 100miler in 5:20 so decent. Running mixed but not bad.
Main issue again is going to be the heat. 30 odd degrees here and in Germany, as this heat wave goes on and on. Sunday looks to have a dip to mid 20s according to the long range forecast which would be good.
Anyway, I've done all I can so game on.
Heading over to Germany in a couple of days for the IM.
Feeling good. Everything on a similar level to last year really.
Swimming ok, biking did my last 100miler in 5:20 so decent. Running mixed but not bad.
Main issue again is going to be the heat. 30 odd degrees here and in Germany, as this heat wave goes on and on. Sunday looks to have a dip to mid 20s according to the long range forecast which would be good.
Anyway, I've done all I can so game on.
Monday, 25 June 2018
25th June 2018
3 weeks of solid training left before the taper. Feeling strong!
Did the triple at Fritton a week ago. Got on okay. I finished 15th for the weekend.
Did the triple at Fritton a week ago. Got on okay. I finished 15th for the weekend.
| 30 | Mark | Dixon | M | Tri-Anglia Triathlon Club | Sprint 01:16:18 | Super sprint 00:46:12 | Standard distance 02:27:45 | Overall 04:30:15 |
Monday, 11 June 2018
11th June 2018
Been a while since I posted on here!
I wasn't going to blog the IM Hamburg journey but need somewhere to store race results!
Training is going okay. 48 days until the big race. I've had a mixed year. Injured my achilles late last year then my calf early this year. I was just getting back to it in April when I started getting left knee pain. Add that all together with the crap weather and its been a struggle. However swimming is back where it was 12 months ago, biking is decent with a couple of 18.5mph average centuries in the last few weeks. Running is okay if not spectacular.
Got Fritton coming up this weekend. I've entered the tripple, so 3 tri's in two days!
Did the broadsman a couple of weeks ago in horrendous rain. Managed to get 3rd place! 40min swim, 3:08 bike and a 1:48 run.
I wasn't going to blog the IM Hamburg journey but need somewhere to store race results!
Training is going okay. 48 days until the big race. I've had a mixed year. Injured my achilles late last year then my calf early this year. I was just getting back to it in April when I started getting left knee pain. Add that all together with the crap weather and its been a struggle. However swimming is back where it was 12 months ago, biking is decent with a couple of 18.5mph average centuries in the last few weeks. Running is okay if not spectacular.
Got Fritton coming up this weekend. I've entered the tripple, so 3 tri's in two days!
Did the broadsman a couple of weeks ago in horrendous rain. Managed to get 3rd place! 40min swim, 3:08 bike and a 1:48 run.
Monday, 6 November 2017
6th November 2017 - Snowdonia Marathon
Snowdonia Marathon Eryri 2017
10:30 on the 28th October and I found myself lining up on the road outside Llanberis alongside two and half thousand other runners. The weather was best described as "unpredictable" - heavy fog, rain and occasional sunny spells.
I'd entered while heavily intoxicated at midnight new years eve. Once again I blame Scibs for this. He seems to have an addiction to really painful Welsh endurance events and somehow managed to sell it to me, before conveniently dropping out!
The Snowdonia Marathon is a bit lumpy. It has three big climbs of which the last one can only be described as evil.
So the gun goes off and I head off with everyone else down the Llanberis pass. First two miles are flat and I held back from going stupid and jogged along with the rest until we reached the bottom of the first climb. Then the pain started. 3 miles uphill at what can only be described as a snails pace until you reach the Pen-Y-Pass. This is the start point for many to climb Snowdon. So gasping I crested and then came the real hard part, a mad dash downhill for 4 miles along first road then a rocky trail. It's the downhills that kill you with this race. Real quad crunchers.
Between 9-13 miles it levels out a bit and you actually get a rhythm going. I had a chat with a couple of guys who had done IM Wales a couple of months back and we trotted along exchanging war stories. At 13miles there is another uphill section for 2 miles or so then the course rolls along until 21.5mile in.
I went through 20miles in just under 3hrs so I naturally thought I would easily break 4hrs. This was my first marathon without a 112mile bike warm up. The feeling at 20miles was about the same as mile one in an ironman. My thought process at this point was keep the pace steady and the last 6miles should be a doddle. This race however has a sting in the tail.
At 21-22miles you start to climb. At 22miles you do a right turn and basically ascend up into the clouds! I must have ran/stumbled past 50 people walking up the last climb. It felt at times like the road was at 45%. It was probably a couple of miles at less than 15% but my quads were screaming. By this time I was running in rain and fog. The road turns into a muddy, boulder and slate strewn trail and after a brief rolling section the real fun begins with a steep descent to Llanberis. This was the part of the race where I discovered my real weakness as a runner. My legs were burning, but so were everyones at this point. My limiting factor is that I can't run downhill fast. I lost most of the places I gained on the climb. The going was treacherous underfoot, either grassy and muddy or on shiny wet rock. Loads of people were taking a tumble and to be honest I just didn't care about a couple of minutes enough to risk breaking an ankle!
If you could swap to trail shoes at 22miles this race would be so much easier!
It was a real relief to hit the flat for the last few hundred metres and I even managed a sprint finish.
Finish time was 4:13
Not particularly fast but a great scenic race that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a slightly different run to the usual tarmac flat/rolling surface.
10:30 on the 28th October and I found myself lining up on the road outside Llanberis alongside two and half thousand other runners. The weather was best described as "unpredictable" - heavy fog, rain and occasional sunny spells.
I'd entered while heavily intoxicated at midnight new years eve. Once again I blame Scibs for this. He seems to have an addiction to really painful Welsh endurance events and somehow managed to sell it to me, before conveniently dropping out!
The Snowdonia Marathon is a bit lumpy. It has three big climbs of which the last one can only be described as evil.
So the gun goes off and I head off with everyone else down the Llanberis pass. First two miles are flat and I held back from going stupid and jogged along with the rest until we reached the bottom of the first climb. Then the pain started. 3 miles uphill at what can only be described as a snails pace until you reach the Pen-Y-Pass. This is the start point for many to climb Snowdon. So gasping I crested and then came the real hard part, a mad dash downhill for 4 miles along first road then a rocky trail. It's the downhills that kill you with this race. Real quad crunchers.
Between 9-13 miles it levels out a bit and you actually get a rhythm going. I had a chat with a couple of guys who had done IM Wales a couple of months back and we trotted along exchanging war stories. At 13miles there is another uphill section for 2 miles or so then the course rolls along until 21.5mile in.
I went through 20miles in just under 3hrs so I naturally thought I would easily break 4hrs. This was my first marathon without a 112mile bike warm up. The feeling at 20miles was about the same as mile one in an ironman. My thought process at this point was keep the pace steady and the last 6miles should be a doddle. This race however has a sting in the tail.
At 21-22miles you start to climb. At 22miles you do a right turn and basically ascend up into the clouds! I must have ran/stumbled past 50 people walking up the last climb. It felt at times like the road was at 45%. It was probably a couple of miles at less than 15% but my quads were screaming. By this time I was running in rain and fog. The road turns into a muddy, boulder and slate strewn trail and after a brief rolling section the real fun begins with a steep descent to Llanberis. This was the part of the race where I discovered my real weakness as a runner. My legs were burning, but so were everyones at this point. My limiting factor is that I can't run downhill fast. I lost most of the places I gained on the climb. The going was treacherous underfoot, either grassy and muddy or on shiny wet rock. Loads of people were taking a tumble and to be honest I just didn't care about a couple of minutes enough to risk breaking an ankle!
If you could swap to trail shoes at 22miles this race would be so much easier!
It was a real relief to hit the flat for the last few hundred metres and I even managed a sprint finish.
Finish time was 4:13
Not particularly fast but a great scenic race that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a slightly different run to the usual tarmac flat/rolling surface.
Friday, 13 October 2017
13th October 2017
First post in a long time.
I had a bit of downtime after Austria and enjoyed the summer.
For the past couple of months I've been concentrating on running as I have the Snowdonia marathon on the 28th October. Training is okay but I feel a bit underdone. Also somewhat unbalanced as I'm not biking or swimming much and to be honest I'm missing it.
First Lotus duathlon of the winter this Sunday. I'll report back shortly.
Oh forgot to add I've entered IM Hamburg as my main race in 2018!
I had a bit of downtime after Austria and enjoyed the summer.
For the past couple of months I've been concentrating on running as I have the Snowdonia marathon on the 28th October. Training is okay but I feel a bit underdone. Also somewhat unbalanced as I'm not biking or swimming much and to be honest I'm missing it.
First Lotus duathlon of the winter this Sunday. I'll report back shortly.
Oh forgot to add I've entered IM Hamburg as my main race in 2018!
Sunday, 9 July 2017
Ironman Austria 2017
I wanted to take part in Ironman Austria for a few years, mainly due to club mates always commenting how great a race it was. It didn't disappoint.
I didn't race over the IM distance in 2016 after a brutally hot Frankfurt 15. I used 2016 to improve my running and biking. This seemed to work with improved times coming into 2017. My training for Austria began in earnest six months ago and I did approach this one with a more dedicated professional attitude than previously, I even cut down on the alcohol! Going into the race I felt confident with 9 century rides in the preceding 12 weeks.
We travelled out in our VW campervan on the Tuesday, stopping at Baden-Baden Tuesday night and arriving at Klagenfurt in a thunderstorm Wednesday evening. The campsite is a few hundred metres from the strandbad Worthersee swim start.
First impressions despite the rain were how beautiful the place was. By the time the sun came out next day it was really stunning.
The few days before were spent with gentle training, rest and a bit of sightseeing.
Early night pre-race and I actually slept which is another first.
RACE DAY
SWIM
I ceded myself in the 1:10 bracket for the rolling start. Swim was fairly uneventful with none of the usual bosh until we turned into the canal. Then it was pure survival for 900m. We were allowed wetsuits which soothed a bit of the anguish for most of the field. I must admit I wasn't bothered either way. Swim was hot to be honest wearing it. Anyway I got my estimate spot on and exited the water 1:09:51 for the 4000m.
BIKE
Two loops each with about 800m climbing on perfect smooth roads. I vastly underestimated the bike course. All the reports I had read said the course was very fast. I found the first lap hard. A lot more climbing than I was expecting. It is fairly relentless after you leave the first 10miles along the lake. The downhills are fast, very fast, but you always have to go back up again. Even after the second big climb (rupert the bear or something) I expected a 40min fast decent back to Klagenfurt. Nope, it still has some stings in the tail! Second lap I found easier as I knew what was coming. I actually really enjoyed the whole bike but should have recce'd it earlier in the week. It has to be said though the whole thing is stunning. At times you are surrounded by mountains and can see for miles. The villages you pass through are pretty and the support is fantastic. Time was 6:05:54 and not the sub 5:50 I was aiming for but it didn't matter as I loved it.
RUN
I started off at 8:30 mile pace and felt confident I could hold this for at least 13miles. However with the bike fatigue in the legs I slowed after 4 miles or so. I must admit most of the run was a mental struggle and I didn't really enjoy it. I really had to force the pace even though I was happy with just under 2hrs for the first half. I was still holding 9:30miles until I hit mile 17. Then the wheels came off. Cramp in the right hamstring forced me to walk for the first time in four IM races. It eased after a couple of minutes and I tentatively jogged again. This repeated for the next 9miles with my average pace now hovering around 11min/mile with the walking bits. As frustrating as this was I just kept repeating my mantra, "keep moving forward". So I finished the race in a bit of a state and mentally not in a very happy place. Shame really as the course itself was pleasant enough and the support was great. There is always a dark place in any ironman and I sank into it for the last half of the marathon. There was no real euphoria at the end just relief that I could stop running/jogging/stumbling. Run time was 4:20:33 which again was slower than I wanted but overall I'm happy that I kept going despite the voice in my head screaming at me to stop.
My finish time 11:49:15
Really happy overall with how the day went and with how I handled a real sticky patch during a hard run. I would recommend to anyone who hasn't done Austria to do it if you have the chance. Its a fantastic course, great venue and atmosphere, and the support is first class. By far the best one I have done. Also a big shout out to the rest of the TA contingent. It is always fun when you go to races with club mates and seeing them out on the course gave me a real lift.
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