Ironman Cozumel 2014
So here I am having my best ever start to a race, pb swim,
up there on the bike, and feeling good, then technical problems start. I
thought, this can’t be happening.
 |
| nervous but feeling ready, with Geoff, race morning. |
I’m not one for writing reports soon after races, but this time I purposely decided to leave it a while and
let some frustration pass. I was a bit down after the experience in Cozumel. The
place itself is pleasant, the people are friendly, but it was the first time I
DNF’d in an Ironman and it felt very strange. I thought I’d get back to London
and back to work and let the negativity leave naturally. My friends Geoff and
Caoimhe were out there and that helped me a lot before and after the race.
Since I got back Sarah and I have been doing normal social stuff, having a few
drinks and catching up with some people. It’s been a nice few weeks.
The race in Cozumel was going well. It’s a current assisted swim,
so that helps, but I had been working hard at the CSCSC masters class, and had
seen some good splits in the pool in recent months.
 |
| in form, with a pb swim split |
This is the swim I felt I
should have had in Kona. I found some good feet early on, after a lot of
pushing and shoving to get the front right corner (the current was pushing us in
to shore on our left, so I thought right side was safer). There can be a very
strong current in Cozumel, and Alan had said swim draft is less effective with
a strong tail current, so just to find some space and get a good start. But on
race morning the wind and current had died, so I decided in these conditions drafting
was back on.
The guy I chased was just slightly faster than me, and
seemed to know where he was going, so I stayed on him like a magnet. A few
times when we were passing earlier waves he surged to get around people, and I almost
lost him, but I always managed to find him again when the bubbles cleared. When
I seen 53:08 coming out of the water I thought I was on for a good day :-)
 |
| fighting big headwinds on east side |
At the start of the bike we were flying along, low power, and
high speed though I was seeing a fairly high hr, maybe the heat was at work.
Anyway I settled in and found a couple of similar pace guys for the head wind.
They knew what they were about, and stayed legal, however I dropped my head a
few times when we were going through some traffic, and lost concentration, next
I knew the 2 guys were gone. I didn’t want to risk the higher watts yet to
chase them down, so thought I’d let them go and find them on the 3rd
lap.
I never would see
them again, because 10k in to the 2nd lap (of 3), the gears started
playing up. I hit a pothole in the road, and the back derailleur froze. This is
protection mode where the rear dr separates the solenoid to avoid damage.
Problem was I couldn’t see the control unit light while moving, I didn’t want
to stop so I was trying to adjust it and reset it at 25mph.
At one point I got
it to reset, but it went through the gears and stopped in 1st, the
lightest gear. Now, on a mountain climb this would not have been a problem, but
IM Cozumel is pancake flat (the highest point on the island is 14m!!), and I
would soon be getting a big tail wind. So I stopped several times to try get
the gears shifting again. No luck. I tried myself for quite a while, before
stopping with aid station mechanics. We spent about 30mins trying all
combinations to kick it back in to life. Nothing.
It was a strange experience withdrawing from the race, but
really I had no choice. The last 110k in 1st gear on a flat course
didn’t make any sense, so I handed in my notice and got a ride with the police
back to town. The cop looked at me funny when I told him I wanted a ride to
town, he asked me a lot of questions first: name, country, race number etc,
I assume just in case I was trying to set a very fast 20k split and rejoin the race from
town :-)
I then when to a restaurant for some ‘normal’ food. Sitting
there was quite difficult, it was a bit surreal, hearing the race commentary,
and here I was sitting in a restaurant out of the race. It felt like a bad
dream. Some people seeing me in race gear realised I had withdrawn, they were
kind with words but I was in a different place, my head was in the clouds. Some
other people looked at me funny, I assume they thought I had finished already,
I don’t speak Spanish but I think they were saying ‘look at the head on this
show off eejit’.
I spent a week’s holiday and a fair chunk of cash to get out
there, and it means I have to reschedule my race options for 2015. Not that I
assumed qualification, but looking at the results, it should have been fairly
straight forward to get the slot.
Watching the race was an experience in itself, it was hot
and I seen from the outside just how long and crazy our sport is. A lot of very
fast people looking not very fast as they suffered on the latter stages of the
event.
On reflection I could have done some things different, but it’s
done and I have to move on. The negatives are obvious; but at least one
positive is that I swam well. So considering I ran well in Kona, I just need to
sort out a good bike performance and we’ll be there :-)
As Alan says the fitness built over the past few seasons,
and even with breaks here and there, a good bulk of that fitness (and ability
to get fit) carry’s over. That means I am certainly not starting from scratch,
I will take a short break before hitting it again. At the moment South Africa
is a strong candidate, as I still want to do Roth, but Alan may not be so keen
on that, we have been fighting over that one for 5 years :-)
Reflection on 2014
2014 was a funny year for me, I started out well in January but
then bust my Achilles in Spain. I managed to hold enough fitness to qualify in
Melbourne in March, and then started a long build to Kona. I had to fight along the way
with food intolerances after a stomach bug in February. That battle still goes on, but now I know much more about it, and have learned how to work with it. With
Alan and Kinga keeping me right, I got to Kona with my highest ever fitness figures wrt
CTL and Vo2. Kona itself was an akward day, apart from a crash and puncture, I felt sluggish in the swim and bike sections. Alan’s calculations say I only
reached 80% of my back home power on race day due to heat and time zone acclimation. If I make it back there, I’ll be
going 2 weeks ahead this time.
With 2015 training starting soon through the possibility of South
Africa, I’m hoping to have a better start to the season than last year. My
motivation is still very good, I’m not totally sure why, but I assume it won’t
last forever so in the meantime I’ll be busting myself the best I can for
another year.
I have a few things to fix myself, I’m enjoying the break, but the
work starts again soon.
I pushed on as much as the body would
let me but I lost a lot of time. At the start of the run the hip was very stiff
and it became a slow process, but I tried to keep positive and aim for staying
under 10hrs. I thought I was moving ok until I seen other people passing me :-)
I made it to the finish line but missed 10hrs by 1 minute, the first time I’ve
slipped over 10! but still I was happy that I finished when many times during
the day I thought I couldn’t. Kona never fails to
challenge! :-)
