Race Reports: Ironman Bolton 70.3 (Old Dog, New Tricks!)

Ironman Bolton 70.3

Pre-Race Build Up / Taper …

My coach’s (Bryan) plan was perfect. My execution of it, a solid 7/10.

I think it’s fair to say I’m not the best ‘student’. Exhibit A, going to Ibiza for 5 days the weekend before the Ironman Bolton 70.3 race and ‘enjoying life’ (let’s leave it there …) and trying to convince Bryan that the vitamin D would be good for me.

Registration

I got chatting to a guy who decided to tell me that he’d swam at Pennington the week before (at this point I didn’t even know where it was) and it was “very choppy” and “like the sea”.

Not now mate, not now.

Race Day

It’s 4am. I’m on a double decker bus and people have wetsuits on.

Never thought I’d type that sentence!

The (Dreaded) Swim

Point to note, I’m not a swimmer.

If you know me, or have seen me at one of Bryan’s open water sessions, then you’ll know that a) I don’t like swimming and b) I’m not very good at it. I find it a proper chore.

I’d spoken to Bryan the Thursday before and said my optimistic aim was to break 45 minutes – so would seed myself at 40 minutes and hope to follow in the slipstream of faster swimmers. Great plan, huh?

Well, on the day I found myself in the 60 minute queue by mistake behind 1500 people! 😂

Was stood in that queue for an hour before getting in the water, not ideal. Eventually, into the water. It was flat. It was warm. A good start. Plan was to take it steady, find my rhythm and most of all try to swim in a straight line!

After a few hundred metres, so far so good. I was calm and relaxed. I had to dodge / overtake a few slower swimmers (ooh, look at me) and just focused on being steady, sighting regularly (thanks Bry!) and aiming for the big orange buoy ahead for the left turn.

Got to the turn and it was all good, wasn’t too busy. On we go.

Now, I started to catch a few more slower swimmers (ooh, look at me #2) so had to bob and weave a bit to get around them. Another left turn and we had 800m straight line swim to home. All good so far. I was feeling very relaxed and almost enjoying it.

And then, suddenly, BAM!

Some dope came out of nowhere and managed to elbow me in the nose! I swallowed a couple of gulps of water and had to stop to cough it all up. After 60 seconds or so, regaining my zen, on we go.

Stayed steady, kept sighting, and got out of the water feeling ok. Lot’s of people there cheering and heard the DJ shout my name in the distance.

I didn’t know my time at this point as I didn’t want to be swayed (disappointed) by whatever it was. So I just plodded up the mats to T1. (why is it so far away by the way!? I’ve been on shorter cab rides than that!)

So, my swim time. It was an amazing (for me) 42 minutes! No idea where that came from. It’s the first time I’d swam that far without stopping and according to my Strava map I swam in relatively straight lines. In fact, you’d think I’d passed my timing chip to a proper swimmer!

NB – All credit here goes to Bryan. He literally has taught an old dog new tricks.

Race Reports: Ironman Bolton 70.3 (Old Dog, New Tricks!)

The Bike

Aah, my happy place. My old Cube road bike and I have been together for about 8 years. She never let’s me down.

Again the plan was to go steady, relax, eat and drink, and just ride on feel. Overall it went OK, no drama, I didn’t push too hard at any point and felt relatively comfortable.

Thank you to fellow Thursday swimmer Shane for handing me gels at a feed station!

The Run

Point to note, I’m not really a runner. However, unlike swimming, I actually enjoy it and it’s obviously compulsory in triathlon!

This turned out to be tougher than expected. The course was hillier than I thought and the 2nd lap was a killer (I kept thinking about the previous weekend … 🤷🏼‍♂️)

But this was where more of Bryan’s magic kicked in. His “walk through the aid stations” advice was absolute golden. I took on regular fluids and food, slowed myself down (didn’t have much choice!) and managed to plod through in just under 2 hours. Not great, but not a disaster.

Total time of 06:07

Emotions

I got to the food tent, medal around my neck, got some pizza and sat down.

Then the exhaustion and emotion hit me.

I sat there and had a little cry to myself and sent a thank you message to the wizard that is Bryan.

Epilogue

Later that evening when I was eventually home, showered and with a large rum at my side, I reflected on the previous 12 months…

Race Reports: Ironman Bolton 70.3 (Old Dog, New Tricks!)