Race Reports: Ironman Number Two For Ian (Ironman France)
Swim Squad athlete, Ian, takes us on a journey to the South of France via Ironman Wales, double-knee surgery and a couple of Margaritas!
Rewind
So where to start? Probably in September 2022 after completing my first Ironman in Wales. Anyone who participates in endurance sport will recognise the desire to ‘kick on’ after such a long block of training.
Likewise, there’s a need to rest and recover. We are the worst type of people for not following our own advice and my story begins on this very point. I took 2-3 weeks off routine training before hitting the track to regain some speed, running over mountains with a big fell race on the horizon and ramping up the road miles in anticipation of a couple of early 2023 road marathons.
Fast forward to 20th May 2023 and I’m waiting to go to theatre to have both my left and right medial meniscus trimmed because they were both torn! Surgery left me with only 40% of my meniscus in my right knee (this is second scrape I’d had on this knee) and 80% left in my left knee. Signs of arthritis were present in my right knee – hardly surprising.
By August I’d had 7 months off running although I had maintained a level of satisfactory fitness from cycling and swimming. But, I’d put on over half a stone and vanity set in. Hatching a plan whilst drinking margaritas on holiday I entered Ironman France.
I promised Bryan that I’d be up to running 3 x 30 mins/week by October ’23 if he agreed to coach me. We both agreed this could be achieved and I set out on a slow, but methodical rehabilitation from 1st August 23.
My training plan was very familiar although clearly tailored to the event in question. The Nice bike course consists of some very long sustained climbs so there was a lot of big gear, low cadence work in there to build strength. Barring a couple of bouts of sickness and an inflamed patella tendon (left knee) my training went really well and I was constantly thanking Bryan for managing my running so well because I was running smoother every week.
“Just wanted to say how pleased I am at the mo with my plan. I am starting to hugely feel the benefits already”
In early May the patella tendon flared up again and I didn’t do much running right up to race day, meaning I had 5 – 6 weeks of little-to-no volume. My right knee had started to play up with mild arthritis so any running I did do was both painful and awkward. During these 6 weeks my thoughts were consumed with worry over a DNF. My first thought every morning was, “would I finish this race?”. Really annoying.
Travelling With A Bike
It’s a bit of a pain but with writing lists (like a good triathlete) and planning ahead it’s not that much of a headache.
Race Day
Fast forward to race day. Nice is a wonderful place for a triathlon. It has the logistics, open spaces, beautiful roads, sun, sea, mountains to make any race a great experience.
The build up was easy apart from the usual 20 odd thousand steps the day before. I’d been loading up on Ibuprofen for 2 days prior to the race to try and address any inflammation to my patella tendon and took a big hit of 800mg the night before. Rightly or wrongly, it made me feel better and gave me a little confidence to get through the race.
In the build-up I was starting to feel a little more confident that I might actually finish this race. I knew the swim wouldn’t be an issue. The bike might cause me some pain if I pushed the power, but I could always soft pedal for periods, so it was really the run I was concerned with. Doing the math, I calculated I might just have enough time to walk the whole run and still finish within the 16-hour cut off.
It was time to leave my ego back at the apartment and get going.
Swim
The swim was an out and back twice, no Aussie exit. It was really difficult to sight anything on the way out to the horizon – made worse by the swim caps being the same colour as the marker buoys. Every time I looked up I either saw 1000 swim caps or 1000 marker buoys. It was literally that difficult to tell.
I felt awful throughout the swim. Nausea kicked in after about 300 metres and stayed with me until the end.
The swim was the most aggressive swim I’d ever encountered and at times I was getting a little miffed at the French dudes swimming over me to get into 1199th place instead of 1200th place. “Get a grip you bell ends”. There was no let-up for 3.8km. There was a strong current across the course, so I assumed there were a lot swimming left to right instead of straight on.
I decided if threw up in T1 I would stop. I didn’t – (was gutted ha).
T1
Had a little chat with Peter in T1. When we did Wales together, we pretty much mirrored each other’s swim, bike and run, so I thought, here we go again. I had a moan about Ironman’s choice of swim cap colour and left T1 feeling pretty good. Transition felt slick, calm and pretty quick. Leaving T1 is the second-best part of any triathlon; you’re on a lovely bike, with fresh kit on, hearing the crowd cheering you on, looking the business. It’s a joy for any show off.
Bike
The bike course didn’t disappoint, and I felt really good throughout. Yes, the 20km climb was a grind but it was a grind for everyone. The 10km climb likewise. But the descents were amazing. I think I can handle my bike well and I think I did a good job on the twisty, dangerous, spectacular descents. I have to say I was not passed by many on the downhills so was pretty chuffed.
The long hours of training definitely paid off on the climbs having done a lot of sustained big power efforts over many weeks. Bryan’s plan had certainly been bespoke for this course.
A Race Of Firsts
Every time I saw Peter on the bike course I was about to, or had just had a wee. Coming off the mountains and into town I decided I’d stopped too many times and went for it. Yes, the professional’s choice of toilet stop (on the move for anyone not keeping up). Success, quick water bottle shower of my midriff, legs and feet and into T2.
T2
The toes on my right foot were killing me. Obviously hadn’t done 7 hours with these shoes on before, so I quickly whipped off my shoes and ran to rack my bike. That was painful but whilst I regained any feeling in my right foot, I realised I was running pain free.
Careful Ian. This might just be adrenaline.
Another slick transition. And off I went with my patella strap round my left knee to make sure everyone knew why I was running slowly. (Some of my ego had clearly followed me onto the course).
Run
The first km was bliss. No pain, crowds, lots of other athletes on the course and then it hit.
Same pain as I’d had pre-race in both knees.
Got round the first lap running 6 ish minutes/km and asked my support crew of two, Dean and Scott, how long I had to go. (I wasn’t monitoring on watch). Dean told me to chill out because I had until midnight to run a marathon. This was probably 7 hours or so, feeling confident of finishing I smiled and cracked on.
What I found was that by being careful with my initial pace, I didn’t really falter until about 20km so felt I was doing OK. Four out and backs make up the rather uninspiring run course. It was hot and with no shade and my new Hoka bucket hat did what it was intended for. Laps 3 and 4 afforded a little more shade as the sun fell behind the tall promenade buildings.
Decided to really take it easy on lap 3 and go for glory on lap 4. Reality was that both were neither taking it easy, or glory, as my lack of running volume kicked in about 25km. Ended up run/walking between pedestrian crossings on the last lap. Whatever it took.
I’ve talked about the second best part of a tri, the first is obviously finishing. My previous IM finish was a blur of red carpet, fatigue, rain and darkness. I was determined to take everything in as I approached the finish line (in daylight).
The crowds, the noise, the announcer, the red carpet.
In fact, the only thing I didn’t look at was my time. Had no idea until I met up with the lads about half an hour later.
Who cares anyway?
Finishing was the aim here and I was so pleased to have done that, I really did feel like I’d dug deep and found that iron spirit that’s in all of us. This is what I do it for!
Post Race Reflection
I have only really felt some emotion whilst writing this. I was so glad I’d managed to finish – that’s all.
I am privileged to have a great support network. Family, Swim Squad, friends, work colleagues. They all play their part in the process. Completing an IM is difficult but the 13-14 hours on the day are a tiny piece of the jigsaw, the cherry on a big cake with lots of ingredients. I trained for 8 and half months, 6 days a week. Double days, the lot. I love the process. If you love the process and have the support of your family to be able to take time away daily, this is the sport for you.
Having a coach is still my biggest recommendation to anyone. It was after Wales, and it remains so.
Endurance events take us to some pretty dark places. But they pass. Have something in your back pocket to help you get through. I have several coping techniques and an additional one, a poem, kindly sent to me by John Farrell. Thanks. It really did make a difference.
I turned 54 four days after the race. My knees reminded me of every one of those years on that run. It was painful, awkward and really rather annoying. I won’t stop running. I will though take a long break from running so no mountain running, track sessions or marathons for a while yet. Lesson learnt.
I’d probably still stop for a wee on the bike, but I feel like a real triathlete now!
Race Reports: Ironman Number Two For Ian (Ironman France)
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