Ironman Switzerland - TriathlonFull Ironman

This was my first ever beach start for a race. It was actually quite fun being surrounded by so many people and all running into the water together. The water temperature was warmer than the air temperature, and so I had none of the issues that I sometimes have about getting into cold water (I'm just a big wuss about it really).

Once I was in I just concentrated on a really easy swim stroke. I'm lucky that I've developed a very relaxed stroke over the last year and half, and with the unknown that was my shoulder, all I was concerned about was getting to the end of the swim. I had no time goals beyond that, and wasn't too concerned about the time cutoff because I'd have to swim a whole hour slower than my usual time for it to be an issue.

I'm not very good at judging how fast I'm swimming in open water, and because I was keeping it relaxed I assumed I was much slower than usual. I also struggled with sighting because the buoys were really quite small and of course a LONG way away. I spent quite a lot of time just following the crowd, which I hate to do. When I got to the island at the end of the first lap I glanced at my garmin and was amazed to see a time of 45min. That really wasn't much slower than my usual pace. So I ran back into the water and started swimming with a little more confidence. As a result, the pace for my second lap was slightly faster than the first, because I realised that my shoulder was coping fine with the swim. It actually hurt less as the swim went on. I also found the sighting easier for the second lap because I'd figured out landmarks on the shore to sight on.

I got out of the water slower than my predicted time, but nowhere near as slow as I'd expected. And having made it out of the water I felt an immense sense of relief and achievement, because my biggest fear was that I wouldn't complete the swim. Having done so I felt that the hardest part of the day was actually over...

Not damage my shoulder!

I think under the circumstances I did the best I could. I probably could have improved my sighting, but my garmin measured shorter than my friend's and only a little over the correct distance, so I couldn't have got too far off course at any time.

I have to admit, I'm not sure what I was doing in transition that took so long. I had originally intended to wear a different top for the swim and get changed, but due to my shoulder I wasn't capable of changing my own clothes. So I wore the same thing for the whole race. What that means is that I should have been able to do a "normal" T1, which for me is around 2 minutes. Not sure how to account for 10...

I'd taken all of my painkillers before the start, and took another dose in T1. That took a while because they were all in blister packs in individual ziplock bags. I also felt hungry, and so had one of my vegemite sandwiches. It was great to have something savoury before all the sweet kicked in for the day.

I put sun cream on, which I nearly skipped because it was still pretty cool. I'm glad I decided to do it anyway, as it got quite hot at times later on. Again, my shoulder caused a few problems as there was a small area on the back of my left shoulder that I couldn't reach. I didn't realise it at the time, but I had a slightly strange sunburn pattern afterwards :-)

Probably just have a little more haste. I didn't feel the need to rush, and to be honest there wasn't really, but there was no need to dawdle quite the way I did.

I had a plan for the bike, which was mostly based around making sure I got in under the cut off. For me, this was the time limit that was of the most concern.

My plan cut each lap of the bike course into 4 sections. The first was the flat section around the lake. I was aiming for 18mph average around there. It then went up into the hills, and taking into account the ups and downs I wanted to get 14mph average (that's about what I hit round where I live, and it's similar terrain). There was another flat section back round the lake, and then a very short but very steep hill at the end before the return past transition to the second lap, and I had similar speed goals for those. Overall that should get me through the bike section in around 7 hours, which left me with about an hour leeway for punctures/mechanical disasters etc.

Against all the odds, my ride went pretty much entirely according to plan. If I hadn't stopped for a couple of bathroom breaks and to take my painkillers (which again took ages), I think I'd have actually hit my target time. I never actually expected to hit it. It was an "ideal" goal that allowed me to not hit it and still feel comfortable that I wasn't nudging the cut off.

During the first lap, on the flat sections I concentrated on keeping the effort as hard as I could without feeling like I was "pushing" at any point. I got as aero as I could, but also made sure I changed position on the handlebars every time my garmin beeped for a mile. I alternated between the aero bars, drops and hoods to make sure I never stayed still for too long and didn't get stiff.

I got to the first feed station just before the hills started, and was really pleased that I managed to catch two water bottles with no problems (I'd practiced with my Dad!).

Then the hills... I continued to make sure that I wasn't pushing too hard at any time on the upwards sections, but also tried to maintain as much speed as possible on any downwards sections. It was mostly rolling terrain, and this is the section that I enjoyed the most. It was absolutely beautiful, with views down to the lake at times and the course went through village after village where there were bands (I saw more sousaphones that day than I've seen in the rest of my life) and people out cheering us all on. I loved going past families sitting on garden furniture outside their houses, obviously there for the day. The most common cheer sounded like "hop hop hop", and on a number of occasions there were very small children, who were obviously just learning to say it, but were loving joining in. That all made me smile a lot.

Then came "the Beast", which is a long sustained hill. We'd driven it several times and cycled it once, so I knew exactly how long and hard it was going to be. It's not the steepest hill I've cycled by a long way, but it continues for around 2 miles and is steep enough that I was grinding in my lowest gear the whole way. I was amazed to find that I was passing people on the way up the hill. I don't consider myself to be a very good hill climber, and where I normally train I'm one of the slower riders, so it had never occurred to me that there would be people at ironman who'd be slower. But of course I live in a hilly area, so being a bad hill climber around here is relative, especially when you're riding with people who don't have the same type of hills to train on.

We'd established from our familiarisation trips that the top of the Beast was when you got to a red fibreglass cow (if you've seen Cow in the City/Moose in the City or similar you'll know what I mean). On both laps I was extremely pleased to see that cow.

The second hill isn't so steep, but is also quite sustained. There's a feed station at the very top, which is very welcome, and is where I stopped to take my painkillers on the second lap (I was really pleased that I managed 6 hours on the bike before I felt I needed them).

And then it's back down to the lake. I loved that bit. Having worked so hard to get up to the top you then go back down all of that elevation in about 3 miles. And again, I was surprised to find myself passing people. I don't have a tri bike, but had decided I didn't want one for IM because I like having the drops for steep descents. Turns out it was definitely the right decision because I think everyone I passed was on a tri bike. There were a couple of sections where aero bars were not allowed, but even in the other sections I think I was more confident about maintaining speed than a lot of the people around me because I had access to my brakes.

Then it was back round the lake to Heartbreak Hill, which is officially a bitch. It's not long, but it is very steep. It's also a popular section for spectators, and had an announcer calling out riders names as they came up. That was quite nice. I was incredibly relieved to get to the top of that one as well.

All the way round lap 1 the weather was variable. Sometimes the sun was out, and I felt very hot, and then it rained heavily. I had one person pass me on the bike and call out that I must be used to the weather, being from the UK (your country was on our number). As I was going back past transition it had been raining, but then it decided to hail. That was pretty unpleasant. Not only was it quite painful when it hit you, but it also had the effect of being like cycling on slippery gravel on the wet road. Fortunately the section I was on was flat, and it didn't last long.

As I started the 2nd lap I saw the leader going in the other direction towards Heartbreak Hill. So I didn't get lapped, but not by much.

The 2nd lap was pretty similar to the first except that my legs were more tired. I don't think I slowed down a huge amount, but was continuing to try to keep the effort right. The hills definitely hurt more the 2nd time round, but I was also more confident about my ability to just dig in and get up them. I stopped at the feed station before the hills for a comfort break and also ate my 2nd vegemite sandwich. I wish I'd taken more of those. The savoury was such a great break from sports drink, and they were pretty easy to eat.

The only real difference between laps 1 and 2 was that it became more obvious I was towards the back of the field. There were more cars on the road (they have to allow people access), and slightly less spectators. At Heartbreak Hill there weren't many people at all on the 2nd lap.

My parents were near transition, so I saw them as I was heading to Heartbreak hill the 2nd time, and then again as I cycled into T2.

And finally, because I haven't mentioned it yet, nutrition. I had a plan for how much sports drink to be drinking, and had a double chamber aero bottle with water in the 2nd chamber. As it turned out, it was nowhere near as hot as we had expected, but I didn't quite manage to get my head right, so I drank too much water towards the beginning of the ride. I then realised that I was behind on my sports drink, and so felt like I was playing catch up on nutrition. What that meant was that I landed up feeling a bit bloated from trying to drink too much. It didn't matter too much on the bike, but had quite a big impact on the run.

I'd sort out my nutrition/hydration better. I had planned for a hot day, but hadn't really thought about what to do if it wasn't hot.

I'd also try to avoid stopping for restroom breaks. I wasted about 10 minutes just on that, because there was only one portaloo at each aid station, so while the queues weren't long, there was always someone ahead of me. I mastered the art of peeing on the bike, but for some reason then decided to stop anyway. It wasn't necessary, and resulted in a bunch of wasted time.

Like T1, I'm not entirely sure what I was doing that took so long. I know this transition area was bigger than any I've been in before, but really all I had to do was change my shoes and take my cycle helmet off. I'm not convinced that accounts for over 5 minutes.

As already mentioned, I'd followed my friend's advice and put my running shoes (and socks) in a plastic bag. I was extremely grateful for that. Everything in my transition box was soaked through, including my towels. A man next to me was kind enough to let me dry my feet on his towel, and the dry shoes had a huge impact on my comfort for the run.

Cover everything in case of rain.

Just get on with things a bit more.

Again, I had a plan for the run. It was very simple: walk the full distance of every feed station, whether I'm using it or not. Almost immediately out of transition there was a ramp up to a bridge. At that point I decided that I was also going to walk all of the uphill sections. They were all very short, but I'm certain that the energy I saved not trying to run up them contributed to the success of my run.

A lady called Nancy spoke to me just outside transition and said that she'd seen me lots on the bike. After that I saw her a bunch of times, and we spent around half a lap running/walking together at one stage, which was really nice. It helped to pass the time having someone to chat to.

As with the bike I focussed on keeping the effort easy. I did all of the walks exactly as planned, and then started running again at the right times. I had expected to be feeling tired for the run, but actually I felt surprisingly good for the vast majority of it.

The biggest problem I had on the run was nutrition. I tried drinking water and coke, and tried eating crisps, nuts and fruit. However I really struggled with everything, I just felt too bloated. The coke wasn't flat, which didn't help, but I got really concerned that I wasn't comfortable drinking water. A comment from Nancy made me try the soup (bouillon), and it turned out to be the solution I was looking for. I think the combination of savoury and warm was what did it. The warmth made my stomach accept it when it wouldn't even accept water, and it was a nice break from all the sweet stuff from earlier in the day.

Everything else about the run felt good. Our race numbers had our names on them, and I really appreciated how many people called out my name as I was going past. On both the bike and run sections I felt incredibly lucky to be there after the crash, and so my mood was very good all day. Whenever someone called my name I made sure to give them a big smile and a wave and I also think that helped to keep my mood up. A high point of the run was on my last lap when I was walking past a feed station. A lady with an Irish accent had shouted my name as I passed that point on every lap. When I got there on the last lap she said to me that she'd found me really inspirational because on every lap I'd had a big smile on my face and was just consistently keeping going.

On the final lap of the run it finally got hard. I'd been expecting that to happen, and had honestly expected it to happen much earlier than 20 miles in. At that point I really had to push to keep going, but I continued to stick to my run/walk strategy. The hardest part was the long out and back around the lake, especially because again it became obvious that I was towards the back and a lot of the spectators had left by then, so there was a lot less support. I added in at least one extra walk section along there because I was starting to struggle, but I set myself a point to start running again and managed to stick to it.

My parents were there for the run, so I went past them several times. It was really great having them there. It's amazing how much it lifts your mood to see someone that's there for YOU.

At the final feed station I decided not to walk. I knew I was less than a mile from the end, and I wasn't convinced that I'd be able to start running again. I ran through to the end and it was finally my turn to turn right into the finish chute and run down to the finish.

Nothing that I can think of. I had a plan and I stuck to it. I think I did the best I possibly could with the level of fitness I had.

I felt really lost after I crossed the finish line. I'd been told that I should warn my parents that I wouldn't see much of them for about an hour after I finished. Because of that I didn't stop and talk to them when I think I really should have. What I actually wanted to do was cry and hug someone, but I didn't quite get to do that.

I went and got my T-shirt and medal and then got showered. I had to ask a random stranger to help me remove my sports bra because it's the over-the-head type and I couldn't manage it myself (I was quite proud that I managed to take my tri top off on my own!). I saw Nancy and her husband in the food tent and tried to eat some pasta, but just couldn't stomach anything. Then I went for a massage, which turned out to be a mistake because it was far too cold with no heating in the tent and they didn't seem to realise. I got really cold, and hadn't taken warm enough clothes in my finishing bag. My parents both landed up donating coats to me to warm up.

We then loaded everything from transition into my parents car, and Mum and I got the train back to the hotel while Dad and Kevin drove there. That was one of the hardest parts of the day because all I wanted to do was get somewhere warm and sit down, but we had to clear everything out of transition by midnight.

My parents were absolutely amazing through the whole time we were in Zurich. They drove around picking us up from bike rides in random places, they came to the hospital and helped out when I injured myself, they got up at a hideous time on race day to drive us to transition so that we didn't have to figure out the trains, they were there all day cheering us on, and they were still there late at night helping us get everything cleared out. And then the next day they drove 2 hours down to Interlaken (and then back) with our transition stuff so that we didn't have to worry about getting the car completely repacked when we moved accommodation. They were the best, most supportive support team I could possibly have imagined.


Given my level of fitness and my experience I think I did the best I could have. I'd worked out that my ideal day would be 14 hours. Considering everything that had happened, I was extremely happy with the outcome.


I thought the organisation of the race was really good. The support from local people was great and there were loads of spectators. I think this is the best race I've done.

Kevin and I overheard a number of different people saying they thought it was good, but not as good as IM Austria, so I think that's going on the list...