Ironman Wales - Triathlon

This was a very tough swim, about 12% of the field didn't finish or missed cutoff. Hardest part was the strong tidal current on the longest leg, even stronger on the second lap. Wind into the tide caused very short, random chop, which made it tough to get a rhythm breathing. Then I found the water very cold, was approaching hypothermia by the time I finished, evident in very low heartrate. In retrospect, very proud of this swim given how hard it was for the whole field, and working my way back from rotator cuff surgery 10 months before the race.

Should have worn a neoprene headcap to be a bit warmer, I brought it with me but for some reason chose not to wear it.

This is a long transition by design, needing to run up steep hill and 1km through town from swim beach to transition. But I was shivering uncontrollably and took forever to settle down enough to get ready for the bike - lots of folks asked me if I was OK, I kept saying yes. I think if an official person saw me they may have made me stop. Eventually got dressed, then used porta-potty which was warmer than the changing tent and helped me really get reset for the bike.

Maybe go into the porta-potty straight away to change given it helped warm me up. Otherwise, I lost my swim cap somewhere along the way, wish I still had it, and forgot to put my bike gloves on. Not a smooth transition, but made it through when I was really struggling after a really difficult swim. Obviously 36 minutes is ridiculously long.

This is really slow, compounded by significant mechanical problems - the chain came off my front ring on the first steep climb, leading to a fall and a bruised/bloody knee, and then the chain completely broke on my first attempt at the steepest climb, leading to another fall and a bruised hip. In between, I was keeping from going into my two biggest rear cogs to keep the chain from coming off again. After it broke, I believed my day was over, but after about 20 minutes of walking along, the on-course mechanic caught up to me and fixed it. What a mental boost that was, so I kept going through a very challenging, very wet second loop, walking my bike up that steepest hill to avoid overtaxing my repaired chain. I wound up falling a third time getting off the bike to walk the hill, but in the end got back to transition upright.

Should have trained bike harder going into this, the mechanicals cost me 45 minutes, being cautious in the wet likely 20. Even taking those out, I should have been faster. I also should have checked my bike more thoroughly after travelling to recognize the chain issues that just about cost me years of effort and focus to get to Tenby.

I barely avoided falling a 4th time as I dismounted my bike as my legs were cold and locked up, but loosened up pretty quickly once I got walking. I knew I was going to be close to cutoff, but it was still disorienting to see officials checking folks on their phones to tell us if we made it. About 2/3 were told their day was done, but they told me I was good to continue. It would have been so crushing to have not made it after fighting through the swim and bike difficulties. Once I got the go ahead to go on, I changed quickly and didn't miss anything. When I checked my times after the race, I made the 10.5-hour cutoff time by just over four minutes.

Nothing, easily my best race segment of the day.

My plan was always to walk the uphills and run the downhills, I even trained run-walk. I stuck to this the whole way, making sure my walks were faster than 15min pace, and jogged the fastest I could. Since I was already so late, time didn't matter as long as I kept myself fit enough to keep moving continuously and finish. Initially, I worried I would be close to not making the final cutoff, but slowly built a buffer to be comfortable at the end.

Given everything that happened earlier in the day, this run was just right for me. I made sure to slap hands with everyone who offered and thank the crowd and just be grateful the whole way.

Was in reasonable shape at the end given I didn't overly push the run, so took my time in the nice, warm, dry, finish tent. Had plenty of pizza and soda, made sure to get my medal, bucket hat, and finishers hoodie. Talked to folks about their day, main topics were how rough the swim was, and then dealing with the rain and slippery roads and avoiding crashing.


Getting old - I was never fast, but 10 more years slowed me even more. Losing time to mechanicals, probably not taking enough risk on the flatter sections that were wet - I was just really overly concerned falling going down in the rain no matter what the terrain.


I picked Wales to race one last Ironman because it was so hard, and because it is an epic event with the best crowd and town support imaginable. Thanks to my wife, Bernadette, my personal support, along with the folks she recruited to my team during the run through town. Thanks to Tenby, this was an unimaginably epic day in my life, and in the end I pieced together just enough to get to the finish line. Such an incredible day of determination and gratitude for me I will always remember.