Half-Ironman^® UK 2001

by Paul Jenneson

My main focus of this year has been the first Ironman^® event to be held in the UK. OK so it’s a middle distance (1.9k, 90k, 21k) event as opposed to a long distance triathlon (3.8k, 180k, 42k) but it still sounds an awfully long way! This is only my second year competing as a fully-fledged triathlete before that I thought swimming was something best avoided. I have the members of Farnham Triathlon Club to thank for coaching in particular to Dorothy and Jason, I guess I’ll never be as fast as Giles but at least I have a pair of gold mirrored goggles to swim in!

I’ve been having a bit of a problematic season a few ups and downs along the way, with my knee developing all sorts of problems at the start of August, it was just one run too far, my body rebelled and low and behold competing in the half-Ironman^® looked increasingly dubious. Of course I should of heeded my favourite quote "Over-training is the biggest problem for athletes who lack the experience or discipline to cope with their own enthusiasm." and I continued to compete: National Relays, Waterlooville, Swanage and London triathlons. At this point my knee was becoming increasingly more painful. Never mind I thought maybe I’ll go to Llanberis and just do the swim and the cycle. I’d also thought about this sensible option at Waterlooville, Swanage and London but found the lure of a tin-medal or cheap t-shirt just too great not to finish the run.

On arrival at Llanberis I was impressed the Ironman^® crew had certainly come to town. The organisation was impressive and the goody bag even include a £30 pair of sunglasses (never under-estimate the lure of freebies!!). I spent all my money in the expo tent, tried a £1100 turbo-trainer and had the vertebrae in my spine rearranged in an attempt to cure my knee. I have to say I was really enjoying the Ironman^® weekend it was a shame that the race was inevitably drawing nearer.

Sunday 3.30am 9^th September 2001, yep, I’ll say it again 3.30am! Now I’m normally what I'd consider an early riser, 6.50am most days, but this wasn’t early morning in fact it was still late at night. Nevertheless tri-suit was manoeuvred into and body forced to take various forms of transport to arrive in Llanberis at 5am. Bike finally prepared, all my kit in various bags hopefully appearing in the required transition zones, time to warm up and have a quick cup of tea in the café before racing. 6.30am still waiting for Jason M to reappear from the café toilet approx ¾ mile from the start line. Whoops all that time and still had to leg it to the start line! 6.45am entered the absolutely freezing waters in an enormous lake in North Wales. Talked to Giles and we crossed over to start just behind the elite. Great for Giles, he probably soon tucked in behind someone, me I was left standing. Often in mass starts I’m clambering for a bit of clear water, but today there’s nothing but clear water as Giles and the elite rocketed off, absolutely no chance of drafting.

The first buoy at 1k seemed a long way away for a long time but eventually I turned around it and headed home. Coming back seemed a lot quicker and I was out of the water in a sub-40 minute time for 1.9k. I grabbed my kit bag and headed for the change tent.

Quite a good transition I got on my bike at about the same time as Carolan, for the first 3 miles we had a bit of a race against each other before my chain fell off on an ascent and I was well and truly dropped. The first 40K seemed reasonably OK I looked at my watch 1hr 10mins is a pretty good time for me to do that kind of distance. Successfully grabbed a bottle of energy drink at the feed station and plodded on. Of course there was a perfectly good reason why I just cycled 40K in 1hr 10mins as it turned out to mostly have been descent with a slight back wind. The next section which had a 3 mile climb ascending 250m straight into the wind more then made up for the easy start.

Passed the next feed station at 70k and felt my knee start to grate luckily the wind was so strong and cold it kept the inflammation down. The last 20k on the bike came as a blessed relief I was certainly ready to get off the bike but was I ready to run a half-marathon?

Unfortunately I didn’t have long to find out I jogged the first 2k before the pop I didn’t want to feel. For the next 12k I kind of jogged then walked a bit trying to make my way from aid station to aid station. At 14k I came extremely close to quitting, my calf in my good leg was screaming as it had been doing most of the work during the run and I was reduced to walking. Never thought I’d ever think I wasn’t even capable of walking 7k but I battled on. I then met up with a guy from South Africa who told me he’d twisted his ankle at the 10k turn point. Glad to have someone to talk to I carried on. Eventually turning the corner to see the castle at Caernarfon before me. The cruellest blow was there was a small bridge directly to the finish line but the course still involved a 2 mile loop back out into the countryside. Geed up by Giles crossing the bridge to offer encouragement I struggled on. Two more painful descents (going up was fine, going down hill was almost unbearable) I managed to cross the finish line, taking 3 hours to complete the run.

I am unbelievable glad I carried on and finished, a little disappointed to have done it in so little style. I don’t think I’d do another middle distance event carrying an injury, but I hope to be back next year and fitting fit for at least another crack at the distance.

Will I do it if it’s a full Ironman^® next year, well as Sean Connery said “Never say, never again”.

Just to add a positive note, congratulations to everyone from the club who completed the event in some very impressive times. The dedication of the coaches and members of the club never fails to impress me. You reap what you sow and a second team place, only being pipped at the post by a professional club of elite athletes, indicates a very successful, competent club strategy.