The
Saturday 8 days before the Ironman I started a
cold and felt quite rough until the day before
the race. This ruined my last week of taper. On
getting down to Sherburne on the Saturday I was
determined to do a good warm up. In the end I
cycled 30 miles and ran 4 miles. In retrospect
this was a big mistake that I would pay for
later but at least I knew that I had recovered
enough from my cold to compete.
Swim
The start of the swim was delayed by 2 hours or
so due to mist over the lake. We were all
getting cold and shivering waiting but
eventually the mist cleared and we were allowed
to enter the water to swim over to the start. I
found an area in the water that seemed to have a
bit of space in front of me and waited for the
start signal. The horn sounded and we were all
off. The swim wasn't as brutal as I was
expecting, there was a bit of arms and legs but
generally people seemed to be pacing themselves
and nobody swam over the top of me. It was very
difficult sighting the buoys because the sun was
directly in front of us as we swam up the lake
towards the first turn point. A Sea King
helicopter buzzed the swimmers with the camera
crews taking pictures. It was quite exciting
feeling the downdraft from the helicopter and
seeing the lake bubble with the force of the
air, I imagined this is what it must feel like
to be rescued from sea. After what felt like a
very long time (and a long way) I got to the
first turn point, only 75% of the swim left! I
then got into a rhythm until the last turn point
(75% of the distance) and then suddenly got
cramp in my calf and hamstrings. I had to stop
swimming and tried to straighten my leg out in
the water, I then started to wonder if this was
the end of my race but after a few minutes it
relaxed a bit and so I tried to start swimming
again but almost immediately it cramped up
again. Eventually I realised that if I kept my
legs bent and didn't try to kick with them I
could hold the cramp at bay. I had to swim the
last 25% dragging my legs but eventually I saw
the swim exit and then knew that I could finish
the swim.
I had difficulty getting out of the water, my
legs didn't want to straighten up at this point
and I needed to stand so that guys could grab me
to pull me out of the lake. In the end they
bent down and lifted me out. Standing on dry
land the cramps went away immediately and I ran
over to the wet suit strippers and then into the
changing tent.
Swim time 1:35:28
It felt really good to be on the bike, I was
cross that I had lost so much time in the swim
but though that at least I would have 5 1/2
hours to make up some time. It felt great to be
passing people and I played a game of every 15
people that I passed meant that I had made up 1%
of the field. The A352 coming out of Sherbourne
climbs a bit of a hill and then has a very
gently descent to mile 10 where there is a tough
hill known a Giants head. There were lots of
people at this point on the course with Cow
Bells cheering support. I noticed that this hill
felt a lot harder than the day before but I was
still passing people at a good rate. The route
then continued on into Dorchester, looped around
some country roads (where I saw the leader go
pass on his second loop) and then started my
second southern loop, once again going over the
Giants head. The second time going up this hill
was harder and I hadn't even done 50 miles at
this point. Eventually the second loop was
competed and we started heading back towards
Sherburne to do the Northern loops.
The crowds were much denser (and even nosier)
going through Sherburne but my mind was on the
hill that I knew was on the northern section of
the course. I had been up the hill when I was
fresh on a training day and I felt it then,
what would it feel like today? After a while I
came across another competitor whom I knew (from
the training day). I asked him his swim time
1:12 and we had a quick chat, it was then we
hit the worst hill of the course. I didn't even
gradually change down I went straight for the
easiest gear and tried to spin out the hill but
soon I was having trouble even pushing that gear
so it was up out of the saddle to climb the rest
of the hill. I was 4/5 of the way round the
first of the northern loops when I started to
get cramp. I decided to get off the bike and
have a quick stretch but whilst I was doing this
an American woman ran over to me to ask if I
could help her fix her puncture. I couldn't
refuse knowing how much effort it had taken to
get to this point and she was close to tears
however due to the tightness of her tyre and the
fact that her spare tyre had a puncture in it as
well it tool 32 minutes to fix.
The guy I knew from the training day went pass
and shouted encouragement as he went passed.
Eventually I fixed her tyre and I started off
again. There were many cyclists that I
recognized from earlier and I figured that most
of the people I had passed on the first time
through Dorchester. I pressed on and started
passing people again, only 12 more miles to
go. I knew at this point that even if my Bike
fell to pieces (this happened to me a few months
earlier) that I could walk the rest of the bike
course and still complete the race. Those last
12 miles seemed to take a long time to pass but
eventually I was going down a steep narrow
country lane that would bring me back into
Sherbourne and then to the Castle. The crowds
started getting denser and noisier, into the
castle grounds and off the bike at the dismount
point. The bike course had been really tough,
even if I hadn't stopped it would have taken me
1 hour longer that it normally takes me to do
the 112 miles. Only 26.2 miles to go …
Bike Time 6:58:42
Starting the run through the Castle grounds I
kept hearing my name shouted out, this confused
me until I realised that the spectators where
looking up people names as they ran past. It
was really up lifting. At this point I knew I
wasn't running at a very fast pace but it felt
fairly comfortable. The run snaked through
Sherbourne went through a Girls school over a
playing field and to a foot bridge. At this
point there were about 5-6 runners stretching on
the steps of this bridge, I felt sorry for them
but after going up 3 steps I to was having to
stretch out the cramp as well. I hobbled over
the rest of the bridge and started running again
up a slight hill and onto the dual carriage
way. The dual carriage way seemed to go on for
a long way and I was really feeling the heat of
the Sun but there were aid stations every few
miles. I couldn't stomach any sort of sports
drink or food at this point because I was
starting to get stomach cramps but the almost
flat Pepsi seemed to be going down ok. I got to
mile 6 after 1 hour of running and arrived in
Yeovil. The run then went through a park and
then headed off towards Montacute House the half
way point. At mile 10 after 1.5 hours of
running I had to start run/walking because the
stomach cramps where getting too bad. At mile
12 I saw the guy I knew from the training day
heading back we exchanged greetings. I though
how lucky he was only to have another 12 mile to
go. I kept going but the stomach cramps where
getting worse. Eventually I made it to
Montacute House and started to feel a bit
better.
13 Mile run time 2:23:13
I made sure I got lots of fluid at the next aid
station because I hadn't been able to drink for
a while and started to run again. The road
started to climb again and I agreed with myself
to have a little walk once I had passed a woman
I saw ahead of me walking. I got passed her and
started walking, the cramps had returned. She
then ran passed me and shouted "Come on run", I
took her advice and started running but 50
meters up the road I got very severe pains in my
stomach, all I could do was hold onto a traffic
cone bent double until the pains subsided a
bit. When it eased slightly I sat on a barrier
at the side of the road and suddenly everything
became very peaceful. I woke up in a pile of
stinging nettles with 10 other competitors
looking very concerned telling me I had just
fainted, my ears where buzzing and I felt
awful. I suddenly started to worry that I was
not going to complete the race and be taken away
in an ambulance. When they asked me how I felt
I lied and said I felt fine, not to worry about
me and for them to get on with their race. I
stood up and stumbled on. Shortly afterwards I
met another guy who was walking along suffering
from cramp in his legs. We walked together for
the next few miles, I managed to eat a banana
and we started to run and walk a bit but he was
suffering from cramp too much. I was feeling
stronger and stronger and in the end we agreed
to carry on at our own pace.
I managed to run the last 8 miles back along the
dual carriage way. It was dark now and their
was an amazing red coloured moon pointing the
way back towards sherbourne. I went back over
the footbridge that had caused so many people
trouble earlier very carefully this time, back
through the girls school and through the streets
of Sherbourne. Back to the Castle and onto the
finish stretch (this seemed to loop around for
ever). A marshal shouted to me "run that girl
down ahead of you". I could have easily done it
but somehow it didn’t feel right passing someone
so close to the finish line so I ran next to all
the kids who where waiting for their
fathers/mothers to make it back and high fived
them before crossing the line.
Total Run time 5:13:27
Total Time 14:03:40
I collected my medal and went to the drinks tent
and collapsed again, waking up on a stretcher in
the medical tent. After some TLC from St.
Johns, Pepsi and pretzels I felt much better.
The guy next to me on a stretch was the event
organizer, who had collapsed with the effort of
organizing such a massive event. He looked much
worse than me.
The crowds throughout the day where amazing,
gave great support and where really up lifting.
There where 30 rotary clubs involved with
volunteers manning the aid stations. They had a
tough day as well being out in the sun all day
and looking after the athletes and I'm really
grateful for all the time they put in.
I know know Sherbourne is a tough Ironman
course. The winner said it was the toughest
course he's ever done. 6260 feet climb on the
bike, 1120 feet climb on the run. In all I
burnt 11500 calories.
I have never enjoyed a race so much in my life,
virtually the first thing I did the next day was
sign up for next year. I know that when things
go right I can set a much faster time and I have
another year of training to bring improvement.
I would recommend an Ironman to anybody, it
will be something you'll never forget.
Only 363 more days to go until next year …
Martin Spriggs.