Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Outlaw 2012 race reports
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
haha... shamelessly coming in
Bloody kids ....
Awww - I've been reading all these reports and can't believe I have finally got to the end!
One question - what on earth did the chap who got DQ'd at registration say or do to get that? I'm intrigued.....
Here you go Lee - especially for you!
Like most things in the triathlon side of my life..........I get there eventually!
I'm afraid it goes into several segments and over a couple of pages....
Link thingy.... http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/beginners/working-at-it-slowly/30469-10382.html
Hope it works..........
Did you finish about 16:40 ish? I was behind you by 5 mins or so and we passed at a few turns being the last runners out there. think we got out of the water same time too. Quality effort and great report.
I am paddling now!!
Finaly!!
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away........
Sorry but that was especially for Holgs!
Over the weekend a number of people reminded me that for years I'd said that I was never going to do an Ironman. Which is true, but sometimes, in the best Pirate tradition, you just have to HTFU and JFDI!
So the morning of the 1st of July dawned and there I was in my wetsuit getting into the lake at Holme Pierrepont wondering what the heck I was doing and how did get myself into this. Quite simply there are 2 people responsible for me entering Outlaw, they know who they are!
Earlier that morning I'd walked down to the lake with my brother. I still remember his reaction when I told him I’d entered. For a while as far as he thought I was only doing either the swim or bike for a relay team! We’d been chatting on Skype when I told him, it’s not often I seen an expression of stunned silence on his face, but I got it that day!!
Anyway back to race morning. I had my pre-race faff with my transition bags just to double check I hadn't left anything behind and loading up the bento box and bottles on my bike. Saw a few Pirates around transition, most were looking very serious. I was feeling remarkably calm! I started getting my wetsuit on and got it zipped up. Then I started heading through the bikes to get into the water.
I managed to get my swim cap on without launching it across the jetty. I can usually send it flying for quite a distance, but amazingly I managed to avoid that this time. I sat on the edge of the jetty and just launched myself off and got fully submerged I remember seeing the murk in the water. My training suggested I might manage about 1:30 for the swim so I opted for the slowest pen. I was next to Robert at the time when he got out to see if he could see our sherpas. I followed and waved to them, no wave back. I guess they either didn't see or recognise me. I got back into the water and waited for the off.
The countdown started and the foghorn went, we were off. My brother promptly swam over the top of me!!Typical!! Just like being kids again, no love lost between us!! He claims he didn’t know it was me. I swam with my head up for the first minute or so, just so I could see were space was developing and managed to avoid the worst of the underwater rugby. After this I managed to get my face in the water and swim properly. I settled into a steady comfortable rhythm and just kept plugging away. With the angle of the sun I found the best place to sight was the top of the warehouse at the far end of the lake!
It was great swimming up the lake and seeing people walking up the path beside us! I was really enjoying this. While swimming I couldn’t help but wonder what Chris and Max (the 2 coaches from Cardiff who taught me to swim 3 years ago) would say to me doing this.
I dealt with a few directionally challenged people on the way up the lake. At one point I looked up to see a swan about 5 feet away, running across the lake trying to take off! I eventually got to the first boy, turned right, swam across the lake and turn right again and back down the lake. I was counting down the distance using the signs on the edge of the lake. Eventually I emerged from the lake in 1:38:12, slower than I thought I would manage but it was my first swim of that distance on OW. I’d swum the distance in the pool in about 1:35:00 so I was disappointed with my time, although when I downloaded the information from my Garmin it says I swam 4.01 km which might explain some of the extra time.
Into T1, made use of the wetsuit strippers, heard Cedric cheering and disappeared into the tent. Grabbed my bag and headed for the changing area. Since I didn’t manage masses of time in the saddle in preparation I opted to change into proper cycling shorts. I figured I might be in for a long day and some comfort would be nice. Base layer and cycling shirt on, buff on head, cycling helmet on, check the shades were where I’d left them, shoes on and off out to grab the bike! Saw Fat Budha and Petal as I left transition, did my usual flying mount and I was off. T1, 0:10:45, oh well just making sure I had everything!
A quick wave to mum at the base of the steps and get the head down. Saw one of my work colleagues and his daughter (Steve and Rachel) sitting on the bank, they live in Newark-on-Trent and have just started getting into Tri! Waved and shouted to them got a wave back! Looked at my Garmin to find that it though I was still in T1, damn!! Pressed the button to change it but to no avail!! Bugger! So there I was down on the tri bars trying to get my Garmin to work. Eventually I pressed stop, then reset it, switched to bike mode and pressed start again! OK, get concentrating and pedal dammit! Round the top of the lake and got hit by the wind, great hope it’s not going to be like this for the rest of the day. Back down the lake and saw that there were still quite a few people still swimming. I’m guessing they didn’t make the cut-off. I spotted the Major and various other supporters as I went out the main gate.
Although Cycling is my favorite part of tri it was the part I was dreading the most. After falling off my mountain bike then blowing out my knee in a 10k during the previous 5 weeks, my longest bike ride had been about 110 km, admittedly it was a very hilly 110 km out in Switzerland! I knew the bike was going to hurt!! Heading out I put my head down and got onto the tri bars heading out the A52, into Radcliffe and try to avoid the potholes. At the roundabout I saw Rio and Gary pointing a camera at me, I smiled (sort of) and waved!! Off up Shelford Road then onto the A6097 to Oxton. Saw Steve and Rachel a couple more times on the way to Southwell. Blasted it down through the town and started heading to Upton and that is where the twinge started in my knee!! Bugger I’d hoped it would last a bit longer before it started to go! I got myself round to the next feedstation and stopped while I dug an Ibuprofen out of my bento box. Topped up with water and headed off. Back out onto the A617 and headed up the drag to the turn into Farnsfield. The wind was nasty but not as bad as it could have been along that stretch. Then the turn to head south! Down on the tribars pedalling hard.
The leaders were coming off the southern loop just as I was heading for it, hmm, this was going to be a slow time. There was lots of cheering and quite a few “Go Pirates” as I headed through Car Colston. Just wondering what the cricketers made of the invasion!! As I joined the masses on the southern loop I heard a familiar voice shouting support, it was Mum! I didn’t reply or turn to look as I’d turned onto the loop and straight into a group of about 10 riders! I kept going round the lanes until I got to the Pirate feedstation. It was like coming home to family. A cheer went up of “Pirate”. I shouted to see if there were any bananas left. Garr replied that they’d all gone. I replied “OK” and put the hammer down and sped off down of the tri bars again, I had the wind behind me and wanted to take advantage of it while I could. In the crowds around the feedstation I spotted Steve and Rachel again! They’d found the madness!
I kept going as hard as I could while the wind was behind me, I knew it was going to hurt as soon as I
I grabbed my bag of the rack and into the changing area to find Trogs, Ditchy and one other Pirate (Jackie??) plus another non Pirate. I’m not sure what the non-pirate thought with the rest of us in there. I got changed into my running gear, and headed out onto the run or in my case walk. I tried to get it into my head that it was just a marathon (thanks for that inspiration Robert) The problem was it was my first marathon, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect! T2, 00:07:03, well at least it was quicker than T1!
My knee was aching like hell when I got off the bike and I was seriously thinking about stopping at that point. I had decided during the last 5 miles of the bike that I’d at least do the first lap of the lake to see if it was possible to finish.
Leaving transition I saw mum again at the base of the steps, she told me that Fat Buddha had said that I had enough time to walk it. I managed to get to the top of the lake and at the first feed station I grabbed a jaffa cake and a few crisps, heading back down I took another ibuprofen. At least I had some food in my stomach to ward off any side effects. Holgs went past me at the top of the lake on my first lap. The ibuprofen was kicking in by the time I got back down to the bottom of the lake and saw mum again. I’d walked around the lake in 46 minutes, I did a bit of maths and reckoned that at this pace I should manage under 7 hours for the marathon. This was looking doable.
I headed out onto the path along the river. I passed Robert coming back in off his first lap. It was the first time I’d seen him since he swam over me. His words of encouragement were along the lines of “Keep your head up and keep smiling”, I’m guessing he was concerned I might get the grumpiest Pirate award! I knew he meant well and was concerned, but he could have worded it a bit better.
It was great seeing all the Pirates and supporters out there. At practically every feedstation I took something to eat and drink and I kept this going throughout the walk. I think it was coming back off the first loop that Trogs and I started to walk together. We chatted for a while. It was when we were passing the scoreboard that somebody shouted “Come on Little Sister, this bit’s downhill, you can at least run it” I looked over and saw OC shaking his head and signaling “No”! I should explain that running down steeper slopes is one of the worst things I can do with my knee the impact on the joint aggravates it, I learned this the hard way in Zurich!
I had to make a quick toilet stop at the top of the lake, Trogs continued on, after my stop I quickened my pace and managed to catch up with her at the bottom of the lake, after Brian and Wifey had given me a piece of tablet! Just thinking that this is the point where I should add something poetic in the style of Robert Burns praising the virtues of tablet, but I dinnae ken whit tae say aboot it except it’s pure dead brilliant by the way! Sorry about lapsing into Scots there, back to English (or at least my version of it) for the masses!!
Heading out onto the second loop I took the second ibuprofen and paracetamol. That was it for the drugs until the end. We, Trogs and I, walked out towards the turn around. Passing Barley coming the other way he said that Dustboy was having a bad day and to give him plenty of encouragement when we see him. Just as we were going under the bridge at County Hall a Pirate coming the other way told us that Dustboy had collapsed and was being loaded into an ambulance. We started running to see if we could show him a friendly face. He was on the stretcher being taken up the path as we caught up with him. At least he was conscious when we saw him.&nbs
The icing on the cake was being voted the Best Novice the following day. Thanks everyone!!
So what can I say, apart from thank you to all the Pirates, as Holgs put it racing in yellow and black really is like a performance-enhancing drug. I couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without you guys!!
And special thanks to the 2 who who are responsible for this! They started it 4 years ago in Nice when they persuaded me to enter the Zuri Tri. They are Petal and Swiss Bobby! You pair have a lot to answer for!!
So lessons learned for the next time:
1.It is possible to finish and ironman with a duff knee and limited training, but it hurts a lot and makes for a very long day!!
2.I could do with some coaching/ lessons to improve my swim technique.
3.I should have HTFU’d and got out on the bike more, but that is easier said than done!
4.Falling off you mountain bike 5 weeks before the big race is not a good idea!
5.Running too far and blowing out your knee 3 weeks before the race is an even worse idea!
Oh and for the record my marathon time was 6:54:12, Swiss Bobby’s time was 06:55:41. It’s a small victory but I’ll take it!!
And yes I did say next time!
Nice report
You did remind me however, on getting out of the lake and being faced by a long line of wetsuit strippers a lady asked me if I needed a hand ... being incapable of anything needing co-ordination at this point I nodded and said 'yes please' at which point she unzipped the back and moved on to the next person leaving me to struggle out of it on my own !!
Thats my excuse for a long transition anyway!!
Good report Little Sister. Well done
Nice one Iron Little Sister! Good effort with your knee!
I've just been catching up as been out of the office for a few days.
GB - I was wondering, how are you going to write this up on your leg?
Little Sister - you are awesome. Proud to know you as a pirate.
Dang, just realised there are huge chunks of my report missing!!
Can I delete posts?? Let's see!
No can't find how to delete posts!
First and second posts are OK, but ignore the rest. Here goes with the missing bit between the end of the second post and start of the third:
I kept going as hard as I could while the wind was behind me, I knew it was going to hurt as soon as I turned into it. Got to the old A46 and yes it hurt!! Pushed on down the road to the turn off into Elston, boy that road was rough! I started feeling the knee again, this time it was really starting to ache. Round a few more corners and I came across a Pirate standing on the verge hunched over his bike. I stopped to see if there was anything I could do. He said he’d been throwing up for the last 8 miles, I asked him if he’d been on gels, I got a nodded reply. “Do you want some real food”? He said he’d tried but brought it back up. I basically told him to try again and handed him some banana loaf. He was worried that I’d given away all my food, but I pointed out I was on my first lap and I had a special needs bag which I hadn’t touched. Eventually I had to ride off, hated having to do that but there really wasn’t anything else I could do! I stopped at the next feed station and got more water and took my remaining Ibuprofen and parcetamol. Saw mum at the start/end of the loop, shouted to here that my knee was really aching, she asked if I wanted to stop. My response as I went past was a resounding no, the drugs hadn’t kicked in by then.
Back round to the Pirate feed station again and this time I stopped to raid the special needs bag. Orange Canon came up and held my bag while I dug various bits out of it. He was wondering how I was getting on. I explained that I’d had to take all my painkillers for the bike and that I was really feeling the knee. He looked concerned until I pointed out that I knew it was likely that I’d need them and I had figured how much I could take on the bike and still be OK to take more on the run if needs be. Put the bag down and away I went. When I got back onto the A46, looked at my speed, did a bit of maths and knew I was going to be chasing the cut-off. This was not a good day. I pushed as hard as I could, back through Car Colston, Radcliffe, round the front of Holme Pierrepont Hall (that cattle grid was just not necessary at that point) and back to the National Water Sports Centre. I turned into the access road to see mum cheering me on. I’d made it back before the cut-off. Down the hill and I saw Fat Buddha and Petal again. Off the bike and hobbled into T2, 7:47:30 for the bike, I should have been much faster than that, but what do you expect with limited training!!
And this bit goes between the third and epilogue:
He was on the stretcher being taken up the path as we caught up with him. At least he was conscious when we saw him.
Trogs made a stop at the turn around and I pressed on. Back towards Holme Pierrepont I noticed the soles of my feet starting to burn, blisters were starting to form. Oh well at least I was over halfway now. The furthest race I’d ever done previously was a half marathon last year. I’d just have to put up with the blisters! I kept pressing on, upping my pace a little, back past the scoreboard feedstation and on up to the top of the lake. When I got back to the grandstand SA was there shouting encouragement at me telling me I could do it, I didn’t quite shout back at him that I’d done the maths at the pace I was maintaining I knew I would do it! Sorry if I seemed grumpy!! Brian threw me another piece of tablet, ya dancer!! I shouted back that I was on negative splits and grinned like an idiot as I went past the grandstand. As I was heading out on the final lap Cedric walked with me for a little bit checking to see how I was, not looking where I was going I walked straight into a bush and nearly went flat on my face! D’oh!!
Back out to County Hall and the turnaround, on the way back I made sure I said thank you to all the feedstation volunteers who were still there, although I thought it was a bit much for some of them to be eating pizza and not offer me a slice! The sun was starting to set and I was determined to get back to the lake before it got dark. When I got back to the sailing club I was met by one of the One Step Beyond team who walked with me to the scoreboard. I think he was surprised just how chatty I was!
When we got to the scoreboard feedstation one of the volunteers started walking round the lake with me, evidently they had planned to do this with the final finishers! Unfortunately I can’t remember her name, sorry!! Walking along the far side of the lake I could hear the party at the finish. Something about the pirates being “drinkers with a triathlon problem”!
Coming back down the lake I had decided I was going to at least try to run the last 500 m. When we got to the 500m point Petal was waiting. She was planning to run in with me, unfortunately it seems I was a bit fast for her in her flip-flops! Sorry!
I felt some of my blisters burst after I started running, ouch! And into the finisher’s chute! I’d really wanted to sprint it all the way, but there were just too many people there. So I put my shades down on and enjoyed the moment, high fiving as many people as I could! The last few meters were clear so that was the point at which I decided to sprint for the line. Flat out with an “Aaaaarggghhhhh” as I crossed the line! The best feeling in the world, I could now truly call myself a Pirate! From the looks on their faces I think everyone behind the line was wondering if I would stop in time!! I AM AN OUTLAW!!!
Alterntively the entire thing is here and in the correct order: http://www.facebook.com/notes/helen-kenneth/outlaw-race-report/10150947658310823
Great report L'il Sis
Aw what a fab report Podds
I remember talking about IMs at Bala and you said NO WAY!!! 
, but look at you now, you smashed it 
I'm so chuffed for you, i knew you could do it. Oh and i'm sorry you felt so bad about Dustboy, but as the others said, you probably couldn't have helped him, and you didn't leave him there on his own, there were others looking after him that could take him to hospital, so you were right to carry on when he said to 
Can't wait to hear what you've got planned next!! 
Great report Iron Sis!! Glad you put in the missing bits too, hahaha. Well done for doing it with a fecked knee, I know i'd have binned it after the bike, but then that's what separates the ironmen from the boys, so to speak
Love the fact you've said 'next time', hahaha! 
Anyone else get the MyPace application email where you can watch your pace around the course? Very cool!
no??
I did. Just one thing, I don't actaully feature in my finish line video!!
Would've loved to have seen it!! Just hoping I make the C4 coverage! 
GB, this is the link to mine:
https://www3.marathon-photos.com/maps/mypace.py?event=Sports/CPUK/2012/Outlaw%20Triathlon&bib=55
Guess if you just change the bib=55 at the end to your race number you'll get it.