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Ironman Lanzarote 2015
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Beer and chinese on way back to hotel
more beer consumed
Spent 2 more days in Lanzo drinking beer.
Back in UK Wednesday and went to A&E.
2 clean fractures on my clavicle.
off to Fracture clinic later for further diagnosis
Already written off Outlaw and Midnightman full
Hopefully fit enough to get round IM Mallorca in late Sept
Well here's my race report
Background
I’ve always wanted to do Lanza and when I turned 50 in January I decided that this must be the year when I attempted one of the most iconic races in triathlon.
Entering as usual was easy..a push of a button and a hit on the credit card. Mrs Slim was convinced by the prospect of a week’s holiday with the kids and we were soon booked into Club Oceana after recommendations on this forum. I made the deliberate decision to fly out to Lanza late and have the majority of the holiday after the event. I suffer terribly from nerves before any big race and bitter past experience has taught me that it’s far better to have no time for faff and just get on with it. So, we all flew out from Luton on the Thursday evening and then I had a very busy day on the Friday. My brother was doing the race as well and had organsised a hire car for the Friday morning to get the pair of us over to Club La Santa for registration. This was painless although I have to say that Club La Santa would not be for me. Very corporate and soulless and reminded me of that film ‘Cocoon’ but for triathletes! But each to their own and I know it is a very popular resort and training camp. Racking the bikes in the afternoon I just stood and stared at the bling bikes in transition. I had elected to just ride my simple road bike which I have had for the past 5 years and have done all my long races on. No deep section wheels for me and not even tri bars as my back is very inflexible and I don’t train with them. My bike did look a little ‘ordinary’ in a rack of bikes with deep section wheels and very expensive carbon! But hey, I’ve done this before ( Ironman, not this race) and I trust my bike so was not worried. PDC was buzzing though and it was great to see SA shouting at me through the grid fencing in transition!
Race Day
Up at 0430hrs and a breakfast of Weetabix and a banana. Normally I seem to find myself camping prior to these events and so it felt like luxury to be sitting at a breakfast bar having a coffee and food! I set off at 0530hrs for the short walk down to transition where the steady stream of figures walking in the gloom showed me the way. Over to my bike and borrowed a track pump before plastering body glide in lumps over my neck and also on the collar of the wetsuit. I had a bad wetsuit burn after Wales last year and really didn’t want this to happen in the heat and wind of this race. SA was there again to cheer me on my way and we met on the beach where he gave me his best advice which summed up to be ‘don’t be shit’. Nodding gratefully I moved myself to the rear of the waiting hordes and tried to zone myself out from the general feeling of electric nervous energy. It seemed windy but this was Lanza after all and so when the hooter went I just followed everyone into the water and swam! It was an ok swim with very little biff where I had started at the back. The current was with us as we swam along the line of buoys but this caused me to overshoot the end buoy and then it became hard to swim back towards the start. I watched as the rocks on the bottom didn’t seem to be moving as I thrashed my arms around but eventually I reached the beach and did a quick run before starting it all over again. The second loop was definitely choppier as the wind had come along with the rising sun. However there were no dramas and I worked my way slowly to the finish. Swim 1.42
Transition was fine and as usual I did a full change for the bike and was off. I had Mrs Slim and the two kids cheering me on as I left on the bike course and then the fantastic SA support crew of SA, Mrs SA and Jordy all shouting for me a bit further along. It did give me a real lift and I thank all of them for their support. I wont go into great detail on the bike as I’m not that familiar with the course and most of it has been said before. Suffice to say that it was windy and I just kept repeating the mantra ‘spin into the wind’. My brother caught me up as I was doing the El Golfo loop and we had a quick word as he passed me by. I loved the fire mountain and the bleak lava fields. In some ways it resembles a giant slag heap, but it is a unique area of the island and very intimidating in many ways simply because it shows you in stark form the power of nature. The wind was in my face as I expected as it was a northerly and I kept up a steady cadence. I am not a technical person and had nothing at all to measure my performance other than a wristwatch. The trouble is that I realised that I had lost this in the swim! So, I didn’t even know the time. This was not a problem to me as I just rode as hard as the conditions allowed and my body told me was sensible. The climb to Haria was interesting and seemed to go on for ever but the switchbacks coming down to the old town were great and I really enjoyed descending on my road bike. I was finding myself passing a lot of bling bikes on both the descents and then the ascents but many would then take me again on any long straight or slight downhill. I did see a few cyclists lying on the floor being attended to by medical staff in ambulances. I don’t think any had fallen but it was simply a case of the heat and wind taking their toll. Mirador del Rio was everything I hoped and expected with stunning views out across the turquoise sea to the islands. I loved it and just kept plugging away and hoping that my quads would hold out until the top. I reached the aid station and saw a friend from my local cycling club munching a ham sandwich. We had a brief chat as I ate a snickers bar and then I was off down an incredible downhill section with the wind behind me. I soon ran out of gears and just put my chin on the handlebars and gloried in the feel of free speed! ‘This is the way I roll’!! I was shouting into the wind and laughing manically as my wheels literally hummed. ( told you I was mad!) The bike course is great and apart from a later rough section at Nazaret and the fact that they turned me into the wind for a further few miles the ride back to PDC seemed not so bad. Eventually I came whizzing along with the wind on my back along the seafront and saw the two support crews ( SA and Slim tribe) shouting and jumping up and down. Other than feeling a bit jaded all was well at this stage. I had held up mentally on a tough course in tough conditions ( partly due to the race reports from 2013 where the mental element was stressed as much as the physical) Transition was reasonable – although I forgot to take my bike shorts off – and a lovely helper slapped sunscreen lotion over my bronzed body before I headed out on the run. Bike 7.57
The run
This is where my race disintegrated. It happened at Wales last year and unfortunately it happened at Lanza this year. Whether it is the sea swim or an aversion to gels I’m not sure. When I started the bike earlier I was aware that I had a fair bit of sea water swilling away in my stomach. I didn’t eat on the bike for the first hour to give it time to settle and then everything seemed to go ok. I started the run in the blazing heat and began a run walk strategy. I couldn’t do it on time ( I had lost my watch) so I ran to features such as lampposts or trees and then walked for a minute or two. This seemed to be going well and as I headed out on the first long loop I was confident that my strategy would work. After Wales I had determined to do some more run training for this one and so had done what I consider to be a reasonable amount of runs with a couple of 19 milers and countless double figure runs in the previous months. I met a chap from Leicester who seemed happy to drop in with my strategy and so we sorted out Leicester City football club whilst running out past the airport. Sorting out LCFC took considerably more time than I had planned but we both eventually found ourselves approaching our first band at the start line and a half marathon almost completed. It was now that I felt the familiar rumblings of nausea which had affected me so badly at Wales. I tried to put it to the back of my mind and had deliberately been avoiding coke and just sipping water and eating orange segments in an attempt to keep my stomach unbloated ( is that a word?) I began to feel increasingly sick and eventually my new found friend had to leave me being physically sick over the sea wall with my arse sticking up opposite a nice restaurant full of diners! I could see an old couple stop and watch me from the corner of my eye. I got up and they began to walk away but within five feet I was back over the wall again making strange noises. When I eventually got going again the old couple who had waited patiently for me to finish gave me a gentle clap of their hands to see me on my way ( what a nice couple!) This was how it went for the rest of the race. I knew I was becoming very dehydrated but couldn’t even swallow water without it coming straight back up. It was a real dilemma as I reached the aid stations and I took to sipping water to try and moisten my mouth but having to then spit it out again. I did try a couple more times to swallow water but I was sick again within a matter of yards. Just like Wales I thought I might actually faint and get carried off the course and then I wont finish! I knew I had the time to finish but wasn’t sure if my body would let me down. The ‘race’ now became a long walk with my mental state seeming to deteriorate as the night fell. I did see my brother ahead of me who was also finding it tough and I saw Blue Peter looking strong and Shivering Whippet who I didn’t respond to a couple of times because I was in a world of my own ( I did apologise afterwards!) Pirate supporters were handing me crisps and giving me so much encouragement ( you know who you are!) and the SA support crew was simply awesome. It gave me such a lift to be heading towards another band and SA, Mrs SA and Jordy would seem so delighted to see this abject wreck shivering towards them in the gloom. My family as well were being put through it as I could hardly raise a smile as I received my final band and set out on the final lap. I was sick again after trying some chicken broth which a hotel was giving out. ( I was desperate for nutrition and though it worth a go) I literally tip toed my way round the final lap praying that I wouldn
faint. The weather had been kind to us on the run in that the blazing sun had given way to some cloud cover before darkness fell. I eventually came tiptoeing my way towards the SA support team and SA kindly walked with me towards the finish line. I still wasn’t convinced that my legs wouldn’t collapse on me before the line but as SA told me ‘you could crawl it from here Slim’. SA then left me and I saw my 11 year old daughter waiting to come up the red carpet with me. I somehow drew on every reserve of energy I had and we both ran up the red carpet together and swooped over the line with a smile! Someone put a medal around my neck and I stumbled off to sit down. I was absolutely elated but feeling very ill. I couldn’t face the free beer or food being given out in the tents and grabbed my bags and bike and went straight out of transition. My family then took over and we all slowly made our way back to Oceana. All my great plans of going back to Ruta 66 and having a party at the finishing line were long gone. My son went and got me a fruit smoothie from the Oceana bar and I managed to sip this down whilst sitting firmly in our apartment. That was it …lights out until I woke as usual at about 0500hrs and couldn’t get back to sleep…but hey I am a Ironman Lanzarote and that feels good! Run 5.43 Total time 15.41.22
Post race
Great race and great location. My favourite race remains Embrunman but this is still a great race. It is a real challenge and you feel that the race means a lot to the local population and is well supported. The police were great at the junctions to make the course work and many of the locals came out and cheered us along. It ticks a lot of boxes with the family holiday as well which was brilliant. Club Oceana was perfect for both the Ironman and the holiday afterwards and I thoroughly recommend it for anyone thinking of this race in the future. We all met up in Ruta 66 the next day and it was great to have a chat with the others who had been out on the course or those who had revived me with snacks or later just great encouragement. You are all superstars for being there throughout the day and I cant thank you enough. A few beers were sunk and a couple of COLTS joined in as well. I have to try and sort out this sickness on the run but I think that sea water might be largely to blame. Not sure what I can do about this other than not enter sea swims! I am going to look at my whole nutritional strategy and look for alternatives to gels as well as look at the possibility of using chalk tablets, Rennies etc to see if they would settle my stomach. My time was not great but I have always been a completer and I am always happy to simply finish a race. Because ‘that’s the way I roll’!
PS – I’m doing Wales in September ( what did I say about sea swims?!!) So see some of you there……….
I'm very tired as only four hours sleep and have forgotton to mention Slagiatt and Hokori..both top blokes and staying at Oceana with me. The day didn't pan out for them but I've been there with my second Embrunman in 2013 and know exactly how it feels. Top marks to them for entering Lanza already in 2016 and I'm really looking forward to catching up with Slagiatt in Wales in September...see you then mate
Top reports guys! It was me who you spoke to out towards the airport Dave! Good to briefly meet you
Well done again Slim, top work at the end!
I'm not reformatting mine so here are the links to my 3 part race report from my blog;
Part I http://wp.me/p2SVGt-cS
Part 2 http://wp.me/p2SVGt-di
Part 3 http://wp.me/p2SVGt-dP
Love the race report mate
Really brought it all back with the photo's etc. Like you, I'm pleased to have done it and it's a great race.
Look forward to meeting up again soon
Great reports Deca Dave, Slimshady and BluePeter. I think it makes an event more special when you really feel you've battled through adverse conditions or lava rash
As much as I bang on about how hard it was, IM Lanzarote is a truly spectacular epic race. I think it should be on everyone's bucket list of Ironman races
Dave that's a nasty shoulder. I met you at IM Lanza on Mirador Del Rio climb and was with you onto Dual carriageway. Hope your recovery is going well? Are you going back next year? Mark
Wow! Such inspirational reports and efforts yet again! When the going get tough etc!