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Roth 2010
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I'm gagging to hear what happened to everyone (thanks for your report, Donald).
I couldn't be online at the weekend to watch the action. Can anyone give a quick synopsis??
Wilkie - most finished , some with stonking PBs or generally super times but a few DNFed for a variety of reasons
Last heard of they were drinking Roth dry and nobody has yet surfaced with a report bar Donald!!
So basically the usual IM Pirate outing........
Roth race report
OK, here goes…
Pre-race
It was a cooler day than the two previously (which had reached 35 ºC or so) and after some overnight rain conditions were just about perfect to start with. Found a few pirates in transition, mainly in toilet queues though. Watched the elites and ladies go off in the first waves, then eventually it was my turn.
Swim
Not my strong point, but I’ve been working on it. The water was great, warm enough to not bother with a wetsuit if you were doing a sprint, but not quite warm enough to get them banned. At least with wave starts there’s less bumping & barging and I managed to get going into a steady stroke without too much fuss. I figured that a straight course up and down the canal would be fairly straightforward, but I had reckoned without my complete inability to swim in a straight line. I found myself veering across the course at an alarming rate. Breathing on the right, I thought I’d just keep the same distance to the bank, but it seems that judging distance in that short time when your head’s to one side isn’t that easy, and every time I did a proper sighting forward I was heading across the course again.
Still, I got to the first turn not long after the first swimmers in the wave behind caught me (5 min gap between waves so not too bad) and headed back. You can see the bridge marking T1 almost literally a mile off, and it seems like just a few strokes but it takes ages to get there. By now there were lots of different coloured swimcaps around me, some from waves in front, some behind but I had no idea how I was doing until I got out. I thought it had been poor but I was quite surprised to be out in 1:21, well inside what I’d hoped for. Game on!
T1
Keep things simple. Run to bag, pick up bag (which is more than Chrissie managed, she had to go back to get hers) run into tent, wetsuit , goggles etc off, socks & shoes on, off we go. Past FB and the other relayers who took time off from getting ready for their start to cheer us on, collect bike, out over the mat. 3 minutes or so.
Bike
Having got the hard part over with, now I could start to have fun. Set off at a good pace but conscious of not pushing hard early on, get into a good rhythm and start eating & drinking after 15 minutes. The first outward leg of the lap (course is two laps, plus a bit extra to T2) to Greding has some decent slopes but is basically a good fast section. Keep the cadence high, spin on the slopes to pass lots of people grinding up in the big ring. The first pirate I saw was Ditchy who it turned out had started 15 minutes late, and then I found Trogs amongst the hills after Greding. This was the hilliest part of the course, which I knew from HH’s recce started off with a steep section, then settled into some rolling hills before a long fast descent, at which point I caught and gave a shout to Min who seemed to be swatting at flies. Or something. Anyway, on to the next landmark, the famous Solarberg hill. It was just manic. Turning the corner where there’s a barriered section, you can see ahead just a wall of people on the hill, with people on bikes just disappearing into them. It’s not a particularly steep hill, but there’s no room to overtake and when the inevitable happened and someone ground to a halt there was a big pile up. The noise was deafening - an amazing experience. None of the pictures truly do it justice.
On to the second lap, starting to feel I’m in a race now, quads are beginning to let me know all about it. No problems though, keep the pace honest, plenty to eat & drink, although I got sick of the taste of the energy bars I normally use so stuck to halves of banana from feed stations and some dried apricots that were my emergency supply. The crowds had thinned in the towns and on the hills by now. A bloke in Stafford Tri club kit caught me and asked if I was from Chester, because he thought my kit was Chester kit. I thought I’m doing OK, but I’m not that fast!
After the two laps there’s another 6 miles or so back to Roth & T2, which came as a bit of a shock - turn the corner and there it is, I’m braking and getting my feet out of my shoes at the same time, just about managed before stopping and falling flat on my face. 5:20 for the bike, again within what I’d hoped for.
T2
Same again, keep it simple. Change of socks, shoes on, hat on, gel belt on, grab bottle of sunscreen, pee break and off we go. 2.5 minutes.
Run
As I left T2 the clock said 6:48 total, so a 3:12 marathon to get sub 10. I was feeling pretty good at this point and was reining back over the first 10k or so. The run is mostly along the canal, two separate out-and-back loops, but at the end of each loop the course moves away from the canal. Anyone who says it’s flat is fibbing, at 10k the course reaches a lock on the canal (this is a ship canal so this lock is just huge) and drops down to the lower level, a fairly steep slope that you run down knowing that after the end of the loop you’ll only have to run up it again. By this time the sun was out big time, not as hot as previous days but enough that the sponges handed at the feed stations were a godsend. Saw Melli & Funkin coming back from the turnaround, both going well.
Running back on the first loop I was still on going fine, although I was finding it tough mentally, 30k to go seems a long way when you’re already feeling worse than at 23 miles of a regular marathon. Halfway in a little over 1:30, still with some time to spare, and out onto the second loop. This time the course bears off the canal and back onto itself, crossing the canal on a bridge so as you run along the towpath you can see people running way above you. At least this time the uphill bit came first! Heading back to the canal though, just before the 32k marker there was a very short downhill slope and at that point my right hamstring just locked up. I couldn’t move, and I had visions of hobbling the last 10k from there. I spent two minutes just trying to get it stretched out, then noticed I was standing next to two pirate supporters (Min’s friends, as it turned out). Fortunately when I did start running again on the flat everything felt fine, but by now though I was getting behind schedule. I thought if I was going to break 10 hours I was going to have to get a shift on, so started to push on, counting down the km. I wasn’t particularly fast by now, but a steady pace would see me home. Turning away from the canal for the last time with 5k to go, just the run back to town and a loop through the town centre. The first bit was slightly downhill, but then came an uphill where I just had nothing left. I could barely shuffle up it, and even at the top I couldn’t pick up any more speed. 10 hours disappeared at that point, and to be honest some of the three minutes I was over was down to just trying to enjoy the run back to the finish and soak up some of the atmosphere. Which was fantastic, not least because of the large pirate support strategically positioned at the start of the grandstands. I managed to break back into a proper run in the finish chute, a great horseshoe of a route through the crowds to the finish. Run in 3:15, for a total of 10:03:32.
A great experience, in no small part down to the pirate support, both in situ and here on the forum. Happy for myself that I gave it probably the best result possible on the day, although 4 minutes less would have been better (I really need to learn to swim in a straight line!). Happy for loads of others who finished, with some great performances (but wait for their reports!). Disappointed for Kanga with his split tyre, for Tonka & RC and especially for Meldy. After the fireworks, with everyone cheering the guy announced as the last finisher, only for someone else to come in a few minutes later to even bigger cheers so there still seemed to be hope. I’ve never actually met her, but it was a big downer to hear she’d been pulled from the course. I believe Rosey went to collect her, she can’t have been too far from the finish.
Nice one Dave...it sounds like you had a good race apart from the hammy issue....
I'm told it's a fast course so if the run has a few hills, the speed must be in the bike section. It certainly looked as though the speeds were much faster in the last 20k or so....
Don't get me wrong, it's not a slow run course. Most of it is flat along the towpath, and if you're running well you can keep up a good pace there. But what hills there are need some work or you can lose a bunch of time, and the slope down by the lock is a nasty one.
The bike course has some rolling bits, but what hills there are are most short sharp climbs followed by long descents, so after some initial effort to get up you get to maintain a high speed for some time. The last 20k is after the Solarberg, so lots of long slightly downhill sections.
Just want to put one mean rumour to bed.... what kit were you racing in?! Surely you were in Pirate kit?! Anything else would be heretical!
Race Report
What's to say? Went to the swim training on Sat morning, racked my bike in the afternoon, set everything up like normal with helmet, shoes, gloves, socks, covered it all up with the plastic cover the helpers were handing out. Next morning, arrived to find the cover had blown away and everything was soaking wet!
Down to the swim start, very emotional, got started, found a rhythm, and after a few minutes noticed a swimmer hovering stationary in the water. I was horrified to find it was Meldy, she was having a problem breathing and had to hang onto one of the safety canoes for a couple of minutes. She said she was ok and started swimming again but then stopped, turned over and began swimming double-arm backstroke, stopping again a little way further down the canal. Meldy told me she would be ok and not to wait for her, so with some misgivings I started swimming again, knowing there was a rescue boat hovering nearby in case of trouble. Round the turn, back towards the dam, saw a couple of ambulances onthe far bank with flashing lights, by now I was seriously worried it might be Meldy, but before I reached the bridge where we'd started, she swam past me and said she was ok. Phew, big relief! Swam on down to the dam, turned back to the finish and got out disappointed at the 2:01 on my waatch - I had expected to go closer to 1:45. Cross that off, it's over, don't even think about it I told myself. Picked up my bag (as Dave said Chrissie had run past hers) and headed into the tent.
Ali, I was in pirate kit and I have photos (and witnesses) to prove it!
Hence my amusement when someone said they thought it was a Chester Tri Club kit - Rosey is from that parish I believe so he presumably gives the yellow 'n' black lots of exposure round there.
Great report Dave and a super race!!!
Thanks for sharing.
Can't wait for more!
Got my wetsuit off, had help pulling my monaco on, feet into wet socks and shoes, shoved the soaking wet gloves into my back pocket and I was off. I had been told to keep my pulse down below 120 at all times (except for climbs) and that's what I did. Nutrition went well, I had trained for several weeks using Hi-5 and had no problems with it. Took bananas at lots of the stations, alternated drinks with water and electrolyte. Was ready for the climb up from Greding, which I've had trouble with before but managed it fine (I'm not a climber), lots of pirates by now from later swim waves were coming past me and shouting encouragement. Inadvertently earned myself a pirate prize for "quote of the day" when Bassy shot past and yelled that I was doing good. I was about to say thanks when he added "keep pushing, keep pushing" - without thinking I responded "I'll ride my own race, thanks very much Andy"! Seriously - very big thanks to all Pirates out there and also to the great supporters who managed to find their way to various bits of the course. On to Solar - as always totally amazing, just enough room to get through the crowds, it gave me goosebumps.
Round past the swim start again and on to lap 2, more of the same. This time round I found it a little harder as I started to tire a bit after about 120km, but then LJS (who swam in the relay earlier) popped up on his MTB at a couple of different spots which helped immensely, especially 2nd time up the Solar when almost everyone had disappeared from there, he was standing there waiting for me to ride up - thanks a lot,dearest. Back to Roth and T2, off the bike, shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on, off out on to the run course. Disaster! I had injured my left achilles and calf last month at Cologne's swim and run race, I meant to put my compression socks into the run bag but forgot them. The bag was collected on Sat afternoon from T1 and taken to T2, so no chance to recover.
After the first steps I knew I was again in trouble, exactly the same as in Cologne, something pinged in my calf and everything shut down in that leg, couldn't run a step, so I limped the first couple of kms then managed to start a sort of shuffle-jog. A mate of Zuppy's generously gave me an ankle support and told me to give it back to Zuppy. I kept my shuffle-run going to the lock, which as already stated by Dave was down a hill and after the turnaround back up the same hill - there I was reduced to walking again. By the half-way point, I was shuffling along so slowly there was absolutely no way I could finish inside the cutoff. Having already seen Meldy going the opposite way and she had told me she still couldn't breathe I knew she was unfortunately not going to make it either. I cut off at this point and headed into the finish - not meaning to cheat anyone but there didn't seem to be any other way to let the organisers know I was not still struggling about in the dark.
A big thank you to all the Pirates, and what a great party yesterday. I gave Niall the foot support to return to his mate - he said oh that must have been Bill - then, sh^t I forgot to call and let him know where we are! Some great performances and super PBs, well done to all first timers who finished and commiserations to other other 4 DNF'ers, better luck next time.
DNF through injury. Oh well, sh^t happens. Onwards and upwards. See you all in Regensburg next year!