Race Report: What a difference a year makes

What a difference a year makes.

By Gavin McAllister (

http://dublinsportsfan.blogspot.com/)

One day makes such a difference. One year makes such a difference.  As I left registration on Saturday afternoon, Memories of last year’s Ironman Ireland 70.3 were coming back to haunt me. The wind was picking up, the waves were high in Galway Bay, and the thoughts of another wind and rain swept cycle were causing me no end of angst. And judging by various threads online, I wasn’t the only one.

This angst led to an in-depth search for good forecasts online. The first said it was to be warm with a slight breeze. As did the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. 

Angst reduced somewhat.

On leaving the house on Sunday morning there was a deathly calm. No wind. No rain. A calm that was most certainly not seen on the day before nor at IM 70.3 2011.

With a ‘no excuses’ forecast I started well and reached the first buoy in relatively good shape. With a 1km swim parallel to the beach and a supporting current, I managed to get into an excellent drafting position which maintained for almost the entire straight (Elena, Tadhg and Chris would have been very proud).  For the final 600 metres I was then able to push on. So having set myself a 40 minute, getting out of the water after 38 minutes have me a huge boost of confidence. (I have since found out that I made it into the top 20% of all swimmers! When I joined Piranha TC at the start of the year i was in the beginners lane. And while there have been some slight improvements, if at the start of the race if you had said I could get that time, I would have openly laughed in your face and booked you in for a psychiatric assessment!)

After a (very) long run to transition, I hopped on the bike for the 90km spin. Target: 3 hours. Last year on my road bike I lost count of the number of TT bikes that passed me. So this year on my own TT I was more confident. While I didn’t pass a huge number of people, I was at least passed by a lot less than last year.  But the one person I most noticed passing me was fellow club-mate Jen Duffy. To say she passed me at the speed of a train would be an understatement. And she was cruising, while I was panting and just trying to maintain a rhythm.  But coming into the last 10kms I realised I was on track to beat my target. Happy days. I was even more surprised as I reached T2 and had clocked 2:52, putting me in an excellent position to meet or beat my target time.

Last year, with the gales and rough waters, the swim was shortened to 1000m and my finishing time was 5:44:40. This year, conscious of the likely longer swim, I set my target time as 5:30 – 5:45. Ambitious, but still something I felt was just about in reach to provide enough of a carrot for me throughout the race.

So leaving T2 my watch said 3:41:04, and I knew that if I matched last year’s run time of 1:58 I would be a full seven minutes inside my target time. And having done some more running this year, I was very hopeful.

The course was a 7km loop, and I felt strong on lap one and hit my 5 minute kilometre target. But then the trouble started. A niggle I picked up 10 days ago cropped up just after the end of lap one. My Achilles and calf tightened up badly. Stretching, walking and stopping weren’t helping. The encouragement of fellow competitors got me back trotting but at a struggle.

Mid-way through lap two my wife, Alice, shouted great encouragement at me, which gave me a boost I needed.  “It’s mind over matter,” she said. So that helped to clear my head and focus on finishing as well as I could.  But much as I tried, I continued to struggle for the rest of the second lap. 

My target had now firmly changed. Just beat last year’s time.  So I became obsessed with my stopwatch and guessing where each kilometre was, trying to up my tempo throughout the final painful lap. All was going okay until about 3 kilometres from the end my calf  cramped. After a few minutes stretching it passed, but time was very quickly ticking away.  I no longer heard any more cheers of encouragement from my fellow Piranhas – Anne, Petrina, Ciara, Frank or Tim – as the head was put down. Focus on finishing. Focus on finishing.

The final drinks station was ignored as I tried my hardest to push to the limit for the final kilometre, hoping my body would hold out.  A 2:03 run was not what I wanted but a finish time of 5:44:13 was very satisfactory. 27 seconds are even more satisfactory as I set the new IM 70.3 personal best.

So having been anxious on Saturday, and rain drenched in 2011, a day does indeed make a big difference. A year makes an even bigger difference.