RACE REPORT IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
15th December 2024 Taupo New Zealand
Sunday 15th December at 8:18am I entered the clear waters of Lake Taupo with the expectation of claiming a top 10 spot in my AG & crossing the nish line in under 5 hours. Neither of those things happened but here is the journey that nearly got me there!
In 2016 ago I won my AG 50-54 in Ironman 70.3 Mallorca (4h48m). Later that year I won Ironman 70.3 Dublin (4h31m) & qualified for the world champs, but they were to be held in Australia, and it just did not suit for me to go. Over the years, there were some regrets. So when I placed 5th in my AG in Mallorca I went to the awards. The slots rolled down & lucky for me, there were 3 slots. 3rd & 4th place did not accept so the slot rolled to me. It was game on……………..New Zealand here we come! No wait, it’s on the 15th of December. What about Christmas, what about a holiday ?? After some discussions with Mags we decided we would go out early, see the country & then last on the list would be the race then home for Christmas.
My Road to New Zealand, National series races 2024:
Ironman 70.3 Mallorca was in May. I’d entered IRONMAN Kalmar to give me a target during the summer. This was very quickly cancelled and a season of racing in Ireland in the National series was planned, with the Lost Sheep in Kenmare as a targeted race about 10 weeks out from NZ. I had trained well for IM70.3 Mallorca & went into the race in fairly good condition. My overall result was 5:12 which had a 31min swim, 2h 42m bike (with 1100m elevation) with a poor, cramp riddled run of 1h51m. I was happy with the swim & bike but knew I had to improve my run & my fuelling on the bike. I had not competed in the NS for a number of years due to illness, Covid, being away with work and also losing a bit of love for the sport. Having the WC in December gave me the little push I needed to get back to racing & sure as you all know I dragged a fair few from the club along with me !! My plan was to forget about the WC for the summer, train & race about 5 or 6 national series races. As most
Triathletes know we rarely get Swim or Bike related injuries. It’s the run injuries that cause most of the problems to give myself the best chance I had decided to concentrate on S&C & used a coach for this. I hit the gym 2 to 3 times a week from Jan till end April. My training went well & more importantly having consistency in my running was key. I was able to build on this and after a relatively successful race at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca. I went into the Irish Triathlon season with confidence. Having not raced shorter distances in a while, it did take a few races to remind myself how to do them but also how much fun they are & how quickly they are over (albeit with a very high HR for most of the race!!).
After 5 events, 5 AG wins & some top 20 finishes, I felt I was really getting strong & headed to the Lost Sheep middle distance race with confidence high. We were lucky with the weather, the sun was shining in Kenmare & it did get hot. After a cold but good swim & solid bike, I went out on to the run feeling good. I ran well for the 1st 10km but the cramping started. A 49min 1st 10km was followed by a 1hr 10m & an overall run time of 2h 06m dropping me from approx. 60th to 120th. I won the AG but only because some of the faster guys were not there!
12 weeks to go:
Following the Lost Sheep I took a mini training break to let the body recover. When I got back to it, I had 12 weeks into the WC race. I reviewed my training plan but more importantly my nutrition plan, as I had also cramped on the run in Mallorca. I realised as much as I hate getting into cold water, I race much better in cooler conditions. As NZ could be a hot or cool day it was best I planned for hot ! I took a sweat test with precision hydration & worked out exactly what I need to take. On every long bike ride implemented that plan. I am not a big drinker on the bike so to be taking on 750ml + per hour was new to me.
I knew the run into this race would be a long haul after an already busy season but to be honest I was lucky with the weather. I put together a plan for the 12 weeks and discussed same with John Doyle and we tweaked the run element of the plan.
Over those 12 weeks I did have some travel abroad but used those weeks as rest weeks while still getting some sessions done in the sun. I hardly missed a session & had no injury worries. Most weeks I swam 10km over 3 sessions. I biked 3 times a week with 90 to 120km long bikes all on the TT. Most of the 90km spins were in Zone 1 & completing in under 3hrs. One morning I did 2h45m on open roads with stop / starts and it felt very easy. I also rode the WC course many times on FulGaz & liked it. My running was really starting to come good with intervals speeds improving and regularly hitting 4:15 pace for 1km efforts. On average I was hitting 15 hrs of training per week, resting & eating well. I had no worries, confidence was really high for what I thought I could do at the WC.
New Zealand travelling:
We travelled out to NZ on Thursday 30th landing in Auckland on Saturday morning. A friend from IM took my bike box to Taupo. Mags & I then travelled to the South Island for 7 days, back to Auckland & then took a few days travelling towards Taupo. We have been lucky to have travelled a fair bit over the years, but NZ is probably the best place we have visited. The landscape is stunning, the people are friendly, & the prices are similar but better value. As we travelled, I managed to find a few 50m pools & got some swims in. I enjoyed running in some amazing places. I did bike on one day (Mountain bike) for about 40km, it did not involve any coffee stops but instead involved stopping at vineyards, not sure I can class this as a training session though some would!!
Pre Race:
We got to Taupo on the Thursday before my Sunday race. I checked out parts of the course, built the bike, when for a spin, registered & went to the welcome banquet etc etc. Putting aside that I might be a little bias as I work for IM but the scale of the event is massive! It’s like the best IM you have ever been to but 3 times bigger and better! Saturday was the lady’s race, it was clear sky’s & hot! I went to see the women nish but generally stayed out of the sun & o my feet.
Race day:
Dropped the bike into THE BIGGEST TRANSITION EVER & was set to go. Got to bed early, slept well & was up for 5am to put ice-cold bottles on my bike, double check everything & then down to swim start. My AG was starting at 8:17 so I had a bit to wait but as I had VIP access, I was able to relax, have a coffee and chill until my start. 8am game face was on! Wetsuit was on! I was ready to race & was looking forward to it. Rolling start with 10 athletes every 15 sec. I started the swim in about the 5 or 6th group. Water was 19c, crystal clear lake. Straight away I got into a nice rhythm, found some feet here & there but generally swam my own race. I popped out the other end 32m20s later. Target was 32mins so happy with that. I thought 32 mins would have me right up there but as it turned out I was40th in the AG.
Long run into transition with a steep run up a ramp & down the other side into transition. A quick change. I laughed to myself as people sat around having picnics, putting on sun cream, doing their hair!! I found the bike, flying mount, both feet hit the bike shoes, & I am gone! HR is a little high at this point. There’s a slight uphill start so managed that & got the HR back down. The Bike course was generally on wide roads with very good visibility & no blind corners. I honestly don’t think I touched the brakes. Rolling hills with some long uphill drags. Generally nice with well positioned aid stations. I brought 3 bottles on the bike of Maurten drink mixed with P1500 salts along with Maurten gels. At the aid stations I picked up banana and water, drinking a small bit of the water but 90% of the bottle went over me to keep my core temp down. At 65km I had an average speed of 35kph to that point, I decided to ease o a bit to keep something for the run. Zero drafting on the course and everyone was well spread out, so it was a true test. Came into T2 where I had the feet out of my shoes, hopped o the bike.
What was cool was you handed your bike to a volunteer & went straight to your run bag. Bike 2h42m. Target time was 2h35m so a little behind but I was ne with that. I want to keep something for the run! A quick transition here I also downed about 300ml of fluid which in hindsight may not have been a great idea. Went out on the run full of hope & excitement which lasted about 2km where I got a stitch that lasted for the next 6km. My pace fell o, my legs were heavy & energy low. I ran as best as I could but every time my watch beeped another KM the pace was slowing to around 5:15. There was nothing I could do. Plan A & B were gone, Plan C was just keep running – no walking allowed!! Every aid station ice went into my cap & down the front of my Tri suit. As soon as the stitch was gone, I sipped coke or ISO drink, but nothing less than a few 1000 volts was going to help. It was survival mode. The run was a 2-lap generally at course with 3 little drags. My run ended up being 1h55m 26s which was incredibly disappointing, BUT it’s all relative as there was a point where I thought I might not be able to do this sport anymore. There are the injuries where they stop you running and also, I am not getting and younger. I didn’t hit the target time I wanted but you need a lot to go right to hit those targets. My overall time was 5:18 and placed 55th in my AG out of 189, 2138th of 3093! If I had managed 5hrs it would have only placed me 20th & not 10th as I thought it would so it was super competitive as the WC should be.
In closing, even though I attended & race many IM events, this was an amazing experience. There were many pinch myself moments. It would be remiss of me not to mention the amazing support & encouragement I get from Mags at home as well as all my club mates in Portmarnock TC and PAC.
You never know what is around the corner. It could be everything, or it could be nothing but you keep putting one foot in front of the other & then one day you look back a you’ve climbed a mountain!
