I only manage to do a high level of prep two or three times a year. Both mentally and physically racing takes a toll. When you have paid to fly somewhere to race it’s worth investing a bit of time in getting to race day well prepared but what does that really involve? My husband, Paddy, and I chose Ironman 70.3 Mallorca, so 1.9km swim, 56 mile bike with 800m of climb, 13 mile run. May 11 2024
Why this race? – ummmm, seemed like a good idea at the time! I needed a middle distance about 2 months out from a full Ironman in July. I’ve done the only ones this early in the season in Britain a couple of times so it felt good to have a change. And it kind of fitted with being in Mallorca for the cycle club trip three weeks before. Now that had the makings of a good holiday. Great course, sea swim, lovely bike route with a big climb and technical descent. Likely to be sunny, what’s not to like except the entry fee as its Ironman.
But what does the prep look like?
We flew to Mallorca almost a month before we raced which was very unusual for us. It was weird making race decisions that long before a race. We decided to take our time trial(tt) bikes and hire road bikes for the first week. It’s hard to hire a tt bike and feel comfortable on it and we needed some practice time on them anyway. We couldn’t ride them all the time as they are not safe in groups and do not climb well. Not good material for the Club week. Which wheels, I had a choice of four different wheel sets. No disc wheel, too hilly. No carbon rims in case it rains. Big cassette on the rear, 36, as we knew there was a big climb. Off to the bike shop to get a pre race service. Test rode it, gears didn’t work properly, back to bike shop. Tested power pedals and garmin 530 so I could remember which buttons to press. Booked an extra massage and tried to eat well, supplementing with an electrolyte tab daily. Checked paperwork – flights, insurance, (ensuring it has cover for racing abroad, most don’t) race licenses, passports etc. Collected vast amounts of kit for all eventualities and bought the obligatory ‘can’t do withouts’ including lightweight scales to weigh food for carb loading day and a new tool carrier to fit a bottle cage. Lists everywhere….
The night before packed the bike box, def should have done that before, the bike nearly didn’t fit. Ooops. I did remember to mark everything and take pictures so I could fit it all back together. I discovered when it came to rebuilding the bike that the bit that holds the saddle is in fact four bits, all of which fit down the frame and then won’t come out. Finally…. they rolled across the floor. I haven’t flown with this bike before, that’s a lesson for the future. Clothing choices, kit selection etc.
The first week was the local Cycle Club annual trip so we cycled unhealthy amounts, for me that was about 288miles with 18,000 feet of climbing. Five days of great riding with friends and coffee stops. (and the odd swim). Which obviously left me knackered. Less obviously, at least to me, also left me nursing a couple of overuse injuries. But after a couple of days recharge I was ready to put in my last week of training which saw 20 hours of sessions and race practice. It is amazing to have the luxury of spending time just training and relaxing without having to fit in the rest of life. Lots of little bits of race prep fitted into this week. Swimming was amazing, in our own private pool about 100m by 500m, which in reality was a roped off area in the sea with our own private lifeguard. Mallorca has been unseasonably cold so no one else seemed to think the sea was warm enough but compared to Windermere it is barmy. Fish and sunlight reflecting off ripples on the sand, I love it. The swim is a straight out and back swim so we have swum into waves and surfed back again, drafted, turned round buoys, peed while swimming and inspected the swim site.
We practiced putting our wetsuits on properly, a better fit giving better shoulder flexibility. And practiced getting them off fast every time we swam. Where to put my watch, under the neoprene or clear of it? (under) Which tri suit, do they both fit under the wetsuit ok. Do arm sleeves work? Yes, they make the wetsuit easier to remove as well as reducing dehydration during the rest of the race and saving watts. Do calf guards stay on and do gels stay in my tri suit pockets. Can I remember to let water in my wetsuit neck just before getting out to make it come off easier and to kick my legs harder for the last bit to wake them up a bit. All these questions are answered and practiced. Practice makes perfect, practice reduces faff and reduces stress. And practicing these little bits often gets lost in the chaos of home life.
We have walked to where we think the start and transition are and guessed at the swim exit point. We have run one loop of the run as one of our run sessions, luckily it is flat. I have altered the laces in my run shoes to Greepers so I have the support of laced up shoes on the run without the faff of trying to tie laces in transition. We have done lots of short brick runs and practiced flying dismounts and fast shoe changes. My shoes this time don’t support flying mounts so I didn’t need to practice those, luckily perhaps.
The joy of being able to ride the bike course twice. Bliss, its a cracker. We rode it first on our road hire bikes as we knew it had an interesting descent. We don’t really do long hairpin descents in Britain. Then we went back and rode it again on our tt bikes. Fantastic roads, can’t wait to ride them traffic free, a beautiful 7 mile climb, with about 8% gradient, a zig=zag descent then a wander through flatter lands with small villages and farmland – and inevitably a head wind from some direction or other. We felt our bike handling improving, neither of us had ridden our time trial bikes outside in Britain due to the weather conditions so this period of practice was really valuable. Turbo riding doesn’t quite give you the balance practice and tt bikes handle so differently to road bikes.
We have had time to check everything works – power pedals, garmin holders, bottle cages, repair kits with tubes with correct length valves. I’ve tested the course and myself to judge my power output for the race and we have practiced climbing at a pace that won’t blow us up for the rest of the race. We know where the food stations are and what is on them, even in what order. We have practiced our nutrition and know what we are carrying, where and what we hope to get from the food stations. 1.75 litres of fluid approx and about 250-300g carb. We have ridden in our tri suits and helmets, neither of which are our weapons of choice if we are just going for a ride, checking the fit and the comfort. The question of which socks has been answered. They need to be stretchy enough to go on easily but taut enough to stay up. Many people don’t ride with socks but my feet have given me some hassle in some races so I’m trying to be kind to them.
Going into the last week, surely there can’t be more to do?! Oh yes, more of the same, taper the training, get a massage and keep practicing. Training cut by 75% and that feels very strange. Tried using the flip lid bit in my helmet where you are supposed to be able to pour water to cool yourself. If I could find the button and get water in the nossle of the water bottle then got stuck! Lol. Humm, design error or user error. Whichever I think I might give that a miss in packed water stations in the race!! Take the bike for emergency rescue as my front changer was starting to be problematic. Change our inner tubes to the ‘go faster’ variety. Rest, eat, six days out start taking nitrate shots to improve vaso dilatation. Cut toe nails a few days out, not the night before incase you over or undercut. Then we are almost there…
48 hours to go – Eat impossible amounts of carbs 48 hrs before racing. 8-10g per kg body weight. That is a lot of rice! Although Ben and Jerry’s ice cream did give the total a bit of a boost. Pump up the tyres to the correct psi so we can work out how much they go down overnight. That helps us calculate how much air to put in the afternoon we leave bikes in transition, about 20 hours before we ride them.
Register – hurrah, we collect our bags for our gear. On big races bikes are racked the night before and transition gear is stored in bags in another area, not by the bikes.
Back to the apartment and clean the bike chain, re-lube, getting each individual link.
Start putting stickers on and packing our bags. Blue for cycling gear, red for run stuff and white for ‘street wear’ for after the race. Photo the kit that goes in each bag so that you can check you haven’t forgotten anything after you have racked.
Buy plastic bottles, for warm water to put down the wetsuit just before thte start to reduce the shock of the cold sea. Also for carb drink in the hour before so we can just bin the bottle, and for fresh water to rinse goggles with before getting into salt water.
Go to the race briefing, English version. Mainly just repeated the race guide but also said we had to put our shoes on where the bags were unless they are tied onto your bike. Damn, we were going to run with ours in our hand as a km is a v long way in cleats. My old tri shoes which tie to the bike hurt my feet and new ones were the wrong size and went back for a swop before we left. Needless to say the swop didn’t arrive in time to be packed. Such is life.
Day before –
We went to the swim start site for our final swim. Well worth it, its a little further down the beach from where we have been swimming. Discovered that it is quite a long run in in shallow sea but the dark turquoise line starts where we can start swimming without hitting the bottom. Worth discovering that. The area is also more sheltered and we had an idyllic swim, sun, deep blue sky, fish, warm water and palm trees. Covered an easy 600 metres and got out, no need to do more, just turn the arms over.
Lots of rest before taking our bikes and bags to transition and buying just one more thing we can’t live without from the Expo! Goggle de-fogger. Tyres checked, water bottle straw position checked, shoe fit with shoe covers on checked, helmet checked.
Put watch and garmin on to charge. Work out the timings for tomorrow, 4.45 am start for 8.15 race start.
Mix drinks, add salt, sort race food and lay out gear for tomorrow. Suncream, chamois cream, HR strap, arm sleeves, calf guards, tri suit, wetsuit, neoprene hat, race hat, goggles, spare goggles, lube, nose strip, face flannel to make sure nose clean so it might stick, de-mister, gel, scratch solution to drink, water to rinse goggles, bottle for warm water to go down wetsuit, black bag to keep any wind off me and socks and plastic bags for feet. Street bag clothes, the things I need after the race. Cash, not cards or phone in case they get nicked, warm clothes as I often chill, protein drink. Finally almost here and nothing left to do. ..
Except sleep badly!
After all that what happened? I am in the 60-64 age group, all of 12 people in it. 3,800 participants overall, and less than 500 of them female.
Swim, 1.9km – a dream, 35:12, fast for me, my pb is 34:08. Warm, well marked course with a beautiful water colour, fish and lots of people to follow/draft off. Loved it.
T1 – second/12, all that practice paid off.
Bike – 56 miles and 800m climb, loved it. Felt like I rode well, beautiful course and completely closed roads, bliss. Disappointed with 9th initially but then realised only 5 mins separated five of us. So believe I can still ride a bike after all. Interesting to look at my data afterwards and realise at which points my power dropped. Maybe heat, fatigue causing loss of concentration, sore feet not helping or just not got sufficient muscular endurance. 3:43:56
T2 – 4th out despite changing socks and massaging feet.
Run – 13 miles, hard and hot. Started slowly then tried to speed up, dodgy concept at that point. Took water over as much of me as possible at each water station.
2:07:50 and 5th which I am really pleased with, I normally go backwards in the run.
6th overall, with four minutes separating 4th – 6th.
So even racing over this time every second does count. I’m happy, solid race with some good learning for my next one.
Would I recommend? Yes, absolutely, fabulous race.
Karma Cycling 