Preface
Due to various summer work placements that might interfere with my training plan, I chose this early season race just after my end of semester exams, to make sure I was in a good shape. This was my second half distance, but with a much more challenging course profile than my half distance debut at Ironman 70.3 Melbourne a year ago where I finished in 5 hour 18 minutes. Due to a lack of early summer races in Scotland, I did not enter any warmup races prior to the event as I normally would like to. Two weeks prior to the race, I completed Edinburgh Half Marathon with a new best time of 1 hour 37 minutes. Bike training was ok, although mostly indoors with just one outdoor TT ride. I was pleased to have made some significant improvement on my swim. Although I had not yet done any open water swimming in the past year, with my previous race experiences a quick practice swim on the day before race day should ease my mind. Everything seemed to be working out just fine…
Setback
Noticing a slight sore throat the day before Edinburgh Half, I still had a great run on Sunday and tried to think it was probably nothing. Unfortunately, I was proved wrong, and the symptoms worsened over the next few days. Only 10 days until the race, I was devasted! With a fever and headache, I somehow managed to get through three exams, pack up all my belongings from the student dorm and ready to travel. The week before the race I booked a placement at a guinea pig rescue facility in Yorkshire. Although not as physically demanding compared to my other placements, my physical status made it a lot harder. Yet I decided not to quit as I would not have extra time to make that up later in summer. The placement provider was very kind, and despite not feeling great, I still had a great learning experience, the intermittent fatigue and fever were frustrating, and just 5 days before race day my temperature read 38.5 degrees. Feeling helpless, I could only do my best to eat and rest well and hope for the best… This time miracle did happen, just in time. Feeling a lot better on Wednesday, I was able to go for an easy run. I was delighted to see continuous improvements and no relapse over the next two days. Feeling fit once again I was determined to give it a good shot!
Getting there
I decided to arrive on Friday to allow sufficient preparation time. I was very pleased to have my friend Brian from Loughborough University joining me for the weekend, while he would be volunteering and of course, cheering for me! Before setting off for Stafford, a quick dip in the ‘Pool of Dreams’ at Loughborough University marked my first swim in almost 3 weeks. I was lucky enough to reserve an last-minute Airbnb located within walking distance to the event village. The amazing host Sam was very welcoming and told us he was a keen supporter of the Ironman event. After settling in I visited the event village and completed checked in.
Saturday was meant to be a busy day, as I need to travel to T1 at Chasewater Reservoir for bike check in and practice swim. They only offered a narrow time window for practice swim during late morning, so everything had to be planned according to the schedule. Despite the warm sunny day, the lake was quite chilly at 17 degrees! After one small acclimatisation lap, we were up to the next task: drive the 56-mile bike course all the way back to Stafford town. I soon realised the necessity of doing so: the course was highly technical, especially for a TT bike. Featuring a combination of narrow lanes, quick descends followed by sharp turns, 2/3 into the ride it finally tested your legs with a challenging climb all the way up Cannock Chase. Kept in mind of a few particularly difficult sections, I said to myself to exercise extra caution. With all essential tasks done, it was time to prepare a good meal at home and rest.
Race day
It came a warm and humid morning with light winds. I was treated with a beautiful sunrise on my way cycling to the shuttle bus departure point (well, I brought two bikes with me so after checked my race bike in I could still ride!) After a short bus ride, I arrived at Chasewater Reservoir, where the swim course and T1 were located. Finally checks complete, wetsuit on, I came to the water edge. Air temperature hit an impressive 18 degrees at swim start and I could feel the humidity. Although feeling overall OK, I was still not entirely sure whether my fitness could sustain the 5-6 hours to come. All what I could tell myself was, having done everything I could to make it to the start line and felt good, I got to give it a shot! Even if I felt unwell at some stage and had to pull out, I knew I had tried my best and wound not regret. The swim went surprisingly well, and I really enjoyed the fresh feeling. 41:49, I knocked nearly 5 minutes off my lake swim time a year ago – wahoo!
Getting onto the bike, I began the familiar journey of chasing the front pack swimmers. There was a section of narrow country lanes early on the bike course where I could not reach full speed due to safety, I knew that would be a chance to rest and recover. I went out hard in the first miles to pass as many riders as possible, hoping the narrow lanes would be less busy. Then it came a few flat stretches of main road, where I really took advantage of the aero position and picked up some good speed. Still feeling strong two-third through the ride, I finally reached the major climb of the day, Cannock Chase, while some fast cyclists were already dashing down the steep hill on their aerobars! The climb was more challenging than I had anticipated, as I kept a steady pace to save some fuels in my legs. Following the downhill, a relatively flat final 10km took me back to the town. Carefully negotiating the last roundabout towards T2, I heard Sam cheering for me but had to concentrate on turn! 2:57:20 including a toilet stop, I was very pleased with a sub-3-hour performance on a technical course with just less than 1000 meters elevation gain.
It was such a huge relief after completing the tactical bike course safely. At that moment I knew was going to make it to the finish line no matter what. At 11 am I started the final 13.1 miles. The sun was out, and I could feel the heat and humidity were budling up. I stumbled through the first two miles with quite some cramp feeling in my legs and nearly came into walk. Despite the struggle, I continued to run slowly and eventually started to feel better. Just as I settled into a rhythm, the formidable Stafford Castle stood in front of me: a 70-meter steep climb, and I had to do this TWICE! Undoubtedly here was a spectator hot spot, making it quite a memorable experience. It got even hotter on lap two, 28 degrees with an intense humidity (actually a huge thunderstorm arrived that evening). I was able to hold on to my pace and saw Brain at the last aid station. 2K to go! Looking at my watch, I noticed that I might just make it under 2 hours for the run. Giving everything I had and maintaining a solid pace at 5:15min/km, the red carpet finally came into sight: 1:59:41 – I achieved a sub-2!
Looking back all those ups and downs made this race such a unique and memorable one. At one point it was tough to think the whole year’s preparation was on the verge of becoming nothing, and it felt equally sweet when I tried my very best and made it through. A very good present from my final race in the 18-24 age group!
