Ever since I found endurance sports and triathlon in particular I have always wanted to push myself, to try and find the limit and when I completed Ironman Wales in 2019 I came very close!
Having said that, I always felt I could do better. Roll on 4 years almost to the day in September 2023 and I’ve clicked the buy it now button, I’ve entered Ironman Wales 2024!
Early January 2024 I decided I need structure so buy a plan from TrainingPeaks, however, was a bit ambitious with the amount of time I had available with work and family commitments so my training was haphazard at best. I am pleased to have completed some big training days though, doing Slateman Legend, DragonRide with Ryan, Gordon, Charlie and Jon (I love riding my bike!), a 50km ultra in Minehead with the very understanding Mrs G, and completing my second London Classics with the 2 mile swim serpentine with Jon.
I also head to Tenby to do a couple of recces of the course. Each time something happens to make the trip less than ideal. The first time Jon and I are hit with a summer storm! It makes riding down the hill to Freshwater West a twitchy affair to say the least. 2 weeks later I go again, this time on my own and determined to do the whole bike course and a lap of the run. I fail and my confidence takes a nosedive. For reasons unknown I decide to try a new nutrition strategy a month from race day (🤷♂️🤦♂️) and surprise surprise, it backfires. I get 60 miles in and bonk. I have nothing left to give and have not even made it through 1 lap. I give myself a stern talking to, eat and drink like I am meant to and whimper back to the car. It takes me 15 minutes to summon the energy to just put my bike in the car and I don’t do the run. Instead, I get annoyed at myself all the way home!
So, race week arrives and with it…a sniffle that soon turns into a full on attack of man-flu. I have no energy, no drive, and to make matters worse, I’m busy at work and sat in the car for hours on end each day. Not ideal prep for the biggest race of my year. To make matters worse, depending on which weather app I look at the forecast is somewhere between dead calm sea, no wind and 20 degrees to rough seas, howling wind and biblical rain. I pray for the former but prepare for the latter!
Friday comes all too soon, I load the car up and with Mel by my side we leave for Tenby. We arrive and park in the multi-storey car park. Result, there’s space on the first level too so not many steps to go up after race day. Registration is a slick affair as you’d expect, volunteers hanging around helping you spend money in the expo! I’m tempted with a pair of Ironman Speedo’s but am beaten to the till by Gordon who has travelled down with Ryan for the weekend. I grab my race pack (a nice ‘free’ rucksack), take the obligatory photo pointing to my name that no one can see, and Mel and I leave the hustle and bustle to wander around town and chill out.
Saturday is fairly uneventful. I wake to see clear sky’s and no wind, my prayers answered I go to transition to rack my bike and and bags. There is a nervous tension and energy, hundreds of highly tuned athletes plus me milling around, talking tactics, talking sh!t.
Sunday arrives all too soon. My alarm goes off at the ungodly hour of 4:30am. I get up, force down the now traditional race day 2 pots of porridge and with the help of Chairman Jon leave the warmth of the apartment into the dark and dank early morning. Even the sun is still asleep!
We find Ryan and Gordon, Ryan is looking fit and confident, I am the exact opposite! The weather has turned and the forecast is for choppy sea, rain and wind. Sorting the rest of our bits and bobs in transition takes both 5 minutes and 5 hours, time seems to have stood still but it is soon time to join the thousands of other athletes on the 1km walk from transition to North Beach, each clutching their now sacred pink bag.
In the throng of people we are split up, that’s the last I see of Ryan all day! We next see each other the following morning at the merch tent and swap stories from the day before. But, I digress…
The swim is carnage. Quicker swimmers benefit from the currents but people like me in the mid to back of the pack are being hit by the tide and chop making breathing and sighting difficult. The far red marker buoy is removed as it was being dragged out to sea, Ironman even station a lifeboat on that corner. I find out afterwards that the big lifeboat is deployed and there was an almost constant stream of SUPs and jetski’s ferrying people back to the beach. I finish with a time of 1:42. A lot slower than I’d hoped for, nowhere close to what I did in 2019 and already on the back foot against my plan of a PB. But, I finished the swim, and was now on my way to my stronger events.
Making sure I collect my pink bag I ‘run’ the 1km between North Beach and transition. The support in Tenby never fails to amaze me, it looks like the whole of Pembrokeshire has crammed their way into the town!
So, on to the bike, my favourite part, the leg I feel confident completing, the leg I can make up some time. In short, I get too excited and push far too hard for the first half! A common theme of my races! The first 56 miles I’m averaging 205 watts against a target of 180. I’m enjoying the tailwind to Angle, I have my nutrition dialled in, drinking every 5 miles, eating every 10, it’s like a picnic. The sun is shining, I have a smile on my face and I’m loving it.
The second half was not quite so successful. I am overtaken by the leader on my first ascent up the hill to Narberth, he goes past me like a rocket ship and it’s humbling to watch. The weather means the crowds aren’t in full force too which is a hit on the morale but I dig deep, reward myself with a gel at the top and soldier on. Nothing I can do but turn the pedals and give it my all. Going down the hill into Wiseman’s Bridge can be best described as sketchy. Rim brakes on deep section carbon wheels in the wet are not a match made in heaven, it’s exhausting. You must anticipate what is going to happen 3 or 4 corners ahead. The 16% climb back out of Wiseman’s is under the trees and wet. Avoiding wet leaves is the order of the day to prevent spin outs and having to stop. There is no way I’m walking up that ******* hill.
What can I say about Saundersfoot, it is simply iconic. It is the closest I have ever come to experiencing riding in the Tour de France. There is only space to ride single file, the crowds parting in front of you. Personally, I think Saundersfoot is the hardest climb, it’s steep and long but special needs bags are at the top and that keeps me going. The second lap was just as eventful, the weather got worse, and I swear the climbs got steeper!
I finished the bike slower than I wanted in a time of 7:12hrs, but it’s 25 minutes quicker than 2019 and so I’m back on track for hunting down my PB.
I have noticed a common theme with this report, each part has mentioned the weather, and the run will be no different! It rained…a lot.
My strategy going in was march the uphills, run the flats and downs. That is what I did and it seemed to work. I was in control at all times. The support in Tenby was as good as it always is, the pubs filling up and the later it got, the more support came pouring from the bars. Mel, Jon and Gordon popped up at various points on the course which was amazing and I am humbled to think they would stand out in the cold and wet to see me hobble past every hour.
Dare I say it, but I actually enjoyed the marathon which I think comes down to my nutrition on the bike. When I got to T2 I was ready to run, the idea of a marathon didn’t phase me.
My time for the marathon was 4:59hr, a reasonable time for a stand alone marathon so I was over the moon after the swim and bike.
The last lap at Tenby is like a victory parade, especially after collecting the final band and it’s all downhill. I’ve said it before, the crowd make the race, I have been lucky to do the London Marathon & other big events in the past and Tenby beats them all by a country mile. In 14 hours 17 minutes 59 seconds after starting to swim I crossed finishing line with a new PB and hear those immortal words…
“STEVE GERMANEY. YOU. ARE. AN. IRONMAN”
