Ironman UK - a tough race and a great week in Dorset

Sherborne castle

In my previous life I was a geek, I consulted companies on how to use internet and my work was always in big cities and big offices. I suffered to be away from the cities. But ever since I discovered triathlon and especially Ironman I started to enjoy the countryside so much more. And my appreciation of urban environments diminished rapidly. Therefore my Ironman UK 2007 experience in the town of Sherborne and the village of Rimpton in Dorset was most enjoyable. The race itself, however, was hell.

Homestay

I was very late with my accommodation arrangements (as usual) but I figured out that Ironman UK organizers had a service called Homestay through which Ironman competitors could stay in homes of local families that lived in or around Sherborne. I did not know what to expect but I was very excited about this. I never liked staying in hotels as they are very isolated from the environment. I always liked staying with local people so I can sample their daily life and learn from them.

As soon as I rented a car at Heathrow I called my hosts Brenda and John Spencer. They were excited about my arrival and said I needed another three hours to reach their small village of Rimpton. The trip started on M4 and slowly went from bigger to smaller roads.

At one moment I noticed a sign for Stonehenge and I went totally crazy - I was “in love” with Stonehenge ever since I was a kid, when I watched Arthur Clarke’s Mysteries of the World (I do not know if you are familiar with this show). Unfortunately Stonehenge was closed and I could only have a quick view of it from the distance. I was in owe - people have placed something there 4200 years ago and it is still there!

I arrived in Rimpton and found Spencer’s house. I was welcomed with “would you like a cup of tea?”. Spencers have hosted Ironman competitors for the past five years and have created a tradition of welcoming each of their guests with a small tea protocol. Their previous experiences with Ironman competitors have prepared them well for what a competitor needs during the days priori and after the race so their hospitality and experience have meant a lot to me. Like in any case so far I owe part of my result to the people that have hosted me during the most important days before the race.

Brenda and John Spencer

The next day another couple from Esperance, Australia, arrived - Mark and Del Goodhand. It was great to share the place with them. We would all meet for breakfast and than part for short training sessions and visits to the Sherborne or race site. In the mean time everybody would exchange stories from their races. Ironman UK was Mark’s 8th and Del’s 5th Ironman. I am always impressed by Australian triathletes of all levels because they are always so dedicated - Australia is to triathlon what Italy is to food, Kenya is to running or what America is to lack of vacation time (I think statistically employees in USA use least vacation).

Getting closer to the race

The weather was horrible all the time - between 10 and 15 C with cold rain and strong winds. Everywhere I cycled and drove there were hills - nice to look at but a torture to cycle over.

When we had the test swim I realized the nastiness of the situation - the water was around 15 C or so which for me was way too cold. I have just dropped to around 7 % body fat and my wetsuit was even a bit looser. Water was also very dirty, I could not even see my hands, and there was no sun whatsoever. All this made the test swim very short.

However I was not bothered by this. This is something all competitors shared and I could not change it. This race is an experiment for me. I did not want to chase results. I just wanted to experience it, to see how I can push myself, to learn. So all these extreme conditions are very welcome in my experiment. Where else could I get this kind of special environment. No other Ironman race in the world is this nasty.

I decided to pack all kinds of clothes in my T1 bag and make the clothing decision during the transition.

I was on a diet for about 10 days and lost quite a bit of weight. I ate mostly low calorie fruit and cooked vegetables, some fish and lots of nuts and seeds. I felt very light however the shock of cold weather made me feel tired and slow. I came from Belgrade which had its worst heat waves since it exists to Dorset which was experiencing its coldest summer. However the cold helped me sleep well and I was pushing on 9+ hours of sleep. I started carbo-loading on Thursday.

I drank Gatorade which was the official race drink and ate a Powerbar a day. I was adjusting a bit to the race food and drink. I used race food (Powerbar and Powergel) much in advance but especially during last three days before the race I try to focus a bit more on it. My impression so far is that nutrition is probably the most important factor during the race. In many cases it has proven to be the difference that helped me beat much stronger competitors who were not able to eat as much as I could.

One good example is my coach, Bojan, who runs sub 4:00min/km when he does LSD but never run as well as I did in Ironman races. He has a sensitive stomach and can not eat as much as I can. While he eats less than 10 gels during the race and feels sick from it I take 20+ gels, 3 Powerbars and I drink energy drinks. The energy difference in our race nutrition makes the difference to allow me to run faster than he does. He is aware of this problem and is trying to work on it but it is something he is more or less born with. Also the fact that he is sub 3% body fat makes the difference, not directly but if you consider the regular daily nutrition necessary for such low body fat percentage you can imagine how he is not used to overeating at races and running with a full stomach.

This fine line or a contradiction between a need to overeat and process all the junk calories during racing and organic and clean eating while we train always amazed me. I have read some stuff from Dean Karnazes, the ultramarathon runner, who talks about eating pizza while he runs while during training he east super clean foods.

The swim

I was hoping I could warm up a bit with a 10 min swim. I never managed to warm up before the race. During Ironman South Africa and Challenge Roth both times I got confused or caught up in stuff so I never managed to have a short swim before the race start. In Ironman UK it would be excellent if I could have started the race warmed up. However, the closer we got to the race start I saw that there will be no chances for an easy warm-up.

Cold before the race

Only 30 mins before the race start the sun started to show up a bit but it was still very cold and very dark - sky was covered with a blanket of grey thick clouds. I decided to do a 15 min run to warm up a bit but I cooled down when I put the wetsuit on and waited for like 10 mins standing on the cold grass waiting to enter the water.

We entered the water and than the waiting started. All 1500 of us were threading freezing water. I was miserable. I hate cold water. I was just floating there waiting. Some athletes were stuck in the parking so race organizer decided to torture all of us by making us wait in the water. I do not know why all this happened like this, why we entered water and than waited in the water. It was horrible. I knew my whole race will be damaged by this.

I was never so happy to pee in my wetsuit. I am sorry if this surprises some of the readers but it is a public secret that we all pee in our wetsuits. I will go further into bizarre poetry of the moment to say that the warm feel of my urine on my stomach was most welcome - several times since cold made me pee all the Gatorade I drank in last three days.

When the race finally started I was quite happy. The swim was a dog fight for the first 20 mins. The lake is way too small and it became very choppy and crowded. The same feel when we swim in a pool. My swim was a combination of many little sprints for better positions. I did not have any rhythm. I would sprint, slow down, sprint, slow down. Each turn was a fight. I got kicked by someone’s foot in my face but I just tried to focus on moving forward - this is what mattered in all this mess - to just move forward with each stroke.

I also managed to get lost few times and swam in zigzags. This is typical for me. I get carried away sometimes due to my lack of focus. All the time I was cold. No matter how much I tried to warm up I was not able to warm up. My face, hands and feet were always in slight pain. My neck hurt.

I was very happy to exit that lake. I had a big smile on and gave lots of high fives. The announcer yelled my name and said I was the only one from Serbia. I am not a nationalist but it is nice to be the only one in anything, as long as its not something negative at least. The sky was still dark and it was still very cold.

The effects of the cold water were first felt in the T2 as I had problems coordinating my hands. I dropped stuff and could not bend. I got slight cramps in my left calf and palm. However it all seamed to go ok. My T2 was almost 7 minutes!

The bike

I did not discuss the bike strategy with my coach. I just wanted to try some stupid ideas I had. As I said my goal for this race was to experiment and learn. Maybe to have a horrible race and learn from that or maybe to try something and figure out it was stupid or maybe even to try something and figure out it was great.

I wanted to cycle easy uphill and almost sprint at the top of the hills and catch the speed on the downhill. I wanted to achieve high speeds on downhills and gain a good average speed here. The idea would work if I was stronger and warm. Sprinting on the top of each hill and pushing downhill for 6 hours requires a lot of strength which I did not have. But I wanted to try this anyway and see how it goes. I knew I could burn out at some point.

Another factor was that most people ride hard uphill and sort of chill out while they go downhill which means I had to keep avoiding them. Most riders did not have good manners so they rode in the middle of the rode not allowing me to pass them safely. I kept yelling: keep left! keep left! Some even got annoyed and got aggressive. This whole process was very boring and lasted during the first hour. I spent more energy yelling (I had to yell not out of anger but to be heard) than cycling.

Mark Goodhand and his Welsh tattoo

Cold took its tool and I sort of burned down already within an hour. This is actually the point where the second part of the first loop starts. The first half of the loop (it is a three loop course) is mostly downhill and second part is climbing. I was so frozen and stiff I had trouble taking my nutrition from back pockets. For few minutes here and there we had some sun patches and I already started feeling better but this was very short.

The other 5 hours of cycling were just miserable, I was suffering all the time. Sky was grey, wind was strong, hills seam to never end. Just one loop was enough to make me think about quitting and the idea of three loops seamed impossible. Somehow I went through it. I just wanted to finish. Even the last 10 km seamed to last indefinitely. Cold rain during the last hour of the bike did not help. I feel annoyed just to write about this experience now in this blog.

But it was a great test which I like…

On the bike I ate 3 Powerbars and 6 Powergels and drank very little Gatorade and water. I think I did not sweat one drop so I did not really feel I need to drink. I was trying to pee on my bike but with hills coming up all the time it was not possible so I had to stop and pee. Again this is one of those nasty details about the sport - the whole weird relationship with my urine. Sorry about these details but I guess they are important to know.

I was very very very happy to enter the T2…

The run

I am very lucky to have this ability that no matter how much I suffered on the bike I can always have a good run after that. It is as if the harder the bike it is the better I run. All my PBs on my local trails around my house are made after long hilly rides and not when I only run.

I started off easy. The course had mile signs and I had no idea how fast I was going. First mile was already very hilly and I did it in around 6:50. I had no idea how fast that was. I tried to calculate on the run but I could not really focus on multiplying two decimal digits. After that first mile we just climbed and than turned on top of this very long hill and turned down.

I am a bad swimmer and cyclist so I start my run from the back of the pack. This makes me a bit slower as I have to pass a lot of people. The effect is same as if I run through a crowded street as most people in front of me are running much slower than me. I also scan the crown all the time for someone I can race with. It made me very happy to see one PRO who was maybe few hundred meters in front of me. He seamed very cocky about his run and how he passed people and I wanted to pass him and put him down a bit. I know this sounds very aggressive but this is what motivates me. I am motivated by competition.

I pushed a bit and got close and than I added a bit more speed and passed him in a way so he does not hang on to me. I was happy but now I had no one else to chase. We had to turn onto a trail full of mud and holes. This was very hard running. It is extreme cross country. My shoe lace went off. I screamed in frustrated and stopped to tie it up. The PRO passed me. I got even more pissed and pushed again to catch him but there was so much crowd on the course and we all had to go in one line because of the mud and holes. I did not manage to catch him as he was actually much ahead of me in the race and he was doing his second loop while I was on my first loop.

I finished the first loop and than did the second one. I was still going well. It felt easy and fast. I was keeping myself safe. I watched a bit for my heart rate but not much. During the second lap I totally neglected my heart rate already. I was not interested in it at all. I needed a goal to chase.

After the second loop we had to turn into Sherborne and than do another two loops on a highway and than back through town again and to the finish. As soon as I went through the town there was much less crowd, only few people in front of me. I cought them. There were lots of 180 degree turns in the town and this was slowing me down a lot. I would go full speed into them, grad the fence with my hand and strongly pull myself in the oposite direction to make the most of the turn.

I was very aggressive in the run. I was pushing all the time. I was trying to use each step as much as I could. I was super focused. Every downhill I was speeding up, adjusting my stride so I go faster and easier. On few hundred meters we had on the flat I was trying to get into a rhythm and push it up a bit. On the uphills I was hitting the pavement with my feet.

My nutrition was as usual: every second station I had a Powergel (preferably the caffeine one) and on every station I had some water. Ironman UK had organized the nutrition much better than Challenge Roth - I did not need to stop to take the food and drink cups were bigger and made of paper which means I could squeeze them on top and drink without spilling (Challenge Roth uses smaller plastic cups which are not very practical and made me slow down each time when I wanted to drink). I think I gained about 5 mins in my run over Challenge Roth just due to these differences in fuelling stations.

We had to run over a grass part and than over a bridge with very steep stairs. I ran over the stairs mostly pulling myself with my hands over at least two steps each time. It was dangerous coming down as I was trying to jump over two or three steps. I could miss a step and fall.

As we were in the highway it became very boring and hilly. It started to be just business - pushing. Back and forth twice. Straight and hilly and windy. As I ran more and more crown showed up. I saw Brad Storm and cheered him on. As I was in my second loop I saw I was very close to him and I fixated on him, I was using him as my next chase to motivate myself.

Unfortunately he obviously had a bad race as he run very slow and I caught up with him quickly. The second loop on the highway did not have mile marks so I was quite lost as to how far I am from the finish. I knew the marathon had 26+ miles. I thought I might have another 4 or 5 miles to go. I was hoping to go under 10:30. Suddenly, after I ran over the bridge again and got to the grass part again I saw the sign for the 24th mile. Wow! I could make it under 10:15.

That was another chase. I pushed as much as I could. I was alone again and I only saw few people far ahead. I thought that maybe they are in my age group and it would be good to catch few more guys and get higher in the results. I pushed a bit more and caught up with one or two guys. I think it was their mistake to relax towards the end - you never know how is behind you and how the Hawaii rolldown is going to go. Ironman is a competition and when you are so close to 10 hours one should push 100%, especially towards the second half of the run. So much changes during the last half of the run.

As I got closer to the castle I heard the announcer call my name. I saw that I can go sub 10:15. I sprinted a bit. I think I had the best race finish ever. I jumped. I was truly happy. It felt so good. So good.

After the race

I had a dinner appointment with a friend from London after the race so we had some Indian but I could not eat. The next day I said goodbye to Spencers and on my way to London I finally visited Stonehenge. It was great. I love that place. I spent a night walking around London and met again with some friends. Kebab is 4,5 pounds! I mean, is that not the MOST expensive kebab in the world. I had a chocolate doughnut as well…

Another finisher t-shirt

My next major race will hopefully be Ironman South Africa 2008…

Check my photos and official results.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 2:17 am and is filed under 2007, Brad Storm, England, Great Britain, Ironam UK 2007, Ironman, Ironman UK, Nikola Tosic, Sherborne, race report, triathlon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.