Heading out onto the bike and it was always going to be windy, as the Island Hainan, as there was a strong sea breeze coming in (I even saw one athlete being blown off his bike!). The bike section flew by, as it is the part I most enjoy normally and we also rode through some really cool old Chinese towns and villages, where all the locals where outside supporting us as we rode by. The locals would shout out go fast in the local tougue. I did started to feel the heat toward the end of the bike section and in the back of my mind I really was not looking forward to run, which was going to really hard due to the increased humidity and the heat.
After 5.10 on the bike (which I was over the moon about, beating Justin Granger) I entered T2. Throughout the whole of the bike I had been drinking well, but eating aswell as I'd like, maybe I need to look into this. I really struggle to get solid food down when racing, maybe in the future I need to switch to just gels and maybe ones without a taste as they just get so sweet. I knew heading out onto the run that I was well hydrated, therefore I should be able to put in a good time on the marathon run leg.
However, the temperature was so hot and it was so humid that I really started to struggled, as did many of my fellow athletes, some of whom I saw sitting on the side of the road after pulling out of the race. I started out at 4.30mins/km, but after 2 km I was blowing big style, my heart rate was at 92%! So because of this I pulled it back to 5min/km then 5.30min/km and from then on I kept it at that. However I did also decided to walk the aid stations and then continue for a minute afterwards, just to lower my heart rate which was way too high. The heat got worst as did the race continued. I did not want anymore carbo drink, so instead I switched to flat Coke (beautiful. There was no support on the run course, apart from a stretch in the city and, so because of this in was really easy after 30 odd kms to find it a lot harder than you really were. It was a real mental battle to keep yourself going one foot step at a time to finish the race.
After 10 hours 29 minutes, I finished, I don't remember too much of it, because as soon as I crossed the I collapsed and ended up on a IV dip in the medi tent. After 45 minutes I was back on my feet able to get all belongings etc and celebrate finishing what is meant to be one of the hardest Ironman courses in the world. While I was disappointed with my time (as I wanted to go 45 minutes faster ) I can be happy in the fact that I beat at least 3 full time pros and that I was first home in the British team. Even though I have now raced a number of Ironman throughout the world, it was extremely hard and the most physically demanding and mentally taxing race I have ever done in my life due to the heat and the humidity.
In my bid to qualify for Hawaii I fell short by 10 minutes and, therefore I will not be going this year, which is a huge shame and I was very disappointed. Every cloud has a silver lining and, although I missed out on qualifying for Hawaii, I have two weeks off training then it’s all go for the Challenge Roth in Germany this Summer and hopefully a 9.40 time, which I am very much looking forward to. It also means that next year I can try my hand again at getting to Hawaii, somewhere else in the world, Ironman South Africa has a nice ring to it..........
