Okay, so I have left it a week before writing this, I wanted to let the emotion of the event subside a little before putting pen to paper. I will break this blog down into registration, racking then split the race out into four sections. I will try to put lots of photos to break it up too.

This is my second time doing Ironman UK after doing Ironman UK 2018 that year the bike leg was reduced to 95 miles due to moorland fires in the area, I always felt a fraud saying I had done an Ironman when the race was 17 miles short of that 140.6. Fast forward 3 years and I am back.

Training had been hampered by knee tendonitis which meant I did not start run training until 3rd May. Swimming pools were closed until 12th April, blah, blah, blah. I am here and ready to give my best on the day. Whether that is a faster swim and run than in 2018 or a 17hr Ironman, I am not really fused.

Just being fit enough to make this start line has been one of my biggest achievements, if I can run down that red carpet and hear those words “MARK HATTON! YOU! ARE AN IRONMAN!”, well that would be all I could ask for.

I also wrote a few posts detailing my Ironman UK 2021 Hopes & Dreams, detailing what I wanted to get out of today as well as my Ironman 2021 UK Gear post.

Thursday – Registration

I am going with a different plan of attack for registration this year. Rather than go Saturday morning and rush around doing the stickers and sorting the bags out, I went over Thursday night after work. Did the registration thing, got my bag with all the gear in, kind of got through the expo okay and headed back home.

As with all things in 2021, registration has changed from previous years. We now had to select a 1-hour slot where we would go to register. I picked 6pm – 7pm. It wasn’t crowded and there was plenty of space inside the marque and expo.

Upon entering the race venue you need to wear a face-covering and you are asked a COVID questionnaire and have your temperature checked. From then on things are mostly the same as in previous years.

The expo seemed a little more spaced out than normal but that may have been due to fewer people being in there. I came out with an Ironman UK t-shirt with all the names on the M-dot on the back, an Ironman mug and a pink Ironman cowbell for my daughter.

After registering, I did a 3 mile easy run with some strides. Starting at the gate into Queens Park, around the run course through town to the finish line and back to the gate, taking in the hill through the park.

Back in 2018, this hill broke me! on lap 1! each subsequent lap, that hill felt longer and steeper leaving me worrying about it again this year. A few weeks prior to the race I did two laps of the bike course and a lap of the run course, making sure that I ran up that hill and again today.

Having gone up it twice now this year, I feel much more confident about that part of race day, the hill was not as steep or as long as I remembered from 2018, in fact, it wasn’t that challenging at all. Sunday may be a different story with 114.4 miles in the legs by the time the run starts.

Saturday – Racking.

Having picked the race pack up on Thursday, I did all the stickers on Friday and packed all the gear into the bags.

This just left dropping the bike and blue bag off at Pennington Flash on Saturday. We had to book a 1-hour slot for this, I went for 1-2, thinking most people would be in registration and T2 mid-morning.

The weather wasn’t great today, with heavy downpours and thunder. Doesn’t really affect racking but prior to setting off I cleaned the bike chain off and went for wet lube as well as dropping the tyre pressures down to 90psi. The forecast is showing a 35%-60% chance of rain between 9am – 11pm tomorrow, obviously, that is also a 40% – 65% of no rain but I think we might get wet on the bike leg so wet lube and lower pressures will help with those conditions. I also chucked a rain jacket in the blue bag, which gives me the freedom of choosing to wear the jacket or not, if it’s not in the bag there is no option.

I am staying over Saturday night at the Holiday Inn Express – Leigh Sports Village which is literally right over the road from the swim start / T1. Staying close to the start will give me a little longer in bed, with a 4am alarm set, it still doesn’t feel long enough!! I dropped my white bag off with reception as check-in wasn’t open until 3pm, this had in all my swim gear, trisuit, calf sleeves, race day nutrition and breakfast.

That just left the red bag (run gear) to take to T2 at Queens Park in Bolton. I drove up there and parked the car close to the finish to leave overnight. Dropped off my red bag and had a quick familiarisation of the transition area, looking out for the dismount line, bike in, route from bike in, to my racking slot, route from there to the red bag begs and route to run out. Just taking the stress and worry out of race day.

From then I got a taxi back down to the Holiday Inn, checked in and ordered a Domino’s Pizza for that pre-race carb-loading meal, truth be told, I eat a high carb diet anyway so that night before carb loading binge is not really required or the most efficient way of doing it anyway but a pre-race Pizza is my race day tradition, I am not about to break that before an Ironman.

The rest of the evening I spent relaxing in my room, getting my bottles ready for tomorrow morning and watching the England game. The game was surprisingly relaxing for once and onwards to the Euro Semi!!

Sunday – Race Day.

The alarm went off at 3:55am, far too early but better than it would have been if I hadn’t stayed opposite the swim start.

Last nights sleep was terrible, I think it was a mixture of pre-race nerves and excitement combined with sleeping in a new bed. Either way, I managed 3hrs 21mins sleep. cracking start to the day.

I had brought my own porridge pots with me so I had these in the room whilst doing 10 minutes of lower body stretching to loosen up the legs. In hindsight, three pots were too much, I ate two and just couldn’t force myself to eat the third.

I took a 500ml bottle of Maurten Drink 320 with me to the start to keep the body fully fuelled ahead of the big day.

I put on the trisuit, calf sleeves and had the wetsuit on up to my waist, which saves time messing around in transition. Once ready I wrote a few mantras on my hands. “2018” to remind me how much I struggled on the run that year and not to repeat that again today and “Race Calm”, to remind me to take my time and not push things, its a long day and a lot can go wrong. Don’t push the speed on the bike if it feels dangerous in wet conditions, make sure you get to the finish line.

The weather was forecast to be wet later on, but the morning sunrise on the walk to the start was stunning (for East Lancs). Having a 10 minute walk to the start was such a plus point and made me glad I picked this hotel. I didn’t need to leave the room until 5:15am.

The bike was a bit wet in transition from some overnight rain, with no issues with the gears or tyre pressures overnight. I loaded up the bottles, Wahoo Element and top-tube bag with the flapjacks and gels for the day.

Once that was all done, it was just a matter of dropping the white bag off and heading out to the swim start. A pretty stress-free start to the day.

I dropped on well with my racking peg too, the two pegs to the left were empty and one to the right, I can only assume these race numbers were allocated early on and some people may have deferred, it gave me plenty of space and made the bike easy to spot.

Swim 2.4 Miles – 01:10.58

The swim was a self-seeded rolling start, which was the same as when I last raced here in 2018. I seeded myself in the 1:15 group. I had done one 3,800m swim in the pool during training which clocked in at 1:06.58 but then my open water swimming this year has tended to be a little slower than the pool swims so I went for 1:15.

The self-seeding pens were cramped, with no room for social distancing at all but we were wearing a face mask which helped a little I guess. What did make me laugh was we stood shoulder to shoulder right up to the entry to the swim, then we had to social distance and enter the water one athlete every 10 seconds. I suppose that ticks a box for the event organisers to met the BTF COVID regulations.

The swim is a two lap 1.9km (1.2 mile) out and back with an Aussie exit.

The sky was overcast by the time we got into the water. This made sighting the buoys very easy. I remembered back in 2018, sighting was difficult on the return as we were swimming directly into the sun. No such problem this time.

I quickly got in my rhythm and felt comfortable, no problems with breathing and no mini panic attacks this time. I soon found that I was catching and passing a lot of people. This made me wonder whether they had been very optimistic with their seeding or should I have gone for that 1:10 group instead. Either way, I had space to swim my own race and chasing and passing those ahead made it feel like an epic swim.

That first lap went by in a flash, the pro men did come past when I was around 100m from the exit, totally amazes me how fast they swim. It felt as though I was treading water the ease they went by.

Anyway, I clocked a 34:51 for lap 1, which amazingly is my 2nd fastest (official) 1.9km, only the Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon swim from 2 weeks ago is faster!

On the run out of the water, the legs didn’t feel too bad. I was able to find my feet and run through to the swim entry point. Thankfully no jelly legs.

The second lap was more of the same. After jumping back in I managed to settle into my pace and continued to pass people. Not as many over that first 750m stretch but I was then catching some people on their first lap, I used them as a target to swim after and catch. This is a tactic I like to use when racing marathons, especially in the latter stages. Pick someone to “race” to keep the mind engaged in the race.

The second lap was unsurprisingly slower than lap 1 but at 36:05, still a good time for me.

I didn’t see my time when I lapped the watch to start T1 but I swam a 1:10.58, the 14th fastest swim in my 40-44 AG and 129th fastest overall (out of 1,092). For someone who has struggled to see improvements in swimming, this was a really really good swim and massive PB compared to the 1:26.35 in 2018 where I was 1,051st fastest overall swim.

T1 – 00:06.43

Transition went well, legs felt stable on the run from the water to the tent. The wetsuit unzipped fine, cap and goggles off. My T1 bag was right on the centre lane, 3 pegs from the entry to the tent, making it very easy to grab my bag.

New for these COVID times, we had to then leave the tent and change outdoors. The wetsuit came off easily. I used my towel to quickly dry my feet, this made getting the socks on easier, bike shoes went on, helmet and sunglasses. I took a SiS Electrolyte gel before heading to the toilet to save time having to stop once on the bike.

Quick run through T1 with the bike and flying mount at the mount line. It still amazes me how many people cannot run with their bike and jump onto the saddle, peddle a few meters to get some momentum and then clip-in. Granted, it only saves a few seconds but it looks cool as shit right?

Bike 112 Miles – 06:29.46

The bike route was a 13 mile ride from Pennington Flash up to a three lap 33 mile loop around Bolton and some towns.

I had done a two lap practice ride of the loop last month so I knew where the hills were and any sharp bends. Based on my 16mph speed for those two laps I calculated it should take roughly 35 minutes to cover the ride into the loop then 1hr 55min per lap, giving a very rough estimate of a 6hr 20min bike leg. I did realise on lap 3 that this estimate hadn’t included the 6 miles from where we entered “the loop” to the finish, oops! Oh well, 6 miles at 20mph would be 18 minutes anyway.

I used my Wahoo Element Roam with the bike course loaded to track the ride. This was so I can see the upcoming route and elevation changes as well as tracking my 3/sec power ave where my target was to hold as close to 220w as possible, allowing a little wiggle room on the climbs but not going too crazy.

I often struggle to hold it back on this Ironman bike legs, I fall into the sportive mindset and just start pressing on which trashes the legs. Today I will be more disciplined.

On the ride from Flash to the turn-around into the loop, I got into a good rhythm again, the power was slightly above target at around 250w, but it was a gentle uphill for most of the way so I let myself off for that. Just like the swim I was passing people and feeling confident, for 13 miles into a 112 mile ride.

The first lap was good, I was averaging 17.8mph and well under that 1:55 target for the loop. The first part of the loop had the hills in but these are not long nor steep, just a matter of picking a low gear and spinning it up those, holding the power back but I was still flying past people.

I was enjoying life on lap 1, knowing all too well that lap 2 will be tougher with more miles in the legs and leg 3 a mental battle doing all those hills and bends for a third time…. zzzzzz

The second lap started off in the same manner as the first. On the more hilly first 18 miles, I was easily passing a bunch of people on TT bikes. I had passed the majority of these on lap 1 but they then came back past me on the faster more aero second half of the loop.

The sky was going black and I was now just hoping that I could at least make it down Sheephouse Lane for a second time before it rained. I didn’t quite make it, just as I was starting on the climb over Winter Hill it started to rain and rain heavy!

On lap 1 I had hit 42mph on the Sheephouse Lane decent, this time in the rain I only got to 27mph. The road was very wet making it difficult to spot the potholes, the rain on the sunglasses made it very difficult to actually see where I was going and riding under the trees was really dark, even more so with the sunglasses on.

Despite the problems seeing where I was going in the rain, I pushed on once back on the flat open section back through Horwich into Bolton. By this time I was starting to feel really cold and was shivering so much it was getting difficult to steer and hold the bike straight. My hands had gotten so cold my fingers felt numb which made gear changes and breaking a challenge too.

Thankfully, I reached the end of lap 2 comfortable 20 minutes inside of my target time, this got me thinking that if I could hold on to this pace for another lap I might sneak under 6hrs for the bike leg.

That was a very optimistic dream given how cold I felt.

Like lap 1, that group of TT bikes had come back past me but this time I wasn’t catching them on the climbs, they had got too far out in front of me.

I was really starting to struggle with the cold. The shivering just got worse as the lap went on. The hands didn’t warm up at all, I could see I was changing gear but I just couldn’t feel it. The legs felt fine, there was no issue there but the power was starting to drop as a result of the shivering.

At the second feed stop on the bike, I pulled over, I decided to go to the toilet and try to clean my glasses so I could see. The rain had pretty much stopped by now so maybe the glasses would stay clear(ish) long enough to get me up and over Winter Hill.

They didn’t, not long after getting going again the rain came pouring down. I made the decision to pull over and take the glasses off. This did help somewhat. At slower speeds, I could see, at the faster speeds of the downhills the rain was driving into the eyes.

I made it into T2 having dropped that 20minute buffer I had built up on the first two laps, but I clocked 6:29.46 so it was only 7 minutes over that estimated time and given the amount of rain and how cold I felt, I was really pleased with that time.

There were moments on that third lap where I considered pulling over and sitting in the medical tent with a foil blanket on to warm me up. I had to really dig deep and mentally push myself to stay out in the rain and keep going.

In the end, that bike time was good enough for 17th fastest in my AG and 139th fastest overall. It did leave me wondering just what I could have done had it not rained but that is one for another day. For now, the 112 miles got done. Onto the run now.

T2 – 00:06.42

This transition was rough, I was so cold and shaky from the bike leg I was still wondering about that foil blanket. As with T1, my bag was right by the entry and we got changed outside. I managed to get my helmet and bike shoes off fine but when it came to tying my shoelaces I just couldn’t feel my fingers and couldn’t tie them. I had to ask someone to tie them for me! This is where you see that triathlon spirit. A random stranger taking a minute out of their race to help me tie my shoes.

I made a stop at the toilet again, I prefer to lose the time in transition than out on my run.

Run 26.2 Miles -03:59.38

Once I got running the body began to warm up. I think it took about 3-4 miles for my hands to regain feeling, I remember fumbling with a Maurten Gel early on.

The pace was good and bang on target. Back in 2018 I really struggled with this run and ended up running a 4:47.35. This year I was hoping to run at 8:00/mi pace and come home around 3:30. My running has massively improved since 2018, however, I had missed 4 months of running over winter due to a knee injury. This meant I came into this race with just 9 weeks of run training in the bank.

I really didn’t know whether I would be able to hold 8:00/mi pace but don’t get anything unless you try.

The first lap felt good, I covered the 6.7 miles and was slightly under the 8:00/mi average. I had already run further into this run than I did in 2018 so I knew from now on, as long as I don’t drop to 11:00/mi pace I will beat my 2018 run time.

The legs did feel really good considering where we were in the race. I knew that it was still really early days and there were a lot of hills in front of me.

The second lap went well, I didn’t stop to walk and had made it to the midway point. The pace was slowing to 8:15/mi but still well ahead of the 2018 pace and I just didn’t know if 8:00/mi was doable given the missed training.

It was on lap 3 when that missed training finally caught up with me. My pace had dropped to 9:00/mi and things just felt tough going but hey, we are 127 miles into this so it’s not exactly a walk in the park.

I decided that I would walk up the steeper hill in the park and through the feed stations. This helped to keep things moving without taking too much out of the body. I then changed the plan for the remaining 7 miles to run the first 0.2 miles of each mile and walk the remaining 0.2 miles.

The legs still weren’t really feeling that fatigued, the body just felt tired and as though I had not covered enough miles in training…. kinda like I had rocked up with 9 weeks of run training.

I wasn’t that disappointed to be missing that 8:00/mi aspirational goal. I knew all I had to do was keep the pace around 9:00 – 10:00/mi I would be fine and massively come in under the 4:47 from 2018, besides, earlier in the week when I wrote the Ironman UK 2021 Hopes & Dreams blog, I had said that my goal was to finish the race and if possible PB the swim and PB the run.

Here I was, 24 miles into the run knowing I was going to finish the race, knowing I had PB’d the swim (just not by how much) and knowing that I was well on course for a run PB. All three goals checked off.

That spurred me on over the last two miles. I knew I was bringing it home and running down that red carpet to finish my 2nd Ironman.

I took a look at the elapsed time on my watch and saw that barring 15 minute miles, I would come in under 12 hours which gave me such a lift. In 2018 when the bike leg was reduced to 95 miles, I still “only” managed 12:13.46. Here I was, three years later looking set for a sub 12 despite biking that extra 17 miles to make it the full 140.6 miles.

Also whilst looking at that elapsed time, I saw that I was looking very very close to the 4 hour mark for the run. I had one mile to go and I pushed the pace to run my 3rd fastest mile split and ran down that red carpet completing the run in 3:59.38 a massive 22 seconds under the 4 hour mark! more impressively for me, that was 46 minutes faster than back in 2018 where I struggled so much.

Realising I had smashed my run time by so much even after the 4 months of no running and just 9 weeks of training, that was such a good feeling and gave me the redemption I was looking for from today. All I wanted was to put that miserable run behind me and I feel I did that today.

The run was not perfect and did not go as planned, it got real and I ended up walking for parts of the second half but today we took a big step forward. Given more training time could I have run faster or ran for longer? probably but I did the best I could with the time I had available.

That time of 3:59.38 was good enough for 31st in my AG and 167th overall.

But that feeling when you reach the split point and turn right to head down the red carpet instead of heading left to start another lap. That feeling!! it is something else, even the second time around it still feels magical and you get such a feeling of accomplishment crossing that finish with 140.6 miles behind you.

My overall time for Ironman UK 2021 was 11:53.43, taking 20mins 3secs off my 2018 PB (despite the extra 17 miles). I finished in 14th place in my 40-44 age group improving from 158th in the 35-39 AG in 2018. Overall I finished in 118th place again improving from 783rd in 2018.

What’s more, that time and finishing position were good enough to earn me a qualifying slot for the Ironman World Championship in Kona this coming October!!

That ultimate bucket list race which was always the dream. The goal was always to push to try and qualify for Kona but we are talking like 10 years down the line. I never expected to rock up today with 9 weeks of training and riding a road bike to then go on to not just finish the race but to PB it and qualify for Kona! that was just never in my mind.

9 weeks ago I was running up and down the canal at home only able to run 4 mile easy runs at no faster than 9:00/mi pace. I wondered back then whether I would even be fit enough to make this start line but I pushed on with the training and did what I could to give me some confidence in the knee and my ability to make it. I made that start line and achieved something I could only ever dream of up until this point.

Kona!! It still doesn’t feel real.

Now I know, 14th in my age group wouldn’t normally get you a Kona slot so I feeling incredibly lucky to have run my best race when there are extra qualifying slots available due to fewer races going ahead in 2021, but you have got to put yourself in there and in with a chance to be able to cash in on that luck.

Brief summary:

Well, where do I start?

Firstly, the crowd support from those cheering us on and the volunteers was incredible, after 18 months of no races or racing without spectators, to have so many standing out and cheering us on was insane! the atmosphere at times made you feel like you were in Le Tour going over those narrow mountain passes. It is one thing to be out riding and racing in that rain but to stand there cheering for hours and hours in something else! To all those who were cheering me on and shouting my name, thank you! that support gives us all such a lift.

The preparation for this race was not textbook. I missed a lot of training, heck, I wasn’t even training for this race! I was originally racing Challenge Roth which should have also been on the 4th July, which ended up being cancelled and I remembered I still had an Ironman UK place to defer from 2020.

There were weeks and weeks in training where I was just ticking off sessions to see whether I could be fit enough to run the 26.2 miles today. There were months where the swimming pools were closed.

To go on a swim a near 16minute PB was massive for me, to finish the bike 46 minutes slower than 2018 but also 17 miles further than 2018 was massive, to do it in that rain and when feeling so cold and disheartened, almost considering pulling over to take that foil blanket.

Then to top the day off with a 46 minute run PB off the back of a massively reduced run training plan really gives me the hope and belief that I can go on to improve this run time further.

Overall to come out of today having achieved my A, B and C goals set out during the week and also PB the overall race time is huge for me. I have really struggled over the past 3 years. I missed the whole of the 2019 triathlon season with an injury sustained during Ironman 70.3 Mallorca, then 2020 happened and all the early triathlons in 2021 didn’t happen. I was really wondering whether triathlon was for me, should I just stick to marathon running.

To then go on to qualify for Kona really demonstrates the highs and lows we can get from this and any other sport. Also demonstrating why should never give up, keep pushing, keep showing up and giving your best. Someday things will align and you will achieve something amazing.

You know the Ironman phrase! Anything Is Possible.

Now all I need to hope for is Mr Biden eases the travel ban on people from the UK entering the US before October. Is that possible?