First time racing back in my home county of Staffordshire since IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE 2018. I originally signed up for this one as a tune-up race for IRONMAN UK 2021 and was aiming to push for a PB of around 4:45 but as Staffs was moved back to July 18th and now falls two weeks after Ironman UK my IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE 2021 HOPES & DREAMS have changed a little.

Coming 2 weeks after a PB at Ironman UK the body is going to be feeling more fatigued than I would like. I also had my 2nd COVID jab 10 days before race day which will add a little more fatigue but this is a victory lap for me. I will do my best of course but I am not going out there with any plans to be pushing down to a 4hr 45min 70.3.

I would like to see a big improvement on my 2018 swim, I have really improved my swimming since then, also I think I could beat my 2018 bike time as well. The run is the unknown, I missed quite a bit of running this year and that will take the most out of me but we will see.

Saturday – Registration & Racking

Living just 35 minutes away I drove down to Stafford early on Saturday to do the registration and drop off my red bag.

I had a quick look around T2 so to familiarise myself with my racking point and the way in/out of T2. Then had a look around the expo. Having brought some stuff at Ironman UK I didn’t really need to get anything from here, lets’s face it, the Ironman gear all looks the same just with a different event name on the front. So with that in mind, I brought a hoodie lol.

I didn’t really want to spend much longer in that marque, it was so hot in there, even at 9:30am. Fair play to those volunteers who will be spending the whole day in there.

From there, it was a 20 minute drive from Stafford to the swim start & T1 at Chasewater. The bike racking went smoothly and again had a look around T1 plotting my route in and out. It did strike me how few bike racks there were, it does not look like there will be even half the usual number of athletes racing tomorrow. I guess it is next to impossible for any international athletes to travel into the UK for the race given the current COVID travel restrictions.

I didn’t want to spend too long out in the sun, it was already up to 24’c by 10:30am so I had a quick walk back from T1 to the swim exit, which is where the Saturday practice swim was going on, I think I heard someone mention the water temperature was 22’c so there should be no danger of it being a non-wetsuit swim tomorrow.

I did spot the geese lining up for their swim start….. let’s hope Ironman wash that path down before we are standing there ready to start tomorrow

That was it for the registration and racking. Not much to it and pretty simple, you just need to plan the logistics of driving between the two sites. I used the Asda car park in Stafford town centre and walked over to the cricket club where the registration tent and T2 were. For T1 you can’t park at Chasewater on Saturday and Sunday. For racking on Saturday they direct you to Holland Park which is just over the A5, it’s a 5 minute walk from there to T1, they do operate a bus service but as that follows the one-way system it’s a 10 minute drive. I just jumped on the bike with my blue bag on my back and biked it, I was there in less than 3 minutes.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing at home watching the F1 Sprint race and keeping hydrated by sipping on 500ml bottles of water with a SiS Hydro tablet dropped in.

That pre-race evening meal is always something I look forward to. The tradition for the past 3 years has been to have a pizza, so why break that now. Pizza & Garlic bread for dinner and an earlyish night before waking up at 3:30am tomorrow.

Sunday – Race Day!!

Up at 3:30am, a bowl of porridge for breakfast and a cup of coffee to wake me up. I took a bagel with me to eat a little closer to the race start so that there wasn’t so long between breakfast and putting that fuel to use. I also took a 500ml bottle of Maurten Drink 320 with me to top up the carb levels.

A quick 10 minute lower body stretch to loosen the legs before I drove down to Stafford. I parked up just behind Sainsbury’s, got the shuttle bus at 5am down to Chasewater and loaded up the bike nutrition, checked the bike over. No flats which was a relief. I had been a little worried that leaving the bike out in the sun all day yesterday might have expanded the tyres too much but all was fine.

Swim – 1.2 Miles – 00:33.23

My main goal for the swim was to just beat my Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire 2018 time of 41:43, I knew I could do that on a good day after swimming 34:04 at the Cholmondeley Castle Tri 4 weeks ago but I didn’t know whether I could be pushing for a PB coming into today.

The swim start was staggered, we could self-seed based on our predicted swim time starting at 25min, 28min, 30min, 35min and so on.

With my PB falling between the 30 and 35 minute waves I was in two minds about whether to play it safe and go with the 35 minute wave or line up towards the rear of the 30 minute wave and use the faster swimmers to pull me along.

I went with the 30 minute wave and was glad I made that decision. I didn’t get passed by anyone but lining up towards the rear of the wave, I wasn’t expecting many to come by, what I didn’t expect was to be passing those who started before. I ended up swimming by quite a few, even some doing breaststroke clearly nowhere near 30-35 minute pace!

I really enjoyed the swim, this is something I have been saying a lot recently and a sign of how far my swimming has progressed this year. I sighted well and kept a pretty narrow line around the course. The conditions were perfect, the water was 21.7’c and calm, and the sun was over my right shoulder on the way out and funnily enough, over the left coming back which didn’t cause any sighting issues.

To swim a PB and push my 1.9km swim time under 34 minutes was a pleasant surprise but also swimming 8:20 faster than I did here 3 years ago is a really good measure of my progress.

T1 – 6.53

The run from the swim exit to T1 and out to the bike mount line was quite long, I clocked it at 0.34 miles which explains some of this time. I did towel off my feet, hands, arms, neck and face. The feet so I could get socks on easier and the arms, neck & face so I could put on sunscreen. I did make one schoolboy error with the sunscreen. I used a new bottle and had forgotten to peel off to foil top and of course, there was no pull tab on it so I wasted some time messing around trying to open that.

Besides that, no real issues in T1. I found the bike quickly and headed out to the mount line.

Bike – 56 Miles – 02:45.23

In 2018 I did the bike route in 2:53.28. Same course, same bike but hopefully stronger legs. I did ride the bike route 6 weeks ago just 1 minute slower but on open roads, giving way to traffic, stopping at lights etc. This gave me the confidence that on race day I could go faster than in 2018.

My nutrition plan is well tried and tested. I take a flapjack and have a mouthful every 20 minutes and carry some SiS Go Energy Electrolyte gels to take every 35 minutes. I had a 900ml and a 750ml bottle of Maurten Drink 320. With the warmer weather, my plan was to drink the first 750ml bottle in the first 20 miles, grab a Gatorade bottle from the feed, drink the second 900ml Maurten bottle over the next 22 miles and grab a bottle of water from the 42 mile feed.

The nutrition went to plan and no issues there. My hydration plan mostly went to plan besides the small issue of dropping the Gatorade bottom at the 20 mile feed station. Not ideal and this did throw me off for a mile or so. I did drink the second 900ml bottle between the 20 mile and 42 mile feed stations and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade at mile 42.

My plan for the ride was to hold the power at 280w and coast a little on the downhills to bring the heart rate down slightly. This went well for the first 40 miles but after the climb into Cannock Case I started to fade and I felt quite sickly. The remaining 15 miles were a struggle to get over 220w.

I don’t think I went out too hard, in fact, that 280w is what I targetted on my recon ride 6 weeks ago and what I did at the Cholmondeley Castle Tri bike 4 weeks ago. I suspect the fatigue from Ironman UK and the COVID jab were starting to show their hand by this stage.

The support we had along the bike route was amazing, with so many people out cheering and ringing cowbells. Some standing on the corners, some standing out in their front gardens, and even a few lying out on sun loungers. By Mile 50 I was wishing I was laid out on a sun lounger with a nice cold drink in my hand.

T2 -5.15

T2 was a struggle, I was not feeling great towards the end of the bike and just wanted to sit and drink a bottle of water for a bit. The basics went fine, racked the bike, swapped bike gear for the run shoes and cap, put some more sunscreen on and this wasn’t a new bottle so no issues with that this time.

Run – 13.1 Miles – 02:02.30

I had a feeling this run was going to be a tough one whilst I was struggling along at the end of the bike. My initial plan, before I knew about the warm weather, was to go for a run PB and head off at 6:30/mi pace. I amended that pace whilst sitting in T2 and decided to start off at 7:00/mi and see how it goes. I wasn’t feeling confident about it but if you don’t get anything without trying.

If I could run around the 90 minute mark I would be looking at a sub 5 hour 70.3. I also knew that I was tired and fatigued from the last month of racing but still pushed for it.

The first mile was fine, I clocked a 6:58/mi and felt pretty good. Most of this mile was along the river and under shade.

The second mile was then through the town centre in full sun with nowhere to hide. I was out by myself, nobody in front and nobody in sight behind me which was a strange feeling, I am used to running races with lots of others around me but it was also a good feeling as I knew a lot of people must be behind me.

I walked through the first feed station and grabbed a cup of water and Gatorade. When I set off running again I did not feel good at all. I was dripping with sweat but felt chilly and had pins & needles in my arms. I jogged on and ran a 7:11 mile. I carried on for another half a mile before reaching the next feed station where I stopped to walk through it again but suddenly went really light headed & dizzy. I almost feel over if it wasn’t for a guy at the feed catching me. He ended up tipping two jugs of water over me to cool me down.

I stood there for a minute before trotting off down the road. I knew that this was now a matter of doing what needed to be done to get around the 13.1 miles. I still have 10 miles to go and it felt like such a long way at that point.

Mile 4 involved a lot of walking, mile 5 even more walking as I was at Stafford Castle now which was equally good but bad. It was up a narrow path through a little wooded area, finally offering some shade but at the same time it was a steep incline, well it felt like a mountain to me. I walked it up here on both laps but did run back down.

The next four miles were a mini-revival, in such that I didn’t walk but was running slow and not feeling quite as bad. Mile 10 was back at the castle and involved more walking.

Got to say though, the support on that hill up to the castle was immense and really gave me and those around me such a boost.

I knew once I made it up to the castle that it was downhill and flat all the way back into town and to the finish. This gave me the motivation I needed to get up to the castle. Mile 10 took me 14:32 but walking up the hill helped to save the energy to run back into town. I managed the last 3 miles all under 8:30/mi which was pleasing and got it over with quicker.

Running down the red carpet felt great as it always does. There really is no better finish than an Ironman finish. You suddenly forget about all the pain and suffering of the last 2 hours.

This was my second slowest half marathon, the only slower half was back in 2016 when I injured my knee and dragged myself around the last 5 miles. It was no indication of what my run form is like but was a clear indication that I had not fully recovered from my COVID jab and Ironman UK.

I knew this upfront and knew deep down Staffs 2021 wouldn’t be a PB day but I still went for it and pushed myself to see just what I could do.

I am not going to read much into that run but will take the positives from the swim PB and also the bike PB despite struggling towards the end.

There is no need to scrap my plans and change everything off the back of this one. I know I am capable of a sub 5 now and will rest up next week and get ready to go again later in the year.

Overall:

05:33.22 – 28th in 40-44 Age Group out of 122, 191st overall out of 912

Final Thoughts

Today wasn’t about racing for a time of a PB after having my second COVID vaccination 10 days ago and racing Bolton 14 days ago, that said I still gave it the best I could on the day and feel really pleased with the swim and bike PB’s.

More than anything, I am just pleased to be able to race again after such a long break with no races. I know Ironman have had a lot of stick from people recently, me included, but the past two weeks have shown us all just why we love racing Ironman events. Both Ironman UK and Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire were impeccably well organised and gave a race atmosphere like no other triathlon brand brings. Both events had challenging weather conditions for the organisers to manage but they did manage them well and put on a fantastic show.

The communities we raced through came out and supported us, I know not everyone will be pleased by the road closures but you can never please everyone. Those who did support us really made us feel welcomed and that support gives the athletes such a boost and a happy feeling.

I am now taking a well earned week off before starting to build up to Ironman 70.3 Weymouth and Kona.