Yeah - you had a mint race, don’t be hard on yourself 
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Well done,great swim and bike… the run was in less than ideal conditions, it’s racing, there’s always madness flying about when the bodies under pressure, add extreme heat and your bound to get this sort of stuff, my point was they let him go out and finish …?!
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Swim - really enjoyed this. Great place to swim, which I don’t believe is normally allowed. Water was 21.7 degrees and very pleasant. Easy course to navigate. You basically swim anti-clockwise around the reservoir to the swim exit
In previous Mdot 70.3s I’ve seeded myself in the 30 minute pen and in more recent years found myself overtaking quite a few folk. This time I put myself right at the back of the 28 minute crew. TT format start and straight off the pontoon. As with Outlaw half last month I’ve found I enjoy a diving start. None of this running like Rachel from friends wading through shallow sea to get started. I was on the feet of the guy ahead and overtook a few who decided to jump in. I started hard (for me) at 1:33 for the first 500 metres then progressively slowed. I did however swim well within myself and never felt gassed. Not much to report for the rest of the swim, probably the best start I could have hoped for.
Super pleased with 30:52
T1 - no fuss. Not super fast but no worries
Bike - as @TROSaracen mentioned, course has everything. The first 15kms or so are on windy country lanes, ups, downs, gravel, potholes. After this there are quick A roads, B roads, a real mixture. The surrounding country side is very easy on the eye too. There’s a reservoir you pass through over a small bridge. Must be around 50 or so kms the descent down do it was very quick. Enjoyed that but to be honest there were many points where I just had a smile on my face. Really rate the course, had favourable conditions though. I thought I might be around 2:35 or so. Again very happy with my 2:28.
The ride itself was a typical peacock ride from me. Overtook most that I saw until later on when all the hitters are up the road and I’m in no mans land. The opening hour or so there were 3 or 4 guys where we all overtook each over and it went back and forth several times. No monkey business though and good banter with one of the group too. Keith Murray came past me like a train at some point. He was instantly up the road 
My power metre died just after 2 hours but before that I was roughly around target watts, possibly a touch too high but nothing crazy.
T2 - bish bosh, in and out
Run - Oh dear. It was like I walked out of an air conditioned shop into a furnace. Ok, over dramatic. It wasn’t that bad but it hit me straight away. @Doonhamer made a good point of having no real heat conditioning. Not helped of course by running a 4:10 first km. I probably ran a similar speed for the second one too but stopped at an aid station and drank EVERYTHING they had. Nutrition wise I thought I did a good job on the bike. Munched through two packets of shot blocks and got through 3 bottles of 320 mix. I’ve done solo century rides on less. I told myself I’d be pleased with a 1:40 for this course and I’ve being doing this long enough now that I should know better. Why I didn’t pay any attention to my watch, I’ve no idea. The course itself is quite convoluted, twisting and turning through the centre of Stafford, to the castle, around some bloody pond, by some houses etc… all over the place. Anyways, my suffering really took hold on the way to the castle. There’s a long drag that sapped the life out of me before you turn right up the ‘hill’ then around the castle. The hill itself isn’t bad but everything that came before made it quite challenging and pace slowed dramatically. After this I was in survival mode and it was all about getting to the end. Second time up to the castle was horrid a true death march. I was just so pleased to get to the end. I told myself on more than one occasion that I was overjoyed that I didn’t have to complete a marathon today. It would have been one of those longer than the bike kinda days.
Initially I was a bit pissed off with my 1:47 run. The wheels completely fell off. I’m going to put it down to the heat and my inability to cope with it or if I’m being honest adjust my game plan to it. Looking on the Ironman tracker at 57 kms I was in a nose bleed position of 26th overall. After this I slowly dropped to 61st at the finish. Had I taken it easier on the bike and not gone off too fast on the run I may well have had more in the tank. But a lesson learned. I did however bloody well enjoy myself. Having now dealt with the logistical side of the race and knowing where to be and go I would recommend it. The swim and bike courses are top draw in my book. Not a massive fan of the run but perhaps if it was overcast and 19 degrees I may well have felt differently about it.
I think at the start of this thread we said a sub 5 would be a good day out, so in that light I’m pleased I posted a 4:54. Had I raced more intelligently I may well have been able to get into the 4:40s but that would have only bumped me up 2 M35 spots to 12th. I’m alright with my 14th 
Was great meeting Chris and chatting about the race whilst enjoying the packet of Happy Shopper bacon bites in the goody bag (Come on Ironman. You could have splashed out for Frazzles)
Thanks for reading. I went on a bit there
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Oi.
I finished just after midday 
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Great write up and great race Adam! Sounds like a fun day out.
Interesting on your nutrition though, that does seem like a lot. But you had no energy/gi issues, which is a real positive. How did you carry 3 x bottles of Maurten? Did you supplement with any electrolytes as well? Sorry, many questions.
I categorically could not have run in this heat. I’ve been sweating walking to the river for a swim!
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I wasn’t being rude!
Was the “Oi!” For me 
That’s a bloody brilliant result, I was/am impressed 
Although 3 x 320 is insane 
That’s what I’ll be having at Outlaw, supplemented with three gels and maybe a High 5 bottle.
For a half, I’d have one bottle of 320 now, plus some water, then a CAF gel about 15 mins before T2.
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Thought you were taking the mick 
Yeah. I’d agree 3 x 320 mix is overkill. For Outlaw I drank around 900mls and that got me through with no issues. Thinking back my Elite bottle had 160 mix in that I found foul.
Had two elite bottles on the frame and a 750 ml bottle behind the saddle. I was sipping the big bottle pre race but not too much.
Had a gel in T1 and T2 which has served me well recently. I would have another 3 or so gels on the run had I been cooking on gas. I didn’t bother and just picked up two cups of water at every available opportunity. Drank one poured the other over my head. Had the odd cup of coke and red bull too
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normally my tri suit would have been covered in white sweat stains too. Didn’t look overly bad yesterday. Did get a lot of water over it on the run though.
Too much info but I’ve not been for a number2 yet 
eaten quite a bit too. My efforts must have taken their toll on my body
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No way!
To race in that heat would’ve been beyond me.
Like I said, we drove 400m for lunch as it was too hot to walk there 
Ah - the 3 x 320 makes more sense now, if one was for pre-race sipping.
I tend to have the 160 pre-race, then a normal gel before the swim.
Avoiding caffeine pre-race now 
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erm, Kona?
Erm, not raced there 
I’ll be getting “value for money”, if I ever go.
I’ll take Norseman over Kona any day!!!
I thought that too! For a half, I’ll have 1 bottle of 320 in a bottle on the downtube, but all my easily accessible fluid (BTA) is electrolytes. The major problem with Maurten is that it doesn’t have much sodium (26% of what’s in PH1500), and I need a lot of that.
Not sure I could physically drink 3 bottles of Maurten in 2.5hrs either. Especially when it’s really hot and you’re probably wanting something thirst quenching
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So Neil has ditched the Scott or moved it out to his sunshine pad?
You make a good point.
The 320 mix isn’t thirst quenching at all. A bottle of water would been great, especially in the last 20kms or so. I obviously could have grabbed one on the go. Too stubborn to slow down and motored through the stations
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Not sure TBH, he’s doing the steelman on 31st so I’ll see what he takes, my guess is that it’s on his kickr and maybe takes it to Portugal when he goes.
He does a lot of his training indoors but I gather he got hit a few years ago while cycling?
I guess if you’re slow enough on the bike the sun goes down and it’s not so bad in the dark… Glad to hear you’ve got a plan though!
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You’ve figured out my Lanza race strategy - curses! 
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Preamble:
This race was deferred from June 2020, and then JUne 2021 and is my Kona Ironman World Championships validation race (more on Kona later). The new date fell one week before the full Iron distance Outlaw. I went into it with a 3 day mini taper and no expectations other than to race well and hope for something around 5 hours and to test heat management strategies given the weather forecast and take any learning into the final training block.
Split transition was a bit of a faff, but managed to complete everything on the Saturday and recce’d the bike course as the route back to Stafford. It was good to be back racing and feeling the buzz/nerves - and especially good not to worry about rain, cold, wind as per normal British summer racing.
Swim - 34:09, 16th AG, 181 o/a.
Swim was solid - at my best I’m around 31:30 half iron/1:04 full iron so probably a couple of minutes off that. I had a goggle issue early and had to stop and reset them and of course with Covid restrictions the athletes were starting at a trickle (even compared to ‘normal’ IM rolling starts) so there was no pack drafting which would have both cost time, as well as the lack of swim fitness due to missing training while pools were shut. Overall it was drama free and I was happy with the time.
T1: 5:37
Pretty slick by my standards.
Bike: 2:36:44 - up to 8th AG, 86th o/a
I had around 2:40 in mind for the bike but the course was a bit quicker. I enjoyed the bike, plenty of variety and nutrition plans worked and I had just enough fluid on board to miss all the aid stations. I was just a little off power wise, probably about 10w - suspect that’s the shortened taper and the 2 100 TT’s in last 2 weeks, although one only lasted 74 miles. I didn’t chase but accepted the lower power, long experience of IM racing has taught me that your power is your power and chasing a target does not bring an overall faster race time.
That said, I was moving well and chewing through the field, with only a few faster riders flying by. The main climb was a bit of a shock as on the recce I decided not to do the mini loop at the top but turn when the two way ended - but I’d turned much too early so had a lot more climbing than I thought. The descent was fun, and at the bottom it’s a shortish run into town.
Really enjoyed the fact that the spaced out swim start created a really sparsely populated bike course, and there was no crowding and no drafting - either deliberate or due to the volume of bikes. Excellent - if only all IM races were like this.
T2: 3:07
Another decent one.
Run: 1:38:07 - up to 6th AG, 61st overall
This was a good run. Legs felt good straight away and I was controlling the heat well, and had good energy. I felt as if I was fairly high up in the race and AG so it was time to go huntin’ - there were definitely a couple of AG rivals racked near me who were out ahead, one had passed during the bike and the other had left T1 ahead and I;d not seen. Plan was something to drink and water over my head at every aid station.
I was hitting around 7:00-7:15 a mile early and the drag up to the castle was hard but I felt great and kept pace below 8 min miles. The last kick up to the castle stung, but I knew there a long recovery back into town. I had reeled both known AG rivals in over this first lap - I knew there’d be others ahead so it was a case of keep pushing.
The second lap was harder - temperature was climbing and I slowed up on the second drag/climb to the castle and couldn’t quite pick the pace up as much as lap 1 coming back down. Back on the flat I was 7:20-7:25 miling - still decent. I hadn;t checked my overall time but guessed around 5 hours so I kept pushing, and was soon heading up the chute to finish.
Finish: 4:57:46
Overall I was pleased with the performance and to get sub 5 and nicely in the top 10 of the my AG with 6th. Brilliant to be back out there racing, laying it on the line and seeing where I’m at. As a 54 year old in M50-54 I’m at the older end of the AG - an AG where age really does start to bite. I noted that M55-59 my time would have seen a 2nd place finish so plenty to play for next year.
Good to see Adam after, who put down a really strong race and only a run blow up from an outstanding race. Mrs TRO struggled massively due to losing gears on the bike and then heat on the run but got over the line.
As agreed Mrs TRO and I discussed Kona on the drive back. It’s been a dilemma for the last week or two as cases in the UK have risen sharply and cases in the US have started to rise as the delta variant takes hold over there. Talk of a US-UK ‘travel corridor’ from August have receded, and the US now has the UK on its ‘red’ list. This is unlikely to reverse in the near future - so best case is a ‘will it/won;t it’ cliffhanger for the next 2 months before going. The worst case is that travel means I can’t turn up, after another 2 months training and even harder to get deferral and rebooking of flights etc.
So the deferral request has gone in. It’s strictly a first world issue so no dramas. Now for the Outlaw next Sunday (rain forecast) and to find a race or two late August or September.
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Nice one, strong racing by the sounds of it Tro. 