Strong finish power of the crowd 
and it was downhill. I get the hype around IM now. They do put on an incredible event with huge amounts of support etc.
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Downhill always helps 
Interested to hear about the course and venue in general. Fits nicely into half term, so if there is enough to do round there it could be an easy sell.
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Solid effort there @Sowler
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Good effort buddy. Thatās a busy few weeks youāve had!
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Superb stuff @Sowler
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Well done @Sowler what race you got lined up next weekend? 
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Nice one fella 
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Honestly, the bike course is awesome, if quite hilly, and the venue is incredible really. On course support was amazing! And you have the truly great (IMO) city of Lisbon a very easy 40 min train ride away.
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Ha ha ha. I might try and do an XC race in two weeks. This constant body punishment is strangely addictive!
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Brilliant effort @Mr-me and @Sowler
I am so glad I was not racing (I was entered in 2020, but moved to Finland in case I KQāed). I am certainly in the same place as @Mr-me in terms of season length. However, you still put in an amazing performance. Finishing with a 3:20 Marathon is impressive
@Sowler You can probably take some form into the XC race. Btw, itās not punishing, its base building 
A day or so has passed since the race so thought Iād put down a few thoughts about my race and the course in general whilst theyāre still in my mind.
Firstly well done @Sowler for getting through yesterday it felt a fair bit hotter than Saturday.
Secondly thanks again @Matthew_Spooner @Adam @stenard @joex @TROSaracen @gingerbongo @leahnp @jeffb for your words of support and encouragement. In what has been a tumultuous week it was much appreciated.
This race has been a long time coming. My last IM was Barcelona 2019. Iād then entered Lanza 2020 but obviously that got cancelled. Iād agreed to transfer my entry to Portugal 2020 but that also got cancelled. Decided not to risk anything in early 2021 and settled for deferring to Portugal 2021. For any of you thinking about this in the future it had originally been scheduled for 9th October but got bumped back 2 weeks because of local elections. This meant it coincided with half term week which is why we decided to turn it into a family holiday post race. Not sure if theyāll stick with the later date next year or go back to the original schedule, I see on the website itās still TBD. Weāve had absolutely glorious weather here but a few of the locals have said that this is unusual and that often by this time of year itās pretty wet and windy which would have made it a very different experience.
That change to the original schedule came a long time ago (late 2020?) but even then I was thinking about how having it two weeks later would make for a very long year.
Preparations have been near perfect. After getting over a typical run injury earlier in the year Iāve been training consistently well, hitting some personal bests in terms of bike power and running performances (1.19 PB at age 44 at the Great North Run in early September). I got an elliptical machine earlier in the year and have been using that and restricting my running to twice a week and have been getting faster rather than slower.
Iāve had a hankering to return to Kona. I always knew that would be a big ask a this race but that was the main target with Bolton 2021 already entered to give me a second bite of the cherry.
I definitely found myself plateauing after the GNR, I still managed to get the work done but I wasnāt improving and I kept telling people āI wish the race was next week rather than in 4 weeks timeā.
Iāve been pretty relaxed about Covid during the pandemic as a whole but as the race grew closer and cases were rising I became increasingly paranoid and anxious, panicked at the idea of putting all that work in and then falling ill or not being able to travel at the last minute. I was literally counting down the days. Iād never known so many people around me to have contracted it and it felt like I was dodging bullets constantly. I got contacted by test and trace the Saturday before I was due to fly out and immediately felt sick at the thought of being positive but thankfully that came back negative.
In the context of all of that it wasnāt too much of a surprised when I found out my son had tested positive via LFT just after Iād left and the day before they were due to fly out and join me. The first few days here were a whir of emotion, hoping his PCR would come back negative (it didnāt) and then waiting for one of the daily LFTs I was doing in Portugal to come back positive (they didnāt and Iāve remained negative). Totally heart broken for my wife and kids and if Iām being honest for myself too. First world problems I know but trying to enjoy a āfamily holidayā after the race when my family isnāt here has been challenging especially as the holiday is partly their reward for putting up with my tendency to get preoccupied with the race in the 4 or 5 weeks leading up to it.
Iād tapered as I normally would but by the week of the race I was feeling exhausted and felt flat when I should have been fizzing. As much as I tried to tell myself to give it my best shot for the family I knew my head wasnāt really in the game anymore.
The swim was pretty straightforward but from the moment I was in the water it just felt like hard work. I was surprised to come out in 1.05 especially as my watch had it at least 300m long.
The bike course is excellent you start off heading east but within 5 miles are heading into the mountains and youāre then climbing for the next 40-50 mins. The scenery is amazing verging on alpine which is a real contrast to coast. The climbing was also enormously useful at breaking up the packs. I did yell at a couple of small packs that I passed on the flatter section later in the race but generally I thought it was pretty fair and certainly nothing like the farcical scenes in Barcelona.
After the swim I wasnāt surprised that my bike legs hadnāt showed up. What Iām always hoping for on race day is that feeling when Ironman power is easy and youāre having to hold yourself back ā this was never the case for me on the day and even hitting IM power felt like a struggle. I was remembering an awful experience I had in Wales 2018 when Iād over trained. On that day not only was the bike a struggle but the marathon was a death march and it turned out to be one of the most miserable days Iāve had in sport. I felt like I was facing a similar scenario in Cascais. I wasnāt enjoying it and started considering dropping out after the first lap. I even started rehearsing what I might write on this forum to explain why.
After about 90 mins I decided to take a pro plus to see if that helped. 30 mins later Iād come down from the mountains and onto the sea front and the next 35 miles or so was relatively flat. All of a sudden things started to get easier and more enjoyable. I must have passed 150 people in that section alone (that was when I was yelling at the small draft packs). Things never got easy but power remained steady for the second lap. On both laps you do a loop of the Estoril F1 circuit which was pretty cool.
I knew by this stage Iād be out of contention for the slots and so it just became about finishing with my pride in tact and staying with it on a day that wasnāt going exactly to plan. Given how things had been for the first three hours I was pleasantly surprised to find that as I started running I was feeling ok. I really liked the run course. Itās 3 loops which takes you out west again for 4 miles or so then turns you round again and brings you back to town. Itās pretty rolling but the inclines are steady enough that you donāt notice them too much when youāre going up but you definitely felt the advantage when youāre running down them.
The run takes you towards a kite surfing beach - there was a stiff breeze heading out which helped with the heat but I think on a more typical day the wind could make it brutal. Iād had another pro plus on the second loop of the bike and by now my guts were starting to play havoc with me. I certainly slowed a bit on the second and last laps but this was exacerbated by the three (!!!) toilet stops I had to make on the run.
I was utterly destroyed by the time I reached the line, delighted to be finished and also proud that Iād managed to turn my head around mid race and didnāt quit just cause things werenāt going exactly according to plan.
I was amazed to find Iād finished as high as I did 15th in AG and 58th overall. Itās strange ā the longer Iām in this sport the smaller the margins of error become. Ten minutes faster and Iād have been saying I had a fantastic day, ten minutes slower and Iād have been saying Iād had an awful day. It was a pretty stacked field all round and Iām encouraged by the fact that had I been six days older Iād have come 8th in 45-49. Thatās where my focus lies for the year ahead. Iām hoping that in 2022 as the youngest in my AG I can be a bit more competitive
My performance on Saturday wasnāt good enough for a KQ but I suspect Iāll get a slot for St George next May (there were 50 St George slots and 45 Kona slots). Iām not especially interested in going to St George so Iāll be turning that down if it does come my way.
What Iāve learned over time is that although I do like racing, what I like even more is the process of training and preparing and Iāve really enjoyed the process leading up to this race. Next year Iām going to make sure my period of focused training is considerably shorter so that hopefully I can arrive in Bolton feeling a bit fresher. I like the UK races. Yes, the weather can be dicey and the scenery isnāt always as pretty but itās a shit ton less stressful (and expensive) than the experience Iāve had this week.
Iām now trying to learn how to relax. Some of my friends back home canāt believe my luck - stuck in sunny Portugal with my bike and without my family but itās a pretty hollow feeling. I wish I missed my kids this much when Iām in the same house as them!
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Also thanks to @magnacarter @Tupperware @pacha I wanted to put you in the above post but it only lets me do 10 at a time
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Love this post, honest experience thank you and best wishes get home soon
Well done @Mr-me and thanks for a great report. Enjoy some rest and plotting the assault on M45ā¦ā¦
Well done @Mr-me , enjoyed reading that.
I loved the Sintra Hills too, great roads and climbs. The 70.3 route in 2019 followed the western coast south all the way into Cascais, was so much fun, crazy fast. I remember the drag leading up to the entrance of the Estoril circuit had a bit of bite too
Do you upload your training to Strava?
They had the route reversed this year so you headed west (into the wind) to sintra and climbed up that way then were heading downhill to the coast when we hit the Estoril track. Think it would definitely be faster the way you did it. the downhill sections we had werenāt especially technical but there were very few places you could ease off the brakes and fly.
Yep, Iāve been on Strava this last year to appease my ultra running brother. If you look up Matthew Evans Gateshead you should find me (although my settings may mean you have to request to follow me). Wonāt be much showing up on my feed for a good few weeks yet mind 
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Youāll have to get over there and ride it yourself. Although not the same traffic free!
Iāll look you up
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Great write up and well done on a race that most of us canāt dream of executing.
Look forward to reading about your success going forward.
Know exactly what you mean about the family. Work weekends and my wife used to go away to her family with the kids when they were younger to give me some peace in the evening. Used to find it horrible coming home to an empty house without them and wouldnāt have it any other way.
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Brilliant @Mr-me, and Iāve requested a follow on Strava!
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Good read @Mr-me I suspect a lot of races are stacked this year and maybe next with all the deferrals. 15th in AG is really good. Keep enjoying the process and I am sure you will KQ.
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