Good going, he might be heavy but looks a bit of a unit!
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Wreck it Ralph (@gingerbongo ), you related to this massive hands fella?
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Did great at hyrox too.
I’d love to do one of those … !
Recent ftp ( 20 mins of 360? ) told him to do a flat one and see how he goes 3:15 ? Stand alone marathon too.
Must have some engine on him now, personal trainer, nice kid too.
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He’s about 5 times the size of me. He’s probs actually in proportion! 
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Every time.
Every single time it makes me laugh.
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I’ve got a theory about this.
And the guys who do well at IMUK…
…they’re all “heavy” and massively powerful, over 20 minutes.
I’d bet their hour power tails off massively.
But they can recover rapidly.
And are mad good at descending.
The course is just loads of 10-20 minute efforts, really.
With a bit of descending and soft pedalling in between.
I reckon weight doesn’t factor as much as the climbing metres says it does. On paper.
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Sorry, long post incoming.
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Firstly, that was a VERY challenging course. Is it harder than Wales? I think it might be, I guess it depends on what the sea conditions are like in Tenby on the day. Apart from the section back into Bolton the bike course is so demanding. The weather with the wind that picked up along with on/off showers, the constant climbing, descending on rough, pot holed roads, the whole thing really, just saps you. The run after is just the cherry on top.
Race morning pre amble:
Another 3am alarm, got the first shuttle to the Flash. No reason to get into transition that early but I like things to be done with no fuss. Food, drink and Wahoo on the bike, calibrate it and a quick squeeze of the tyres - all good. Quick stop in the loo then walk through the bag tent from the entrance to my bag then to bike, 3rd rack up and bike all the way up towards the end on the left. Walk up to white bag drop off and wetsuit on and I to the swim start shute, made my way in between 60 minutes and 1:10 and waited. It must have been about 5:45 where it started to rain, quite gently at first but quickly turned into a strong shower for a few minutes. I was preying to the triathlon gods that this wasn’t a sign of things to come.
Swim:
National anthem, thunder struck play, the rain stops and the race is on. I’m probably behind 100 or so guys by the time I jump into the water which at this point was very calm, having swum in it the day before I knew exactly what to expect and just got into a rhythm early on. Made a conscious effort to sight the bouys and basically swam at each one, feeling good, plenty of space and no real biff that was bothersome. The turn came around quick enough and I seemed to be in a group of guys all fairly well matched and swimming well together, I kept getting toe tapped by someone behind me though, happened about six or seven times over a few minutes which was pissing me off! Get to the Aussie exit, quick glance at the watch, saw 31:something and cracked on for lap two. After around 100 metres or so started to come across the tail end of the slow swimmers, these poor guys must have just started and they’ve already had the front of the race swim over them. The course from then on was rammed, people everywhere, I stuck to my game plan and stuck to the bouys, despite bodies being all over the show, at one point someone swam sideways straight in my path, sorry, but they got a shove on the legs there. At the turn my left calve cramped and had to swim awkwardly tensing and easing my foot to try and shift it, fortunately it didn’t last and I continued on. It was also at this point that the wind must have picked up as there was suddenly a bit of swell to contend with, nothing major but it felt very sea swim like, the sun also made an appearance too! The exit ramp came around and I was feeling pretty good about how I faired, quick look at the watch on exit, 1:05 something, yeah I’ll take that, swam within myself and felt relaxed throughout, happy days!
Predicted time: 1:05 - 1:10
Official time: 1:06:09
7th M35
T1:
No messing about here, cap/goggles off, wetsuit down, straight to bag, shoes/number and helmet on and off I go.
Time: 05:15
4th M35, gain of 3 spots
Bike:
Greeted with damp roads but luckily no rain. Had told myself when I approached any incline I would drop it to the little ring and spin my way up the hills as best I could. I also gave myself no power target and would ride to feel, my ride VI would be shocking but I had to get over the hills, I then planned to use the descents to hopefully recover. The road to the looped course was pretty uneventful, overtook a few folk with a couple coming past me, probably the first race I’ve had a focused mindset and was happy to let them go. It was going to be a long day after all.
Once onto the loop I stupidly didn’t pick anything up at the first or second aid stations. I had that naive, invincible feeling where everything was easy and I was feeling super strong. In hindsight, I should have picked up all the bars and chews I could get my hands on. A couple of minor showers at points but generally really good conditions with little wind. It was a fairly lonely opening lap, I was at points chatting to an M50 named Roderz (?!), who at the time was told he was leading his age group. The pattern went that I would overtake him on the hills and then he would smash past me on the descents only for me to overtake him a few minutes later. At this point I realised that you can tell who the locals are, the speed they were happy to carry going down was awesome. I was a bit of a pussycat in comparison but I kept telling myself it’s a long day and I’m not taking any chances on the wet roads, better to be safe not sorry etc… Roderz eventually pulled away on the run into Bolton while I was taking a pee. (I seem to remember @funkster saying the trick to it is to roll a leg up, unclip then angle your leg away and go for it, it worked well, did it a couple of times!).
The real fun and games started at around 90 ish kms. I just started to feel a bit weak and what was once feeling very easy was now starting to be a bit of struggle. This progressively got worse as the second lap went on and the thought of another lap of it was psychologically difficult. I realised at this point that I wasn’t eating enough, I was regularly having a nibble of something but it wasn’t enough, I then made a conscious effort to up this. The constant on and off showers and the increasing wind also not helping, the course was also pretty busy at this point which just added another thing to think about. After stocking up at the northern aid station I was back to feeling right as rain at the end of lap two. The plan for the last lap was just to eat all the bars and chews I could get my hands on and hopefully avoid bonking.
That plan went straight to shit as I went through the first station only to find 3 of the volunteers handing out bananas, no chews and bars in sight, well, now I’m in a tight spot as I had limited supplies and ~35 odd kms to the second station. I just cracked on as best I could but started to feel a bit ropey and my head went a bit fuzzy but I put all my focus on getting up the Green Arms Road climb and getting some food at the station in an effort to perk me up for the marathon.
There was a guy in fancy dress playing loud music just before the climb handing out peeled satsumas, clocked him on lap two and was preying he’d still be there lap three. I got to the spot and haha! Yes, he’s there, grabbed a full satsuma and consumed it in one bite. Felt glorious for all of about a minute until I hit the climb and the heavens opened with a strong, freezing cold shower that didn’t stop for what seemed like an eternity, in reality was around 10 minutes, still, my hands felt that, fingers went a bit white and generally lost feeling in them for a couple of minutes. Stocked up at the station, ate everything and despite the increasing wind my mood instantly lifted, only then I felt like I’d broken the back of the course and I then really enjoyed the final 1/3 of the lap. Anyway, Chorley New Road came about and I was absolutely delighted to have finished that bike.
Predicted time: 6:00 (good day) - 6:30 (bad day)
Official time: 6:17:48
Down 3 spots into 7th M35
AP: 221
NP: 267
VI: 1.24 
T2:
Made the most of my fortuitous racking spot and blitzed this. Feet out of shoes, leg over bike postie style, running over mount line making a beeline to my racking spot, into the tent, helmet off, trainers/visor on and go. Bosh, easy.
Time:1:58
Remain 7th M35
Run:
Right, here’s where my 25km training run gamble gets tested 
. I actually felt really good starting this. I think the combination of getting the bike done and a smooth t2 really gave me a boost. I think I came out with the eventual M55 winner, a guy called David and had a chat about our aims for the run. I felt like breaking four hours would be a job well done for the day.
The first lap was pretty lonely but sailed by, my only issue was needing a pee and deciding on how best to do this. I opted against soiling my trisuit further and nipped into a portaloo back down through the park. Onto the second lap and although I wasn’t feeling as spritely as the first I pretty much completed most of this feeling ok. This was the first time I spotted @Doonhamer and as I said above it gave me a huge lift, really lifted my spirits. It was only after the half way mark that I felt my right hamstring threaten to cramp on me that things started to get really hard. I immediately walked it off and resumed but I was very aware that my speed was dropping and I felt pretty powerless against it. Up to this point I had been sipping water and isotonic drink along with nibbling banana and getting Maurten gels down me. Well Into the Chorley Road out and back I decided this wasn’t working and changed to salted nachos (that disappointedly weren’t too salty) and washed them down with coke and water. I started to feel alright again here and clocked that I had a pretty low heart rate and wasn’t feeling like I was working too hard but my legs just said no and threatened to cramp with any increased effort.
Coming to the end of lap three I was getting myself into a bit of a hole and just felt like I was going backwards in the race. The course was filling up and I was constantly getting overtaken, my four hour marathon target was teetering on a knife edge but I felt powerless to stop my constantly decreasing pace. After what seemed like an eternity I finished the third lap and was finally onto my last tour. I’d giving up on eating and drinking, just couldn’t face it it was very much me telling myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Had to walk up through the uphill park section then resumed my feeble jog up and down CNR again it really felt like that went on forever (much like this report) by the time I made it back through the park the finish still seemed like a huge distance away. I only really felt like I was nearly there once I hit the cobbled section around the town hall. Finally, I was at the right turn for the finish and genuinely savoured that run down the carpet super pleased I had done it but annoyed that I dropped off so much in the run and my four hour target slipped away.
Predicted time: 3:45 - 4
Time: 4:09:59
Dropped to 13th M35
Finish time: 11:41:07
It’s funny, I was really pissed off with how that marathon unfolded but once I had finished and chatted to the guys who finished around me (including David who I started the run with) those feelings quickly dissipated. I’d genuinely given it my best shot and aside from nutrition errors on the bike don’t think I could have done much else. Still though, I do feel like that was an opportunity missed. Although unknowingly at the time I was in with a shot at a top ten AG in an Ironman. This is something I’ve never achieved before with my previous results being quite poor, as above though I’m not going to beat myself up about it and hopefully I’ve learned a thing or two and can put those right in Tenby in eight weeks time!
Also, that’s an Ironman swim pb, run pb and finish time pb for me - so a good day really! And being on a tough course.
If you’ve made it this far thanks for reading!
I had a blast and would do it all again in a heartbeat
Oh and re Kona roll down - it was never really on my mind. As Jeff said I’ve got the 70.3 St George WC already booked along with Wales that’s just bonkers. Also imagine getting time off work would be an issue. Did see on Facebook though that if you wanted a spot you could take one. Whether there’s any truth in this or not I have no idea. I’d also want to finish strongly and get a slot if you know what I mean
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good report.
chapeau!
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Thanks for the write up 
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Great report 
Your times didn’t indicate a meltdown at all!
Bolton for me next year, then 
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Nice one, Adam. A great effort!
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Great write-up Adam congrats on the PBs
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Your not the first person to say that, look at foggy.
Big power over short climbs 800w for 40? Secs, maybe more and a crazy good downhiller.
A guy I know who did really well in 21 did loads of 2 mins on 3 mins off intervals, worked for him
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Great work - a lot to be pleased with there on a tough course
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Excellent report.
Great to see you out there & chuffed that your chuffed with your result. It was a helluva day for you.
(I hope you don’t think I’m stalking but we’re booked into a campsite in Tenby as well )
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Great work, bit gutted I didn’t see you from the town hall steps !
PBS are nice
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Great work @Adam, sounds like you did incredibly well!
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I am expecting 
fancy dress for that one then @Doonhamer!
Cracking report @Adam, and really well done on the race. Couple of things to shape up on, but a really solid day out. Fingers crossed that Wales will really come together for you!
So do you think the run strategy going into it held you back? Or do you think the run slow down was your body reacting to the VI and slightly off nutrition strategy? Or was it just every day fatigue?
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Well done Adam! I hadn’t realised you were doing this; in fact is this a bit earlier in the season for IMUK? Lots of events seem to be earlier these days i.e. Jun/early Jul. That bike sounds a challenge, what are the IMJers going to do? 
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