Nostalgia... your best tri performance/ results

[funkin]

For me it’s simple - 2013 - all of 2013. But to pick a race it was Bolton - however before we get there… I’d just bought my first (and still only) TT bike (Cervelo P2) in the spring a few weeks before my main race of the year - IM Lanzarote. I’d run London Marathon three weeks before (as I love that race and used it an overly long training run) and did Lanza in 10:57. I was happy with that.

I kept the fitness up as I’d also entered IM UK in Bolton in August. This was purely just to see if I liked the course as if I did like it then I’d consider putting some effort in and training hard for it the following year in the hope of maybe getting a Kona slot. I truly believed I wasn’t fit/fast enough to go for one now.

I turned up at Bolton fighting fit with no real plan other than mentioning to MrsF on the drive up that I was tempted to ‘smash the bike’ and be prepared to walk the marathon - this would be an opportunity to see what I could do with no pressure (the Pirate “champs” was in Lanza you see so wasn’t really racing anyone). MrsF was most concerned at this plan.

On the day just before the swim start I suggested this strategy to Tom Williams (who’d tried a few times to KQ - who then went onto to COO at parkrun for many years until very very recently) and he said it was a great plan. MrsF was most concerned.

I had a superb swim (about an hour) and then onto the bike. Saw Tom (spectating) - he shouted “take a chance” to me and off I went. I worked bloody hard on the bike but I was very bike fit at the time and had ridden my new-ish bike a lot around the Surrey Hills in the months prior. This had been great training for the terrain around Bolton.

Got off the bike 1st in my age group (I thought I was doing OK but had no actual idea) and then watched about four or five people in my age group run past me as we headed along the canal towards the Bolton Town centre loops.

Slow and steady wins the race. They ran into the distance and I reeled them all in over the next 20 odd miles running a 3:26:30 marathon on that lumpy old course.

Crossed the finish line comfortably (er, with 5 seconds to spare) in a time of 9:59:55. My first and only sub-10 finish. And on not the easiest of courses to say the least. Got myself 1st in my age group as well. I couldn’t believe it. TC said here on TT a few days later something like “funkin rolled the dice on the day and three sixes came up.” Full race report is on my blog.

The following morning it was off to the cashpoint (you had to pay your Kona entry in cash) and then I went on holiday to Hawaii for a month.

2013 was an amazing year.

I wasn’t prepared for any of this. This is mid race… non aero helmet, hairy legs, drinks bottle stuffed down the back of my tri-top. Imagine if I had all the gear and some idea of what to do…

[stivrunning]

T,was a good year

[jeffb]

That would have been borderline sub 9 on a fast course with modern kit

MrsF was probably concerned at thought of being on the streets of Bolton on a night while you walked it home

[Poet]

Brilliant

[Cobbie]

@jeffb

MrsF was probably concerned at thought of being on the streets of Bolton on a night while you walked it home

OI … my wife’s from Bolton

… she would agree with you

[fatbuddha]

Unlike the speedy whippets out there, I’m a fat old knacker - ex-rugby prop who didn’t start doing triathlon until I was 50 (same year I did my 1st marathon). I’m OK on the swim, not bad on the bike, but as soon as the run starts I might as well kiss goodbye to others as they zip past me.

Anyhoo, 1st IM was CH in 2005 (the original big Pirate party), followed by a year off to sort out a neck cancer issue, and then back to health and back to IM in 2007. By then I was 54 and coming in at about 100kg, not far short of my rugby playing weight despite all the frigging exercise I was doing.

So me and Mrs FB (who decided to join me in the IM ventures) entered Austria and Florida. Austria didn’t go to plan for me - overambitious after my CH result - and Mrs FB had a DNF as she hammered the bike and fell apart in T2 and ended up in the med tent.

Onto FL - I was in good shape at 95kg and thought if I don’t go sub-12 on this course which suited my strengths - sea swim and flat all-power bike leg followed by a flat run - I might as well not bother. In short it all went to plan and I came in at 11:54 followed my Mrs FB about an hour later. Result.

At registration I was given the option of racing in my Clydesdale class - there were 2 depending on weight, and age graded. Chuffed to say I won my category even though there were only a few of us. That was a bonus.

[toby_Hole_in_the_leg]

My 3:48 marathon in my first IM at Bolton. Average swim off the back of no real swimming, and back pain for most of the bike. But I felt so good on the run… and came home strong. Great day

Wales IM swim - swam a 1:03 a few months later, after a few months enjoying the novelty of OW… and a week after doing a swim run at Loch Lomond. Absolute gumf after tho lol

I’ll find a finish line photo lol

[toby_Hole_in_the_leg]

There you go - pure f’kin Zoolander

[TROSaracen]

I remember Funkin’s amazing 9:59 at IMUK 2013.

I was about 70 mins behind, but for the first time sniffing around the top 10 AG.

My result at IMUK, and Funkin’s result (and subsequent Kona diaries) all combined to say ‘ I really have to do Kona, and I might just be capable of it.

[wheezy]

Looking back for me, it was my time trial PBs over 25 and 50 miles that give me the greatest pride. The cycling leg was always my weakest discipline and I wanted to improve and see if I could go under the hour for 25 miles, after spending a couple of years riding 62/63 minutes for it. I spent the winter and spring of 2015/16 hitting the turbo hard, doing a lot of TrainerRoad interval sessions and I hoped that I would sneak under the hour in one of my 2 target events in June ‘16. Rode a 56:xx in my first one and then a week later 55:xx. Yeah, that was a good week! I managed to keep my structured training going the next year and my main focus at that time was a 12 hr TT, but en route to that I entered a 50. I wasn’t really in the mood and almost packed in the first 30 minutes but as the morning wore on I got some mojo going and just felt better and better. I crossed the line in 1:57:xx and it was a real WTF moment. In my wildest dreams I never thought I’d be able to do that and the fact that I wasn’t really trying to do it, made it all the sweeter.

Despite the number of tris I have done, I can honestly say there’s not been one which I’ve ever nailed and walked away from being truly pleased. I guess the nearest I’ve come is the Outlaw, again in 2017. I was just really bike fit so it was a couple of months swimming to make sure I wouldn’t drown and then a very cautious bike to have something in the legs for the run. So I executed the plan perfectly on the minimal swim and run training I had done.