(Photos courtesy of Tey - click here for more)
As some of you may know I did my 12th Ironman in Busselton, Western Australia in early December. The week I got back from that I tried to get into training straightway by doing a 21k run on the Sunday morning – BIG MISTAKE – it was one run too far and my right foot gave out and has never been the same since.
Therefore I turned up in Langkawi on Thursday morning limping off the airplane not having been able to run for a month. Things didn’t look good. My swimming was probably better than it’s ever been and my biking had started coming back to its normal level, although it had taken a real long time for that to happen after Busselton. The problem was that I couldn’t run which is quite a dilemma just 2 days before an Ironman as it concludes with a 42k marathon.
When asked by my business partner, Ian, how I’d cope I said that I’d be following an strategy that he’d shared with me some years before when he’d completed a couple of half marathons with far too little training…being an ex-military man his epiphany stemmed from a time when the British troops were being expelled from mainland Europe by the Nazi’s, with their backs to the English Channel they stood stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, France. The British nation rose to the challenge and sent just about every craft that floated to rescue the stranded troops – this national resolve, this triumph in the face of adversity, backs-to-the-wall belligerence, courage, especially a determination to endure hardship has since been dubbed “The Dunkirk Spirit” and he claimed that it was this that got him through the half marathons; so that is what I’d be relying upon for my 13th Ironman in Langkawi.
Continuing in the same vein for a moment, I once mentioned this to another buddy of mine, Nick Flynn, before he took part in a tough duathlon that he was not entirely prepared for; Nick has always had aspirations of becoming a fit, highly focused athlete, in fact he has put considerable amounts of effort into the dream but unfortunately he has the commitment-longevity of a snowflake in Kuala Lumpur and gets easily distracted by pretty girls and bottles of beer – not necessarily in that order but often they are intrinsically linked. Anyway, back to the “Dunkirk Spirit”, upon hearing of this philosophy Nick considered it very carefully and wondered off in deep thought, with harrowed brow and stoic contemplation.
The next day I saw him again, he looked awful! I asked him what had happened and he explained that he took to heart the advice I’d given him; he’d spent the previous evening and the entire night checking out every bar in KL but to his despair none sold the “Dunkirk Spirit”, they sold all of the other spirits and he had tried most of them in the hope that they would have the same affect (bourbon and vodka being his preferred imbibe). In case you wondered his race didn’t go well (but that’s another story and involves a bottle of water and an ambulance).
So, back to the race, Shilpa and the boys had gone to see a friend in Thailand so I had more time than normal to prepare at the hotel. I did the medical, registration, attended the briefing, prepared my bike, packed the race bags; I did two easy training rides and a swim. All was good and I had never been so relaxed, organized and strangely confident before a race.
Before I knew it I was in the water on Saturday the 23rd February at 7:30am waiting for the gun to fire to get the 3.8k swim underway. My plan was to get below 1hr:15. in the swim – all went well and despite being ravaged by sea lice – slightly painful but more annoying than debilitating. I came out of the water feeling very comfortable in a few seconds over 1hr:15 so I was pretty happy about that.
In the changing tent one of my training buddies Randy was still getting changed and a minute or so later Don and Aswar came in behind me. That made me chuckle as Aswar had been kicking my butt in the pool recently (click here to see earlier posts) but I knew he’d be looking to make me pay later during the run.
The bike started well and fairly controlled although I think I let my enthusiasm get the better of me, I normally race based on Heart Rate and Cadence and although my Cadence was about right I let my heart rate stay too high for too long on the first lap of three. After 60k (1/3 of the distance) my ride time was under 1hr:45 which if I could keep that up my bike time would be under 5hr:15 (very fast).
The bike course was new again this year; it was hilly and very windy. The wind helped keep the temperature down a little bit but the combination of the wind and the hills took their toll on my legs. After 120k I was still on target for a 5hr:17 bike time but I was starting to wonder when it would all go wrong. I didn’t have too long to wait, at about 160k I was drained and the power ebbed out of my legs. I had drank about 5 litres of water at that point but it just wasn’t enough. I was feeling nauseous and probably couldn’t have drank much more anyway. The last 20k was slow and several bikes that I’d pasted retook me before the end. I finished with a still very respectable time of 5hr:35 but quite dehydrated at that point.
Never mind, I loved the new bike course, although everyone I spoke to after the race thought I was bonkers. On to the run, I took my time changing into my Union Jack singlet (remember this was about “Dunkirk Spirit”) and off I limped out of the change tent. I was immediately met by a spectator who proceeded to walk next to me telling me he was on holiday and it was wonderful to see another brit "flying the flag". It was really sweet of him but I then felt obliged to give him a bit of a show and actually run!!!ouch, OUCH, OOOUUCCCHHH!
Let’s just say I didn’t get very far (less than one k in fact) before I was walking. That then really sums up the next five hours and forty one minutes…run a bit, walk a bit,… run a bit, walk a bit. Don went past, Cecil went past, 3k before the end Carmen went past (only her second Ironman and she finished 3rd in her age-group, 1st Malaysian woman and qualified for the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii – AWESOME, way to go Carmen).
On each loop I saw Aswar (with a crazed look in his eyes) chipping away at my lead over him – if only I could somehow keep him behind me! In the end it was a miracle, Aswar was kept at bay and I finished in 12hr:43 just 33 minutes slower than my previous best Langkawi time. My right foot was still attached, although it would have to be amputated the following day (just kidding Mum).
I managed to convince the doctors at the finish to give me a couple of IV drips to help with my recovery (although the fact that I'd lost 7kg in weight certainly supported my claim of severe dehydration) and then it was a quick ride back to the hotel for a Milo Panas (Hot Chocolate), a Vanilla Milkshake and a big plate of Mee Mamak (Fried noodles). Lovely jubbly.
Another semi-successful race ticked off – now for my next challenge, which is go to the hospital and get them to fix my foot.
Well done to everyone that started the race – remember as John “The Penguin” Bingham so wisely says “It’s not the miracle that you finished, the miracle is that you started”. Simon Says: - “This is true whether you finished or not, because you don’t get to an Ironman start without huge sacrifices, massive amounts of hard work and a big heart. I salute you all and I'll see you next year”.
As some of you may know I did my 12th Ironman in Busselton, Western Australia in early December. The week I got back from that I tried to get into training straightway by doing a 21k run on the Sunday morning – BIG MISTAKE – it was one run too far and my right foot gave out and has never been the same since.Therefore I turned up in Langkawi on Thursday morning limping off the airplane not having been able to run for a month. Things didn’t look good. My swimming was probably better than it’s ever been and my biking had started coming back to its normal level, although it had taken a real long time for that to happen after Busselton. The problem was that I couldn’t run which is quite a dilemma just 2 days before an Ironman as it concludes with a 42k marathon.
When asked by my business partner, Ian, how I’d cope I said that I’d be following an strategy that he’d shared with me some years before when he’d completed a couple of half marathons with far too little training…being an ex-military man his epiphany stemmed from a time when the British troops were being expelled from mainland Europe by the Nazi’s, with their backs to the English Channel they stood stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, France. The British nation rose to the challenge and sent just about every craft that floated to rescue the stranded troops – this national resolve, this triumph in the face of adversity, backs-to-the-wall belligerence, courage, especially a determination to endure hardship has since been dubbed “The Dunkirk Spirit” and he claimed that it was this that got him through the half marathons; so that is what I’d be relying upon for my 13th Ironman in Langkawi.
Continuing in the same vein for a moment, I once mentioned this to another buddy of mine, Nick Flynn, before he took part in a tough duathlon that he was not entirely prepared for; Nick has always had aspirations of becoming a fit, highly focused athlete, in fact he has put considerable amounts of effort into the dream but unfortunately he has the commitment-longevity of a snowflake in Kuala Lumpur and gets easily distracted by pretty girls and bottles of beer – not necessarily in that order but often they are intrinsically linked. Anyway, back to the “Dunkirk Spirit”, upon hearing of this philosophy Nick considered it very carefully and wondered off in deep thought, with harrowed brow and stoic contemplation.
The next day I saw him again, he looked awful! I asked him what had happened and he explained that he took to heart the advice I’d given him; he’d spent the previous evening and the entire night checking out every bar in KL but to his despair none sold the “Dunkirk Spirit”, they sold all of the other spirits and he had tried most of them in the hope that they would have the same affect (bourbon and vodka being his preferred imbibe). In case you wondered his race didn’t go well (but that’s another story and involves a bottle of water and an ambulance).
So, back to the race, Shilpa and the boys had gone to see a friend in Thailand so I had more time than normal to prepare at the hotel. I did the medical, registration, attended the briefing, prepared my bike, packed the race bags; I did two easy training rides and a swim. All was good and I had never been so relaxed, organized and strangely confident before a race.Before I knew it I was in the water on Saturday the 23rd February at 7:30am waiting for the gun to fire to get the 3.8k swim underway. My plan was to get below 1hr:15. in the swim – all went well and despite being ravaged by sea lice – slightly painful but more annoying than debilitating. I came out of the water feeling very comfortable in a few seconds over 1hr:15 so I was pretty happy about that.
In the changing tent one of my training buddies Randy was still getting changed and a minute or so later Don and Aswar came in behind me. That made me chuckle as Aswar had been kicking my butt in the pool recently (click here to see earlier posts) but I knew he’d be looking to make me pay later during the run.
The bike started well and fairly controlled although I think I let my enthusiasm get the better of me, I normally race based on Heart Rate and Cadence and although my Cadence was about right I let my heart rate stay too high for too long on the first lap of three. After 60k (1/3 of the distance) my ride time was under 1hr:45 which if I could keep that up my bike time would be under 5hr:15 (very fast).
The bike course was new again this year; it was hilly and very windy. The wind helped keep the temperature down a little bit but the combination of the wind and the hills took their toll on my legs. After 120k I was still on target for a 5hr:17 bike time but I was starting to wonder when it would all go wrong. I didn’t have too long to wait, at about 160k I was drained and the power ebbed out of my legs. I had drank about 5 litres of water at that point but it just wasn’t enough. I was feeling nauseous and probably couldn’t have drank much more anyway. The last 20k was slow and several bikes that I’d pasted retook me before the end. I finished with a still very respectable time of 5hr:35 but quite dehydrated at that point.
Never mind, I loved the new bike course, although everyone I spoke to after the race thought I was bonkers. On to the run, I took my time changing into my Union Jack singlet (remember this was about “Dunkirk Spirit”) and off I limped out of the change tent. I was immediately met by a spectator who proceeded to walk next to me telling me he was on holiday and it was wonderful to see another brit "flying the flag". It was really sweet of him but I then felt obliged to give him a bit of a show and actually run!!!ouch, OUCH, OOOUUCCCHHH! Let’s just say I didn’t get very far (less than one k in fact) before I was walking. That then really sums up the next five hours and forty one minutes…run a bit, walk a bit,… run a bit, walk a bit. Don went past, Cecil went past, 3k before the end Carmen went past (only her second Ironman and she finished 3rd in her age-group, 1st Malaysian woman and qualified for the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii – AWESOME, way to go Carmen).
On each loop I saw Aswar (with a crazed look in his eyes) chipping away at my lead over him – if only I could somehow keep him behind me! In the end it was a miracle, Aswar was kept at bay and I finished in 12hr:43 just 33 minutes slower than my previous best Langkawi time. My right foot was still attached, although it would have to be amputated the following day (just kidding Mum).I managed to convince the doctors at the finish to give me a couple of IV drips to help with my recovery (although the fact that I'd lost 7kg in weight certainly supported my claim of severe dehydration) and then it was a quick ride back to the hotel for a Milo Panas (Hot Chocolate), a Vanilla Milkshake and a big plate of Mee Mamak (Fried noodles). Lovely jubbly.
Another semi-successful race ticked off – now for my next challenge, which is go to the hospital and get them to fix my foot.Well done to everyone that started the race – remember as John “The Penguin” Bingham so wisely says “It’s not the miracle that you finished, the miracle is that you started”. Simon Says: - “This is true whether you finished or not, because you don’t get to an Ironman start without huge sacrifices, massive amounts of hard work and a big heart. I salute you all and I'll see you next year”.
2 comments:
wtf!?! if you lost 7kgs i sincerely hope the docs didn't need too much convincing you were dehydrated!! well done mate!
GREAT JOB !!! I need to look into this “Dunkirk Spirit” strategy for my next race...
-Kapil
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