Paul Arden | Sunday, 8 October 2023
Well that’s another Ironman done and dusted. But for me only just!!! It ended up taking 3 hrs longer than expected. Normally in training I’m consuming 750-850ml of water hourly. But for some reason I just found the IM’s water brand to be unpalatable. My body is a bit strange like that. I can’t drink tap water in Essex — or in Gerik for that matter — but other places it’s fine. Some brands of bottled water I can wolf down, whereas others leave me feeling nauseous. Normally I can get around that with flavour tablets. Next time I will plan for this accordingly and experiment.
The big problem is that if you can’t drink enough, then you most certainly cannot eat enough. And that’s what happened to me yesterday!
Here are my notes:
Swim. Happy with swim. Not used to drinking sea water. Need to train more often in the sea to prevent this. A mouthful of lake water a fine, not so with sea water. Lots of upper body chafing. Must try Vaseline around neck and under arms next time. Swim was relaxed. Really must swim breathing fully bilateral, since it means in a crowd you can sight less.
Comfortable transition.
Bike. This is where things went wrong. I found the water not very palatable. I have this problem with some tap and water bottles. Struggled to drink enough. And because water/ their isotonic drinks and my isotonic drinks all made me feel sick, after 90 minutes I found it very difficult to fuel.
At one point it was 36C, according to Garmin. I fully believe it! Twice I cycled off the road, once I may actually have fallen asleep. Neither time did I crash! Virtually all the ride Z1/Z2. Just a few climbs when I had to go over. Definitely some early signs of heat exhaustion. A lower gear cog would have helped on a couple of climbs because I had to go into Z4 a few times.
Transition slow.
Run was a disaster! First hour I felt good and then I bonked. Now 32K to go with no fuel. I managed one gel down in the first 30 minutes. Then could stomach no more. Water again unpalatable for me. Consequently I drank coke!! Really not ideal and even the ice baths/showers would only cool me at the start of fuelling zone, and by the end of fuelling zone I was overheated again.
Result 3hrs slower than planned.
Looking ahead: I need to find some additives for the water that makes it palatable. I think also an aluminium thermos flask to keep water cool between fuel stops would be a good idea for me and easier to measure my consumption. Also the solid food on the bicycle simply didn’t work for me this time. And I couldn’t even consume the Hammer pastes I’ve been consuming in training. It’s always an education :D Next I think forget the nuts and whole food and train long bike rides with paste only.
Fuck it was hot. So much for an “early” Wet Season!!
Now to recover!! Next week going to fish hard. James and Tracy ore off to the Bahamas. Oh and I must lift some heavy weights this week! Let the fishing begin properly now :D
Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Cheers, Paul