The Iron Man

I think the main problem I have is fuelling. It’s hot, it’s humid, the body is running hot, eating is a real challenge. Even taking in fluids can be difficult.  The bottled water provided I find unpalatable, so I bring my own. But this year I found even this difficult to stomach too.

And as a consequence I just don’t have the run I want. I should be running a 4.30 marathon. Nothing groundbreaking. But it should be a given. And I’m not doing that. Instead this year I did run about 20km of the marathon in two blocks but the rest was a forced march. Interestingly I did march past some people who were actually running! (Fly fishermen are fast walkers apparently).

It’s 30 something C and 85% humidity. It’s going to be sweaty and slow, whichever way you look it, and yes I don’t expect to feel 100% great but I do expect better.

My swim was 1hr 48. My fastest has been still a relatively slow 1hr 26 back in Hungary. And swimming is like flycasting; it’s a technical sport, but unlike flycasting I’m not technical at swimming. So I need to get my swim down to 1hr 20 and still treat it like the warmup that it is. I live on a lake, I get swim coaching. I need to train this properly between now and the next Ironman. Oh yes, despite questioning whether or not there would even be another Ironman on the run, I knew then and I know now, that I’ll be back again next year.

I do this to be fit and what else is going to get me regularly training 15 and more hrs/week?

And then there is the bike. I need a tri bike. Partly for the geometry and the course is largely flat enough certainly to merit it. But also a new bike is going to be significantly lighter than the machine I currently ride. Which I’m going to weigh this week out of curiosity. And with about 2000m of climbing this is going to make a difference. (Incidentally I don’t know if it’s 1600m, 1800m or 2111m. Nobody knows for sure! I do know there are three steep hills, that you do twice, and rather a lot of other ups and downs).

I also need to fix the flat tyre problems. In all three of the last IM races here, I’ve had one flat on each. And on the two previous 70.3 races I had one or two flats on each of those too! There is a 10 minute saving to be made here, and while I’m getting quicker at swapping tubes over the problem is fixable with different gear.

The run this time, with my new super shoes, which were great on the 21km training runs leading up, caused blisters on the balls of the feet when the shoes were soaking wet. Graeme in Auckland has recommended some great running socks.

Ironman: it’s a frustrating and expensive learning adventure!

Something I have been thinking about seriously is getting coached. I couldn’t afford it this year (nor the bike) partly with two new outboards, Sexyloops trademarks, and US tariff problems. But hopefully in the early new year, after setting up our US rod builder, I’ll have some extra money for this. After all, I am a coach myself! It would be bizarre for me not to get triathlon coaching!! It’s something I believe in very much and I see the results in my students/athletes every day.

It’s all very well to finish these things. But I want to see improvements. 13hrs would be a very respectable time here. My fastest was 12.50 in Hungary. Nothing earth-shaking, but that, or a similar time here, I think would be pretty damned outstanding and a fitness level worth earning.

And it’s achievable. 1.20, 7, 4.30. Plus some time for transitions. That for me, in this climate, is like a 120’ distance cast!

What I did learn this time: by stretching out the IM swim cap with a kettle and two bottles of water for 2 days, which is obviously intended for people with tiny little heads, and wearing it on top of my normal swim cap, with dreads sailing out behind me, like a permit fin, and goggles over the top of both, the swim cap will stay put.

There was one other beard in the race, but mine was longer. He was a Viking. I’m a fly fisherman. That would explain it.

Also my googles hurt my eyes and when lifting them to relieve the pressure, I unexpectedly took in quite a lot of Langkawi sea-water. Which had me dry retching with about 800m to go. That wasn’t my finest race moment. Different goggles next year!

For fuelling I had 80-120g carbohydrates from Hammer Perpetuem (instead of 240g, but I just couldn’t stomach more). 46g from 2 bananas. 80g from two Clif bars. And 50g from Hammer Perpetuem chews. I had my metabolism tested in a lab a few years ago and I’m a high fat burner. On the bike I should be eating 46g/hr and on the run about 28g (with a sandwich inbetween!). So I was still under-fuelled and couldn’t stomach any of the planned gels on the run. But this is not like two years ago when I couldn’t fuel at all and bonked early, nor like last year when I was frightened to fart and so blew up like a balloon instead!

This year I didn’t take the sandwiches (to avoid ballooning), and while on the bike I… craved rice! So I’m going to try rice and potatoes next year. Ie real food! Salty and not sweet. And I will train my long rides regularly with such mouthwatering food as Sexyloops Salted Spuds.

A couple of other things I’m going to do is some long runs. 50km. Maybe 100km. And long swims of 10km. I think that will make the whole tropical IM a more comfortable experience.  Sort of a “this could be worse because it has been” mindset!

Incidentally I did negative split on the run! And while that was my entire stated race plan, I obviously need to be a bit more precise with the other aspects of the race too!

 

And for the second time in succession, I arrived back with some chap pirouetting about at the end of the race, like, well he’d just finished an Ironman. There will be some hairy monster in the background of his race finisher photos looking decidedly pissed off that I had slowed down to let him go through first.

Anyway, it was a good time, I think I know what I need to do next and I’ll get there. It’s like fly fishing; it’s not supposed to be easy. It certainly isn’t, but it can be better.

And isn’t that actually what it’s all about? If I had run the perfect race and been satisfied, then I wouldn’t be thinking about how to train harder, faster, fuel better, how to become a better triathlete. That to me is why we do it in the first place. It’s never about the end; it’s always about what we learned in the process and how to be better next time.

 

 

Rereading this FP I’ve realised that I’d like to race again now very soon. Waiting another year seems too long... I’m looking at the Taiwan Ironman in April.

 

So to other news… three people have asked this week about Zoom flycasting coaching.  I am looking at bringing in Nick Moore. I think he would make an excellent Sexyloops coach. I have about 90 students at the moment and while bringing in Nick will initially mean a lot more work for me, in the long term I think it makes a lot of sense. The course I give is phenomenal, as my students do attest! And bringing in another coach that aligns with me, will allow me to continue accepting new students, as opposed to keeping it almost like a secret, for fear of getting overwhelmed.

We are also coming into Wet Season and I have guests for two weeks in December, three weeks in January and I expect two weeks in February.  Two weeks is normally my limit but I’m doing three in January as a special favour.

By January we should be building Hot Tornados in Texas.

So busy, busy, busy.

Come March I plan to base myself in Sungai Tiang to really help promote their fishing and business. The Orang Asli will teach me the Malay Language and I will promote the hell out of their business. If you are thinking of coming to Malaysia, to fish for Mahseer, then now is a good time to let me/us know your intentions. It will also be interesting to spend time fishing the river.

This next year may be my last year in Malaysia but I expect probably to be here for two more years. And then we sail. If I can learn the Malay language then I get permanent residency, which I think makes a lot of sense before we leave.

Have a great week :))

Cheers, Paul