My triathlon journey has been a long one, my first one London
2003 was done as a charity challenge and the Olympic distance was
completed in 3 hours and 56 minutes!
My first mid Sussex triathlon was the following year, I finished
in 193rd place out of 195 with a time of 1 hour and 50
minutes! Over the years I enjoyed the multi discipline of
triathlon but never really took it seriously until I joined the
MSTC last year. So enrolling to do an Ironman was a big big
challenge for me!
The preparation for the Ironman had gone reasonably well up until
three weeks before race day when I strained a calf muscle on a
steady lunchtime run. I did not do any further exercise apart from
swimming until the big day, now that's what you call
tapering!!
A delayed set off and horrendous traffic meant we arrived in
Bolton a lot later than expected and didn't get chance to register
or attend the first timers briefing , this meant we had to do a lot
more running around pre race day than expected . We did however get
everything done and I enjoyed a chicken and pasta meal and was able
to settled and relax in the room to get an early night! Now you
would have thought that a hotel that doubles its standard rate for
the Ironman weekend would not hold a wedding reception the night
before hundreds of triathlete's had to rise at 4 am to complete one
of the toughest endurance races going! Of course they did, two
floors below our room, people outside shouting, cars hooting until
after 2 am, just what you need.
Notwithstanding this race morning went well, I awoke at 4.30 am to
have my usual pre training breakfast of some cereal bars, bananas
and a hot mug of tea, the only plus side of the hotel was that it
was a 5 minute walk from the swim start at Pennington flash, I was
therefore able to put my wetsuit on in the room and walk directly
to the lake.
We were ushered into the water for a prompt 6am start, I was
planning to go to the back of the mass start but inadvertently
found myself right in the middle of the pack, this made the first
few hundred meters interesting with lots of arms and legs flailing
everywhere. It did soon settle down and I managed to swim at the
pace I wanted to. All the coaching I had received and the swims at
Ardingly had paid off as I felt comfortable throughout the 3.8km
swim and exited the lake in 94 minutes, which was around the time I
had estimated.
I took my time in T1 to ensure that I was ready for what I
expected would be a seven hours on the bike , the only glitch was
that I had managed to lock the buttons on my Garmin and was
therefore unable to get it to operate after the swim ! The bike
ride started well I seemed to overtake more people than overtook me
and I managed to continue doing this even when I started to eat the
buffet I had prepared on my crossbar. As those of you who have
completed Bolton know the main feature of the bike ride is Sheep
House lane, it's bad enough the first time let alone the third,
most of my training rides had been from one point to another,
having to do three 50 km laps really seemed to affect my enthusiasm
and I was really feeling tired by the third lap. The third climb
was really tough and not wanting to do the walk of shame I kept
digging in but this caused my quads to cramp a few times which was
quite unpleasant. I kept the wheels turning albeit very slowly
.This was further impounded by a change in the weather as
torrential rain had joined the wind that was already quite strong.
I was secretly hoping to finish the bike course in less than seven
hours but actually finished ten minutes short of eight hours,
towards the end of the ride I was really feeling fatigued and
couldn't wait to reach T2 and dump my beloved bike.
I had stayed on my bike for the whole duration so I enjoyed a walk
and stretch around T2 wondering where I was going to get the energy
to run a marathon. As I started my run I seemed to regain my
enthusiasm, running was a luxury after spending that long on the
bike! I knew I still had just under seven hours to run my marathon
, I kept informing myself that even I could do that ! Even in the
first few miles I passed people who were already walking, I wanted
to run as long as I could without having to stop, I did this for
probably the first 25 km or so. After an initial point to point run
there was again three 10k laps to complete, again this didn't help,
knowing you still had to do the same run another two times after
completing the first lap. I kept at it though and even started to
believe I would now become an ironman, I started walking up the
steep parts of the route, the continuous rain seemed to help and
the vocal support of the locals really spurred me on! Complete
strangers shouting your name really does help you along! I stopped
each time at the feed stations and took on anything now, gels,
drinks I had never heard of, I even drank cheap cola. I was
certainly getting my money's worth ! Entering the final lap seemed
to give me a new found burst of energy , my quads and calf's still
felt really tight and my knee and ankle joints were hurting like
hell but I know had the determination to get this over with and
decided that I was not going to walk any of the last lap , I kept
running even at a slow pace and felt good as I passed many people ,
as I turned to finish the last turn I knew I had about 5km to go ,
I continued running as I knew that finishing before 9pm ( 15 hours
) was possible . Even setting myself this target I did still have
to have a rest and walk parts as even the downhill was hurting my
knees. These breaks were short and I did run for the remainder of
the race , it was such a relief to turn into the finish and hear
the noise of the spectators at the finish line , although I wasn't
quite expecting what confronted me , the noise , spotlights ,
camera flashbulbs , this was my minute of fame ! I almost felt like
a celebrity! I wish now that I had savoured it more and had stopped
to embrace my wife and family and walk over the line high - fiving
all the kids along the finish straight, but I just wanted to get
over that line and went for the grandstand finish and ran to it. I
was seven minutes over the 15 hours but that was irrelevant now! I
had done it , as the announcer bellowed from the sound system "
Dean you are an Ironman "
So back to the Ironman's logo of anything is possible , well this
time last year I never ever thought I would be able to finish an
Ironman and if Dean Allen can do it anyone of YOU can do it !
Many of my fellow club members have been so instrumental in
helping me achieve this goal, your advice; coaching, training and
race tips, support and encouragement gave me the confidence to
believe that "anything is possible ". My sincere thanks go to you
all! Thanks also to those of you who have sponsored me; I have
raised nearly two grand for Help for Heroes.
I also want to make special mention to Jeff Woodall who trained so
hard for Ironman 2013 only to have been seriously injured in an
accident two weeks before the event. Jeff would have finished a lot
quicker than I did. Hope you are there next year mate!
Dean Allen
August 2013