Jez
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Half Ironman 70.3 uk 15 June 2008I know myself and Mark are doing this on Sunday, anyone else??
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Lee O
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Damn i have no Swimming Gear, bike got puncture, might nick kids bike, but still got Stabilisers on!
Good Luck
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mikemoreton
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No comment, other than............Good Luck!!!
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Graham
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Good luck boys. Still have nightmares about those descents!!!
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Karl C
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good luck guys.
Mark, make sure you tuck all your hair in the swimming cap !
Jez - ditto
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mArKw
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OK, it took me a while to write this, but I hope it's worth it.
Wimbleball Half Ironman Race report 2008
Well, we did it. I'll let Jez fill in the details about his race, but my race was a bit cr@p.
I've checked my times from last year and have noted them down after each section. (The run and bike are in hours:minutes. Swim and transitions in minutes:seconds)
It was a mass (not in catholic terms) start this year. Last year, each age group set off separately. My feet were frozen cold from standing on the damp grass for so long, but the lake water itself felt quite warm. Didn't get any hyper-ventalating attacks I normally get when getting into a cold lake. However, the air temperature was cold enough that mist was spreading across the water, cloaking the red turn buoys on the course.
The swim started off OK, kept away from most of the throng. Sighting was very difficult with so many other swimmers and the mist reducing visiblity. I managed to get into a good rythym, but just before the first turn buoy, two swimmers came straight into me at the same time and I swallowed a large gulp of water and had to flip on my back to sort myself out. Had a minor panic attack but managed to get sorted. This event put the curse on the rest of the race for me. The rest of the swim was OK. I couldn't increase my effort and pace as the swim went on for some reason, so I kept calm and relaxed and just focused on getting to the finish.
Swim 43:50 (2007 38:50) (Jez 41:12)
Into transition, I took it easy as my feet were still cold. Once sat down to change, my stomach felt really bad so I took a couple of minutes to relax then get my kit togther. Had a gel and half a Go bar hoping to settle the stomach down. Found the bike OK and walked off to the mount point chatting with another competitor.
T1 9:53 (2007 12:49) (Jez 5:56)
There was some chaos at the start of the bike leg. Three bikes went over just in front of me, so I had to make a sharp turn to avoid adding to the melee. Then coming out from the lane, an ambulance was parked at the side of the road with a rider in the back, covered in the red stuff. Jez said later that he saw a rider out on the bike leg, with bandages up his arms.
I was looking forward to the bike. New bike, more gears, aero bars (unfortunately not the minty choccy kind), more bike fit. Took it easy to start, then once on the undulating B-road, put it into a high gear, got down on the bars and kept it turning. I passed a lot of other riders including the sole representative from East Essex Tri. The stomach ache never went away and sometimes would become very uncomfortable, so I stopped at the first feed stop for the loo. The stop didn't help so just had to carry on regardless. The steep downhill section wasn't too bad. There were far more other bikes with me this year which made cornering interesting, especially when coming across a very slow rider at the same time as being passed by a kamikase trained cyclist....
At the first major hill, I found I just didn't have the power I would normally have to grind up the gradient. The triple gearset came into it own and and breezed up the up quite easily. I now had my gameplan. Low gear, spin up the hills and high gear, aero position grind the flats (well the flattish bits anyway).
The curse of the new bike struck towards the end of the first lap when it started to rain. Everytime I've competed on the new bike it's rained, so stay away from Saffron Walden this coming Sunday when I'll be doing the Walden Tri. There was a lot of rubbish on the road, with gel wrappers, bottles, tools, etc. The rain made avoiding this flotsam and jetsam worse but I managed OK. The CO2 cylinders were the worse discards though as they were small steel cylinders and difficult to see at speed. My only worry regarding the rain was that the steep downhill would be wet on the second lap. Fortunately it wasn't as the rain was very localised and stayed in Somerset. Had bit of a 'set-two' with a car driver who decided to sit behind a number of slow bikes rather than overtake on a clear stretch of road. so I changed up and accelerated hard past them all.
The rest of the ride was OK until 5 miles from the end, where I hit the wall and lost all my energy. The stomach was acting up again so I stopped at the last junction for a few minutes to settle down and relax before the final stretch home. I believe now that although I was taking in energy via gels and Go-bar, the body was just not absorbing it.
Bike 3:27 (2007 3:41) (Jez 3:15)
Back into transition, I found my bag straight away and walked over to a spare couple of chairs to sit down and get the head and body settled for the run. A mad-looking white-haired St John lady came marching across and started to fuss over me, tipping my bag over the ground as if she was a contestant on Ready Steady Cook (Do I look like Anthony Worrell-Thompson?). I said I was fine and just needed a sit down (in my head the language was a little stronger) but she carried on and was trying to take my bike shoes off and get my running shoes ready. I asked her firmly but politely that I was fine and wanted to be left alone for a few minutes (in my head - the language was more colourful, it doesn't translate well on the page) Once ready, after downing a gel and half a Go-bar, I set off for the run.
T2 3:43 (2007 3:41) (Jez 1:33)
The run seemed to go easier than last year when I suffered a stitch / stomach cramps because of a lack of core fitness on the bike. I was having to stop a number of times to let the stomach settle down and had to wait for the loo at one point. Along with managing the recovering injury on my ankle, I took it easy to warm up the calves and feet which were still cold from the swim. Had a quick chat to Tracey Lewis on the course who had to pull out that morning as he felt he was going down with flu. Big shame. Gave loads of encouragement to other runners and there was excellent support from the spectators all round the course, despite the showers. Jez came past me early on, looking very strong. Feeling better on the third lap, I picked up the pace a little and eased across the finish line.
Run 2:22 (2007 1:5 (Jez 1:33)
Total Time 6:47 (2007 6:36) (Jez 5:39)
This was the hardest triathlon I've done so far. Mainly due to the problems I was suffering more than anything else. I've never DNF'ed a race but I did think about it sitting in transition after the swim.
As a challenge, it's falls into the OK category for me. So will I be back next year? I think I may be saying yes. Do some more open water swims, more hilly bike training and more brick sessions and I know that sub 6hrs 30mins I was hoping for this year will come.
Thanks goes to the organisers for such a well run event (they even took the waffle out of the briefing this year), the B&B for being comfortable, local and cheap, and to Jez for being a top bloke and showing he can eat chips and puddings with the rest of us (don't tell MM2 though....) and put in a great race.
Mark
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JBD
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And that was a half ironman huh ?
Well done Mark & Jez, quality report Mark, i like to hear about all the trials and tribulations...!
Love to have a go, but I don't reckon I could stay afloat in the swim for longer than 10 minutes.....
Good stuff you guys 
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mikemoreton
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Jez!!!
Chips, puddings and Jez all in one sentence? Hrmmmmmmmmmmm
Did he have a recovery beer though?
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Jez
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Well this was my first Triathlon since competing in Oz in 2006 and with hindsight(a great thing) it probably would have been better to fit in a "warm up tri" beforehand.
Billed as the toughest 70.3 in the world you get to ride 52 hills in 56 miles!
That said its a managable bike course with one very quick and scary descent, which you negotiate twice.
As Mark has already said the swim this year was changed to a mass start,and just as the horn sounded the mist rolled in and the bun fight began.I have to say I found this the worst open water swim I have done.The marker bouys could not be seen for the first 600m with the mist and the general mayhem of a mass start.I just stopped swimming let everyone past and moved over to the side to have a clearer swim.
Exiting the swim you have a nice uphill 400m run to T1 and a quick change before out onto the bike course.Localised heavy showers meant you got quite cold on the bike, even with the hills and I was thankful for the lady in T2 who helped me out of my shoes and socks and into my run gear.I couldnt feel my fingers due to the cold weather.
The run is undulating but not nasty.
I have to agree with Mark that the organisers do a fantastic job at these big events, the crowd support is excellent and is well marshalled all the way round.If you are thinking about doing it next year, enter before Christmas and its cheaper and when you finish, you will know you ve completed a truly tough 70.3 triathlon.
And dont do what I did and use it to kick start your triathlon season!!
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Mike Mason
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Excellent reports..good lessons learned.
I take my hat off to the Tri'ers in the Club. I always used to say I would love to try it but I can't swim or ride a bike......................to which I have added and I can't run very well either....................
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mikemoreton
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MM1 - quality comment there
Jez - you didnt deny the chips and puddings?
Seriously though. Well done to you both!!!
GB team next?
*coughs*
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Jez
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MM2 quite right ,you have to get your calories for these events from somewhere!
I think the saying goes "do as I say , not as I do" and before you get ideas, I have never said drink more beer!!! 
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mikemoreton
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Jez, I dont drink anymore..................I dont drink any less either...
Well done though,
See you soon
MM2
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gmike
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Excellent reports there guys ... hats off to ya.
I'm really fired up now to have a bash at this triathlon malarkey.
I'm working on my swimming ... which is less than hopeless at the mo ... and I'm finding the prospect of dressing in rubber, for the first time, quite exciting! 
I've even ordered some nice shiny tyres and some silly clippy pedals for my old jalopy! Watch this space.
All joking aside fellas that's a superb achievement in anyones book and an inspiration to us all
Well Done.
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