The Cha
llengeIronman is the ultimate triathlon endurance test: 3.8k swim, 180k bike and 42.2k. A new world record was set on a fast, flat cool course on the same day as my first Ironman: Marino Vanhoenacker at IM Austria in 7:45:58. The cut-off time for an Ironman is 17 hours. During an Ironman athletes burn between 8,000 and 10,000 calories.
After racing in sprint, Olympic Distance and Ironman 70.3 (half Ironman) races, I was ready for the challenge. My first Ironman was planned to be China, but that event was cancelled 2 weeks before race day. I was already signed up for Korea as well, a race infamous for rough swims and a hilly course...
Preparation
Consistency In Training (CIT) is key to be successful and I have been training consistently from the start of the year under
guidance from Woody my Ironguides coach. The last 3 months I have been based in Singapore on garden leave for a new job in Hong Kong and had plenty of opportunity to train.
Two weeks before the race we moved to Hong Kong and I have been able to continue my training in the taper on the Computrainer, outdoor runs and swims.
Together with Serene my wife and Lotte, my daughter we flew to Jeju, Korea a few days before the event. This gave me time to prepare and explore part of the bike and run course before race day.
The day before the race, I used a fueling strategy that has helped miracles for several athletes of my coach Woody: 400 grams of chocolate and 1.5 liter of full fat coke to be consumed before 1pm. I had chosen 85% pure chocolate (fuel should not be diluted!). A quick calculation revealed that the sum of calories was 3400. I barely managed to finish the chocolate by 1pm and felt sick the rest of the day. Only later at night I was able to eat something, but I was still right awake as if on drugs until 2am. Maybe I should have used milk chocolate instead as it’s probably friendlier on the stomach. Will test some pre-race day fueling strategy in my endurance weekends in training going forward.
Race day
Got up at 4am after just2 hours sleep, but felt a lot better than the day before. Had some bread with cheese for breakfast, got my pre-swim gear and wetsuit and headed out to the Teddy bear museum from where the shuttle bus was bringing us to T1. Had my Red Bull 30 minutes before the start to prepare for a long long day...
Swim – 1:05:14
The water was 22 degrees and therefore this was a wetsuit swim. The course was simple: swim out straight to a buoy at 900 meter from the start, turn right for 100 meter
and then turn right again back to the beach to finish the first loop of 1.9K. There was a short run on the beach before the start of the second lap.
I had positioned myself on the front row, towards the side. Doing so I should have more clear water to swim. It was a mass beach start (917 athletes) and when the cannon went off, I ran to the water, dove in and started swimming hard for the first few hundred meters (the all-out sections of the swim training worked out well!). From the start I had a lot of clear water ahead of me and was able to swim well. A few times I could use others by drafting on their hips or feet.
The run on the beach inbetween the two swim laps usually feels tough, as your body had been horizontal for 30 minutes with all blood concentrated in the arm and upper body muscles. However, this time I was mentally prepared for that and wanted to ensure to use the short run to overtake some people, get it over with quickly and go back to the horizontal swim position. It worked out well. Sand was very soft and many used this as a moment to rest, I ran out and back in passing about 5 people while doing so. I could also take a look at the water to see that there were quite a few people ahead of me but the large majority of the field was behind me.
The second loop of the swim went very similar and even at the buoys the traffic was manageable and by sighting well I could avoid the crowds and keep my momentum.
The last 900 meters I drafted well on someone’s hips with several people behind us on our feet. Back on the beach, I ran up to transition while stripping down my wetsuit and checked my watch: 1:05… I felt happy as this is a good time for me! At T1 grab my bike bag, take of the wetsuit, wear my helmet, oakleys and put my wetsuit back in the bike bag and then off to the bike. Was pleasantly surprised to see that most bikes of my age group and in general were still racked, so I was towards the front of the field.
Swim conclusion: Happy with the swim improvement. Was a bit anxious for my first mass start of a triathlon race (versus wave starts), but it was 100% better than expected. My swim focus in training is paying off in addition to positioning well at the start. Need to continue the swim focus to get my swim below 1 hr.
Bike – 5:24:07
The bike was going to be hilly, but without the infamous massive mountain climbs of previous years. It was a two loop course, starting with 6k steady climb, followed by 40k of rolling hills. This was followed by a long
steady climb of about 8k, a turnaround point followed by the same way downhill to about the 60k mark of the ride. The last part of the loop is a 30k relatively flat section.I passed quite a few people in the first 30-40k and the last 40k of the 180k. A few people passed, me especially on some of the climbs. Because of the varied terrain, there was never a fixed group I would ride with. 
drafting going on in this race with race officials nowhere to be seen.As I was sick, I stopped eating and took some Gatorade from aid stations, instead of my energy drink. Wish they had coke, but that was not available. Getting sufficient calories on the bike is critical in an IM as it will avoid you to bonk – running out of fuel. Being sick I had no choice but I knew that this could have its effect on the marathon.
On some sections, pace groups would form, but on climbs they would fall apart. I always tried to stay with some of the stronger climbers and in that way overtook quite a few cyclists. I trained a lot in pancake flat Singapore but did very regular power intervals at low cadence and high resistance that paid off. But then of course there were some light and strong climbers that I could not keep up with.
It surprised me that not many athletes were racing the downhills and rather used it as a place to rest and recharge. I did race the downhills and some of them were very fast and long. However, often I was spinning even at a gearing of 53X11, so unable to keep the power up on the downhills all the time.
I skipped the special needs bag as I didn’t need the extra spare tube and CO2 canisters. Would have liked my red bull but the special needs bags were handed out on a fast downhill section, so I chose to skip it.
Pace groups were forming on the flat section, the last 30k of each loop. At about 60k I rode mostly upfront in a pace groups and whenever I took “a break” to drink or eat the group would overtake me but there was only one or two others who were willing to lead the group and doing so at a much lower pace. Whenever I took the lead again (annoyed by the slowdown of the pace group), they would jump on my back again. That’s where I decided to ride away from them and hope to not see them again during the race! I feel I that the flats are still where my strongest bike performance is.
After an hour or so with less calories, drinking Gatorade and a few sips of water with salt pills, I started to slowly feel better. My worries of taking insufficient calories grew and at an aid station I took 2 gels and I started drinking my carbs drink again.
The second lap flat section was better where we had a small group of 4-5 riders all keeping the fair distance from eachother, taking the lead of the pace group and riding good pace.
It seemed that many were fading towards the end of the bike (or holding back on purpose to prepare for the marathon). I passed quite a few people the last 20k or so.
I entered T2 and handed my bike to a volunteer, got my run bag and sat down for a minute to wear my socks, running shoes, fuel belt and to drink my Red Bull. Then I got up and out of the tent to start the marathon.
Bike summary: Great ride out there in varied terrain. Could have probably pushed it a bit harder on the flats and not settle to easily in pace groups. Need test different nutrition at sustained race pace efforts.
Run – 4:47:36
The running course was very hilly as well. The two loop course started with a steep downhill for about 1k followed by a 3k continuous steady uphill.
Running the downhill, I felt the sick feeling resurging strongly. I needed to vomit and felt dizzy. I decided to start walking and not to eat or drink anything other than coke from the aid stations. Very slowly I started to feel better and could start to jog the downhills. I would stop at every aid station to get new cold sponges and drink a cup or two of coke. Still feeling sick I started to run more and more. The weakness slowly faded throughout the marathon, but my pace was still very slow keeping in mind I have been running 4:10-4:30 moderate and 5:00 pace easy during my training, even after long bike sessions in even hotter Singapore. As per my garmin, my average pace was as follows:
- First 10k: 7:47
- Second 10k: 7.01
- Third 10k: 6:33
- Fourth 10k: 6:05
The last few k’s before the finish were downhill and I increased my pace further, passing several others. I felt stronger now as I was about to finish my first Ironman. On the last corner, I saw Serene and Lotte cheering me on as well as Reza, who raced the 70.3 giving me energy to finish strong. And then all that was left the red carpet of the finishing chute!
Run summary: Disappointing run. One can only guess what would have been possible if I would have run the run I am capable off without feeling sick . I was not so much affected by the heat, it was not as hot as my training ground in Singapore. The sick feeling, lack of fueling on the bike and the hills slowed me down.
Overall summary: I am an Ironman and am proud to be a member of this select group! My finish time was 11:25:29. An Ironman is an interesting long journey. Lot’s of things can go wrong, but also you have time recover. People have won races with punctures and other bad luck.
Nutrition is the 4th discipline of Ironman and it is a lot more complex than just eating and drinking enough. There is a risk getting sick when eating or drinking too much or take food you are not used to. You have to think of energy and salt. I took salt pills regularly and it helps me a lot. However, I still have to work on finding out the best fueling strategy on the bike. What used to work in training in Singapore made me sick in Korea as it was a race situation where there is more pressure and a longer continuous strong effort.
I finished 30th in my age group. The slowest Kona qualifier in my age group had a finishing time of 10:23:03. If I could have run a marathon of 3:40, which I think I am capable of in these circumstances without being sick, I could have made it. That’s an exciting thought and motivates me to do even better next time. IM is a great puzzle and you have to get all pieces right in order to succeed. Planning for my next one already!
