Runs, rides ‘n' swims and a Half Ironman by JSIMMONDS

I know, I know. I have been away from here a long time. Truth be told, life has been a little hectic. I have moved house and been ridiculously busy at work, been training for the hardest Ironman 70.3 in the world and Susan has been training for her Paris to Geneva bike ride.

So all told, I am a bit knackered.

However…

I HAVE DONE IT !

Last weekend, I competed in, and completed the UK Ironman 70.3 at Wimbeball Lake, Exmoor. The same course that the 2008 winner, Ironman legend Chris McCormack branded as “the hardest 70.3 course in the world”, and last year’s winner, Fraser Campbell described as “brutal”. Nearly 6000 feet of climbing on the bike course alone, then a tough, hilly run to finish.

So, as you can imagine, I approached it with more than a little trepidation. I was one a team of competitors all paid for by work, so we competed as the Thomson Reuters Triathlon Team, in Thomson Reuters branded kit. It was such an amazing weekend that I can’t sum it all up in a blog without you all falling asleep, so here are the highlights (and lowlights):

Swim – horrendous. I have done many mass starts but never one with 1250 swimmers in such a small place. I got battered, bruised, kicked, punched, swam over, pulled and pushed and it was a good 400 metres before I finally swam out wide and found open water and settled into a rhythm. As a result, my swim time of 47:26 was very slow.

Transition 1 – I was so cold. The water was freezing. There was a 400 metre run all uphill from the lake to T1 so I was also tired. So cold my hands didn’t work so with the help of an Ironman volunteer, I managed to get my wetsuit off, pull on my socks and do my jersey zip up. Crammed some food in and headed out on the bike. This was where the main event started.

Bike – what a fantastic, beautiful course. But my god, there was no respite. 56 miles of scary 40mph descents mixed with dozens of insanely steep hills. Loads of people walking and I felt great. I was smashing the course apart. I must have overtaken literally hundreds of people on the bike. Final time of 3 hours 35 minutes was an hour inside the cutoff time and an average 15.8mph was miles faster than I expected on such an unbelievably hard course.

Transition 2 – faster. 3 mins ish.

Run – I was utterly spent. Shuffled my way round the very hilly off road course. Stuffed my face with jelly babies and finally the Ironman red carpet was in sight. Put in a spurt at the finish to cross the line in a half marathon time of 2:21 (poor but I could manage no more!), and an overall time of 6 hours 58 minutes.

So pleased with it all. I did my usual blubbing when I crossed the line. This was undoubtedly the hardest event I have ever done, but I really felt as if I had done it justice. Massive thanks to all the Thomson Reuters gang and all the support given. Thanks also to my team (only 5 of 9 of whom completed – testament to the severity of the course).

And Susan? Well, she completed her Paris to Geneva ride – 350 miles in 4 days including two mountains. She is nails. Nails I tell you.

What now?