The site of the long
standing Half Ironman (aka 70.3) event, and one of my favourite places in the
summertime, I’ve often pondered the possibility of racing a full distance race
from the venue. Renowned as one of the toughest courses on the 70.3 circuit, even
that race stays close to the venue which is barely the edge of the moor, whereas
with 180km to play with, there is a whole lot more fantastic riding to explore.
So it was with real excitement that I heard of Xman Events ’s proposals to
stage their first Iron-distance race from the venue, and much curiosity as to
where they’d take the route. There
would have been a few options to make it a more “average” ride, around the
area - the lake is within 30 miles
of the pan-flat Somerset Levels
after all – but my hope was that they’d make the most of the stunning scenery
and quiet roads one finds by heading deeper onto Exmoor.
Being locals
themselves, of course this is what they did, and what fantastic a route they
chose.
Fantastic, but with
~4000m of climbing on the bike route, and an entirely off-road marathon this
would by no means be an easy feat. The fastest athletes could expect to take 2
hours more than they might on a regular iron-distance course, and the
organisers weren’t shy in their statement that they expected a high proportion
of the field would NOT finish at all. We needed all the daylight that was
available, so as dawn broke on Sunday 31st July 2016, approximately
50 competitors started arriving to organise their equipment in transition for the
adventure that lay ahead of them in the inaugural XXX Extreme Triathlon.
SWIM
The weather forecast
was good and the early morning air reflected that, as we listened to the final
race briefing, surveyed the flat calm waters of Wimbleball lake and contemplated
4 laps of the triangular course that had been set out for us. A few people said
that they thought it looked rather far –but, don’t people always think that??
19 or 20 degrees and still, we had perfect conditions. I positioned myself
close to the front and got a good start, remaining inside a pack for most of my
first lap. Though not a strength of mine, my swim training in the pool has been
going well recently, and I have been fortunate to have had quite a bit of open
water swimming experience in my new BlueSeventy Helix suit thanks to the races
with Team Reko, organised by Freak Events through the summer. I felt I was swimming well – drafting
off one swimmer for most of my second lap, before their exit point (for the
popular Intro distance race) at half way. As I swam I felt relatively strong
but relaxed and able to enjoy the sight of ducks flying in “V” formation over
head, the mist hanging over the water and the changing colour of the sky in the
early morning sunshine, and appreciate what a wonderful experience I was
having. On the third lap my left
arm started to ache as usual, I found myself veering to the left if unchecked
and was pretty desperate to reach dry land. But 75% good :o) I was disappointed
with the apparent swim time of 1hr 08…but still, there were plenty of bikes
left in transition, and it turns out that those “over distance” speculators
were (probably) correct . I didn’t know it at the time but I was 3rd
out of the water.
It wasn’t a rapid
transition, I put on socks, a cycle jersey (with Powerbars loaded into the
pockets) and - a first in a race for me - gloves. I knew it was going to be a
long and tough ride, and my ‘plan’ was really not to treat it as a race but to
just ride it steady and efficiently.
BIKE
After an initial 20 km
gradually ascending from the Lake to Wheddon Cross (a high point on this side
of Exmoor) begins a 70km loop that begins with a very nice descent to
Timberscombe. I’d set out at a fairly moderate pace, with no one in sight to
chase or race, and following my stated plan to approach this challenging course
as a “solid ride” rather than attempt to ride Race Pace. I was relaxing on this
descent when Bonnie, who’d started a few minutes behind me, caught and passed.
Perhaps I’m taking things just a little too steady, I wondered, and started
pedalling a bit in order to maintain a small distance behind her. The route
makes a turn at the bottom of the hill, and then winds and rolls up and down
through a series of small typical Somerset-y lanes and hamlets. It was great
fun chasing her along this terrain, though harder work, and somewhat more
risky, than I felt sensible given my knowledge of the route ahead. We were only 2 hours into a very long
day…so slightly reluctant I eased off and let her go, aware that she might be
the only chance I had of company for the rest of the ride!! We emerged onto the
A39, which provides a break from the intense concentration required in the
lanes, and could see her flashing rear light in the distance. She obviously had
her head down and was soon out of sight! This rolling section of A-road leads to Porlock Weir – a seaside
town and foot of the first climb Porlock Toll Road. A favourite of the local cycle clubs who Time Trial up it’s relatively
gentle “Alpine” 5% gradient, it’s just
under 7km long finishing back up
at 370m, with stunning views over of the Bristol Channel and Wales along the
way. https://www.strava.com/activities/660680834/segments/16181172536.
A feed station at the
top was a welcome short break (get off the bike to fill your own bottles) before
the next section, along the top of the moor. This is an A-road (A39), so nice
and open with a good surface, but still very little traffic passes here. It was
great to have a chance to get down
on the tri bars and into a rhythm for 15km to Countisbury and then it was time
for the terrifyingly steep descent
into Lynmouth Bay. Yup, this
picturesque little fishing town is back down at sea level and that means only
one thing….another climb! The longest climb of the route is 11km long with an average gradient of
4%, the road initially follows the river up through Watersmeet, then opens up
onto moorland.
Fortunately, having
fought the headwind along the A39 from Porlock, the wind was on our backs for
this lengthy slope and we had the second feed station in Simonsbath to look
forward to soon after we’d passed the summit. Friendly faces (who were probably
just as pleased to see us a we were them, since the small field of athletes
were spread across several hours even by this point in the first lap of the
race) welcomed us with drinks gels and homemade treats to see us onto what I
found to be the most challenging part of the loop.
Although from Simonsbath
back to Wheddon cross you actually loose height, it’s reached by tackling a
constant onslaught of short and sharp climbs and descents of 15% or more, which
come upon you suddenly and are very draining.
Still, by the time I
arrived back at Wheddon cross, I felt much fresher than I had ever on any
training ride around the loop, and was quite happy to wave at the marshal as I
made the left turn to repeat all of the above.
For the preceding
hour, I’d been catching the occasional glimpse of Steven in his distinctive
white EverydayTraining kit as it glinted in the sunshine, and realised that I
was gradually gaining on him. Steven had entered the race somewhat last minute,
and as an afterthought to his race season. As such, he was really viewing it as
a training race, and I suspected keeping to his training heart-rate cap on the
climbs, thus I was gaining on him on these sections. He tore away on the
descent, but I knew I’d catch him in that section of lanes (where I’d been
chasing Bonny some 3.5 hours earlier!) and it was nice to have a little bit of
conversation. I asked if he was OK. He was fine, and confirmed just riding to
his HR cap. He passed me back a
little later whilst I took a pee break, and then sneakily decided to drop the
heart-rate cap and hit the Porlock Toll road climb hard on his second round–
just to mess with my head!!! I didn’t see him again after that, though the
expectation of doing so did help provide motivation in the later stages of the
ride….
5 and a half hours
passed (I think I was in Lymnouth at 125km then) …then 6 hours ( Simonsbath,
140km – the last feed stop and at least on my way “home”) …then 6 and a half
(at last, Wheddon Cross!!) and by
then I was really counting down the kms – not because I really felt terrible (
to my surprise – I’d never felt so comfortable at this point in an Ironman –
not that I’d ever got to 6.5 hours on the bike in an Ironman before! ) but because I’d just been out
sooooo long I’d run out of stuff
to think about. From Wheddon Cross
it was 20km back to the Lake, the way we’d come - just another 45 minutes for me.
I’d estimated that,
based on training rides, it could take me 7.5 hours to ride the loop, so at
7hr19 elapsed (7:13 ride time = 6 minutes of stoppage at aid stations and that
toilet break) I was just ahead of
schedule, and hitting T2 just before 3pm.
My friend Tanya had
probably been waiting for some time to support me on the run. She gave me the
best welcome ever, yelling “she’s here!!”
and as I ran out of transition after a pretty comprehensive change of
kit, immediately started offering me coke, redbull…and did I need her to run
with me? I thought “ surely I don’t look that bad yet??” but I knew I had
something to look forward to when I completed the first lap.
RUN
The run portion of the
race really was what I had been concerned about. I’ve been “managing” a minor
but persistent niggle in my left calf and foot, which has limited my run
mileage for the last few months. Some days I can run, some days I just can’t.
put weight on it. So distance of
longest my run all year was a painful 24km (on this very course 2 weeks prior)
and overall run volume has been
low, and my confidence with it. But, as I hit the grass at Wimbleball Lake that
afternoon, I was feeling fantastic! I’d decided that rather than asking
organisers to send “special needs” nutrition out to aid stations for me, I was
going to be self sufficient– at least to the extent of carrying it with me and depositing
it at the far aid station myself to pick up on subsequent laps. But within the
first few hundred, meters I was already so annoyed by the large water bottle in
my belt and the food pouch in my hand that I threw them in a bush (to retrieve
later). It was a warm afternoon and almost immediately I began doubting that
was a good idea. However, it gave me something to worry about for the next
hour, and having something other than my foot to worry about was quite
comforting.
The run course was
very simply 3 laps of the footpath around the perimeter of the lake. A lovely
trail run – with a variety of terrain to keep us focused. My favourite parts
were the rooty single-track sections through the woods – requiring intense
concentration, but flat and cool and solid under foot. The toughest parts were, rather
surprisingly, as we emerged from
the woods to cross grassy meadows . Not only were we in direct sunshine, but
the ground was cambered, uneven and cluttered with clumps of long grass. Very
wearing indeed, and these were also the most inaccessible sections so it was a
long stretch between aid stations. I was super pleased to come across Lydia,
who’d been positioned as a marshal in the middle of this hell, and happened to
have a drink of water when I asked her on my first lap. Only 8km in and I was
parched and really feeling that I needed to take a gel but was now carrying
nothing to wash that down with. So she saved me there by giving me her own water.
Telling me that there was an extra aid station laid on at the Bridge too helped
to keep me going through to that 12km point.
By the time I’d
completed my first 14km lap – passing Steven again in the process ( he wasn’t
moving well and confirmed that he was going to with draw at the end of one
lap) - I was still feeling really
good, and had not even a twinge of discomfort in that troublesome foot. Tanya
had found herself a job on the aid-station too! Actually that was a relief to me since a) it enabled me to
take the coke, red bull and peanut Kit Kat that she’d brought me without
accepting “outside assistance”, but also b) I was worried about how bored she’d
get waiting for me to come round each time. She was giving me rough splits to
Bonnie, who’d continued her pace on the bike, putting almost half an hour into
me by T1. Fortunately the time gap was so great I felt no need to push my pace and chase her
down. I’ll just keep going and see what happens. That time gap remained pretty constant, and I continued to
feel unbelievably comfortable!
More so than I’d ever felt in an Ironman before, where I’d either been
racing hard or blown up and suffering in an entirely different way. Today I was
just out on my longest run of the year, in a wonderful location, in the
sunshine. And every now and then along the way I’d stop briefly for someone to
give me a drink and tell me how well I was doing! I was also rather enjoying
eating solid food on the run (or semi melted Mars bars and kit kats!) rather
than just squeezing gels and slurping coke…..In all, I felt very happy for most
of the run. Of course, by the time I was on the 3rd lap, legs were
getting a bit heavy, and a little bit “walky” when we came across any sort of
incline if I did not keep an eye on them. I also had to watch out for even the smallest stone or twig,
which could very easily jump up and trip me over. I made a few great stumbling
saves (though only I was there to congratulate myself) and had just one “miss”. I heard
strange cracking noises from my index finger, which took the full impact of the
fall, heroically bending fully back on itself, which made me feel a bit sick. But
I was able to wiggle it and despite swelling and going purple, I think it was
just seeking attention which, to be honest, was a welcome distraction from the increasing
strain of the running.
I’d estimated that a
good run on that course, for me, would take 4 hours. I ran 4hrs 15, and accumulated 13 minutes of stoppage on top
of that to finish in just under 4.5hrs….completing the Xman XXX Extreme
Triathlon, Exmoor in just over 13 hours!
By the way –
organisers were dead right – only a about a dozen finished the full Xman XXX
this year (and so far in history) ….so if this sounds like you’re cup of tea,
get your name in for 2017 !
