It had been a strange few weeks leading up to the race. With a house move, a change of job and a heavily pregnant wife, the thought of lugging myself around 140.6 miles really didn’t appeal. Still, the 400 notes spent on entering the race, and the fact I was doing it with my best mate, was motivation enough to head over to Tenby.

The alarm went off shortly after 4am. There was no spring in the step or excitement, just a sense of trepidation, and that this was going to be a long tough day. A quick bowl of porridge, and it was time to head into Tenby, park up, and make sure the bike was all set up in transition. This turned out to be a rush job, as transition was about to close. Still, I didn’t need long, and then myself and Jeremy started the long slow march down to North Beach. The good news was that this year was a rolling start. There were over 2000 people entered, and the view from the organisers was that the mass start would have been intimidating for a lot of people nervous about a sea swim. Personally, I could have lived with either approach, but it was going to make it easier.

I put myself into the pen for the 1:25 – 1:35 swimmers. Before long, the Welsh National Anthem boomed out of the loudspeakers. This was the first of many special moments on the day. Finally, shortly after 7am, I was walking into the waves, and the worst part of the day was about to start. The swim around the first buoy was tough. Although the sea looked relatively calm, there was a large swell, and it was a completely new experience for me. I was struggling with my pool stroke, and kept on taking on sea water. I battled on, and was surprised when I finished the first lap in around 43 mins, as it felt much slower.

Onto the second lap, and the swell had got worse. As I got close to the first buoy, some water I took on had the distinct taste and smell of boat fuel. I stopped and hung onto a kayak. Initially I started wretching and then was violently sick a number of times. My throat was sore, my head ringing, and I just wanted out. Still, I decided to just try and carry on. After 1hr 27 mins, I finally exited the swim. I felt beaten up by the sea and pretty low. I took my time back to transition, and wondered long this day was going to take.

It was a relief to get onto the bike and start the second discipline. I still didn’t feel good, and had to make another impromptu sick stop. My power felt low, my throat was still sore, but the good news was I was moving, and it was at a reasonable pace. There are not too many things I remember about the bike. The weather was surprisingly good which was a relief. The two hilly laps were hilly, but manageable. The support was great.

The most memorable part is the climb up St Brides Hill coming out of Saundersfoot. There is a mass of spectators, many in fancy dress, most with cow bells and other instruments. First time up the crowd parted just enough to let me up, and it is the closest I will ever get to experiencing the Tour de France. It really was incredible and is something I will always remember. I started to have a few bike problems over the last 30km when I struggled shifting between rings, but at least it took my mind off the race.

Finally, it was time to get off the bike, and get ready for the marathon. I’d had a tough experience at the Outlaw, where I started at 4:50 min/km pace, and kept slowing down until I was shuffling at 6:20 min/km pace at the end. My quads had been on fire and that was on a flat course. My plan for IM Wales was just to take it gently and try and enjoy it. I set off almost a minute a kilometre slower than at Outlaw, but didn’t mind and didn’t feel the need to pick it up. I was only expecting to run a 4.5 hour marathon, so was happy to be running almost an hour for each 10km. The run course was better supported than the bike. It was an unbelievable experience running down tiny thronged streets in the town centre being cheered all the way. I saw a couple of friends and stopped to chat to them, and I walked 20-30 seconds at feed stations. It started to get slightly tougher but the pace stayed the same. As I came round to complete my third lap, I had the most unexpected surprise of seeing Niamh, Cian and my folks shouting me on. This was by far the highlight of the day, and I couldn’t believe they’d made the journey. I met up with Jeremy on my final lap and we ran it together which went in a flash.

And that was that. I crossed the finish line to have completed my first official Ironman race.

In terms of my own health, I’ve picked up a few illnesses and niggles along the way. I should have listened to my body and taken more rest, but was conscious of IM Wales looming on the horizon. It definitely took a couple of weeks before I could run with little pain. However, after that I started to try and pick the pace up on the runs and have picked up a knee injury which makes it sore to run.

The first two weeks after Outlaw I was living off the buzz of having achieved an amazing life goal. However, as the time drifts by, and the elation fades, the overwhelming feeling of tiredness has kicked in. This was always going to be the case, but I wish I’d been more prepared.

As it is, my best mate Jeremy came over this weekend. We ended up doing a 140km bike ride on the Saturday, and a 20km jog on the Sunday morning, with a night off on the beer in between. I felt a bit stronger on the bike, and other than the bad knee was comfortable on the run. It’s made my mind up that it’s all systems go for IM Wales in 2 weeks. It’s not going to be pretty. It’s not going to be enjoyable. There’s a very real chance I could do my knee some serious damage. But when have I let common sense get in the way ….

Day Before

After struggling with illness the week before, I had a great nights sleep on the Friday night and woke up feeling half human. I packed the car, said my temporary goodbyes, and headed down to Nottingham to register and rack the bike.

After all the hassle with the logistics around the Staffs 70.3, the organisation and layout for the Outlaw were top notch. Although the nerves had set in, my legs were finally feeling better, and small amount of confidence returned. I went out for a meal with Ben, James and Joe who were all racing, and then back to the hotel for the expected fitful sleep of a condemned man.

Pre-Race

The alarm went off at 03.10 and I felt half-human considering the time. We all went down to the lobby to eat, and then made our way to the venue.

I checked the bike, and decided to borrow a track pump. Unfortunately, the valve on the rear wheel didn’t stick out much from the deep rim, and I only succeeded in letting all the air out. In a state of panic, I also wasted a CO2 canister, until finally I was able to borrow another track pump that somehow attached to the valve and could reinflate the tyre. Phew … a major panic over.

Finally, I went back to the change tent and got into the wetsuit. This was the point of no return and I was committed (though looking a little apprehensive)

The Swim

I set myself up at the front of pen 3 (target time 80 – 100 minutes). When the horn went off, I spent the first few seconds trying to start my stopwatch, which for some reason wasn’t working. I quickly decided to give up and just swim. The first 10-15 minutes were the most bumpy I had experienced in any triathlon. I got punched twice, and had my goggles kicked off, none of which I’d experienced before. The crucial thing was that I just kept plodding on and didn’t let it affect me.

It seemed to take an age to get up to the turn around point. I kept encouraging myself to keep going, and telling myself that this was it. Just reaching the top of the lake was a big psychological boost, and the return leg seemed quicker. I was definitely overtaking a number of people in the last quarter.

I came out of the water with an official split of 1:16:31. I couldn’t believe it. I was expecting to swim around 1:25, though I knew the swimming had improved out of all recognition the past two months. I also had no cramps, swam front crawl the entire way around, and felt good.

Transition

Normally, I wouldn’t include anything about transition, but this was the second race in a row I messed up. I grabbed my transition bag and got changed in the tent. I ran out of the tent to my bike, but as I got there, I realised that I had left my number behind. I went back to the tent and searched around, but with no luck. In a panic I spoke to a marshall, who pointed me to a race official. Basically, what had happened is I had left my race number in the transition bag, which was now in the back of a van being sorted. The race official was great. He said he would let me go out on the bike, and would look to retrieve my number and put it in my run bag. I’d wasted quite a few minutes, but at least I was good to go.

The Bike

Ultimately, the bike was uneventful. I settled into a steady pace, and just concentrated on ticking off the kilometers. I was so worried about blowing up at some point, and I wanted to keep something in reserve for the run, that I rode well within myself. I focused on eating and drinking and trying to make sure I kept hydrated. The rain held off till towards the end of the bike, but then the heavens opened. It really was a miserable last hour making my way back, but the thought of the bike being over kept me going. It’s only in hindsight that I realised I had no saddle soreness at all on the whole ride. I think the TT bike puts me in a more forward position that just suits me better. Saddle soreness was something I was really worried about, but it never crossed my mind on the day.

In the end, I came into T2 with an official split of 5:42:07. This was a decent solid split without being spectacular.

The Run

For someone who had previously run 9 marathons, it seemed strange that the run was the part I was most worried about. I had done some decent long runs in training, but none of them straight off a long bike. I guess this was always going to be the real journey into the unknown.

I set off at just under 5 min/km pace and felt comfortable. I knew this almost certainly wouldn’t be sustainable, but I figured it was best to get some miles in the bank and worry about what would happen later. I took the strategy of walking each feed station (approx every 1.5 miles) as a way of getting a short recovery.

The first 5km went quickly in sub-25 minutes, but the pace was already starting to slow. I didn’t mind, and I definitely didn’t want to force the pace. The first 10km went in around 51 minutes which I was delighted with, and I ended up going through halfway in around 1 hours 50 minutes, though the pace was already around 5.30 min/km. This kept going up until by 32km I was pushing 6 min/km. My quads were on fire at this stage, and it was a case of just surviving. It was also somewhere between halfway and 32km that I started to think about finish times. I knew I was comfortably on track for sub 11.30, but I couldn’t afford to blow up.

I started walking slightly longer at the feed stations, and the run which had turned to a jog was now a shuffle. It was a case of doing whatever I could to keep moving. I had two stops with stomach issues, but this wasn’t getting any worse. By the time I started the final lap of the lake I was telling myself to just enjoy this. I didn’t care about the pain at this stage. Somehow, I managed to pick the pace up slightly over the last couple of km’s by not stopping at the feed stations, and before I knew it, I was coming down into the finisher’s chute. Niamh passed Cian to me, who decided he didn’t want to run down the red carpet. Still, I picked him up and held him close, and doing my best to keep emotions in check, I stumbled through the tape with the announcer confirming over the tannoy that … “Matthew Lewis, you are an Outlaw!”

My official run split was 3:55:56, a time I thought I could only dream of. My official finish time was 11:11:11. For someone who’s birthday is 11.11 there is something weird and magical in that.

It started on the Saturday night not long after my last blog post. I had a thumping headache and felt unwell, but I just put it down to tiredness. Instead, at around 1am, I woke up and rushed to the bathroom. There followed over 24 hours of some V&D bug that just completely drained me. Even on Tuesday, I was still in no condition to complete an ironman. I tried a swim on the Wednesday evening which saw me cramping – probably a sign of dehydration from the last few days. I managed a jog on the Thu evening which felt alright, but was at least 5bpm higher heart rate than it should have been. I did a very short bike yesterday, and the legs still felt heavy and achy.

On top of the that, Niamh has also been struck down by illness. She had the bug I got the week before, but came down with what may have been food poisoning during the week and was crippled for 24 hours but has started to recover.

And as if all that was not enough, I got a phone call on Monday saying I had till the end of the week to decide whether I wanted to stay at my current employer and TUPE across to the client I am working on. I knew I had to make a decision but expected this to be a few weeks off yet.

With all the above, the stress levels have been through the roof. I have spent many hours walking around with a knot in my stomach and feeling sick with worry and nerves about some of the big life decisions to be made. As you’d expect, none of this has helped with getting lots of sleep and coming into the race feeling well rested and full of energy.

I guess second thoughts are what happen as you get close to major events. I wish it was a week later to allow me chance to recover, but realistically I am definitely fit enough. It’s now just a case of whether I am over the illness and my body doesn’t just shut down. It couldn’t have gone much worse this week, but I can’t change that now. Hopefully, by the next blog post I will be an Outlaw and be proud of my achievement, whatever the actual result on the day

The training has gone really well lately. I have focused on the swim for the past few weeks. This has meant trying to swim 3 times a week. This has involved two “swim for tri” sessions at the National Pool, and a lake swim to get used to the wetsuit. I am still very slow, but I am definitely swimming more front crawl and it is feeling easier. I did my final lake swim a couple of days ago. I wanted to swim 3.6km but I ended up stopping after 3km. I could feel my neck still sore from the rubbing, and I didn’t want to make it any worse. The great news was that I swam front crawl the entire way around, and still felt strong at the end. I am the most confident I have been of getting through the swim, which was always going to be my worst discipline.

Without having the chance to commute to work on the bike lately, my time in the saddle has been going down. I am starting to get more comfortable on the TT bike, and I love the extra speed. We did a recce of the Outlaw route last weekend, and it’s a perfect course for a TT bike, with plenty of time down on the bars. My main concern is around nutrition and pushing it too hard early on and suffering as a result. I guess both of these are in my control. I practiced today trying to eat more natural food rather than gels. This means I will be using a cycling jersey as it has 3 pockets rather than the 1 on my triathlon top. Pushing too hard will be harder to stop. The key will be to hold back on any drags or when the wind is against.

The run is the one I expect will hurt the most. I know holding back 5-10 minutes on the bike could make all the difference. There is nothing I can do now, so it will be a case of getting through the early miles and just trying to hang on.

When I think about the race I get nervous, but I am also so excited at the prospect of it being over and having achieved a major goal on a bucket list. It’s going to be mentally incredibly hard, and I know there will be plenty of low points on the course when I will just want to quit and I have to push through.

I have my fingers crossed that my next blog post will be one where I have achieved a massive goal!!

The Great Wales Sportive was my first full iron distance bike ride. I wasn’t that concerned about it, as I have already done 4 other 100 mile rides this year, so this was only a few miles further. However, it also came with quite a bit of elevation compared to my rides of late.

I rode round with Jeremy, and the whole aim was just to enjoy ourselves, and not worry about a time. The main positive was that I finished, and I was still strong at the end. There is an official hill climb that came a few kilometers before the end of the ride, and I ended up with the 14th fastest time overall. It wasn’t all positive though.

The course itself was a lot trickier than I anticipated. By that, I mean there were a number of steep descents with sharp bends. In the wet conditions, and not knowing the roads, I just took it handy, but it’s definitely not my strong point. A steward slowed us down before one bend, and we cornered slowly to see someone being stretchered into an ambulance. There was also a road closed on the course after a road traffic accident. Your heart just goes out at these times to those involved, and you hope everyone recovers. It’s also a wake up call that this is just fun, and the important thing is to come back safe and sound in one piece.

I definitely struggled with nutrition. The first feed station wasn’t until around 70km and I definitely didn’t like the look of the energy drink. There were also no gels or energy bars being handed out. This meant at some point I just felt my glycogen stores depleted. I needed a couple of stops at petrol stations for a coke and mars bar to recover. In addition, with all the rubbish I had eaten, my stomach felt in bits at the end. I was in no position to start a marathon.

Still, in the space of less than 24 hours I had done my first IM swim and bike distances, so I have to feel more confident I am in shape to get around on the day.

The Great Wales Swim was the event I was most dreading. Apart from one 3km swim in a lake, which involved plenty of breaststroke, I had never swum 2km or more before. Now I was staring at 3.8km, and not just that. It was in a sea, with around 1600 other swimmers, and with schools of jellyfish.

I had tried to play it down beforehand. The one advantage of this event is that it’s two laps. That meant if it was all going badly I could abandon after the first lap. Having said that, I’m not sure what that would have done for the confidence levels.

So, at around 7pm on Friday 3rd July, I ran (well walked slowly to be honest) into the sea to start this adventure.

Overall, I have to be really happy with how it went. I guess I can summarise in the following points:

1) I made it. The Outlaw swim in a lake will be much easier than swimming in the sea, so I know I can do that. I also managed front crawl nearly all the way around.

2) The time was slow. I finished in 1hr 33mins. I guess I had a figure around 1.25 in my head, but definitely sub 1.30. I think I also came in the bottom 25% of the two lap swimmers. I am where I am though, and I shouldn’t be comparing myself to other swimmers. The time is important to me, but I am only competing against myself.

3) Jellyfish. I had heard talk about jellyfish, but I was expecting to see and touch so many. On the second lap, I ended up closing my eyes for some stretches to try and stop it getting to me.

4) Cramp. I didn’t fully cramp, but I had three spasms during the swim. I think this was caused by a hard 2 hour bike ride I had done the night before. I’m not going to let this worry me.

5) Wetsuit Rubbing. This was the only negative really, excluding the time. I was in quite a bit of pain on the first lap with the wetsuit rubbing my neck. I was even tempted to bail to stop further damage. In the end I just battled on, but have been suffering since.

The next two weekends are taken up with the Long Course Weekend and a recce of the Outlaw, and that just leaves the weekend before the Outlaw, which should be a winding down affair.

There’s a part of me that now wishes I had pushed myself harder so I could have been more prepared. That’s probably one of the dangers of the social world we live in. I like putting my activities up on Strava, but that also means I get to see what other friends are doing and even more dangerous is looking at the training groups for the Outlaw and IM Wales. From a Strava perspective, I have been looking to do maybe 10 hours/week over the past month or so if I’ve been lucky. However, Strava only shows the duration of your activity. It doesn’t take into account the time to get ready, or to get showered after and put everything away. That doesn’t count as training but it still counts as time away from family. I guess if I did fall down somewhere, it was not making every second count. If I have a chance to put in some extra miles, I rarely took it. I didn’t even follow a training program. Instead, I just made up what to do listening to my own body and looking up articles on the internet.

I first a marathon (London) back in 2005. I remember seeing a sign that second thoughts is what happens before marathons. I guess that’s also true for an ironman.

You could always have trained harder and longer, and stretched more, and ate better. However, I am not a professional athlete and I don’t do this for a living, and it was important to try and reduce the impact on friends and family.

On Friday I did my longest open water swim ever of 3km. I do wish I had started using the lake earlier. The lake has a marked course of 600m, and I managed 5 laps. I had never managed even a whole lap without switching to breaststroke previously, but I managed around 2.5 laps this time. That was a massive improvement. The downside was that I started to struggle over the last 2 laps, and the amount of crawl got less and less. It has given me confidence that I will get around. It’s also made me realise that I will be tired getting onto the bike.

I’ll be setting off for my last long run in a bit. I’m hoping to do around 20 miles, which will be my longest for a few years since I last ran a marathon. My legs are heavy and achy, and knees are a sore, but if I can struggle around that will give me another boost.

Next weekend is the Long Course Weekend, and a trial run for IM Wales. I am doing the full Ironman swim on Friday evening (though there is the option to stop after the first of two laps), and the Ironman bike on Saturday morning. The weekend after I’m doing a one day recce of the Outlaw bike and run course.