It’s All About Conditioning And Support
If you had told me 31 weeks before last year’s Ironman that I would have done it, I wouldn’t have believed you. But 30 weeks before I thought, “Sod it.” and signed up. Going to be a push in 30 weeks!
I’m the type of guy to wants to know everything about a hobby, so I studied all the material I could possibly find about Ironman triathlons. After speaking with a friend and very successful Ironman Athlete I wound up buying and training from a book written by Don Fink and followed it to the minute mostly.
It's 15 weeks later, and I realize that I haven’t actually got my own bike yet! So far my bike rides had consisted of up to 5 hours on an exercise bike in the gym. It was comfy, I was out of the weather, there weren’t any hills, and I sat there, grinding away in front of my own TV and wide selection of channels... this Ironman training thing was fairly easy so far wasn’t it... my friends at the gym used to take the piss a lot, they didn’t think I was taking training seriously enough while sitting there watching Eastenders with one eye on my heart rate monitor! Personally I thought it was going fairly well, but did agree I should actually find a bike!
I saved up and in week 20 of 30 I finally bought my bike, a light blue Specialized Allez. She was called Velo because I would later ride from Brussels to London on it so I guess I technically took her on holiday through France with me! I now had something else to study – everything bike related! I used to make bikes when I was younger, so I read up on new kits and kept my bike in pristine condition.
Lots of changing would go on an almost weekly basis to try and get my cycling position perfect. I was fairly comfortable on the bike and really started to up my mileage. When I would get to the 80 or 90 mile mark (around 5 hours) I would get some pain in the outside of my knee. I thought nothing of it, just took it on the chin, manned up and cycled through it. Normally the pain would go a little later when I took it easier. This was my down fall!
In week 24 of 30 I met the woman of my dreams! Lovely Anna, her support would turn out to be pivotal.
Week 28 of 30 – taper time. Training is completed! Feeling good. Really fit and injury free (as far as I knew), my target was to finish in less than 14 hours overall but deep down I had a faster target in mind. I didn’t tell anyone for fear of failure, but I told Anna that I was quietly confident I could obliterate that target. 1 hour 30 swim, 6 hr 30 bike, then a 4 hr 30 marathon would give me a 12 hr 30 marathon roughly.
I was both nervous and worried about the pain I was about to go through, but looking forward to it. Today was when I would become an ironman! I’m a professional musician and can never remember being this excited about a big concert before. Anna had helped sort my nutrition and transition bags with me. Most of the time I was messing around, all I could do was try on my swim cap in the car park as she wrote my emergency contact details on my race number. I was a little quiet but I think she was more nervous than me.
Race morning I remember my knees feeling a little tight at 4 AM as I woke up. “Too late now, just tightness from sleeping awkwardly” I thought.
I finished the 2.4 mile swim in 1 hour 5 minutes. That was a LOT faster than I imagined, I didn’t believe the clock as I came out and saw it. HUGE smile! I was more confident than ever. My friend Ben was with Anna that morning. “Easy like Sunday morning” he shouted. That made me laugh. The next thing I remember hearing was while running to my bike, a famous American voice shouting “You're doing it, Ironman UK 2010.” I remember welling up slightly. This was it. The day!
Onto the bike and feeling confident, this was my strength so time to get to it! Riding... more riding... mile 90... twang! Apparently IT bands are among one of the things I should have thought about stretching at some point during my Ironman training! The next time I saw Anna, Ben and the others (my family had caught up to support) I was in tears. I couldn’t put any weight through my pedals and had to get off and walk up any sort of hill.
After an hour in an ambulance I was persuaded into carrying on, there were only 20 miles of the bike left so I should at least get to the run section of the event and decide there. When I came into transition I rolled gently past Anna and Ben in lots of pain, both were very worried and had been waiting a lot longer than expected for me. All I could think of to shout was “I don’t think we’re going to be running the marathon!”
I literally had to crawl up the stairs into the transition hall and gingerly put my trainers on. As I set off up the road Anna and Ben had decided to take different approaches, Anna would be nice, and Ben would be horrible! Seeing Anna's face filled me with determination coming out of transition. I remember laughing as I hobbled off while Ben shouted at the top of his voice, “Come on Stevens, you look like a fanny, you’re not going to become an Ironman running like that, you look like an idiot!” Love you Ben! ;-)
That marathon was one the hardest things I have ever done in my life! My family had found us and was supportive as I ran along, but Anna was my rock – she actually ran 15 miles alongside me to keep me going! I couldn’t bend my right leg very easily so running looked funny. She rode a bike up and down when she wasn’t running with me, all on a ham sandwich, and after getting up with me at 4 AM.
One of the most important things to remember is that an Ironman isn’t just about the race day itself. It’s as much about the support you get as anything else. I couldn’t have done my first Ironman without Anna’s help, she would stay up late to hold my hand in ice baths, join me for the last few hour or so of training to push me through, come swimming with me, and there was always good food ready for me when I needed it. These kinds of things are priceless, I only hope that whoever ends up reading this has the kind of support I had.