Ironman Mallorca 70.3 Race Report: Coached Athlete Richie Bowen
Richie Bowen raced his first Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Majorca last week, here's what he had to say about the whole affair:
Build Up: I couldn’t believe how quick this had come around. I remember sitting down with Mark (Whittle) in October 2013 to talk about competing in Mallorca 70.3. I had originally planned to do it on a family holiday but circumstances changed and before long it had snowballed into a full on ‘WhittleTrip’ with several of the guys making their way to the Island for the race.
Mark, James McNabb and I were staying together in an apartment and between the three of us the logistics were sorted. My responsibility was the flights. I can honestly say I don’t think I have checked a flight manifesto as many times as I did this one in the build up. I have booked flights for groups before but this trip differed, as everyone had not just invested their money, but a lot of their time and effort in months of training. For that to be all screwed up because numpty over here mistyped a passport number, was more stressful than the race itself. Once we were on the plane I finally relaxed and started to enjoy the trip.
Until we picked up our car... It was huge. I think it was called a Chevrolet ‘Gigantor’ or something. Upon opening the boot hatch though it was blatantly obvious that the external dimensions had little or no relevance to the inside. Imagine the opposite of the TARDIS. We struggled for so long to get the bike boxes and bags in that by the time we got to the exit our car park ticket had elapsed and we had to go back for another. Not the most auspicious start to our time on Mallorca. So off we eventually set with our kit in the car and everyone (just about) inside too.
The apartment was nice. Everything we needed, and set in the picturesque ‘Old Town’ of Alcudia. If I was to race here again though, I think I would prefer to be based in the Port for logistical reasons, but this was a nice enough spot to bed down for a few nights.
First day we decided to recce the bike course. I don’t ride with a power meter or a heart rate monitor so thought it would be essential to have a go at his climb before the race. That way I’d know exactly how much effort to put in come race day. As it would turn out it was a long steady ascent of the mountain. Due to the fact I have the build of a two-pound chicken, this suited me just fine. It is also quite a technical descent but as a former MTB fanatic, I am quite happy to light it up downhill and managed to get on the bars a fair bit more than expected. On the approach to the climb several of the guys spotted how my rear wheel looked buckled, I brushed it off as just the stripes on the tyre. (It’s been mentioned before.) Upon returning to the apartment though I thought I’d double check and upon closer inspection I couldn’t even spin the wheel without it catching the brakes. Both sides. Great! A trip to the bike shop for emergency wheel repairs. Although I wasn’t alone in the bike drama department.
Day two involved getting in a practice swim. I have not been a swimmer long but I have always been quite blahzay about open water swimming. It bothered me little. Today though, I had a mini panic attack. I have never experienced this before in the water but I was breathless and very jittery. This would play on my mind for the next few days. In past races my swim target has always been ‘finish without drowning’ Under Marks guidance though my swim has come on a lot through the winter, and this really did throw me off. What if I froze race day? 6 months work over inside 15 minutes!
During this period most of the other guys had arrived and we had met at various times to eat, drink, chat and generally get to know one another outside of Twitter. I have to say at this point, what a solid bunch!
Bike and bag racking were all done Friday and transition was huge. I mean massive!! Over half a kilometre long and four lanes wide.
I had a decent spot, quite near the bike exit and everything was on my left hand side. Even me, with fully engaged ‘Moron mode’ couldn’t screw this transition up surely? As this was my first ‘Iron’ branded event, I have to say. You get what you pay for! The organisation was exceptional!
A good feed and an early night followed and I drifted off to sleep ...paning myself about having a nervous breakdown come tomorrows swim.
Race Day: Up at five, porridge a banana and we were off. I couldn’t wait to get in the water for swim practice to see off my demons. Firstly, over to transition to re-inflate my tyres and put my nutrition on the bike. I was feeling fresh and raring to go but still had this swim itch in the back of my mind. I went straight to the beach, wettie on and dove straight in, no shock, good rhythm. YESSS! Let’s have it.
Swim: 32 mins (I know WTF? Did I hitch a lift on a boat?): As I’m not the best in the water I positioned myself fairly close to the back of the pen and said my good lucks to Mark (In a later wave) and James. Jason and Rich Lanchbury, also in our wave, as was Butch Stephens, who I only saw briefly having a minor panic attack with officials as he thought he hadn’t activated his timing chip. We shook hands and moved forward into the pen. Music blaring, countdown, gun, off we go. I was surprised how many people in front me walked to the water. I legged it, mainly due to the fact the crowd was massive, and I thought I would look a right nugget toeing the line in an ‘Ironman70.3’ and walking into the sea like one of the holiday makers. I felt good and although I got in a bit of a scrap about 400 metres out I settled into decent rhythm. I was constantly passing people which made me more confident, and I was wishing I started further up in the pack. Then I caught the tail of the last wave! Shit have I cut this short? I got out the water and asked the guy what time he had. (Yes, I forgot to put my watch on!) He said 33 minutes!? I laughed ‘Not a chance bone head’ I thought to myself.
Through T1 easy. The Ironman set up with the bags is superb! I chatted to a guy in the change tent about how he was feeling, he said ‘Buzzing PB’d the swim in 33 minutes’ Hmm maybe I thought, but he was in no rush and could have been in the tent ages. 36 minute swim I said to myself and off I set.
Bike: 2h 58min. I turned my Garmin on. A result in itself for me! I had decided to go steady on the road out to Pollenca to try and conserve energy for the climb. I did get carried away a little but felt good so set into the aero position and pootled along. I hit the climb in good time and started up. There were people all over the road. As it started in ernest I came up on James Mcnabb (Or as he’s now known, Jimmy Donuts...another story) and exchanged encouragement. He was chuffed with his usual good swim, a 28 minute stint. I got in the middle of the road and carried on up the climb constantly passing others including a lot of the big guys who had powered past me on the flat run up to Pollenca. After a while I was in turn being passed by some of the top bikers in the wave after ours. These guys can really ride. I have to admit I was hoping to catch up with Butch Stephens as I knew he probably got out of the water a minute or so ahead of James. He bikes well though and I knew I’d have to catch him on the climb or descent if I was going to at all. I hit the top and started the descent, the road was fairly clear and I had a good run down the mountain picking up some decent speed. No sign of Butch (It turned out he had an awesome race.) so resolved myself mentally to my next target. My new mantra ‘bike under three hours and don’t let Whittle catch you on the bike!’ Marks wave was 25 min after mine and as I thought I was giving him 10 minutes in the swim (turned out it was 4), there was a possibility he could make up the other 15 on the bike. I now knew I would hit my three hour target easily so settled into conserving some energy. The bike was over all too quick; it was a stunning course with some amazing views. I headed down the long straight to T2, slipped off my shoes and stood on them, lifted my leg over and jumped off... BANG!! off flew my shoe, I looked back but with the adrenalin and massive crowd in an instant thought, ‘fuck it! I need new ones anyway!’ Some gent finishing just behind me picked it up and ran it over to me; camaraderie in triathlon is one of the endearing traits of the sport. We really are all in this together! This sparked all sorts of shouting in Spanish by the officials; we looked at each other, shrugged, and ran on. Hoping and praying I wasn’t DQ’d for some rule I didn’t know.
T2 was smooth, but racking the bike I noticed my bottle with carb solution in was still half full. I had been taking on more of the water and electrolytes, as it was more thirst quenching and had forgotten to get the enough of the gel rich fluid on board. With my ropey stomach lately I find it hard to stomach the gels straight. I felt good though, got my daps on, sprayed on some more SPF30, had a toilet stop and off I went.
Run: 2h 02min ‘Like a cat with a firework up its arse’ would be the best way I can describe my run start. I had mentally admonished myself umpteen times over recent months for starting runs to quick. I had gotten a grip of it (Or so I thought) but the big crowds and adrenalin meant my sense of reason abandoned me (again). Two nigh on 7 minute miles later and I thought ‘Woah, you haven’t got this in you, you nutbag’ I settled into a steady pace less than my target to claw back some energy but the damage was done, coupled with the lack of food on the bike and the temperature creeping into the 30’s I knew early doors the wheels would come off. It was just a question of when. I saw Butch coming the other way on the long straight and pointed at him and shouted, ‘Don’t let me catch you now!’ in reality there was no chance of this. I saw Butch in near enough the same place on all 3 laps and we exchanged more words of encouragement and waves. The fact the run was laps helped mentally two-fold. Firstly you could break it down in your mind. Secondly you could see your support several times. Mark passed me early on looking smooth, tapped me on the back ‘Richie Boy’ and steadily moved away. A while after Tom Foster came flying past me, we exchanged encouragement and I yelled at him to ‘Catch Whittle!’ He was moving quick and is a very impressive athlete. There was great support on the course from Lindsay Stephens and her mother, Rich Lanchbury (Yes the same one who started the race) and Pops Martin’s friend Dave. Also the thousands of others who lined the course shouting encouragement. It was so hot and by miles 6 & 7 it all started to bite. Mile 8 was hard. 9,10,11.. Well. If I had a corner they would have thrown in the towel and pulled me out. I stumbled and shuffled along in a mess and hit every aid station during this time for water, cola, energy drinks and banana’s then, ping! The fog lifted. I wasn’t moving quick but I had new found energy and managed some assemblance of form through to the finish. The finish line was really crowded as I crossed and I didn’t drink it in much, which was disappointing. It was nice to have Mark and Butch waiting for me at the finish with congratulations, high 5’s and man hugs all round.
Summary: I had a vague pre-race target in mind of 5h 30 to 5h 45. Getting off the bike all I had to do in my strongest discipline was to run a sub 1h 50 half marathon to get to 5h 30. That would have been my slowest ever by a margin, I run 10-15 minutes quicker than that now. Instead I conspired to put in a 2 hour 2 minute run. This still got me in under my target time overall with a finish of 5h 44min including transitions but my own errors are nagging at me. Mark had got me in great shape but a combination of bravado and inexperience cost me. As they say though, it’s only a negative if you don’t learn from it and it was an amazing experience overall. I met some great people too, Mark, James, Butch, Lindsay & Mum, Jason, Simon, Rich, Tom & friends all added to the trip and I thank them all for their company, encouragement, support and banter during the week. I think I will race there again next year. Not only to put right my shortcomings, but because it was a truly great race. Mallorca is an amazing island to cycle as well. So I may be taking the bike on the next family holiday!!!
Great race Richie and a great insight into what really goes on during a long distance triathlon. See you in Majorca next year!!!
