Ironman Mallorca 70.3 Race Report: WhittleFit Coach Mark Whittle

So its been suggested that as a few of my coached triathletes have written race reports, then perhaps the coach should write one too, so here goes! You might want to grab a coffee, this isn’t short!

Ironman Mallorca 70.3 was going to be my ‘A’ race of the 2014 season and in the months coming up to the race my training was going pretty well. As with most triathletes I was carrying a few niggles which I hadn’t let on to anyone, including knee issues (after a recent beach half marathon), shoulder pain (after increasing my swim training) and a sore groin (from my longstanding hernia problem), but I was adamant this wasn’t going to affect my race.

As the guys have mentioned in their race reports, we arrived a few days early to recce the swim and bike course and generally get a feel for the area. We all had a few bike issues when rebuilding our bikes but a quick visit to the local bike shop soon sorted that out.

The next step was totally stress free (quite a surprise), we all registered, put our bikes and bags in transition, attended the race brief and we were good to go. Ironman are such a slick organisation, everything simply runs like clockwork. All that was left was for us to get our heads down and mentally prepare for the race.

Race Day: We were all up early and had a decent breakfast. I had some oats that I’d taken out with me to the race, some Elivar Prepare drink and half a small energy bar, this was more than enough for a half iron distance race. We then jumped in the car and made the short drive to the race HQ. We headed straight to the transition area (yes, the biggest transition area in the world!), put some drinks on our bikes, checked our tyres and put our GPS units onto our bikes. Everything was going smoothly – so far!

As it was wave starts we were all starting at different times, this was the first time I’d done a big race in waves (over 3,500 people were racing!!!) and I’m so glad they did it this way, there’s no way I’d want to start with 3,500 new friends!!! 

Jimmy Donuts, Richie and I managed to grab a quick swim, just to get a feel for the water. I was getting quite excited now, but I’m not too sure about the others, I think nerves were starting to set in! Anyway, we headed over to the swim start area and the guys started moving towards their start pen. I was starting about 25mins after JimmyD and Richie, so I wished them well and made my way away from the swim start. I had plenty of time to kill and there were too many nervous people around for my liking, so I made my way towards the swim exit along the beach to watch some of the pro ladies exiting the water.

Swim: After watching how the elites do it, I headed back to the swim start. My wave were starting to line up, so I made the decision to head towards the front of my swim wave, probably one row behind the super quick boys. Now you must understand I had no right being up at the front, I simply don’t swim quick enough! But I’d made the decision to start up at the front and if quicker swimmers were behind me then they’d have to swim around me rather than the other way round. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision!

We got the count down, the gun went and the race was on!!!

It was chaos! You expect some “biff” in the swim, with arms and legs everywhere, and this was no different! For about 200m it was carnage and I was questioning my decision to start up near the front! Then all of a sudden I had clear water. No more biff!

I was swimming quite well now, moving onto peoples feet, getting a nice draft, then moving on to the next person. I was sighting really well, the buoys were massive, so I couldn’t quite understand why so many people were swimming off course!

I got to where I thought the halfway point of the swim must be and looked at my watch. I saw 13mins-something, which was way faster than I expected, so I just assumed it wasn’t quite halfway or perhaps the return leg was slightly longer. Either way, I was happy with the way the swim was going and once we made the final turn on the swim and headed back to shore I was content that I’d started the race fairly well (for me anyway, as I dislike the swim the most out of the three disciplines).

I got to the shore, stood up and looked at my watch and saw 27min-something, very happy with that (the swim must have been short!), as I was expecting to see 30 or 31mins. Most people were walking out of the shallow water but I wasn’t having any of that! I thought to myself, time to lift your legs up, get them working again and get out of the shallows (I must have passed about 10 people at this point). The run from the beach to the transition area was about 200m, so decided again to work this run and not meander through, which was a good decision as it pumped some blood back into the legs and again I was passing loads of people.

At this point I received a slap on the butt and a shout of “Go WhittleFit” from an unknown Brit! I later found out it was fellow Elivar supported athlete Matt Fisher who had a great race and went on to qualify for the World Champs in Canada later in the year. 

I got into transition, grabbed my bike bag and entered the change tent. Wetsuit off, race number and helmet on and I was off towards my bike. Now I say “towards” my bike, as there are suddenly over 3,500 bikes in front of you!!! Fortunately my bike was racked quite close to the change tent so quite easy to locate, but this in turn meant a 500m run with my bike to the mount line! I decided to take this fairly conservatively, I didn’t want to spike my heart rate too much too soon and with a successful mount of the bike I was off and on my way!

Bike: The first part of the bike is a flat and fast section out to Puerto Pollensa. As we were in waves, there were loads of people out on the bike course and I seemed to be passing masses of people. My speed was good, my effort was controlled, so I decided to get some nutrition down me before we hit the hillier parts of the course. 

As we’d ridden this part of the bike course a few days earlier (top tip!) I knew what was coming. The hill is not steep but it goes on for about 10km (6 miles), so you need to control your effort as it will take you nearly an hour to climb up to the monastery at Lluc.

I was climbing fairly well, passing lots of people from previous waves when I spotted a pink tri-suit ahead, this must be one of the Crap Tri crew. As I approached I spotted Jase, a WhittleFit coached athlete who races under the Crap Tri banner, and gave him a shout of encouragement (not sure the shout of “nice work big fella” was really appreciated!). 

After the climb you reach a petrol station, then you know it’s time for some fun! The descent off Lluc is like something out of Alpe d’Huez, full of hairpins and crazy switchbacks. Oh, and big drops if you overcook it! The descent was great, but some of the bike handling skills of the other riders left a lot to be desired, in fact some of it was simply dangerous (rumour was someone went over the edge and broke both legs)!

After the descent it’s about 45km of flat and fast road. We had a tailwind now, so everyone was absolutely flying along on this section. At this point I spied my first WhittleFit tri-suit up ahead (it was great to see people racing in the WhittleFit kit!).  It was JimmyD, he looked to be going well, so after a quick “whoop whoop” from me, I was gone!

This was the only section where I saw some blatant cheating. A couple of Spanish guys were clearly drafting off each other, literally working together as a 2-up time-trial. An American and I told them what we thought of them, either they didn’t hear or simply weren’t interested in what we had to say! Thankfully a draft marshal saw what was going on, had a word, they split up, but the damage was done, they’d clearly cheated for quite a few miles of the race.

Looking at my GPS head unit I could see that I had a few more miles to go before T2, so I started to spin the legs out a bit and finished off the last of my nutrition. A quick dismount led to the 500m run through T2 until I could rack my bike; grab my bag and head into the change tent. A quick look at my watch showed that barring a complete meltdown on the run I could, in theory; finish the race in under 5 hours (my pre-race goal) and I had a slight smile to myself.

I donned my trainers, visor and sunglasses and was out of transition in a flash (OK, it was actually a few minutes, but it felt quick!).  Then the heat hit me!!! Oh no, this was going to be a tough run!

Run: The run was 3 laps of 7km and after passing Brownie and JimmyD on the bike, I was hoping to see some of the guys out on the run course very soon. I guessed that Reggie was behind me somewhere and also Tom Foster, and I wanted to stay ahead of Tom for as long as possible! I knew Tom would catch and pass me during the race (because he’s super quick (and young!)), it was just a matter of when.

The first lap went well. It felt easy. Hot, but easy. The pace on my GPS looked good (a little quick on the first mile, as always) and I felt in control. Then the second lap came.  Now it was hard! Hot and hard!

I was taking sponges from every aid station to cool myself down and taking some water and coke whenever I could. My pace was still good, but it was a real struggle. However, the support from the crowd was amazing! From spectators throwing buckets of water over you, to simply calling out your name, the support was immense. But we also had a few secret weapons out on the course…….namely each other (Team WhittleFit and Crap Tri) and the incredible support from Lindo, Denise and Lanch. Seeing these guys on every lap was just the tonic you needed when you were struggling or going through a bad patch. Thanks guys!!!

On the second lap I caught up with Richie, who was moving pretty well at this stage, a quick chat and then I was off again. I could now see JimmyD in the distance…….walking. I wasn’t having any of that, so as I approached I removed two sponges from the front of my tri-suit (yuck, I know) and hurled them at him. Bingo, two direct hits to the back of the head!!! With a quick shout of “Come on, run!” and a shake of the head from JimmyD, I was off again.

Did I mention it was hot?

At this point I spotted Tom out of the corner of my eye on one of the out and back sections, I couldn’t work out how far behind he was, but I was sure he’d catch up pretty soon!

Next I spotted Butch up ahead. He looked to be moving well too, but after my direct hits with the sponges and JimmyD, I thought I’d try it again with Butch (simple things make you happy at this stage of the race!). Boom! Another two direct hits on the back of Butch’s head! A quick chat was had, basically him telling me he was proud of me (his coach) and me telling him he looked good (he doesn’t remember that bit!).

I was now on the third lap of three. The heat was rising and my pace was dropping. Not massively, but enough to tell myself to lift my pace. I was still on for a sub 5 hour race, but I didn’t want it to be close, I wanted to smash it!

Next Tom Foster ran up to me. He looked so cool. I’m sure he was hurting inside, but his running looked effortless. We had a quick chat and he then disappeared off into the distance like he wasn’t even trying!

I must have had about 3km left to run. Maybe 12 or 13 minutes, that all (that’s all I told myself anyway!) It was time to put myself in the hurtbox! I could see my pace slipping slightly, so I put my head down and lifted my pace. In fact my pace didn’t change – my effort did! I was working really hard now just to maintain my pace.

Did I mention it was hot?

With just over a km to go, I really went for it. It was not a pretty sight! I ran through the next aid station and there were people everywhere, I tried to run round them (sorry to the ones who took a slight shoulder charge) and turned the final bend, only another 100m or so on the path, then I was onto the blue carpet towards the finish line. A big sprint took me past a couple of guys who looked decidedly unsteady on their feet and I was over the line. I was spent!

I looked at my watch, saw 1 hour 33 minutes for the run and a total time of 4 hours and 52 minutes. I was happy! Hurting, but happy!

I saw Lindo and her mum Denise in the finish area, but I had to take a moment before speaking to them, I was simply so shattered! I managed to pull myself together, chatted with our own super special support crew and then patiently waited (in the shade) for some more of the guys to cross the line. After greeting Butch, Richie and Reggie over the line, we removed ourselves from the hustle and bustle of the finish line to go and sit in the sea, to soak our weary muscles and chat through our respective races.

Summary: Personally this was a very good race for me, possibly my most complete race ever! I swam much faster than expected (the swim must have been short!), I biked well and I ran the best I could in the conditions we had, overall, very happy!

This was the first time I’d gone away with a group of WhittleFit coached athletes (not the last from the feedback I’ve received!), so this was certainly a new experience for me. I’ve been abroad to race Ironman races before, but this race was definitely up there with the best of them. The course was amazing, the Ironman organisation is super slick, all the guys raced really well and the banter was first class! What more could you ask for?

A final thank you to family and friends for supporting me and the rest of the team through the last few months of training and on the race day itself, we couldn’t have done it without you!!!