Race Report

I did it! I was the second oldest lady to finish the race.

Standing on the lake beach waiting to start I thought 'This is it, at the end of the day you will be an IRONMAN!'. The lake temperature was 20.5 - good. The first 15 minutes of the swim was hard until I relaxed and got into a rhythm. Congestion round the buoys and the exit and re-entry point on the island at the half way point was tricky. I put on a jersey and arm warmers and tucked in a waterproof for the ride as the forecast didn't look good and hopped on the bike. I was quite cold to begin with but I warmed up once I started working and my tri suit dried off. Down on the tri-bars for the long flat first stretch I was averaging about 18.6 mph initially. I turned off up into the foothills, which felt harder than I expected and the pace soon dropped to 15mph. The scenery was beautiful! I was glad of the waterproof when the wind rose and we were pelted with hail, soaked with torrential rain and blown about by gusty winds. The course dropped back down to the lake shore and back near the start, the short steep climb called Heartbreak Hill was packed with people. It was hard after 50 miles, especially as there was thunder and lightning and more torrential rain as I climbed. Then back out and do it all again. By this time my shoulders and legs were already stiff and painful and getting down on the tri bars for the flat bits was becoming almost intolerable. The second time round on Heartbreak Hill all but a few of the supporters had left. I was looking forward to getting off the bike to relieve the pain in my back and shoulders. As I changed for the run there was a warm sunny patch of weather but I put a T-shirt on as I knew I would be finishing late evening. I started to run but had to stop and find the nearest loo, all the energy bars and drinks were playing havoc with my bowels! This continued to be a problem throughout the run. To begin with my legs were full of 'nervy' pain, I could barely run, and I thought during the first lap that I was not going to finish. Fortunately, my wonderful husband was there supporting me and telling me about all our friends and family who were texting him with support and that gave me enough willpower to just carry on carrying on. After about 10km the legs were improving and the course volunteers were brilliant, giving encouragement, cheers of ‘op, op’ and smiles. It started raining heavily again, I was glad of the T-shirt and my husband handed me a waterproof which kept me warm. As time passed there were fewer and fewer people and supporters left on the course and during the last lap I was struggling to run for more than a few minutes at a time. It was already dark and some of the aid stations were packing up but I knew at this point that I had enough time to make it. I could hear the MC at the finish line in the distance saying ‘you are an Ironman’ as each competitor came in. Finally I turned into the finish and he was saying it for me!! I am an Ironman!

The Ironman is 2.4 miles swim in Lake Zurich, 112 miles bike round the lake and up into the foothills and to top it all, a marathon. I'm not a spring chicken and I've come to Triathlon quite late so this was a HUGE challenge for me. I did a half Ironman in 2010 and said never again but this effort is for my mum. I've been training since November, I peaked at 17 hours in a week but have averaged about 13-14 hours per week over the last few months. See what training I've been doing www.twitter.com/iron_gran

The Ironman site: http://ironmanzurich.com/

My mum died last year, she had had several strokes. I want to raise money for research and raise awareness about Stroke in her memory. Visit the Stroke Association website http://www.stroke.org.uk/home.