Ironman 70.3 Weymouth by Nigel Swepson

Weymouth was my end of season race, and at the beginning of the year I had no goals or targets connected to it. As the season went on and I achieved a PB at the Outlaw Full in July, I started thinking, I would love to end the year with a 1:30 half marathon. After a bit of rest and a holiday after the Outlaw I did a Parkrun at the end of August to see how I was running. That run went well and I finished in 18:28. In the car on the way home Paul messaged me “We want a 1:25 half marathon with that pace”. Challenge thrown down and accepted! Paul then tweaked my sessions in Training Peaks and off I went to achieve that goal.

Fast forward to race day, at 4:30am after the normal bad nights sleep before a race, I was up and ready. I did the 10-minute drive from the campsite and parked the van at the Swannery car park by 5:15am, the race didn’t start until 7:15am! I slowly walked to transition, which was about 20 minutes away, it was a cold morning, but calm. The weather forecast for the day was ideal for racing and I was hopeful for a good race. I arrived in transition with plenty of time to kick the tyres on the bike and stand in the cold. About 6:30am I put on my wetsuit, handed in my white street bag, and slowly walked to the start line. Looking out I saw a perfectly calm sea, this was great, I was a little apprehensive of the sea swim as I last raced Weymouth in 2017 and it was a wet and stormy day. That day I felt like every time I turned my head to breath I was taking in a mouthful of water, I ended up doing my worst ever half Ironman swim. At 7:00am we were invited to self-seed in the start pen. A good swim for me is about 36 minutes so I stood between the 30 minute and 40-minute signs. Due to the cost-of-living crisis and general cutbacks they hadn’t carpeted the line to the starting arch. By the time I got into the water I couldn’t feel my hands due to the cold and I couldn’t feel my feet as I had been walking on a pebbly beach for the last 10 minutes trying not to cut the bottom of my feet. The bonus of this is that the water that was advertised as 17.6 degrees felt lovely and warm. The nerves quickly went, I got into a good rhythm and by staying on the left-hand side managed to keep myself out of trouble. By the time my watch buzzed to say I had completed 500 yards, I looked at the time of 8:38 and knew I was on target. It was so clear you could see the sand underneath you and siting the buoys was straight forward. When I swam the Outlaw this year, I couldn’t even see my watch to tell how I was doing. Thankfully the rest of the swim continued as eventless as the beginning, I exited the water in 37:02. In 2017 it took me over 45 minutes, I had managed to put that demon behind me and started to think I could get a PB today.

It is a long run to T1 barefoot on concrete, I still couldn’t really feel my feet at that point so it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. Transition went well and I was out on the bike. Paul had put all the data into best bike splits, with my target wattage of 180 I was looking to finish in 2:52:55. For someone who lives in the fens the bike course in Weymouth is quite challenging. I normally get a nosebleed when I go over a speed bump, never mind going up a hill! I made the decision the day before to wear a long sleeve jersey over the tri suit as I didn’t want to freeze on the bike. This felt like a good idea for the first 20 miles but by the end I was regretting the decision. I carried all my nutrition in the back pockets of the jersey, 225g of carb for hopefully less than 3 hours of riding and 2 water bottles with 1500 salt tablets in. If all went well, I only needed to pick up a bottle of Gatorade at the final aid station. I stuck to the race plan and was hitting the target watts and was feeling good. By the time I climbed the big hill at 39 miles I was regretting the jersey. It felt like the jersey had a higher tog rating than my duvet back home, I might need more salt! After the climb was the last aid station, I took a bottle of Gatorade and headed for home. Thankfully the majority of the last 17 miles are downhill and I was pleased to get back into transition in a time of 2:55:56. Best bike splits had an average power of 173.16 and normalized power of 179.26. I hit 174 and 190, I am blaming the lost 3 minutes on my wardrobe choices. I was really pleased with that time as I knew the course was challenging and in 2017 it had taken me 3:16.

As I came into T2, I dropped off the bike, had the only wee stop of the day before I went into the transition tent. I took a salt tablet, put on my trainers, and went off to get my 1:25 half marathon. I quickly got into my pace and kept the HR stable at 162. First mile 5:59, second mile 6:13, third mile 6:16. The 1:25 was on! I knew by that point if I got the 1:25 I would also get an overall PB. Mile 4,5,6 and 7 were all 6:20 and the HR was holding at 162. The only problem was my black tri suit was now white with salt. Unfortunately, with all the excitement of race day I had left the other 4 salt tablets I needed on the run in transition. I was now reliant on the Gatorade at the aid stations. Ironman was also trialling an aid station without cups. The idea here is you bring your own cup, which they supply, and they pour it in to your cup. I had already decided I wasn’t going to use this aid station as I didn’t want to stop and loose valuable seconds. However, as I came up to it for the first time, I could see lots of volunteers holding jugs of water, I asked them to throw the water over me as I ran past to try and keep my core temperature down, I figured that would help. I felt like I was going to make it. Mile 8 was 6:22, mile 9 was 6:32 and mile 10 was 6:26. My HR was holding at 162, the engine was feeling fine, but my left hamstring was starting to get tight. I have struggled with cramping in the past and I was regretting not having my salt tablets with me. I slowed the pace a bit to try and prevent my hamstring from cramping. It worked, mile 11 was 6:38, mile 12 was 6:35 and now I was on the home straight. I pushed for the finish and crossed the line in 1:24:28. I was over the moon; I not only got a sub 1:25 half marathon but I also got a half Ironman PB of 5:08:19. It really was a perfect end to a great season of racing. By the time I had got my white bag Paul had already messaged me to say the run was the 2nd fastest in my age group.

I said to my wife that if I managed to finish top 15 in my age group I would stay for the World Championship slot allocation, I have never been anywhere near close enough to experience it, and I still haven’t. I came 21stand ending up driving home to Peterborough that afternoon.

That was the 2nd time I have raced in Weymouth; the weather plays a big part on how the day goes. It is a lovely place to visit, but as an end of season race the weather can be a bit of a lottery. It was a great day for me, and I think I will be visiting again next year.