Siobhan Brewer Conquers IM Lanzarote

Ironman Lanzarote- the world’s hardest ironman event.

Siobhan Brewer

Summary

If you are short on time and can’t be bothered to read about the preparation, the equipment, the experience and the problem solving required to get round this event I can cut to the chase.

It was awesome. It was up there with one of the bestest craziest events I have ever done (and I’ve done more than a few in my time…). It was hard and hard again and again, but I got round.

If however, you have a glimmer, a pique of interest in ever doing this event then read on. If I can finish this event as an ordinary, mediocre middle aged woman who was never very sporty at school then you can too. I will endeavour to share my approach, tips and experience which hopefully might aid you come race day

The Journey

I know I can write a lot! But I feel this is relevant. I met some competitors in Lanza who were decent marathon runners and had just rocked up to the event. This may have been an approach I could have been guilty of in the past. However, they never even got the chance to make it to the run as they missed the bike cut off. I also met some folks who had DNFed previously and were back to give it another go. The following is an account of my journey to Ironman Lanza. The purpose is not a self-congratulatory triathlon curriculum vitae but to illustrate the previous experience and learning I required to finish the event

· Why long distance triathlon?

In 2015 I achieved all I wanted to achieve in marathon running. I had ridden that very thin line between putting the training in to achieve the time I wanted and not getting injured. The line had become thinner and thinner. I needed to do something different. That summer I also completed the magnificent Jura fell race. I followed this up with some local fell races. On one event after scrambling sharp edge at the top of Helvellyn I fell over whilst running on a flat piece of ground. I finished the event and had to attend A&E with two dislocated fingers in my left hand. I am left handed and what’s more the gear stick in a car is on the left hand side - say no more. After this my confidence running on fells collapsed. I simply couldn’t afford an injury like this again. My fell running career was over.

· The Lakesman

At the local gym I saw an advert for a new event close to my home in the Lake District. This could be what I was looking for. Despite not being able to swim properly I signed up. I got a local coach and poured myself into training for this event. This was going to be it. The challenge to end all challenges and then I was done. I finished in not too shabby a time.

· Cycling

The next summer I embraced cycling. I have a diminutive 5ft 2 stature and despite being light I have inherited my father’s chunky footballer’s legs. Whilst cycling around Cumbria I had a revelation that for once my physique held a unique advantage. I could leave much better runners than me for dust cycling up hills. On a good day I could even keep up with runners I could only say hello to at the start of local road races and then never see again until the buffet at the end. I didn’t have a lot of power on the flat and had a shameless reputation as a ‘wheel sucker’ who would then sail away come the next climb. What’s more, cycling up hills made my heart soar. I loved it. After the Fred Whitton I did a lot of 100mile sportives in the Yorkshire dales. For Ironman lanza in my view you have to love cycling up a hill, this is what you will do for the majority of the day.

· Ironman Austria 2018

‘You’ve not done an ironman until you’ve done an ironman branded event and got the tattoo’

In 2018 my son was studying German and we decided to go on ‘the trip of a lifetime ‘to Ironman Austria. We stayed for a week, went round all the sights and even went to Slovenia for the day. We had a whale of a time. This was the beginning of the ‘trication’ experience. The triathlon not being the raison d’etre on its own. Ironman Austria has a beautiful blue sparkly lake for the swim. I’ve never swam anywhere as amazing since. On the day of the event the air temperature was over 30 degrees and sunny. At mile 10 on the run I had uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhoea. I was saved by a fellow Scotsman who walked with me to the finish. In my day job I would like to think I know about over the counter remedies for such eventualities. After Ironman Austria I always carry an ‘emergency pack’ of remedies in big events

· Ironman Copenhagen 2019

‘One day in my life I will go over that bridge’

Ironman Copenhagen has a temperate climate. The swim although in the sea is in a protected lagoon with guaranteed calm waters. For the ‘trication’ experience Copenhagen is a great city to visit. I had a love of Nordic Noir dramas including ‘The Bridge’. The day after the Ironman event I visited all the sites of Nordic Noir box sets and went over the aforementioned bridge in a train to Malmo Sweden, where I promptly fell asleep in an exhausted stupor before getting the train back over the bridge to Copenhagen.

· Ironman Bolton 70.3 2021

‘You’ve not done Ironman UK, you are not a proper Ironman’

In the second COVID recovery year Ironman put on a once only 70.3 event in Bolton to attempt to recoup some monies. Apologies to Ironman UK fans but the swim was in a dirty puddle, Pennington Flash which required cleaning with a big machine the day before the event. The UK road surface in comparison to European events was not a smooth ride and was riddled with potholes. I stayed in a hotel at Bolton Wanderers football club. For me Bolton didn’t really cut it as a trication experience.

· Lakeland 50 2022

‘50 Lakeland miles for 50 years’

The Lakeland 50 is a popular trail running event. It was held on a hot humid but drizzly day in July 2022. At mile 35 I started to feel sick. I could only sip on Kendal mint gels. The emergency pack was utilised to its full potential. What’s more I had plenty of requests from fellow competitors for some of the contents of my emergency pack. (I did check for contraindications before sharing). I completed the last ten miles in the dark and rain over technical fells.

· Ironman Wales 2022

‘You are not a proper Ironman until you’ve done Ironman wales’

My experience of Ironman Wales is well documented. A choppy sea swim and a hilly bike and run.

My main learning was to not to underestimate this type of event. You cannot rock up to an event like Ironman Wales without due focus in training and psychological approach. I mentally went to a dark place in this event. This took a lot of the joy away from the experience at the time. I also had to reframe my expectations in terms of finish time as I realised I was now pushing the envelope of my abilities.

· Ironman Lanza 2023

‘You are not a proper Ironman until you’ve done the hardest event in Lanza’

This was it. This was the big one. I had to put all of my experience and learning into Ironman Lanza. A Scottish person who does not do well in hot conditions. What could possibly go wrong?

The Build Up

My training was not going well in the build up to Ironman Lanza. As life often does this unhappily coincided with unforeseen stress all round. On a bad day I felt like the gods had taken tips from EastEnders script writers in managing my life. In order to cope I started a course on Mindfulness and Meditation. I missed a lot of training sessions. This was also accompanied by menopausal malaise. I could have a hot flush every five minutes. A previous coach had commented my one true ability was the ‘nanna nap’. I previously could recover any time of the day or night by sleeping for Scotland. This talent had deserted me. I was exhausted mentally and physically. I sought solace by re-adopting an obsessive interest in Scottish football. Yes – things were really that bad…….. I had a bad time at Ironman Lanza 70.3 in March, an event I previously had performed quite well at. This was the wakeup call I required. I even contemplated just going to Lanza in May for the holiday and not doing the Ironman event. However, I dragged myself up and committed to a fairly decent block of training in April.

The Equipment and Nutrition

I was so concerned about my ability to finish Ironman Lanza I started to consider what I would call ‘marginal gains’. In the black Friday sales I purchased a ridiculously expensive trisuit. It had a white sleeveless top with ‘thermo regulation’ panels on the back. Probably a load of rubbish but I was determined to utilise any potential gains. I also purchased a white kask tri helmet with a tinted visor. Lastly after watching the Ironman world championships in Kona I bought some Sam Laidlow white compression guards from France. I tested all of this apparel at Ironman Lanza 70, 3 and they performed much better than I did on the day.

A kind SEC athlete gave me some tri bars I fixed to my road bike. I didn’t have enough confidence in the wind of Lanza that I could handle my tri bike.

On training rides I realised I needed an extra pair of padded shorts over the trisuit. I found that veloforte drink powders and nutrition bars went down quite well. I decided not to use special needs bags nor a cycling top. Instead I used an old Pete Bland bum bag filled with sandwiches and cakes. On the run I went back to the trusty Kendal mint gels in a soft flask with Kendal mint cake as a backup. I purchased a Saysky white running vest which weighs only 10g for the run and stupidly expensive Soar marathon shorts. This was finished off with a white lake district made Vaga visor.

I burnt to a crisp on Ironman Lanza 70.3 in March despite factor 50 sunscreen. I was really concerned about sunburn round the full event in May. I asked around and a tri club member recommended P20 sun lotion. On the days leading up to the event I drank Precision fuel and hydration strongest electrolyte mix. For once, I feel I had meticulously planned my equipment and fuelling in order to optimise my chances in the conditions Ironman Lanzarote would present.

Coach Paul had also recced the bike and run course the week prior to the event during his trip to Lanza. He sent extensive notes particularly on the bike course. I studied and studied this before the event, trying to retain the info. At one point I even consider a strip on my top bar ‘Fred Whitton’ style which detailed the climbs and the wind. However I discounted this as my middle age eye sight isn’t good enough to see this without reading glasses. I had to hope I could recall the route. The most pertinent piece of advice from Coach Paul was ‘keep the head’. As with all matters triathlon related he would turn out to be right…….

The Trication Experience.

I booked an ‘Indulgent escapes’ package deal. This made a real difference. I had private transport from the airport and was in the hotel for evening meal on the Thursday prior to the event on Saturday. The hotel was situated five minutes from the swim start and the transition area. The hotel was a real luxury experience with excellent staff who couldn’t do enough for me. The hotel also carried all of my luggage including the bike case, organised taxis for me to get my bike reassembled and checked over and for the trip to La Santa for registration. I could see other stressed out competitors waiting for the official transport from Puerto Del Carmen only to get stranded for hours at La Santa. I had a beautiful sea view from my room. The whole hotel oozed calm and tranquillity. This made a real difference. The few Ironman competitors had a full 4.30am breakfast on race day with a chef to prepare anything you desired. Lastly on race morning once I had sorted out my equipment and fuel, when my guts started to ‘disco dance’ with nerves rather than wait in a long queue for a port aloo ( I had vomited on race morning at Bolton 70.3 after visiting a port aloo) I just walked to my lovely hotel with its suite of pristine toilets.

The Swim

Swimming is my worst discipline by far. However, after Ironman wales and the choppy sea swim there I had a lot more confidence for the shores of Lanza. Despite the little opportunity for open water swimming in the UK prior to a May event. I lined up aggressively for me before the 90 minute flag. I used breathing techniques from the mindfulness course to settle my nerves and to focus on the task at hand. Learning from Ironman Wales I had a plan to stick close to every buoy, sighting regularly for the most direct line. This meant I was well in the melee and I got hit a few times by arms and legs. I know I do though swim faster by drafting and aiming to keep up on someone’s toes. Every 4k long swim at the pool I had tried to improve my technique. One goggle in the water when breathing and rather than whirling my arms like a windmill focussing on the catch. I had also used swimming as my ‘mindful activity ‘for my mindfulness course. This meant I tried to focus on what I was doing in the moment and the feel of the water. I came out of the first lap in 39mins. This was a PB for me at half distance. The second lap was slower as all the decent swimmers had long left the water and I had to swim most of the course solo. When I emerged from the water the clock said 1hr 45 mins. I knew I was faster than this but didn’t accurately know my time until later - 1:28! Like Wales, I really needed a good swim to give me more time for the bike. So far so good.

The Bike

I ate a cake as soon as I got on the bike and started glugging the veloforte drink. I had a plan to eat and drink every 15 minutes. The bronze AWA status achieved in 2022 meant I had a number and therefore bag and bike racks near the front.

The first 10k was surprise, surprise a long climb into a headwind. Early on this climb I realised this wasn’t going to go to plan. I normally have to keep a lid on my power and set off too fast especially on a hill (did I mention I like a hill?). However I was putting in too much effort to even hit 150/160 watts in my race plan. Normally I had to calm myself down from 180-200 watts. I reassessed and could recall my target in Wales was 135watts – this might be more realistic today to avoid a blowout. I had downed the first bottle of veloforte drink in what seemed like no time at all. Normally I have to push fluids but today I couldn’t get enough. My mouth felt like a dry desert, my body couldn’t get enough fluids. I had a craving for a cold can of coke. All of this within the first hour.

Normally on an Ironman I use every second aid station. When I reached the first aid station on the bike I downed water all through the aid station before reaching like a man in the desert for the cold cola 226 drink they were handing out. This provided some relief and I adopted this approach for every aid station on the bike course.

On the second hour I started to get a pain in my right foot, which was getting worse and worse. It was a burning sensation all down my right foot and it felt like my little toe was stuck in my sock at a strange angle. I bemoaned the shoes and socks I was wearing before recalling these were my favoured shoes and socks from long training rides. I thought about the previous day when on my practice swim the beach was so warm it was like hopping on hot coals before entering the water. Had I burnt the soles of my feet? Then I surmised I would have felt this that evening in bed or even walking to transition, and why was it just my right foot? All of this was going through my mind as I battled the wind, the early morning sun up yet another climb. At one point I actually stopped to look at my right foot. My sock was fine but both my feet were swelling and I had to loosen the fastenings on the shoes. On I went and the pain came back getting stronger and stronger. It was now taking hold on my left foot as well. At the top of one of the climbs I was crying out from the pain in my feet. I got out my emergency pack to take some ibuprofen, this didn’t really help. I then realised my emergency pack also contained salt tablets. I have never had cramp in my life but I had ruled out everything else. Within five minutes of swallowing a salt tablet the pain subsided. Problem was it came back again within about 20 minutes. This was the third hour of the ride. I spent the rest of the ride swallowing salt tablets every 15-20mins. The veloforte bars were all soft in the heat and weren’t going down well. I started eating pancakes with jam from my Pete bland bum bag. The chef from the hotel had made these at breakfast time and I felt like I just wanted comfort food. As well as water and 226 cola drink I now took bananas from the aid stations.

At around about mile 65, I started to come across competitors who had stopped riding and were just lying by the side of the road. I have never seen this before in an Ironman. About 15 mins after this I came to the next climb. I don’t know what happened but I got off the bike and shamefully started walking. The thought went through my mind that I couldn’t make this. The heat, the dehydration and the cramp were too much. From the mindfulness course I know that a thought only spends 19 seconds in your head. You can’t control your thoughts. You can choose though not to engage with it or attach a story to it. You can just let it pass over like a cloud in the sky (hey – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it…). An American vet70 triathlete told me to get back on the bike. And I did. At the top of the climb I checked in with my breathing and realised I was breathing very shallowly. I realised that I was on the verge of a panic attack. I took some deep breaths using techniques I had been taught and rapidly calmed down. I started putting out more watts and was overtaking people including the American Vet70 who yelled ‘great jawb’. I reflected Coach Paul’s words of ‘keep your head’ and assessed that I had indeed temporarily lost my own head. Panic had set in after seeing the competitors who had got off the bike and were lying by the roadside. I recalled my mindfulness training and for the first time took in the amazing vistas around me. This was amazing. This was the type of cycling I really love. This a real once in a lifetime experience. Heck – this was LIVING!

Helpfully at this point I turned around and started descending with a lovely tailwind. I was flying. This was fun. I continued on for the rest of the ride in this positive mind set all whilst taking on water, bananas, 226 cola drink and salt tablets at every twinge in my foot.

The run

I started off running not too bad. I had my flask of Kendal mint gels and started using this and the Kendal mint cake straight away. The pain in my feet had miraculously disappeared. Somewhere out past the airport at about 10k into the course the nausea struck. I got out the emergency pack and put an antisickness tablet between my lip and my gum. My mouth was so dry that tablet wouldn’t dissolve. It took 30mins to get it down. What’s more it didn’t work. I tried another. It didn’t work. I needed to give up the day job. By now the nausea was so bad that I couldn’t run. It subsided slightly when I walked. I looked at my watch and tried to do some mental maths. It would still be mathematically possible to finish if I got a move on. I started power walking like I was in the final stages of the Lakeland 50. I have a friend who can really motor like this but I decided to give it a good go. Some competitors noticed that for walking I was actually gaining a lot of ground. One shouted ‘how can you walk so fast?’

Even the Kendal mint gels sips started to induce nausea. At each aid station I swilled my mouth with water, and sometimes even coke. My stomach had shut down and I was trying to fool my body that hydration and fuel were incoming. I didn’t even stop for the toilet and kept on power walking and motoring on as best I could.

It was dark by now, the course was lined by spectators at the lively bars of Puerto Del Carmen. On the short loop I was hit by the biggest wave of nausea to date. My stomach was heaving. I was dizzy and had to sit down, my brow covered in a cold sweat (where was a hot flush now when you needed one?). For the second time the thought entered my head that I wasn’t going to make this. By now however I was too tired to even engage with it or attach any kind of story to it. I realised some kindly folks partying from the bars were all around me asking if I was alright and offering water. I couldn’t even speak to them. After all the events I’ve done but perhaps more because of the Lakeland 50 I subconsciously like a programmed robot just got up and power walked on again. A cheer in the bars erupted. This was followed by an even bigger cheer when I returned on the second half of the loop. I smiled and raised my arms in salute. I passed the Celtic supporters bar where I shouted out some football chants that got the desired effect from the punters in there who were definitely intoxicated after the afternoon match. I didn’t ask the score. I didn’t want anything to take away my positivity. ‘Champions again!’ I shouted. The Celtic fc supporters of Lanzarote looked bewildered that one of their kin was actually out on the ironman course. By the time I passed the bar again the whole bar was belting out ‘you’ll never walk alone’. This was a sign. I wasn’t walking alone. I knew some people would be tracking me and willing me on. ‘Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart’ and I was going to get to the finish of this Ironman. And that’s what I did. With only 15 minutes to spare I got that medal and I had done it.

The aftermath

I couldn’t down the coke and salt and vinegar crisps in my street bag. I couldn’t even look at the buffet on offer. I sat down. Someone collapsed in the refreshment tent and a whole load of officials came running in. It was time to leave. I didn’t even have the energy to wash my hair in the shower. I passed out in the luxury hotel with the medal still round my neck.

The Indulgent escapes hotel really came into its own over the next few days. I ate all the food. Went to the private beach. On a brief foray back to the Celtic bar for the finale of the women’s team season (they won the match but not the league) despite wearing different clothes and walking much slower people stopped me in the street to tell me they had saw me in the race. An Irish triathlete (not one at the Celtic bar) told me I had been ‘flying’. I wasn’t burnt. The P20 had done a very admirable job on a scots woman out for 17 hours in the May sun of Lanzarote. Sam Laidlow despite his white socks hadn’t finished but I had. I put all of that down to all of the factors I mentioned previously. The previous race experience, the emergency pack, the equipment, the problem solving, the mindfulness, the mental positivity but it’s not all about the race Lanzarote also offers a brilliant trication experience.

The coaching

I have suspicions I may be the slowest and the oldest in Coach Paul’s group. Triathlon coaching isn’t for everyone. You don’t have to be a great triathlete to benefit from coaching you can also be an ordinary, menopausal little woman from Glasgow who harbours big dreams of the worlds hardest Ironman.