Mallorca Ironman 2016: The Long Hard Wet One

Ironman races are never easy, they have to be respected and earned through blood sweat and tears - this one more than most - conditions were hard beyond belief, so so tough out there.

Its been a funny year of racing - after the shambles that was The Outlaw on July 24th where my run fell to pieces and I had my worst ever race, Mallorca IM suddenly changed from "holiday end of season fun race" to a "I have something to prove to myself here race" 

Mallorca a super relaxed relaxed environment as always, although a lot of the first-timers pre-race nerves not helped by poor poor race communication around the use of wetsuits (which are prohibited above a certain water temperature), with an unofficial announcement two days before the race that they were permitted being changed to the official announcement at race briefing that they were not permitted (cue a mad rush of people back into the water for a practice swim without wetsuits...) and then it simply being announced an hour before the start of the race on their facebook page that its OK folks, actually they are permitted (cue a mad rush of people back to their cars / hotel rooms...). Poor show guys.

Hugely atmospheric start, sheet lightning and thunder rolling away in the distance, with the most gorgeous sunrise possible (thanks Adele, I nicked your photo) all adding to the atmosphere of 2,000 racers lined up with massive pent up energy and emotion ready for the off.

Despite no coaching and pretty limited training my swim time continues to fall, from 1:35 in Lanza in May '15 to 1:25 in Mallorca IM 1 year ago a new PB of 1:19 now - with that though comes a new experience -  at the back its all quite sedate and polite - now a little more in the mix its less so, people fighting to get on others feet (for the tow) and fighting to get others out of their tow - I got a smack in the face for my troubles when I clearly got too close to someone - thanks to whoever did that... Came out the swim in 1,200th place (out of about 2,000) versus 1,550th last year.

And onto the bike we go. Truth be told I never really settled on the bike, its not really my type of course at all, I like it hilly, preferably huge mountains, the bigger the better - I'm a decent climber, a very decent descender but pretty mediocre on the flat. Mallorca Ironman is largely flat with one proper climb, Lluc, at the 110k mark.  The first 100k was uneventful and then we get to the climb and all hell breaks loose - out of nowhere a massive thunderstorm rolls in, the rain was literally like a bucket being poured on your head, rivers running across the roads and at one point a massive fork of lightning and instant smash of thunder directly overhead pretty much made every rider on the hill duck for cover, it really was astonishingly bad up there. I don't mind the cold or wet too much but loads of people abandoned and / or were carted off with hypothermia. Given this and the wet / slippy roads all the way home it was never going to be a bike PB, finishing some 7 minutes slower than last year, along with a further few minutes extra in transition whilst I thawed out my fingers so I could tie my shoelaces. But still made up places on the bike, now in 1130th place versus 1260th last year.

My run fell apart at the Outlaw so in the last few weeks training I changed from "run" to "run-walk" which is often quicker over a marathon distance for weaker runners such as myself. It was an interesting experience,  starting off at mile zero, stopping after just 4 minutes to walk for a minute (and repeat), watching everyone else stream away from you in that minute, hoping that the benefit would come towards the end of the run. Well, it didn't really actually make a difference time wise, but it certainly made a difference spirit wise - running for 5 hours solid shatters my soul, I end up in a very dark place but with run-walk you only run for 4 minutes at a time. Repeat that 4-1 three times and you hit the next aid station, so it breaks it down into nice segments - run-walk, run-walk, run-aid station. Repeat. Its actually sorta quite pleasant(ish...). Thanks Andy for the "Chris wearing his rather fatigued Ironman expression" photo from the run that sums this race up nicely.... 

And now as the run churns on we get thinking - a new PB is possible here - despite the miserable conditions and slow bike leg, maybe just maybe we can PB, so with 2k to go run-walk became ruuuuuuuun!, setting a new marathon run PB of 4:52 and a new overall PB of 12:52, a mere 3 minutes inside my old PB but a massive fist pump moment down that amazing Ironman red carpet.

Picked up 25 places on the run, finishing 1106th versus 1223rd last year - thats how tough the course was yesterday, clocked basically the same time as last year but finished 115 places higher - gotta be happy with that.

So thats it for triathlon for my second season, time for a break then back into training with a vengeance - Lanzarote IM was my first in May '15, we're coming back for another fix of Lanza, May '17. Can't wait.