Ironman 70.3 Dublin – Richie Mills
I’m sitting at the computer the morning after the race, my head hurts from the beer and body hurts from 5hr 51min of exertion but there is a smile on my face that I just can’t get rid of.
It’s difficult processing everything that has gone on, not just yesterday, but over the last few months. 2015 was to be the year of Ironman, but the triathlon gods thought otherwise and a series of injuries meant that my warm up race in St Polten was the hardest and least enjoyable race of my career. I knew that I wasn’t in good enough shape for Frankfurt IM and reluctantly pulled out. Ironically the injuries then started clearing up and training became enjoyable again. I started really looking forward to a great race in Dublin. Again the triathlon gods intervened and 8 weeks out a stupid fall sideways at a stop sign resulted in a broken elbow. The doc was talking about pins in the joint. I was gutted, the chance gone to race a 70.3 in my home town, closed roads and the opportunity for friends and family to finally see why I love the sport.
The gods finally decided to give me a break (the good kind!) 2 weeks later when an x-ray showed the bone was knitting and surgery wasn’t needed. I immediately got stuck into rehabbing the arm, initially lifting steins in Frankfurt and got straight back on the bike at home and out running in the park. After 3 weeks the arm felt good and I decided to give swimming a go. I managed 2 buoys in Killiney but couldn’t move it for 2 days after so decided I’d wait till the race before swimming again. The bike and running were going well and I thought a sub 6hr race was on if I didn’t lose too much in the water.
Race weekend was a bit of a pain with the split transition, but it was handy living so close to the park so I could cycle to the expo and registration. We had a pre race dip in Sandycove on the Friday and the arm was good, it felt great to be back in the water. A pizza and beer on the water front finished off the day perfectly. Bikes and bags were dropped off on Saturday and I hit the hay early for race day.
I got the bus from the Garda club to swim start on Sunday. I ended up sitting beside the Irish ladies master champion for 1500m. She had just split her knee-cap and we swapped war stories on knee-cap reconstruction and rehab. She is thinking of taking up triathlon so I sold the club as best I could!
T1 was jumping pre-race with lots of nervous smiling Pulsers. I checked the bike and got a couple of Nurofens from Jen as I had forgotten mine and then got changed. It was at this stage that I realised that my new tri top doesn’t have pockets in the back, there was a momentary panic as I tried to figure out how I would carry my nutrition. I decided that down the back of my tri shorts was the only option. Disaster averted I headed for swim start.
There was some good banter in the swim corral and I felt relatively relaxed as they counted down to the start. I took my time getting in with the rolling start and had no issues with kicking or hitting. I hit a nice rhythm and found some good feet to follow. I felt comfortable as we hit the first red buoy. I turned and sighted for the 2nd red buoy. After a few minutes I found myself way to the left of everyone and a kayaker came over and told me I should be going for a yellow buoy to my right. I cursed my stupidity, so much for being a seasoned vet who doesn’t need to go to briefings!! I rounded the yellow buoy and then the red and again cursed my stupidity. There were 2 yellow buoys to my left that people were swimming too. I had presumed we just swim to the exit but decided to follow the crowd. It wasn’t long to swim exit, I was thrilled to be finished and that the arm held up well. It was brilliant seeing so many familiar faces on the exit pontoon and there was great support as we ran to T1.
T1 went fine, quick change and stuffed gels and bars down my shorts. I got a few weird looks with my lumpy arse at the mount line. Rolling through the southside on closed roads was brilliant, my heart rate was high after the swim and I tried to calm down and keep a steady pace. I was averaging easily over 30km/hr until I crossed the east-link and turned straight into the wind along the quays. The pace dropped but the smile increased as I contemplated the uniqueness of cycling up the quays the wrong way on closed roads.
I was hoping for a sub 3hr bike. I knew the high point was the turn off the Summerhill Road to Kilcock so I aimed to keep the pace as close to 30km/hr to that point and make up time on the way back, downhill with the wind. I easily averaged 30 to the turn and had a huge grin as I hit 50+ on the road to Kilcock. I saw a Pulser ahead as I neared Maynooth, Anthony Gar, we had a nice chat over the ramps as we went through the college. He told me had gotten a penalty for drafting and I laughed as I headed up the road to catch his draft buddy Hayden. I caught Hayden but didn’t chat long in fear of getting a penalty! The ramps on the Strawberry beds were a pain, I tried to spin the legs and get the heart rate down for the run, but the climb at the Anglers had the heart rate through the roof. St. Marys hill in the park didn’t help either and the legs felt tired coming into T2, 2.48 though, well under target!
I managed to grab the wrong bag in T2, but it didn’t lose me too much time. A look at the watch showed 3.40. I hoped to do a 2hr run so my PB of 5.49 was well on. I felt confident leaving T2 with a few words of encouragement from Ken, but both quads started seizing up as soon as I hit the road. I hoped to run it off but by the first aid station they were killing me and the walk through the aid station seemed to make them worse. They loosened up along the Furze Road and it was great to see my family and friends by the Ordnance Survey. I was caught by Hayden and Anthony and we jogged to the Phoenix monument and the future finishing straight. I have never experienced anything like that section. The crowds were 3 or 4 deep and cheering everyone. There were loads of Pulsers and I had goose bumps from all the support.
As we passed the Phoenix heading out on lap 2, the crowds thinned out and the legs seized again and I let the lads go ahead. My hamstring was twitching at this stage and by the time I hit the Furze Road again it completely seized up. I fell onto the grass in a lot of pain and a marshal came over. She tried to stretch it out, but it just cramped up the quad. She asked me what she should do, so I asked her to stand me up and point me down the road. The next few km were a mixture of slow shuffles and walks. I was trying to invoke my inner Miriam and her description of how she got through the Frankfurt IM marathon. The finishers section was amazing again and the pain disappeared. Halfway down the hamstring cramped again and I had to stop. Luckily Ciaran Magee was at hand with words of encouragement and more importantly 2 nurofen!!
The final lap was a series of shuffles and walks. Any thoughts of a PB were long gone and just hoped to get around in under 6hrs. Nigel Elliot caught me and was in a similar state. We shuffled through the last few kilometres together and finally got the last arm band. The finisher’s straight was truly amazing. It had swelled even bigger and there was a funnel of people cheering you onto the final straight. The feeling running through the crowd will stay with me for a long time. It is incredible that you can be so tired and in pain and yet have a smile and sense of contentment that is hard to beat. The feeling of the red carpet under my feet was awesome and I checked the time as I crossed the line. 8 weeks previous I thought my chances of competing were over and yet there I was 5.51, 2 mins outside my PB, what a feeling!
You know since I took up this sport all my friends and family have questioned why I do it. Why the early starts at the weekend, missing nights on the beer, training in the cold and the rain and the pain of pushing your limits? I’ve always struggled to come up with a good answer and this year I’ve really questioned it myself. After this weekend though I know the reply, it’s for days like Dublin 70.3!!
Huge thanks goes out to all the Pulse supporters and marshals who made an already great day even more special. Also to Paddy Price for capturing the whole weekend on camera, if we had to pay for all our new profile pics, you would be a rich man! Finally huge respect to all the first timers proving that “Nothing is impossible” and all the seasoned vets on some savage times.
Love this shit!!!!