Race Report from Alan Gar – Ironman Vichy

So here’s my overdue report on IM Vichy – having just returned from a week of er…recovery (mostly involving carbs, wine, cheese and chocolate!).

It was my first Ironman and I found myself on a panicked Skype call with Rob the week before, not entirely sure how I was going to get on. In spite of the heat in the few days leading up to Sunday, the whole family had a whale of a time, kids taking part in the Ironkids run and Mrs Gar in the Iron Lady run. It showed there’s at least some talent in the family as the boy child was just beaten into 2nd place in a stacked teenage category!).

Final preparations did not quite go to plan. When I arrived on the morning of the big day I realised I’d left all of my nutrition (Chia Charge bars and 33shake sachets) in the fridge back at the house! Move on and roll with the punches!

It was clear from early on that wetsuits would be disallowed due to the warm water; which meant that my main race ambition of breaking an hour for the swim was out the window (because I’m lazy and I don’t kick I swim a lot quicker in a wetsuit). There was a lot of mucking about and broohaha over the wearing of swimming suits over tri suits (no two layers on top) and some disqualifications of pros and AGs over this. In the end, I wore the trusty budgie smugglers underneath with a full Sailfish swimsuit on top, which meant a full kit change in T1; this actually worked out ok even if I was a bit slower.

Swim – 1:04, but I was relatively happy with that for a non-wetsuit swim. I was a bit annoyed with the seeding timings and a tip for others: I went in the 56-59 min group and wasn’t passed by a single person; I spent the whole swim passing others and couldn’t draft off anyone ahead of me. Next time: make like everyone else and be severely optimistic on the times in the hope of catching some feet ahead!

The thing I’m most proud of: a 10 from the judges (the kids) for my show off run and dive at the start of the 2nd lap on the swim, great fun!

Next lesson learned: get a new/working bike computer! I rode two days before and all worked perfectly; having trained with power and cadence all the way through, it was unsettling when the thing froze and I couldn’t get it working again. As a result, I whizzed round the first lap (went way too hard for me) and had to scale back significantly on the 2nd lap when the wind and rain came. A dark and lonely 20kms when the wind was pushing my deep dish wheels and people were flying past me.

I eventually got my head right and rode strongly through the rain to finish the bike in 5:33, but a significantly slower 2nd lap with a “variety” of unknown and hitherto untried nutritional options tried out for the first time! Don’t try that at home kids…

It was a slowish T2 but I started the run well and confident of being able to run under 4:15-ish to break 11 hours…until…the wheels fell off!

The first of the run was OK in just over 2 hours but my trusty run/walk was becoming more walk/run. I just didn’t have any strength/power in the legs, My heart rate was fine but I just didn’t have it in me. It became a lot hotter and I just started throwing whatever was available at the aid stations down my gullet in an effort to kickstart the legs. The 2nd half marathon became one long cramp management exercise as the run turned into the longest/worst marathon of my life. Needless to say, I finished but the 11hour mark went by me quicker than Harry Wiltshire.

A 4:46 marathon meant a finish time of 11:33. In line with expectations but a bit annoyed with myself as it could have been a lot better!

Many thanks to Rob and all of my Team Oxygenaddict teammates for the program and support- let’s see what 2017 brings!