My IRONMAN: How did I do ¹⁄₂ in Italy

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Well, that happened, what started in November last year:) I was able to complete the distance of the "halves" and became half iron, almost like Tony Stark! A day has already passed since the finish and I can say that I did not expect anything like this. Yes, my result is not very good - 100th in the age-sex group, but there were reasons for this and the main one - panic and my crap in the last stage of training. But first things first.

Pre-start week

10 days before the start, I managed to do something wrong and got another injury - inflammation of the periosteum. This time on the right leg. For some reason, it seemed to me a great idea to run through the mountains and, having completely forgotten the experience of the Samui hills, I stepped on the same rake again. The only problem is that on Koh Samui it was 4 months before the start, right there - 10 days: (To treat such an injury, only one thing is needed - complete rest of the leg and many, many medicines.

But what peace can there be if a bunch of everything is not installed on the bike, the brakes are broken, and the workshops play football with their visitors, bulging their eyes and saying "Oh no, I was even afraid to touch yours!" Unprofessionalism and idiocy are popular with us and have become a way of life for too many people. Thanks to the cool guys from Velotekhnik in Obolon in Kiev, who not only fixed what I was complaining about, but also did a real prelaunch preparation. They are tough triathletes themselves. And also wisdom poured a full head. THANKS!

And of course I didn't have a starter suit, wetsuit, or gels. All this I collected running all week around the city between sleep and work. In general, despite the compresses of Novocaine and Dimexidum, and other treatment, nifiga I did not cure and was in complete depression. The road Kiev → Munich → Rome → Pescara with a 21-kilogram box in a bicycle and other junk on a hump did not add optimism either.

Oh yes, I got a wetsuit the day before departure and the first swim in it was in Pescara - on the day of the strat.

And what did I have in my head? Swimming - what if something goes wrong with the wetsuit (and it happened:), what if climbing on a bike of 1100 m slows me down too much, what if I just can't run and can't finish the distance? So, putting my doubts aside, I decided that I should just have time to complete the entire distance in the cut-off time of 8 hours and do not care about the time, ambitions and regrets - I have to think during the preparation! It was too late now.

By the way, I would like to send rays of adoration to Lufthansa, which not only did not break the bike at four stages of transit, but also transported it both ways for free. The German business model rules!

The day before the start

It was the prelaunch day that became my first full day in Pescara. I met Sasha Shchedrov (who writes his stories about the preparation for the triathlon on our blog) and his brother Valentine, who started with me. As I was the only representative of Ukraine, so they are the only ones from Latvia.

As for the organization at registration, everything was very Italian - loose, unsystematic. I searched for about an hour, walking around the Expo, where is the registration. The Italians' reluctance to speak English was very annoying. I was saved by an experienced athlete from Canada, who simply dragged me through all stages of the check-in.

Then it was necessary to arrange everything into transit zones - things for a bicycle, things for running, all sorts of subtleties with food, numbers and all that. In general, it took me two hours - I went from T1 to T2 and constantly forgot something and reported or shifted:) Everyone was in a wonderful mood in transit, a cheerful anthill and strained thinking - I did not forget this, I put it, it was with yourself. Leaving everything in the transit zones, we went to sleep, who could of course do it.

Didn't sleep very well. I went to bed at 22.00 and slept until 8.00, but three times I woke up with a clear head, which could not shut down properly throwing thoughts like: "I lubricated the chain, but what if not?" " and everything is in the same vein. Since the start for some reason was planned as early as 12.00, the weather forecast - + 30˚С and the hot scorching sun caused special stress. But, looking ahead, I will say that everything turned out quite differently. Not only in the hydrometeorological center they mess up with forecasts.

Race

I arrived at the start in an hour and a half. Checked the gels, bike, gave the street clothes and changed. Before the start, I put on a wetsuit and smeared everything that needed to be smeared with cream and petroleum jelly. Rubbed nothing in 6 hours of race.

Swim

Our group was the largest, and therefore, putting on the black cap of my starting group given by the organizer, I went to the start. Cold water, a crowd of healthy men 30-34 years old added anxiety, but it disappeared somewhere after we swam to the starting gate. By the way, this year the start in Pescara was from the water, and I really liked it. I took a position behind and a little to the left, so I didn't take part in the starting mess. Well, almost, as they swam over me more than once, but they didn't kill me like a mammoth, as some say. It sailed well and cool. Only the organizers' boats were saddened, as if on purpose they made waves, about which everyone later spoke longingly. The advice of experienced people came in handy - find strong legs and swim in them. I found these several times and just stroking the feet of the pursued walked in thin water. It worked out very nicely. When we crossed 800 m, a funny incident happened to me. I heard a dog barking 700 meters from the shore (no people were visible on it and the houses were small) and began to worry about my head - the scorching sun, a black cap and a black wetsuit. Nifiga itself glitches, I thought. Then I saw rescue dogs on boats and in the water with rescuers and it became calmer. Beautiful dogs! But the doubt in my head amused me a lot.

Then something happened that VERY scared me. Some pepper, either by accident or on purpose (which is unlikely), pulled my zip tie and the wetsuit completely unbuttoned on the back. It is very strange and fastens from top to bottom, and starts fastening like in a sweater, in hit with the "doggy". On land, I could not fasten it in any way at all. But in the water, in hysterics, he did it very quickly and continued his voyage. It is worth saying that the most unpleasant thing about such swims is that no one really sees in front of his nose and now and then, then someone will swim over you, then you will perch on someone and swim across. If you have a fear of open water, then it is worth practicing this as well.

We swam in a triangle and at the second turn the leg tactics let me down - my guide legs swam in the wrong direction and I went with them. It seems to me that we gave a surplus of 200-300 meters.

We went out on the shelf and, hitting the shore, I realized that I was shaking robustly. Maybe because of this, I spent 8 minutes in transit! I was stupid and it was long - probably more than a kilometer. I had to run along it with my great barefoot. And for a long time I put on the compression socks that Sasha gave me. They really helped me on the run!

Bike

When we looked at the DVR recording of our route, we were preparing for the worst. The road was broken - worse than the Ukrainian ones! But everything was not so bad - it was patched up and it was pleasant to roll it. I had problems with the watch, which constantly made a stop in the recording of the track by pressing on the glove. Then I put them on the bike and recorded 81 km of the track. The track - picturesque Italian villages, fields of olives, lavender, grapes and three mountains.

The mountains were very exhausting, and some of them even walked along the track. I didn’t go and I’m very happy about it. But no matter how hard the ascent was - then the descent was waiting for us, and it was cool to drive. True, once I almost flew off the track at a sharp turn. I blocked the wheels on my nerves and went into a hard drift. Almost, but did not fly away - they saved 10 cm of the roadside. You have to be careful.

On the track, I ate gels, drank water, which I needed. In general, during the entire race, I drank five liters of water and never went to the toilet. It's clear where everything went:)

As I said, we were lucky with the weather and the wind was blowing, the sky was with gray clouds and there was a light rain. It drove perfectly!

Cyclists and their bicycles on the track deserve a special mention. Since Italians are born with a bicycle between their legs, and Pescara is overflowing with road bikes, they ride in bulk better than us. They run badly:)

Before the start, I met one Canadian who told me that his Cervelo P5 costs $ 15,700. How nice it was to overtake this pepelats in his cheap Kayotik and not see it again:) The “saucepans” deserve a special smile, as we are they were named. These are bicycles with a deaf rear wheel. You drive yourself like this, and behind you there is such a "vzhiu-vzhiu" sound similar to the sound of a pan rolling on the floor. All this high-speed tuning is ridiculous. I managed to overtake both "aerial helmets", and "saucepans", and Cervelo:) Although I was overtaken more, what is there to hide.

Run

I went out on the run with a very bad feeling. No, there was no cottoniness in the legs, which many talk about, was not. But my periosteum immediately let me know that we are facing a lot of pain and internal meetings and compromises. I tried to overload the work on my left leg a little, but this caused my hamstring to hurt at the 6th km. I put the load back on the right one, and it got sick there too. So, three pain points and a run that resembles torture.

But do not go:) I had to walk and stop. But it all worked out. I finished:)

We ran 4 circles in the center of Pescara, and at the end of each we were put on fluffy colorful bracelets. Collected 4? Running to the finish line. When I ran into the half marathon, I was upset that quite a few people were already with three bracelets. When I had 4, there were those who had 1-2. So everything is learned by comparison.

Fans of Italy! They are beautiful! Forza, Go-go! Children and their outstretched hands, on which the limping cripple found particular pleasure in clapping to recharge. It was cool. Very painful, but very cool!

If you run such a race, then do not take anything to run. Rivers flowed water, Cola, Red Bull, gels, isotonic drinks and other drinks. The food included energy bars, bananas, apples, oranges, and salt for those who lost much of it through sweat. I ate a lot and it was more of a tasting. I was completely full at the finish:)

After finishing, I drank one and a half liters of water in one gulp, despite the fact that I drank constantly.

And the medal was given, how could it be without this ?!

What's next?

What have I been thinking all the time? The fact that a full IRONMAN is so unrealistically cool that you can't take it in a swoop, like this one. Am I planning to jump full distance? No. Will I chase the halves? Yes, this is a very cool activity and an incentive to go in for sports. But there is one thing …

Technique, technique and technique again

It was only at such a distance that I realized how important technique is in literally everything! You need to be able to swim properly. You need to be able to quickly go through transit, you need to know how to behave on the track and where to press, and where to slow down, you need to be able to run correctly and economically. And most importantly, you need to stop chasing distances and learn to run correctly and without injuries. Nothing is more demoralizing than the pain at the very start, which is with you all day of the race.

The race itself is neither difficult nor difficult. This is a real pure concentrated buzz! But this is only for those who were sensible in training and approached the preparation wisely. I was like that, in part, for which I punished myself. But he also awarded.

Such a story.