Ive got to get there in the next 4minutes or its all going to be for nothing, keep pushing, cmom run macca.......
Unforchatly for me, this wasn't the final few miles of the race and I wasn't chasing the sub 9hr Ironman goal id set out, 6 weeks ago. It was me going from the departure gate back down to the baggage checkin to meet up with the Spanish Police who said in no certain terms, that they couldn't load my bikebox onto the plane until id taken out the CO2 canisters that id mistakenly left in there when I hurryedly repacked to come home................
Well I did get there and remove the canisters, catch the flight and end up with the last seat on the plane. (next to a couple of large people with even larger elbows and zero leg room for my trouble,,, thanks for that slezyjet)
Well rewind back to thursday and I will try and take it from there, as this has been one eventful trip...."here's a few of the lowlights"
Thurs, 1, a guy 3 places in front of me at the xray point of airport security going out, had a screwdriver in his hand luggage! Whats even more odd is he didn't think it was a problem! 2, After a long day at the airport I spent 3hrs negotiating the Barcelona rail system, witnessed a bag snatching and endured some of the worst queuing of my life, while trying to get some lunch. All before finally arriving at the Callela and the race site.
Friday, 1, Jelly fish encounter during an early morning sea swim, not nice at 7am 2, Finding that a wheel had been damaged in transit and then setting off on a spoke finding mission, before rebuilding the wheel and taking part in my dayly room switching ritual. 3, Pre riding a bike course, which was so fast, it should have been given a health warning.....
Saturday 1, Flamenco night, directly below our room until 1am, followed nicely by drunk guest returning to there rooms, which happened to be ether side of and all around where I was trying to get some sleep! 2, Checking my bike into transition, forgetting my race licence and having to walk a further 4km to get it, in the midday sun, not ideal. 3, Feeling so nervous I didn't know if i was coming or going..
Race day 1, 5am alarm, enough said! 2, 7.20am race start when the sea was still dark, oh and super rough. 3, a ride in an ambulance and some IV..
But IV drips and ambulances aside, the day finished off with a few laughs and a beer with my mate, and i just about lived to fight another day..So what really happened??
The swim was rough, waves, a strong current and a 1700m back straight that went on for ever! My goggles fogged early on, so i choose to ditch them and try to keep sight of the group in front, after 400m of salty swimming i had to refit them and lost contact, resulting in me swimming the next 3400m alone and came out of the water so 4minutes down on my predicted time. Still I was ok metally just slightly more tired for not having other swimmers to draft off of but a quick transition and i was off up the road and set about catching a few of the Pros. Once into the course properly and I knew something wasn't right, I just hadn't go any power? With Barcelona being such a flat and fast course power was the name of the game and mine wasn't there? In fact every time I tried to put some down, my legs just locked up and I couldn't pedal. Opting to use easy gears only relived this temporarily before the same thing happened again and before long I was down into my little chain ring and rolling along where ever possible,
This is the 66km point where, I just couldn't go on as my legs had become to tight, i couldn't even turn the pedals down hillI pulled over to the side of the road, when i saw Suze and was helped off the bike. Tears of frustration filled my eyes as my mind wanted to continue but the body wasn't allowing it. After a few minutes a race medic came over shortly followed by a physio. Between them they got my legs working again and after 30+minutes on the road side, I was up on my feet. Feeling really upset and thinking about an early bath, I didn't really realise that I was able to continue, until Suze said "are you going to carry on then babe?" With a massive cheer from the crowd and a kiss from Suze, I remounted my bike and set of on the second 66km lap. But the adrenaline and excitement soon wore off once I was a few km's down the road and I began to suffer again. This time with the heat. Buy 100km's id drank over 6liters of fluid, but was still dehydrating badly. The last 20kms that I remember were awash with wobbles and drifting across the road trying to ride in the shade, eventually I saw the turn point again. But not being completely with it, didn't make it around and crashed into the spectators! Next thing I can really remember was an ambulance ride and then being hooked up to an IV drip. A needle went into the IV bag more than once with pain killers in it and within a hour or so, I had Suze at my side and was beginning to recover again.
The doctors said, my core body temperature had risen a lot and I was unable to cool down as my body couldn't generate enough sweat in the conditions, it was a good job a stopped where I did or it could have been alot worse, Heat stroke I believe?
So that was my Ironman Barcelona, a DNF on the results sheet, a ride in an ambulance, some very strange tan lines and a telling off from the police! Well its been a long season with many ups and downs and its really too early too say what im planning for next year. Right now im looking forward to a few weeks off from training and giving the body a chance to recover properly.
I just want to say thanks to all my sponsors for your help this year and thanks to all my friends and training buddies for pushing me and pulling me along and most of all thanks to Suze who has had to take alot of the rough as well as the smooth this season. Without you it would have been a much longer and harder road to travel.
Until 2011, take it easy out there
Macca xx
