Ironman Barcelona was a long time coming. After being postponed in 2020 with very little notice (and with less than 7 weeks to go you’ve pretty much done all the hard work, so it was gutting not to be able to race then), in late September 2021 I was finally on the plane to Spain. My mum and sister Fiona flew out with me. We landed in Girona then hired a van and that was the first challenge – I had to drive from there to Calella having never driven a van and it was the wrong (right!) side of the road on some massive motorways. I got us there in one piece, settled into our very lovely caravan on top of the hill and put my bike together. In the days before the race, I did a few rides up and down the bike course – such nice smooth tarmac!! Friends started arriving; I was mega lucky to have a cheer squad of ten! I didn’t realise how much faff there was before an ironman with registration, bike check-in, all the organising of stuff into various transition bags and personal needs bags for halfway round the bike course.
The night before the race was filled with nerves and massive excitement. Not sure which was in the majority! I hardly slept at all; a storm came in and I was wide awake hearing a raging wind and thunder. Unfortunately, it didn't blow over fully in time and walking down to the start in the morning I could see in the dawn darkness that the waves were enormous, some of them 6-8ft!!
Waiting around in the start pens was something I honestly can't describe; standing on the beach surrounded by the thousands of men (and very few women) I felt literally every single emotion and they were all turned up to max. It was without a doubt the most intense 30 minutes of my life. The number of men in green hats completely swamped the women in pink hats; looking around I felt a mix of being completely out of place and yet confident in being there to be the different one. There was tension in the air as we waited to hear the safety verdict on the waves, which turned out to be a severely shortened swim.
SWIM
It was less of a swim and more of a fight for survival. After a week of the sea being calm, flat, beautifully clear and inviting, it looked more like the choppy North Sea than the Mediterranean. The swim was cut to 1km but I don’t think it was even that far; people in the 70.3 race were being rescued left right and centre and they were even given the option to not do the swim at all. Kind of annoying after all the hours I'd spent working on my stroke and strength, but actually 10 minutes in those waves was traumatising enough.
BIKE
After a brutal battering in the sea, I made it through a semi respectable T1 onto the bike. The technical section through Calella was a bit chaotic with lots of bikes on narrow streets. I was delighted and surprised to see my support crew there – they’d run pretty quick to be there! Out of town it was onto the bars, head down into the headwind. The course turned inland up and down a fun false flat before a savage 20km straight section - all you could see was the road going on for miles and the wind trying to blow you backwards 😅 I flew back from the turnaround point and that was the best hour of the whole day, especially with the crowds at the end of it! I came flying past loads of men on TT bikes who obviously hadn’t done enough training in the windy conditions! Lap 2 was noticeably harder than lap 1 but I just about managed to hold the speed. There was one funny point where my legs were on autopilot and I was so comfy on the aero bars that I felt I was almost falling asleep! Very happy I managed to come in under my sub 6 goal.
RUN
T2 should have been quick but this was where things started to go a bit pear shaped! There were only 4 portaloos in transition and big queues but I was pretty desperate so I had to wait. First few km of the run felt good, but it was around 13k where I had another 2 laps to go that I felt how hard it was going to be. Stomach cramps hit and it went rapidly downhill - by the halfway point I literally had nothing left to give. I walked a whole kilometre... that was definitely not in the plan. But it was so nice to see the other 10Ironwomen ladies out on the course! They were all so smiley and it was amazing to have familiar faces out there. There was an out and back section that was about 7 kilometres of nothingness, no crowds, nothing really to look at, it was kind of like a no man's land, just wildly blowing palm trees by the beach like you see in films in a dramatic storm. Kms 24-36 were suffering like I'd never known. I stopped thinking about the distance and just put one foot in front of the other. At 37k on a very dark and lonely stretch I heard 3 guys shouting for me - they turned out to be the heroes from my support crew and gave me the biggest boost I needed. With a parkrun to go I managed to pick up the pace and ran the last 5k as the fastest of them all 😂 clearly needed to work on my marathon pacing!
And then the finish... what a party that was. Exhausted but energised off the crowds and totally wired on adrenaline. To hear Paul Kaye announcing “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN” was a feeling I don’t really know how to describe! Although I have to say I felt a bit cheated... am I an ironman if I’ve only done 98.76% of an ironman?
I was greeted by a champagne shower and friends with blistered hands and no voices left! We went back to the finish line and danced until the last finisher came in. Honestly one of the best days of my life. I can’t thank the crew that came out to support me enough. I had a number of people come up to me and tell me that my crowd were the loudest out there and what an amazing cheer squad they were. I think they even made the Ironman video!
Next morning, I failed to see the message that said about the change of location for the awards ceremony, so I ended up having to run half a mile to get there in time!! Not fun for the legs! But I got on the podium – stoked to pick up a trophy! What a totally epic experience. Waited less than 24 hours before signing up to the next one…
Gracias Calella.
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