26-09-12 UPDATE: BRUTAL RACE REPORT

Short, short version: The race was really, really, really hard.  Some how I won.

Short version: Swim start 7:00am Saturday.  Perfect weather.  Swim really cold and took me ages.  Bad cramp.  Bike loop very nice but very cold during the night.  Built up 4 ½ hour lead.  Started running at 1:00am.  50% of run course very hard, uneven, steep, rocks, roots, slippery.  Snowdon very steep, a bit of snow at the top and -7 degrees.  Finished at 16:40 on Sunday in 1st place.  Race was really, really, really hard.

Long version:
Got up at 04:30 on Saturday.  I hadn’t slept at all, or on Thursday night.  I definitely wouldn’t be getting any sleep on Saturday night because I’d be cycling/running, so already things were going to be hard.

It had been a clear night and there was frost on the ground, but the conditions were perfect.  Just as well, because if it had been wet I think a lot of people wouldn't have finished.

The swim started at 07:00, 4 laps of a 1.2 mile loop.  Water temperature 12-13 degrees, flat calm.  My plan was to stay with the leaders for the first couple of laps (assumption being they would be doing the Middle or Iron distance) and do some serious drafting, then do the last 2.4 miles on my own at a steady pace, or draft any Double athletes who were near by.

This was working fine for the first lap, I exited the water in 32 minutes and got straight into lap 2.  However, about ½ a mile around the 2nd lap, I got stabbing cramp in both quads.  It was the most painful cramp I’ve ever had, and I had to sink underwater in my attempts to stretch the cramp back out.  I managed to flounder around the rest of the lap and get out, but by this time I was shivering uncontrollably and my legs were cramping continuously.  The event organisers had foreseen that competitors might be having problems with the cold, so they had provided hot tea, which just about saved my life.  By this point, though, I was very worried that I might get pulled from the race before I’d even finished the swim, as I clearly couldn’t swim if the cramp continued.  A few cups of tea later and I set off on my 3rd lap.  The cramp came back, but I was now kicking hard (usually, I just steam-line my legs and save them for the bike/run) and this seemed to keep the cramp at bay.  I made it round, drank more tea and then did the same again for lap 4.  I’d used a lot more energy on the swim than usual, but I didn’t have much choice.

I set off on my bike for the 1st of 8 laps of Snowdon, a 28.9 mile loop which included the 4.5 mile climb of Llanberis pass.  231 miles is a long way, so I tried to ride as smoothly as possible, and well under maximum effort.  I got the first lap done with an average speed of 19.3 mph and immediately set off on the next one.  I knew that I could maintain that kind of speed for 120 miles without any problem, so concentrated on getting the first 4 laps completed without incident. 

I kept getting cramp in my quads, but it was easier to stretch them out on the bike and the medical crew at the half way feed station started giving me electrolytes on each lap.  Lap 5 came and went.  Lap 6 was going well, until I suddenly felt weak and faint on the descent from Llanberis.   I stopped and ate an energy gel and immediately felt better – I had simulated this in training, and it signalled that I no longer had any reserves of stored energy left.  I would need to closely monitor my food and drink intake from now on, as without these carbohydrates I wasn’t going to finish. 

Martin, my support crew, started following me in his car, as we had planned.  As it got dark, the temperature dropped rapidly and I had to keep stopping to put on more layers.  I’ve never raced in anything more than tri shorts/top before, but by the end of the bike course the temperature was down to about 6 degrees and I was wearing 7 layers, including a heavy pile, fleece lined mountain jacket.  With the 7 layers, I was just about warm enough.  By this time, it was pitch dark and there was virtually no other traffic on the road.  After I nearly collided with a sheep on a descent, Martin went ahead in his car to clear the way, then, when it was flat or up hill, he would drive close behind me with the full-beams on.  This was a massive help because the roads had no street lighting and many potholes, and with the car lights I could see much better than with just bike lights alone.  I kept up a good average speed and finished the final lap of the bike course at 00:30 on Sunday morning.

When I got into Race HQ, I was told by Brian, the Chief Medic, that I was 4 ½ hours ahead of the next competitor!  My parents had come to watch, and my father told me that I was the only one who didn’t stop at HQ on any of my laps, and as a result I’d built up a massive lead. 

I sent Martin off to get some sleep (he was to return later as support for the ascent/descent of Snowdon).  I faffed about preparing for the run – the bike leg was fricking freezing, how many layers would I need?  Should I take water with me, or would I make it to the next feed station without?  I set off in far too many layers and within a mile I was boiling hot.  I stopped and took of some layers, then carried on.  The first 2 ½ miles of the run course were flat, around the lake.  It was pitch dark, so it took me a bit longer than it should have to find my way with all the twists and turns, but every time I thought I might be off course my head-torch picked out another course arrow. 

On the far side of the lake, I ran as far as I could up a steep hill, then turned off the road and down hill into some woods for the return to HQ.  I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to run any down hill sections as they are the most damaging to quad/knees, and also increased the chance of a fall/trip/sprain that could still end my race early.  I walked for about 1 ½ miles to the next feed station, filled up on carbs, then walked out of the woods at the bottom of the hill and ran back to HQ.  I repeated this routine 4 more times and by around 07:00 I'd covered 26 miles.

The sun was coming up and Martin was back.  I wasn’t feeling great (my body was completely sick of all the sugar, so much so that my teeth had become really sensitive and I was developing sores on my tongue), so I decided to walk a lap.  Martin came along for the stroll, but when we got back to HQ the race officials told us we needed to do the Snowdon leg right now as snow was predicted for later in the day.  We picked up our mountain kit bags and set off.

Snowdon was really steep.  It was obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to run any of it, so we just kept on plodding and chatting.  Martin even managed to get a pledge of a donation to Sightsavers from some people we passed on the way up!  The wind picked up the higher we got and a few flakes of snow started to fall.  With the wind-chill, it was -7 degrees.  We made it to the top, punched my race wrist band at the marker, then headed straight back down.  The ascent/descent took us around 3 hours 50 minutes.  By this point I’d covered just over 41 miles of the run course.

Now it was time to get this race finished.  I changed out of my mountain gear and set off running as best as I could on my second-to-last lap.  Martin joined me, and we ran as far as the top of the first hill, then walked the rest until we could do the short run from the bottom of the final hill to HQ.  I was now just under 4 hours ahead of the 2nd place competitor, so we could have walked the last lap and still finished 1st, but I knew that the quicker I went, the sooner I could stop, so we ran as much as we could and fast walked anything we couldn’t. 

As we finished, we caught up with another competitor who was running with 2 support crew members.  He asked me how many laps I had to go, and I told him I was just about to finish my last.  He told me he had 7 laps still to go (amazingly, he made the cut off with 12 minutes to spare, having raced for 41 hours and 48 minutes) - hats off!

I crossed the line in 1st place with a time of 32 hours and 39 minutes.   When the race started, I’d have been happy with just finishing.  It was the hardest race I’ve ever done.

Enormous thanks to my parents, my support crew Martin “The MC” Cookson and to everyone that sponsored me – the fact that I’d had so many generous donations and best wishes meant that there was no way I was going to let you all down!  THANKS!

Extra thanks to:  Claire (BRUTAL EVENTS Race Director), Brian (Chief Medic & Saftey Officer), all the medics and organisational staff and everyone else who made the event possible.  You are second to none.

 

 

================================================

10-09-12

I started doing triathlons a while ago with an old school friend.  For some reason, we decided that every race we did had to be harder than the last one.  8 years on and it's now got completely out of hand.  This should explain why I’m doing a race called THE BRUTAL.  The organisers claim that THE BRUTAL is the hardest Double Ironman triathlon in the world and I'm not going to argue with them.  It consists of a 4.8 mile swim in a freezing cold lake, a 234 mile bike leg which crosses a mountain pass 8 times and ends with a 52 mile run, the final lap of which is up and down Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.

It's time to STOP THE MADNESS.  That's why this race is going to be the last extreme triathlon I do.  As the race is going to be absolutely horrible, I thought I'd better do it for a worthy cause.  Sightsavers are an international charity who work to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people in the developing world.

Our eyes are responsible for four fifths of all the information our brain receives – which is probably why we rely on eyesight more than any other sense.  80% of blindness is preventable or curable and often at a minimal cost.  £15 could provide treatment that will prevent sight loss, or surgery that can restore sight.  I couldn't put a price on my own vision, which is why I want to raise as much money as possible to stop other people from losing theirs.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.