In 1977 a group of swimmers and runners, based in Hawaii, were having an argument. Who’s the fittest, runners or swimmers? One of their number even suggested that cyclists might be the fittest. To resolve the issue it was agreed to hold a continuous race combining the longest swimming, biking and running events in Hawaii. This is why the original distances were respectively 2.4, 112 and 26 miles. The distances involved are enough to put off the faint hearted. Add in hot, humid and windy conditions and the mildly doubtful will also opt out.

The inaugural Ironman race, with fifteen competitors, took place on the 18th February 1978. This established Hawaii as both the spiritual home and the location of the Ironman world championships.

33 years later I found myself in Kona, Hawaii with 1800 others getting ready for what is always a daunting challenge. The seven days prior to the race I’d spent here acclimatizing. This involved early morning swims in a choppy Pacific, bike rides to on windy, hot road and runs on

The people of Kona could not have been more welcoming and had transformed their town into an Ironman village. The atmosphere was great with the shops supporting Sponsor and triathlon product banners

Swim training prior to the event generally took place between 06:30 and 07:00 am with the pier packed with people around this time trying to obtain the free kit/-t-shirts being handed out. I gained two swim hats, goggles and a number of t-shirts, some them technical.

Race day was an early start with a queue to be stamped on both your arms with your number, be weighed, hand in your special needs bag and then head off to check your bike. The pros start half an hour earlier at 06:30 than the age grouper. The swim start is about 40m out in a wide line with two breaks for the plinths in the water with Ford cars placed on top of them. Ford being the lead sponsor.

A firing cannon signalled the start and all hell broke loose. I was on the inside which was a big mistake. The first three buoys I got battered and came with to a halt or close to a halt as a result of the volume of people. The swim is 1.2 miles out to sea, around a boat and back. You can see the boat from far away but it never seems to get any closer. At the turn around point I got my goggles knocked, so had to stop to adjust them. They still kept leaking so I had to stop several times on the way back to adjust them. This was not good news as you are swimming against the tide on the return and hence I was going backwards each time I stopped. However, whilst swimming back a pair of dolphins swam under me which made up for my struggles. I just wish I could swim half as fast they can!

Onto the bike which consists of an eight mile rolling loop to the South followed by a rolling out and back loop to the North. I had several stops early on to rinse out my eyes which were stinging from the sea water. After the 4th attempt they finally stopped stinging.

The final eighteen miles to the Northern turn around point is mainly up hill with cross winds except for the last seven miles which are uphill into a head wind. The wind was quiet strong and I was shifted sideways on a number of occasions. Thankfully the wind was not strong in Hawaii terms otherwise I would have been off the road. It was a pleasure for the seven miles after the turn around point were you had the wind behind you and gong down hill. This was a chance to refuel and spin the legs before hitting the cross winds again and further head wind on the way back to transition.

Hydration was important as the sun reflected off the tarmac. It was very easy to overheat. By the end of the bike my head was rather hot despite being in an ordinary vented helmet. As opposed to an aero helmet which a number of people chose to use. Their heads must have been cooked from lack of cooling due to minimal vents.

Back into transition and the application of more suncream before heading out onto the run. I didn’t want to look like a lobster the next day. The run was an undulating eleven mile loop to the South prior to heading up out onto the highway and on to the energy lab for the turning around point and onto the finish. You can see a theme developing, not a lot of flat on this Ironman course, including the swim.

There were frequent aid stations offering cold sponges, water and ice. Cold sponges were stuffed down tops and ice placed in hats to keep try and keep cool. I also ran holding ice in my hands. One advantage with Kona is that the sun goes down rapidly at 6.00pm. Consequently the last hour of my race was in the dusk/dark which meant for a cooler run. This came too late for some who were collapsed by the side of the road with heat exhaustion. The last mile to the finish was mainly downhill and through the town. The level of support was great.

I crossed the finishing line in 11:59, that is hours and minutes, exhausted, but elated. The beautiful location, great atmosphere and the huge medal huge made it all worthwhile and generated big sense of satisfaction.

As the Ironman trademark says “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life”

We are all so pleased for him and the exciting thing is … i think he’s just getting warmed up!!!!

The hotel staff were great, very friendly, they didn’t seem to mind much that for 5 days there was bike gear strewn around the hotel and rooms, or that we completely overtook the lobby entrance for 45 minutes doing planning our maxifuel photo shoot. In fact the more Ironman related havoc we created the more they seemed to like us.

The best thing about the hotel Rokohof was the fact they served lion size food portions at the restaurant which meant we could go out and smash it, knowing that an all day/night feast when we got back. 1^st rule of eating out in Klagenfurt – Ask before you order .The first night I made the mistake of ordering a family size triple pasta platter, the second night I ordered the biggest salad I have ever seen. Maybe these were normal food portion sizes in Klagenfurt, I am still not sure.

On the first day I had some almost show stopping problems with my bike; the guys at mountainbiker.at located in town were more than capable in solving a very complicated issue with it.

Once my bike was sorted I hit the roads in anger. I remember it to be the best surface I’d ever ridden on. It pulls you forward with very little effort. Crystal blue lake on the right, dark green alpine forest on the left, it is an incredible place that I will go back to again and again.

One of my main decisions for joining the camp was to ride the bike route a few times. It was important to me not to have any surprises on the big day coming up. Having done the camp I now realise I learned a lot more than I expected. Experiencing how my body would react to the heat and race conditions at certain points on the bike and run route made it possible for me to make better decisions on the day.

I was happy to learn that there were only two hills of concern in Austria, and that although the ride threatened over 2200m elevation gain, the gradients were gradual.

Every morning at breakfast before heading out Pat answered our never ending questions: When to eat? What if? How much to drink? What wheels to ride on? Where to push? Where to slow? What heart rate? How much to carry? How to fix it? He helped us one by one to strategise the best individual paths for our race. A few weeks later on race day I would recall feeling quietly settled and confident knowing I had a tried and tested plan that worked and even a plan B if that didn’t go as planned.

A good way to experience the run route was to go through drills and strides. Pat looked at each of our run strides in detail, giving important tips throughout the half marathon session that spanned the great distance between Klagenfurt town center and Lake Worthesee.

There were major benefits of training in Klagenfurt, it’s a great place, with helpful people. Everything is very accessible. For triathlon training it just works. The physio team Dagmar and Melanie took great care of us after some heavy sessions.

We had a great group with us; I can say for everyone that was there, it was a blast.

The race.

Three weeks after the camp I returned to compete in Ironman Austria for my first Ironman. The conditions had not changed, Lufthansa still burned me £140 for my bike bag, and the taxi to the hotel was still around 16 Euros.

Before I knew it the race was over. Turned the corner to the finish and saw the time on the clock. I had done way better than planned.

The swim was done; my bike was racked back in T2, I was standing looking back at the finish thinking about what I had just done. The standard Ironman digital format finish line clock we all know so well was flicking through the seconds; competitors were crossing the line all equally deservingly and ecstatic within their achievements. I just couldn’t get my head around how something so colossal could pass so quickly. The race had taken me a vast amount of time to complete. I thought on it some more and soon realised that it wasn’t even about the race, I realised the race was just a miniscule part of the hundreds of hours spent training, on long rides with mates, coaching, camps, planning and learning.

I cannot wait for the next one.

Ryan Mclaughlin

What events are you entering as the winner of the Maxifuel Beat Your Best competition?
I’ve done the Blenheim Triathlon and it’s the London Triathlon at the end of July.

How did the Blenheim Triathlon go for you?
Really well. That was my second ever triathlon and time-wise it wasn’t comparable to the last one I entered in Nottingham, because that was flat compared with Blenheim’s undulating course, but it went really well. It was much better than Nottingham in terms of how I felt, although time-wise it was slightly longer.

What’s your top tip for each discipline for someone planning to take on a triathlon for the first time?
Try not to worry about the swim because you get a lot of buoyancy from the wetsuit, and go at your own pace. In the first tri I did I tried to go off hell for leather, against guys who had been doing it for years or were from a swimming background, and after about 50m I was puffed out and thought ‘I’m not even going to complete this’. But in the Blenheim one I went at my own pace and found I had much more energy for the rest of the race. For the cycling my main tip would be to save some energy! Towards the end of the cycle remember you’ve got that run afterwards and don’t exhaust yourself. If you have made up a few places on the cycle, you can let some people slip by at the end and try to get them back in the run. My tip for running would be to just go for it because you’re nearly at the end of the race. The adrenaline will help you make it.

What time are you hoping for in the London Triathlon?
Well, it’s twice the distance of Blenheim [which is a sprint tri] and my time for that was 1hr 20min, so realistically double that and a little bit. 2hrs 45min would be amazing. Under three hours, definitely.

How is your training going?
It’s going pretty well. Unfortunately, I’ve had a couple of weddings over the last few weekends which is when I normally manage to get in the longer hours of training. That’s been put to one side because of the weddings and the aftermaths the following mornings. Overall, though, I have massively picked up my training from what I was doing on my own originally. I’ve had some great tips and training plans from Pat Leahy, head coach at multi-sport fitness training company PRO-VO2 and the Maxifuel products have helped massively as well.

What Maxifuel products have you been using during racing and training and how effective have you found them?
During training it’s been the gels and the sports drink which have been a big help. I’ve used these types of products before and Maxifuel’s are definitely up there with the best. But it’s the Recovermax that’s amazing. Previously after my training I have just had a normal sports drink and then cracked on, but if you have hard a hard day’s training the following day you can be really struggling to get going again. The Recovermax drink has got all your carbs and your protein and is absolutely fantastic.

So there’s a noticeable difference in how you feel the next day when you have Recovermax after training?
Oh yeah, massively.

What would you say your strongest and weakest disciplines are?
I was quite surprised actually. I haven’t swum properly for years, other than swimming in the pool on holiday, and it’s only this year I have started properly training for it. So I thought going into Nottingham and Blenheim that the swimming would be my weakest without a doubt – it’s the one I worried about most. But actually at Blenheim I came in about 600th out of 4,000 entrants in the swim, and it was the same for the cycle but for my run I was around the 900th mark, so I was quite surprised because I thought my running was stronger than my swimming. Technically I’m not a very good swimmer, but it’s the start of the race, the adrenaline is pumping and maybe that helped me go a bit faster than I what I’m used to in training, plus the extra buoyancy from the wetsuit contributes too. And even though I’m very comfortable running ten miles [16km], stick all the disciplines together and it’s a different story. So I’d say swimming and cycling are my strongest disciplines and running my weakest – but it’s mainly because of the order they come in.

How has winning the competition affected your view of triathlon?
It’s been fantastic. I’m not a member of any triathlon clubs so everything I was doing was just from magazines and stuff. Now, apart from the products and kit that I’ve got, I’ve been to Loughborough and trained with a couple of the GB athletes and coaches and some of the tips we were given that day were fantastic, really valuable. Since then I have got a few more training trips from Pat Leahy. It’s been hard trying to fit the training schedule around work, but it’s given me a great base to work from and the drive to keep going.

Neil Whitney is taking part in the Beat Your Best ultimate triathlon experience brought to you by industry experts, Maxifuel and Speedo. For more information go to maxifuel.com/beatyourbest

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Lanzarote Training Camp: 22nd – 29th March 2012 (8 Spaces Left!!)

Lanzarote, turn the heat up!…The Lanzarote Training Camp takes place in the longest established and best known resort of Peurto De Carmen. One of the seven Canary Islands belonging to Spain, Lanzarote is only 120 km from the West Coast of Africa. On this island that captivates visitors with its dramatic scenery, picturesque villages and unique style, is also hosts probably the toughest Ironman race in the world every year. Perfect for those competing in the race chance to practise on the actual race course whilst those training for shorter distances (70.3 and Olympic) also receive expert coachinh for their races in this sunny training mecca.

Get ready for a great weeks training…This camp is designed for anyone training up for Ironman, Half Ironman (70.3) and Olympic distance triathlons, whilst also welcome to any cyclists who just want to come out for the fantastic sunny bike miles. No matter what your ability level, we will help you improve by training you smarter and teach you exactly what you need to do come race day. Swim, Bike and Run sessions will be divided into differemt ability levels, which are interchangable at anytime throughout the day or course. There will also be vehichle support on some rides. Details: Coaching & Training Week PDF

Accomodation, Travel and Bookings…To give you choice and keep things simple we let you organise your preffered travel and accomodation. We will use one hotel as the camps HQ which everyone is welcome to stay at with the coach’s. Coach’s Hotel: THB Flora Apps (Camp HQ) Other Hotels: VIK Hotel and Costa Luz Flights: EasyJet (Direct to Lanzarote/Arrecife), and other airlines Bike Hire:ProBikeLanzarote (Club La Santa Bike Store) More Info: Please contact Pat Leahy at pat@provo2.com To Book: Pay Above or to HSBC (Sort:400531 Acc:81459570)

Training Camp Partners & Races… Our training camp partners, include Xterra wetsuits, Powertaps from Velopower, Powerbreathe Monitors, Ironman Clothing, Profeet, Polar Heart Rate monitors, Zoggs Swim-eyewear and Bloc Sunglasses. Maxifuel will be supporting the camps with various sports nutrition products to keep you fuelled. There are a number of races such as the Volcano Triathlon & Ocean Lava Triathlon, with the pinnacle being Lanzarote Ironman is on Saturday the 21st May which is a great challenge 6-8weeks after the training camp. To enter this race go to the main website www.ironmanlanzarote.com

Maxifuel nutrition sponsor Pro-VO2 ‘MultiSport’ section. You can try out and learn more about Maxifuel products on our Camps & Clinics and in some of our MultiSport Articles.

To take advantage of this great offer all you need to do is;

1. Choose a training plan from the Training Plan Directory*

2. Click through to the plan you want in the store and read any further description

3. Add the correct plan option (e.g. full plan, base plan, build plan) to your shopping cart

4. Enter your code 30%PLANS and click “Apply Coupon” and to see your discount instantly applied.

5. Start training smarter with your new plan and enjoy your training!!!

*At present we only have our ‘triathlon plans’ built into a directory, but will be added our cycling and running plans over this next month. You can view cycling & running plans in the store under Training Programs

** This offer EXPIRES on 31/09/11 **

So, that’s it, I made it over the line, completing 140.6 miles of swimming, cycling and running in an overall time of 10 hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds. I sprinted the last 50 metres to try to get in under 10 hours 30, but I think my “sprint” resembled more of a drunken shuffle….. Out of 2,400 triathletes, I came 250th overall (including 20 pro’s), and 61st out of 296 in my age group (35-39) which is the most competitive, followed by the 40-44 category (really is no excuse for anyone not to do an Ironman…!)

I am not going to bore you with a minute by minute account, I know what those blogs are like, but it was quite an incredible experience and I will try to keep it relatively short. If anything, the physical side can be prepared for to a certain extent (although no training can replicate a marathon run after 7 hours of swimming and cycling), as long as there is the unwavering motivation and determination to put in all the thousands of hours of training, but it is the mental side that pushes all boundaries, picking yourself up when you enter those “dark” moments where all I wanted to do was to stop, sit and rest……luckily I never wanted to quit, I kept my heart rate at a constant 140 to 145 bpm so I knew I had enough power to get me to the finish line, it was just a question of at what speed….

The swim was as expected, horrendous. The pros went off at 6.55am, the rest of us 5 minutes later. Minute by minute countdown as we all stood on a grey beach on Lake Zurich, thousands of triathletes covered in black neoprene suits, with bright yellow swim caps, with the logo IRONMAN Switzerland blazed across Loud spine-tingling classical music blaring out as hundreds and hundreds of spectators lined the banks cheering and screaming. It was an unreal experience. As the horn sounded starting the race, it was a mad mass of bodies running into the water, the water more akin to a piranha feeding frenzy…. I was probably about mid placed on the start line, and my main concern was getting through this leg without a kick in the face, a black eye, loss of teeth, or early injury….It was only after about 3 km that I reached open water, and was able to get into my rhythm for the final 800 metres into transition for the bike leg.

Arriving into the transition area, I had clocked a time of 1 hour 4 minutes and was placed 49th in my age and 226 overall. I had a good swim. The bike leg was far tougher than I had expected, especially considering this is my strongest discipline of the three. Overly officious referees on motorbikes were handing penalties like sweets from a candy jar. There are strict rules on the bike leg, the rider must be not less than 33ft behind the rider in front (to prevent drafting which is cheating and immediate DSQ), and any overtaking manoeuvre must be completed within 30 seconds. As you can imagine, hardly realistic when everyone is flying along at between 40 and 43 km/h. Lots of whistles being blown and hand signals from the refs, the riders had no idea what was going on. A bike comes right alongside, whistle blaring and 4 fingers shown to me, followed by 1. No card was shown. I had no idea what this meant, I shouted out to the referee, “was this a penalty” and the bike just drove off. Mentally this threw me, I just was not prepared for this at all. Thousands of hours of physical training did not answer this issue. I cycled for about 2 hours then stopped in the next penalty box, asking the officials what this meant They had no idea, they asked what colour card I was shown, I said I wasn’t but shown a group of fingers…they looked at each other blankly, handed me a stop watch and said “6 minutes”. I then noticed a red marker pen had been slashed across my race bib number, immediate fear ran through, had I been disqualified? Was all that training for nothing…..I felt like dying…the officials just had no idea what any of this meant…

Picking myself up, I resigned myself to the fact it was all over, I had been disqualified, and that I had to continue with the race just for my own personal time. It was a seriously dark moment and if there was a hole to climb into, I would have been in it in a shot.

The ride was slower than I had expected, the hills were long and tough and draining, and just sapped energy from the legs. On a normal cycle race this is ok, but knowing I had still do to a marathon, I had to hold back.
I finished the ride in 5 hours 27, and came 60th in my age category, position 224th overall.

Back into transition, running shoes on, fuel belt and cap and glasses, I stopped to ask the officials there what this red pen on my race number meant. No idea. Were they just saying that so I would at least finish, but not have a recorded time? Everything was running through my head, it was literally hell. I was hoping endorphins would power me along, but no chance. I was deflated and confused. I settled into a good pace on the run, 4 laps round a twisty run course, lots of aid stations. This was the final leg, only 26.2 miles and it was all over. I noticed a few others had red pen on their race numbers, a mix of red slashes and red “P’s”…surely a red P was a penalty, and a red slash was a DSQ? I could not stop thinking about it.

I kept a constant pace throughout the run, fuelled by a mix of water, coke, red bull, dried apricots, bananas, oranges and salted pretzels. We were so fortunate by a huge lightning storm which cooled the air from a balmy 28 degrees to a monsoon rainstorm lasting about 2 hours. Not good for spectators, but a dream for us runners!

My mum was simply amazing, she had positioned herself as close as possible to my transitional spot, so cheered me on after the swim leg and got to the top of one of the hills on the bike. Incredible. It is impossible to say how much this helped. On the run I saw her each lap, and calling out about the red pen and possible DSQ she was liaising with my brother back at home who was avidly following my splits and progress. She called out that I was still recording splits; I had one more lap to go, only 10km and I had an immediate spring in my step; I was going to record a time!!

I finished the marathon run in 3 hours 52 minutes, I had done it, crossing the line arms aloof and just stood for about 5 minutes head in my knees. Alcohol free beer, red bull and fizzy water was administered to everyone over the line, medics were on hand and worn out and broken triathletes being picked up off the floor..it was like a scene from a movie, as if we had just got out of a plane crash!! The winning male completed this in 8 hours 15 minutes. In Roth, Germany, on the same day, the World Record had been broken at a time of 7 hours 41 minutes. Roth is one of the fastest courses. Only the week before in Klagenfurt, Austria, the World Record had been broken in a time of 7 hours 45 minutes. When the Ironman first started in 1978 the target time was 24 hours..only about 15 years ago it was sub 12 hours….

I vowed to myself as I gathered myself at the finish, I would never do such a ridiculous endurance challenge ever again, but needless to say, I am already entered for the next one in Austria in July 2012, a much flatter and faster bike course. There is so much I learned from this race, I will be even better prepared for the next one, and the (healthy!) addiction is indescribable.

So, what was my target time?! My dream was sub 10 hours, but I didn’t fully appreciate how tough the bike course was; I was very happy with the swim, and run, but really need to be hitting 3:30 for the marathon leg. I was much slower on the run so this is by far my weakest discipline. I wanted to come within 15% of the winning time for my age category, which is dead on 10 hour 30, so I was only 10 seconds outside this….not too bad! Would my time have been different had I not worried for over 9 hours as to whether I had been disqualified? Most probably, but maybe I would have pushed harder and blown up….I just could have done with far more endorphins. If I hadn’t had the penalty and the worry, maybe 10 hours would have been possible…so many ifs….

So, huge thanks to all of you who sent messages of good luck, and for messages during and after the event – it is incredible what this means and helped me get through the dark moments.

Sorry this blog has turned into a long one, I have tried to keep it short, and could have gone on forever, but I will save all that for the pub! Now that’s a place I have not been to in a very long time!

The oldest competitor was born in 1937, and finished in just under 16 hours. There is no excuse for not doing an Ironman!! Food for thought….?!
Max/Iain

*Photo’s of Iain Maxwell and team buddy Paul Ward – Click to enlarge*