Ironman Germany 2012

 

 

Andrew Curtis

Rank: 151 of 304

Overall Rank: 1752 of 2885

BIB:	1186
Division:	50-54
Age:	51
State:	tadworth
Country:	GBR
Profession:

 

Swim:	1:09:42
Bike:	6:00:56
Run:	5:14:17
Overall:	12:37:13

Congratulations, Andrew, on your finish!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 106
Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
2.1 km	2.1 km	37:43	37:43	1:47/100m
3.8 km	1.7 km	31:59	1:09:42	1:52/100m
Total	3.8 km	1:09:42	1:09:42	4:06/100m	106	1345	1249

 

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 127
Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
14 km	14 km	22:54	1:39:05	36.68 km/h
24 km	10 km	20:11	1:59:16	29.73 km/h
32 km	8 km	10:06	2:09:22	47.52 km/h
44 km	12 km	27:37	2:36:59	26.07 km/h
77 km	33 km	1:01:21	3:38:20	32.27 km/h
89 km	12 km	23:43	4:02:03	30.36 km/h
95 km	6 km	16:06	4:18:09	22.36 km/h
108 km	13 km	26:41	4:44:50	29.23 km/h
116 km	8 km	11:16	4:56:06	42.60 km/h
128 km	12 km	29:41	5:25:47	24.26 km/h
159 km	31 km	1:06:38	6:32:25	27.91 km/h
171 km	12 km	25:59	6:58:24	27.71 km/h
180 km	9 km	18:43	7:17:07	28.85 km/h
Total	180 km	6:00:56	7:17:07	29.92 km/h	127	1464	1387

 

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 151
Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
1.8 km	1.8 km	9:37	7:32:33	5:20/km
3.1 km	1.3 km	7:25	7:39:58	5:42/km
5.1 km	2 km	12:34	7:52:32	6:17/km
7.5 km	2.4 km	14:47	8:07:19	6:09/km
10.4 km	2.9 km	20:55	8:28:14	7:12/km
12.2 km	1.8 km	12:19	8:40:33	6:50/km
13.5 km	1.3 km	8:24	8:48:57	6:27/km
15.5 km	2 km	15:01	9:03:58	7:30/km
17.9 km	2.4 km	14:40	9:18:38	6:06/km
20.8 km	2.9 km	26:32	9:45:10	9:08/km
22.6 km	1.8 km	12:13	9:57:23	6:47/km
23.9 km	1.3 km	10:42	10:08:05	8:13/km
25.9 km	2 km	15:35	10:23:40	7:47/km
28.3 km	2.4 km	20:13	10:43:53	8:25/km
31.2 km	2.9 km	27:42	11:11:35	9:33/km
33 km	1.8 km	14:38	11:26:13	8:07/km
34.3 km	1.3 km	11:49	11:38:02	9:05/km
36.3 km	2 km	20:19	11:58:21	10:09/km
38.7 km	2.4 km	15:24	12:13:45	6:24/km
42.2 km	3.5 km	23:28	12:37:13	6:42/km
Total	42.2 km	5:14:17	12:37:13	7:26/km	151	1752	1615

 

Transition
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	6:29
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	5:49

 

My IM France Results

ANDREW CURTIS

BIB	AGE	STATE/COUNTRY	PROFESSION
2530	50	tadworth United Kingdom

 

 

SWIM	BIKE	RUN	OVERALL	RANK	DIV.POS.
1:21:59	6:29:32	4:43:07	12:47:16	1166	52

 

LEG	DISTANCE	PACE	RANK	DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM	3.8 km (1:21:59)	2:09/100m	1603	96
BIKE SPLIT 1: 28 km	28 km (56:23)	29.80 km/h
BIKE SPLIT 2: 56 km	28 km (1:06:10)	25.39 km/h
BIKE SPLIT 3: 105 km	49 km (2:04:57)	23.53 km/h
BIKE SPLIT 4: 119 km	14 km (37:07)	22.63 km/h
BIKE SPLIT 5: 144 km	25 km (41:58)	35.74 km/h
BIKE SPLIT 6: 180 km	36 km (1:02:57)	34.31 km/h
TOTAL BIKE	180 km (6:29:32)	27.73 km/h	1423	76
RUN SPLIT 1: 5.3 km	5.3 km (30:43)	5:47/km
RUN SPLIT 2: 10.5 km	5.2 km (31:43)	6:05/km
RUN SPLIT 3: 15.8 km	5.3 km (33:11)	6:15/km
RUN SPLIT 4: 21.1 km	5.3 km (39:53)	7:31/km
RUN SPLIT 5: 26.4 km	5.3 km (37:02)	6:59/km
RUN SPLIT 6: 31.6 km	5.2 km (40:42)	7:49/km
RUN SPLIT 7: 36.9 km	5.3 km (--:--)	--/km
RUN SPLIT 8: 42.0 km	5.1 km (12:46:45)	30:20/km
RUN SPLIT 9: 42.2 km	0.2 km (0:31)	2:34/km
TOTAL RUN	42.2 km (4:43:07)	6:42/km	1166	52
TRANSITION				TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE				7:54
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN				4:44

 

My IM France

My IM France

Guess my IM France began ages ago with a concerted few months of trying to convince Rob to come and do it with me. But he didn't So this weekend I flew out on my own, 'Billy No Mates'. Still you race on your own.

Nice is nice, just what you might expect in the South of France, hot, sunny, old ladies with dogs, people running/cycling inline skating along the prom. Did I say hot, I'll say it again. Nice is hot 35 degrees hot.
I stayed at the Etap about 1.2 miles along the prom towards the airport fom the start. Too far along really, it's cheaper, but you walk up and down the prom a lot.

Pasta party was OK, met a few people, got to ride the tram, but it was a repeat of the Briefing notes to a live French background music band, that I got sent a few weeks before. They did get Zamora the previous IM Fr winner up on stage, but I wouldn't rush across town to get to it.

Expo area was good for drooling over new gear and finding some shade/aircon.

Saturday, racked my bike and chatted to others in the queue, that's what is good about these events. There are all sorts of people. The guy next to me was from Patagonia en route to Mongolia via France to research wild flowers. I don't meet people like that every day!

Sunday started at 4am, eat something, anything, just eat it, so cold 'oats so simple, flapjack and energy bar', yuck, and off to the start. (Eye opener nbr 1). 4:30am Sunday morning and this end of Nice is full of 'ladies of the night', I just saw the green crossing man so ran across the road towards them. They just saw a man running towards them and instantly jumped up on duty. I don't get out much at 4:30am so it was an eye opener to me! But I digress, back to Ironman.

T1 is a huge place. I borrowed someone's pump. Poor chap. He was enjoying a kiss with his girlfriend when this small skinny old guy taps him on the shoulder asking if I could borrow his pump, and then he actually came over to help me read the dial, (I didn't have my glasses on).

Down to the swim. On the beach (stones) I chatted with a woman next to me, doing her first IM and I told her that the biff, in my experience of the 2 other IM's I had done, was not as bad as I expected. Whoops. This was the worse biff I have experienced. I did not get clear water all the way around, my technique was rubbish, my sighting was rubbish, I did not even see the 2nd and 3rd bouys. It was horrible and I was not in my happy place for the whole swim, in fact I was in a 'I'm never doing another Ironman place'. The water was calm, flat and clear. I'm just not convinced about the starting pens idea.

T1. It's a long run into/out of T1, got on the bike and blasted out along the Prom. Time to settle down, get some energy in and start riding. It's flat, the road surface is good. Out along the river valley, no problems, then a 90 degree left and there it is, 500m of struggling humanity, bikes zig sagging, people pushing bikes! Down into my low gears, stand up, breathe, pedal, breathe, pedal. How long is 500m? Still made it to the top, heartrate well up, but it came back down again. This next section through French villages, up and down is fairly normal, and the downhill sections give you a taste of what is to come. I flew on the downhill sections, on the outside shouting 'left' at everyone to make sure they did not pull out in front of me. Sooner or later I arrived at the 'Col whatever', maybe by now I had started along the road to 'my happy place', but it was still along way off. The road up to the Col goes on and on, and people say, 'only 7km to the top', but 7km takes about an hour. I had trained for this event on Boxhill in Surrey. My long ride was 6 hours and climbing Boxhill 12 times, but the Boxhill gradient is not steep enough. It's not out of the seat climbing and it's not that your heartrate skyrockets, it's just a steady grunt of a climb. The benefit is the downhill that's got to follow sometime.

Aid Stations. Not enough people manning them, I missed the energy drink a number of times, if there were more volunteers I think I would have managed to get some. It's hard to remember where the ups and downs were. There is another climb through the trees which is lovely. Then an out and back which is a very slight incline, then a shorter climb when I was left eating the dust from an M60 on a Cervelo P4. Then comes the downhill. I was finally getting close to my happy place. Time for a quick change of ego, out went the middle of the pack, dad and work slave, pop, in went the Lance Armstrong ego. It fitted well! I blasted down the downhills, into my top gear, crank it up, on the aerobars, and fly, overtook loads of people, hairpins, twists, turns woods, villages, lots of fast open, smooth road, I loved it. I had arrived in my happy place. Something like 30km of the best riding I have ever had, just me, my new Lance ego and Cervelo P2C (the best bike, I love my bike, I shall give it a good clean and kisses and a fresh cotton wool nest), (it's still in the bike box at the moment).

As you come down the temperature goes up and soon your back in the oven that is the river valley, except whilst you were away the headwind kicked in. All the way back to the airport into the headwind. Somewhere near the airport I ran into the back of a pack of riders. Hearing a motorbike I kept back, only to find it was some chap chatting to his mate on a bike coming down the outside. There was serious drafting going on here, not until the start of the prom did I get a space to pull out and go, or should I say, 'take my turn on the front'. Good ride along the Prom though.

T2, arrived into T2 with another Andrew, that I had traded places with a few times on the bike. We ran out together and he went on ahead.

The run (warning graphic information). My happy place was evaporating and the Miranda Carfrae ego I ordered had not arrived. First 5km was not good, stomache felt yuck from all the energy gels, 2nd 5km was better after drinking water instead of iso. Overtook Andrew again. It must have been on the 15-20km section I stopped for the toilet and had to queue. Not happy and lost 6 mins at least. That's where Andrew overtook me again. How come theres not more toilets? Is there a world shortage of Portaloos? Bugger. Then I got into a slog, just need to keep going, if you walk it takes longer, just keep going. Showers were good, aid stations were good. My body just kept saying, 'are we there yet', 'I need a wee', 'I'm busting'. I wee'ed on the run, I wee'ed against a fence, I wee'ed down my leg leaning against the barrier, but I didn't wee in the shower, because as Craig in Big Brother 1 said, 'that's disgusting'.

The final 10km turn around finally came and I checked my watch. If I was to make it under 13 hours I needed to run. The last 10km I picked up my skirt, manned up and ran, walking the aid stations. It worked, I think I picked up 4 minutes on American Andrew, he still beat me, but I was pleased with my effort for the last 10km, coming in, in 12:47.
The Finish Line, it's long, it's noisy, it's hot, sunny, it's blue, it's got pompom girls, and it's got an announcer. 'You are an Ironman' the words I had been waiting for. The words I never ever wanted to hear ever again, I was cured, my Ironman career was over, never doing another …. But now I'm over that thought J and signed up for IM Germany 2012.

After the finish, massage was good, food was good, and stayed around at the finish line stands until the end and fireworks. Question is, did the guy they let come down the finishers chute at 16:00:04 get a medal?
Hero of the day.

2 hours into my bike ride I overtook a 1 legged man. No prosthectic leg. Just one leg, doing like one legged drills. So the question is, how did he do the 12% hill when others walked, apparently he got himself off the beach into T1. Who is that chap, because Bob Babbitt on Competitor Radio should interview him. He is my legend of the day and I would like to hear more about him.

Thanks to all the supporters, online and at the event. Thanks to the 2 chaps with their wives (sorry I've forgotten your names), First dropped out a week ago on medical advice and the second dropped out on Sat with stomache issues. Pity you couldn't do the race but thak you for your support, I heard your shouts a number of times and really appreciated it.

The results. finished in 12:47, which put me at 49/179 in my age group, so pleased with that. pleased with my bike time (I love you Cervelo P2C). Pleased with sections of the run, pleased with about 50m of the swim. Happy to be recovering.

IM France here I come

Here we go again.  Been training again since Feb and next Sunday I will be in Nice for IM France.  What do I know about this Ironman?  There is about 2500 taking part, beach start and a sea swim, the bike ride goes up into the mountains and the run is hot and flat.  So my expectations are a crowded swim, probably with lots of kicking, a single 17 mile long hill and a run that's going to be tough.  But if you choose to enter these things, don't whinge about it.

Training has been fair.  Lots of swimming early on in the pool, on plan with running and biking.  A few occasions where I have fallen off plan but probably more training than last year.  Biking feels stronger.  I guess it needs to be as everyone tells me the IM France bike is one of the hardest.  Certainly I have done more uphill training this year, hope it all pays off.

My IM Regensburg 1st August 2010

Statistics
Swim 01:12.1
T1 5.31
Bike 05:57.4
T2 3.36
Run 04:16.1
Total 11:35
Age Group Pos 99
All Men Pos 689
Overall Pos 705
Total Starters 1800ish

Travel
BA airmiles flight to Stuttgart and hire car. Bike on the plane was no problem. BA allow you to take the bike as your normal luggage upto 23kg. Drive from/to Stuttgart was long, a lot longer than I expected, (in future use Munich, it’s closer).

Hotel
Ibis was great, E66 + breaky + parking, loads of other competitors staying there, the hallway looked like a bike shop! Only issue was after the race walking the bike back took a long time

The Event Organisation
Compared to IMUK it was superb, lots of helpers, lots of atmosphere, lovely town, was a bit spread out around town, register in townhall, pick up bags from a square around the corner, party tent elsewhere, so a bit of walking about. No Nuun tablets in sight anywhere.

Racking bike in T1 meant driving out to the lake, not sure if there were shuttle buses or not, think it did say in the Race notes.

Shuttle bus went from a square a short walk from the hotel, so it was easy to walk there and we got on the first bus and left immediately, there was another bus waiting as we left.

The Swim
The course was a bit confusing and no one was really able to explain it to me beforehand, best advice I got was, ‘follow everyone else’. The swim was a beach start and was crowded, I had heard stories of Germans being ‘eager’ in the swim so went a little to the left thinking I had a bout 1km to slowly come to the right and hopefully keep out of trouble, and it seemed to work. I did not get kicked or punched. I was in amongst a lot of swimmers and as the course is quite narrow there was some bumping, but nothing too bad. I even found quite a bit of open water to swim in as packs formed. Sighting on the first & third long legs was helped by a massive tower of a buoy on the shore behind the first turning buoy. At the buoys the packs converged and it all got a bit packed. Somewhere after the start on the first leg I did think to myself that there was no ‘get out clause’ with so many people around which I would have been worried about if I did not have my wetsuit on.

I was really pleased with my swim, and enjoyed it. For me it was a fast swim, probably something to do with doing lots of kicking to make sure no one grabbed my ankles!

T1
Had all my kit by my bike, so ran around there (matting all the way), tri shorts under wetsuit, shirt, socks, shoes, hat, glasses, number belt and cream on. 1 issue, the toilets were back over by the swim exit, you can guess the rest.

Bike
Super flat and smooth roads, the whole course was closed to traffic, loads of draft busters, loads of police bikers (with guns, presumably for persistent drafters). Aid stations seemed to appear from nowhere, was there signs to tell me they were coming? Stations were excellent with everything. I missed the Isotonic a few times and took Coke instead. The hills were no problem, my bike was under geared, need to get a 25/11 cassette to go with my compact chainset.

Got stung by a wasp at about 30km, bugger, awesome downhill section, fast, wide and no potholes. The major part of the course was flat with long straights, not a lot of slowing for corners, there were corners but you could take them fast with the whole road being closed, the course is great on a TT bike.

Final stretch about 10km leads to town, long, straight with a few roundabouts. Flat out all the way then! I felt good at this point, did have times where my energy ebbed and came back as I took the gels, in general I felt strong and comfortable, just need to be quicker.

T2
This is a big area with loads of racking in it, you wheel your own bike to the rack, it’s done in time order so you don’t need to find your number. Worked well when I came to pick my bike up again, helpers look at a spreadsheet on the wall and then take you to your bike.

Your bag is found and handed to you as you run through, just call out your number, and in the tent there are people to repack your plastic bag. It’s brilliant and I was out again in no time.

Run
The run is 4 loops, flat and both through town with it’s narrow cobbled streets, lots of people, noise and cow bells. Then there are areas around parks on paths. You pick up a coloured band on each loop and are allowed to turn right to the finish when you have 4 bands. I ran between aid stations and walked through each one. The aid stations are about 2km apart and have everything, except the gels ran out towards the end. Coke, Isotonic, Redbull, banana, salt, water, sponges, ice. I took the ice at each station and put it down my shirt, kept me cool.

The Finish
Final right turn and 100metres down the finishing chute, picked up my speed, brushed my hair back, put the sun glasses on top of my head, threw my arms in the air and smiled. Awesome

After the Finish Line
I was taken care of by my helper, given a cold wet flannel, showed where to go to get finisher shirt/medal/showers/massage/clothes no problems no queues.

Onto the party tent where I found I could not eat or drink, my stomach just about told me enough for one day, and I had frequent toilet visits/stomach cramps. Wish I could have drunk a few beers. Maybe next time.