It's been over a week now and I finally feel ready to write about the Long Course Weekend (3.8k Swim, 180k Cycle and 42.2 k Run over 3 days) aka LCW. Not to spoil anything but it was not pretty, Read on to find out just how bad it got.
There'd been a lot of umming and ahhing about signing up for the LCW in the Howell household, as it was the weekend on my girlfriend's 30th birthday. Being the star she is (and realising I needed the experience under my belt before Ironman) she let me sign up for the weekend. I had left it too late so I wasn't signed up for the offical LCW but rather for the 3 events that it is comprised of. So I wouldn't be getting the coveted 4th medal but the other 3 would do.
Friday 8th of July - Wales Swim (3.8k)
I drove to Tenby on the Friday from my parent's in Gloucester. Arriving around 4pm I said hello to Dan's parents,who had been kind enough to put us up for the weekend,grabbed my kit and headed down into town. I popped into the expo to get my timing chips for all the events and had a quick look at the stalls. There was some good stuff there but not a huge selection. Most of it was also outside of my price range. I headed to the beach to check out the course.
The tide was out at this point and it didn't half look like it was a long way. The swim was two laps round the buoys. You kept the first two on your left and the third on your right. You'd then get out of the sea for an short run (20 metres maybe) before doing the second lap.
As I waited for my race to begin, Taff Kids was taking place. This is a race for children from 4 to 11 and involves a quick run in the sea then a run up the beach. These kids were amazing, some flew through it and would have been a challenge for me. Others seemed knackered by the end and I could commiserate with them. The really small ones seemed the most energetic and didn't stop till the end. These kids were all an inspiration and I was beginning to feel ready for the race.
I awkwardly changed into my Tri-suit under a towel and used the remainder of my energy drink to affix the temporary tattoos to my hand and to my swim cap. I pulled on my wetsuit and got my goggles perched on my head. I headed to the bag drop and dropped it off. No going back now.
Half an hour later, waiting in the pen, trying to keep as far to the back as possible, the nerves had set it. Here I was about to do the longest open water swim I'd ever done, possibly the longest ever swim I'd done. After listening to the race briefing and cursing myself inwardly a few more times we were off around 7pm.
I held back, not rushing to get into the water. Let those who want it more be first into the water, its all chip timed anyway. Once in the water, I soon found myself a bit of space. This is one of the joys of sea swimming, there seems to be lots of room for people to spread out. I'd avoided the dreaded scrum I'd heard can often happen at the start of swim races and I settled into a relaxed front crawl. Everything seemed to be going fine. Seemed being the operative word.
Pretty soon I'd been reduced to breaststroke. My breathing was all over the place and despite the small amount of chop, I wasn't dealing with it well. Couple that with the current being against me for the first 600 metres and I was struggling. Everytime I breathed, when crawling, salt water dripped off my beard into my mouth. Within the first 10 minutes I'd had to stop to dry heave. Sadly this would be a common event over the next few hours.
Using a mix of crawl and breast, I made it to the 2nd Buoy of Lap 1. With around 300 metres to go, I could hear the PA saying something about cut off times. I knew I had to be on lap 2 by 8pm, and had been confident of this. However, with the sea conditions and the salt, I had no idea whether I would manage this. So I struggled on.
Close to the beach, I figured I'd run/wade the last little bit. I had underestimated the depth at this point and sank like a stone. Bobbing back up, I swam to shore. At this point someone held up 2 fingers and pointed right, I followed there instructions and ran round to throw myself into the sea. I'd made the cut off, task one completed.
(Looking at the results now I hadn't made the cut off, they were just being nice, It'd taken my 1hr 5ish minutes to do a lap)
Lap One had been hard. Lap Two was a nightmare,within 200 metres I had a paddleboarded by my side asking if I was okay. I wasn't but I said I was. I carried on, her not being an idiot disbelieved me and stayed by my side. Soon she had swapped with a kayaker who was keeping alongside me. Floudering at this point, I stopped and asked for a tow to shore. He said he could do,but wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing. It would have been so I carried on, him flanking me all the time.
After what seemed an eternity, the 1st Buoy was no closer. I stopped again, I asked to go ashore again, he said he could but why not make it to the Buoy first. I nodded,or grunted or maybe just started swimming again. Its all a blur at this point.
By now I had a small flotilla with me, I was either the back of the pack or 2nd from last. I made it to Buoy 1, to be told I'd been swimming against the current and the next leg was with the current. So I decided to give it a go.
500 metres into this leg of the lap, my legs gave up on me. I had horrendous cramp and had to cling to a kayak while my leg was stretched out by the kayaker. Once this was done, I carried on again.
To cut a very long story short, I struggled around that course, supported all the way by the flotilla. Without them,I would not have finished. Sadly I didn't get there names and didn't get a chance to thank them afterwards. So if you're reading Thank you Kayak gang for getting me round the course in one piece. They didn't tow me, but just having their encouraging words and knowing that I wasn't going to drown was enough.
Once I got to shore, I limped up the beach, my cramped leg still being a bit dodgy. I had no idea where to go, so I'm glad someone from the organisers ran with me to show me where the end was. I got my medal, punched the sky and was glad to be alive.
The crowd had mainly gone by this point, but my Tinpot Ironman colleague Dan was there waiting for me. He hadn't been able to get there early enough to compete so had just watched.
We retrieved my bag, waddled to the car and drove back to Chez Evans Senior. After a lovely Spag Bol that Dan's mum had made, it was time to relax for abit. Dan's wife, Lucie, had been looking at race info online and reported a rumour that the buoys had moved so the course had been about 500 metres longer . If that's the case then I'm more chuffed with my time, not much but a bit. However let's assume the distance was correct, so that the necessary fear remains for more training.
Anyway with that is was bedtime. Time to get some rest to prepare for the 180k sportive the next day. Report on that coming soon.
Results
Lap 1: 1:04:18:7
| Lap | 2: | 1:14:52:9 |
What I've learnt: I need to do so much more swimming training. Also I may need to shave for Ironman
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