The official photos have arrived, I'm so chuffed with them and a race video is being composed.
1st picture - lol trying to get the wetsuit off
2nd - a couple of minutes from transition
3rd - approximately 15 miles
4th - approximately 78 miles
5th - a couple of miles from the finish
6th - woohoo the finish line
7th - awards ceremony thou Stuart took this one
After 9 months of preparing for the Journey to the Outlaw its finally arrived; my alarm was set for 4.15am; and for the first time I was up immediately I've never felt more excited about any event before. I have used a new strategy this last week, I kind of think the nervous feeling is the same as excitement; so using some mental strategy I used this thought pattern; and everytime I thought about the journey I was going to undertake on Sunday 7th July, it was one of excitement. I really feel this kept my nerves under control come race morning; I had nerves but they were useful nerves rather than wasteful energy ones; hope that makes sense. Breakfast was a banana, roll with jam, gel packet and 500ml of high5, for once I consumed them with no problems; lol nerve control.
We were camping just a short walk from the venue; and with only race nutrition and a couple of bits to put in my race bags there was virtually nothing to do, which meant no hassle; wetsuit on, caffeine gel and some h5 to wash it down.
Arriving at the venue to a beautiful sunset; it was already warm and as we later found out we had temperatures in the 90s! Wow amazing for the UK!
I got in the water; decided to go in pen 2; for the first time I did a few minutes swimming warm up, then back to the pen for the start; urgh found myself at the front wanted to be at the back; which I said to another competitor and he just replied don't worry they'll swim around or lol over the top I thought! Had a bit of cheering, lol the organisers doing competitions between the pens who could be the noisiest; all good fun!
Then we were off; it was rough for the first 500m then we kind of settled thou still abit of barging at times and at the turn buoys. But I managed to stay relaxed, got into my rhythm and didn't let the odd kick, thump bother me; for the first time in open water I felt relaxed and this resulted in a very strong swim for me. I didn't have any disorientation out of the water either.
Into T1 lol not very quick; lol I kind of differed about too much! I had a caffeine+ gel and 4oz of water which I had in my swim-bike bag then headed out to the bikes, a quick detour to the loo then to my bike; out of transition and away for a lap of the lake before out onto the roads for two loops; southern loop first, northern loop then back to the southern loop before heading back to transition. Due to the weather I decided to use my heart rate and perceived effort as my guide but really wanted to make sure I didn't overcook the bike. Heading out towards the first loop I really resisted the temptation to blast it; as others blasted past me; it was amazing how many I caught later! I had an aero bottle and a 750ml bottle on my frame; I had strengthened the formula from 3 scoops to 4; as I was worried about the heat. My watch alarm was set for every 15 mins to drink and on the half hour for a gel and hourly for the gel +. Heading round the first of two southern loops; I felt great but I was still resisting the urge to open it out; my HR was generally nicely zone 2 creeping into zone 3 on any climbs; I have the ride data to load later to have a proper look. Along the road to the northern loop (I think its around 10 miles) I tried to refill my aero bottle on the go; lol the cap came of my aero one; so stopped and finished refilling it; the next feed station I took a bottle of water, lol my hands were getting all sticky from the gels; used some of it to rinse the stickiness off, and to drink; rather than H5 all the time; I then headed onto the The northern loop where the one main hill was, it really wasn't that bad but I didn't hammer it; just went into small ring and spun up without any problems; I'm still very much a novice in respect of hills and gear choice, plenty of work to be done in this area. It was back along the road to the southern loop; and I stopped at the beginning to grab a bottle of H5 and water, and refill my aero before heading off round the loop. I still felt good though I was finding my quads and my top of my calf's were threatening to cramp; because of this I increased my nutrition and drank every few minutes both H5 and water. This seemed to sort the issues I was having out. I stopped at both the 2 remaining feed stations for refills. Even at 100 miles I felt great; but the last 12 miles I really cruised in and just maintained my average pace. I consumed 4x750ml of H5 and 3 bottles of water; 4 gel + and 5 gels, way more than I have in training but conditions were exceptional. I managed the ride without the need for a pit stop!
T2 was much smoother and I was out onto the run; lol then I knew it was hot! Us Brits aren't used to temperatures in the 90s lol even for non-strenuous activities; I knew I had to think smart lol without blowing my own trumpet, so I quickly decided to adopt a strategy of running between feed stations and walking through the station to ensure I got the nutrition on board and also chucked water over my head at every opportunity to cool me; I had also bought a hat the day before to try and protect me from the heat, I had one pit stop at 1.3 miles and didn't need anymore. As I walked through the stations I grab H5, water to drink and to throw over my head, I went mainly for fluids throughout but did have an iso gel, some H5 Gels and caffeine gels; I put off starting on coke until the 20 mile point. As the race progressed my HR went into figures I've never seen, ignoring the first 2-3 miles I think my monitor was being silly but later it hit 200; I'm sure this was heat induced as each time I cooled myself it went down quite a bit. The data will be interesting when I download it. After each feed station I clicked back into 9-10 min miles pace very comfortably each time. It was only the last 5 miles that I was wrary of cramping, but it never got beyond a warning. I maintained the same pace all the way through with about a 30s mile difference but that was due to the different terrain and a from time to time I lost the gps signal or it went a bit haywire.I really have no idea how much I took in on the run but I stuck to gels and the liquid form rather than jaffas or crisps.
It was an awesome feeling running down the red carpet with both Stuart and Iain and hear Simon the commentator say 'Karen Haldane you are an Outlaw' and that I won the Dublin Marathon in 1992; lol I was then interviewed by channel 4 to be shown in August.
I had no idea I was closing down on 1st place, had I known who knows but I'm very very happy with my 2nd place and 16th overall and more importantly I've learnt so much to take on board for my next Irondistance / Ironman race!!
Thank you to my fantastic family and friends for all their support throughout this endeavour :)
The other major shout out needed is to all my friends on the Spinervals Members Page; the way you tracked me from afar has really bought a lump to my throat; and just to mention a couple, but you all are close to my heart, thank you Chrissy Bianco Brooks for starting the thread and Kelly Mendoza for acting as commentator, and to you all for the lovely comments. I really consider myself very lucky to have the support, advice and encouragement of you all, it means so much :)
Finally, one more shout out to Spinervals for all the dvds and Coach Troy for is invaluable training programmes that enabled me to become an OUTLAW :)
This is me starting the run; lol Stuart nearly missed me! And my recovery meal today!
