Following her relay team’s Outlaw Triathlon win last weekend, Tzero caught up with Lucy Gossage, an Ironman Triathlete who is currently gearing up for the Ironman Championships in Hawaii later this year.

We had just enough time to get the lowdown on the relay team who won the UK’s alternative to the official Ironman race and Lucy’s take on the race from an experienced competitor’s point of view.

Tzero: When and why did the TFN relay team come into being?

LG: TFN is an amazing triathlon club in Nottingham of which Helen, Lou and I are all members. We were invited to take part in the Outlaw as a relay team by the event sponsors, Total Fitness Nottingham, Bloc and CompresSport and obviously jumped at the chance! Both Lou and I are training for Hawaii so couldn’t really do the whole thing by ourselves. Instead we had a win-win situation – we all got some quality training in as well as having a really fun day and being part of Nottingham’s first ever Ironman! It’s great to have the opportunity to race with your friends rather than against them and being part of a team really makes you want to give 100%. Though none of us had tapered and we were all viewing it as a training day, I think when it came down to our bit, we all gave us much as we could – and that’s how Lou’s ‘jogging’ the marathon turned into a 2hr49 run. Just think what she could do if she was properly rested! One of the best bits of the day was seeing lots of TFN friends finish their first Ironman – it certainly made me realise what an amazing achievement it is to finish one!

Aspiration meets actuality

Tzero supported athlete Alex Hinton is preparing for Ironman France 2010 under the guidance of coach Fiona Ford of Triathlon Europe. Following their initial meeting (see Part 1), Fiona gave Alex a set of sessions to ease him into his Ironman training.

Initial objectives included rebalancing Alex’s training so that he would spend more time on his weaker disciplines (swimming and running), and to do some basic fitness testing including a 20 minute bike time trial and 12 minute run test. In fact, his total weekly training hours have reduced with the Ironman programme, as before he was focused primarily on cycling.

Alex wrapped for winter training

As with most changes, things didn’t happen quite as planned. A key factor for Alex is to fit training around work and to maximise the use of his journeys to and from central London. This means frequent bike rides and the occasional long run are relatively easy to fit in, but structured sessions more difficult.

Alex has spent part of his first weeks of his Ironman preparation experimenting with different options to find the best way to manage the training. Inevitably, this resulted in some skipped or altered sessions to those planned.

Fiona Ford at Ironman France

June 24, 2007. The morning of Ironman France. The months of training 20 hours per week, of counting down the days, of watching wattage, of counting calories and finally tapering had all led to this moment.

Over the preceding week, the atmosphere in Nice had gradually built to boiling point, matching my own excitement. However, I needed to relax and conserve energy, and to remain confident I had no need to do ‘one last session’. Not easy, but I managed, and as the sun rose I felt ready for a great race… 

The worst was waiting on the rocky beach for the inevitable start. The timing seemed pretty casual. But then all hell broke loose as hundreds of neoprened bodies hit the water. I found myself in a fair bit of trouble straight away, pinned underwater by a constant stream of bodies diving from the beach. The only solution was to push off the bottom with my feet, grab a panicky breath of air and get swimming – fast! It took until the far turn out at sea – nearly 1000m – before I could calm down and settle into a decent rhythm.

Jon Alexander running at Barcelona

Forget carbon and neoprene and tune into bamboo and limestone. Jon Alexander suggests five steps to becoming a greener and possibly faster athlete.

 

 

On 4 October 2009, Jon Alexander completed the Barcelona Ironman in a highly respectable 11 hours 32 minutes – pretty impressive for a first timer. But it wasn’t the time that gave him the greatest satisfaction. It was the fact he managed to train, travel to and compete in an international event while keeping his carbon footprint at least 80% lower the most of the athletes around him. Moreover, he believes dedication to reducing his carbon imprint genuinely boosted his performance.

As athletes we tend to take care of our bodies. Jon contends we should also take care of the planet and at the very least be conscious of our impact on the environment. While he doesn’t expect everyone to necessarily adopt all the measures he did, he has provided Tzero with a brief guide to becoming an EcoAthlete. It might not be as hard as you think.

1 – Cut down on meat

Richard finishing IMUK 2009

To avoid running related injuries, Richard McChesney decided he needed to do some cross training. He also felt he needed a motivating force to get him into the water or onto a bike, so he entered Ironman UK just 15 weeks before the event. He tells us what happened.

 

Other than swimming and cycling with my children I hadn’t actually done any training other than running between 1995 and March 2009, and I had only taken up running again a couple of years previously, but that didn’t stop me harbouring a little dream of possibly qualifying for Kona. I hoped my running endurance would have been enough to enable me to get cycle and swim fit quickly. I mean, how hard can it be to swim 3.8km, cycle 180km and run a marathon? I’d done it all before. But that was a long time ago.

Training didn’t go quite as well as planned (does it ever?) and I had to nurse a couple of niggling injuries over the 15 weeks, but I arrived in Bolton feeling pretty fit and strong.

Ironmen

A great course but poor spectator access, especially for the swim, and some teething troubles at the new venue dampened the experience.

Date: 2nd August 2009

Location: Bolton, Lancashire

Format: Ironman distance (Official qualifying race for Ironman World Championships)

Organiser: IMUK

Website: www.ironmanuk.com

Author: Richard McChesney

This year saw Ironman UK move to a new location: Bolton in Lancashire. Unfortunately, as is almost always the case with the first running of an event, there were a few teething problems.

Additionally, a week of rain leading up to the race turned the transition area into a quagmire and the planned car parking area into a swamp. It had to be closed early on the day before the race after many cars were abandoned in the mud.

On the other hand, the course and support were fantastic, and the weather turned out perfect on the day.

Different to shorter races where athletes turn up, compete and go home within the space of a few hours, an Ironman takes up to a week.  Registration starts several days before the race. Then there are organised swims over the course, the pre-race pasta party on the Friday or Saturday and the post-race awards ceremony on Monday. Check in for bikes, helmets and kit for T1 and T2 must also be done the day before the race.