Lanzarote

Monday Rest

 

Tuesday

Flew to Lanzarote, I was really excited about spending a week basically being a professional athlete.  Oh yeah, but without being paid!! We all met in the airport in plenty of time before the flight.  Bikes were checked in.  John decided that it was time to have lunch at 11 o’clock.  Shortly after that we met the Wicklow guys.   Mad enough to do Ironman Lanzarote.  In a way I am envious of them.  They have done the work, and are ready to go. 

 

When we get to the apartments we check in and put everything in our apartment.  Three bikes and three people take up a lot of space!!  Anyway we head off for a run.  45 minutes later my legs are nicely loosened up after the flight.

 

Wednesday

 

Up at 6:45 for a swim.  We walk the 500m to the swim start of the Ironman.  The first thing I notice is that even though I feel I have lost some weight training, I am still the fat boy on this beach!!  There are hairless skeletons walking around!!  These must be professionals.  We all think that the swim course has been laid out.  Though it looked very long to me for a 1900m one lap swim.  But we head off anyway.  This is the first swim I have done in a wetsuit this year.  It feels awful.  My shoulders hurt, my arms get tired.  After about fifteen minutes I want to get out of the sea.  But I keep going.  I just cannot swim!  About 45 mins and what we estimate at 2500m I get out of the water quite dejected and sorry for myself.  I make it back to the apartment and then into the breakfast.  Suddenly I feel much better.  Doing something that I am very good at eating!!  An hour later we are heading out on the bikes.  My first experience of cycling in Lanzarote.  We decided to follow a portion of the Ironman route. Once again 15 minutes in I want to go home.  It is all up hill, and into the wind!!  As I realised on the beach I am not built for this.  Then I catch up with the rest of the guys and have a drink and something to eat.  I feel a bit better.  The ground levels off and there is even a down hill.  We spin nicely along the coast, passing salt farms and the cliffs into the sea.  It was amazing.  The island is so barren, but it is still amazing.  In the end we did 97k.  A nice start and now have an idea of where we are on the island.

 

Thursday

 

Once again up at 6:45 and down to the beach. I swam about 2k and felt good swimming today.  Then after breakfast out on the bikes again.  We followed the same route as yesterday, but then headed over Timinfaya.  The Fire Mountains.  It is one of the most barren places I have ever seen.  Once over the top though there was an easy decent into LaSanta.  We went into probike, and go a few things done.  It was getting on, so decided to have lunch here before heading home.  A typical spaghetti Bolognese later we headed back the way we came.  The guys were faster up the hill than me.  Then I got over the top.  The road disappeared in front of me.  My God I was flying.  I passed Rodney taking a photo of the camels.   He told me after that I was a blur.  I chanced a look at the speedo, and was doing 78km/h.  At the bottom of the hill, adrenalin was coursing through me.  My legs and hands were shaking.  From looking at Derek and John I could see they were exactly the same.  Then a spin back to the apartment finishing up at 107k.

 

Friday

 

I headed down to the beach with John and Flipper, but my neck was nicely burnt from the previous two days swimming, so didn’t get in.  Instead I took a few photos of the other guys.  The plan then was to cycle over to club LaSanta and have a look there.  An hour into the cycle I was terrified.  The wind was blowing me into traffic.  I don’t think I have ever been that frightened on the bike.  The drivers don’t give you any room over there!!  I turned back, but the guys headed on.  When I got back I decided to do a swim to make up for turning back from the cycle.  I did one lap of the Ironman swim.  I did it without wetsuit, and felt great in the water, though there was quite a strong current in the water. On the beach front things were kicking off.  Transition was being put together, and there was a great buzz in the air.  That evening we headed along transition and ogled the bike porn.

 

Saturday (Ironman Lanzarote)

 

Up at 6:30, we head down to the swim start.  We meet the Wicklow guys on the way, and for about the hundredth time wish them good luck.  We also meet Fernando and wish him on.  I really wish I was doing this.  Though know I am still not ready.  Then they are off.  An hour later we are watching the bikes come out of transition.  We manage to see most of the guys and cheer them on as they head off.  Dom, Paul, Ronan and Fernando.   Where were the other guys?  Don’t know, but I am hungry from just watching.  We head back and have breakfast.  I relax in the apartment for a while and then head down to transition again.  My God I have missed the first bike back in.  Could they be that fast over this course?  Yes.  Soon enough I am cheering the guys on.  I could not believe how much I enjoyed watching the race.  It seemed like there were people I knew constantly passing us.  But the Munster game was on, so we moved into a pub while it was on.  Though I couldn’t tell you what the game was like because I only knew the score.  I saw nothing of it.  Though we kept Paul up to date with the score.  Then Fernando finished, and then Dom came in followed by Paul and John running together.  Shortly after that Ronan comes in.  But no sign of Jamie.  We head out with his wife to try to cheer him on.  We see him and he is running again, but he still has a lap to go.  He is struggling, but still moving.  It is a hard day at the office for him.  But he keeps moving and we ended up running the last few ks with him.  Sprinting ahead to get a photo of him. 

 

I was delighted that the guys did so well, but it really meant a lot for me that Jamie finished, because I have been terrified of what will happen for me if things go wrong.  I know now, that I WILL FINISH.

 

Sunday

 

Back training.

 

Cycle 100k followed by a 12k run later that day.

Monday

 

Cycle 55k.  I had meant to go to the north of the island with the others, but I really lagged behind.  I was feeling tired.  I followed up the bike with a run straight away 12k.  We went for a few drinks with the Wicklow guys.  It was good to relax after the week and find out how the guys felt after their race.

 

Tuesday we packed up the bike and headed home.

 

I haven’t mentioned Fagan in this blog, but it was good to finally put a face to this mythical man!!  After he came out of his shell he lived up to his name.  I am looking forward to having a laugh with him again in Germany.  When we can all relax once the race is over.

 

Wednesday.

 

Back to work and reality with a bang.

 

Thank you to all the guys who made the week enjoyable, and for putting up with my snoring, and the days where I wasn’t enjoying the training.