"Sean, you’re definitely still not recovered from Iron 105" . . . is what my brain was telling me, but my heart, damn my heart, said just do it Sean. What's the worst that can happen. So with 1 hour to go before entries closed and just 3 days before the start of the race I signed up for the Brutal Double in Llanberris - 8km swim, 375km bike and 82km run.
Luckily my cousin Gordon was doing it too so I managed to nick his support crew in the form of my uncle Gav. Rules stated that I also needed someone to run up Yr Wyddfa (formally known as Snowdon) with me so Rain James from Iron105 volunteered for that job. So all was set. I was going to do the double brutal. Gulp.
The brutal is considered one of the hardest triathlons in Britain. The swim is 8 loops in the lake and you have to exit the water every 2 laps. The bike is 8 loops that includes Pen-y-Pass and has 6000m of elevation. The run is also 8 laps, half is road and the other half is quite technical trail with 2000m of elevation.
I looked at the race times of previous years. Winners do it in around 27 hours and there is a 42 hour cutoff. I thought that maybe I could do 35 hours. I knew I could do it slowly but I wanted to race to see if I could get a good time.
Race day.
Swim start was good. I swam hard for the first 2 laps then all the wheels fell off. Arms were dead. Might have been the fact I’ve not swum in 7 weeks sp I slowed to a slumber for the second half. My time was 2h 53m. I was hoping for 2h 30m. Still not too bad and came in about half way in the field but a bit behind what I was hoping.
T1 was slow because Caroline and the boys came to see me and I enjoyed spending a few extra minutes with them. First lap of the bike course I felt OK but had a very high heart rate. Thinking the heart rate was the after effects of the swim I carried on. In hindsight I was just pushing it way too hard. I also really struggled on the hill. Turns out 12,000 miles of flat Iron 105 riding doesn’t transfer well to the hills. I was keeping good pace on the flat, then being blown out the park on the hills.
Nutrition wise the first 4 laps I was bang on. I had 500kcal in the two bottles I was drinking per lap and eating a further 500 at feed stops. After lap 4 however I finished my premix bottles and realised I’d left my carb powder at home. So I had just water and tried to eat more a feed station but that didn’t work. I couldn’t stomach it and my pace dropped significantly. It was also very vey hot which made the pace slow too.
At around 2pm I was an hour ahead of Gordon but still way behind my 35 hour target. It was a case of survival now. The rules said we had to have crew follow us at night on the bike and because we just had uncle Gav I decided to wait for Gordon so we could ride together into the darkness. 3 laps later at around 4am Gordon decided to have a nap and I carried on alone. Then at 5am I was getting very sleepy and decided to have 25 minutes off the bike and managed about 10 minutes of sleeping. It totally reinvigorated me. Sadly I was still slow but at least not sleepy. I finished the bike at 7am.
The run leg starts with an accent of Yr Wyddfa (formally known as Snowdon) The rules state you have to have support for that section so Rain James came and ran up with me. My legs hurt and were very weak. My quads haven’t seen a hill in 6 months almost. I should have taken poles.
It took 3 hours to get up and down and then it was time for the 8 laps of the lake. The first half of the run route was flat which was easy for me and I kept a good pace, but as soon as I hit the big hill up and then the technical trails it all came crashing down. My first lap was 90 minutes. If this continued I was as risk of even missing the 42 hour cuts off. On lap 2 I caught up with Gordon who had decided on another nap on the bush. He was now a lap behind me. We ran well together for a few laps and brought our lap time down to 70 minutes. By 9pm I was a lap and a half in front of Gordon so decided to wait to do my last lap and his second to last lap together. This wasn’t a good plan because Gordon was actually much faster than me in the end and needed to hustle to avoid the cut off. So in the end I told him to go on.
I eventually came in at 40h 3m and Gordon 41h 25m. What a day.
What did I learn.
I am still not recovered from Iron 105.
I need to do more hills now that Iron 105 is over. Yes the mileage on the 105 gave me a good fitness level but I need to go back to varied training again.
Swim technique. This seriously needs to be worked on. I have good cardio and strength but let myself down with poor technique.
Nutrition. I dropped the ball there. I took in enough fluids, (Around 20 litres) but should have had more varied food. I got sick of bananas, crisps and sweet potatoes. Should have had more double cream.
Luckily my cousin Gordon was doing it too so I managed to nick his support crew in the form of my uncle Gav. Rules stated that I also needed someone to run up Yr Wyddfa (formally known as Snowdon) with me so Rain James from Iron105 volunteered for that job. So all was set. I was going to do the double brutal. Gulp.
The brutal is considered one of the hardest triathlons in Britain. The swim is 8 loops in the lake and you have to exit the water every 2 laps. The bike is 8 loops that includes Pen-y-Pass and has 6000m of elevation. The run is also 8 laps, half is road and the other half is quite technical trail with 2000m of elevation.
I looked at the race times of previous years. Winners do it in around 27 hours and there is a 42 hour cutoff. I thought that maybe I could do 35 hours. I knew I could do it slowly but I wanted to race to see if I could get a good time.
Race day.
Swim start was good. I swam hard for the first 2 laps then all the wheels fell off. Arms were dead. Might have been the fact I’ve not swum in 7 weeks sp I slowed to a slumber for the second half. My time was 2h 53m. I was hoping for 2h 30m. Still not too bad and came in about half way in the field but a bit behind what I was hoping.
T1 was slow because Caroline and the boys came to see me and I enjoyed spending a few extra minutes with them. First lap of the bike course I felt OK but had a very high heart rate. Thinking the heart rate was the after effects of the swim I carried on. In hindsight I was just pushing it way too hard. I also really struggled on the hill. Turns out 12,000 miles of flat Iron 105 riding doesn’t transfer well to the hills. I was keeping good pace on the flat, then being blown out the park on the hills.
Nutrition wise the first 4 laps I was bang on. I had 500kcal in the two bottles I was drinking per lap and eating a further 500 at feed stops. After lap 4 however I finished my premix bottles and realised I’d left my carb powder at home. So I had just water and tried to eat more a feed station but that didn’t work. I couldn’t stomach it and my pace dropped significantly. It was also very vey hot which made the pace slow too.
At around 2pm I was an hour ahead of Gordon but still way behind my 35 hour target. It was a case of survival now. The rules said we had to have crew follow us at night on the bike and because we just had uncle Gav I decided to wait for Gordon so we could ride together into the darkness. 3 laps later at around 4am Gordon decided to have a nap and I carried on alone. Then at 5am I was getting very sleepy and decided to have 25 minutes off the bike and managed about 10 minutes of sleeping. It totally reinvigorated me. Sadly I was still slow but at least not sleepy. I finished the bike at 7am.
The run leg starts with an accent of Yr Wyddfa (formally known as Snowdon) The rules state you have to have support for that section so Rain James came and ran up with me. My legs hurt and were very weak. My quads haven’t seen a hill in 6 months almost. I should have taken poles.
It took 3 hours to get up and down and then it was time for the 8 laps of the lake. The first half of the run route was flat which was easy for me and I kept a good pace, but as soon as I hit the big hill up and then the technical trails it all came crashing down. My first lap was 90 minutes. If this continued I was as risk of even missing the 42 hour cuts off. On lap 2 I caught up with Gordon who had decided on another nap on the bush. He was now a lap behind me. We ran well together for a few laps and brought our lap time down to 70 minutes. By 9pm I was a lap and a half in front of Gordon so decided to wait to do my last lap and his second to last lap together. This wasn’t a good plan because Gordon was actually much faster than me in the end and needed to hustle to avoid the cut off. So in the end I told him to go on.
I eventually came in at 40h 3m and Gordon 41h 25m. What a day.
What did I learn.
I am still not recovered from Iron 105.
I need to do more hills now that Iron 105 is over. Yes the mileage on the 105 gave me a good fitness level but I need to go back to varied training again.
Swim technique. This seriously needs to be worked on. I have good cardio and strength but let myself down with poor technique.
Nutrition. I dropped the ball there. I took in enough fluids, (Around 20 litres) but should have had more varied food. I got sick of bananas, crisps and sweet potatoes. Should have had more double cream.