2010 Double Ironman Race Report (Part 1)

Pre-Race:

I had managed to be fairly organised in the days leading up to the race so when I went to pick up my Mum who was crewing for me from the airport on the Wednesday I thought I had most things done. I did still have the food shop to do (£100 of utter crap – OMG!!!) and I was still stressing about my lights as I hadn’t ever gone out on the bike on them and they were borrowed from about four different people as I was so worried about not being able to see!

On Thursday we did the food shop and I sat down with my Mum, who is a crew-newbie and tried to explain the nutrition strategy I thought I might use. Of course, I had no idea what I would want to eat either (hence the ‘buy everything anyone has ever suggested on any thread’ manic Tesco shop) so it was a bit like the blind leading the blind. I also tried to talk through the psychology of the race, how I might feel etc. and also talked her through lots of bits of kit which she had never heard of before – arm warmers, Nuun, bottle cage battery etc! We packed the car except for the bike and went down to the pub for a meal. My Thursday night Burger, Friday night Pasta strategy had worked well in Switzerland so I was keen to replicate it!

We set off around 11am on Friday for the journey to Lichfield – the car was loaded to the hilt and had the power of a geriatric ant but after a few hours we made it to the Friary Grange Leisure Centre. We had wanted to get there early in the hope that we would be able to pitch our tent before registration. We headed for the race HQ and met Steve, Kathy, Lynn and Eddie (the Enduroman team) and also the inimitable Dan Earthquake! Eddie said it was ok to pitch the tent and helped us identify the best spot – away from the loos and near the entrance/exit to the course. I did regret my £9.99 tesco tent purchase when I found one of the tent pole ends missing but in true military style we managed to fashion something! It took ages to put up as it was very windy and we must have looked a right comedy pair but finally it was all pegged down and looking lonely all by itself in the vast field. Around this point the legend that is the Reverend Graham and the beautiful Pink Sally arrived and put us to shame by erecting three tents within about four minutes! It was fantastic to finally start to put faces (and real names) to forum personas.

After the tent debacle we headed by to Esporta to check in and get ready for registration at 5pm. Unlike IM where you might arrive a few days before and have basically nothing to do but lie around and rest and eat and maybe have a gentle swim, I felt like I never stopped all day – there was so much to do logistically and so many amazing people to meet. I did try and have a bit of a nap on Friday afternoon as I was still struggling with a bit of a sore throat but woke again at 5pm in time for registration and the pasta party. At registration we got our race numbers and an amazingly well-stocked goodie bag and I finally got to meet loads more of the forumites. Everyone was SO friendly and inclusive and it looked like it might be a really wonderful experience as everyone was so supportive of everyone else. We chatted for a while to everyone and I realised my brain was already turning to mush when I couldn’t decide what to drink with my dinner and came back from the bar with water, coke and a fresh orange. Decisions just became too difficult over the following days!!

After the pasta party we went upstairs for the race brief. I was pretty knackered by this point and just thinking, God I could fall asleep right now, how am I going to manage to race tomorrow and stay up all through the night. Due to the massive logistics of the event, the brief seemed to take for ever, probably not least because I was desperate for the loo! After the brief we all went outside for a group photo and then Mum and I finally made our way to bed around 10pm.