Barcelona Ironman 70.3, 3 Oct 2021

Barcelona 70.3, my first half ironman distance and only my third triathlon, nothing like jumping in at the deep end!

Let’s start with that swim, wow! Initially this was going to be the bit I was most looking forward to, but strong winds overnight led to crazy conditions. With a delayed start and shortened swim to 950m (watch GPS said only 300m, but I’ll take the official distance!), it became more of a swim to survive than push for any time. Getting in the water was the first struggle and I did a few strokes of head up front crawl just to make it over the first few waves without a) losing goggles b) swallowing a load of sea water. Once the first few waves were passed I managed to get in to a sort of front crawl rhythm, although really having to focus on at which point I took my breath when bobbing up and down in the waves.

Next obstacle to navigate was the first buoy, due to the strong winds and current, people were drifting much further away from the buoy than normal which led to a huge convergence of bodies at the first turn, again just wanting to get through the swim in one piece I switched to head up breast-stroke to make it round the buoy. After the first buoy things were smooth sailing (as much as the choppy sea would allow) and I was able to make some good progress without fighting the water and wasting energy. Soon I was heading to the black archway in a bid to get out as soon as possible.

Which led us to the final challenge of the swim, getting out… I knew there was going to be a washing machine effect getting out and thought I had timed it brilliantly to surf a wave to get out, but I forgot the shelf of the sea bed and couldn’t find the floor to push back on so got pulled back in and downwind slightly, thankfully on the next wave, I managed to make contact with the floor and also with a volunteer who helped haul me out. Overall not the swim experience I had hoped for, but definitely one with an epic story!

This was succeeded by the slowest transition 1 as I didn’t even attempt to run to transition area to start with, I just took a lot of steps just walking to figure out what had just happened. But then when my head felt like it was back on I started my plod to the transition area to get changed.

Now after surviving the swim I wanted to try and push the bike a little bit, but also keep enough in the tank for the run. My other goal was not to feel sick at the end of the bike for the run which has happened on all the other triathlons I’ve done (but never in training even though I used the same nutrition). I knew the first half of the course would be tough as it was in to a head wind, but I just kept pushing on until the turn around (slightly over half way at 32 miles) then it was absolutely glorious: tail wind and glorious tarmac, what more can you ask for?! I did start to feel a little sick with 1 hour left of the bike so decided to avoid my gels and just go with fluid and then deal with the energy levels on the run, and luckily I did because there was no nausea by the end of the bike.

Overall the bike course was lovely, and even on a super windy day it was a fast course!

As I got to transition, I was excited to see what the run had in store. Trainers and visor on, quick loo break and I was off on the run, super conscious not to set off too fast as I always seem to be able to run quickly off the bike and I didn’t want to blow up. Main goals for the run were not to feel sick and not to overheat. With that in mind I walked through each aid station and had a glass of coke (sugar was needed after stopping nutrition on the bike) and poured a bottle of water over my head. At 2 of the stops I also had a banana which was very much needed.

The run course consisted of 2 x 10km loops, plus a little extra bit to make up the extra 1.1km. Most of the course had an amazing atmosphere, especially closer to the finish line end, but the top end of the course where spectators thinned out and the course had various terrains (including a bit on sand), was quite bleak. This is where I really just had to keep saying to myself, just keep plodding, just keep plodding (to Dory’s just keep swimming tune, of course). The top end of the course was also made harder by everyone at the beach bars enjoying their cocktails in their deck chairs, but I knew it wouldn’t be long until that could be me!

With 2km to go I started to pick up the pace, knowing the end was in sight, and running down that red carpet, wow, what a feeling! People tell you it’s amazing, but it surpassed my expectations, you feel like you can take on anything in the world at that point, maybe even a full Ironman…. We will have to see about that one!

Overall I absolutely loved my first 70.3 experience, and can’t wait to look at what other races I can do!

Lottie Lindsley