Ironman Barcelona, 1 Oct 2023

The swim - having had a lovely calm swim the morning before, we were hopeful for similar conditions. Unfortunately the wind had picked up a little overnight so it was a little bit choppier and they warned us there was a current going down to the right. Knowing the ‘long leg’ of the swim was to the left, this definitely put me a little more on edge! The Ironman started with a pretty motivational (and emotional!) speech from the announcers before we were slowly rolled through the start. I’d put myself in the 1:30 pen thinking I’d be happy with anything around this. We slowly were rolled towards the start area, entering through a tunnel lined with motivational messages. We were set off every few seconds and suddenly I was off.

I set off and tried to stay at a nice relaxed pace. Unfortunately a huge group of us somehow managed to turn at a further buoy than intended and we suddenly were swimming next to other (faster) swimmers coming back the other way. A whole lot of whistle blowing later, we were directed back on course but had already swum quite a bit extra! Afterwards it seemed that a lot of people had done the same thing so I’m not sure it was the easiest course to sight/navigate!The leg with the current went very smoothly and before I knew it I was rounding the buoys to head back up the shore. I then had a 1.8km slog against the current. My pace obviously dropped massively but I tried to keep a good RPE and made steady progress. This part seemed to go on for a very long time and wasn’t helped by various jellyfish appearing in front of me (thankfully no stings!) and choppy waves meaning I swallowed rather a lot of sea water! Almost an hour later, I was turning the far buoy to head back down with the current for a few hundred metres and then heading back to the beach. I’m not sure if it was the current or the adrenaline of nearly finishing but this part seemed to fly by! My legs felt good getting out of the water and I was able to do a (slow!) jog into transition.

I made sure to take my time in transition to ensure I had everything I needed before heading to my bike. Ironman transition is quite different to normal triathlon transition with your kit in a bag well away from your bike. A good slather of suncream was definitely necessary at this point as it was already getting very warm. The distance from our bags to our bikes and then the mount line felt very long (it was probably only about 300m!) but I was mainly focusing on not slipping over in my shoes.

The bike - it started with 3km through Calella, this was a no aerobar or overtake area (although some people definitely ignored this!) and then we were off onto lap one of the 3 lap course. The first lap was definitely a bit crowded (lots of athletes doing the 70.3 were still on the course at this time) but I focused on getting fuel in, hydrating and settling into a comfortable pace/effort. The course was undulating and I was able to make some good progress. There was lots of support, especially around the lap turning point, which definitely helped me along the way.

The first 2 laps felt great and I was feeling motivated by my times. I took on plenty of fluids, salt tablets and the nutrition I had practiced with. Unfortunately the final lap was when things started to unravel a little bit and my stomach started cramping. A quick portaloo stop later, I was back on the bike but already feeling a bit less confident. Thankfully the rest of the lap seemed to go well and before I knew it I was heading downhill and back into the town towards transition.

The run - Getting off the bike I knew I wasn’t feeling right. I took some time in transition to try and get myself settled before heading off on the run. I immediately started feeling very nauseated. Hoping it would pass I kept the pace really slow and tried to take on a little more fluid at the first aid station. Unfortunately my stomach was really not happy and I paid several more trips to the portaloos in the first lap alone. At this point I was getting more and more demotivated. I’d come into the Ironman believing running was my strongest area and I’d been excited to get to the run portion.

At this point I had to put my ego aside and told myself that I was going to finish however long it took and that it was better to walk the course and make it to the finish then to try and run and end up in the medical tent/pulling out. I managed to get a gel down at around the 10km mark but this only seemed to make things worse. This would end up being the only nutrition I took for the whole marathon (would definitely not recommend!). The laps seemed to go very slowly (turns out 26 miles is a long way to walk), I was joined at various points by other girls from 10IW taking walk breaks during their (generally more successful) marathon efforts and my partner ended up walking alongside me on the path at the side for the final lap! We walked past the finish line at the end of each lap which was both very motivating and very demotivating, knowing I then had to turn and walk away again! Finally, a very long time later, it was my turn. Risking the nausea, I managed to pull myself together for a final victory 100m run down the red carpet and before I knew it I was hearing the words ‘Camilla Rhead, you are an Ironman!’

Suddenly all the pain was worth it. In the end, the overall time doesn’t really matter (I was never aiming for a world champs spot!!), just crossing that finish line was reward enough. Finishing the event with almost 50 other women I’d met along the way was incredible. (But never again… for now!!)

Millie Rhead