Sean Rooney - IM 70.3 Weymouth 2021 Race Report
/By popular demand, here is my Weymouth 70.3 race report
It all started back in 2019 in our pre covid world. Couple of the 3D lads put the feelers out for doing Marbella 70.3 in March. A race in 70.3 in March? What better way to keep me honest over the winter months I thought to myself. I sold the idea to Audrey. We’d go there with the kids. I’d do the race on the Sunday and we’d extent our stay for a mid-term family holiday. She agreed, I was in. Race, flights, ShipMyBike, car rental, accommodation all booked, Here we go.
2020
Looking back over my training history I can see I was going well. I had been consistent week on week and my weight was down near race weight. Queue Covid, chasing gains was out, chasing refunds was in. Ironman were being absolute pricks. There would be NO refund from them. Transfer was the only option. We were given a choice of deferring to Salalah, Cascais or Weymouth. I had to Google Salalah and Weymouth. Turns out Salalah is in Oman. FFS Oman! Ironman were really taking the piss. Weymouth turns out was on South coast of England. On paper it seemed like the best option. We all agreed, Weymouth 2020 it is. Queue Covid Wave 2 and 3. Weymouth 2020 was out, it was now Weymouth 2021.
2021
Fast-forward to January 2021. Through all of the waves and lockdowns I had lost any will to train (why train when there’s nothing to train for) and pilled on 20 pounds. In January I went for my first run in months. 1k in, ‘crap I am out of shape big time and these shorts are really tight’. I remember coming back and Audrey asking me how my run was. ‘I’m fat and slow’ was my response. It wasn’t racing, it was my dented vanity that got me back training, ‘you need to lose weight fat boy’. Also there was still too much uncertainty in the world to know where we’d be in the summer so training to race was not in mind. Over the spring I tipped away at the running and tried to lose the covid pounds.
Summer
We get to summer and the vaccine rollouts is making racing look like a real possibility. We book the ferry to the UK and Kevin finds us accommodation. Right this is looking likely now. I was back on the saddle and back in the water. But not consistently. The country was opening up and it had been a long 18 months of misery. There was family gatherings to be had, friends to meet and pints to be drunk. I wasn’t going to take training too seriously that summer, but I’d do enough. I did two warm ups Skerries and Lough Cutra sprint. My results were ok, no-where near my best but you get the result you deserve.
Weymouth finally
Getting to Weymouth was a pain. 2 hours to Rosslare, 4 hours Ferry and 6+ hours drive through England but we got there in one piece on Friday evening, two nights before race day. It had been a long day travelling and keeping to my “let’s not take things too serious” mantra myself and Conor found the nearest pub and ended up sinking 4 pints. We would both feel it the next morning but I slept well. Saturday we drove into town to register and set up transitions. The “official” carpark is literally miles away from transition. We all start to fret a little. Getting from that carpark to transition on race morning was far from ideal. Back at the ranch I start looking at Google maps. I see what looks like a carpark right next to transition. It’s a sports club, but no website. I look it up on Facebook and see a post “parking for Ironman event £10, opens 5 am”. Happy days. I have a terrible sleep night of the race, it’s not race nerves, this isn’t my first 70.3, I’ve done plenty. But sleep would just not come, maybe I should have sunken a few pints again. Morning comes, breaky in and we drive down to the carpark. It’s perfect, you couldn’t get any closer to transition. Checked bike, transition bags, all good. Few toilet breaks and we’re lining up at the water ready to go. I feel decent, the lack of sleep I feel isn’t going to affect me.
Swim
It’s a sea swim but the water is like a pool. We were blessed with the weather, calm day with 20-25 degrees air temp and 16 degrees water temp. It’s a rolling start which I prefer. 8 years of doing triathlons and I still hate those kick fest mass starts. I check my watch at about 1000 meters and I’m swimming well, doing 1:49 per 100m. I get to the beach and check my watch, 39 mins, at 1:49s it should be sub 35 mins. Checking Garmin later I can see I’ve done an extra 250 meters and see where I’ve gone off course. It was on the last turn and I had swam inwards towards a buoy when I should have kept a straight line towards the beach. Need to get better a sighting.
Transition 1
I need a leak so stop at the porta loo’s before the transition tent and get it out of the way. The tent is busy. There’s no seats available but that’s ok I don’t need a seat to take a wetsuit off. Suit off and bike shoes on. I’m doing the bike shoe hobble run out of the tent when a steward shouts ‘No bike shoes in transition’ Dick! Could have told me that before I put them on. Shoes off and run to bike in bare feet, shoes back on, out on bike and away.
Bike
I loved this bike course. The roads were good and it had a bit of everything, tight winding country roads, open flat land roads, climbs and a few local villages with plenty of vocal supporters. I even heard an Irish accent shout ‘gowan 3D’ in one village. Myself and Conor had debated whether to go tri or road bike given the climbs involved. I’m on my tri with deep rims. With every 90k race you usually settle into a semi form of grupetto. Not drafting per se but you start to pass and are passed by the same riders on the course. On the flats I would overtake all of the road bike riders, then on the climbs they would all pass by me. Conor was on a road bike and chatting after he experienced similar to me but opposite way around. We agreed after that road v tri bike probably evened itself out over the course. At 70k I knew that today would not be a sub 5hr, maybe 5:15hr depending on how the run goes. Bike split 2:50.
Transition 2
Transition 2 went smoothly, got a seat this time, runners slipped on without fuss. Took another toilet break on the way out.
Run
Coming into transition on the bike I saw Conor out on the run. I figured he was about 3k up the road. Conor had done Cutra Castle sprint as well and based on his result there I reckoned he could break 5hrs. 5:15hr I thought was definitely still on the cards. I ran the first 2k’s at 4:33 pace and felt good but it gradually slipped to 4:50 pace by 8k. I’ve been training and racing off heart rate forever so I’m well-tuned into what it’s telling me. My heart rate was saying I could go up another gear but something in my head (maybe my legs) was telling me not to push it, I go with my head and don’t. Later I’m glad I listened to my head and not my heart. It’s a 3 loop course. I’m going well for first loop but halfway through the second the heat is really starting to get to me. I’ve been here before in heat in Austria 5 years ago so I know what’s coming, I know it’s going to be a struggle and I’ll slow right down and that’s exactly what happens. I re-calculate a finish time in my head, maybe 5:25hrs. I’m struggling but the crowd support is fantastic and it’s pushing me through, maybe we’ll forgive them for Brexit. My last k is 5:35 pace so I’ve slowed a whole minute from my starting pace. Finish shoot when it comes is a sweet sight. I cross over at 5:30:41. Not great but not bad either, all things considered.
In hindsight I should have trained more and got my weight down more. But I enjoyed my summer, I didn’t forgo any opportunities for beers or ice-creams. During all the lockdowns I had fallen out of love with training. Doing an Ironman event has brought back that grá for racing that has spurred me on to train better. It’s also slightly thawed my distain for Ironman Inc. I loved the craic with the lads Alan Geoghegan, Conor Gogarty, James Barry and Kevin Kennedy. We kept each other entertained through the long journey getting there and had some great laughs over the weekend. Doing these foreign events with a 3D group is the only way to travel.
