12th July - Ironman Switzerland

Ironman Switzerland - 11hrs 00:21 (PB)

The swim split was faster than Roth in 2008, but slower than Austria in 2007 but I'm not too disappointed with this since the Swiss course involves getting out of the water at halfway and running for 50m which didn't help my rhythm.

Following a good season of bike training I was pleased to get a PB for the bike split on a course that must be 20 mins slower than Roth. I held a high gear and felt strong virtually throughout despite some significant hills, which I hadn't erally given credit to before the race. There was an 18 minute lag between my first and second laps. I did 2hrs 37 for the first lap, 2hrs 55 for the second and 5:33:29 overall.

I started the run strongly, going through the first lap (10.55km) at 4:58/km pace, second lap in 5:28/km pace and the first half-marathon in 1hr 50. I then exploded between 20 and 30km with long sections of walking - I was physically and mentally exhausted. My third lap pace went out to 7:17/km. I got back on track with a strong-ish last lap at 5:42/km pace, but by this time I was only running for a second half marathon time of 2:17, and a disappointing overall Marathon time of 4:07:23, which is slower than my 2007 and 2008 times.

Ultimately, the second half of the run is where I lost the half-hour that would have allowed me to hit my target of 10hrs 30, and this is where I need to focus for a more balanced race next year. I didn't take on enough solid food on the second lap of the bike. There were only Powerbars available on the first lap which must have contributed to hitting the wall at 25km on the run. I will need to take my own.

Having said all this, 11:00:21 is a PB, and not a bad effort on a harder Ironman course than I have done before. I have entered Roth for 2010 and am looking forward to a better finish next year.

Splits as follows:

3.8k SWIM - 1:11:59

T1 - 3:34

180k BIKE - 5:33:29 (PB)

T2 - 3:55

42.2k RUN - 4:07:23