I returned from my Transatlantic row on the 13th February 2023. By the 18th February I’d signed up for the Brutal Triple Ironman in Snowdonia scheduled for the 9th September. I always need something lined up to keep me on the straight and narrow so I knew I could have a few months of recovery (generally being unhealthy and recovering from the row) before knuckling down to some cycling training in preparation for a cycling event called the Dragon Devil in South Wales in June – a 300km road event with lots of elevation game and a couple of dirty little climbs -the devils elbow and the devils staircase Following that I’d planned to keep the cycling ticking over and start training for the swim and run legs of the race.
Bike training went well and I had a few 100km events in the run up to the Dragonride. I took my lad over to Neath for a few days, slept in a hammock in the woods and bashed out the 315km ride (took a detour). This was a big confidence booster and gave me the knowledge that I’d be fine on the bike for a good 12 hours plus, barring any mechanical issues. I threw in another 300km solo ride in Jersey shortly before the Brutal just to dial in the new bike and check I was comfortable cycling at night, lights worked etc.
On returning from the Dragonride event I tried to get into swim mode. Knowing it was a lake swim rather than the pool swim I endured at my last Triple Ironman, I knew I had to dedicate some time to wetsuit swimming in open water. I used to enjoy sea swimming but hate swimming in wetsuits and my resistance to cold water isn’t what it used to be.
I dug out my old wetsuit and spent a good 10 minutes sweating my arse off with the dog sat there laughing at me until I conceded that I couldn’t get my wetsuit over my recently developed rowers thighs. Quite an emotional blow! I promptly ordered a new wetsuit and put off training for another week or two.
Swim training never really picked up as I just couldn’t find the love for it. I managed to get in the water 8 times from the end of June until the end of August. Pretty pathetic considering I live 500 metres from the sea and work even closer to it. I totaled 15km over those eight swims with the longest swim being 3040m. Not the best training for a 12km swim. I did however purchase some wetsuit booties, gloves and a skull cap in anticipation of the cold. I’m not acclimatized so feel the cold a lot more than I used to.
Run training went a bit better but still not great. In the same time period, I managed 15 runs up to a maximum of 28km. Not a lot really but I wasn’t too concerned. I was worried about the swim.
The first hurdle I faced, apart from the wetsuit saga, was finding a crew member for the race. As part of the race rules, you should have at least one crew member to support you on the bike leg in the hours of darkness so I needed to find someone local who was willing to drive around a 29 mile loop all night making sure I was ok and feeding me. The crew member would then be required to escort me up Mount Snowdon and back down at the start of the run leg of the race. After a fruitless search for a few months I contacted a friend, Anna Buckingham, that lives in Llanberis and she quickly said that she would be happy to help as she wasn’t working, lived in close to race HQ and would be home recovering from the PTL (Petite Trotte a Leon) – one of the few Ultramarathons still on my bucket list, so I was looking forward to getting an insight into this awesome looking race. She also happens to run a business of guiding runners in Snowdonia – Run Eryri. The perfect crew.
Following the usual travel dramas of a taxi, a plane, a bus, two trains and another bus I finally arrived in Llanberis with a day to spare. Friday was made up of a relaxing sight seeing day, a recce of the bike leg – I wouldn’t normally do a recce as I like the surprise of the route on race day but as it was a 29 mile loop to be completed 12 times, I didn’t think it would do any harm so see what I was in for and take some photos so I wouldn’t need to stop during the race. Quite a shock as it happens as it was pretty hilly compared to what I am used to in Jersey. Following this tough two hour ride I visited the local bike shop as my bottom bracket was creaking like crazy. Luckily the bike shop owner was from my home town and we had mutual friends so a cheeky £10 later and it was fixed…..or was it? Then later in the day it was a pub dinner followed by the race registration and the mandatory briefing.
The following morning it was a cycle down to rack the bike in the early hours and grab a space in the Marquee to dump my stuff. I was doing the Triple Ironman distance race along with seven others but there were other races starting at the same time, the Double, the single and the half. I’d forgotten this and started to dread the mass swim start, something I hadn’t done since Ironman Austria back in 2011.
After a short walk through the dewy fields, I found a place to stash my drinks, food and spare neoprene gloves, hat, spare goggles etc and tentatively meandered into the water to try and magic up a strategy. I hadn’t really given the swim much thought, choosing to ignore what I was most concerned about. Drafting versus swimming in clear water was the main conundrum and trying to keep my heart rate under control. It’s easy to start hyperventilating in cold water when being punched and kicked in the face and trying to swim. I found a bit of clear water, stood waist deep in the lake, joined in with countdown and hesitantly got my face in the water and started swimming.
The route was straightforward enough but the course looked huge. A loop into the middle of Llyn Padarn with three nice big green markers to swim around and then back to the start. Each loop was 950 meters long. We would do two laps then exit the water cross the timing mat, eat & drink and re-enter for another two laps etc until all 12 laps were complete. The first couple of laps were all about not getting caught up in the melee but trying to find someone to draft on to make me a little more efficient. This all went to plan and the laps went by without issue. As the half and full competitors exited and started the bike leg the numbers in the water started dwindling until I felt like I was the only one in the water. To begin with there were kayakers everywhere but keeping a distance to monitor what seemed like a couple of hundred athletes. By the end I think I was last but two out of the water and most of the kayakers had gone home. Each swimmer had at least one kayaker looking after them which was nice and reassuring if a little annoying having someone sat staring at you the entire way whilst you’re panting and farting your way around the lake.
I expected the swim to be a slow plod and thought 5-6 hours would be the target. I hoped to be away and on the bike leg by 6 hours and I was. It was a relief to finish the swim, get changed, have something to eat and start the bike leg. All was going to plan and the bit I’d most feared was behind me.
The Bike leg was on a 29-mile loop that would need to be done 12 times giving a total distance of 348 miles with approximately 8000 meters of vertical ascent so not exactly flat. After a flat start along cycle paths and roads there were a few steep, out-of-the-saddle climbs, almost like a staircase, then a steep decent through a little village and then an undulating course through amazing scenery before a long decent into the village of Beddgelert and then a long, steady climb up Pen y Pass before a long, fast decent back to Llanberis with a couple of small inclines. Yes, the word “long” was mentioned a lot there…..but it was.
I enjoyed the bike, despite the really warm and humid temperatures but really struggled to keep my calorie intake up. I’m not sure if it was due to my position on the tri bars on the bike, the heat, the stress, dehydration or another reason but my stomach just wouldn’t settle and I really had to fight to get enough food in. I didn’t pee for about five hours and when I did, I realized that I needed to drink A LOT more water. Luckily, due to the length of the race and the length of time on the bike (about 28 hours), I had enough time to reset, rehydrate and start to consume food again.
The route was varied enough to keep the interest and made for an enjoyable race although a bit more company would have been nice. During my last Triple Iron distance race I was accompanied on the majority of the bike leg by the eventual winner of that years Double Ironman. The socializing certainly made time go a bit quicker but, on this occasion, I matched pace with Sean Conway for a short while (105 Ironman distance Triathlons in 105 days completed only about a month earlier and was now doing a Double Ironman!) and on one of my last laps I matched pace with the eventual second place Triple Iron competitor, a lovely Welsh lad called Owen. The benefit to this, apart from the chatting was that he had a great crew of supporters that would drive ahead, boost awareness in whatever village we were due to cycle through, shout lots of encouragement and then leapfrog and do it all again. The company was limited to only about 30 minutes as Owen was on his final lap and he was moving a lot quicker than me, especially on the climbs.
There weren’t too many highs or lows during the bike. I started at about 13:00, cycled through the very warm day, into the night, through the night stopping almost every lap to top up bottles, check in with Anna and start again. Daylight was welcomed and then came another warm day topping out at 32 degrees. I’d managed a 15–20-minute snooze in the very early hours in the boot of Anna’s car at the side of the lake but it certainly didn’t feel that long. This kept me from falling asleep on the bike and I just continued to break each lap down into manageable chunks – long flat section from the start with lots of pedestrians to avoid, steep staircase like climb, fast decent, rolling hills, house with happy (drunk?) guys building roof, pub on right, cute train station, long decent into Beddgelert, rolling slog with lake on right, rolling slog with lake on left, start steady climb and about 30 minutes of slow cycling, left turn, more uphill riding, Pen y pass YHA and toilets, cool decent watching out for sheep and maxing out at about 70kmph, rolling few miles, decent into Llanberis and over the timing mat and then back at it for yet another lap. The Sheep were only an issue in Llanberis where a few of the less bright ones were wandering around in the road. No accidents thankfully.
I’ m fresh. I’d revert to normal shortly after
The run leg would start with a 9.5 mile hike up the Llanberis path to the summit of Snowdon before descending back to base and starting the thirteen 5.2-mile loops around Llyn Padarn. A fairly boring route for someone used to Trail running, that included about three quarters on road/footpaths on the flat before an uphill walk through a slightly residential area and then a steady decent along a mix of trails and road back to the start line/marquee.
I was so relieved to get off the bike, get changed and start the hike up Snowdon, the highest mountain in England and Wales but my lower back was very stiff. I’d never planned to run any of this part of the race and used the steady incline to stretch out my achilles, calves, hammies & glutes which would ultimately loosen my back up a bit. I’d been up this mountain a few times in Ultramarathons over the past few years so knew what I was in for. I passed Owen (2nd place finisher) and his entourage as he was nearing the end of the decent and I was just starting the ascent. As Anna and I made out ascent a large, dark cloud decided to sit itself on top of the mountain and possibly prevent us from making it to the top. There was a Marshall about two thirds of the way up that would make a decision on whether we could continue to the summit based on the lightening forecast. We were allowed to continue which was great as we got above the clouds, took some lovely photos and removed the likelihood of having to do another monotonous lap or partial lap around the lake to make up the distance.
The decent was taken at a leisurely pace with a little bit of trotting thrown in as a warm up for the lake laps. Anna only had to join me for the mountain stage, from then on I was flying solo. The first lake lap I took at a very steady pace with plenty of walking breaks. I wanted to see how long a loop would take at a slow pace so I had something of a benchmark to work with. Head torch on and gentle plod through a few fields, around a play park, alongside the lake, through a car park and past the social club with the Rugby on. This took a lot of effort not to stop off and check the Welsh rugby score (and have a beer or two). The run continued on the flat, alongside the lake, around the northern end and then along a road on the east side. The first stop was the aid station just before the first gentle climb – a lovely couple manning a gazebo with plenty of snacks, drinks, a Labrador and plenty of encouragement. I’d make a point of stopping to speak to them on every lap for a bit of a morale boost. They probably didn’t need it!
From there, a slow and steady hike up through some partially residential areas before entering the wooded areas and starting the decent. A few road areas that were too steep to run and then a bit of trail which was a relief for the feet. I met up with Matthew Reid (winner of this race and winner of last years double Ironman) and his crew. They kept me company for a while and let me know where the tricky bits were. It was nice to be guided through this area. I left them after a while as I was moving well and didn’t bump into them again until many hours later when I was on my seventh lap and he was on his 13th. The first few laps were done at night so it was quite a relief when the sky lightened and I could ditch the head torch and start to see where I was going and what the surroundings were like. They were very different to how I had imagined during the night and the views across the lake at certain points were fab. I don’t have much to say about the run really. I saw a beautiful owl on one of the night laps. I’d been looking forward to the morning and having Anna join me for a loop but she got caught up with work and couldn’t make it. I needed to leave the course at one point and head to her house for some Vaseline due to some chaffing. I faired well on the run without any injuries. I was sore and aching, but my feet were fine. I knew I’d bruise a couple of toes and I had a few hot spots but they weren’t blisters, just soreness which always helps to keep me awake. I’d started the run in my road shoes but they weren’t feeling right so I switched to trail shows which worked fine despite the amount of tarmac involved.
I was falling asleep on one lap in the early hours of the morning so found a lovely log bench next to a small waterfall and lay down for a kip but quickly jumped up when I saw all the centipedes and earwigs on it. Sleep would have to wait a while so I continued battling the sleep demons for a while longer until I could get to the marquee for a lie down. Some of Matthew’s crew were present so I asked them to wake me up if I didn’t get up to my alarm. They agreed so I wrapped myself up nice and warm, lay down and set my alarm for 30 minutes later. The shortest 30 minutes ever! They were all fast asleep when I got up and left.
I felt the cold when I was lying down on the floor so put on a merino base layer to continue the run, the first top I’d worn during this part of the race and within about two minutes I had to strip off again. I don’t think it dropped below 22 degrees all night and anyone who knows me is aware that I like nothing more than running topless. In the early morning we had a bit of rain and to run through the woods in the rain with very little clothing on really made me extremely happy, despite the pain in my feet.
I kept plodding the miles out, enjoying a bit of banter at the checkpoint and the race HQ and chipping away at the distance. I was quite competitive and was getting updates from a few people on timings so knew I was closing the gap on Owen in second place. 40 minutes behind, 35 minutes behind and so on, chipping away at the gap until I think I was only about 15 minutes behind him with a lap or two to go. I knew I’d have to be sneaky and creep past him when he was in the marquee. If his crew had seen me go past they would have encouraged him to speed up. I had to be sneaky so now I’m trying to catch him but also didn’t want him or his crew to see me so I had to time it perfectly. If I’d caught up with him on the course, I would have matched his pace and I’m sure we would have finished together but he sped up a bit in his last lap and wasn’t stopping at the aid station for banter. I always tend to do these events with a skeletal crew and enjoy the individual challenge. In fact, I think I’ve only ever been crewed in one other race and it was the other Triple Ironman. I like to think I’m low maintenance and don’t ask a lot from crew. I’m pretty self sufficient and would feel guilty if someone gave up loads of time to help me selfishly run around for days on end.
Owen did a great job of keeping ahead of me so I resigned myself to the fact of a third place finish which I was very happy about. I enjoyed the day of running and counted the laps out. I dunked myself in the lake a couple of times to cool off and on the last lap, took it very steadily to take in the views and a herd of mountain goats that had come down from the mountains. I stopped a few times to forage for blackberries or to chat to passersby and a random film crew. The finish was the usual endurance event finish, most people had gone home but I crossed the line to lots of cheers from Owen and his family and friends, Anna and her dog Diego, Claire the race director and my good friend Karen, a stalwart of these events and part of the team.
After a quick chat with everyone I retired to the marquee to get changed and start getting my head around packing everything up. As the race thinned out and only a handful of competitors remained, my kit had managed to get strewn across several trestle tables. It took a good hot expedition meal and a lot of willpower to pack everything up, say my goodbyes and get back on my bike for a short cycle home via the wine shop.
Considering the lack of training, I was very happy with my performance. I had reserved expectations of each leg and equal trepidation. I was dreading the swim but managed to slog it out. The ride was always going to be doable but long and I really wasn’t sure how the run would be as I hadn’t ran any sort of distance since November 2021 and I had previously had quite a few niggles. Overall a great few days away and a good performance. Very slow recovery though and three weeks later I’m just starting a few gentle runs.
A great event, well run and very enjoyable in a beautiful part of the world. I’ll be back. Full results here
stevedavidhayes 