Dealing With the Cards you're dealt & chasing one Rabbit.
Dealing with the cards you're dealt seems like a fitting way to describe my end to the season 7 season in general to be honest. I like this phrase, sometimes it's a good hand, sometimes it's hand that'll test you. Either way, you've gotta play the hand & move on to be ready for the next hand, be it a good or bad outcome. This season I've certainly been dealt with many good hands. I'd have to say, almost every race met my minimum expectations, or at the very lease, the realistic expectations based on my preparation.
I'm obviously referring to cards being dealt due to my drafting penalty in my final Ironman of the year in Cozumel. The Blue card which is a 5 minute stop & stand penalty certainly had a knock on effect to unraveling my race. Well before the card was issued however, there were a few indicators on the days leading up that Cozumel was going to be a trip that'd test me in ways I didn't anticipate.
After Kona I decided it'd be a great idea to do the New York marathon. The event has always been a bucket list event that I've wanted to do one day. On top of that, a good buddy of mine was doing it, some sponsors were all in town for the weekend, sounded like a fun active recovery week. After all I was planning to fly back from Kona directly to Europe so as I'd recovered well from Kona, I felt I couldn't possibly fly over New York & not line up. So that was the thought process around me lining up on the Stratton Island bridge 1 week after Kona to run the NY marathon.
I think I've personally & certainly others have documented my run in the marathon extensively enough, I'll to not go into too much detail. Basically I didn't do any exercise for 5 days after kona until i landed in New York on the Friday evening. I was so antsy about having not trained that I went for a light jog around Central Park at 10pm when i arrived. It is the city that never sleeps after all. Even at that hour of the night I realised I'd made a great decision to stop off & do the marathon. The energy in a usually vibrate city was absolutely buzzing, you could tell New Yorkers love it when the marathon hits the town each year. To my surprise I actually felt fantastic, certainly much better than i did in my final pre kona run, maby rest really is best after all!
My goals for the Marathon we're just too enjoy the experience & if everything went ok, & I didn't have to hurt myself to do it, break 2:40 for the first time. I casually walked out onto the bridge for the start, which although i was in the privileged wave 1, I was towards the back of the coral. When i saw the 2-3000 people in front of me i thought it's probably a good thing, it'll stop me from running to hard. It took a few minutes for everyone to make there way over the start line, once i was over it though, & the clock was rolling, i got a little competitive.
I originally decided to just weave my way through the traffic until i had a clear road ahead of me to settle into a nice rhythm. This turned into I'll keep my foot on the gas until i find it hard to pass people. That took me around 10km. Obviously having started at the back, the experienced & faster runners had all started at the front to get immediately into there rhythm. Anyways, once here, i settled in with a great group & felt surprisingly good. I noticed the group got smaller & smaller so when we hit the Bronx after 32km i asked the guys what pace they were running. I was started to feel a little light headed as i'd not taken nutrition or hydration overly seriously. They replied 2:35! I thought crikey! No wonder I'm started to run out of gas here, I didn't plan to run that fast! I backed it off a little to avoid a blow up & any major cramps as i knew my body was probably on the edge. This gave me the opportunity to really soak up the atmosphere of the event for the final 10km & through the famous Central Park section leading to the finish line. I stopped the clock in 2:36 so was well ahead of expectations but honestly just felt like a nice run.
The experience was absolutely unreal. The crowd line the streets for the entirety of the course, with the exception of the bridges of course. I'll never forget the noise as you approached manhattan. I'm not sure what the name of the bridge we run over is but you hit the island & make a sweeping 270 degree left turn off the bridge & you're hit with quite literally hundreds of thousands of people on either side of the road roaring there heads off. It was absolutely unreal. Also with Kona being fresh on peoples minds I received a lot of support from the roadside fans, that was really nice for morale & probably the reason i ran faster than expected, this support was definitely making me feel really good about myself haha. The conditions were also absolutely perfect so I honestly couldn't have wished for a better bucket list sporting event experience.
The marathon was an example of a good card that was dealt to me. The opportunity arose to take part & i had a wonderful experience. It really capped off a great week, especially from a running perspective after the way Kona had panned out.
To be brief on Kona, that was a completely unexpected way to end up 7th. Obviously it wasn't until the run that i actually felt like i was involved in the race, i was just so far out of the action after the swim. I simply decided to keep the pace on in the hope that should guys want to stay ahead then they have to also ride hard to stay there, put pressure on the running legs this way. Once on the run & it's totally man v man, i had a lot more belief in myself to pick them off. It definitely felt amazing passing guys like that & the support i was not only getting from the fans but also my fellow competitors who where seeing a version of me they weren't accustomed to seeing.
The run out to the energy lab went perfectly. I had nothing to lose so was just going for it basically, it felt awesome. I started to doubt myself though when i turned into the lab. I didn't believe i was capable of running that fast for the whole marathon & decided to take it easier in this section, then bank on a big finish on the run back to town. When i came out of the lab I'd moved my way to 8th place. Unfortunately the energy lab as it often does seemed to sap the energy out of me & my charge slowed significantly. Upon reflection I should've just gone with the momentum I had, kept running them down as quickly as possible, dealt with the inevitable hard moments when they caught up with me. As a consequence of this stalled charge, it took me quite a while to move into 7th place & once there I couldn't see 6th. Not seeing 6th ahead really seemed to take the wind out of my sails as it was the first time on the run that I hadn't had a carrot dangling in front me. This coincided with the temperature & humidity rising & I'd certainly found my limit on the day. With 3km left to run I was in full defence mode not wanting to give up any of the places I'd taken on the run, I desperately wanted to get over that finish line asap.
I don't think I've ever felt so hot at the end of an Ironman. Sure the conditions were tuff but i think I'd really revved my engine to the maximum on that run. Perhaps I could've paced it better to run some more guys down but the reality was I'd never run guys down in Kona, this situation was completely new to me & I decided to make hay while the sun shined so speak, catch as many as i could while i had the energy in the tank. While it wasn't an improvement on my 5th of 2019, it was probably the result that's given me the most belief i can challenge these guys on the biggest day in our sport. Knowing now I've got a run that's competitive on a hard day has provided my unfathomable desire to double down on everything I've been doing & work as hard to possible to eliminate the weaknesses in my armoury.
Following the NY Marathon i had my annual commitment at the Best Buddies Challenge in Miami. A police escorted charity ride through the streets of Miami to raise funds & awareness for the IDD community. I've been participating in the event for 11 years now & every year we raise more money & have more fun doing it than ever before. I guess i call this period my active off season. Sure I'm still excising a little as everyone in Miami is out doing something. We where in town for week so you feel like a fat slob if you're not awake at sunrise to pedal, run, or swim! It's just a really motivating town to get outside & be moving & I've a bunch of wonderful friends that I've met down there through the Best Buddies Foundation. If anyone is interested in a long weekend in Miami & wants to be involved in raising money for a fantastic organisation & having a great time with a wonderful group of people, i highly encourage you to join in at next years event.
With this week providing a bridge to the Ironman Cozumel week, I couldn't resist the temptation to jump on one last start line for the season. Looking at it retroactively it was perhaps destined to not work out so well for me. The family were definitely on the edge from 2+ months travelling on the road. Up until the end of Kona everything was planned out. Me adding in the NY weekend really started to bite us. I'm complaining for one second about travelling around the world & privileges that are afforded to me but in & out of airports, hotels ect, lugging suitcases & bikecases around in our case, eventually takes its toll.
In Miami my wife did suggest that cozumel could one extra activity too many this trip. I'd used up my bonus trip in New York so she, my son, & the dog, most certainly wanted to go home. Stubborn me though who loves competing convinced them a trip top Mexico would be the perfect end to the trip & I convinced myself i was ready for a great race. I seem to make this mistake evert year of doing one race too many & sure enough 2024 was no different. The warning signs began as soon as we arrived in Mexico with no luggage, just what we carried onto the plane with us. If my family hadn't made there point already this definitely got through to me load and clear. It's the first time we've ever lost baggage on our travels together which is quite remarkable when i consider how much travelling we've done over the years.
So the cozumel trip wasnt off to the greatest of starts. The luggage would eventually arrive a couple of days later in time for me to frantically get everything ready for the race. Obviously when you rush to prepare for something as complex as an Ironman you run a high risk of missing something. Fortunately i seemed to keep a calm head & get everything done in the small timeframe i had & before i knew it i was locked & loaded on the start line for Ironman Cozumel.
The swim went as expected, ok. Was definitely not my best swim but certainly came out of the water with the main part of the field. On the bike i was feeling quite good. By halfway on the bike course, what started out as a big group had finally whittled down to a few guys who'd ultimately fill podium. So everything was going nicely, i had confidence in my run & with around 40km to ride we'd caught the lone leader & were now at the head of the race. Next thing a referee appears beside me & flashes a blue card, tells me i need to stop at the next penalty tent for 5 minutes. Obviously i was a little shocked as I'd never had a penalty before & didn't realise i was doing anything wrong. The referee however had deemed me to be drafting & too close to the athlete intront of me & as a result issued me a penalty.
As badly as i wanted to argue with the referee the rules are simple, you serve the penalty or are disqualified. Out of respect for the rules, the race, & my fellow competitors i stopped at the next penalty tent. At first I thought 5 minutes is nothing, I'll chase them down on the run. Unfortunately for me this was when i discovered it was one race too many. Standing still for 5 minutes just completely zapped all the adrenaline & energy out of me that i had left for 2024. I honestly thought the opposite would happen standing there. A short rest & I'd climb back aboard my bike feeling as strong as 10 men. This wasn't to be the case. From my usual 300+- watts for the first 3hrs, turned into 150 watts. Try as I might i just couldn't get going again, i was totally defeated. I resigned to riding in the drop bars, not even the aero position as I simply had given up on the race. I know when my body is done & i knew today wasn't going to be the sparkling season ending performance i dreamed about.
I limped my bike to transition with the full intention of abandoning the race. I'd perhaps have already abandoned but as it was an island i had to complete the lap to get back to my hotel haha. At the beginning of transition Fallon & Wyatt were worryingly waiting for me unsure if I'd crashed or had a mechanical issue. On the tracker they'd seen me take the lead this disappear from the front of the race. I pulled over & told them i was completely out of energy & would grab my shoes & we can go back to the hotel. Wyatt didn't even let me finish my sentence. He could see that i was fine physically & said "Dadda, what are thought doing here, get moving". I really had no option at that point. With whatever energy i had left in my body for whatever result that'd get me, i had to go & run a marathon & finish the race.
Once on the run course I actually had a bit of a second wind. I smashed a few cokes & some gels at the first aid station & decided to give it a good crack. Like i said earlier in the bike, i was confident i could have a great run after Kona & NY so figured whatever the result, show that to yourself. I set about trying to emulate my 2;36 from New York. This pace lasted about 5km haha. At this point i had another major energyless moment that finally forced me into common sense. My body was running on absolute vapor's at this point in the season & for this race simply finishing the Ironman was all i had in the tank.
I was pleasantly surprised to run 2:50 which was good enough for 8th on the finish line. Obviously not my finest performance but nice to know that my get through a marathon run is much quicker than in the past. I'm unfortunately experienced with these end of season, one race to many meltdowns, where breaking 3hrs on the run is all i have. It was a nice reassurance that my improvement in running has been more than the conditioning side, i'm obviously also moving for more economically.
Fallon & Wyatt had cheered me as ferociously as they always do. No matter if I'm leading or in 20th place, Wyatt's little lungs are at maximum revs. When i am back in the doldrums & nowhere near the front he cheers just as aggressively for all the leaders. When i'm front he saves the support exclusively his Dad, haha, i thought was pretty funny when Fallon informed of that. So while it seemed like there was nothing to gain at the end of the bike, the day didn't turn out so bad. I'd certainly emptied my tank for the season, physically & emotionally, I was totally out of gas.
Ontop of that, I'm glad my son doesn't see me as a quitter, super grateful he told me to get my ass moving when i wanted to hide under a rock & feel sorry for myself. At the end of the day it's the tuff days that make the good ones all the more special. I was dealt a challenging card in Cozumel which almost broke me. But in the end i learnt a valuable lesson that no matter how out you might feel, while there still racing to be done, there's a chance to salvage something!
So with the season done & dusted it's time to look forward to 2025. I've been quite excited since iJune to get to the end of the season as i knew then that I'd switch my focus for 2025. I knew this year would again be challenging balancing both sports so i simply focused on fulfilling my obligations for the team & then using the time i had in September & October to get myself in the best shape i could for Kona. I believe i did all i could there. I had some nice races with the team, Amstel Gold Race & Tom Pidcock's win being the obvious highlight. Kona in the end was a decent result which demonstrated that despite my limited preparation, I'm still improving & competitive at the highest level.
On the flip side, it stung missing Ironman Frankfurt & the chance to contend for the Ironman Pro Series. You needed 3 Pro Series Ironman's to maximise points & i only had two. My plan had been to do Frankfurt & then after Kona the half Ironman in Western Australia in December as my final point scorer, the later was obviously pointless now without the Ironman score. As I've always said the team is bigger than the individual, so do your job.
To clarify my role in the team, my original role was to be on standby for World Tour races only. This avoided fines for the teams & being the more important races you want a full squad on the start line. I think i showed at the Vuelta & in the Classics for example, I was very comfortable jumping into races at the highest level. Where I didn't feel overly comfortable or useful was the lower level races. I think the reason being was I never expected to be racing them & when I was at them I felt my time could've been better spent at home focusing on my Ironman preparations. These lower level races where the ones that really disrupted my routine as I also got called up for them more & more as the years went on. The reason I'd agreed to the World Tour races only arrangement was i knew there was less chance of getting called into them as everyone wants to race in them. Was simply a misalignment of my personal understanding of my role & the new administration of the team that'd now been tasked with managing my role in the team.
I was called into the Tour of Poland last minute which scuttled my participation in Ironman Frankfurt & my Pro Series ambitions with it. As i stated above, being called into a World Tour race was a key part of my role in the team, the reason I didn't try to dispute this with management to do something for myself in Frankfurt. The real mistake i made was not racing an Ironman earlier in the summer that'd clashed with the smaller races i was called into, Hungary, Czech tour, Slovenia for example. I should've spoken up at this point, said i need this extra Ironman race for the points. It wouldn't have mattered if id missed any of those small tours, no fines for the team, we didn't have team leaders there to ride for anyways. I simply didn't handle this situation properly to ensure the team was happy & my personal goals were met.
So it certainly stung observing the guys fighting it out for the final points in the last races of this season. The fact it hit me so hard to be missing out on being apart of that battle, merely solidified within myself the passion i have for competing in Ironman. I obviously needed to make adjustments going forward to accommodate that. I think the Pro Series is a great initiative from Ironman but for interest in the sport & also rewarding the athletes financially. It's been great to follow that these past few weeks & see Gregory Barnaby take the inaugural crown after his breakout 6th place in Kona.
So with all that being said, to me it's glaringly obvious where i need to focus my energy in 2025. I'll go back to chasing 1 rabbit. I guess it's actually 3 but they all roll into one. This year has highlighted the true passion i have for Ironman racing & i believe the sports evolved to a level where i need to dedicate 100% of my athletic self to this pursuit. It's not only the training & consistency of training that excites me, its the extra days I'll have for testing, resting, studying, all the thing that contribute to a very complex sport like Ironman Triathlon. My focus will be solely on the Pro Series, I'll basically exclusively do those events & aim to be a relevant factor toward the top of the standings at year's end with the goal of winning it! I also realise the easiest way to win the series is win all your races so the race by race approach doesn't change. I think it's going to be a lot more fun keeping score.
What started out as one year experiment with the Grenadiers turned into five more seasons in the world tour. Covid obviously changed things a lot in this regard & i was incredibly fortunate to have cycling at a time there was no triathlons going on. Also when Kona was canceled in 2021 it did make me wonder if we'd ever get back to the big island which was why I continued with the two sports into 2022. After a disappointing Kona in 22, I desperately wanted to show i could handle both sports. Unfortunately 2023 went even worse in Nice which again made me double down on my pursuit to show i could manage both sports. During this time I've supported the guys to some memorable victories. Dylan's Paris Roubaix win in 2022 will always stand out as a race to savour. We had a truly special group that day that was a privilege to be apart of.
With 2024 now done & dusted I'm really happy i could turn things around & start on the upward trajectory again. I was able to prove to myself that i could manage both sports at a high level & incredibly greatful to have been able to live this fantasy. I'm definitely not going to rule out racing in the future in the World Tour. I think I'd be foolish given my sporting g history to rule out involvement at any level in any sport on the planet haha. For now however, it's simply time to double down on everything swim, bike, run related, & see what I can get out of my old chassis. I still feel great & all indications are that I'm continuing to improve. I honestly believe i have more improvement in me than my rivals primarily due to my inconsistency in the swim.
I can swim well, even at the front of races. I simply need to dedicate myself to the craft as I've done with my running & become a consistently good swimmer, I'm incredibly excited for this challenge. Also with my running, although I've seen significant improvement, i feel I'm only just opening up & theres a lot more to come from me in the Marathon aswell. With regard to the bike, that's something I'm also very excited about. Not least of which actually having more time to spent on my tri bike but also the testing I've wanted to do & simply haven't found the time to do. I know within myself I haven't done the hard hours on that bike that I used to do in the past & ontop of that, guys have gotten very good on the bike. It's obvious i need to get my act together & dedicate myself to this again. All in all I'm incredibly excited about the improvements i can make in all 3 disciplines.
So onwards & upwards is always my moto. I've never been one for looking back or dwelling on what happened in the past. I always try to learn from past experiences & ensure I celebrate the celebratable moments when they happen. Once the moment has past however i know its time to crack on & try & do better in the future. I've got some exciting new partners I'll be working with but also I'm excited to have more time to work more with my existing partners. There's also some other exciting additions on the personal side very much inline with the people I've been so fortunate enough to always be surrounded by. Hayden Wilde & I will be spending even more time together than ever before, its a good thing we seem to enjoy each others company. I'll also continue to be close to the team, they've been a huge part of my life these past 7 years, I'll always be a fan of the staff & riders at Tour Racing Limited (parent company that owns the teams license).
So after some good cards & challenging cards I've arrived at this point. This sporting journey of mine has truly been something & I'm not planning on ending the story anytime soon. Until the wheels fall off!!!
Thanks for reading my traditional loyal blog readers.
Cjw
