With 15 years of competing in triathlon under his belt, and making it to his 50th year on the planet back in January, #TeamTCUK coach Ady Dench knew he had a sub-10 hour Ironman in him, somewhere! Could he find it at Ironman Barcelona? Read on to find out!

After 15 years of doing triathlon and hitting the big 50 this year I decided to have one final attempt at a sub 10 hour full Ironman. I am a realist, and have always said that with the perfect conditions, on a fast course, with an injury free season and without a glitch on race day I might scrape under the double digit hour mark by about a second. I’m not sure I really believed it though! So for me, 2019 was all about Project Sub 10. It is worth noting that my Ironman PB was 10 hours 39 mins, and that was on a supposedly fast course at IM Vichy.

The race of choice was Barcelona, which with a drag strip of a bike course gave this not particularly gifted swimmer or runner at least a chance at getting close to the target time. An October race hopefully meant a temperate day weather wise (past European races have shown I don’t do heat!) with a wet suit swim almost guaranteed in the extra buoyant waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

I didn’t do a triathlon in 2018 having struggled with a running injury all that year, which meant I had a biking year and a strong one at that with significant course, distance and power personal bests across the year. I joke about being a cyclist who does triathlon, so 2019 was all about being a triathlete who does 3 disciplines reasonably well and not treating the bike leg as a bike race!

Pre-race

 

How were your preparations leading up to the race?

The early part of the year was all about getting back into running, so short and often was the key. The TCUK Lanzarote Training Camp in March was a great help with this where the TCUK boss man, Matt Sanderson and guest pro and good friend Elliot Smales made me run whether I wanted to or not. Oh how they laughed at my miserable running face!

In all honesty things couldn’t have gone any better throughout the year. As one of the resident TCUK coaches I did my own programme throughout the early part of the year and had a bit of fun doing the One Step Beyond sprint distance triathlons series where I mopped up age group wins as well as placing highly over all. Another age group win and strong race at Outlaw Half Holkham put an end to the first part of my season and showed it was all heading in the right direction.

The only slight spanner in the works was I started to come down with a head cold on the Friday of race week. I blame the woman who was sat behind us on the plane who was clearly not well!

Did you feel that your training had prepared you sufficiently?

As a TCUK coach I’m confident in my ability to manage an athletes training load and season. However, even coaches benefit from having an objective opinion and with that in mind Matt took on my programme from about 5 months out from race day. The run was always going to make or break my race, and managing my run training was going to be key. A reconstructed ACL has left me prone to running related niggles over the years. That and my often mentioned strange rigid Tyrannosaurus Rex like running style have led to some very painful runs over the years. It’s the reason I don’t do the full distance very often, as I need time to forget how painful the runs are for me.

Our approach this year was to keep running regularly with the emphasis on running 3 or 4 times a week. One of the daunting aspects of Ironman training is the long runs and this year we decided to limit these. I did max out at 17 miles but much of the run training came from running shorter and often and running off the bike. Outlaw Half Holkham gave a boost to this strategy as I ran well off the bike having only peaked at 11 miles in training up to that point.

I did a lot more open water swimming this year in my training so was feeling comfortable in the water over long distances. I’m one of those swimmers who can’t seem to transfer pool speed into open water performance which is annoying. Fortunately for me, the swim is the shortest part of the day so losses can be mitigated by doing the training and knowing I’ll at least have a strong comfortable swim.

The one thing I love to do is ride my bike! Plenty of miles logged this year both on the Wahoo Kickr (love that machine) and out on the roads. I have a full TT set up and am a bit geeky at saving watts both on the bike, with kit and position. My power numbers were good over the year, the killer turbos were ticked off and the long rides as well. I knew I’d be on for a good ride if, and it was a big if, I didn’t push too hard in the race and blow up.

Swim

 

Time: 1:07:19

How did it go?

I love the seeded swim starts at most Ironman races now. The old mass starts from the beach/lakeside used to fill me with dread. I swim with Matt most weeks at our local pool and he knows my pool speed so he said to seed myself in the 60 minute start group. Remember, I said I don’t transfer pool speed to open water! The sea swim was pleasant and as a single sided breather to the right the buoys were placed on my ideal side for once. I would have liked to have dipped under 1:05 for the swim, but I did pb for the swim so can’t complain too much.

What were the positives/negatives?

 

Slower than I wanted to be, but still a strong comfortable swim. Probably need to swim a bit harder than just being comfortable to gain that extra time.

T1

Time: 00:03:54

Bike

 

Time: 04:47:08

How did it go?

Well, the day didn’t start well when I approached my bike early on race morning and realised I’d left all my bottles in the fridge back at the apartment. The most important of which had all my gels in as I carry them decanted into a bidon. It was not feasible to go back and fetch them. The only fluid I had on my bike was half a bottle of orange squash in a normal water bottle. Strangely I didn’t let it bother me and just thought I’d pick things up at the first feed station, more on that later! In training, unless I’m running long off the bike, I generally ride with little nutrition. Over the years I know my body has adapted well to utilising fat as an energy source…..just the small matter of a 26 mile run after the bike on this day though.

I settled into an aero position and good rhythm easily on the bike and soon realised it was a fast course. Ironman Barcelona is renowned for the amount of drafting that goes on. The formation of packs is inevitable with 3000+ entrants on a fast two lap course. At times the packs were more like pelotons and some riders were getting an easy ride that’s for sure. I found myself constantly catching a group, riding past and then bridging to another group and doing the same. 112 miles is a long way and it’s never bothered me if I have to drop back out of the drafting zone if someone overtakes me, the reality is you can still take advantage from a rider of a similar strength by sitting far enough back to be legal but still taking pace. It’s exactly how the pace line works for the pros at the front end of the race.

The much needed feed station came at about 30km and I knew I’d have to come to a halt to take two bottles plus gels. There was one slight problem at this point though, no gels at the feed stations just bars and bananas. Oh well, solids and energy drink it had to be then.

I still felt good, despite producing copious amounts of snot courtesy of the head cold, and completed the first 56 miles in just over 2 hours 21 minutes and I heard the shouts of Go Dench at the turnaround from the support crew which is always a boost. I tried to settle back into the aero position, but as always this was getting more uncomfortable as the ride went on. For once, not being fully aero was not such a disadvantage on this fast course. Sitting upright and putting a bit more power down was just as effective at times and allowed for a bit of pressure relief!!

The bike course is mostly on the coast road, but there is an out and back section which heads away from the coast towards the local hills. This is a long drag of about 5km which has a bit of a gradient and is the slowest part of the course out and the fastest part back. On the second lap at the start of this drag I heard that familiar sound of air vacating a tyre, damn a puncture. I pulled over to check what was going on and realised the tubeless gunk had actually worked and sealed the tyre, result.

As I was stopped a Brit in a distinctive blue kit rode past and asked if I was ok – yes, puncture I think was my reply. After checking everything I got going again and soon caught distinctive blue kit man on the up slope towards the turnaround. As I passed him I said thanks for checking on me and explained the puncture had self-sealed. Next thing I get a motor bike referee next to me giving me the blue penalty card – 5 min in the sin bin for not making a continuous passing motion. Strangely for me, it didn’t bother me as I knew I was on a good bike leg and I remember thinking a 5 minute rest not too far from the end of the bike might actually help in the long run (quite literally!). I also knew I’d probably be able to scrounge a gel from another competitor at the penalty tent, which is allowed, unlike taking help from a spectator. Big thanks to the Royal Marine racing who gave me a caffeine gel!!

The rest of the ride was uneventful. I was happy that I hadn’t over done the bike and felt both laps were pretty consistent which hopefully showed I’d been conservative at the start and had set myself up for the run…..

What were the positives/negatives?

Having now analysed my data my expected power was bang on what I’d predicted for the bike leg. Both laps were indeed consistent and I knew I was going well as the second lap cleared of riders as I moved up the field. I was pleased I dealt with ‘mishaps’ without getting stressed and even looked for the positives from negatives….It’s never happened before and might never happen again!!

T2

Time: 00:04:21

Run

Time: 03:45:58

How did it go?

I have two Garmins I race with, a bike one which is attached to the bars and can be seen when in my quite aggressive aero position which gives me power data. The other is a wrist one which tracks all three disciplines but is most important for my run pacing. Neither shows my cumulative race time at a glance, I have to scroll the screen on both to see that. As I left T2 I pressed the lap button to start the run and a cumulative time came up – I can’t say for sure whether it was 6 hours and some seconds or 6 hours 3 minutes and some seconds. What I did know regardless of either reading, was that sub 10 was on. That was the last time I looked at the time until I had one mile to go.

The aim on the run was to aim for 8:45 min/miles and with a heart rate of around 150bpm. The first mile was done in 8:08 and the second in 7:59 at bang on 150 and felt really comfortable. The choice now was which voice in my head to listen to – run faster than you’ve run an Ironman marathon before (which was the plan) or run even faster than you’ve ever imagined you could run an Ironman marathon? Thankfully I chose the former!

I think all Ironman races have lapped run courses and Barcelona was no different with 3 and a bit laps. There will always be low points on the run and invariably this often coincides with being the furthest distance away from the finish line, again Barcelona was no different. The third lap started to hurt, but unusually for me not intense calf tightening, just fatigue. I was actually running well, holding form, pace and my heart rate was bang on 150bpm. I’d never been in this position before!

I think if you ask anyone who knows me, they’ll probably say I’m strong minded and stubborn. These are not necessarily qualities that go down well in everyday life (there is a reason I’m self-employed and work on my own!) but they come into their own in Ironman and all endurance racing I feel. So, I found myself in the position where the run was hurting, but not in the normal my calves are about to explode way. I think I was feeling the normal pain that runners feel. I’m by no means saying I’m a runner but there was no way I was going to blow this now…….

The weather had been perfect for me throughout the race, largely overcast with very little wind. However, the sun did start to come out on the run so the usual water over the head at every feed station came into play. The plan was to run through the feed stations and grab and go – I alternated water and coke and grabbed fresh orange segments as well. I also took a much needed gel on each of the 3 laps.

They say the marathon really starts with 6 miles to go, that dreaded period where the ‘wall’ can come out of nowhere. I was starting to feel hungry at this point and there was a worry that the lack of nutrition might come back and take its toll. Fortunately, I maintained an almost metronomic pace until the end and no big hammer came down…….

At 25 miles my Garmin beeped up my last mile pace and at this point I checked my run time -3 hours 36 minutes. At this point I knew sub 10 was just about guaranteed but still wasn’t fully sure of by how much. My last 26 mile was paced at 8:45 exactly and at 152bpm. That says a lot about the year that went into the planning and thinking, the training, the decisions on the day. My run time of 3:45:58 was so pleasing; of all the seconds gained on the day those 2 seconds to bring 3:45 in are the best. It’s a time I’ve always thought I could run in an Ironman but knocking 13 minutes off my previous best, some 11 years ago, was no mean achievement!

Finish time 09:48:37 (Nice one Ady!!!)

What were the positives/negatives?

Just positives, I’ve never run so well. Even the big orange thing in the sky didn’t affect me!

Post-race

How have you recovered from the race? Now that it’s done, what are your future race plans?

If you take post-race as immediately after I crossed the finish line, then it all went a bit downhill. I can never stomach any food after these races, and this was no different even on massive calorie deficit day. My ‘far younger’ mates, who finished in front of me with great times, picked me off the floor and carried me to the medical tent. I thought my sad eyes might warrant a magic drip, but unfortunately not. I came round after half an hour or so and was soon back with the family/support group. I seem to recall getting my kit off behind a support flag and getting warm clothes on whilst drinking an Estrella!

It is worth mentioning that Elliot Smales who I mentioned earlier also raced here, in fact it was his pro debut at the full Ironman distance. He always said he might not even start the run if he felt bad. I fully expected to get a smack on the arse as he passed me on the run if he did complete it. I got no smack so thought he might have called it a day; only to be informed by him as we sipped the Estrella that he came 4^th overall and we later found out it was the fastest debut by any Brit at an Ironman in a time of 08:01:22 and with a run time of 02:43:59!

The head cold really kicked in the day after the race as my immune system had obviously taken a battering the day before.

I didn’t really talk up the sub 10 goal prior to the race but those who know me knew it was the aim. It’s only now that it’s over and I’ve done it that I realise how relieved I am in achieving it. It also means that I never have to do a full Ironman again……but I have said never again before!

Next year will see me racking up at Outlaw Half Nottingham with the TCUK crew, and then three weeks later at Ironman 70.3 Rapperswil-Jona in Switzerland, a bike course with big hills in it!

Coaching

What is your opinion of the coaching you received from TCUK? Would you recommend TCUK to friends and family and, if yes, why?

Obviously I’m biased, yes of course! The big thing for me this year has been managing the running. Reaching 50, being prone to niggles and injury meant thinking more about regularity and quality over just knocking out long miles. I never really stop training as it’s a lifestyle choice for me so the base is always there. Having that base fitness makes buying into the race specific part of the programme very enjoyable as there is an in built robustness to those tough sessions which some hate, but personally I love! Thanks Matt for setting those 80/13 mile bricks, I really love them…..