Virgin Iron[wo]man and Beyond: Cowman

The day itself. Mr & Mrs D, having returned from the Ladies’ Wimbledon final late on Saturday night, were up at 5.30am to give us all a lift down to Emberton Park. It was grey but no rain for now and we were super lucky in that the rain held off for most of the day – a bit of drizzle in the swim and a few spots on the bike but the run was surprisingly hot.

The swim started at 7am, with an obligatory photo call just before we entered the water - we are all looking surprisingly happy all things considering! There were circa 300 other competitors and boy did it feel like it on the bank. We all headed to the front for a warm up so that we were well out of the crowds.

As the gun went it was mayhem and I soon realised I should have been a little less bullish as men swam over the top of me (ah, "equality in sport" I thought at the time!) and I started inhaling large quantities of water. And so to breaststroke which my father caught with an opportune photo (I’m in the pink / white hat):

JK and Emily were out in front with Mark holding his own and fending off his fellow swimmers. Pugh was plugging away somewhere in the middle. Both Durden siblings were going rapidly backwards in the field. By this point I had headed for the bank where I found myself swimming through all sorts of pond life and thick weeds making any stroke, even doggy paddle, difficult. Not such a great plan. ‘Man up’ I told myself and stuck my head down and started moving back through the field. 39 minutes later and I was done – 2 minutes slower than last year! Huge frustration as my swimming was considerably stronger after lessons and more hours in the water. I had forgotten the pure pandemonium of a mass open water start. Cowman 2012 was a good re-baptism of fire for the year of the ironman.

On to the cycle. I was delighted to get out of the water in front of Durden Junior who was still flailing around getting out as I arrived by my bike in transition. Pugh was already there and trying his very best to get out of his wetsuit. As I ripped mine off, jumped into my clip-ins and stuck my cycle helmet on I felt sorry for the least experienced member of TGS and helped him out of the predicament he’d gotten into with his T-shirt. He broke all sorts of records for that transition including longest removal of wetsuit / search for his socks / putting T-shirt on. As I sprinted out of transition there were whoops and cheers from the TGS fans and supporters who’d turned out to watch – Dad even managed to get a photo. As you can see, I'm pretty relieved I didn't drown in the swim.

The cycle was the cycle really. 2 long loops and one shorter one. No huge crashes or deaths (dogs that is) this year. Lots of guys on tri-bikes overtaking me including Durden Junior who got me in the first couple of km’s. Em and Pughy had a minor mishap with the course so did one long, one short, and then a further long loop last – luckily the marshalls soon noticed they shouldn’t have been where they were and sent them on their merry way. At the start of my second loop I got to overtake Em on the bike, keen to put as much distance between us as I could before the run which I knew she was strong on.

Above: (L) Williams asking our supporters how far ahead WJD was. (R) Em shortly before she was overtaken by me on the bike.

Into transition for the second time that day, traipsing through plenty of mud by now I found my kit and got into my running gear as best I could. It felt slow as I had time to think ‘Hannah, you’re faffing’ and it was 2.30 mins to Em’s 1.30 – a key factor in what was about to happen on the run. Luckily Cowman HQ had changed the run course to take out the cross-country/second swim element to create an out and back course up the side of the main road on the footpath. This was actually very entertaining especially with everyone in their navy and pink TGS kit which was easy to spot. High fives and plenty of support for our teammates ensued but as I turned at the top of my first (of 3) loops I soon saw Em in hot pursuit. She was a couple of minutes behind at that stage and, I won’t lie, I had no intention of letting her catch me, but she was worryingly close.

Unfortunately in an attempt to hold Em off by running a punchy 2^nd lap I totally cooked myself and dragging myself up the long hill out on the final loop I was hardly getting my feet off the ground. As we entered the last mile she came steaming past and whilst I did my best to keep up I had nothing left in my legs – all her run-training had paid off and my lack of run training showed. I finished just over 30 seconds behind her by the finish. At the end of the day this internal ‘race’ did me the biggest favour as I ran the slightly shortened (12.7 miles we think?) run course in 1hr 44, so well in line with my PB in the half-marathon distance. Thank you Em.

Above: gritting their teeth to the finish: Pugh, Em & Mark

At the finish the boys had been done and dusted for a while. Roly in his role as ‘social’ member of TGS had gone and beaten the lot of us although JK and WJD were considerably closer than they had been last year. We will put his performance down to completing the Haute Route in April - good altitude training [see his blog here: http://rolyrouleletour.blogspot.co.uk/] Analysis of the times and performances to follow. The only real casualty was Pughy. I’d noticed he didn’t exactly look like he was enjoying himself on the out and back section of the run but when he finished the blood stains on his trainers were evidence that he had suffered from some pretty severe blisters during the run – one very good reason to use talcum powder in your socks and shoes coming off the swim / bike to soak up any excess water. Not helped by a very damp transition area. Good effort to keep going I say.

All in all a successful day out with TGS members taking anywhere between 20 and 46 minutes off their Cowman times from the year before and with a headwind that we reckoned added between 5 and 10 minutes to the bike times.