I am skipping the long-winded story this week because I just made you read one about Ironman Wisconsin. But if my “by the numbers” leaves out any details that you’d like to hear about—because I know a few of you at least are considering Ironman Wales race in the future—post questions below and I can do an Ironman Wales Q&A post!
I had a good day in Wales; the course was as epic as promised and I am happy I was able to experience it. As an added bonus, in spite of the long travel in between ironmans and it being in the “bad” direction (east), my legs seemed to bounce back from Ironman Wisconsin in record time and that continued through race day. My body responded well all day long and my legs felt pretty darn good.
3: Ironmans in five weeks.
1: Week since my last ironman in Wisconsin.
24: Hours of travel door-to-door from my homestay in Madison, Wisconsin to my bed and breakfast in Tenby, Wales.
7: Hours spent in my Recovery Pump boots between races.
7: Vega shakes consumed between races.
1: Number of bottles of Powerade Energy that it took to keep me up all night before the race. Public service announcement: turns out there is a caffeinated version of Powerade in Europe. It looks like this:
I don’t recommend drinking that in bed if you want to sleep at night.
48: Minutes it took me to complete the beautiful swim course at Tenby’s North Beach.
8:02 : Transition time for T1, which included a run of about a kilometer.
2: Number of pairs of running shoes I would have packed if I had been smart. I thought I would save time in T1 by not trying to put on running shoes with numb hands and feet. Terrible idea. Serious foot pain.
2: Hours of rain during the ride. Somehow I would have been disappointed had we not had a wet ride with a fair amount of wind on top of it, though . . .
1: Number of age group athletes whom I saw crash head-on into a stone wall on a wet descent during the bike.
8,652 : Feet of climbing in 112 miles on the bike course, according to my trusty CycleOps Joule 2.0.
39×25: My usual “smallest gear” on my bike.
39×28: My smallest gear for this race, thanks to a last-minute recommendation from Charisa, who had ridden the course, and a loaner cassette from my super Madison homestay, Kari and Glen. I lost count of the amount of time I spent in that gear!
-3: Difference in my average watts between Wisconsin and Wales. I think this means that you can’t get away with riding like a muppet in Europe; this relatively small difference (especially considering the differing nature of the courses) meant that I got deeee-stroyed on this ride!
1: Set of brake pads killed in this race.
7: Number of PowerGels consumed on the run.
0: Cups of coke consumed on the run.
2.5: Number of kilometers that the run course was short. I did have a good marathon—for me—but not 3:11 good, as the results indicate. Terrain-wise, this was probably the toughest ironman run course I have done; the only flat bit was the first two blocks we ran out of transition!
2: Fifth-place finishes in this double, bringing my career total to . . . Trivia question! Answer it on the Smashfest Queen facebook page to be entered in a giveaway. Check it out here.
2: Years since I have been able to run like I did the past two weekends!! My biggest takeaway from this race was proving to myself that my run in Madison was not a fluke.
2: Weeks away from my Cat and my puppy for this little racing binge.
36: Hours of travel door-to-door back from my bed and breakfast in Tenby, Wales to home sweet home in Tucson, Arizona. Gotta love Cheap Tickets.
12: Days at home ‘til October in paradise at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows and super ironman coach/ sherpa duties on the Big Island. Cannot wait!
11: Number of sponsors I want to thank for facilitating my crazy adventures: Smash, PowerBar, TYR, Recovery Pump, Rudy Project, Zipp, ISM, Vega, FSA, CycleOps, and the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Boods, so sorry to hear about the powerade – that must have been crazy xoxo
Geez! They really shortened the run. Why do they do that? So frustrating to not have that accurate marathon, but I am glad they kept it hard. I would just have loved for you to see your full marathon time. You had a great day- unreal to do 2 back to back like that. I TOLD you that you would see someone just crash into a wall, yes? Isn’t the bike course insanely different skill wise? Love it. So proud. xo
Wait, so you accidentally stayed up all night? aaaaah.
I like the part about the runs being awesome and your running in general being awesome.
This was a fun post!
What is the recovery pump?
congrats on a great race! those numbers sound like epic fun
wall smashing, brake pad destroying, glorious climbing, and a short run fun…all except the 36 hours of travel!
how did you like the give in the shoulders of the wetsuit compared to the sleeveless? and what is the yellow band on your arm on the run??
Congrats on your race in Wales. I liked your list / statistic format for the race report.
Have a great time at the Mauna Lani. I just left there this morning after a two week stay. I managed to run 70+ miles while I was there but never found any good routes. I even tried out a few miles of the Kings Hwy trail (wrong shoes). Is there anywhere to run there that isn’t sandy beach or the Queen K?
Jason
solid run week!
this is a GREAT project for me when i am out at the mauna lani in october….yes there is plenty of running within the resort area if you are willing to run loops. i am going to map out some runs and post dets here so stay tuned 
Oh, worn out brakes, people crashing into walls and some rain thrown into the mix? That’s UK for you. Now you know why I lust over your roads with smooth tarmac.
Ah The short marathon! I don’t know why but the IM UK and IM Wales always have trouble in setting out the marathon at the correct distance or, in my case this year, even explaining the route well.
I think it’s because they need to keep the roads closed for a long time and so they try to keep it compact with the multilaps, etc. Locals here are still getting used to road closures for sporting events so they take a lot of convincing by the local authorities and Ironman organizers.
We need to buy them a tape measure I think.
So pleased you made it back to Tucson to your loved ones and with such good results to boot as well
Yay for a 28!! I thought Wales was beautiful – glad you got to experience it also – congrats on backing up IMWI!! Great race.
Cracking effort hilary, its a Stonking course aint it! Beautiful scenary and a real test of physical and mental strength. I think the run course is shortened slightly to account for the extra long run to transition or at least thats what i was told. Makes sense..however if you make it 2km short that still leaves 1km to spare, but I can live with that. It Was a great day and my first ironman completed! Onward and upward!