Well I was up early and did an hour and a bit cross training which did what it said on the tin. That left the afternoon free to go out on my bike with Derek. Derek's been away for a week in Club La Santa which has made a big difference. He left me in his wake all day and smashed his way up anything that looked like a hill. I have much work to do!!
One of my favorite races was the Iron Monster in my home town of Inverness. They have stopped running the race which is a shame as it was a well organised good race. The start was in the Bught Park at 7am on a rainy and dark September morning. It was a mixed race with teams and individuals taking part. The race was billed as 120k duathlon with the first 40k on foot and the last 80k a mix of mountain bike and road biking.
It was a mass start with solos and teams and we soon formed into groups and I joined up with a bunch of solo racers all with the aim of finishing the race. The route was hilly with most of the run being down the Great Glen Way. There were feed stations every 10k which also served as the handover points for the teams. We were moving along at about 10k per hour in our group and all went well until just after the 20k feed station an enthusiastic team runner knocked over one of the girls that was in the group. She picked herself up but was both shocked and struggling with the damage done to her legs both by the gravel trail and the scrub bushes. So at 30k she went off to get medical help and we all carried on. Bizarrely we passed the offending runner a few miles up the road when he had run out of steam and was walking. A few words were shared!
The hills were taking there toll and we had slowed to a stagger on the uphills. I was still moving when I went past another solo racer who was in worse shape than me. I stopped and he told me he was giving up. I stopped and we began to chat - he was a boxer who had done some amazing challenges but felt this was a stage too far. I suggested that we start to jog so we didn't get cold and then using distraction ie chatting managed to keep him going to the transition - we had lost a bit of time and I completed what turned out to be 43.5k in just under 5 hours.
The major transition was brilliant and as I pulled on my mountain bike shoes one of the volunteers appeared with a bowl of porridge which went down a storm. The next 35k was on the mountain bike - I had set off ahead of the boxer but within 15k he flew past me shouting that he had got his second wind. He was flying. Next thing the girl who had fallen went past on a tandem with her boyfriend - they were very fast. I felt pedestrian but kept my head down and ground out the miles. As we came out of the forest I looked ahead and saw Danielle who had driven down from Inverness - it was brilliant and a real pick up.
The second transition was in the middle of a field - I grabbed some more pasta, pulled on my bike shoes and set off on the last 45k leg along the Dores Road on the East Side of Loch Ness. As you turn out of Drumnadrochit there is a climb of over 1,000ft ahead. I was on my home ground on the road bike and started picking off a few riders. Well about two thirds of the way up I bumped into my boxer friend. He said he was done! Again! I told him to grab my wheel and sit behind me and we'd make it home together. So we ploughed on and once the hill was crested it was a fairly flat run into Inverness. We were picking up a few of the solo guys and passing a few teams as we worked together.
It was brilliant and the miles flew by. We had made it to the finish, the boxer and the other guys that had shared my wheel all stopped and let me finish ahead of them. It was a fab thing to do and I felt pretty emotional.
We then had to clear all of the bikes and kit into the car - no fun after a long race but after a quick shower Danielle and I headed out into town for something to eat and to celebrate the result - I had finished in 23 out of 39 Iron (solo) racers and 225 out of the 256 teams and solos - I was dead chuffed to beat a few of the teams! I'd finished in 9.03.
It's a shame that they no longer do the race as it was brilliantly run, good fun and I would love to do it again.
Not sure why I am writing this down other than I was thinking about it today on the hill out of Dollar....
A new week begins and the weather looks set fair which hopefully means a few good outings!
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