Ironman Retrospective

My day job is as a software developer, and after each block of work we have a retro(spective) where we discuss what went well, what didn't, and what we can do to improve on those things.

I figured I'd apply the same basis on my Ironman performance; there were many mistakes made that I can learn valuable lesson from, and a lot of things went far better than I ever expected and feel I should really appreciate. I guess by verbalising/notarising these it'll help me to avoid previous mistakes and to be mindful of how I can improve my race with very little effort.

Swim

What went wrong:

• Goggle strap buckle dug into my neck and caused chaffing and a cut.
• Make sure that the buckle is on the crown rather than my neck and adjust swim cap/caps to avoid putting too much pressure in sensitive spots.
• Swallowed lots of seawater.
• Swim more in rougher water to get a 'feel' for how to breath effectively as this issue only really happened at the start and got easier to predict the waves as I went along.

What went well:

• In general a fantastic swim, overall everything went very well.
• Carry on training open water.
• Do more pool swims in a similar fashion to turbo for cycling and hill sprints for running.
• Carry on physio exercises and stretches.
• Goggles didn't steam up at all during the swim.
• Wore goggles for a while before actually getting into the water so maybe that allowed them to adjust to my face temperature better.

T1

What went wrong:

• Didn't wash feet off properly and a bit of sand rubbed yet another blister for the run.
• Wash feet off properly before putting socks on.

What went well: 

• Didn't stop to sit down until I had to put socks on.
• Wetsuit came off relatively easily.
• Keep applying copious amounts of baby oil before putting wetsuit on.
• Setting everything up in my helmet in order made transition quicker and easier as I didn't have to think about stuff.
• Not putting shoes on in T1 made my run out to the mount line significantly faster.

Bike

What went wrong:

• Flying mount failed.
• Watch out for other people and look for a gap in the crowd before attempting to mount.
• Practice more to get more confident and less hesitant.

• Bands came off shoe loops after failing to mount properly causing me to lose my shoes as they rotated and hit the ground.
• Loop through the loop bands on the rear, rather than the loop hooks on the side. 

• Chain jamming again.
• Properly service the bike to ensure everything is working perfectly.
• Any issues in training, even those that seem to be freak incidents should not be ignored.
• Dropped water.
• Not much for this really - bottle was slippery due to spilt drink and wearing gloves.
• Food and the inability to eat breakfast bars in the later miles.
• Take alternative foods and keep them in rotation, especially stuff that's a bit more moist.

What went well:

• Way faster than expected, especially the first loop which was an incredible 18mph and very strong.
• Keep up the hard training; turbo, very fast dawn raids and long distance rides.
• Very quick toilet break taking as minimal an amount of time as possible.
• Managed to stay on the aerobars for most of the course.
• Keep training on the aerobars, especially on gradients to keep comfort and power going.
• More than enough food taken out.
• Didn't take any more fluid out than required which kept the weight down on the hills.
• Take only the aero bottle out and grab water around the course.
• Take better note of where drink stations are to plan for getting bottles around the course.

• Flying dismount.
  
  

T2

What went wrong:

•  

What went well: 

• Running through transition in socks was significantly quicker than cleated shoes.

 

Run

What went wrong:

• Blisters.
• Wash sand off feet properly in T1.
• Apply more talcum powder to socks/feet.
• Belt uncomfortable for part of the run.
• Push belt down to sit below hips which relieved a lot of stress and pressure on stomach. 
• Cramp.
• Try and keep better hydrated.
• Try salt tabs to avoid the near impossible act of eating nachos when going hard.

• Inability to eat any real food on the run due to going harder than normal.
• Try eating bananas in training and see how they go. 
• Not drinking anything when stand was out of cola.
• Try drinking anything as it's better than dehydrating for another few miles.

What went well: 

• Good pace at the start, didn't go out too fast and felt comfortable.
• Continue running slower off the bike towards race day to get body prepared for the slower pace.
• Drinking nearly constantly.
• Continue drinking at every station, even if there is no cola.
• Ran almost the entire route, only stopping to stretch off the cramps.
• Mentally strong on the run, never got too down and out, even when cramps were killing my chances to qualify.

 

All in all a very good race and the issues I had are mostly easy to remedy. It's been useful to make notes and to figure out what quick and easy fixes I can do to avoid them next year. Additionally making notes of what went well shows how good the race went for the most part, and that my training is paying off massively.