We arrived in Puerto del Carmen on the Tuesday before the race, which gave us plenty of time to acclimatise to the very high temperatures being experienced at the moment. Our location was very close to the transition area and swim start which was ideal. My race aim was to get as near as possible to a Kona qualification slot, which would mean racing at least 30mins faster than ever before, somewhere around the 10.oo-10.05 hr mark!

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Training towards this had gone very well. It had been 7 months since I last raced in earnest and the time had allowed a good steady, very consistent build toward hopefully, peak fitness. This culminated in a very run pace specific period of around 10weeks.

We chose self catering accomodation, to avoid the temptation to over eat, and simultaneously reduce the chances of food poisoning. In February I became troubled due to something I ate the night before the Lanzarote Enduroman Double Iron, which led to a poor race effort and my eventual DNF.

Ironman Lanzarote Kona Qualifying Times and Slots by Age Group Qualifying Times (the last qualifying time to take a slot) and Slots by Age Group. For more, see our comprehensive analysis - Qualify for Kona, Ironman Kona Qualifying Times and Slots, calendar of Kona Qualifying Races - as well as our complete Ironman Kona coverage. The Ironman Lanzarote 2019 offered 40 Kona slots to a field of 1515 athletes. 1350 athletes in 20 different age groups reached the finish line. 30 of the 1387 competing men qualified for the Ironman World Championship on the Big Island of Hawaii, just as 10 of the 128 women. Here you can find more statistics of the Ironman Lanzarote 2019. Course Conditions. Lanzarote has the image of one of the toughest races on the Ironman calendar, and this year underlined that point. While both the swim and the run were tough but pretty normal for Lanzarote, strong winds and a hard bike course led to very slow times on the bike, probably the toughest ever in Lanzarote. 22nd May - Ironman Lanzarote (Withdrawn) 5th June - National 25mile Time Trial Champs (Withdrawn) 18th July - Quelle Challenge Roth ('Ironman') 4th July - 100mi Time Trial; 25th July - Ironman 70.3 Antwerp; 15th August - Challenge Copenhagen (Iron Distance) 13th November - Ironman 70.3 World Champs. Club La Santa IRONMAN Lanzarote. 53,885 likes 403 talking about this. 'The toughest IRONMAN in the world'. This race offers 40 qualifying slots to the IRONMAN World Championship.

Steph, Jean, Fin and I had made the trip with fellow club mates, Malcolm, Sharon and Georgina and Mick. Malc was doing the race for the 2nd time. We had both opened our Lanzarote Ironman account back in 2007, when we had finished within a minute of each other. Strangely, I had not seen him at all on the run, but on this trip he confessed that he actually “snuck” past me on the home straight, whilst I walked.;0)

My race week preparations were scheduled to be very steady. Steven http://www.everydaytraining.org.uk/ had made all sessions short and low intensity in order to leave me fully rested and ready to race.

Race plan. Firstly, I would take a frontline position on the swim start. This decision was bolstered by a 55minute swim the previous year, a solid year of swim training, which saw race times drop markedly and a new “faster wetsuit.

Secondly, I had a goal of reaching the Mirador del Rio in 4 hours. This is approximately 114 km and includes the “meat of the ride”which means; all the climbing and usually all of the wind. Getting to this point would make a 5.30’s bike split all the more possible.

Thirdly, during the run, I would show the discipline I had practiced in training, which was to have 5min/km as a default pace. I had trained very hard to make this achieveable,- I thought.

The Swim.-57.43

Malc and I entered the swim pen at 6.20am. I had been warned by several people that you needed to be in early in order to get a good position. Once in, I had to claim my position with authority several times before the horn sounded.It was incredible that some people thought that it was ok to join the front line from the water 2 mins before the start. This created even more tension. The whole experience had my undivided attention. I went from frontline, hands on hips position to 3rows back as a group of around 20 swimmers “overpowered” security. Really annoying!

As the horn sounded, it was a rapid sprint into the sea close behind the 20 0r 30 pro’s. There was clear water as I made my dive, but was aware that it wouldn’t last for long, but the advantage was that I could swim at my own pace. I was conscious that I should not red-line, as this would have been a big problem being in the thick of it, with no way out. It was white water all the way to the first buoy, then a swift 90 degree turn and back on the power. About 200metres along the pedalo rope, it momentarily felt comfortable, all I had to worry about were the swimmers on my right, which was great, I soon saw the downside of this position as I backhealed the barnacle encrusted buoys! I felt the skin on my heal break, so fought hard to push over and get into a large group away from the rope. The rest of the first lap was mainly trouble free, although somebody did grab my foot and held it momentarily, which I found a bit odd, more like a training session prank really.

Anyway, I exited the water for the 1st lap in 28.35, which was slightly down on the previous year, but figured that the swell and current was not favouring a quick swim. I quickly ran up the beach and around the turning point before making a less than convincing dive back in for the start of the 2nd lap. I was in a large group and maintained a steady level of effort around the 2nd loop, and exited the water in 29.08. I then headed up the beach, through the showers, grabbed my bag from the hook and entered the change tent.

T1. 4.12

I ran to the nearest change pew I could find, wrestled my wetsuit off, then remembered to wash the sand from my feet, by standing in a bucket. I then emptied my run bag, put on socks, race belt, helmet and sunglasses, and stuffed some gels in my tri top. Whilst all this went on, a volunteer applied a thick coating of sun screen to all my exposed bits, apart from a 30mm strip of flesh at the bottom of my back. This always seems to get overlooked and certainly backs up the case for wearing a tri-suit.

I stuffed my wetsuit in the run bag along with swim cap and goggles and made a swift exit, handing my bag over to a helper as I left. My bike was conveniently positioned on the first rack I came to, at the far left and outside the Indian Aroma restaurant, so pretty straightforward! At the mount line I was straight on and into my shoes without any bother, unprecedented!

The Bike-5.38.44

Setting off on the bike I felt comfortable, very aware of not pushing too hard in the early stages, but not too easy that I would lose heaps of ground. As it was I maintained my position until the climb away from Playa Quemada. I rode the gradients with comfortable effort and gained advantage on the descents. It was very clear where I was lacking, and obvious that to score well on this bike course, I would need to really focus on hill training in the future. Despite this I maintained concentration and kept the goal of getting to the Mirador in sight. My nutrition strategy was going ok, in so much that I was eating and drinking regularly, but a higher than normal heartrate was probably hindering absorption. Throughout the ride I consumed 3.5 power bars, 2 bags of power shots and approximately 7 gels all washed down with around 3 or 4 litres of energy mix, water and coke. My post race thoughts are that this wasn’t enough and that I should have drained my gel bottle which had around 5 more portions in it.

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The bike course was riding quite fairly, there was little cross-wind and the head wind through the lava field was manageable. I was enjoying it. At the back of the El Golfo loop I found myself riding with a couple of the top ladies, which was a 1st and reafirmed my position, i.e I can’t be doing all that bad. I saw one male rider who had crashed his bike and appeared to be in very bad shape, The lady pro in front enquired of the marshall if medical asistance was on its way, he said it was, meanwhile the injured bloke was being looked after by a couple of competitors. -Poor guy.

The riding to Famara was really steady, but when I turned away from the beach, the breeze dropped and the temperatures soared, leaving a hot climb to the roundabout. I was very aware that the real work lay ahead. The support up through Teguise was very vocal and lifted me to the roundabout and up through town. I saw Eneko Llanos and Gregorio Morales along the road, cheering on their buddies.

The riding through Los Valles and up to the Haria Mirador was pretty relentless I thought. I hadn’t a special needs musette bag, so went for the fast decent around the switchbacks and down to the village of Haria. When I first completed this race in 2007, I had no idea of what was about to come at this point in the race, or infact at any point in the race. Lets just say that I was so relieved to get back to transition after 6hrs 42mins of the unknown. So, I darted down remembering to get a good handful of brake lever when i reached sight of the cobbles- awesome terrain!!

The ride to Rio seemed less demanding than I feared, and I found that approximately 4 hrs had elapsed when I reached the summit. A left handed feed station was at the top and then it was a fast 10k down to Arietta. This is a good, smooth road which I reckon was closed to traffic, so took away a bit of the safety concerns, especially around the hairpins.

The remaining 55k was covered in approximately 90mins. Les had shouted that I was 13th out on the bike (from my AG) and when I arrived back, told me I was 11th, so all was ok. Riding back along the sea front it was pleasing to not see too many runners or bikes in transition, I would be alright providing I could run….. Periodically during the bike I was asking myself if I was capable of running? My answers were not that convincing. I took off my Garmin, so I could reset and use for the run segment.

I got out of my shoes around the last decline on the strip, which led to a smooth dismount on the line- pleased with that. Then followed a very sore footed run along the carpet, enquiring to the volunteers ” who wants my bike” Eventually, and it must have been 100m run, I shed the bike, unhooked my T2 bag and made it into the tent.

T2.-4.50

Lanza volunteers are great, so efficient . T2 was not busy so I sat on the bench, emptied my bag, which then split.A bit of panic here set in, so the lady helper told me to bag my bike kit as best I could and the bag people would rebag it for definate.I put my shoes on, nutrition belt and cap and got out on the run. Something I had overlooked was how I would put on my Garmin 310xtc when I already had a watch on my wrist? As I passed my family and friends, I threw it to them- the scratches prove it!

The Run- 3.59.40

My early pace ranged from 4.40-4.45/km which I was ok with, but after 2k, doubts crept in when I had a touch of cramps. I quickly took a saltstick capsule and walked for a moment until it passed, then got back running. How could this happen, so early into the run, I thought I had eliminated this area of my racing. I managed to get the first half marathon done in 1hr 45 minutes which wasn’t far off race pace. The prospect of the next 2 laps was quite daunting, my pace was slowing and was struggling to make 5.20’s, then 5.25’s. I found myself walking the aid stations, to get my HR down, and cool off. It was not a great period in the day. I tried to dig in and up the pace, taking on board a gel, a La Santa energy shot, red bull, coke, Ice in the hat, sponges, pretty much anything on offer. I found myself running 5min/km for a short time, which soon dwindled to 5.10, and then another aid station walk.

Around the 2nd lap, I was thinking that maybe I wasn’t going to make it to the finish. At this point I accepted that today was not the day, It was a bitter pill but within time my mood had changed, and I stopped beating myself up and started to take in the positives of the day. A finish seemed more on the cards, and my goal was replaced with the joy of crossing the line. Strangely I started to run more freely, – I felt. Two time goals sprang to mind, to break 11hrs and to run sub 4hrs, I did both when I crossed the line in 10.45.16, with a run time of 3.59.40. My finish photo was obscured by a” family finish” but I wasn’t too put out.I reckon I had a smile on my face however,and convincingly told Kenneth that I had loved the race, while thanked him.

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I looked around for a chair to sit on but couldn’t find one, so decided that it would be ok to actually lay out on the floor close by,- what a relief! From my position I looked up and saw Steph and Fin scanning a group of finishers. I called them from 3feet away, they looked down, we smiled, realising it had been a toughie all round.

This was my 5th Lanzarote Ironman finish, and as has been the case in previous years the lessons are there to be learnt. Ive heard it said that the race is the nemesis of many competitors and that this is a contributing factor that brings people back to the island to race. As I sit here on the Ryanair flight to East Midlands, the chap to my left just completed his 6th race. Malc finished his 2nd ( with a 30min PB) Sharon saw her 1st and Georgie and Mick got a taster in preparation for her attempt next May. Steph and Fin have done 6 races as avid supporters and Stephs mum, Jean made her 3rd race, ( and 2 Lanza Enduromans) not bad for a lady in her late 70’s. Its also a pretty nice place to holiday. Thanks guys for the support, including the “weekenders” Les and Brad. Fin and Brad competed in the Ironkids, and both came away with silvers in hard fought races.We were all pretty proud to say the least!

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Amongst the many positives to be drawn from this race, improved course knowledge ranks highly. This year I got to know the position of the “Donkey Track”from both directions. So very happy about that! Just got to keep training so that one day I get to escape my nemesis.

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Hasta Luego Lanzarote!