Craig completes Ironman Copenhagen

So here is the review of Ironman Copenhagen. I’m not sorry, but it’s a long one…

Ironman Copenhagen…I had originally wanted to do IM Sweden with a couple of friends from East Essex who I have stayed in contact with. Reason… apart from the iconic bridge, it was flat. But after looking into the logistics of Kalmar we changed to Copenhagen. I’m so glad we did. 

After reading the review, the course  sounded ideal. A sea swim, in a sheltered Bay Area where you can still see the bottom with very little wind or current.  A rolling bike ride and a 4 lap run route through town through some prime picturesque Danish sightseeing spots. With a cut off time of 15:45.

So the event was booked along with accommodations and when time was right a training plan started. Logistically I opted to send my bike via a company called #VeloYelo which collected it from home and drove it to Copenhagen for me to pick up when I arrived. I did have the option of taking it on BA business but chose the collection instead. 

We chose the The Scandic CPH Strandpark for our accommodation, along with many other athletes.  This was a 5 min free shuttle bus from airport and a 15 min walk to registration, the expo centre and bike racking, there's also a metro line nearby too. We arrived chilled and with no issues. The room was basic Scandinavian but very comfortable. 

Copenhagen has a very good Metro system which is clean and so easy to use paying for tickets on an app which was very reasonably priced. And the location is such a beautiful place and lots to do. 

We arrived at around 2pm checked in and immediately headed to the registration and then collected the bike. Saturday we sorted our bags and dropped them off, racked the bikes and done a little recce of the swim and bike out, then into town for the recce of bike in and run. There was a 4:18:4 event ( a mini Tri) on Saturday,  but we skipped that and all met for dinner and then off for an early night …..

Race day. Weather forecast 20 with some cloud and very little wind and no rain. 

Up early, short walk to start line and then it really hit home what I was about to do and how I felt massively unprepared. My training had gone ok up until the end of May when due to work my training literally stopped. I started back on a plan in mid July but the longest distance I managed to cycle was 90km and was only doing a 10km runs as my long run. Now I knew from the start I was NOT going for a fast time and I just wanted to get around so my planning had gone accordingly. I discussed all this with Coach JB and he gave me run tips and advice to get me round. But I did have some doubt. 

Swim, swimming for me doesn’t come easy with rubbish flexibility in my shoulders and poor form and despite Karen’s best efforts I still swim badly. But I was weirdly looking forward to this. The swim was said to be “fast” which to me made no sense, surely water was water lol. It swim took place in a bay, it was a bit grassy but clear water and you could see the bottom for most of the course. It was awesome. A few jellyfish, one of which gave me a good luck Hicky  but it wasn’t too bad. Apart from getting annoyed with people not being able to sight and them swimming over you it was a nice swim. I made a point of swimming wide to get away from people and find a rhythm of my own. Coming out of the swim I was happy to see 1h 23 minutes. 

Bike, now I’ll take the abuse for spending 15 mins in the change tent but I wanted to make sure I was nice and dry and comfortable for my bike ride.  I had some food, drink and a gel.  The bike was described as rolling, a ride out of town then 2 laps and a ride back in.  Heading out of town some of the roads were a bit rough but getting onto the coast road it was smooth with some lovely scenery.  Then Inland and heading up Geels Bakke (500 metres av 4.6%) which is a great spot for spectators, this was the only real elevation but not something to stress about. Some rolling hills around there and then back through some lovely countryside which reminded me a lot of some of the rides through Essex with nice road surfaces.  I was halfway through my first lap when the race leaders come flying past. A bit like our TT nights when we get overtaken by the fast crew. That  noise that the lovely speed machines make. And then they were gone. The second lap went by and as I noted that actually I was above the average speed I knew I needed to finish within the cut off, I was happy. The ride back into town was ok but I could feel my knees aching and knew the run was going to be a suck it and see. But the ride done I was happy as I felt I had done nowhere near the amount of distance. So to finish 6:35 was as I expected. 

Run, the course was 4 laps out of town and back taking in some iconic sights. Now again here I’ll take the abuse for spending another 15 mins in transition. But in this one I was changed and ready to go sooner but my knees were absolutely killing me. It felt like I had a water balloon strapped to each knee. As this is something I experienced before I opted to use my patella straps and popped a couple of pain killers. I left the tent and it took me a while to get the legs going. My plan was to do a 5 min run 1 min walk for the course, well I done that for some of the first 10 km. The crowds were amazing and seeing friends and my wife on the route was nice, friends gave me encouragement, my wife demanded I get a move on and make sure if finished. She has her own unique motivation skills. As the race went on and I saw my friends finish I knew I was going to do it even though I was having to power walk with the odd shuffle added in. As I started my last lap most of the crowds had moved to the finish and the lights had started to light up the beautiful scenery and landmarks, so I got to see the most of Copenhagen. I built a rapport with a couple of groups of hardy supporters who promised to be there when I came back on the final stretch. These little things really lifted the spirits and made me laugh. As I came back into the final Km I started to do the maths and realised that if I really sucked it up and pushed through the pain I could beat my marathon PB. Even though the marathon time was done with an injury I pushed on and come into the finish section with time in hand. I stopped, kissed my wife and finished the lap before turning up onto the red carpet. I found the first timers bell, gave it a bloody hard ring and onto crossing the finish line whilst hearing those amazing 4 words. Looking up at the time of 14:38. Probably an hour ahead of what I originally expected. 

So I got my medal and a very nice finishers T shirt and sought out family and friends. Amazingly after a couple of minutes I felt ok, tired but ok. Compared to when I did London marathon and I could barely walk, I felt ok lol. I collected the bike, got the Metro to hotel and that was the day done.

The aftermath for a non athlete… Monday morning I awoke and sheepishly opened one eye, the way that you wake up after a hard night of drinking trying to assess where the pain was going to be. The shoulders and neck ached and when I tried to stand up It was obviously painful. But not unbearable. So I headed to breakfast where it was full of others all sporting their finishers tops and walking gingerly. Here I enjoyed a truly Scandinavian breakfast of all sorts of strange things. Like liver pâté and fresh Cress that you cut yourself with scissors with slices of chocolate. Yes it was a bit weird. I mainly stuck to coffee and toast.  Time to pack the kit and take the bike back to the guys for shipping home. Then I met the wife and we spent the next 2 days visiting the beautiful sites that I had seen the previous day. But all in all I felt good.  We headed home on the 3rd day. 

In summing up…. Copenhagen was an amazing race. I’d say ideal for first timers. For anyone who is a little worried that they would struggle to finish one, this is a fast one and a doable one. For anyone who fears the swim, again this is for you. For the fast bike people I’d imagine you would love this. It’s a family friendly location, clean and lots to see and do and easily commutable or like most locals do, it’s cycle friendly. Plus it’s only a 1hr 20 min flight. It’s a little bit expensive eating out etc but you’re on holiday technically lol. 

Now to the bit where I want to say thanks. Thanks to everyone at JBR, you're the best people and the best club in the world, and although I didn’t tell many people, reading all the good luck messages that followed the club captains post I was truly overwhelmed. Thanks to Karen Saltwell who puts together a great swim session every week and has helped me immensely, and of course JB, we trained together all pre season and on some occasions I could hardly walk the next day, He used to say that when I come to do an event and everything starts to breakdown the strength training would get me through. Well sir thank you. I believe you now. Not just that but the spin, TT and track session have all helped so thanks again. 

If anyone wants more details about the event I’m more than happy to sit down and bore you all for as long as you want. I absolutely fell in love with Copenhagen and had the added bonus of becoming an Ironman. 

Craig Brittney

Vice Chairman

First time IM