wetsuited Ironman ! Well, for us in Cork it started in 2007 with Niall O’Crualaoich. This wetsuited Ironman had done a few of the local 1 mile open water swims and then came to an English Channel seminar thinking to form a relay team. He walked out planning to swim an English Channel solo. I remember thinking that in his favour he had done a 10+ hour marathon event but to add to the long list of channel challenges: we had never seen him in the open water without his wetsuit, while he was well muscled he was a bit scrawny (an open water swimmer view of low body fat) and frankly he wasn’t much of a swimmer.
I am safe on that last point as Niall himself says that he really couldn’t swim before settling on the goal. It turned out that Niall had lots of advantages over the typical English Channel solo aspirant. He knew how to learn and how to train. Once he parked the bike and threw the running shoes in his closet – he had a lot of time for swimming. He knew about carbo drinks and how his mind and body would react to a long day out. His fiancée, Jo, is an accomplished ultra marathon runner – so there was support at home and Niall signed up with coach Eilis Burns to rework his swimming stroke.
After a hard winter of pool training he lost his wetsuit in the spring and eventually got use to the 10 to 15C waters around Cork. His open water swims were longer and longer and the shivering went away. Niall then conquered the English Channel – becoming the 1,000th ever solo swimmer in 2008!
Niall will tell you that training and swimming the English Channel is much tougher than an Ironman.
Niall will also tell you that training and doing an Ironman is much tougher than the English Channel.
No – he is not training now to be a politician – both statements are true.
Let’s take the English Channel first – why is it tough? No two swims are the same because to variable weather and tide. Swimmers start in direct places and finish over a 25 mile stretch of French coastline! You are alone out there in cold nasty water surrounded by ferries and tankers in the busiest water in the world. While it is 21 miles (if you travel like a flying crow), the tides sweep you sideways and as Niall will tell you, the last 300 meters can take 3 hours as the water can move you away from the finish. Then toss in the fact that your swim waits for reasonable conditions – which means 10 to 20% of the aspirants don’t actually get in the water and either have to come back (next year?) or just give it all up. While you stop to drink your carbo drink there is no real rest. It is all shoulders – count off 25,000 to 75,000 arm strokes and you might just get there. My definition of heart breaking – the award last year for the most courageous unsuccessful channel swim 23+ hours and they pulled her out 100 meters from the end. And – pity the swimmers who found the 1 mile long school of jellies a few years back!
Why is the Ironman tough? Start with three disciplines and your never can do enough training. Thirty hours training weeks aren’t unusual then you repair the bike at night! All the running training simply beats up you body with the constant impacts. On the Ironman day, you get beat up in the water and regardless of how good you are – there will be at least one white haired old woman who will pass you at some point! The Ironman is a race and you share the stage with professionals. Nobody cares much about your channel time but everyone wants to know your Ironman time. Walking across the finish after 22 hours is not considered heroic!
Niall adds: “I might have spent every waking hour suffering with the cold and the rough water but without the support of so many swimmers (training partners) I would never have made it. Like any endurance event, it really is about the journey and the people you meet along the way. When my training partner swam the Channel two months before me – the next week he put his tired, worn out body back into the water to support me and keep me training for the two months I had till my swim. He could have sat at home in the warm house on the nice couch and watched television and enjoyed his success.”
So, Niall blazed the first trail in Ireland.
Two more Ironmen got a measure of comfort from his success. Alan Smith in Waterford is on for the channel this year and Sebastian Locteau for 2011. We wish them the best!
Ned Denison is an accomplished marathon swimmer and runs the week long distance camp in Cork each summer which boasts 13 successes in 2009!
I remember thinking that in his favour he had done a 10+ hour marathon event but to add to the long list of channel challenges: we had never seen him in the open water without his wetsuit, while he was well muscled he was a bit scrawny (an open water swimmer view of low body fat) and frankly he wasn’t much of a swimmer.
I am safe on that last point as Niall himself says that he really couldn’t swim before settling on the goal. It turned out that Niall had lots of advantages over the typical English Channel solo aspirant. He knew how to learn and how to train. Once he parked the bike and threw the running shoes in his closet – he had a lot of time for swimming. He knew about carbo drinks and how his mind and body would react to a long day out. His fiancée, Jo, is an accomplished ultra marathon runner – so there was support at home and Niall signed up with coach Eilis Burns to rework his swimming stroke.
After a hard winter of pool training he lost his wetsuit in the spring and eventually got use to the 10 to 15C waters around Cork. His open water swims were longer and longer and the shivering went away. Niall then conquered the English Channel – becoming the 1,000th ever solo swimmer in 2008!
Niall will tell you that training and swimming the English Channel is much tougher than an Ironman.
Niall will also tell you that training and doing an Ironman is much tougher than the English Channel.
No – he is not training now to be a politician – both statements are true.
Let’s take the English Channel first – why is it tough? No two swims are the same because to variable weather and tide. Swimmers start in direct places and finish over a 25 mile stretch of French coastline! You are alone out there in cold nasty water surrounded by ferries and tankers in the busiest water in the world. While it is 21 miles (if you travel like a flying crow), the tides sweep you sideways and as Niall will tell you, the last 300 meters can take 3 hours as the water can move you away from the finish. Then toss in the fact that your swim waits for reasonable conditions – which means 10 to 20% of the aspirants don’t actually get in the water and either have to come back (next year?) or just give it all up. While you stop to drink your carbo drink there is no real rest. It is all shoulders – count off 25,000 to 75,000 arm strokes and you might just get there. My definition of heart breaking – the award last year for the most courageous unsuccessful channel swim 23+ hours and they pulled her out 100 meters from the end. And – pity the swimmers who found the 1 mile long school of jellies a few years back!
Why is the Ironman tough? Start with three disciplines and your never can do enough training. Thirty hours training weeks aren’t unusual then you repair the bike at night! All the running training simply beats up you body with the constant impacts. On the Ironman day, you get beat up in the water and regardless of how good you are – there will be at least one white haired old woman who will pass you at some point! The Ironman is a race and you share the stage with professionals. Nobody cares much about your channel time but everyone wants to know your Ironman time. Walking across the finish after 22 hours is not considered heroic!
Niall adds: “I might have spent every waking hour suffering with the cold and the rough water but without the support of so many swimmers (training partners) I would never have made it. Like any endurance event, it really is about the journey and the people you meet along the way. When my training partner swam the Channel two months before me – the next week he put his tired, worn out body back into the water to support me and keep me training for the two months I had till my swim. He could have sat at home in the warm house on the nice couch and watched television and enjoyed his success.”
So, Niall blazed the first trail in Ireland.
Two more Ironmen got a measure of comfort from his success. Alan Smith in Waterford is on for the channel this year and Sebastian Locteau for 2011. We wish them the best!
Ned Denison is an accomplished marathon swimmer and runs the week long distance camp in Cork each summer which boasts 13 successes in 2009!
