IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFORDSHIRE

Consistency is key to endurance training

Craig Taylor’s Stafford 70.3 story

Consistency is key to endurance training and Craig Taylor’s Ironman Staffordshire 70.3 story is proof of that. He and fellow ‘Peakers’ triathlete Matthew Jones enjoyed a successful and hot day Sunday 11th June 2023.

Craig is a Peak XV coached athlete. Like most of us he is hard working and his life is busy with family and work commitments. He has worked hard with his coach Garrie Prosser and has been rewarded by a great day out at Ironman 70.3 Stafford. This is Craig’s story in his own words.

Its race day

It’s race day. All the training was done and its now the night before the race, my alarm is set for 03:00, I know
what you are thinking, that’s early but I’ve got a 35 minute drive to drop the car off and then a 40
minute shuttle bus back to the start, the logistics of a split transition can be a pain. As I lay in bed
going over the race in my head all I could think about was, dam it’s going to be a hot one!!
I’ve now landed at chase water in good time, even though the shuttle bus had to make a slight
detour due to low bridge alerts, in other wards the driver got lost.

Nerves kicked in

The nerves have finally kicked in so after dropping my nutrition off and giving my bike the once over I
went for a final 40th wee and started to queue up in the 35/40 minute swim start section. I wasn’t on
my own as I had a fellow ‘Peaker’ with me, Matt Jones, as we wait patiently for thunder struck to play
we shook hands and wished each other the best of luck, this shit just got real, as I make my way
down I did the one think that I guess somebody has to do on race day, I went ass over tit! As I sit at
the edge of the jetty I’ve decided to shuffle of the edge and plop into chase water to start my swim.

Unfinished business

I have unfinished business with the swim as last year’s attempt didn’t go to well due to a panic
attack. I’m not quite sure what triggers a water panic attack to be honest, I guess it’s a mixture of
race day nerves and cold water shock. This year’s attempt did trigger a slight panic attack. I’ve
had these before and I’m getting better at getting them under control.

Ironman 70.3 Stafford swim

The Ironman Stafford swim, the water was a little choppy especially towards the end but I ended up having a really good
swim despite the slight set back at the start, as we all had yellow swim caps on it made sighting a bit
strange as you couldn’t really work out if you was sighting at a buoy or someone’s bobbing head. I was however feeling strong and fresh proving again that for training for Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire consistency is key.
T1, from the swim exit you now have a bit of a run to get into transition so I used this time to get my
wetsuit down to my waste ready to come off fully in transition. Transition went well and went as I’ve
trained for, that right I’ve actually practiced transition at home many times, I had a good bite of a
banana and good drink of flat coke, not everyone chose but it works for, It’s now time to get my ass
on to that seat.

Stafford Ironman 70.3 bike

My Stafford Ironman 70.3 bike went extremely well I was averaging 18MPH comfortably, I remember telling myself to
back off a bit as I was going too fast, that’s right, I bet your thinking how can you be going too fast, I
wanted to hit the run with good legs so I reduced my watts slightly, this was my game plan. I think it
helped as I knew the course as I’ve ridden the route virtually many times, train smarter not harder as
Coach would say. After mile 15 you could feel the heat increasing but as I was on the bike I knew it
wouldn’t be an issue until the run so I made sure I took on plenty of water, electrolyte and salt
sticks, due to the 25 gallons of water I’ve consumed, around mile 40 I needed a pee really bad so I
made a conscious decision to pee while cycling, now that’s a skill in its own and one I’ve not
practiced. As I was coming towards the end of the bike section I was getting myself ready for T2 by
taking on some nutrition in.
T2, at this point I knew the heat would be an issue, I got myself ready, had a quick pee but this time
in the loos at transition and started the run section. Jesus it was hot at this point.

The hot Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire run

It was so hot. The hot Ironman Stafford 70.3 run was exhausting. The first mile or two I felt really good I think I was averaging 10:30 min miles, I remember. saying to myself, if I can keep this up I should have a good run. As each mile passed I was getting
hotter and hotter and my pace started to drop off quite quick, I kind of envisaged this happening as I
knew the heat would be an issue so I took on plenty of water took my salt chews gritted my teeth
and cracked on. I walked all the AID stations and the climb up to the castle. Around mile 5 or 6 I was
conscious that matt Jones hadn’t passed me yet, we both discussed this previously, I would stop and

make an effort to look behind me as I could sense he wasn’t too far behind back. As I was walking
through an aid station I felt this tap on my should, it was matt, all I could hear was him saying enjoy
the walk, I think that’s what he said anyways. As he ran off leaving me behind and all I could think off
was, go on matt, keep going pal.

I started to get emotional

As I was coming towards the end of the run I started to get
emotional It happens every time, the moment had come, it was my turn to enter onto the red
carpet to hear those words, CRAIG TAYLOR YOU ARE AN IRONMAN

It was over, what me and my Peak XV coach Garrie Prosser had planned for months and months has been executed to the best of my abilities. As I entered the tent after collecting my medal I spotted Matt stuffing his face with pizza, I was so chuffed for him.and couldn’t praise him enough he had such a good race.

Staffordshire Ironman is just WOW.

All I can say about Staffordshire IRONMAN is just WOW, Just WOW. The support was amazing and the people that was spraying us down to keep us cool was awesome. She was known as the hosepipe lady by all the athletes.

Congratulations

My sincere congratulations to both Craig and Matt. You are great guys, you train hard and consistently and I know you don’t always find it easy. I have enjoyed those occasions when we have trained together on the bike and the pool and I’ve seen your progress under coach Garrie’s direction. For success at Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire consistency is key. You’ve been consistent you are successful.

Next for Craig is Ironman Wales in September, hopefully, we will go down as a team to recce the course before your very big day. Our very big day.

Matt has signed up for Ironman Weymouth 70.3 in September.

My very best wishes

Coach Quin Beech Peak XV Tri Coaching

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