Ironman Weymouth 70.3 was my last race of the year. As like most of my season, I had a less than ideal run up with a rib injury. I had to make a decision to race or not to race on the week up to it. I had 2 choices, with a very strong argument for not racing and to recover or race and then take some proper time off post the race to recover and repair.
As most of you who know me, I decided to race. One of the reasons being I couldn’t get a refund or defer to the next year and another being I know I couldn’t end my season on a bad note. I arrived in Weymouth on the day before the race and had a little trouble with my bike and only just managed to get my bike and register in time before the cut off. This got me quite stressed out so I was thankful that my team mates Lizzie and Harry had come down to stay with us and watch the race.
Check out Harry’s amazing race video here:
The Sunday morning came round, the weather looked good and the sea looked very calm. What a great start this could be – Question was would it stay like this!
The swim did not go well at all – with my all time slowest time. This was okay as I hadn’t been swimming for 4 weeks due to my rib injury. The rib injury was going to cause me hassle all day as it affected my breathing and the rotation of my body. Swimming was going to be tough. It didn’t help that I got kicked in the ribs about 100m in!
I somehow got out the water and really thought about throwing in the towel but thought I have never DNF’d a race so why would I start now.
I got onto the bike and decided to attack the first 10 minutes and see how I felt. After 10 minutes I felt great – no idea why but I wasn’t going to slow down just incase. I kept attacking all the way up to about a hour and half. I was overtaking a lot of people and gaining all the places I had lost in the swim. At an hour and half there was the biggest climb of the day which completely slowed every down. But then on the bright side you got the downhill!
I somehow got all the way back to transition and was still feeling great which was a huge positive. Getting off the bike was hard and then suddenly I felt my ribs start to hurt. So I knew at this point I just had to make my way around the run however I could.
I started the run as I usually would and went through 10k on pace for one of my best half marathons. Then all of a sudden around one of the dead turns I slowed down and my ribs started to gradually get worse. I ended up having to run walk the last 10k – 4 mins run and 1 min walk. I got through to the finishing line and I was grateful I could finish and rest!
I came through 4th in my age-group. After such a tough day and tough couple of weeks and year in fact – I was very pleased that my body could just get me through a race with muscle memory.
I also qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships St George, Utah in October 2022. This was one of my biggest goals for the next couple of years and am super happy I have already managed to obtain the goal of qualifying.
I would like to thank my sponsors, Smith Heath for their continued support in me, Infrastar for the amazing race and training kit that I get to wear and Veritable Solutions for all their support. Spinavita for keeping me in shape and able to race and also Chloe Witts for my ongoing sports therapy and recovery sessions. Finally my coach from T3, Mark Threlfall for all the coaching and support! It has made a massive impact on my triathlon and I couldn’t be more grateful to you all.
Please don’t hesitate to email me any questions or advice that you have for me, and follow me on Instagram and Facebook (see link at the bottom of my page) so we can go through our triathlon journeys together.
Email me on: ryan@ryancoombstriathlon.com
Ryan Coombs Triathlon 