MARC MULLER is reporting on IM70.3 Dhofar Salalah, Oman 

Salalah, part of my bucket list of places to visit in the region, are hosting an IM70.3, perfect! My son came along for some fun and support (🙄). Plenty of direct flight options from the UAE and FlyDubai were flexible with the Bike Box Alan (rented at Sported.ae) which made the bike transport quite easy too. Mehdi and Joe were there too which made three of us to race from Team Sported.

The setting of the event hotel couldn’t be better, a nice hotel with a decent pool and direct access to the beach, in the middle of the IM Village, Transition and just a 5min walk from the start/finish line. Great not having any logistics related stress.

Pre-Race Day
IM organised Ironkids, so both my son and Mehdi’s son raced in their respective age categories. It was fun to see the NextGen IM in the making and getting a taste of these types of events. It did make for a long afternoon walking and standing around which of course is never a good idea the day before an IM70.3…

Race Day
Joe, Mehdi and I met up at 04:30 for breakfast at the hotel which was top notch for what lay ahead of us that day. We met again at bike transition, the atmosphere was super relaxed: no last minute surprises, no stressful queues at portable toilets.

This was Joe’s first 70.3, he was asking for some last minute advice. I said to him to take it easy after T2 at the start of the run…” Mod, Med, Mad… ease yourself into the run”. I’ll come back to this further down the report…

We made our way to the start line and had time to take in the beautiful surroundings in the dusky sky and the somewhat emotional pep talk and music as the sun came up.

Swim
Very enjoyable, not too crowded, no aggression in the water. Mehdi and I jumped in together, I tried to draft him (legal for the swim) but I deviated from the path and I lost him. I was quite happy just settling into my own rhythm. I felt good when I came out of the water, thinking I could have pushed a bit harder.
Swim: 34:32 - 5th AG

T1
It went smooth but was way too relaxed. First of all, I don’t like using transition bags, I much rather organise my stuff around my bike. Then, the transition took place in a tent with loads of benches available. There was no-one there, no stress… cool. I don’t think I have ever before sat down on a bench during transition. It felt gooood… I was about to order a flat white when my mind snapped back and I remembered I was in a race. I could have easily gained 45 sec here.

Bike
Boy was I glad that I finally got a proper TT bike! I have spent years convincing myself I did not need a TT bike, but I can tell you, this race would have been nothing like it without the TT bike. I was cruising along the “rolling” course, the speeds one can sustain going med on a TT would drive you mad over the top on a roady. At roughly 15km I was going uphill and overtook this guy who greeted me with a big friendly smile. Nice, I thought. Before I knew it he was drafting me (needless to say, illegal during the bike). At first I ignored it thinking it was a temporary thing. Then I was overtaken and he latched onto that guy. I was watching him (he was easily recognisable) and he kept at it for a long stretch. I then overtook the two going at my own pace and before long the guy was back in my wheel. At that point I turned around and told him to stop drafting. At first he said “come on, we are on our own for the next 30k”, but he soon realised I was not someone he could convince to form a peloton with so he started denying he was drafting… while accelerating only to latch onto another guy in front. He somehow managed to influence a few others
who happily formed a lineup and off they went into the distance. I was not happy (I wasn’t the only one), but at some point I just hoped the judges would do their job and decided to focus on my own race. Later on, at kilometre 80, I couldn’t believe my eyes… Mr. Drafter was standing next to the road looking very stressed telling the volunteers to call for help… he got a puncture! Justice had been served, my race just got a whole lot better and I cruised to T2 with a big smile on my face.
Bike 2:26:19 - 1st AG

T2
I managed a nice and smooth flying finish off the bike, only to be stopped dead in my track by someone from the IM organisation telling me to go to the penalty box off to my right. I couldn’t believe it, after the whole drafting saga I was the one being penalised?! I turned around my bike, headed to the penalty box and saw there was a queue of people there arguing (Karma must have caught up with all the drafters I had seen ahead of me). I looked at the guy who had stopped me and asked him
why I was being penalised. He looked at his pad again and he realised he had made a mistake and told me I could proceed to T2. A sigh of relief, but I lost valuable time here and created unwelcome stress. Anyway, off I went to T2… no time for coffee this time.

Run
Slightly stressed by what had happened at the start of T2 I commenced my run pumped and full of energy. I headed out over the bridge, was cheered by Mehdi’s family (no sight of my son…), and got going. I looked at my watch and to my horror I saw my pace was 03:45! What happened to the advice I gave Joe “Ease yourself into the run”…. I slowed down, but it was already too late, “oh what’s that in my leg?” I thought, and before I knew it Boom!, a massive cramp. This has never happened to me, let alone so early on in the run. I was cursing myself. Stop, breathe, punch the muscle, massage. I forced myself back into it. 300m later the cramp was back. By that time I thought to myself it was going to be a loooong walk to the finish line. I relaxed. “Stop thinking about time! Get yourself together Muller!” I gave myself the luxury of time. Massaged, punched, stretched, calmed myself down and made sure I was ok before proceeding. I started again, Easy, Mod… the leg was holding up, “relax Marc!”. Aid station had cool sponges which felt soo good under my cap and in my neck, the heat had really kicked in by this time. Then came the urge to pee. I started contemplating stopping at the next portable toilet or pissing myself… or was I hallucinating? The thought of limping around like a pissed soul didn’t appeal much to me… luckily I soon saw a Toilet sign and thankfully it was a decent public toilet. Again, I gave myself some time which was much needed.

At 8km I finally felt in control of my run. At one stage a guy overtook me, he ran as if he just started the race so I thought I’d try to
draft him (legal during the run), 04:20 pace… Not sustainable, I eased back into my own pace and told myself not to worry about time but rather on finishing the race in reasonable shape. “Focus!” There were patches where the heat was excruciating… a cool sponge, the occasional coke and cold water at the aid stations were very welcome!

At 15km I accelerated again but felt I wouldn’t be able to keep it up. I took the last of three caffeinated gels at 18km which took me to the final stretch. Last turn, loud music, finish line in sight… Inspired by my son’s performance the day before at the Ironkids, I sprinted the last stretch and over the finish line. I made it!
Run: 1:54:42 - 5th AG.

Total time: 5:00:53 - 2nd AG => Podium and WC qualification.

As I was recovering my senses with cold water in the shade suddenly my son turns up and gives me a big hug. First time I saw him that day! I asked him if he saw me, he looked me with watery eyes and said “Dad, I don’t know what happened, I slept through the alarm, I missed the whole race!”

Lessons learnt:
- stop forgetting my calf sleeves for bike and run (by the way, it was not allowed for swim without wetsuit)

- find gels with an easy-open packaging. At several occasions I struggled to open the ones I was using which is distracting and annoying

- stop sprinting at the start of the run! Ease myself into the run, relax, find your legs

- don’t sit during transition!

- don’t hold back on using anti chafe crème in the days leading up to the race

- this was the first race I did not carbo load three days before the race and I got massive cramps. Might it be the cause? Who knows, but I’ll carbo load for next race.

- if you get cramps or need the toilet, give yourself time! You’ll feel much better and you’ll catch up soon enough

- despite what FlyDubai say about their luggage dimension policy, they were very flexible, no questions asked when checking in the large Bike Box Alan Easyfit Maxx

- double check my son’s alarm clock!