I woke up to my alarm going off at 4am, I initially wondered why on earth I had set my alarm for that ungodly hour, hit snooze and rolled over, then it dawned on me – I had an important date with Ironman France!

I’d managed to take with me the same breakfast I’d eaten on many of my long training days so it felt comforting to know I wasn’t trying anything new – after a bowl of bircher muesli, a bagel and banana, and two espressos I was good to go.

It had been getting warmer and warmer since arriving in Nice, with the previous day being at least 30oC. As I walked down Promenade Des Anglais to the transition area, I could tell that we were all going to be in for a hot race day.

I had racked the night before, so just needed to make some last minute checks and place all my nutrition on my bike. Whilst racking the night before I had noticed that my front tyre was slightly flat, after pumping it up and monitoring the tyre pressure it looked like it was ok – however in the morning it was completely flat. Without enough time to change the tub, and not wanting to start the race without a spare tub – I pumped it up and hoped that it would last for as long as possible.

I headed down to the beach to look at the starting pens and which one looked best for me, I decided on the sub 1h02m pen, somewhere in the middle but closest to the pro pen, hoping to swim in the gap behind them. The water was warm and calm, after a quick warm up, I was ready.

You could taste the nerves in the air, including mine – was I ready for an intensive washing machine spin? Ready or not, the countdown began. 10,9,8… 3, 2, 1… and with that I surged into down the rocky beach and into the water. For the first 5 minutes it felt like I didn’t ever catch water, just hitting a limb of a fellow athlete with every stroke, but soon I found my first bit of clear water and found my race pace rhythm. Sighting was difficult with the amount of spray and the smallish turn buoys, after taking a slightly wide turn on the second buoy I tried to pick up the pace back to the beach to make up lost time, by the 2nd shorter 1.4km loop, the field had spread out and the turn buoys were less congested – my pace definitely felt quicker.

3.8km swim – total time: 01:03:37

After a 6 min T1, I was feeling good and ready for a hilly one loop bike course – although after a quick check on my front tub, I knew I was losing pressure and I’d have to stop soon to swap it with my spare. I decided to take advantage of my position in the race so far, and try to get up the first narrow and steep Condamine climb before it was really busy. Heading along the coast and inland towards the mountains, the aero bars really came handy and made up for lost speed as I heard the front tub creak off the rim as I went round corners. Just after the first climb and once up in Gattieres, I rolled into a layby for a quick tub change – nice and easy after a good demo from Fi and a few practice runs!

With two good fully inflated tubs I felt so much quicker and was soon starting the long climb. The support along the route was fantastic, with marshalls at every driveway or intersection to make sure Sunday morning traffic didn’t get in our way. As the gradient kicked up, so did the temperature – my liquid nutrition was going to plan, taking on board lots of fluids, replenishing with water at every opportunity, however no matter how many times I had eaten my favourite energy bars in training, I just couldn’t stomach them and really had to force them down.

From the pretty village of Gourdon, the halfway point of the first climb, I had my own personal Gendarme motorcycle escort most of the way to the top of the climb, the gentle ticking hum of the engine in my left ear helped keep my cadence smooth and regular. At the summit I made an unplanned stop to pick up a much needed C02 canister from my special needs bag, plus I also picked up some random foods I’d packed in last minute – a flapjack, banana, pretzels, and Haribo – I tucked into these throughout, all went down much easier than the bars.

Somewhere near Greolieres, feeling slightly nauseous, I started to ease back a bit – I tackled another bar and kept off the caffeine gels. I felt much stronger on the second climb – passing several athletes, I was soon onto the out and back section and I knew that the hardest part of the course was behind me but yet the race hadn’t even begun and I had to keep the nutrition topped up and get my body and mind ready for the marathon.

The descents were fast, some technical, with some stunning views – before I knew it I was at the 160km marker, joining the flat road taking me back to the coast, this bit seemed to take forever, riding into the wind on my aero bars… I started to develop a pain in my right knee which I couldn’t seem to shake, it just came from nowhere – I poured water onto it to cool it down which didn’t seem to help. As I rode past the athletes already on the marathon, I was willing the pain away as much as possible. Off the bike and into T2, marathon coming up…

180km bike – total time: 06:01:32

However hot it felt on the bike, the sun was strongest on the Promenade Des Anglais, my watch showed a high of 36oC (although it likes to exaggerate). The 4 lap course stretched as far as the eye could see, from Place Du Verdun along the promenade to the airport and back. As I started running, a wave of relief came over me – I had no knee pain at all, weird! I started running next to a guy already on his 2nd lap, we both seemed to be running at the same pace and we stuck together for 5km until I peeled off for a call of nature.

For the next 2 laps I settled into a slightly slower pace, walking/jogging through every aid station, grabbing water to drink and pour over my head, I was also taking on an energy gel every lap and mixing up an electrolyte solution every 2 laps, despite feeling hot – I felt like I was well hydrated. The hardest part of the course was out towards the airport, with very little support and athletes keeled over on the grass verges, it was mentally tough – so when I heard ‘Go Triathlon Europe’ from Susanah Black, it was much needed support!

My run training for my first IM hadn’t been ideal – with a badly sprained ankle that took ages to heal, and would be aggravated by the shortest of runs – I had spent most run sessions aqua running in the pool, me and aqua running didn’t get on too well, although I thought of the many sessions whilst running along the promenade, imagining I could just dunk my head in the water to cool myself down. Fortunately, there were no niggles or pains in my ankle at all – and my legs felt strong.

Lap 3 was a blur with regular flashes of pain – I’d heard that it would be like this past 30km. I dug deep, focused on my running form, took on regular nutrition and thought of my family, friends and team mates who I knew were rooting for me. As I finished lap 3 and started my final lap, I saw a team of cheer leaders (Ingrid, Agatha, Erica and Nacho) making as much noise as possible and holding up a whiteboard with messages of support from back home, perfect timing and I was spurred on and picked up the pace.

As I reached the airport turnaround point for the final time, I checked the official timing screen (10hrs46mins) – with the finish line in the far distance, I gave the last 5km everything I had – so much was going through my mind, the sacrifices I had made to get to this point, the missed birthday parties, the friends I hadn't seen in ages, the endless early nights and early mornings – this was what it was all for. The final 5km went quickly, and I was soon diverted to the finish chute – I picked up my legs as fast as they could go and headed for the M-Dot finish arch, as I ran past the cheering crowds… the words… ‘Josh… you are an Ironman’ blasted from the speakers and reverberated across the Mediterranean sea.

42.2km run – total time: 03:58:56.

Total race time: 11:16:34
Overall position: 441/2589
Age group position: 42/216

Thank you to all my friends and family that supported me on my journey, thank you to Ingrid, Agatha, Erica and Nacho for all their support on the day, and congratulations to Ramsey, Steve, Kelly and Barbie who all had great races! Thank you also to Tracey for all her support!

Massive thank you to the whole Triathlon Europe team… in particular Tarek, Steve, Martin, Corey, Martin, Eddie – it’s been a pleasure training with you these past 6 months.

Finally, a huge thank you to my coach Fiona for providing an intelligent, adaptable and proven training programme that was specific to this course. My training hasn’t been all plain sailing, with an annoying injury, Fi made sure I recovered as best as I could without sacrificing quality training time. My result on my first IM is a huge testament to the quality of Fi's coaching.