Anya Culling Takes On Her First Ironman
Parcours athlete Anya Culling recently completed her first Ironman in Copenhagen. We caught up with her following this to find out how it went and if she's already thinking about the next one...
So you've had a week to let it sink in, how's the body feeling? How's the mind?
I’m surprised by how quickly I’ve bounced back considering what I asked my body to do. My wearables said on race day I was in a state of high stress for 12.5 hours. Weirdly / or maybe obviously, it’s more my nervous system that is still in a state of stress whereas my muscles feel okay. No one told me that after the ironman simple bodily functions might be affected, a week on my sleep is still bad, I am ravenous, my temperature control is out of whack. Mentally, I think I’m still processing it too. I spent so many months thinking about Copenhagen, training for Copenhagen and worrying about whether I’d actually be able to do it, that it’s strange to suddenly have nothing to train for. I think the biggest thing I’m feeling is pride. Not necessarily because of the time, but because of the whole journey to get there. I started this knowing absolutely nothing about swimming or cycling, and somehow ended up completing a full Ironman.
What were the emotions crossing the line?
Honestly, a mixture of relief, disbelief and relief. There was a huge sense of, "I actually did it. I think because I’d come from such a running background, the marathon itself was the bit I was least worried about. But completing the swim and 180km bike before getting to that marathon was something I genuinely couldn’t have imagined myself doing a year ago. I was also incredibly emotional because nothing could have prepared me for the last hour of the run. I was also unbelievably proud of my boyfriend Joe who I knew had already finished and I just wanted to see him at the finish line. The finish line of an ironman almost feels more special than a finish line or a marathon, you see the videos and hear the stories of ‘the red carpet’ but it really felt like my personal moment, especially when the MC says ‘Anya you are an Ironman’, a marathon is more of a shared experience with everyone you have ran the race with - but because ironman is multidisciplinary, it’s unlikely you’ll find the same person matches your ability across all 3 sports.
What were the emotions/feelings race morning at the start?
I wasn’t too nervous. I didn’t give myself the option of thinking ‘what if I can’t finish’, I had the attitude that any negative energy is a waste of energy and I am finishing this whatever happens. I did feel like every emotion was x100 though. Excitement, anticipation, pride, happiness and unfortunately sadness - all exaggerated. Unfortunately the day before the race my family told me that my Grandma had passed from Cancer so that just added a deeper reason to my ‘Why’. The last thing she said to me was ‘Good Luck in the Ironman’ and I knew she would have had no doubt I would smash it because she believed in me so much… so I just had to go out and do just that. I guess there was more of an unknown with triathlon but that excited me. With running, I know exactly what I'm capable of. I know how my body feels at different paces and I know what a marathon is going to feel like. With an Ironman, this was unchartered territory for me.
Why did you want to do a full distance? And why the crossover
from marathon training/racing?
I think partly because I wanted to be a beginner again. Running has been a huge part of my life and I’ve been lucky enough to represent England and run a 2:34 marathon. But that also means that when I race a marathon, there’s a lot of expectation around what I should be able to do. Triathlon completely took that away. When I started, I could swim, but I certainly couldn’t swim properly, and I’d never really trained on a bike. I went from being someone who knew exactly what they were doing in running to being a complete beginner again. That was really refreshing. I wanted to challenge myself in a completely different way and see what happened when I put the same consistency and work ethic I'd developed through running into something I was genuinely bad at. And, if I'm honest, I think I wanted to find out whether I could do something that initially felt completely beyond me. I wanted to ask questions of myself that I didn’t yet have the answers to.
Why did you choose Copenhagen?
It felt like a real full circle moment. Copenhagen Marathon was where I ran my marathon PB and represented England, so I already had such a strong connection with the city. Coming back to Copenhagen for something completely different felt really special.
What did your training look like leading into Copenhagen?
The biggest change was simply the amount of training. With marathon training, your life can revolve around running. With triathlon, you’re constantly juggling swimming, cycling and running. I have the privilege of working in sport so I have a bit more flexibility on when I can train. I was training twice a day most days, three times occasionally. Perhaps a harder session in the morning and an easier session that evening. I also had to learn a completely new set of skills. Swimming was a huge focus because fitness wasn't really the limiting factor; technique was. I swam 3-4 times a week consistently for 8 months and to be honest most of those swims I didn’t want to do but I am very determined and disciplined with training. Cycling was another big learning curve, particularly getting comfortable spending several hours on the bike and learning how to pace it. I was surprised with how much training my body could absorb - running is so hard on your body that after a hard run you need an easier day to recover, where as because triathlon uses such a range of different muscles across the 3 sports, and it’s lower impact with the cycling and swimming, you can end up doing harder sessions most days. I still took recovery seriously though and tried to have 1 complete rest day a week.
How did it differ from the marathon - from training and racing?
Anything that surprised you?
It was completely different. With triathlon, you can train hard without necessarily putting the same impact through your body because cycling and swimming are so much lower impact. I could do a hard bike session and still be able to run the next day. Equally, I could swim hard while my legs were recovering from running. The other huge difference was the mental side. A marathon is relatively short and intense. You’re constantly thinking about pace. An Ironman is about patience. You have to be comfortable knowing that you’ve got hours and hours still to go.
What was the best part of your day?
The run. It sounds obvious coming from me, but after spending so much of the year learning to swim and cycle, getting off the bike and finally being back on two feet felt amazing. And the atmosphere in Copenhagen was incredible. By the time I got onto the run course, I was tired, but there were so many people around the course and so much noise that it gave me another gear. There was also something quite satisfying about knowing that the discipline I’d spent years developing was finally the thing I could rely on. I was really happy to run a 3:09 marathon off a 3.8km swim and 180km bike.
What was the worst part?
The bike was definitely the biggest mental challenge. I hadn’t actually cycled 180km yet so the sheer duration was quite daunting. You have to stay patient and keep making good decisions for hours. Eat, drink, stay aero, keep the effort controlled, repeat. It’s also quite a lonely part of the Ironman and the sport which makes up the biggest proportion, so I found myself thinking about my Grandma a lot because your own voice in your head is the only noise.
Is there something you know now or learnt that you wish you'd
known pre-race?
I wish I’d known that you can never feel completely “ready” for your first Ironman. There are always going to be things you haven’t experienced before because you’ve never raced for that long. I spent quite a lot of time wondering whether I’d done enough, but eventually you just have to accept the unknown and be excited for it.
What would you do differently?
I’d probably be a little more brave, particularly on the bike, it was my first one, so naturally I was quite cautious about everything - especially in the cross winds - I definitely wasn’t prepared for those. Now that I know what an Ironman actually feels like, I think I’d be more confident in pushing certain parts of the race and seeing what I can really do.
What was your nutrition?
Nutrition is a self proclaimed super power of mine. I’m pretty good at fuelling and have practiced a lot over the 5 years. Reflecting it’s pretty outrageous the amount of carbs I consumed but it’s what you need to do. I averaged 90g carbs an hour between gels, chews, bars and drink mix. The key lesson for me was that you have to fuel the bike for the bike and for the run. You can't wait until you’re hungry or tired because by then you're already playing catch-up. I knew that if I was well fuelled and genuinely staying around Zone 2, I could sustain exercise for a very long time because that’s science. On the run I had a 30g gel every 5km because that’s what I’d do in a normal marathon even though I was running slower than normal, but I was going into the ironman marathon with already depleted glycogen stores from over 7 hours of racing already.
How was your race? Were you happy with the result / the day?
I'm ecstatic. I finished in 10:24:56 - did the best swim I had ever done, my furthest bike ride and 3:09:13 for the marathon. Considering where I started with triathlon, I'm incredibly proud of that. The run was particularly satisfying because it showed me that I had managed to protect my running ability despite putting so much training into swimming and cycling. But I think I'm more proud of the process than the number. I started this journey as a complete beginner in two disciplines and finished an Ironman in just over ten hours. That's pretty mad when I think about it.
Did you get out of it what you were wanting/hoping for?
Yes, probably more than I expected. I wanted to challenge myself, learn something completely new and prove to myself that I could be a beginner again. I definitely did that. I also wanted to prove to myself that being a powerful female is being able to do anything she puts her mind to. I was scared at the start that people might not take me as seriously if I wasn’t all in on running but if anything I just built a totally new impressive skillset which is far more valuable.
Was it one and done or are you hooked now?
Never say never but right now I think I have the itch to get back to Marathon Running again which was also part of the plan. The variety in training has given me a mental break from how intense being all in on the marathon is, but I think I have the headspace to do that again now.
Any advice for someone thinking about signing up for their first
Ironman?
Do it - but don't think you need to have everything figured out before you start. I was proof that you don't need to be an experienced triathlete to begin. You need to be motivated, consistent and have a willingness to learn. I started with a running background, a second hand road bike and very limited swimming ability. Respect the distance, but don’t be intimidated by it. When you look at a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and marathon run written down, it sounds ridiculous. But you don't train for an Ironman by doing an Ironman every weekend. You build it gradually, one discipline and one session at a time. It’s all about having patience and trusting the process.
What was your bike set up?
For Copenhagen, I rode the Cervelo P Series TT bike with Parcours Chrono wheelset. I learnt how much aero gains really matter and my priority was making sure I was comfortable and could hold my position for the duration of the race. I really loved the Pracours Chrono Max wheels because they handle like a shallower design, yet deliver the aero performance. I progressed my bike set up as I felt more comfortable, I did my first 70.3 on a road bike because I wasn’t comfortable on the TT bike yet, then I upgraded the wheels and maybe next time I’ll be brave enough to upgrade to a disc wheel. I don’t think there’s any shame in progressing your setup as your confidence and experience grows.
What's next? Back to marathon running?
I'm really excited to get back to running properly. Triathlon has actually made me appreciate running even more. Spending months doing something where running was only one part of the equation has made me really excited to focus on it again. I'm definitely not finished with triathlon, but I think the next chapter is going to be about seeing what I can do over the marathon again - with a completely different perspective and a lot of new fitness in the bank. And I'm hoping that the cycling fitness might make me a slightly better runner too...
