In the third and final part to our Celtman blogs, we follow on from Ross and Amanda’s insightful stories from an athletes point of view, to finish with the views from Craig as a member of a support crew and coach for the event.

As a coach I have never had to be quite so ‘hands-on’ at a race before!  But Celtman is not like your average race…  Having cycled on parts of the route previously I knew what the bike course was going to be like – hilly, windy and likely wet!  The run – despite finding many photos, videos and speaking to people who have done it - I think the only way you can truly understand its severity is by physically being in it.  I knew there were many parts that are going to be walked/scrambled up when you reach the Beinn Eighe mountain range, but things don’t quite look the same on a computer screen.  And then there’s the swim.  It can be summed up in 2 words.  Cold.  Jellyfish.

So as coach for Amanda who completed Celtman (and shared her story here) I knew that, if it was possible, getting to go and train on the course would be extremely beneficial to give confidence and feel more relaxed with what was to come on race day.  Thankfully Amanda was able to make it up on 2 occasions – with mixed weather conditions, shall we say!  The run and water temperature were what I thought were most important to get accustomed to.

I have outlined 6 areas which I feel anyone competing in Celtman should take into account.

1. Cold water acclimatisation - With the water temperatures barely reaching the teens, acclimatising to cold water swimming is super important to ensure you are in a fit (enough) state to get out on the bike safely.  Being at the transition/swim exit area you could see just how much impact the cold water had on all the athletes – no matter how fast they swam.  I’d highly recommend making use of the full body cover (neoprene everything!! Hat, gloves, booties, vest under wetsuit).  Oh! and the body cover helps protect from the jellyfish…
   
   How to acclimatise to cold water?  If you don’t have easy access to cold water open water swimming (normally not too difficult to find in Scotland) then having a cold shower/bath regularly to get your body used to the shock of the cold and practice getting your breathing under control and relax.  There are some other hacks that you could try to protect from the cold a little – rub Vaseline on any exposed skin i.e. face.  This can help by just adding an extra layer of insulation against the cold. 
   
   
2. Practice your transitions – often one of the forgotten disciplines for triathletes at all distances.  With the Celtman being longer than a typical long course triathlon, ensuring you have suitable amount of dry clothing to put on after the swim to keep you warm enough on the 200km bike ride.  And bear in mind that the weather conditions can change quite dramatically!  Which was the case in this year’s event – from clear skies and calm wind for the first 2hours or so to relentless rain and changing winds for the most part of the bike and run.  So, don’t let the initial conditions fool you by not putting on at least one extra layer of dry clothing.If its possible before the event, have a practice with your support crew on the transitions so you both know what order to do things in and think about who the support crew member is that assists in transition.  You want someone who can keep calm and not add any unnecessary stress to situation.
   
   Transition Tip: bring a chair!  It makes all the different to get kit changed and in T2 there is a good chance it will be a boggy marsh land it there’s rain so also something to put your feet on.
   
   
3. Ride hills – with 2000m/6500ft of ascent over 200km/124miles of riding, it goes without saying that you should befriend your local hills.  If it’s possible you should aim to ride a mix of inclines with some long ‘draggy’ climbs and short sharp climbs too.  Celtman has it all.
   
   
4. Feeding strategy – something else that makes Celtman different to a typical long course tri is that there are no aid stations provided by the race organisers on the bike course.  This can be useful as it means that you can control when/where you receive your nutrition on the course.  This is when a course recce can be particularly helpful – to know where good spots for your support crew are to locate themselves.  As an athlete, you should try to brief your crew on what you require at each pre-planned point.  Being in a support crew myself, we did get a little excited with giving Amanda food any time we saw her.
   
   
5. Technical running – probably the most famous part of Celtman is the extreme terrain that athletes encounter on the run route.  No matter if you aim to get to the high route for a blue t-shirt or expect to run the lower route, then training on technical rocky terrain is a must.  There are multiple sections which you should forget about trying to run and go to a brisk hike or scramble.  Being confident and relaxed on loose rock and scree slopes will make for a much more ‘enjoyable’ run section.  Again, whether on the high or low route, it can be good to have the support runner just in front to call out any major obstacles and pick the line to take. 
   
   
6. Support Runner – it is mandatory that the participant runs with a support runner for at least the mountain section.  Many opt for having support runner for the full run, this can help keep things moving along and they should be able to motivate the athlete when times get hard.  A little tip Amanda and I used for the run was to have some different topics we would chat about to help pass the time and take the mind away from the hurt.  We got to chat about music, films, tv shows, food etc.  It’s the little things that can make a difference.

Congrats to all who took on Celtman! Extreme Scottish Triathlon – it’s not called ‘extreme’ just for the lol’s!
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I enjoyed my supporter duties so much that I may even enter the ballot myself for 2019!
Good luck to anyone who takes on Celtman in the future – I might see some of you next year…

If you are looking to race Celtman, or any other race, and would like the guidance of a coach then get in touch and we'd love to help.  Contact us here or email [email protected] for information.

In the second part of the Celtman trio of blog posts Amanda details her day out.

What an event! This has always been an aspiration of mine to take part since 2012. I was in complete awe of Raymond (club mate) last year and listening to his experience I thought I may struggle to complete this. In 2016 I pulled out of Lochloman swim as I was too cold, was I going to do the same?

I went up on Thursday to get registered and tried to relax. Wasn’t too nervous, I was really excited.

On Friday I went for the swim recce at Loch Shieldaig. It was raining and cold. I went into the water which was really cold and then tried to put my face in. It was BALTIC. I really couldn’t acclimatise. I swam about 200m trying to relax. Then a few swimmers said watch out 10m ahead for the jelly fish. I swam over and got a really weird feeling seeing all the jelly fish all shapes and sizes. I tried to get used to them and the cold. Then thought right I’m out of here. Got into a better rhythm swimming back but my face was freezing. Could really feel my hands getting cold too. I’m glad I did the recce, but I really started doubting myself that I could do the swim, I honestly thought I’d taken on too much.

Then I went to the bike mechanic to fix my front derailleur. After 30min he says you’ve got a big problem. Not the words you want to hear. You’ve got a gear cable problem. I left it with him for another 4 hours with no joy. The only thing I could do was physically push the front derailleur while pedalling and try and move the gear at the same time. I couldn’t believe it. But I had 2 options moan about it or suck it up and just get on with it. I have to say a massive thanks to Jonny, Lorne, Raymond and Paddy who said they could loan me a bike. But I just thought I’d bash on and give it a go. Thanks also to Jonny who reminded me of using a bit of Vaseline to create a barrier round my face from the cold water.

Saturday, day of Celtman. I never really slept the night before. 2am alarm went off. My first reaction was I could just go back to bed and say I was ill. But then I thought man up and start your adventure. All I could keep thinking about was this freezing swim that faced me. Changed, breakfast, support crew ready into the camper van at 2:55am. Let’s go. Weather was calm. Dry, no wind. Looked really good.  Big queue getting into Shieldaig. Got signed in and then into transition to set things up. Wetsuit on. Met Paddy and then we went to the bus to journey further round the coast. I was bricking it, really nervous but hiding it well. Bus dropped everyone off and we had 30min to get ready and wait. I got the Vaseline and covered my face while I remembered. Dropped my bag off. The Celtman symbol then gets lit and my nerves are off the scale. Group picture done and then we get told to enter the water to a deep water start about 50metres in. Here we go.

It was really tricky walking into the water as it was covered in seaweed and very rocky. Then the cold hits you. One last pat on the back to Paddy and then my adventure begins. I tried to get towards the swim start but the hooter went just before I got there. I kept saying to myself, relax and enjoy this. It was freezing. The vaseline did help a bit, I think. I sighted for the corner of the first island, several swimmers going all over the place. Then boom jelly fish. Just tried to keep in a rhythm. You feel yourself push some jelly fish out the way, it’s a great way of improving your catch and pull haha. I started getting used to it. But it started getting even colder as I went round the first island. You then head for the White House to get round the second island. It seemed to take ages to get there. Once I got round the second one you head for T1, I felt a sense of achievement already, thinking I’m actually going to get through this swim. I then felt good at the end of the swim and delighted to get out. I could hardly get out and fell back in. Needed a few helpers to get me out.

I ran into T1 freezing, expecting to see my crew. No one there, I was raging, I couldn’t get my stuff off. The Celtman crew ran down transition shouting out for my crew. They were still in the camper van enjoying a nice wee warm cup of tea. Argh! Numpties. Once they got to me, it clearly wasn’t an organised drill session. It must have been hilarious to watch. Wetsuit off. Then top on, ooops forgot my bib shorts, top off, shorts on, 2 adults wresting to put my socks on. 1 tries to dry my hands, 2 wrestle to put gloves on and that doesn’t work. Then Steven puts my number belt on round my middle which I didn’t realise as I tried to get food out my pocket later and couldn’t as the number belt was round it. Eventually out of T1 stressed to the max.

One word for the bike ‘gruelling’. It was very tough. Uphill for much of the first 20k to Kinlochewe. Had to dodge the huge traffic for all the crews going in the same direction. The bike route is stunning. Scenery is fantastic. Met my crew at Gairloch about 35miles in. Felt great. Then met them about mile 55. Still felt great, few bottle changes and bananas. The weather was wet and windy and rapidly got worse. My hands were freezing as I still couldn’t get gloves on. My gear changing started to get really difficult as my hands were numb and I couldn’t manually push the derailleur any more to get into the big cog. It was pouring and the head wind on the long drags were draining. At mile 90 I had to stop and try and get gloves on. They managed to get them on for me. Got to Achnasheen and I thought I had 6mile to go, but sign said 10mile. So, looking at my watch that makes it approx. 125miles in total. My legs were done. I was soaked. Into Kinlochewe I passed Lorne who shouted where to dismount. Into T2. Glad to get off the bike. Quickish change, kit back on, then out with Derek for the first part of what I thought maybe an easy run, oh boy was I wrong.

Once off the road about 3k in you get to a logging track and the start of the hill. It then goes into a trail route and then turns boggy and fern covered. The hill then rises further and further and further. Very hilly. The rain battered down again, I was soaked. The path was unrecognisable. The views were breathtaking! You then get back onto a better logging path and up over into the coulin estate. There was a feed station at the bottom. They said remember and turn right. Derek and I ran on and across a bridge, the marshals were screaming at us. We went the wrong way. I was a bit annoyed as the right turn wasn’t clear. But only lost about 1min of time. It was then a very undulating run along the loch, legs were really feeling it now. Eventually we could see over to T2a. So relieved to get to here. I should have been better organised with nutrition, I just grabbed a drink of lucozade and a few pretzels at transition. It was good to see Paddy, Lorne, Raymond and Jonny again. I was jealous when I saw Paddy eating a roll, why didn’t I get my crew to get me a roll?

Bag check at T2a, swapped crew member for Steven. Raymond said this is when the fun starts. I never expected the low run route to be so tough. OMG it was tough. You still scale up to about 500m. Up and up and up. Legs burning. I’m starting to get really hungry, then Steven says, ‘o it was great when I was in T2 waiting on you, I went had had a wee cheese and ham toastie’. I could have killed him. That’s all I could think about. You then reach the top and start to descend. It’s a very technical rocky route through streams. It’s utterly stunning!! Lost my footing several times, just managing to keep my balance. Really felt hungry not a good sign. Grabbed an oat bar off Steven and I perked up a bit. Round the bottom of the mountain now and we started to descend through a really nice trail to the road. I said to Steven any more hills? He said no, then as soon as we turned the corner there was a huge hill! Argh. Down the hill and could almost see Torridon. From the top of the hill I hear the war cry. ‘Crombie I’m coming to get you’ Paddy hot on my heels. I set off like a rocket lol. Steven struggled to keep up.

Into Torridon, up the hill, the finish banner in sight. Boom I complete my adventure and journey of a lifetime. What a feeling. I was totally goosed. Downed the bottle of beer. Great that Jonny captured some pics and to see paddy smashing it too. All I could think about was how well Raymond had done last year in worse conditions.

This was an outstanding event. I feel so privileged to get the opportunity to do this and thank my wife who said no chance to me doing it in the first place. Total respect to all finishers of this event. I know a few are thinking of doing this next year. My advice, you only live once so go for it. Raymond who is thinking of doing it again, you are just totally mental! Lol. (The annoying thing is, if you do it 5 times you get a special red t-shirt..........)  

Great welcome from my family when I arrived back home. Amy said ‘well done dad I’m glad you didn’t die!’

​I couldn’t have done any of this without You Can Sport’s help!