Originally published at: Harry Palmer’s Surprising Mindset Before His First World Championship and a Look at His Argon 18 E119 - Slowtwitch News
Photo by Donald Miralle for IRONMAN
A surprise qualifier, even to himself, Brit Harry Palmer is on an upswing. After a victory at IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea and a third place at IRONMAN Leeds, Palmer didn’t expect to earn two T100 wildcards, much less qualify for his first world championship. Delighted, more than nervous (as of right now), and curious more than intimidated, Palmer’s positive mental attitude proved to be his ticket to the big dance.
ST: How have you been preparing for your debut world championships? How have you been preparing especially for the hills and descents?
Palmer: Nice prep has been interesting because I wasn’t really targeting this race.
However, from the [third place] result in Leeds, I qualified and I thought, why not? Just give give it a shot. So I haven’t had a crazy amount of time to specifically prepare for this–and with the fact that I managed to get two wildcard slots for the T100 races, which I felt was an opportunity I couldn’t really miss–essentially, I have just been doing a lot of racing.
Earlier in the year we did do a really good altitude block in Andorra, so I’d like to think I’m okay on the hills. I’m certainly by no means one of the strongest guys out there, and I’m a little bit heavier than some as well. So, specific prep, no, but I do have a lot of race experience this year and hopefully that will show in the result on Sunday.
It’s your first time racing the world championship and on the Nice course, how has your approach been different to other races?
I think this one because it’s a bit of a bonus for this year, I’m actually super, super relaxed. I’m not stressed at all. Now, I’m sure that will change on race day and leading up to race day, but I see this as a bit of a bonus and so it means that I can almost take some risks, and not feel bad about it. I’ve already had a successful season so far, so this race is just go out there, have fun, work as hard as I possibly can and just enjoy it as well.
I go into a lot of races thinking about what outcome do I want position-wise, and all of this sort of stuff, whereas this race is slightly different. It’s just soak it all up, enjoy being out there with the best athletes in the world, and just have a good time. If a good result comes from it, fantastic; if a bad result comes from it, fine.
Do you have a mantra or phrase to guide or ground you?
I do. I do have some motivational quotes that come into my head when I’m racing, especially the longer distances, because you do go through phases where you’re like, what am I doing?
You’re out on the bike and you’re just like, I don’t wanna be here, I’m in so much pain, why am I doing this? I want to quit, whatever. And you need to find a way to get yourself out of that negative spiral. I don’t know if I have many just straight off the head, I kind of normally find them when I’m in the absolute hole.
I think one of the main things that I do say to myself is: it’s not over until it’s over. No matter how hard it is, no matter how rubbish you feel, it’s not over until you get to the finish line. If you keep pressing on, hopefully you come out of that negative spiral and you feel better–and you never know people in front of you can blow up. Even if you’re a couple kilometers from the finish line, it’s not over until it’s over, and more often than not, you end up having a more positive result than you thought.
Have you changed your bike set up specifically for this race? Will you be using any new equipment?
I changed my bike setup prior to IRONMAN Leeds and I’m running exactly the same setup. However, I am changing my bottle setup. The reason being is I’m aiming to use more of the aid stations and take less on the bike with me because the first two hours is pretty much uphill. So I’m going to reduce as much fluid as I can possibly take on the bike to actively drop the weight as much as I can.
Who do you have your eyes on and where do you think are the key points of the race?
I think the swim will be super hard. I think there’ll be four or five guys that get away in the swim and then there’ll be a big, strung out main chase pack. I think on the bike the first two hours is going to be absolutely nails.
I think guys will absolutely send it, even just to get to the bottom of the main climb, and I think you could see guys get to a 100 km and just completely blow because they’ve gone too hard.
My idea is to actually take it a bit more chilled and then press on. I’m still going to have to ride pretty hard to get up the climb but I don’t want to get to the top of the climb completely, ball-bagged.
So, I think–and I heard Magnus say something similar– there’ll be two types of athletes. One, the athletes that send it up the hills and then really suffer on the back end (and whether they’ll be able to keep it together, I don’t know). Or, two, you’ll have athletes that are a little bit more reserved up the hill and then try to really bring it back along the plateau and the like rolling section along the top .Which idea makes more sense for me, I know it’ll be the latter.
How have you grown and changed as an athlete in the last year?
It’s just coming down to the belief in myself. I believe that I have, one, worked as hard as I possibly can to get to these races; and, two, I believe that I am good enough to compete against the best guys in the world. I think in the past I’ve had a lot of imposter syndrome whereas now, and by no means do I have a massive ego and I’m not arrogant (I hope I’m not arrogant!) I actively try to think positive that I do deserve to be here.
Can you take us through the rest of your bike set up….
- Frame: Argon 18 E119, size medium
- Cockpit/TT bars: Drage2Zero .66
- Wheels and tyres (pressure): HED disc and HED 80, Conti GP 5000 28 tubeless, 75 psi
- Crank length: 165mm
- Group set: Shimano Ultegra Di2 with Rotor 58-44, 11-34
- Saddle: Ergon Men’s Front TT
- Pedals: Favero Assioma DUO
- Hydration: EZ Gains EZ Hydro Gains