Putting the hours in (everywhere)........

....... that should read 'almost' everywhere. I certainly don't seem to have seen a great deal of my bed lately.

First things first..... Shelly's ace camera work at Hayle Sprint last week picked up this little gem.

We'll start at work because that's the bain of everybodys life, that one necessary evil that keeps the wolves from your door. This week it's been a straight 5 days (no weekends thankfully) with start times between 2 & 4am and every day lasting 13hrs or more. That's pretty standard for most weeks, although I do occasionally have Thursdays off. My commute is only 15mins each way which is nice and I'll get up an hour before I have to be at work so that leaves me with a max of 9.5hrs to train, eat, sleep and the like. You won't find a lot of weekday social activity going on here. That all leads me to the weekend where I have to fit in the bulk of my training, althoughI'm generally walking around like a zombie suffering from the weeks lack of sleep. This isn't helped by our 'wonderful' (???) dog Rosie who likes to run around playing, whining and generally doing anything she can to make sure you're up by 6am only to promptly curl up in a ball and go to sleep (as she is now) once she's succeeded in her task.

So, enough of the excuses, what's been going on? I've been training of course (sort of).

It's 10 weeks until Ironman Florida and I really need to crack some big mileage out.. Thankfully the swim isn't a problem, I'll get round that in an hour whether I train once a month of 4 times a week, so trips to the pool are kept at a minimum. The running seems to be going well and that will get a testing next weekend at Wolverhampton Marathon ...... I'm trying to work out if I can get away with using my Brooks T6's (see my last post) which currently can do no wrong.
As always the bike is the issue based on the fact that it's my weakest discipline, my least liked discipline and the discipline which takes up the most time, which I don't have a lot of. So my weekends need to become 'bike time', including next weekend before the Marathon.


Monday - I had a day off. The first day at work always wipes me out.
Tuesday - The guilt from not training on Monday forced me into the shed for a 1hr turbo session.
Wednesday - I put the T6's on for their Tarka Trail debut. 7.4miles feeling real tired and controlling the HR but still at 6:15 min/mile pace. Not quite my fastest, but I wasn't going full tilt. It's a sign of what proper race shoes can do.
Thursday - I skived from training with the excuse that my legs were pretty beat up after 7miles of almost zero cushioning.
Friday - I so nearly did nothing in a state of total exhaustion but at the last minute I decided to run the 13+ miles to my squad swim session. The run was good (6:40's), the swim was awful!! and by the time I got back home I'd been awake for 22hrs - time to sleep.
Saturday - No lying around in bed, I'd got an 8am meet up with some club mates for a bike ride. The plan had been to leave at 6am and get some in before meeting them, that didn't happen though so I had to force and extra 90mins out after leaving them instead (82miles). That was followed by a bit of footy on the TV, a bit of chillin on the sofa and a birthday BBQ in the evening (Happy 50th Steve) for which by some miracle the nice weather held.
Today?? - Well the pup kindly woke me at 6am as normal so now I'm typing this out before going training. There's a 1-1.5hr bike ride lined up for starters, then I'm off to the run track with my clubmates for a bit of a beasting. Hopefully that'll be followed by another bike ride, although my legs may well have other ideas. Then it's an afternoon sat infront of the TV watching the football and following the online updates from Ironman Canada to see how Erin is getting on. Good Luck girl.

That'll do for now. Are you bored yet? I can't stay here and chat I've got training to do.........

Hayle Sprint Triathlon

Blimey. Two posts in two days.................. Easy Tiger!!

6am on Sunday morning and yes ............... it’s raining again!!!!

We moved around the room getting things ready for the days race and muttering things about the weather under our breath while drinking coffee and forgetting to have any breakfast. We arrived at Copperhouse Pool and the rain had pretty much stopped as I racked my bike and poured myself into my wetsuit. The big decision of the day was whether I was going to run in my new Brooks T6’s or stick with the tried and trusted Nike Zoom Elites, not wanting to get my new toys wet I opted for the old faithful’s. A last minute queue up for the loo’s and I was one of the last to hit the water and make my way out to the start line.

THE SWIM

Normally the swim is where I start my race well, today though it was probably the worst of the 3 disciplines. I’d positioned myself behind a renowned speedy swimmer (and eventual race winner) and planned to tuck myself on his feet for as long as possible. The race started, there was a flurry of arms, legs and splashing; we were away. I quickly found my rhythm and my targeted feet, great, no need to sign buoys, just follow the bubbles. This drafting business is dead easy or at least it is up until the point when you realise you’re on the wrong feet and everybody’s swimming away from you. Oh sh1t! Time to work! For the rest of the swim I hammered my way through the field trying to claw back some lost time. As I exited the water I recognised someone grabbing their bike to leave T1, maybe I hadn’t lost as much time as I thought.

T1

Transition was a total disaster. I pulled my wetsuit down to my waist, down my legs and then tried to pull it off my ankles. Once, twice, three times and still it wouldn’t budge. Around the 5th time of trying to get past my left ankle I realised that I’d got my thumb hooked up in the timing chip strap. Finally the wetsuit was off and I pulled my bike shoes on, but by now I’d been bent over so long that I went all light headed when I stood up and tried to put my helmet on.

THE BIKE

After losing places on the swim and losing more places in Transition I headed out on the bike like a man on a mission. This is normally my weak discipline, where I lose time on my competitiors, but my normal competition were already well up the road, including three of my clubmates. Amazingly this turned out to be my best discipline and soon two of my clubmates were in sight and overtaken far too easily. This gave me the incentive I needed to push on and soon I could see people ahead that would normally have taken time out of me – bonus! Try as I might I couldn’t bridge the gap but slowly it started shrinking which was good news for when we got to my strongest discipline, the run.

T2

Nothing real interesting to say here, I came in, racked my bike, ditched my helmet, put on my trainers and hit the road. Job done.

THE RUN

When I say it’s my strongest discipline that means it’s ‘normally’ my strongest. When I’ve nailed myself to the floor on the bike then the legs don’t tend to agree with the rest of my body when it’s discussing what pace I’m going to run at. Today was one of those days. Soon after leaving T2 I caught my remaining team mate (the important job) and set about catching the person just ahead of him. Oh No You Don’t! My legs have a pace when they’re tired, it’s a fairly quick pace but they refuse point blank to move from their comfort zone. Today was one of those days and my target although just about 20m ahead of me just wouldn’t get any closer. I even tried stopping for a walk and a drink at the turnaround in the hope that I could fool them into letting me run fast, but it wasn’t to be. In the final stretch along the Pool I suddenly started gaining time and wishing I had another km to do, but with nobody to close behind me I gave the folks watching in the rain a chuckle by running the last 50m backwards. Any little bit of amusement helps when the weather is awful.

So, the tale of the tape. Out of 187 finishers.

Swim – 11:16 – A rather disasterous 14th out of the water.
T1 – 1:02 – A truly shocking 32nd and 20secs lost to all my main competitors.
Bike – 33:48 – Amazingly 3rd fastest, only beaten by two Pro’s.
T2 – 0:31 – Nothing really to say.
Run – 19:14 – 5th fastest on the day, but nothing special. On another day with a lazier bike it could have been a lot quicker.
Overall – 4th place - 1:05:55 – 1st place in the dreaded 40+ category (I’m only 39).

SUMMARY

A good solid day. Any day where I bike well gives me the incentive to train harder for IM Florida. Sure the swim and run weren’t the best, but I know I can do ok at those. When you do well at your weakest discipline it gives you the mental buzz you need to get out there and do some more without you feeling like Mr Slow all the time. If I can keep this performance fresh in my mind then the next few weeks bike training should be a whole lot easier.

Damn I talk some crap! You can all wake up now – sorry.

New Shoes

First things first - I have followers/idiots. Have you lot not got better things to do. Ikkle Sis (Michelle Bayliss) & Liz (Buttercups1972) - Do you really not see/hear enough of me spouting cr@p without this guff too? (thanks anyway :) ). Elements of Erin337 - Go follow her! Listen to her podcast 'Tri N Reality' and follow her at Ironman Canada on 30th August - number 2396!! IronTriTim - Good to see you're still about. I thought you'd fallen off the planet after IM Florida 2008. Hope you're all keeping well and those little ones aren't making you run around after them too much.

So what's been going on? Well amongst other things I've had a complete batch of new footwear in recent weeks. Shoes that I've never tried before and at present the only pair of Nike Pegasus I run in are reserved for Braunton Burrows because they're already full of sand which, lets be honest, you can never get rid of.
I recently did some lab testing for some studies at Exeter University and this gave me the opportunity to go see Exeter's own specialist running shop (should I plug them?). The first thing you notice with any specialist is that they don't seem to have the greatest choice of footwear which can be a bit disconcerting, but then of course they don't sell basketball/squash/tennis/gym/general leisure gear, just running gear. The biggest problem for me is that I have big feet so the full range is never available and hence my choice is further limited. There was no need for any huge gait analysis session, I'm neutral, I've always been neutral and one look at the soles of my current trainers confirmed that nothing had changed. The only real FAIL was that their easiest sell in the world (a new pair of Pegasus) wasn't available in my size. Many shoes were tried on and I was finally down to a pair of Asics and a pair of Saucony, walking and jogging in and around the shop with a different shoe on each foot trying to decide which felt best.
I left the shop with a (singular) new pair of trainers, as did Shelly, the only problem was that I was in Exeter again for testing a week later and this time I left with 2 pairs, both which I'd tried on and knocked back on my first visit. 3 pairs, 3 different makes! Nobody can say I'm bias at least.
So .............. meet the new running shoe family.

The middle pair are - Saucony Jazz 12's - These were the original purchase. An educated/recommended choice as an alternative to my regular Air Pegasus. I've had them a couple of weeks (hence they're dirtier than the others) and so far so good. I've run comfortable 16 & 17 milers in them with no blistering or any real 'breaking in' problems. The only small issue has been a hot spot on the outside edge of my little toe, but I'm prone to butchering my feet so it may be something I did rather than the shoes. They've had a week off, if the toe problem returns when I'm back in them then I'll have to look again, but if not then I genuinely really like them. First impressions ------- a solid 7/10

Next along are - Nike Zoom Marathoners - a bit of a risky purchase (but with 20% off). I was a bit put off by their spangly looks and their odd sole design which are smoother and 'pure road' where most shoes have more general purpose lugs. They also felt a little tight. I was however looking for something specifically to run road Marathons in with Wolverhampton on 6th September and more importantly IM Florida on 7th November. These are lighter than Pegasus and supposedly designed for the job and surely, surely, surely all Nike sizing will be the same, when it comes to running in them a UK 12 Marathoner will size the same as a Pegasus! You'd think so wouldn't you? It seems not though. So far I've only run twice in them. My first run was a 12 miler by the end of which the big toe on my right foot felt as though it was about to burst through the toebox of the shoe. My second run was a 9 miler, this time my toe felt fine but my heel was struggling. There's no twinges or tweaks coming with them though so I'll persist a while longer to see if they just need bedding in. First impressions though ------- a poor 4/10

And finally, sitting on the outside edge of the picture shining and glistening like only a pair of ego massaging racing flats can (or should) are the - Brooks T6's - again these felt a little tight in the shop but the next size up swamped me. The thought that a) most runs would likely be triathlons with no socks taking up space, b) I won't be running long in them so any size issue would only be for a short period of time and c) Shelly wasn't there to curb my spending meant I also took the plunge with these. It seems an odd thing to say, but after running for close to 20 years I've NEVER owned a pair of genuine racing flats and I was quite excited to get these home. I've only run in them once so far and it wasn't really the best introduction for them. It was my first ever track 10k with a clubmate (Tim) at the end of a 40hr period where I'd already done 10hrs of training including finishing a 36mile TT on the bike just 40mins earlier. My legs just died on my after 10 (of 25) laps and I struggled round to post a 36:55 and getting caned by Tim in the process. Having said all that, for those first 10 laps I felt supremely comfortable cruising at the front with Tim hanging onto my shoulder, the shoes felt fantastic and even on those later laps when no doubt my form would have been struggling and any problems with the lack of support would have been highlighted the shoes felt great. So far so good. I'm debating whether to use them for the Sprint Tri tomorrow but they haven't actually been on the road yet. I'll probably decide 10mins before the race. First impressions - 8/10 (only one run in though).

Blimey, I was going to talk about my training but I've rambled on so much I'd better not bother.

One last thing on the shoe issue though ............ I'm getting known as a bit of a Newton basher. I have NO problem with Newton Running Shoes, I've never tried them so I can't really comment on them, my neutral style may even be perfectly suited to them. My main beef is the aggresive way that Newton gets rammed down your throat as if it's the be all and end all of running, this gets me on the defensive and I can't resist stiring the pot by answering back. If Newton suit you then fantastic, they can not and will not be suitable for everybody though. They're far too expensive for me, costing almost as much as the combined 3 pairs above and I've no wish to start my running from scratch. I don't get injured (touch wood) so why change.

I recently had an encounter with a Newton Rep, it was great fun, a bit like when the Jehovah's Witness come knocking on your door to preach AT you. Every other brand is wrong, only Newtons will do. NO!!!!!!!! "Craig Alexander won Hawaii wearing Newton's" was my favourite comment. "So he wouldn't have won wearing any other brand?" was my reply. "Possibly not" was the reply from the poor deluded fool. Does he really think we don't know how sponsorship works? Newton sales experience 2/10 (preach and seemingly think we're all ignorant)

Compare that to a recent encounter with a Saucony Rep in Exeter. Perfectly friendly, helpful, full of useful advice WITHOUT slagging off every other brand on the market. That was the day I did actually leave the shop with a pair of Saucony but there was no pressure sell, Shelly was torn between Saucony and Adidas (Adidas won). He was more concerned with making sure we were running full stop. Saucony sales attitude 9/10 (helpful and appreciative that runners aren't stupid)

Welcome

Hello and welcome my the new blog. If you've found this somehow then don't be shy, pop in and say Hi.

This new blog has been set up to replace http://www.imfl-3rdtimelucky.blogspot.com/ mostly to keep things tidy. 'DevonIain' is how I'm known on various internet social circles and the name change seemed to make sense. I've been a bit sloppy on my old blog of late and needed to get my regular updates back so hopefully a new blog will give me the incentive I need - fingers crossed!!! As I'm typing this there are no pretty pics/links etc etc etc and I'm a bit lazy so give me time, it'll come.

I guess that it's only fair and proper that there is some sort of introduction, so here it is.
I'm Iain and I live in Devon which is in the South West of the UK (that's the name explanation over). Coping with my sometimes lacklustre sometimes manic lifestyle is the long long long suffering girlfriend Shelly and our 2 year old lunatic Springer Spaniel Rosie

I've been pootling along in Triathlon for 15 years and was running on and off for a few years before that. I can swim pretty well, I can run pretty well but my biking is a bit of a let down by comparison. Biking is my weakest discipline hence it's the discipline I like the least need to train at the most but actually (of course) train at the least.

The big target this year is Ironman Florida as it was in 2004, 2005 & 2008 all of which I screwed up along with Ironman Austria 2003 and The Longest Day 2004. I'm not good at Long Distance Tri so of course I keep getting tempted back for 'one more try'. Surely this year I'll get it right!!! Don't hold your breath.

I may as well be honest from the start .......... I'm lazy and that's not helped by my diet, my job and this year of course the good old British weather. I love race days, especially local races. They're great social occasions and of course you get to race against people who could ultimately become friends and training partners. The outcome of the race never matters too much, sure it's nice to do well but I always judge my performances on how I felt rather than where I finished and who I beat or beat me. I've never been spotted collapsing over a finish line totally spent, there's always time that could have come off. Sometimes it's annoying that I haven't got that 'killer instinct' but mostly I think it helps me enjoy the sport even more. I also think my lazy attitude helps me stay healthy and injury free, in 15+ years I've never (yet) had a running injury and for someone that never warms up, warms down or stretches.

Nutrition is my biggest weakness whether socially or sporting. I'm far too attracted to junk food outlets and have never got my head around the idea of 'sports nutrition' although I have recently found a sports drink that I like the taste of which is a start (more about that later).

So that's about it I think. Am I missing anything?