Quintana Smooth & Dorney Relays

Bike Update

Johnny 5 is Alive!!! I picked the Quintana Poo up from it's new mechanic last Thursday and it was smoooooth. FINALLY it looks like I might have a bike to ride that's quiet. I'm Happy.

People keep reminding me how close Ironman Florida is. I really don't want to know!! I know I haven't done anywhere near enough training, nothing new there then. It's all going to come down to pacing (and nutrition). Get it right and it'll be a good day. Get it wrong ................ you know what happens then!!

It's almost time to start thinking about what (if anything) I'm going to have done to my hair. Normally I stand out from the crowd a little(!!!), but this year I'm not sure I can be bothered to have anything done. I know that if I don't then once I'm there I'll wish I had, it's such a fuss for something that's covered for almost the entire race. It's a real ice breaker at registration though - not so much at US Immigration Control.

Training's not been going great. I've only done 4hrs of swimming in the last 2 months, not that swimming matters. My biking hours aren't bad, but while there are plenty of 60-70 mile rides there's been nothing over 80miles which is generally where I start to suffer.

Anyway, time for a quick race report from the Dorney Lake Club Relays. I've been sneaky and cut/paste it from my Tri Clubs forum so if there are little bits that you don't understand I apologise. I'll try to tweak it and add some pics if I get time tomorrow.

Until next time.

Keep Tri-ing.

DORNEY LAKE SPRINT TRIATHLON RELAYS - My team were Dave S, Phill & Myself.

One of my clubmates commented that this race was very poor VFM. £40 and not even a tee-shirt for the expense/travel etc to show for it is very poor. But.............. ........... I didn't do it for the tee-shirt.
I can admit now that Shelly wasn't happy when I said I wasn't planning to race and while sad that clubmate Damo had to pull out she was also ecstatic because it meant she that we got to go . We drove up on Saturday morning to be greeted by the mahoosive registration queue, so carried all the stuff over the 'NDTC corner' and left registering until last minute. Luckily I didn't have to pretend to be Damo as my arrival at the Registration Desk I was greeted by a cheery "Hello Iain". How can I live with the fame?
Anyway, onto the race............ I didn't see the start as I was busy rushing around thinking maybe I should put my Trisuit & wettie on, I made it to transition in time to see Club Coach Toasty blasting his way to T1 in the lead for our 'A' team, then there was a steady flow of athletes until Dave S arrived and handed his timing chip to Phill. Wave 2 started appearing with Chris having had a fine swim and still in the mix although he did run up to the change area shouting that he'd lost his chip and so Tim took off without. Chris's declaration led to a demostration of how to put your timing chip on to make sure it stayed put and then amazingly Phill turned up 4th out of the water. Chip exchanged and I was away swinging my arms and yelling as I charged along the pontoon before doing a dive that Tom Davey would be proud of (maybe not!).
It was the maddest swim I've done in a long time, all technique seemed to go out of the window as I charged off through the back end of the wave 2 swimmers looking for the black hat of Tim. I didn't think for a second I'd catch him, I thought the gap between us was too big, but just as I was heading for the exit ramp I spotted a black hat and new it was going to be him. I tried to sneak past on the blind side to avoid being seen (I failed) and managed to hit the exit ramp fractionally ahead before charging across to the bike park where Dave was waiting to bike. Dave and Phill both rode cracking legs while we laughed at Chris for losing his chip and then laughed more at Toasty for going blasting past the bike exit and heading out for the extra lap.
As I headed to the bike park to take my turn I witnessed the Full On Tri boys at their cheating transition tactics again (tut tut!!) and when Phill returned I grabbed my bike and ran out telling them that this was how it was done properly. After my usual useless bike mount I was away and blasting around the course. Tim was a couple of minutes up the road but it didn't stop me chasing him and looking out for him in the vain hope that he was closer than I thought, all of the chasing didn't stop me saying Hi if I caught any other Team Green members while I was out there either. The bike was great (somebody frame that comment, I don't say it very often) and all to soon I was back racking my bike and handing over to Dave S for the start of the run section. Waiting in the run pen I saw the leaders come in, then saw Chris come in and Tim went flying out of T2. I glanced at my watch to see the time distance (waste of time really). Phill was soon back, but by now there were so many people out on the course there was no way of telling what lap many of them were on, so I just ran.
I had said there was no pressure and I could take it easy but in the back of my mind was the thought that maybe the team behind us had a fast runner who'd catch me if I backed off, so I didn't. Finally over the line in 3rd place behind the NDTC monsters (Toast, Chris & Tim) and the Ful-On boys. Very happy and much better than I'd expected us to go . Then we chatted some and cheered on the rest of the NDTC boys and girls who hopefully all enjoyed themselves as much as I did before popping down to the pub for a drink and some food with them all. Cracking day out, I very much enjoyed myself. Yes it's poor on the VFM stakes but it's got better every year for me and that's down to the fact that there have been more NDTC teams to cheer each year.
Well Done to the rest of you, I'm proud to be associated with every last one of you (even Tim )
PS - Sorry about the annoying yaping thing that I bought with me, I know she was a pain in the a$$. Sorry about Rosie too ._________________

The countdown is ON!!!

We're into scary territory. It's less than 50 days until Ironman Florida (46 days as I type) and it's the time when I start regretting all the lazy days, start wishing I'd got my butt out of the door on those wet, miserable days and start wondering what might have been if I'd got the proper mentality to take this thing seriously. Still, there's nothing I can do about the past now, all I can do is knuckle down and work my ass off for the next 6+ weeks, we all know it'll never happen though and in 45 days time I'll be sitting there cursing my laziness once again.

The biggest development of the last couple of weeks is that my pile of crap Quintana Roo bike is yet again in the bike shop, this time a different bike shop so that hopefully a 'fresh pair of eyes' can solve it's creaking, cracking noise issues.

So the last couple of weeks have been pretty ordinary but thankfully my clubmates have saved my blushes by dragging me out for a few decent sessions..

I had a couple of rest days after the Marathon as I was pretty wiped out from the travel more than the actual race itself which was all good. I returned to action on the Wednesday when I took Rosie out for a steady 7.5mile run, that was followed up on the Thursday by a 50mile bike ride (not nearly enough considering I had the day off work) and another poor showing on Friday saw me dossing around after work and only making my squad swim when I've time to do plenty more. The weekend saw the return of my 'warrior' status with 2 bike rides of 75 & 65miles and a very tired 4mile run on the Sunday evening, a 12h20m week of training complete but with 8hrs of it crammed into the last 2 days.

This is the way my weeks tend to pan out lately, with early starts and long days I constantly feel totally wiped out on Monday and Tuesday when i do either nothing, or very little. Wednesday is another long day with an early start BUT as I'm supposed to be off on a Thursday it isn't followed by another early alarm call so there's no excuse for not training and it normally becomes the start of my training week. As Thursday is often a day off I've got all day to crack out some big mileage, too often though I sit here on the computer looking out at miserable weather and wasting the day. THIS CAN'T HAPPEN IN THE NEXT 6 WEEKS!!! Friday is my longest day of the week in terms of how long I'm awake. My alarm clock will be ringing at 1am for a 2am start at work, then all being well I'll be home by 3pm and free to train. My only regular swim session starts at 8pm and by the time all is dome and dusted I've normally been awake for 23-23hrs.

Then comes the weekend!!! There's no excuse for not banging in the miles at the weekend unless I'm racing and even then there's no excuse. So many people have family commitments, wives, kids, babies etc etc etc that mean their time is limited. My only limitation is my own laziness! Shelly is golden where training is concerned, she's been around Tri as long as I have and knows how much training I should really be doing. She'll happily shoo me out of the door for a long ride or chase down the road to meet me if I'm doing some daft point to point ride. Far too forgiving when I reappear early because I can't be arsed though. I've even got clubmates who're willing to come out and drag me through 4-5hrs which is brilliant, I can't always meet them and some of them have the family restrictions which mean they need to go out at 5am (not a chance), but having the option and the company is a great help to someone like me.

So as I type this (it's now Tuesday) my training week has not yet started, once again I'm having 2 days off which can't be good. I'm off on Thursday though so all should be good for a Wednesday start and if my bike is fixed I may well do last weekends 100mile aero ride on Thursday. That could be the start of a double header because I've an 80mile point to point bike ride lined up straight after work on Friday when we head off to meet my folks half way to the my Saturday destination where I'll be racing a Sprint Triathlon Relay with 2 of my clubmates, we all swim/bike/run individually but rest up inbetween while our team mates race (s,s,s/b,b,b/r,r,r). With another big ride lined up for Sunday it could be a much needed big bike block. That said, this is me we're talking about and it could just as easily all go very very wrong.

I've actually no idea how much sense this post makes so please forgive it if it's a bit jumbled. It's just one of the joys of starting it on a Monday and finishing it on a Tuesday when you've other things buzzing around your head. It has to stop now though or it'll be Wednesday, Thursday or Friday before it gets finished, so sorry if it's left you scratching your head.

Wolverhampton Marathon

For 1700 excellent free pics of Wolverhampton Marathon and many other running events in and around the Midlands visit - RacePhotos

After last weekends cycling extravaganza (it was a lot for me!) I drifted into my normal lazy ass zone by doing nothing at all on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This was partly due to me being wrecked after the weekend, partly due to a big schedule at work and mostly down to the fact that I'd got Wolverhampton Marathon coming up and when I argued for and against it was a good excuse to be lazy. Luckily I finished work early (for me) on Friday and straight from work I jumped on my bike and started pedalling. I'd get an hour in before Shelly finished work then when she finished she'd got to go home, load the car up, gather the pup and head out on the 3hr drive up to Wolverhampton, picking me up wherever she caught me. We were of course taking differing routes, mine was more direct but Shelly's was faster by car and after a phone call just before she joined the motorway it was decided that we'd meet at Bridgewater Services which meant that I got a solid 60miles in before loading myself and my bike into the car and joining her for the rest of the journey.

Saturday was relatively chilled, but I went out for a wee 5mile run with Rosie pup just to give her some exercise which ruled out running the Marathon in my Saucony Grid 12's because they bust up my little pinkie toes, I popped up to the race HQ at West Park to enter (yep, I really did enter the day before) and then spent the evening out with an old school pal Pete where I filled my face at Mad O'Rourkes Pie Facory and drinking at The Crooked House. Not an ideal prep I'm sure, but it's all part of the fun of training :-)
So, onto Sunday and the day of the race. The decision had been mad to race in my Brooks T6 racers but Shelly would have my Nike Marathoners with her as a possible swop when I finished the first lap if there were any problems

I woke up and eventually crawled out of bed about 2hrs before the race start after being nagged by Shelly and my mother to find that my Garmin had totally discharged overnight rather than charging. A light panic ensued but it was soon hooked up to the laptop and a beady eye was being kept on it to make sure it behaved. After a cuppa, some breakfast and more toilet breaks than I care to mention (that'll be the Mad O'Rourkes) we headed out to West Park en masse. I had the full support crew of Shelly, Rosie pup, Mom, Dad and Sister Shell along with her kids David, Charlie & George who were all doing the Fun Run event. After another quick toilet stop I made my way to the start line on the perimeter road and settled in 5-6 rows from the front. The course had changed from last year and the first of these changes was the start. The 2008 start had you running through the park along the paths/service roads, I'm sure it was a good idea at the time but it was so congested it took ages to get anywhere, this year they scrapped that and just used the main road around the outside of the park, much better.
I'd decided on a race plan based on Heart Rate after last years successfully paced effort of 130bpm to start and climbing 10 beats every 6 miles. This year I'd push it a tiny bit more and run 140bpm for the first of two laps and 150bpm for the second. A quick Garmin check showed it now had enough life in it and after a slight delay because some idiot in a car was forcing his way through the crowd of runners we were off. The start went well and I was cruising along amongst a rapidly thinning bunch of runners when I glanced down at my Garmin and disaster, no Heart Rate showing. I touched my chest in panic and realised that I'd left my chest strap in my change bag. Balls! That's stuffed that plan then, time for plan B ............. Just run it!

I took 4 SIS gels around the course with me and the plan was to run at a solid but comfortable pace, then stop and walk for a minute every 5 miles and take in a gel during the walk section. Luckily the drinks stations were approx every 2.5 miles so I just walked through every 2nd one taking a gel and drinking water. For the 1st lap I bounced myself back and forth from a group of half marathoners aiming to run sub 1:30. I'd catch them, have a chat and then ease away from them, when I stopped for a walk break they'd pass me and I'd ease my way back to them once I was running again. It was all far too comfortable and my average speed over 9mph I started wondering if I was going to suffer later on. I finished the first lap 'high 5ing' my nephews David, Charlie & George and then set about lap 2. Suddenly I was alone as everybody else seemed to turn off to the finish. 13.1miles came up in 1h27m and still running well I soon spotted a group of lads ahead. I kept my pace steady and slowly but surely they started to come back to me, it was very tempting to run through the 15mile drink station to save losing ground but I stuck to the plan and after a minutes walk break it was amazing how little the group had taken out of me and I was soon on their shoulders and running past them.
At 18miles it started to hurt but my pace was still good so I pushed on towards 20 miles and decided I'd only walk 30secs, but then walk for another 30s at the last feed station between 22-23 miles. An extra section added to the 2nd lap meant that the 20mile feed station was late and by the time I got to it I was hanging, I stopped and took my much needed walk/gel/drink break before heading out again. I was suffering now and before the end of the mile I felt the need to take the rest of my minute walk. This was my lowest point and my slowest mile at 7:37, it was uphill though. I started running again and although I was struggling I took encouragement from the fact that the Garmin kept on telling me that I was running sub 7's and the two lads I could see ahead were actually getting closer so I kept pushing on. With a couple of miles to go I knew that a sub 3hr time was in the bag so I could start to enjoy it a bit more, as I ran back towards West Park I caught and passed the runner ahead of me, High 5'd my nephews again and put the hammer down to the finishing line in a bid to catch the one runner I could still see, I got no nearer though as he was running just as hard. I crossed the line in 2:56:35 which turns out to be a new pb and although I haven't got a 'real' pb because I've never trained specifically for a Marathon it's still promising to see that I can hold on, expecially with 4hrs of training in my legs from the previous 2 days. Just after I'd finished I met up with an old work pal of mine whose wife had been running the Half Marathon. She'd been aiming for between 2:30 & 2:40 and I'd told her to run scared because I was going to be chasing her down (only kidding). She'd had an amazing run finishing in 2:25 and so we were all happy :-D.

So, race complete, job done, solid training session in the bag. The gel plan seemed to work ok (no stomach issues), the pacing plan seemed to work fine and the shoes???? Well they would have been a total revelation if they were just half a size bigger. I've now got a lovely busted up toenail to show for the race, but it's the only downside. No rubbing, no blisters, no racing flat injuries. Please Brooks, make the T6 in a UK 12.5 for me.

That'll do for now, it's Thursday and I started writing this on Monday...... Oh dear! I really must start making them shorter.

Until next time. Run Strong :-D

PS - Now can somebody tell me how to do that after a 112mile bike ride please. I'm not a greedy man, I'll happily add a minute a mile to my pace, just no more 4:30-5:00 times pleeeeease.

Weekend Warrior

So Vitalyte asked their 1000 Twitter followers "Are you a Weekend Warrior" and I said "Hell Yeah". They asked my what my training involved, I told them and they said "Hell Yeah, you are. We'll send you some stuff to try out.". Now that's my kind of deal. I'll train, you send me stuff to try and I'll tell you 100% honestly what I think - job done :-D . Watch this space and I'll let you know how it goes.
On a similar subject I recently and totally randomly had an email from Reflex Nutrition asking me if I'd like to try a sample of their sports drink. Never one to turn down an offer I said "Yes please" and a few days later a huge box arrived with a 1.5kg tub of The Edge in it for me to try and share out amongst my clubmates. Nice!
Now before you read anything at all into this I'd like to explain that I know diddly squat about nutrition, a fact that is proven at every Ironman I do once I hit the run course and explode. What I do know is that (to me) The Edge is the best tasting energy drink I've ever had. The 'orange burst' tastes like orange with no chalky or tangy after tastes. It's like drinking an orange cordial that just happens to be full of the stuff I need to keep moving. Have a browse around their website and it will tell you all the nutritional gubbins that goes right over my head, what's good for me though is the fact that I like the taste and because I like the taste I drink more. No longer do I go out on a 60mile bike ride loaded up with drink and finish it having only got through half a bottle. If drinking more means I'm more likely to succeed in Florida on 7th Nov then I'm all up for it, even if it means I'm going to have to shell out cash money to buy some myself.

Enough of the stuff I know nothing about, lets get back to the 'Weekend Warrior' training, some of it will be a recap on my last post but here goes.....

Friday - I ran to my evening one hour long Squad Swim Session 13.5miles away after a 14hr work day that started at 2am
Saturday - I met a group from my Tri Club for a bike ride. After 50miles they all returned home and I carried on for another 30miles - feeling a bit tired now.
Sunday - A training morning with clubmate Tim. First we hammered around a local 20mile course on the bikes in 57mins although to be honest, he hammered and I just hung on for dear life. After the TT effort we rode to the local track where we ran 3x10x100m.
Bank Holiday Monday - Back out on the bike with Tim and another regular training buddy (Phill) for 70miles and 6,000ft of climbing over Exmoor. On the tougher climbs I was really struggling, but as the distance went on and the hills less severe I stopped getting dropped and even did the dropping a couple of times.

So that's it, 13.5hrs of training in a 60hr period and now it's back to 13+hr days at work with my normal mix of 2, 3 & 4am starts. Today? Ok, I'll admit it. I'm hanging after the weekend so I'm having the day off. Back to it tomorrow though in a reduced capacity and then come the weekend? Well who knows, but there's every possibility it will involve a long bike ride on Friday, a long bike ride on Saturday and then there's just a little jog in the Midlands on Sunday when I do Wolverhampton Marathon, I still haven't worked out what I'll have on my feet yet and no .... I won't be after a pb.

Ahhh the joys of training for an Ironman. Roll on November 8th when I can rest, rest, rest, rest.

In other news - I recently bunged off an email to the JBST Smartcast about my favourite subject of late 'Newtons'. I thought Joe and Alan gave a nice well thought out response to the question, although that may just be because on the whole their views seemed to mirror my own.