Hey, it's MOvember

I've been getting some odd looks lately, nothing new there you may think, I'm always getting odd looks. Lately those looks have come from people that know me and are wondering why I've got stupid facial hair growth. I'm very rarely clean shaven because I'm just too lazy to shave regularly but on the days I do shave then everything comes off, I certainly don't walk sporting a moustache without any reason. The facial hair was in evidence last year too but that time it was accompanied by my rediculous green haircut which distracted peoples gaze from any facial fungus I may have been sprouting (such a flattering pic).

So, if you don't know about Movember then rather than have me trying to explain and taking two paragraphs just click here and have a look for yourself. It's all for a good cause.

So now that's out of the way it's time for a training update - erm, erm, erm - ah well you see ................ I haven't really got anything done so there's not a lot to report other than a 12.5mile run with the pup on Wednesday. I'm still chillin and getting fat and it's now 20 days since I last swam or rode my bike.............. heck it's been 20 days since Ironman, how time flies.

There was a nice piece about my race in the local paper the North Devon Gazette (page 85) which has led to a few congratulatory emails and a bit of excitement at work, there was also a smaller piece in the North Devon Journal which was nice too. It feels kind of uncomfortable having people I know congratulating me, I'm not really a publicity seeker (despite this blog) and generally keep what I do outside of work away from work. There's no real reason for it other than I can't imagine how anybody other than a triathlete would have any interesting in my trip to Florida, or my impending trip to Hawaii.

Maybe I should jump up and down shouting about it more, start writing to companies exagerating how great I am and chasing sponsorship, but that's not me, I prefer to do things on the quiet. People who know me will no doubt get fed up of me talking Hawaii this and Hawaii that but that's their own fault for knowing me ;-)

Anyway, that'll do for now. By my next post I PROMISE that I will have started training again. I've got a big race next weekend after all.

A few thank you's

Ok, I'll keep this one short. It's the last post I'll do that will have anything to do with Ironman Florida. I know we're two weeks later and it's old news, but there were a few things I'd forgotten. If I forget any more then I'm sorry, but it won't get mentioned.

First up, I realised that I never actually wrote down my finishing time/splits etc, so I'll get that out of the way.

90th OA/8th AG - 59:20 (5:17) 5:00:47 (4:26) 3:29:40 = 9:39:27

So now that's out of the way there are a few folks I'd like to say thanks to that helped me out along the way. Local folks first I guess.....

1) All the folks at North Devon Tri who've supported me and trained with me pre-race, were all sat screaming at their computers until stupid o'clock at night watching race updates and looking for me on the live Finish Line cam. They've all been fantastic post race too. Probably the best and friendliest club in the world, so good that they should be sponsored by Carlsberg.

2) Then there is Maria another North Devon Tri clubmate who's been spending time every week I have a free Thursday trying to get my body into some sort of shape. Not the easiest task when you're faced with someone who never warms up/down or stretches. Often left shaking her head at the idiot who's just rolled off her table she's done a wonderful job with a (very) limited patient.
3) The folks from Bike-It in Barnstaple who finally stopped my Quintana Poo being a creaking clunking machine that I was ready to throw in a hedge every time I rode it. Just the placebo effect of riding a bike that's quiet must have been worth a few mins out on that bike course.

4) Our new friends at Freedom Sports who were just brilliant to us in the week leading up to the race as well as being there cheering, supporting and shouting encouragement every time they saw me out on the course. If you're thinking about any races in PCB next year pop in and give them your business. Thanks folks, maybe we'll see you again some day.

5) Last but not least I'd like to thank Reflex Nutrition who randomly emailed me earlier this year and said "Would you like to try our stuff". Of course I said yes and I haven't looked back since, so much so that I paid cash money to buy another 2 tubs. I've been using 'The Edge' and I love the taste of both flavours which is a massive factor. It's got me through Florida with a huge new pb (ok, there were other factors) and I've every intention of using their stuff at Ironman Hawaii too. Maybe I should lobby them for sponsorship ;-)

So that'll do for this post. No training updates because I haven't really done any training to report on. Hopefully by the next time I post I'll have at least started doing some work rather than just sitting back and piling the lbs on.

Until next time................. Be seeing you ;-)

One last sneaky edit at the end. I guess I should really thank Shelly and my family back home who have been as supporting as any family can be (even though they bullied me into taking that Hawaii slot). They should know how much I appreciate them but no doubt somebody will read this and thing "Ha, why doesn't the cheeky asshole thank us!". There may be others out there who think that, folks who've have given me a hand in some way. They should also know me well enough by now to realise that I'm half soaked and will suddenly remember them while I'm miles away from anywhere only to forget again by the time I get home.

Drafting Hilarity

I've been watching over the last week at how the issue of drafting at Ironman Florida has taken off in a big big way due to one man and his bike cameras. In its own way it's quite amusing because you would think it was a new issue. I've done Florida 4 times and have followed many of the years I haven't been there, drafting has ALWAYS been an issue just as it is at the 70.3 World Champs in Clearwater.

Above is the video that's caused all the controversy this year, some fantastic camera work and a great watch of what to me actually seems to be one of the smaller groups that you get out there. Below is a short video clip taken at a turn in 2007 which shows the spectators eye view of a similar 'peleton'.

What I don't actually understand is why people are so suprised. We all know it's breaking the laws of Triathlon and we all know it shouldn't be done and the chances are that we all know athletes who will do it (over any distance) given the chance, I certainly know of a few with a 'reputation'.

Here's my take, you can read into it what you will.

Firstly I've not got a magical solution, I'm not going to tell the WTC how to solve the problem. I've seen the draftbusters in action many times and I genuinely feel they do as good a job as can be accepted. This isn't going to be the normal rant, I'm not going to bitch off against everybody riding in that video, I'm certainly not going to condone it, but I am going to give my thoughts on why the packs are so big and why I believe many people would rather not be there.

Here's the thing..................... I DON'T DRAFT!!!!!! .................... never have and never will. I'm one of the old school who moaned that the ITU were killing the sport when they made Elite races draft legal, I've NEVER been busted for drafting and I don't know how I'd show my face if I was, but I still have a little sympathy for some of those folks who are and those that ride the packs in Florida.

To understand my reasoning you need to realise that I'm not the 'normal' Triathlete with their Type-A personality. I try to think of it as having the ability to race near the ego's at the front of the pack while having the mentality of those social racers who happily cruise along at the back. I'm quite happy in the knowledge that I've probably never done that 110% effort at a race, I've always been able to look back and know I could have gone a bit faster and in 15years+ of racing I've never seen the inside of the med tent or been stuck on the end of an IV drip. I just haven't got the ability/ego/mentality that will let me push that hard. "If it starts hurting, back off!!" is my normal race day mantra. It's just a race............ and unless you're up there with the top Pro's the Ironman isn't even a race, it's just a long tough training day.

So what's my odd sympathy stance with the Ironman Florida (and Clearwater)drafters all about then?

Well I'm a half decent swimmer and if you take the Pro's out of the equation (as they had a 10min head start) then I was in the top 20 out of the water in Florida, although it certainly didn't feel like it on race day. Unfortunatly though my biking isn't at the same standard as my swimming so pretty early on I find myself slowly going backwards through the field. As a rule I don't suffer the problem of people drafting me, if they need to draft me that then they're really not quick enough, but I have in the past 'accidentally' missed my cage with an empty drink bottle or touched the brakes a bit harder than necessary when I have had unwanted company.

So I'll get out of T1 well up the field and I'll even start to pass a few faster swimmers, then in the first 10-15miles I'll have some hard riding athletes come past. This is normally where my blood gets boiling when I see a hard charging cyclist go past a cyclist I'm gaining on only for them to swing out, grab some free speed and disappear into the distance. I soon forget about it though as I've enough to think about just getting my own race right.

Where I have a little sympathy is when the big peletons come past. I can always tell when one's due because there is always calm before the storm. I'll ride along not seeing anybody for 10miles+ and you can just tell that the next person past will be followed by a big group, they'll start as small groups when I'm still placed quite highly but as the race goes on the groups get bigger. The problem is (and this is where I have some sympathy) that you reach a point where the peleton isn't really moving much faster than I am and I find myself sitting up and looking back to see just how many people are there. I can no longer ride at 'my' pace because the little bit of draft I've already got would keep me in the pack, all I can do is sit up, soft pedal and drift to the back of the pack. Once I'm out of the back I'll sit a legal distance back and carry on, but it's well known that even a legal distance back you get some extra so I find I can keep up with little effort while knowing I haven't got the bike strength to go past and disappear into the distance (after all, they've just caught me up).

I can do that, I can sit off the back and even drop off the back without a worry because I'm riding MY race and I'm not thinking about prizes, positions or even a Hawaii slot. But what about those who are a bit more serious? What about those who are chasing a Hawaii slot who have a group come past with 2-3 people from their age group in it? What about those Type-A athletes who've trained religiously all year in a bid to qualify for Hawaii and they can see their chance disappearing because someone has ridden past in a group? Do they sit up and let that chance ride away or do they bite the bullet and join in with the rest? It's so so so tempting, even for me. For someone more competitive it must be a 'no-brainer'. Risk losing a slot at Hawaii to someone who is willing to draft or risk getting done for drafting, heck they might gain more than the 4min drafting penalty if they tuck in and it could all be for less effort too, saving their legs for the run. Chances are though that it's the honest folks who can't resist the temptation that get busted though (these are the folks I 'almost' feel sorry for) while the seasoned drafters/cheats will no doubt be checking over their shoulders looking for any sign of officials when they'll suddenly become totally law abiding and either ride past the pack or drift slightly off the back. It's a bit like speeding in your car, how many people break the speed limit but back off the moment they spot anything resembling a police car. Same thing.

For me! I'll stick to riding legally. Unfortunatly flat courses suit my weedy style of riding, I can sit aero and spin my legs out but I've no strength when the hills appear. I'll get found out in Hawaii as it's everything I hate about a race heat/hills/wind, but I've got the chance to go so I'll be there ;-)

Kona and the awesomeness of race marshal's

Things just picked up.

For anybody reading this who has somehow stumbled across this by accident and not through my Twitter page or through being part of my family or friends then the big news is that I’m off to Hawaii, or at least the WTC have had my $575 so I’d better be or it’s a big old waste of money. Every Ironman I’ve done has been aiming towards the possibility of a Kona slot, except this one. I’d even said that I’d turn the slot down if it came along and I said it again when we realised that I’d got one. I have also said in the past though that I’m not sure I’d have the balls to turn down the offer if it came along, it turned out that was the correct statement especially when word got out I’d qualified and was thinking of saying no. The wave of support/abuse was overwhelming and however it came the message was always the same. I HAD to go to Hawaii, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and one that I couldn’t turn down. Family, friends and clubmates have been amazing since the race, especially since I mentioned that the cost factor was one of the reasons I was considering not going. The offers and ideas of fund raising ideas have been immense, if a little uncomfortable. This is after all a lifestyle choice and especially in these tough financial times the idea of other people chipping in for me to take Shelly on a holiday to the sun doesn’t seem right. Still, I guess it just goes to show what sort of friends I have and if they’re willing to help me along the way by organising some way to fund raise then I’d be stupid not to throw myself into it. So long as I can give something back in some way it wouldn’t be too bad, I guess it’s only what Pro’s do for their sponsors all the time. Having said all that of course if anybody reading this is part of a big company (or knows of one) that would like to help me along the way then bring it on.................... hey, if you don’t ask ;-) So back to this event and my seemingly constant disappointment which seemed to continue on the following day. It’s often the little things that make the biggest impression and in previous races the day after race day has always been a celebration. You’d collect your Finishers Certificate and there would always be a newspaper with a full listing of race results and a few pics in it, then after the Awards Banquet (which has never been worth the money you pay for guests) you’d get a short DVD with clips of the race on it. It meant you left the race with a good feeling, no matter how good or bad your race had gone. This year there was nothing, not even that standard feature of ANY Iron Distance event the finishers certificate/photo. Sure you can have that Finishers pic, but like everything else it’ll cost you (Shelly bought the lot).
I don’t want to go out on a downer though so I’ve left the best until last – THE RACE!!! If you’re thinking of going to Ironman Florida next year then you’re too late, it’s full! It is worth it though and I’d love to come back again some time, the people here on race day make it all worthwhile. Whatever my thoughts about the pre and post event, whether it’s lost some of the sparkle or whether (as I hope) this year was just a glitch down to the construction problems and new organisers finding their feet come race day it’s brilliant. From the moment you roll up to get body marked nobody can do too much for you, there are mechanics and all sorts of helpful folk in transition pre race and the beach is full of happy smiley faces. The wetsuit strippers and T1/T2 folks will do whatever you want, including smothering you from head to toe in suncream if needed. Out onto the bike and the draftbusters were plentiful and doing as good a job as they could against the packs of cheating bastards that formed in places. They’ll never get them all and no doubt the ones that do get caught will feel hard done by because there are others that get away, but if you ride legal you won’t get caught – they’ve never had reason to pull me up. Wonder why!!! I carried all my nutrition on my bike so saw very little of the bike course aid stations but people I spoke to after said they were every bit as helpful as the run stations.
Out onto the run is where the real work begins, it’s where you hit the wall, it’s where you start getting annoyed and angry if it’s going wrong. It’s hard to get annoyed and angry though when you’ve got people shouting for you all the way around the course. There are feed stations closer than every mile which are quite often imaginatively dressed up with a theme, inbetween these stations there are often more groups of folks out supporting and cheering, often dressed up in costume. There’s always something to keep your mind off the pain, then of course there are plenty of your fellow athletes out there suffering with you but still giving encouraging words if you’re down to a walk. Finally there are the Police!!! They probably have the most thankless job. The run and to a lesser extent the bike take in plenty of road junctions and the traffic becomes very congested later in the race. YOU are their top priority and you never have to worry about your safety when crossing. They’re not the most sociable on race day, but they’ve got a serious job to do and I can imagine they get more than their fair share of abuse from disgruntled motorists. They quite often get overlooked when the thanks are given out, probably because it’s their job and they’re paid for being there. I stopped and thanked a couple that I saw after the race and they seemed to be genuinely appreciative and as proud of the race as anybody else there. No doubt they wouldn’t remember me being nice to them if they pulled me up for speeding though ;-)
That’ll do for now. A final bit of closure on Ironman Florida, I’ve a few people to thank but I’ll leave that until I’m back home and I can find links to them that I can put on here – no doubt I’ll still forget people though. For now though the challenge is to let Shell enjoy the last few days of her holiday while avoiding the worst of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida that’s drifting through. She was so looking forward to some beach time this week too – ooops!! At least she’s got some beach time to look forward to next October ;-)
When and Whenever you're out there racing, say thanks to some marshals on your way round. It's not going to break your race and a bit of praise might mean they'll be back to support you again next year. They give up their time so that you can have a great race. RESPECT THEM!

The day after I finally got one (almost) right.

Morning All.

It’s 3:30am, the morning after the big dance and I’m wide awake, strolling about ............ and aching as though I’ve been beaten with a baseball, everywhere!! My legs ache as would be expected, my neck aches, my shoulders and arms ache, my back aches. I had a proper workout yesterday.

So straight to it then. Everything started normally enough for me, transition opened at 5am but I’m lazy and I was still in bed then so I made my way down there around 6am, I threw my drink bottles on my bike and headed down to the beach. The sea was every bit as choppy as it had been in the previous days but it was hardly Croyde on a windy day. We stood around for a while, watched the Pro’s start, listened to the National Anthem and we were away.
Right from the start I just got battered, firstly it was by the people around me as I seemed to get swallowed up despite being right on the waters edge, then it was from that damn chop. There were no waves to speak of but it was never calm either, just a constant battle for 3.8k or in my case 4+k as my normal useless navigation alongside the rip tide had me swimming in all directions. I’ve never felt so beaten up after a swim since I did the monster Perranporth surf swim of legend way back when. That time it was fear for my life, this time it was just a constant hour getting battered.

Finally out of the water in an hour (5mins down on my expected time) I got de-robed by the wetsuit strippers, collected my change bag and made my way to T1 where I wiped the sand off my feet, put on my garmin/helmet/bike shoes and headed out to find my bike. It was nothing special, just a transition and I was soon headed out on the bike.

The first hour of the bike was awful, I felt seasick and my stomach was bloated after drinking far too much of The Gulf during the swim. Thankfully there was a nice tailwind on this section so I didn’t have to put much work in. I soon learned that my 125bpm upper limit wasn’t going to be a problem as I was struggling to reach 120, so I just kept bimbling along at my nice steady pace and waited for the first peleton to arrive, it didn’t take long but I just let them get on with it, I’d got my own race to do. The first real big pack didn’t come past until 35miles, it’s then that you notice the people you’ve overtaken earlier who are taking a free ride. In this case the most notable was a Female Pro (named Balding) who I’d overtaken at 20miles when she was riding solo. I didn’t see her again until 85miles when she was again solo and riding a lot slower than when she had ‘help’.
The first 2-3 groups I just have to ignore, I know they’re well above my abilities but soon you start getting overtaken by groups that are actually not much quicker. When this happens I just drift to the back and sit a legal distance off the back watching the blatent group riding ahead. It has its disadvantages of course, there’s no doubt that even riding legally you still pick up some draft, but you don’t get the full pack advantages and when somebody drops off the back because they’ve got in above their head it means I fall off the back too. I could shoot past them and rejoin the back, but that turns a steady paced ride into an interval session and that would be real bad news. When you sit off the back just doing your thing you also get to see the draft busters doing their thing they are plentiful and do as good a job as they can on a single 112mile loop but they’re fighting a losing battle and you ‘almost’ feel sorry for the 4-5 people they give penalties to when there are another 15-20 in the group that are just as guilty.
Early on I was averaging 23mph and hardly turning the pedals and I knew there would be payback, it came in a huge stretch of road, probably around 30miles of it with a constant headwind, my average speed was soon on a downward spiral and I was very happy when we finally turned off the road. There is one very bad stretch of road which was littered with gas canisters, water bottles and all sorts of bike goodies, thankfully everything I was carrying stayed put though.
At 80miles we rode through a feed station, I was carrying all by nutrition on my bike so whenever this happened I pretty much rode past any groups ahead, they would soon come rolling back past en masse once they’d topped up. This time though I was feeling super strong (and bored) and decided to put the hammer down for a while. I started reeling people in but after 5miles I was wondering if I was about to blow my whole race, very time I caught someone though they looked as though they’d been blown off the back of a pack ahead and not wanting to tow them along I just rode past them and pushed on ahead. My fears about blowing my race grew a bit more at 100miles when almost everybody I’d overtaken in the last 20miles caught me again after they’d formed their own little group. The last 10miles were just a gentle spin of my legs back to transition, there was a bit of a headwind but I’ve had a lot worse. If I’d realised how close I was to breaking 5hrs on the bike I might have pushed on a bit. The time was a huge pb and it again made me wonder if I’d done too much

T2 was pretty standard although after last year’s problems with my trainers full of sand I took extra time to wipe my feet clean and smother a bit of Vaseline on the soles of them, but that done I was soon out on the run.

The run started well enough, I was cruising along nicely and picking up places along the way. The initial plan was to walk whatever food station was closest to 20mins and take on whatever I felt I needed, plan B was to run when I could and walk when I had to but making sure that the run was never over 1min. The first 10k went well but I knew it wasn’t going to stay that way, the 2nd 10k was tougher and included my first toilet stop of the day, I was still happy to finish the 1st lap in under 1h40m. It meant an end to my hoped for 3:20 marathon because lap 2 was only going to be slower but surely I could do a half marathon on 2:10 and finally break 10hrs (I’d got 3:05 to get a new pb). There’s no escaping it, Lap 2 was tough going, there was much more walking going on, I started drinking coke (and then threw it all up) and I started doing the maths. How fast had I got to do each mile to break 10hrs? How fast had I got to do each mile to put in a 3:30 Marathon? All the sums helped to take my mind off the fact that my legs were shot to bits and occasionally I’d run right through a planned walk stop. The last 3miles were a real mental battle, my legs were shot, I’d started to hit the wall, I was getting pins and needles and ‘oddly’ my arms were cramping up. There was no stopping now, the finish line was getting closer with every step and that was all I wanted.

I took the final turn onto St Thomas Drive, crossed the path to Shelly and grabbed the Devon Flag then ran the last 400m with it draped over my shoulder. Finally I turned onto the finishing straight and with nobody around me I had time to straighten the flag out and do a pretty pose on the finish line. People have been waiting a long time to see me cross the Finish Line of an Ironman with a smile on my face, I knew that there were friends and family at home sitting in front of their computers until stupid o’clock at night watching me. They all deserved a show as a way of thanks for their support.

So that’s it. I can retire from Ironman happy with a time of 9:39, fast enough to be happy and get the monkey off my back but slow enough to make sure I don’t have the dilemma of a possible Hawaii slot........................................... Oh Crap!!!!!!!! What did I say? The results come out and there are 9 slots for Hawaii in my Age Group, I finished 8th. I’ve now got until 11am to decide if I’m mad enough to put my Ironman retirement back a year and do a race that involves everything that I hate. Wind, Heat & Hills, there’s nothing about Ironman Hawaii that appeals to my racing nature............. but ............... it’s Ironman Hawaii, a once in a lifetime opportunity and THE major aim of every other race I’ve done.

Oh what to do????? Watch this space.

Iron Eve.

Last day and last blog report before race day.
Today has been fairly chilled I guess. Not really the day doing nothing that I’d promised but that will surprise nobody.
After a quick hour fishing in the lagoon at the back of our apartment I had a stroll down to the beach for the Gatorade swim. I swam another steady lap of the course in the warm but choppy waters of the gulf, keeping an eye out for any shallow floating jellyfish while I swam. While I was there I found out that the Pancake Breakfast organised by the local church group was on after all and I was there like a shot. After a hearty feed I headed back to get my bike prepped for transition along with my transition bags which all had to be in the transition area by 3pm.
I wheeled my bike down to the transition area (and Shelly tripped, landing flat on her face – how I laughed!!!). With my bike racked and my bags dumped in the appropriate pile I strolled around the transition area with my ipod camera recording away while I checked out the bike porn (mostly Cervelo), then we headed to the Ironman Village in an attempt to get inspired to buy loads of goodies, it didn’t really work. So we headed back and I’ve been chilling out at the apartment ever since................... no, of course I haven’t been eating and drinking total goodness. Pop Tarts and Jelly Beans have been the taste of the day.

So, onto the plan for the race tomorrow. It’s nice and simple really.......... Swim, bike and then (hopefully) run.

The swim will just be the swim, nothing to worry about there. 55mins if all goes well, 65mins if I get beaten up at the start. It’s just the warm up.
The bike will be ridden at 120bpm. If my Heart Rate hits 125bpm I’ll be backing off. That’s a promise!!!
The run will be as good as my legs will let me go. If all goes well I’ll walk 1min every 20mins, failing that I’ll run until my legs start cramping and then I’ll walk for 1min. If that fails then I’m in trouble.

Easy isn’t it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hmmmmmm.

See you on the other side.

Last training and pasta parties

This started as a quicknote writting session, but you know me..... never have known when to shut up. I’m still not even sure if I’ll dig the internet access out to post it, so I might be wasting my time anyway. Firstly!!! It’s been 80F here today and we head two lads talking about having to buy long sleeved tops to race in on Saturday. WTF!!!!
So to start at the beginning,....................

Still on ‘almost’ UK time I was up and about at 5am so after wasting a couple of hours watching American TV I headed out for my final pre race bike ride of 14miles. It wasn’t too bad out there although it was a bit windy out in places.
With the bike done and dusted I had a stroll down to the beach for the first of the Gatorade swims (no free drinks this year though, there must be a recession on)where I did a nice steady lap of the swim course. The water was gorgeous as always, beautifully clear and warm. There were however a few too many jellyfish floating about for my liking and that wind I’d spotted on the bike made it a bit choppy once you got out of the shallows, no waves, just that bit of chop that meant you swallowed a mouthful of water occasionally when you tried to breath.
After strolling back to the apartment and getting changed I squeezed out my last pre-race run of 4.5miles, it was all nice steady stuff a bit slower than the previous run, but not much. Then there was just time for a quick shower before Shelly dragged me out shopping for the day (resting up!! Fat chance.

Tonight was the Pasta Party and race brief, another one of those things that seems to have dropped off this year. Getting extra tickets for the Pasta Party has always been something you can do either when you enter (12 months ahead) or when you register for the race. This year however you had to get down there early and queue up outside the hotel so that you could buy that extra ticket for your guests. If I was a proper athlete I’d be moaning about it being time spent on your feet that you didn’t need, but for me it’s just a big inconvenience to get this done on the night when it all could have been done and dusted by tonight. The pasta didn’t seem worth $25 but then it never does, we still go though.
Then there was the race briefing............... yes we should know better than to sit at the back, yes there were ample opportunities to move forwards, but a few more speakers would have been nice. As we couldn’t hear anything and it was our 4th Florida race briefing we decided to get back to the car and go before the hoards started to leave. We left at the end of the swim briefing and on the way back to the car we noticed how many people were heading the opposite way, then it clicked..... It was only 7:25!!! They were half way through the race briefing and people were still arriving because it wasn’t actually supposed to start until 7:30, I can imagine there may well have been a few angry athletes rocking up there.

Is all of this bad? I’ve no idea. Maybe it’s just that it’s different to previous years and I’m not good with change (although starting the race brief early probably isn’t the best). I’m sure that it’ll all be forgiven on Saturday afternoon.

I’ve taken a couple of video clips with the new ipod nano while I’ve been out and about. I’ve no idea how to edit or play around with them in any way so you’ll just have to see them as they appear. That of course all depends on if blogspot will accept their mp4 format. If they’ve worked they’ll be at the bottom of the page, if there’s nothing there then I’m sorry but at least it will mean you don’t have to listen to me talking cr@p. There should be - pre swim, after swim, empty transition area and pasta party. Fingers crossed.

Logging in

It’s been an odd week so far. Firstly because we’re on our 3rd day here and we haven’t seen the beach yet, normally the first thing we do. Then there’s the Ironman, it just doesn’t seem the same. Maybe it’s because we’ve been here three times before, maybe it’s something to do with the WTC taking over the organisation from NA Sports, maybe it’s something totally different.

Today was the first day of the expo, registration day and it was all ‘different’. There’s a new site for the village seemingly because of construction work taking place opposite the normal race HQ. The new site is smaller which may account for there being far less there than normal but it doesn’t account for the lack of new IMFl merchandise on sale.

Normally I’m straight into the village to buy a bundle of branded mugs which I give out to various folks who’ve helped me along the way, plus a couple for myself of course. This year they’re just more of last year’s supply rolled out onto the shelves again. That seems to be the same for a lot of the smaller souvenir stuff which is good for my wallet, but a pity all the same. Of course there are new suppliers that are Ironman sponsors, Ceepo are there along with Cervelo which is nice bike porn and K-Swiss are there in force but I’d never heard of them in a sporting sense before this year, is there gear any good or have they just thrown a load of money at the WTC? I’ve no way of knowing. It also seems that this year the local churches Pancake Breakfast has been dispensed with which was one of my race week highlights.

Tomorrow is the first big pre race swim session and hopefully this will give me some of my race week mojo back. How I feel about the whole thing won’t make any difference on race day of course, it’s just a pity that for whatever reason things seem a bit low key this year.

This morning I chugged out a 4.5mile run and a 20mile bike before starting all of the Ironman Village Gubbins. Tomorrow I’m planning something similar plus my first visit to the sea for a swim and then that will be it until I line up with 2000 others on race morning. Bring it on!!!

Quick update

In a feeble attempt to keep this daily(ish) here's a late night update on todays going's on.

Woke up at 5am which is 11am UK time so it's not too bad. Emptied my suitcase and built up my bike while Shell slept.
Went out for a swift 4.5mile morning run @ 6:25 pace to try out my Nike Marathoners, I still haven't decided what I'm running(???) in yet, I'll try the Brooks T6's tomorrow. Headed out to some local shops and bought myself a pretty new iPod Nano with a video camera feature so watch out for upcoming video's from the race site once I've figured out how to use the thing. Also today I met the chap who's riding the bike for the lead runner on Saturday, he's from a local run shop where we spent even more cash. I told him I looked forward to a long chat while he was riding with me ;-D . After that it was back to the apartment and just time to take my bike to the nearest race mechanic to have it tweaked and get the tyres pumped up. Quick blast on the bike as it got dark - 7.3miles in 19mins.

The only downside to the day so far is that I appear to have misplaced/lost/left at home the connecting dock for my Garmin 305. At best this means I'll either find it or find somewhere I can buy a new one, at worst it means I'll be racing on 'percieved effort' which is probably no great problem as I'm far more chilled about this race than before. If I race without then so be it.

Tomorrows plan is to sneak in a repeat of todays run wearing my T6's then hit the bike for 20-30 steady aero miles. Then it'll no doubt be an afternoon in the Ironman Village spending plenty of $'s.

Now though I need to stop piggy backing peoples WiFi and get back to the apartment. I've a glass of Drambuie with my name on it.

I'll try to be back tomorrow........... Maybe with added iPod video footage, who knows.

Thanks for the comments folks. You know I'll be hauling ass for at least 1 mile of the run course ;-)

Hello from PCB :-)

Yay! We’re here at Panama City Beach. The holiday can now start for real.

After a pretty good night of sleep in Atlanta we fuelled up with a good hearty breakfast (I fuelled up several times) before hitting the road for PCB. After an initial circuit of the roads surrounding the hotel trying to work out which way we were heading (oops) we set off on the 300+ mile drive. It all went pretty well and we only missed one turn which didn’t cause too much trouble. The hire car is more than adequate, not quite the monster thing we had last year but it’s comfy, got plenty of space and all mod cons including a dinky rear view camera with a picture that magically appears in the rear view mirror – sweet! The only thing missing is XM Radio which means I can’t go out for a drive in the morning and listen to Chris Moyles on Radio 1, there is however an XM preview which is there just to tease.

Picking the car up was odd. We’d booked in advance so you rock up to the stand at the airport and go through all the details, then you have to catch a shuttle bus to a compound. Once you’re there the bus driver asks what type of car you’ve ordered and then says “They’re over there, the keys are in them, help yourself”. Ok, so you then have to book it out as you leave the compound but you do literally have a row of 10-20 cars to choose from, all different. I of course chose the only one with leather guessing that it was likely to be the best specced and other than the radio it hasn’t let me down. It’s even got a phone which we found out about when it rang just after we’d picked it up, only for it to be a wrong number.

So now we’re here and although the suitcases are all still packed we’ve already had out first visits to The Mall and to Walmart where we spotted several Triathletes walking around filling their baskets with fruit, veg and healthy goodness. There only seemed to be one Triathlete walking around with beer, cookies, pop tarts and sweeties in their basket. You don’t need to know who that was!!

The plan was to go for a run today, but it’s pitch black outside now and PCB hasn’t got the best street lighting so I’ll leave it until tomorrow. I’ll put my bike together later but can’t ride it until I’ve been out to but some gas canisters and a pump, hopefully that will be tomorrow afternoon but it can wait if needs be. For now though I’m writing this out before heading out to sit in the car near reception so I can get wireless access while Shell indulges in her love for ‘Bones’ as she’s found it showing on TNT there’s no moving her. If she’s not having to move though she’s happy at the moment because her back is totally shafted. There’s a diet of pain killers going on and any movement is having to be carefully thought though and carefully carried out. Fingers crossed she gets on with the bed here or she could be in for a tough couple of weeks.

I’ll try to get some pics and stuff up from here soon. I can’t promise anything though, internet coverage is a bit limited.

Until next time – Be Good ;-)

Off to the States

As I type this it’s -53C (-63F) outside (brrrr), but then again I’m sat at 38,000ft in a British Airways Boeing 777 heading across the Atlantic still 1400miles from Atlanta. The final stage of what I’m determined will be my last attempt at Ironman.
The last week of training has been patchy although I don’t suppose it matters a lot.
Monday and Tuesday were full of work and little else (as normal).
Wednesday I took Rosie Pup out on her last 7mile run for a while.
Thursday I rode a solid 40miles averaging 20.5mph on a windy Devon Day before hitting the pool for a straight 2km swim and taking in my final 2hr massage courtesy of my clubmate, the lovely Maria. How such a dainty lass can cause so much pain is worrying.
Friday was a very very long day full of nothing but last minute packing once my final work day was done which leads me onto the current 3 days of solid travelling.
Saturday started with a 3hr drive to the Midlands so we could visit the folks and drop Rosie Pup of for a fortnights ‘Boot Camp’ with them. After a few hours and a sneaky 9mile run it was time to make the 2.5hr drive down the M40 to Heathrow Airport. We’d got a package deal for 2 weeks of car parking along with a night at the Park Inn hotel which was well worth the money just to split the journey up. It’s a bit posh for us and their ‘standard’ room rate is scary expensive, but it’s only once a year and our package (with parking) was thankfully a while lot cheaper. They also do a fantastic 4 course buffet meal for £20 which was amazing value for money, the bottle of wine was very nice if not quite the same value.
Onto today and a flight from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 which is very pleasant. The bags were all booked in with minimum fuss, the staff were real friendly and there’s even a Wetherspoons so the food didn’t break the bank. There was also a Harrods so if somebody wants to buy a pair of slippers for £178 (yes, really) they can. Once we’ve finally landed, collected the baggage and dealt with the Immigration gubbins it’ll be early evening in Atlanta and Monday in the UK so it’s off to the Hyatt Hotel (another of Shelly’s deals) for the night and then on Monday morning there’s just the 300+ mile drive to Panama City Beach and we’re done. I’m hoping to get in a sneaky trip to All3Sports before we leave Atlanta to see what goodies they’ve got there that I can’t afford.
Once we’ve finally reached PCB there’s not a great deal to do really, just get used to the heat, spend a few days browsing the Ironman Village, get in a few small training sessions and chill for a while. Then it will be race day and before you know it I’ll be a retired Ironman.