North Devon Marathon

I raced at the weekend! You didn't know? Nor did I until Friday!

Haven't had time to blog about it yet, but I took my video ipod around with me as it wasn't very serious.

Very pretty race. Bloody hard though (and hot)

20 weeks to go - it's a bit of a mare

Well, it's 20 weeks to Ironman Florida. Amazingly Brett Sutton, Cliff English etc aren't crawling over each other to coach me (the don't know what they're missing) so I'll be bimbling along as normal this year. As always I'm now pondering the possibility of taking my diet/training etc etc etc more seriously, if this past week is anything to go by though it's not going to happen.
I've been 'very' lazy and the weather has been 'VERY' lousy which of course does nothing to help my training when I'm so easily swayed out of it.
As I can't really talk about my training because there hasn't been much going on I may as well ramble about todays club event

Today was the North Devon Tri Beach Aquathlon. It was going to be my first Open Water swim of the year. Not a major happening, just a bit of fun with few competitors and free entry into the Gold Coast Ocean Festival for anybody that finishes. A prize in itself that's worth more than the race entry fee.
I dragged my wetsuit out of the wardrobe, dusted it off and grabbed all the other required goodies and headed off to set the race up with Shelly. As we approached Croyde it became obvious that the sea was not pretty and of course the weather was bloody awful too. Not ideal conditions for a day on the beach, almost guaranteeing the local folks would likely stay in bed rather than come down on the day and register.
The first person we saw at the race site said "You won't be swimming in that!" and it went downhill from there. Setting up the race is always a hassle, trying to pitch gazebo's and set up registration in the middle of the beach with the wind and rain battering you is crazy though, especially if you're not sure what is going to happen. The RNLI are the authority on the Festival Sea Events so we chased down their main man and hassled him for direction. "You're not swimming" came the reply. "We're cancelling the SLS events and if Surf Life Savers aren't going in then pool loving Triathletes are asking for trouble".
It was a tough call and not one that anybody wanted to make. We've never had to cancel a swim before and of course there were a few people who weren't happy but the decision was out of our hands and it had been made.
We knew some people had travelled for this event (probably for the Festival really) and we didn't want to just cancel or postpone to the Sunday as the SLS event had done so we decided the only thing we could do was make it a run race. I grabbed a load of signs, some handy posts, a roll of pretty take and headed out into the weather with my club buddy Sally and my trusty Garmin hoping to measure out something around 8-10k. An hour later we were back having arranged a 4 lap off road course of sand dunes, beach, road 'and floods' that measured 5.2miles. It would have to do as it was only 10mins to race briefing now and Shelly was getting flustered by the odd ranting idiot who thought that because they swam well in surf the whole field should have to risk it. Some people just need to STFU and understand the safety implications.
I'd decided earlier that I wouldn't be racing, there were just too many changes to the event to leave Shelly dealing with it all so I grabbed the most annoying tannoy in the world (you needed to be there) and headed off to attempt a race briefing amongst a few hardy souls who didn't really know what was going on. Everybody was great though and finally we managed to set the small group off along the beach.
I'm sure it was a disappointment to most, you enter an Aquathlon and you want to swim and run. For the majority it was the right decision though and even though the surf had (typically) calmed a lot by the time the race started there was still plenty of surf out to worry anybody who wasn't overly confident in their ability. I'm just glad we managed to put something on, unlike the SLS event which just got scrapped for the day. Their competitors must be truly gutted.
Hopefully those that raced will now be enjoying the Festival and will try the event again next year when it WILL be gorgous and sunny - honest

Ikkle Sis's Burnham Race Report

This will no way be either as long or possibly as interesting as Iain's race report, but he asked me to do this for some strange reason.

I last did Burnham Sprint triathlon in 2007. Always loved the race as it has a flat bike and I get to see Iain and Shelly. I had booked to stay at Warren Farm in Brean from the Friday to the Monday. We arrived to pitch our tent on the Friday to RAIN!!!!! Saturday seemed better and I was hopeful of the usual sunny weather for this race but it wasn’t to be

I am notoriously known for being early. I could never rock up with 5 mins to spare as Iain does. I flap too much. So at 6am I was in the tent getting breakfast for me and my 3 sons. I had planned to take them to the race with me but as the weather was so crap they stayed with my dad in the warmth and shelter of the caravan.
At 7.30am I left the campsite with my mom as support crew. She was the only one daft enough to brave the rain and wind we were having.
When I got there I realised I had not stuck my sticker on my bike so made a dash to registration to get a new sticker and racked my bike. My bike was straight outside the swim exit. Not sure if I liked this or not as it seemed a long run down to where I could get on my bike.

So my start time was 8.50am. By 8.20am I was in the changing rooms waiting for my number to be called. I have known this race to have 6 in a lane but it was quite nice with 4. You were left to argue who went where, but we seemed to figure we stayed in number order. I caught the girl in front of me but we were the same speed once I had her and I had that mind game of to pass or not to pass. I decided against it. I didn’t want to push my shoulder too much as it still isn’t 100%.

Out to the bike, the rain was still coming and the wind was horrendous. On route there was a nasty side wind which was actually dangerous in places. Pretty eventless on the bike apart from an incident with a horsebox who couldn’t get past a parked car so I had to stop and wait. Other than that I stayed on my tribars all the way round (a first for me) and actually past 2 people on the bike (another first). The only race I have ever past anyone on the bike is this race and last time it was Patrick Barnes (see below) and Iain says that doesn’t count.
Into transition for the run and this is where I realised I couldn’t feel my fingers or my feet. This didn’t help with getting my helmet off or my shoes on.
The run……hmmm, what can I say about the run. I hated every step of it. I really need to work on this. I seem to be the only person who does an Ironman shuffle for a 5k. The way back in along the beach was especially hated, I felt like I was running on the spot in places, and the finish seemed so far away and took so long to get to.
The result……….well when I did this race in 2007 I did a swim of 9.53, bike 45.58 and a run of 42.42, giving me a total of 1.38.33
This year I did swim of 9.18, bike of 43.05 and run of 36.48 giving me a total of 1.30.37!!!!!!! In the weather we had……I’m happy with that
Next race Hereford. …..wonder if I’ll beat last years time

Wondering who Patrick Barnes is? Click HERE RIP fella!

....... and down came the rain!!

Apparently it's Summer and the news last week was all about how the UK had had it's driest Spring ever and was heading for a Summer of drought. Yet while all this news was being broadcast it was damn cold, blowing gales and mostly throwing it down with rain. Im not sure where the droughts are supposed to be, but here it's been more like March than June.

The awful weather had given me just the excuse I needed to put in a really poor week of training ahead of the Burnham-on-Sea Sprint Triathlon. I even bailed out of my traditional 80mile bike ride to Burnham the day before the race because I feared the cold, wind and rain of Exmoor. I opted for a safer 36mile plod to Puffin Billy and back instead.
Come the morning of the race the weather was just as predicted - bloody awful!!! The first waves had the worst of it, they were off at 6am and not only had the monsoon conditions but the early morning cold too. As a lot of these were the slower/fun athletes I really felt for them as I was sat in the warm, dry caravan eating breakfast while they were struggling round.

I made my way down to the pool and I really wasn't feeling it, had I been at home the night before I'd have seriously considered not bothering to travel at all, but I was already there so it had to be done.

I racked the Focus, leaving helmet and run shoes in a position where they at least wouldn't fill with water. Outside of the weather the bike was going to be interesting because last week I decided to remove all the spacers from below my tri-bars hence lowering them by two inches. My seatpost also keeps slipping every time I ride the bike, even with 'special' carbon seatpost grease and a properly torqued clamp I'm never at the same height finishing a ride as I was at the start. Add to this the weather, the potential flooded roads and the winds battering my front 808 wheel it was all set to be a 'fun' 12 miles.

I had an approximate start time of 9:40 alongside my clubmate Phill who once again was looking to kick my butt on the bike. He'd got revenge on his mind after I smashed (for me) the bike course at Taunton taking him for over 2mins. We sat on poolside chatting with all the other 'quick'(??) swimmers and finally it was out turn. We were started a lane at a time when one became free, there were 4 to a lane and we started at 10 second intervals. This format seems to work quite well, so long as everyone has put accurate times down.

Phill's lane went off, then another lane was called before finally it was my turn. There were only two of us left, there was only two in our lane, we were the final starters in the race. This turned out to be a good thing as Rich, the poor lad sharing my lane had found himself there due to a clerical error and his swim time was over 2mins slower than mine. It worked out fine though because although I overtook him three times we managed to get through the swim without ever getting in each others way. It was as good a solo swim as I could have expected, although I'm sure a bit of company and some pressure would have helped me swim faster.

I was only 2mins into my 500m swim when I noticed Phill had already got out. I knew straight away that the chances were I wouldn't see him again until the Finish.

I exited the water, grabbed my number belt and glasses and ran out of the pool into T1 in 7:07 alongside someone from the previous wave. As normal I then got dropped in transition as I messed about putting my shoes on rather than doing the ITU style running leap of faith mount while my shoes were attached to my bike. I was soon into my rhythm though and re-passed the cheeky beggar before starting my charge around the course.

It's funny how race mode affects you once the mist comes down. I remember only really getting held up in traffic once, I remember spending lots of time in the middle of the road avoiding huge puddles of standing water, I remember the awful headwind in the last 3 miles, I can't actually remember whether it was still raining or not though. I'm sure it must have been as it didn't seem to stop all day, but suddenly, when here is a number on your back, you ignore little things like weather and just focus on getting round the course as fast as possible while staying in one piece.

When I hit T2 Phill's bike was back and he was long gone. I grabbed my trainers out of the carrier bag they were in and struggled to put them on while all around me shouted (friendly) abuse. I'd hit T2 with a cyclist I'd caught, but once again left behind him (I really must practice these) and he took off like a scalded rat, just before the beach though I caught him and ran past. Time to get into my zone and get moving.
The out leg of the run was fine other than the sand being extreemely soggy, but even though I hit the sand dune onto the golf course at a good pace and my Garmin recorded the first mile at 5:47. Sweet!! I cruised around the trail section watching my footing, taking special care on the well soaked and slippery wooden bridges and trying to conserve a little energy for the return along the beach where I knew the headwind would be evil. As I climed the dune back onto the beach my Garmin registered mile 2 at 6:09, better than I expected. The last 1.3miles was simply torture! My legs started tying up as soon as I hit the wind so I tried to stay upright and focus on my form. Then from nowhere, just as I was struggling the most, somebody came flying past me. "Where the hell did he come from?". I felt real deflated as he simply ran away from me. Then I had a word with myself!! I was the last to start, so I'd obviously passed him somewhere before, he had to have started in an earlier wave so I didn't actually need to finish ahead of him to beat him! With that I got myself back into gear and started an attempt to chase him down. He was tiring and must have looked over his shoulder for me at least 5 times, I was feeling strong again and working hard. I was gaining, but by so little it was hardly worth it. The Finish Line was too close and I wouldn't keep this pace up much longer anyway. I crossed the line around 20 secs behind him.
The wait for the results began and it wasn't long before we found out the pass on the beach had been terminal and had cost me the win, 2nd place was going to have to do. In an added bonus Phill kept his ever improving season going with a fine 3rd place finish. I've no idea how the Timing Company managed to get my finish time a full 30secs slower then I made it on my watch, but then they are the same company that totally screwed up the Taunton results (from which I'm 'still' awaiting my winners cheque) so I guess I should just be grateful they got me on the results at all.

Next up is 'hopefully' a solid week of training followed by the Goldcoast Aquathlon on Saturday. That'll be all about having a bit of fun and getting in my first Open Water Swim of the season. Brrrrr. Better go and dust off my wetsuit!

Two posts in a week?

Really? Two posts in a week? Can it be true? I don't know yet, I've only just started typing.

I'm writing this on a Sunday morning when I really should be out training. The reason? Because I simply can't be arsed to train! It's a motivation problem I suffer from a lot and is one of the reasons my last post existed, because if you're committed to meeting people then you HAVE to get out there and meet them. Right?

I noticed that even on the mag feature in the last post I'd talked about how I'd trained with running clubs around the country. Mostly that was for the same reason (and the showers of course), but having a club to go to on a regular night keeps you going there and the enthusiastic athletes will drag your ass out there training. So many people I see/read/hear HAVE to go out training, their sport is like a drug to them, if they can't get their regular fix of exercise they're a nightmare. Me? Not so much. I could quite easily become a beer swilling couch potato, but for whatever reason I don't.

So enough of the blah blah blah, it's time to write something that makes me look a bit better, to make Ironman Florida seem a little bit less daunting than my current fitness and attitude suggests it should.

I set a goal at the beginning of the year to put more training in on a monthly basis than I did in 2010. Then I got ill and got injured, it fell at the first hurdle. Even now, at the beginning of June I'm still 20hrs behind my 2010 total....... BUT! 2010 was my Hawaii year, a race that went OK at best. I should really be looking at how I compare to 2009, the year I qualified for Kona, the year I did 9:40 at Ironman Florida to finish 8th in my Age Group (and still only raced 'ok'). Compared to 2009 I'm actually well ahead.

Sure the first three injury and illness riddled (for me) months were lower than 2009's totals, but only just. April and May however seem to have been a revelation as the two 43hr training months dwarf the 30hr months I posted in 2009 and even beat my 2010 totals. A lot of this is just down to longer (group) sessions, not more sessions, so hopefully it'll be building up a good base. I'm still having far too many days off, I'm still too lazy when I train alone and there is still nothing that even slightly resembles 'structure', but what's new there. I sometimes wonder what people think when they see my training totals. I can imagine some people look at it and think it's rediculous, it's almost 1.5hrs a day which is 2hrs a day if you lake out my non-training days. Other people (Ironman people) must think it's pathetic. I remember hearing once that to aim for Hawaii you need to be prepared to train 20hrs a week, that's double and more the training I'm putting in. A quick Google search pulled up this LITTLE GEM by Russ Cox.

The training he was putting in simply scares me. It was huge in volume, focus and structure where as mine was ......... mine was just whatever! Yeah sure he finished 30mins ahead of me, but (there are always plenty) reading his race report his race went a lot better than mine although he too struggled and had a far from perfect race, even with more than double my weekly training. If you've got any Ironman plans take a browse around his website, I plan to now that I've found it, there seems to be lots of good stuff on there although I scared to click on the 'Sub 10hr training' in case I start feeling as though I'm not worthy. So from now my focus is on my 2009 totals which is nice because my biggest month (October) was only 50hrs compared to the 67 & 55hrs I posted in August & September 2010.

I'm curious about what other people train. Sit down, look through your training log and work it out. I wouldn't be suprised if a lot of you Olympic Distance Triathletes out there are actually putting in more hours than I do. You're certainly ALL more structured :-D

Train Strong Folks.

With a little help from my friends

As Joe Cocker, The Beatles, or if you're like me The Wonder Years used to say. I get by with a little help from my friends.

Last months training involved 'a lot' of help from my friends! There was also a lot on 'non-training' going on though. In fact I only trained for 20 of the 31 days, although on the occasions I did train I averaged more than 2hrs a day which ended up being a 44hr month. My biggest month of training since September and my biggest May total since 2004. I won't kid myself though as a big chunk of that total was achieved over the Bank Holiday weekend we've just had.
So where's all the friend stuff come in you ask? Well here's the thing. I know that for some people the idea of me being a 'lazy Ironman' is hard to understand, but it's true. In this last fortnight we've had some damn awful weather and I've put in my normal 'big hours' at work but I still managed to put in 23.5hrs of training which for me is huge (not by most Ironman standards). The thing is that of those less than 8hrs of my training was done alone and if I take running the pup out of the totals then I only did 3.5hrs truly solo.
So thanks to Chris, Phill, Tim, Dave and anyone else who's willing do drag my sorry ass out of the door for some training. It's appreciated, no matter what it is. Any training is better than no training, so keep it up (please)!

In other news, if anybody happened to pick up a copy of Trail Running Magazine you may have noticed some ugly fella clambering out of a lorry on page 118. That'll be me, they'll take anybody on these days :-)