Lazy Ass Triathlete

Back to work

2012-01-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, Christmas and New Year are over, where did the time go? Happy 2012!! It's two months to the day that I was lining up on the beach to race Ironman Florida and it's hard to believe how much fitness I've lost and weight I've put on in that time, although if you saw how much chocolate, cakes and mince pies I've demolished over the holiday period you'd have a fair idea where the weight has come from.

So Christmas was Christmas and like the spoilt child that I am I had far too many presents for my own good. From tiny toys to Disc Wheel covers, from socks to jackets, from cash towards Kona to ..... erm, cash towards Kona. It's fair to say I was spoilt again :-D.

I actually managed to race twice too. On Christmas Eve we diverted our drive to see the family in the Midlands and called into Killerton Park, near Exeter to do the Park Run with Rosie where we finished 3rd overall on a muddy & slippery course, including a doggy type pit stop. Park Run is a FREE 5k run series that is held at 9am every Saturday at parks all around the country.

Then on the 27th of December I managed to drag myself around the Wheaton Aston 10k in 37:16 which was thankfully a little quicker than last year, although with almost perfect weather conditions I suspect it's really a slower performance that the 2010 snow-fest.

Since then training has been a bit mixed. New Years Eve was nice and chilled at home and I did the traditional NDTC New Years Day run and breakfast. Being a bit of a wimp I skipped the sea swim again in order to be able to feel my hands when I had my breakfast. I left that for the hardcore element instead..

In other news I've finally taken the plunge and signed up to be coached starting from the 9th January. My first week on 'the plan' is longer than my biggest week training for Ironman Florida! So either I'm going to have to pull my finger out and get training or changes will have to be made. In theory I should be able to manage it all ok, but I need to get my head round it first which is the hard part. I'll let you know more about how it's panning out when I get into it.

That'll have to do for now, I'm rapidly running out of time and don't want this to be the 5th post I've started but never finished. Until next time folks!!

A post about nothing much

2011-12-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hi all, it's been a while. Merry Christmas!!

It's been a busy month since my last post. Busy working, busy eating, busy doing nothing, but not really busy training. Ok, sure I did Cornish Marathon 2 weeks after Ironman but that's more a tradition than a race which my performance showed.that I was nowhere near recovered as despite starting at a stupidly easy pace I blew to pieces with 10miles to go. Other than that my training has been merely ticking over apart from last Thursday when my annual Birthday Triathlon turned into a Duathlon (4.2m/42m/4.2m) because of the Barnstaple Pool closure and just went to how exactly how much fitness you can lose in less than 6 weeks. It hurt!!!

In other news the new steed should be here next month thanks to my main man Michael at Bike It. We're still working on the exact details so watch this space next month.

I'm also 'finally' after around 2 decades of Triathlon very close to taking the sport half seriously and getting a coach - I really am!!!!!

I've spoken to a few folks since I qualified for Kona about trying to go that extra little step and training 'properly' rather than just muddling along as normal. Of course, it's not been easy. I've got huge financial/time/work restrictions but to take things seriously I feel I need something more than a generic program that make up most coaching set-ups 'basic' plans. I 'may' possibly have found a compromise though with a new coaching set up who seem willing to take a punt on me for a more reasonable rate - maybe it'll help their profile if they make me good......... As with the bike you'll need to watch this space to see what, if anything, comes of it.Unless in the mean time somebody comes along offering to coach me for FREE (any takers reading this??? I thought not!) then I think I might be putting some money into training for the first time ever in a bid for Kona Glory(ish).

That's about it really, it's December so there's not a lot to report. Next up is Wheaton Aston 10k on the 27th December when I'll be wobbling round with two days worth of Christmas in my stomach. Bring it on!!

Florida Aftermath

2011-11-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

So it's over a week since race day and I'm back home in the land of jet lag and currently with a huge dose of the post Ironman CBA's. I've no idea if there will be any training at all between now and Sunday's Cornish Marathon (not that it matters).

Florida Finish Line Video

I'm also in a bit of a mental mush so far as the race day performances went. There is no denying it was a tough day, the new course is definitely harder than the old one, it was certainly the windiest of the 5 races I've done there too. Yet you see Ronnie Schildknecht putting in the fastest ever time on North American soil (7:59:42) and I have to wonder if it was as tough as it felt, or if he just had the most amazing day out there. I can't work out if I swam/biked very well on a rough day or if the field was just poor.

Ironman Florida Splits

In 2009 I finished 91st overall (including Pro's) and 8th in the 40-44 Age Group with 9:39, but the swim was real rough that day and everybody was around 5mins down out of the water. This year I was 4mins quicker in the swim, 4mins slower overall yet I finished 30 places higher up the field and 4th in 40-44. Any other year I would need 9:30 to qualify, this year 9:48 got you to Hawaii. Maybe I should just ignore Ronnie's record breaking performance (and Jessica Jacobs new womens record) and write it off as a freak. Concentrate more on my improved positional performance and the fact that as a 'race' it was oh so good - until the run. After all, if I look at 10th position in all of the bigger Age Groups their times are 30mins slower, I should take that as a good thing I guess.

Be here before you know it

There are many lessons I need to learn from the day, especially now that I'm heading back to Kona. The first time there was all about the experience, it's the ONLY big race I've ever wanted to do and I was there, crossing the Finish Line was enough. This time I want to put in a decent performance though, it WILL BE my last Ironman (unless we win the lottery) so I want it to go well.

Can this cope with another TransAtlantic journey?

So, what did I learn?

Swim - I'm pretty good and my once a week swim sessions are plenty. I swim great in my wetsuit but need to practice getting out of it more (not an issue in Kona). My navigation still sucks and I should pay more attention to checking out the course and my sighting points in advance, especially if I'm going to find myself near the front.

Bike - I need to believe in myself more, for all my strength and power weaknesses I still seem to chug along at a fair old rate. Those weaknesses still need a HUGE improvement though. I really need to learn how to pee on the move and to get more comfortable spending hours in the Tri-bars (I moved about far too much). I really need to strengthen my quads! Maybe plenty of squats in the new year!! Who knows what I could do if I'd got the bike strength to get my HR over 125bpm.

Run - I've got to do more brick sessions and longer runs. My general run fitness and form ticks over quite nicely but there are huge area's of both that can be improved, especially my running ability after a long bike ride. I may also need to look at investing in a two piece Trisuit, those trisuits can be annoying when you've 'got to go'.

Time to chill. Mine's a pint

It's all pretty standard stuff and points that almost anybody could have told me long before this race, but Kona has got me thinking a little more seriously about things. I know I'm not going to 'compete' there but I want to do a lot more than 'complete' this year and I'll want to go significantly faster than I did in 2010.

Cracking pic taken by @MattyO_83

In the near future I've no idea what will happen. I'm very tempted to look at getting coached for the first time ever. Just finding the right coach for me would be a whole heap of hassle though - and then there's the cost. I fully expect that by the New Year when I'm thinking more seriously about things I'll be a little more casual and will probably just carry on as normal. Who knows.

IM Florida - The Race!

2011-11-09T05:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is a long one, a VERY long one!! You've been warned!! So for anybody who can’t be arsed to read through the whole guff here’s the facts and figures :-

61st of 2439 finishers overall, 4th of 419 in Male 40-44 Age Group

Swim - 55:19, T1 - 3:56, Bike - 5:01:40, T2 - 2:43, Run - 3:40:25 = 9:44:03

So now for the ‘War and Peace’ edition.

Everything on Friday went pretty normally. Of course if you know me then you’ll know that doesn’t mean I sat with my feet up all day like you’re supposed to. I went for a swim, went for the traditional Ironman Florida Pancake Breakfast that the church put on. I strolled around the Iron Village one more time (that didn’t take long), went to see the good folks from www.rennmultisport.com because after days of test riding, deliberating and pondering the purchase of a last minute ‘go faster’ item my head/wallet had ruled and it would be one purchase too far for this non cyclist. Then it was time to pack my transition bags and rack my bike before heading over the Mellow Mushroom for a ‘last meal’. It was quite a busy day really. All I needed now was a few hours sleep and it would be time to roll.

By the time I woke up on Saturday morning many folks would have already been buzzing around the Transition area. After breakfast I finally left the apartment around 5:45am and strolled down to the Transition area to get body marked and put my drinks bottles (and my glasses) on my bike. Then all I needed to do was get my wetsuit on and drop off my dry clothes back before winding my way down to the beach. Easy really isn’t it.

Soon I was following the crowd down to the beach and into the start area. I worked my way down to the edge of the water and looked for an appropriate spot that wasn’t too busy and waited for the off. The Pro’s were already swimming and the swim officials were shouting at people warming up to get back to shore so I knew the race start wasn’t far away. Just a little goggle/hat adjustment before I was ready for the off. I set my Garmin running and within a minute we were away.

As my open water swims go this one was pretty uneventful. The start cannon went off and I hit the water with over 2500 other people. There was a little jostling around as people sprinted past and over me in the early stampede, but soon I was in my own water in my own rhythm and going past them again. From that point on it was just a case of trying to swim in a straight(ish) line. On the first lap this was easy as there were enough people around me to keep an eye on in the hope none of them were using me in the same way. Somehow I found myself hitting the beach at the head of my pack though and I opened a small gap on them as we hit the water for the second time. With my notorious navigation issues the last thing I wanted was to be stuck out there on my own, so seeing a couple of people around 10m ahead I put in a concerted effort to catch them up. The stretch out from the beach was pretty easy and once I’d caught my targets I just swam with them comfortably. Then we turned directly into the sun and I really had no idea where we were heading, several times I’d get lost and have to search around under the water for bubbles or a glimpse of wetsuited arm/leg – it was easier than trying to spot a bouy. On the final leg into the beach there were just two of us swimming side by side, I’m not sure but I think the current pushed us well wide at one point as suddenly the group I’d left starting the lap seemed to make massive inroads into our lead over them. I was just praying my swim companion had better navigation skills than me or we could have been heading in any direction.

We hit the beach pretty much together and you just got a sense off the commentators voice that it was a pretty good swim. Turned out that we were 3rd & 4th Age Groupers out of the water (missing a $2k prize by just a minute) although I wouldn’t know that until much later. I had a real battle with my wetsuit as for some reason I just couldn’t get it off my right arm, it felt like I was stood there for ages losing time before the ‘strippers’ could do their work on me. Then I grabbed my T1 bag and ran to the change area, threw on my bike shoes, helmet and number belt (with my tracker attached) before heading out to grab my bike. Somehow I seemed to have a pretty quick transition time compared to those around me, even with my wetsuit issues. Maybe they were dressing up as it was a cold morning – I wasn’t!!

I ran out onto the bike course having seemingly made up a couple of places in T1 and rolled out along the beach road. It was here that I noticed the multisport mode on my Garmin hadn’t got my heart rate showing for the bike. No worries, my heart rate never gets very high when I’m cycling, so long as I don’t go out like it’s a 10mile TT it’ll be fine. I got overtaken pretty quickly but it was ok although I’d rather he hadn’t been in my Age Group, then as I got to Pier Park (around 5miles) I got passed again before catching and passing a Pro woman (who’d started 10mins before me). Then it went quiet and I just chugged along at my own pace with nobody in sight for a while.

We turned off the beach road to head inland after around 7miles and the wind that had been around all week suddenly became very apparent. Looking back and seeing nobody behind me it was on this section that I had a little chat with myself and decided how my race was going to go. I knew I was obviously in a pretty good position (although I had no idea just how good), I’ve been racing/riding well this year AND I’ve always said that it I ‘raced’ this particular Ironman properly I’d got a good chance of winning my Age Group. It was time to put up or shut up, it was shit or bust time! It’s going to be my last big race, so head down, no messing around, let’s just see what I can do. I might blow to pieces, but then I might do that anyway. If you don’t buy a ticket etc etc etc.

I pushed on into the wind for the next 50miles losing just one more place while passing another Pro woman AND a Pro man(what’s going on there?). At 50miles there was a truly awful out and back section of around 10miles, the road surface is shocking and it leaves a bad feeling about what is otherwise a very good course, there are so many other roads the organisers could possibly use it seems a shame. At the turnaround of this horrible section I had the chance to see what was going on around me. Ahead of me I saw plenty of bikes but I couldn’t tell who were Pro’s and had started 10mins ahead and who were Age Groupers. The bad news was behind me where I could see people chasing me down. Lots of people!! In 60miles I’d only been passed 3 times and now it seemed like the whole field were waiting to pounce, then it started as at 62miles a small pace line (NOT a pack!) of 3 cruised past. Damn!!

We’d now had more favourable winds and the pace picked up and I tried to hang with the last man of the trio. Then came the urge I’d been dreading all ride – I needed to pee!! Here lies a big problem, I CAN NOT pee on the move! It’s really not something I care to practice on a cold UK Sunday morning when I’m all dressed up and it’s not something I’ve ever been able to do in 7 previous Ironman races. Normally it’s not a big problem, by now I’m generally in amongst the masses trying my best to ride legally while the infamous Ironman Florida peletons swarm around me, I’ll pick my time and stop when I feel it’s just too much. Today though I was riding well and they hadn’t caught me, the last thing I needed was to lose a couple of minutes doing an ‘Austin Powers’. By now the pace line had split but I was still with the last man of the trio, we were on I-98 which is a succession of rollers and strangely I seemed to be the stronger rider on the climbs. I tried so many times to freewheel and relax on the downhill sections then make up any lost time when we climbed again but it wasn’t to be and at the 80mile feed station I just had to stop.

A volunteer held my bike for me while I went into the portaloo where I peed and peed and peed for what seemed like forever, listening out as I heard the sound of at least three disc wheels go by. I wasn’t happy, what a waste of a solid mornings riding. I climbed back on my bike and sure enough there was nobody in sight, I was an angry man and pretty much time trialled the next 6-7 miles until I could see someone ahead. By now we were on I-79, the road back towards the beach and the only time we had a true tailwind all day. I was flying along but so was everybody else. At just over 90miles we had another out and back section and along here I finally caught my target, this was certainly no easy paced Ironman ride. We turned again into the headwind and it was killing me just to stay close to him but I wasn’t letting go after the work I’d put in to catch up. Then we were back onto I-79 again, we rode up and over the lagoon bridge again (the biggest hill on the course). Just after the bridge somebody came flying past me, he was only the 7th person to pass me (while I was moving) all morning. Then as he rode past the rider ahead I saw the tell tale swerve to the left and he disappeared up the road with a new companion sitting right on his back wheel, I wasn’t riding close enough to respond and just had to let them go.

Then came the nastiest part of the bike leg, the final 7 miles along the beach road with the huge condos funnelling the headwind right at you. Stuck in no-mans land as I had been for most of the ride I just kept turning the pedals hoping that some huge group of 30 weren’t going to swallow me up in the final miles. The last mile was the toughest, I knew I’d put a good shift in and was actually feeling emotionally drained. Strangely I actually felt myself welling up a few times as people cheered me in towards the transition area. I knew that although it wasn’t a bike PB I’d put in as good a ride as I was ever likely too. Now the question was just how badly was it going to affect my running?

I hit T2, handed my bike to the marshals, grabbed my back and ran to the change area. It was good to see a few folks still sat in there changing so my last miles hadn’t lost me too much time. Just socks and shoes to put on, I was out of the door quickly and immediately making up a place. Game On!!! This was the challenge, now I was into the unknown, could I run after working that hard on the bike? I saw Shelly inside the first mile and warned her that the run could potentially turn ugly before heading off again.

In my rush to make up time in transition I’d forgotten something. Once again I needed to hit the toilet, but this wasn’t as simple as a pee in the bushes. Hmmmm! Then just after a mile I came to the first feed station and was straight into the porta-loo, race belt off, trisuit unzipped, trisuit down……….. just bloody wind damn it!!! ………. Trisuit back on, number belt back on, another minute wasted. Grrrrrrr!!

I hurried through the aid station keen to make up some time while not pushing too hard and came to the infamous ‘Girl Zone’ which was hosted by the Renn Multisport crew and their friends. After the disc purchasing dilemma then knew to look out for me and I’d promised them I’d be animated when I ran through there. I was very animated, especially when my left hamstring cramped and turned into a lump of concrete. Damn that hurt, another minute lost in agony as I waited for the cramp to go and tried to massage my leg out a little. No more animated feed stops for me. More time lost, were these daft avoidable things going to come back to haunt me?

I set off running again, keeping my stride short and my heart rate low. I was moving along quite nicely but it was obvious that this pace was pretty much all that I had in the tank, it wasn’t going to be a quick run but I knew another 3:30 Marathon split would give me a nice PB to go home with. The first lap wasn’t too bad, it was tougher and slower than I’d have liked, partly because of my first mile issues, but I wasn’t feeling too bad. The second lap was more of a chore as my body started to suffer from the days fun and games, it wasn’t helped by my Special Needs bag treat either. One of my pre-race specials when I race an Ironman is a bottle Ensure+ for a few extra calories. I’d got a bottle in both of my Special Needs bags too but I had chosen to ignore my bike collection. How I wished I’d ignored my run bag too when I spent the next three miles with a grumbling stomach before spending a couple of minutes leaning against the 16mile marker while throwing up the entire contents of my stomach. From then on my stomach was all good although unfortunately it didn’t rejuvenate my legs. By the time I got to St Andrews Park for the 2nd time my fingers were starting to cramp up which is never a good sign. I walked the next feed station grabbing hold of grapes, cookies, water, sponges and several cups of coke before deciding to continue walking until the 19mile mark to give my feast a little time to settle. I knew it would cost me a lot of places but if it helped avoid the risk of a total blow up then it would be worth it. From now on it would be run (ok, jog) all the way home.

I slowly but surely made my way back around the course, knowing the sub 9:30 target was well out of my reach I was in no rush and just enjoyed it the best that I could. With a mile to go I saw Shelly and collected the Devon flag off her. There were a couple of people just ahead of me but nobody close behind, I debated the Sprint Finish approach but we all need a good finish picture right? (damn, that cost me 3rd place!!!).

So that’s about it, the long drawn out tale of my race at Ironman Florida is finally over. I was going to go further into the mistakes I made and things I learnt but they’ll have to wait because this has dragged on far too much already and if you’re still reading I’m amazed. Looks like the Iron retirement is on hold for a while, I’ve got a rematch with Hawaii lined up now.

Nearly there!!

2011-11-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

We’re just one day away from Ironman so I expect this will be my last post before it’s all over.

So for anybody bored on Saturday you’ll be able to track the race happenings on http://www.ironman.com/. You’ll find me on the race tracker by looking up number 1826. If you’re REALLY bored I’ve also got a personal tracker which ‘should’ hopefully track me from the moment I leave T1 until I finish(the same one that died in Kona). The link for that will be at www.Track.MyAthleteLive.com/vemap.aspx?name=051651 . If I remember correctly there will be a map of the course and links to other people wearing the device so you can see how we’re comparing to each other.

So now that’s out of the way, what has the day before the day before involved? Well it started with a blog post, I’ve never posted so much! Then I popped down to the beach with Stuart and we went for a short sea swim just to get the feel of things. It was all good and there weren’t too many jellyfish, although we only swam 10mins out and 10mins back. That was followed by a browse around the Iron Village(s) which are still pitifully small. Small as they are I’m somehow now pondering buying a www.rennmultisport.com Disc Wheel after taking one for a test spin on my bike. Reading reviews and forums they seem pretty popular but a local bike nerd that I know doesn’t appear to be a fan at all. The price is more than right and if future bike plans work out it could actually free up some much needed money long term by allowing me to sell my ZIPP 808’s. At this moment in time I’ve no idea what I’ll do, but if I get one then I’ll be racing on it Saturday. Watch this space!!

Yesterday afternoon we had an Ironman ‘Tweet-up’ organised by Frayed_Laces. In typically useless Iain fashion I’ve no idea who most of the people are and my useless memory where faces and names are concerned mean that I didn’t really make a big effort to find out as I’d only forget again. They were a great bunch though and all very friendly and I’ll be doing my best to recognise them out on the course (I really am that hopeless), especially the two girls riding with the draft bikes. I certainly don’t want to be upsetting them 

The evening was the Pasta Party and Race Briefing and possibly the worst Pasta Party I’ve ever been to. Not only was there not enough tables/seating but for long spells they ran out of food, then even with a makeshift buffet with whatever was left lining one table they were still selling tickets at $30 a pop. A guest ticket is possibly the worst $30 you’ll ever spend at this Ironman, but we still all do it to get our other halves in. The Awards Banquet will be the same but we’ll no doubt still be there for more disappointment.

So onto today……… It’s time for any final bike tweaks, like maybe a new wheel – or maybe not. I need to get my race bags packed and get everything down to transition. There could always be a swim, bike or run thrown in there along with the traditional Pancake Breakfast and maybe even a massage. We’ll see.

See you on the other side.

48hrs

2011-11-03T04:37:00.000-07:00

Hey, it’s Thursday morning. Just two days to go! We’re another 24hrs closer to this craziness being over. So what’s been happening?

Chill man, just chill...

I was up at my normal early o’clock, so after bumbling about doing various things (including yesterdays blog) I headed on out for my now regular 4.75mile run. This time I tried to keep my HR as low as possible (below 130bpm) to replicate what I’d like to do at the start of Saturday’s race. It was a real trudge and felt nigh on impossible to do without walking. The pace was still good though and if I can turn along at that pace with that ease on Saturday I’ll gladly mix some walk breaks in to keep things low. Of course it will be a whole heap different then though.

After the run we strolled down to the Ironman Village which seems tiny this year compared to the past. There’s hardly anything there at all, it’s very disappointing. We did manage to time everything we did there perfectly though which was nice! When we got there registration hadn’t opened yet and there was a queue almost out of the car park. I wasn’t having any of that so I headed for the Ironman shop and stalls. We had a quick look around and bought a couple of nicely discounted items (I’m skint remember) and got paid up at the cash tills pretty much straight away. It was fun to spot the first timers with bulging pockets, on woman just ahead of me spend $800 (almost £400). She seemed to almost have one of everything and she was LOVING it.

Busy times in the Iron Village. Ker-ching!!

After the browse around the shops we headed back to the registration tent and guess what………. there was no queue – bonus!! Things there seemed a little slacker than normal too, maybe they were just chilling a little after the initial rush. They even let Shelly come in and walk around with me which they’ve never done anywhere before. Then just as we were about to leave the Iron Village my phone rang……

Our house guest/lodger Stuart had appeared in PCB. A few weeks ago we heard an old BCT club mate from way way back was racing, he was struggling a little with his accommodation plans and ………… well, we’ve got a spare bedroom in our place. So here he is! We met up, got him and his luggage back to our apartment and sat down for a chat and a catch up. It’s been a long time!

Part of the 'tiny' Iron Village. Some of the chosen few!

Once the chatting was over Stuart put his pretty Argon bike together and we headed out for a spin. I was meeting up with fellow Twitter nerds @GardenTri and @trijon who are also racing on Sunday. With both of their real names being Jon it’s slightly confusing, but easy for me to remember at the same time! @trijon brought a couple of racing friends too, so after a little pre meet spin with Stuart we rode a lop of the run course in our little group of 6. It was nicely chilled, an easy pace (except for an effort at the end) and great fun. I got 20miles in altogether and averaged close to 17mph which was amazing, especially considering the stop start nature of the route as it zigzags along the beach road.

After we went our separate ways post ride it was time for food. We were starving!!! So we headed over to Pier Park and ended up in The Olive Garden. It’s somewhere I’ve always fancied but never been to as I’m such a ‘pie & chips’ type fella. It was very different, but very nice. They seem to like their salt there which is ok by me, but I can imagine some folks might find it a little OTT. I enjoyed it though and as an added bonus I fully expect to be ‘cramp free’ today.

Most of my club pals will want these for 2012. Get in :-)

So that’s about it. More of a diary post than anything today. Today, if I get into gear I might manage my first swim in the gulf. Have a browse around the other ‘unofficial’ stalls at Spinnakers and put in my final run before hopefully another meet up this afternoon and the Pre-Race pasta party/race brief. I’ll take my ipod in with me to listen to some tunes for that one.

Enough for now. Go get yourselves training!!!

Bike Panic/Florida Training

2011-11-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

It’s Tuesday at 5:30am and I’m in the land of jetlag, by 9pm last night I needed matchsticks to hold me eyes open but now I’m WIDE awake. It’s not a worry though, I’ll need to be up earlier than this on Saturday, so if I can wake up fresh it’s a bonus. Not sure how I’ll feel about trying to get down to the Finish Line for the last hour though if I haven’t levelled out by then.

We’re all settled in the apartment at the same place we’ve stopped every year. It’s nice and tidy, but as always there are a few issues. I’m sure for example that an apartment that sleeps 6 people should have more than 2 knives!!!

The first day in PCB started well (other than a bit of an aching back). Of course we woke up stupidly early so I headed out of the door while it wasn’t too hot for a 4.5mile run. The run was great but I was still sweating like stuffed pig at the end of it even though the sun had hardly risen……… then the fun started.

It was time to build up my bike!!

First up I had to open my bike box up (it was half open after customs didn’t shut it properly) to find a nice chip/gouge out of my bike frame. Nothing structural (I don’t think) but damn annoying all the same. Then I started putting it all together, bit by bit it went together and then suddenly “AAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!” came the shout along with lots of swearing. Shelly came running in asking what was up, “I’m screwed, in deep shit” was the response. “My seatpost clamp is sitting on the dining table at home and it’s unique to my bike. Without it there’s no bike!!!”

For 15mins everything went mental. Shelly went into organisational overdrive trying to figure out how we could get this little wedge across the Atlantic while I tried to work out how the hell I could afford to hire a Cervelo from the Ironman Village. We called the neighbours, they went round our house and then we called them at our house. I tried to explain what they were looking for and they tried to find it………………… Then a lightbulb went off in my head, I looked in my bento box and THERE IT WAS, tucked away where I’d put it – safely where it “couldn’t get lost”.

I looked like an idiot, but the panic was over and I could finally finish putting my bike together. 15-20mins of panic, panic and more PANIC was over. Phew!! The rest of the day was spent walking around shops while my heart rate and blood pressure slowly came back down to earth after the mornings shock.

Today (Tuesday) started with a repeat of Mondays 4.75mile run, but at a steadier pace. The triathletes are starting to arrive as on Monday I saw nobody out running, today I saw 6 other runners only one of whom had the race week ego on him not to return my greeting. Then after a quick trip into town I went out with Shelly so that I could ride the far end of the new bike course. It was a tough ride, much tougher than I expected. There are some real good drags out there and there was a good breeze blowing which made the early sections feel real tough although of course it also helped the return sections fly by as I chased along trying to get my average speed up to something nearer what I’d like it to be on race day. If I have to work that hard on race day I’ll be in trouble when I’ve got to run after it.

Once the bike ride was over I changed and we popped into Pier Park for a walk around the shops and to people watch as people walked around there in bike gear, run gear and of course compression gear. For some reason I still can’t see myself like that, a race tee-shirt is about as much as I can muster the courage to wear.

Tomorrow it’ll all kick off in earnest. Race Village opens, registration opens and I fully expect the hoards will come to town. I’ll be shaved/waxed bodies and 4% body fat everywhere. How on earth are they all going to cope when this hairy 40 something with his muffin top kicks all their butts??? (Ok, I’m joking :-D).

Blog from the sky

2011-10-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, you’ve got to do something on a 9hr flight across the Atlantic. So you might as well blog, or at least write something for later.

We’re finally on our way to PCB for Ironman Florida, somewhere just South of Iceland having been royally screwed out of almost £140 ($200) by Delta for the carriage of my bike box, that’s just one way!!! Still, it’s done now and by the time you read this we’ll be safely cooped up in Panama City Beach, moaning about the heat and less than 6 days from the big day.

So, how’s taper gone so far? Well, I don’t call myself the Lazy Ass Triathlete for nothing and with some of my main training weeks only resembling a lot of Ironman Athletes taper weeks my taper seems to have dissolved into almost nothing. I’ve managed a total of 3hrs training in this last week and if it wasn’t for a bike/run/bike session in the hotel gym last night I wouldn’t have sat on a saddle for over 7 days.

I haven’t been helped by the beautiful British weather though which has done its level best to blow and or wash away half of Devon over the last 7 days meaning I cancelled my Monday night track visit and my planned Thursday assault on my local 20mile TT leg tester where I was confident I could push for a new pb had the conditions been favourable. Still, they say it’s better to be undertrained than overtrained - so I should be ok then.

It’s not all bad though, the three sessions I have done all went well and I put solid shifts in for all of them so there was no slouching around for a change and I’ve even had my pre race shaving so there will be less drag while I’m out there……….. ahhhh, hold on! I mean Shelly has buzzed my head with the clippers on a grade 4 and the unsightly growth that all too often sprouts around my face has gone. If you were expecting tales of leg/chest or even ‘back, sack and crack’ waxing then I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed.

---------- There seems to be a lot of coughing going around on this plane!! Bad Times -----------------

The bad weather and lack of training did mean though that I had plenty of time (which I need) to get my bike dismantled and packed on Thursday and it seems to have been one of my better efforts, although I’ll know more when I unpack it of course. My suitcase packing too almost seemed too leisurely and comfortable so I’ll no doubt report back later when I work out what I’ve forgotten.

Even this weekend’s travel seems to have been relatively hassle free, especially after our booking error where somehow we managed to be leaving from and returning too totally different airports. It didn’t start too well with us leaving home a little late and then getting caught in all the holiday traffic with people heading home after their kids half term breaks. That meant we were over an hour later than we originally planned to meet my parents for lunch at The Bowl Inn, Almondsbury after which they took Rosie pup off for her holiday at their house (yes Shelly cried!!!). We then chugged our way along the M4 to Heathrow where we stopped the night at The Renaissance which was nice (good gym). We’re leaving the car with them for the duration of our trip! This morning we had an early 3am wake-up call (helped by the extra hour due to the clocks changing) so that we could be ready at 4am to meet the Taxi which was taking us the 45miles to Gatwick Airport. Now there is just the hassle of US Immigration and the baggage claim/drop at Atlanta to deal with and fingers crossed we’ll soon be settled in PCB – I’m sure this paragraph will get altered before it’s posted if anything goes drastically wrong.

The week ahead could be a busy and interesting one. It appears that we’ll have a lodger up until the race as an old clubmate of mine should be appearing. His race preparation and organisation makes anything we’ve done look like it’s been executed to the ultimate though so I’ll only be certain he’s coming when he gets here.

-----------Oooops, that was close. The woman in front of me just reclined her seat and nearly broke my laptop screen in half------------

Thanks to the joys of social media there should be a few meet ups too. It’ll be nice to meet in person people I only know as a name on Twitter. It’ll also be nice to look out for some faces while I’m out on the course (especially the run) next Saturday, rather than it just being a procession of unknown blank and painful bodies staggering along the road. It’ll be good if it gives Shelly a few more faces to shout too rather than just seeing me appear every hour or five.

-------------- Ahhhh, we’re here ----------------------------------

Phew, here I am typing from PCB the morning after a 20hr+ day of travelling yesterday. I’m knackered and my back aches like hell but we’re here and that’s the main thing. This blog is a bit random, there’s no pretty pics or anything, but hopefully I’ll get a bit more regular (how many times do I say that??) over the course of the holiday. There’s no direct internet access in the apartment but it’s just a stroll down to reception before I can sit down and post random rubbish – expect bulk Twitter overload!!

Right, now I’ve got bags to unpack and a bike to build so I’m going to post this rot, hope it makes some sense and it isn’t just a random bundle of words. Next time I’ll try to post in the same day with words that fit together 

Almost there!

2011-10-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Race Number 1826 reporting for duty

Somehow time seems to have flown and race day is just over two weeks away - how did that happen? We're now in the period where apparently I can't really do anything to make myself faster or stronger, I can now only do things that will keep me where I am or mess things up. It seems that it's time to taper, or in my case ......... go back to normal!
I've never had or understood the whole taper thing. This buzz people get, they get irritable because they're itching to train, straining at the lease raring to go, race day can't come soon enough! Really? Can't say that I've ever noticed. I'm just glad that I haven't got to force myself out on 80-100mile bike rides any more.
Maybe it's because my training has no structure to it, maybe it's because the start of my week always resembles a taper anyway I don't know, but I always seem to sit here wondering what all the fuss is about when people talk about 'Taper Madness'.
My weeks have been pretty normal and at their un-predictive best in recent weeks. The two weeks when I expect most people racing Florida were putting in their biggest weeks I failed to break 10hrs and then last week I almost broke 15, which is a huge amount for me! Included in that was 11h30m of cycling where I'd only spent 9hrs in the saddle over the previous two weeks combined.

Love this pic - makes the bike course look hilly! Erm, no it's not!!

So what will 'taper' involve for me?

Well, it kind of happens naturally, there's no big plan. I'll hopefully do a good few hours this weekend, no idea what though. As always I'll just make it up as I go along, then the two weeks leading up to race day will naturally turn into taper weeks because I simply won't have the time to train much.

Mon-Wed I never get a lot of training done.
Thursday on my day off I'll be busy packing, unpacking, repacking and swearing at my bike while I try to fit it in my bike box. Then if I've any time left I might try to pack some clothes.
Friday I'll try to swim as normal but that will mostly depend on Thursdays packing success/failure.
Saturday we'll be loading up and embarking on the first part of the journey to PCB.
Sunday will mostly be spent on planes and in airports.

Then before I know it I'll be into race week, trying to get over jet lag and acclimatise to the Florida heat while bike building, unpacking, registering, exploring, meeting folks, eating cheesesteak and trying very hard not to buy stuff that I really can't afford from the race village etc etc etc. Training? What training? I'm sure I'll get some in. Tues-Thurs on race week I'll probably get some small bike/run sessions in and I'll hopefully make a few of the morning swim sessions too. I'll play it all by ear though, I can't believe for a second anything I do will have a great effect on race day performance unless I do too much.

Does that lot make any sense? Really? It doesn't to me!

Bad week, Solid weekend

2011-10-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm glad that week is over. Everything very nearly went pear shaped.As is quite often the case my week started in a half hearted fashion. My Monday night track session wasn't anything exciting and then there was my regular Tuesday off from training which was probably needed after the previous long training weekend. Then it all started to go very wrong when I kept waking up during the night with an ache in my jaw. By the time I finished work on Wednesday evening I looked like the elephant man. Now I had a good news/bad news situation. As luck would have it I'd got Thursday off and had got a dentist appointment booked for 8:30am, to be followed by a long training session. Hmmmm, well the dentist happened but by the time I left there it was clear that no training was happening after having one of my teeth ripped out that had got a hulking great abscess underneath it. Damn, what a waste of day off. At least it didn't happen in race week though, I'll count my blessings!!

So with just my regular Friday swim session ahead I started the weekend with just 2h50m of training done in 5 days, at a time when most people training for Florida will have been putting their biggest weeks in. For once this year my saviour came with the weather and the all too short burst of good weather we had.
Saturday was a beautiful day so I loaded my bike up and set out for my 2nd consecutive Saturday Century ride. We'll ignore the fact that I hadn't sat on my bike at all between the two!! In a near repeat of the previous weeks ride I biked to Copplestone and back, then my my clubmate Phill & rode Puffin Billy and back, all as aero as possible to get used to the position but without putting in a huge effort and wrecking myself ahead of Sunday's race ............. Oh yeah, I'd got a race to do on Sunday :-)

The original plan had been to finish my bike ride and then run to Bideford and help Shelly with the Saturday registration for Sunday's Sprint Tri. With only 1h50m to get changed and run the 13miles out there on an unseasonably hot day I wimped out though. Sure it gave me plenty of time, but had I suffered in the heat, or had any post ride issues then Shelly wouldn't be at home to rescue me and if I did end up with a long walk she'd be worrying where I was rather than focussing on the job in hand concerning the race. As it turned out I could have jogged up their in my leisure because Shelly had everything under control and my services were hardly needed except for a few Q&A sessions off some non-local and novice competitors.
We finished off a looong day by calling in for a Chinese takeaway on the way home that hit the spot nicely.

Bideford Sprint Triathlon

The day started with an early wake up as Shelly was organising the morning registration. I had the option of biking up to the race later, but as is normally the case I took the easy option and helped out dishing out timing chips while giving random nuggets of info to competitors. Soon it was race time though and I got everything prepared, ready to roll.

The Swim

We all set off in waves of 20 on the swim to ensure there were no issues when we swam under the arches on Bideford Bridge where huge crowds had gathered to watch the race (apparently forcing traffic to stop). The first 3 waves we people who'd put the slowest swim times down, then the next 4 waves included the quickest swimmers (I was in wave 4). We had a 4-5ft jump into the water then lined up for a deep water start, it wasn't long before we were on our way though and after an initial bit of jostling I was in clear water on my own. Apparently I took the slower route through the arches (I've no idea, I just swam), then we had right turns at two buoys before returning through another set of arches and heading back to transition. It was only 600m so nothing too exciting although the line of white caps from the previous waves of slower swimmers helped my useless navigation skills a little.

T1

I hit T1 happy to see one of my squad swim pals still in there. I knew at least two people who would destroy me in the water, I wanted/needed to keep them within a minute, especially as one of them was on the British Triathlon Olympic Talent Squad last year. I'd held them to 45secs in the water but then I lost another 13secs in T1 battling with my wetsuit.

The Bike

The Bideford bike course is a real ride of two halves. The first half is along good width country lanes which rise and fall constantly, hardly ever letting you settle into a rhythm. The 2nd half would be a real TT'ers delight if it wasn't for the almost constant headwinds that greet you every time you ride it, it's very fast and with very few climbs to force you off your Tri-Bars. Thankfully the recent burst of hot weather had also reversed the normal wind direction, so what tiny bit of wind there was would actually be behind us. Bonus!!
I knew the two speedy swimmers ahead of me were both on road bikes, so if I could keep them at a sensible distance over the climbs I should be able to make time up on the fast return section. I never for a second expected to have caught and passed them within the first couple of miles, but I did!!
I was now leading on the road and for the 2nd race on the trot I had the company of a lead motorcycle all the way to T2. I've no idea how fast I was going on the 2nd section because I didn't wear my Garmin, I wish I had of now though.

T2

No messing, just in and out. My clubmate Phill who rode with my on Saturday had punctured in T1 :-(. His bike was racked and his wife shouted at me that he was a minute ahead of me as I ran out. Cheeky :-D.

The Run

Strangely I hadn't felt any ill effects at all on the bike from Saturdays century ride, as soon as I hit the run though my legs were protesting, they really did not want to run at all. I remembered my recent race at Burnham Standard Distance Tri when my legs felt tired but the Garmin was still giving my good figures and I pushed on. I had to really, I knew there were some good fast runners behind me and I had no idea how far behind they were.

The run was 'awkward'. Lots of twists and turns around Bideford back roads with no chance to settle into a groove, there were also two real stinging hills that my legs cried out to me to walk up, but I couldn't, not while I was first on the road. I kept looking over my shoulder for somebody chasing the pace felt sooo slow, but there was never anybody there.

Finally after what felt like forever I ran alongside the park in Bideford and knew I was on the final stretch. I cruised into and around the park until I crossed the finish line and then I waited 1, 2, 3, 4 minutes before anybody else came home. Damn, I could have eased off!
I spent the next hour chatting with various friends and clubmates as they all crossed the line while waiting to see how the other waves times had compared to mine. When it was all over I'd managed to hang on to my lead and win in a time of 1:07:57, exactly 3mins ahead of 2nd place.

So the week ended well although I'll admit I'd rather have finished further down the field and not had the tooth issue/missed training from earlier in the week. I totalled less than 9hrs training which is pretty pathetic with just 5 weeks to the race...... BUT I'd ended on a high with a solid Saturday ride and a very solid Sunday race. Now I just need to knuckle down and get on with things for a few more weeks. Here's hoping!

BIDEFORD SPRINT TRIATHLON - 1st overall - 8:31 (0:52) 38:22 (0:20) 19:52 = 1:07:57

The clock is ticking

2011-09-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Just a short one for now, midweek blog writing plays havoc with my sleep schedule :-)With less than 6 weeks to race day it seems that my body has finally woken up to the need for some training. The weather has still been doing its best to ruin any big plans though. Even so, the last 4 weeks have included my 4 biggest bike rides of the year including Saturday's ego boosting 106mile/7mile brick session. But for a 15mile stretch riding along chatting to a training pal I'd have comfortably averaged 20mph+ on a course with more than twice the ascent of Florida. Yes I was aero most of the way, but with race wheels and aero helmet to come it looked promising with my sub 120bpm average HR. I even ran 7 miles at 6:30 min/mile pace off the bike, although NO I couldn't have even thought about running that pace for another 20miles (not even fresh). To make it seem even better though I managed 3hrs of hilly off road running on Sunday as I did two laps of the Doone Run course (4,000ft+ of ascent), once pre race with the pup and once bringing in the signs at the back of the race. Sure they were dragged out over a lot more than 3hrs with all the time spent moving/collecting/carrying signs and the like but my Garmin's 'moving time' feature would have placed me in a very healthy position in the race field on either lap.

Of course I've done enough Ironman races in the past to know that one training weekend doesn't make things all good. In fact good training sessions could be the worst thing to happen if they mean you get over confident and start believing you're better than you are. I found this out to my cost in 2005 when a year of bike improvement left me thinking I'd got a chance of 'racing' rather than 'pacing' the event. Sure enough I posted a bike course pb, but then went on to DNF after totally blowing to pieces at mile 10 of the run. Even if the training goes amazingly well between now and the race a level head is my key to a successful race. Ride too hard, get dragged along by the cheating drafting bastards and it's a recipe for disaster. The Elite's and the Top Age Groupers may be able to race Ironman, but not me. I just need to keep reminding myself of that fact when they're all blasting past on the bike.

So now it seems we're forecast a little bit of decent weather, although how long for is anybodies guess, but all being well I'll get another couple of long rides in this week. I would tell you what I've got planned but you all know by now that I don't plan any of my training and what happens just happens, I'm hoping to be very tired though on Sunday when I rock up to race the Bideford Sprint Triathlon. I had got a slight nagging in the back of my mind that as it's such a local race and as I'd probably be "one of" the pre race favourites I should look at taking it half seriously and train steady the day before. I know now though that a local lad who's been on the British Triathlon World Class Development Squad has put his name down, so all bets are off and I can happily knock out another long brick session knowing it's not going to ruin my chances of winning anything.

Finally, it's a little bit of a sad time. This time last year I was getting ready to haul myself over to Hawaii for the Ironman World Champs. This year of course I'll be sitting glued to the computer screen watching it ALL day and remembering the pain of racing there. I'll be back one day - maybe when I'm 80!!!

Burnham Tri & Wolves Marathon

2011-09-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy 3 weeks of racing, 3 weeks of racing tired too as Ironman gets closer there's been no chance to rest up before races they all just have to come under the category of 'hard training sessions'. Last weekend (4th Sept) was Wolverhampton Marathon which followed a Saturday 83mile/6mile Brick Session. Then this weekend just gone was the inaugural Burnham on Sea Standard Distance Triathlon which I rode the 73miles to the day before........ Long work hours and Ironman training have a lot to answer for.

First up, Wolverhampton Marathon

This is a regular pre-Ironman event as it's up in my home town so we go up to visit the folks and combine it with an Ironman 'training race'. As I mentioned above I trained the day before (as normal) but this was to be slightly different. Normally I set out with a plan that I may use at my Ironman, in the past I've I've run it to heart rate, built the pace throughout the run and done a run/walk/run strategy which resulted in my current Marathon pb (I think) of 2:56:29. This years plan was to pace a running pal Mark around in 3:30.
Unfortunately it soon became clear that our aims were a bit high. A young child and long working hours meant Mark hadn't got the training in he'd have hoped to and after 9-10 miles I could tell he was struggling at the 4hr pace we were keeping. As we finished the first of the two laps Mark asked if I'd mind him stopping, much as I really wanted to drag him round I could tell he hadn't been feeling comfortable for some time and there was no way I was going to make him struggle for another 13 miles. Most of us do this sport for fun and when it's not fun any more we may as well save it for another day. He'll be back fitter and stronger for another race on another day, then maybe he can pull me around the Marathon in 2012.
We'd already run past Shell and I'd told her 4hrs+ when Mark made his decision, I had a quick think and decided that a solid 2nd half might still have me chasing 3:30 so asked him to leave Shell a note on my conveniently parked car before I headed out onto lap 2 like a man on a mission.
My legs settled into the new pace with remarkable ease but I hadn't eaten during the first half so made the decision to walk a good minute at the aid stations to take in gels and plenty of fluids. Everything seemed to work like a dream as I knocked out the 2nd half in 1:28 overhearing several 'interesting' comments as I flew past people who must have been wondering where the hell I'd come from. I eventually crossed the line in 3:29:17 or 3:28:18 on the chip timing.
The A goal had sadly not succeeded, but the revamped goal had worked out nicely and I'd had a really solid 2nd half. My Garmin report from the race is here - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111890244

This weekend it was time for the first Burnham on Sea Standard Distance Triathlon

I've been doing Burnham races for years, the Triathlons are a constant fixture on my calender, so when they announced a Standard Distance race there was no way I was missing it. In the run up to the race the UK had the threat of Hurricane Katia. Ironman Wales which was taking place just across the water had already moved their swim location and plans had been put in place at Burnham to make the race a Duathlon if needed. The day before at registration all the talk was about how windy it would be and how rough the sea would be for the (very) early start. Many people were secretly keeping their fingers crossed for a Duathlon and although I'm a relatively good swimmer I'm not a fan of rough water either. Come the morning though the weather was actually gorgeous, there was a decent bit of chop on the water, it was a bit windy on the bike, but the sun was out and it was dry. Nobody could have imagined it would be so nice after seeing the weather forecasts.
THE SWIM

I poured myself into my wetsuit for the first time in almost a year and got ready to hit open water for the first time since Ironman Hawaii last October.
Burnham is at the mouth of an estuary and a dirty swim, you put your face in the water and see nothing but brown. With my notoriously bad sighting this was going to be fun! We had a running start from the beach which 'strangely' I'm also useless at and by the time I actually started swimming several people were already well ahead of me. Once in the water I just muddled my way through trying my best so sight the buoys and canoeists that were out there in my usual open water zigzag swim style. When I got out of the water I was pleased to find that only two people had got out before me. One of those was a good 2mins ahead, but the other was still in T1. I suspect the course may have been a little short because my swim time of 18:54 is a couple on mins quicker than I'd have expected to swim, especially with my navigation issues.
THE BIKE

I set off knowing in the back of my mind that I'd had a tough ride yesterday and not wanting to blow up, but there were two speedy swimmers ahead that I wanted to catch. The early miles were good, the predicted heavy winds hadn't appeared yet and the breeze that was there was at my back.
I'd made a total mess of my Garmin, somehow recording the whole race as a bike ride rather than in Multisport mode so I wasn't sure of the exact distance I'd covered. Within 3-4 miles though I found myself in the lead. This was where it got all weird.
I'm not used to being out front solo and not knowing what's going on behind. I had tired legs, so should I ease off and save some for the run? Push hard because I might be getting chased down? It was really hard to motivate myself to push when I was ahead, the last 8 miles were really draining mentally. They were almost pancake flat but I'd now got a headwind which seemed to suck everything out of me. I was convinced that I should be going much faster than my Garmin said but I just had to get on with it and work my way to T2. Three of the top 5 finishers beat my bike split, but none of them caught me. I was still leading as we hit the run.
THE RUN

Ok, this was easy(ish). The course was great and pretty much pancake flat. The Marshals were brilliant and cheered at every opportunity (most of them knew me too which is even better) and I had a lead bike to follow.
That was all just as well because my legs felt trashed! I left T2, tagged onto the lead bike and chatted his ears off all the way round the course, I just had to hope nobody was running me down because my legs had found their pace and they weren't going faster for anybody. I have this quite often, although I felt like I could have carried on running at the same pace for another 10k I couldn't actually run any quicker. Had somebody caught me I'd have been able to do nothing.
It seemed a long time but finally I hit the Finish Line having increased my lead by posting the fastest run split of the day. A 38:10 on what my Garmin told me was an accurate 10k makes for a happy me, especially when it never actually felt that quick.
Results for the Tri are here http://www.bospool.com/uploads/files/205.pdf with my name sitting nicely at the top :-D there's also a write up on the local website here http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2011/triathlon-review-11-09-11.php

There we go, two weeks racing in one post and hopefully nobody's fallen asleep while reading it. With less than 8 weeks to go until Ironman Florida I promise to try to make poss a little more regular from now - honest!!!

10 weeks and Sherborne Sprint Tri

2011-08-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, we're only 10 weeks from Florida and if I'm honest training hasn't been going great this month. It's been ok, but miserable weather, work and a dodgy back last weekend have left me well off the target I was hoping for. Especially on the bike where I need it most! In July I spent 39hrs in the saddle, in August last year I had 46hrs of cycling in my legs, this month just 19hrs (so far). I'm even 11hrs behind my total from August 2009, my qualification year, so it's not looking great. I could do with an Indian Summer to get a few good hours in during September and October if the weather gods are listening.

SHERBORNE SPRINT(ish) TRIATHLON

It's been two months since I did a 'proper' race and now I've got three on consecutive weekends. Today was the started with a long Sprint Tri in Dorset. The race was a 400m swim in the gorgeous pool at the Oxley Leisure Centre, followed by a tough undulating/lumpy/hilly 30km bike ride around the Dorset countryside. After the bike came an equally undulating 6km run to finish things off.

THE SWIM - was normal. Nothing to say really, it was only 400m. There were two of us in the lane which was nice and the pool was lovely. It felt effortless.

THE BIKE - was tough. 18 undulating miles with 1,000ft of ascent. It hurt after Saturday's training, especially when I got involved in a real battle with Ben Butler who really had my card marked on the hills on his road bike, but I had the aero edge on the flatter sections to chase him down again. We were total opposites and never ever a similar pace, one of us was always plenty faster than the other. Ben got the upper hand though as he hit T2 ahead of me and I got stuck in the dismount area like a complete doofus.

THE RUN - was a complete nightmare. I started ok and cruised along taking in a healthy amount of downhill and easing my way past a good amount of other runners. As soon as the course went uphill though (and it did often) my quads started to cramp and I pretty much ended up jogging round the last two miles. Thankfully it never got bad enough to force me to stop and walk as it has in the past and the pace was enough to keep me ahead of those I'd passed in the first mile. The last section seemed to have us running around the biggest field in the world while the damn Finish Line was in sight all along, I was glad when it was over and I'd got round in one piece without having to stop. A solid training session done!

THE RESULT - In the end I was 2nd overall but I was well beaten by the winner, he was 3mins clear. On a fresh day I'd have been plenty quicker but doubt it would have affected anything, the difference between my tired and fresh performances (even with my awful run) won't be 3mins.

OVERALL - The race was great, the course was well marshalled and although I heard of several people getting lost I'm not sure how they did because I thought the course marking was spot on. The only downside and I appreciate that for the majority this won't matter a jot, was the prize giving.

The accepted standard (in my eyes) for prizes is 1st, 2nd & 3rd overall, then Age Groups. The Age groups could be in 5 or 10 years and could be one prize or top 3. You also normally find that IF you're in the top 3 you won't get an Age Group prize because normally your prize is of a higher value and the norm is to have one prize per person. Here it was different!

First place got a prize, second and third got nothing. The winner overall then also p

icked up an Age Group prize (which really wasn't worth much). So the poor lad in 3rd place overall who would normally get a podium prize ended up with bugger all as he was also in the same Age Group as the winner. I know for most it's a petty complaint, but I think it's poor and I know that anybody who raced this and is also racing Ilfracombe Tri on Sunday will be spoilt rotten by what they get at the Devon race in comparison. If they could sort out this last little thing (and sweep the transition area) then Sherborne Tri would be a cracking race.

12 weeks Aaaargh

2011-08-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Part 1 - Written in a red wine haze on Saturday

Holy crap, it's 12 weeks until Ironman Florida. Erm, erm, erm I guess I should write something ........... but I've had a slack week this week and there's nothing really to write about. Apparently I'm supposed to take recovery weeks during my training so I guess this has kinda become one although I did have a cracking 15mile run with Rosie pup on Thursday.

Today we had friends round for most of the day............. heck, I should re-phrase that.......... Today we had my God Daughter and her family round for the day. Can you believe anybody would be crazy enough to ask? Me neither, but they did.

So old friends of ours Wayne and Tracy came down to Bude for the week with their daughter Emma (god-daughter) and son Brad (they knew better by then) and came to visit us for the day. After a morning sat around catching up on various things, including Wayne's awesome Finish at OUTLAW TRIATHLON we headed over to Braunton Burrows and messed around jumping off some of the sand dunes. It was like being 12 all over again. Great fun :-D

So I mentioned on Twitter that I needed to blog but had nothing to write about so GORDON and BARB both said they wanted to know "what you've learned between your first IM and now. Things you thought in the beginning that you don't now"........

If I'm honest most of the stuff I've learnt is stuff that most people would know from the start anyway. Mostly that you can't blag it like you can other races.

Part 2 - Written in a tired state on Sunday

Woohoo, I managed a 70mile bike ride this morning to rescue my week, although I still didn't crack 9hrs. Then we had more friends around that we haven't seen for years and headed over the Burrows again for more sand dune silliness. Amazing, we've seen nobody down here for years (other than family of course) then we get two lots of visitors in 2 days and if I'm honest it's been great.

So back to What have I learnt though Ironman? Or more likely what didn't I know at the beginning? Of course a lot of this only applies to me, I'm no coach and I've never had one ....... although if someone asked me the best way to do an Ironman well a GOOD coach be the first thing I suggested they get.

1) The swim - It doesn't really matter. It's just the warm up. I'm not going to miss the cut off so too much training is a waste, it just takes time from place I need it. I swim once a week, sometimes less. Sure I could swim 5mins quicker if I swam 5 times a week but that's just false economy

2) T1 - Don't rush!! Make sure you're comfy on the bike. If you race Florida you'll hit T1 with sandy feet. If you're putting socks on clean your feet off first or that sand will be causing friction for a LONG time. Dry, change, do whatever you need to. Unless you're chasing a Kona slot a couple of extra mins here won't hurt anything.

3) The Bike - For me this is what it's ALL about! For my first Ironman hardly trained on the bike. I quickly learnt that I couldn't blag it like I could a Sprint Tri. Now it's all about being strong enough to take it easy. Sounds strange, but if you bike too hard you'll gain minutes but it's no good if you loose hours then on the run because of it.

4) T2 - Same as T1. Nice and easy, get things right!

5) The Run - Hahaha! Going to run it are we? I've never run all of one yet. As with the bike it's all about pacing, IF you can actually run off the bike. In theory I 'should' be able to run close to 3hrs off the bike, I've run everything from 3:30 to 5hrs. 3:30 hurts, 5hrs hurt a lot more for a lot longer.

6) The whole thing - Unless you're a Pro then it's not a 'race', it's a test of your endurance pacing. Go too hard and you'll suffer, go too easy and you're probably still going too hard.

Of course this is only what's popped into my head while I've been sat here typing. If you know me you'll know that I'm not the type to sit down and plan these posts. If however you are seriously looking at the best way to pace an Ironman I thoroughly recommend you have a read through the Endurance Nation Four Keys to Ironman Racing, it's well worth a few minutes of anybody's time.

Just a boring training update.

2011-08-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

It appears that business is picking up, or at least it is when the weather is nice.

With 13 weeks to go until Ironman Florida I’ve just posted my 2^nd biggest month of training EVER! Now don’t get too excited, most people know me well enough to know I’m not going to hit you with some massive 80-100hr week figures. We all know the 20hrs a week that some people claim you need if you’re going to aim for Kona are well out of my reach. For a lot of people my 56hrs is a paltry figure, for me it’s huge! I can slightly offset it by saying 39hrs of it was on the bike which is where I need to be if I’m going to improve on my 2009 performance.

There hasn’t been much in the way of racing (for well documented reasons) but I have done a couple of my neighbourhood Duathlons and managed to win them both. That doesn’t mean a lot in the big scheme of things, winning a small friendly ‘training’ race amongst mostly clubmates, but these things are keeping me sharp and trust me, some of my clubmates are very good scalps to take at any event. They’re bloody good athletes and for me to (at times) bike away from people of their standard is a huge boost for my biking confidence.

After a couple of decent weeks we’ve been back to the rainy conditions this week. Somehow I’ve still managed to sneak 12hrs of training in which is nice. I’ve got to keep it up though now, so if the weather gods are listening some sunshine would be nice for a change!!!

In other news, the gf Shelly got all grumpy after my last posting and started sending emails out. The result? I’m back in love with Taunton Tri after a cheque appeared along with a letter of apology and a free entry to next years race. Thank you Shelly and thank you so much Paul.

Moaning and Bitching

2011-07-17T05:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, here goes............

We've all seen them at races. The people who go hassling the organiser because they think their time is 10secs out or somebody else has had a prize that they think should be theirs. The people who're so determined to say "Look at me, I'm great" that they'll interrupt a prize giving to argue a point and get a publicity shot when they could easily leave it until later and question things nicely. Those people annoy me intensely!!!

Well unfortunately I'm going to have to become one of those people, so to any race organisers I annoy in the future by questioning results/timings then I apologise profusely in advance.

So, why am I about to become a prize asshole and a race directors nightmare? Well it all revolves around THIS RACE!! (9 weeks ago) where the short story is that I won and got missed off the presentation results totally. It was a huge cock up by the timing company (not the race organisers) and as I've known the organisers for a long time I trusted them to sort things. Which they did (at least to start with!!). I had a very apologetic phone call the next day explaining what I really already knew. I of course was very understanding, I've seen the organisational side happening enough to know that sometimes you're just at the mercy of people you've bought in to do a job. On this occasion those people had let the organiser down badly, I was well aware of that.

Now I'll be honest, if first prize was just a trophy and a tee-shirt I'd probably have let it go a long time ago, but this race had a cash prize. It's not a huge cash prize, it's £100, but I'm not an affluent man and £100 is a lot of money when my finances are dictating that I miss a bundle of races this year so I can get to IM Florida without going totally bankrupt.

So here we are, 9 weeks and two totally ignored emails later in exactly the same situation as I was the day after the race. With nothing!

Now I'm sure if I entered a race I wouldn't get away with simply not being bothered to pay for it, so why doesn't this work the other way? Especially when the race organiser was going to withhold payment from the timing company for their messing up his even, their probably sitting their with their race coffers overflowing. It's such a shame because after doing and enjoying their events for many many years I can't see why I'd enter them or recommend them to anyone again.

Paul Lester - Taunton Deane Tri - Shame on you!!!! That is all, I'll take the financial hit, I really can't be bothered to waste my time chasing the matter any more. But if I do sense an injustice and get in the face of a race organiser in the future, I'm really sorry but this is why!!

Ok, back to normal rubbish!!

Today is the weekend 16-17th of July. 16 weeks from today I aim to be swimming, biking and running around Panama City Beach in Florida. If all goes to plan I'll be getting round there faster than I have in the past, but of course it's not THAT easy!

Ok in truth is should be fairly easy, all I've got to do is pace myself properly and not blow up. That's harder than it seems though. Honest!!

So 16 weeks means it's time to get serious. Time to start training properly. Time to start drinking properly. Time to start eating properly - Ok, you can stop laughing!!! Maybe eating and drinking 'properly' wasn't exactly what I meant as we all know that's pretty much impossible for me.

I did announce on Friday that I'd had my last McD's meal for 16 weeks though, it'll be interesting to see how long that statement proves to be accurate for. I am going to try though and if I can force myself past the choc/crisp aisles in the shops I've half (or maybe a smaller fraction) a chance. Time will tell, but first I've got a case of beer to finish off - no more will be bought though!!

Until next time, when I promise no to whinge so much................

North Devon Marathon Report.

2011-07-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

So finally I'm sat here typing almost a week later not even sure if I can remember most of what happened. Here goes nothing.

The race all came about last Friday. Lots of people I knew were doing various races and being the lazy sod that I am I felt that I could do with some reason to get myself out there. There had been banter back and forth about the possibility of me sneaking a late entry into the Forestman (Ironman Distance) Triathlon, but that was simply too much money for my bank balance and the logistics made it a nightmare with work the day after too, so that was out.
A bundle of my clubmates were racing Bude Sprint Tri and I could 'possibly' have blagged an entry into that, but to be honest it's not the safest bike course around and I'm not the sort of athlete who enjoys racing up the outside of stationary traffic and dodging into gaps when needed. It's a great fun event, but the traffic just makes it rediculous.
There was also the North Devon Marathon which handily starts just 6 miles from home at Woolacombe Bay, but that had been full for a long time and although I know there is a sneaky late entry window for locals the deadline for that had long passed.
I decided that I'd ride down to Bude, watch my clubmates race the Tri and then ride home again - unless I got lazy and blagged a lift! The weather forecast was for a hot hot day so it should be nice for the ride.
Then on Friday night I was browsing through Twitter and I noticed one of my Twitter friends www.twitter.com/remba was asking if anybody wanted his entry to North Devon Marathon because he was injured. We messaged each other several times and next thing I knew I'd got a plan for Sunday. Or at least I'd got part of a plan, there was still a problem - swopping the details over!! Because I'm local the chances were I wouldn't be able to stroll up and just claim to be someone I wasn't because I'd get recognised. So I just decided to play it straight, I'd rock up at registration, explain the situation and if there was a problem I'd leave it and go home, then I'd got back to the original plan and cycle to Bude.
Because I was unsure if I'd actually be racing I trained as normal on the Saturday and put in a 50mile bike ride over Exmoor, although I didn't really push myself just in case.

So Sunday came along and as you might have seen in the previous post I bought my ipod video along. I'd not trained for the race, not tapered for the race, I might as well have some fun and take in some scenery while I was out there. I got myself ready and made the short drive to Woolacombe. I was there in plenty of time but there was a queue for the carpark already so I just got in line and waited, then when I finally got up to the barrier I saw the price!! SIX FRIKKIN QUID!!! Damn!! It was too late though, there were cars behind me and I had to go in. This bought a new attitude to the race. If I was having to pay £6 when I left the car park I had to race, I sure as hell wasn't leaving there after 5mins to that charge. I was going round with or without a number (preferably with).
Now coming clean and being honest was a risk, they might say no. I had to blag it, so I got someone I know who'd already got there number to go collect Matt's number for me as he was 'going to be late'. I felt real bad about it but the parking charges had just called my hand. Once I'd got the race envelope, chip & number I socialised a little and soon found I was not along in racing 'under an alias'. it made me feel a little better about it.

So finally we got under way and if you saw the video you'll know what happened. If you didn't then here's a quick summary.
It was damn hot!! It was damn hilly!! ----- ok, there's a bit more ;-)

I started at the back and slowly worked my way through the field as we ran along Marine Drive to Putsborough and out to Baggy Point. I caught a couple of lads I know after 4 miles and suspected it might be a bad move on my part so I eased off a little. On the longer hills I walked (and took video). I stopped at the top of some climbs to take in the view and I stopped for a while in Croyde to get hosed down, have a laugh with the marshalls and a dance to the band.

When we returned to Woolacombe at half way it became apparent that quite a few people were going to bail on the full Marathon. These were all ushered over the Finish timing mat and still given times/positions for the half ;-). I carried on feeling hot, but ok.

The 2nd half was MUCH hillier and rougher under foot than the first half, there was a lot of walking and a lot of carnage out on the course. I saw two runners collapsed on the coast path with marshalls aiding them. At 21 miles I slotted into a really nice run rhythm. At 22 miles I felt like death. At 23 miles I felt great again. It was just one of those days when my mind and body just didn't seem to know what was going on. At the finish I was strong and after the race I was walking around perfectly fine as if I'd done nothing.

It was a crazy crazy day on a crazy course. I loved it!! I enjoyed takng the video, although I wish my battery had lasted longer than 18miles and I wish I could work out how to hold the camera still and level while I'm running. Other than that it was great. I might have to do it again next year, AS ME!!

Next up? Who knows ;-D

North Devon Marathon

2011-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

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!!

2011-06-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-06-05T02:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-02T23:14:00.001-07:00

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 :-)

Taunton Sprint Triathlon 400m/22k/5k

2011-05-16T02:36:00.001-07:00

1st place overall - 5:49 (0:51) 36:27 (0:30) 18:14 = 1:01:49

The last two weeks have been a work frenzy and training has suffered as a result. By Friday this week I'd only managed two training sessions and although there was a race on the cards for Sunday I needed to train so set about biking, running and then swimming once I'd finished my week of 13hr shifts. On Saturday I aimed to do a 50-60 mile bike ride but my legs were shot and I was home after 35miles. Not the ideal preperation for Sundays race!

Race morning and as normal I awoke having had far too little sleep and with legs that were still feeling the effected Fridays turbo trainer session. We loaded the car up and headed down to Taunton early so we could park near the pool before the race closed the road. I registered, got numbered up and racked my bike to get it all out of the way. As this was the first race of the season I soon killed the 3hrs+ of waiting around as I chatted and caught up with people I hadn't seen since last year. Shelly got herself and Rosie pitched up and before we knew it time was getting on and as Mike the commentator reminded me, I probably needed to get ready!!

A quick change and I was by poolside waiting my turn. I don't do the whole warming up thing (yes, I know I should) so I just mingled and chatted with the other competitors until it was time to rock.
The Swim

We were called to poolside and there were 3 to a lane for the 400m 16 length swim with us starting 10 seconds apart (I was 2nd off). After 8 lengths I caught the lad who'd started 10secs ahead of me, I passed him at the end of the pool and he (sensibly) sat on my feet for the rest of the swim while we lapped my clubmate Dick who was the other person in the lane with us. As I touched the wall and jumped out of the pool at the end of my swim I was disappointed to see 5:30 on my watch. I've been swimming 5:15-5:20 with ease lately and felt I was working hard, hoping to be close to 5:10.. I ditched my swim cap and grabbed my glasses & number belt from poolside as I headed out to T1.

Thankfully there was a good long run through transition to my bike because I made a real mess of putting my number belt on. Once at my bike though, it was helmet on, shoes on and out onto the bike course.

The Bike

My shadow during the swim dealt with T1 much better than me and was ahead of me onto the bike, he was soon disposed of however as I headed out onto the course. This was where I had my concerns as I'm not the strongest cyclist in the world, the course doesn't exactly suit me with it's short sharp climbs and descents that almost all finish with a hard breaking turn. I'd also got my clubmate and training pal Phill starting behind me and I knew he was going to be on a mission to catch me up. He's been flying of late and I haven't. Our training sessions together haven't exactly filled me with confidence either. So I pushed on, riding scared and waiting for the white Cervelo P3c to pull up beside me. Anxiety that wasn't helped when I started catching up groups of cars that were stuck on the twisting roads behind slower cyclists. Race or no race, I refuse to risk killing myself as some folks do so three times I was forced to sit up and wait patiently for the traffic to sort itself. The middle third of the course is on good fast open roads and although there was a stiff headwind on the outward section I buried myself along here. After the turn around I got my first glimpse of Phill, I'd no idea when he'd started but he was now about 2m30s behind me and had overtaken both of the people I'd shared my lane with, with the tailwind I pushed hard.
Back on the twisty, rolling section I went back to type as I struggled to maintain a rhythm on the climbs but pushed on hard where I could. Soon I caught my clubmate Lee, this was a good thing as he's a pretty damn good cyclist. Maybe I was going quite well after all, I blew past him with a few words of encouragement going either way and focussed on getting to T2.
The Run

Finally back in T2 I clamberd off my bike and waddled to rack my bike. Helmet off, Zoot Ultra running slippers on and I was away. It didn't feel good but luckily after 3-400m my legs started to loosen up and I settled into a nice pace. There was no real urgency there, no speed, but I know that when I'm in the groove I'm running faster than most people in the field so I just got on with it. I never found the legs to up the pace, but I didn't slow down much either and with a good solid climb on each of the two laps that was a bonus.
The after race gubbins was full of confusion. While chatting with regular race day sparring partner and last years winner Wim Korving it became clear our times were very close, but I'd screwed up with my Garmin so couldn't be sure of my exact finish time. Then at the presentation it got more cloudy when the timing company the organisers had used (at a huge cost) provided them with nothing more than a piece of paper with the top 3 male and female names on. No times, no age group winners etc etc. My name wasn't on that list so it seemed the race was very tight at the top end. Wim won though and I was very pleased for him as he's a top fella.......... I was curious however as to how Wim had won and I'd not made the top 3 when either way there could only have been a handful of seconds between out times. No point moaning and chasing the organiser Paul though as the timing company had blatently screwed him up. The race gives out a huge raft of Age Group prizes, but they had no Age Group results, so they would have to get posted on. Not good when you've got sponsors to please!!
Soooo, the next day the results come out and there's my name - at the top of the list. It turns out I'd won, beating Wim by a mere 5 seconds. Of course I wasn't alone. The womens results were also wrong. The timing company gave the race organiser a piece of paper with 6 names on it and it turns out that even those were wrong. Shocking!! I'm sure it will all turn out for the best though. I have faith in the Taunton crew, they're a good crowd and will have wanted things to go properly. It's just a case of waiting.

I'm back (for now)

2011-05-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

I really must sort this blog out. Half my piccies at the side are 'x', my results are still last years and of course I update if far too infrequently. Hopeless I am!!
Still at least the training has picked up a bit and three solid 11hrs weeks helped me finish April with 43h40m of training (my biggest April since 2005), 17hrs up on my biggest month so far this year. So much for the 10% increases :-D
To add to the increased training I've had a few decent workouts which have shown that although the year started poorly I haven't actually lost too much.
A couple of weeks ago I raced my local 10mile TT and finished just 4 seconds off my pb, despite the saddle coming loose after 8 miles and hanging down at 45 degrees by the end of the course. Last week I was 40 seconds slower, but this was the day after completing the 2nd Chivenor Duathlon where I managed to finish 1m20secs ahead of my club pal Chris who beat me by a similar distance in the 1st event. Then on Sunday I did the Tri Club's swim session for an hour and followed it with an 18mile run, my longest run this year by 6miles. The pace wasn't anything to jump up and down about, but it was a tough and hilly course and I was very happy to finish feeling comfortable and able to do more.

So what is coming up? Well I've got Taunton Sprint Tri on the 15th May. I haven't done the race for a few years and harbour secret ambitions to beat my course pb which I think is 1:03:23 from 2006 although I'll no doubt train as normal up to and through the event so I won't be too concerned if I miss it.

That's about it really. Nothing else to report. I'll try to be a little more interesting next time.

Getting down to it...

2011-04-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it seems we're off to Florida again, so what are the conditions? Well mostly it just concerns racing and the cost of racing. In short Florida will be the only race I'm travelling more than an hour for this year. I've already entered two Burham-on-Sea Triathlons and Taunton Sprint Tri, then there will be Bideford Sprint Tri and the first ever Ilfracombe Sprint Tri which are just around the corner. The only race I'm likely to be doing outside of that is Wolverhampton Marathon as it's just 3 miles from my parents house. This year there will be no White Peak Marathon, no Dorney (or Nottingham) Tri Relays, no Penzance or New Forest half IM distance races as Ironman preperation. There will also be no flashy bike upgrades or coaching, not that any of those were likely anyway. What I've already entered is what I'll be doing and what I've already got is what I'll be doing them with.

Then there is work :-( Last year ahead of Hawaii my training at times came first, this year paying for the trip comes first and if that means working 13-14hrs on my normal Thursday off work when I'd normally be getting a long bike ride in then it's the way it has to be.

So why did I decide to go for it in the end when there are so many financial issues around it? Well firstly I hate wasting money and the race entry is paid for. We'd get some back of course, but nowhere near what it cost. Then of course I decided that whatever I did I'd regret it at some point and if I'd cancelled the race I'd be like a bear with a sore head over the first two weeks of November. Besides that I bought a rediculously expensive bike before Hawaii (which isn't paid for yet!!), what sort of a waste would that be if it only got the opportunity to do one Ironman?
Finally there was the training! It was the whole injury/illness thing that put doubts in my mind. My only training objective of the year was to exceed my monthly training totals for 2010 and for the first 3 months of the year I got nowhere year. When I compare those totals to 2009 though when I qualified for Kona, I'm actually not far away. In fact, if I take the all important (for me) bike time then I'm ahead of my 2009 totals.

The biggest deciding factor was actually this months training. After the troubles of the early months and all the stories you hear about how it takes sooo much longer to recover from anything once the years start piling on I was genuinely worrying whether I'd be able to get fit enough to go reasonably well in Florida. I don't mind going there and blowing up, I'll happily go there and NOT qualify, I don't however want to go there and 'just' go round because I know I'm not in shape to have a decent crack at it. If that's the deal I might as well save myself from the debt.

Finally there's the social side. We've made some friends over in PCB we'd like to catch up with, other crazy friends from Twitter and DailyMile are threatening to come and watch. Heck, why not have a blow out with them one last time before I'm forced to hang my Ironman shoes up.
Now it's just a case of training and so far this month is going well. I'm getting put in my place by my training partners far too often at the moment, but then again I've been putting some hours in (work and training) so I'm fairly tired most of the time. Occasionally though I'll do something which shows there is life there, like Thursday night when I raced the local 10 mile TT.

I'd had hardly any sleep over the previous two nights and had been up since 1am that morning for a 14hr day at work. I literally came home, grabbed some food, put my ZIPP's on my race bike and rode over to the TT. I was a total wreck and when I started I rode 10miles feeling like my quads could tear away from my legs at any point. To add to the fun my saddle came loose after 8 miles and for the last two it was hanging down at a 45 degree angle. For all that I was only 9 seconds off my pb and I beat some good cyclists. It kinda makes up for today when I got totally hammered, I really can't climb hills - I never have been able to though.

So that's it really. Ironman Florida is on and I've got two 11hr training weeks in the bag to build on. There will be low weeks when working 65hrs from Monday to Friday will screw training plans and there will be a lack of racing (and race reports) this year. We just need to get sorting things out now and hope that I can bring some Ironman Fireworks to PCB on the 5th of November.

Ironman Florida - The Decision

2011-04-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm in.

To quote the IMTalk podcast, "It's on like Donkey Kong"

Now where did that winning lottery ticket go?

There are conditions, but for now I need to sleep. The details can come later.

Coaching??!! Don't look at me.

2011-04-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Does anybody need coaching??? Really? I'm NOT your man!!!

It's normally this time of the year where I start wondering if I should get myself a coach. Of course I always decide against it, but it doesn't stop me doing my homework on a few.

This year has been different though. With all the am I/aren't I stuff going on regarding Ironman Florida a coach has been the last thing on my mind. Or it would have been if I hadn't had a seemingly endless supply of coaching 'offers' over the last couple of months. Now my email contact details aren't hard to find and with the whole virtual triathlon community out there it opens up a whole new opportunity for anybody looking to peddle their wares. Which is of course what is happening, because although I'm seemingly being blessed by the 'offer' of an opportunity to be coached by whoever they of course still have a range of options for me to 'purchase'. So it's not really an 'offer' at all, is it!!!

What normally quite amuses me is that most of these people seem to have done a little homework. Many of these offers will start with "Congratulations on your Ironman Hawaii Finish" or "Congratulations on your 9:40 Finish at Ironman Florida", then of course there is always a line along the lines of "Would you like to go quicker next time?" I think that is where their research ends though because they obviously don't realise that if I'm thinking of pulling this years Ironman for financial reasons then I'm hardly in the position to pay through the nose for a coach.

They also seemingly have no idea how my job works. Sometimes I'd love to say to a coach, "Yep, I average 13hrs a day at work. When exactly do you think I should train?". I've seen some Ironman plans that have been given to friends of mine and trust me, it's NOT happening!!!

What really concerns me however with a few of the emails is what actually qualifies them to coach me? While most no doubt come from some amazing coaches out there and there are no doubt many, many coaches who could turn my 9:40 into the sub 9 which I believe I'm capable of (even at my advancing age).

Although my laziness may prove an obstacle there :-). A lot of these emails though will talk about how I'm lucky to recieve this opportunity, they'll run through the possible plans I'd have and they'll tell me about the coach, a CV if you like.

Many of these CV's(??) seem to lack details of any formal coaching qualifications though. Of course a lot of these come from outside of the UK (mostly America) and I have no knowledge of how things work over there. There will be details of the 'coaches' achievements, races they've done, times they've set etc etc etc. But to be honest most of these pale next to mine! I've done Ironman Hawaii, I've gone 9:40 at Florida, I'm confident that if I got my act together then I could go sub 9 at Florida. That sure as hell doesn't mean I can coach anybody, especially for money. Sure I could help them along and maybe try to answer questions, but coach people? Not a chance.

I'm not having a go, most 'offers' come from fully accredited coaches, others may well be qualified but (strangly) just don't happen to mention it. Some that aren't qualified may well have a wealth of experience, years and years of programs from their own personal coaches that they've adapted and may well know more than I ever will (that's not hard). So, what am I saying?

1) I can't afford a coach, so if you're emailing to 'offer' make it an offer (you can press 'x' now). If you can take me from 9:40 to sub 9 imagine how it'll look on your CV :-)

2) Do your homework properly. If you've a fixed plan for a 35hr a week office worker then it's not going to happen.

3) Show me some proper qualifications. If you want me to trust your word I need a reason to. Maybe send me an example week or two and I'll see if they're feasible

4) Learn who you're dealing with. A top coach once said I was 'un-coachable', I'd tend to agree with him. If you don't know I'm a lazy slacker then you're in for a shock. I need a kick up the arse on a regular basis, none of this softly softly approach.

5) I'm sure there's plenty more, but I haven't really thought this through (story of my life).

6) One last one.............. I still haven't decided if I'm doing Florida yet (tomorrow, ok - Birthday Shelly!!). If I don't do it I'll have even less need for a coach.

I look forward to never seeing a coaching 'offer' in my email again :-D

Fit again, but very Un-fit!!

2011-03-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

So for the good news............. I appear to be back in the game! No real back, hamstring issues for a couple of weeks and my lurgie bug seems to have cleared up. Now for the bad news........... I am SO out of shape it's really quite scary. I can't remember EVER being this bad before. This weekend was my Tri Club's "In-Club Invitational Sprint Triathlon", or as it's otherwise known - the first hard training session of the year. For the purposes of this post I'll call it a race, but there are no prizes, no numbers, just a couple of marshalls and no real entry fee (we pay enough to cover the pool hire and the pub food after). It is however timed and is an early season marker to see how people are getting on. It's also quite possibly the toughest Sprint Tri course that any of us will ever do, so it only gets easier. Even the swim takes it's toll. Just 600m in Ilfracombe's 33.3m pool, but it's very choppy and for some reason it's VERY slow!! I know that my swimming has been going well lately and although we've several good swimmers in our club it was no great suprise when I got out of the pool first, what was suprising was that I was 30seconds slower than I'd expect to swim in one of my normal pools. It was the same for everybody though and all the times were down. From the pool we ran uphill to the 'olde skool' transition area where I went for the comfort option of socks (it is March after all), this took me over a minute and I went from 1st to 5th (ooops!!). We then hit the bike course............13miles and 1,300ft of climbing saw us hit several good climbs and descents on the way to Combe Martin before we hit "3-mile climb" on our way to Lynton Cross before descending back to the pool. I always struggle a little on the way to Combe Martin, power hills are not my thing, but 3-mile climb is where I normally come into my own and ride away from my clubmates. Not this year!!!! By the time we'd finished the first climb I was up to 4th, but my clubmates ahead had all disappeared into the distance. I never saw them again!!! Near the top of 3-mile climb another two came past me, two that I would normally be taking minutes out of. Oh dear!!! On the descents I went mad trying to gain a little time back, this was heading towards embarrassment territory. The finish of the bike course took us zig zagging down some viciously steep side roads, the run course started coming up the opposite way so I could see the damage and it wasn't good. T2 was casual to say the least, I sat down and sorted my shoes while messing around for the camera. No real point rushing at this stage.Out onto the run and it's every bit as evil (maybe worse) than the bike course with 500ft of climing in less than 3 miles. You leave transition and go up, up, up and up some more, then you run down! Again the good news is that there were no injury issues on a course that would definatly have found me out if I'd got any, the bad news (again) is that I was sloooow, hurting and very happy to reach the Finish Line. So, the overall damage is revealed. In the race with it's 24 finishers I'm normally one of the favourites and was again amongst though that didn't know or believe my injury illness tales. There are always 5-6 of us at the sharp end of the swim so I was happy to lead out of the water. I would never be expected to have the fastest bike, but I'd aim for top 3 and hope to be within a minute of the fastest bike split. This year I was 8th fastest and 6 (yes SIX) minutes off the pace (ok, I messed around in T1, but it's still 5mins!!). On the run I should comfortably be top two, maybe not the fastest because the hills don't suit me, but again I was down in 5th place and almost 2mins off the pace of the fastest. So where do we go from here? Well, hopefully I can finally start training and get some fitness back. Sunday was tough, but the course is evil and you can't blag fitness with that much climbing. It was great for some of my clubmates who've not beaten me before to get one over on me, although I'd rather it happen because they've improved loads rather than I've gone downhill so much. The aim now is to put them back in their place though - behind me ;-D Ironman Florida Update - I've made a decision, but only a decision on 'when' I'm going to make a decision. Shelly's birthday is on the 18th April and I've promised her that I'll know one way or another what I'm doing by then. I've got 3 weeks to get some solid training in and convince myself that I can go there and give it a good go, or to fall apart again and give it all up.

Enough Already!!!

2011-03-12T18:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, I apologise. From the bottom of my heart I apologise!! To whoever the great God of Health and Fitness is, I take your point, I understand!! I promise to NEVER brag to people about never getting injured or sick!!! It happens, even to people like me, it happens!! If anybody hear me muttering such things again you have my full permission to give me a slap and tell me to shut the hell up! That bragging conversation was over 2 months ago and has since been followed by 1 week of sickness, a month with a back/hamstring injury, a week attempting to get a little fitness back and now this latest assault on my body, some sore throat & cough issue. The bug has just had Shelly off work and curled up in a ball so I can't say the arrival came as a total surprise. I'm now just hoping that my body shrugs it off a lot quicker than hers did because the last thing I need is another two weeks on the shelf.
Today I should be down on the South Coast of Devon racing The Grizzly 20 'country miles' of hills, mud, pebble beach and general fun stuff. That entry has gone to a good friend of mine though as even before this latest illness I was in no shape at all for the battering the race gives you. It's been a constant feature on my race calander since 2000 and will be a big miss, especially considering the fact that right now it's a beautiful day and there have been so few of them in the race history. I'm getting close to the point where I'm going to have to make a decision regarding Ironman Florida. I'm still not really any more certain, but every day I spend not training makes me think about the financially sensible option of not going, but then I get a few decent days in and I start thinking good thoughts again, it's 'only' money (that I haven't got) after all :-D
So that's about it I'm afraid. Still no significant training to report, just more lurgie news and indecision I'm afraid. Hopefully I can now make my peace with the Fitness Gods and get back to something meaningful soon.

I'm back (I think!!)

2011-03-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

I started writting this a week ago.......... Jeez I'm useless............ Hope it makes a tiny bit of sense!!!

Well it appears that after my stumbling stuttering start to 2011 I 'might' finally be back on the road again. I hope!!

My swimming seems to be going well as my injury problems mean I've been putting in 2-3 sessions a week rather than my normal once a week attempts and in the last week I have managed 3 runs without any significant problems. I'm still not sure though how a bike ride on anything other than my hybrid might affect my back, especially after an hours spin on my TREK a couple of weekends ago put me back to square one for a week.

The years big plan of putting in more training month on month compared to last year has already come crashing to the ground of course, I'm already over 12hrs behind the 2010 total and with only 4hrs of running done in February I'm well off the pace as Sundays race proved.

Taunton Aquathlon

This was going to be a test and an important test as I'd won the race last year so had my title to defend. I'd got a target time of sub 50mins which would be marginally quicker than last years time, but last year I'd spent an absolute age in Transition. I knew I was swimming quicker, but after the injury ravaged month I'd probably lost a little run fitness so hopefully they'd just cancel each other out!

The swim started and I was in a lane with my old pal and foe Will, with me having a 10 second head start on him. Our wave set off an the lad in the lane next to me went off like a rocket. I knew Will would also start quickly so I decided to keep tabs on my neighbour. We went through 100m in a crazily fast 1:14 and he soon started dropping off. Will still seemed to be closing on me so I pushed on hard until half way when he started dropping off too. I finished the 1km swim, raced through transition and led the wave onto the run course in 13:52.

As soon as I got out on the run course it became obvious just how much the lay off had taken out of me (just 3.5hrs of running in February pre race). My legs felt heavy and although I was moving along ok and my HR was reasonable there was no zip, no extra edge, no overdrive 'race' speed. I knew I was in trouble and there was unlikely to be any repeat victory. I was half way through the run before anybody caught me, but there were two of them and they appeared to be tearing the road up. Then Will caught me and there was nothing I could do to go with him. Finally to rub salt into the wound I got passed again within 400m of the Finsih Line, I'd run almost 3mins slower than last year and it was all I'd got in me.

So, I got my butt kicked........... On the plus side I managed to pick up the first V40 prize and a small consolation was that the winner Martin finished in 49:54, so had I run as I know I can I'd have been up there in the mix. I still may not have won, but I'd have been a factor. Best that this one is just put down to experience and brushed under the carpet I think.

Quick injury update :- All seems well at the moment. My back is still stiff and occasionally I'll feel a slight hamstring twinge but it's nothing to worry me....... I've hopefully made the sensible decision and given my entry for Grizzly away. Much as I love the race I'm not really in the shape to run 20miles off road and the risk it posed to my back/hamstrings was just too much. Had I still got the entry I'd (stupidly) be racing, but luckily I've an old pal who took it off me. Hopefully he'll rip the course up for me on Sunday.

Ironman Florida update - I'm still no nearer to deciding what's happening. Shelly is getting twitchy about booking flights/accomodation etc as she likes to be organised and know what's happening. I guess that the fitter I get the more likely it is that we'll decide to worry about the finances later................. We'll see!!

Ironman Dilemma

2011-02-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to beat about the bush......... I'm thinking about pulling the plug on Ironman Florida!!

It's not something I've thought long and hard about, but then nor was entering really. So what's behind it?

Well, it all started today, 3 weeks after I initially tweaked my injury started. The original strain was made worse after a week at work, a massage helped, then another week at work put it back again. Last Thursday another painful massage session helped and yesterday I even rode my bike for 50miles, things were looking up. Then today I go into work and by the time I'm half way through my run I've pulled my back and it now feels worse than it ever has done.So the sensible option is to take time off work, but how much time? A week? A month? Problem is though that I can't really afford to do that because I've a trip to Florida to pay for and my full wages will struggle to cover it, the money I'll get if I'm off sick won't get close.

Of course there's also the issue that I'm now on my 3rd week off running, how long can I leave it before I start to lose huge chunks of my fitness? How long before Ironman starts to become a case of just getting round rather than getting round in a time?

Of course the main concern is financial and this injury has given me plenty of time to think logically about it rather than just thinking of the race. We knew from the offset that if I entered Florida and got in we would have to resort to 'extra borrowing' to finance the trip. In it's own little way that's not an issue except for the fact that there are other things we want (need) to tie in with it all and Shelly is getting to the point where she's thinking about spending (flights/accomodation/car etc). Then of course there is the next imposing issue. What if (I said IF) I end up qualifying for Kona again? We won't turn the trip down, but at what cost? We love IM Florida (except for the drafting). We've met friends over there and we've got old friends racing. I'd desperately love another crack at Kona too. BUT four trips across the pond to race Ironman is going to prove rediculously expensive, especially when we currently seem to have more money going out than coming in. Do I really want to risk making this injury last longer than is necessary just so that I can earn a little bit extra. Sometimes I should let my head rule my heart, I'm kina thinking this is one of those times.

Why now? Well at this moment in time all that's been paid for is the race. I know I'll lose a shedload of money on it which really wrangles with me (they won't defer!!), but sometimes you have to take it on the chin and cut your cloth to suit your circumstances.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!!!

Braunton! - Injury?

2011-01-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, lets go back a week to my last blog post

So it's only natural that after talking (bragging) with people on Twitter about how I never get injured or ill then something was bound to happen. I'm just thankful that it wasn't an injury!!

Yup, guess what? I've picked up what seems to be more than just my normal niggle. I hate to say the 'I' word, but it looks like an injury is upon me - and really I can only blame myself.

On Monday night our small group of lunatics hit the track for a SESSION! which on the face of it didn't look too hard. Tuesday morning however I woke up feeling as though Shelly had been punching my in my lower back all night AND I'd swopped hamstrings with someone half my size. The problem didn't seem to be too much of an issue, my back is a well known weak point and I just put it all down to after workout tightness. The main annoyance was that my job involving sitting on my arse for hours on and and then throwing heavy stuff around seemed to be the worst thing possible and every day I came home feeling worse than when I'd left.

I had my planned Tuesday rest day, then had a bonus day off on Wednesday as I was off work on Thursday and had the whole day to train.

Thursday wasn't so good when I awoke and felt like a slab of concrete. I ended up spending most of the day sat on the sofa watching TV or on the computer annoying people on Twitter. Thanks to Twitter however I did haul myself off to the pool where I needed to get in my #sillyswimcomp and #winterswim efforts in. I was concerned my back would ruin my swim, that it would wreck any attempts to turn, but after warming up it was fine and although the 'ache' never left it also never got any worse.

Bouyed by my Thursday swim I attempted a run with the pup after work on Friday. As with my swim it really wasn't too bad although it was obvious from the start that there was no way I could run 'fast' 7 miles was dispatched comfortably enough. Bonus!!! My Friday night swim was also very successful, not without it's aches and pains, but I actually swam pretty damn well.
Saturday I met up with my clubmate pal Dave for a 40mile bike ride. Other than my back making it awkward for me to get on or off my bike it all went great. I didn't even get my normal freezing fingers due to the discovery that a pair of latex gloves under my normal bike gloves work wonders!

Then came Race Day and BRAUNTON 10!!! I have a nasty tradition of running two laps here as training for THE GRIZZLY but I knew in advance that was never on so I popped down to the pool for the early morning Tri Club Session. I struggled a little in the pool and then ran the mile from home to the race start still undecided about actually racing. Needless to say I raced and the tale of it IS HERE so I won't bore you with it now, the upshot is that my shrunken hamstrings lasted 9 miles before they threw their toys out of the pram in disgust with me.

So now my words have come back to haunt me TWICE, last week with illness and this week with injury! It could be worse though, a lot worse. Although I haven't been able to see anyone yet I'm fairly confident it's not anything too major. Nothing snapped and my legs/back still appear to have a full range of motion, I just have to be very careful achieving that range. I'm fully expecting to end up missing out on running for a couple of weeks (Rosie won't be happy). I'll be rigging the turbo trainer up tomorrow in a hope that my body will allow me to ride the bike instead.

Heck, it's January, I don't need them until November!! Plenty of time yet :-D

Lurgie-Ville

2011-01-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

So it's only natural that after talking (bragging) with people on Twitter about how I never get injured or ill then something was bound to happen. I'm just thankful that it wasn't an injury!!

After writting my blog last week and sorting all manner of other training logs etc I felt as though I was ready to settle down to some half decent training. That afternoon I took the pup out for our regular 7 mile jaunt and I was simply awful!!! My legs didn't seem to have any energy at all and I had to take two walk breaks just to get myself round. Initially I just put it down to the crap factor I was feeling after a hard return week to work after the holidays, but when I got up for work on Saturday morning (1am) it was clear that the bad run was just the early signs of something more sinister.

For the rest of the weekend I was a total mess as I coughed, sneezed and sniffed my way around everything. Thoughts went through my head about going out to bury myself for 10miles on a kill or cure training session, it's something I've done before with relative success (although I've wiped myself out a few times too).

Strangly though after mentioning the dreaded lurgie on the social phenomenons that are Daily Mile and Twitter people started pointing out to me that I hadn't really had any time off since Kona, it may actually be the ideal time to take a little break. So that's exactly what I (thought I) did!

My other saving grace when it comes to illness is that I never 'seem' to be ill for long and while I know people who've been sick since before Christmas I was fairly confident this thing would blow over pretty sharpish and it seemed I was right when by Wednesday I was back to normal, I was quite enjoying the lazy lifestyle though so I decided I'd give myself the full week off afterall.

Friday came along and I was enjoying the new 'couch potato' lifestyle and I really didn't want to get back into training mode. That's really annoying when you've seen so many people who have to take time off and they're buzzing when they come back, they can't get out of the door quick enough.

I finally got my butt into gear and headed out with the pup expecting to fly down the road with these fresh legs that have been sitting recovering all week......... Ah, it doesn't really happen like that!! I suffered! I started steady and just couldn't have got any quicker if I'd have wanted to, it must just be first day back syndrome (I hoped).

Then I went swimming and made the big discovery, MY DAMN LURGIE HADN'T GONE!!! It must have just been hibernating because by the end of the session I was coughing so much I thought I was going to leave my lungs in the pool.

So what now? More time off? Not a chance, I'm back with this thing now until it's gone. It's had a chance, now we kill this thing my way!!! Next weekend is Braunton 10, if it's not all cleared up by then it can look out.

Hello. Remember Me?

2011-01-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

Heck, what's happened to this blog? Where's it gone?
I've never been the most prolific blogger, there just isn't enough going on in my sheltered little life to post every day as some do. That and the fact that my sheltered home/work life isn't something I'm overly comfortable talking about limits my options slightly. Even so, a gap of close to two months is a big gap in anybodies book. Especially when that gap has included a couple of races, Christmas, my Birthday and even the UK's snow standstill. I'm sure I could have found things in amongst that little lot to splurge on about.
So, it's a new year and hopefully a new(ish) start to my training, racing and blogging personna - or (more likely) it'll just be the same old me spouting the same old crap!!!
So, a quick update! Where do I start?
Cornish Marathon (the last video post) - Was good fun, I started like an idiot and blew to pieces. Nothing new there then!
NDTC Kristmas Kaper - I didn't race this year, just did the race starting on poolside then set off shopping to but goodies for the ill-fated chunder mile which didn't even start! Mince pie anyone? I did take an 'interesting' little video clip from poolside (below) and you can find pics/results from the race HERE.

My Birthday was just my birthday. I worked as normal which left very little time, but the pressies and cards were great (even at my age) and Shelly even got my tickets to go see the Villa v Tottenham game on Boxing Day. It was a great day out and took me right back to my old Season Ticket days, even if the result wasn't as I'd hoped in this dreadful season that Villa are having :-(

Next up came the Christmas holiday (with that footy game). More pressies, more cards, more time getting fed and watered by the family. Nice!!! We also managed to sneak in the Wheaton Aston 10k while we were up there. Wheaton Aston is flat and fast, it's the course where I set my second fastest ever 10k time. Not this year though!!! As normal I started like an idiot and just hung on for as long as I could, finally finishing 16th in 37:13. It's a good 2m30s off my best, but that was 10 years ago when I was lean and mean so I won't complain about it. New Years Eve was quiet, I don't think either of us have any great passion for the event. We stayed in, drinking wine and watching TV then flicked over in time to watch the (quite immense) London Fireworks - that'll be where the 2.5% VAT rise goes then!!! Then we went and crashed out ready for the Tri Club NYD meet up at Woolacombe where we go for an off road scenic run, a group (15+) of hardy souls (not me) run into the sea for a bracing dip and then we stuff our faces with bacon sandwiches at training buddy Tim's beachside apartment. Good fun all round.
So what's left? I'm not really sure although I'm sure I'll think of loads as soon as I've pressed "Publish". I've got a few of races lined up for the months ahead (Braunton 10, Taunton Aquathlon, Grizzly) and I've entered Taunton Sprint Tri for the first time in 5 years, it'll be fun to see how my time compares to the past - hopefully it's better!!
So that's it I think. As always there's nothing too exciting, no massive multi-million pound bike/shoe sponsors to report, no training with the Ironman stars of the world. Just me, Shelly and the mutt, muddling along as normal ;-)

I'll try not to leave it so long next time!!

Cornish Marathon

2010-11-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

As I'm posting this the video hasn't finished uploading to Youtube. 'Hopefully' it'll work though ;-D

It's been too long

2010-11-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's funny how blogging works. I sat down in front of my computer a week after my last post and I had nothing to write. A few weeks later and I don't know where to start.
I sometimes wonder if I should post about more than just my training and what I'm up to, start giving my opinion about other stuff that's going on in the world. Stupid as it seems though I'm actually quite private (today is a one off), some people my have seen my argueing a case on Twitter but what I'm argueing for may not always actually be my view. Sometimes I just jump in there to defend the underdog, I can stir it up a little and then watch it all go mad. Most people know by now that you take my opinions with a pinch of salt so 'I think' they all still talk to me - hmmmm! So having said all that, here's a couple of things that have been happening outside of my life and my thoughts. Things that I have absolutely no control over whatsoever.
The WTC/Ironman Corporation has been having fun. First of all they come out with their ill fated "Access Program" where they basically wanted people to pay $1000 for the privilage of entering their races and paying another $600 a week early to guarantee their entry. That blew up in their face big style and rightly so. Then they started getting more flak because it turned out that Ironman Hawaii 2011 is on the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur. This one I may have upset a few folks on Twitter with because if I'm honest, I don't really think that religious events and sporting events should ever be put aqainst each other. If you're religious then your faith wins - simple! I could try qualifying for Kona and then find one of my close relatives is getting married on that day............................................... hopefully they wouldn't miss me too much ;-). Then of course there's the whole 2012 Olympics/Ramadan clash!! Now that's a biggie that I'm keeping well away from. It makes the whole WTC/Yom Kippur clash look like a tiny blade of grass on a football pitch, especially when the whole ethos behind the Olympics is that it brings EVERYBODY together while the WTC are only really there to make money for themselves.

While I'm on an Ironman roll ............... Most people I know are now aware of my great Ironman U-turn which seems to have started a trend (I'll claim anything). After Ironman Hawaii I retired from Ironman, the training, the hassle not to mention the stupid amount of money it costs were all far too much for someone like me to continue with it. Well, the retirement only lasted 4 weeks because on 7th November after watching this years race online (and under massive amounts of peer pressure ;-p) I signed up for my 5th Ironman Florida. It's about time they started paying for my accomodation as I'm over there so aften ;-). Here's to another summer of stupid bike mileage when I could be chilling in the sun. Still, I guess it's an excuse for me to get out of doing the garden up and /or moving to a bigger house that we now can't afford (every cloud has a silver lining!!). Still on the Ironman Florida line......... If you were racing for that elusive Kona slot but you really REALLY needed to hit the toilets, what would you do? Brial Scheall had that dilemma and just let it all out WHILE he ran. He could never have imagined in his wildest dreams that he'd be photographed with sh*t running all down the back of his legs and would turn into an internet sensation. I couldn't do it, could you? ........... Well, he won his age group and qualified for Hawaii so in the end I guess it was worth it. The whole world is STILL waiting for a race report to appear on his blog though ;-)

Last weekend was the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida. Three of my clubmates races in various states of health. Tim, who recently broke 2 ribs and his collarbone in an embarrassing bike accident. Maria who had a bout of Shingles just prior to the race. Rose who was the only healthy member of the group. They all had amazing races and it was great for me that people I know have now been and witnessed the whole circus that is a WTC World Champs. Watching the race online was fantastic, seeing someone run a 70min half marathon AFTER the swim/bike is just rediculous. The GB Team also had a fantastic day with Jodie Swallow leading from start to finish and finally getting a few of the plaudits she deserves after being it the sport for so many years. With 5 GB women in the top 10 of the Pro field and the first overall Age Groupers both Male and Female it must have been party time after the race.

For me though special mention has to go to James Gilfillan who finished 22nd OVERALL and led the Mens Age Group race from the gun to win by almost 5mins. James has been around for years, I was racing him when he was a teenager and he was an awesome athlete back then. With all these long distance Tri teams around he really should get snapped up, it's such a waste for him to have to race as an Age Grouper, he's so much better than that.
So what's next in the future of Iain? Well, I'm going to take part in the Winterswim and a little bit of fun that some of us are having which is going under the hashtag of #sillyswimsesh. Then of course there is Cornish Marathon which is ........ erm ........ tomorrow. As always I'm totally unprepared and under trained and I'm sat here typing this while drinking my 2nd large glass of red wine. Still, I'm going down for a bit of fun with my Marathon junkie pal Jimmy. He's having the running season of his life and has knocked out several sub 3hr marathons this year. I'm going to beat him tomorrow using my run/walk technique, well at least that's what I've been telling him for the last couple of weeks.
Will I beat him? Nope! Will I break 3hrs? I doubt it very much! But as long as the weather is ok I should come back with another of my awful race video's as I'm taking my ipod down with me to record some stuff. It'll be a fun season finale whatever happens and I'll be rooting for Jimmy to put in another sub 3 performance on what is a tough course with 1,000ft of climbing.

One final thing before I go. The good Twitter come up with some wonderful phrases and sayings and after many conversations about diet, weight and all good things like that I saw a post that made me laugh.............. Although you may have to be in the UK to understand it.

"Gillian McKeith and Nigella Lawson are the same age. If you are what you eat, then lead me to the chocolate fudge cake!" - I'll leave you to ponder that one :-D

Tired and aching

2010-10-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

The title explains how I'm feeling right now and how I've been feeling all week. I know the obvious thing to say is "Take a rest you bloody idiot!" and I'd be saying the same to someone else, but it's JUST tired and aching. There's no injury tweaks or niggles, no pulls or strains etc. Everything just feels beaten up! Of course there is a reason for all of this and most of the reason is the Exmoor Stagger and to a lesser extent the Cornish Marathon.

The Exmoor Stagger was last Sunday, just two weeks after Ironman Hawaii. It's a 15.1mile (my Garmin says 16.1miles) off road run from the coastal town of Minehead to Exmoors highest point (Dunkery Beacon) and back. The run takes in over 3,100ft of climbing and as I was reminded during the race, I haven't done any hill training for around 4 years.
I'd run 10miles on the Thursday before the race and I was under no illusions that my legs had recovered from Kona in any way, I wasn't quite prepared for just how quickly they'd throw the towel in at the sight of a good climb though. I moved comfortably enough early in the race but once we hit the bigger climbs I was soon walking. I saw a lot on my clubmate Tony in the early stages, we'd pass each other regularly as our strengths and weakness's are almost total opposites. Then he disappeared just before the long drag to the summit. I could see him way, way ahead and as he crested the hill I looked at my watch, it took me another 3minutes to get there.
Once I'm over the top it's a different story though. Because I knew I was hardly going to be at the front of the field I had chosen to run in an old pair of road shoes and save my feet from the potential fell shoe blisters. It was wet, muddy and slippery in the early stages of the descent so I had to take my time which was a bit annoying. Once that was out of the way though it was full steam ahead as I chased down as many people as I could ahead of me. One by one they came into sight and disappeared out the back until I found myself in no-mans land and then suddenly at 12miles a hill appeared that climbed 500ft in less than a mile. I walked every single inch of that hill and nobody caught me, infact by the time I started running again I could see 3 people ahead, so in the last 3 miles I caught and passed them too.
For all the pain, on a very 'off' day I managed to snag 16th overall and 3rd V40 for my troubles. An unexpected little trophy, nice!
I also took some bloody awful video. You can play it if you want, but you might need to dig out the sea sickness tablets first!!

The days after The Stagger my legs were simply trashed. It's the downhills that do the damage though. I might enjoy them at the time but your legs take a hell of a beating when you run like that. Fitness and training aren't always the key to going fast downhill, it sometimes just depends on how brave/stupid you are. Training would however prepare the muscles you use for the beating that they're going to get and mine were far from prepared.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I did absolutely nothing. You can get away with that when your Tri season has finished - it's nice!! Thursday though I was back to it and with tired legs I drove out to Instow so that I could do a long run. This is the reason that Cornish Marathon is partly responsible for my tired legs, it's because part of me would like to have a half decent race here and maybe even RUN round rather than run/walk as I did at White Peak and Wolverhampton Marathons. For that stand the slightest chance of happening I need to get some long runs in during the next fortnight as I really haven't done any this year. The reason I drove out to Instow to start my run is two fold. Firstly I wanted to run with Rosie, but I don't really want to drag her around 20miles. The plan is that I run 10miles home, collect the pup and then run 10miles back with her so she can play in the sea. That way not only does Rosie get a run, but if I'm feeling wasted after 10 miles I've still GOT to run back because my car is 10 miles away from home. Double Whammy!!

That's about it really, there's nothing exciting been going on unless you've been following the Access Program fun and games where the WTC basically decided that those who wanted to hand over $1,000 would be allowed to enter races a week ahead of anybody else, guaranteeing their places in the race - you'd still have to pay full entry price though. It all kicked off on Twitter, Facebook etc etc and the plan was subsequently dropped like a hot potato. Fair play to them for realising they were on a hiding to nothing and ditching the plan so quickly, I'm sure it won't be the last time something like this happens though.

This time last year I was heading up the Motorway on the first stage of my journey to PCB for Ironman Florida. This year I'll be watching online and wishing I was racing! It'll be soooo tempting to hit the sign up button next Sunday morning, but I don't expect it'll happen. Even if I do get tempted it'll fill up so quickly (if it even gets online) that only the very quickest will get through. There is a lot of ill feeling towards the WTC after the Access Program, but don't let us kid ourselves, the Ironman brand is pretty damn recession proof right now and it'll take a lot more than this to stop races like Ironman Florida filling up in seconds.

Until next time. Happy Training.

I'm off out to take my battered legs for a run. "Come on Rosie"

Frayed Edges

2010-10-23T02:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, I promise this is going to be my last Ironman Hawaii post until I find out I've got a starring role in the TV broadcast version (or maybe not). I'm sat here at home, the weather is awful and I've no need to go out and train, it's great. There are so many jobs that I could be doing around the house that I'm still trying to avoid but haven't got an excuse to any more, that's not so great.

This will be a bit of a random post, a couple of things I forgot off the last post, a couple of interesting and/or inspiring things from the race, just a jumble or stuff really.
First up, a thank you that I forgot....... In 2009 NICK ROSE raced Ironman Hawaii, this year he watched online and posted a great BLOG POST about it. Pretty much as soon as I qualified he sent me an email detailing his Kona experience and giving me bundles of hints and tips which helped me (ok, it helped Shelly) organise our trip. Without his input the whole thing would have been a whole lot more hassle and probably more expensive for it. Next year Nick is getting married AND racing Ironman Wales, not sure which is the biggest challenge. At Ironman Wales he WILL qualify for Kona 2012 and I look forward to watching being his online supporter. Thanks Nick, I owe you a beer.
Another quick mention I should do is to BRYAN If you follow him on TWITTER then good luck, if you're the timid, sensitive type you might want to leave alone as he regularly has an X-rating. His BLOG is an amazing read though, so much better than this bilge. He does things the right way and combines his love of Ironman with his love of beer very well. He's got some amazing videos from Kona which are well worth a watch and if you scroll back then the story of how he's progressed from fatty to fitty will be an inspiration to anybody. BRYAN, it was an honour to meet you in Kona, you're a top bloke ................ and yes, I drink like a wuss!!!!
As I wheeled my bike into transition before the race I managed to take a pic of an old tired looking single speed BMX bike that was perched on the racking. Of course I had to look up the results to see how he got one and then a bit of Googling discovered the whole WEBSITE about the man and his 'OLD SCHOOL' fund raising efforts. Have a click on the links, it's worth a look. Top job ;-) Finally (I think) check out RAJESH DURBAL, a triple amputee who completed Ironman Hawaii. Scarier still (for me) was the fact that he swam 1h18m!!! Need a bit of inspiration? Legs feeling a bit tired today? You're feeling nothing!!!!

Craziness, thanks and what's next?

2010-10-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over a week since the big dance and time I guess to think of other things and the first of those things is this blog.
Lets face it, it's not a big blog. There are people out there whos musings get read by thousands and thousands of people. Thankfully mine doesn't because I wouldn't know what the hell to write that would keep them amused. It's on it's 3rd incarnation and was mostly set up so that my family could see what I'm up to from their homes 200miles away and so that I could look back at what I've done. I'm not a big blog reader, I just don't have time, in fact I'm not a big reader at all. My job means that I can listen to masses of podcasts instead, but you really wouldn't want to hear my voice any more than is necessary so be grateful for the blog ;-). This will be my 63rd posting and as of now I've had just over 5,200 viewings (there's a counter at the bottom) which works out at 82 per post. I can probably write off 30 views per post as my gf, mother and sister click regularly to check for updates and I check for comments, so really there are less than 50 people who are daft enough to read this muck and that's before you take off the people who click my Twitter or Daily Mile posts and then close the page before the end of the first paragraph. I don't mind that, it's not a business tool, there are no ad's at the side for you to click, it's just a bit of fun.
Knowing all this you can imagine my shock when I find that somebody has written about ME(!!!) on THEIR BLOG!!! So to Heather I must say thank you, but you really need to get out more ;-). I'd love to say I'd send hundreds of followers that way, but it's not going to happen. If you stumble across this rubbish though give her a click and you'll see how a blog should really be written. It's bright, fun and put together much better than this old dross.

On the right hand side of this page there is a little list of links. These are all people who in one way or another have helped me out on my way to Kona. Please click on them and check them out. Obviously some of them are local to me so if you happen to live thousands of miles away then you won't be able to have a massage off the lovely Maria, still give it a click though. The very least I can do is try to give their websites a bit of traffic :-)
Of course the list of thanks should go out much further than those lists. There are so many people who've helped me on the way, from family and friends who encourage and put up with my training in equal measure as well as helping me out considerably with the financial side of things (Ironman is a sport for rich bankers, not lorry drivers). Also, strange as it may seem, all the folks who've wished me well and encouraged me on Twitter and Daily Mile need thanks. When the going gets tough and my notoriously weak mental attitude goes into quit mode it's quite often the thought of how I'm going to explain myself to everyone that keeps me moving forwards. Knowing the people they are I'd actually never hear a bad word, but the thought puts extra pressure on and sometimes that's exactly what my lazy ass needs.

So what's next? If I'm honest, I haven't got a clue. I'm pretty determined that this will be my last Ironman (for a few years at least)........ but, it almost seems like a waste of the new bike and there is still the annual temptation of Ironman Florida registration. I'll no doubt watch the race online and get very drawn to it, if I can get through November 7th without doing anything stupid (registering for 2011) then I'll know more.

I quite fancy doing a few Ultra-Marathons. It means I can possibly sneak in a holiday/race trip abroad without having all the hassle and expense of taking the bike. I'll probably leave it until the New Year before I start thinking about the possibility of things like that though. We'll see.

My official pics have come through from Kona. They cost me a bloody fortune so I'm going to post them everywhere I can. Including on here ;-)

Finally a Kona Race Report!!

2010-10-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

(I'm hoping this makes sense, it's been written over the space of 3 days)

So I’m blogging again from up in the air (there’s nothing much else to do) and hopefully this laptop won’t crap out on me before I’m done. It’s Tuesday (or Wednesday in the UK) and we’re heading from Hawaii to San Francisco in a knackered old Boeing 767 that’s massively late because the mechanics have been ‘fixing’ it. Everything has been knackered this week!! This laptop is on its last legs, one of Shelly’s cameras died on race day when they got soaked by a wave, the list goes on.........

So my blog postings have been a bit pathetic over the course of the holiday. I’d really intended to post every day, maybe even a video blog. It just didn’t happen though, so here I am about to write a race report 3 days after the event! Disgraceful!!

The day before the race we had to get all our gear together and get the bikes racked. This is normally one of my favourite times as I get to stroll around Transition taking pics of all the mega expensive bikes and watching as people run around sorting things in their own way. Hawaii of course is different though. First of all you have to wheel your bike down the ‘catwalk’. It really makes you feel like you’re something special as you walk through what I can only presume is the annual stat collectors. Rows of people sat with notepads presumably noting down what bike/wheels/bars/groupsets etc etc etc you have on your bike. It’s a special feeling! You then get your own chaperone who walks with you to your bike racking, then takes you to drop off your transition bags, before walking you right through the Transition routine so you know what is where on the day.... Then they walk you right out of the transition area so there is no browsing around looking at bike porn. It’s very effective, works very well, but it’s also very disappointing to be ushered in and out so quickly........................... After that was all done we popped to the local shop and bought a microwave pizza for tea (I know how to live!).

I had a pretty good night’s sleep on Friday night and woke up on Saturday all ready to roll. We drove into town and rocked up with plenty of time to spare so I got my tyres checked, sorted out my special needs bags and dropped some gels into my T1 bag. Then I went to chill for a while before remembering my number belt and GPS chip needed to go in my T1 bag too – back I went. I settled down to chill again and remembered my glasses needed to be in there too – back I went again!!! It killed some time I guess.

We all made our way into the water and swam out to the start area, it was packed out.... Mike Rielly said at the Awards Banquet that the pre-start looked very calm, HA!! He wasn’t in there! Then the cannon went off and the carnage began. It was just a fist fight and seemed to stay that way for most of the swim. Normally I’m quick enough to get out of the main bunch, here though I was smack in the middle of the main bunch and it hurt! I was pushed under the water, had my legs and feet pulled, got kicked, swam over, dragged under, it all happened and it happened for 90% of my time in the water. It’s very rare that I don’t enjoy a swim but this one was evil and I was massively relieved when I reached the exit ramp, so much so that T1 was a very casual affair while I gathered myself back together again. I’d posted before that I hadn’t felt fast in the swim so when I left T1 and saw just 1:05 on the clock I was extremely happy.

Out on the bike and it was the regular story. I started off nice and steady as I was still a little fazed by the whole swim experience and the first miles of the bike are sneakily hilly. As always the bike monsters started ripping past, standing up and mashing the big gears on the hills, I just span my legs steadily and saved myself. Once on the Queen K I hit the aero bars and the passing cyclists slowed greatly, this was good, I was cruising and the speed was high. I checked the Garmin and my HR was a little high, I was feeling so comfortable though I was sure it would drop. I checked again and again, but still it stayed higher than I wanted, it was probably just the heat although that was something else that I seemed to be coping with far too well. I was happy!
The climb up to Hawi appeared and I stuck to the plan which was to take it nice and steady. If I needed to sit up and spin it was fine. It was going to be a long day and I didn’t want to waste myself just half way round. The climb was tougher than it had been on my Wednesday recce ride, the wind was a lot stronger too. We were getting blown all over the road heading uphill, the descent was going to be very interesting. By now the faster men were coming past on the descent and some of them were looking decidedly cautious, that WASN’T part of the plan. We made the turn at Hawi and just before the descent I grabbed my special needs bag and stopped at the side of the road while I sorted stuff (I was in no rush).

Now I’m not the best when it comes to a technical bike descent, but Hawi isn’t technical it’s just crazy so I was right at home. 40mph+ on the Tri-bars was the plan. The windy section is only 5-7miles long and the faster you go the quicker it’ll be over (unless you get blown off the road and crash), besides, if I’m overtaking everybody then I’ve got the whole road to play with. It was as scary as hell but great fun as I tore past people and by the time the crazy side winds had turned into evil head winds I’d even caught and passed people who’d passed me going up the climb. My HR was still too high though!!!!

Back on the Queen K was where things started to get tough. At 70miles I started thinking that maybe my HRM had been right all along and I had been going to hard, by 80miles I was sure of it. Damn!!! Should I push on and risk wrecking myself for the run or should I ease off and hope to save or recover some run form. I’ve suffered on too many Ironman Marathons and really didn’t want to walk through the lava fields so I sat up and took a step back. The last 30miles were probably at the pace the first 30miles should have been. It was hard to sit back and watch people come riding by while I knew I could have pushed on, I just hoped that I’d save enough to be seeing them on the run again. The biggest worry though was actually my feet which seemed to have swollen up to fill every section of my bike shoes. They were in a world of hurt so I poured water and ice over them in an attempt to ease the pain, nothing seemed to work though.
As I rocked into T2 I hopped off my bike and it felt awful, my feet were in agony and I pretty much hobbled my way towards the change tent. It felt as though every tendon between my feet and my toes was about to snap. The transition itself was even more leisurely than T1 as I went through my stuff, put on socks, shoes, vaseline, sunblock etc etc before grabbing my gels and heading out into the sun again.

I knew it was going to be a tough run as I left transition and knowing that the first few miles were again pretty tough I headed out at an easy pace. At least it felt like an easy pace!! I’d told everybody that the I was going to do a 10:1 run:walk but the run section was always going to be between aid stations unless they were less than 5mins apart. So every drink station got walked through for a full minute as I grabbed mostly water and coke, then every 2nd feed station I’d take a gel onboard. There were times when progress was slow and the Ironman shuffle was in full effect but I seemed to be working around the same group of people. During good sections I’d move forwards through the field as I started feeling like I could pick the pace up again, then I’d drift backwards again as I paid the price for my efforts. I always managed to keep it together enough to keep moving though and there were no 3-4mile walks as there have been in previous Ironman races so I shouldn’t complain too much.

I’d had a Finish Line pose lined up in my head all week, but as I ran the last stretch along Alii Drive I decided that it was a bad idea and scrapped it. Instead I just made a total arse of myself in front of the camera so that anyone back home (who’d managed to stay awake) didn’t miss me.
So that was it............ All over!!............ I had a small stint in the med tent because I had tingling feelings in my hands and face but it was nothing concerning. Then it was off for the official medal picture and a massage followed by a few slices of Pizza.

Once all was done and dusted we headed back to our apartment for a (much needed) shower and then returned to the Finish area to watch the last competitors come in before midnight. It was great that this year nobody missed the cut off although I did feel for the person who missed the swim cut off by 24secs and they didn’t let them carry on. That’s just cruel.

So that’s it! Race over! I finished in 722nd place overall and 136th in my Age Group. My time was a slightly disappointing 10:26:02 with splits of 1:02:15 (3:48) 5:26:43 (7:14) 3:46:02.
Would I change anything? Of course I would, I’d change lots but it’s too late for that. The job is done, the once in a lifetime trip is over. But ............... if I were to give ME just one piece of advice about doing it all again, I’d probably say “Do your research and get a good coach, then TRY to stick with them”. Being a lazy-ass Triathlete is great, but when you get to race something as big as this then you really do want to give it your all and do the best race you possibly can. I didn’t! I still loved it though!!!

Time to Rumble!!!!

2010-10-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hey all, how’s things?

Heck I’ve been hopeless at doing this blog while we’ve been here. I was planning to post every day but just don’t seem to have had the time, partly down to a hectic pre-Ironman lifestyle, partly down to my own laziness and party down to it seeming a bit rude when we’ve got people over here holidaying with us. My frequent strolling around the complex so my phone can update Twitter on the wireless signal seems cheeky enough.

Enough of the excuses though.........

Thursday I hit the water again for a swim. Once again it just didn’t seem to be happening for me, I never really seemed to get into any rhythm. Of course the fish take your mind off it a little but it’s still annoying when one of your supposed strengths doesn’t seem to be up to scratch. I was told later that the swim times are always relatively slow here, so maybe it’s just me making a fuss about nothing.

After the swim I drove out to the Energy Lab for a run to see what all the fuss is about and to try out my new Zoot arm coolers. I didn’t really find out too much about either as it was fairly early in the morning and the temperatures hadn’t got up too high. Once again though my running (like my swimming) was a bit out of sorts, nowhere near as bad as Tuesdays run had been, but still it was far great. It seems really odd that my supposed weakness (the bike) currently seems to be the only discipline that is coming together.

Once the training was done for the week I headed out to replace all of the bike spares and tools that I lost on Wednesdays Hawi bike ride, they’re now all crammed into the bento box on my top tube as I didn’t really want to spend huge $$$ on carbon contraptions that attach to the back of my bike. Then I headed out to the beach with Shelly for a bit more swimming, this time of the leisure kind.

Thursday night was Pasta Party night and they treated us to a full on concert type show on a big stage at the back of the hotel. It was hugely impressing compared to the normal IM affair. Of course you were aching to get out of there by the end as it finished with the obligatory (but necessary) race briefing. Still, it was a decent feed and an overall good show so we were happy.
Friday was supposed to be chill out day. It never really happens like that though. First thing we popped into town so Shelly could go swimming on the quiet beach right next to the race beach, the difference between the two is amazing. She really enjoyed herself and finally got to see what we were talking about when we rambled on about the fish. Then it was more touring the shops which I promised myself I wouldn’t do. I finally succumbed to the compression sock trend, mostly because they had “Kona2010” written on them. I’ve no idea if they actually do work but I’ve been wearing them for 12hrs straight, just in case.

Friday afternoon I had to go rack my bike. Normally my favourite time as I get to stroll the Transition area with my camera taking pictures of all the flash bikes...... Not today though!! The organisers are very officious. You walk down what seems to be a fashion parade with people lined up scribbling in notepads (I’m guessing this is the bike count) and then after the checks you’re met by someone who walks through the whole transition process with you as you drop your bike and bags. Then as quickly as you’re ushered in you are ushered out without any strolling around time. Very good for keeping things under control, very bad for a geek with a camera............ I did feel awfully for the lad I passed riding to transition who’d obviously had some form of accident and was at the side of the road with Police and Medics AND a bike that was snapped in two. Hopefully he’s ok (he looked to be) and hopefully they’ve managed to find him a replacement steed to race on.

So that’s it!!!!! As I sit here typing it’s 4:30 am on race morning. I’ll soon be down at the race site getting ready to roll. Hopefully I can get around Shelly enough to post before I head off. No piccies today though I’m afraid, I’m a bit short of time..

Time to go and get battered in the swim for the first time in my life (gulp!!)

See you on the other side.

The Island gives. The Island takes away!!!

2010-10-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a few of days it’s been. After trouble free flights from the UK we finally arrived in Hawaii, to rain!! Just like home. The feeling when we left the plane however was much less like home. “Who stole the air?” was one of the questions we wanted to know. It was heavy and humid and intense and this was well after dark.
We queued, seemingly forever to get the hire car sorted and then finally we were away. Finding the building where we had to collect our apartment keys in the dark wet night was a nightmare. Even with four pairs of tired eyes in the car the directions still seemed to mean nothing. Still, finally things were sorted and other than Shelly tripping up a huge kerb and buggering her knee up we finally made it to the apartment in one piece, eventually getting to bed around midnight local time (1pm UK time), some 32hrs or so after we’d got up that day. Monday appeared all to quickly after just 5-6hrs sleep, but I felt fine. We got plenty of the normal bits and pieces done, food shopping etc and then in the afternoon I took off for a jolly on my bike. After embarrassingly riding several miles with a Ken Glah (google him) and not realising who he was until later I headed onto the Queen K for a bit of aero bike riding practice. The road is just amazing!! Once you’re on it the shoulder you ride on is as big as the main lanes, the tarmac is wonderfully smooth too, the junctions are quiet but still well sorted for cyclists and of course the traffic is very considerate and cycle friendly............ although most of the cars are probably being driven by Ironman racers anyway. The heat however was just as impressive as I expected, it really does feel like you’re riding in a huge sauna, there’s no escape from it. The air temp in Kona was 28C, but with the sun bouncing off those rocks it was a whole lot hotter out there.
After 17miles in the aero bars I turned at a scenic viewing point and having averaged 23mph I feared the worst of the wind and hills were about to hit me, it wasn’t to be though and another 17miles later I’d still averaged 23mph and other than a putting a little more effort in at one point when I played with someone on a shiny new mega expensive TREK being motor-paced (not sure he liked that (hehehe!!) I would say I wasn’t much above Ironman intensity. The one big decision to come from this was that I do feel I can ride with my aero helmet, I’ll find out on Saturday if the extra speed is worth it.
I came back from this ride totally buzzing. Everything had gone as well if not better than I’d hoped. The speed was fast, the intensity relatively low, the ease at which I’d played with Mr Motor-Pacer had given me a buzz. Race day bike times were rolling through my head....... but surely the other 2/3 of the bike course couldn’t be that good, could it?
Tuesday!!

So yesterday was a day that gave! Today was the day that took away! The day started with a little drive out to the Wal-Mart where Shelly was going to browse the shops in the area for a couple of hours while I trained. First up was a short run down to the sea for a swim on the course, 1.6miles mostly downhill, nice and easy. Then I changed and headed out to swim about half of the course, stopping off at the Coffee’s of Hawaii boat for a quick cuppa (nice).
The swim really is as amazing as you hear, it really is like swimming in a fish tank. All the brightly coloured fish are just flitting around without a care in the world and they seem totally unfazed by the hundreds of lycra clad idiots invading their living space. If I’m honest it was actually quite a tough swim, I never seemed to be able to get into any rhythm and there seemed to be currents pulling me every way that I didn’t want to go. Normally I’d have been a little concerned by that, but the whole thing was such an experience that I didn’t really care.
So....... onto run number 2. Oh dear!!! After swimming and a bit of socialising I finally headed out on my run back to Shelly and it was TOUGH!!! I took the long way round planning to do 4miles but took a wrong turn and ended up doing 5. It was probably one of the hardest 5miles that I’ve ever done too. The sun was beating down and before long I was really suffering with the heat. From mile 2 I could feel it and at 3 miles I decided this was a good time (excuse) to practice my run/walk strategy. When I realised that I’d taken a wrong turn and had to double back on myself it was like mental torture and that climb back up to the Wal-Mart nearly finished me off. When I got back to Shelly I can only imagine how bad I looked. It was a big wake up call after the massive boost of the previous bike ride.
For the rest of the day I felt totally cooked. That afternoon we went down for the packet pick up. There was a bit of a laugh with the good folks dealing with registration and with Chrissie Wellington when she came past and I did the whole “We’re not worthy” thing, but other than that I really just had no wish to be there. The Parade of Nations followed and we all had to meet at the back of the hotel to get sorted. I quite liked seeing a few old and new faces that were racing, but other than that (I’ll be honest) I’d much rather have been sat in the crowds watching the show than have to walk along being part of it where you miss all the best bits. Of course (as is the way with us Brits) when I got there I found out that we’d all got pretty tee-shirts to wear for the parade of nations. Except for the fact that they’re currently being Fed-Ex’d to Kona and should be there on Friday (Hmmmm!!).

Wednesday

Today was going to be a big tester. We were having a full day of bumbling around, visiting shops and beaches etc. But first of all there was the little matter of Hawi to check out.
Hawi is the bike turnaround. The course profile suggests it’s a good climb and it’s also apparently where the Trade Winds come in, so it’s a git gusty up there...... I can confirm that it all TRUE!! We drove out to Hawi and all was very jolly until we were about 5miles away when all of a sudden I noticed that the car was getting battered by the side winds which had suddenly appeared as if from nowhere. We looked up at the tree tops and sure enough we’d arrived! When we got there and parked up I was wondering if bringing Shelly with me was a good idea, this looked like an old shanty town, it actually looked a bit ‘rough’ and I wondered if she would be ok on her own. This just shows that initial impressions are not always right, nor do they last. It’s a lovely little town and as with everywhere else the people are very friendly. I can thoroughly recommend the Fudge shop too!!

Off onto the bike and the first section was both amazingly fast and dangerous at the same time. After 7miles I’d averaged 30mph while struggling to keep my bike on the road as I got battered by big gusting side winds. It was an interesting experience keeping the bike in the hard shoulder with imminent lava rash so close at hand. After 7miles though the road became more rolling and it curved around the island to give a full on headwind instead. This slowed the pace considerably, especially on the uphill sections, but by the turnaround at the bottom I’d still averaged 24mph. Much less than I’d expected it to be when I drove up in the car, but then it looked like it would be all downhill from that view. Then came the turn, the uphill and the expected slow-down that didn’t really happen. In fact with the wind assistance and the occasional flat/downhill I was still averaging over 23mph at 30miles. The next 6 miles however were torture!! The big side winds were slightly buffered by me being closer to the lava and obviously nulled by my lack of speed, but this bit was a constant grade and when we turned into the wind I was struggling to keep my speed in double figures. For the last 6 miles I averaged just 15mph.

So that’s about it for now I guess. Shortly I’ll be off for another early morning swim and (hopefully) a run through the Energy Lab and that’ll be my training done for the week. I must go buy some spares too as somehow my little bag of goodies detached itself from my bike on yesterdays ride. I’ve no idea how that was possible, but it’s gone and that’s that!! New tubes, levers, gas fillers all reqired. Maybe I’ll get excited and buy some expensive contraption? Who knows.

Rough and ready

2010-10-04T01:47:00.000-07:00

While I’m sitting on a plane for 11hrs+ I thought I might as well write a blog post. Who knows when I’ll actually get round to sneaking some internet access to post it though.

So it’s the 3rd of October and there’s just 6 days to go. September ended up being my 2nd biggest training month ever, a long way behind Augusts total but that meant two solid months with no illness and no injuries. I started a healthy eating purge but it just wasn’t me and I soon drifted back into my bad old ways. Still, that’s who I am and Ironman will just have to take me that way.

I had the normal panic packing the bike. Try as I might I couldn’t get 3 wheels into my bike box along with the frame, so it’s just the old 404’s for me. I also worry that the bike box has too much room in it with so little else in there but with it weighing exactly 23kg I didn’t really want to risk doubling that excess baggage charge by having it overweight too (turned out they had no interest in the weight so it’ll get packed more on the return trip). Even now though the bike has an unknown quantity to it though, the LBS couldn’t get my cassette from the new back wheel onto the old one. They have a new Shimano Ultegra cassette on which should be compatible, but it hasn’t been ridden on yet to make sure. I’m sure it’ll be fine though (I hope).

The last week has been pretty steady. I put a solid shift in at the track on Monday and rested Tuesday. Then I looked up me training for two weeks before Florida and repeated it but putting in a 7mile run on Wednesday (although this years was harder than last year) a 40mile bike/2k swim on Thursday, a rest day on Friday and a small 5 mile run on Saturday.

Most of my spare time on Thursday and Friday was spent packing and re-packing things, I even missed my Friday Squad Swim trying to get everything sorted. Then after much milling around on Saturday morning we headed off up to Bristol where we were meeting my parents who are babysitting Rosie while we’re away. They’d offered to meet us half way to save us driving all the way up to Wolverhampton and then having to drive back down South again to Heathrow. We met them at a pub in Almondsbury (just off the M4/M5 junction) called wwwthebowlinn.co.uk for lunch. It’s a bit of a devil to find but the food in there is great, I’m sure we’ll end up there again in the future!!

After handing Rosie over (and Shelly crying) we made our way to Heathrow where we were booked in at the Crowne Plaza though a park and fly company. The hotel was very pleasant and very comfortable. The standard tariff of £250/night is ridiculous though as are their mini bar prices (can of coke £2.50), good job we got a cheap deal. This was just the excuse I needed to pop out for a run and return with some more sensibly priced goodies.

As I got back from my run Chris and Sally arrived at the Hotel. Sally is in my Tri Club and they’ve come along for a holiday and to watch the race. Sweet!!

This morning we were all up and about in plenty of time and we caught the Heathrow Flyer to Terminal 5....... Only when we got there did we realise that we actually needed to be at Terminal 1. I won’t however let anyone where the false information had come from (Shelly). Luckily Shelly always likes to be everywhere ridiculously early so we had plenty of time to grab trains and find out way around the maze that is Heathrow.

Booking in went easily enough so we found somewhere for breakfast. Service was a little slow and when we left out plane was already boarding... then we spotted the sign that said “Allow 15mins to get to Terminals xxx” which was where we had to go. Needless to say it didn’t take us 15mins to get there, especially when I saw the sign that said “Boarding Closing” and had to knock out a 6-800m interval to make sure we were there on time.

All is well though, we made it onboard and settled in......... that takes you up to this point where we’re currently between the Davis Straight and the Hudson Straight and cruising at 36,000ft, it’s -51C outside and we’re bombing along at a Chris Lieto-esque 543mph. I’d better try to get some sleep then.

(Laughable) Predictions?

2010-09-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here at stupid o'clock in the morning and I thought I'd write a blog post, but I had no idea what to write. I wrote my thoughts on Twitter and Steve Spiers the creator or 100 Pushups suggested that I make some predictions. So here goes....

The Swim!!

Heck, what is there to predict? Presuming I don't get too beaten up and the sea isn't too rough I should be out of the water somewhere around the hour no matter what I'm wearing. As a reasonably strong swimmer I've been looking forward to the swim, especially as all the old speedsuits (cheatsuits) have been outlawed and they were such an advantage to those not so strong. It appears that most of the swim companies have managed to find a way around the ban though and there appears to be plenty of new legal go-faster on the way to Kona which all the serious folks will snap up at $300 a pop. I certainly won't be 'splashing out' on something I'll only have the chance to use once so I guess it'll just mean some of those uber-bikers will be a bit further up the field.

The Bike!!

Ah Heck! Who knows! I think I'm stronger on the bike and my new bike 'should' be faster than the old QR. I've still had limited time riding it though and although it feels very comfortable I haven't had anything even slightly resembling a bike fit on it so there's no way of knowing I will, or could be. Almost every bike ride I've done on it has been has been well in excess of 20mph so I'd hope that with the race day buzz, other competitors around me and less stop-starting than I have in day to day traffic I should at least match that speed. If I can ride at the same intensity as at Ironman Florida when I rode 5:00 with an average HR of 119bpm then I'll be very happy. The aim will be to ride 5:30 and any improvement on that will be a bonus......... Of course, if the wind is on form and batters us on the outward leg I'll probably be wasted by the turnaround and will just be happy to reach T2, whatever the time.
The only real aim for the bike is to get off and be able to run. If that's 5hrs then fantastic, if it's 6hrs then that's fine too.

The Run!!

Now of course the run depends sooo much on how I get through the bike. Although running is classed as one of my strengths I haven't yet 'nailed' an Ironman run course. I've every confidence that my run/walk routine can get me close to 3hrs 'if' I come off the bike feeling as good as I felt at Florida. The hard bit is not running too strong in the early miles when it all feels so easy. At Florida my HRM told me I was running like an idiot but I ignored it. In Kona my HRM will be the boss and I've dropped my run sections from last years 20mins to 10mins as used in Wolves Marathon. If my quads start cramping up then the run sections will be shorter in the hope that everything eases. The idea is to get round causing my body as little stress as possible. When I get into the last 10k, if everything is feeling good then I may opt to pick the pace up a little or miss the occasional walk break. I'll make that decision if and when the situation arises though.

So, overall I'm thinking an hour for the swim, possibly 5h30m for the bike with maybe 30mins either side depending on the conditions and then 'hopefully' between 3-4hrs for the run. So there goes, somewhere between the miracle 9hrs (yeah right) and hopefully the right side of 11hrs. I've set myself up to be shot down, let's see what happens.

The inspiring factor ----- It it's all going well the fact that my Age Group was won in 9:22 last year will be firmly lodged in my head.

The worrying factor ----- I know quite a few folks who've raced Kona, all of them will no doubt have approached the race in much better condition than me, totally amped for the race and not one of them will have left anything to chance. Every one of them have A-type personalities and will have been totally dedicated to this one race. NOT ONE of them has had a good race. NOT ONE of them has broken the 10hour barrier!!! That fact alone scares the hell out of me.

Let's just hope that my 'take it as it comes' attitude works a little better than the folks who try to 'race' the event.

Now that I've finished spouting all that bilge I've just thought that maybe he meant predictions for the winners, so here goes :-

MEN

1) Andreas Raelert
2) Rasmus Henning
3) Chris Lieto

WOMEN

1) Chrissie Wellington
2) Julie Dibens
3) Mirinda Carfrae

Tomorrow (Friday) is my last day at work, Sunday we fly 13hrs from Heathrow to San Fransisco and then 5hrs from San Fransisco to Kona. Then the fun starts ;-)

Quick Bike update

Ok, so the deal with the bike is that the rear ZIPP 808 has an issue!! There has at some point been a dink and the carbon is coming away from the Aluminium rim. It's hardly noticable unless you're looking for it and of course I'd done 500+miles by the time it was noticed. I contacted Wiggle who contacted ZIPP and they said "Don't ride it!", but Wiggle couldn't/wouldn't supply me with another wheel. I took the wheel to my local ZIPP dealer who said that ZIPP would (understandably) throw it out as a warranty claim because it had had a dink. Question is, was it before or after I recieved the bike? I'm confident that it hasn't happened, but Wiggle aren't going to admit anything and will just say I must have twatted it. So, I'm guessing that I'm stuck with it.
I've ridden it constantly and it seems fine but I'm just not brave enough to risk it in Hawaii, so I'll be using my old ZIPP 404's which I was having back so that I could use the front wheel if it's real windy. That's the story :-(

Pulling my hair out!!

2010-09-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

Everywhere I see Ironman Hawaii and everywhere I read anything about Ironman Hawaii, it's all about folks getting excited in the build up, starting their taper, itching to get over there and onto the course. Me?? Nothing like it. I'm beginning to hate it, I'm back to wondering why I'm bothering, back to wondering if it's all worth the hassle.

Now don't get too concerned, I'm not about to have a mental breakdown and explode. It's fair to say that I'm not in a good place right now. To be honest though, I never am with two weeks to go.

I don't mind flying half way around the world, I quite enjoy it. Taking a bike with you though fills me with dread. The box is oversize and overweight, I always stand in line dreading the airline hitting me with a (highly likely) rediculous charge or even worse telling me that for some reason it can't go. Then I'm left panicing that it'll end up in Germany rather than America, or it'll miss the connecting flight and I'll end up in Kona scrabbling around trying to hire a bike to race on...... I'm sure it won't happen, but I'm a 'glass half empty' sort of person and I'll feel a whole lot better once I'm there and settled.

At this moment in time though the anxieties are hightened as my brand new shiny bike has 'issues'. I don't really want to go into the detail at the moment for fear of slagging off anyone who may end up helping me, or praising someone that may ultimately let me down......... Let's just say that at this time my bike has only one wheel and with time so tight I can't see the issue being sorted before I fly. It may be that the only way to stop my head exploding will be to snap the credit card again on more new carbon. It's rediculous and frustrating but my 'glass half empty' persona tells me this is going to be an expensive arguement that I ultimately lose (or just give up on) and it's happened at the worst possible time.

Of course there's the up side to all of this........ In a weeks time I'll be heading off for a once in a lifetime holiday in the sun. I still won't get excited about the race, but then I never do. I'm sure that I'll go a and swim/bike/run as well as I can on the day and all being well it won't resort in a 15mile Death March to the Finish.

I'll get to meet up with fellow geeky nerdy bloggers like Pablo and Brian which I am really looking forward to. I'll see some old familar faces from the UK which will be good and of course I'll get to mingle with the World Greatest Triathletes at the World Greatest Triathlon. What can be better than that.

It's a dream come true, it's the one race I've always wanted to do that I thought would never happen. It's Ironman Hawaii!!! What is there to worry about, it'll all come good in the end :-D.

Right, I'm off to the bike shop to talk wheels before my head implodes. Credit Card? Check!

Maybe I need a stupid haircut after all, just to lighten myself up a little!!

Nothing to report!!

2010-09-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

So we're 3 weeks out. This is the point where I tell the world how excited I am, how I can't wait for the day, I can't sleep with the anticipation, the day needs to get here NOW! Hmmmm, nope! It still feels like just another race. Still the whole hassle of getting my bike half way across the world (and back) fills me with more dread than any excitement the race can muster.

Still, things are progressing as well as my lazy ass attitude can expect. Last Saturday I finally got a 100mile bike ride in. For all my record breaking bike miles/hours over the last couple of months it will be the only one pre-race, I'm just hoping that all 60-80 mile bike rides I've been doing will convert themself to 100 mile fitness come race day. On the day itself the intensity will be lower and I'll hopefully be well rested. We'll see.

At least now I'm at the stage where nothing I do will make me significantly faster, although a stupid mistake session could still ruin everything. My lack of ability to push myself through any sort of pain threshold means that over-training is still as unlikely as ever though.

Strangely my swim is the biggest concern at the moment. I'm quite happy with my pace, my once a week maintenence sessions should still be plenty good enough to get me round in an hour. I do have a bit of a dodgy shoulder though which plays up in the pool from time to time. Hopefully it's more annoying than damaging. It'll be fine ;-)

The new bike has had it's issues but thankfully Michael at my LBS Bike It was been amazing. Where a lot of folks could have been really off with me for buying my bike online he's understood the reasons for it and has been more than happy to rectify the problems that I've had with it. I do owe Wiggle a slightly whinging email though because all of the problems have been things that'should' have been sorted when it was built, especially with how much the damn thing cost................. I'm still loving the bike though for all it's (hopefully sorted) issues.
So now we're on the final countdown, the race pack is out, the numbers have been issued (mine is 990) and things are all coming together. It looks like there will be no silly haircut again this year, it's just such a hassle to sort and get done. I should therefore blend nicely in with all the other Kona Qualifiers, except of course for my ever present 'muffin top' and of course my UNshaven body. The day I'm quick enough to warrant 'shaving down' is the day I'm very quick indeed!!!

That's it really, there's not a lot to report. My life has mostly been work and training. Tomorrow is the Doone Run, but as I type this we still don't know if I'm racing(???) it or marshalling. I'll bike over anyway which will give me 90mins or so and then I'll play it by ear from there. I might get two laps in yet, I could do with a long run!!

This post is really slack. I'm sorry :-(

Wolverhampton Marathon (and other things)

2010-09-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

Phew, there's been lots going on since my last post. It's hard to know where to start.

First up :- The Confession

After my last proper post Everything Changes when I said there will be NO nutrition change, NO clothing change and NO bike change............. I went and bought a new bike in a moment of madness! It's much more than I deserve, much more than I can justify, much more than I need and MUCH MUCH more than I can really afford. But this is Ironman Hawaii, people keep telling me how priviliged I am to have qualified, heck I know it's a once in a lifetime race and the bike is a once in a lifetime purchase. Never ever will I be able to justify such an extravagent purchase again.......... So Welcome to the Focus Izalgo along with all it's SRAM and ZIPP goodness. Now I just need to justify the purchase in 5 weeks time!!!
Next up :- Training

Last month (August) was my biggest month of training EVER!! By a long long way.

I swam for just 5hrs which is pretty par for the course where my swimming is concerned and I finished the month off with a 4000m time trial as is traditional Pre-Ironman just to prove to myself it's still there.

I ran for 15h40m which is actually my biggest total for 2 years, but only just. Running has really just ticked along as normal and this weekends Marathon (I'll come to that later) pretty much showed me that my running form is ok.

The biking is where the time has been put in. Whether it has been put in the right way or not I've no idea, I've still not done a 100mile bike ride this year. I did however total 46hrs in the saddle during the month and that's over 10hrs more than I've ever done in a single month before.

It may be that the increased bike training swayed my decision where the new bike is concerned, maybe I got carried away with a month of training that totalled 67hrs which is over 15hrs more than I've ever done before. Who knows?

Last week I was off work, a week I'd booked off to train. It was very tempting to get myself booked on a warm weather training camp but as it turned out we probably had the best week of weather that we've had all Summer. I managed to put in 21h40m of training which was actually a good bit less than I'd planned but the ordering and arrival of the new bike interupted a bit of training time. The week did however finish with.....................

Wolverhampton Marathon

So at the end of a 10 day spell during which I'd done over 27hrs of training I found myself on the Start Line of the Marathon feeling tired and having absolutely no idea what was going to happen. I hadn't mentioned it to anyone but I was fully prepared to pull the plug at half way if it wasn't going well as I didn't want to risk anything with Kona around the corner.
I'm not afraid to admit that I've not got the mileage in to RUN a decent Marathon, even if I hadn't been training hard then 15hrs a month of running isn't much. Therefore the plan (as normal) was to run/walk the race. I was told that there were drink stations every 2.5miles(ish) so the plan was to run 10mins, walk 1min then run to a drink station and walk through it for another minute so that I could take in a drink (and a gel every 2nd station).

I started half way through the field alongside my Sis who was doing the Half Marathon. It took us around 30secs to hit the Start Line and then because of the congestion my pace felt very sedate. Because of this I decided to forgoe the initial walk break and run straight through to 20mins, from then on it all went to plan until around 10miles when I started suffering some (bowel) issues. Another advantage of the run/walk is that the walk section allows these things to subside a little, but on spotting a porta loo inside the park as we finished the first lap I made a small diversion for a couple of minutes. Unfortunately the stomach/bowel issues didn't go away (I won't go into too much detail) and a few more stops were required on the 2nd lap, I've since decided that drinking fizzy drinks the day before may be a bad move!!!

After my final 'call of nature stop' around 23miles I decided that there was to be no more. I was fed up of working my way past people just for them to go past again while I was 'occupied'. My legs were still feeling good so I laid it all on the line for the last 5k and my 26th mile was actually my fastest of my race (6:13) and I made up 5 places in the last 2 miles.
So my Finishing time was 3:05:52 but my Garmin tells me that my actual moving time was around 2:57 which I can't complain about with my race strategy. Sure I'm a bit disappointed not to officially go sub 3:00 but pre-race, after the previous week (and month) of training I'd have been happy with a comfortable finish. I'd have been perfectly happy with a 3:30 so in the big scheme of things a 3:05 was much better than I could have anticipated.

Now I just need to train solid for another 3 weeks and it's all systems go for Hawaii!!

The only downer to the weekend was Rosie Pup needing a (very expensive) trip to the Emergency Vets on Saturday night. Not really sure what was the cause although she'd been running with me on Friday and Saturday so may have drank some nasty algae filled water over Baggaridge Country Park. She's ok now though which is what matters though although as the pic below shows, she was feeling VERY sorry for herself. Poor ikkle thing!!!

Forget Ironman! I wanna be a Doughman

2010-08-30T02:44:00.000-07:00

I must thank my fellow Kona Competitor Pablo Fuente for this. I think it might be my next challenge........... I want to do it solo of course though ;-)

Everything Changes (but not for me)

2010-08-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

We're getting close. Very close. As August has ticked by I've started to think more about race day and get carried away with what I'm doing and the equipment I'm using. Over the course of this week however I've had my sensible head on and have made some 'sensible' decisions. Most of these decisions revolve around the fact that (for me) Kona is all about the experience, not the race. On the day I qualified I knew that it was a once in a lifetime thing, nothing short of a lottery win or a rediculous sponsorship deal could see me financially able to return year after year, as the odds are pretty rediculous of either of those things happening then we need to enjoy the 'holiday' as well as doing the race. Don't get me wrong, I've looked at previous results and if everything clicked into place I'd be in with a shout of an Age Group placing (or even a win) but that would be rediculous. The people that win Age Groups in Hawaii live like Pro's, they don't work my hours, they're professionally coached and they'll be riding bikes worth many thousands of pounds. These are some of Worlds best Age Group athletes, the thought of me rocking up and challenging them should be an insult to their dedication. It's not often that I let my head make sensible decisions, but 'normally' when it comes to a battle with the credit card then the head will win through. Occasionally I wish I could just bite the bullet but more often than not I know it's the right decision long term.

A lot of these decisions will come at the expense of a bit of speed/time but unless by some miracle I miss out on a podium spot by less than 5mins I know that long term (and financially) they'll be the right decisions.

I'll start with the biggie - THE BIKE!!!! - The seed was sewn when my training buddy Phill ordered a new Cervelo P3C.
I've made no secret of the fact that I loathe my Quintana Roo, from new the standard wheels on it have seemed to fall apart every other ride. I've found that I do most of my training with my ZIPP 404's on it because I just can't trust the spokes not to come loose or break on the standard wheels which means yet another trip back to the bike shop. Then there's the noise!! It creaks and groans like a bike that's 30 years old. Stand up on the pedals and it becomes embarrassingly loud, it's had the bottom bracket adjusted and then changed, it's had seatposts/headsets etc removed, greased and replaced, it's had 4 different mechanics look at it and 'think' they've solved the problem and most recently it's had all new chain/rings/cassette etc etc yet still it creaks and groans. In truth I should have just taken it back to the shop and insisted they replace it after a couple of months but I'm too casual and easy going so I just trust people to get it fixed eventually.
So with all this buzzing around my head I started looking and looking and looking!!!
The outcome of all this looking is......................... I'll be racing Hawaii on my QR!!!
Why?? Well, other than the fact that I haven't got £3k+ to spend on a new bike I'm actually comfortable on it. When I've got my ZIPP's on it then it feels fast enough and for all it's creaking and groaning it's never actually failed me. It got me to Kona with a 5hr bike split at Florida, it recently got me round 91miles and 4800ft of ascent at Kernowman averaging 20mph. It's noisy, it's annoying and at times it's embarrassing but it's what I've got and I trust it to do a job.
Would I still ride a different bike if someone offered? Hell yeah, of course I would. It's not going to happen though.
Next up is NUTRITION!
Last year I discovered a drink called THE EDGE and I got on really well with it. I used it in Florida along with NUUN tablets and it all seemed to work nicely. I carried all my nutrition on the bike with me and I kopped a bit of flak because it was extra weight and because the two bottles sticking up from the back of my seat were hugely un-aero so this year I thought I'd use the official race nutrition. The problem is that Gatorade is a pain to get hold of here and I don't really like it. Powerbar also have a 'special' new drink which I don't seem to be able to get hold of. Is it worth the risk? Is the time I lose carrying extra weight much more than I'll gain by not needing to slow down at drinks/special needs stations? I've no idea, but a worst case scenario is probably only a couple of minutes. I can live with that!

Finally is the choice of WHAT TO WEAR!
This has been a biggie, the most likely to change. I'll happily admit that I'm worried about the heat (and the wind) and the influx of all this white, reflective, cooling gear has been an eye opener. Firstly though we'll hit the swim!!
Hawaii is a non-wetsuit swim which suits me down to the ground. Because of this I bought a new North Devon Tri go faster trisuit which should help me speed through the water. Immediately I noticed a couple of problems though..... I tried it out at a squad swim session and came back with rub marks under my arms, that though wasn't as much of a problem as the fact that the back of it is BLACK and even here in normal temperatures it feels hot. Wearing it in Kona is simply out of the question. So the search started........
I wanted something that wouldn't cause me unnecessary heat, something white maybe (it seems to be the trend) and ideally something that will make me quicker in the water. So after hours of searching the internet I've finally decided that I'm going to wear ................... my old club trisuit!
It's not quick in the water, infact compared to a top hydro-style trisuit it'll probably cost me 3-4mins, it's not cooling in any way, but it's not black either though and it got me through IM Florida ok. I found trisuits that come in white and also found companies that do 'cooling' race gear, but I enjoy racing in my club kit, I'm proud to be a member of North Devon Tri and more than that....................... when Shelly is out on the course watching, when my clubmates are watching online, I'll be visible! I won't just be one of the hundreds out there dressed from head to toe in white because that's what Torbjorn Sindballe did. Do I really want to spend in excess of £100 buying race kit that I'll probably only wear once? My ego isn't that big, my need to go faster isn't that great. What's a few minutes over the course of 140.6miles? My big race was the one that got me here, this one IS the prize.

So, come Ironman Hawaii my kit will be just as it was in Florida unless of course you're reading this as a potential sponsor in which case I'm as shallow as the next man. Of course I'll race in your kit and ride your bike (it's not QR is it?), you know where I am ;-)

Bideford Sprint Triathlon

2010-08-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Phew, it's been far too long since I posted but then I seem to say that on almost every post. So..... a quick catch up!

July was very nearly my biggest training month EVER. Had it not been for us spending most of the final Saturday sat in holiday traffic jams I'd have set a new target doing the bike ride that I had to scrap. It never felt like a massive month and I still had 8 days off training, but the figures don't lie and I was very close to a 50hr month. I know many Ironman athletes do many many more hours, but I don't.

August has started in record breaking fashion and based on yesterdays result it does seem to be having some effect. As I lined up on the waters edge this Sunday afternoon (the 8th August) I'd already posted 19hrs of training, including a 4.5hr bike ride the day before and a 50mile bike ride on race morning. I wasn't expecting great things, of course I had my beady eyes on which clubmates I would 'allow' to beat me and which ones I still wanted to beat even with my battered legs.
As Shelly was involved in the race organisation we had to be there rediculously early (5hrs before the race) to set up registration and generally lend a hand. For me this soon turned into chatting with old Tri pals and talking many many people around the tricky bike course that they had to deal with. Eventually it was time to get ready for the race and I realised that I hadn't actually sat down since I got there. Resting the legs? Maybe not!! I changed, popped on my wetsuit and headed 400m down the river to where the 250 competitors were waiting for the off. I may have been the first person at the race site, but I was the last one to the start line. Nothing new there then.

So to the race then. It was a first time for the event which had a 400m river estuary swim, a very hilly and technical 13mile bike course and a fast and flat 5k run.

As I stood 'chatting' amongst 250 yellow hats I was wondering how we were going to start. The start format was in waves of 15 athletes leaving off the quay steps every minute or so. I was in wave 1 which (in theory) had the fastest swimmers. Then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a small group of athletes lined up away to the right hand side. Was that my wave about to start? Oh heck, I'd better get moving. I scooted my way through the crowds and just before I reached the group they hit the water with my no more than a meter or two behind them, Phew!!!
The swim went well, I soon caught up with the leaders and settled into 3rd/4th place. No great rush, no great exertion, just a straightforward point to point swim along the riverside and looking at the watching crowds. Then as we headed into the slipway exit I felt my fingers training on the bottom, put my hands down to stand up and disappeared up to my elbows in silt!!! Yuk!!! Out of the water in 4th place (in my wave) I then made a place up on the long run to Transition only to lose that place again once we were in there (I'm not the quickest).

Out onto the bike, through a few side roads and we were soon onto the 'rolling/hilly' features of the A39. I could see the lead 3 spread out along the road and I knew my training pal Phill was right behind me, after riding 122 miles in the previous 30hrs I was amazed that my legs didn't feel too bad. Sure they weren't going to let me stand up and pound away at the hills, but so long as I stayed sat down and span away they were quite content. The fact that the leaders weren't getting away from me and Phill hadn't come rushing past me helped boost my confidence. Maybe all this Ironman training was actually making me stronger after all.

We left the A39 and just after the village of Ford I caught the 2nd & 3rd placed cyclists. Suprisingly the pre race favourite Ross MacDonald was 3rd, he's on the borders of Pro rankings and has raced ITU recently. The 2nd placed rider was Wim Korving the winner of Taunton Deane Tri and runner up to Pro Triathlete Harry Wiltshire at Exe Valley Tri. The leader was out of sight but I was mixing it with people I expected to be well ahead of me on the day.

There then followed a nasty descent through Woodtown and Yeo Vale. The roads are little more than access roads to the local farms, steep descents, nasty bends and a nice ridge of gravel down the middle. Many people pre-race were very worried about this section, I wasn't, but I had stated after my first course recce that I wouldn't be 'racing' down it. Hawaii is far to important to risk a big crash for!! I sat up and rode down it as fast as I felt 100% safe riding, no risks!! Both Ross and Wim came flying past and had disappeared 2/300m down the road by the time we got to the end. There now followed what was really the only flat section of road where you could just get on with things, but it doesn't last for long!!!!!

Next up came THE HILL!! Sure there were hills on the A39, but not like this one. This was another section of the course being talked about before the race and many folks who hadn't recce'd the course were rightly concerned. Your first warning of it came in the form of a marshall waving and shouting at you to slow down and put your bike in the little ring. The reason for this was because you were likely bombing down the road in your Tri-bars and were about to hit your brakes HARD and take a left turn that came right back on you (almost a U-turn), but the moment you hit that turn the road shot up a VERY steep climb. If you hadn't changed gear before the turn 'while you were going fast' then you wouldn't have time to change gear. The marshall's here were competent cyclists though and had a full selection of chain fixing parts on hand just in case somebody snapped theirs, which was highly likely!!

The bottom section of this hill is the steepest and I just popped my bike into the 39-25 and span away until I had no choice but to stand up, slowly but surely I was still catching back up to Ross and Wim. In the village of Littleham I caught Ross, I knew the worst of the hill was over and I was still feeling pretty good. Phill hadn't caught me either so my confidence started to build, this was the first time where I actually started to think about the race and where I might finish. I pushed on and near the top of the climb I caught and passed Wim again. There is just over a mile of climbing in total, but that climb is 330ft.

We were soon on a fast descending section that went through a couple of villages and past several sections of parked cars. I still wasn't in full race mode, partly for safety and partly because I knew there was a run to come and in a section where I wasn't full-on racing Wim came charging past me and instantly opened a gap which was to stay until T2, especially when I lost a further 10secs or so due to a few traffic issues near the end.
I hit T2 with a purpose, Wim was already on the run but I'd raced him and beaten him on the run before so if my legs would just hold together for 5k there was a chance. I was in and out quickly (for me) and soon blazing my way towards Bideford Quay, as I ran through the car park I could see Wim in the distance and sure enough, the race leader was just ahead of him. Game On!!!

For the first time today I had my race face on, I could catch these, I know I've been running well lately, just please don't let me cramp up! I charged along a packed Bideford Quay while the marshalls (who were brilliant all day) yelled at people to get out of the way. As we crossed Bideford Bridge I caught and passed Wim and we were barely 1km into the run, I could see the leader in the distance. As I left the bridge somebody shouted there was 30secs between us, as I hit the Tarka Trail it was down to 20secs as we headed to the turn around and for the first time I could see exactly who was ahead of me and it wasn't good news....

Bounding towards me looking as fresh as a daisy and resplendent in his RAF team kit came Dominic Sanderson. Whether it was because I knew this boy could run, whether it was just because he looked so comfortable, or whether it was just a combination of a huge training week and then me running 2.5k at breakneck speed I don't know but my legs just ran out of speed. Everything drained from them!
I hit the turnaround and saw that I'd got a decent gap back to Wim. I'd run so hard but in an instant I knew that it was no longer about chasing the win, it was more about protecting a 'possible' second place. I knew what to do, I've been here before and I just settled in to my cruising run pace. On the way back I was running past clubmates who were on the outward leg, they were all shouting me to chase the leader down but the gap wasn't closing any more, it was opening. As I hit the final lap around the park to the finish I must have looked over my shoulder 5-6 times to make sure nobody was gaining, I think Wim gained a little, but not much and I finally crossed the line 2nd in my wave and as it turned out in the end I had managed to pull off 2nd overall, or 1st V40 depending on what you'd prefer.

The best bit was that after I'd finished ................ I didn't feel too bad at all :-)

Running with the pup

2010-07-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I took Rosie Pup out for a run on Braunton Burrows and messed around doing some video with my phone while we were out. I finally got round to chapping enough out to bung it up on youtube this week, so here it is.
As is normal with my vids, don't expect great quality and high quality editing. What you see is what you get when I'm around.
Enjoy, I hope it doesn't make you too seasick.

kernowMan 3/4 Distance Tri

2010-07-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

So it's training race time again and we're all ready to roll in Penzance. Races on a Saturday are a total nightmare for me because of the dumb hours I work, but I needed to get something long in to see what sort of shape I was in and either kick me into action or give me a much needed ego boost. Thankfully Saturday turned out to be the best day of the week with just a few small showers although that wind could have been a whole lot kinder to us.

Realising on Friday night that I was going to be struggling for breakfast I picked up one of those Nutrishake things to try, it seemed ok, certainly didn't lead to any race day problems. My only other forgetfulness problem was sorted when I scrounged the use of a track pup pre-race to sort my tyres out. I'd got gas canisters handy just in case, but my kindly fellow competitors saved me wasting one.

We headed down to the water a little late and very casual (just my style). We posed for a few pics and then headed into the water. The stroll out is interesting, you're walking along on soft sand and then suddenly your feet are on a ridge of rocks and you can't get any balance. There was a bit of a countdown and we were off. No fisticuffs in this swim, not with a field so small, I just settled into my rhythm and watched two swimmers charge off ahead of me. By the first bouy though the two early speedsters had dropped off a little and I was out from on my own.
The swim itself was cracking although I'm sure I swam through a cluster of small jellyfish early on, no stinging action to report. Swimming around the Island didn't make any difference to me, I breath to the left and it was always on my right so I never saw it. As there were so few of us we had a kayaker each, saved me any navigational issues until we were heading into the beach when the damn sun kept getting in my eyes. I've since heard stories of the chop and a few rips messing with people but to be honest I'm so ignorant of whats happening around me I just plough on, so long as I can see something to try and keep me straight I'll swim through anything.
Out the water 1st in 45:02!
There was a section between the swim exit and T1 that involved crossing roads and various safety gubbins. I understood (?!?!?!) that we had 5mins to get from one mat to the other and whatever time it took below that would be taken from the final results (it wasn't). So I strolled from the beach, had a drink of water and pee'd (we'll leave that bit there) before heading off to the T1 where I did the normal gubbins and headed off out. Still, it made no difference to anything and everybody had the same so I won't worry about it.
Heading out on the bike I felt shocking (must stop drinking that sea water) and on the way out to Lands End I was just waiting for someone to come past me. A couple of times I actually felt like stopping to see if I could be sick but I had the company of a lead motorcyclist and while I was in that position it would be stupid. I was glad I'd kept going when we got there as things were easing. It was here that I first attempted to drink out of my aero bottle and found that I couldn't reach the straw, I hadn't used it since November and forgot about the extension piece which was (thankfully) swishing around inside. A bit of one the move groping around and bottle maintenence sorted the problem though and all was well. The bike section from Lands End to St Ives is simply stunning, the road it tortuous, twisting and hilly but this section had a nice tailwind to compensate and the stunning views took your mind off any pain. I got a 5min lead on the 2nd place cyclist at Lands End and 9mins on 3rd place. I had no idea how far behind they were out of the water though so I pushed on through the scenic section, still waiting for the inevitable pass. When I got to St Ives I saw Shelly and asked her to let me know what the gap was, then I headed out for 2 tortuous laps of the Olympic Tri course. Shelly came past in the car and shouted to me that the gap was up to 10mins by St Ives. Oh hell, it was growing!!! That's not what I'm used to! It was a nice thing to hear however because the headwind on this section of the course at times was crazy. It just never seemed to be behind me, even with it being looped. Leedstown to Hayle is normally super fast, not today!! At 56miles I passed two girls, they were the frst racers I'd seen all day, must have been the tail enders from the Olympic race that started 2hrs later, it gave me a bit of a boost because finally I was going to start seeing people. WRONG!!!! The next people I was were at 87miles on the road back into Penzance before T2. Finally I was back off the bike and my focus for the whole ride had been achieved which was to keep my average speed above 20mph. This stat was ruined however when I headed straight into the loos for an Austin Powers style pee stop before hitting T2, I was in there forever!!
My normal 'casual' T2 followed, sit down, put socks on, reset Garmin, have a drink etc etc etc before I headed out onto the peachy little run course. It turned out that I hit T2 with around 30mins lead, maybe I'd coped better than most with those 2 windy laps.
The first lap of the run was a tester, I'd heard it was tough and with my habit of blowing on the run I wanted to push nothing. At this point I had no idea how close/far away 2nd place was so I was risking nothing. Immediately I walked the first hill out of transition, a girl ahead from the middle distance race ran every step and only took around 20m out of me, as soon as we were over the top I passed her. I ran and focused on keeping it smooth when I could and as soon as I felt my quads twinging or felt I was working too hard on a hill I would walk for 30secs or a minute. The off road section was fantastic but if I ran it again I wouldn't wear lightweight shoes, I felt every stone through the soles. I missed a turn towards the end of the lap but the marshalls were awake and aware of the situation so I was soon back on track (my fault entirely). Lap 1 and 6.5 tough miles completed in 50mins, sorted!! Lap 2 was more of the same and also done in 50mins. The 3rd and final lap was similar to the others, I'd set myself a 50min target so I could complete the run in 2:30, I also had a couple of targets to aim at for a change. My first target worked really hard on the hills and I just had no interest in that so I'd walk, let him get away from me a little and then reel him back in again once the terrain was favourable. I caught him at the drink station half way around the course and never saw him again. At this drink station though I had my only 'bad' experience of the race. I was on my last lap, I was nearly home, I just wanter to play things safe so I ignored the energy gubbins and just knocked back a cup of water. The problem here was that it tasted like sterilising stuff and almost as soon as I started running again my guts felt rotten. There was only 3 miles to go though so I wasn't concerned and kept running with my eyes firmly focused on it's new target further along the trail. I carried on plodding and walking, feeling slightly queazy and with that nasty taste still in my mouth until I got to the last drink station, it was only just over a mile to the finish and I'd planned to run straight past but I took some more water jus to get rid of the taste in my mouth. It was too much though and 1mile from home on the side of the main road I was hurling my guts up in the verge while my target disappeared into the distance. I felt fine once my stomach had done its thing and the stuff was out of my system but it cost me my 2:30 run split and my target, no worries though. Lap 3 was 51mins and I was very happy to run across the field to the Finish Line after a properly solid workout where my body had proved to me it's not in bad shape and I'd even worked through a couple of mental barriers too. Job Done.
So in the end I won by close to 50mins, but I won't let my ego get carried away with it, I know that on another day I could have got thoroughly beaten and while that challenge would no doubt have dragged me along to a faster finish that wasn't what the day was about. A solid 8hrs Ironman Training session was the plan and that's exactly what I got, I'm happy.

The swim is the swim, nothing to learn there really except that maybe my ignorance helps me cope better if the conditions are challenging.
The bike was great, it's a tough course made tougher by the wind and I averaged 20mph while never really feeling I was into it. Do I think I could have carried on for another 22miles. Yup
The run was as tough as old boots but I kept the pace consistant even with my random walk breaks. Other than an unforseen drink/stomach issue I'd have kept the same pace for lap 3. Could I have done another lap -yeah I think so. I'd have rather had a more cushioned pair of shoes for the stoney off road section though.

2.8km sea swim - 45:02
Transition 1 - 5:53
91 mile bike ride - 4:36:11
Transition 2 - 2:08
19mile run - 2:31:35

Total Time - 7:56:12
Happy Days

A few pics from the KernowMan

2010-07-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

Setting the Scene - St Michaels Mount Early morning transition set up

The races Moltey Crew having a pre race pic.
Out of the water after swimming around the Island
Pretty bike shot - I really must learn to hold my fat gut in though.Ok, ok................ I just can't go on the move - heck I tried enough

Running into T2 'after' the above pit-stop
Never let it be said that I rush my transitions.
One lap of 3 completed.
Once again ------ I'm not know for rushing things.
There's always time for an aeroplane finish ;-)
and a bit of Usain Bolt action (or is it a teapot?)
A sensible finish for the local rag.Race times are up, I'm happy with that.

Feeling the BURN!!!!!!

Kernow Fest the Preview

2010-07-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

First up, a big thanks to Greg and Stuart for their encouraging words in my last post.

Next a quick nutritional word - Did I say I was tempering my junk food diet? Ah well, scrap that! My will power isn't strong enough to avoid the lure of chocolate when I need to keep awake at 4 in the morning. Normal service has resumed.

Training wise - Other than the total lack of training today when I'm off work (I'm blaming the monsoon type conditions outside) I've picked it up nicely. 15 days in and I've done 25hrs, I've already done more cycling than I did in the whole of last month. If I can keep it going then we should be on for a decent monthly total.

My bike has been into my LBS for a bit of TLC and come out with a list of (expensive) things that need doing to it. My ZIPP's need new bearings (again) and pretty much all my running gear needs changing due to wear. That can wait until after this weekends racing though............... I need to chat with the lads about the benefits of aerodynamics when I pop in there next. They tightened up a few of the spokes on my ZIPP's because things were getting a bit sloppy but now some of my bladed aero spokes are in not so aero positions - I'm sure that defeats the object a little!!!!!!

Now to the Kernow Fest - It's a day of three Triathlons, Standard, Half Iron and a 3/4 Iron Distance races. It will come of no suprise to hear that I've entered the longest of the three, but purely as a training event. It's very low key and the field is very small so there's a chance that it could be a very lonely outing although after 40-45miles we might find ourselves merging with the other two races.

The race starts at 6am with a 2.8km sea swim. As it's a sea swim it's subject to change but all being well it will be around the outside of St Michael's Mount which is a small Island just off the coast. Of course it turns out to be rough then the swim will likely be much shorter :-(. After the swim and T1 we're off on a hilly 90mile bike ride, the first 40-45mile loop goes out along the main road to Lands End and then back to Penzance along the Northern Coast Road via St Just & St Ives. When we reach Penzance we'll join the two lap course of the other two races where we'll likely find some company along the way as their race starts 2hrs after ours. The plan is to put a solid shift in on the bike and work as much of it as possible. Once we're off the bike there's just a simple little 10k run to do ...................... 3 times!!!! I've no idea what will happen here, if I can get my head around hammering the bike it might be a struggle, or I might find I can cruise around without any problems. My history with long distance racing has taught me to play it by ear, what will happen will happen, I'll find out on Saturday afternoon.

Hopefully my next post will be a race report and will be posted a lot quicker than things have been lately, I'll do my best for you all ;-)

Review of a poor month

2010-07-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

Finally June is over and it couldn't end soon enough. It's been a disaster in sooo many ways.

Financially it's been a shocker with bundles of bills and various things at home breaking, but this isn't really about life at home. Bills come for everybody, it's just a thing you deal with. I just hope that I don't end up spending twice what I earn in July too *gulp*.

Racing hasn't been too bad. I picked up a nice win at Burnham on Sea Tri and got schooled into 2nd place at the Croyde Aquathlon. Comfortably posting the fastest run at Croyde was a bonus though, strangly I was fastest at no individual discipline at Burnham, I just put them all together better.

Training has been very disappointing, but I do have my excuses...... The lurgie I picked up just before Burnham dragged on for 3 weeks and messed the plans up. I never really felt physically low,, but when you're coughing and sneezing at the slightest exertion then it makes training for any amount of time or distance a struggle. Of course my laziness is always a factor although if I wasn't so lazy I'd be out on the bike now instead of writing this.
I'm well up on my training for the year still with 215hrs compared to 179hrs in the first 6 months of last year. My target for the year though was to always train more in one month than I did in the following month last year. As Hawaii is a month earlier that Florida was last year I need to compare June training with July 2009, that is not a good comparison. July appears to be the month I started putting the hours in last year and this 33hr training month (my lowest since January) looks very bad when compared to last July's 45.5hrs.

So it's time to knuckle down and get back into things (starting today). I need July's training to match or better last August so that means 48hrs of training and over 30hrs in the saddle. Fingers crossed!!!

Nutritionally I had a half hearted attempt at backing off my normal junk food diet. It went ok for a week but the following week I was back to normal as the work hours piled up and the garage chocolate stops got more frequent. I've also bought some Powerbar Energy Drink to try as it's the drink of choice at Hawaii. My first outing with it last weekend was a disaster as I blew to pieces and crawled home at the end of a 4hr bike ride. In fairness it was hot, hilly, I was getting hammered by my training partner Phill and I didn't take nearly enough drink out with me so I won't blame Powerbar yet.

Anyway, it's time to train I guess.................. better get on with it.

Lurgie-ville

2010-06-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a tough couple of weeks here as a big bout of the lurgie kicked in immediately after Burnham on Sea Tri (before it if I'm honest). The next two weeks training were very hit and miss, anything that required any effort was normally halted by a bout of coughing that was well in excess of my normal seemingly incurable problem. I managed to keep plugging along but my target of 45hrs this month is in tatters and I now need a good solid weekend if I've a chance of hitting 35hrs. At least it was only a cold/cough and not an injury so I can look on the bright side.
Last Saturday was the NDTC Aquathlon at Croyde Beach, a race that Shelly organises. It's supposed to be a 1k/7.5k swim/run event, but the distances are very flexible. On the swim section we're reliant on what the local RNLI guesstimate is 1k, this year I think it was slightly long but not much so the boys did a good job with their bouy positioning. The run is always likely to be short though. Croyde Bay has a very small area available for running and when I measured the course out 3 years ago it was low tide and I used every available inch of beach. The more the tide comes in the shorter the run course becomes but our human turn points do a fine job of moving along with the tide. This years run course I expect was barely 6k.
Normally I just mess about at the race, starting at the back and jogging around the run course chatting to people, this year I decided to give it some stick though.
Ok, I got beat! Truth be known I got hammered, but when someone turns up that swims like a fish on a long swim/short run course it was always going to happen.
I charged out into the sea (for my first OW swim of the year) and worked hard from the start.

Three of us exited the water together, we were in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. The leader was already 3mins into his run!!!!! I'd worked so hard in the swim that I couldn't stand up in T1 and ended up having to sit down on my wetsuit to put my trainers on losing me time and another place in the field.

Once out onto the run though I put the hammer down a little and soon worked my way up to 2nd place. I had no idea where the leader was but having clubmates at every marshalling point I soon found out that the chances of me catching him were next to none..........

Still, it was a good workout, I managed to post the days fastest run and still had the legs to run 6 miles home afterwards

There have been conversations regarding me doing a local off road marathon this weekend. I'll never say never until it's simply too late, but as it stands then it won't be happening. We'll see.

Burnham on Sea Sprint Tri

2010-06-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

I should really start with a training update. That won't take long because I've hardly done any really.
The week started with a Bank Holiday so I popped out for a few hours on the bike. Because it was a BH though the traffic was mental and I was back home after 35miles. Then it was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. I actually swam on Friday but that doesn't really count and strangely after 4 days off any sort of 'proper' training my body seemed to be falling apart. I seemed to have aches and tweaks everywhere, mostly in the bottom 1/4 of my legs though - very odd!!
Saturday was my first real chance to get any training in but with a wedding to attend from lunchtime it was going to have to be a morning special, so I pottered out for a steady 10miles with the pup. That was it for the week leading up to the race, more about that later.....

In other news I NOW HAVE A WEBSITE thanks to Andy. Pop over and have a look, there will hopefully be all sorts of pretty links to things as it grows. I'd like to get plenty of people visiting so that Andy feels I was worth his effort. Click onto the sponsors page too, see the people who've been helping me out on my way to Kona and my latest legendary supporter Steve who is the creater of the Hundred Pushups program.

So now onto the weekends racing.......

Sunday marked my first real race of the year, the Burnham on Sea Sprint Triathlon. I've done this race every year for longer than I care to remember. There's nothing better than local(ish) races where you know the organisers and many of your fellow competitors. It's like a season opening social event as much as a race. Over the last 4 years I've got quicker and quicker over this course and last year I cracked the hour for the first time but got beaten into 2nd place by the stupidly fast running Gary Gerrard. I also traditionally ride the 80miles from home to Burnham the day before the race, this of course wasn't happening this year as we were at the wedding. So the pressure was on for another pb and hopefully a tilt at the win with neither of the competitors that joined me on last years podium at the race.

The signs weren't good for a fast time with a good stiff wind blowing along the beach and through the town, it was going to make sections of the bike and the outbound section of the run very tough.

The 500m swim was standard enough, it was my first outing in my new club trisuit which seemed to glide effortlessly through the water. I guess I should be slightly down about the fact that I was a few seconds slower than last year, but for a very similar pace I seemed to put a whole lot less effort than normal into it. Out of the water and through the door in 6:54. Everybody started individually so I had no idea where this put me in the field, this race (like most pool Tris is a proper time trial format)

T1 was as always POOR!! (1:07) I really must learn to get through this quicker, everybody keeps shouting about it being free speed. They're right of course and the 14secs I lost to my closest competition could well have proved costly.

The 20k bike was (as suspected) tough work. It's flat enough which is good for me but I can only guess that the tailwind was right at the start of the course when the adrenaline was pumping because there never seeemd to be any help off the wind once I'd got settled into it. It was a fairly lonely ride, occasionally I'd catch and pass someone but never anyone who was quick enough to stay in the distance and give me a solid target. Nobody caught me though either so that was a good thing. 20k bike complete in 30:45 for a 24mph average. Again it was slightly slower than last year but the weather was a lot tougher and last year I had a target to aim at for 90% of the course so I can't complain really.

T2 was a total screw up. There was a new transition area and I didn't really check it out (novice mistake). So as I biked through the coned off section that normally signalled the point where I think about removing my shoes I was suddenly greeted by the dismount line. Arrrgh!! Hard on the brakes, off the bike and it was clip clop clip clop all for the whole length of the transition area as I ran to my bit of racking. Amazingly I only lost a couple of seconds here though so maybe the others made the same mistake.

Heading out onto the run and immediatly my hamstring started feeling tight, it had come on during my bike shoe run through transition. I eased off the pace a little as we headed out to the beach and concentrated on my form hoping it would work its way out. I kept the pace solid without being overly fast while we ran along the beach into the headwind. The sand seemed softer than normal (due to recent high tides) but it would be the same for everyone so I just plowed on. Through the dunes and the golf course I felt pretty strong but not overly fast, I knew I'd got a tailwind on the way back though so I planned to push on then.
As I ran off the final sand dune onto the beach there is a big log mostly buried in the sand. It's been there for years, today though I just grazed it with the bottom of my foot. It was the slightest of glances but enough to throw me off my balance in the loose sand and after a couple of steps I was rolling along the beach, covering myself in sand (and swearing). I was soon up on my feet though and back running as I tried to brush off most of the sand. I pushed for home and finally crossed the line to cheers from Shelly and my folks, good natured abuse from my fellow competitors (bless them). 5k beach run done in 20:57, again slightly slower than last year which I am genuinely disappointed in as I really struggled on sections of the run last year and had to walk a section.
Then all we could do was wait, had I done enough? Had one of my old foes taken my scalp? Had someone turned up that we didn't know and beaten us all? I'd failed to break the hour and was over 90secs slower than last year so anything was possible.

Finally it was time for the presentation and there were only 2mins between the top 5. As the positions were read out so were the times so I knew I was in there somewhere....... Then it came down to the top 2, Dan Whaites (a young up and coming whipper snapper) and myself. They announced that there was only 11secs between us, so who'd got it?
In second place, with a time of 1:00:43 was ............................................ Dan!!!!
Phew, I'd snuck the win by the smallest of margins. I could go home happy (or should that be relieved?). Dan will be back, he's getting quicker every year and I've got almost 20 years on him. I fully expect him to put me in my place this time next year if not before. For me it was some much appreciated ego massage and some free goodies :-D

If you're looking for a good fun and friendly Sprint Tri to do next year bear Burnham on Sea Sprint Tri in mind. It's great and next year will be the 25th Anniversary of the race Don't turn up if you're quicker than me though, I want to win it again ;-D

White Peak Race Report

2010-05-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been useless at getting this write up done. I know you expect nothing less from me though, so here goes anyway.

The week leading up to the race had been a shocker, even by my normal bad standards. Training had been real slack, I hadn't planned a taper but as it turned out I may as well have because of how little I'd done. This of course was mostly down to my stupid work hours which meant that although I hadn't trained I was still a wreck. Friday (race eve) I was up at 1am for work and when I finally left work at 4pm I still had the 3h30m drive up to my parents house in Wolverhampton. Thankfully, although I had to stop a couple of times through sheer tiredness I managed to skirt my way around all the rush hour congestion points making for a relatively easy journey.

A little snack, a bit of socialising and it was soon time to hit the sack ready for my 6am alarm call (that turned into 6:30am). The drive up to Cromford near Matlock was nice, easy and a lot quicker than I expected so I was there almost spot on 8am in time for registration to open. Then it was just a case of milling around, deciding what I was going to wear/drink/eat etc and meeting up with the podcast/twitter rabble before heading out to catch the bus to the start.

We were at Thorpe in plenty of time, there were plenty of portaloos and a van to take all out baggage back to Cromford after the start. It was when I was rummaging through my bag that I discovered my ipod and remembered that I was supposed to be taking video (ooops).

I'd decided to wear a long sleeved white UV resistant top for the race, this drew a few glances as the temperatures soared but having seen many people wearing them at hot Ironman races it was worth a try, this was an experimental race after all. The other experimental plan was the run/walk strategy shown on my video.

So the race starts and as always someone goes shooting off at the front for 400m or so, things soon settle down though and after a mile I'm heading the field. I'm not worried about this as I know I'll get passed again once I stop for a walk break. On my first walk break I lose a couple of places, but when I catch and pass the new leaders at 3 miles they opt to run with me rather than just let me go. It seems a strange move considering the conditions, I'd expect everybody to just do their own thing, but I've no worries I'm not expecting to win or even finish in the top group, my only target is a 3:00-3:30 finish.

I carry on my plan up to 10miles, there is a clear leader who has broken away while I'm sat bouncing between 2nd & 4th depending on my run/walk position. We're (supposedly) almost at the end of the 11miles of climbing, apparently from here it's flat for 11miles (yeah right). I had a new issue though, I was busting for the loo and it wasn't a simple stand up jobbie. Just before the turnaround a heavenly vision appeared, sure the water station was welcome but there was also a toilet block there. I made my excuses to the crowds and made a beeline for them (don't you just hate it when you only fart!!!). When I reappeared a couple of minutes later the feed station crew shouted to me that I'd gone from 2nd to 10th, I could live with that.

And so the race went on, I worked my way through the field until I was back solidly in 4th place with nobody passing me on my walk breaks. I could see the leaders on the long straights but I wasn't gaining on them at all............. then 18miles appeared.

At 18miles I was 4th and the 3rd place runner was a minute ahead, the leader was around a minute ahead of him. It had been like this for quite a while. Then suddenly I noticed that the leader had dropped to 2nd and then dropped to 3rd. Almost as soon as this happened the new leader dropped to 2nd and the lad who had been 3rd was now leading, but still only a minute ahead. Then suddenly everything changed as within a mile it seemed that all of the top 3 blew apart and by 19miles I found myself leading the race again, this wasn't in the plan.

I was feeling shot to bits but then I had been all race, my heartrate had constantly been around 20bpm higher than I would expect for the pace that I was running. However I was obviously in better shape than the folks around me and as I hit the 20mile point a couple of them seemed to be holding on so I decided to put an extra mile in before my walk break. Now I was in the lead and in a clear lead, it seemed crazy to imagine because I knew 3:10 was going to be a struggle but I was in with a real shout of actually winning this thing.

At 22miles a series of sharp descents started which lead you down towards the finish. On each descent I felt great, but on the flat section that followed each one my legs felt more and more tired, I was clear and out of the sight of all my competitors though it was just a case of keeping my legs turning over and the win was mine.. That was until 25miles when I looked over my shoulder and saw a runner in the distance, surely he was too far away to make a difference with little over a mile remaining. I flew down the final descent and then there was less than amile to be run along a canal before we got to the finish line. My legs could no longer cope with the flat surfaces though and my quads were verging on cramp. I tried to alter my stride and fight off the effects of cramp as taking a walk break now would surely give me chaser an incentive, it didn't walk though and suddenly they just locked up. I was forced to stop, not just walk and as I got myself moving again I was overtaken and relegated to second.

The good thing about not having any hopes or expectations from the race was that I really didn't mind being passed, it had happened, so what, the lad had obviously paced his race to perfection and he deserved it fully. I was also happy because 3rd place was nowhere in sight so I didn't have to push on and risk wrecking my legs any more to defend my position.

So that's it really. I pretty much limped over the Finish Line in 2nd place with a time of 3:11:59, my Garmin of course tells me that had I not wasted a trip to the loos at 11miles then I'd have won, but that's all hindsight. I'm happy with 2nd, it's more than I could have expected from the race so how can I possibly moan about it.

My run/walk strategy (almost) worked to perfection especially considering I was really in no shape to run a marathon. My long sleeved top worked a treat too. So onwards and upwards. The next event will be a total change, Burnham on Sea Sprint Triathlon. Wonder what joys will happen there?

White Peak Marathon.

2010-05-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

There WILL be a proper race report soon, but things have been a bit hectic. There might even be a half decent viseo at some point. This however is purely raw footage that I took during the race taken straight from my ipod nano.......... Pure loathing of my own voice means that I haven't actually got all the way through it myself yet, so apologies if there is any swearing (I think it's clean!!)

20 weeks to Kona

2010-05-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will be 140days away from Ironman Hawaii.

This is the point when I start thinking about all the important questions like, can I afford a new £4k bike? ;-) Of course the answer will as always be NO!!! At least with this being Kona there will be no new wetsuit or disc wheel thoughts as neither will be allowed.

This is also the time when many people start their training plans proper as most seem to be either 16 or 20 weeks long. For me this is normally the time that I start thinking about shelling out the cash and getting coached for the final 16 week stint. The thought will hammer around in my head for 3 weeks at which point I'll realise that the combination of my stupidly long work hours and my half soaked attitude mean it will be a total waste of money.

Tomorrow is also the day of the Matlock Marathon which I entered in a moment of madness. With my addiction to running podcasts it was too hard to resist when I found out a group of them were meeting up to do the Swift Half Marathon. Of course (as is my way) I decided that the half was too short to justify the 10hrs of travelling that will be involved, so I entered the full. Hence I'm now going to be rocking up to the start line totally unprepared and undertrained, nothing new there then.

The Marathon will be only my 3rd run over 1hr since Grizzly in March. One of them was the CaniX Half Marathon that I did with Rosie a last month and the other was a 15mile run out to Bideford last Sunday where I practiced the run/walk/run routine that I'm hoping will get me through the race.

I can't claim to do the Jeff Galloway plan but I am a big fan of run walking in longer races when it's a better option than my legs giving up the ghost with several miles to go. So far run/walk has got me a Marathon PB in Wolverhampton last year and helped me through my Kona Qualifying race in Florida. This time will be slightly different however as I'll be using it specifically because I know there's nowhere near enough miles in my legs to run all the way round.

My next post will tell you how good Matlock went, or how much I fell apart. It should be an interesting experience either way.

15mile practice run.

2010-05-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Cani-X Neolithic Half Marathon.

2010-05-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

Cani-X or Cani-Cross is an event where you run with your dog. They have events scattered all around the country and even have EuropeanWorld Championships. Most of their events are only up to 5-6km but at Neolithic they do a long course Half Marathon event. As 'both' people who read this blog know I enjoy taking Rosie pup out running and she seems to enjoy running rings around me. I've also enjoyed doing the Neolithic Marathon several times, but as I've done no long runs since Grizzly and I've already got to blag my way around the White Peak Marathon on the 22nd May it seemed the perfect time to attempt our first Cani-X race.

We planned to leave home at 7am but as always we were 30mins late so after a quick blast along the A303 we shot straight past Stonehenge and headed for the race start at Charlton Clumps (both half and full Marathons are point to point). Never 'ever' have I driven anywhere so awkward to find. Unless you have an OS map there are no markings, directions or signs anywhere. The only sign at the bottom of the road we were supposed to turn off at was one saying it was a dead end!!! We got there eventually though having driven for a mile or so against the flow of traffic from the Mountain Bike event which had started earlier (sorry folks). Luckily the tracks there were plenty wide enough for us all although squeezing past the coach that came the other way was a little tight.

Finally at the race start we'd missed most of the race brief but as it was our first event we were happy when Richard took the time to come over and say Hi, check Rosie was likely to make the distance (no problems there) and just run through the basics with us. Then after a quick toilet stop (for me) it was time to hit the Start Line. Normally these races are done on a Time Trial basis with a rolling start, but with this course being so open it was easy enough to just start everyone together. The race started and immediately a Border Collie came charging through the field minus it's owner!! Lots of shouting followed as the dogs owner tried to get it back along with a little bit of swerving to avoid it and some laughter by many of us who no doubt thought it could easily have happened to one of us. Things soon settled down though and we'd just got ourselves positioned nicely near the front when just 2 minutes into the runRosie decided that it was toilet time (why can she never go BEFORE a run). Luckily I'm well aware of her toilet habits and had poo bag in hand ready and waiting for the moment. The next stroke of luck was that the course started with an out and back section and so as I ran past Shelly who was sat in the car about to drive to the Finish at Stonehenge she gained a new 'freshly bagged' passenger (not so lucky for her I guess).

We were soon back in the flow and Rosie was dragging me back up towards the front of the pack, so much so that even with the 'stop' we completed the first mile in 6:20.
The course is classed as off-road, but it's mostly on dusty tank tracks which although filled with potholes (plenty of puddles for the pup to drink out of) is pretty good under foot so you can still haul along a bit. As this is a Bank Holiday weekend the recent hot spell had taken a break just in time to leave the day cool enough for the dogs to not worry too much. There were drink stations every couple of miles and they'd all got plenty of water for the dogs to drink and cool off with. Rosie of course would rather drink out of mucky puddles so ignored every single fresh water opportunity. There was also a marshall bombing about on a quad bike checking that none of the dogs were being pushed too hard (fat chance) or suffering in any way that would make it dancgerous to continue, we can make our own minds up but dogs are loyal enough to run through all sorts of pain to keep with their owners.

Back onto the race then and we made out way back up to the front and ran alongside David Maisey and his two dog combo for the first 3.5miles. During the time we chatted and I found out that David had run London Marathon in 2:55 just 7 days ago and his wife is training for IMUK in Bolton (even dog running you find Triathletes :-D ). On one of the climbs David told me to push on ahead, we'd been averaging 6min/mile pace and with a Marathon fresh in his legs it must have been pretty tiring. From then on it was just me & the pup against the course and I just had to wonder whether any of my pre race worries would come back to smack us around the head.

Could Rosie run 13 miles on the lead? Had I got the training in my legs to keep this pace? Which one of us would explode first? Would we make Cani-X fools of ourselves by bombing off the front and then getting passed by half the field towards the end?
Thankfully there were positive answers to all of my worries. I knew the distance would be no problem for Rosie but even having to stay on the lead and run at a constant pace which she's so unaccustomed to she was strong from start to finish. There were only two real barriers to our progress (other than drink stops) one was a trail near the end which Rosie seemed uncomfortable on, it was particularly rough under foot and her paws would have been tired and tender by then. The other was 10.5miles in when Rosie decided it was time for another toilet stop. I'd managed to hide her poo bags in an unreachable pocket on my camelback (rules said we had to carry a litre+ of water) and had to remove it, dig them out, clear up after her, put the camelback back on etc etc etc. That mile ended up being our slowest by almost 90secs, a lesson to be learnt I think!!

So all in all the run was a great success, we finished in 1:23:27 which I think is the quickest man & mutt time for the race (although the course was altered) and Rosie was glad to recieve her bag of treats and her medal. After the race we chilled (literally, it was freezing cold - brrrr) and spoke to a few of the other caniX runners and organisers. I did tell them I was unlikely to do any more events because of the short distances, my Ironman training and the travelling involved ............... but, the next event is only in Exeter. If Shelly fancies another trip out to watch her pup race it might be fun, I could bike out there to get some miles in. I've seen some of the previous results and on a shorter course we'd get absolutely hammered because '''I''' simply can't run fast enough. We'll see, the closing date isn't for another week. Who knows???

Blogging Slacker

2010-04-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

I've been seriously bad at updating my blog lately, I don't think anyone noticed though. It started when I seemed to lose the plot after my big week. I'm not sure whether the tablets I got off the quack was having an adverse effect or if I came down with a chest infection that was affecting quite a few of my clubmates. Either way I seemed to struggle every time I trained and my regular cough started being accompanied by a tight chest which made deep breathing a struggle.

After that I kept promising myself an update but I either felt I'd got nothing to write about or adversely I'd got too much to write about and couldn't decide where to start, so maybe the best option is to quickly sum up the last months happenings and continue from here. There was even a point two weeks ago where I was going to sit in front of my camera and just post me talking guff. That would no doubt only serve to scare off the few people who do occasionally stumble across this page though.

So here goes..... the week after my last post I raced my In-Club Triathlon. It's possibly the toughest Sprint Tri course you'll find anywhere, tough as a pig it is. I had a shocker, I was coughing, my chest was tight and I possibly had the longest transitions in history. I led out of the water, was 4th by the time I left T1, came ito T2 in 2nd place and stopped for a lie down in the back of the car. I left T2 a minute or two later in 3rd place and jogged around the run course. Shocking performance, but if you're going to have a bad day then it's best to have it at a fun race.

Through April I've only trained 20 days but have still got close to 40hrs of training in. Most weeks have involved me taking Monday & Tuesday (maybe Wednesday) off and then putting in big hours (mostly on the bike) over the weekend. There have been a couple of steady Wimbleball (IMUK 70.3) recce's with my clubmates and I managed a sneaky win at the Burnham on Sea Aquathlon. That's about it really.

So onto May and hopefully I'll get my head around blogging a bit more. Rosie pup has her first ever 'official' race this Sunday when she competes in the Canix Neolithic Half Marathon which finishes at Stonehenge. We had a trial run on Wednesday when I made her stay on the lead as she'll be at the race. She didn't enjoy it as much as when she's free to roam and I came out of it with a small tweak in my groin. Hopefully we'll get round ok though, the distance won't be a problem, it's more a test of how Rosie will cope with having to stay so close and run a consistant pace and whether my new niggle will get any worse. I'd love to say we'll get around in 90mins (I'd say 80-85mins if she could be off the lead) but it's going to be a bit of a learning experience and toilet/drink breaks will be just as much of a new thing as the way we're going to have to run. I might see if I can rig up my ipod somehow and take some video as we run, don't hold me to it though.

Think that will do for now, I'll try not to leave it so long next time - honest!!

Training Camp ................ without the camp!!!

2010-03-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

So this starts the full week section of my holiday and with my Grizzly blisters on the mend then there is no excuse for not getting a few hours in, although I'm sure the weather and my parents coming down for a few days will feature amongst my feeble excuses as the week goes on. The Target?? ............ I'm not dumb enough to put a figure on my aims because that leads to certain failure. BUT after my post the other week and my discovery that I'd only hit 15hrs once last year then I do have 'for me', very lofty aims.

Monday - A 3hr bike ride was a good solid start to the week on a nice day. As is normally the case with my training there was no plan of action and I changed my mind several times during the course of the ride. Throwing Muddiford Hill in after 40miles was a bit of a stinger on the legs too. An early wake up call to the week I think.

Tuesday - A big day today...... First up was my tried and trusted 7mile run along the Tarka Trail with Rosie, then a quick dip at the pool. I decided to seehow far I'd swim in an hour so it was simply a case of jumping in the water, starting the stopwatch and swimming. I took my 400m splits to keep track and make sure I didn't lose count. It was nice to have my fastest 400m at the end and 4,200m later I was climbing out of the pool and heading for the showers. Job Done!
The afternoon was nice and steady until I decided it was time to jump on the turbo trainer for my promised weekly session. Spinervals Week 11 in the bag. The evening session was a toughie, off for a rare trip to my local Running Club I'd planned to take it nice and easy with my legs already feeling trashed. Still, when the group session turned into an ego run I just had to hang in there and keep everybody in check, can't let them go thinking I'm losing my edge........... can I ;-)

Wednesday - Only 3 days in and my legs are beginning to feel the strain already. The weather didn't look great so I took the shopper out for a spin. Two big long climbs and legs that hurt, hurt, hurt was the order of the day. I had to put some work in towards the end just to get the average speed above 15mph but we got there eventually.

Thursday - Today had to be an easy one. A 1hr pyramid ride on the turbo trainer (40mins working up the gears & 20mins dropping down) and a 1hr swim session. I managed a 1k TT & 12x100m off 1:45's but it's a rare day when I'm not enjoying a swim session. Must be getting tired!!!

Friday - Long run day. First up this morning was a steady 13miles of run/walk (9min:1min) before coming home to pick the pup up and put in another 7miles. At the start of the run I felt awful, but it passed and I managed to pick the pace up a little in the last 3miles and put in a proper hard 20th mile which was nice. I sat around like a vegetable for the rest of the day before my concience got the better of me and I jumped on the turbo trainer for a quick 35min spin before my squad swim session. We never do 'sprints' at squad training .............. until tonight it seems when I'm wrecked and then it's 50's and 25's all night. I think someone must have tipped the coach off ;-)

Saturday - Damn it rained this morning!!!!! It was a filthy morning so I dragged the shopper out and went for a steady ride out to meet one of my clubmates and we headed off along the Tarka Trail to avoid the traffic. On any other day I'd have stayed at home in the warm, but it's training week and training MUST be done. This afternoon was probably the worst I've been for a long long time. I took the pup out for her regular 7miles but turned around just over half way and came back, I wasn't in a good place at all. Bad Times!!

Sunday - the last day of a tough week. I thought it would be easier to back off a little today rather than smash myself stupid. A Tri Club swim session where the main set was 12x100m off 1:50 and a Club track session where I half ran, half chatted/coached/kept my eye on the others there. I still got 5miles in, but it wasn't any great shakes.

So that's it, the end of my training/holiday week. From now on it's back to work and fitting some training in when I can. Overall I'm happy with it, sure I got tired as the week went on but it was a massive increase on what I've been doing lately and a massive increase on any training I've done in recent memory. At 20.5hrs (232miles swim/bike/run total) it was 5hrs more than my biggest week last year which came in the build up to Ironman Florida.
Most importantly I've come through a solid training week without any preperation and my body has handled whatever has been thrown at it. No injuries, no aches, no strains, no pulls, no tweaks, it's all good. Now if only there was more time in the week I'd confidently be able to build from here, but .................... unless those lottery numbers come up I'll just have to wonder what would happen (maybe a good thing ;-) )

Week 10 - it's a bad one.

2010-03-15T01:49:00.000-07:00

Last week wasn't a good one for training. After Grizzly my blisters, especially the one at the back of my heel, were giving my all sorts of problems and I was struggling to walk. This was a bit annoying because my legs felt fine.
Monday and Tuesday I did nothing, but the plan was then to hammer myself as from Wednesday I'm off work until the 22nd.
Wednesday though, my first day off, I still did nothing other than hobble around the house.
Finally on Thursday (bouyed by a new pack of Compeed plasters) I decided that I'd got to do something so I took Rosie pup out for one of our regular runs along the Tarka Trail. I fully expected to turn around fairly early and hobble back home but amazingly my heel blister actually hurt less when I was running so we put in 8.8 miles. Once I'd stopped though I couldn't get my trainers off quickly enough, after run was evil pain, although after watching Part 2 of Eddie Izzard - Marathon Man I refuse to complain about blisters ever again (until I forget). Later in the day I headed off to the shed and completed my Spinervals - Week 10 session on the turbo trainer to keep the every week' streak going and that night I went out for a rare appearence at the Running Club and joined in the interval session. The combination of bike & run sessions totally trashed me.
Friday morning I woke up aching from the previous days beastings so I took the pup over Braunton Burrows in the morning for a steady run along the trails where we could run as much (or as little) as we wanted. We ended up putting a nice steady 10miles in which was nice and far more than I expected. The rest of the day was taken up meeting Shelly for lunch, getting my chest X-ray'd hoping to find a cure for this cough/xiphoid problem (no chance!!) and visiting my old tri buddy Mike who was recently knocked off his bike by an asshole hit & run motorist resulting in a fractured pelvis (read more here). The evening was my normal Squad swim session, a tough little beastie with plenty of Butterfly in it and a nice sneaky 400m TT at the end which always helps a session to finish on a high note.
Saturday was a training write off because I had to attend a day course for work and then we were out in the evening for a friends 40th birthday.
Sunday started well with a lumpy 7.5mile run before the Tri Club's 9am swim session. It all went a bit pear shaped after that though although I did get a little bit of garden rubbish moved about at the expense of any training.

So I just managed to squeak 7hrs of training in, but only actually trained on 3 days, not really good enough on a working week never mind a week when I only work for half of it.

Score: C- Must do better (story of my life).

Grizzly 2010 Race Report

2010-03-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Better late than never I guess.

It's amazing how things turn out and how things conspire against you at these things. Way back when (2006) I DNF'd at Grizzly when my trusted Walsh PB trainers fell apart in the bog. This inspired The Tale of Grizzly Torment peom that appears on their website in which I promised to go back and take revenge. The following year I had to miss the race when it was moved to September following the MSC Napoli running aground at Branscombe. So in 2008 and 2009 I returned and put in mediocre performances, neither performance helped by my decision to give old road shoes with very little grip a proper send off in the mud and generally treacherous conditions.
This year I decided that I'd actually get some proper footwear deserving of the course. Several people recommended Inov-8 shoes to me, but getting hold of a pair to try on down here seemed almost impossible. Ironbridge Runner in Exeter did eventually call me to say they had a pair in for me to try, but I'd been waiting 3 weeks by then and it was too late. With two weeks to go I was still no nearer getting a pair of shoes so I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Walsh's online, having had two pairs before I was confident in their fit and more importantly their grip. They duly turned up and I took them for an hours plod over Braunton Burrows to try them out, everything seemed fine although it was hardly a testing workout.
We got down to Seaton in plenty of time (unusual for me) and it was a glorious day, quite possibly the best weather I've encountered in my 10 years of racing there. It was still bitterly cold though and there was just enough of a breeze for the cold to seemingly cut through whatever you were wearing. I got back in the car where it was warmer until it was closer to the start time.
I headed to the start (wearing extra clothes that I could pile onto Shelly before the off) and met up with Steve from the A Mile With Me podcast. We had a little chat as we made our way to the Start Line where I also bumped into a bunch of old friends and training pals from Tiptree Road Runners, 23 of them had made their looong annual pilgrimage from the East Coast of England down to the South West for the race. So once again I found myself right at the back of the field as the race started and did I care? Not a bit. I know it's really a rediculous place for me to start but sometimes I'd rather just say Hi to a few friends and do a bit of catching up than worry about losing a minute or five to the front runners. It's not as if I've trained and tapered for the race, heck I'd done 3hrs on the bike the day before.The race started and we gradually moved towards the start line where I set my Garmin going. The initial loop along the beach and then back along the promenade was packed but most people stayed high up the beach, I ran down by the surf where the pebbles seem smaller and more solid underfoot. By the time I'd crossed the start line again I'd already moved well up the field and was passing the nutcase dressed as a Dalek when Shelly saw me with the camera - nice one pal ;-).Gradually I worked my way through the field, occasionally catching, chatting and passing people I knew. It soon became apparent that I had a problem though! For all the shocking weather we've had this year, for all the snow, rain, gales etc the previous week had been very dry and the sea breezes had made the ground very dry and HARD!!! Many of the paths and fields were like ruts of solid concrete and my Walsh's, specially designed to grip in the wet, soft, boggy stuff were a waste of time and after only 4 miles the constant turning of my feet meant the heel tab was starting to rub - not a good sign with 16miles of rough terrain to go! That was the tale of the race really, on the flat sections I was good, on the uphill sections my lack of strength showed itself, on the downhills and those sections where your feet are at non-normal angles I developed blisters but still I carried on moving up the field little by little.

Finally the Finish Line was in sight, I passed one last runner on Seaton Beach and the race was over for the day. After starting pretty much dead last I'd moved up to 34th overall in 2:50:21 ( 2:48:48 on my Garmin), happy with the days efforts and more than happy to finally be able to take my shoes off. 3 days later and I'm still hobbling around like an old man due to the blisters. Still, we live and learn. Next year maybe I'll think a bit more carefully about my shoe choice. There were three boggy sections of the course where my Walsh's were invaluable, but for the other 19+miles a normal pair of road shoes would have been plenty good enough. On any other (wet) year the Walsh's would have gained me minutes and probably left my feet unscathed, this year though........... Ah well, it's all good fun in the end.

Taunton Aquathlon Race Report

2010-03-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

I went into Sundays race feeling tired after a long week at work and 4hrs of training on Saturday, but none of that matters a jot when you hit the start line. A quick scan through the entrants showed no familiar names that were likely to kick my backside, the biggest danger that I knew of would be Martin Rogers, the organiser of the Burnham on Sea serires(http://www.bospool.com/) who'd no doubt be chasing me down with a blistering run split. That didn't of course mean there wasn't someone unknown to me there who was likely to make me look like a chump.

With this being the first multisport race of my season the normal chaos had reigned over the weekend with me trying to find all manor of goodies that I would need for the race. Shelly had been on hand to find my number belt, especially as I'd threatened to race 'Faris Style' if I had to go old school and pin my number to an old tee-shirt. No amount of searching however could find (and still hasn't found) my race shoes from the last 2 years which have in them my only pair of elastic laces. I decided that now was as good a time as any to christen the Asics Hyper-Speeds that I bought during the week, I was just going to have to bit the bullet and lose (precious??) time tying laces up before heading out on the run.

At the pool I met up with my clubmates who were racing (Damian, Steph, Chiara & Mandy) and plenty of race day friends from various clubs who I hadn't seen since last season. Soon I was registered, numbered up and ready to hit the water.

For the long course race (1000m swim, 10km run) we were setting off in waves every 30mins, I was off in the last wave where we had 3 to a lane setting off at 10 second intervals. One of the other swimmers in my lane I caught, passed and then lapped during the 40 length swim. The other swimmer I seemed to pass every 5-6 lengths, it must have been awful for him having me coming splashing past him all the time but either he was golden or our timings just worked out well because I never once got held up behind him. I was far from the fastest swimmer in the pool though and I feared the worst when I noticed someone about to lap me after only 30 lengths, strangely though for the next 10 lengths we stayed side by side. Maybe he got tired, maybe he was saving some energy for the run, maybe he thought I was a danger and wanted to keep an eye one the gap between us thinking the 40 seconds his two length advantage would give him was enough. Who knows, but as I got the two lengths to go board I looked across the pool to see him jumping out of the water, along with someone else. I finished my swim, jumped out of the pool and headed to my run gear. Bend down, glasses on, cap on, left trainer on, tie my lace, right trainer on, right trainer off, straighten the insole, right trainer on, getting dizzy now, stand up, shake head, bend down, tie lace, grab number belt, get the hell onto the run course! While I was doing that 4-5 other athletes had left the pool, blazed through transition and headed out on the run ahead of me.

Onto the run and it actually helps me to have a line of fellow athletes down the road because for the first 1km I always feel absolutely shocking and if I can feel rough but still be catching people then mentally it's a huge boost. Soon I got to the front of the line and started to push on, I asked one of the marshalls how many folks were ahead and he said three, but he thought two of them were relay runners. I didn't have to worry about relay teams so that (hopefully) made me 2nd on the road, presuming of course that nobody in the earlier waves had gone round quicker. Soon the leader on my individual wave was in sight and I caught him just before the climbs started, it's a tough course and I didn't want to wreck myself early on as I had done the first year I raced it so I just cruised on past and happily let him sit on my shoulder, half way up the climb though he started dropping off. Now I'd just got the hard running Martin to worry about.

The run course is horrible, mostly because I just haven't got a clue where I am. It finishes with you running the last 6-800m along a dirt road which starts at the top of one of the climbs, the problem was that the last week was now catching up with me and I tailed off terribly in the last couple of miles, there were several climbs and at every one I was praying to see the turn off at the top only to be disappointed when I got there. Finally though I spotted the turn off and as I looked over my shoulder I noticed a figure at the bottom of the hill, I recognised that figure and breathed a big sigh of relief because I knew the gap was too big to close. I crossed the finish line a relieved man, I was 3mins behind the two relay teams ahead but more importantly Martin didn't cross the line for another 15secs.

So, onto the presentation and I did manage to pick up the win, closely followed by Martin. Both of us are over 40, so where are you youngsters coming up to knock us off our perch??? Bring it on kiddies ;-)

I'm not 100% sure of my times because they're all over the place on the official results, but the best I can work out based on who came out of the water around me are -

14:34 - 1000m swim +Transition
35:50 - 10km run

50:24 - Total time :-)

Big Week?

2010-02-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Monday - After writing my last post I've decided to challenge myself. Can I train for 6/7 days this week? Can I crack the magical 15hr barrier that I only managed once last year. With those thoughts ringing in my ears and helped along by a rare early finish at work I hopped onto the turbo trainer and knocked out the Spinervals Week 8 session I have sitting in a folder on my computer. 50mins later and I've successfully kept up my target of hitting the turbo at least once every week and I've also trained on a Monday, traditionally one of the days I struggle with so much.

Tuesday - Already work is looking to throw a spanner in the works of this weeks training challenge. For every short day at work like yesterday (it was still 10hrs) there's payback. Today was payback with a nice 14.5hr stint and the knowledge that I'll be back at work just 9hrs after I left there. No training!!!!! The 7 day week is already dead in the water.

Wednesday - Oh dear, dear, dear. What a disaster! All day I've been planning my training and working out how I can get these remaining 14hrs done in 5 days. It's another 13.5hrs at work but I've got tomorrow off to rest and train. Then it all goes wrong............ "Any chance you can work tomorrow?" "I wouldn't ask, but we're desperate." - Aaaaaargh!!! I can't really afford to turn it down if it's offered, money is money after all and living takes precedence over training. So as I type this it's another day of no training, just 10hrs off work and I fully expect that tomorrow night will be just 9hrs off work so there will be no training going on then either. So much for pushing towards a big week, things are going totally the opposite way. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Thursday - Blasted around Dorset today for work and managed to sneak out of there before dark. I'm used to having two days a week off but my concience starts playing up when it stretches to three, so I grabbed the pup and headed out of the door for a swift 5 miler.

Friday - Finally the working week is over (although I found out it's another 65hrs+ next week :-( ). Back nice and early I had time to test out the new Asics Hyper-Speeds on my regular Swing Bridge 7 miler. After that it was off to see the Doc and be fed more BS about why I've had a cough for 10years+. I'm sure they think it's in my imagination. I managed to come away from there with a hospital appointment for a chest x-ray but it seemed more a way to get me out of the surgery than a genuine hope for a solution. Later than night was my normal squad swim including a handy (for me) 5:15 for a 400m TT, not my fastest ever, but my fastest so far in 2010.

Saturday - I managed to put in my longest ride of the year so far today. 50miles on my old hybrid shopper. Was supposed to be meeting a clubmate but I was late (as normal) so I missed him. Still a decent session and the first time I've been out on the bike and not frozen. Is Spring on the way? Followed the bike a couple of hours later with a run over Braunton Burrows with my clubmate James. It was a nice easy tester for the Walsh PB's that had turned up on Friday morning. Thankfully all was well as I'll need them to be on form for Grizzly next week.

Sunday - Taunton Aquathlon! As I type this the final standings haven't been put online and I think I might do seperate posts for race reports so I'll tell you more about that at a later date (I won by the way!!!). The day was soured by Man Utd beating Aston Villa in the League Cup Final :-(

Think that'll do for now. I never really know how to finish these posts off!!!!!

Inspired by @ZenTriathlon

2010-02-22T02:02:00.001-08:00

Well it took me exactly 2 weeks to mess up on the new 'foolproof' blogging plan. No suprise there then. As always my ability to write anything down took over, I'll use the excuse that I put in 65hrs at work between Monday and Friday although that's clutching at straws really.
While I was out driving last week I was catching up on episodes of Zen & the art of Triathlon (one of the many podcasts that find themself on my ipod) when I heard a chat about just how much Kona Qualifiers can train. I know I'm pretty lucky and seem to get away with a lot less training than others, which is a good job considering how often I simply can't be bothered. I can't remember the exact conversation but I heard 20hrs a week mentioned and it stuck in my head. Over the weekend I decided to dig out my training log from last year and see just how close to that 20hrs a week I came when I was training for IM Florida. Hmmm, not very close at all it seems.

The Ironman fell in the 45th week of 2009, so I looked at weeks 1-44 using Monday to Sunday as my week. The results were interesting/scary/worrying, I'm not sure which.

I seriously doubted that I'd ever hit the magical 20hr figure and I was right, what was quite shocking was that I only crossed the 15hr barrier once (yep ONCE!!!) and out of 44 weeks I only broke into double figures 12 times. I know that because of the way my job is and the hours I work I quite often end up doing no training on a Monday or a Tuesday but it was still a shock to the system to find that on 38 out of 44 weeks I trained for 5 days or less. The plan for 2010 is to change those figures for the better - slightly, especially if I'm to stand any chance of putting together a decent race at Kona in October.

If you haven't seen my pictures taken by the magical cameras of Peter Stephens then where have you been? Click on his name for the full interactive experience :-)

So to the last weeks training :-

Monday - Knowing that this was going to be a full week at work I took advantage of the spare time a mere 12hr day gave me and jumped on the turbo trainer for 45mins. Yet another Spinervals session, but at some time in the past I've lost 'Week 7' so picked another at random.

Tuesday - A shocking day at work followed by no training.

Wednesday - Knowing that training on Thursday was likely to be a non-starter I forced myself out of the door with the pup for a short run. Only 4.5miles, but I needed to do something.

Thursday - No chance!!

Friday - The weekend starts here. It's a long day and it starts with a 1am alarm call, but that means I'm finished by late afternoon and can persuede my body that all is well. I took Rosie pup out for a steady 7 miler trying to hold my HR below 140bpm and then headed off to my squad swim session.

Saturday - I'd advertised my Saturday training and invited clubmates to come join me. I really didn't expect to see anybody but it makes me accountable and I have to do the promised sessions 'just in case'. The 10am bike ride soon got cancelled though when I woke up to a good layering of snow on the floor, it was replaced by a 90min turbo trainer session during which my bike computer decided that it didn't want to play any more and promptly died on me. By lunchtime the snow had all but gone and my afternoon run over Braunton Burrows was still on. Ireally didn't fancy it, but my spirits were lifted when I got there and one of my clubmates was there waiting for me. Yay!!! Nice one Trev :-)

Sunday - This was the killer. Rosie pup woke me up at 4:30. so after being up and about for a couple of hours I decided to take her for a run. We repeated Fridays run but rather than keep 140bpm or below I raised the bar to 150bpm, still easily achievable. Not today though!!! By the time I got to the turnaround I was shot to bits, I just had to back off and I felt pretty much that way for the rest of the run. The pace was reasonable, but I was shocking.

Then it was off to the pool for a Tri Club swim session. Here was the total opposite, I was simply cruising up and down the pool and swimming pretty decent consistent times. I even did a 4x100m IM in 6:18 without really pushing myself.

After the swim was a Track Session and it was still only 10:30am. The plan was a pyramid session 400m, 800m, 1200m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m but by the time I got to the 1600 my legs were in pieces and it simply didn't happen. I managed to work my way through the rest of the session but my times were well off. Then for the rest of the day I just mooched about the house like a lazy thing.

Just shy of 8hrs for the week. I'll take that, especially considering the 65hrs at work. Well shy of the previously mentioned 20hrs per week though. It's early days though :-)

Me on a bike!!

2010-02-16T02:09:00.000-08:00

Results of the Thursday photoshoot I mentioned in the last post are here - http://bit.ly/9UNRUG

Have a look, tell me your thoughts :-)

Diary start.

2010-02-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

Monday

A good start to the new Training Diary format of the blog. I did no training. It's rare that I'll ever have anything to write on a Monday or Tuesday because work and a lack of sleep at the beginning of the week tend to wipe me out. Today was helped along by my legs being trashed after a stupid track session on Sunday where I ran 3 x 10 x 200m and 1 x 400m. The session itself wasn't stupid, it was the fact that straight after I just jumped in the car and drove home, not even a couple of steady laps to shake the legs out. Lactic Acid Legs Ahoy!!

Tuesday

Every bit as slack as Monday. Another 13hr day after a 4am start at work was simply enough.

Wednesday

Seem to have been a bit injury prone today. Firstly I jumped from the cab of my lorry and before my feet hit the ground my ass cheek hit the step with me in full flight. The immediate pain was excruciating but now that it's calmed down I suspect I've just bruised myself. A few days of uncomfortable sitting lie ahead.
After work I took Rosie out for a run along the Tarka Trail into town. Half way around the town (4miles from home) I put my foot on the edge of a kerb stone and turned my ankle through some rediculous angle. Again the pain was sickening but after a few mins of swearing, and checking I decided that it's probably only bruising and continued the run. It'll be uncomfortable for a week, but I've got very strong ankles and expect everything to be fine in the long term.

Thursday

An odd day today. I was off work as I quite often am on a Thursday (silly European rules) and Shelly was off work sick and in bed. I'll blame her for my lack of training because she's an easy target :-) but in truth I just had a lazy streak in me all day. I did manage to complete Week 6 of my Spinervals turbo trainer workouts and then I got a message from Peter Stephens asking about meeting up to take some pics. Click on his name and check out some of his amazing Panoramic work, this guy really knows his stuff. He wanted to take some bike style pics and it gave me the perfect excuse to get out of any planned training, all I needed to do was take my Tri bike out of the box it's been in since IM Florida and put it together. Ooooooh dear!!!!! If ever you're going to pack your bike away for the winter then CLEAN IT FIRST!!!!! My bike is a mess. It's last ride was IM Florida where it had energy drink sprayed over it constantly for 5hrs. Energy drink goes mouldy when sat in a box for 4 months. It wasn't/isn't a pretty sight and will take an age to clean properly. A quick phonecall later though and I was heading over to my LBS and borrowing a £5,000 Ceepo bike off them. Sweeeet!! We then spent an hour or so on a beautiful (but freezing cold) day on the Tarka Trail taking pics and no doubt causing some tongues to wag as people using the trail came past wondering what the hell was going on. After the photoshoot there was just time to go home and eat, shower and sleep before my 1am Friday alarm call.

Hopefully the pics will all turn out well and I'll put a link up to them as soon as I have one.

Friday

Today I've just been a total wreck. I managed to struggle through my day at work and got home around 4pm. I'd popped into a running shop in Exeter while I was out and had hoped to leave there with a new pair of racing flats (to replace my beloved Brooks T6's) and/or a new pair of serious off road shoes in readiness for The Grizzly. They hadn't got either in my size so I came away empty handed and this seemed to put any thoughts of training right on the back burner. I was now feeling totally wiped out and when Shelly got home from work she insisted that I went to bed for an hour. I managed to get out of the pit (just) for my squad swim session at Northam which was a bit of a beastie but great fun. Then home for food and hopefully bed before midnight. We'll see.

Saturday

A good start to today when Shelly let me sleep in, which meant she was up with the mutt at 5am. Woke around 8:00, had breakfast and got ready for my 10am bike ride. Quite often I tell folks in my Tri Club what I'm up to at the weekend and invite them to join me. This of course has benifits all round, my benifit is that it then commits me to go out and do what I've promised. Most times nobody will show but today I had the company of Stevie D (otherwise known as Havoc) for the majority of my 40mile bike ride. Today was cold and I was under dressed for it. I felt fine when I left the house and even wondered if I was wearing too much, but the wind was pure evil and when you rode into a headwind it cut through you like a knife. By the time I dropped Steve off we were both freezing so I 'rode it like I stole it' from then on in a bid to get my heart pumping and warm my extremities up a little. It worked ............. after a fashion.

Once I'd thawed out I set about a massive bike cleaning session. My QR needed sorting out after 4 months sat in a bike box had turned it into a fur bike. My shopper also needed a damn good clean, just to stop it looking like something I've picked up from the scrap yard.

At 5pm it was time to take Rosie for a run over the Burrows. Again I broadcast my intentions to my Tri Club but this time nobody showed. I didn't really expect company but it made sure that I went down there myself. The Burrows are tough and that showed in my time, but I got 6.5miles in so it was all good. Tired now though.

Sunday

Up at 6:30am this morning I decided I'd pop along the the Tri Club swim session as it's warmer in the pool than it is out on the bike. Today was a nice steady technique type session with a little 12x100m set thrown in for good measure. Nothing over exciting, probably 2500m maximum. After the swim it was off to the track to see what treats Tim had in store for us. There was a nice little gathering today and we all did 5x1600m (4 laps) with 1mins rest in between them. The 1600m's were completed in 6:01, 5:45, 5:50, 5:48, 5:48. The total session was 6.6 miles and we were quite happy to average 6:30 min/miles especially when there were 7mins just strolling around recovering during the session. Once that little lot was over it was time to spend an afternoon in front of the TV watching the football.

Totals for the week

Swim - 2hrs - 5700m
Bike - 3h55m - 56miles
Run - 2h46m - 22.9miles

I know what you're all thinking ..................... Where do I log my gym work, my strength work, my core work, my stretching/yoga/pilates etc etc etc? Let me tell you that if I 'EVER' do any of that stuff then I'll let you know. I promise ;-)

Such a Slacker

2010-02-11T01:15:00.001-08:00

I've come to the conclusion that I'm bloody useless at this blogging thing. I've never really got anything to say, when I have got anything to say I'm either nowhere near a computer or I haven't got time to write it down, then when I do get infront of a keyboard I generally forget anything that I'd thought about writting. Also, as I'm not really the sort of person who bares their soul to the world it's a bit of a lost cause really, so I've decided to go back to basics.

I don't tend to have as much time on the computer as some people think and when I'm am here then I'm filling in training logs, checking my Twitter and various run/Tri forums that I belong to. Small short sharp pointed messages are my sort of thing. I read magazines because I can skim through them and pick the bits that I headlines that I want to focus on, I never ever read books because they just don't interest me even if the subject matter ticks all of my interest boxes.

A similar sort of thing applies with computer generated things. I listen to podcasts, lots of them, but then my job means I've got plenty of time on my hands to listen to spoken word. Admittedly not everything I listen to will sink in, if I'm driving through a town or village that requires full concentration or something happens that sends my mind off on a tangent then whatever I'm listening to will become background noise. I'm a man, don't expect me to multitask ;-). So if podcasts are my magazines then blogs are my books, I just never really read any. Occasionally somebody will post an interesting blog title on Twitter and I'll click it for a quick look, if someone comments on here then I might click their name to see what they're up to - but that's about it. I actually feel a bit guilty sometimes writing this guff when I think that people might waste valuable minutes of their life reading it, especially when it's normally as dull as dishwater. I also feel guilty that people come and read this stuff when the chances are that I won't repay them by reading theirs.

So what should I do with it?

Well it's not going to die, but it's basically just going to become a training and race log. I quite enjoy writing long winded race reports and occasionally there's something worth mentioning when I train (not often though). I know there are a few folks out there with a vague interest in what training I'm going to do on the way to Ironman Hawaii if not just to see if it's true that the laziest most disorganised Triathlete on the planet is as slack as he claims to be and to sit there and wonder how fast I could actually be if I followed a structured plan (never likely happen).

So...... the new plan will be to spend 5mins updating it every night, just writing in what (if any) training I've done and log any thoughts on just how tired/fit I feel at the time. There may even be a couple of nuggets of nonsense that spring to mind when I'm typing. Then (hopefully) I'll click the 'PUBLISH' button on a Sunday evening and the weeks worth of training/thoughts will appear for anybody that gives a monkeys. I've no plans to go announcing on Twitter every time I make a new post because popularity isn't a great concern. If I get 2,000 hits a week or just my Sister reads it (she'll read anything) there will be no difference. Of course if you're reading this then I'm not asking you to go away and leave me alone, just warning you that life might not be very interesting unless you're interested in the facts and figures of a Lazy Ironman. Please stay and feel free to make comment and/or abuse as you feel.

Race Reports I'll probably try to write over the space of a couple of days. They tend to be long drawn out affairs because once I get started you never shut me up (this post is proof). The current idea is to publish them midweek so as not to overlay a training post and I will probably stick a link to these on Twitter because they're a bit different and there may be people out there that either did the same race or are thinking of doing it in the future.

That's about it really. I could probably spout more rubbish for another couple of paragraphs but your cuppa is going cold so I'll leave you to it.

Next post will hopefully be on Sunday in some form of training diary format. Lets see how long it lasts ;-)