To anybody daft enough to read this muck....

NDTC

Party Time & Bfitday Tri.

Saturday night was the NDTC Christmas Party and presentation night. In my role as club geek I've written a blog post for them here.

Monday 15th was my 39th birthday, hard to believe I know ;-) so on Sunday I made it my aim to complete a bfitbday triathlon. The tale of torture is below, sorry there are no pretty pics.

The day started at 6:30am with a restless dog throwing her toys around the house to wake me up after just 3.5hrs sleep. After a cuppa and some breakfast I made my way down to the pool for 9am when those club members who hadn’t consumed too much alcohol at the previous nights party (not many) were there for a squad swim session. My original plan was to park myself in a lane by the side of them and bang out 5k but I wasn’t really feeling ‘with it’ so thought I’d swim their session with them and tack whatever was needed onto the end. I’d already missed some of the warm up so I just slipped into the water and joined in. 1500m later the group started their warm down so I swopped lanes and continued the swim alone. I only managed another 1000m and I’d had enough, this was a real bad sign because I love my swimming and if I’m getting fed up in the water then the bike and run stand little hope. I decided that enough was enough, got out of the pool and headed to the changing rooms then just as I was about to hit the shower the club coach appeared in his swim gear. He said he was going to join me for a quick 40 lengths. My arm had been twisted and I decided to give it another go. I hit the pool again and literally swam drafting the coach while he swam 1000m in 16mins. With that out of the way the majority of the swim was covered and I decided to push on completing the next 1500m in 22:30. The 5k swim was finally over 1h45m after first getting in the water.

I drove home and thought about the rest of the day. Feeling a little better I dragged my bike out of the shed for the 2nd time in 2 days and the 2nd time since IM Florida on 1st November. I’d got a route lined up which I’ve done hundreds of times before without any problem. I knew I didn’t need fuel as I never do, but I mixed a bottle of Nuun because I was probably de-hydrated after partying and swimming. Out on the bike there was no rush, 5miles, 10miles, 20miles went by without any problem but then disaster struck. At 30miles my body felt as though it was draining of all energy, this couldn’t be right. I could stop off at a shop for supplies but being only 10miles from home it wasn’t really worth it. That 10miles was a long long way, damn I was struggling. Finally I made it home after 2h10m at 18mph. I walked through the door grabbed an energy bar made myself a jacket spud and crashed out on the bed for an hour totally spent.

The afternoon ticked on, darkness came and I started having real doubts about my ability to run 9miles on this day. Finally I got my act together and changed into my running gear. I’d got to pop something to a friends house in the village so I decided that I could run there and then zigzag around the local streets building my way towards my 9mile target, so off I went. It wasn’t pretty and there were plenty of times when I just wanted to stop and walk, but finally....... after 1h07m...... I staggered back into the house Florida it seemed impossible to think I’d struggle so much and mentally it was every bit as tough to complete as the Ironman.

Now I’m happy though. At least it means I haven’t got to go out and do it this coming weekend because I’d failed................ phew.

Relaxing

So you've spent the best part of a week (or maybe more) running around organizing and helping out at Ironman Florida. All that's left to do is the presentation night and party. What could you possibly find to do that would kill 20mins.

Click here to see Triathlon legends and race crew pushing each other to the limit on the white beaches of PCB.

If only Moonpie and the Bigun new this was happening, they'd have been kicking some butt :-)

Kristmas Kaper

Well I'm not training, but that doesn't stop me racing now does it.

Did I say racing? Well, you know what I mean.
This weekend was our Tri Clubs Christmas Swim/Run event organised by t'other half Shelly. After spending most of Saturday listening to her swearing as she cooked hundreds of mince pies for the competitors and wondered around making sure everything was ship shape it was a relief to actually reach Sunday.
The race had a rolling start (Time Trial syleee) and my roll was to stand poolside and make sure everybody set off when they were supposed to, then all I had to do was jump in the water, swim 600m, put on my race kit and go for a run around the local park. As it's a super serious race and there's a lot of pride at stake I had to remember to leave some for the sprint finish (below).
There's not a lot to say about the race really, the pic says it all....... Oh yeah, I came 4th and didn't even get the best fancy dress prize, but with Shell in charge that was never going to happen even if my costume had been the originally planned mankini which really would have seen me arrested.

Results are here.

Race day pictures are here.

and the days race report is here.

Browse and enjoy :-)

It's the end of 'Mo'vember

There hasn't been a lot going on in the life of Iain this month. Training has been almost none existant and it's now hard to believe that tomorrow will be a full month since IM Florida.
This weekend we travelled up country to see the folks and meet up for our pre-christmas meal with aunts, uncles, cousins etc etc.
I took advantage of the time up there to take the pup out for an off road run at one of my favourite haunts. Jeez it hurt.
I used to rule this place, hitting all the hills real hard and smacking anybody who dared to come training there with me. Training in Devon has made me soft though. Although the general area is much hillier the local runs are pancake flat, especially the ones I can do and let the dog run free. Sure I can still run, but show me a hill and I'm in trouble. I used to run over there for 90mins and finish by sprinting up 'Jacobs Ladder', it was the sting in the tail that any training partners used to hate and I used to love. Yesterday I hit 'Jacobs Ladder' twice and on the first attempt I had to stop and walk halfway through - disgraceful!
Anyway, back to the meal. It's a fairly big old gathering and as it's been going on for a fair few years the relatives have witnessed many a Florida haircut, so me turning up with a multi coloured barnet isn't a strange sight, but how's about me turning up with a good old Mo?
I'm a lazy toerag and quite often find myself walking around with far too much facial hair which I then get the shears on and dispose of all in one hit, the thaught of leaving some has never appeared, but it is Movember after all, so here it is. For one time only. Iain with a Mo (and a stupid face of course).

Hmmmmm, turns out that for some odd reason Shell quite likes it and now wants me to keep it for next weeks big Aquathlon, where my out of shape backside is no doubt going to get well and truly kicked by some kids. We'll see ;)

Mega Iron Lunatics ;-)

When you're 70 years old and you've just completed a Quintuple Ironman then you're allowed to wear socks with your sandals OK!!!!!

Congratulations to Arthur and the other Finishers.

Good Luck to all those Deca Ironman racers who are a mere 200hrs into their race.

You're all freaking MAD!!!!

Click here to see the official pics.

Go get em Suraya - I rarely finish 20miles looking this happy, never mind the extra 100.

The Pic Game

Ok, so I popped over to see what was happening in the blog of Flatman and spotted the Photo Game. I appear to be a day behind but thought what the hell I'll have a look see. The idea is that you pick the 4th photo out of the 4th folder on your computer and then explain.

Interesting idea, so here's mine:



So to an explanation then.

It's from when we raced IM Florida in 2005. It's one of the twin sprogs belonging to my sprog sister - no I don't know which one. We thought he looked cute (or was it daft) in his new hat so we took a pic.

No prizes for guessing where in Panama City we were at the time ;-)

On another note, today was my first planned training session since IMFl. I've had 3 weeks off other than a couple of small runs. I kicked off by taking the pup out for a nice steady 10 miler, at least my legs felt it was steady, my heart rate was telling me I was running at 5k pace. I also picked up a niggle during IMFl and after 5miles of todays run I decided that it was still there. Now, 5hrs after the run has finished I KNOW it's still there - grrrrrrr!!!! I'll soon kick it into touch.

I've set up a training team for Ironman Florida 2009. If you're reading this and you're racing next November then pop over, have a look and join in. It's all free and will hopefully become a good place to compare your training with others.

Nutcases of Tri

Ever thought that Ironman just wasn't quite long enough? Nope, me neither.

But just in case you have............



The DecaMan is currenly ongoing in Mexico - website linky

There's even a BLOG

1st swimmer out of the water in 13:17.

Lunatics :o:o:o

Thanks

I know it's getting a bit late to STILL be going on about IM Florida, this is the last post I promise. I realised that after all my spouting on I hadn't thanked any of the people who helped me along the way and made the journey and training a bit easier. No doubt I'll still forget about (and upset) someone along the way, with the sieve like head I've got then it's bound to happen.

So in no particular order......

Thanks to Mom, Dad, Sis, David and the Sprogs for helping me along the way, nagging me to death (that's mostly Mom) and for babysitting/putting up with/spoiling rotten their Rosie while we were away.

Thanks to Rich Brady for gently pushing me in the right direction and attempting to sort my previously rediculous nutrition strategy. It needs more work, but it was a massive improvement.

Thanks to the good folks at NA Sports for making me significantly poorer when I left Florida than I was when I arrived.

Thanks to the boys and girls of North Devon Tri who came out training with me and suffered at the hands of my monsterous speed (not very often) and my forked tongue (more often).

Thanks to Maria for my weekly massges and to Sue for my haircut (yep, it's all her fault).

Thanks to the 6-7000 volunteers who were out there cheering us on all the way round the course.

Thanks to all the folks back here who sat up until far too late in the night hoping to see me complete a jubilant finish only to see some miserable bastard crossing the line and promptly disappearing. Next year I promise to carry the flag over AND smile (honest!).

Thanks to the blog folks and Buckeye folks who came over to say Hi to the idiot with green hair rather than giving him a wide berth. I'll even thank Moonpie for verbally abusing me at around 12miles into the race, how I could have done with that 4 miles later when I was walking. He'd have even been able to keep up with me then.

I suppose I should also thank Shelly for putting up with all my crap over the last 12months. Saying that though, as she's making me go back again next year she deserves all the crap that she gets. Thanks. I think.

If you've got the hump with me now because I've forgotten you then I'm sorry but as it probably means you're going to know me quite well then you should obviously expect no less than to be forgotten. Suck it up and get on with your life!!!

Now. Who's up for some training? I need to start again soon, I've an Ironman to train for.

More Florida reports.

For those of you that like a read and would like a more humourous Florida Blog post I give you.....

TriFAThlete - thanks to RichieC for this little link :)

and

Michele's guest write up - thanks to Tim for this little link.

Here we go again!!!!

This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following:

Registration:
2009 Ford Ironman Florida
Purchase Date:
11/10/08
Team:
Iain David Hindes
Category:
On-Site Registrants
Event Date:
11/07/09
Name:
Iain Hindes

Nearly over :(

It's my last full day in the sun of PCB today before we head of back to the dark and cold of Deepest Devon.

There's always a good reason to hang around when this place gets quite though. Every year over the week following the Ironman a load of crazies roll into town with some sweeeeeet trick old motors.

I'm not big on what's what in the world of old American motors, but I love em. We went out for some food last night and the camera was in the car so I took some piccies of those that were around. Some of the pics are a bit duff because it was dark and Shelly thought I was a real saddo walking around carparks with my camera.

Oh yeah - 365 days from today, in EXACTLY 1 years time I'll be going through the whole Ironman Florida Experience again. Must be time to start training I guess!!




There was some big old bike rally out and about yesterday too.

Some lessons for me to learn in the next 12months

1 – Swim – FFS learn to sight bouys!!!!!!

2 – T1 – Over an Ironman it’s worth spending a bit of time Transition sorting things that will cost lots of time later. How long would it have taken for me to make sure my feet were free of sand before I put socks on? Walking later because my feet were red raw cost me much longer. How long would it have taken to apply some sunblock on my shoulders and legs? I’ve no idea if this would have saved me time, but it might have saved me the 4 days of pain I’ve had since.

3 – Bike – You can spend what you like on fancy gear and it won’t make up for strength. A new bike/aero helmet combo still led to my slowest ever Florida bike split (I still wanted a P3C though). Also learn how to ride how to ride hard on the bike (become a good cyclist). If needs be get your ass in the gym and strengthen those quads. There is no reason at all why I can’t go under 5hrs on that bike course. If I race a Sprint Tri I’m comfortably inside the top 5% on the bike, I can’t be happy with only making the top 20% of an Ironman bike. PS – How the hell do the Pros get all their calories into one bottle? None of their bikes were loaded up with half the bottles that mine was.

4 – T2 – Again, unless you’re at the front of the pack then time really isn’t of the essence. On a long day comfort could actually save you more time than speed. Take the sunblock offers and vas up, it’s worth it.

5 – Run – Practice running off those long bike rides all the time. 5k won’t do it either, running 5k is far to easy. Make sure those practice runs off the bike are at Ironman pace, it’s ok popping out and cruising 6-8miles at 6:30 pace but that’s no good if you’re only aiming to run 8:00pace.

Extras

Tim - When we last saw you 2009 was the furthest from my mind. It's great to have a supportive girlfriend but sometimes Shell is a bit to supportive and she likes her holidays in Florida. It's all her fault!!!! As for 60 more IM with 1min improvements!!!!! I'd rather have 1 more with an improvement like yours.

Rich - You've got a coach (roflmao). I hope that's just Kit you're talking about. The aero helmet was actually the least of my worries. We were off the bike before the temperature got too hot. It's only really there because it was on offer and cheaper than a normal helmet (it should also now have club colours (or hair colours) - picking it up later).
Maybe we'll pop in and let Rosie tear your garden up when we've picked her up from Wolves on the way home :-)

I'll try again

Ah heck, my will to write out a looooong race report has gone sine I managed to mess it all up yesterday, so here’s a brief summary instead. People who’ve known me for years will probably hear the drawn out version many many times and those that only known me from here will probably have read many far more interesting reports by now.

So. Onto the bike.
The plan was to ride at 125-130bpm.
For the first 50miles I felt lethargic and struggled to hit 120bpm.
At 30miles I decided I’d attempt to pee whilst on the bike.
At 70miles I gave up trying and stopped to pee off the bike.
Some bloke called Norbert was a dirty drafting cheat, there were many out there so it’s probably unfair to just name one but he was the one I kept passing when he was alone only to see him come back past again sucking a wheel.
At 80miles I suddenly started to feel strong so rode the last 30miles at 130bpm. This was the fastest part of the course anyway so that made it feel even better.
New Tri specific bike, new aero helmet = slowest Florida bike split ever. 2mins slower than in 2004, 12mins slower than in 2005. Both when I was riding my TREK 5200 road bike. Hmmmmmm!

The run
Mile 1 spent holding back while many people flew past. Even backing off it only took 7:02.
Miles 2,3, 4 and 5 much better paced. Walked through 2 feed stations and stopped for a pee. 5miles done in just under 40mins.
Mile 6 took over 10mins after stopping to get a stone from my shoe. Couldn’t get shoe back on due to cramps. Damn annoying.
Miles 7-12 was a struggle. Running at over 9:00 pace with HR in mid 130’s. Heat getting to me now and sand in shoes & socks off the beach means it feels as though I’m running on sandpaper. Walk most aid stations eating almost anything.
Mile 13 saw the mad Moonpie fella who ran alongside cheering me on. It was a most welcome distraction. Stopped to chat with Shell and get rid of my awful fuelbelt. Took shoe off again. Cramped again! Clock said 8:30:00 as I turned. Hoped that was the Elite time and it meant 8:20:00 for me.
Mile 14 was better.
Mile 15 the wheels fell off.
Mile 16-20 I just walked, walked and walked. I was burning up in the afternoon sun. My feet felt as though they were red raw and my stomach was in knots. Enough is enough. Received massive encouragement from many other athletes who should have been focusing on their own race.
Mile 20 – decision time!!!! I was on the last leg of the run and I was in danger of putting in my worst IM ever (except the DNF in 2005). I grabbed a couple of sponges from the aid station, sat down on a fence and removed my shoes and socks. I shook the sand from my shoes, shook out my socks and thoroughly washed my feet. At least if I had to walk I could feel a little more comfortable. Back on went the shoes and socks and I headed back towards home, running!
My feet felt better immediately, then after only half a mile I had to stop at the side of the road again. This time I had no control over anything as I proceeded to throw up most of the last hours food. Bad times? Nope, my stomach now felt fine again.
Miles 21 to the Finish Line – I ran and I ran well (9:26, 7:11, 7:03, 7:09, 7:09, 7:02). I skipped all the aid stations and simply put my head down. It was congested out there now with many people walking and jogging along the narrower sections and at time sit was quite tricky to make the small gaps as my pace was so different to everybody elses. Many people who’d given me encouragement when I was suffering gave me new shouts as I went past them in full flow. It had taken 134miles, but suddenly I felt real good.
The Finish Line came all to quickly in the end. I felt as though I’d another 4-5miles of good running in my legs, but after heading for my worst finish ever I ended up dipping under my pb in 10:55. I wasn’t happy and probably had the most miserable finish picture of the day though, but it was over. There would be NO MORE!!!!!

Five attempts at Ironman. 5 attempts at finishing between 9:30 & 10:00. 5 miserable failures to hit the targets. SURELY THERE WILL BE NO MORE!!!! SURELY I’VE LEARNT MY LESSON NOW!!!!

Ermmmmmm, I’ll guess I’ll be seeing you all at IMFl 2009 then. Oh Hell!!!

Jeez, if this is the short version. You’re all so lucky that I lost the long version.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

I've just spent 2 hours finishing off a race report that made the race seem short only to stupidly press the wrong button and lose the lot.

What an a-hole.

Now I'm really mad!!!!!!!!!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Post Mortem

Well, it all went wrong – again!!!
Once again I look as miserable as sin crossing the finish line.
Once again I have to suffer the barrage of sympathy, abuse and mickey taking that befits a 5 time Ironman screw up.
Damn I need to learn how to ride a bike!!!

So to the day itself.
By the time we woke up people would already have been milling about Transition, we’re lazy like that. I planned to get there around 6am which would give me 30mins to get my stuff sorted and get out of there. With special needs bags dropped off, run nutrition sorted, bike nutrition sorted I gave the bike a once over. The tyres were a bit soft so I joined the queue for the track pumps, Front tyre inflated fine to around 100psi, the back tyre though? Nothing was doing. We tried several times but nothing was putting air into the thing. I wandered off to find someone with a pokey stick type thing that I could shove down my valve extenders to free the valve up by kicking some air out. With transition about to close I found one and set about my valve only to discover that it seems the reason I could get no air in was because the valve has closed. Ah screw, I’d just have to ride with a back tyre that only has around 60psi in it. It’ll be fine, the roads are smooth, the pressure will rise as the temperature climbs, I could get a puncture but I could get one anyway. There was a last minute sprint across transition to my bike when I realised I’d still got my glasses on but other than that all was well.

The Swim.
My new wetsuit slipped effortlessly onto my body saving the 20mins of early morning struggle that I normally have and I made my way down the beach to join the hoards at the start line. There’s plenty of room at the front so I positioned myself slightly to the right and smack on the surf line. Soon the hooter went off we were away and I was getting the crap beaten out of me. Normally, being a half decent swimmer it doesn’t take me long to break free of the fists, fine some clear(ish) water and settle into my rhythm. Not today though! For most of the first lap I was constantly having my feet clawed at, crashing into people and getting kicked. People were of course getting the same treatment back, except for the kicking of course, my legs just drag behind me like some limp lettuce. We exited lap one in 27mins and then waded back out into the sea across a sandbank for what seemed like ages, it really worked the legs too. Lap2 I guess took around 28mins (I haven’t scruitinized the results yet), it would partly have been longer due to the dreadful wade out to sea and partly because on this lap I did find clear water which means of course that with my fantastic navigation skills I swam a little bit further than most people (even with my prescription goggles). I left the water, ran up the beach, through the shower, had my wetsuit stripped and on to T1 screaming my number in the hope that my bag would be ready for me to grab, it wasn’t, but it wasn’t long coming. There were still a lot of bags for the helpers to sort through after 55mins.

T1 was a little bit farcical, mostly because I was fannying around with my Garmin which I’d still got set on run mode (doh!). I tipped my bag out, switched my watch on, threw on my socks, shoes, helmet etc and ran out to where the helpers were having a little trouble getting my bike from the very tight racking. I was soon on my way though and I saw the race clock click to 1:00:00 just before I crossed the timing mat. Not quite as fast as I’d hoped, but that was mostly down to my messing about.

Bike next time!!!!!

;-p

Oh yeah, I got burnt too.

Race Report

I screwed it up AGAIN!!!!!

Race Day Eve

Well, as I type this there’s 24hrs until the big kick off and I’m feeling sh*te!!! Yesterday afternoon out of nowhere I developed a headache. I took a Nurofen and it disappeared, this morning, after my worst nights sleep of the holiday it’s back. I’ve taken another tablet so it’ll be gone soon but I’m not a headache sufferer so it’s damned annoying. I’m sure sitting in front of the computer isn’t helping but it’s killing a bit of time while it’s still dark out there. Yesterday morning I went out for my last pre-race run. It was 4 miles keeping my HR below 150bpm and I averaged 6:45’s. I finished the run at the group swim, pulled on MY wetsuit and went out for 15mins. After Wednesdays 2XU trial it felt awful! My shoulders felt restricted, my legs felt restricted (not that they do anything). I was still motoring along compared to others in there but it was so much more like hard work. I knew then that my big purchase for the year was on the way. After the swim we bummed around the Ironman Village, saw Bella and Torbjorn Sinballe (I nabbed the Thunderbears Gatorade after, now I’ll bike like him – NOT!) at the Elite interviews and pondered my wetsuit dilemma. I mooched around the 2XU and BlueSeventy trade stands comparing suits. The BlueSeventy for some reason ‘felt’ more supple and I couldn’t help wondering what it swam like compared to the 2XU. Both stands were busy but the woman I’d spoken to on the 2XU stand almost seemed to be avoiding me, there were so many athletes about that she probably wasn’t but in the time I was there I had 2 people from BlueSeventy speak to me and offer to either loan me a suit at todays swim or let me try one in the Endless Pool. You can’t really compare Pool to Sea but I didn’t want to leave a decision until the last second so I agreed to try the Endless Pool. 10mins of swimming later I was sold. I told the Endless Pool man (who actually remembered me from 2005) I swam around 1:20/100m pace so he set the pool at 1:12/100yard pace which is roughly the same. I jumped in and swam solid for around 10mins. There was no effort at all, it felt as though I was swimming a warm up at 6:00+ pace. I actually wanted the pace turning up as I kept crashing my fingers into the grill of the water jets but without stopping there was no way to ask and it wasn’t a training session, just a wetsuit test. Once I’d stopped I ditched the wettie and jumped back in with just my Trisuit on. The difference was apparent immediately, for the first time ever I was officially faster in a wetsuit that without one, there’s video too. A short section taken by Shelly which I’ll hopefully get on youtube later (I’ll link at the bottom of the page) and a proper underwater one off the Endless Pool boys ( I didn’t even notice the camera until near the end). We had some food and went back to our apartment to ponder the wetsuit dilemma. A bit of internet browsing showed that amazingly a wetsuit seems to be the one thing that costs less in the UK than in America (typical!!!) so now I was even going to have to pay over the odds if I wanted one. A couple of texts went off to club coach/equipment geek Toasty and he recommended the more expensive BlueSeventy over the 2XU. Could I justify the expense?????? After many hours (actually days) pondering I decided that ‘if’ I swim to my potential I’ll not only get out of the water up to 5mins quicker in either suit but I’ll also get out feeling much much fresher. That’s as much time if not more than I’d expect to gain if I spend 3 times the amount on a Disc wheel so therefore it’s worth it. Once I’ve finished writing this I’ll be off for my first ever swim in my brand new shiny BlueSeventy Helix Wetsuit. My bank balance has taken a kicking, but hopefully but 8am (7:55 hopefully) Saturday morning it’ll have been worth it. Last night was the Pasta Party with all the normal pomp and ceremony, oldest and youngest competitors, some loon who’s done over 100 Ironman races ( how the hell does he afford it) and somebody that’s lost over 9stone (127lbs) on the way here – Wow!! Today is my wetsuit debut, the Ironman breakfast, last bike tweaks and maybe a 30min spin, then chill chill chill chill chill followed hopefully by a better nights sleep. Next post will probably be post race. Good Luck to anybody who’s racing here tomorrow, I hope you all have a great race but finish behind me. Good Luck to the folks back home, especially those going out in the now Arctic Exmoor weather to race the Exmoor Beast on Sunday. Here’s hoping that the sun shines for you all.
See Ya.

It's a picture-fest.

The view from where we are.

Having a (very) painful massage - a good one though.

Manchesters Hilton Hotel has the biggest beds in the world!!

Escaping the Regisration tent brawl.

Shelly made me a sign - everybody say Ahhhhh.

Bella at the Pro meeting - we like Bella ;-)

Yesterday we went out to see the dolphins

With this I can get in (almost) anywhere.

IM has opened.

Well if the short training is anything to go by then things are looking good. Yesterday I went out for an 11mile cruise on the bike then jumped off, pulled on my trainers and went for a 3mile run in my cycle gear. I didn't really look at my Garmin until I finished but it turned out I ran the 3 miles averageing 6:22 min/mile pace. Now I know I'm going to be nowhere near that on Saturday but with how easy the pace felt it makes you feel good to realise that on race day I can run 90secs a mile slower and still be well on target.
Today I popped down to the beach to join the hoards for a swim. There was a 2XU stand there and after chatting with the staff there for a while about how I strangly swim slower in a wetsuit than without one I tried out their Elite suit. I've been swimming long enough to know that sometimes you just get in the water and feel great and other days you get in the water and feel rotten, today was either a great day or the wetsuit really seemed to work because I felt as if I was flying. There's no real way of knowing of course because nobody was there with a stopwatch but one thing is for certain, there was nobody in the gulf that was anywhere near my speed this morning and that felt goooooood!!!
Off to register now and spend my dollars in the Ironman Village. The race is easy, it's avoiding the spending that's hard.

Hello from Panama City Beach.

Well we’re here :-) and after all the panic about transporting the bike things have all turned out pretty well.

After packing, repacking and repacking again we weighed my bike box and it was over weight so everything came out except for the bike, wheels and saddle. Tools, tyres, tubes, bottles, gels etc etc etc all got bagged up and put in with the other luggage – such a dreadful waste of space really.
The original plan was to only take the bike box and two other bags but we soon realised that the new weight regulations meant that suitcases became overweight a long time before they became full so an extra bag was called for.

On Saturday morning we headed up to Wolves to see the family and drop Rosie off at my parents for the week. No doubt she’ll be even more spoilt when she leaves there than she is already. After visiting a few folks and getting more than my fair share of quizzical glances and comments about the now fading haircut we headed out to Manchester Airport for our overnight stay at the Hilton Hotel. More strange looks followed as the Hilton is far to posh (and expensive) for us and a bloke with freaky hair is secretly probably less than welcome in their restaurant, about as welcome infact as their bill was in my bank account. Still it was very nice as a one off experience and their gym machines came in handy for me to knock out a swift 45min bike/15min run brick session.

Sunday morning came and we made sure we got to Check-In with plenty of time to spare for any of the expected problems…….. What can I say other than it was fine. After reading horror stories about flying Delta and reading totally separate horror stories about flying from Manchester Airport the whole experience was great. The woman at Check-In was very friendly which immediately made us feel a whole lot better about the situation. The bags were weighed and even with just bike and wheels my case was 22.8kg, just 0.2kg below the new limit. The girl on the oversize/squishy bag gate was also very friendly, we even started having a laugh and a joke when I appeared at her gate for the 3rd time. After getting the bags away there was a long old queue to get through passport control and into the Departure Areas which had plenty of people around us grumbling but we had plenty of time to kill so that wasn’t even a problem.

There’s no way really to describe the 9hr+ flight from Manchester to Atlanta other than it’s loooooong. 1st time we went it was a novelty and we were on a nice new 777 where you had your own personal TV’s and plenty of channels to choose from, 2nd time we had the terrible twins screaming and a wailing to keep us ‘amused’. This time though it was just long, the films weren’t much good and with it being a daytime flight there was no way I’d just be able to sleep through it.

Once at Atlanta we ONLY had to wait 4hrs for our connecting flight. By the time you’ve cleared customs and baggage that’s down to 3hrs though and the Airline changing your flight to a totally different Terminal also helps to kill a bit of time. There’s no escaping it though you can tell you’re in America almost instantly because there are some HUGE folks here. We’d hardly got off the plane before we saw the first man mountain walking towards us. I genuinely looked at some people strolling through the airport and wondered how they would fit in their planes seats. It’s really got to be seen to be believed.

Flying from Atlanta to PCB was short and sweet. 250miles, 45mins and one time zone which meant that we actually landed before we took off ;-) and finally 20hrs after checking in at Manchester Airport we were at Panama City Airport along with ALL of our luggage and our MEDIUM sized car which like everything else here is HUGE. Looking like a LandRover Freelander on steroids with a hulking great V6 engine, Leather, Climate Control etc etc etc the steering wheel on the wrong side and no clutch pedal (damn automatics). Americans must get a real shock when they come to the UK and a medium car is a Ford Focus diesel. A quick trip to the never shutting Walmart to get milk, bread and other necessary goodies before hitting the apartment to empty the bags, find out what was broken and ‘finally’ sleep.

Damage Report – On one of our suitcases a solid plastic sheet that form the sides of the case has been totally destroyed leaving small bits of plastic over the contents and the bigger broken pieces just lying about inside the fabric. My bike box has taken a beating (as always). One of the 4 clasps that fasten the sides has broken off, one of the wheels has been smacked so hard that it’s totally seized up and it’s generally scuffed to bits. It’s done its job though and the bike is still in one piece, so that makes all the hassle and worry about whether it would get on the plane worth it. Looking at the beating the box has taken I’m not sure a bike bag would have offered the same protection and as for packing it in cardboard as Delta recommend – nooooo thanks.

This morning I went for a walk on the beach with Shelly before taking the bike out for a spin. It’s damn windy here today, far windier than it was in 2004 when people were panicking about the swim, the sea has a good chop on it but it’s more like a flat day at Croyde than a tough day at Perranporth. I was getting blown all over the place on the bike ride though and even took a small off road excursion at one point which could have been very embarrassing but I held the bike upright and made it back onto the road without any problems. Tuesday and Wednesday are both forecast to be on the ‘blustery’ side of things. If it stays this way until the weekend it’ll make for an interesting race that will suit the strong riders – that’s me stuffed then.

At the daily trip to Walmart this afternoon we played ‘Spot the Triathlete’, it’s not really that hard a game to play, there were plenty of Oakleys, tanned and toned bodies and shaved legs wandering about, there’s none of that with me though of course :-).

Until next time. From a sunny but rather windy PCB.

Seeeeeee ya.

Ready to Fly

Well the bags have been packed, unpacked, packed, unpacked, packed, unpacked etc etc etc. Jeez these 23kg weight limits are a pain, your bag's hardly full but it's overweight.

It's been a really slack week (again) with only 2 days of training, a 7.3mile run on Tuesday with increasing pace throughout and then yesterday which consisted of a poor 4mile run in the morning, a solid 7mile run early evening and then a 3.2k beast of an evening swim session which faded the hell out of my hair (there's more dye to be used though :-) ). The next two days will be full of nothing but travelling so my next session won't be until Monday when hopefully I'll get a few bike miles in.

I've woken up this morning with a sniffle which is a bit concerning as everybody in this end of the world has been full of the lurgie lately, but hopefully it's just a result of last nights swim session. I do tend to get a 'swimming cold' after a hard session.

Now I just want to get there. I'll be much happier (and more tired) at 10pm on Sunday night (PCB time). We've failed miserably to find a sensible solution to the bike transport problem so we're just going to have to wing it and hope that the airport folks are either having a smily day or can 'help' with a sensible solution. I can't believe that it won't be a problem that they've had many times before, fingers crossed.

That'll do for now I guess. Next update from PCB.

Discrete as ever!!!

Ironman haircut is here....

Suddenly there's panic

Gone it seems are the day when you rock up at the airport with your bike box and put it in the oversize baggage section without a problem. This was the situation when I flew over to PCB in '04 and '05. So long as it didn't weigh over 35kg all was fine.

Things have changed though!!!!!!!!!!

Knowing that we checked the Delta Airlines website for the new weight limits once my bike box was packed. No baggage over 23kg it said. That's fine, leave my wetsuit out and a few tee-shirts, I'm well under the weight limit.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Add up the length, width and height of your bags. Anything below 62inches is fine, between 63 - 80inches is subject to a freaking $150 fee. ANYTHING OVER 80INCHES IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!! Holy Crap - My bike box measures 88inches (90 if you look at their website).

Plans B, C & D are all being kicked into action. Plans E, F & G are whizzing around my head and if I get to Plan H I'm in deep in the poo.

Fingers crossed that there is a sensible solution forthcoming SOON!!!

Bike's Packed

Probably my last 2 bike rides this weekend before I fly next week 40miles yesterday, 33miles today. Todays ride followed a 4k swim TT in 57:47. IM swim distance came around in 54:54. Why do I seem to be the only person in the world who's slower with a wetsuit than without? Still, I should be ok for a comfy 60mins come race day.

A week from now we'll be here

Calling number 811

That'll be me in 2 weeks time when at this exact time I'll hopefully be all done and dusted, finishers medal in hand and cheering on the other finishers at Ironman Florida.

The first week of tapering has been a nightmare really but hopefully as it's only 3 weeks out my body won't notice too much that I actually only did one training run (which was awful) in the 5 days from Sunday to Thursday. That was followed by a solid 7mile run, a 4k TT swim and a steady 6mile run on Friday and a very comfortable 40mile bike ride today.

With only one week of work left I'm feeling totally chilled about the race. The fact that I know I've done nowhere near enough training to really race to my potential has taken a lot of pressure off and life is just continuing like normal. Far from living the life that most people lead pre-Ironman I'm just as normal. If I want a drink I'll have a drink (there's a glass of wine in front of me as I type), if I want to eat junk I'll eat junk. There has been chocolate, take aways, biscuits, crisps etc etc etc and in truth it's not going to stop.

If you look at it logically then there's nothing to worry about when Ironman time comes around, it's just a long hard training day. In truth there are only a few hardened athletes at the front who are 'racing', if anybody else races it's just going to lead to a shortened race and a trip to the med tent.

Much scarier than any Ironman race is when you go rooting about and find pictures of yourself racing 6 years ago.

It makes you realise how much you've 'filled out' in your old age. Ok so I'm actually quicker now than I was then, but that was because I couldn't ride a bike to save my life, but jeez could I run. Gone are the days when that skinny little frame goes blasting around a triathlon run course at sub 6min/mile pace, luckily I get onto that run course a lot quicker than I used to. Now if I could combine the run of then with the bike of now I'd be a half decent triathlete (only half decent mind).

Two weeks to go. If I have time there will be a quick update on Wednesday evening when the Florida haircut will be revealed. Be afraid, be very afraid ;-)

Last long bike.

In 2 weeks time I'll have jetted over the Atlantic to PCB. 3 weeks from now it'll all be over and I'll be wondering whether it's been worth all the hassle. One thing's for sure, I won't ache much more than I do now.

Saturday was my big Ironman training/viewing brick session and it's wiped me out!! (course below)

First up was the training. The weather forecast was good and there was no great rush to leave the house so I chilled and prepped my bike for most of the morning before heading out for what was only my 2nd century ride this year. I needed to make it a good one and wanted to make it a harder, longer ride than Florida will be. There was only one thing for it, Exmoor here I come!! I planned to hit the hills early and give myself the option of wimping out with some flat stuff towards the end and that was exactly what I did. 3hrs later and I'd only covered 49miles (16mph) but I had climbed most of the rides 7,300ft of ascent.

The following 53miles took 2h50m (18.7mph) which I was happy with, especially as my back was killing me after all the climbing and because I blew a gasket at 90miles and pretty much bimbled home. A fresh and tapered pair of legs on a nice flat course will hopefully see me faring a whole lot better.

There was the tinyest thought in my head that maybe, just maybe I'd pop out for a short run when I got home, but as the return home coincided almost exactly with the starting cannon at IM Hawaii the run was immediatly out of the question. Leg 2 of the brick was about to begin...... almost 10hrs of Ironman Hawaii coverage.

As always Hawaii was great, it's just such a pity that the time difference means that it starts at 5:45pm and every year and I don't get to see my bed until almost 4am. Still at least next year I know the race will be at a sensible time for me and I'll have all my family and friends staying up until the early hours watching out for me (ok, I know!!!!!! Don't ruin it, I've only another 3 weeks to dream). Chrissie was awesome yet again and I think her appearence on the scene will be great for both genders. The women now have to raise their game considerably to get anywhere near her and I can see the men lifting their performances equally in fear that she'll start beating them. Take off the 10mins she spent at roadside with her puncture and she'd have finished in the top 25 overall, that's just scary. Enough for now.

Train hard folks.

It's nearly taper time - should I train first?

Race Day is getting ever closer and the nagging doubts are already there.

Why have I been so lazy at times?
Why haven’t I got more long stuff in?
Why is my nutrition not nailed down yet?
How the hell am I going to get through this race in a decent time?

So many more questions but it already feels as though it’s too little to late.

Since the last post I’ve got some decent running done (14.5, 13.5 & 10.5miles) and a solid swim (4k TT), my bike is still the weakness though and the thought of going out for 5-6hrs is still a thought that fills me with dread. The amount of times I’ve planned a century+ bike ride and wimped out far exceeds the amount I’ve done. This weekend is planned to be my final long bike ride and I really need to try for 100+ miles just to ease my mind. I feel that when it comes to the crunch I know the swim won’t be a problem, I know I can knock the run out fairly comfortably, but that damn bike…………… 112miles is so far and to get round the distance and still have my running legs attached is my biggest downfall and the cause of all my failures so far. Maybe if it’s playing on my mind come race day I’ll actually err on the side of caution where the bike is concerned and take it even easier than I need to.

I’ve been having a weekly massage, which may or may not be working but there are no injury worries at the moment so I’ll take that as a good thing. My lovely pain mistress Maria seems constantly amused at the state of my legs though. I think she secretly wonders how someone with so many knots and so much lactic build up can actually move their legs up and down. Thankfully though she doesn’t nag me to stretch, she doesn’t nag me to warm up and down and she doesn’t even nag me to shave my legs.

This weekend will hopefully be a century bike ride on Saturday followed by an evening (and early morning) watching Hawaii on the internet. If I get my backside out of bed early enough on Sunday morning then I’ll jump in the car and head off to Wadebridge for the last local Triathlon of the season. It’ll be good to give the muscles a good blast out after what seems like months and months of plodding along at Ironman pace. I might even sneak a bit of extra training in pre-race as there’s bound to be a big wait between registration and my swim start.

One little tiny month

Today is the 1st of October and one month from now it will be race day!!! Holy Cow where has the time gone? It only seems like yesterday that I was frantically emailing NAS trying to get an International Entry because the race had filled quicker up than I could type. Now I'm getting to the point where I start thinking "Why haven't I trained harder?", "Why have I allowed myself to be so lazy and have so many days off?", "Is that just a tired muscle or an inury appearing?", "Can I finally justify myself by doing a decent Ironman?" along with all the other questions that pop into your head as the race draws closer.

I the coming month however there is still the possibility I might get a couple of races in. This Saturday is the Bude Quadrathlon (Swim/Bike/Kayak/Run) which I did last year. Nobody there is going to have to suffer the sight of me in a kayak again but depending on how things pan out I may well head down there to have a play as part of a relay either doing 2 or all of the other 3 disciplines.

The following Sunday is the Wadebridge Sprint Tri, the last local event of the year. It's one of those races that you always hate when you're there because there is so much hanging around, but it's the last chance saloon if you want to pit your wits against the locals and your clubmates. I've a plan this year 'if' I go, I'll take 2 bikes so that while one bike is stuck in T1 while I'm waiting 3hrs for my start time to come along I can go out on the other one and get some training in. We'll see!!! The biggest downer for this race is that it's the day after Hawaii and last year I only had around 3hrs sleep because I'd been watching the live feed all night/morning.

Well it looks as though Summer has finally left us. We've had out 2 weeks of decent weather and now we're back to howling gales and driving rain. Ah shucks :(
The Countdown in ON!!!

An odd week

This week has been strange, very strange. After the weeks training holiday where I did 30hrs in 10 days I seemed to lose the plot. It started on Saturday night when on a whim I spent a bundle of money buying bike kit off the internet and then even more randomly put my car up for sale. Then I just lost the plot and really just couldn't be bothered to do anything. I was working some long hours but no longer than normal and training totally went out of the window. I've never had the typical personality of a (reasonably) quick Triathlete. The people I duke it out with when I race are focused and dedicated to their training where I'm the total opposite. I'm hugely lucky to be blessed with a certain amount of natural speed because it certainly hasn't come through any dedicated training regime. That probably explains my previous IM performances because I can blag a Sprint/Olympic race without putting massive amounts of time and energy into it. The long stuff takes a bit more though and I get found out. I'm far more likely to train if somebody is there to drag my ass out of the door, if they're faster than me then great, if they're slower than me so what.

Anyway, enough of that old tosh. Back to the training, or lack of it. Basically I did nothing, zip, stuff all from Monday to Thursday which no doubt wiped out all the good work I'd done the previous week. By Friday I was in desperate need of something. Don't get me wrong, I don't go stir crazy like some folks if I don't train but I want/need to finally nail this IM so something HAD to be done. My new purchases had appeared so I put some cleats on my new bike shoes, stuck on my cone-head helmet and headed out of the door for the local 20mile Muddiford loop. I worked fairly hard, got stuck at a few lights and behind a few cars but it was all good. The new shoes felt great, the helmet was ok and other than a few cramp twinges I was happy.

Saturday was another disaster for the new bike. I took the ZIPP's off on Friday and put the standard wheels on to see if I could get rid of the damn noise, it seemed to work so I kept them on for Saturdays ride - big mistake!

The plan was between 5-6hrs or around 100miles. I cycled out to meet a friend and when I got there I noticed my back crake was catching -odd! A bit of tweaking and all was well so we were on our way. My ride partner was with me for 20miles and then I was on my own, things seemed fine and away I went. About 10miles later I looked at my Garmin and it said 17mph. That seemed odd as I was on a flat section of road, down on my Tri Bars I should have been comfortably sitting at 20+mph, maybe my brakes were catching again. I stopped to check and they were, but this time no amount of adjustment seemed to help. I span my wheel and it looked as though I'd been bouncing it over kerbstones, then I noticed that I had several loose spokes - brilliant! For want of a better word the wheel was shafted. I called my bike shop "Pop it in" they said "it's a new wheel, sometimes the spokes will need tightening", "But I'm 20miles away", "That's ok, it'll be fine".

I turned around and headed back on what was now beginning to feel like a clowns bike, my back wheel wobbling all over the place. It literally hung on until the very last minute and then 20meters from the shop it popped a spoke. The wheel is now fixed which is testament to the strength of the rim as it didn't collapse totally, but the ride was over and I hadn't the mental strength to get out there again.

Sunday was another bike ride, this time 75miles without any major trauma except for a puncture at 25miles which took me 30mins to change. I'm not great at the tyre changing stuff and will be praying for a flat free day on 1st November.

Monday was a nice steady 16mile run at sub 140bpm. There's probably just time for one or two more long runs before race day which is a blessing as 2hrs is a long time to be pounding away on your legs, especially after 3 bike rides in 3 days.

So basically the deal is that in the last 2 weeks I've trained like an arse. 30hours in 10 days followed by 4 days of total inactivity which has now been followed by another burst where I've done 12h30m in 4 days. Whatever will happen next?

Back to work and losing my mind :(

Ah Hell it's a strange old time in this little tiny backwater of the world. Nothing seems to be going as planned or expected, including some of the random decisions that I've been making.
THE BIKE - Is still creaking, groaning and driving me mad. I rode Thursday (55miles) and Friday (43miles) on my TREK in glorious silence, sort of. The TREK has got its own little noises but I discovered that because I know exactly what they are and where they're coming from they don't annoy me half as much. On Friday afternoon I collected the QR from the LBS who's made several tweaks and adjustments to the bike in a bit to quieten it down, but when I rode it on Sunday it was just as noisy as ever and then suddenly the noises stopped........... for 10mins. So now I've got this noise, rattle, creak or whatever it is. Not only does it have the secret ability to totally annoy me (many people would pay good money to have that secret) but it seems totally unrelated to anything else. It sounds for all the world as though it's coming from the drivetrain but if so, why would it suddenly go quiet? I think I may take it for a ride later and strap a voice recorder to the frame so that my LBS can hear it at its worst.
SATURDAY - was a real random day. I'd planned to get up early and train, but I couldn't be bothered so I took David (my nephew) swimming on his last day down here. Between us we both put in a good solid session mine being 200m w-up, 30x100m on 1:45, 100m w-dn. After that we had cheesy chips and headed home. The rest of the day just disappeared into a bundle of blurr until the evening when everything got a bit random. Maybe I drank too much wine?
I've been looking at new bike stuff for Florida. Loads of my gear is 4-5+ years old and getting a bit ragged around the edges. My cycle shoes are 5 yeears old and give me foot pain when I get around 80miles (they have in both previous IMFl's) which I've decided is because they're actually too small for me and when my feet get hot they swell and cause pressure points. My cycle helmets are also well past their prime and around 5 years old. I've been having the aero/non-aero debate for ages but the common concensus is that aero helmets make you look like a dick, they're less cooling and my massive head means that there are very few I can actually get to fit, so a standard race style helmet is the way to go.
Soooooo all that being said I went and ordered an aero helmet on Saturday night!!! This purchase was combined with a pair of cycle shoes which I've no experience of or even tried on, a bottle belt and a new pair of much needed tyres for my ZIPPs (they're 4years old too). So I've ordered a helmet which will make me look like a cone-head and ordered a pair of shoes that 'I hope' will fit and be comfortable. Crazy, Mad, Stupid, Foolish or all of them?
The purchases were followed by an even more stupid sale.
In a moment of complete madness I put my old TVR up for sale online after 12 years of ownership. My email has gone mad, it was obviously too cheap and it looks as though it'll be gone by the weekend. Damn I'm going to miss the old girl.

I'm obviously losing my marbles. Aero helmets, untried shoes, car sales!!! Maybe a week of that rattling QR has really scrambled my brain!

Big week update.

Well this is how things have gone and the hours have notched up since I finished work on Friday afternoon.

Friday - 1h15m Burrows/Beach run (10miles), 1hr squad swim
Saturday - 3h30m bike (65miles), 20min run (5k)
Sunday - NDTC In-Club Triathlon (I kicked ass), 1hr bike (20miles). Party time.
Monday - 3hr bike (56miles)
Tuesday - 4hr bike (73miles), 1hr run (9miles)
Wednesday - 2h10m bike (38miles), 1hr massage.

Today has been the only real disappointment as there was a 6hr bike planned but my bike has developed some rediculous creaky groany type noises and riding it this morning was driving me mad so it went back into the bike shop in the hope that they can find the problem area and sort it. As you'd expect after over 12hrs cycling in the last 5 days my legs are feeling a little the worse for wear and there were no thoughts about just swopping bikes and hitting the road again, just the thought of an afternoons rest. It's back to it tomorrow though with a 3hr bike and a 45min run lined up.

The big dilemma now regarding the run up to IM Florida is my hair!

In 2004 I decided to have a silly haircut for the race, it looked like this....
















In 2005 I returned with it looking like this....
















So the dilemma is what to have this year.

I'd like to have a resemblance of the Devon Flag which is mostly Green and White, but as I'll have to get it done almost 10 days before the race it has to be done with permanent dye and Green is a colour we're struggling to find. I've only really got a month to sort something out and it's a source of real head scatching.

It's got to be done now, it's tradition. What will it be though? Any ideas?

Big week.

It doesn't seem long ago that I was writing down "100 days to go!", it's less than half that now, we're down to 48 (gulp).
This week is going to be a bit manic. Mom, Dad and David are down for the week and I'm off work looking to smack some big training hours in a desperate attempt to get fit enough to do Florida justice.
I had a couple of days off on Wednesday and Thursday to recover from the Marathon and subsequent runs, I was back to it on Friday though.
Straight from work I popped home to collect Rosie then disappeared over the Burrows with her for a 10mile run. That was followed by a squad swim session where I tried to get back some form by concentrating on stretching myself out on the glide section of my stroke. In the session was a 800m TT which I did in 11mins flat, not my fastest time but I cruised the first 400m concentrating on technique and negative split the swim by around 5secs.
Today was the start proper of BIG training as I hit a good solid brick session. First up was a 65mile bike ride which was followed by a 5k run with the pup. It was my first time in the saddle for 2 weeks but it felt like I'd been away for 2 months and the average speed of only 18.6mph was no suprise but still disappointing.
Straight off the bike and still in my cycle gear I grabbed the pup and headed out for a short sharp 5k run which I kicked out in 19:30. Happy with the pace, but I couldn't have run a lot further like it.

That'll do for a start, I've a Triathlon tomorrow followed by a bike ride. Should be quite interesting :-)

Wolverhampton Marathon

Well that's that done and dusted. After and odd awkward start it all seemed to work out quite well.

We were all up nice and early, we did all the normal stuff and then out 'posse' headed off to West Park for 8:30am (before the roads closed). The Park was already filling up with runners and under foot it was already suffering from consistant downpours during this wonderful British Summer.

I found the registration marquee, popped in, paid my money and collected my number. Then is was just a case of mulling around until the start while trying to avoid any showers that came our way.

The race start in truth seemed to be a bit of a farce (or that could have just been me). I joined the hoards a fair way back from the front because I'd no wish to get dragged along by any quick boys. We all started moving forwards, then we started walking and then we started jogging. I didn’t hear any signal for the start but maybe I was simply to far back to hear anything. Once I realised we were officially on the move I started my Garmin without actually knowing whether we’d crossed the start line or not.

The first mile was really slow as we wound our way around West Park and I wound my way around some of the folks I’d started with. Finally we worked our way out onto the road where there was a little more space to pass people. The next few miles were a touch quicker and after 4miles I was back on my planned 7:30min/mile pace while keeping my HR below 140bpm. I carried on and soon found myself at a point where the majority of people were running around the same pace. We’d still pass a few and get passed by a few but I was able to take pace off a couple of people running the half.

6miles came around in 44:39 and I decided I felt brave enough to up my pace a little. One of the aims of the day was to see how I felt at various efforts in a bit to judge my Ironman pace come November. 140bpm felt almost pedestrian so it was time to up it a notch. The jump to 145bpm felt negligible and if it hadn’t been showing on the Garmin I wouldn’t have noticed. What I did notice however was that I was now overtaking people again and my now familiar faces had disappeared. I even started catching a few people that had gone past me earlier. I decided that 6miles was a nice place to change pace and vowed to stay around 145bpm until 12miles.

12miles came at 1:28:04, which was 43:25 for the 6mile stretch. I was glad to see it was quicker than my first 6miles. By now I’d worked out that I’d started the Garmin around 0.15miles before the Start line as it was regularly hitting the mile figures before the race signs. I picked my HR up to 150bpm and headed around the park to start the 2nd lap. Suddenly the crowds of runners disappeared and I was on my own. I now felt as though I was running for the first time, 145bpm had felt like a jog, 150bpm didn’t. A quick stop to tell Shell I was comfortable, a high 5 for the nephews and I was away.

The pace had risen again, there were targets ahead that needed chasing down and I was away after them. One by one people would appear in front, I’d catch them up and then run away from them. Then suddenly from nowhere at around 17.5miles I developed a tightening in my stomach and I felt the need to throw up. I stopped quickly, keeled over retching only to find that it was nothing but gas. The sound must have resembled the biggest belch in history.

Panic over and I was soon back running and running with a new found gusto. With my pace still increasing and 18miles covered in 2:10:15 (42:11 for 6miles) I felt confident enough to raise my HR by 10beats to 160bpm. I knew this was much higher than planned, but the idea had been to run tired after a big bike ride and that hadn’t happened so what the hell.

A couple of miles into my latest stint I hit Codsall Village and knew I was on my way home. I know the road from there very well and with one of my targets proving very difficult to catch I decided that I’d ignore the HR for the last 6miles, I’d just dig in and put the hammer down hoping that I didn’t blow up.

It’s an amazing feeling getting 24miles into a Marathon (2:50:38 & 6miles in 40:23) and running past people as if they’re standing still, lets hope that I have the same experience on 1st November.

I spent the last mile chasing down the 2nd placed woman but just as I caught her I came across the family support crew. My nephew David himself fresh from a top 10 finish in the childrens 2k race wanted to run with me to the finish line. Unsure of his likely pace I eased off and told him we’d follow the above mentioned 2nd place woman in. There seemed little point us racing past her if he was going to tire and get in her way as she came in for the glory.

We jogged into the finish and crossed the line together for a finishing time of 3:08:21. Far from my best time, but easily my best paced Marathon ‘performance’. Objective achieved.

I even managed to follow it up with a 7mile run on Monday and an 8mile run on Tuesday – bonus.

Week off work next week – TO TRAIN!!! – I’ve just seen my schedule – HOLY COW!!!

Quick weekend update.

Well, just for a change the weather here resembles that of a rain forest more than a UK summer and in all honesty the chances of me getting my head together and riding 80miles from Bristol to Wolves are slim. I saw a couple of folks out cycling while I was working yesterday and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell they were doing out there. It can't be safe when most of the time there is so much water in the gutters that the roads are all a couple off feet narrower than they should be. I think at best I might get an hour in once we're in Wolves or at the outside I might steal the Sis's turbo for an hours spin late this afternoon.
Now I just need to decide whether this is going to affect my Marathon pace tomorrow. Do I go ahead with plan A and jog round below 140bpm, do I go with plan B and start between 130 -140bpm and then allow my HR a bit of flexibility as the race progress's and the pace slows, or do I think 'screw it' and try for a sub 3 (probably blowing up again in the process).

Arrrrgh decisions, decisions. The scary thing is that once again I've decided to take a recorder with me and I've already offered the files out. Looks like another warts and all Marathon attempt.

In 24hrs time I'll know.

Laters all

So near, yet so far.

Well I 'nearly' cracked the 50hr barrier this month and but for a bit of bad luck and my laziness the milestone would have been and gone. As it happens though I fell a bit short totalling 48h30m (5h swim, 26h bike, 17.5h run). I've also managed to hit double figues for 2 weeks on the bounce totals which could have been so much higher if I hadn't had a massive 9 lazy/rest days.
The bad luck/lazy bug hit today on the final doy of the month. Needing 2h05m to reach the magical 50 hr month I had a local 32mile TT lined up. That and a bit of a warm up/down would have given me 1h45m which was to be followed by a 20-25min run to make a solid brick session. Easy!!!!
At least it would have been easy if I hadn't got 12miles into the ride and felt an odd shudder. I looked down at my back wheel but it seemed fine so I carried on. A left turn followed and I took it real easy to be sure, all seemed fine until I stood up to work out of the corner and things went wobbly again. I stopped to check and could hear the air slowly escaping from my tyre. Race over!!! 95% of my rides I take spares, today I forgot and get my first ever puncture in my ZIPPs after 4 years. Ah well.
I managed to grab a lift back to my car with a marshall (thanks Phil) but by the time I was back there it was raining and I was cold. Once home I removed the thorn from my tyre and fixed the flat, I suspect new tyres will be another pre-Ironman purchase as they've seen their best days. Since then though the normal rainy weather (sun's shining as I write this) and my laziness took over and that was it for the day. A waste of a Sunday really.
This week I guess I'll stick to mostly short sharp stuff until the weekend where I've got an 80mile IM pace bike ride lined up for Saturday and Wolverhampton (IM paced) Marathon on Sunday.
The bike ride will hopefully be ridden at 120-125bpm, it's fairly flat until the last 10miles when there's more climbing than I'd like but it'll be a good chance to practice getting aero on the new bike for long periods, it'll be interesting to see how my back copes.
The aim for the Marathon is to hold 140-145bpm and take a gel every 20mins. I guess performance will greatly depend on how good/bad my legs feel after the bike ride and also how much hard stuff I do during the week. Hopefully though I'll be pushing for a sub 3:30 finish. All of my long training runs have been sub 8min/mile pace no matter how tired I've felt, my last Marathon was a total disaster though so I won't be underestimating the distance this time.

Well, that's if for August. September is upon us and it's the final 2 month run up. Now I guess is the time where I suck up and train if I've any chance at all of nailing this damn race once and for all. Will I manage to stave off my lazy genes for the next 6 weeks in order to put in a perfomance deserving of the race or will my lack of testosterone/ego/drive come back to haunt me? Soon it'll all be revealed.

PS - Chrissie kicked ass again today at Almere, that's 6 Long Distance wins out of 6. Has anybody else got a Hope in Hell on October 11th at Hawaii?

It's not fast - yet!!!

Well the new bike has landed and unfortunately, as is normally the case, it hasn't quite been the revelation that you want/expect. It has however had me out of the door training far more than I expect that I would have been without it.
The week started awkwardly as things at work have had to change for a while. I had to work an odd split shift on Monday but managed to get a 7mile run in (@ 6:32 pace) during my 4hr 'rest'. I was happy with the start to the week, but it soon became obvious that Tuesday was going to be a write off where any training was concerned.
Wednesday on the other hand I had all the time in the world, but as seems to be the case here it was pouring down ALL DAY. It was also the day I'd arranged to pick the new bike up and drop my old bike off for a service. This was the first time that the extra training effect took hold, normally the constant downpour would have had me sat in front of the TV watching the Olympics but there was a tiny break in the weather and I was out of the door pedalling.
When I say 'tiny' break that's exactly what I mean, I was soon doing my best impression of a drowned rat as I pedalled my new pride and joy through a monsoon.
Thursday was another loooong day at work which killed any thoughts of training but by Friday lunchtime I was finished for the week and hitting the local 'Tark Trail' for a 16mile run. The plan was simple, keep the HR below 140bpm and the rest will take care of itself. It started well enough but I knew there was the chance of nutrition problems as I was running straight from work and had no food/drink/gels there. It's nothing new for me to run 2hrs or so without any nutrition so I wasn't worried but trying to run at a given HR made it interesting. At 11miles I diverted past home to pick Rosie (the dog) up for the last 5 miles. I took on a gel as there was one lying about and headed out again with my new partner. Here's (I guess) is where the lack of nutrition told its story. From 11miles on my Garmin was constantly bleeping at me as I simply couldn't keep it below 140bpm without dropping to little more than a jog. I got to 15miles and lost the plot so I ignored the watch and put the hammer down a little. 6:11 for my last full mile and 7:23 pace for a 'mostly' HR controlled 2hrs of running, I had no complaints. After that was a squad swim session where somehow I managed to avoid cramping up, even during the 400m breaststroke kick set.
The Bank Holiday Weekend has been a bit of a (new) bikefest really. Saturday morning I got all depressed when I did a local 20mile lumpy TT course and took over 1hr when I've done 53mins in the past on my TREK. There were slipping gear issues on the QR and I just didn't feel that I could hold the Tri position so I popped it back into the shop to have the gears sorted and the stem flipped upwards. In the afternoon one of my training pals dragged me out for another ride. Immediately the new position felt more comfortable and we did 1h50m including some good climbs that I hit in my biggest gears to give the quads a work out. I was a lot happier on my return than I had been in the morning.
On Sunday I met a clubmate at the local run track (1 mile from home) and we hit the dreaded 20mile TT course again. Once again I was poor and my clubmate took me for 2mins where normally I'd have taken time out of him. Still 57:20 was an improvement on Saturday and I had now clocked up 7hrs of training in the last 48hrs. I had planned another 40miles after the hard loop but in truth I was stuffed so there was some gentle bimbling before I returned home. Late on Sunday afternoon I decided that I needed a run so headed out onto one of my old favourites, a 7.6mile off road loop out to Crow Point and back. I managed to hold 7:02 pace at a 143bpm average but in truth that was all I'd got, it hurt every step of the way. I headed out feeling tired and expected the feeling to disappear as I worked my way into the run, it didn't and both the pace and the HR was all I had in me.
Today I went out with my training pal Phill on a local 40mile loop then added 20miles onto the end of it. The pace wasn't fast but at the moment it feels as though the aim is mostly to get used to the new bike before worrying about what speed I'm doing. Thursday is the last of the local 10mile TT's and there's a chance I may make it there for the first time this year. It's a tough course and on my one attempt there last year I rode 24:42, it'll be interesting to see what time I can post on the new toy, presuming I manage to get there of course.

Happy Training folks.

Iain :-)