Nothing worth seeing here.

Right, lets get back to training talk and what the hell I'm going to do about this damn Ironman I've entered. Work never gets any better and I can't believe that anybody gives a rats about anybodys job but their own. That was a one off whinge, never to be repeated - Sorted!

So, after the Easter Saturday Burrows Run of a thousand pictures I managed to drag myself out for a 25mile bike ride. On Easter Sunday I bettered that and rode 40miles, things were looking up. Then on Easter Monday I popped down the Road to race the.........

Bampton to Tiverton Road Race

I woke up on the morning feeling as though someone had battered my legs with a steak hammer. The previous 2 days bike rides had been my first of the year on my QR Tri bike and they'd killed me. Still I jumped in the car and drove the 35miles to Tiverton to register for the race. The organisers run buses to the race start as it's a point to point but I wanted a long run so I drove the 7miles to Bampton, that way I'd 'have' to run back again after.

The race started well, too well actually as I found myself up inside the top 10. Mile 1 went past in 5:31 (ooops), Mile 2 went past in 5:37 (heck). This was far too fast, especially since I'd got to run 7miles back after. At 2.5miles my tired legs started complaining and I had to let the 2 lads with me escape on an uphill section. Miles 3 & 4 went by and even though I was dying I was holding sub 6's so I pushed on. I had a couple of team mates behind me and decided that I'd keep pushing until they caught and past me. At 5miles I got overtaken but not by a clubmate so I tried not to lose too much ground. Mile 6 was the toughest as it had a bitchin little climb in it that really smacked your legs. I caught the lad who'd gone past me earlier, with a mile to go and him struggling I decided to put it all on the line (check the very rare pic of me working 'and blind' thanks to clubmate Damo). Finishing with another sub 6min/mile I managed to finish 10th overall in a time of 41:51 for the 7.1mile course.
After catching my breath, watching my clubmates finish and chatting to folks I could hold off the inevitable no longer and it was time to run back. I really didn't feel like it after racing much harder than I'd meant to, but it actually turned out to be ok. I held 7's all the way back although I have to admit I wouldn't have wanted to run any further, the last mile was real hard going.

After the race things went a bit slack. On the Tuesday I went to the running club with Shelly but I didn't run with them, instead I left Shelly there as she's trying to get back into running and I ran the 5miles home along the Tarka Trail with Rosie. Wedesday I was just a mess and didn't train, Thursday I was just as big a mess but I still took the pup out although I had to turn around and only managed 4.5miles. Friday I really couldn't face a run but wouldn't miss my squad swim session and then although I'd planned an 80mile bike ride on Saturday it all fell apart and I did nothing yet again, but then Sunday was the ............

Burnham Aquathlon

After making the 90min drive to see the folks at their caravan on Saturday we all got up ready and raring to go on Sunday morning. We drove down to the freshly renovated pool, registered and milled around waiting for the start and chatting to folks we hadn't seen since the last events of the 2008 Tri season. Soon it was time to get changed ready to race. I headed onto poolside for the race brief, set up my transition area (number belt, glasses and trainers) and headed to my lane. There were 4 of us all due to start the 1000m swim together so we had a chat amongst ourselves and worked out a start order. 3 of us were a very similar speed and the 4th was easily faster than any of us, so he went 1st (I went off 3rd). For 40lengths our little group of 3 stayed packed tightly together, I moved into 2nd place when I sensed that the lad ahead of me was tiring and the swim was over in 13:41. A slightly disappointing time, but still 2nd fastest overall a full minute behind the leader of our lane. With 3 of us out of the pool on each others feet even the transition was a race, I held my positon though and was soon heading for the beach run. On the very first turning as we left the pool I felt the insole of my left foot slide to the side, I knew this was going to be trouble as it meant running 10k with my feet rubbing on the trainers stitching, there wasn't time to stop though. I soon opened a gap on my fellow swimmers and headed off after the race leader. Along the beach, over the dunes and onto the golf course my target got ever closer, then I caught him on a long single track stretch of path. I hoped that as we'd all stopped politely when he'd lapped us in the pool he'd repay the favour on the run. A gap came and went, he didn't pull over. Another gap came and went, he still didn't pull over. I didn't wait for a 3rd, I just shoulder barged him out of the way and ran past.

I was now leading the race, but knew I was on borrowed time as chasing me down was World Age Group Duathlon Champion Gary Gerrard. Don't get me wrong, I'm no slouch on the run but there's a big difference between someone who runs 36mins+ and someone who runs 32mins for a straight 10k. I held my lead for the rest of the first lap and then I was caught just as we hit the sand dunes on the 2nd lap. After that Gary disappeared into the distance and I pretty much cruised around knowing that the win was gone but 2nd place was a safe bet. In the end I was 1:21 behind Gary but 1:19 ahead of 3rd place, so 2nd place (or 1st loser) it was.

After the race I ran 7.5miles back to the caravan with the pup. A full on headwind didn't make for a quick run and strangly Rosie really didn't seem to enjoy it. Once the weekend was over I returned to lazy Iain status and another ig week at work didn't help me. Monday was totally lacking. Tuesday I clambered onto the turbo trainer but couldn't get into it so after 35mins I clambered off , pulled on my trainers and took the pup out for a swift 3mile run. Wednesday was my Running Clubs Relay night, a competition we have against all the local running clubs at various venues. Wednesdays relays were just around the corner so I ran there (2miles) with Rosie, raced a lap (2.3miles), then cruised a warm down lap before running home with the pup, enough for 8.8miles in total. Wednesday I once again did nothing and Friday was no different except that as it was a Friday I had to swim. Today I managed to turbo for an hour before getting dragged out to Rock Park for a steady 2mile with Shelly and her group before running 5mile back home with Rosie.

Tomorrow is London Marathon so Good Luck to anybody who is racing that happens to stumble across this blog. I may or may not be running Neolithic Marathon next weekend, but as of yet I've no confirmation either way. My entry went off a little late, my cheque hasn't been cashed 'as yet' but that doesn't really mean anything. So long as I know for next weekend that's all that matters.

Until next post... Seeee ya.

Blimey. Two posts in a week.

Well the fact that I'm posting so soon (for me) wither means there's loads to tell or Rosie pup has got me up far too early and I've not much else to do. As there is never really loads to tell in my life then once again it's down to Rosie. She wakes up between 5:30 & 6am, decides that if she's up then somebody else must get up, then once you're up she lies down in her basket and goes to sleep. Nice!!!!! The little ####!!!!!

So while I'm here I may aswell go through the week. Hmmmm, that won't take long from a training point of view because there hasn't been a lot.

I haven't totally fallen off the 'new' training monster idea yet, it's just that Easter and work combined have totally screwed up my training week. One of the biggest factors in the new training was that I'd hoped to sneak a few lunch break runs in but mostly this week I've just tried to grab a quicknap instead.

Monday was my normal day at work but for some reason I hadn't had the best nights sleep. I got up at 3am, bundled my way through 13hrs, then came home. After the tough 13miler on Sunday I didn't really fancy running so Shelly forced me to ride my turbo instead. One hour of beasting myself to Coach Troy later I returned from the shed with my legs hanging off. It'll be good for me I'm sure.

All the time you're finishing that long day, gone home, forced yourself to train, fed, watered and showered yourself the clock is ticking and it becomes a very short night before the alarm is going off at 2:30am ready for the next days start. Another 13+ hr day in the bag and I was simply too stuffed to train so I vegged out in front of the TV with the pup while Shelly went off to the running club instead. I'd done 6 consecutive days and 11hrs training so I could justify a rest day.

Wednesday became a disaster! I woke up at 2:30am to the sounds of my ####ing alarm clock. I felt real strange and even posted on Twitter at 3am that I felt it was going to be 'one of those days'. The plan was to go to work, do my normal run out, then when I return I'd simply pick up another load and leave again (for those that don't know I'm a dirty greasy truck driver, no IT/Teaching genius here). With this plan I'd have a night away which means there's nothing to do but run, shower, sleep before the next days work. But........ I arrived at my first drop to see this..........

In that picture there is 12 pallets of hardware gubbins (which is what I deliver) plus the obvious oversize loose bits and pieces 'strategically placed' over the top. My normal early morning sight! Today though there was a bit of a difference because it had been loaded back to front and the 3 pallets I needed for my first delivery were RIGHT AT THE FRONT!!!!!!! So from 4:30am the local High Street was being woken to the sounds of me crashing about as I totally unloaded and reloaded my lorry before I could properly get on with the days work. I won't say how long I was there but if I ran a Marathon in the same time I'd be sorely disappointed.

So Wednesday ended up being 15hrs at work (with no training) and also left me miles behind on Thursdays jobs. BUT......... I promised the pup that no matter what time I finished work on Thursday I'd take her for a run as the next day was Good Friday and I was off and could have a lie in. With the weeks work out of the way I returned home feeling wrecked. I really didn't want to run, but I'd promised the pup so off we went, a steady 4mile would do her. Once we were running though I felt a lot better and 4miles soon turned into 7.5miles. Happy Days at last.

On Good Friday Shelly's brother and his family called in on their way home from a holiday in Cornwall. The morning was spent 'attempting' to make the house look almost tidy, then we went out for lunch so any training had to wait until the evening.
In a similar vein to Thursdays run I really had no wish to go, but I grabbed the pup and off we went. A planned 4mile run soon turned into an old off road 8mile loop out to Crow Point and was highly enjoyable. Late evening sunshine, high tide and a still night. The Burrows was a beautiful place.

This morning (actually while writing this blog post) I looked out of the window and it was such a glorious day I had a cunning plan. The pup had woken me up at 6am (it's now 10pm) and looking out of the window I decided that a change of plan was called for. Rather than slog myself stupid on a long bike ride I grabbed my running gear and Shelly's camera (mine's rubbish), then with Rosie curled up on the bed next to Shell I escaped and drove to the Burrows (1.5miles). If I ran for 3-4 miles and took some piccies I'd be able to go out on the bike once I got back. But as had happened on Thursday and Friday a planned 4mile run grew a little and ended up being 10miles with around 200 pictures. The time was also increased slightly. Due to the wonders of Garmins 'autostop' function I actually ran for 1h15m, but I was actually out over the Burrows for well over 2hrs. The only thing missing was the pup, but she'd have been a nightmare with all of the walking, so although I missed her I was also glad she wasn't there.

The pics are here on this linky (beware, there's a lot of them) and the days route is behind this little clicky linky.

Enjoy :-)

Blog Post ............ Take 2!

Lets try again.

I've just spent ages writing out my latest blog post which was bemoaning my lack of motivation, ambition, dedication etc but praising the somehow natural god given ability that still manages to keep me finishing far higher in race fields than I should. Then after reading through it I realised that to anybody without my very fortunate 'natural ability' then it just read like somebodies ego gone mad, which simply isn't the case. Where I was talking about how I struggle to get through the front door to train I could imagine others thinking "You're running/biking/swimming at that pace and moaining! Screw you.". So enough of that, it won't work, I'll save those chats for when I'm alone with the dog.

Now, back to normality.

March was slack - VERY SLACK!! The only saving grace is that I actually trained more than last year when I was having similar motivational problems, although I'm well down on any other year since 2004. 9 days off, almost 1 in 3 is far too many, even at this early stage it's a waste.

Swimming is the least of my worries. I've even snuck a few more sessions in than normal as for some reason I've suddenly gotten quicker. No explanation because I don't really know, but suddenly I'm very close to that 5min for 400m barrier. In real terms it's a worthless target but it's a target I've had for a long time so it's worth a little bit of effort just to be able to say I've swum 400m in 4:??.

Biking has been almost none existent (as normal). I anly managed to get in the saddle 3 times. Sure those 3 rides have totally 130miles but for the longest of those I spent the majority of time sat on someones wheel being dragged along. I'm sure that's the sort of workout I need to snap me out of it, but literally hanging on for 75miles doesn't give the encouragement to go out more often, especially when it's not what you're used to.

Running has been about normal and they actually seem to be a bit quicker than normal, I've no TT's/races to back that up though. Having the pup about to run with gives an extra reason (although she can be a pain in the ass) so that's ticking along reasonably well I guess.

So into April:-

I've made the decision to drag myself out more often and (so far) it's working. One of my other big decisions is to run shorter stuff. I think that part of my problem has been the fact that there seems little point getting changed to do less than an hour. I'm trying to drill that mentality out of my system. Although I'm Ironman training it must surely be better for me to knock out a quick 4 miles than sit on my backside bemoaning my lack of time to train. The idea is that all being well my diary will be full of 4-5mile runs and 20-25mile bike rides with longer stuff as and when I can, rather than 10-16mile runs and 60-70mile bike rides with 2-3 day gaps inbetween.

Will the little and often approach work come Ironman time? Who knows but lets face it, the all or nothing approach has never worked yet so what harm could a change do.

On the downside for April, my lazy approach also extends to my race entries. With my having been around Tri since before Moses I'm still used to the turn up and pay approach at races, hence I keep missing out because the races fill up. The latest of these is Burnham Tri. Watch this space to see if the "but I've been racing here for 10+ years......... I'm a previous winner............ etc etc etc" approach works when I (or Shelly) gets into 'creeping for an entry' mode.

On an off Tri note............... Ooooops, Rosie went chasing the mice that hide by the pond.


That'll do for now I think.

The next post will be more positive.

Does anybody actually read this crap?