(Racing in) The sun and the rain.

Well you can't write a script for the weather lately. Just one week after getting burnt to a crisp at Marazion I'm lining up on a Saturday evening to race the Saunton Sands Aquathlon and it's been pouring with rain ALL DAY. It's not very often you expect to finish the run wetter than you finish the swim, but this was one of them. Still it's all good fun and with the race being a tiny casual affair it was all done in good spirits. No doubt the conditions scared a few people off but the sea was as calm as you could hope for so it was game on.

Saunton Aquathlon

We stood in the clubhouse looking out to sea as they put the swim bouys out. "Are you sure that's the right distance?" we asked. "It looks like a long way".

Race time came and we charged into the sea, well some charged while I strolled out. At least the water was warmer than at Marazion. I picked through the back and mid packers and set my sights on a group of 3 who were leading the field, just before the first bouy I caught them up. We headed back to the beach to complete the first half of the 'M' shaped swim and as we exited the sea to run around a flag someone shouted "14mins!". 14mins!!!!! I can swim 1k in 14mins, this is supposed to be 1k and we're only half way through. Ah well, no matter. One of the local SLSC boys dolphin dived into the lead which helped me because it meant I didn't have to sight near invisible bouys. At the final turn the 4 of us were still together but with the huge white clubhouse to aim for I pushed on and headed out to transition with a small lead.

The run was a real ramble at times and great fun except for the fact that my legs were trashed from my morning bike ride. There was a relay runner ahead who I just couldn't get anywhere near, he was only 13 but a national cross country racer. As he hadn't swum I'll hold my head up against the embarrassment of getting a kicking by one so young (I'll get him next time).

A tiny field, but a win is a win (so they say) and a rare race where the swim takes longer than the run. Happy Days in the rain.

Burnham-on-Sea Sprint Triathlon

Another week gone and the weather has turned again as Burnham took place on a blisteringly hot day, but the relatively early start saved us from the worst of it. In a bid to kick start my Ironman training I'd ridden the 80miles from Barnstaple to the parents holiday crash pad in Brean on Saturday and the 5mile spin from there to the Pool on Sunday morning told me that my legs were not the only sore bits that had forgotten what 4hrs+ in the saddle felt like.

After catching up with some old friends and cheering on some of my earlier starting clubmates it was time to head poolside.

The swim was straightforward enough. 500m in Burnham Pool so once that was dispatched in 6:50 I did the necessary and headed out on the bike. Early on there were a few annoying traffic hold ups. Maybe I'm too casual about this sport because rather than risk my neck overtaking cars I sat behind them while a couple of other lads charged down the outside. A couple of minutes later though the cars had gone and I set about catching and despatching those who'd taken advantage of my timid nature. In my swim wave was a lad I've never ever beaten, we're similarly paced on the swim and run but he always kills me on the bike. He'd been just ahead out of the water but the traffic had given him a lead of around 30secs, I focused on him ahead thinking that if I could minimise the damage on the bike I'd stand a slim chance of catching him on the run and better still I'd have a chance to break the hour marker here for the first time ever. Then around half way into the bike I realised that not only was I keeping him in sight but I was actually slowly gaining on him, that was all the incentive I needed to keep pushing when the going got tough and I wanted to ease off. With a mile to go I was within 5 secs and we returned to the main road and the main road traffic. For the next half mile there was some tentative overtaking going on before we returned to a closed section of road near the pool.

Entering T2 my legs were in bits but I knew that there was a chance of a very rare victory over someone who's been out of my reach for years. I entered T2 ahead but my transition was slow as I messed around racking my bike, I left with a small chase on my hands.

We ran out to the beach side by side and my legs were screaming, any minute now I could feel that my cramp problems would re-appear. My breathing was controlled though, pace wise I was well within my limits and I was holding my own, if I could just focus on keeping my form then I should be ok. Along the beach we were inseperable but then we hit the sand dunes for the first time and I got a small gap. Through the off road section of the run course the gap opened a bit more and then I started getting cocky and relaxed. Hitting the dunes to return to the beach I felt the inevitable twinge in my quads. Do I walk, do I hope to run through it? Looking over my shoulder I gambled on the gap and stopped to walk, I'd count for 1 minute and then get mobile again. When I started running again all of the gap had been wiped out and it was game on again, it was all down to the last mile of the run. We ran side by side for 2/3 of the beach before I felt confident enough to try increasing the pace and thankfully the increase was enough for me to cross the line ahead and sneak home in 2nd place overall, with a new pb and for the first time in 10 or so attempts a finishing time below the hour in 58:55.

Happy Days.

Marazion Middle Distance Tri

It's been a tough few weeks since I last posted/raced. Work has involved some very long hours, I've been lazy (nothing new there) and I seemingly managed to pull a muscle in my back although I'm still not really sure how. Up until the very last minute my racing at Marazion was in doubt, but luckily for me Cris and Karen from http://www.hayletri.co.uk/ who organise the race are a top pairing and would let me enter at the very last minute if needs must. Even booking accomodation was a nightmare. Because Rosie is a nightmare and can't keep still in open spaces we decided it was easier to book a B&B. Wrong!! Finding somewhere that takes dogs is a challenge in itself but Google is a wonderful thing when that sort of problem strikes.
B&B attempt 1 soon email us saying that they've changed owners and the new folks are allergic to dogs. B&B attempt 2 seem great so Shelly calls them, the dog is fine and won't even cost any extra but what's that?...................... We're not married, so we're not welcome! Welcome to the 18th Century. Then by chance we find that the local Travelodge take dogs so the problem is solved, an expensive solution but it's solved all the same and it won't cost us if I end up staying at home resting my back and we have to cancel.
So on the Friday pre-race I take my Tri bike out for a quick 10mile spin, then take my road bike for the same 10 miles to see how my improving back reacts to them both. All seems well so I email off my last minute entry and it's game on. Saturday morning Rosie woke me up at stupid o'clock so I took her for a small run and then took the Tri bike out for another 10mile spin just to be sure it was ok to use. After that we casually packed the car up and headed down to Penzance, stopping off for Shelly to see our Tri Club's latest member who had been born just 5 days earlier.

After registering, meeting up with clubmates and plenty of friends (old and new) we headed off for some food and a half decent night's sleep.

Race morning dawned looking every bit as nice as the weather forecast had promised. I sorted my transition area out and joked with the lads around me that they wouldn't know I was there as my bike would probably be gone from it's place for both of their transitions (due to my nice and steady bike plan).

Wetsuit on and I half heartedly listened to the swim course description. Swim 650m out to a pencil thin bouy that I could hardly see, 600m across to an equally invisible bouy and then swim back in. Easy peasy. I'll just swim slightly off to the right of everybody and keep my eyes on those around me. Even with my pretty prescription goggles my sighting is useless and I've honed my skill after many 'blind as a bat' years.

The race started and everybody charged into the water which was f-f-f-freezing (ignore anyone who tells you otherwise). I'm always useless for the first 2-300m but once I'd get my ice-cream face under control I start chugging my way through the field. Just before the first bouy I caught one of my clubmates (Alan), this was a good think as he's been swimming well lately. I thought I'd swim with him for a while, but then he just seemed to go backwards so I carried on. Just before the 2nd bouy I caught my squad swim partner Phill and he disappeared behind me just as quickly, heck I must be flying. Then we turned back towards the beach and all I could see was the blazing sun, I couldn't see a thing and had no idea where the hell I was going, I couldn't see anybody ahead of me either surely I wasn't leading. To cut a long story short (and a few hundred meters of zigzagging) I finally stumbled onto the beach after lots of wasted time swimming breaststroke, backstroke and treading water just trying to get somewhere near the exit. Two local fish type swimmers had blasted to an early lead and I was in 3rd place with the rest of the field a lot closer to me then they should have been. Ah well. Onto the bike and I felt like a real fatty, I'd swallowed a load of water during the swim and just the thought of eating or drinking made me feel ill. The plan on the bike was to go steady, so that's what I did, except for that it didn't feel steady and I'm not sure I'd have been much quicker if that hadn't been the plan. Alan came flying past me on the way out to Lands End but he was only doing the swim/bike before handing the run reins over to his other half Lotty for the run, no problem I'll stick to the plan. Phill came past me with his Tribars hanging off before the hill at St Just, ahhh he's not supposed to catch me on the first lap, especially with his bike falling apart. Then I seemed to get to the point where people stopped blasting past me and disappearing and started working their way past me and pulling away real slow. I was happy now because it meant I'd found my rightful place and it wasn't as far back as I'd feared. I spent the rest of lap one and most of lap two getting overtaken on the hills and then easily running people down again on the descents, there are more uphills than down though so I appeared to still be losing ground but worryingly there was still no sign of 3rd clubmate Tim who I'd expected to come flying past by now. The rest of the bike was much the same as I struggled on the hills, cruised the descents, kept the pace steady, occasionally saw Phill not too far in the distance and still didn't get caught by Tim.

Into T2 for surely the longest transition as I lay down and fully stretched my back out before fannying about putting socks and stuff on, then I stopped just outside of T2 for Shelly to sunblock me. Did it work? Nah! Hurt like hell when it hit the wetsuit burn though.

There was a cunning plan for the run. I would run until I felt the first twinges of my ever annoying cramp and the moment I felt anything I'd walk for a minute, see how long I'd run for and aim to repeat for the length of the run. Easy eh . So off I went and almost spot on 5mins I felt a little twinge, I stopped and walked a minute and then ran for 5 more. Job done! Amazingly I caught and passed my clubmates plus several other folks and that little run/walk plan got me the 13th fastest run split of the day at an average 7:17 per mile without a single 'proper' bout of cramp. Bonus!
Could I have been quicker? Of course, but that wasn't the plan for the day, I could have swam, biked and ran quicker but then I might have blown up and learnt nothing, instead I may just have (hopefully) stumbled on a way to fix my damned Ironman run splits. Fingers crossed. Phill had an awesome race and were it not for his wonky Tri bars I might be telling you he beat me.......... or I might be telling you I ran faster just to make sure I beat him who knows. Alan ripped up the bike course. Could he have run off that bike though? Who knows. Guess we'll find out at Wimbleball (IMUK 70.3). Hopefully he'll nail it. Tim...... Hmmmm Tim....... Lets face it, Tim had a disaster. Heck I've had enough of them and I really felt for him. He rode past me as I was heading out on the run and told me there was no way he was running, I couldn't believe it when I saw him coming the other way and with it being 3 laps he had 3 chances to call it a day but he didn't and for all the cr@p we give him he gets full marks for getting there on such a ronking hot day. Well Done lads. Top Job. Right, sleep time now. I've had enough of this sucking up. I beat all my clubmates and that's what matters. Laters.

Exe Valley Tri

A week after Neolithic Marathon, after training 18hrs in 10 days (my biggest consistant block this year) I found myself in Tiverton for the Exe Valley Sprint Triathlon. So do you rest up in advance of such a race??? Don't be stupid. You bike and run (2.5hrs) the day before and then you cycle 38.5miles just to get to the race. Well actually, you wouldn't do that if you had any sense, but nobody has ever accused me of that.

The bike ride down to the race with my clubmate Phill was easy enough. It's probably fair to say that he did more work than I did and we took the longer less hilly route rather than go direct and spend too much time climbing. We made it to the race hours before my 1:45pm start time which was all good as I'd got team mates to cheer on who were in action from 8am. With us making up over 15% of the field plus all the other folks I knew there was never a time where I'd got nothing going on. I even had time to dispute the benefits of Newton running shoes with a chap at their Trade Stand while abusing a clubmate who wears them, all in my normal tactful style of course.

So onto the race then..... The 400m pool swim was steady enough, I felt a bit tired but chugged along nicely, not on for an especially quick time but it wasn't too bad, maybe 10secs slower than I would normally expect. 8th fastest on the day @ 5:31. Out of the pool and Transition didn't go brilliantly which wasn't helped by my aero helmet not fitting on my fat head, I'd obviously closed up the lock at the back during the close season and it hadn't been touched since. Doh. Never mind, it was soon sorted as I ran out of T1 with my bike in 83secs.

Heading out on the bike I was soon aero and reeling in the competitor ahead of me. As soon as I caught and went past him we hit a small climb, I'd got nothing in my legs at all though and he came tearing back past me. Over the top I caught and went past him again, we hit another small climb and away he went - grrrrrrr!!! After that the course levelled out and I pulled away comfortably. The rest of the bike ride was quiet until right at the end when I caught our waves speedy swimmer who was obviously less comfortable on dry land than in the water. I had a small traffic hold up at a roundabout, but was soon running into T2 to ditch my bike. 9th fastest bike ride @ 38:15. T2 was a comfortable 32secs and I was soon out on the run.

Out on the run and I was hurting, I ran past hoards of yelling clubmates pulling all sorts of faces, but soon I was in my stride and hunting athletes. As we hit the long steady climb which was the courses only ascent and I was in full flow. I had a target ahead who I knew was a good runner and he was coming back to me, happy days. Then it all went a bit pear shaped!!!

We turned onto a small out and back section where we had to run through a gateway. After the big week that gateway was just too much for my quads and they started to cramp up. I eased off the pace a little in hope that it would subside, but I've been here too many times before and I knew there was no escape and soon I was forced to stop as my left quad locked up. A quick self massage and I was back on the move, but not for long though as I was forced to stop another 3 times the last of which had my quad and hamstring cramping up at the same time (trust me, that hurts!!). Finally I jogged into the finish with the 75th fastest run time of 22:44, around 5mins and 70+ places from where I should have been..

Ah well it was still good fun and served as a reminder of everything that goes wrong when I race Ironman. At least this time the run was only 5k because it's a real pain when that happens and there's still 25miles to go. Marazion Middle Distance next on 31st May which will (not) be followed by the Dartmoor Discovery 32miler the following Sunday.

6 months and counting.

Well today is the 7th of May and that means that 6 months from now I’ll be plugging my way around the Ironman Florida bike course and hoping that just this once I can finally manage to run a Marathon after cycling 112 miles. This Sunday was an inadvertent practice session and also a big kick in the pants as once again I got taught a harsh lesson. The question is though, will I ever take these lessons in and become a better athlete for it, or will I do my normal trick of shrugging it off and forgetting all about it the next time round. So on to the weekends activities we go.
April had finished poorly, very poorly. Training hadn’t gone well and work had thrown some big hours at me. Towards the end of the month my Tri-Club mate Jimmy had brought up the subject of the Neolithic Marathon. Not being able to resist a challenge and the chance to redress the balance after last year’s pathetic performance there my cheque was soon in the post. Jimmy was going for Marathon number 4 in 6 weeks following on from Rome, Taunton and London only 7 days earlier. Amazingly the 3 previous Marathons all had finish times within a couple of minutes of each other, this one wouldn’t though as it was off road and hillier than the road versions. I on the other hand was totally unprepared and untrained, nothing new there then. Although I say ‘undertrained’ I’ve still knocked out some decent runs this year and days like the Bampton-Tiverton race (then back to Bampton) mean that I have got a few miles in, add that to my years (and years, and years) of general training and it wasn’t exactly like I was taking a step into the unknown.
I met Jimmy at 6am and we drove the 2hrs to Stonehenge where we loitered a while before catching the bus to the start at Avebury. Once at Avebury we just had to kill an hour and collect our timing chips before we were ready to roll. Soon the small field of marathon nutcases were lined up and ready for the off.............. and we were away.
I soon settled at my planned Heart Rate of 140-150bpm and found myself cruising along in 10th place, the aim of the day being to settle in at this pace for at least 24miles and then if by some chance I found myself feeling good then I could put the hammer down over the last couple if it meant gaining significant places or maybe dipping under 3hrs. The first mile is nice and flat but the next 3 are a constant climb, I was well aware of this and paid special attention to my Garmin so as not to get too excited early on. I paid the price for that last year and didn’t want a repeat. As the race developed it soon became clear that there were no superstars here, there was a group of 3 who took the lead early on but they were going nowhere fast once the pace settled. I had my Garmin set to show just Heart Rate, the time run and my average pace for the run. Nutrition wise I just took an SIS gel before the start and carried a couple of SIS caffeine gels to have at 9 and 18miles.
The plan went brilliantly for the first 9miles as I consistently averaged 150bpm. Then several things conspired against me. Firstly I took my caffeinated SIS gel which seemed to act as rocket fuel. I’m normally really sceptical about people who claim that a gel has made all the difference to their performance, sure they will fuel you to help you go further/faster but I’ve never before taken a gel and felt a noticeable difference in the way I’m performing ‘at that time’. Was it was the gel that suddenly made me feel so much stronger or was it the placebo effect from my noticing that I was now in 5th place and the 4 people ahead of me were all getting closer with every step? Who knows, but I decided that as I was feeling so easy I could afford to let my HR rise by 5bpm. Not a big factor because I’d come into the race playing the safety card and in theory I ‘should’ be able to run it at close to 160bpm if required. 10miles done at a jog in 1:09:20, things were looking good.
Miles 11 & 12 took in the days steepest climb so the pace dropped a bit as I shortened my stride and cruised up it easily enough to catch the lad in 4th place. I know he’s a useful runner and was surprised to catch him so easily, a quick chat discovered that not only had he done London the previous week but is about to do the 10 Marathons in 10 days challenge so there was no rushing him along. I eased past and focused on the group of 3 ahead, I could afford a couple of slightly elevated miles because once I’d caught them I could ease off the pace, settle in and it would be ‘Game On’ at 24miles. By 15miles we were running along comfortably in a group with me sat at the back concentrating on dropping my HR back down from 160 to the 150’s and then all of a sudden I lost all my senses and turned into a complete idiot!!!
I hadn’t been able to make my mind up whether I’d caught the 3 lads with me because they’d gone out to fast or because nobody had wanted to do the work and pull the others along. My plan for as long as I'd looked like catching them had been to hang in until 24miles and hold my HR as low as possible AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!! We ran past a drink station and everybody pulled over to the right so that they could grab a drink, everybody except me. In a moment of complete madness I decided to see what everybody had got in the tank and I turned the screw. I didn't see what happened behind but I heard several swear words, lots of sprinting feet and even more heavy breathing as I cruised along and knocked out a 6min mile, the fastest of the day by a long way. We came to a hill, I eased off and looked over my shoulder to inspect the damage. One of the lads was still on my shoulder but breathing real heavy, the other two weren't too far away but far enough to make me think it was in the bag so I eased off and allowed the group to reform.

I decided that now was the time to take my other gel, I knew the effort was going to take it out of me so the caffeine boost would be welcome. I took the gel and ------- nothing!

From there it all went a bit pear shaped, even as I was doing it I knew that putting a hard mile in was a stupid move, I just hadn't realised how bad. It wasn't long before the lead group started moving away from me and I could do nothing about it. I tried to kid myself that either they were just running scared and would soon ease off again or that my gel would soon kick in and I'd be motoring along again before I knew it. Neither of those was likely to happen though, the Garmin doesn't lie and my pace was dropping while my HR was still miles too high. I've been there too many times before to not know what that meant.

Mile 18 was the last time I saw a sub 7 and the drop off was rapid, there was only actually one mile below 7:40 after that point. A cramp stop during mile 22 saw my first 8+ mile that hadn't involved a big climb and from there on in I was just trying to get it all over with. A couple of 7:50's took me to 24miles, at the time they seemed disasterous but looking back they were an achievement because if I could have only held that pace to the finish I'd have been 4mins quicker and still finished 4th instead of 6th. The last mile was a pure 'death march', whether it was because I'd just lost the plot mentally or whether my body had really given up I'm not sure, but at the point where everybody normally pushes through to the finish I just bimbled along before managing to jog the final field. That last mile took 11mins and then you cross the line and you've finished 6th, everybody is happy for you, everybody cheers you to the finish line and you do your best to look happy when in fact you're (once again) like a bear with a sore head. At least I've only my own stupidity to blame, it's so much easier to deal with when it's not down to anybody else.

So that's the tale, 30mins quicker than last year and a far better first 15miles. I still need to control myself and work off the plan rather than instinct, that would be easier to do if I knew the plan worked though I suppose. Ah well ;-)

Since the race I've trained pretty well and as of today I've averaged 1h40m a day so far this month. The first bit of this blog was deliberately written on Thursday 7th May but I didn't realise it would take me until early morning on Sunday 10th May to finish it. Now, just to prove that I've learnt my lesson after last week I'm off to race the Exe Valley Sprint Triathlon which is run in Tiverton around 35miles away. How am I getting there????? I'm cycling there of course :-)

Laters all.

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?