The last Post.

Well, it’s one week since Ironman and I have to admit, I’ve been pretty lost this week. I’ve tried to keep myself moving with some light bike riding, walking and swimming. I had my final massage with Rose from R&R treatment rooms on Tuesday and by the end of Wednesday any aching in my legs had gone. I still felt tired and if I did to much it soon caught up with me. By the beginning of this week I should be able to get back to something like my self. Which is great, it takes some people weeks if not months to get over an Ironman. Good news on the bike, it wasn’t as bad as I first feared. It was only an aluminium bracket that had snapped, not the frame as first suspected. Did a few calculations with all my spare time last week, as well as cleaning out the gutters, which was on my to do after the Ironman list. I converted my training hours into distances, based on averages.

Total hours on the bike…219.7.................................... Total distance on bike….3383 miles

Total hours running……128........................................ Total distance run……...967 miles

Total hours swim………76........................................... Total distance swam…... 192000 mts or 120 miles

That to me looks pretty impressive when you lay it all out like that.

Over the last year I have learned so much, about myself and what I can achieve, how far I can push myself and I have learned a new kind of discipline. Where once I would have said. “Nine and a half miles, that’ll do”. Now I say.”come on, all the way to ten”. I have also learned how to train, how to eat while training and what results I can expect. When to rest and when to train harder. I have learned about the psychological side of training for an endurance event. Which as it turned out, was extremely crucial to me. Weighing up all the positives and negatives, eliminating the uncontrollables, controlling the controllables to ensure that the positives come out on top. Simples.

A few weeks before the Ironman I was contemplating getting an Ironman tattoo, I even designed my own, see picture at the top of this page. I wanted something to remember the day by. A permanent reminder of the time and effort that I put into this one day, and perhaps a part of me wanted others to see just what I had done. Now that I have done it, I kind of feel that I don’t need the tattoo. No others wont see what I have done. The most important things are I guess that, I know that I have done it, and believe me when I say that I will never forget it, and those who know me and that are important to me know what I have done. I don’t need a tattoo for that. Now then, the question that everybody that I have spoke to since finishing has asked. Would I do it again? That’s a big question and one that I can’t be too quick to answer. Yes I have issues with the course because of my bike incident and feel that I could have posted a faster time. Is that a good enough reason to take on one the toughest endurance events in the world for a second time? Hmmm, not sure. Looking back at it, I really enjoyed it, Is that a reason? Probably a better reason than the first. What ever the reason, you can’t get away from the fact that it took nearly 500 hours of training to complete a 13 hour race. That is what has to be weighed up. At this time I’m not saying yes and I’m not saying no. I’m certainly not saying never. The problem I have is this, The weeks leading up to Ironman I thought about what my targets should be for the following year, there has to be a target to drive me. To beat my time for the Long course weekend was it. Even with the full length swim I want to beat my previous time of 12:57. Having now completed Ironman, that challenge just doesn’t seem enough. I’m fairly confident that even now, I could obliterate that time. I don’t think anything will compare to challenge of Ironman. Certainly nothing would compare to finishing the Ironman. So what do I do? The money I would have spent on that tattoo would go part way to next years entry fee……………………………………

Thank you all for sharing this journey with me. I hope I have given some kind of insight into the training required for an endurance event such as Ironman and I like to think that I may have inspired somebody along the way, not just to take on Ironman but just to take on something. Just give it a go and you might surprise yourself, be it a sponsored walk a sprint triathlon, joining a swimming club or the mother load itself. It’s all achievable one way or another, you just have to want it.

Stuart

Ironman Wales September 16th 2012

The trouble with writing this blog entry is, where to begin. Such a big day, such a huge adventure. I guess the best place to start is at the begining which after all the build up of the days before was midnight on the 16th. My alarm woke me for my first breakfast. Now, if you’re the kind of person that doesn’t really do breakfast, you may find this all a little disturbing. First breakfast for me consisted of 500 ml of low fat evaporated milk made into a banana milkshake and 3 pouched eggs on a bagel, washed down with 500ml of water. Back to bed then until my 4 am alarm call. Second breakfast. Porridge with mixed dried fruit and flaked almonds with a huge spoonful of Nutella chocolate spread. This was followed by a can of low fat rice pudding with jam. I was stuffed, but by then it was still 2 hours until the race start at 7am.

Ironman goody bag with transition bags and numbers inside. Transition bags all packed up, ready for drop off.

My wife and the kids were all up and getting ready for what was going to be a long day in Tenby. 5.15 and we all headed off to race transition. When we reached Tenby I headed off to transition and the family went to get a space near the beach to watch the start, it was still pitch black. I got to transition and took off the bike cover, checked the tyres and changed into my wet suit. I then had to store my bag in registration. At 6.15 all the athletes walked together down through the town and to the beach.

The kids overlooking North beach on their arrival.

During an Ironman race you are allowed access to your special needs bags, one for the ride and one for the run. I was told on Fridays registration that we must take our bags to the swim start, there will be a van which you put the bags in. Special needs stations will be at kiln park for the ride and Crackwell hill for the run. The reason I’m telling you this now is this. As we walked down to the beach it soon became apparent to me that I seemed to be the only person carrying special needs bags. To be fair, there was over 1500 athletes there, so I couldn’t see everybody. I asked a marshal about the van, he knew nothing about a van. I asked another, again he knew nothing. By now I was almost on the beach, still with these two bags in my hands and nowhere to put them. I asked a third marshal, again he new nothing but he said that he would take them and get them to special needs. I had no choice other that to trust him. So we’re all stood at the shore line waiting for the gun, I’ve had a short warm up in the sea and it’s quite a good temperature (honest). The gun sounded and over 1500 athletes all entered the water and headed for the first turn. The Pros started in the water about 20 feet ahead of the rest of us. My aim was to go slow and steady for the first lap then check my time and make up any short falls on the second lap. I was looking for a swim time of around 1hr 10 min.

Copy and paist this link into your browser to see the race start. http://youtu.be/9DnTp6ILKhs

As we rounded the first buoy which was actually a small boat with a flag on it, it was chaos, there were bodies everywhere, if there wasn’t so much adrenalin flowing through our veins, it would have been scary. Things had thinned out a bit by the time we got to the second buoy and I had some open water to swim in. I completed the first lap of two in 33 minutes. Wow, and that was going easy. I thought then, ok let’s just do the same again only this time I’ll have more space. Things were far more relaxed on the second lap as everybody had settled into a speed and was swimming in their own space. I finally finished the swim in 1hr 1 min. Brilliant, that set me up for what promised to be a really good day for me. There was a 1 km run to 1st transition which took us through the streets of Tenby and the noise from the crowds at only eight o,clock in the morning was amazing, I couldn’t help but smile. I arrived in T1, grabbed my bike bag and began changing out of my wetsuit. Changed into my cycle clothes I headed out of the transition tent and off toward my bike. That’s when a great big smack in the mouth of reality hit me. I got hit by the, you stupid idiot branch of the tree. As soon as I left the tent I realised that when I was in transition earlier on that morning checking the bike, I had forgotten to put my drinks bottles on it. What a plonker. My entire nutrition strategy out the window before I had even started the ride. I couldn’t believe it. I went back into T1 to ask if I could get my day bag from registration as that is where by bottles were. “NO!” came the reply. They did give me a small bottle of water though. I took that and headed off on the bike.

I was now going to have to cope with just the course supplies, Gatorade and water until I got to the special needs station, where I had another bottle of Carbohydrate formula waiting for me. Assuming that my special needs bag got to special needs, I wasn’t counting on it. First feed station was in Angle about an hr away so I just supped water from the bottle I was given until then. On the bike things were going really well, I was carrying good speed and my legs felt great. I was being very conservative with my energy and trying to keep the peddling light and it was all working. I went through the first two feed stations, picking up bottles as I went and was doing just great until 40 miles. Cruising along around 15 mph suddenly my chain jerked and I had no drive. The chains slipped off was my first thought. Then I noticed my rear derailleur was hanging off the bike. Oh no, this was serious, race ending serious. I leaned the bike up against the hedge and nearly cried, it was looking so over for me. The derailleur hanger had snapped. A support motor cyclist pulled up and after I had told him what happened he asked if I wanted him to ring for the sweeper van to come and collect me. I thought about it for a few seconds. This can’t be it, it can’t be over now, I’ve put too much in for it to be over now. I asked him if he could give me a few minutes to try and fix it, “Sure” he said. I looked at the damage and thought, how the hell am I going to fix this. Then a calm and logical side of me kicked in. If I shorten the chain and put it around just one cog I can still peddle the bike in one gear. So I set about taking the derailleur off the chain taking the correct amount of links out of the chain and putting it all back together in 4th gear. I then strapped the derailleur to the back of the frame as it was still hanging because of the cable attachment. I chose 4th gear because I thought I could spin out on the flats at around 14-15 mph and I should be able to make most of the hills in 4th as well, although there was going to be at least one which would be a walker. So within the first 3.5 hours my Ironman nutrition plan was useless and now so was my pacing plan. In the back of my mind I kept saying to myself, “finish at all costs. After ten to fifteen minutes of cursing, a smile appeared on my face as it dawned on me what I had just done, I had snatched a potential victory out of the jaws of certain defeat. I tell you, one year ago I would have thrown the bike in a hedge and called for the van myself, but this day I was stronger, and that filled me with pride, so I smiled. I finished the first lap and as I headed out of Tenby I saw the family and shouted to them that I was stuck in one gear. At least special needs was just up the road and I could get some carbohydrate fluid into my body, but it wasn’t. I found out after the race that they had moved the Special needs station to Saundersfoot, a town which I had passed 4 miles ago. Still I rode on with 40 miles to go, smiling to myself. I was beating this demon which was determined to stop me finishing. I think I smiled for the remainder of the bike leg, all eight hours of it. I was slow on the flats and the hills hurt like hell and I wasn’t sure if I would have anything left in the legs for the marathon. I was using 4th gear on hills where usually 1st would be a struggle.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I finally reached T2 not before showing off my handy work repairs to the transition referee and he was quite impressed with my efforts I can tell you. A quick change from cycle jersey to T shirt and a pair of running shoes and I was out onto the run. I passed the family just outside transition and stopped to give my wife a hug, then set about the run at hand. Although all other plans had fallen quite early on I still had a plan for the run. It was quite simple. The run was four laps of 6.5 miles and my plan was to run the first lap before even looking up and thinking about what I was doing. That way, if it suddenly dawned on me that this is insane, at least I would only have 3 more to do. There’s logic in there somewhere. I knew after that bike leg that I was going to find it harder than I had previously expected so I set a pace a little slower than usual. After 58 minutes I had completed the first lap, that was awesome, I felt pretty good as well, considering. I’m gonna try and do that again for the second lap, and I did, 59 minutes. The crowds in Tenby were immense and making so much noise that they could have inspired the dead. Each time I came into Tenby for the next lap, it lifted me. As I headed out for the third, things started to hurt, I needed to keep something back so I walked the main hill heading out of the town, did a little running when I could and walked through the feed stations. Third lap completed in 1hr 10 min. Still not bad going. I was in a lot of pain now so even though it was starting to get dark I kept my sun glasses on in the hope that it would mask the pain. As I passed the family at the end of the third, I told them that this last one may take some time and off I went on my final voyage out of the town. Again I found myself walking up the main hill but I did start to run sooner on this lap. At the half way point of each lap we received a coloured band which represented how many laps we had to do. I could see people with all four bands Yellow, Green, Blue and Pink heading back to Tenby. You lucky people I thought. I already had the Yellow, Green and Blue and I was on my way to get the Pink. I only needed the Pink then I could head home, what a lift that gave me especially when I looked at people with only Green. Those poor souls. I did a little walking before I picked up my final band but once I had the pink beauty on my arm I was running all the way to the finish. Now don’t get me wrong, there was no sudden burst of energy, there was no sprint. I just had it in me to put one foot in front of another for another 3.5 miles, and although at times there was now gap between my feet from front to back, I was still running. I came into Tenby for the final time and the crowds were electric, they could see that I had all four bands and were cheering me home. This was a very emotional time. As well as your race number the crowds can also see your name, and they use it, and by god it helps, even though you know that they don’t know you, they’re calling you on by your name. I was close to tears as I ran through the town partly because of emotion and partly because of the pain I was in. I can’t describe the pain in my quads it was like the muscles had been replaced with blocks of metal that were rubbing against every other part of my legs. Unfortunately it was now too dark for the sun glasses so the pain on my face was there for everyone to see. As I ran through the town I applauded the crowds who had been fantastic, this seemed to provoke them and made them cheer and clap even more. I got to the point in the course where you turn right to start another lap or left to go to the finish. This time I was turning left. I had put in an astounding 4:14 marathon. About 200 metres stood between me and my finishers medal. As I rounded the corner I saw the red carpet, which looked blue in the light and the cheering crowds were going absolutely nuts, banging on the side walling of the chute. I blew kisses at the carpet as I ran onto it then started weaving left and right giving high fives to all the hands that were waiting. There was the finish, I straightened up my direction and headed for the finish line. Just in time out of the corner of my eye I spotted my kids just behind the finish clock arch and I briefly stopped to touch hands before crossing the line. Wow, I’d done it. 62 weeks of training came down to 13:40:09 hrs. What a day, what an adventure. I fell into my wife’s arms before going to collect my medal.

Copy and paste this link into your browser to see my finish,( sligthtly edited) https://www.dropbox.com/s/4w0swp7w1pzblu1/Ironman2012.mov

That was it, I’d got what I came there to collect and against a lot of odds. In some respects I’m glad it all happened the way it did, what with the bike incident and the bottles and special needs because it proved that I did it mentally as well as physically. I now believe that Ironman is 40% physical fitness and 60% mental strength. The cut off times are generous enough to give most people with a reasonable level of fitness a good chance of making them. It comes down to whether you have the mental strength to make yourself go on, to make your self start a marathon which could take you 6-7 hrs, to make yourself begin the third lap even though it’s already dark and you may be the only one left on the course. To make yourself carry on on a bike that now has only one gear, knowing that you are basically a dead man walking and you’ll have nothing left for the run. I hope that my kids will look at what I have done and know that it’s ok to try your hardest and it’s ok to get knocked down, just don’t ever give up, because to carry on is so worth it!

Hundreds of volunteers helped to make Ironman run smoothly; they did everything from picking your bags up in transition to giving you food and water at feed stations. Making sure you got to the start, and every road junction on the bike course had volunteers keeping the traffic at bay. Throughout Pembrokeshire people lined the route, from the swim at 7 in the morning to the roads on the cycle route and the streets of Tenby and New Hedges for the Marathon. All in all I paid just under £400 to enter Ironman Wales 2012. Thousands of people gave up at least 1 day of their lives to ensure that my £400 was money well spent.

Thank you

The great Carb up.

Three days to go now, so I must begin the great Carb up. After a healthy breakfast of grapefruit, followed by poached egg whites on one piece of brown toast, I prepared the first of many bowls of Spaghetti pasta. There will be Spaghetti with sweet corn & Tuna, spaghetti with Chicken & tomatoes, Spaghetti with rout vegetables, Carrots, Swede, Parsnips and Potatoes. I will still be maintaining a high portion of fruit and I will be decreasing the amount of fibre in my diet. I’m starting to get little nervous palpitations from time to time now. Usually when I either look at the sea or the calendar. A couple of deep breaths and I’m fine. Transition is going over and over in my mind at the moment, have I got everything, can I make it any simpler, what if this happens, what if that happens. I’m not being paranoid I just need to make sure that every eventuality is covered. There are some things that I can’t plan for until after the race registration and briefing on Friday, and that is really frustrating, I have an issue with my race belt. As it is now, my race belt is loaded with gels, ready for the marathon. I have even devised a way of carrying plasters on the belt. What I need to know is, do we get two race numbers, one for the bike leg and one for the run, or just one. If two then great. Ill simply pin one to the back of my cycling jersey ( I’m not wearing a Tri suit) and leave my race belt as it is. If we only have one number, then I have a problem. I don’t want to carry half a dozen gels in my belt on the bike leg and yet come the start of the run, I’ll never get those gels into the elastic holders. The only plan I have for this at the moment is, use a second race belt for the bike. The number will be fixed to this ready to go in transition one. After the ride in transition two I will take the number off the first belt and put it on the run belt already loaded with gels. This will be fiddly but a lot easier than trying to slot gels into the belt. My biggest worry about this is, what I forget to swap the numbers over and simply change the belt. How far would I have to run back to get my number, how stupid would I look. The safest thing would probably be to ware both belts for the run. I don’t know, so much to think about, roll on Friday.

Week 61, into week 62. Race week!!!

Week 61. It’s Monday lunch time as I sit here writing this weeks blog. In six days time I will be competing in my first ever Ironman event. A 2.4 mile sea swim, 112 miles bike leg and a 26.2 mile marathon. Am I nervous? Not yet. Will I be? Defiantly, probably around Friday, when I attend the race registration in Tenby. Week 61 training didn’t see a lot of action, just a final sea swim of 45 minutes and a 3.45 bike ride which was more a test of pacing. So still getting plenty of rest. I have three massages lined up with the lovely lady at R&R treatment rooms in Haverfordwest. I had one Saturday, I will have another this coming Saturday, the day before the race and a final one on the Tuesday after the race. This Saturdays was lovely. The idea being, the motion and the oils relive the stress and lactic acid build up in the muscles leaving you and your legs felling fresh and ready to go. The ankle that was troubling me seems to be ok now. I went for a short half hour run this morning with no problems. A run at race pace with some 1 minute bursts of double race pace. No great volume this week just short sharp workouts or active recovery. I have a box that I am putting everything to do with race in, like cycling clothes running clothes spare tubes, that sort of thing. It will all be sorted into the relevant bags, when I get them on Friday morning from Registration.

The last Supper........................I’ve just been shopping for my race week nutrition, or food as I used to call it. What a fantastically healthy looking trolley I had. I will probably never have a trolley like that again in my life. I remember just over a year ago around this time of year a trolley of mine could have contained 2x24 packs of Carlsberg, 4 tubes of Pringles 2 packs of white roles, 24 burgers and a pack of sausages. My how things have changed. All in all my eating habits throughout this process have been good. I may have stayed slightly every now and then but on the whole I’ve done well, by that I mean healthy eating. I have not had more than one glass of red wine in any sitting and probably less frequently than once a month. This week is another notch up. Super healthy virtually zero fat. No large portions, just little and often. Fruit and veg a plenty.

Got my race number last night, 991, so I can now register next Friday. It's becoming very real this week as there is so much activity surrounding it. I also got my race instructions, or Bible. There is a lot to take in, When to register, where to register, when the race briefing is and where. When and where to rack your bikes, Blue transition bags, red transition bags and white finishing bags, spare shoes bag, when to bring them and where to put them. Reservation of pasta party ticket. Rules, so many rules. Black cards, yellow cards and red cards, it's a bit like a football match but with no off side, just drafting, or not, as the rules say. Stop and go penalties in transition and the dreaded Red card DQ. Littering is a disqualification as is abusing marshalls. Drafting will get you time penalties. No ipods or MP3 players,(der). No outside assistance, so for god sake if you see me struggling, don't help, but call an ambulance if need be. No bringing spectators down the finish straight, again, please don't. Other than that it's pretty straight forward. Get from A-B in the fastest posslible time. Went for a swim in the sea on Wednesday. There was quite a strong current so it was quite tough going one way, but I flew along going with the current. I rode on Thursday and as I was riding, the council were putting out the advanced road closure signs, again a sign of reality. The ankle is getting better by the day and hopefuly I will be able to do a short run on Monday. The bike is now in the shop having a final service and I have a massage booked for this Saturday and next Saturday so all seems to be quite well organised.

Week 60 Training log. Almost there.

Week 60. Finally 7 swims in 7 days is over, it seemed to take more than a week though. It was great to do it as I’m really quite confident about my swim on the day now. A bit of a mammoth week really but with lots of rest for the legs. Sunday I did the biggest ride that I will do before the day and I won’t be stressing the legs again much before Thursday next week. Fridays run was tough. A 1 hour run, set at above race tempo. Just a little, but enough for me to know that I wont be running that fast during any part of the marathon. Or maybe I will, who knows? A huge realisation hit the other day. We flipped over the calendar to mark the start of September and flashing like a beacon from the middle of the month was IRONMAN with stars all around it. S#*t it’s finally here. For months I’ve been aware of it and training towards it and I’ve never for a second forgot it, or when it was, but seeing it on this months calendar page sent a funny feeling to my stomach. It’s real, it’s really happening and it’s in two weeks. Deep breaths, deep breaths, fetch a paper bag. I’ve got over that now, but three days into the month I think I’ve stood there staring at the 16th on the calendar at least three times a day. With only two weeks to go I’m very conscious about injuring myself or picking up any bugs. You can only be so careful though and while I was at work on Saturday I twisted my right ankle, IDIOT. It’s really quite painful on the inside but there is no pain when I just move it up and down. It didn’t effect or hurt on the bike ride on Sunday until I twisted my feet to get them out of the pedals. I haven’t tried running, probably better to rest it and hope. I get the feeling that it would be fine in the normal running position, but for how long and what if I lost my footing for a second. Yes best to rest. On top of this my wife woke up yesterday morning and announced that she thinks she’s getting a cold. Great. I did the long course weekend full of cold, I don’t want to do the Ironman like that as well. Well, I’m sure that over the last two weeks I won’t be knocking up any 16 hour weeks, it is now time to unwind and get lots of rest, eat plenty of fruit and veg, not to mention protein and stay well. Yes there will be some training. A fairly big bike session on Thursday with a brick run, if the ankle is fine, and another the following Monday but a little shorter. In between will be some active recovery sessions and lots of stretching. I am worried about the ankle, so I will stay on the side of caution with it and not run at all if necessary. I did find a little on Youtube about Ironman transitions but not as much as I would have liked, so a lot is still unknown. I received the race instruction by email yesterday so a good read of those is called for I think.

7 Swims in 7 Days

One realy good thing about anything after September 16th is that i don't have to beat myself up if I decide to stay in bed. On Monday I began a 7 swimms in 7 days programme to aid consistancy in the pool. So I've just dane day four and only have three to go. That's four consecutive days of being in the pool by 6 am. and another three of the same. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the swim, once your there it's a great way to start any day and to be honest I've got up at 5.30 so many times now that it doesn't faze me any more. So if your laying in bed around 5.30 - 6.00 am and can't get back to sleep spare a thought for me and all the other early morning swimmers and joggers, even the dog walkers. because whileyou laze in your warm bed, we are seizing the day and life it's self. However come September 17th I'll be tucked up in a nice cosy bed for most of the day.

Week 59 Training log

Week 59. I know, I know, only 6 hours this week, and you’re right it’s not good enough at this stage, but on the plus side I’ve never been so busy with work. It is frustrating though. I can’t go turning the work away for the sake of training. Work must take priority. It does seem however that when I’m not working, the sky is falling in with the sheer weight of water that’s constantly pouring out of it. We have had a serious amount of rain. That’s enough of the excuses, next week I promise to do better, although I am now officially in the taper period which means I have to knock back a fair bit and get lots of rest between workouts. Rest, I can do. One thing that is annoying about work is this. One morning I got up all set for a ride of around 4-5 hours, carbed up the day before, then set about forcing around 1000 calories down my neck to keep me going. The phone rings, I’m needed to go to work urgently, it’s an emergency, they’ve been let down last minute, can I help. There goes my ride and I have the added weight gain of a 1000 calorie breakfast to try and burn off. When I did get out on the bike on Wednesday it was a lovely ride with loads of pace. It should have been closer to 4 hours with distance but I was able to knock it down to just over 3 and a half, I was flying. Since my change in diet where I boosted my proteins and reduced my carbs I defiantly feel stronger in my legs. I can feel them as they turn giving out more power and holding on to it for longer. I’m trying to go over the day in my head, to try and visualize being there and completing each stage. I’ve ridden the bike course numerous times so I know what to expect there. I’m familiar with the roads on the run so I know where the hills are and how big. I’m also familiar with Tenby’s North beach where the start will be. I know I can complete each distance individually. It’s the bits in between that worry me at the moment, the transitions. I’ve done triathlon before so why do I think it’s going to be so much different. Bigger stage yes, but fundamentally surly just the same. These are the areas that I’m having trouble visualising, perhaps youtube can help.

Week 58 Training Log

Week 58. A very busy week in work was ahead of me so I had to structure this week carefully. Tuesday to Thursday I was due to be at the Pembrokeshire County Show So I would be doing no training for three days. This was however an ideal opportunity to place what is known as, my big day. A kind of race simulation day, so Monday went like this. I was in the pool for 6 am where I swam for 1 hr and 20 mins, 1900 mts of full stroke swim and 1900 mts of pull, totalling the race distance of 3800 mts. Home then for a couple of hours rest and refuelling then out on the bike for 5 and a half hours. I took loads of food with me and made sure that I had been carbing up for three days prior to the Monday. I had absolutely no issues with energy loss. It was a really good ride and I feel I had plenty in the tank when I finished. I was fortunate enough on the ride to bump into local superstar Oliver Simon and we rode together for around half an hour o that lifted me a bit. A couple of hours off again and it was time for the run leg. Our poor dog Paddy had been in for most of the day so the run was arranged at the quarry in the mountains so that he could come with me. It was going to be a really tough run in the quarry as its all hills, but I guess I have to endure the tough stuff. I planed a 2hr run and off we set. At the bottom of the mountain, the sun was shining and it was quite warm but within twenty minutes cloud was starting to drift in, and quite quickly. I took a home made energy gel half way up the first hill and it almost put me on my backside. I think my heart was beating so fast climbing the hill that the gel went round my body and straight to my head in a second. Immediately I felt like I was having an almighty sugar low and I felt like I was drunk. For a moment I could barely open my eyes and talk, horrible. It soon passed and I carried on jogging at a very slow pace. The cloud was coming in thicker and faster but we were almost to the top of the mountain. As the summit came close I could feel the temperature dropping and I could see the cloud getting thicker. Soon I couldn’t see more that fifty feet in front and kept losing sight of paddy. My 2 hour run was going to have to be cut short as my priority was now just to get back down safely. By the time I reached the bottom I had clocked up 1 hour and seven minutes. That was going to have to do I’d had it for the day, paddy felt a bit cheated though.

The plan now was to sit down for three days at the county show and make as many balloon animals as I could, all the time allowing my legs to recover. Friday morning I set up the Turbo trainer in the garage and forced myself to do a forty five minute session of high cardio work. I don’t mind the Turbo when I watch a film at the same time, but when its just music in the headphones it’s hard to keep going. You soon get bored of watching the pool of sweat form under the bike. Forty five minutes up, not a second longer I eased up for a cool down or warm down, which ever way you want to look at it. Trouble was I eased up a little too quickly and began to see stars in front of my eyes as my heart raced to push blood round a body that had suddenly stopped working. I tried to increase the cadence a bit while I gathered myself together and soon felt normal again. Despite the boredom that was a really good short session. It’s not often in my type of training that I push my heart to those kinds of limits, perhaps on big steep hills or in a short time trial mode, but not often. Saturday morning and it was the same again, only this time I didn’t slow down quite so quickly, An unexpected turn happened on Sunday morning. A ladies triathlon relay team known as The Old Birds had lost their cyclist for the bike leg due to an accident. They asked if I would stand in for her, not because I’m a lady / bird because I’m obviously not, and I’d like to think, not because I’m old, because I’m not that either, am I!!!

I was delighted to stand in. any extra training at this stage is good as long as it’s relevant. All I had to do was wait for the swimmer to pass me the band and I could cycle like there was no tomorrow as I didn’t have to save anything for the run. Despite the rain coming down I really enjoyed the ride. I pushed the heart the max once again as I buried my head to avoid the wind. I came in after eleven miles in 33 minutes which I was quite pleased with as it’s quite a hilly route. I think The Old Birds were pleased with their overall performance and hopefully I did alright for them. I’d like to say to The Old Birds that I would be happy to stand in again for any like in the future, but my condition still stands, I’m not wearing the T shirt.

A brief spell of work followed the triathlon then I had a monster to confront. My longest run before the Ironman . A twenty miler lay ahead and hopefully in or around 3 hours. When this run was put into the schedule I hadn’t planned on a sprinting bike leg in the morning. Still here we go. After the initial awkward beginning of around 2 miles I settled into a rhythm and felt quite good. I was conscious not to go out to fast as I had a long way to go, but the pace I was setting felt quite brisk and comfortable. I was feeling the same at around the 10 mile point. I became aware of a slight ache in my knees, nothing to do with previous injuries, just a ware and tare joint ache, I slowed up a little and hoped that it would pass and sure enough it did. I carried on to around mile 16, a little slower but still fairly steady. I was determined not to walk the hills as I have done in the passed but run the whole way unless taking a drink or a jelly cube, in which case I’d stop for one minute. Between mile 16 and 18 the rhythm seemed to just vanish and I found myself taking long slow strides, short fast strides, short and slow and generally all over the place. Leg muscles started to hurt at this point and I could feel that a hamstring cramp was imminent. I battled to the top of the hill that I was on and then slowed it right down as I reached the summit. I only had 2 more miles to go and I was doing alright for time so I very slowly began to increase the pace and concentrate on my strides and rhythm. It was a tough 2 miles but at least I had the rhythm back which is a huge help. I made it home in 3 hrs 3 mins which I was ecstatic about. I ran my self a cold bath while I downed a banana milk shake. I was wasted for the rest of the evening but I had done it. I didn’t have to run for more than 2 hours again until race day, thank God. It was that thought that got me through the last 4 miles, I don’t have to do this again.

Week 57 Training Log

Just a quicky this week. Not much time for training at the begining of the week due to a hectic week with work. Managed to get hold of some sort of stomach bug at the end of the week so that put pay to that as well. Note to self. Must try harder!!!

Week 56 Training Log

Week 56. I’ve had an extremely busy week with work this week so I wasn’t able to do all that I had hoped for. I was pleased at the end of the week to see 14 hours there. Combining so much work and training has had an effect on fatigue levels though. I was really beginning to feel tired in the middle of the week and started planning to drop or shorten a few sessions. By Saturday and my longest ride I had nothing left. I then made a fatal error which I hope not to do again, ever!! A combination of things contributed to me blowing up after 2 hrs on the bike. The new diet is going well, I dropped 3 pounds in a week and a half and have enough energy for the average training session. I have learned from my mistakes in the past weeks and before my ride on Saturday I had extra carbs to help me on my way. I took cereal biscuits with me and a bottle of home made gel. What I didn’t allow for was the fact that I was already dead on my feet before I even started. Within the first 2 hrs I had taken most of the nutrition that I had with me because I was struggling so much. My breakfast lasted about an hour and as soon as that was burnt up I was left empty. Of course by the time I had gone through all of my nutrition I was too far from home to simply turn back so I had to just plod on. When you blow up on the bike it’s a horrible feeling. Still 30 miles from home with absolutely no energy left, the peddles turn so slowly and the average speed drops with every mile. Other cyclist breeze by you like your standing still with a chirpy “ Morning”. Looking at it after I was so stupid. I knew I was already tired and I knew I was going out for 60 miles and I knew I would use over 3000 calories, yet I had around 500 for breakfast and took with me less than 1000. You do the maths. 56 weeks in, still making mistakes, still learning.

A big run on Monday started the ball rolling and I think with the week of work that I had ahead of me I struggled to recover from that run, so the rest of the week was broken up into shorter sessions. I think also that I have had a soaking each time I’ve gone out this week, typical August weather.

Week 55 Training log

Things are beginning to get a little tricky now that the kids are off school. I am now having to implement a plan which see me getting up for training around five in the morning to try and squeeze in a couple of hours before Joanne goes to work. Then, depending on what I did that morning and through the rest of the day I will try to get some time in when she comes home from work. Fortunately I have her blessing to carry this out because she knows how tough it is having the kids at home. Monday I was at a swimming gala with my daughter all day and we left early in the morning to get there, around six am. When we arrived home in the evening it was about seven and reluctantly I took myself on a one hour run. Tuesday and it was Joanne’s turn to do the gala run, only they didn’t have to be there quite so early. So I was able to fit in an early morning swim concentrating mainly on arm pull I covered about 2500 mts in the hour. I may have said this before but a swim first thing in the morning does wonders for you for the rest of the day. Later that morning I took the dog and my son into the hills. He rode his mountain bike and I run up the slopes. Paddy was way ahead of both of us and had to keep coming back to check on us, before heading off into the undergrowth with his tail in the air and nose fixed firmly on the ground. I was in second place while my youngest struggled with the slopes on his bike. We endured this for forty five minutes before deciding to turn back. The lad on the bike was close to tears by this point. Paddy looked on in disbelief as we turned back down the hill. (what, only half a walk today) Wednesday and my mother in law was kind enough to look after my youngest for a few hours while I got out on the bike. Jo and my daughter were at the gala for a few days and were staying over. This ride turned out to be one of the toughest training rides I’ve ever done. About a week ago I read an article about triathletes training ridiculously hard but were unable to shed any weight. The article went on to say that while you are training in this manner you take on a lot of carbs, for energy, and understandably so. The trouble is this, although the high amount of carbs isn’t responsible for any weight gain while you are training, they do make it a lot harder to lose any weight. This is a trap that I have fallen into. Before training in the morning I would fill up on oats with raisins and almonds, and on big training days I may have bagels as well. Lots of carbs. On completing the session I would sometimes have more porridge oats or rice pudding. None of which is bad food when your training hard but if your trying to shed a few pounds like I am, it’s too many carbs. The article says that lots of carbs or carbing up is great pre event, or before a mega session, but on a day to day basis you should be able to get enough energy from natural proteins and vegetables. Now, I was eating all this natural protein and vegetables, only trouble was, I was eating all those carbohydrates as well. As long as I was putting the hours in I didn’t gain any weight, but Ironman is just over six weeks away and I would now like to start reducing the excess baggage. So, breakfast now is eggs, scrambled or poached on one piece of toast, followed by fruit, perhaps three pieces. I think the reason for Wednesdays ride being so hard is that it was the first big session that I’ve done on the new diet and I missed the early performance benefits that the carbs used to give me. I headed up into the hills and at a few points within the first hour and a half I thought I may have to get off and push. Eventually the energy kicked in and things became easier but that first part was worrying. You wouldn’t want to race that way but I guess for training it’s fine. The ride consisted of a lot of up hills, long shallow ones, short steep one and long steep ones, there were a few down hills but each one of those led to an up hill again. I was meant to be tough and it delivered. I was hoping to get my race day sun tan on this ride but despite being very hot the sun was reluctant to come out from behind the clouds and I came home the same pale rider that I went out as. Thursday turned out to be a day of rest so I took my son and nephew to the beach for the afternoon with the dog. This was perfect, the boys could occupy the dog while I got to work on both resting and my tan. I slapped on the factor 15 and laid out. Cut a long story short, factor 15 was by no means enough and my race day tan is now more likely to be a race day peel. Friday and I was on the bike for 5:30 am, a beautiful morning was dawning and it felt great to have almost the whole road to myself. I enjoyed a fairly relaxed ride just above recovery rate and banked another thirty miles in the legs. Later in the afternoon I did a run of 1.15, partly cross country and partly road. A good combination day of ride, time to recover and then a run. Saturday was a full day of work so it was a rest day as far as training goes with a big day planned for Sunday. 6am Sunday morning I was on the road again for a four hour ride, a really nice ride. I fuelled up on a couple of bagels with jam so as not to have an energy lag early on. The ride felt good from the start and I had plenty of energy throughout the four hours. Like Friday I had plans for the afternoon. A few hours rest after the ride and Paddy and I went into the mountains for an extreme strength running session, 11 miles of hills off road. Just like Friday, an excellent combination day.

Week 54 Training Log

Week 54. Looking back over week 54 it was a bit of a disaster. A bad week of weather was forecast so it was going to be a case of dodging the rain. Monday, it was pouring with rain so I abandoned my 14 mile run and went to the gym for an hour and a half, working on muscular endurance. Tuesday was very much the same. Where I once had a 4 hour ride scheduled I now had another two and a half hours in the gym. One hour on the gym bike pushing a big gear at high cadence followed by one and a half hours on weights. My legs were shot. By Wednesday a pattern was emerging. Again my schedule said 3 hour ride and again I found myself in the gym. Working Thursday so I decided to give the muscles a rest. 5.30 am Friday and I was on the road on the bike for a swift ride focusing on power and speed, time trial mode. Followed this with a short brick run. Later in the day I attended the Masters swim class at the pool where I coach. That was probably going to be it for the week as I was away all weekend, but I found myself with time and energy on Sunday to fit in a 1 hour run. Thus ending a less than perfect week 54 training. There’s always another week. Can’t say that for much longer though.

Week 53 training log

Week 53. As the intensity increases it is becoming harder to maintain volume, never mind increase it. I found myself having to drop 2 hours in mid week but was thankful to get in the two hours that I did. I was having one of those mornings when you just don’t feel like it. I was tired from the early morning start the day before and generally just tired overall. I was due another 4 hour ride, the second of the week. I arrived home after dropping the kids off at school and sat in the car feeling sorry for myself, never a good start to the day. I Gee’d myself up and made up drinks bottles for the ride. I was about to go and get changed and the heavens opened. I ran outside to get the washing in and became almost immediately soaked. Back to feeling sorry for myself. So now I was wet, full of self pity and I couldn’t stop yawning. I thought, this is no good, I’m gonna fall asleep if I ride for 4 hrs like this. Time for plan B. Well actually plan B has always been, go back to bed. I needed plan C. I threw a bag together and an MP3 player and headed for the gym where I pounded the gym bike to within an inch of it’s life to the sound track of AC/DC, Slayer and Electric Six. I pushed a huge gear for as long as I could, then knocked the gears in half and peddled with one leg. After an hour of this my legs were screaming. Into the pool to try and see off the arms as well. I found myself doing timed 100s before slotting the pull bouy between my legs and and pulling for a further 1000 metres.

It wasn't raining on this day, That's just how wet you get on a dry day during a 14 mile run. These early morning run take there toll on you. It’s much harder to run when you’ve been laying down for 7 hours but the benefits are huge. Extra fat burning and completing an hours workout before the day has even begun. This is where it gets hard to fit in the volume. Although I have the time in the day, I’m struggling to increase my volume because the rise in intensity is leaving me so tired. The theory was simple, get up earlier twice a week and get in an extra 2 hours in a week. It simply doesn’t work like that, the body won’t allow it. Maybe over a longer period it will but not right now. I think this is where age may be a barrier. I’m not as young as I once was and as you get older your body tells you to rest more. I believe that if I was the same fitness as I am now but 10 years younger I would find it easier to increase the volume. The fact that after next week the kids are off school for the summer holidays isn’t going to help matters either. They go back to school 1 week before Ironman.

Week 52 Training log (1 year on)

Week 52, Oh my word, it’s been a full year of training and there have been many ups and downs. Week 52 however was mainly on the up side. Despite the weather and many soakings I was able to stick to the week’s schedule. It started Monday with a 14 mile endurance run. It was pouring with rain before I set off and I have to be honest, I nearly didn’t go, but I dug deep and put on my rain mac and off I went. I think the rain had gone through the mac before the end of the first mile. After the first three or four miles you almost forget it’s raining. The actual distance was just a little under 14.5 miles and I made it in 2 hrs 2mins which is a pretty good time for me. Perhaps the rain helped. Tuesday was an hour in the gym on the weights followed by a fast pace 2 hour ride on the bike. Again I was getting wet. Wednesday and it was the longest ride of the week at 3 hours. I had the Coastal Triathlon on the weekend so I didn’t want to burn myself out for that by doing silly mileage on the bike. At the same time I didn’t want to take the week off in preparation for the triathlon, it had to fit in to a full weeks training. Thursday was a bit of a mix up day. With some better planning and a look at the weather at the beginning of the week I could have saved myself some soakings. Thursday was the first dry day of the week and where was I? In the gym and the pool. One hour weights, fourty five minute spin on the gym bike, fifteen minute brick run on the treadmill then half an hour in the pool using upper body only. A chilax day on Friday to preserve some energy for the Triathlon. Saturday July 7th, Pembrokeshire Coastal Triathlon, 1500 m sea swim, 40 KM ride and a 10 K run . I was quite excited about this event, mainly because I felt no pressure on it. I had put it at the end of an eleven hour training week so I was treating it as another training day. The weather settled down in time for race day and it was a beautiful morning, quite a strong breeze but dry. Around 290 competitors lined up for the start on the swim and as the claxon sounded we all ran to the sea. It was a very busy start with bodies everywhere. For the first one hundred metres you couldn’t take two strokes without swimming into someone. It began to even out after the first bouy but still wasn’t as relaxed as I would have liked. I managed to pull ahead of the group that I was battling with and gained a few metres of open space to swim in. The Velcro on my watch strap began to come unstuck and soon it was hanging off my wrist. I had to stop pulling and re-fit my watch which put me back in the middle of the pack that I had just got out of. This happened four times during the swim. (Need a new watch strap). I finished the swim in a time of 27.07 mins. A very clean and swift transition and out onto the bike course. No drama on the route and overall I was very pleased with my pace, finishing the ride in 1 hr 32 mins. Another smooth transition into the run and off across the beach. The first part of the run took us up the coast path out of Broad Haven and it was murder. Up hill, slippy with large puddles. Impossible to get any kind of rhythm and within half a mile I had a bad stitch which forced me to stop for a minute or two. I carried on up the path to the first water station at about 3 K. I took on some water, ignoring the energy drink and the stitch began to feel a lot better. Just after the station we were back on the road and I was able to settle into a rhythm. Still a lot of climbing to go but when we reached the 7 Km mark it was nearly all down hill. Overall it was a really tough run course which I finished in 59 minutes. Overall my time was 3hours 2 mins. I had an hour and a half to get home and changed then I was off to work, how about that.

This diagram shows how the years training has been broken up into the various disciplines. Each column represents the hours in each sport.

Week 51 Training Log

Week 51. Started off on Monday morning with a spring in my step. This was it, the real work starts here, and it was a lovely day. Originally a pool swim was scheduled but as it was such a nice day I decided to head to the beach. 9,am it’s quiet at the beach, just a couple of dog walkers. So it’s no wonder that you get some funny looks when you walk down the beach in a wet suit and straight into the sea. I started steady and from the right hand side of Broad Haven and headed out away from sure for about 5 minutes. I lined myself up between two points, one behind me and one in front to aim at and set off towards Little Haven. The sea wasn’t as clear as it has been recently but we haven’t had the best of weather lately. I got out beyond the left hand point of Broad Haven and was soon in Little Haven waters, this is where the drama started. When you’re swimming in the sea, it’s easy to let your mind wonder and start scaring yourself. Every little thing you see out of the corner of your eye manifests it’s self into something that could potentially eat you. This seemed to be happening a lot today, I was quite twitchy and a little worried about my surroundings. Perhaps it was all a bit too quiet. Then I flinched, I’m sure I saw a jelly fish. I know I know, it’s just a jelly fish, but when you’re already twitchy, it doesn’t help. I watched my arm pull and noticed that I was creating an air bubble that was rising to the surface. Perhaps it was that which I saw. I watched the arm pull a little longer and reassured my self that’s all it was. Less than a minute later I felt something nudge my leg, not hard but just enough to feel it. OMG the mind started going ape. Sharks nudge before they strike, don’t they? Maybe a seal playing, in which case I wish it would sod off and play somewhere else, I was getting scared and at least 4 minutes from any kind of land. I don’t care how good you are at swimming, you aint going to out swim anything that wants to eat you, or for that matter, play with you, or play with you before it eats you. My heart was racing but I was conscious that I had to at least head for the nearest land but I also had to get back. If I headed for Little Haven beach I probably wouldn’t be brave enough to get back in the sea to swim back to Broad Haven, which would mean a barefooted walk in a wetsuit around the road. Almost at the same time that all this was flooding through my mind I took a stroke with my left arm and placed my left hand on something. ##@@#@’’+==#. !! That was it. I shot bolt upright with panic and immediately I could see that I was surrounded by jelly fish. I had to get out of there quick. I tuned back to Broad Haven and swam away as fast as I could. This whole thing must have looked hilarious from the houses on top of the headland. I imagined that they could see the jelly fish before I got there and were just waiting for me to swim into them. Yeah, very funny. I soon burnt out and had to slow down but by then I was well clear. Gonna have to get my head into shape again before I go in the sea again.

I went home and rested for a while before heading out on a two hour run. This was tough, still feeling the fatigue from previous sessions. I’m breaking in some new trainers as well so that may have had some thing to do with it. Tuesday and it was back in the gym for a weights session then rested for the rest of the day. Wednesday and I was off on the bike in the rain for a 4 hour ride. My objective was to perform a negative split. (Complete the second half of the ride faster than the first.) The course was 64 miles so after 32 I checked the time. 2hrs 2 min. All I had to do was get back i9n 2hrs or less. I started off well, then I got to the hills. I eventually returned home in a second leg time of 2 hrs 3 min. Not quite there but I was spent. At least it was consistent. A busy day on Thursday with lots to do, so an early start was needed. In the gym for 6.15am, not my local gym I must add, but one a few miles away. More strength work on my poor legs. They had already stated that they had had enough this week, but my general rul is, as long as I’m sleeping, then I keep going, unless I’ve slowed down to an almost stop. Home then for some breakfast, porridge with almonds and raisins with golden syrup, mmmmm. Take the kids to school then out on the bike in the rain for some hill work for an hour. Stick it in a big gear and grind up the hill several times. After an easy ride home on some shaky legs, a quick dry off then down to the pool to give my upper body a pasting, it only seems fair after the legs have had so much grief lately. An hour of pull with the hand paddles. My shoulders and triceps were aching something terrible after this session. That was it for the day. I headed home after a shower and had some lunch followed by a sneaky half hour snooze. After a hearty meal of two helpings of my mother in laws Lancashire Hot Pot and I think three helpings of Swiss apple pie a good nights sleep was called for. A chance to recharge the batteries for Friday. This consisted of a fast ride for 1:45 hrs followed by a brick run of 30 mins. It was designed to be a kind of race simulation of next weekends Olympic triathlon in Broad Haven, yes swimming in Broad Haven again. That will be it for this week, I’ll give myself the weekend to recover before we start all over again next week.

ouch, it hurts, make it stop

Im only writing this today to see if i can blog with my phone,and it appears that i can. Im only half way through the first week of intensive build the lower half of my body wants to throw in the towel. Between the weights and toys four hour ride, i feel like Im killing myself.

Week 50 Training Log

A fairly steady start back into training with some light weights work in the gym Monday morning, just to get the muscles used to bearing load again. Some squats, leg raises and calf raises all using weights that I was using a few months ago. Home for about an hour then off on the bike for a short fast spin, nothing too strenuous, just get the heart racing and the blood pumping. Tuesday I felt like raising the game a little. I had a one hour run scheduled, but at a fairly easy pace, probably about the ten minute mile mark, but I was feeling quite good on Tuesday morning after Mondays warm up. So I set off at the start of the run a quite a good pace, not so that I would blow or kill myself but faster than I would have otherwise gone. I felt fine, I was sweating a lot and I was blowing quite hard but other than that I felt comfortable. The last four- five minutes of the first half hour were very slightly up hill, you might call it a false flat, but when your running it, you know it isn’t flat. This caused the sweat to pour even more and the blowing to get harder but still I didn’t slow. I was beginning to feel the fatigue in the legs from the marathon. I reached the half hour point and rested for a short while. I don’t think I’ve gone that hard on a run of half an hour for a very long time, if ever. I set off back knowing that it was now a kind of down hill false flat and I opened up the stride and worked on keeping the pace fairly high and appearing strong. I think I managed that. In the afternoon it was back on the bike for some strength and speed work. Similar to Monday, but with more emphasis on strength. I went everywhere in a big gear and ground my way up the hills. When the road flattened out, I put it in as high a gear as I could and time trialled over the aero bars. Now, Wednesday was frustrating. Between now and four weeks prior to the Ironman I need to work on leg strength, even more than I have done before. Now our local sports centre / gym open’s at 7am and my wife doesn’t leave for work until about 8:10. so I have an hour open to me in the mornings to go to the gym and work on leg strength and still be able to get back before she goes to work, brilliant. I even recall seeing on the gym wall a poster that was full from top to bottom with peoples names. The poster was asking if anyone would be interested in the gym opening half an hour early at 6:30. It said, write your name below if you are interested. As I said, the poster was full. People had even started going up the side of the poster just to get their names on. I thought to myself, if they have started this early bird opening it could be quite busy, so I prepared myself for a little disappointment, and thought I may not get access to as much equipment as I might like. I only wanted an hour so I left at 6:55. Like I said, I didn’t know if they had started the 6:30 starts yet. I arrived in the car park and I was only one of three cars in it. Usually the blue rinse swim crowd are here at this time, making sure they have their lane space and a few other gym users, but nothing, no queue, only a few staff milling about inside. I got out the car and and waited outside the centre door for it to open at 7. Sure enough, at 7.o.clock one of the life guards opened the door to me and said. “You do know we don’t open until half past seven don’t you”. What the chuffing hell!!!!...........From seven, to a possible half past six to a complete U turn to seven chuffing thirty!!! Arrggghhh. When and how did this happen. By seven o.clock the day was ruined, I was already mad. I went home, grabbed the dog and took him up the field where I did half an hour of run drills. By the time I returned home I had cooled down a little and myself some breakfast and a coffee. Once the kids were safely delivered to school I took off on the bike for a fairly up tempo 3 hour ride. In fact it was that up tempo that a ride the usually takes three hours, only took two and three quarters. Brill. Thursday I was helping out with the kids school but I managed to fit in a forty five minute swim. It’s always nice to get back into the water after time out of it. It’s funny, the water has become a kind of safe friend to me, I feel calm in the water and I know I can’t get hurt. I know that It’s only my mind and concentration that will make me stop. Physically I know that if I’m swimming efficiently, I can swim all day, but you do get bored. Friday and it was back to the gym ( after nine o.clock) for some more weights. A little heavier this time, just a step up. Same exercises but slightly more weight. Then it was off to the beach with Paddy ( the dog) and some work on the sand dunes. Unfortunately I hadn’t left a lot of energy in my legs from the gym and I really struggled to pull myself over the dunes of Freshwater West. I managed four lengths of the beach and once over the dunes and that was hard going. A busy weekend with work so I’ll wrap this week up at 10.15 moderately steady hours. Oooohh the next few weeks are gonna hurt.

Week 49 Training Log

Week 49 was always intended to be a bit of a rest / recovery week, but this has been ridiculous. There's no doubt that over the last year I have become incredibly fit compared to recent years. I think last weekend has proven that. As I have spoken about in previous logs, my powers of recovery are amazing. I mean, a whole marathon the day after a 112 mile ride. That was the stuff of dreams twelve months ago. When you look at these incredible people that complete consecutive marathons like seven in a row it does go to show that anything is possible if you try hard enough. The down side to this level of fitness revolves around the immune system. If you remember, the week leading up to the long weekend I adopted a bit of a cold. A real nuisance considering what lay ahead, but it was just a sniffle, nothing too serious. At each stage of the Long course weekend I new the cold was there, but it didn’t really effect my performance, as far as I’m aware anyway. It seems now though that the cold was just waiting in the wings to pounce, waiting until I’d finished the Swim, the ride and marathon. Waiting until my immune system was at its lowest point. The cold then put on a pair of Dr Martin boots and kicked the crap out of me. So during week 49, I have done nothing except blow my nose and drink hot lemon. On the plus side, the time has given me a chance to reflect. I’ve looked back at the course and seen where I can make improvements for September, I’ve noted mistakes I’ve made on the ride and I know that I can resolve them and I’ve worked out the outline of the training programme that will get me up to four weeks before the Ironman. This programme gives me the increase in cycling that is so desperately needed, strength work in particular. It also gives me the increases in running distance and again leg strength. In the marathon just gone I don’t feel there were any problems, after all it was my first marathon and it was a particularly tough course. In my mind the only thing to improve on is the time, although saying that, if I can pull out a 4:30 marathon on Ironman day I’ll be fairly happy. Throughout the marathon and even at the end I felt aerobically good . I didn’t struggle in that sense at all. I took the marathon at a fairly relaxed pace and even walked the hills and feed stations. This was because I didn’t want to lose the use of my legs half way round. I kind of knew that the legs would give before I became exhausted. So I need to spend the time available working on my leg strength and muscular endurance so that I can run more and walk less, therefore bringing down the time. The same applies to the bike leg where I’m looking to take off a good 45 minutes from my time but still not be exhausted. It’s going to be a tough call. Looking at the weather outside, it’s not great, it’s a pretty good week to stuck in not training. I’ll have to get back to it Monday regardless, I’ve built in a warm up week before I hit the high volume and intensity stuff, the warm up must start Monday if I’m to make my targets before the four week taper in the middle of August. I’m looking forward to the Triathlon club Coastal triathlon on the 7th July in Broad Haven, Olympic distance so it’s a 1500mt swim 40 K ride and a 10 K run. The tempo is going to be fast so I’m bound to get swept along and it should make for a good aerobic training session. Rather annoyingly for my family, partly due to frustration, I have spent parts of this weekend saying “This time last week I was…..” or “I’d just be coming in for the second loop about now.” I’ve been getting a lot of rolled eyes, and quite rightly so. Like I said I’m just frustrated and need to get back out there. It reminds me of that great Andy Williams song…Born free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows……….. Apologies to my family, and well done Laurie on a magnificent run yesterday, that looked like a great come back from the halfway point. Very well done mate.

Week 48 training log & Long course weekend

The Swim. So, this was the week of the Long course weekend. 3.8 K swim, 112 mile Bike ride and a marathon all over three days. You can read about Monday to Thursday on my 3,2 and 1 one days to go blogs. Friday came around all to fast and in the morning there were still no nerves. past lunch time, nothing. Then around 3 o,clock it hit me. I've never before felt such a change from no nerves to bricking. 4.30 I set off to Tenby to register for the whole weekend and I think I was actually shaking in the car on the way. I arrived at the Expo to register and went straight upstairs. There was a big queue for the swim registration but a very short queue of about 5 for the long course. Let me explain. You can if you wish just do one or two of the three events throughout the weekend, or if your insane you can sign up for all three and try to complete them within a given time.I went for the second one. There was a lot of nervouse tention near the start of the swim and it was suggested that the organisers had shortend the swim from 3800 mts to just 2000 mts. This was a little disappointing. I was confident for the swim after Mondays triumph and really wanted to post a 3800 mtr time, but there we are. We all filed down to the water after the race briefing that nobody could hear and entered the sea for a warm up. There must have been nearly 1000 people all warming up in the same small patch of sea, it was going to be an interesting start. By now the nerves had actually gone and I was really looking forward to getting started. Hang back to left I kept telling myself but when the horn goes for the start you get so cought up in the moment that you foget all your plans and i found myself near the middle and running at the sea. A huge squash occured as we all trid to squeeze round the first bouy, I took a few body blows but nothing serious and I expect I gave a few as well, I really have no idea. My swimming was steady and not rushed, just how I had prcticed it. Things began to thin out as we reached the second bouy and I found myself with a good bit of space to swim in. Around two more bouys and it was out of the water for the first lap in a time of about 15 minutes, over the timing matt and back into the water fort he second lap, There was far more space now and I ws really begining to settle into a good rhythm. Again a few body blows from people who wern't looking where they were going. Out of the water for the second time and up the ramp to the finish and collect the first of the Long course medals. All in all I was very pleased with my time of 33.10 and my performance in the water, bring on the ride tomorrow morning. The Ride. I only managed to get a bout four hours sleep on Friday night. All sorts of things going through my head about the swim and about the ride which was to follow, 112 miles of Pembrokeshire national parks ( Not short of a hill or two I can tel you). 8am and we were off. I think it was something like 1300 riders took part so there were lots of groups all over the roads for the first 20 miles or so. Thie riding seemed easy for the first 30 or so miles and I felt comfortable with my pace, not to fast not to slow. There was a five and a half hr first lap cut off so everyone was keen to finish that first lap within that time. I knew that I would make that time quite easily, I just wanted to make sure that I made it. As a result I completed the first lap in about four hours fifteen minutes which really was a bit to fast knowing that i had a second loop to go. The course was made up of two loops, one of 71 miles and another of 41. The 41 mile loop was a repeat of the last 41 mile of the first loop. It just so happened that it was also the part with all the hills in it. The second loop is where all the drama and pain started. Unlike the first there were no groups of riders to shelter from the wind behind, I was out there on my own and the fact that I had completed the first loop a little too fast was catching up on me. The run down into Lamphey wasn't to bad so I tried to rest a little and take it easy and try to let the legs recover. By mile 90 I had had it, there was nothing left to give and I still hadthe biggest hills to go. The thought of tomorrows marathon was playing on my mind as well and moral was very low. Over the last couple of miles I had noticed someone catching me up. It took him a long time so I don't think he was feeling much better than I was. Eventualy he cought me and we rode the rest of the rout together. What a difference that made, just having someone to talk to and take your mind off the task at hand. Our pace didn't quicken by the time didn't drag so much and moral was a lot higher. As we rode on we passed other cyclists with equaly low moral. Finally we reached the bottom of the biggest climb on the course and dared each other not to get off and walk. We finaly arived back in Tenby after approximatly 7:45:00. That's one bike ride that I was glad to finish. That second loop just wasn't nice and it's the same course for Ironman so I've got some serious bike training to do. After getting back home I took a cold bath to recharge the muscles and My wife( Joanne) gave be a leg massage. Lots of veg and chicken for tea and the last of my potato soup, thank god. Had a much better nights sleep after the ride whioch was a good start for the marathon the next day. The Marathon. Fortunatly when I woke up Sunday morning my legs didn't feel anything like as bad as they did when I went to bed. They felt very tired and if at any other time I had a training run scheduled for that morning, I would have canceled it. That wasn't an option for this morning, because this morning I had to run a marathon as the final part of the long weekend, and providing I ran that marathon within the six hour cut off time I would get the Long course medal, which is what it's all been about. Not to get that medal now would be like missing the time cut off of Ironman by less than a minute. I have never done a mrathon before, the furthest I have run is 16 miles and some say that's roughly where you find the illusive wall. I sttod there on the start line knowing that all I have to do is get back within six hours, surly I had it in my legs to run half of it and walk the rest and still come in in time. My plan was to take it real slow, about 10-11 minute miles and walk through the feed stations. This is the plan that I had worked with during training. I decided to add a little more to the plan, walk the hills and run the flats. I felt I stood more chance of finishing without injury this way. We were off and Tenby was buzzing, there were people everywhere, kids sticking thier hands out for high fives, It would have been easy to go out like a bullet, but I stayed very controlled and tried not to be fazed by all the runners passing me, instead saying "I'll see you later" a bit cocky i know but I've read so much about these kind of starts. Oner lap of Tenby and it was out into the country for one of the most brutal marathon causes in the country. We came to the first hill at about 3 miles and I instantly put my plan into action and walked, more runners passed. Local knowledge can get you a long way on a route like this. I knew exactly where the hills where and how long and what was around the next corner. As these runners passed I watched them as they came to a sharp right hand bend and then almost every one of them stopped and walked as they saw the incline ahead. It was at this point that I found myself a running buddy. He was from East London and was more than happy to share my plan if it was going to get him home within the cut off. We ran the first half of the marathon in 2 hours and the time just flew by, we chatted about work and other stuff but not the run. By mile 16 he was struggling to stay with me even though I was slowing a little to help him catch up. Eventually the gap between us was to big for me to slow any more and I pressed on alone. There was no sign of the 16 mile wall so I assumed it must be waiting for me somewhere else, perhaps mile 20 I thought, I don't know why I thought 20, I was just thinking of any old rubbish to keep my mind occupied. 20 came and went, 21, 22, still nothing, 4 miles to go and apart from some achey legs I was still feeling fairly fresh, aerobicly I felt brilliant. Still walking the hills I was making pretty good time for my first marathon, and now I was doing all the passing. Peolple walking on the flats because they went out to fast, people limping, laying in gate ways, I was passing them all now. 23, 24, only two miles to go and all the hills were done, WOW, this is it. At this point I had been ruynning for about 4 hrs 15 minutes. My daughter and niece met me with one mile to go which lifted me even more. Onwards, onwards, onwards, one leg in front of the other, come on lets go. around 200 mts to go and I put my foot down, gotta finish strong, into the finish shoot to the crouds and family waiting for me, high fives as I passed. across the line in 4:35. Fantastic and still didn't feel like I had run a marathon, couldn't have done it any faster. I can only atribute this feeling to the many hrs of endurance training that I have done over the last 47 weeks. It works. bring on Ironman 2012. Overall a fantastic weekend from which I met some fantastic people and will take some equaly fantastic memories, I can't wait to do it again next year. It's going to be a fairly restfull week ahead but I don't want to sit around for long. What this weekend has shown me is that There is still a lot of work to be done in preperation for Ironman. After the ride on Saturday I sat in my car and said to myself "Right, go and run a marathon now." I think I swore at myself then. but that's exactly what I'm going to have to do in three months time.