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