So earlier this week the Outlaw registration officially opened for 2013. After the popularity and good reviews of the last few years I knew that the even would easily sell out within a month. So after pre-registering last month, I received the email saying the registration as open. Straight away I knew that a decision needed to be made quickly.
As soon as i finished the Outlaw this year the competitive person in me looked at the time splits and thought where I could improve my time overall. I knew straightaway that my bike and especially my run could be improved. the run improvement would mostly come from overall fitness rather than faster running.
This is the reason I want to go back, and lets be honest its the reason we do all forms of racing... so that we can improve on our personal best times!
But the opposite side of the argument... the reason I didnt know if I was going to do it was the whole selfish commitment of the event. If you read back over the previous entries dating back right to before chrsitmas last year you will see a consistant unhappiness with the lack of time I have for other things... yes I love training and I love getting out and training in all weathers, but hidden in the back of my mind during my 6 hour bike rides at the weekend was the thought that I was being selfish.
So the decision on the Outlaw for 2013 was made... I wont be there next year!
I decided that it was too selfish of me to dedicate so much time to Ironman training two years in a row, which would probably destroy my relationship with my girlfriend... even though she wont admit it, I know it would... and it's not fair on her or us.
So for 2013, I will be back down to shorter faster races... which means I will be doing speed work again! That will be a shock to the system!!
I will be back at the Outlaw.. maybe in 2014 and I will race it faster!!
Injury Update
Well the trapped nerve is still causing me pain... the last few weeks have been quite entertaining, muscle spasms painful enough to send me to A&E and actually finding out I had two trapped nerves not just one! Fun!
Its been difficult, for a while it didnt feel like it was ever going to start to improve, I was having terrible muscle spasms all over my back in different muscles and missing out on a lot of sleep. I'm not mad keen on taking painkillers so I was grinning and baring the pain due to my stubbornness.
After some advice from the A&E doctor to take Ibuprofen and Paracetemol regularly throughout the day to keep the pain and swelling down. This has helped a lot with the pain and sleep, but the Ibuprofen has helped keep the swelling of the muscles down, which in turn has helped me do the physio exercises and also stopped the muscle spasms.
Finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm sleeping properly again. I think it will take a lot of the winter to improve my posture and stop the nerve being pinched again, but all the improvements will help me for the future,
I'm feeling positive again now... it will get better again!
Originally a story of me becoming an Outlaw... What will happen after? Stay Tuned...
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Injured while resting!
I think I am the only person in the world who can do this... Train for the Outlaw for 7 months and not even have a slight injury... to having a month off after the race and getting a trapped nerve in my neck while resting.
Since the Outlaw I have ran about 4 times, not really bothered about the times or distances just for general fitness. Then somehow, not while exercising, I have managed to trap the nerve in my neck. It's something I have done before, but before it has cleared up in a few days and I have been fine again. This time so far it has lasted 2 weeks.
So, now I'm itching to start training again I can't which is very frustrating. Hoping it will be fixed soon though after a few trips to the physio. The first two trips have helped a lot and found a lot of weakness in my back muscles on the left hand side.
So this means that my rematch with Wolverhampton marathon will have to wait for this year. I want to go back and redo Wolverhampton marathon as it was my first marathon back in 2008 and it broke me, I finished in a very disappointing 4 hours 50 minutes. So I currently have a vendetta against it... I will be back, and I will do it properly and get a good time.
I have toyed with the idea that lack of exercise has contributed to my injury. I guess it's possible, but now after these two tripped I think its more likely that the injury is caused by months and months of training. But I do think that in the future if I do an Ironman I will need to keep doing some exercise rather than stop completely.
The only other news I have about what I will be doing next is that I have Preregistered for the Outlaw 2013! This doesn't mean I have committed to the race, just that I have registered an interest in going back.
I still haven't decided if I will do it again next year, I do want to, but its another big commitment. That would basically start as soon as I'm fit enough to train again.
The proper registration for the Outlaw will open in September at some point, and I think it will sell out very quickly this year. So a decision will be made very soon.
Watch this space...!
Since the Outlaw I have ran about 4 times, not really bothered about the times or distances just for general fitness. Then somehow, not while exercising, I have managed to trap the nerve in my neck. It's something I have done before, but before it has cleared up in a few days and I have been fine again. This time so far it has lasted 2 weeks.
So, now I'm itching to start training again I can't which is very frustrating. Hoping it will be fixed soon though after a few trips to the physio. The first two trips have helped a lot and found a lot of weakness in my back muscles on the left hand side.
So this means that my rematch with Wolverhampton marathon will have to wait for this year. I want to go back and redo Wolverhampton marathon as it was my first marathon back in 2008 and it broke me, I finished in a very disappointing 4 hours 50 minutes. So I currently have a vendetta against it... I will be back, and I will do it properly and get a good time.
I have toyed with the idea that lack of exercise has contributed to my injury. I guess it's possible, but now after these two tripped I think its more likely that the injury is caused by months and months of training. But I do think that in the future if I do an Ironman I will need to keep doing some exercise rather than stop completely.
The only other news I have about what I will be doing next is that I have Preregistered for the Outlaw 2013! This doesn't mean I have committed to the race, just that I have registered an interest in going back.
I still haven't decided if I will do it again next year, I do want to, but its another big commitment. That would basically start as soon as I'm fit enough to train again.
The proper registration for the Outlaw will open in September at some point, and I think it will sell out very quickly this year. So a decision will be made very soon.
Watch this space...!
Monday, 20 August 2012
£1000 raised and Outlaw Photos.
Well I haven't done much over the last few weeks, just resting and trying to get my brain into gear to train.
Finally completed and collected all my sponsorship forms and raised £1010 for Compton Hospice, which I am astonished at. Before I started I wanted to raise around £800, because that's what I had raised before. But people have given very generously, which I am very thankful of. So if you gave, and you re reading this. Thank you!
Photos
I have also finally uploaded the photos from the day below.
Early Start
Out of the Water (trying to remember how to run/walk)
Only Photo on the bike (wish I had known so i could have been on the Tri bars)
Some point during the run, not sure how far in.
Looking a bit worse for wear!
Doesn't really show it here but I'm walking!
Finally crossing the finish line with my niece (stealing my limelight because she had seen other people finish with children!)
An Actual smile!
3 days later I had this done!
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
So... what now?
It's just over two weeks since race day and I haven't done a minutes training. It's been great! This is probably the longest I have gone without training for about 3 years I think. but its been nice to not have to worry about missing training... especially when leaving work. It's a nice thought to know I don't have 2-3 hours training still to do.
The aftermath
Sunday night was odd. After getting back to the hotel around 9:30, I grabbed some food and settled down on my bed eating and watching TV. The adrenaline was obviously still pumping because apart from sore legs, I was wide awake! I finally forced myself to go to sleep around midnight and so followed a rubbish nights sleep, waking up a few times soaked in sweat (?) possibly due to the adrenaline still?
Monday was a tough day. After eating as much as I could for breakfast in the hotel I packed up the car and checked out of the hotel for the drive home.
My mind obviously thought I felt fine when I crossed the road outside the hotel and nearly got run over, I tried to run out the way of an oncoming car as I crossed the road, my legs were having none of it and it was a painful hobble to safety! I sore reminder of what I had done the day before.
To try and describe it to you, my legs had basically seized up reducing my steps to very small "limps". probably quite funny to watch, especially on stairs, going up stairs was hard but not to painful. But descending was horrible, each step down sent shocks of pain up my thighs.
My legs began to ease over Monday and Tuesday and I think if I had wanted to, I could have trained on Wednesday. I didn't want to thought, I was still trying to eat my weight in as many junk food items as I could find.
Over the course of two weeks I have eaten virtually all items of Junk food you can imagine. The best being fish and chips on the Monday night after the race.
What next?
I have already been asked numerous times if I will do the race again. On the surface my answer is a resounding yes! I enjoyed every moment of the race, including the stomach ache and the cramp in my legs towards the end of the run.
I even thought to myself during the swim "I'm really enjoying this" which I never normally think during a race.
Plus I have set myself a marker... that time is the time I want to beat now. That's just in my nature. I have thought about how I can improve the run so I don't have stomach problems and I don't run out of energy. These are the things that drive me to do another one because I wonder... how fast can I go?
But then on the other side of the same coin I have to remember all the hours I spent training, all the missed nights out, due to either being so tired I couldn't get there, or having training commitments that was stopping me dead.
Mentally it was all very draining looking back, trying to schedule training around my life and also trying to fit in everything else. Towards the peak weeks eating was becoming rushed too which I don't think it should be.
Also I need to think of seeing friends, family and girlfriend! I will need to be a lot more organised to keep all these people happy and also keep the training up to a level I need it to be.
So these are the two sides I need to weigh up before I decide to do another Ironman. There are lessons that can be learnt from this first time which would improve things I think, and also make the time management a lot easier to do.
The alternatives are to drop back down to Olympic, Sprints and maybe a Half Ironman. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, as the hours would be less, but I could race more often which I enjoy doing.
A lot of thinking before a decision is made I think.
More Thanks
I thanked a few people in my race report post but I need to thank the people that have put up with me being grumpy for the past 7 months. Every time I have been unhappy, missed a training session and kicked myself or just lacked motivation, a few people have always been there to get me going again and remind me that I can still do it all and its just a one off.
Although I heard the same things quite a few times, they were always needed, and always very helpful to keep me going, so thank you all too, I hope my moaning didn't annoy you too much!
Sponsorship
The sponsorship is still going great and I have beat my original target of £800! We are now up to £850 with more still to collect, I am now hoping to beat the £900 mark. Which would be amazing!
I am now beginning to collect the money from people who have sponsored me in person rather than on line, which is normally a bit of a pain. But it's not, please seem happy to pay up which is great! Thank you to all the people who have sponsored me, especially the people who work with my sister, they are the ones who put me over the £800 mark.
The sponsorship link is still available at the top of the screen. Even though I am over my target it would be great to get more and more sponsorship... maybe I'm just being greedy now?
Thanks for reading! Next time I hope to have the final total for my sponsorship, and I might have been for a run too?
The aftermath
Sunday night was odd. After getting back to the hotel around 9:30, I grabbed some food and settled down on my bed eating and watching TV. The adrenaline was obviously still pumping because apart from sore legs, I was wide awake! I finally forced myself to go to sleep around midnight and so followed a rubbish nights sleep, waking up a few times soaked in sweat (?) possibly due to the adrenaline still?
Monday was a tough day. After eating as much as I could for breakfast in the hotel I packed up the car and checked out of the hotel for the drive home.
My mind obviously thought I felt fine when I crossed the road outside the hotel and nearly got run over, I tried to run out the way of an oncoming car as I crossed the road, my legs were having none of it and it was a painful hobble to safety! I sore reminder of what I had done the day before.
To try and describe it to you, my legs had basically seized up reducing my steps to very small "limps". probably quite funny to watch, especially on stairs, going up stairs was hard but not to painful. But descending was horrible, each step down sent shocks of pain up my thighs.
My legs began to ease over Monday and Tuesday and I think if I had wanted to, I could have trained on Wednesday. I didn't want to thought, I was still trying to eat my weight in as many junk food items as I could find.
Over the course of two weeks I have eaten virtually all items of Junk food you can imagine. The best being fish and chips on the Monday night after the race.
What next?
I have already been asked numerous times if I will do the race again. On the surface my answer is a resounding yes! I enjoyed every moment of the race, including the stomach ache and the cramp in my legs towards the end of the run.
I even thought to myself during the swim "I'm really enjoying this" which I never normally think during a race.
Plus I have set myself a marker... that time is the time I want to beat now. That's just in my nature. I have thought about how I can improve the run so I don't have stomach problems and I don't run out of energy. These are the things that drive me to do another one because I wonder... how fast can I go?
But then on the other side of the same coin I have to remember all the hours I spent training, all the missed nights out, due to either being so tired I couldn't get there, or having training commitments that was stopping me dead.
Mentally it was all very draining looking back, trying to schedule training around my life and also trying to fit in everything else. Towards the peak weeks eating was becoming rushed too which I don't think it should be.
Also I need to think of seeing friends, family and girlfriend! I will need to be a lot more organised to keep all these people happy and also keep the training up to a level I need it to be.
So these are the two sides I need to weigh up before I decide to do another Ironman. There are lessons that can be learnt from this first time which would improve things I think, and also make the time management a lot easier to do.
The alternatives are to drop back down to Olympic, Sprints and maybe a Half Ironman. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, as the hours would be less, but I could race more often which I enjoy doing.
A lot of thinking before a decision is made I think.
More Thanks
I thanked a few people in my race report post but I need to thank the people that have put up with me being grumpy for the past 7 months. Every time I have been unhappy, missed a training session and kicked myself or just lacked motivation, a few people have always been there to get me going again and remind me that I can still do it all and its just a one off.
Although I heard the same things quite a few times, they were always needed, and always very helpful to keep me going, so thank you all too, I hope my moaning didn't annoy you too much!
Sponsorship
The sponsorship is still going great and I have beat my original target of £800! We are now up to £850 with more still to collect, I am now hoping to beat the £900 mark. Which would be amazing!
I am now beginning to collect the money from people who have sponsored me in person rather than on line, which is normally a bit of a pain. But it's not, please seem happy to pay up which is great! Thank you to all the people who have sponsored me, especially the people who work with my sister, they are the ones who put me over the £800 mark.
The sponsorship link is still available at the top of the screen. Even though I am over my target it would be great to get more and more sponsorship... maybe I'm just being greedy now?
Thanks for reading! Next time I hope to have the final total for my sponsorship, and I might have been for a run too?
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
The Race Report!
Well it's the post you have been waiting for! It's the Race Report from the
Outlaw Triathlon 2012. Be warned, this post might be long, like the race was
long! But hopefully it’ll be a decent read, and I hope I don’t forget anything!
Day before Race - Registration
So I registered on Saturday, the sight was busy and everyone looked relaxed. I was too to be honest, normally when I get to a race venue the nerves start, but they didn’t this time. I have been anxious to get the race underway ever since my taper started 3 weeks ago so I was just happy it was coming along soon!
The registration was all straight forward, signed in and collected all the race numbers and transition bags. Normally in the transition area all the kit is piled next to your bike for a quick change over. But for long distance races they tend to have bags in a transition tent for racers who want to completely change clothes. This was all new to me, but seemed pretty straight forward. We were given one bag for pre/post race kit, one for the change from swim to bike and one from the change from bike to run.
I had planned the content of these bags over the week before the race so I knew what was needed, took them back to my car and started to fill them with all the kit I needed.
Decided to do a quick ride around the lake on my bike to make sure it was all set up correctly and I was happy with it, this is where the fun started. Set off in shorts and t-shirt as the sun was beating down. Before I had walked from my car to the lake the black clouds had formed and it was raining! So in the 5 minute ride around the lake I managed to get soaked. I also got my first taste of how the wind was blowing down the lake. This will come into it later.
So now I was wet and annoyed, and the sun came back out. I racked my bike in the transition area and walked back to the car. Finished off my transition bags and took them down to the transition tents to hang them on the numbered hooks. I got lucky with this as my race Bib was 200, this meant I was right at the end of a row. My Bags were easy to find during the race, with 2000 bags (2 for each competitor) I imagine some people would have struggled to find their bags.
After this I headed to the hotel. had an hours sleep as there was nothing on TV before grabbing some food (pasta obviously) I knew I would struggle to sleep that night I always do before races but I had slept well all week so I wasn’t too fussed about a few lost hours, also the area around the hotel was quite loud. I think I managed about 3 hours sleep before my alarm went off at 3am! Yes there is a 3am! It’s not a nice time to be awake! Well it’s ok if you haven’t yet been to bed, if you have been to bed its horrible!
I forced down some porridge and a bagel that made me feel sick, no one should be eating at that time! But I knew I needed it. Left the hotel at about 4am so I could get there with time to spare and not be rushed. Proof I shouldn’t have been awake was the 5 guys in the resident bar very drunk and enjoying the end of the night!
Start and Swim
Got to the Lake as the sun was rising, clear sky and the wind wasn’t blowing too hard yet. This changed very quickly. Wet suit on, and I walked down to the lake side. Got there and realised I had forgotten my goggles! Nice start; ran back and got them and I was back in time. We got in the water at about 5:45am. The water was a nice temperature, not too warm but not painfully cold. |I managed to get a little bit of swimming in before being penned in for the start. We waited around for about 5 minutes. Then the buzzer went and we were off!! The first 100 metres or so saw 4 pens of different speed of swimmer converge into about 30 metres width of water, in other words it was mayhem!
I had decided to start in pen 2. The 60 min to 80 min pen as I have done the full distance in 1:05 in training. The swim start was nothing short of insane. For the first 10 minutes I don’t think I managed to complete a full swim stroke without my arm hitting someone, or being kicked. Over the course of those 10 minutes I think I was kicked in the face and chest about 4 times, none of them painful just a bit annoyed. During this time I think I may have kicked a few people as well, all unintentional.
After these first manic minutes the swim calmed down a bit and I managed to find a bit of free water and got my heart rate down to a more manageable level. The outward swim had the wind behind us which made it feel a bit easier and I soon reached the turn buoy. I looked at my watch and saw 31 minutes, which I was very happy with. Then at the turn buoy the mayhem started all over again! Every swimmer converged into a small space to swim the 90 metres across the lake to prepare to swim back, so I had another couple of minutes of interrupted swimming and searching for any free space I could find. After the turn and on the way back it thinned out again so I got a good amount of space again to swim comfortably.
But this time it was into the wind. This made it harder and probably slower, but I couldn’t really tell on the speed without any landmarks to reference. The wind was really whipping up the water too so had a few waves to contend with nothing more than a few mouthfuls of water though.
The back leg of the swim felt slower than the first and the transition area at the end of the lake looked a long way away, but managed to get out the water in 1:06:44 which I was happy with because I was thinking around 1:10.
Transition
Made my way into transition letting my head get used to being vertical again. Sometimes swimming for so long and then running messes with your balance so I took it easy through transition grabbing my bike stuff and getting changed, exchanged a few words with a couple of other racers all encouraging each other before departing.
One side note that made me chuckle were the volunteer "wetsuit strippers" basically undoing wetsuits and ripping the suits off people as they sat on the floor. Very funny to watch, I didn’t take part in the fun though; my wetsuit came off pretty easy, a lot easier than it seems to go on.
Transition took a relaxing 5:54
Bike
The bike started nicely, had a nice tail wind along the duel carriage way out of Nottingham, it was nice to have a lane cordoned off to ourselves as well. So I took this time to get my legs into the race a bit and get them going. The wind was blowing, but as I said it was a tail wind which made the biking easy and quick. The sun was out at this time too so it was nice for so early in the morning.
It took a while to get my legs going and feeling like they should, had to get out the seat a few times to try and fire the muscles up a bit but after 30-40 minutes they were fine and I was going well. We reached the first and only hill they noted on the course, which wasn’t very nice. The problem was it had a hidden summit, so I powered up the first part thinking I was at the top, only to turn the corner to see it carry on further and steeper. I soon powered my way to the top, also overtaking a few people on the way up. The reward at the top of the hill was a nice decent for a few miles to get my heart rate down.
The next few hours on the bike were quite uneventful, struggling against the head wind sometimes and enjoying the break of the tail wind. The bike course went through some tiny villages around Nottingham, which had some great support from the residents, was really nice to have the support from full families, and gave me a nice lift.
There was an official spectator point on the course in one of the villages which was great, a few hundred people lining the road with banners and bells etc. Felt like I was part of the Tour de France! Definitely a boost from this on the two passes.
My plan for the bike was to do it in around 6 hours hopefully, but I wasn’t too fussed if it dropped down to 6:30. I was holding above 30km per hour average which was perfect for a 6 hour bike. The last hour or so of the bike was hard, hard work. My shoulders and arms were starting to really hurt in any position I was in, I was looking forward to getting off the bike.
Also from around 100 miles onwards was into a constant headwind that was soul destroying and leg destroying, took me from an average of 31km per hour down to 30, as I struggled against it. So I basically counted off the minutes as I went, reminding myself "there's only x minutes left" etc. This got me to the end. All this time I was wondering if I would be able to run, considering my legs didn’t want to bike anymore, surely they wouldn’t want to run. I had to think I would see how I would feel when I started running.
Then during the last mile of the bike as I started to relax and think how I would feel on the run, the heavens opened and I got soaked! I swore at the weather as I turned into the private road back to the lake and was soon off the bike.
I passed my bike to a race marshal to re-rack it and made the run to the transition tent while the rain poured down. Finished the bike in 5:59:12, again, as I had hoped, a "golden" time if you like.
Transition 2
This change over was a bit easier than the first one, basically it was a change of shoes and getting rid of the cycle helmet. I decided to keep my cycle jersey on due to the weather change and the wind. Stuck my cap on, and trainers, grabbed the mars from the bag (kind of a reward and feed) and started on the run.
Transition time 6:04
Run
My legs didn’t take long to adjust to running, normally in training it has taken a kilometre of two of running to get my legs as they should feel for running. This gave me a bit of a mental boost, and on the first 3 miles of the run I was soon within my stride, running well (possibly too quick) and I soon completed the first lap of the lake and the first out and back leg down to the Nottingham forest stadium, feeling very good.
This was around the 11 mile marker, and I worked out I was on for a 1:45ish half marathon. Which I was pleasantly surprised with. This was a bit of a false dawn I was soon to learn.
I'm not sure when it started to go wrong, possibly on the second out and back leg but my stomach was not happy. I had no food strategy for the run so I was drinking and eating whatever I fancied at the aid stations. Although this felt fine at the time, as soon as it started hitting my stomach and sloshing around I started to feel a bit rough. Firstly sick from the water sloshing around and then later feeling very bloated.
At this point, I will start to write more carefully to avoid giving too much details... basically I had to stop at one of the aid station to use the portaloo on the second out and back run.
These stops and starts were doing nothing for my legs as I couldn’t keep a running rhythm up. This was also probably due to me having less and less energy to run, my walking breaks were becoming longer, starting at just aid stations, then to a minute or so every 15 minutes, to finally walking 5 minutes and trying to run for 5 minutes.
The wind was really blowing hard on the lake now. This made the running up the lake very easy, but back down towards the transition was hard and very, very demoralising as the wind howled around my ears and held me back more and more each lap.
When I passed the crowds around the bottom of the lake it made me feel great as it took my mind off the pain and lack of energy. People shouting my name (from off my race number) and encouraging really was helping a lot in those sections... also seeing friends and family cheering for me helped here.
The third and final out and back section should have been a celebration of the fact that I was nearly there, I had about 6 miles to go and I could smell the finish line. Instead it was daunting as I could see the top of the Nottingham Forest stand in the distance; I knew that after that point was my first goal. But the amount of time I was running for was dropping further still this was the point where I was taking 5 minute breaks and trying to run for 20 minutes.
During one of my breaks as my motivation rushed from me, I got a few words of encouragement from a lady who had run a lap less than me; she was also doing the same tactic and happened to be walking at the same time as me.
I can't even remember what she said, but the fact she took her time to help me really did me some good, I managed to run about 3 miles before I broke again, during this time I passed her again and thanked her for her help. I told her I would probably have walked the whole of the last 6 miles if it wasn't for her help.
I then made it onto the loop of the lake for the last time. Just 3/4 of the lake to run around and I was home and finished. But by no the lake looked bigger than ever. The end looked more than a mile or so away and the back straight, that I knew the wind was howling down, was hell on earth just waiting for me.
My legs were really seizing up at this point and I was having the crouch down to release my hamstrings, calves and glutes. It felt like an age making it to the top of the lake, and as I turned the corner I passed the "25 mile" marker, knowing I just had to make it back to the transition area a mile away to be home. But still I couldn't run, knowing the finish line was no more than 10 minutes running away couldn’t motivate me to run.
I walked about half of the back straight, trying to find any last drops of energy or looseness in my legs. Finally I reached a point where I could see the crowds around the lake building again and broke into a run; it was slow and painful at first, but soon built to an actual run... something I hadn’t done properly for about 3 hours! I passed the crowds for the last time, their cheers drowning out the pain in my legs, also seeing my friends that had come to support me and I thanked them as I ran past and I remember myself saying with relief "I've finished!” Finally I made it to the finisher’s area, where 3 times previously I had run past and carried on; I turned left and strode down the red carpeted area with what now felt like ease.
My parents, sister and nieces cheering me along from here, my oldest niece had seen people cross the finish line with children and wanted to run down with me, so she climbed over the barrier and we ran down to the tape together. With the pain now completely gone I thought to myself "why couldn’t I have felt like this for the last hour". But overall I was just happy to have got there and finished.
During the run I had been doing calculations on my finish time, based on how I was running. My predicted run time when I went through 10 miles feeling great was under 4 hours. I finally finished the run section in 4:29:52. This wasn’t too bad in the end, considering the toilet breaks and walking a lot of the last 6 miles. It also beat my previous marathon time by 20 minutes... and that was without the bike and swim before hand.
Finished!
So, I had finished in a time of 11:47:49. Having no goal time before the race (mentioned in previous blog posts) I was just relieved to have finished at that point! I didn’t really care about the time, and I still don’t really. I have started asking myself the 'what if' questions... particularly regarding the run. How close could I have got to 11 hours? But these are questions for another day... and another race possibly. All I know right now is that I gave everything in that run. I thought to myself as I entered the last mile, "I know I've given everything because I can't make myself run from here."
That was all I could do, and I'm proud of doing that.
The Aftermath
Well after finally getting back to my hotel in Nottingham around 9:30pm on Sunday night, my legs were sore, but not too bad. I had some food and went to sleep about midnight due to the adrenaline and left over sugar still coursing through me.
Woke up Monday morning (this morning) walking very slowly and taking very small steps, stairs are proving to be a pain, especially going down them... which is proving difficult in my second floor flat!
My calves are especially sore, probably down to me shuffling rather than running. They should start losing soon I hope. But it's not too bad and all worth it in the end.
My neck and top of my shoulders are also sore from the bike but that’s not too bad.
Thanks!
I need to say thank you to quite a few people overall, but at the moment I'm just going to thank people for the race day help (the thanks for the months of help during the training will come in a later post I think).
So thank you to My Mom, Dad, Gemma, Ruby, Daisy, Holly, Alex, Laura and Ed for taking time out of their weekend to come to Nottingham to see me race. I never expected other people to be interested in my mental pursuits. So this was great to have the extra support and encouragement during the run.
More general thanks go to the scores of supporters on the race course and in the surrounding villages, the race volunteers and the marshals. You all did a great job in making it a great day for the thousand people who took part.
Thanks also to the unknown lady on the run course who kept my spirits up when I was struggling to keep myself going and also the few brief conversations I had around the course with people, nothing much was said, but it certainly helped take my mind off the pain for a few seconds!
Sponsorship
Had a great week leading up to the race in the way of sponsorship. I now have a confirmed £727 with an estimated £100 still out there to be collected on sponsorship forms. All the people who sponsored me deserve a thank you too because I kept that money in mind and some individual names during the run to keep me moving forward.
Sponsorship is still open, the links on the top right of the page, way up the top now!
If you have made it this far, you have done very well! You deserve a drink or something; go treat yourself and thank you for reading!
I hope I have inspired, made you laugh or just made you think "This guy is nuts!”
Finally... The End!
Day before Race - Registration
So I registered on Saturday, the sight was busy and everyone looked relaxed. I was too to be honest, normally when I get to a race venue the nerves start, but they didn’t this time. I have been anxious to get the race underway ever since my taper started 3 weeks ago so I was just happy it was coming along soon!
The registration was all straight forward, signed in and collected all the race numbers and transition bags. Normally in the transition area all the kit is piled next to your bike for a quick change over. But for long distance races they tend to have bags in a transition tent for racers who want to completely change clothes. This was all new to me, but seemed pretty straight forward. We were given one bag for pre/post race kit, one for the change from swim to bike and one from the change from bike to run.
I had planned the content of these bags over the week before the race so I knew what was needed, took them back to my car and started to fill them with all the kit I needed.
My Race Number
Decided to do a quick ride around the lake on my bike to make sure it was all set up correctly and I was happy with it, this is where the fun started. Set off in shorts and t-shirt as the sun was beating down. Before I had walked from my car to the lake the black clouds had formed and it was raining! So in the 5 minute ride around the lake I managed to get soaked. I also got my first taste of how the wind was blowing down the lake. This will come into it later.
So now I was wet and annoyed, and the sun came back out. I racked my bike in the transition area and walked back to the car. Finished off my transition bags and took them down to the transition tents to hang them on the numbered hooks. I got lucky with this as my race Bib was 200, this meant I was right at the end of a row. My Bags were easy to find during the race, with 2000 bags (2 for each competitor) I imagine some people would have struggled to find their bags.
After this I headed to the hotel. had an hours sleep as there was nothing on TV before grabbing some food (pasta obviously) I knew I would struggle to sleep that night I always do before races but I had slept well all week so I wasn’t too fussed about a few lost hours, also the area around the hotel was quite loud. I think I managed about 3 hours sleep before my alarm went off at 3am! Yes there is a 3am! It’s not a nice time to be awake! Well it’s ok if you haven’t yet been to bed, if you have been to bed its horrible!
I forced down some porridge and a bagel that made me feel sick, no one should be eating at that time! But I knew I needed it. Left the hotel at about 4am so I could get there with time to spare and not be rushed. Proof I shouldn’t have been awake was the 5 guys in the resident bar very drunk and enjoying the end of the night!
Start and Swim
Picture borrowed from the Outlaw Facebook page
Got to the Lake as the sun was rising, clear sky and the wind wasn’t blowing too hard yet. This changed very quickly. Wet suit on, and I walked down to the lake side. Got there and realised I had forgotten my goggles! Nice start; ran back and got them and I was back in time. We got in the water at about 5:45am. The water was a nice temperature, not too warm but not painfully cold. |I managed to get a little bit of swimming in before being penned in for the start. We waited around for about 5 minutes. Then the buzzer went and we were off!! The first 100 metres or so saw 4 pens of different speed of swimmer converge into about 30 metres width of water, in other words it was mayhem!
I had decided to start in pen 2. The 60 min to 80 min pen as I have done the full distance in 1:05 in training. The swim start was nothing short of insane. For the first 10 minutes I don’t think I managed to complete a full swim stroke without my arm hitting someone, or being kicked. Over the course of those 10 minutes I think I was kicked in the face and chest about 4 times, none of them painful just a bit annoyed. During this time I think I may have kicked a few people as well, all unintentional.
Swim Start (Also Borrowed from Facebook)
After these first manic minutes the swim calmed down a bit and I managed to find a bit of free water and got my heart rate down to a more manageable level. The outward swim had the wind behind us which made it feel a bit easier and I soon reached the turn buoy. I looked at my watch and saw 31 minutes, which I was very happy with. Then at the turn buoy the mayhem started all over again! Every swimmer converged into a small space to swim the 90 metres across the lake to prepare to swim back, so I had another couple of minutes of interrupted swimming and searching for any free space I could find. After the turn and on the way back it thinned out again so I got a good amount of space again to swim comfortably.
But this time it was into the wind. This made it harder and probably slower, but I couldn’t really tell on the speed without any landmarks to reference. The wind was really whipping up the water too so had a few waves to contend with nothing more than a few mouthfuls of water though.
The back leg of the swim felt slower than the first and the transition area at the end of the lake looked a long way away, but managed to get out the water in 1:06:44 which I was happy with because I was thinking around 1:10.
Transition
Made my way into transition letting my head get used to being vertical again. Sometimes swimming for so long and then running messes with your balance so I took it easy through transition grabbing my bike stuff and getting changed, exchanged a few words with a couple of other racers all encouraging each other before departing.
One side note that made me chuckle were the volunteer "wetsuit strippers" basically undoing wetsuits and ripping the suits off people as they sat on the floor. Very funny to watch, I didn’t take part in the fun though; my wetsuit came off pretty easy, a lot easier than it seems to go on.
Transition took a relaxing 5:54
Bike
The bike started nicely, had a nice tail wind along the duel carriage way out of Nottingham, it was nice to have a lane cordoned off to ourselves as well. So I took this time to get my legs into the race a bit and get them going. The wind was blowing, but as I said it was a tail wind which made the biking easy and quick. The sun was out at this time too so it was nice for so early in the morning.
It took a while to get my legs going and feeling like they should, had to get out the seat a few times to try and fire the muscles up a bit but after 30-40 minutes they were fine and I was going well. We reached the first and only hill they noted on the course, which wasn’t very nice. The problem was it had a hidden summit, so I powered up the first part thinking I was at the top, only to turn the corner to see it carry on further and steeper. I soon powered my way to the top, also overtaking a few people on the way up. The reward at the top of the hill was a nice decent for a few miles to get my heart rate down.
The next few hours on the bike were quite uneventful, struggling against the head wind sometimes and enjoying the break of the tail wind. The bike course went through some tiny villages around Nottingham, which had some great support from the residents, was really nice to have the support from full families, and gave me a nice lift.
There was an official spectator point on the course in one of the villages which was great, a few hundred people lining the road with banners and bells etc. Felt like I was part of the Tour de France! Definitely a boost from this on the two passes.
My plan for the bike was to do it in around 6 hours hopefully, but I wasn’t too fussed if it dropped down to 6:30. I was holding above 30km per hour average which was perfect for a 6 hour bike. The last hour or so of the bike was hard, hard work. My shoulders and arms were starting to really hurt in any position I was in, I was looking forward to getting off the bike.
Also from around 100 miles onwards was into a constant headwind that was soul destroying and leg destroying, took me from an average of 31km per hour down to 30, as I struggled against it. So I basically counted off the minutes as I went, reminding myself "there's only x minutes left" etc. This got me to the end. All this time I was wondering if I would be able to run, considering my legs didn’t want to bike anymore, surely they wouldn’t want to run. I had to think I would see how I would feel when I started running.
Then during the last mile of the bike as I started to relax and think how I would feel on the run, the heavens opened and I got soaked! I swore at the weather as I turned into the private road back to the lake and was soon off the bike.
I passed my bike to a race marshal to re-rack it and made the run to the transition tent while the rain poured down. Finished the bike in 5:59:12, again, as I had hoped, a "golden" time if you like.
Transition 2
This change over was a bit easier than the first one, basically it was a change of shoes and getting rid of the cycle helmet. I decided to keep my cycle jersey on due to the weather change and the wind. Stuck my cap on, and trainers, grabbed the mars from the bag (kind of a reward and feed) and started on the run.
Transition time 6:04
Run
My legs didn’t take long to adjust to running, normally in training it has taken a kilometre of two of running to get my legs as they should feel for running. This gave me a bit of a mental boost, and on the first 3 miles of the run I was soon within my stride, running well (possibly too quick) and I soon completed the first lap of the lake and the first out and back leg down to the Nottingham forest stadium, feeling very good.
This was around the 11 mile marker, and I worked out I was on for a 1:45ish half marathon. Which I was pleasantly surprised with. This was a bit of a false dawn I was soon to learn.
I'm not sure when it started to go wrong, possibly on the second out and back leg but my stomach was not happy. I had no food strategy for the run so I was drinking and eating whatever I fancied at the aid stations. Although this felt fine at the time, as soon as it started hitting my stomach and sloshing around I started to feel a bit rough. Firstly sick from the water sloshing around and then later feeling very bloated.
At this point, I will start to write more carefully to avoid giving too much details... basically I had to stop at one of the aid station to use the portaloo on the second out and back run.
These stops and starts were doing nothing for my legs as I couldn’t keep a running rhythm up. This was also probably due to me having less and less energy to run, my walking breaks were becoming longer, starting at just aid stations, then to a minute or so every 15 minutes, to finally walking 5 minutes and trying to run for 5 minutes.
The wind was really blowing hard on the lake now. This made the running up the lake very easy, but back down towards the transition was hard and very, very demoralising as the wind howled around my ears and held me back more and more each lap.
When I passed the crowds around the bottom of the lake it made me feel great as it took my mind off the pain and lack of energy. People shouting my name (from off my race number) and encouraging really was helping a lot in those sections... also seeing friends and family cheering for me helped here.
The third and final out and back section should have been a celebration of the fact that I was nearly there, I had about 6 miles to go and I could smell the finish line. Instead it was daunting as I could see the top of the Nottingham Forest stand in the distance; I knew that after that point was my first goal. But the amount of time I was running for was dropping further still this was the point where I was taking 5 minute breaks and trying to run for 20 minutes.
During one of my breaks as my motivation rushed from me, I got a few words of encouragement from a lady who had run a lap less than me; she was also doing the same tactic and happened to be walking at the same time as me.
I can't even remember what she said, but the fact she took her time to help me really did me some good, I managed to run about 3 miles before I broke again, during this time I passed her again and thanked her for her help. I told her I would probably have walked the whole of the last 6 miles if it wasn't for her help.
I then made it onto the loop of the lake for the last time. Just 3/4 of the lake to run around and I was home and finished. But by no the lake looked bigger than ever. The end looked more than a mile or so away and the back straight, that I knew the wind was howling down, was hell on earth just waiting for me.
My legs were really seizing up at this point and I was having the crouch down to release my hamstrings, calves and glutes. It felt like an age making it to the top of the lake, and as I turned the corner I passed the "25 mile" marker, knowing I just had to make it back to the transition area a mile away to be home. But still I couldn't run, knowing the finish line was no more than 10 minutes running away couldn’t motivate me to run.
I walked about half of the back straight, trying to find any last drops of energy or looseness in my legs. Finally I reached a point where I could see the crowds around the lake building again and broke into a run; it was slow and painful at first, but soon built to an actual run... something I hadn’t done properly for about 3 hours! I passed the crowds for the last time, their cheers drowning out the pain in my legs, also seeing my friends that had come to support me and I thanked them as I ran past and I remember myself saying with relief "I've finished!” Finally I made it to the finisher’s area, where 3 times previously I had run past and carried on; I turned left and strode down the red carpeted area with what now felt like ease.
My parents, sister and nieces cheering me along from here, my oldest niece had seen people cross the finish line with children and wanted to run down with me, so she climbed over the barrier and we ran down to the tape together. With the pain now completely gone I thought to myself "why couldn’t I have felt like this for the last hour". But overall I was just happy to have got there and finished.
During the run I had been doing calculations on my finish time, based on how I was running. My predicted run time when I went through 10 miles feeling great was under 4 hours. I finally finished the run section in 4:29:52. This wasn’t too bad in the end, considering the toilet breaks and walking a lot of the last 6 miles. It also beat my previous marathon time by 20 minutes... and that was without the bike and swim before hand.
Finished!
So, I had finished in a time of 11:47:49. Having no goal time before the race (mentioned in previous blog posts) I was just relieved to have finished at that point! I didn’t really care about the time, and I still don’t really. I have started asking myself the 'what if' questions... particularly regarding the run. How close could I have got to 11 hours? But these are questions for another day... and another race possibly. All I know right now is that I gave everything in that run. I thought to myself as I entered the last mile, "I know I've given everything because I can't make myself run from here."
That was all I could do, and I'm proud of doing that.
Race Bling!
Well after finally getting back to my hotel in Nottingham around 9:30pm on Sunday night, my legs were sore, but not too bad. I had some food and went to sleep about midnight due to the adrenaline and left over sugar still coursing through me.
Woke up Monday morning (this morning) walking very slowly and taking very small steps, stairs are proving to be a pain, especially going down them... which is proving difficult in my second floor flat!
My calves are especially sore, probably down to me shuffling rather than running. They should start losing soon I hope. But it's not too bad and all worth it in the end.
My neck and top of my shoulders are also sore from the bike but that’s not too bad.
Thanks!
I need to say thank you to quite a few people overall, but at the moment I'm just going to thank people for the race day help (the thanks for the months of help during the training will come in a later post I think).
So thank you to My Mom, Dad, Gemma, Ruby, Daisy, Holly, Alex, Laura and Ed for taking time out of their weekend to come to Nottingham to see me race. I never expected other people to be interested in my mental pursuits. So this was great to have the extra support and encouragement during the run.
More general thanks go to the scores of supporters on the race course and in the surrounding villages, the race volunteers and the marshals. You all did a great job in making it a great day for the thousand people who took part.
Thanks also to the unknown lady on the run course who kept my spirits up when I was struggling to keep myself going and also the few brief conversations I had around the course with people, nothing much was said, but it certainly helped take my mind off the pain for a few seconds!
Sponsorship
Had a great week leading up to the race in the way of sponsorship. I now have a confirmed £727 with an estimated £100 still out there to be collected on sponsorship forms. All the people who sponsored me deserve a thank you too because I kept that money in mind and some individual names during the run to keep me moving forward.
Sponsorship is still open, the links on the top right of the page, way up the top now!
If you have made it this far, you have done very well! You deserve a drink or something; go treat yourself and thank you for reading!
I hope I have inspired, made you laugh or just made you think "This guy is nuts!”
Finally... The End!
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Final Countdown!
Well... 4 days to go and I'm getting a bit bored of waiting now! With the reduction in training hours, I'm feeling great with more energy. I'm ready to race but it's taking ages to get here! Also, if the race was here quicker it would be less time constantly changing between panic and excitment.
The planning is well underway, I've read the race report and planned my saturday in Nottingham, racking my bike and packing my transition bags. It's all a bit different to what I'm used to. Normally on race morning you rack your bike and then pile your stuff next to it ready for the transition change overs. In the long distance race the bikes are racked seperately, and transition is done in a large tent where instead of having a pile of your change over clothes etc. you have have 3 bags, one for after the race, one for change from swim to bike and one from bike to run. It's a bit different but seems pretty straight forward.
For the last week I have also been checking the weather compulsively. Trying to figure out if it will be wet or dry, windy or still, warm or cold. It's obviously nothing I can predict (neither can the weather wetsites it seems) but I am still praying forthe perfect conditions... along with all the other races and probably spectators too. I've told myself I need to prepare for all conditions... then I wont have any surprises. But I can still pray!!
Another add on to the nerves seems to be every slight twinge, or tightness in my legs is sending me into panic! I have trained hours and hours for months now and not had anything really troubling, and any of these twinges I have just ran through and survived... but when out on a steady run last night my calf twinged I instantly thought I was in trouble. Obviously it turned out to be nothing at all.
So, it's the final countdown to the day. Next post should be the post race post, unless I can think of something interesting to write in between.
Sponsorship is going great now. I have had some generous donations from people who don't know me again! Which is great! It amazes me to be honest, thank you all!
Link is still available to make sponsorships if you wish to.
Until next time!...
The planning is well underway, I've read the race report and planned my saturday in Nottingham, racking my bike and packing my transition bags. It's all a bit different to what I'm used to. Normally on race morning you rack your bike and then pile your stuff next to it ready for the transition change overs. In the long distance race the bikes are racked seperately, and transition is done in a large tent where instead of having a pile of your change over clothes etc. you have have 3 bags, one for after the race, one for change from swim to bike and one from bike to run. It's a bit different but seems pretty straight forward.
For the last week I have also been checking the weather compulsively. Trying to figure out if it will be wet or dry, windy or still, warm or cold. It's obviously nothing I can predict (neither can the weather wetsites it seems) but I am still praying forthe perfect conditions... along with all the other races and probably spectators too. I've told myself I need to prepare for all conditions... then I wont have any surprises. But I can still pray!!
Another add on to the nerves seems to be every slight twinge, or tightness in my legs is sending me into panic! I have trained hours and hours for months now and not had anything really troubling, and any of these twinges I have just ran through and survived... but when out on a steady run last night my calf twinged I instantly thought I was in trouble. Obviously it turned out to be nothing at all.
So, it's the final countdown to the day. Next post should be the post race post, unless I can think of something interesting to write in between.
Sponsorship is going great now. I have had some generous donations from people who don't know me again! Which is great! It amazes me to be honest, thank you all!
Link is still available to make sponsorships if you wish to.
Until next time!...
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Two weeks to go! Reflection of Training
So... 2 weeks today is race day and hopefully at this point in the race day I should be resting somewhere rather than still running!
The taper so far has been quite uneventful, I've given myself a few extra hours off to get my motivation back as it's been a bit lacking lately. But my legs and mind are rested nicely, so now the race cant come soon enough.
My thoughts at the moment are constantly shifting from confidence and excitement right through to panic and nerves. Which I hope wont get much worse with 2 weeks still to go.
At this stage I'm starting to make lists... we all love a good "To do" list! Things I need to take, things I still need to do before the race etc... Hopefully good preparation will ease the anxiety and help me sleep in the last nights before the race.
I have been thinking about the last 18 weeks of training I have done, since the cold dark nights/mornings in early December, right through to the cold light nights/mornings of June! On reflection I guess I should think myself lucky, apart from a few slight injuries I have suffered from nothing major, and I haven't had a cold or flu to slow me down either... I'm very thankful of that, it's certainly made the progression to longer distances a lot easier.
There have been a few things that have slowed me down and tested my resolve though, terrible weather has made a lot of training difficult, including right up to this week when really the sun should be on my back during most training sessions (dreaming I know!). Also the swimming pool that is very close to my house and the quiet times is very convenient for my training schedule has been closed since March. Forcing me swim a further away from home and at 9pm instead of straight after work. Not exactly how I wanted, but at least I didn't lose my swimming completely.
When I first looked at the training schedule to complete the Ironman the things that stuck out as the most daunting were around the big training weeks.Especially looking at the 6 hour bike rides and 20 mile runs. But they turned out to not be so bad, the progression to those distances and times throughout the weeks of the training plan helped survive these sessions.
I think I have found the mental side of the training the hardest. Some weeks where I have had no time to sit down at all, going to bed not long after finishing training at 10pm and then getting up to do a run at 5am was very hard sometimes. Also planning other aspects of my life, things you always have time to do normally, become very hard to fit in, right down to having time to do the washing up after eating! This was something I never thought of before I started this journey, it will definitely be something I will think about before I think about before I consider doing another Ironman distance race.I would love to know how people with children or who work longer hours than I do manage to get the training hours in. I can only assume its better organisation than I have and even less "sofa time".
The sponsorship is continuing to creep higher and higher... can't thank people enough for the donations... it does seem more and more people are collecting for different charities now, so for people to still give as much as they do is great! especially people I don't really know who are donating selflessly... Thank you all, I have promised myself to remember you all when I am struggling on the run, hopefully it will keep me going and keep my spirit up. If you want to help with my spirit and energy in 2 weeks, the donation button is always on the top left hand corner of the page! :-)
So, officially 17 hours of training left to do before the actual race... I'm sure I will write again before the race, until next time...!
The taper so far has been quite uneventful, I've given myself a few extra hours off to get my motivation back as it's been a bit lacking lately. But my legs and mind are rested nicely, so now the race cant come soon enough.
My thoughts at the moment are constantly shifting from confidence and excitement right through to panic and nerves. Which I hope wont get much worse with 2 weeks still to go.
At this stage I'm starting to make lists... we all love a good "To do" list! Things I need to take, things I still need to do before the race etc... Hopefully good preparation will ease the anxiety and help me sleep in the last nights before the race.
I have been thinking about the last 18 weeks of training I have done, since the cold dark nights/mornings in early December, right through to the cold light nights/mornings of June! On reflection I guess I should think myself lucky, apart from a few slight injuries I have suffered from nothing major, and I haven't had a cold or flu to slow me down either... I'm very thankful of that, it's certainly made the progression to longer distances a lot easier.
There have been a few things that have slowed me down and tested my resolve though, terrible weather has made a lot of training difficult, including right up to this week when really the sun should be on my back during most training sessions (dreaming I know!). Also the swimming pool that is very close to my house and the quiet times is very convenient for my training schedule has been closed since March. Forcing me swim a further away from home and at 9pm instead of straight after work. Not exactly how I wanted, but at least I didn't lose my swimming completely.
When I first looked at the training schedule to complete the Ironman the things that stuck out as the most daunting were around the big training weeks.Especially looking at the 6 hour bike rides and 20 mile runs. But they turned out to not be so bad, the progression to those distances and times throughout the weeks of the training plan helped survive these sessions.
I think I have found the mental side of the training the hardest. Some weeks where I have had no time to sit down at all, going to bed not long after finishing training at 10pm and then getting up to do a run at 5am was very hard sometimes. Also planning other aspects of my life, things you always have time to do normally, become very hard to fit in, right down to having time to do the washing up after eating! This was something I never thought of before I started this journey, it will definitely be something I will think about before I think about before I consider doing another Ironman distance race.I would love to know how people with children or who work longer hours than I do manage to get the training hours in. I can only assume its better organisation than I have and even less "sofa time".
The sponsorship is continuing to creep higher and higher... can't thank people enough for the donations... it does seem more and more people are collecting for different charities now, so for people to still give as much as they do is great! especially people I don't really know who are donating selflessly... Thank you all, I have promised myself to remember you all when I am struggling on the run, hopefully it will keep me going and keep my spirit up. If you want to help with my spirit and energy in 2 weeks, the donation button is always on the top left hand corner of the page! :-)
So, officially 17 hours of training left to do before the actual race... I'm sure I will write again before the race, until next time...!
Friday, 8 June 2012
Rubbish Weather, Peak Week and May Updates
Well I'm in the middle of Peak Week in my training 20 hours this week and then the 3 week taper beings for the race. Unfortunately the weather is back to winter by the looks of it with the wind and rain.
I don't mind running in the wind and rain but biking becomes a right pain in the backside, it's taking all my motivation to get outside on the bike, when by now it should be warm and sunny evenings. That would certainly make the biking motivation a bit easier to build up.
Ran 20.5 miles on Tuesday for the first time in this training plan. Felt good for all of it and managed a good time. I realise this doesn't reflect the marathon on the race day, I know mental strength will be what goes me through that marathon. But at least I know the running is my strongest of the three sports and if I get my head down, the miles will soon be ticked off.
I have realised the last few days, that I have been thinking of the end of this peak week as the end of it all, and it'll get easier, sometimes forgetting that the whole 30 week training has been leading up to an actual race... I haven't actually done the hard part yet. I'm hoping that the tapering weeks will let me realise that there is a race at the end of all this... and its going to be a day of hard work!!
For the last few weeks I feel like I have been grinding out quite a few of the training sessions, lacking motivation to actually start and then motivation to continue once I have got going. It's been tough but I've always been motivated by the main goal at the end of it all, so this has kept me going overall. When the taper starts I'm sure my energy and motivation will return.
May Progress Report
Below are my training hours for May, as you can see I have again upped by distances and times from April, also I seem to have done a lot more running in this period without really noticing, which either means I'm getting fitter, or I'm getting lost on my long runs! ha ha!
The overall figures are a bit insane to look at, since December 5th 2011 I have swam, biked and ran 5500km?! I guess I will need to remember this on the start line on the 1st July.
May
Swim 10 hours 11 minutes 30.5km
Bike 33 hours 49 minutes 987.3km
Run 18 hours 21 minutes 248.4km
Total 62 hours 21 minutes 1266.2km
Daily Avg. 2 hour 00 minutes 40.84km
Overall Totals
Swim 49 hours 34 minutes 144.8km
Bike 150 hours 14 minutes 4489.5km
Run 64 hours 38 minutes 883.7km
Total 264 hours 24 minutes 5518km
Sponsorship has picked up again this month with, again some generous donations. Thank you all. Link is on the right hand side if you want to donate still.
Well, its definitely on the down hill to the race now, the standard nervous feeling starts in my stomach when ever I read, or think about the actual race day... hoping the weather improves before then.
But I will have to plan for all weather eventualities come race day... I'm sure those plans and panics will be in a future post.
I don't mind running in the wind and rain but biking becomes a right pain in the backside, it's taking all my motivation to get outside on the bike, when by now it should be warm and sunny evenings. That would certainly make the biking motivation a bit easier to build up.
Ran 20.5 miles on Tuesday for the first time in this training plan. Felt good for all of it and managed a good time. I realise this doesn't reflect the marathon on the race day, I know mental strength will be what goes me through that marathon. But at least I know the running is my strongest of the three sports and if I get my head down, the miles will soon be ticked off.
I have realised the last few days, that I have been thinking of the end of this peak week as the end of it all, and it'll get easier, sometimes forgetting that the whole 30 week training has been leading up to an actual race... I haven't actually done the hard part yet. I'm hoping that the tapering weeks will let me realise that there is a race at the end of all this... and its going to be a day of hard work!!
For the last few weeks I feel like I have been grinding out quite a few of the training sessions, lacking motivation to actually start and then motivation to continue once I have got going. It's been tough but I've always been motivated by the main goal at the end of it all, so this has kept me going overall. When the taper starts I'm sure my energy and motivation will return.
May Progress Report
Below are my training hours for May, as you can see I have again upped by distances and times from April, also I seem to have done a lot more running in this period without really noticing, which either means I'm getting fitter, or I'm getting lost on my long runs! ha ha!
The overall figures are a bit insane to look at, since December 5th 2011 I have swam, biked and ran 5500km?! I guess I will need to remember this on the start line on the 1st July.
May
Swim 10 hours 11 minutes 30.5km
Bike 33 hours 49 minutes 987.3km
Run 18 hours 21 minutes 248.4km
Total 62 hours 21 minutes 1266.2km
Daily Avg. 2 hour 00 minutes 40.84km
Overall Totals
Swim 49 hours 34 minutes 144.8km
Bike 150 hours 14 minutes 4489.5km
Run 64 hours 38 minutes 883.7km
Total 264 hours 24 minutes 5518km
Sponsorship has picked up again this month with, again some generous donations. Thank you all. Link is on the right hand side if you want to donate still.
Well, its definitely on the down hill to the race now, the standard nervous feeling starts in my stomach when ever I read, or think about the actual race day... hoping the weather improves before then.
But I will have to plan for all weather eventualities come race day... I'm sure those plans and panics will be in a future post.
Monday, 28 May 2012
Best Training Week So Far!
As the title says, I think this has possibly been my best training week so far! Building confidence and distances from previous weeks.
Firstly the weather has been amazing, after a few weeks of unseasonable cold... we now have unseasonable warmth... summer is here early and it's a lot easier to train in!
three sessions made it the best week of the training schedule so far, a brilliant long run, a brilliant outdoor swim and finally the bike course recce on Saturday.
In recent weeks my long runs have either been cut short by small injuries or fatigue, which is why I moved the run to the middle of the week, to take it away from my busiest training times. Wednesday night, although very very warm, I ran 30km again, for the first time in a few weeks, again in a pretty decent time considering the heat. Hopefully I can keep this up and in the next two weeks run a couple of 32km runs (about 20 miles) and that should put me in a good position for the race.
Then on Thursday night after another boiling hot day I went open water swimming again. I was really looking forward to it this week as I knew the water would be a lot warmer than the week before, and it was, I completed 5 laps, totalling 3750 metres (just 50 metres short of race distance, in 65 minutes, which I am very happy with. I didn't push too hard either so this was a great time and the first time I have completed race distance in a continuous swim. Again another great confidence builder!
Finally, on Saturday, we went to Nottingham to recce the course. The ride was planned to be a steady slow pace and just get a feel of the course so we got no surprises on the race day. The weather again was brilliant apart from some wind, but by the end of the day we were thankful of this as it took the edge of the burning heat!
And the heat was burning, I have the tan lines to prove it! If only my navigational skills were as good as the weather! we added about an extra 10km to the race course over the day due to missed turns. They really should put more road names out on the country roads, to make it a lot easier for us lost cyclists! thankfully due to the GPS on my phone we managed to muddle around the whole route.
The bike course was great, very good roads through most of it, that were fast and easy to ride on, only one noticeable hill which was no more than 3 minutes long and quite early in the bike. So this all put me in a good mood for the race on the day, we also ran for 30 minutes by the river Trent, as the run course goes.
The ride on the course has made me feel more confident about completing the bike leg in 6 hours as I have hoped from the start of this journey.
So after a confidence building week, I have 5 weeks training left, with 2 of those weeks being 20 hours each, and then the taper begins.
Sponsorship is back on track and going great too! we have passed the £400 mark now which is amazing. But you can still donate (link in the top right) The money I'm raising will be helping a lot of sick people in their final days, the donations made by you on my behalf will certainly help me on those last few miles of the Ironman when all I want to do is give up... so, thank you all who have donated so far, and are planning to soon.
Firstly the weather has been amazing, after a few weeks of unseasonable cold... we now have unseasonable warmth... summer is here early and it's a lot easier to train in!
three sessions made it the best week of the training schedule so far, a brilliant long run, a brilliant outdoor swim and finally the bike course recce on Saturday.
In recent weeks my long runs have either been cut short by small injuries or fatigue, which is why I moved the run to the middle of the week, to take it away from my busiest training times. Wednesday night, although very very warm, I ran 30km again, for the first time in a few weeks, again in a pretty decent time considering the heat. Hopefully I can keep this up and in the next two weeks run a couple of 32km runs (about 20 miles) and that should put me in a good position for the race.
Then on Thursday night after another boiling hot day I went open water swimming again. I was really looking forward to it this week as I knew the water would be a lot warmer than the week before, and it was, I completed 5 laps, totalling 3750 metres (just 50 metres short of race distance, in 65 minutes, which I am very happy with. I didn't push too hard either so this was a great time and the first time I have completed race distance in a continuous swim. Again another great confidence builder!
Finally, on Saturday, we went to Nottingham to recce the course. The ride was planned to be a steady slow pace and just get a feel of the course so we got no surprises on the race day. The weather again was brilliant apart from some wind, but by the end of the day we were thankful of this as it took the edge of the burning heat!
And the heat was burning, I have the tan lines to prove it! If only my navigational skills were as good as the weather! we added about an extra 10km to the race course over the day due to missed turns. They really should put more road names out on the country roads, to make it a lot easier for us lost cyclists! thankfully due to the GPS on my phone we managed to muddle around the whole route.
The bike course was great, very good roads through most of it, that were fast and easy to ride on, only one noticeable hill which was no more than 3 minutes long and quite early in the bike. So this all put me in a good mood for the race on the day, we also ran for 30 minutes by the river Trent, as the run course goes.
The ride on the course has made me feel more confident about completing the bike leg in 6 hours as I have hoped from the start of this journey.
So after a confidence building week, I have 5 weeks training left, with 2 of those weeks being 20 hours each, and then the taper begins.
Sponsorship is back on track and going great too! we have passed the £400 mark now which is amazing. But you can still donate (link in the top right) The money I'm raising will be helping a lot of sick people in their final days, the donations made by you on my behalf will certainly help me on those last few miles of the Ironman when all I want to do is give up... so, thank you all who have donated so far, and are planning to soon.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
6 Weeks Left! Finally Open Water Swimming
Well... less than 6 weeks to go, and only 3 weeks before the taper starts for the race, so now really is the business end of the of this training schedule.
Last week was much better than the previous weeks training, it took me a few days to get back into it after doing very little over the weekend, but I was soon up and running with some good energy again.
Thursday night was my first open water swim of the season, after putting it off for about 3 weeks. The Top Barn lake in Worcester opened the last weekend in April, but even i knew it was too cold for that... forward 3 weeks later and even though it's still not warm, I decide to take the plunge.
It wasn't as cold as I expected, but it was still freezing cold. Anyway after a few moments getting used to the water I set off on the first lap. Within about 2 minutes I got chronic "ice cream headache" from the cold water. But I soon got used to it and swam for 2250 metres (3 laps) and decided that was enough as I couldn't feel my hands anymore. I managed quite a quick time still so feel pretty good about my swim. Plus I find swimming a lot easier in my wetsuit due to the buoyancy holding my heavy legs higher in the water.
The drive home wasn't much fun trying to get the feeling back into my hands. Hopefully with the weather being better this week the water will be warmer and I can do the full race distance and enjoy it a bit more!
Sunday afternoon I did a long ride on my TT bike. Mapped out quite a hilly 51km lap and completed it 3 times in just over 5 hours for the 154km. Apart from it being long, it felt good. Which replaced the confidence I lost last weekend.
Plans are to do a ride of the course in Nottingham this Saturday coming. To avoid any surprises on the day. The weather is forecast to be great all week, so it should be a good training week.
I have next week off work to properly concentrate on my training, and also the Monday and Tuesday Bank Holidays in the week following (which is my peak week) to ensure I have time for the training as I want to get 20 hours in both weeks doing full distance on the bike and 20 mile runs.
Busy weeks ahead! Almost there now and still feeling good overall.
As usual the sponsorship link is available in the top right hand of the page. Thanks for reading!
Last week was much better than the previous weeks training, it took me a few days to get back into it after doing very little over the weekend, but I was soon up and running with some good energy again.
Thursday night was my first open water swim of the season, after putting it off for about 3 weeks. The Top Barn lake in Worcester opened the last weekend in April, but even i knew it was too cold for that... forward 3 weeks later and even though it's still not warm, I decide to take the plunge.
It wasn't as cold as I expected, but it was still freezing cold. Anyway after a few moments getting used to the water I set off on the first lap. Within about 2 minutes I got chronic "ice cream headache" from the cold water. But I soon got used to it and swam for 2250 metres (3 laps) and decided that was enough as I couldn't feel my hands anymore. I managed quite a quick time still so feel pretty good about my swim. Plus I find swimming a lot easier in my wetsuit due to the buoyancy holding my heavy legs higher in the water.
The drive home wasn't much fun trying to get the feeling back into my hands. Hopefully with the weather being better this week the water will be warmer and I can do the full race distance and enjoy it a bit more!
Sunday afternoon I did a long ride on my TT bike. Mapped out quite a hilly 51km lap and completed it 3 times in just over 5 hours for the 154km. Apart from it being long, it felt good. Which replaced the confidence I lost last weekend.
Plans are to do a ride of the course in Nottingham this Saturday coming. To avoid any surprises on the day. The weather is forecast to be great all week, so it should be a good training week.
I have next week off work to properly concentrate on my training, and also the Monday and Tuesday Bank Holidays in the week following (which is my peak week) to ensure I have time for the training as I want to get 20 hours in both weeks doing full distance on the bike and 20 mile runs.
Busy weeks ahead! Almost there now and still feeling good overall.
As usual the sponsorship link is available in the top right hand of the page. Thanks for reading!
Monday, 14 May 2012
The Lost Weekend: Panic Sets In!
This blog has been quite positive so far, and I imagine (if anyone reads
it!?) people are thinking "ah he's finding this easy; he's not
struggling at all". Well the weekend just gone changed all that.
With a plan of around 10 hours training planned for Saturday and Sunday... I managed 3 hours.
If I had written this blog on Saturday afternoon after my 5 hour bike was reduced to 2 hours, I would have been full of doom and despair, thoughts of "I can't complete this!" and "I'm nowhere near ready" were racing through my head, and the panic of how close the race was became very real.
After some confidence building words from friends and family, I realised that one bike ride would not really make that much difference, and I started to try and find the reasoning behind it all.
After quite a bit of thought I'm still not sure what caused it, I was very lethargic and tired with no endurance at all, the speed was fine but couldn't keep it up. I imagine it was fatigue or over training?
I am not dwelling on it now though, it had to happen at some point, and I'm glad it happened now, rather than in 3/4 weeks time when I will be reaching the peak weeks of training that maybe even more damaging for my confidence.
As I enter a new week I am happy I ditched the weekends training and rested up, I feel ready to go again tomorrow and have put the 'lost weekend' behind me.
Maybe one positive out the weekend, the 2 hours I spent on the bike on Saturday (that should have been over 5 hours, but forget that bit) were good, getting comfortable on my TT bike on the bars and even in some tough winds.
Time to refocus, look forward and forget about the week gone by, one lost week in 30 will not ruin a race and I'm still confident of my abilities and goals.
No real lesson learnt from it all though, maybe a limitation learnt??
As an ending I have to say thanks to all the people who gave me those positive (balanced) views when I was panicking. You have helped throughout this training; the balanced and outside view has helped a lot and won't be forgotten
Promise to bring more positivity next week.
With a plan of around 10 hours training planned for Saturday and Sunday... I managed 3 hours.
If I had written this blog on Saturday afternoon after my 5 hour bike was reduced to 2 hours, I would have been full of doom and despair, thoughts of "I can't complete this!" and "I'm nowhere near ready" were racing through my head, and the panic of how close the race was became very real.
After some confidence building words from friends and family, I realised that one bike ride would not really make that much difference, and I started to try and find the reasoning behind it all.
After quite a bit of thought I'm still not sure what caused it, I was very lethargic and tired with no endurance at all, the speed was fine but couldn't keep it up. I imagine it was fatigue or over training?
I am not dwelling on it now though, it had to happen at some point, and I'm glad it happened now, rather than in 3/4 weeks time when I will be reaching the peak weeks of training that maybe even more damaging for my confidence.
As I enter a new week I am happy I ditched the weekends training and rested up, I feel ready to go again tomorrow and have put the 'lost weekend' behind me.
Maybe one positive out the weekend, the 2 hours I spent on the bike on Saturday (that should have been over 5 hours, but forget that bit) were good, getting comfortable on my TT bike on the bars and even in some tough winds.
Time to refocus, look forward and forget about the week gone by, one lost week in 30 will not ruin a race and I'm still confident of my abilities and goals.
No real lesson learnt from it all though, maybe a limitation learnt??
As an ending I have to say thanks to all the people who gave me those positive (balanced) views when I was panicking. You have helped throughout this training; the balanced and outside view has helped a lot and won't be forgotten
Promise to bring more positivity next week.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Rubbish Weather and April Update
After hearing an announcement that April was the wettest month in the UK since records began (100 years ago) I swore under my breath.
As we now enter May, the weather is still terrible, wind and heavy rain is really testing my resolve to get outside and train. I'm sure it would all be a million times easier if we had some sun!... Please!
Well today is officially 2 months to go until race day, and everything is getting more and more real by the day, and the distances I am doing and the time I am training is raising each week.... also the nerves seem to be increasing on a daily basis!
The last week I have found it hard to organise my training to fit around everything else, dreaming of 5 minutes I can sit on the sofa and watch TV! But I am trying to keep telling myself its only 8 (and a bit) weeks to go now, and 3 of those weeks are tapering weeks... so I just need to get my head down for 5 weeks and I will have made it!... But during that time I still need to get quite a bit of training in.
Didn't go open water swimming at the weekend, I will probably go next week now, my swimming distances are fine, so I think a few weeks getting used to the open water and my wetsuit again and I will be fine.
Completed another long brick session on Saturday (155km bike followed by a 10km run) again I felt good throughout the bike and, although sore my legs felt pretty strong. I also ate while running to get my stomach used to it.
Once the wind and rain dies down a bit (very soon hopefully) I want to get more longer rides in on my TT bike, just so I can get used to the different position for long periods of time, with two of the longer rides being on the actual race course. So I don't get any surprises on the day. Running out of time to do all this thinking about it! Need to get more organised!
Just writing a list of the key sessions I want to complete before the taper starts. Have to makes sure these can be fit into the next 5 weeks no matter what. Including the bike on the actual race course as mentioned above.
Here are my total times and distances for April and Overall so far since the start of the year. Slight increase on last month, but with less run hours after having a sore ankle for a few days.
April
Swim 10 hours 33 minutes 31.2km
Bike 34 hours 29 minutes 1044.6km
Run 10 hours 38 minutes 147.3km
Total 55 hours 40 minutes 1223.2km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 52 minutes 40.7km
Overall Totals
Swim 39 hours 23 minutes 114.3km
Bike 116 hours 25 minutes 3502.2km
Run 46 hours 17 minutes 635.3km
Total 202 hours 3 minutes 4251.9km
Signed up for the Ballot for London Marathon for next April, I don't think I will get in because its the first time I have entered but we will see.
Sponsorship page is still available, link at the top right still! Thanks to those of you who have donated this week.
As we now enter May, the weather is still terrible, wind and heavy rain is really testing my resolve to get outside and train. I'm sure it would all be a million times easier if we had some sun!... Please!
Well today is officially 2 months to go until race day, and everything is getting more and more real by the day, and the distances I am doing and the time I am training is raising each week.... also the nerves seem to be increasing on a daily basis!
The last week I have found it hard to organise my training to fit around everything else, dreaming of 5 minutes I can sit on the sofa and watch TV! But I am trying to keep telling myself its only 8 (and a bit) weeks to go now, and 3 of those weeks are tapering weeks... so I just need to get my head down for 5 weeks and I will have made it!... But during that time I still need to get quite a bit of training in.
Didn't go open water swimming at the weekend, I will probably go next week now, my swimming distances are fine, so I think a few weeks getting used to the open water and my wetsuit again and I will be fine.
Completed another long brick session on Saturday (155km bike followed by a 10km run) again I felt good throughout the bike and, although sore my legs felt pretty strong. I also ate while running to get my stomach used to it.
Once the wind and rain dies down a bit (very soon hopefully) I want to get more longer rides in on my TT bike, just so I can get used to the different position for long periods of time, with two of the longer rides being on the actual race course. So I don't get any surprises on the day. Running out of time to do all this thinking about it! Need to get more organised!
Just writing a list of the key sessions I want to complete before the taper starts. Have to makes sure these can be fit into the next 5 weeks no matter what. Including the bike on the actual race course as mentioned above.
Here are my total times and distances for April and Overall so far since the start of the year. Slight increase on last month, but with less run hours after having a sore ankle for a few days.
April
Swim 10 hours 33 minutes 31.2km
Bike 34 hours 29 minutes 1044.6km
Run 10 hours 38 minutes 147.3km
Total 55 hours 40 minutes 1223.2km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 52 minutes 40.7km
Overall Totals
Swim 39 hours 23 minutes 114.3km
Bike 116 hours 25 minutes 3502.2km
Run 46 hours 17 minutes 635.3km
Total 202 hours 3 minutes 4251.9km
Signed up for the Ballot for London Marathon for next April, I don't think I will get in because its the first time I have entered but we will see.
Sponsorship page is still available, link at the top right still! Thanks to those of you who have donated this week.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
10 Weeks to go! Entering Squeaky Bum Time?
Well the training schedule says I am into the "Peak" period of my training, less than 10 weeks to go now, and I guess this is when it all starts to get "Real".
Training is going well. I am now swimming 4k on a weekly basis, which has boosted my confidence to be able to get out the water and onto the bike in a decent state. Looking forward to getting back into some open water swimming to see what my time will be like, rests and turning in the pool don't really give a good reflection of times, but I am hoping for a swim around 1 hour 5 minutes now, based on training times. This time may change again!
Open water swimming is due to begin this coming weekend, although after recent weather I may leave it another week before i venture out.
Weekend long bikes and runs have been going well... The Saturday just gone I did 150km on the bike followed straight away by a 10km run. i expected the run to be torture, but after the first kilometre when my legs were used to it I felt great and was keeping a good pace.
This has boosted my confidence massively, and if I can slow my run down a bit I'm sure that energy will keep my going for the full marathon.
The running has been going quite well too, I am regularly running over 2 hours now, which is around 28-29km. not sure how much further I will go in training, My longest run before the half marathon was 30km about a month ago in 2 hours 10 minutes. i think 32km might be my longest run in training, this would then leave me 10km on the day to complete... hopefully mental strength will get me though this.
So... as the title says we are into "Squeaky Bum Time" to steal Alex Ferguson's end of season analogy... the nerves haven't started to kick in yet. To be honest, I don't really get nervous until the night before races, I imagine I wont be sleeping much that night.
I am occasionally getting a pang on nerves if i look at the race booklet or read about it somewhere, but overall, I'm excited and feeling strangely confident we will see how long that lasts.
So in the last 10 weeks, I will be...
Sponsorship Update
I also need to get my sponsorship moving.. currently have £312 about 40% of my £800 target so need to start tracking down some friends to get them to sponsor me.
if you want to sponsor me, please use the link in the top right of the page!
Thanks!
Training is going well. I am now swimming 4k on a weekly basis, which has boosted my confidence to be able to get out the water and onto the bike in a decent state. Looking forward to getting back into some open water swimming to see what my time will be like, rests and turning in the pool don't really give a good reflection of times, but I am hoping for a swim around 1 hour 5 minutes now, based on training times. This time may change again!
Open water swimming is due to begin this coming weekend, although after recent weather I may leave it another week before i venture out.
Weekend long bikes and runs have been going well... The Saturday just gone I did 150km on the bike followed straight away by a 10km run. i expected the run to be torture, but after the first kilometre when my legs were used to it I felt great and was keeping a good pace.
This has boosted my confidence massively, and if I can slow my run down a bit I'm sure that energy will keep my going for the full marathon.
The running has been going quite well too, I am regularly running over 2 hours now, which is around 28-29km. not sure how much further I will go in training, My longest run before the half marathon was 30km about a month ago in 2 hours 10 minutes. i think 32km might be my longest run in training, this would then leave me 10km on the day to complete... hopefully mental strength will get me though this.
So... as the title says we are into "Squeaky Bum Time" to steal Alex Ferguson's end of season analogy... the nerves haven't started to kick in yet. To be honest, I don't really get nervous until the night before races, I imagine I wont be sleeping much that night.
I am occasionally getting a pang on nerves if i look at the race booklet or read about it somewhere, but overall, I'm excited and feeling strangely confident we will see how long that lasts.
So in the last 10 weeks, I will be...
- Taking taking the long bike up to 6 hours
- Reccing the course, once hopefully twice
- Open water swimming again
- Running up to 32km.
Sponsorship Update
I also need to get my sponsorship moving.. currently have £312 about 40% of my £800 target so need to start tracking down some friends to get them to sponsor me.
if you want to sponsor me, please use the link in the top right of the page!
Thanks!
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
First Race, Revised Goal Time and March Totals
I will start with the end of the week first. To break the training up a bit I thought it would be good to get a race of some description in. So I signed up for Ironbridge half marathon which was on Sunday.
Ironbridge Half Marathon
Was hoping for around a 1:35 time, I have been regularly doing 1:32 on a flat course and as I had heard the course was quite hill so I thought this would be a good target time.
The weather was great and it looked like about 600 runners were taking part so a good sized race. I started about half way back due to the numbers starting and slowing worked my way through the field, over taking the optimistic people starting at the front. The first half of the course was mainly flat and down hill, which gave me a bit of a false sense of security, thinking I was running fast.
We had been warned about a hill at around 8 miles. The warning was needed, it was horrible, steep and long but I managed to run it all, even if the last few metres were very slow! This drained me for the last few miles that were up and down all the way, each little hill draining my legs more and more.
But I finished strong, with a time of exactly 1 hour 30 minutes, finishing 31st overall. which I am very happy with considering I had a full week of training. would be interesting if I could do a 1:25 on a flatter course with a taper before.
Overall a very good race, good organisation and great support over the Ironbridge as well.
Revising Goal Time?
The above race report kind of points to this problem... creating a conservative goal for myself, am pushing myself hard enough? If I don't manage to make a harder goal, will I be disappointed?
I have provisionally set myself a goal of 12 hours for the Ironman, but it's such a long event and so many thing could go wrong or right, I have no idea how to goal set for it properly. Also, these goals were set based on complete guess work, considering I have never cycled 112 miles before, and have only run a marathon distance once.
In training I have cycled 135km, which predicts a time of around 5hours 50 minutes for the bike, and my marathon time based on a 18.5 mile run would be around 3 hours 10 minutes.
Obviously these times can't be taken as fact due to different routes raced and the marathon time will be completely different to a stand alone marathon.
So maybe my goal should be closer to 11 hours? I think for now I wont worry about it too much, and once the even longer distance training is on the go, I will set a firmer race day goal.
March Total Times and Distances
As we have come to the end of March, I have added my total times for the month. good progression again from last month, most of the extra hours seem to be added to the bike. I'm sure the run and swims will increase as it gets warmer too.
January
Swim 10 hours 18 minutes 29.3km
Bike 22 hours 58 minutes 692.3km
Run 12 hours 4 minutes 162.4km
Total 45 hours 20 minutes 884.0km
Daily Avg 1 hour 27 minutes 28.5km
February
Swim 8 hours 27 minutes 24.1km
Bike 25 hours 01 minutes 748.2km
Run 10 hours 33 minutes 144.7km
Total 44 hours 01 minutes 917.0km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 31 minutes 31.6km
March
Swim 10 hours 05 minutes 29.7km
Bike 33 hours 54 minutes 1017.1km
Run 13 hours 03 minutes 180.9km
Total 57 hours 02 minutes 1227.7km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 51 minutes 39.6km
Sponsorship update
Finally, a quick update regarding sponsorship... i am almost half way to my £800 target, so it's all going well. Really need to start pestering a few people I think!.... so watch out if you haven't been pestered.
As usual, the link is still up at the top right for you to sponsor me.
Thanks for reading!
Ironbridge Half Marathon
Was hoping for around a 1:35 time, I have been regularly doing 1:32 on a flat course and as I had heard the course was quite hill so I thought this would be a good target time.
The weather was great and it looked like about 600 runners were taking part so a good sized race. I started about half way back due to the numbers starting and slowing worked my way through the field, over taking the optimistic people starting at the front. The first half of the course was mainly flat and down hill, which gave me a bit of a false sense of security, thinking I was running fast.
We had been warned about a hill at around 8 miles. The warning was needed, it was horrible, steep and long but I managed to run it all, even if the last few metres were very slow! This drained me for the last few miles that were up and down all the way, each little hill draining my legs more and more.
But I finished strong, with a time of exactly 1 hour 30 minutes, finishing 31st overall. which I am very happy with considering I had a full week of training. would be interesting if I could do a 1:25 on a flatter course with a taper before.
Overall a very good race, good organisation and great support over the Ironbridge as well.
Revising Goal Time?
The above race report kind of points to this problem... creating a conservative goal for myself, am pushing myself hard enough? If I don't manage to make a harder goal, will I be disappointed?
I have provisionally set myself a goal of 12 hours for the Ironman, but it's such a long event and so many thing could go wrong or right, I have no idea how to goal set for it properly. Also, these goals were set based on complete guess work, considering I have never cycled 112 miles before, and have only run a marathon distance once.
In training I have cycled 135km, which predicts a time of around 5hours 50 minutes for the bike, and my marathon time based on a 18.5 mile run would be around 3 hours 10 minutes.
Obviously these times can't be taken as fact due to different routes raced and the marathon time will be completely different to a stand alone marathon.
So maybe my goal should be closer to 11 hours? I think for now I wont worry about it too much, and once the even longer distance training is on the go, I will set a firmer race day goal.
March Total Times and Distances
As we have come to the end of March, I have added my total times for the month. good progression again from last month, most of the extra hours seem to be added to the bike. I'm sure the run and swims will increase as it gets warmer too.
January
Swim 10 hours 18 minutes 29.3km
Bike 22 hours 58 minutes 692.3km
Run 12 hours 4 minutes 162.4km
Total 45 hours 20 minutes 884.0km
Daily Avg 1 hour 27 minutes 28.5km
February
Swim 8 hours 27 minutes 24.1km
Bike 25 hours 01 minutes 748.2km
Run 10 hours 33 minutes 144.7km
Total 44 hours 01 minutes 917.0km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 31 minutes 31.6km
March
Swim 10 hours 05 minutes 29.7km
Bike 33 hours 54 minutes 1017.1km
Run 13 hours 03 minutes 180.9km
Total 57 hours 02 minutes 1227.7km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 51 minutes 39.6km
Sponsorship update
Finally, a quick update regarding sponsorship... i am almost half way to my £800 target, so it's all going well. Really need to start pestering a few people I think!.... so watch out if you haven't been pestered.
As usual, the link is still up at the top right for you to sponsor me.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, 26 March 2012
Battling The Negative Voices!
"If you can quieten the negative voice in your head, you can do anything"
That's not a real quote, well it is because I have just written it down, but I don't think any famous people have said it... but it's something that has stuck in my mind following the last week. Hopefully all will become clear as you read further on.
The start of the week was pretty much the same as my other recent weeks, work getting in the way of my training and my sleep was suffering. Tired but still training well. Spring has truly "sprung" and we are enjoying amazing weather for the time of the year, unfortunately for the majority of the week I have been stuck inside at work. unable to make the most of it.
so after a pretty mundane start to the week I finally got out in the sunshine on Saturday to train and for some reason the tiredness of the week melted away. Had a great 4 hour ride on Saturday (after the fog lifted) and felt re-energised. Amazing what the sun and a bit of warmth can do.
Then Sunday I forced myself to get my Tri Bike out again. I know some people will be reading this and thinking "forced? you should love it!"... well, as I bought it right at the end of last year, I only managed about two 20 minute rides on it, and I felt being on the tri bars difficult to control... killing my confidence.
So, back to the quote, all winter the little voice in my head has been chipping away saying "you can't ride on those bars", "you've wasted all that money", "you'll never feel safe on them".... etc, and I let those words stick.
But after some mental force I took the bike out for an hour on Sunday... and obviously the voice in my head had over blown it completely... It felt great, I spent a good 20 minutes on the bars, getting used to getting down on them and then and off them and I my confidence and mood on them grew very fast. Within no time I was riding on them in quite heavy traffic!
From an hours ride, I have managed to completely quieten the negative voice telling me I can't do it, and am now ready to push on and get stronger and even more confident on the tri bars.
Buoyed by the biking, later I set out on my weekly long run once again I had a great one... running 30km in 2 hours 10 minutes!! I surprised myself, I felt fast and strong throughout and my pace barely dropped. (McMillan run calculator estimates a 3 hours 7 minute marathon from that 30km time!!)
Overall, an amazing end to the week. Very happy I passed these tests with flying colours. These are the days I have to remember on the bad days!
Sponsorship update
After an amazingly generous donation (thank you Lisa!) and a few others I am now at the 31% of my £800 target
You can donate with the link on the top right of the page still!
Thank you again! :-)
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Halfway point! What I have learnt
Well we are officially over the half way point of the 30 week training plan, less than 15 weeks to go now and overall things are looking pretty good! I am completing more than half of all the distances so that must be a positive... right?
Not my greatest week as time training goes. But still a lot of positives to be taken from the week... The bike is up and over 4 hours now, still holding a good speed that should see the bike leg completed in around 6 hours (hopefully!).
The bike route has been released over the last week, which looks good, and I am hoping to ride the route once or twice before the race to get a feel of what I will be up against.
Running is still pretty solid, and I'm still finding it the easiest of the three to do, currently running around 26km in my long runs (taking just under 2 hours) which is a good pace at the end of some pretty tough and long weeks. Will start to add 10 minutes a week i think to get more comfortable on even longer runs.
Saturday afternoon after my long bike I decided a "steady" 30 minute run would be good to keep the legs loose... Obviously this didn't happen and I ended up smashing it as hard as i could for 5km! (stupid I know but it's the way i always am) I was very happy and surprised to look at my watch and see a 18m51s 5km... Personal best by about 30 seconds!
Should I be getting faster when I am meant to be going longer?
Swimming is also going OK, still difficult as my regular pool is still closed, but I'm making the best of it and swimming regularly... only about a month until i can get my wet suit on again!
Sponsorship is going great! I am now up to £200.... 25% of my £800 goal, which is great at this stage with over 3 months still to go. Still quite a bit to collect in and a few people to tap up for some money!
The sponsorship really is pushing me to work harder for this too, I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche but it does.
If you do want to sponsor me. The link and details of the charity are all on the right hand side at the top of the page. Thanks again.
Lessons learnt
Lessons I have learnt from the last 15 weeks...
(Note: The last two lessons, I may have learnt, but I still regularly fall foul of both of them.)
Hoping the next 15 weeks don't go as fast as the last 15, as I might not be ready, also hoping that the next 15 are warmer... I want to actually cycle and run in shorts at some point!
Onwards and upwards!
Not my greatest week as time training goes. But still a lot of positives to be taken from the week... The bike is up and over 4 hours now, still holding a good speed that should see the bike leg completed in around 6 hours (hopefully!).
The bike route has been released over the last week, which looks good, and I am hoping to ride the route once or twice before the race to get a feel of what I will be up against.
Running is still pretty solid, and I'm still finding it the easiest of the three to do, currently running around 26km in my long runs (taking just under 2 hours) which is a good pace at the end of some pretty tough and long weeks. Will start to add 10 minutes a week i think to get more comfortable on even longer runs.
Saturday afternoon after my long bike I decided a "steady" 30 minute run would be good to keep the legs loose... Obviously this didn't happen and I ended up smashing it as hard as i could for 5km! (stupid I know but it's the way i always am) I was very happy and surprised to look at my watch and see a 18m51s 5km... Personal best by about 30 seconds!
Should I be getting faster when I am meant to be going longer?
Swimming is also going OK, still difficult as my regular pool is still closed, but I'm making the best of it and swimming regularly... only about a month until i can get my wet suit on again!
Sponsorship is going great! I am now up to £200.... 25% of my £800 goal, which is great at this stage with over 3 months still to go. Still quite a bit to collect in and a few people to tap up for some money!
The sponsorship really is pushing me to work harder for this too, I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche but it does.
If you do want to sponsor me. The link and details of the charity are all on the right hand side at the top of the page. Thanks again.
Lessons learnt
Lessons I have learnt from the last 15 weeks...
- A lot of this race will be mental strength, if I can beat the voice in my head telling me to stop, or learn to ignore it, I will be more than fine!
- People are very generous with sponsorship, even when they can't really afford it.
- A lot of people think I am mental... but they only hear half of what I actually do... if they heard the rest they would want me sectioned!
- Eating and Sleeping... you can never have enough of both, when doing something like this
- Missed sessions at the start of the week are virtually impossible to catch up later in the week. One (maybe) can be caught up, but no more.
(Note: The last two lessons, I may have learnt, but I still regularly fall foul of both of them.)
Hoping the next 15 weeks don't go as fast as the last 15, as I might not be ready, also hoping that the next 15 are warmer... I want to actually cycle and run in shorts at some point!
Onwards and upwards!
Friday, 9 March 2012
Missing Outdoor Swimming and Overall Updates
I never thought I would miss swimming as much as I do now. Getting a bit tired of all the turning and "Counting the tiles" in the pool... I'm sure missing the outdoor water will disappear when I first step in Top Barn lake and feel how cold it is. Those first few weeks are so cold.
But, spring/summer are gaining pace, my morning run this morning was lighter than usual, and the sun was almost up as I was finishing. Certainly makes it a bit easier in the mornings when it's lighter and warmer.
Weekly Progress
Well last week was a pretty standard week, got back into swimming again after my usual pool has been closed for maintenance, it's a bit of a drive to get to but I'm making it work now and getting used to swimming later in the evening compared to straight after work previously... It's not ideal, but it will do for a few weeks.
Still doing a lot of time on the bike to try and get stronger, I think its working. Guess I will only know properly when I get out onto the road and start doing long distances.
Did 3 hours 50 minutes on the turbo last Saturday, felt good throughout so my time is getting up. and on that time prediction i should be able to complete the full distance in just over 6 hours, which would be great.
The next task is to add runs directly after these long bike sessions. This will test my fitness and readiness properly.
Overall Times and Distances
I realise these progress reports don't really tell what sort of time and distances I am doing. So I think i will start adding a total time and distance at the end of each month to show the volumes and progression.
January
Swim 10 hours 18 minutes 29.3km
Bike 22 hours 58 minutes 692.3km
Run 12 hours 4 minutes 162.4km
Total 45 hours 20 minutes 884.0km
Daily Avg 1 hour 27 minutes 28.5km
February
Swim 8 hours 27 minutes 24.1km
Bike 25 hours 01 minutes 748.2km
Run 10 hours 33 minutes 144.7km
Total 44 hours 01 minutes 917.0km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 31 minutes 31.6km
Well... working all that out has surprised me actually, I didn't realise I do that much daily as an average. maybe I should stop being so hard on myself about missed sessions.
Sponsorship Update
Almost forgot this part, thank you all who have sponsored me so far! I have already raised £135 so I am well on my way to my target which is brilliant! Always surprised at the generosity of people, even when most peoples money is having to stretch further than usual!
If you haven't sponsored yet, and would like to... The link is at the top of the page on the right. Thank you again! :-)
But, spring/summer are gaining pace, my morning run this morning was lighter than usual, and the sun was almost up as I was finishing. Certainly makes it a bit easier in the mornings when it's lighter and warmer.
Weekly Progress
Well last week was a pretty standard week, got back into swimming again after my usual pool has been closed for maintenance, it's a bit of a drive to get to but I'm making it work now and getting used to swimming later in the evening compared to straight after work previously... It's not ideal, but it will do for a few weeks.
Still doing a lot of time on the bike to try and get stronger, I think its working. Guess I will only know properly when I get out onto the road and start doing long distances.
Did 3 hours 50 minutes on the turbo last Saturday, felt good throughout so my time is getting up. and on that time prediction i should be able to complete the full distance in just over 6 hours, which would be great.
The next task is to add runs directly after these long bike sessions. This will test my fitness and readiness properly.
Overall Times and Distances
I realise these progress reports don't really tell what sort of time and distances I am doing. So I think i will start adding a total time and distance at the end of each month to show the volumes and progression.
January
Swim 10 hours 18 minutes 29.3km
Bike 22 hours 58 minutes 692.3km
Run 12 hours 4 minutes 162.4km
Total 45 hours 20 minutes 884.0km
Daily Avg 1 hour 27 minutes 28.5km
February
Swim 8 hours 27 minutes 24.1km
Bike 25 hours 01 minutes 748.2km
Run 10 hours 33 minutes 144.7km
Total 44 hours 01 minutes 917.0km
Daily Avg. 1 hour 31 minutes 31.6km
Well... working all that out has surprised me actually, I didn't realise I do that much daily as an average. maybe I should stop being so hard on myself about missed sessions.
Sponsorship Update
Almost forgot this part, thank you all who have sponsored me so far! I have already raised £135 so I am well on my way to my target which is brilliant! Always surprised at the generosity of people, even when most peoples money is having to stretch further than usual!
If you haven't sponsored yet, and would like to... The link is at the top of the page on the right. Thank you again! :-)
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Motivation... Why?
I've just been reading an article about Motivation, and staying motivated throughout a long race and a long training schedule to that race. One of its main points of the article was to remember why you are doing the race and the training towards it. As I read this line I instantly thought to myself, "why am I doing this?"
It's always been a question people have asked me, but I think i have always answered joking "I'm a bit mad!" or "because i can!". Which aren't real reasons!
But I must be motivated I thought, I've been training 5-6 days a week for almost 3 years now! Getting up at 5 am to run before work and training in the freezing cold, the rain and the snow are not the actions of someone who has no motivation to be a triathlete.
So whats my motivation? Some are motivated by the memory of a loved one, some to be the best they can possibly be... some to be the best in the world.
I think my motivation is that I enjoy it? (Maybe it is because I'm mad?) I enjoy the great sessions when i feel strong as well as the crap sessions where I feel like death, mainly because I know i can do better, and I want to come back and be better.
I enjoy the gradual improvement over time, and the process of gaining that improvement.
Do I want to be the best? Sure it would be nice... and maybe possible one day, but it isn't my main motivation.
Every week, usually around the middle of the week when I'm starting to feel tired and have sore muscles I think to myself "why am I putting myself through this again?", but it never lasts more than a day. Once I have had a good nights sleep, I enjoy it all again... all the motivation I need.
Maybe one day I wont enjoy it so much, this will be the time when the motivation is completely gone... a long time in the future I think.
(That was rather positive for me!)
The Weeks Progress
Bit of a difficult start to the week, after planning my usual sessions of 3 swims, 4 bikes and 4 runs. I found out the swimming pool I use will be closed all week due to a break in and glass in the pool.
Ah, back to the drawing board. So i decided to add another bike hour and another 2 strength sessions. I realised this is one of the benefits of being a triathlete, there is always some sort of training you can do. I feel sorry for the swimmers, with the pool closed they are a bit stuck.
Overall the week was very good. 8 1/2 hours on the bike including a long ride on Saturday of 3 hours 40 minutes (110km, only 70 to go!!) and 3 1/2 hours running, including 2 hours run on Sunday of 26km, which i felt strong throughout and could have ran further.
So the training still progressing well, I may do another swim next week to make up for the lost week in the pool. It shouldn't have made too much difference overall though so I'm not worried.
It's always been a question people have asked me, but I think i have always answered joking "I'm a bit mad!" or "because i can!". Which aren't real reasons!
But I must be motivated I thought, I've been training 5-6 days a week for almost 3 years now! Getting up at 5 am to run before work and training in the freezing cold, the rain and the snow are not the actions of someone who has no motivation to be a triathlete.
So whats my motivation? Some are motivated by the memory of a loved one, some to be the best they can possibly be... some to be the best in the world.
I think my motivation is that I enjoy it? (Maybe it is because I'm mad?) I enjoy the great sessions when i feel strong as well as the crap sessions where I feel like death, mainly because I know i can do better, and I want to come back and be better.
I enjoy the gradual improvement over time, and the process of gaining that improvement.
Do I want to be the best? Sure it would be nice... and maybe possible one day, but it isn't my main motivation.
Every week, usually around the middle of the week when I'm starting to feel tired and have sore muscles I think to myself "why am I putting myself through this again?", but it never lasts more than a day. Once I have had a good nights sleep, I enjoy it all again... all the motivation I need.
Maybe one day I wont enjoy it so much, this will be the time when the motivation is completely gone... a long time in the future I think.
(That was rather positive for me!)
The Weeks Progress
Bit of a difficult start to the week, after planning my usual sessions of 3 swims, 4 bikes and 4 runs. I found out the swimming pool I use will be closed all week due to a break in and glass in the pool.
Ah, back to the drawing board. So i decided to add another bike hour and another 2 strength sessions. I realised this is one of the benefits of being a triathlete, there is always some sort of training you can do. I feel sorry for the swimmers, with the pool closed they are a bit stuck.
Overall the week was very good. 8 1/2 hours on the bike including a long ride on Saturday of 3 hours 40 minutes (110km, only 70 to go!!) and 3 1/2 hours running, including 2 hours run on Sunday of 26km, which i felt strong throughout and could have ran further.
So the training still progressing well, I may do another swim next week to make up for the lost week in the pool. It shouldn't have made too much difference overall though so I'm not worried.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
The Eternal Struggle!
Well, we are beginning to see the end if winter (I hope!), its staying lighter later at night and the last couple of days have certainly been warmer than the minus temperatures we were subjected to the last few weeks.
But, the eternal struggle still carries on.... picture the alarm going off on a Wednesday morning at 5am, the bedside lap being turned on, and me turning over and going back to sleep... it seems to be a common occurrence for me.
Granted I do make quite a few early morning starts, most weeks I plan 3 or 4 and make most of them... but its rare I mate all of them. This morning was a prime example. I was awake as soon as my alarm went off, but I just couldn't drag myself out of bed to get ready for my run.
Maybe I'm kidding myself that it is easier when the mornings are lighter, but I really think it is... I guess we will see in a few months, at the moment I have no idea how I can motivate myself to make every morning training session. If I did, it would make my weeks so much easier, instead I have to do two training sessions in the evening, which loses valuable recovery time.
Does the extra hour in bed in the morning make up for the lost recovery time in the evenings? Who knows, I would guess not.
It's not as if I am always still tired from the previous days exercise either, on one occasion I have just lay in bed, not going back to sleep instead of getting out. Granted that was in the colder mornings.
So that is my next task, possibly I will give up going back to sleep for lent?
Last Week
Overall, last week was a good week. Did 16 hours training overall. Including a long bike of 3 hours 30 minutes on Saturday (103km). First time I have gone over 100km on the bike... only 80km to go! ha ha!
The 10km run route i do twice a week, my average times are coming down all the time. Averaging under 41 minutes now, which was over 43 minutes back in November... so at the same time as getting stronger I seem to be getting quicker... more by accident than planned.
Hoping to get the bike out on the road again soon when it really does warm up... looking forward to it. getting a bit sick of the turbo trainer!
But, the eternal struggle still carries on.... picture the alarm going off on a Wednesday morning at 5am, the bedside lap being turned on, and me turning over and going back to sleep... it seems to be a common occurrence for me.
Granted I do make quite a few early morning starts, most weeks I plan 3 or 4 and make most of them... but its rare I mate all of them. This morning was a prime example. I was awake as soon as my alarm went off, but I just couldn't drag myself out of bed to get ready for my run.
Maybe I'm kidding myself that it is easier when the mornings are lighter, but I really think it is... I guess we will see in a few months, at the moment I have no idea how I can motivate myself to make every morning training session. If I did, it would make my weeks so much easier, instead I have to do two training sessions in the evening, which loses valuable recovery time.
Does the extra hour in bed in the morning make up for the lost recovery time in the evenings? Who knows, I would guess not.
It's not as if I am always still tired from the previous days exercise either, on one occasion I have just lay in bed, not going back to sleep instead of getting out. Granted that was in the colder mornings.
So that is my next task, possibly I will give up going back to sleep for lent?
Last Week
Overall, last week was a good week. Did 16 hours training overall. Including a long bike of 3 hours 30 minutes on Saturday (103km). First time I have gone over 100km on the bike... only 80km to go! ha ha!
The 10km run route i do twice a week, my average times are coming down all the time. Averaging under 41 minutes now, which was over 43 minutes back in November... so at the same time as getting stronger I seem to be getting quicker... more by accident than planned.
Hoping to get the bike out on the road again soon when it really does warm up... looking forward to it. getting a bit sick of the turbo trainer!
Monday, 13 February 2012
Progress Report: 20 weeks to go
The week before last I decided on a recovery week, so dropped the hours down to about 9 and tried to get as much rest as possible... had felt lethargic and tired the week before and i was due a rest after 5 solid weeks since Christmas.
This week just gone, i was back into it. Unfortunately, the cold weather and snow stunted my motivation slightly, so all my usual weekly early morning sessions didn't happen, not really a great idea because it meant moving them all to the evenings, meaning i was going to bed later and later and missing the next morning session, a vicious circle all week.
But i finished the week with a good weekend, a 3 hours 20 minute (97km) ride on the turbo on Saturday and a long run on Sunday on tired legs. was a struggle but managed 22km and it felt like a mental achievement more than a physical one, which will hopefully help me in the darker hours of racing. I still did 14 hours for the week, so I'm still training very well.
Also earlier in the week I upped my Tuesday swim to 3500m for the first time this season, as boring as it was in the pool, it felt like a good to almost get to race distance this early.
So... as the title suggests, 20 weeks to go! Feeling pretty good at this stage, over half way there on the bike now,way ahead on running and ticking over nicely in the pool.
I will still be putting in extra hours on the bike to get stronger in that area and still steadily increasing the hours overall.
Just praying for some warmer weather now, might be easier to get out of bed.
This week just gone, i was back into it. Unfortunately, the cold weather and snow stunted my motivation slightly, so all my usual weekly early morning sessions didn't happen, not really a great idea because it meant moving them all to the evenings, meaning i was going to bed later and later and missing the next morning session, a vicious circle all week.
But i finished the week with a good weekend, a 3 hours 20 minute (97km) ride on the turbo on Saturday and a long run on Sunday on tired legs. was a struggle but managed 22km and it felt like a mental achievement more than a physical one, which will hopefully help me in the darker hours of racing. I still did 14 hours for the week, so I'm still training very well.
Also earlier in the week I upped my Tuesday swim to 3500m for the first time this season, as boring as it was in the pool, it felt like a good to almost get to race distance this early.
So... as the title suggests, 20 weeks to go! Feeling pretty good at this stage, over half way there on the bike now,way ahead on running and ticking over nicely in the pool.
I will still be putting in extra hours on the bike to get stronger in that area and still steadily increasing the hours overall.
Just praying for some warmer weather now, might be easier to get out of bed.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Just Giving Page is Live!
The Just Giving page to donate to Compton Hospice on behalf of me completing the Outlaw Ironman is now avaliable.
There is a link on the right hand side ->
Or click here to visit the page http://www.justgiving.com/tomvstheoutlaw
Or you can donate by text sending "BENO99 £1" to 70070 to donate a £1 (amount can be £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10)
Many thanks for your support!
There is a link on the right hand side ->
Or click here to visit the page http://www.justgiving.com/tomvstheoutlaw
Or you can donate by text sending "BENO99 £1" to 70070 to donate a £1 (amount can be £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10)
Many thanks for your support!
Next stop the Insane Asylum
I started writing this post in my head while out for a quick run just after a couple of hours on the turbo trainer. It was minus something degrees, the snow was just beginning to fall and I'm looking sheepishly at a passing ambulance and Police car thinking I might get committed for being out running in this weather.
Then i start to wonder what all the people in the cars passing are thinking about me. Do they think I'm a few cans short of a 6 pack? Do they admire my commitment?
I must admit running in the cold has never bothered me. The cold doesn't really affect me too much when running so i can live with it... cycling in the cold however is another story, it seems no matter how many layers I wear it feels horrible. The pain of the cold in your hands and feet is unbearable for me. so i always look at winter cyclists with admiration. (I will freely admit i have been on the turbo trainer for ALL cycling since the end of October!)
I guess, as its the general public there is a mixture of thoughts, some think we are mental, some admire us,at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what they think... because if it did we wouldn't do it!
I will just have to go back to my mind flicking between how much stronger it is making me, and wishing i could afford a few weeks in Lanzarote at this time of the year!
Keep saying "Hi!" to the other poor cyclists and runners who are braving the cold and I'm sure spring and summer will be here before we know it!
While i have been writing this the snow has really started falling... I've become a bit excited about my off road long run tomorrow morning!.... maybe i do need to be committed?
Then i start to wonder what all the people in the cars passing are thinking about me. Do they think I'm a few cans short of a 6 pack? Do they admire my commitment?
I must admit running in the cold has never bothered me. The cold doesn't really affect me too much when running so i can live with it... cycling in the cold however is another story, it seems no matter how many layers I wear it feels horrible. The pain of the cold in your hands and feet is unbearable for me. so i always look at winter cyclists with admiration. (I will freely admit i have been on the turbo trainer for ALL cycling since the end of October!)
I guess, as its the general public there is a mixture of thoughts, some think we are mental, some admire us,at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what they think... because if it did we wouldn't do it!
I will just have to go back to my mind flicking between how much stronger it is making me, and wishing i could afford a few weeks in Lanzarote at this time of the year!
Keep saying "Hi!" to the other poor cyclists and runners who are braving the cold and I'm sure spring and summer will be here before we know it!
While i have been writing this the snow has really started falling... I've become a bit excited about my off road long run tomorrow morning!.... maybe i do need to be committed?
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Charity Chosen and Last Weeks Progress
Charity Choice
From the start of this journey i decided i was going to raise money for a Charity, as it's the first time i am doing this distance.
I have done similar previously raising money when i did Wolverhampton Marathon in 2009 and also raising money when i did London Triathlon (my first Olympic distance) back in 2010.
Previously i have raised money for the Cardiomyopathy association. this is a small charity that does work with people with Cadiomyopathy, a heart problem that sadly killed a close friend a few years ago. So it was a Charity close to me.
This year for the Ironman I have decided to change the charity i raise for, mainly to spread the generous money I receive off people to other needy causes.
I thought about depression charities, after recently a school friend committed suicide and I have also known a lot of people go through depression, which is still a very much misunderstood condition.
But in the end I have decided, i will raise the most money for a local charity. In fact i have chosen a charity that is very local to me (about half a mile down the road). I have chosen to raise sponsorship for Compton Hospice.
Compton Hospice is a local hospice that covers a lot of the local area, including Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, South Staffordshire and East Shropshire. There purpose is to make a difference to people’s lives when their illness is no longer curable. They do this by treating people, not conditions, whether their needs are physical, psychological, social or spiritual.
(Information taken directly from the Compton Hospice website http://www.compton-hospice.org.uk/)
There will be a link to a Justgiving.com web page soon when I have created it, that I will be posting in each blog. I am hoping to raise as close to £1000 as possible. previously for other charities I have raised £800ish and with this being a much bigger undertaking I hope to raise more this time.
Weekly progress
I am trying to make convince myself to write this weekly progress more regularly, as at the end of the day this is what the blog is about. Hopefully i will find some stuff that's interesting to write about! ha ha.
Last week went well again! Long Bike and Long Run are the main focus for most my training up to the Ironman and they went well this weekend. 3 hours 5 minutes on the turbo trainer got me to 90km on Saturday morning (the half way mark for the bike) and i felt pretty good after to.
Then Sunday morning I ran for 1 hours 50mins, exactly 15 miles which according to the McMillan run calculator, that would give me a 3:23 marathon time!! Which is a great surprise and taken with a pinch of salt at the moment. Obviously I will not be aiming for that time after the Bike and Run... but it might be useful later on in the year (watch this space)
So overall I did 16 hours this week, easily my biggest week so far... hoping to keep up the consistency of the last 3 weeks and keep getting stronger, fitter and further.
From the start of this journey i decided i was going to raise money for a Charity, as it's the first time i am doing this distance.
I have done similar previously raising money when i did Wolverhampton Marathon in 2009 and also raising money when i did London Triathlon (my first Olympic distance) back in 2010.
Previously i have raised money for the Cardiomyopathy association. this is a small charity that does work with people with Cadiomyopathy, a heart problem that sadly killed a close friend a few years ago. So it was a Charity close to me.
This year for the Ironman I have decided to change the charity i raise for, mainly to spread the generous money I receive off people to other needy causes.
I thought about depression charities, after recently a school friend committed suicide and I have also known a lot of people go through depression, which is still a very much misunderstood condition.
But in the end I have decided, i will raise the most money for a local charity. In fact i have chosen a charity that is very local to me (about half a mile down the road). I have chosen to raise sponsorship for Compton Hospice.
Compton Hospice is a local hospice that covers a lot of the local area, including Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, South Staffordshire and East Shropshire. There purpose is to make a difference to people’s lives when their illness is no longer curable. They do this by treating people, not conditions, whether their needs are physical, psychological, social or spiritual.
(Information taken directly from the Compton Hospice website http://www.compton-hospice.org.uk/)
There will be a link to a Justgiving.com web page soon when I have created it, that I will be posting in each blog. I am hoping to raise as close to £1000 as possible. previously for other charities I have raised £800ish and with this being a much bigger undertaking I hope to raise more this time.
Weekly progress
I am trying to make convince myself to write this weekly progress more regularly, as at the end of the day this is what the blog is about. Hopefully i will find some stuff that's interesting to write about! ha ha.
Last week went well again! Long Bike and Long Run are the main focus for most my training up to the Ironman and they went well this weekend. 3 hours 5 minutes on the turbo trainer got me to 90km on Saturday morning (the half way mark for the bike) and i felt pretty good after to.
Then Sunday morning I ran for 1 hours 50mins, exactly 15 miles which according to the McMillan run calculator, that would give me a 3:23 marathon time!! Which is a great surprise and taken with a pinch of salt at the moment. Obviously I will not be aiming for that time after the Bike and Run... but it might be useful later on in the year (watch this space)
So overall I did 16 hours this week, easily my biggest week so far... hoping to keep up the consistency of the last 3 weeks and keep getting stronger, fitter and further.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Progress Report!
Current Progress
I have realised after all the posts I have sent, I haven't actually done a progress report on how the training is going! So I suppose I should...
Well before Christmas and over the Christmas break I was averaging about 10-11 hours a week. This included a long bike and a long run at the weekend.
All my winter training is in heart rate zone 2. So I am staying aerobic and building the best base possible for the longer slower endurance sessions ahead later in the year. Finding I already have a decent base, and can keep quite a good pace in zone 2.
The long bike has been mainly on the turbo trainer (as I can't cope with the cold!) progressing over the last couple of weeks to 2 hours 30 minutes at pretty good speed. planning to continue to take this longer and longer, adding 10-15 minutes a week.
The long runs have definitely been easier than the long bikes... I am running 20km once a week and taking about 1 hour 35 minutes to complete it. All in Heart rate zone 2, so still aerobic. Again the plan is to add 5-10 minutes a week to this time to keep the runs getting longer.
The swims are progressing nicely too, I am now swimming three times a week (total 3 hours ish), which is an increase from last seasons 2 hours a week. A lot of my swimming work is technique and drills at the moment trying to get a better technique to make swimming faster and longer a little bit easier.
Goals for January and February
For the rest of January and February the goals are basically to continue to train consistently and continue to increase the long run and long bike times and distances.
I hope to take the long run over 2 hours, so that i am running around 24-25km. For this I think i will need to start taking gels or food. As currently I am starting to tire a lot at 1 hour 30 mins.
For the long bike, I hope to take it up to 4 hours. This would be hopefully up and around 110-120km. I think this will take longer to reach than the long run goal, as I find adding miles on the bike to be difficult. i may need to slow my pace down so that i can reach this goal, and then add speed later.
And my final goal for the next month or so is to get out on my new Time-trial bike (or put it on the turbo trainer if the weather is bad). I really need to get used to riding in the more extreme position and get used to steering more confidently, and once I can do that I can put the power down on it properly.
So overall, I think i am progressing well. I think i am ahead of schedule so as long as i keep improving steadily I will be more than OK.
Onwards and upwards!
I have realised after all the posts I have sent, I haven't actually done a progress report on how the training is going! So I suppose I should...
Well before Christmas and over the Christmas break I was averaging about 10-11 hours a week. This included a long bike and a long run at the weekend.
All my winter training is in heart rate zone 2. So I am staying aerobic and building the best base possible for the longer slower endurance sessions ahead later in the year. Finding I already have a decent base, and can keep quite a good pace in zone 2.
The long bike has been mainly on the turbo trainer (as I can't cope with the cold!) progressing over the last couple of weeks to 2 hours 30 minutes at pretty good speed. planning to continue to take this longer and longer, adding 10-15 minutes a week.
The long runs have definitely been easier than the long bikes... I am running 20km once a week and taking about 1 hour 35 minutes to complete it. All in Heart rate zone 2, so still aerobic. Again the plan is to add 5-10 minutes a week to this time to keep the runs getting longer.
The swims are progressing nicely too, I am now swimming three times a week (total 3 hours ish), which is an increase from last seasons 2 hours a week. A lot of my swimming work is technique and drills at the moment trying to get a better technique to make swimming faster and longer a little bit easier.
Goals for January and February
For the rest of January and February the goals are basically to continue to train consistently and continue to increase the long run and long bike times and distances.
I hope to take the long run over 2 hours, so that i am running around 24-25km. For this I think i will need to start taking gels or food. As currently I am starting to tire a lot at 1 hour 30 mins.
For the long bike, I hope to take it up to 4 hours. This would be hopefully up and around 110-120km. I think this will take longer to reach than the long run goal, as I find adding miles on the bike to be difficult. i may need to slow my pace down so that i can reach this goal, and then add speed later.
And my final goal for the next month or so is to get out on my new Time-trial bike (or put it on the turbo trainer if the weather is bad). I really need to get used to riding in the more extreme position and get used to steering more confidently, and once I can do that I can put the power down on it properly.
So overall, I think i am progressing well. I think i am ahead of schedule so as long as i keep improving steadily I will be more than OK.
Onwards and upwards!
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