Author: 00snook

Stubbington Green 10K – The Acid Test

On By 00snookIn 10K, barefoot, competition, motivation, race, running, short shorts, Stubbington, trainingLeave a comment

It’s 7am on Sunday 18th January and my alarm has just gone off, must be time for the Stubbington Green 10K.

Now as this is my first event of 2015 I was understandably excited and keen to get going.  My reaction to the alarm going off was to set it to go off again at 8am and get back to sleep.  God knows why I was getting up so early for a 10am race start.  What was I thinking?

So, it’s 8am on Sunday 18th January and my alarm has just gone off (for the second time), must be time for the Stubbington Green 10K.

Up out of bed, shower, running gear on, bowl of porridge and I am out the door on the way to Stubbington.  The weather forecast was for it to be cold but the rain to stay away.  The look of the sky as I got closer to Stubbington said otherwise and as I parked my car I was hoping that the weather would hold and it would not rain.

Really, running in the rain doesn’t bother me; however I run either barefoot or in my Luna Sandals (picture on the right) most of the time and barefoot running in the rain is no fun.  Your feet get cold and the wet ground has a much more abrasive effect on your feet than when it is dry.  Deciding to stick with the sandals I put my rain jacket in my bag (just in case) and headed towards the main race area at the community centre.

Having already collected my race number, I only had to drop off my bag and then I was ready to go.  Now when I say it was cold it was cold.  Too cold for standing around in running gear, so after a quick trip to the loo I slowly jogged towards the start.

The start was set in waves, with me going in the green wave (second to last group) as my projected run time was around 60 minutes and the organisers would not want a plodder like me holding up the swifter runners.

It was my plan to meet up with Curry before the race; however he had given me the cryptic directions to meet him “where the closed Budgens used to be”.  Now I had now idea where this might be in the village of Stubbington so just decided to keep an eye out for him at the start.  Sure enough I spotted him whilst I was jogging on the spot and doing a bit of stretching to keep warm.  

Curry in his “short shorts”

Curry clearly does not feel the cold like I do, as he had on a pair of shorts that really did not leave very much to the imagination.  Have you ever heard that song “Who Wears Short Shorts” by The Royal Teens?  If you haven’t, allow me to explain.  In the song they sing “Who wears short shorts?”.  Well the answer to that question is that Curry wears short shorts.  I have enclosed a picture on the left to give you an idea just how short his shorts were.  

Anyway, after I got over the initial shock of just how short Curry’s shorts were, we had a brief chat before it was time for the off.  Curry jogged ahead to join his wave (as he is a quicker runner than I am) and I headed back down the queue of starters to join in with the fellow green wave competitiors.

Before the race I had two ideas in my head.  Firstly I wanted to try to get under 60 minutes, with a stretch target of under 55 minutes if I felt good on the day.  Secondly I wanted to run a negative split.

A negative split is when you run the second half of the race faster than the first half.  This is standard practice for most professional athletes.  Also it works brilliantly for each leg of a triathlon as you get time to adjust to the new discipline as you swap between swimming/cycling/running.  Practicing running a negative split is always a good idea.

Crossing the start line I start my Garmin running and set out at a comfortable pace.  Glancing down at my watch after a few minutes I noticed I was running at 5:15min/km pace.  This is a bit quick for me; however I felt good and my heart rate was around threshold so I decided to stick with it.

Quick note on threshold heart rate.  This is between 82% and 87% of your maximum heart rate and is an intensity that you should be able to maintain for an hour.  My maximum heart rate is 191, meaning that threshold occurs somewhere around 156-166 beats per minute. 

Running downhill, then up, I was quickly past the 2km mark and then the 3km mark.  I still felt good and was holding steady at around 5:30min/km with a steady heart rate between 155 and 160bpm.  Things were going well and I felt great.  It was superb to be running with such a large group of fellow athletes (2000 registered for the event) and I was even overtaking a few people.

Grabbing a bottle of water just before the 5km mark I had a couple of swigs, dropped the bottle in the bin then had a think about what I should do.  I was through 5km in around 27 minutes and felt OK.  It was always my plan to run the second half of the race faster than the first, but how much faster?  Kicking on I made a concerted effort to keep my pace as close to 5:10min/km as I could.  This was all going well until we got to the only major hill on the course.  Determined to get up this hill quickly and not let it slow my pace I pushed hard and remarkably my body responded well.  I flew past a good few runners and getting to the top of the hill felt fine.  My heart rate was up but recovered quickly and I was back to pace again.

It was at this point that a huge smile came across my face.  I realised that I can actually do this running business.  My race plan was working.  All of the hours I have spent in the pool, on the bike and running the dark cold streets of Pompey were paying off.  I couldn’t help thinking about Trevor (Triathlon coach) and the gang who I train with on Monday’s and Wednesday nights.  All of those evenings spent with Trevor putting us through punishing intervals were for exactly this.  There is danger of me becoming a proper Triathlete yet!

Pushing on past the 7km mark for the final 3km I felt brilliant.  My pace remained at around 5min/km and I was overtaking even more people.  With 2km to go I picked up my run rate determined to put in a quick end to the race.  With 1km to go I matched the very lithe and extremely quick fella next to me stride for stride right up to 50 metres from the line (where he finally put the burners on and lost me).

Over the line I stopped my watch and was gobsmacked as it read 52:36.  52 minutes and 36 seconds!  I, James “Iron” Snook, had run 10K in 52 minutes and 36 seconds.  This is a whopping 11 minutes faster than I had ever run 10K before.  To say I was pleased was an understatement.

My race plan had worked perfectly.  I ran a negative split, never ran out of energy and felt great for the entire run.  I attacked the uphills, relaxed on the downhills and really really enjoyed my race.  

As I sit on my sofa writing this I simply cannot wait for the rest of the 2015 season.  I will keep training hard, keep trying to eat right and hopefully go onto another personal best at the Arundel Lido Triathlon in May (my next event).

I hope that you and your family have had a great weekend.  Keep your eyes peeled for another blog update soon.

TTFN

James

PS – If you are wondering about how Curry got on in his short shorts, he did rather well.  He also recorded a 10K PB of 51:33.  Perhaps there is something in these short shorts?  They really were so short!


Can I take the pace………..so far so good

On By 00snookIn 10K, injury, resiliance, rest, running, Stubbington, trainingLeave a comment

All of a sudden I am starting to feel a lot fitter.  I am not entirely sure why but there is no doubt that I just generally feel fitter.

I mentioned this to my Tri coach tonight and he claims it is all down to him.  Perhaps he is right (though I would never admit that with him around). Trevor’s coaching that I attend on Mondays and Wednesdays is excellent and I love the sessions.  Bushy and I have started to do a bit extra too, going to the gym before and swimming after the Monday mobility sessions.  The Wednesday sessions are bike then mobility then swim and are 2.5 hours long so in total we are hitting about 5 hours training on Mondays and Wednesdays alone.

The view from my turbo trainer

What is most alarming is how much I am starting to enjoy my training.  When I am not attending the organised Monday and Wednesday sessions I find myself working out what I can fit on on that day. Be it a run, a swim or a turbo trainer session on my bike I am finding my drive to get on with training is very high.  

I managed just under 7 hours training last week (not including 2 hours of mobility work) which is getting towards my target of 10 hours per week.  If you are interested in more details about my training, I log everything on Strava and you can follow me here. https://www.strava.com/athletes/3133662?utm_source=top-nav

You could put it down to the fact that I have increased my training workload to my sudden feeling of increased fitness, but sadly I have only really done 1 week of increased workload and was incredibly lazy over the Christmas period so it can’t be down to this.  

Fortunately there is an acid test for all of this increased feeling of fitness.  On Sunday 18th Jan I am running the Stubbington Green 10K.  This is a local 10K race which I am competing in with a couple of mates and is my first event of 2015.  

As regular blog readers will know, running is by far my weakest triathlon discipline.  Over Christmas and through New Year I made a conscious effort to increase my running workload as I have now got only 12 weeks to the Brighton Marathon.  The unfortunate effect of this increased running is that I have picked up a niggling injury.  Is only a minor tendon strain and will go away with rest but it is slowing down my run training (in fact this week I have done no running at all).

So back to Stubbington on Sunday.  If my niggling injury holds itself at bay then it is the real test of whether I really have really got fitter or I just “feel” fitter.  My fastest ever 10K is 1hr 3mins, which was recorded at the end of a triathlon.  A stand alone 10K should be quicker than this as I have not had to swim and cycle first. IT is also worth considering that I have never run a stand alone 10K in a race before.

My fastest ever 5K is 26 minutes dead.  Logically a 10K should be double this plus add a bit on as it is obviously further so maintaining 5K pace for 10K would be challenging.  Using the Runners World Race Time Predictor, it tells me my 10K time should be 54 mins and 12 seconds.  I would be absolutely over the moon with any time under 55 minutes.  We will have to wait and see.

This is a bit of a rambling blog post with no real point so as I have jumped around all over the place it is worth mentioning one more thing.  I have launched my fundraising this week and now have a Just Giving page set up.  Please take a moment to have a look at the fantastic charity that I have chosen to compete for and the reasons why.  It would mean the world to me to hit my fundraising target and help a lot of unwell children and their families.

I think that about sums it up for this update.  My next update will be on Sunday after the race.  Fingers crossed that I am reporting a superb race and a quick time.

Take care all.

James


The fear of getting hurt

On By 00snookIn 2015, bike, biking, challenge weymouth, injury, ironman, resiliance, rest, running, swim, swimming, trainingLeave a comment

So the 2015 training is well under way.  With almost 4 hours of training already logged this week and a further swim and bike and long run to go onto the list I am going to be somewhere near my target of 10 hours of training.  The big question is, can I sustain this level?

The simple answer is, I have no idea.  It would appear logical that the more you train the more likely you are to get injured; however this is not necessarily the case.  Injuries are most likely to occur when you either increase your intensity too fast, or increase your distances too quickly.

Also it is logical that if I am going to get injured it will be whilst running.  When you consider run training, swim training and bike training the running definitely places the largest strain on my body.  Because of this it is clear that the run training is the one thing that I have to be the most careful with when it comes to doing more of it.

QE Parkrun on New Years Day

As part of my marathon training (Brighton Marathon is on April 12th) I am slowly increasing the distance of my”long runs”.  My last one was 10 miles, so this Sunday I have to do 11 miles etc etc.  As long as I keep the pace slow I should be able to complete the mileage without picking up any major injuries.  That’s the plan anyway 🙂

It is unlikely I will pick up any serious injuries cycling.  Cycling is low impact and as long as I listen to my body and keep a very close eye on any potential niggles I should be OK with increasing the weekly bike mileage.

Swimming is a bit of an unknown quantity to me.  It tires me out like nothing else and I do tend to feel it in my upper back and triceps when I have done a hard training session.  Whether I am likely to pick up an injury I just don’t know.  Guess I will just have to be careful.

The long and short of this post is that I live in almost permanent fear that I will get injured and be unable to train enough.  I spent most of last year with one sort of injury or another (especially the ongoing shin splints issues which have finally gone away) and am desperate for 2015 to not be plagued by injury so I can get in some quality training and a few good competitions, culminating in the Ironman in September.

That’s really it for this post, other than this very cool video from Strava showing my stats for 2014.  Is very quick and worth a look.  

TTFN.

James

//www.youtube.com/get_player




New Year – here we go!

On By 00snookIn 2015, bike, biking, challenge weymouth, competiton, cycling, ironman, marathon, motivation, PB, running, swim, swimming, training, triathlonLeave a comment

So it’s the 1st January 2015, the first day of the year that I will become an Ironman.  In fact, it is a mere 254 days until the race, so it is time to get organised.

It is fairly self evident that to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and then run a marathon you need to do a fair bit of training.  Pretty much everything I have read recommends trying to do about 10 hours training per week as a minimum.  This may sound fairly easy; however when you think about it 10 hours is more than an entire working day for most people.  It is a fair chunk of time to find and with a new baby Snook due in February it may prove tricky to fit the training in.

To combat against this as soon as I find a new job (I was made redundant on the 31st December 2014) I am going to hire myself a proper coach to help me along the way.  The man for the job is already lined up, all I need now is somebody to employ me.  I am open to any reasonable offers 🙂

So that takes care of the training part.  Next onto nutrition.  


There is no doubt in my mind that all the training in the world cannot fight against a poor diet.  I have never been one for dieting, in fact you could say that I have always been rather against the idea.  Food is delicious.  I eat almost everything (not keen on rice pudding or things like spotted dick, though I imagine I could eat them if forced).  Other than that I love it all.  

My wife and I are also partial to a take-a-way or 12 and I have always prided my self on being a good cook.  Nice tasting food is often not the most healthy (even when you cook it yourself) and for those reasons I have always pretty much eaten whatever I liked.

This has seen my weight rise from a svelt 13 stone (182 lbs – 83kg) when I was a teenager, to a much more portly 16 stone (224 lbs – 102kg) at the start of 2014.  Currently I weigh somewhere just over 14 stone (196lbs – 90kg), although I haven’t weighed myself post Christmas.

There is a lot of debate about what “race weight” people should compete at; however I have decided that whilst putting on my wetsuit in 254 days time I would like to weigh around 75kg (165lbs or just under 12 stone).  If I am being brutally honest I haven’t weighed this much since I was about 12.  That being said weight plays such a huge role in long distance triathlon that it is well worth my while to get the weight down and keep it down.

To do this, I am intending to follow a fairly simple mantra. 

Eat clean and make the right decisions 90% of the time.

“Eating clean” is a phrase that has been around in training for some time and simply refers to making sure that your diet does not have processed foods or an abundance of unhealthy fats or sugars in it.

I am also cutting out some things from my diet entirely.  This is going to be very tough for me, as the things I am cutting out are many of the things I simply love to eat/drink.  The list of these is below.

  • Alcohol
  • Take-a-way food
  • Crisps
  • Desserts
Some people might say that life without the above wouldn’t be worth living and in all honesty they may well be right.  As such I am not going to entirely deny myself the good things in life.  I still intend to eat an occasional bit of chocolate (especially when I have trained hard that day) and cake is a staple diet of most triathletes so will still have an odd bit of that when offered.  As my mantra says, I need to eat clean and make the right decisions on food 90% of the time.  If I have an occasional sausage roll or roast potato this is not going to kill me as long as I eat clean for the majority.

Other than that I will be cooking my own meals a lot more, utilising my slow cooker to make some delicious healthy stews and currys and eating a lot of porridge for breakfast.

The porridge worked well for me todayas I recorded a PB at the Queen Elizabeth Parkrun this morning.  Proof I actually attended is below (in the form of some muddy trainers)

So I think that is about it for my first blog update of the year.  I will be better at keeping this blog up to date during 2015 and will try to post on a weekly basis.

Fingers crossed I will find something interesting to talk about. I am feeling very confident about 2015 and cannot wait to get stuck into plenty of training and a few events.

Happy New Year to you and your family.  James












Everything is in place………I might just pull this off

On By 00snookIn barefoot, challenge weymouth, competiton, cycling, grazing saddles, injury, ironman, marathon, minimalist, motivation, neuroblastoma, resiliance, running, shin pain, Southsea, swimming, training, triathlonLeave a comment

For the first time since I undertook the challenge to complete an Ironman I am starting to feel that it might just be possible.

When I first told my loved ones of my intention to compete in an Ironman Triathlon I received the following comments:

My Mum         – “Are you sure James.  It sounds like a lot to take on”
My Friends     – A mixture of utter astonishment and general sniggering
My Nan          – “Well my dentist does Triathlons dear and he is much fitter than you”
Cat (my wife) – “You’re going to die”

Now of course all of these comments were completely fair.  I was out of shape.  Very out of shape.  I weighed over 16 stone, couldn’t run to the end of the road without stopping, hadn’t ridden a bike since I was about 10 and the last time I swam anywhere was when I swam from the side of the pool to the pool bar on honeymoon.

Over a year later and things are rather different.  For the first time in forever (to quote from Frozen) I am starting to feel fit.  Weight is slowly dropping off, despite my tendencies to eat entire bags of Doritos and quite a bit of chocolate.  Also I have recently had a great success………..

I CAN RUN !!!!!!!!

All be it not very far (haven’t done more than 6k for a while) but I have no shin pain, the post run calf pain is starting to disappear and I am really starting to feel very positive about this whole endeavour.

Good thing too, as I have a charity place for the Brighton Marathon.  Bushy and I are running for Chestnut Tree House, which is the hospice that cared for Amber and her family, towards the end of her fight with Neuroblastoma.  The marathon is in April and is a great target to aim for.  I can’t wait to strap on my Luna Sandals on the start line, raising some money for this incredible charity and ticking off an important milestone on my way to the Ironman in September.

Some of my regular readers may wonder how I have suddenly managed to start running injury free and why I am starting to feel a lot more fit all of a sudden.  I can put this down to a few factors.  The first one is my discovery of barefoot/minimalist running.  To do this topic justice would require an entirely separate blog post and it is my intention to post this soon.  The second reason is down to one man, Mr Trevor “Tufty” Payne.

Trevor runs two Triathlon training sessions at a gym here in Portsmouth.  The first one is a mobility class, perfect for improving my flexibility and mobility (which is something I sorely need).  The second session is a Bike/Mobility/Swim or a Bike/Run/Swim session.  Lasting 2.5 hours, this is an intense workout and is absolutely superb.

Bushy and I have been attending these sessions for over a month, with Curry joining us recently.  Trevor is an ex professional Triathlete, specialising in Iron distance races during his career.  He is a superb coach (even if he does take the piss out of Bushy and I rather a lot) and I find his sessions hugely inspirational.  He has given me exercises to do at home which I do every day, agreed to write me a training plan specific to Challenge Weymouth and is generally a huge asset to my training.  

So to wrap up this post I would like to say a thank you to Trevor for his help so far and for his excellent training sessions that I love attending.  I was never really a believer in having a “coach”; however I am very glad I met Trevor and can’t wait to see just how fit he can get me ahead of Challenge Weymouth.  I must also mention a special thanks to Josh Smith, who is one of the readers of my blog and was the person who put me onto Trevor in the first place.  Look forward to doing some training with you when you are back in the UK Josh.

Finally to all of the readers of this blog and to those of you who have sent me nice comments about it, a huge thank you to you all.  I’m really starting to love all this training and am pleased that as the winter progresses I will be able to share with you my increasing fitness and join as many of you as I can for a run/swim/bike, or perhaps just a pint!

TTFN

James

PS – If any of you are looking for a Triathlon or Fitness coach please check out Trevor’s website.  You won’t regret getting in touch with him. http://www.zone6coaching.com/



My events for next year are starting to take shape

On By 00snookIn 2015, bike, challenge weymouth, plans, schedule, swim, triathlonLeave a comment

It is at this time of year that most Triathletes start to look forward to their events for the following Triathlon season.  In my case I already have my “A” race organised in the form of Challenge Weymouth, which takes place in September.  Just in case you need reminding, Challenge Weymouth is an Iron Distance event.  2.4mile swim – 112 mile bike – 26.2 mile marathon.

There are a few key milestones that I would like to tick off before jumping in the sea at Weymouth.  These are both mental and physical.

  1. I want to have completed a full marathon.
  2. I want to have completed at least 5 bike rides over 112 miles.
  3. I want to have logged at least 10 swims over the 2.5 mile mark.

As things stand at the moment I am already capable of number 2 and 3.  I could cycle 112 miles (thought it would likely take me more than 7 hours) and I could swim 2.5 miles (but again this would likely take between 1.5 and 2 hours).  There is no way in hell I could run a full marathon!!!!

In order to finish Challenge Weymouth in a reasonable time I need to be aiming for the following.

  • 2.4 mile swim – 90 minutes or under (ideally closer to 75)
  • 112 mile bike – 6 hours (this is an average speed of just over 18.5mph)
  • 26.2 mile run – 4 hours (average pace of 9 minute mile)
This would give me a total finishing time of around 12 hours, allowing for time in transition etc.  

Now in reality a 12 hour Ironman race is a very good time for a first time competitor and an even better time for somebody like me with only 1 years triathlon experience under my belt.  That being said this is the target I am going to aim for.

So back to the original point.  To help me with my 3 milestones I want to achieve, I have booked up the Brighton Marathon on the 12th April.  I will be running this for the Chestnut Tree House.  These are the guys who cared for Amber whilst she was at the end of her battle with Neuroblastoma.  They are an outstanding charity funded entirely by donations and it is a pleasure to run for them.

I will also make sure to complete my fair share of long rides once the weather improves.  Most likely I will do this on my own; however I may enter a few Sportive events to practice competing with other riders around.

Swimming wise, I will join the Pompey Triathletes for regular sea swims on Saturday mornings once the Spring is here.  I can swim around 3k each Saturday morning with them and on occasion simply go a bit further to get up to the 2.5 mile mark.

All this is well and good, but it all happens in the Spring.  So the winter will be spent trying to get some base level of fitness and slowly increasing my running distances up to Marathon length.  I have a plan (of sorts) and am intending on getting a proper training plan from a Triathlon coach to help me through.  Will probably do this in December.

So that is about it for this update.  Not very interesting (sorry about that) but is worth noting it down here I felt.


Hope you are all well.

TTFN

Snooky







Winter is coming

On By 00snookIn cycling, running, swimming, training, triathlon, winter is comingLeave a comment

As Ned Stark and those who live in the North like to remind us, Winter is coming.  The clocks have gone back an hour, and soon it will be dark at 4 pm.  Now any sensible person uses this time of year to put on a nice big jumper, get out the red wine and chill on the sofa, waiting out the winter.  Spring arrives and we all emerge from our winter lairs, usually a few pounds heavier.  We start to think about maybe doing some exercise for the upcoming summer.  Triathletes start to panic that they should have done more over the winter!

Well this year this is not going to be me.  My training has taken a real back seat the last couple of weeks because I have had a cold that simply would not shift.  Finally this morning I am feeling OK again and am looking forward to throwing myself back into some exercise.

Over the last 4 weeks I have managed to complete the following.

  • 2 hrs 51 mins of swimming, covering just over 5km
  • 9 hrs 40 mins of cycling, covering 242km
  • 31 minutes of running, covering 5.77km
  • 3 hrs 40 mins of strength training work
Now considering that all of that was essentially done in 2 weeks as I have been unwell for the other two, it is not a total disaster.

There were a few low-lights from the last few weeks which are worth noting.

  • I missed the Wiggle South Downs Sportive (sorry to have let you down Waitey) due to a combination of illness and mega cramping that I am still getting from time to time,
  • I pulled out of the Great South Run, due to concern that pushing myself to do 10 miles would set my shin splints off again.
There were also a few highlights.

  • I have started attending Triathlon specific training sessions which I love.  I will post about these separately, but they are great and am really enjoying it.
  • So far I have managed to lose about half a stone (without really doing anything too major) so am hopeful I will be able to lose some more over the next few months.
One thing I have learned from all of this training I have been trying to do lately, is that patience is a virtue that you simply must have.  Sometimes it is impossible to train due to work or personal commitments.  Sometimes you get ill/injured and cannot train.  These things cannot be legislated for.  There is no point getting frustrated or annoyed at these little setbacks.  All you need to do is make sure that when you are well, not injured and you do get a chance to train you use that session wisely and give it 100%.  

So with that in mind, it’s off to the gym tonight for some strength and mobility work.  Turbo Trainer and then a brick run on Tuesday, Wednesday will be Bike/Mobility/Swim at the gym, Thursday on the Turbo and a swim at the gym on Friday.  Saturday is a trip to Twickenham to watch the Barbarians vs Australia, which will undo all of the good I have done myself.  

Oh well.   🙂

TTFN     James




Barefeet – the way forward

On By 00snookIn barefoot, injury, minimalist, running, shin pain, shoesLeave a comment

As some of you who read my blog and others of you who have seen me do it will know, I recently converted to running barefoot.

My reasoning was sound.  I have suffered running injuries for years and was searching to understand why.  I read some books, converted to barefoot running and have been injury free ever since.  Granted I haven’t done mega mileage barefoot, but I have done enough to be confident if I continue this way I will strengthen my feet and be a lot less injury prone.

I am intending on doing a big write up on this with links and information in the next few days.  In the interim (and to whet your appetite) here is an article on how to choose children’s shoes that will get you thinking a bit.

http://marccurtis.tumblr.com/post/99815795266/childrens-shoes-the-weak-foot-myth

TTFN

James


It’s a real mixed bag of emotions in the Ironsnook camp

On By 00snookIn challenge weymouth, cycling, running, shin pain, swimming, training, triathlonLeave a comment
It has now been about 10 days since I signed up for Challenge Weymouth, my first ever Iron Distance race.  By way of a reminder and for those people new to my blog, an Iron Distance race is consists of a  2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run raced one after an other.  There is a cut off time of 16hrs and 30 minutes for Challenge Weymouth.  I am predicting a time around 16hours 29 minutes!!!

In the last 10 days I have veered from one emotion to another regarding this incredibly daunting race.  Initially I was terrified.  Can I even get fit enough to complete this?  Is a year long enough to train?  Will I be one of the unfortunate souls whose kidneys shut down during the race and require hospitalisation (yes Mum, this does happen to a few people!)  Will I even make it to the start line?  Will injury prevent me from competing?

Added to this fear is the pressure I feel. The reason I am doing this is far greater than one man wanting to become an Ironman.  There is nothing wrong with taking on this challenge just because it is there. 1000’s of people do just that ever year.  My calling to become an Ironman was nothing to do with a burning desire to train and exercise.  If anything I was quite happy being a couch potato.  The fact that I am racing to raise money for The Chestnut Tree House hospice, who have provided such outstanding support and care to my friends during a horrid time in their lives heaps the pressure onto me.  Nobody is putting this pressure onto me other than me.  It is an internal drive and desire that I have rarely felt before.  With this comes the realisation that if I fail and cannot complete the race I am letting so many people down.  I am not a religious man, but I am tempted to start praying that I am able to make the start line in reasonable condition and haul my arse round the course in less than 16hrs 30 minutes.

I think that pretty much covers the fear element 🙂  

The other emotion I keep feeling is a sense of excitement and joy that I am taking on this challenge with two very good friends, the day itself will most likely be amazing and if all goes to plan I will raise some money for a very good cause and get to call myself an Ironman.  It is bizarre to feel so excited about something that also scares me to death.  The only similar experience I have had is when I became a Dad.  Exciting and terrifying in equal measure.  So far that seems to have gone OK, but to be fair it didn’t require me to train for hours and hours, week after week.  My wife did all the hard work on that one.

Lastly and probably most importantly I finally feel a real and deep desire to train.  I have never, ever felt this before.  I played football as a kid, but treated the training sessions as a bit of a muck around if I am honest.  I have dabbled with weight training at the gym, but never really put any concerted effort into it.  I have occasionally done a bit of running, then given up because I couldn’t be arsed.  Training for this Ironman seems to be entirely different.  If I am being entirely frank with myself, although I have competed in 4 triathlons this year I really didn’t put in enough training.  I was taking part just to complete the races and knew deep inside that I was fit enough to plod round an Olympic distance triathlon.  Because of this, I probably trained a couple of hours a week, with an occasional long bike ride thrown in just because I like riding the bike.  

All of this lackadaisical attitude seems to have melted away as soon as I booked up Weymouth.  I have bought a Turbo Trainer and love it.  For those of you who are not familiar with a Turbo Trainer, they are one of the best torture devices ever invented.  Essentially it allows you to use your normal bike as a static bike at home.  You get as much out of them as you put in.  Cycle hard on the Turbo and when you get back out on the road it all seems a lot easier.  That’s the plan anyway.  I haven’t yet been on the road since getting the Turbo.  Fingers crossed my master plan works.  

Anyway back to the plot.  I have written a training plan and have managed to stick with it quite well so far.  I have joined a gym where they run twice weekly Triathlon specific training sessions which I will be attending from Monday.  I even got up early on a Sunday to go for a swim!  All in all it is fair to say I am enjoying my training.  I do feel fitter and Cat already says she can see that the Turbo sessions are tiring me out less.  Time to put more effort into those I feel!

The only missing link is the running.  I am still in a very slow build up to any sort of reasonable mileage following being diagnosed with shin splints.  The plan is to get to 5k distance by the New Year.  Very slow progression, but this is the way it has to be.  I have also discovered barefoot running.  This is exactly what is says on the tin.  You run with no shoes and socks on.  Since starting running barefoot I have had no shin pain.  Am convinced it is the way forward.  I won’t be competing barefoot (at least I don’t think I will at the moment) but will continue to train this way.  Ken Bob Saxton is the main man for barefooting.  Anybody who has ever suffered a running injury should read his website.  It might just change your life.   Plus who wouldn’t be interested in finding out more about a man with such a superb beard!

So that is about it for the time being.  It is my intention to post twice monthly updates on how my training is progressing.  The first one of these will be in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime wishing you all much love and happiness.  Any of you Portsmouth based people, if you fancy meeting up for a swim, bike ride or a very short run let me know 🙂

TTFN.

James


The fine art of procrastination

On By 00snookIn UncategorizedLeave a comment



procrastination

NOUN

The action of delaying or postponing something:



If procrastination was an art, I would be Picasso.  If procrastination was a sport, I would be 5 times World Champion.  If procrastination was a skill, I would be a Jedi Master. 

Unfortunately for me procrastination is none of these things.  It just tends to slow you down.  Some people are blessed with an ability to get on with things, make plans and stick to them.  They are the sort of annoying people who have clever little sayings like “a stitch in time saves nine” or “why put off till tomorrow what you can do today”.  They also come up with helpful suggestions.  Things like, “you might as well get on with it, it’s not going to get done otherwise”.

I have absolutely nothing against these people, in a way I actually admire them.  That being said their lives must be very boring.  Let me give you a demonstration below.

Task to be completed by one of these organised types.

  1. Come up with task
  2. Set time to do task
  3. Do task
  4. Move onto next task

Task to be completed by me (or one of my fellow procrastinators)

  1. Come up with task
  2. Move task into “planning phase” – this can last anywhere between 1 day to 2 or 3 years – depending on the size of the task
  3. Exit planning phase – celebrate with a trip to the pub or perhaps some Xbox
  4. Start second “planning phase” – very important to make sure the original plan will stand up
  5. Set time to do task
  6. Time to do task arrives.  Find something else to do – This could be anything really, as long as  it is not the task at hand.  Suggestions include reading a book, a nap, Xbox (you get the idea)
  7. Start to consider a different task, one that suddenly becomes much more important.
  8. Actually start original task (this is normally preceded by somebody else nagging you into it – in my case usually my lovely Wife)
  9. Realisation that the task is quite complicated, long winded, too hard, time consuming, might eat into valuable Xbox time
  10. Come up with excuse for not doing task – any excuse will do.  Some sort of injury / headache works well for me.
  11. Restart task (normally after more nagging)
  12. Finish task as quickly as possible. (when I say finish, a procrastinator will never fully finish anything.  All jobs are best left about 90% done in my opinion)
  13. Make a very big deal to everybody around you how well you have done to complete your task.


Now as you can see, a procrastinator has a lot more fun.  We will also start multiple tasks at once, meaning that we could be at any of the 13 stages above with any number of tasks at the same time.  The advantage of this is that we can always be avoiding doing something.  Sometimes I will avoid one task by actually doing another, killing two birds with one stone.  Of course a procrastinator would never actually manage to kill two birds with one stone, as we would most likely have moved onto another task before even picking the stone up.

“What the hell is the point of this blog post” I can hear you saying.  “What has it got to do with Ironman or training”.  Well the answer is absolutely nothing.  I should probably be getting on with something else!

In all honesty the point of this post is to make you, me and everybody else realise that when I actually do manage to get some training done it is against the odds.  I could easily be watching TV, washing the car, eating some cheese or a myriad of other nonsense activities rather than getting on with my training schedule.  

For those of you who are non-procrastinators, you will probably just be thinking to yourselves how lazy.  That I should just get on with it, get the training over with and get on with my day.  You are absolutely right.  For those of you who are procrastinators, you know exactly what I mean!

TTFN

James