Category: triathlon

You’ve gotta have faith

On By 00snookIn bike, biking, ironman, sportive, triathlonLeave a comment

Faith is an interesting thing.  Some people have an abundance of faith, be that religious faith, faith in humanity or simply faith in themselves.  Others have relatively little faith.  I definitely belong in the latter group.  I do not prescribe to any religion, tend to have a fairly negative outlook on humanity as a whole and can be very hard on myself and my own abilities.  “A man of faith” is not how I would be described.

L-R Bushy, Me, Mike and Bruce

Despite outward appearances, I have never really “believed” that the Ironman was possible for me.  It was a thing.  A thing that was a long way off.  A thing that I had signed up to do when I was blissfully naive of quite how hard it was going to be.  

After starting my training I very quickly realised just how hard any triathlon is, let alone an Ironman.  The realisation of what I had signed up for hit me like a tonne of bricks and I immediately doubted that I would ever get it completed.  I was convinced my body would break down, that I would be incapable of continuing, that I would have to give up at some point during the race.  This belief, or lack of belief if you prefer, has stayed with me for almost 18 months now.  I have tried to maintain a brave face and tried to stay confident in front of others, especially my wife who is naturally worried about what might happen to me during the Ironman.  Deep inside I just couldn’t shake it off.  I didn’t believe that I could actually make it round the course.

After all, an Ironman is a very long way.  2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and then a marathon (26.2 miles).  Legend has it that the first ever person to complete a marathon was a Greek soldier called Pheidippides.  He ran from Marathon to Athens to pass on word of the Greek victory over the Persians, then proceeded to drop down dead.  He hadn’t even ridden 112 miles and swum 2.4 miles beforehand!  What a wimp!

For me, people who complete Ironman triathlons are some sort of super humans.  They have no body fat.  They train for 5 hours a day and never get tired.  They are as far away from me as a person can get……………..or are they?

Finally I have started to believe.  Finally I have faith.  Finally I actually think that the Ironman might be within my grasp.

There is no single reason for this.  Like most things in life a combination of factors have come together to start a spring of faith bubbling up inside me.

This is most likely a culmination of increased training, better knowledge of how training affects my body, better knowledge about nutrition and that I just “feel” fitter.  This feeling is not quantifiable; however I just feel more fit than I ever have before.  I must admit it is a great feeling.

On Sunday I took part in a Sportive cycling event.  These Sportives are organised cycling events of set lengths.  Bushy, Bruce, Mike and I had a choice of either 44 or 100 miles.  Naturally we did the 100.  A year ago we cycled 100 miles on the Isle of Wight and it almost killed me.  I felt terrible afterwards and took days to recover.  It was awful.

Top of a huge Cat 3 climb


On Sunday we cycled 100 miles in just over 6.5 hours.  I made myself some rice cakes to eat on the way round, got my nutrition and my water intake almost spot on and other than constant hayfever and a bout of serious lower back cramp at about 75 miles I felt good throughout.  I had awarded myself a day off of training on Monday for my Sunday efforts, but I didn’t need it.  I felt great.

This is why I have started to believe.  This is where my faith is coming from.  There is no doubt I am creeping towards Ironman competence.  Can I swim 2.4 miles?  Yes I can.  Can I cycle 112?  Absolutely.  Can I run a marathon?  Yep.  Can I put all three of these things together, getting my nutrition and water consumption spot on, pacing out my effort and making it round in less than 16.5 hours?  You know what, for the first time ever I am going to say………………

YES I CAN!










Arundel Lido Triathlon – 1 good, 2 not so good

On By 00snookIn arundel lido triathlon, ironman, running, swimming, training, triathlonLeave a comment

It’s 04:10am on Sunday 24th May and my alarm has just gone off, must be time for the Arundel Lido Triathlon.

Yes, you have read that right, 04:10am.  Bloody early.  I had awoken off of the back of 4 hours sleep.  Normally I would blame a lack of sleep on the kids keeping me awake; however The Noodle was at Grannies and Mia had not woken me in the night.  My lack of sleep only had one person to blame……….me.

Unlike my usual triathlon preparation (of doing everything at the very last minute) I had decided to organise my gear the day before.  The problem was, I only finished doing this at about midnight.  I had planned to organise everything during the day on Saturday.  All was going well until my wife and I decided to buy The Noodle a trampoline.  She was staying at Grannies on the Saturday night as we didn’t want to take her to the triathlon on Sunday morning because she would just be bored.  She had been such a good girl recently, the trampoline was a little present.  Well I say little.  It’s actually pretty big and takes up a good chunk of the garden.  Anyway, we bought it on Saturday and wanted to build it before she came home on Sunday after the triathlon.  How hard can building a trampoline be?  Turns out not very, but quite time consuming.  The 2 hours I had set aside for triathlon prep was eaten up by trampoline building; hence why I found myself still organising my gear at midnight.

L-R Mike, Me and Bushy


Never mind the 4 hours sleep, today was a big day.  Other than Curry (who didn’t want to take part in the triathlon due to being ill a few weeks before) the whole of the Grazing Saddles Triathlon Team were competing.  This was exciting.  I had also competed in Arundel the year before (as my first ever Triathlon, read all about it here), so had a benchmark to beat and to see if I have gotten fitter over the last 12 months.

As my wife got our baby Mia ready to go, I ate some delicious porridge, made myself a peanut butter and jam sandwich (to eat 90 minutes before my start time), loaded the gear in the car and just after 5am we were off to Arundel.  Arriving just before 6am, I saw my friend Neil’s van, parked next to him and unloaded my gear.

Then I was straight into the routine I know only too well know.  Off to the registration tent to get your competitors pack.  Number for your helmet, number for your bike, timing tag around your ankle and then into transition to rack the bike, assemble your cycling shoes, running shoes, sunglasses etc under the bike and you are ready to race.

During this time I had been chatting to my fellow Grazing Saddles team members and to a few other people I knew from the Pompey Triathletes who were also competing that day.  The buzz was great.  Andy was swimming first and I gave him a huge cheer as he got out of the pool and made his way to transition.  Quickly running round to the bike exit we saw him come out and immediately proceed to cycle the wrong way.  Fortunately we shouted at him, he turned around and was on his way onto the bike course.  Neil was next to swim; however I didn’t see him get out of the pool as I was already queuing up for my swim start time.


Me and Bush waiting to swim

Making the triathlon even more interesting than normal was that Bushy and I had exactly the same swim start time.  With us being fairly evenly matched on the bike and Bushy being a bit better on the run it was set to be a straight race to the finish for us two.  We had spiced things up with a little wager.  Whomever out of us finished last has to wear a ballerina costume (complete with tutu) along to our next triathlon club training session.  The stakes could hardly be higher!!!!

Chatting away to Bushy as we waited he was telling me he was a bit nervous, but surprisingly I was calm.  Having raced at Arundel the year before I knew exactly what to expect and was really looking forward to seeing what I could do.  Arundel Lido Triathlon breaks down like this.

800m swim – unsurprisingly this is in the Lido and consists of 32 laps of 25metres each.

40km bike – 25 miles in old money, the bike course is two laps consisting of one long climb, a fast downhill and then a quick rolling section of the A27 before you start the second lap

10k run – the run is very hilly, taking on a steep offroad uphill section before dropping back into some rolling hills then a final fast 2km downhill to the finish.

Soon Bushy was called forward for his swim and a few moments after I was invited into lane 5 to get prepped.  Swim hat and goggles on, the marshals count your laps and tap you on the head when you have two to go, saving me having to count them myself, which I am absolutely awful at.  With 3 to 4 other swimmers per lane it can get congested, so to make things easier for the faster swimmers if you get tapped on the foot you have to wait at the end of the next length, let them past and then carry on.

I was counted down by the starter and then my swim had begun.  Despite the fact that I enjoy swimming, in all my previous triathlons the swim leg has never gone well.  I have either failed to get into a rhythm, gone out too fast, or otherwise gotten it wrong.  At Arundel, I was determined to swim smoothly and put in a good performance.  One lap done, on the return lap my left hand kept colliding into the wall.  The lanes were narrow and to avoid a collision with the swimmer coming the other way I had to keep left.  Sadly there was a wall there and I just kept hitting it.  To avoid this I had to shorten my left arm stroke, which threw me way off.  So much for a smooth swim.

Just about to High 5
my wife


Due to the problems with the wall I was not making good progress.  This resulted in me getting tapped on the foot a few times, causing me to have to stop at the end of the lap.  I knew the swim was going to be slow, AGAIN.  In my head I just kept trying to relax and not worry about it.  A couple of minutes lost on the swim could easily be regained on the bike if I rode well.  Failing to get into any sort of rhythm with my swimming I eventually was tapped on the head and two more lengths done I was out of the pool.  Hoorah.  Seeing my every supportive wife at the pool exit and giving her our now customary high 5, I ran into transition.

It was no surprise to see that Bushy’s bike was already gone.  He clearly had a better swim than me and was already out on the bike course.  There was only one thing for it, I had to catch him up.  Helmet, cycling shoes and sunnies on I was quickly out of transition and on the open road.  “Here we go” I thought to myself, mentally preparing for the first long climb of the bike course.

Into the climb I was almost immediately overtaken by number 25, who set off up the hill like he was being chased by something nasty.  I rode the hill as quickly as I dared, mindful of the fact that expending too much energy early in the ride is not a good idea.  40km is far enough that you cannot afford to go flat out from the start.  It requires a bit of pacing.  Up the hill, down the other side then onto the rolling section of A27 I was feeling great.  I even manged to catch up number 25 (who must have been quite some distance ahead). Keeping the water consumption up to try and avoid the dreaded cramps that I sometimes suffer with, I was through my first lap in good time and ready to tackle that climb again.

As I started the climb for the second time I still had not caught up Bushy.  Him and I are about even when it comes to bike riding.  I am probably a bit better up the hills, but he is faster on the flat and downhill due to his super duper aero triathlon bike.  The thoughts of the tutu were already going through my head.  If I couldn’t catch him on the bike I had no chance, as he was guaranteed to be quicker than me on the run.  Then, in the distance, slowly making his way up the hill I thought I might have spotted Bushy.  I have spent enough time following Bushy on the bike to recognise his unorthodox riding style; however I was still too far away to be sure.  Giving myself a little pep talk, I dropped my bike down a couple of gears, gritted my teeth and set about catching him.

To my delight my legs responded well to the extra pressure I put them under.  My quads were screaming, but I could push through the pain and was slowly reeling the rider in front in.  As I got closer I could see it was number 51.  That was Bushy.  I had caught him up.  We still had over 15km to go.  Perhaps that tutu would have his name on it not mine.

From this point I quickly caught him and overtook, pushing hard to the start of the downhill.  I knew that he would be quick downhill.  His triathlon specific bike has a much more aerodynamic riding position than my normal road bike.  Coupled with this, Bushy is fairly fearless.  An aero bike and a fearless rider tends to make for quick downhills.  Exactly as I thought, a couple of hundred metres into the downhill he overtook me.  I could see the grin on his face as he flew past.  In normal riding circumstances, I would quickly tuck in behind him and use the aerodynamic slip stream to keep up.  The effect of this slip steam is really quite pronounced and you can easily keep up with faster riders if you stay right on their back wheel.

Bottom of the downhill
on lap 1

Sadly for me, drafting (as this slip streaming is known) is not allowed in triathlon.  If you get caught drafting you could face disqualification.  With draft busting motorcyclists out on the course keeping an eye on things it just isn’t worth risking.  Plus it is cheating.  Bearing this in mind I decided all I needed to do was keep him in sight.  There was as short climb at the bottom of the downhill and I knew I could catch him up there.  

Down on the drops, pushing my biggest gear I managed to keep Bushy within about 25 metres of me as we started to approach the flat just ahead of the short climb.  I closed to within about 15 metres and then exactly as predicted Bushy started to slow on the uphill.  I pushed my bike and my legs as hard as I could and overtook him again.  Lactic acid building, my legs screaming I crested the short hill and pushed even harder on a brief downhill the  other side.  Quickly we were onto the A27 and as this section is flat and fast Bushy whizzed past yet again.  Keeping my eye on him I kicked one final time and overtook him just before a short sharp downhill run into transition.

At the bottom of this downhill there is a round-a-bout that you have to go straight on at.  Flying down the hill towards the round-a-bout I tipped my bike in and got a huge rear wheel slide.  I was clearly on the edge and extremely close to crashing.  Recovering from the slide sucked up a huge amount of momentum and once again Bushy went flying past and it was a short drag into transition.  I decided to just follow him into transition and rely on being faster changing from bike to run that he was.

Practically neck and neck into transition he racked his bike and then there was no room for mine.  Desperately trying to wedge my bike in between his bike and another competitors bike Bushy very kindly helped me.  Running shoes on I was out of transition in a very quick 45 seconds with Bushy hot on my heels.  At this point I felt I only had one chance.  Go out quickly at the start of the run and hope that he cannot stay with me, generating a gap which I can hold for the rest of the 10K.

I set off as quickly as I could, but could hear that he was only just behind.  Remarkably I actually felt OK and was hopeful that I might be able to maintain a quick pace for my 10K.  Less that 700 metres into the run, I knew those dreams were shattered.  My old friend cramp kicked in and my left calf locked.  Immediately my pace dropped considerably.  Bushy caught me up, gave me some encouraging words and then slowly ran off into the distance.  With my calf in absolute agony I knew there would be no way to catch him.  The tutu was mine.

At this point I stopped for a wee.  I needed a wee anyway, a bit of rest for the calf wouldn’t do any harm and the race against Bushy was already as good as lost.  Starting running again I was struggling to maintain any sort of pace at all.  Flashbacks to the Brighton Marathon were running through my mind, where quad cramp had caused me the huge problems.

Concentrating on trying to maintain my running form, I ran up and up and up.  I was forced to walk briefly when the off road section got really steep.  Bushy passed me going the other way and I knew from experience he was about 2 minutes ahead of me.  That was a lot to catch up, but anything can happen.  Running back downhill from the highest point I started to feel a bit better.  Concentrating on my breathing and my running form seemed to be alleviating the cramp a bit.  My calf still hurt, but just a bit less than before.  Running through the rolling hill section I was managing to maintain around 6min/km pace.  I knew that Bushy would be quicker than that and once again when we passed (he was on the home stretch as I made my way to the turn around point) I calculated we were still 2-3 minutes apart.  As Bushy passed me he said “I tell you what Snooky, this is going to be fecking close”.  I wasn’t quite so sure but was determined to do as well as I could.  

Soon enough I was on the final 2k which is downhill and then flat to the finish.  I pushed as hard as my leg would let me.  Struggling to get any quicker than 5:20/km I had to dig very deep to keep going.  My left calf was absolutely screaming.  In the back of my mind I was genuinely nervous that I might be doing some serious damage to my muscle.  A year ago I would have stopped and walked, but this was not the Snooky of a year ago.  I am a new, fitter, leaner version of myself and I was not going to give in.

Mike and I across the line together


Just as I approached the finish I was caught up by Mike (Grazing Saddles teammate and superb triathlete).  I had seen him a few times on the run where it crossed and knew he wouldn’t be that far behind.  We crossed the line together and the race was done.  

I was in pain.  A lot of pain.  Limping around I was seriously concerned I had done some lasting damage.  Quickly comparing times with Bushy what I already knew was confirmed.  He had finished around 4 minutes faster than me.  His superior running had won through and the tutu would be mine.  I really didn’t mind about that.  He is a great mate, it had been a pleasure to race some of the bike leg against him and it was always a bit of a longshot for me to beat him.  I ran a 55 minute 10k which is only 3 minutes slower than my PB and he still beat me. Well done Bushy.  It will be a pleasure to race with you at the Ironman in September.

Bushy and I compare times.  He has won!

  
All of us were finished.  Neil had put in a superb time for his first ever triathlon and finished second out of our little gang.  Despite Mike being ill in the run up to the triathlon and unable to train he had still finished first out of us lot and an extremely impressive 22nd overall.  Bushy was third, I was fourth and Andy was 5th.  Everybody had performed well.  We were all tired but had given it everything.  Now it was time to go back to my place for a well deserved BBQ.

Initially, after the race, I was a little down heartened.  My swim had not gone well at all.  The bike ride was good.  In fact, I was second quickest out of our gang on the bike.  My run was hampered by cramp yet again.  If only I could just get one race where the whole thing goes to plan.  Having had a bit more time to think over my performance, I think there is a lot more to be positive about than I may have realised.

12 months ago I took 2 hrs 54 minutes to complete the course.  On Sunday it took me 2hrs 28 minutes.  That is almost 30 minutes quicker.   A massive improvement and something I should definitely be proud of.  Last year I finished 7th from last overall.  This year I finished 78th out of 105 competitors.  Again a huge improvement.   

There are a number of things to be learnt from the weekend.  Firstly, I definitely need to work on my swimming.  More time in the pool required.  Secondly my cycling has come on a long way, but there is still room for improvement, especially around those pesky hills.  And finally onto my running.  Neil constantly reminds me that a year ago I was struggling to run more than a mile and this is absolutely true.  Despite this I would like to do a bit better on the run, although I appreciate this is very unlikely to ever be a strong point of mine.

All in all a very successful event.  Was great to compete with the team and I am really looking forward to my half Ironman in a couple of months time.  8 weeks to the half Ironman, then only 8 more until the full distance.

There is a LOT of training to be done before then.

TTFN.

Snooky


Here we go, the ramp up is starting

On By 00snookIn challenge weymouth, Chestnut Tree House, cycling, Don Fink, training, triathlonLeave a comment

So, as I sit and write this it is 123 days until Challenge Weymouth.  Not an especially significant number you might think. It is not so much the number of days left that is significant, but rather the phase of the training I am about to enter.

The plan I am following is split out into distinct phases. These are the “Base” phase, followed by “Build 1”, “Build 2”, “Peak” and then finally the taper down to race day.

Base phase is exactly what it says on the tin, designed to increase your base level of fitness.  In all honesty I have not put quite as many hours in as I would have liked due to wanting to be at home and help my wife through a challenging time with our kiddies.  That being said, I am fairly confident that my “base” level of fitness is not too bad and so missing some training sessions during this phase has not phased me (see what I did there).

Next week starts the “Build 1” phase.  This sees me increasing my training load, putting in extra time and distance in all three triathlon disciplines.

I am aiming towards the following:

Weekly training targets:

  • Cycling – 250 miles
  • Running – 50 miles
  • Swimming – 8 miles

If you prefer to think of this in time rather than distance, we are looking roughly like this

  • Cycling – 15 hours
  • Running – 8.5 hours
  • Swimming – 4 hours

You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out that this is around 27 hours training per week, which is a lot.  It’s more than an entire day every week devoted to training.  

This leads us nicely to the $64,000 question, “How the hell are you going to fit all this training in?”

Luckily there are a few things in my favour.  It is only my intention to hit the mileage/distance targets about for the 3 or 4 weeks before tapering off ready for the event.  This allows me to ramp up the training gradually.

Also my wife is being amazingly supportive.  Despite the fact that our lovely 2 year old daughter seems to have morphed into a terrorist and our 12 week old baby is permanently attached to her, she is happy for me to train almost as much as I like.

Lastly I live a very convenient 20 miles away from work, meaning that I can cycle into and back from work fairly regularly.  This is decent mileage and has relatively little impact on the family.

So all in all things are looking good.  I am feeling strong, the training is going well, I am blessedly injury free and am starting to really look forward to the big event in September.

Below are a few pictures of Bushy and I on a recent bike ride just to prove that training is actually fun.

TTFN

Snooky

Just setting out.

Quick pitstop
An excellent demonstration on how not to change an inner tube

Still going, 45 minutes later














Portsmouth Duathlon – 1 year on, am I any fitter?

On By 00snookIn 5k, bike, biking, Brighton, competition, cycling, duathlon, family, grazing saddles, marathon, PB, Portsmouth Duathlon, race, running, training, triathlonLeave a comment

It’s 6am on Sunday 15th March (Mother’s Day in the UK) and I have just woken up in a very uncomfortable position on my sofa.   It must be time for the Portsmouth Duathlon.

Before anybody jumps to any conclusions, I was on the sofa simply because I fell asleep watching TV and never moved.  Having a newborn means that wherever I fall asleep I tend to sleep much more soundly than usual.  I am assuming this is because I am generally knackered pretty much constantly.  It’s not bad sleeping on the sofa, except for the fact that it is cold not especially comfortable.  Still I had racked up at least 6 hours sleep and that’s pretty good in my book!

Breaking from tradition, I had done a little bit of preparation the night before this race, so my bike was ready to go.  I quickly checked the tire pressures and then set about eating breakfast and double checking my bag.

Half way through breakfast my oldest daughter Niamh woke up so I fished her out of bed, stuck her in with my wife and gave her the rest of my porridge to keep her entertained.  Having decided on wearing my tri suit with shorts and my Grazing Saddles cycling top I put my clothes on, gave the family a goodbye kiss and was on my way.

From my house it is a very short bike ride to the start, where I grabbed my race numbers and went about the now familiar process of attaching them to my bike, my helmet and myself.  I saw Anthony (who comes to my triathlon training sessions) and had a quick chat with him and Darby from the Pompey Triathletes before racking my bike, assembling my gear and then heading out for a quick warm up.

I bumped into a few more people from triathlon club (Simon, Andrew, Emma) and had a brief chat with each of them.  The overall consensus was that it seemed to be too early for the first race of the year and that people felt a little under prepared.  As far as I can tell, this is entirely standard for any sort of race.  Nobody gets to the morning of the race and thinks they have done enough training.  Everybody seems to doubt themselves.  Perhaps it is human nature.  Or just that everybody actually hasn’t done enough training. 🙂

Quick warm up completed, I joined the queue for a pre race wee with about 10 minutes left until the start, scheduled for 8.30am.  

One of the cardinal sins of competing is to do things differently on race day to what you would do in training.  Only stupid people will do this.  Things like wearing different clothes or shoes, eating or drinking differently etc.  Usually doing this will have negative effects on your performance as your body undergoes new experiences whilst at race pace.

Naturally, I had decided to ignore the above and made the decision to try a different energy gel product before this race.  I had brought  a ZipVit Nitrite Gel with me for pre race consumption.  The theory is that ingesting nitrites allows your blood vessels to open up more, getting the blood pumping round your body more easily.  The science behind this is fairly sound so I was keen to try a product that supposedly helps.  Ripping the gel open I slurped down the bright purple liquid inside.  It was the consistency of wallpaper paste and tasted like how I imaging licking a compost heap must taste.  

Having eaten my delicious nitrite gel I headed towards the start line, where I saw my friend Greg (another person I met through tri club).  Greg is almost always enthusiastic and smiling, so I wandered over to start next to him and absorb his positive vibes.  We had  a brief chat and just as Greg was starting a very promising little story with the words “I got completely hammered on Friday night” we were off.  Somehow we had missed the start.  The lady in front of me was tying her shoe and had also missed the start, so I deftly avoided clattering into her and set about the business of running the first leg of the race, totalling 5 kilometres.

Normally you will run more quickly than you should at the start of a race as the euphoria of running in a group sees everybody set out quickly.  Glancing at my watch I noticed we were at about 5min/km pace as the big pack proceeded down towards Southsea Castle.  5min/km would give me a 25 minute 5k time.  My personal best 5k is 24min 56sec, so I was thinking that this pace was probably a bit ambitious for me.  Never the less I carried on and surprisingly I felt good.  Sticking at around 5min/km pace I even started to overtake a few other runners.  I have never, ever overtaken somebody running before and I must admit it did feel quite good.

Soon the kilometres clicked by and I was almost back to the start with 4km run and 1km to go.  I still felt OK.  I was amazed.  A minor hamstring niggle was in the back of my mind, but I always have some sort of leg pain when running and have gotten used to ignoring it.  At this point in the race I couldn’t help but smile.  I was competing in my first event of the year.  In less than 6 months I would be in an entirely different race at Challenge Weymouth and it felt fantastic to get my event season off to a start.

Rounding the final corner back into transition I glanced at my watch which said 25 minutes.  I had a run a close to PB 5k on the first leg of the Duathlon and was feeling good.  Well in all honesty I was more shocked than anything.  Perhaps my watch was wrong?  Quickly putting on my cycling shoes, helmet and grabbing my bike I was out of transition and onto the road, where I set about the business of cycling 15 kilometres.

I really like cycling and I had a game plan.  Whoever was in front of me, the plan was to catch them, overtake and then chase down the next person.  Setting about this and quickly getting up to race speed I was battling into a strong headwind but consistently catching those in front of me.  After about 5 minutes I ended up riding with two other guys and we kept overtaking each other.  The great thing about this is that it inspires you all to go faster and in the back of my mind I knew that when we would soon turn around and head back the way we came.  This would mean the wind would be on our backs and it would be time to put the hammer down.

Sure enough turning around and no longer riding into a strong headwind was amazing.  I dropped a few gears, got myself as low as possible and pushed hard.  Quickly passing 40kph (25mph) I was flying past my fellow competitors and loving it.  As we rounded the end of Southsea common it was back into the headwind for a bit, then a lap of the common again and once more into the headwind towards transition to complete the 15k.  

Just as I had got close to transition I had heard my wife call out my name and was ecstatic to see that she had gotten Niamh and Mia into the double buggy to come down and support me.  Not a bad effort for a woman who had a C-Section less than 4 weeks before.  I was in and out of transition quickly, saw my girls standing by the exit and ran over to give them a kiss.  Niamh (my 2 year old) gave me a big smile then shouted at me “RUN”.  This was all the motivation I required and I headed off into the last leg of the race with a huge smile on my face.  Only a 5k run to go.

By this time the pack had thinned out a lot and I was running pretty much on my own.  Using the same method I had on the bike, I lined up the person in front of me and ran.  Usually as a race progresses you slow down a bit (or sometimes a lot), which is a real indicator of a lack of fitness.  Glancing at my watch I saw I was cruising at 5:15/km pace, only 15 seconds slower than my first 5k and pretty quick for me.  Soon I was overtaken by a much quicker runner; however I stayed about my task and slowly reeled in a few people in front of me.  I was amazed that I managed to maintain a reasonable pace and was still feeling good.  

Soon enough the 4km marker appeared and I knew I had only 1km to go.  There was a young lady who had been in front of me for a while but remained stubbornly difficult to catch.  I resolved to catch her and kicked hard.  She had also sped up for the final push and try as I might I just couldn’t catch her.  Following her over the line I checked my watch and it said 26 minutes.  I had just run around 26 minutes for a 5k, having already run one 5k and cycled 15km.  6 months ago I couldn’t even run 100metres.  I was feeling quite pleased with myself.

L-R Greg, Emma, Me, Stella, Simon

Reunited with the family I had a quick chat with some of the triathlete guys, my friend Rachel took an excellent photo of us and then it was time to go home, very happy with my performance and glad to be injury free.  

Once the results came out it was time to have a look at how I had done and compare this to last year.

In the 2014 Duathlon I ran my first 5k in 28:16, took 32:39 on the bike and then the second 5k was 31:38.  Total time (including transition) – 1:32:35

In 2015 I ran the first 5k in 25:19, took 31:32 on the bike and then ran the second 5k in 26:01, for a total time of 01:24:54.

Although my bike was only slightly quicker than the previous year, 2014 was much better conditions and the wind was not close to as strong.  The thing I am so pleased about is the improvement in my running.  Also I was competing at around 85% of capacity as I have the marathon in April and picking up an injury would not have been a good plan.

So all in all 1 year on from my first ever multi-sport race there is no doubt I am fitter.  I also ran a sensible race, got my preparation right and am slowly inching towards some sort of competence in this sport.

Next event, Brighton Marathon on 12th April.  GULP!

TTFN

Snooky

I Fink, therefore I am

On By 00snookIn Brighton, challenge weymouth, Chestnut Tree House, Don Fink, fundraising, marathon, running, triathlonLeave a comment

It’s all been a bit quiet on www.ironsnook.co.uk of late.  I haven’t updated the blog for over a month.

To be honest I have a good excuse.  On the 17th February my second child was born, a beautiful baby girl we have called Mia.  Naturally training went on hold whilst I helped my wife recover from the birth and look after our 2 year old.  I went back to work this week and my training restarted.

Don Fink – handsome isn’t he?

Challenge Weymouth is a mere 190 days away as I write this and I have started my Ironman training plan.  Well I say my plan, but I have done nothing to create it.  The honour of writing my plan goes to Mr Don Fink.

Fink wrote a book called “Be Iron Fit – Time Efficient Training Secrets for Ultimate Fitness”.  The training plans held within this book are designed to get the fastest improvements on fitness possible over a 30 week period.  Your fitness is designed to peak for your big race day and countless Triathletes before me have followed the plans to Ironman success.

I have had to start the plan on week 3, as week 1 and 2 were during my paternity leave and I was otherwise occupied.  You start with a mere 8 hours a week training, ramping up to over 20 hours a week by the end.  

This may sound like a lot to some of you and if I am honest it sounds like a lot to me.  That being said I am almost at the end of my first week of training and I feel great.  I have actually done a little bit more than the plan stipulates so far but am ache and injury free.  To top it all I have just got back from a swim session which was by far the most enjoyable training session I have ever had.  I felt strong and like I could have carried on swimming forever.

There are a few minor hiccups to following the Fink plan.  Firstly he stipulates specific dates when you should compete in an Olympic distance and then later a Half Ironman in preparation.  I have already booked an Olympic distance race and it doesn’t match the date Fink suggests.  Hopefully this won’t make much difference.

Secondly I am running the Brighton Marathon for Chestnut Tree House  on Sunday 12th April so I am currently doing one long run a week ramping up for this. Fink does suggest long runs; however they are not as long as what I am currently doing at this stage of his plan.  

The marathon is likely to take it out of me and normal people take a fair bit of time off of training following a marathon as it is quite a task in itself.  Triathletes are not normal people. I am treating the Brighton Marathon as a training run and will be back to my Ironman training plan as quickly as possible afterwards (though I might have a couple of days off as reward). 

Just a very quick update for tonight as I am intending on blogging weekly for a while as there is a fair amount to discuss.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Snooky




Today has been a good day – It all starts here

On By 00snookIn challenge weymouth, competiton, ironman, motivation, resiliance, run, running, shoes, training, triathlonLeave a comment

Today I ran for 90 minutes non stop.  For some this is not a major achievement, but for me this is really something to be celebrated.  

I have run this far before; however this time I ran for 90 minutes without stopping or slowing down and most importantly of all, with almost zero pain.  I am sitting on my sofa writing this having finished running less than 9 hours ago and am still pain free.  My legs aren’t stiff, my shins, ankles and knees are pain free and I am one happy chappy.


My run route today.

This run is part of my plan to try and get up to decent running distance ahead of the Brighton Marathon.  The marathon training has not been going to plan, so today was a real test of whether I might be able to actually run for any length of time.  Looks like I might just make it.  I’ll add 15 minutes to my Sunday long run every week up until the marathon.  This will mean I’ll be able to add 2 hours onto the 90 minutes I ran today, so 3 hours 30 minutes is a realistic time to be running in training.  This is more than enough and should mean I can finish the Brighton Marathon in around 4 hours 30 minutes.

You may have noticed that I am referring to my training as amount of time rather than distance.  This is because today is the first day of my Ironman training.  Having read an excellent book by Don Fink called Be Iron Fit , I am starting his 30 week plan this week.  Those of you who are good at maths will already have realised that there are more than 30 weeks until Challenge Weymouth (13th September); however my wife and I have a baby due very shortly so training will take a back seat for a few weeks when the bambino is brand new.  Because of this, I thought I would get started sooner rather than later.

My training plan (or should I say Don’s training plan) encourages you to think of training segments in time rather than distance.  This allows you to plan time for training into your schedule and is particularly useful when you have to balance work, home life, family life and training.  For me, this is absolutely vital as I am determined to not miss out on too much quality time with my wife and kids as my training load increases.

I am intending on training early in the morning as much as possible.  This is going to be a massive struggle for me as I simply hate getting out of bed in the morning.  I am not and never will be a morning person.  Apparently once you have gotten up early for 21 consecutive days then you get used to it and it doesn’t become a problem any more.  Luckily for me I have a newborn baby arriving very soon so there will be no need for an alarm!

Will keep you all posted on how I get on.  With only 216 days to go till Weymouth it’s time to get training.



Snooky


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