Comrades Marathon (Running Sunday)

"The ultimate human race"

Wow - what a day.

Wow - what an event.

The course is tough. There is no flat. 89km with 1110m of vertical ascent and 1725m of vertical descent. That is punishing on the legs. Upon reaching the half way point I was thinking that the first half was harder than any marathon I've done before, and I was about to do a harder one.

The support was incredible. The most friendly event I've done. The supporters turned out in their thousands and made so much noise. There were very few places were there were no spectators but come the villages it was several deep leaving barely enough room for the runners. Think of a mountain summit Tour stage and you'd not too far from the level of support.

"Comrades" is the most apt name for this race. It is entirely about the comaraderie between runners. Mutual pain, suffering, angst and celebrations is such a great way to break through international and language barriers.

How did I get on? I went through a roller coaster of emotions that almost match the roller course profile of the course. There were times when I was going okay and times when it was hurting. Twice my left leg gave way and I managed to catch my balance before hitting the deck. Times when I had to walk. Times when I thought I wasn't going to finish. Times when I didn't want to finish. Times when I feared I'd fail. I felt I was going okay, but at 22km to go I was losing concentration and could not work things out and come 18km was convinced I was going to fail. At 16km I rallied the strength for some stronger running. My mind then realised the miscalculations of the 22km to go point. At 10km I needed to sit down for a rest and really didn't want to get going again. Fortunately the mind won that battle. At 9km it was clear that I had time to walk the remainder of the course and still finish before the 12 hour cut off and that was all that the legs were willing to do.

My finish time was 11:28 and of 20,500 starters I finished 11,081st. Had I been 11,000th I'd have won a car, not that I'd have been able to get it back to the UK. The atmosphere in the stadium at the finish was unbelievable. With barely 15 minutes to go there was speculation that 8,000 plus runners were going to fail. Then news came in that the sub 12hour pacer was approaching the stadium. The crowd of runners with him, "the bus", was estimated at 2,000. Seeing that many runners enter the stadium with the final minutes remaining on the clock bought out a tear or two. Tears of joy that these people had achieved their goal and their dream. It brought home what I'd accomplished and what everyone else had accomplished. It also brought to mind how close I came to missing out on that achievement. We then had to witness the cruelest scenes of the running world. There are cut off points at various places along the course. If you make it past the last cut of in time you have to come into the stadium and get to the finish line, but come 12hours the clock is stopped, no more finishers medals are awarded and you're name doesn't appear in the results. Some missed out by just seconds and for ten minutes people were still running into the stadium. Cruel. 14,343 official accredited finishers.

Am I pleased I did this race? You bet. I'll be thinking about the day's events for a long time. It was testing and I now know myself a little better.

Would I do it again? Only by giving it the respect it deserves by training specifically for it and getting in lots of miles on hills. You can not treat this race as a minor diversion whilst you train for other events - it will beat you. Yes I did get to the end, but in the same way that a boxing match can go the full number of rounds where there will be only one winner,. In the bout between Comrades and Rob Lines, Comrades is the winner.

Profile and heart rate trace:

Rugby Saturday

Today the hotel staff are back to their normal uniforms but the International Super 14 Rugby Final is on everyones lips. Fourteen teams from 3 countries were involved; South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Two South African Teams have made the final The Bulls from Pretoria, take on The Stormers of Cape Town at 5pm. As you can imagine there is a lot of pride and a lot of rivally. The final is being played in Soweto, which is a massive Black Town Ship and the 45,000 white supporters will be bused in. We'll be watching the match on TV with our Tour Operators, Penthouse Sports Tours in our Pietermaritzburg Hotel. They are based in Cape Town and have already warned us that any cheers for The Bulls could mean that our luggage gets left in Pietermaritzburg.

Am I ready for the run tomorrow? As ready as I'll ever be. I'd like to respond with a confident "Born Ready", but 89km (56 miles) is a heck of a long way to run and it's going to hurt. Reflecting over the last 12 months: Ironman Nice, Ironman Canada, Marriots Way Ultra, Luton Marathon, Ironman Australia and Brighton Marathon. That little lot ought to mean I'm way better prepared than most of the 20,500 that are expected to line up at the start.

Follow us live
The Comrades website (www.comrades.com) will have a live webcast (you might need to download the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in) there will also be a 'track your runner' feature on the website. My race number is 32908. Don't forget you can still donate to SIA at www.justgiving.com/Rob-Lines

KE NAKO - It is time!!

Football Friday

Friday 28th May and all the hotel staff are wearing South Africa team shirts. I'm to find out that all workers are being encouraged to adopt Football Friday. Forget Dress Down Friday or Casual Friday its Football Friday now until end of the World Cup. South Africa are out to make this the best World Cup ever and are using it to unit and country. They want the World to see how far they have come since domcracy started in 1994. They've got 450,000 visitors arriving in the next couple of weeks. 11,000 media and 26 billion pairs of eyes will see images from South Africa (they figure that people will watch more than one match.) The World Cup is going to put South Africa firmly on the map and firmly into the minds of the World.

Registered today after a rather lengthy bus tour of the race route. Against my better judgement I opted for what was billed as a 5 hour trip with refreshment stops. It turned into a frustrating 7 hour wild goose chase. Anyway I did get to see some of the route. I did get to see Arthers Seat and Comrades Wall (more of these when I do the race report I'm sure)javascript:void(0). Having spent a bit of time upon my returning g-mapping the route I know now where the buses should have taken us (highway rules permitting):

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3765464

I am now registered, I have my race numbers, and am now seeded in the correct starting pen. The organisation for this race really has been one of the hardest. I figure the race is going to be the hardest. Certainly gonna be the hardest running race I've challenged myself with.

Sani Pass

Thursday 27th May and I'm on another tour with 1st Zulu Safaris. This time in a Landrover to get to the top of Sani Pass into Lesotho. This was an incredible journey that took me from Durban through Pietermaritzburg and into another country and another world.

The Drakenburg's are a 1000 mile long mountain range starting in Cape Town and finishing up the coast way north of Durban. Sani Pass is a rugged route only passable my walkers, moutain bikes and 4x4s. As I was saving my legs the 4x4 seemed the sensible option. It was also 300km from Durban and I needed something to get me there. Though there is a marathon on the pass in November - perhaps another year. The pass starts at around 1200m above sea level at about 1600m above sea level there is the South African border control with the Lesotho border control at 2864m. That's 9,000 ft for those that use old money.

The route is stunning. I've put pics on facebook and there are a couple below.

Up at the top there is very little. Sheep, snow rats, the highest pub in africa and a village were the locals scratch a living from the land. There is no employment (excepting the pub staff and border control), no currency, no running water, no electricity, no sanitation and no trees. The guide had made friends with one of the villagers and in exchange for sweets and some bread rolls we were welcomed into their hut and given a little of their home baked bread. a family of 6 living in a small room with a single bed and an open fire in the centre of the round room to cook on. Bags containing their few possesions doubled as chairs. I felt very humble. We have so much and we take it for granted. These people have very little worldly possesions, but despite freezing night time temparatures and winter snow seem happy. Have we in the western world lost sight of what is important?

Thank you. Thank you, Thank you.

To all of you who have made a donation to the Spinal Injuries Association via the Just Giving page or made a pledge on my sponsorship form.

Wednesday 26th May

My foot is no longer aching. No hurt, no ache. Didn't feel brave enough to do the prescribed 4x 1mile efforts on it. Gonna save it and my legs until Sunday.

Managed to pretty much completely stay off the foot yesterday. Went on a safari. That meant I was picked up from the Hotel at 6am and dropped off again at 9pm with very little time spent on the feet.

Was taken to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve and full marks to those that know that it is pronounced Slu-sluie Imp-ol-osy. Of the big five we saw Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. Saw loads of Impala, Zebra, Giraffes, worthogs, blue backed wilde beast, baboons, a couple of different eagles, some silver backed monkeys, some other gazzers that I can't remember the name of and something that looked like a weasel that my guide was sure was a squirrel.

Also went to the Emdoneni Wild Cat Sanctuary where they rehabilitate endangered felines. No Lions or Leopards to be found here to complete the big 5 for me. Neither of those two are endangered. They are looking after African Wild Cats, Serval, Caracal and Cheetah. African Wild Cats are very similar to domestic cats. From the explanation I'd describe them as a very specific predigree breed. They do and can breed with domestic cats and so the only ones that are classified as pure "African Wild Cats" are those that pass genetic tests that prove they pure bloods. They have serious behavioural problems so wouldn't want one as a pet. Was allowed in the pens with the some of Serval and juvenial Cheetahs, once they'd been fed that is. Advice was don't try to run from them and if they jump at you or get their claws into you don't try to push them away, wait for assistance. The juvenial Cheetahs were 18 months old, so not fully mature they are old enough to fend for themselves that means they can do 0-70mph from a standing start in 3.5seconds that's faster that most cars and certainly faster than me. Fortunately I wasn't alone in the pens with them and I figured I was faster than all the other humans.

Sorry about the picture being a bit dark. It was 5pm and getting dark and I didn't want the flash to upset the cats.
More pictures from the day at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=215899&id=602602194&l=e0c2841f18

Today, I've mostly been loafing around at the hotel pool. Figured I need to acclimatise and that sun bathing is a good way to do that. I also gave myself a swimming lesson. I've been lent a copy of "Total Immersion" and I've worked my way through the narative to the first set of practicals and the small pool here was a great venue for floating on my back and on my sides whilst working on balance.

Tomorrow I'm on another tour. Off to the Sani Pass in the Drakensburg which is a 33km gravel road straddling sheer cliffs and topping out at 2873m above sea level. I'm hoping for a clear day so that I can get some more photos for you.

Now in South Africa - Monday 24th May

Sorry it’s been a while. Last update was Brighton Marathon. That was over a month ago.

Recovering after Brighton took a little longer than expected. I’ve been experiencing something that I’ve experienced before. The first big event takes longer to get over than you think. Yes you are able to get back out there and do things again, but recovering from the second thing seems to take a long time, but that’s because you haven’t fully got over the first.

I have been getting more personal bests. Got a PB at the third Yarmouth 5 mile run race. My previous best was set in 2005 when I also set PBs at 5km and 10km. With all the distance work over recent years I’ve not been close to these times. Whilst the difference was only 14seconds it is still an improvement and proof that whilst I’m finding the running a chore that I’m going better than ever. I still don’t think I’ve got good technique and I’m trying to work on it. That 5 mile / 8km PB goes with the 20k and 30k ones already gained this year.

The PBs have also been coming on the bike. I’ve done three 10 mile TTs in the last 5 weeks and gained PBs at 2 of them. My time for 10 is now a minute quicker than the previous best set a couple of years back. It is now 25:21 and I’m sure that I’ll be under 25 minutes before the end of the year.

I’m now in Durban preparing for Comrades. Coach has a number of running sessions on the schedule, but I’m being naughty. Or perhaps I’m being good. My foot has hurt since a recovery run in the peak district on the 15th May. As the foot, or more accurately heal, hurt from the first foot strike I suspect the damage was done prior to the run. That means the finger of blame points to 5x 1 mile efforts on the Friday, and the trainers used on that run, or to a very very cold night camping prior to the run. I’ve either got compound fracture of the heal or I’ve bruised the layer of fat under my heal bone. I suspect the later as I’m pretty sure I’d have felt the bone being fractured. www.sportsinjuryclinic.com recommends a few days rest for the bruised heal, which is hard to do with getting in and out of work and needing to move about at work. Certainly the flight helped and the pain is now a periodic ache. Perhaps I should have taken a couple of days off work to rest properly – but no chance of that. The fractured option requires 6 weeks off. With Comrades this Sunday that’s not going to happen.

So, as I was saying I’m here in Durban. Getting here was a bit traumatic. The journey itself was easy enough, the hassles were with tour operators not doing their job. Was given details of flights and itinnary back in December, which I signed up to and paid the deposit and was told I’d get the tickets two weeks before the trip. When I rang 1.5 weeks ahead to point out that I was still waiting they discovered they’d booked me on the wrong flights. That was sorted 2 days before flying. At that point I discovered that they had omitted to book me accommodation for the overnight stop over in Johanesburg, so had to sort that myself, and I got told off for requesting to pick up my race details from the wrong registration details – well, if I’m not sent details telling me which of the two I’m supposed to select then there is a 50% chance I’ll get it wrong.

But as I say here now. The country seems to have gone World Cup mad. Yes they are hosting the event . Yes they have had to build some stadiums and yes it is a very big event. Four of 8 sports channels here seem to be dedicated to the event which doesn’t start for another 3 weeks. Yesterday I went to the Moses Ma.... stadium which is an awesome site and adds to the Durban skyline. There is an arch that goes over the ground which has a cable car on it. I was up for a trip on that, but was denied. Whilst having been open all weekend, come the Monday morning, yesterday, it was all closed off. I had been planning on combing a trip to the stadium with a trip to the Kings Park Olympic swimming pool across the road. The Swimming pool boasts an outdoor 25m training pool, an indoor competitive 50m swimming pool plus diving pool etc. That was also closed for the World Cup. It is now a Fifa registration centre for the month. If I was living here I think I’d be looking forward to the world cup being over.

Brighton Marathon, Sunday 18th April – Rob Lines

I’d been excited about this marathon every since I heard about it last summer. Three years in the making this inaugural didn’t disappoint. Having gone to Uni in Brighton I have more than a bit of affinity and familiarity with the town (or City as it is now). I still have college friends there so had cheap accommodation and the opportunity to play catch up. But the things that really impressed me were the accommodation of London Marathon runners in the entry process where if they got lucky on the ballot they’d get a refund, being the 2nd largest marathon in the UK outside London on it’s first attempt, a flat(ish) course designed to avoid the Brighton Hills, accommodating late entries from those unable to fly to Boston Marathon, signs on the M23 and A23 warning that Brighton would be closed on 18th April and then the number of spectators on the course was totally mind blowing. I’m really not surprised they sold out. The event organizers got everything right. They were then blessed with glorious weather touching 20C. When I entered I think I put down a conservative training run estimate of 4:20. That put me in a seeded pen with others with 4:15 to 4:30 estimates. The course started with a loop of Preston Park which meant that before I got to the start line I saw the race leaders, the lead club runners, club mates, 3hr pace,3:30pacer and 4:00 pacer all run past before I even got started. Ran with the crowd to start with then stepped up the pace. I really wanted to go sub 4 hours on my chip time. At 20 miles it looked like I’d go sub 4hours on gun time too and the overtaking the 4:00 pacer and the group running with him at 22 miles was really really satisfying. Finished with a gun time of 3:56 and a chip time of 3:44 and credited with a half way time of 2:07 which gives the impression of a massive negative split, but that was also a gun time, chip time was 1:55 so second half would have been 1:49. I looked at the results to see where the first 4:15 runner came in. They were 3,100th. I was 1,499th which means I overtook 1600 runners. That’s one every 4 seconds. As none of them have eyes in the backs of their heads I had a bit of swerving, decelerating and accelerating to do. Makes for a really good long training run and excellent preparation for Comrades. Would I ever do London again? Only if I got automatic qualification. Certainly won’t ever apply to London again, it’s Brighton for me for now on.

Brighton Marathon Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Brighton Marathon. My eleventh marathon in total and the third marathon in my preparations for Comrades in 6 weeks time.
My race number tomorrow is 6848 and I'm sure you'll be able to follow my progress on www.brightonmarathon.co.uk. For those of you with iphones (possibly ipod touches too) there is a Brighton Marathon App that has news, course maps and results.
Have I recovered from Ironman Australia? Not fully, no. Certainly not fully enough for a fast marathon tomorrow but as I'm only after a long steady run I feel up for it. In fact I feel quite excited about it.
I have managed a few runs since Port Macquarie, including 15 miles last week. Have been out on the bike a few times to get some miles in. Nothing major to write about. I get dropped on the hills, particularly the steep hills if I ride with buddies, but the rest of the time I'm turning the pedals okay, just don't have that top end burst at the moment.
Swimming. Well, I have to confess that I haven't done any.
Had hassle with getting the bike back from Sydney. BA tried to rob me good and proper. Ended up shipping the bike back rather than having it in the hold. It cost £72 to get the bike from Norwich out to Sydney with KLM and Malaysian. Coming back I was expecting it to be Quantas and KLM but the first flight turned out to be BA and they wanted AUS$3,400 (£2,230). So the money I saved by shipping rather than giving into BA has bought me a new bike. Took the issue up with KLM, but there response was "if you have exception with the charges BA make, take it up with them".
Okay, I'm off now to drive to Brighton. I have a marathon to run tomorrow.

Australia Day 14 - Monday 29th March

Feeling a little sore and stiff today (particularly the back). Certain that my hydration and nutrition level's are not back to where they should be.

Medal has been engraved:



Awards Ceremony this evening.

Tomorrow I'll be driving back to Syndey and flying home. Trip done.

Would I come back and do it again? Yes, this has probably been the best of the six Ironman Triathlons that I've done. With South Africa second and Canada third.

Ironman Australia

Ironman Australia completed in a time of 12:48:55.
Swim was 53:52, a new Tri-Anglia club record. Tide helped, as did a seeded start.
Bike an acceptable 5:55:19, though would have liked quicker.
Run an awful 5:45:25. Back was aching from the bike (gonna review that time trial bike) and the heat didn't help. Wore a long sleeve white top to aviod getting sunburnt, but the extra layer added to the heat. Stopped several times to sit in the shade to cool down.

Australia Day 12 - Saturday 27th March

Just over 12 hours to go now to the start of Ironman Australia 2010. 25 weeks of preparation are coming to a close.

It is 6:30pm here in Port Macquarie as I write this. At 6:45am I start the swim along with over 1500 other competitors. I have a blue swim cap which means I'll be starting in the water behind the pros with the fastest 25% of the entrants.

Starting at 6:45am means a very early start tomorrow. Because the UK and Northern Hemisphere change their clocks this weekend I was under the impression that Australia would be too. Not to be they put their clocks back next week.

So that means my expectations for tomorrow are:

6:45am UTC (7:45pm Sat GMT) Swim start.
1 hr for the swim
7:45am UTC (8:45pm Sat GMT) finish swim and start the bike
Sub 6 hours for the bike (perferably sub 5:40)
1:45pm UTC (2:45am GMT) finish bike and be into the run.
Sub 4 hours for the run? Best I've done so far is 4:15.
5:45pm UTC (6:45am GMT)

You can follow me on www.ironman.com via the live athlete tracker. My race number is 820.

What have I been upto today? Race briefing at 9:30am. Bike racking and checking in my bike and run bags (the bags containing what I need on the bike and the run sections) at 12:30. Then a large lunch at 1pm then I've been chilling out.

It's now 6:45pm and I'm gonna read for an hour and then try to get some sleep. Gonna be getting up at 4am.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Australia Day 11 - Friday 26th March

Registration

I am now tagged. I have a band on my right wrist proclaiming that I am a competitor in Ironman Australi 2010. This id tag makes me look a hospital patient, but will be what gets me into competiton areas, pasta parties and awardd banquets.

I also have timing chip, race numbers, bike numbers, helmet number, swim cap and separate bags for run clothes, bike clothes and street wear.

To help relax in the afternoon and to take my mind away from the race I went to the cinema. This time to see "How to train your Dragon". That really is a good fun film.

Australia Day 10 - Thursday 25th March

A "get away from it all day" today. No training. In fact nothing to do with Ironman at all. Yes registration did open today, but it will also be open tomorrow and with the pasta party tomorrow evening, tomorrow won't be a day to completly escape.

So I jumped in the car and went for a scenic 80km drive up the coast to South West Rocks and to the Arakoon State Conservation Area to look at Trial Bay and Trial Bay Gaol. The bay wasn't orginally called that but became it after a boat "The Trial" was wrecked on rocks here. In fact ship wrecks was a rather all too common feature for the shipping channel along the coast between Syndey and Brisbane. Well over 200 boats were sunk and hundreds of lifes lost in the years between 1818 and 1866.

When someone suggested building a reform prision here and using the internees to build a breakwater into the bay to provide shipping with safe refuge the project received support and it started.

Come the early 20th Century the project was terminated as a failure. The prision had taken 10 years longer than anticipated to construct due the local rock being harder to work with than previously thought. The breakwater being constructed whilst reaching 900m in length was ravaged by a storm and reduced to 200m. It should have been 1500m. And the ships were getting larger and no longer needed a refuge at this point on the coast. Plus this prision was supposed to be a reform prision providing prisioners with a skill before being released, but all too many were becoming repeat offenders and back in prisions elsewhere. A failure pretty much on all counts. Then during the Great War the prision was used to house Australia's German residence for fear that if left in the community would be spying and a risk to National Security.

After the War the prision was decommissioned. All the tempory buildings were removed and roof tiles and ironwork sold off. The following photographs show what remains of the prision and the breakwater.

More photos in my facebook album

Spent the remainder of the day in Arakoon having lunch and enjoying the location whilst sitting around relaxing.

On my drive home I stopped at the Cassegrain Winery just outside Port Macquarie. I do like visiting vineyards and hearing about the growth of the grapes and the wine production process. Not the case here. This isn't a vineyard it's a winery. Farmers grow grapes, they buy them in and make the wine. No historic or educational tours either just a restaurant and a wine shop were you can sample wine on a try before you buy basis. So sampled three of their offerings. Well I was driving. And purchased a bottle of rose made from a Cabernet Sauvigon and Merlot blend. I'm sure I'll be able to get that consumed before heading home on Tuesday.

A successful day all told. Nice and relaxing with little thought given to Sunday's activities.

Australia Day 9 - Wednesday 24th March

Harder ride today. Opted to ride a single lap of the bike course (60k) taking the first and last bits steady and pushing hard (ish) for the rest. That meant taking it easy on the undulations and pushing it along on the flat, though I still found myself riding a little conservative as I'm really not wanting to push it too much in this final week. Averaged 18mph for a 1:45 ride, though it was cut short to 50k because I needed to get back in time to go for a horse riding lesson.


Yes, that is some Ironman Australia merchandise that I'm wearing whilst sat on Zorro's back. He is a thoroughbred and has raced, though he was calm and gentle with me.

Another bit of preparation for the weekend was to do some washing. Everything that I have with me is now clean. (Jeans no longer smell of horses.) That means that everything I need for Sunday is clean and ready for use.

Local paper today contained a 12 page supplement for Sunday's race. In it they list all competitors, feature local entrants, feature the pros, feature the orange army of marshalls and also mention a chap from the US who has been doing Ironman for 26 years and Sunday's will be his 50th.

Australia Day 8 - Tuesday 23rd March

The Ironman village is now open. Well, the office and merchandise tents are. I may have bought myself some gear.

There are slowly more and more sporty people arriving in town. Just a few at the moment. A couple with Trek Equinity Time Trial bikes have arrived with their owners in the hotel. It was good to have a chat with them as I got back from this mornings easy ride. They've driven up from Melbourne and have done this race before. I haven't met any first timers yet, although 1 in 4 of the entrants are newbies.

Anyway, my ride this morning was just an easy recovery ride. Spent an hour riding up and down Settlement Point. It's a nice flat 6k circuit that I rode four times.

The rest of the day, after my shoping trip to the Ironman village has been spent relaxing. A trip to the local supermarket for some provisions and to pick up a copy of the second Dan Brown book. Sitting in the coffee shop reading it caused some local residence to pass comment and then have a chat. They are jolly friendly here.

Oh and a revelation today that lead to some internet research. They had an Iron Outlaw here in Australia in the 19th Century. It sparked my interest due to the inaugural Ironman distance Outlaw Triathlon I'm entered in later in the year. Our Outlaw is the far more legendary Robin Hood.

Haven't spent all day reading. I did also take a guided tour around a sub-tropical rainforest at Sea Acres. Turns out that the guide is packing the competitors goodie bags tomorrow.

The photo below is where I spent an hour or so reading "Angels and Demons" this afternoon. I hope it's as interactive a read as the "Da Vinci Code" I enjoyed reading sections in the mirror and looking up referenced artwork on wikipedia. Have already been looking at this copy upside down. Oh and the picture is Lighthouse Beach looking along the beach towards the lighthouse.



Anyway, early night for me as I want to get a hard ride in tomorrow morning before departing at 9am for a rescheduled horse riding lesson.

Australia Day 7 - Monday 22nd March - Week 25

Here we are. Now in week 25 of week 25. This time next week it will all be over. Will I be sad? Will I be happy? Will I be ecstatic? Insufferable? I know I'll be stiff and sore, but that's the price to be paid.

Training today consisted of a hard run. Not a long run, a hard run. The picture to the left shows the route taken and the graphic to the right the heart rate trace. The session I opted for was an 11km run with the first and last 2km's (well, I'm here in Australia and they think in kilometers) as a warm up and warm down. The middle 7km harder and faster at approaching half marathon pace. Afraid I didn't quite make that. It proved to be really hot and muggy. Sweat was dripping off me and palms were soaked.

The rest of the day was spent chilling out either in the appartment or down at Flynns Beach. After the heat of the morning the afternoon felt cool. The car's temperature gauge still read 27C but with some wind and cloud cover it wasn't sunbathing weather.

Read Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Must now get myself the next book.

Australia Day 6 - Sunday 21st March

A second easy day and I went for just a 5 mile (8 km) run. Headed out onto the Ironman Run course to explore the second part of the route. The bit that I'd not yet explored, but when that turned away from the coastal path I opted to stay with the very scenic route. There is definately a hill at this end of the course, which might prove a little testing come race day, though I suspect it will make for a nice change to the rest of the course which is pretty flat.
Headed to Wauchope (war-hope) to get lunch ahead of my 2pm riding lesson. Wasn't much open. Only place I could find was the other side of Timbertown on the far side of Wauchope. Whilst there I received a call to say the lesson was cancelled due to lack of interest, but could it be rescheduled.
I used the drive out to Wauchope to reccee an alternative ride route for Wednesday's hard bike ride. Another main (ish) road with two unsealed sections. The hire car now needs a wash.
On the way back into Port, I stopped for a few hours at the Billabong Koala breeding centre were I got to stroke a Koala. Their fur feels more like the wool on a sheep that it does the fur of a cat. Had the opportunity to stroke a Dingo. Couldn't help but consider this very domesticated specimen a pet dog. Was also cajouled into stroking a lizard, a crocodile and a black headed python.
Okay, so back to training. Today concludes week 24 of 25. It was a taper week with lots of rest. How did I do? Well I pretty much stuck to the schedule as illustrated in the following graphic:

Australia Day 5 - Saturday 20th March

An easy day today. Well, that's what the schedule said. So I had in mind an easy hour on the bike and an easy half hour run. I was then going to visit the Billabong Koala Breeding Centre to see some kangaroos and more koala's.

At least that was the plan. Sometimes days just don't go as planed because better things occur.

I woke up at a nice early hour and had breakfast. Then feeling lazy just chilled out in the appartment sending emails, playing on facebook and then only set out for a ride at 9am. Figured that way I'd not get caught up in rush hour traffic. You can tell I'm on holiday and lost track of the days and it's only now as I write that it occurs to me that it's a Saturday and there shouldn't have been any rush hour traffic.

Anyway I set off a 9am for an easy ride. Set out nice and slow to Settlement point on the TT bike with aero helmet in my Tri-Anglia tri-suit. My TT bike I've called Dawn for a number of reasons that I'll elaborate on in a later post (perhaps). Anyway I was out and as I waited on Settlement Point considering waiting for the Ferry to the North Harbour I got passed by a lady in pink on a bike. Then a couple minutes later 3 more ladies with another one in pink. As the ferry didn't look like it was about to leave the other side of the river anytime soon I gave chase and caught up with the group to have a chat and see where they were going. They'd set off at 6:30am, as did most of the rides that go out most days (it's dark at that time so they set off with lights) and were now just warming down. I was adviced to pop into the Peloton Cafe which is attached to Gordon St Bikes to find out the location of the departing rides. The kit that the two ladies in pink were wearing was that of the "Peloton Princesses".

I then continued on my own on the Ironman bike course upto the Lighthouse turning point. Once there I found a cycling coupling taking photos of each other with the backdrop of Lighthouse Beach behind them. I figured it the done thing to pull over say "Hi" and offer to take a photo of the pair of them. They took me up on the offer, picked up on the accent and we got chatting. Turns out that they'd been in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in April 2008 to do Ironman South Africa, same as me, and had beein in Penticton, British Columbia in August 2009 to do Ironman Canada, same as me and lived at Camden Head were I'd ridden to on Wednesday. I received an open invite to their house if I was to ride there again and also an invite to join their Tri Club this afternoon for a group swim in the Hastings River on the Ironman Swim Course.

Result. Run was off the schedule, as was the trip to Billabong. I concluded my easy ride with a stop at the Peloton Cafe then chilled at the hotel reading "The da Vinci Code" whilst utilising the hotels laundry service before wandering down to the river for 2:30pm to swim with Port Macquarie Triathlon Club. Most people said "Hi" and introduced themselves I was told to check out the wetsuit that one of the ladies was wearing. It was one that Chrissie Wellington had worn when she won here last year. She'd signed it and I was asked if I knew who Chrissie Wellington is. Of course I do - she's the 3 times World Ironman Champion who won Ironman Australia each of the last two years and is from Norfolk where I live. As soon as I said that I suddenly got introduced to the group on mass as "This is Rob from the UK and he knows Chrissie". That's not quite what I said. I had been in contact with her, and she'd asked me to give the organisers her best regards which I passed on to this group to then be baraged with questions: Is she out of plaster we heard she broke her shoulder? Is she okay? Is she back in training? Where is she based at the moment?" Good job I'd read her last blog update earlier in the day.

We had a good social swim, about 20 of us, as a group up the Hastings River, occasionally stopping to regroup. I got a great feeling of camarderie and felt like a seal savouring the enjoyment of swimming in a schole. We covered 2.4 km in about 45 minutes, then heading to a coffee shop, of which Port Mac has plenty.

I now have options of a 6:30 bike ride and a 7:30am run tomorrow morning. Thank you Ron and Beryl.

The Koala Breeding Centre can wait for another day, but not tomorrow I'm visiting Wauchope, that I now know is pronounced war-hope for a 2 hour horse ride. I'm looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to Friday when Miss V arrives in town to support the Ironman before she commences here holiday and I then return home. I'm feeling sorry Julie Green though. She also has an entry for the Ironman and was booked into the same hotel as me, but on the advice from her Doctor on a low white blood cell count has withdrawn.

Australia Day 4 - Friday 19th March

My second 'day off' and my second surf lesson. I'm pleased to report that I was definately standing up on the board this time. There were 3 waves where I was not only stood up but definately surfing too. Not very well admittedly.

Couldn't stop myself analysising the learning processes. It's definately one of repetition. You start not being able to catch the wave. As you become better at wave selection and being picked up, you then get more opportunities to try to stand. You're still going to fall off lots but eventually you get better at standing and stand 3 times out of 5 then 4 times out of 5. Then you can start thinking about riding the wave. Clearly I've still got a long way to go.

Highlight of the session was seeing some dolphins. Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to have half a dozen dolphin's stop and check you out whilst you are waiting out back for the set? Well that's what happened to the class before mine. I was early and witnessed it. School kids here get to go surfing in their PE lessons and then they get visited by dolphins. Teenagers being teenagers though "its not fair, I want to ride my bodyboard rather than learn to surf a board".

Didn't suffer any further sunburns today. Was wearing factor 30+ sunscreen and was regularly toping it up. The wind helped to make it feel a bit cooler but it was still 27C and the forecast is for that to rise a little over the next 5 days or so. Fingers crossed it will drop for Sunday 28th. A cloudy day at 22C would be ideal, though I'll take 27C rather than 8C any day.

To get out of the sun in the afternoon I went to experience Australian Cinema. I saw "Alice in Wonderland". I liked it. A really well put together movie. You'd never recognise Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. There couldn't have been more than half a dozen in a theatre that could host 300. I think Australian's are early birds. The film times were 9:20am, 2:20pm and 6:40pm.

I had planned to go to the cinema last night, but started on a marshal sechedule for the Norwich Triathlon. I'll be helping out Kerry Davis, the race director as her Marshal Co-ordinator. This is a role that Granville does so well for CoNAC. I'll be trying to emulate him. Guess that makes me Kerry's Granny. Whilst I went to bed at 9pm, I was so engrossed with it that I woke at 1am and didn't get back to sleep. I suppose that balances out 11 hours sleep the night before. Was sleepy most of the day.

Oh, and taking these lessons and chilling out is enabling me to talk to the locals. Their pronunciation of local town names is almost as bad as ours in Norfolk. Back home Wymondham is Windham and Happisburgh is Hazeborough. Here Cathie is Cat-eye and I've not mastered Wauchope. I'll update you on that one later.

Australia Day 3

Went surfing today. A two hour first lesson was as much as I could take. Got pounded by some waves. Got picked up by a few waves. Managed to get the feet under my body and stand up on a few too. Buggered if I could do anything more than fall straight off.

Caught the sun a bit too.

Dopey here omitted sunscreen on the tops of his feet.

Have invested in factor 30+ ahead of tomorrows trip to Flynn beach.

May go to the cinema this evening to see Alice in Wonderland.

Though if last night is anything to go by I'll fall asleep soon after 6pm and not wake until 5am. Think that might be due to jet lag and two sleepless nights on planes.

Oh, and that brings me to another point to ponder. Flight on Saturday evening left Amsterdam at 10pm which was Kuala Lumpur 5am. Flight on Sunday evening left Kuala Lumpur at 11pm which was Syndey 2am. Why do they wait an hour and then give you an evening meal. It's middle of the night where you heading, in fact it's past bedtime where you've left. Why do that?

Found out my race number. I'm number 820. Also discovered that the race start will be delayed by 15minutes to 6:45am to give us a little more early morning light.

Air temperature today was 27C, water temperature 21C. Can cope with that come race day. Cooler would be more to my advantage, but I'll cope. Hope it's cloudy the sun here is real strong.

Australia Day 2 - Wednesday 17th March

An early start. Well, I want to get into the habit of early to bed early to rise. So a 7am depart for a 4 hour ride. It didn't seem very light before that and I do have all day. The graphic above shows the route. Basically I followed the Ironman route out then ignored the dog leg and continued down to Lauriton and round to Camden Head. From there carried on down the coast to the point where the tarmac ran out then headed back. Took a left to go up Bonney View Drive because I figured that would take me to a viewing point. Alas it didn't so back down to Pacific / Ocean Drive to then turn left up the Ironman bike course dog leg. I hadn't turned right up here on the way out because I didn't want to turn right across the traffic, there was some about and it was moving quickly. Once at the dog leg turn around it was simply a case of following the bike course back to base. So looking at the profile for the last 30k you get a good feel for how the course undulates. Ignore the values on the right. I'm not 150m below sea level, that's just the watch having the wrong level programed into it, but the ascents and descents are fairly accurate, so I can expect something in the region of 1400m of climbing on race day. The climbs are short and sharp and on the way back before turning into Davey Drive needs a gear lower than 39x19. Must remember that. Bike seemed to work okay. Getting use to being on the aero bars which is good, as that was the point for this ride today. Back still aches after being in them for a while, but at least I can move once I've got off the bike. We'll see how we get on come the 28th.

Slowly getting the hang of Australian road signs. Generally it's straight forward enough and mostly the same as being at home. But as usual you get some country variations. In Ireland for example you get "Yield" signs on junctions rather than "Give Way" signs. Here you get "entering traffic" rather than warnings of "emerging traffic". The one that had more going for a while though was "Refugee Island". I figured it was a sign for a location such as "Pelican Island" or "Flynn's Beach" but I kept seeing them in different places. Have worked out now that they are refering to the traffic islands in the middle of the road where pedestrians can cross. Never thought of a pedestrian in the middle of the road as a refugee before.

An early start has some benefits. It means I finish early. Had a leisurely lunch. Fancied steak and went to the only steak house open at lunchtime. The menu was confusing. What's wrong with picking the cut of meat you want, telling them how you want it cooked, what sauce and what accompaniments? They'd branded everything up like cocktails with thier housenames for everthing. "A sirloin sir, yes you'll need the New York. Oh, you want it rare, in that case you'll need the Washington. Oh, with a peper sauce in case it will be the ....". You get the gist.

Then in the afternoon, a visit to the local Koala Hospital. Koala's are all over the place here, but being nocturnal you don't get to seem them. But with 3pm being feeding time for those about to be released meant I saw a few. Took the opportunity to tag along with a guided tour and hear some stories.

Click here for more pictures

Australia Day 1

So my first full day in Australia. First morning that I wake up on this continent. The hotel appartment is very spacious for one which is really good seeing as I've got two weeks here. The location is brilliant for the Ironman as the following picture shows. Really close that getting to it and from it on race day is going to be nice and easy. Yet tucked away in a quiet spot so that once away from it I can't see or hear it. That way I can escape and relax.


So, the mission for the next two weeks:
Lots of time to chill out and get to see what is in the area. Have tried a couple of restaurants so far. A Thai last night and fish place this evening. I'm going to get into the habbit of early nights and early mornings. That way come race day a 5am start won't be such a shock to the system. Fortunately the clocks here go back that morning so at least that makes it a little easier. That means I'm having main meals at 6pm. Might switch this soon to main meals midday with light meals in the evening.

Other activities today. Easy 10mile bike ride and an easy 25minute run, though temperatures where upto and beyond 26C. Have signed up for some surfboarding lessons and worked out that there is an awful lot of things here that I'd like to do: horse riding, vineyard tours, intersting walks, art museums, historic homes, nature reserves, Koala Rescue Hospitals, boat hire and even sky diving. Good job coach Joe sees surfing as "easy".

The guide book suggests some scenic drives, so I went on one to reccee the run and bike courses from the race, but to preview one I'd planned for tomorrow. I popped into Graham Seers Cyclery in the morning to ask for route advice. We did this in South Africa which was a really good thing to do. The advice there was "don't ride through town ships". Other competitors who didn't get that advice had their bikes taken from them at knife point. Lesson there, get local knowledge on where and where not to go. Fortunately Australia is sound, well this part is at any rate. With their knowledge and then adding my own spin on it I figured that as the Ironman bike course is a 60k out and back I'd extend it to a 130k out and back. Google maps gave the impression that was okay so went to explore. All great for the 30k of the Ironman route. Good for a further 20k or so, but then the tarmac ran out and the road though wide and fine for 60kmph driving was just dust. Don't fancy that on a time trial bike with race tyres that I want to race on in 12 days time. Click here to see the route I'd like to have done, the tarmac ran out south of Dunbogan

Have taken some pictures so far that I have put onto facebook of the local surroundings, bits of the bike and run course and the dust road way beyond the bike course. Click here for my Facebook Australia Album

Here is one of the scenic shots

Travel to Australia

The graph above shows how my 39 hour door to door journey went between 15:00 hours (GMT) on Saturday 13th March when JT arrived at my house to give me a lift to Norwich International (owe him a favour) through to checking in at my hotel in Port Macquarie at 17:00 hours UTC on Monday 15th March.

Week 23 Review

It's upon us now. Or more correctly with 23 weeks of 25 weeks done Ironman Australia is upon me.
This is how week 23 went:

Swimathon - wk 23 Friday 12th March

Having posted good times at the first 3 races of the year and feeling I was strong for the swim I was hoping that confidence levels would be raised higher with a good performance at the 5k swimathon.
Confidence was to take a bit of a bashing, but considering a late night (writing up blog), a hard brick session the night before (what I was writing up in the blog) and an early start I guess I got what I ought to have been expecting.
Frank Ellis had arranged a private 50m lane for us for our Swimathon 5k rather than joining one of the official sessions where they pick who you get in the lane with you. My companions were Simon Edye, Jim Macloed and Frank.
Really wanted to do a sub 75 minute 5k. That means 1k per 15 minutes which means the 3.8k distance of an Ironman swim would be sub 57minutes which would build confidence for a fast swim on race day. First 100 was sub 1:28. At least that was a good start. First 200 done in sub 3:06. ( I was looking at the digital clock on the wall after surfacing from the tumble.) First 1k in 15 something or other. The higher end of 15 minutes I suspect. Then at 1100m my brother, who is counting my laps for me puts a float in the water to indicate that the first 1k is done. I stop to ask him if he is sure and both he and Jo, who is counting Simon's laps, both assure me it is. I look at the clock and it's over 17 minutes. Oh dear, won't be going under 75 minutes on this occasion then.
I was over taking the others in my lane quite regularly. Frank I was laping every 300m. Jim every 500m and Simon. Well, Simon speeds up against my slowing down. I went past him for the first time at 850m then again at 1800, 2800, 4000 and that was it.
My time for the 5k was 1:23:09. Not overly impressed with that. It's not a bad time. It's just not what I wanted and doesn't convince me I 'm going well.
The splits for each of the kilometers as kindly recorded by my brother were 17:24, 15:59, 16:20, 16:30 and 16:56. Does support my feelings that I faded and that I'd done 100m too much in the first 1k. When presented with those numbers Dave was still confident that he'd counted right and at the 1k point remembers checking with Jo and at that point that's what Simon had done and I'd not laped him. Phew that's a relieve and explains where the extra was because Simon has happy to confirm I'd laped him in the first 1k.

Run + Bricks Week 23 Thursday 11th March

After a day off, there were two items on the schedule. First up was a 30 minute recovery run in the morning before work. Ran a little longer than the target time, but not by much and covered 4 miles. Works out to a 7:56mpm pace which is pretty tidy for a recovery run. Legs were protesting a little.

The evening's activities were a whole lot more involved, and not quite sure how such a big session fits in a recovery week, but after the mornings run I really felt up for it. Having company for the bulk of the session helped. Someone to show off to.

I was joined by Angie Thorp for a brick session that comprised 4 sets (3 for her) of 10 minutes hard on the turbo followed by a 2.1km run repeating the pair every 30 minutes (Angie did shorter run that took her 10 minutes). This 2.5 hour session was one I'd attempted a fortnight ago on Friday 26th February. On that occassion I only managed 3 sets. This time round I managed to put out 300watts for most of the 4 bike efforts (certainly over 290 all the time) which is what I'd aim for if I was just doing 4x 10minute bike efforts and the runs were supposed to be 9 minutes for 2k and this time round only the 3rd wasn't done in under 9 minutes and that was 9:06 and they were for 2.1k rather than the prescribed 2k. So very pleased with that.

Just the 5k swimathon in the morning and I'm done.

Week 23 Tuesday Run Efforts

Legs were tired after the weekend and a massage on Monday. They just didn't want to go quick enough or work hard enough for these six, half mile efforts. The aim was to do each of them as though it was the last and ideally in 2:50. Only managed to sneak under 3 minutes for one of them. The legs certainly made me feel as though each of them was the last that they wanted to do. Pleased that the pace for each of them is faster than that required for a sub 20 minute 5k.

Week 22 Review

22 of 25 weeks now complete. The last big week. The following table shows how what I did compared with what I was supposed to do:

Generally did okay. With a couple of good swims, a great duathlon at the Ballbuster and a solid ride on the Sunday.
Now feeling quietly confident and excited about the Ironman in 3 weeks.

Spring Ballbuster - 6th March 2010

Third race for 2010 and managed a third PB. The Spring Ballbuster fell ideally for a final prepartion race and had been on the schedule since the coaching from Joe started in October 2009. The last big week of training was nicely rounded off with this race and confidence levels were given a nice little boost.
Having previously completed this race twice before I knew what was in store. A 7.9 mile circuit finishing at the top of Box Hill, Dorking that you run once, ride three times and then run again. Best part of 16 miles running and 24 cycling. Not easy miles either. Travelled down on the Friday evening after work. Met up with club mate Jonathan Tyrrell and stayed at a Travel Lodge. Early start to register at 6:30am ahead of the 8am gun. Gosh it was cold. Really couldn't decide what to wear. Opted to wrap up warm for the first run and bike then ditch hat and gloves for final run. Got that bit right. Started strong on the run, perhaps too strong, so pulled over for a pee then rejoined a more sensibly paced group. Then nailed it on the bike. I had my previous PB time of 3:33 in mind, plus also Simon Edye's 2008 time of 3:22 as a target. The conditions were dry so descended confidently, attacked the small inclines on the course then was steady and strong on the big climb. Was in 78th position after the first run, but got myself up to 44th thanks to posting the 19th fastest bike time of the day. Started the final run with the clock showing 2:20. Knew that a 62 minute run would beat that 3:22 target and had 73 minutes to spare for a PB. Managed the final run in just over the hour. It was hard work on the hill.
Really chuffed with myself though. (Full Results)
Going for an easy spin on the bike straight afterwards before doning compression tights and drinking some Rego (recovery drink) really helped the legs get over the Ballbuster punishment.

Ballbuster lap on gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3528551

Swim session Week 22 Friday 5th 2010

Yippee. Made it out of bed this morning and across to UEA for a swim. Usual suspects of Mike, Tom, James and Porshe were there. Oliver Milk, Frank Ellis and Jim Macleod also. Oli joined Mike and Tom for 10x 100 hard on 3mins. I did my own thing, comprising 600m warm up with every third length fly drill. Pool was configured as 50m. Then 12x 200m repeating on 3:20. First couple took 3 mins the remainder sub 3:05. Then 1000m pull followed by a 200m warm down. Total session 4200 taking 73 minutes. Paul and Julie Kemp along with Jim Keeble were there by the time I left.

Turbo and T-Run week 22 Thursday 4th March

Had planed to swim this morning. Woke up naturally wondering thinking "this is good, no alarm yet time for more sleep" looked at the clock and it was 6:40am. Bugger, not gonna get to UEA for 7am and a swim, so stayed in bed a whole lot longer. No alarm = no swim. Guess staying up writing up the blog last caused me to overlook setting the alarm. I've already set two different alarms for tomorrow morning.
A turbo session this evening with the company of Angie Thorp, who took the photo. Don't worry I don't normally wear a helmet, glasses or gloves in the garage. But all 3 are new and I wanted to wear them. You can see that the chin strap needs triming. And yes it is an aero helmet. You'll note that I'm wearing the new Tri-Anglia tri-suit too. As I had company I thought I'd go for a dress rehearsal and wear the kit I plan to use on March 28th.
The session comprised 6x 3minute efforts and is detailed in the graphic with the heart rate trace. I've done this session once before, two weeks ago on Friday 19th February. I felt really good and fully recovered this evening and the numbers support that observation. Average power for the 80 was 4.5% up at 210watts, average speed 3.8%, distance covered 3.9% up and max power 9.3% up at 444 watts. That was a burst and not sustained power. Each effort started good for the first 20seconds and I'd get to 400watts, but after 30seconds would settle to 360 which was hard to hold until into the final 60 seconds of the 3 minute effort and then I'd be able to hold 370 then for the final 10 seconds I'd really go for it and that's where the 444 was achieved. The increased output came at a cost average heart rate was also 5% up and calore consumption up 12%.
The turbo session was then immediately followed by a transition run. That means, off the bike, on with the trainers and out for a run. Because it was really cold and dark that also meant on with a long sleeve top and reflective vest. Should have put on more clothes and taken the head torch because it was really cold and far darker than normal on Whitlingham Lane. Perhaps it was the cold that inspired me to 7:20mpm pace. I was very keen to get home.

Swim and Run Week 22 Tuesday 2nd March

Now into the last big week of training before the taper period.

Had a great swim with Oliver Milk yesterday morning. Oliver won the Norwich Triathlon last year and is a very strong swimmer. The session Oliver had us do involved a 500m warm up. Twenty 100m efforts repeating on 1:30. I've been hoping to be good enough to cope with that sort of set for a long time. Being able to draft Oli meant that I was able to. I'd like to think that my presence spurred him along too. Each effort was taking about 1:25 meaning that I was getting 5 seconds rest between each. We followed that up with eight 50m kick efforts on a turn around time of 75seconds. Then for a 500m pull aiming at 1:30 pace. I was just outside that. To wrap up a 200m warm down.

In the evening I had a 6-7 mile run on the cards with 4 miles at 6:30-6:45mpm in the middle. I went along to Norwich Road Runners, but wasn't able to tempt any of them from there session to join me. I don't blame them in the slightest. It was nice to meet up with them before and after. It was good of them to suggest a route. The pace had been selected as 'faster than half marathon PB'. The 'chip shop run' route they prescribed (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3511975) was perfect for the job at 6.7 miles. I did the effort unware of the distance from Mile Cross Aylsham Road round about though to the Mousehold Sprowston Road roundabout. That worked out to 4.4miles and my pace 7:01mpm. Not as fast as I'd have wanted, but faster than half marathon PB pace (just) so job done.

Week 21 review

It's getting close now. Week 21 is the penultimate hard week. Time for those last long runs and long hard bike rides. No races for me this week:

Week 20 and the Bungay 20k

The Ironman suddenly seems really close when you reach week 20 of your schedule. At least this time round I'm on a 25 week schedule rather than a 24 weeks schedule. One more weeks grace this time round.

The week was an easier week to help target a PB at the Bungay 20k on the Sunday. I'm pleased to report that despite quite horrid conditions I acheived that with a time of 1:27:46 which works out to 7:04mpm. Took two hours sat under a duvet on my Mum's sofa in front of a fire to warm up afterwards.

The week in review

On the Thursday evening I met up with coach Joe. He asked for feedback on how he has been as coach. I have to admit that he has been very good. We've been in regular contact. He's been proactive, positive, encouraging and attentive. It's been good to have someone to talk at length about my training with. I've enjoyed his sessions. They've been fresh and new. I know I've not hit all the target times and paces, but if I had I'd have been led to think that the targets weren't high enough. Has it all been worth it? Well, the training has certainly been fun even when the weather has been far from fun. The real proof though will be in the race day performance. I've certainly felt strong at all 3 disciplines during the build up. Even times when I've felt strong at all 3 together. Power output on the turbo has been increasing. Swim times improving. Running volume up and getting Personal Bests. What will it yield in Australia? Well we'll have to wait and see. Would I recommend Joe as a coach? That's a much easier question. The answer is "yes".

St. Valentines 30k - Stamford 30k, Sunday 14th Feb

After a week away in the warm cycling, my long run for the week was an undulating race. I'd once done the the St. Valentines 30k before back in 2007 and had exceeded expectations. On that occasion the plan had been to run 8:40mpm and I managed 8mpm. This time round I was also supposed to be treated it as a steady long run. Went off with 8mpm in mind as a target, though I ought to describe it as 5 minutes per km seeing as the course was marked out in kilometers. I needed to stop for a comfort break in the second km. I then pushed the pace a little to 4:46 per km to get back onto the 5 mpk to make up for lost time, but then just kept going at 4:52s. Managed a PB with a time of 2:24:49n average pace of 7:46mpm. Very happy with that.

It was cold though - no heart rate trace, as I forgot to take the monitor band with me.

Review of the last two weeks (weeks 18 and 19):
What was planed? What did I do? The following answers those questions:

Club La Santa - wks 18 & 19. 1st - 14th February

Two harder weeks with a week in Lanzarote spanning the pair. The aim was to take it easy on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before travelling to Lanzrote on the Thursday to ensure that I was fully rested. That way I could take full advantage of the opportunity to get in lots of bike miles, plus also some swim and quality run sessions. Perhaps I took the resting too seriously as the only thing on the schedule, a Tuesday morning swim session I managed to miss.

Thursday 4th February - Day 0
The adventure begins. I meet up with Gary Wootton and Jonathan Briggs to travel to Stansted and ultimately onto Lanzarote and Club La Santa (CLS) for our weeks holiday. We get to the airport and the check in clerk has the usual game of asking us to pay for the bikes even though we've already paid, plus the "you really ought to tell us you were bringing bikes" gag. Then there was the rivally as to who had the lightest luggage. Gary's bag was first on the scales at 12kg, then Jonathan's at 14kg then mine at 15kg. Oh dear. Then for the bike boxes. Mine first at 21kg. Bring it on. Then Mr Briggs' at 25kg, which surprised me, and finally Mr Wootton's at a staggering 30.4kg. That must be due to all the porridge he has packed for us for the week.
A fairly smooth journey, 4 hour flight, no time zone change, baggage collection, taxi across the island, check-in, assemble the bikes and head out for an hour before it gets dark. Met up with the second Tri-Anglia contingent in a cafe. Should have taken that as an early indication of what their plans were for the week. We'd affectionately given the group name of "Saga5" to Simon Edye, Stewart Ingram, Graham Bainger, John Adams and Rob Gibbons. A little unfair perhaps seeing as Rob was the youngest of us there. Also staying at the Club while we were there were Richard Seargent and Dave Gilbert.

Route we used for our easy spin was the shortest, simplest route in the CLS Bike Ride book, and the course that they use for their weekly duathlons and weekly triathlons. Simply up the road, and hill, from CLS to the round about in Tinajo and back again. The 14k took us a little over 30 minutes.
I'll endeavour to get the same vertical scale on all these ride profiles, but I'm afraid I can't get the scale the same across the bottom. The hills on the shorter days will seem less steep.
Route on Gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472586

Friday 5th February - Day 1 - Tabayesco
First proper day of the holiday and the schedule say's 4-4.5 hrs steady. Eight of us (Saga 5, plus my flatmates) head out for a familar ride taking in Tabayseco. Very quickly it becomes clear that there are different standards in the group and it fragments some what. Gary touches wheels with Simon and hits the tarmac 'cos he's paying more attention to the scenary than his companions and I get a puncture on a Simon Edye initiated detour. Basically I hit a pot hole on an off route bit of road that needed some attention at 20mph. On the climb up from Tabayesco I tried to keep the pulse below 80% HRM, but with Gary on my wheel and getting competative I did let it go a bit higher at times.

Route: 53 miles (83km) with 3960ft (1200m) of vertical ascent. Heading out from CLS to Famara and on to Teguise. Take the turn for Tesequite and once through there the turn onto the quiet road through El Mojon. Though as this is where I had the puncture I'd advise giving it a miss until the roads been resurfaced, but have ridden worse (but not at speed). Through Guatiza, past Cactus Garden and Mala before rejoining the main road and then turning left for Tabayesco. Though the village, then up the hill. Wait for team mates by the restaurant at the top then though Los Valles and Teguise before heading back home through Famara.
Route on Gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472528


Saturday 6th February - Day 2 - Femes
A 3 hour ride comprising 3x 20 minute efforts with 10 minutes between each after a 45 minute warm up. You can see from the trace that the pulse did go higher on the efforts and that generally we combined those with a hill. We had a horrendous head wind on the approach to the big hill of the day, Femes which pitches to 20% in the final 1km. Not a high hill, but sharp.

Route: 55 miles (88km) with 1000m worth of climbing. Heading from CLS towards Famara but turning before then in S00 to Tiagua and through to Mancha Blanca. A right then left to get on the approach to Timanfaya where the first effort was done, only 12 minutes - was flying, and a fast straight descent towards Yaiza, The loop round the coast near El Golfo - known as the El Golfo loop, though you don't go into El Golfo. Well, not unless you turn off the loop. At the end straight other the round about towards Las Brenas and the climb to Femes. Left at the round about to put you onto the final part of the climb. Back to CLS passing past and through Uga, Mancha Blanca, Tinajo and La Santa.
Route on Gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472594


Run: 10x 400m on the track with Gary before heading to the bar to watch England stuff Wales in the rugby (well, we can exaggerate can't we?). Got a bit competitive and tried to beat Gary. He is a better runner than I with a half marathon time that I aspire to. Figured that if I'd developed my running to a point where I was level then I'd be really chuffed. We used the track with Gary in the inside lane and myself a lane out. I knew that if I could be ahead by the final bend and hold on I'd hold on to the end of 400m. I got the better of Gary on the first 6, running each as if if was the last. The last four he caught me on the first bend. It was hot. But that's no excuse. All the times were acceptable though. Pleased with the session though knackered at the end.

Sunday 7th February - Day 3 - 5 minute efforts
Schedule said 2.5 - 3 hrs with 3 sets of 5 minute efforts with 5 minutes rest between efforts and 20 minutes between sets. So that meant 30 minutes warm up to Famara, then heading out the other side from Famara 5mins hard, 5 easy, 5 hard, 5 easy, 5 mins hard turning right at the round. Then 20 minutes easy taking me through the centre of the island. I say "me", because Gary and Jonathan had decided to leave me to my own devices this day. I got to start the second set at Masdache and the third effort of the second set took me through Yaiza where traffic in the town slowed me down. Wasn't a lot of traffic, but one car doing 20mph when you want to do 25+ (was a descent) is enough to hold you up. Another 20 mins recover riding round the El Golfo loop, gosh this place is stunning, to start the third set by the coast and the lowest part of this loop. That means that the third set was all up hill. Yes I had more than 5 minutes rest between the 8th and 9th effort, but the 9th effort was from the Yaiza roundabout to the top of Timanfaya making that nearly a 15 minute effort.

Route: 54.7 miles (88km) with 895m of climbing. I'd done well, must have been about the lowest amount of climbing possible for that distance ride.
Route on gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472564

Run: So having tired myself out with a ride I was to have a few hours rest then head out for an 8 mile tempo run at 7mpm pace. I opted for the loop from CLS round El Chuchillo that comprises a good portion of the CLS half marahton route. It's a bit of a tough run and at 8.8 miles (14.2km) 10% further than I needed to run. Went out fairly hard. Felt I was working hard enough to be doing 7 minutes miles. Got back to the felt to be told I looked 'knackered'. I felt it. Turns out I was only managing 8 minute miles.
Route on gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472650

Monday 8th February - Day 4 - Recovery Day
A recovery day. Yippee. Gary, Simon and Graham had entered the CLS Duathlon in the morning, so I spectated and took photos. We then had an easy ride to Famara were Gary and I played in the surf. February, and we're body surfing in just tri-shorts. Has to be said, the sea was warmer than the CLS leisure pool. A tapas lunch before riding back via La Santa for a social trip to Pro Bike. My Scott CR1 was purchased second hand from the proprieter. It used to be his own personal bike. He'd taken it the alps, Bermuda and a whole load of other places. Then in the two years I've had it it's been to a few more. Headed to the 50m pool for a swim session. Had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do, but cut it short, I just didn't have the strength in my arms. Had planned to do 300m efforts on 5minute turn rounds and was barely able to. Only did 2k in the end.

Route: An out and back to Famara with a detour to La Santa at the end. You'll not that the hill in Soo was 10m higher on the way back. That'll be due to the way the watch uses baromatic preasure to calculate altitude. When the air pressure changes it thinks you've changed your altitude.
Route on gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472606

Tuesday 9th February - Day 5 - Mirador del Rio + Tabayesco
Big day today. A nice long steady ride of 4 hours. Took that as an opportunity to go ride some hills. Gary and Jonathan wanted to do Mirador del Rio and the obvious way there was over Haria. The not so obvious route back, but the one I wanted to do and they reluctantly followed was back up through Tabayesco. 65.5 miles (105.5km) with 1798m of ascent. Felt really good. Climbed strong and descended well. Even got ahead of Gary and Jonathan on the descent of Mirador del Rio. We then touched 50mph on the descent from Tabayesco.
Route on gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472543

Run: Transition run of 3km straight off the bike.

Wednesday 10th February - Day 6 - Playa Blanca

Last full day of training. The schedule said 2.5 - 3 hours including 4 x 10 minute efforts which was combined with a sight seeing ride to Playa Blanca taking in Femes on the way home. We found a flatish bit of road. on the approach to Playa Blanca from the El Golfo loop. Then the most wonderful ice cream sat on the promenade in Playa Blanca.
Route: 53.4 miles (86km) with 1061m of climbing. Headed out from CLS to Tinajo to Mancha Blanca, over Timanfaya, round the El Golfo loop, but then right at the round about to take the quiet road to Playa Blanca. From there over Femes and back to CLS via Mancha Blanca and La Santa.
Route on gmaps: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3472581

Run: 5 x 1600m on the track. Aiming each effort at 6minutes with 5 minutes rest between each. Was truely knackered before this session started. Managed the first two in 6:28 and 6:24. Had to lie down in the rest. Started the third got 100m into it and decided to knock the session on the head and just did a warm down from that point. My legs felt like they were about to break if I'd continue to push it.

Thursday 11th Feb Day 7
The idea had been to have an early morning swim before heading home. A lie in won over that. Really noticed the cold upon landing in Stansted. Another good week over. Managed 298 miles on the bike and 318 in total with the swim and run mileage added in.