Last Run of 2007

Was out for my last long training run of 2007. 16miles was on the schedule but increased it to 17.4miles which meant that I managed 1,200 running miles in the year.
Was joined for part of the ride by Joe Skipper. He was riding back to Lowestoft having ridden with Velo Club Norwich in the morning. It was nice to have some company for a short period.

Cob Web Century Ride

A tri-anglia training century ride to blow away some of those festive cob webs and to burn off some of the Christmas Pudding. More here.

Christmas Festivities

It's been a busy few weeks with Christmas festivities and no time to update the blog.
New Years eve celebrations to look forward to tomorrow.

Yeee haaa - no rain

Cycled outside today for the first time in 10 days without being rained on. In fact I've only had one dry run in that time too.
It was bright and sunny, so didn't mind the standing water on the road. A brisk little ride working on cadence takes me to 6,900 cycle miles for the year. Just 100 miles left to do in 20 days to get to the target of 7,000 miles. Only 16 to go to equal last years total - should get that on the turbo tonight.

My 21st Today

My 21st Blood Donation to be accurate.

Never particularly keen on the process but it is a good thing to do.

Will have to have some wine to celebrate.

Norwich Half PB

Another PB today at the City of Norwich Half Marathon. Took a minute off my Amsterdam Half Marathon time and I had intended on treating the race as a training run. Perhaps the wind and rain helped? Time was 1:32:37.

How was that 300th week?

It turned out to be rather bumper. Managed just under 28miles of running with the longest being the 11.5miles of the second stage of the Hereward Relay, which I was running for one of 4 teams entered from Tri-Anglia.
Biked 206 miles which included cycling the 60 miles back to Drayton from March following the 2nd Hereward Relay stage. Will Hall kept me company on his shiny new bike, and beat me up nearly all the hills.
Swam twice. Both times were solo sessions at UEA following the sessions laid out in week 10 of the Ironman schedule. Yes I know that I'm on week 4 now for South Africa, but as I'm almost at the end of the second phase of training I'm going to get to week 12 then head back to 7 which will put me in synch for Port Elizabeth. Oh and on that topic - I'm booked and I've got the company of the legendary Russell Clarke (multiple Ironman and recent Himalyan 100 mile run finisher).
So, how was the week? 13,000 kcal. ;-)

300 weeks worth of running

I started running on Tuesday 26th Feb 2002 and was following a 16 week half marathon schedule that I doubled up to make a 32 week training schedule. This was to prepare me for the 2002 Great North Run.
Since that week I've maintained my training log and this weeks entry is the 300th. Admittedly I've not run every single week. Total distance covered is 4,778 miles and I'm now onto my 13th pair of trainers.

South Africa rather than New Zealand

Due to a number of reasons the group that had been planing on traveling to the other side of the world for the New Zealand Ironman had come done to just one. Me.
I've now entered Ironman South Africa instead. It is a whole load nearer. Takes me to a country that I've not been to and would like to go to. It's six weeks later, so I'm already up on my training and being the same day as the London Marathon it should be easy to find company for my long runs.
All I need to do is remove the ticker time to the left and work out which charity I'm going to be raising funds for in 2008.

7,000 bike miles for 2007 looking achievable

Have now logged 6,400miles for 2007, leaving 600 miles to cover in 6 weeks. As I'm averaging 140miles per week for the year the target of 7,000 miles looks likely. Should certainly beat last years total of 6,916miles.

Winter struck this morning

Winter has struck this morning. Frost on the windscreens, temperature of just above zero and the first outing for the winter cycling gear. Brrrrrrrrr.

1,000 miles running in 2007

It's done and with 7 weeks to spare. The target of running 1,000 miles in 2007 that is.

First UK Double Ironman

First UK Double Ironman - will be hosted in Birmingham in August 2008. The event involves a 4.8mile swim, then a 224mile bike before the 52.4mile run. Russell Clarke, Joe Skipper and myself from Tri-Anglia are now entered - mad buggers. I'll come clean - we're doing it as a relay and I'm doing the swim leg, think I got the easy leg.

Ironman New Zealand looking unlikely

Found out on Tuesday that the group of 4 that I was part of going out to New Zealand for the Ironman on 1st March is now down to just me. A couple of us had been planning on extending the trip with 5 weeks training in Australia on the way out. Now need to decide if I want it that badly to go on my own. Need to choose between an expensive 2 month solo trip or loose £50 on the entry and find something else to do. Don't suppose anyone out there knows of any traveling companions that I could have to help share some costs?

Running Mileage to date - More Amsterdam PBs

In the excitment of the time recorded in Amsterdam I didn't realise that the 13.1 miles of the race took my annual mile for 2007 to 951miles. That is more than I've run in any year previously.

Ironman New Zealand - now building

Today is the first day of week 7 of the 24 week Ironman training schedule that I'm following for Ironman New Zealand.
Importantly it's the first day of the second 6 week phase of the schedule. The first 6 weeks were about aclimatising to training. These next 6 weeks are about 'building'.
How's the progress coming along? Well the biking seems reasonable. The running is probably the best it's ever been, certainly over longer distances. The swimming is off the boil, but with some technique tips and a swim routine I'm sure that it will come back.

Amsterdam Half

Had a good trip out to Amsterdam with the Norwich Road Runners trip over the weekend. Got a good time on the half marathon, a personal best (PB) by 8.5minutes with a time of 1:33:47. That works out to 13.5kmph and 7.10mpm (minutes per mile).
Quite a nice way to round up week 5 of the 24 week Ironman schedule. Shame we had to spend so much time in a coach.

A most exciting game of rugby ...

... there was no shame in finishin second in this evenings world cup semi final. As it happens, England got the advantage over France, but with 10 minutes to go the game could easily have gone either way.

Now watching Ironman Hawaii online - come on Karl, come on Penny, come on Leanda.

Running in the Dark

Rob Kilbourn and I went for our Friday evening run this evening. Fancied something new, so went from the George and Dragon in Thurton. Intended on a 7.5miler but it was dark and ended up doing 7miles. Was really nice running in the dark. Please I took a print out of the route and the headlight off my bike.

Have been busy...

... with two extracuricular activites of late:
Tri-Anglia Club kit - more details here.
Tri-Anglia Web2.0 - work in progress here.

Doesn't happen often....

... but it happened earlier this evening (Monday 8th Oct). In fact it's only the second time I can recall it happening since I was about 16 years old, so nearly almost quarter of a century. What was the occurance? Well, it was of swimming in a public session and having someone there faster than me. This evening it was Mike Auger, winner of this years Norwich Triathlon, that was dominating the pool.
(Obviously I get beaten by loads of people when the swimming clubs are in, but they don't count as public sessions.)

Sympathies...

.. to the Bradley family. On Friday last week, along with my brother Dave, I attended the funeral of a family friend. I'd known who Michelle Bradley was I was 5, although at the time she was better known as Michelle Wiseman. She was the big sister of Linda Wiseman who was in my class. Michelle married John Bradley who had been in the same year at the same middle school and both been taught maths by my Mum, though they weren't to meet until much later. John used to sing in the church choir with my Dad and the family's became much closer from 1997.
Michelle's life was claimed by Cancer a year after being diagnosed with the illness. She will be missed and most dearly by Emma (14), Luke (12) and John.
At the wake I chanced upon another old school chum - Michelle Casey - though I'm sure her surname has changed in the 23 years since we last spoke. I ascertained that she had a couple of boys the oldest being 17. She politely asked me, what I'm doing now and what I've been up to since school. I'm afraid I didn't give her a very comprehensive answer. Just how can you summarise 23 years of your life into the answer of a single question?

Ironman New Zealand week 3

Following a couple of lethargic weeks and a wedding I feel I actually got in a sensible amount of training this week. After three weeks of 50-60 miles on the bike I managed to log 162 and ran 24.3 although still only 1 swim of 3k. Not bad, things generally going in the right direction.

Griffon 5k

Took part in the inaugural Griffon run in North Walsham. The race was described as a fast flat course, yet I found the course going down hill within the first mile and as it was a circular route, that meant that at some point it was going to have to come back up a hill. So the description was wrong. Kilometer markers were in the wrong places which buggered my pacing a bit. Found the first marker at 5m50s. The second a further 6m22 down the road. Started to wonder if it was a 5miler that had been incorrectly advertised as 5k, so rained my pace in abit just in case. Another 6m20s and the 3k appeared as we returned towards North Walsham. 1m40s later and the 4k mark was to be found and only 1m15s to get to the finish. Total time 21:30, a seasons worst by nearly a minute and nearly two minutes off my PB - still my legs were tired before the start.
An interesting route though, well marshalled with a few points for improvement. The winners still got round in 17mins and my training buddy Rob Kilbourn got a PB of 19:13 (officially though he made it 19:10) and finished 10th. I was 20th. There were over 100 entrants.

900miles Run Exactly

Last nights 7.1 mile run with Robert Kilbourn on a loop of Easthill Lane has taken me to exactly 900miles run so far this year. At the beginning of the year I set myself a target of 1,000miles for the year. I've never managed 950 in a year previously.
Rob and I were joined at the start of the run by Tim Pendle (European Junior Champion) and Louis Allen, both of Norwich Canoe Club.
My bike ride to Mundseley this morning with the guys from Tri-Anglia has taken my bike mileage to 5,502 for the year todate.

Bike Encounters

One of the appeals of cycling is the interesting events that can occur when you embark on an adventure outside of your front door. For me today that was an encounter with a herd of Fresian cows as I chanced upon whilst on a detour home from work.
They were crossing a country lane from field to farm yard, I was wending my way between Long Stratton and Morningthrope. They seemed quite un-perplexed by the Tesco delivery van coming the other way that they were holiday up. Myself, however seemed to be of far more noteriety and I received quite a bit of attention. My meer presence seemed to hold up their procession as I paused to view and consider this strange ape in coloured lycra upon a light weight contraption. One seemed to consider me a threat and almost drenched me with saliver as tossed her head in my direction. Another seemed to be pondering the edibility of my handlebars as she licked my brake leavers, but generally they were just curious and wanted to take a moment to take in the unusal, novel addition to their presumably daily routine.
As for me - I too thought it was an interesting and varied interlude. The thought that went through my mind though at the next t-junction was "it might have been an idea to wipe your brake lever before setting off".

Effort Session this Evening

Tonights effort session was one taken from Runners World. It involved efforts from 100m to 200m increasing in 10m increments. The aim was to run the 100m effort at 1mile race pace, recover whilst walking back to the start then run 110m in only 1second longer, and increase the distance by 10m and the time by 1second up to 200m with the aim being to run 200m in time only 10second slower than the 100m effort.
I figured my 1mile race pace would be 6mins which would lead to 100m in 22seconds which meant that the 200m effort should be done in 32seconds. That would work out to 4:20mins per mile pace.
Perhaps set off for the 100m opening effort a bit fast as I did it in 18seconds - oops.
Spilts were 100m - 18.8s, 110m - 18.5s, 120m - 19.4s, 130m - 20.6s, 140m - 22.3s, 150m - 24.0s, 160m - 25.6s, 170m - 27.2s, 180m - 29.1s, 190m - 31.6s, 200m 31.3s.

5400 miles ridden this year

Have now ridden 5,400 miles since the 1st Jan 2007.

Good Run, Good Ride

Had a good ride home from work last night. A nice little 30 mile ride. The weather held good and I didn't get rained on (a first for the week).

This evening I ran with Rob Kilbourn of the canoe club. We have been training together for the last two months for the Amsterdam Half Marathon. Tonight was our last long run. We had 12 miles on the schedule. We covered 12.6 miles in the rain in 1hour 40mins. It felt very comfortable and the pace works out to 7.58mpm. Bodes very well for the Amsterdam Half Marathon on Sunday 21st October.

Mike And Ali's Wedding

Attended Mike and Ali's wedding this weekend. Click here for photos.

40miles in 7 days

Have run 40miles in the last 7 days - so a good run start to the IMNZ08 campaign. Started with the 16.5mile stage 1 of the RNR (which is really last weeks mileage), an easy run with CoNAC and Rob K Monday evening, a hard run with CoNAC Tuesday evening, efforts round Whitlingham lake Wednesday evening and then a run from work out round UEA at lunchtime today.
Managed 5.3k in two swims at the beginning of the week and biked a couple of lunchtimes. Not going to be able to add much to that now over the weekend as I'm off to Mike and Ali's wedding.

21st Blood Doning session

Attended a blood doning session this afternoon to make my 21st contribution only to be turned away due to having visited India in May. Apparently India is a malaria risk country so they don't want my blood, even though at the time of the visit I was told Bangalore was low risk and I didn't need to take anti-malarials. Might have been nice if they'd warned me about that before having me sit in their waiting room for best part of an hour despite having made an appointment for my donation.

Apologies...

.. to the lady that I accidently locked my bike to. I hadn't spotted that my lock had also gone round her top tube when I hastily locked my bike to the Sheffield Hoop bike park outside the UEA sportspark this evening. Good job she was leaving between my run and my swim.

Ironman New Zealand Training Schedule Starts Here

My 24 week Ironman New Zealand training scheduled started yesterday. Have managed to get in two runs with CoNAC so far. Two swims, both at the UEA straight after the runs with yesterdays a solo 2.5k session and today's a 2.8k session with EAST. Only training ride so far has been lunchtime, but with getting around on the bike I'm almost at 30miles.

Round Norfolk Relay

Think that I'm beginning to catch up on a lack of sleep from the weekend caused by the Round Norfolk Relay. Running my 16.5mile stage at 6am was okay, but then driving the mini-bus, time-keeping and supporting the other 16 runners in team Tri-Anglia for the following 25 hours (yes it took us 27 hours) was the really tiring bit.

My 21st next Thursday

I'll be giving blood next Thursday for the 21st time. Wondering how I should commemorate my 21st. Any suggestions? Answers on a post card please. Or via comments or email in this day and age.

Ironman New Zealand

The 24 week training schedule starts this coming Monday. There I was thinking that it started a week on Monday.
My 16.5mile stage of the Round Norfolk Relay for Tri-Anglia at 6am this coming Saturday should be a good start.

Vitruvian Triathlon 2007

Completed the Vitruvian Triathlon yesterday in 4:55:37 which is 12 mins quicker than last year. Had a bit of a torrid time on the bike. If I hadn't had a toilet stop pn the run I would have bagged a half marathon PB - bodes well for Amsterdam Half next month.

Lazy weekend

Had a really lazy weekend and perhaps too much alcohol.
A combined birthday celebration on saturday for Robert Kilbourn and Will Hall.
Went running this evening and felt pretty good. :-)

How Hill

Discovered the delights today of How Hill with some old college friends. It was a real find. Will be going back.

Rode the Route Yesterday

Yesterday I "rode the route" that the pro's will ride as stage 3 of this years Tour of Britain cycle ride on 12th September. I rode with David Davies, also of VC Norwich, over this 104 mile hilly route from Worcester Race course through the Malverns to the Wolverhampton velodrome. The event was organised as a sportive and of the 113 finishers we finished 59th and 60th having taken 6hours 39minutes to complete the course. The fastest rider had taken 5hours 19 whilst the slowest 8hours 22minutes. We were really impressed with the organisation of the event and the goodie bags. We were surprised at how few riders had participated, but then again, the publicity for the event had been sparse and at only very little notice. Hopefully there will be an 'Etape du ToB next year with a bigger turn out.
The 104 miles helped to take my cycling miles total for the year to date through the 5,000mile mark.

Full report now on Tri-Anglia website.

My first Time Trial

Did my first ever cycling time trial this evening the Billingsford 10mile organised by Diss CC. The conditions were damp and windy and the course undulating. I arrived moments before the cut off time, paid my pound and was given number 13. Wasn't at all sure about the held start so opted for my own standing start, and missed my pedal at the first attempt, but was soon spinning up the hill at 21mph and 135rpm (cadence). Having been adviced to save something for the home bound leg I tried to keep it steady. With the cross wind I decided to try riding on the drops rather than aerobars. Big mistakes, I went into a steering judder, not sure if it was the wind, more likely the slightly loose headset I'd noticed seconds before the off. My first throughts were that I was going to come off. Once back on the hoods, slowed down and directionaly stable again I was confinced I would have to withdraw with mechanical difficulties - but decided to push on anyway. Riding on the hoods seemed okay. I then went onto the aerobars and they seemed okay though I was now nervous. I continued to ride alternating between hoods and aerobars. The wind and occasional passing lorry was rather unsettling. After the roundabout half way point I tried the drops again, but again the judder was there - think I need to get the bike looked at. Got to finish and whilst satisfied to have my first TT under the belt I was reluctant to see what my time was. I thought I should just discretly slip away. But my time was actually quite a passable 26:37 (m:s) which works out to an average of 22.5mph. So for a first outing, with no experience, poor conditions, no warm up and some mechanical difficulties that's not bad. Whilst 4mins off the winner, I wasn't the slowest.

Ironman UK

Congratulations to my fellow Tri-Anglia Members Martin Stacey and Louis Holding-Parsons. They both successfully completed the 2007 UK Ironman in 12:31:04 and 12:33:03 respectively.
Martin always puts in a strong run even if suffering with an injury. Both put in a negative split on the run and Louis gets the club swim record with a time of 55:42.

Lowestoft Pier to Pier Swim Postponed

Still - cycling there and back was good mileage. Got a fish and chip lunch with my Mum too.
Swim postponed to Sunday 2nd September.

Fortunate Encounters

Went out for an easy ride at lunchtime today. Was fearing that the weather might catch me out. Not only did it stay nice having been tipping it down an hour earlier, but I bumped into my neighbour and cycling friend Dean. I altered by route to ride with him for abit. Covered 23miles.
Went for a run this evening fearing the worst. Monday's run had been very hard work and today's was 1mile warm up, drills, 5x2min efforts with a minutes rest, drills and a mile warm down. It was part of the schedule that Robert Kilbourn and I are following for the Amsterdam Half. I felt great. (route)
Then to round the evening off - a meal out then The Simpsons movie at the cinema with Dean, Rob, Helen and Fee.

A week of luxury

Rode into work last week on the Monday. Got to the office and realised I'd forgotten my socks.
Tried to get away with no socks in my work shoes - lasted half an hour. Bought a multipack of cotton rich socks from Bonds (John Lewis). It was lovely - brand new socks every day for a week.

Suffolk Coast Ride + Mileage Year to Date

Rode the Suffolk Coast Bike ride today with Nick Askew of CoNAC. It's a charity ride organised by Bike Events with the beneficey on this occasion being the Anthony Nolan Trust.
The ride was 60miles and the conditions were great - shame Nick forgot his cycling shoes and rode in sandals. Also on the ride where James Tully who rode with me to London a week ago and Graham Brown of Norwich Rowing Club.

These miles meant that I got in 204 miles for the week and takes my total training miles to 5,259.5 for the year to date. If you were to fly that far in one go from Norwich it would get you past India onto the Island of Sri Lanka.

AMR London to Paris 2007 Route 3 Photos

My photo's from the the Action Medical Research 2007 London to Paris ride can now be found on the web here.

Biggest Weekly Mileage

Just completed my highest mileage week ever with over 460 miles. I rode from Norwich to London to join up with the Action Medical Rearch's London to Paris ride. The Norwich to London leg was also my longest single day ride at 135miles.
Those miles took my cycling miles for the year to date through the 4,000 mile mark up to 4,250 and also took my total training miles year to date through the 5,000 mile mark.

Mid Year Review

It's been a few weeks since I commented on by training miles of the year to date. Best I make ammends. We've just started week 30 and I've covered 4,583.5 miles (7,374.9km). That is far enough from Norwich to get to Banf, Orlando, Dominica Republic or even Mumbai.
Those 4,583miles are make up of 95 swimming, 3,797 cycling and 691 running. (153, 7375 and 1112km respectively).
That works out to an average of 3.3miles swimming, 126.6miles cycling and 23.8miles running per week.
This week is going to be a bumper week for the biking. Going to clock up over 400 miles in the next 5 days by riding from Norwich to Paris. Tomorrow is from Norwich to London with two others from Velo Club Norwich. Then I'll be joining up Action Medical Research's 4 day ride to Paris via Dunkeque, Arras and Compaigne.
Will tell you about that when I get back.
Oh, and yes, for the cycling followers amongst you, that does mean I'll be in Paris watching the finish of Le Tour de France.

Two Good Bike Rides Today

A spur of the moment opportunity and I managed to tag along on a bike ride with Ben Nicholson and Chris Guy. They have a scary amount of road racing experience with them and are amazingly comfortable on their bikes. They are also pretty quick. Heart rate trace to the right proves it. Our route.

I'd then agreed with Andrew Bolden for a report of last Thursday's ride with VC Norwich but didn't get away from work quite in time to make the meeting point at the designated time. Would only have been 5-6minutes late. I gave chase over the route we did last week, but after an hours riding and 20miles on the clock I figured that either they'd gone a different way, or were flying. By the time I got home I'd covered 35miles at an average of 20.2mph. Don't often get through the 20mph average barrier too often so very pleased with that. My route.

Dame Kelly Holmes

Managed to meet Dame Kelly Holmes on Tuesday evening.
I congratulated her on her two Gold medals at the Athens Olympics and her work since at promoting sport.
I also thanked her for twice selecting me in a works "Inspiring through Sport Award". Was able to have a photo with her (though Dave Barkhouse has possibly been able to take one of the worse photo's of me ever). Even managed to get Dame Kelly to sign my Swiss Ironman Sponsorship form.
Guess I ought now read her new autobiography.

What to do after an Ironman

Since completing the Ironman I've been wondering what to do next. In fact that pondering started even before the Swiss Ironman.
Some friends had been talking about New Zealand Ironman, and I'd been entertaining the thought but was enjoying procrastinating over the decision.
Earlier this week 11 other members of Tri-Anglia entered Ironman Austria, which filled in 18 hours.
I got my entry in for the Vitruvian Triathlon and the Amsterdam Half marathon.
I then got a text from Gareth Walker
"Well I've registered for New Zealand. What date are you looking to fly out? I'll put my holiday form in on Monday."
That'll be the procrastination over then. I've now got an entry.

Great riding today and a great evening

Rode at lunchtime with my friend the infamous Chilli (Paul Childerhouse). Nice social ride for the first half then pushed it along quite hard for the second half. Bit of wind and some small hills.
Was going to call it a day at that and watch the Tour highlights on IT4 at 7pm as I don't have the ability to record it for later viewing. That was until Andrew Bolden convinced me to join the VC ride at 6.30pm with the promise of food at his afterwards whilst watching le Tour highlights on EuroSport at 9pm. Made for a great evening. Thanks Andrew.

First proper ride...

16.56miles, 50:42 mins, 19.8mph average, 29.2mph top.
Gate to Gate on the usual Mulbarton route - anti-clockwise - solo.
Got to 20.2mph average at the 10mile point. Was windy and would have averaged 20mph if it hadn't been for traffic. A blue van turned left in front of me on the Newmarket road forcing me to slow from 23mph. Found a lorry on a bend in a country lane that caused me to stop - usual traffic lights and a learner not quite being as considerate as they could have been. Learner I'll forgive, the lorry - well that just happens, but the van - I'm blaming him for my average not making 20mph.
With some speed work though we should be able rectify that.

First run since....

... the Ironman. Felt great to start. Then hurt at the 3 mile point. Was nice again after 4 miles. Later in the afternoon my knee was aching though.
Overall - feels good.

Wow! How exciting?

After the prologue I got to marshall on Quarry Hill in Tonbridge on the first catorgarised climb of this years tour. It was brilliant. The atmosphere was great. And having David Miller in the break away group really gave the supporters something to cheer.
Being thanked by the spectators afterwards was the iceing on the cake.
But today - what an exciting finish to the third stage. The breakaway almost stayed away. The chasing peloton closed on them in the final kilometer. Would they stay away? Would the peloton catch them and set it up for a sprinters finish? The answer was neither. In the final kilometer the yellow jersey on Fabian Cancellara's back shot forward closed the gap on the breakaway and try as the sprinters did they couldn't catch him.
What a wonderful, wonderful finish to what has so far proved to be an excellent tour.

Prologue win for CSC

First blood for CSC, as Fabian Cancellera the World Time Champion wins the 2007 Tour de France Prologue ahead of British favourite Bradley Wiggins.
A great day out for us spectators. I watched with Peter Mann and Simon Kenan-Jones who I met riding London to Paris in 2004.
Yesterday's opening ceremony was pretty good too. Though there was some room for improvement - perhaps we'll remember for when we next get to host the start.

Team CSC for le Tour de France 2007

Meet the 9 riders of Team CSC that will be riding in this years Tour de France that starts in London on Saturday.

More Pictures

BBC Radio Norfolk

Twice this week I've been into the BBC Radio Norfolk studios. On Tuesday evening I was invited in with Gareth Walker and Peter Chapman to tell our tale of Ironman Switzerland on Nicky Price's Drive Time show.
Today I was invited in with Norwich Triathlon organiser Simon Edye to pre-record a preview of Sunday's Norwich Triathlon. The interview will go out during the sports half hour between 6 and 6.30pm.

All Done

I am pleased to be able to report that all of the Swiss7 finished Ironman Switzerland yesterday.
Yours truely completing in 12h10m comprising a 61min swim, 6h30m bike ride and a 4h30m marathon.
The swim was manic and scary, especially at the start.
The bike was stuning and great fun. I still do not like the descent of "The Beast" I got to 34mph, my team mates got to 47mph and even they were getting overtaken.
The run was a bit of a chore.
Great sense of achievement upon completion.

1 Day to go

Just a couple of hours now until I need to go and rack my bike into transition. I will then get it to see it in the morning when I put the rest of my gear with it prior to the swim start.
At the race briefing and at the Welcome party yesterday we saw videos from last year. The swim start looks totally manic.
Rode yesterday over the bigger hill with the others from Tri-Anglia. It was wet wild and windy. Absolutely horrid in fact. But it has cleared up since. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Short spin this morning - do not like tram lines. I have a couple of grazes to testify that.
Thanks again for the sponsorship for Action Medical Research. A couple of anonymous 50 pound donations means that I should now raise over 2grand.
Will let you know what happens on the longest day tomorrow. We are all going through all of the emotions between fear and excitment.

Ironman Switzerland Online.

For those of you who are interested in following my progress at Ironman Switzerland next Sunday, all you have to do is visit http://www.ironman.com/ironmanlive/racedaycoverage/livetrackinginfo and select Ironman Switzerland. My race number is 1493.

Race numbers for all seven of us from Tri-Anglia at Switzerland, the Swiss7 are:

Gareth WALKER - 1612

Melvin WATERS - 1617

Peter CHAPMAN - 1359
Rob LINES - 1493

Tim CHEN - 1361

Sam KINGSTON - 1476

Stewart INGRAM - 1460

Ironman Nice

From the same link you can also following the progress of Tim Holliday at Ironman Nice, which is also on Sunday 24th June. Tim's number is 1092.

Apologies to my neighbours

My cat Tigger got himself shut in my car yesterday and managed to set the alarm off several times last yesterday evening whilst I was out. Sorry.

I twigged what was going on when the alarm disturbed me at 1am.

Parish 5k

Yes, I know I'm in taper mode. Yes, I know that races aren't conducive to tapering. But todays race was very low key and very social.
When I ran with the White Horse Terriers on Monday they asked if I'd like to run with them at the Parish 5k that was being organised as part of the Loddon Village Fate.
I thought that a short brisk run would do no harm - so long as I treated it as a tempo run at most. And I'm pleased to report that that was what I did.
The event attracted 18 runners, all bar 4 or which were associated with the White Horse Terriers. There was no entry fee. But despite being 'low key' the course was well signed with km markers along the way and several marshalls at key junctions (though I wish there'd been more as I managed to over-shoot one junction).
The course undulates slightly, covers various terrain (road, path, playing field and off road) and is very technical. It undulates only very slightly but there are numerous bends to negotiate.
I got round in 20:31 despite adding 50m so very pleased with that. It might be nearly a minute off a PB, but that was never the aim. The winner got round in under 19mins. My friends Darren and Rob from the Canoe Club were second and third with your's truly 4th. Gillian Bee was the third lady home.
Despite the lack of an entry fee all finishers got a medal and a piece of chocolate for their effort.
If you are able to take part in this low key event next year do. It's good fun.

Marvels of Technology

In 1986 I bought my first CD. It was the album by Genesis called Genesis. At the time CD's were the newest thing in music storage and walkman's the all the rage for portable music playing devices.
When I bought the CD I had no vision that 21 years later I'd be loading it along with 25 others onto my mobile phone.

Sponsor ship total at £1,750

My fundraising total for Action Medical Research through doing Ironman Switzerland is coming along a pace. £681 already collected, a further £470 pledged and I should be able to get the maximum of £600 from my employer though their £+ scheme of matching staff fundraising efforts.
Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me.

CoNAC Run

Ran with City of Norwich Athletic Club this evening before my UEA swim session with East Anglian SwallowTails (EAST).
It was good to see so many members of Tri-Anglia there. The route was billed as 8.5 miles. Got round in 62mins, so figured I must have gone wrong as I doubt I run that fast. Turns out my route was 7.7 my excuse is that I was following them. Just as well it wasn't 8.5 as it wouldn't have given me much time to get ready for my swim.

4,000miles Year to Date

A 5.25 mile run with the Chedgrave White Horse Terriers following my bike to and from work yesterday was enough to take me to 4,000 miles total training miles for 2007.

Ironman Week 22 of 24

Into the taper now. All the big rides and runs are done and the mileage is starting to come down, though still maintaining the same intensity.
3 swims covering 5.3 miles, 74 on the bike and 35.4 miles running.
Takes the total for the year to 3,993 (very tempting to go back out on the bike for those additional 7 miles). Break down of the 3,993 is 87 swimming, 3,302 riding and 604 running.
Fund raising total for Action Medical Research is £1,075 of which £601 has already been donated with the remainder to collect upon successful completion of the Ironman - no pressure there then. I should then be able to get a further £600 from my employer taking the total well over £1,600.

Early Morning Lake Swim

Went to the end of the lake and back again this morning. This time with John Digby the chairman and acting head coach at East Anglian Swallow Tails (EAST), which is a masters swimming club. We pretty much paced each other stroke for stroke down the lake 1550m and a similar number of strokes. Had a minutes look around and natter then swam back. Round trip of 49mins 12seconds. That equates to around 60mins for the 3.8k of the Ironman swim, taking off the minutes rest and I might be looking at 58mins for the Ironman swim.
The swim was followed up with a meeting of the 'Swiss 7' to finalise a few details for our trip to Zurich.

Guy Fawkes 10k

I know it's not November. But as a spur of the moment thing I entered and ran this evenings Guy Fawkes 10k at Easton just outside Norwich. It was the 2nd running of this event, and I guess for whatever reason they moved the race from November to June.
Despite quite horrible weather this morning the evening was quite pleasent. Cloudy but warm. And dry despite the earlier ran. Pretty much ideal running conditions.
Plenty of other runners there from Tri-Anglia, CoNAC, Norwich Road Runners, WAC and from work. There were people there that knew me, although I couldn't put a name to all of them.
Despite a hilly course and legs still recovering from 22miles on Monday I got round in 44:11 and bagged a negative split, seasons best and a finishers medal. Incidently the medal said Guy Fawkes 10k. Perhaps that's why they didn't rename the race.

Received a medal today

My 4,045m swim in the One Hour Postal competition earlier in the year placed me 3rd in my age group. Received the medal this evening along with a cloth badge for having participated.

Was on 99.9 Radio Norwich

My picture with 99.9 Radio Norwich presenter has now appeared on their website following an interview with them on Monday. Click here to see it.

Swam ....

.... to the end of the lake and back this evening. Haven't done that in a while.

Swam with Sam Kingston, a fellow Swiss 7 member. He is definately quicker in a wetsuit.

19 days to go now...

... and all the long rides and long runs are "in the bank"

Just need to taper now before the big day.

Last week's training was interupted with an International Business trip taking me half way across the globe. Didn't get any training in during the week. Ate loads of nice food and drank some beer and wine. Does that count?

Covered some 3,900 miles now.

Wow, Fund Raising moves on a pace

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me in my attempt at Ironman Switzerland.

Just over 4 weeks to go.

With just over 4 weeks to go to Ironman Switzerland. I'd like to say thanks to everyone that's sponsored me so far. I've collect £324 for Action Medical Research and have a further £184 worth of pledges (more if I get under 13 hours for the Ironman) which takes the total to £516. I'm then hoping to get work to match this which would take me to £1,032 against my target of £1,200.
Please help me reach this target by sponsoring me, either sign my sponsorship form if you see me in the flesh or online at http://www.action.org.uk/~robertlines.

Ironman weeks 19 & 20 of 24

Two of my biggest weeks in terms of the build up for the Ironman, and with a works trip impacting my schedule from tomorrow morning I've been piling on the mileage.
Last week, week 19 involved a pool swim and a lake swim, 146miles on the bike including the hilly 100mile Castle Ride and 31.2 miles of running including a 20mile long run.
This week, week 20, has only been a 5 day week due to having to miss tomorrow and Sunday, but I've managed to get in 2 pool swims, 31.6 miles of running and 160 miles on the bike.
The result of this is that in the last 7 days I've swam 4.2miles, biked 262miles and run 51miles. I think that is quite enough and I've earned a bit of a rest.
Total for the year is now through the 6,000km mark and is built up as follows:

• Swim, 80miles (128km)
• Bike, 3,119miles (5,018km)
• Run, 569miles (916km)
• Total 3,768miles (6,062km). Thats far enough to get from Norwich to Washingdon DC.

Lesson for today

I really do not like cheese scones.

Castle Ride

Did the Action Medical Research Castle Ride today. Great weather and a great ride. Elapsed time was faster than last year although ride time was slower but it was a different route.
Shatter now so will update later.

Ironman Lanzarote Today

All the best to Stacey and Brian who are, as I write this, on the bike leg of Ironman Lanzarote. It's reckoned to be one of the hardest Ironman events in the world due in part to the heat but mainly due to the hills and the winds.

---

Congratulations to Stacey. She completed in under 14 hours.

What a great morning ...

... to be out and about. 8.30am lake swim, still cold but at least it's warmer than two weeks ago. There was also more swimmers there this morning.
Then out for a 20mile run. Had the company of fellow Peter Chapman another member of the Swiss Seven.

Tour de France Le Grand Depart

Attended a briefing session on Monday evening in Regents Park about marshalling for the Tour de France. Proved to be quite a late night by the time my train got me back to London.
Marshalling the prologue of le Tour is going to be such a great experience. I'm really looking forward to it.

Ironman Week 18 of 24

Three quarters of the way there now.
Final touches over the next week or so and then taper.

Waveney Triathlon

Well done to everyone at the Waveney Triathlon

Have compaired my splits and heart rate trace from this year and two years ago in this graphic --->

Was on the Radio Today

Richard Hancock of BBC Radio Norfolk came down to the lake this morning to catch an interview with Simon Edwards, Kerry Davis and myself after the swim this morning. He was after an interview about the local triathlon scene and in particular the Waveney Valley Triathlon that is taking place tomorrow morning. The interview was used as part of his sports round up that was on air between 5 and 6pm this evening.
Your own voice never sounds quite the same as how you normally hear it.

After the swim, Sam Kingston and I went for 100k bike ride and discovered some nice little roads.

Run 500miles

The second Great Yarmouth Road Runners 5 mile last night, plus warm up and warm down, and a 4.9 mile run at lunchtime today and I'm through the 500mile mark for the year to date.
In previous years I've set a 1,000 mile target for the year and never quite made it. So to make the 500mile mark in week 19 is very pleasing. I might hit that target this year.

Can World's Strongest Dad

Found out today what this sign means

It means that you end up returning to the office from a lunchtime cycle ride absolutely drenched even though the sun is shining.
As I was getting ready to go out it seem undecided as to drizzle or not. Before I was 10mins into my ride it was hammering down. Then all of a sudden it's passed and the sun is out. I liked that bit, though I still had wet cycling gear to put on when I came to leave work.
Neither of my usual lunchtime cycling buddies joined me today. They both had meetings and actions to attend to. Did they know?

Ironman Week 17 of 24

After the last few weeks I really needed an easier week. My legs were tired from the 112mile bike ride at the end of week 16.
By the end of the week I was a little better, though some unpromptu beers with a friend Cam meant that getting up for the saturday lake swim was tough. Fortunately it was a Bank Holiday weekend so got away with going back to bed. Although the 18mile run I had planed for the saturday got pushed onto the Bank Holiday Monday and effectively into week 18.
Had a good ride on the Sunday. Rode down to Whitlingham lane to watch the Tri-Anglia Triathletes set off on a 10k club race before joining Velo Club Norwich for thier Sunday ride. I left them when they went for their tea stop to blast over to Ellingham to watch the Norwich Canoe Club come through their portage as part of the Waveney Hasler. Had come across Angie and Warren Thorp on the way across and talked them through the antics and tactics of the canoe race. Rode to the finish of the canoe race where I caught up with my Mum and Brother before heading home (71miles in total) for a 6mile run.
Total mileage for the week: 156.9 miles as 2.9 swim, 131 bike and 23 run.
Total mileage for the year to date: 3,207.6 as 70 swim, 2,664.4 bike and 473.2 run.

Lake Swimming Started this morning...

.... and with water temperature of 13C and air temperature not much different it was pretty cold.
Just swam 1500m with John Digby of EAST in 0:24:07, which was quite long enough.
Takes me to 70miles swimming for the year to date.

How far?

Just had a little play with Google Earth. The image shows how far my training mileage so far this year could have got me (assuming that I could cycle and run on water).

Needed that.

After Saturdays challenging day of training where I struggled on a 7k run my confidence had taken a bit of a battering.
A nice comfortable 5 mile recovery run with my lunchtime running buddy Ian Gregory nattering away and talking some sense has made me feel a whole lot better.
The psychological side to this training is proving interesting.

Ironman Week 16 of 24

Most tiring week of the campaign so far. A great 50mile bike ride with Mark Evans on Friday evening. Then a monster day yesterday that pretty much finished me off:

• 4.5mile ride to the swimming pool
• 3k swim with East Anglia Swallow Tails
• 112mile ride with Mark Evans and Tim Holliday
• 7km run.

Stats for this week have been: 3.2mile swim, 240mile bike and 17.9mile run.
Totals for the year are through the 3,000mile marker at:

• Total = 3,050 miles
• Swim = 67.1 miles
• Bike = 2,533 miles
• Run = 450 miles.

Flying 3,050 miles would get me from Norwich into the state of Maine.

2 months to go

Tuesday being the 24th April saw the count down ticker reach 2months.
Wednesday I went and ran in the Yarmouth 5miler and was well off a PB time, though I did do a lap warm up and a lap warm down to make it into 10miles and my long run of the week. Also managed to get a fair few miles in on the bike. At one point I thought I might even get to 300miles.
Broke a stem (that's the bit that connects handle bar front forks) as I was riding out of the bike shed. I'm so pleased that it went when I was only doing 5mph. If that had gone earlier in the day when descending a hill outside Stoke Holy Cross at 32mph may Ironman training may well have been over.

Norwich - a fine city

I know I've jested about the city sign on the A11 saying 'Norwich - a fine city', but I recently had an experience to prove that it is. And it's a fine city because of the people that live in it.
I was walking from one office to another with an envalope in my back pocket containing some cheques and a paying in slip that I intended to put into the post to my bank so as to pay the cheques into my account.
When I got to the post box the envalope had gone. I'd clearly dropped it at some point. I retraced my steps, asked the security guard at work if anyone had handed it in and then got the creators of the cheques to cancel them.
Mean while, some good samaritan had picked up the envalope had seen that it was destined to for post and put it in the post box on my behalf.
To whoever that nameless person is. Thank you.

Ironman Week 15 of 24

First long run since the Bungay Marathon for me yesterday. A 2 hour 20min run where I coverd 15.6miles. It was a lovely evening to be out. Very pleasing because I'd been out in the morning on the Tri-Anglia ride and we covered 40miles. Even more pleasing this morning because I stayed with the faster group on the VC Norwich Sunday ride where we averaged 22mph on the return leg (pushing 31mph at places).
Total for the week: 16 hours, swim 3.3miles, bike 171miles and run 27.6 miles.
Total to date for the year: 2,789 miles as 63.9 swim, 2,292.7 bike, 432.3 run (4,487.3km, 102.8km, 3,689 and 695.5).

London Marathon

Well done to all my friends that ran the London Marathon today.
Mark Betts in 2:50:37 (h:m:s)
Penny Edward in 3:10:53 and winning her age group.
Anne Flannigan 3:12:04
Darryl Davis 3:19:46
Steve Kemp 3:44:15
Fellow trainee Ironman Sam Kingston in 3:45:47
Graham Bainger 4:06:24
Darren Powell 4:28:53
And newbee runner Tracey Greer 6:16:59.

Ironman week 14 of 24

Earlier in the week I commented as I passed through the 400mile barrier for the year to date.
I've subsequently broken through a few more little milestones. Yesterday morning riding to the swimming pool took me through the 2,000mile mark, riding afterwards and then again this morning has taken me through the 2,500mile mark for all three disciplines together and swimming this afternoon has taken me through the 60mile mark for the year. Oh, and I've now riden over 8,000miles on the Giant OCR2 bike that I bought as my first bike. Incidentally last weekend was the 3rd aniversary of my cycling hobby.
Totals for the week: 5.1mile Swim, 238mile Bike and 23.1mile Run.
Totals for the year are 2,587.2miles (4,162.8km) comprising 60.6miles Swim, 2,182miles bike and 404.7miles run.
Norwich to Babylon is 2,541miles. :-)

400 Miles Running

Two runs yesterday took me to 400miles so far for 2007. I joined Ian Gregory for a 6 mile lunchtime run and then in the evenings joined Steve Kemp for a 7 mile run as part of the Norwich Road Runner session.

Ironman Week 13 of 14

Not too surprisingly, running was hard this week. 12.8miles including the Broome 10k. Congratulations to my Tri-Anglia colleague Nicola McIvor who won the Ladies race. I then marshalled the Trowse 10k rather than run it.
Managed to get plenty of cycling in though. 153miles including 100miles involving the 100k Bungay Audax
Easter weekend restricted swimming club sessions though, so only one swim.

Ironman Week 12 of 24 - Half Way

After the disruptions to the week 11 schedule week 12 proved very slow to get started. I had shin splints running on the Monday and Wednesday which fortunately passed before the marathon on the Sunday.
The marathon was not on the official schedule, but was in my adaptation which means that week 12 was a bumper running week with 42miles. As such the cycling was reigned in a little to 105miles. It was a good week swim wise where I managed to attend EAST sessions. I also managed to fit in 3 functional stability sessions. So in all a very good week.
Half way to Ironman Switzerland now. The first two 6 week phases of the training plan are done and now we (myself and the other Tri-Anglia members of the Swiss Seven) enter into the third phase which is the Ironman Specific phase. There is going to be a lot of cycling over the next few weeks. Fortunately it's Easter this weekend coming so four days away from work with a 100k Audax on Saturday, if I ride to the start and back that'll be a nice round 100miles.

2007 Charity Fund Raising

As my legs are still sore today from Sunday's marathon I thought I'd plug my fund raising activities this year for Action Medical Research. I have also now set-up an online fundraising page to make it really easy for money to be paid to Action Medical Research due to my activities. Rob's AMR sponsorship page.
The big event for me this year is Ironman Switzerland and all the training that goes with that. The training includes the 5k Swimathon and the Bungay Marathon both are big events in their own rights. I'm also going to ride in Action Medical Research's Castle 100 and their London to Paris bike ride.
You can sponsor me for any of these events at the link above (which is www.action.org.uk/~robertlines).
If you'd rather make a donation to Marie Curie who are the main charity behind the swimathon that can be done at www.swimathon.org
I'm also involved in a massive project for a new club house and boat house for Norwich Canoe Club and Norwich Rowing Club that would create a sporting centre of excellence. More on that at a later point.

Bungay Marathon

Yesterday I ran the Bungay Marathon. It was my second Marathon and I ran it over an hour faster than my previous Marathon. I covered the undulating two lap course in a time of 3:39:15 (h:m:s).
Feeling pretty pleased with that.
Full article

Fun Lunchtime Ride

Went for an easy ride on a familiar lunchtime circuit with cycling friends and colleagues Julian and Chilli. Chilli was struggling with a hangover (what a legend) and we averaged 19.3mph for our 16.5mile route. Not quite sure where that fits with the word "easy", but it was fun.
Catching up with Smiley and Neil Vaughan out on the road was certainly satisfying. Those two win local cycle races. The fact that we didn't stay with them is irrelevant, the important point was that we caught them on the Intwood Road and bridge over the A47.
We're out again on Monday and I'm hoping that they have a more sympathetic interpretation of the word 'easy' then. I'll have tired legs from Sunday's Bungay Marathon.

Swimming Certificate and Medal

It's been a long time since I last recieved a swimming certificate, but received one today. It was the one for my 5k swimathon on Sunday.
It was purely coincidental to recieve a medal too. It was a bronze medal from a 30min postal swim in January. Four of us from our Masters Swimming Club, East Anglian Swallowtails (EAST) took part in a National Postal 30min swim challenge and we finished 3rd.
It was well worth going to the EAST session at UEA this evening. :-)

Ironman Week 11 of 24

Not such a good week this week. Very busy week at work meant that I didn't get any training in at all during the week. Headed out on the Saturday morning with the Tri-Anglia beginner cyclist group and got caught in wind and rain. Wasn't wearing suitable clothes for the conditions and ended up very cold at the end. Took several hours to warm up again.
Pics and route can be found on www.tri-anglia.co.uk or directly at http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/2007/TrainingRides/Gallery.html#20070324
An easier week once in a while doesn't do any harm - in fact I ought to have had a couple of recovery weeks already in the schedule that I've trained through, so I'm still okay.
The Swimathon this evening saw me through the 2,000mile mark for the year to date.
Hopefully next week I'll get back to a more complete training schedule. And next Sunday is the Bungay Marathon. In a weird way I'm looking forward to that.

Swimathon

5k swimathon this evening in the 50m UEA pool. Knocked it off in 77mins.
Had been aiming at 75mins if the pool had been configured at 25m, so fairly pleased with that. Went through the Ironman distance of 3.8k in 59mins and averaged a pace of 93seconds per 100m.
Will this yeild a sub hour swim at Ironman Switzerland? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Ironman Week 10 of 24

The training schedule for week 10 suggested somewhere between 15 and 22 hours covering something between 155 & 200 miles. Though there is a bare minium of 8 hours covering 100miles. Clearly that breaks down to different distance for the different sports.
However schedules can't always be applied to everyones lifes due to commitments of work, family and friends. Sports clubs are great for adding a social element into the training, but you can't always impose an Ironman Training session onto other club members (though I have been guilty of this at Tri-Anglia wednesday swims).
Anyway how have I faired this week? I've managed to log 17.5 hours and cover 210miles excluding 20 miles worth of commuting on my mountain bike. A summary per sport is of 30miles running, just over 200miles riding including a century ride yesterday and 3.8miles of swimming.
Totals for the year are run 326miles, biked 1,569 and swam 46miles. Making a grand total of 1,941miles.
I think that means I'm on schedule if not slightly ahead, though next week is

Ironman Update - March 2007

I've just placed the latest update on the Ironman front on the web at: http://www.barnmeadow.plus.net/IMS07Which can also be reached from the training page of the Tri-Angliawebsite.Main update this time round is a report from Russell Clarke about hisordeal in completing Ironman Malaysia. Also, with a lot of help fromSimon Edye, I've been able to get toghether a list of TA completedIronman Triathlons. All of which can be found through the link above.

Training Duathlon

Took part in the last of Simon Edye's training duathlons this morning. Some good things about it are that it's low key, good transition practice, short and really close to my house. Some not quite such good things about it are that it's short and I went out too hard. Also, it was flipping windy this morning. I'd put aero bars onto the bike for the event, but only got to use them briefly. Was most surprised to finish 2nd, though I did think that Peter Newton was Joe Skipper (apologies guys). I was well chuffed thinking that I'd finished the bike leg ahead of Joe Skipper.
Result can be found on the Tri-Anglia website (www.tri-anglia.co.uk)

First Century ride of 2007

Rode today with my cycle club Velo Club Norwich. I've not riden with them in a while having struggled in December to keep up with them. Happy to report that I faired a whole lot better today, though I did struggle on some of the hills.
At this point I must say thanks to Mark Cozens for twice dropping back to drag me back up to the group. Mark is a photographer and covers lots of local cycle races. His website can be found at: http://www.mphotography.smugmug.com/
It was a nice ride of 52 miles with a stop at Cafe Verdi in Mattishall. I then rounded the ride off with an extra 48 miles via a stop at my Mums (I think she was pleasantly surprised).
That gives me my first 100 mile ride of the year.

Suddenly seeing in colour again

It really does seem as though magically some how that colours are now visible again. The grey of winter seems to be gone and replaced with greens, blues and yellows. It is also suddenly a lot warmer.
Have just been out for a very easy bike ride to help the legs recover from yesterday and rode in shorts and a long sleeve top. That's the first time this year that my legs have received an airing this year.

Week 9 Round Up

22 miles today meant that I ran just under 44 miles across the week. That's the biggest weekly mileage of my running career, and I'm not feeling too bad for it.
Cycling mileage was a little lower this week though at 97miles with the bulk coming from a ride with Tri-Anglia yesterday. Photo's from which can be found at: http://www.tri-anglia.co.uk/2007/TrainingRides/Gallery.html#20070310

Swimming has also been good this week. Managed 3 sessions. One of which was straight after a run with City of Norwich Athletic Club. Yesterday's 8am swim was particularly good as I got a 50m lane all to myself and managed to cover 3.4k in the hour.

Have been putting together (with Simon Edye's help) a list of all the Ironman results of Tri-Anglia members. This can be found at: http://www.barnmeadow.plus.com/IMS07/HallofFame.html

Last Long Run before Bungay

What a beautiful morning we had today. Really felt like a proper spring day. The 22 mile route that I'd planned for Sam Kingston and myself took us through some stunning Norfolk countryside. Feeling pleased with how the run went, though the last mile was a hard. Not sure that a late night last night with copious amounts of Guinness was particularly wise.
The route followed was: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=758243
Seeing as I walked big chunks of my only marathon to date (London 2003), today's run is the furthest I've successfully run in one go (taking 3hours 18minutes).

Week 8 Round Up

This week was week 8 of my 24 week Ironman Training schedule and dispite being interrupted a bit by work proved to be another fairly solid week. Rode 122 miles, ran 23 and swam 3.5. Longest run of the week being todays 10mile race at Wymondham and the long ride was a solo 50 miler yesterday.
During the week I entered the Swimathon (www.swimathon.org/) which means that on the 25th March I'll be swimming 5k.

Wymondham Spring 10 mile

Ran the Wymondham Spring 10 mile today as part of my Bungay Marathon and Ironman preparation.
The aim for the day was a slightly easier long run. I wanted to use the race as pacing practise and I wanted to pace myself round at 8.30minute miles. To make the event more sociable I rode over to Wymondham with Darren Powell (http://chairman-trianglia.blogspot.com/) and Mark Evans both of Tri-Anglia (www.tri-anglia.co.uk).
Bumped into a number of runners that I knew including Mark Crossfield an old canoeing friend who also did the Devizes to Westminster race in 2004. Mark wanted to paced round the course so we ran together, but yet again I ended up going out too fast, and then settling into 8minute mile pace before picking it up at the end. At least it was a nice steady run out.
Took some photos for the Tri-Club and composed a bit of a report that can be found on www.tri-anglia.co.uk or directly at www.tri-anglia.co.uk/2007/2007WAC2010/WAC2010Report.html

Training Progress

Eight weeks into the year and seven weeks into a twenty four week Ironman Training schedule. The first 6 weeks were an 'adaptation phase'.
Week 7 which finished today (Sunday) was the first week of the 6 week 'aerobic phase'.
In following the schedule in preparing for Ironman Switzerland, including the Bungay Marathon (1st April) along the way I have covered 230 miles running and 1143 miles on the bike and swam 32miles. (Actually that last figure is a bit impressive.)
This week I've swam 8.8k, cycled 158miles including an 80mile ride from Norwich to Southwold and back and run 35.5miles.
I'd just like to thank Simon Edye for organising the ride to Southwold and to Tim Topper for organising a 3 hour 21 mile this morning, plotting the course, pacing me and providing conversation.
Route for Tims run: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=729684
Route for yesterday's ride to Southwold: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=728426

Malaysian Ironman Today

Ironman Malaysia took place earlier today. Russell Clarke of Tri-Anglia and Wymondham Athletic Club was ane entrant.
http://www.ironmanlangkawi.com.my/results.html?sel_year=2007&sel_ak=ALL&sel_name=Clarke&sel_sorting=time_total&sel_display=50
Doesn't look like he had a good time. :-?
I've subsequently discovered that it was really hot and lots of runners struggled with the heat.

Cakes at Southwold

Following an 8am swim at UEA with the Swallowtails. Tri-Anglia rode out to Southwold for refreshments on the pier.
Route followed was: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=728426

Need some motivation?

Watch this:



These guys are real heros.

In fact I'd really like to nominate these guys as BBC Sports Personalities. Any idea how to do this?

Video can also be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

Got my number today.

My race number for the Bungay Marathon.
The race is on Sunday 1st April and I'll be wearing number 100.
Dare I say that I'm looking forward to it?
I'll get to prove to myself that I'm capable of running 26.2 miles. I'll need to be able to. I've got an entry for Ironman Switzerland at the end of June. More details at http://www.barnmeadow.plus.com/IMS07/

Here is another test. Trying to see how easy it is to upload pictures.

Well, here we go.

First entry having seen Kev's blog www.kevsblog.com earlier today and having had Mark Evans of Tri-Anglia suggesting that it would be good to get some blogs going, particularly training blogs.

So, we'll see how this goes and compare it to my home page www.barnmeadow.plus.com , the Tri-Anglia website www.tri-anglia.co.uk and also the Tri-Anglia forum either through the TA website or direct at tauk.boardcity.com . There is also the Norwich Canoe Club website at www.the-watershed.co.uk/norwichcc