Tuesday 30 June 2009

Feet are still hurting.

Went sunbathing with the crew on the beach today. Whilst there we went for a dip in the sea. Afraid I wasn't able to stand on the shingle to walk out of the water. I had to shuffle back up the beach backwards on my bum.

Ironman France

Been swept away the last couple of days with the events of Ironman France.

Tried to get an early night Saturday ahead of Sunday's race, but had a terrible night. Was still awake at 1am and was getting up at 3:45am. I was feeling nausious and had tummy aches. Was sure it was just nerves but turns out I wasn't the only one feeling that way.

4am and the porter didn't want to let us in for the pre-arranged breakfast. He was insisting it was 4:30am. So we just sat in the restaurant and ate our own food and left at 4:30 to make it to transition for 5am.

The organisers tried to seed the swim start. There were nine pens set up in the start area. The pros were in the middle. To the immediate right those capable of 55mins, to the left those capable of 62 mins and then progressively slower and slower out to the two sides. That just didn't work. I finished the swim in 1:00:10 in 169th place and there were more than 170 people in front of me in the 55min pen. I'd stood at the back of that pen thinking I'd tag onto the back of those going faster than I but ended up swimming through them. That slowed me down some what.

My pulse at the start was really high. 118bpm just standing on the beach. Matt and Andy's was 80-90. I figured that was nerves and tiredness. Once out on the bike on the flat opening 20km I took it really easy to try and get my pulse back down to 78-80% as 90% was too high for a long ride. I lost a fair few places there. The first climb was the steepest, though shortest after that I was really needing to find somewhere descreet for a comfort stop. I lost more time here whilst I preoccupied seeking laybys. It was at this point that John Roberts came past me. He didn't spot me. Matt had already seen me and patted my back in swim to bike transition. So that meant two team mates ahead of me.

I found a layby climbed the bank sorted myself out. So pleased I'd putted my emergency toilet paper supply in the pocket of my cycle jersey and hoped that was the lot. As I climbed back down to my bike and was heading off Gareth Walker passed. He shouted a greeting and checked I was okay. I caught him, chatted and went ahead for a bit. A little later he caught me and asked if I was aware of the straw hanging out of my shorts. I had a bit of a descent chasing Gareth before hitting the main climb and my area of strength. I wasn't to see Gareth again until my final lap of the run.

The bike course was fabulous. Stunning scenary, great climbs and some wonderful descents. Found I was overtaking lots of people on the ascents and generally keeping up with people on the descents. As the ride progressed I got stronger and stronger. The infinate energy drink being supplied at the aid stations was working well and the pain aux chicken (though we think it might have been veggie chicken substitute) that I'd put into my special needs bag was really pleasent at the 70km point.

I was amazed at the end of the bike to discover I'd managed it in under 6 hours. I was still on target for time around 11 hours, so long as I had a very good run. It was soon very obvious that that wasn't going to happen. I ran to the first aid station took some water and some coke that I tried to drink from cups whilst running and just ended up pouring them down my front. I decided at that point I'd walk through the aid stations whilst drinking. Then into the first shower. The water was so cold when it hit me I couldn't stop myself shuddering. There was an official photographer there and I so hope that he caught that on film. I then found Matt Spillman stood in front of me. He shock my hand, passed on his congratulations and said he was beat due to a tummy bug. What a sportsman. He wasn't down and out and was going to walk the marathon rather then quit and didn't begrudge me or anyone else being able to pass him.

I managed to run the whole of the first of the four laps of the run, but it wasn't long into the second lap that I opted for a walk run approach. I'd speed walk 100 strides and then run 400 strides. Slowed me a little but meant I was keeping a steady pace. I was still opting to run through each and every shower until on the second half of the second lap when the water just wasn't draining from the road. My feet where now socked. Each foot strike squelched. From here on in my feet started hurting. I could feel blisters forming. Then I was sure there were bursting. Running was hurting my thighs and my feet. Walking was really hurting my feet and just drawing out the challenge. My calfs though were good. I'd bought some compression calf guards in the expo before the race that I'd had on from the swim (I'd been wearing them under the wetsuit). I had no problem there and often I'd have twinges in the shins or tightness in the calfs. Wondering if full compression tights would be something to test next time.

The out and back nature of the course meant that you saw each of your team mates twice per lap so long as you could spot them amongst the other competitors. I was the only one wearing the bright read Tri-Anglia colours and with a bright red Diss Duathlon Tube on my head as a bandana made me very obvious. Matt and Andy were always shouting my name and words of encouragement. Hollie, Lynsey and Andy's parents were chearing from the side lines and there was plenty of other support from other spectators.

I was getting concerned that I hadn't seem Simon Edye all day. I'd seen some cyclists laying in the road receiving medical attention, plus there'd been a couple of other ambulances. I'd also not seen Jan, Simon's wife spectating. If I'd spotted Jan I might not have been quite so concerned about Simon. I was really hoping that he hadn't come a cropper on the bike. I was also hoping that as I was slowing that he wasn't about to come breathing down my neck. I know John was still about 20 minutes ahead of me with Matt and Andy about 20 to 30 minutes behind. I found Gareth again on my final lap of the run. He was on his first, though it might have been his second. He'd had a mare on his bike. He'd managed to split a tyre. He fashioned a repair of sorts then went back to a mechanics point that he'd passed two miles earlier and was fortunate that they had a spare tyre to give him due to another competitor dropping it. He then suffered another puncture on his other wheel later in the race.

When I got to cross the finish line I was very relieved to have completed what had been a challenging day, and it was brillient to be greeted by Katie who'd been a volunteer helper all day. I was very happy just to go find somewhere quiet to lay down with my feet up and a couple of bottles of Rego (recovery drink) waiting to find out what had happened to everyone. My feet weren't in as bad a mess as I'd thought - they were shrivelled up as if they'd been soaked in water for ages which they had but they weren't bleeding.

Found I'd received a text from Simon. Due to illness he'd been pulled off the course at 90km and bused back. He clearly wasn't all right but I was so pleased he wasn't injured. Matt had perked up after his second run lap. Andy had vomitted on the bike and I'd had a bad night and some bowel trouble on the bike. John was the only one I didn't hear from. Figure we all ate something bad the previous day. I'm blaming the chinese of Saturday lunchtime which I'd nearly refused to eat. Live and learn.

Results
John Roberts, 686th, 11:23:43 (s=1:05:13, b=5:44:05, r=4:23:01)
Rob Lines, 828th, 11:38:17 (s=1:00:39, b=5:59:55, r=4:23:42)
Matt Spillman, 1213th, 12:18:12 (s=1:00:01, b=5:58:34, r=5:06:16)
Andy Atthowe, 1326th, 12:30:16 (s=1:06:45, b=6:24:42, r=4:47:20)
Gareth Walker, 2125th, 14:40:36 (s=1:03:40, b=7:53:46, r=5:26:33)
Simon Edye, DNF (s=1:13:52)
J

Saturday 27 June 2009

Follow us at Ironman France tomorrow live

You can follow us on the Ironman Live service - http://ironman.com/ironmanlive

335 - Andy Atthowe
956 - Gareth Walker
1797 - Rob Lines
1829 - John Roberts
2157 - Matt Spillman
2750 - Simon Edye

Day 7 - Friday 26th - Registration

Up early for a quick spin on the bike before breakfast.

Wandered over to registration to pick up race numbers. Spent a bit too much time and a little bit of money in the expo.

Down to the beach for a quick swim and sun bath. Whilst sitting on the beach Richard Hancock from BBC Radio Norfolk phoned to record an interview to be broadcast later in the day. Matt and I then had a 16 minute run as a loosener and to test the compression calfs we had just purchased. A dip in the sea and a cold shower on the beach to freshen up and then off for lunch in the old part of town.

Back to the beach, but not much sunbathing due to cloud cover. We played cards until the clouds became threatening and managed to get back to the hotel before the thunderstorm started.

The build up for the event is now well and truly underway. The 'Energy Party' was a rather grand affair:

Still no sign of Gareth and Lynsey.


Day 6 - Thursday 25th - Rest Day

This was a rest day. No exercise and a day to completely forget the upcoming task. A day to be a tourist.

Started with a lie in. Then off to a Palientology Museum. Cafe in Gariboli Square. Museum of Contempory Art. Lunch. Sun bathing on the beach and an evening picnic in the square.

So being a tourist worked fairly well.

With more and more of the team arriving, trying to keep the mind off the Ironman was rather more difficult. Simon Edye arrived early and met us in the Palientology Museum. John Roberts joined us for the Cafe in Gariboli Sq, the art museum and lunch. Andy Atthowe tracked us down on the beach.

We now have a full contingent, though we've yet to meet up with Gareth Walker and Lynsey.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Day 5 - Wednesday 24th - Gareth's Birthday

Three have become 5. Gareth Walker and Lynsey are now also in Nice though we haven't seen them yet. Lynsey had idea's today for Gareth's birthday, so he didn't come out to play.

6:30am Matt and I met in reception for a walk to the beach in new flip flops for a swim. The beach was quiet. Very quiet. There were at most 3 people in the water swimming and not many more moving around on the 3 miles worth of beach front. We headed down to the beach area nearest to the hotel and put our t-shirts and towels on the fencing that delinated the cafe that was hours away from opening. There was a chap milling about amongst the sun loungers in the cafe so I did wonder if our items would be removed from his fence. We walked into the water in our flip flops - so much easier. Then threw them onto the beach - needless to say the four of them spread out a little.

The water was easily warm enough again even that early in the morning not to need wetsuits and we swam 500m along the beach before turning to swim back. Once back to our entry point our flip flops were no longer scattered on the beach but had been neatly put with our items on the cafe fence. People can surprise you at times. The chap, who I presume was a night time security guard, came over to talk to us getting out and two other chaps who were arriving to start their swim. Whilst we were warm in the water, it definately wasn't warm in the air. Matt and I opted to miss the cold water shower on the beach and headed back to the hotel. Despite a warm shower I was still shivering throughout breakfast.

At 10am, Matt and I then went out for a repeat of the Col de Vence reccee ride of the Bike Course. It was still stunning today and we both returned home buzzing and feeling ready for Sunday.

On the route we stopped at the bike shop in Vence were we got chatting to a Norwegian family who were interested in our biking, skiing, running and Ironman exploits. We could have chatted for ages, but Matt I and I had a show down with a hill. The gauntlet from the shop was a 32minute ascent as their record. We did it in 40mins without pushing too hard. There was another rider out on the hill that went past us. He fairly flew past us and was clearly out for a hill rep session. He was descending past us, then caught us about half way then was descending when we got near the top. It was hot, yet he was wearing long sleeve top over a base layer and long legs on too. Suspect he beat the 32mins.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Day 4 - Tuesday 23rd June

A much easier day today. And hopefully a shorter blog entry.

Up for a 40 minute run with Matt whilst Katie roller-bladed along Promenade des Anglais, before breakfast.





Down to the beach for a dip and a snooze before lunch. The sea was pleasently warm. Felt cold as you went in, but was then okay once there. Kind of like jumping into the UEA pool. Will probably stick with the wetsuit for race day, but for warm up swims might not bother. Noticed a current moving along the beach. 260 strokes one way, 200 the other. Would actually say that's quite a strong current. The water is really clear. When you float vertically you can easily see your toes. It's very easy seeing swimers beside you and with a tourquise tint to the water it feels like your swimming in an aquarium. The salt taste is strong. Didn't note any taste of diesel, which is what I had been warned about. The issue is the shingle beach. Have now invested in some disposible flip-flops for use during the remainder of the trip.

Had a good lunch - not cheap eating out here. 30Euros. Going to have main meal at lunchtimes now as part of race prep as I don't want to be eating late particularly on race night. Another habbit I'm going to try and get into is getting up early. With a 6:30am race start sunday we're going to be getting up at 4:00. That's not going to be nice, but if I'm used to getting up at 6:00 then it won't be quite such a shock.

After lunch we went upto the Nice Ville grounds and snoozed and read on the grass up there. Far more comfortable than shingle and far more chilled than a busy beach. Discovered more of historic Nice - it is very pretty. And then out for a very very easy 1 hour bike ride with Matt. A mere spin along the prom dodging mobile obstructions.



To save money, and becaused we'd had our main meal mid day, we just bought some Yop, ham, cheese, bread, dried banana and pan du raisin, which we ate in a local park whilst the local residents played boules around us. Washed that down with a beer on the quayside. We asked for a half and got a half a litre. Noticed on another table there were steins so glad we didn't ask for a grande beer.

Up tomorrow for a dip in the sea at 6:30am. Spot of breakfast then off to take Matt round the route I cycled yesterday. A second opportunity to practise the descent. This time I won't got lost in any scenic villages. Katie I think is going sunbathing.

Knees and Elbows - Day 3 - Monday 22nd June

The Ironman France bike course is reckoned to be one of the toughest. Lots of climbing and lots of technical descending. I was keen to reccee the route ahead of the race but didn’t fancy riding the whole 112mile single loop course:




There did look like a simple way of shortening the course to make a 60 mile version that went out the same way as the race course and came back with the race course but cut 50 miles out of the middle. Though in doing so did add a steeper climb.


Getting through Nice to the course was again a little uncertain. I followed the cycle path as that seemed the easiest way to get past the town, the airport and over the river Var. Having consulted the map I was sure of where the route was to follow up the Var valley. Fortunately I found road markings indicating the course. A sign that there is a race coming, or is it a sign that the race has been?




The road markings helped with the first few bends following the Var, then came a left turn off the main road. I was conscious of a following car so was keen to take the corner quickly. There was a stream of cars waiting to come out of the side junction I was turning left into and due to my haste I didn’t spot the gravel across the junction until my wheels started sliding out on it. I tried to counteract the slide. I guess I must have over corrected. You’d think that if you’re turning left and leaning left then you’d lend on your left. My grazed right elbow, right knee and right hip provide the evidence. Pride was more injured than bike or me. I was then taken aback by the consideration of the spectating drivers and the cyclist who was following me. They stopped, showed concern, warned me of further gravel and generally ensured I was okay to continue before resuming their own journeys.







The route is pretty flat for the first 15km or so but with this left turn comes the first proper bit of climbing and it’s really quite sharp. You are then generally twisting and climbing from the industrial outskirts of Nice as it transitions to rural outskirts. Before long. After several switch backs are following a hill side road heading west parallel to the coast.

I was wanting to turn off this road to cut across to the other side of the bike course. The returning stage of the route. I managed to take a turn to early and found myself climbing into the village of St. Jeanet. On the approach to the village I over took a couple of cyclists they responded to my ‘Bonjour’ with very French sounding ones of their own.

The main road into St. Jeanet narrowed into rustic cobbled streets in what was a truly picturesque French mountain side village with no obvious route out the other side of the village. Certainly their were no signs pointing to a col to get over the mountain behind the village. The cyclists who’d I’d overtaken earlier caught me whilst I consulted my map. I flagged them down and in my best pigeon French asked “Excusa moi monsieur, o’est ici” pointing at my map.

“Can you speak English” was the American accented reply. I should have realised that the Alpe d’Heuz cycle jersey’s were just too touristy to belong to a local. We had a good little natter. Found out where we were, where we each heading, where we were staying, where we hailed from and what we were doing in the area. My French accent and Ironman Switzerland cycle kit made him and his wife think I was from Switzerland. I’ll take that as a compliment particularly the day after the Swiss two times World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara won the Tour of Switzerland.



With his directions and the course markings I really had very little difficulty following the rest of my ride. The Col de Vence provided stunning scenic views over Nice and out towards Corsica. On a clear day I’m sure it would be visible. There was an area of sea that looked to rise so guessing that was the island. The climb rose to over 1,000m over 9km with a count down marker each km telling you distance to the summit in both vertical height and ground to cover. They also indicated what the average gradient of the next km was to be. For the first two that was 4% then 7% for the next six and then 6% for the last one as per the photo below. Afraid I didn’t stop to take photos of them all. In fact I was too taken in by the views to notice 5km and 2km.






The views on the way up where nothing compared to the views on the other side.









I was now to enjoy some entertaining descending. I’d been warned that this was technical and not a route for time-trial bikes. So far I’ve only seen one tt bike out of the hundred that I’ve seen. The road is constantly turning and twisting. There is rarely a stretch of 100m without a turn in it and for a bend to have warning chevrons it needs to be equivalent to a 360 turn around a mini roundabout. I’ve taken some photos of bends that didn’t warrant warning signs. I felt my decision to head advice and go for a sportive bike with compact groupset, drop handle bars, no bar extensions and light weight climbing wheels was completely the right choice of weaponry.





There were several scenic cafés and restaurants where I was tempted to stop but figured it best to head back to the hotel to clean up my wounds. I then wandered round the corner to settle down for a spot of lunch and was soon joined by Matt Spillman and Katie. One is now three. Seven more to arrive.

For those of you interested in numbers and stats. Here is a profile of the ride, and also mapped against, speed, heart rate and cadence:



Sunday 21 June 2009

Nice - Day2, Sunday June 21st

There’s really very little indication that an Ironman is about to hit Nice. In fact none. Well none that I could spot. The local paper barely mentions le Tour de France starting the week after in Monaco. Woke this morning feeling rather stiff. Suspect it was the weight of my luggage yesterday. Mr Backbreaker was right. Had a lie in. Wandered down the Promenade de Anglais past were the beach start and transition will be. Really no indication that it’s coming. Nothing laid out. No signs of warning. Read my book on the prom. Had lunch outside a café. Wandered back to the hotel over the remnants of Ville de Nice. That’s now my favourite part of the city. Forget chilling out on the beach, which is far too crowded. Up amongst the gods looking down on the city is the place to be in a lovely park with grass areas. Got some photos showing Nice, the swim area, the mountains in the background where the bike course goes and the run up and down the Promenade des Anglais. Easy spin on the bike this evening with a t-run to follow. There are a lot of cars and a lot of traffic lights on the main roads along the coast. There is a cycle way along the prom and you just have to love the way other users be they cyclists, runners, roller-bladers or pedestrians just don’t see you coming at them even when it’s a heads on. I’m sure my new found talent of invisibility would soon wear off if I was to walk into the ladies beach volleyball changing room. The drivers seem pretty considerate though – think I’ll stick to the roads particularly at busy times. It is nicely warm here. Warm enough to feel hot the whole time and make you sweat loads, but not warm enough it seems to make you want to stop. Think the plan needs to be drink loads. Plan tomorrow is to ride a shortened version of the bike course – just need to work out how to get onto the route, it wasn’t obvious this afternoon. Watching Eurosport with French commentary, you try and fill the gap in yourself. Now wondering if any team playing the All Blacks has pulled a mass team moonie in response to their hacker. Think that’ll ruin my chances of ever being selected as England captain.








Nice - Day 1, 20th June

Each new adventure starts the moment you step outside your front door. Today that was 6:15 am to an awaiting taxi to take me, a rucksack, a day bag and my suitably bagged bike to Norwich Railway Station on the first part of my journey to Nice for Ironman France. The planning and preparation had started months ago and this trip has been one thing that’s been static in my year against a backdrop of global financial crisis, company name changes, even employer changes and office changes.
Locomotion is a fairly relaxed way to travel. It’s a relatively environmentally friendly way to travel. It’s a very scenic and social way to travel. It also made a really nice change to flying. Would be great if it was a little cheaper, but it added to the adventure and as I feel remarkably relaxed at the end of the day was probably worthwhile.
I was at Norwich station by 6:30am and suitably early for the 7am train to London Liverpool St. I’d received some teasing for travelling first class. I think Snobman was wise in paying an extra £4 each way to upgrade when he booked his train 8 weeks ago on trainline.net. Didn’t quite get a carriage to myself but I certainly had plenty of room for my bike, bags and me.
Not fancying the tube having known that there had been recent tube strikes I opted for a London black cab. £12 for the priviledge there with a driver who thought his surname, Backbreaker, was more appropriate to me with my luggage was happy to tell me of his actress sister who played George Michael’s girlfriend in the video to ‘Last Christmas’.
At St. Pancras whilst I was collecting my pre booked ticket from the machine I was greeted by Veronica a wanna be triathlete and recent marathon virgin at Edinburgh. She hails from South Africa but lives now in Cambridge and was passing through London at the same time. We’ve been in contact via www.iamtri.com and asked me for some advice when she was having pre- first marathon nerves. I enjoyed her questions about Ironman whilst we had a hot chocolate whilst awaiting my 10:25 Eurostar to Paris.
I’ve used the Eurostar from Paris to London four times, but this was the first from London to Paris. Previous journey’s have taken a while. Today’s seemed to fairly fly by. Perhaps it was the company of a good book, “The Shack” by William Paul Young, some MP3 music, the excitement of heading out on an adventure rather then heading home, perhaps it was that I hadn’t cycled to Paris and possibly because I hadn’t spent the day ahead of the journey stood on the champs elysees watching le tour. I did have some guy decide to plonk his bag onto of my bike that was squeezed into a luggage compartment that really wasn’t big enough. Needless to say I found an alternative place for his bag.
Paris greeted me with rain and fellow travellers that had little consideration for others. I don’t quite understand how with bike bag and rucksack I can be invisible. And why when someone is leading a group of people and causing a congestion to they suddenly stop and then try to walk backwards. Wasn’t going to upset me. The queue for taxi’s could have done. It wasn’t that there was a queue, or the size of the queue, but the lack of taxi’s. There were plenty of limo’s but no taxi’s. Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon is a 3 mile walk. Which I didn’t fancy. I could have taken the Paris Metro, though didn’t relish it with luggage especially not the very fierce narrow ticket turnstyles. I similarly didn’t fancy standing in a stressed Parisian taxi queue being jostled and missing my TGV. So when someone else in the queue announced “Limo Gare de Lyon” I moved very quickly using my best pigeon French.
The couple who I shared the limo with were very English and terribly nice. They had an hour to get to Gare de Lyon for a train to Geneva, which made my 2 hour connection look very relaxed. I offered to pay half the fair, but he refused to take more than 20Euro off me before passing what looked like 100+ to the driver. Would certainly be accusing myself of being Snobman if I’d paid that myself. It wasn’t even a stretched a limo, but fourth part of my journey over and I now had plenty of time to sit, eat my packed lunch, read and wait for the display board to tell me which of the 8 platforms labelled D-M in front of me would have the TGV to Gare Nice Ville. With 20 minutes to go the platform number of 17 flashed up next to the name of my train. Gare de Lyon has two terminals and I was in the wrong one.
I wasn’t the first passenger to get to my carriage and as I considered myself to probably have the most luggage on what appeared to be a fully booked train did cause a little concern. But that was short lived. Some friendly fellow passengers aided in the luggage stacking and my bike was soon secured nicely away in a compartment on top of everything else. Result.
Whilst every seat was taken on this double decker train, there was an adequate amount of space with wide seats and sufficient leg room. And no, I hadn’t upgraded on this part of the journey. The weather had cleared up and a good portion of the journey was spent looking out the window wishing I was riding through the countryside outside. Mount Ventoux eventually appeared on the horizon and with it a smile appeared on my face because in four weeks time I will be cycling that beauty at the climax of l’Etape du Tour.
By 21:40 I was safely into my hotel room in Nice. Barely 25 minutes between train pulling up, finding another 20euro taxi journey, this time on my own and registering with a receptionist who tried his best to act as though he didn’t have a record of my pre-paid reservation. I must have just looked too relaxed to bite as very quickly he was giving me room key and telling me to enjoy my stay.
Bike is now built, bags unpacked, room converted to base camp for next fortnight, second half of my packed lunch consumed and this blog entry drafted.

Thursday 18 June 2009

6th Lotus of 2009

Attended the 6th Lotus Cars Cycle Race League of 2009 last night. Yes I know I'm tapering, but figured a bit of speed would be a nice little sharpener. Strong wind last night - going down the main straight was lovely 24mph at 55% HRM on my tod in the warm up. Into the headwind was a different matter.
Despite my best intentions I kept finding myself at the front. There seemed a real reluctance from anyone to take it up into the wind - so pulled my weight so to speak. Seemed that if I didn't push it at 21mph the pack were happy to sit at 17mph - that was until the lap where I'd drifted to the back with the tail wind. Caught the back of the group in the headwind only to find that the 4 riders I'd caught (including Alfie Chapman) were themselves detached. Oh well, 40 mins was probably enough for a taper. Average 24mph max 36mph.
Chris Guy, Phil Hargreaves and one other had a 3 man break for several laps but got caught 2 laps from the finish. Sean of 'Sports Therapy/Streetlife/City College' got the win. Liam Gentry and Simon Asher were 6th and 5th with Chris Guy 4th.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Thunderstorm Swim

Missed my morning swim yesterday so arranged to swim with JT at 7.30pm as a second chance Monday. Rushed home from work at 5pm to avoid a thunderstom that proved to be a real hum-dinger. Very nearly cried off the swim. In fact I was hoping JT would so that I could also get away with being slack. So a big thank you for JT for provoking me to get my apathetic arse up to the UEA pool. I was flying once there. Doing 4x200m in 2:40 repping them on 3:15. Repping 100m on 90 seconds. That's got to be my best swim in years. Thanks JT.
Figured I'd earned myself a take away curry with that, but the number was engaged when I tried to place the order - settled for pasta and pork in a tomato and chilli sauce that I cooked myself.

GB call up for Iain

Following the National Disabled Triathlon Championships at the Rother Valley mentioned in a previous post Iain Dawson has been invited to represent GB at an Invitational International Super Sprint Paratriathlon event in Hyde Park 15th August supporting the ITU World Championships.
I'm available that day, so looks like I'll get to guide Iain around that course as well. :-)

Sunday 7 June 2009

Week 21

Oh dear. Seven weeks since I last updated my blog. It's been rather manic with work, training, club and life.
Now just 3 weeks away from Ironman France. All the long training rides are done, and as of 90 minutes along all my long runs are also now done. Today's 22 mile run was an out and make from a mates house (who i'm visiting this weekend) through Sheffield and out through Rotherham and back along the Sheffield and South Yorkshire navigation. Nice little run.
Was up here yesterday to help guide Iain Dawson around that National Disabled Triathlon course. We finished 5th overall and 4th in his category.