Month: July 2011

Outlaw 2011

Last post on this, promise. And I’ll make it brief. I have some images to show for my ordeal. Unfortunately they are not very good. They seem to show me being really slow, and in the case of exiting the swim, totally shell-shocked. Which is mainly because they are accurate.  Damn!   Anyway, here’s a snap of me on the bike, or as Wendy put it; “you look like a real one.”  Thanks for that! And here is a video of me exiting the swim, (I was frozen and dazed, give me a break!) on the bike just after I’d braked into a corner and was finding my gear to get going again (looks like I’m doing 5mph, grrrr!) and crossing the line. I’d deliberately let that tosser in front of me have a 30 second lead as I thought the photographers would be snapping us as we crossed the line. I didn’t have enough in the tank to get a clear lead so rather than spoil his photo by being right in front of him as we crossed the line I eased off a little bit. I didn’t realize it was being video-ed, or that he was going to stand there like a be-hatch. Double grrrrr. Anyway, here it is, such as it is:     Oh, and one other picture to stick on before we draw a discreet veil over this subject. Look what all that fun in the sun does to a chap; The caption for which is “OW! OW! OW!” Later, Buck.

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“We have done the impossible…

…And that makes us mighty.”   Nine months ago, when I first discovered there was such a thing as an Ironman, I used that quote (from Mel, in Firefly) to express what I thought it would be like to have completed one. Nine months. Didn’t realize it was that quick. To recap the journey; I had just completed the Warrington half marathon, a 13.1 mile run. It damn near killed me getting up to speed for that. That was on the third of October. Then I started looking around for a bigger challenge. I somehow found out about the Iron distance triathlon. A 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile ride then a 26.2 mile run. Sounds kind of impossible. (It feels it as well.) I fancied that. Ultimate challenge and all that.   There were a few minor obstacles to be overcome. I couldn’t really swim and hadn’t been to the baths in about fifteen years. I hadn’t done any real push-biking since I’d got my car license. Running 13.1 miles was the very limit of my stamina.   I noted at the time that when I told people I was thinking of it all I got was mocked and derided. It was a big ask. Undeterred by the lack of encouragement or ability I set to. First swim I couldn’t do 40m. That was with my head up. Then I was told I needed to put my head down. I couldn’t do more than a few strokes then without swallowing water or running out of air. I had to start to learn to swim. I persevered. Within a mere three weeks I had managed to get up to 60m with my face down before running out of air.   The bike/ run was not too bad for me. At my first attempt I managed to do a 56 mile ride followed by a 13 mile run. Then it was just a matter of building up my distances. And getting a decent bike. And a wetsuit. And a bike with cleats. (Learning how to ride with cleats- falling off seven time in one ride!-) And shoes that fit in the cleats. So, just time and money, really. (And more sweat and pain than you can shake a stick at!)   As part of my training I entered the Marazion half Iron distance tri. That was a disaster. I had to be pulled out of the sea. I’ve read since that panicking in open water is a common newbie reaction. Nothing like the shock of freezing cold water, not being able to breathe and thinking you are going to drown for instilling panic. That didn’t do my confidence any favours. Nor when I went for an sea swim on my own to Liverpool and the tide was sweeping me out and I thought I was going to drown.   I could complain about the run and ride, but really that is just about pain and determination. If you set […]

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Lakeland Trails Marathon.

I know, I’ve already covered it; it was stupidly hilly, uneven underfoot, hotter than a chilli in a microwave, and we  had to ford a stream, so ran the last eight or so kilometres with soaked, very heavy feet. Now though, I have the race statistics! I said it was tough, here’s how tough: there were 610 people started the race, only 383 finished it!  My time, which for a flat, road race would have been lamentable at 4.09:25, was good enough to put me 85th on the day. Which was 28th in my age category (Male, 40-50). These are things that please me. As did outlasting a guy with a ‘100 Marathons Club’ T-shirt on. Hehehe. He was good most of the way around but I had him (ooo-er, Mrs!) in the last 6k.    The last 3k were some of the worst of my life. I forced myself to keep going, but the preceding hills/ mountains had taken everything from my legs. I did that last 3k on stubbornness alone. And my fancy race number holding belt/ sports gels holder failed me. Two of my gels escaped so I had to ration myself and hope I didn’t get an energy crash. Luckily they were giving Kendal mint cake out at two of the drinks stations. Still, an added worry I could have done without. I have been on the official photographer’s site and bought these as a memento;   Whilst this is the best of them, I don’t like how it looks like I’m walking. That was just after another killer ascent, it had levelled off and I was starting to get back into a rhythm. I had seen the photographer so was trying to attempt a smile. Didn’t quite make it.   This one shows the kind of focus, and indeed pain, involved in the hill climbs:   Observe the feet, toes just touching on trailing foot, front foot in the air. That, my friends is running, not walking. I don’t like the shot though, because my face looks funny. I look like I have a duelling scar running down from my lip! Odd. On this one I was too tired and too focused on just not dying that I couldn’t spare a thought for the photographer.   The last one is of me crossing the line: This shot is ruined by the fact I hadn’t seen the photographer. You pass under an inflatable arch with ‘finish’ written on it. I was staring up so I could turn off my stop-watch as I passed directly under it, thus getting an accurate time. The photo’ doesn’t show that. If someone was to put a caption to it, it would probably read “God, why have you forsaken me?” Still, sharp photo’s. Just me making them look crap.   I was stiff and done-in for about four days after that. I was having to walk down stairs like John Wayne walking across a bar   Seeing as the weather was nice […]

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Last push training before ‘taper’.

I said in my last post that the swim was the thing that was really worrying me. The estimated time at the pace I was doing was 2.01, when I only had 2.15 to swim, change, and be out riding. Also that I was concerned I would fade, and be even slower over the last mile. I said I was going to try to get a 2 hour swim session in on Friday evening. This I did. I was, as ever, a bit late so I didn’t get swimming till eight minutes past eight. This was a concern as I thought I would need at least 1.53, possibly the full two hours. Not drinking has advantages though. Being a Friday night when I got into the pool it was empty! Presumably everyone else was busy drinking/ having a life. This meant I could put my head down and swim without having to constantly check that I wasn’t about to punch someone in the face (they are not understanding about it. Me, me, me!) I used my new-fangled ring-watch-lap-counter jobby to accurately count the lengths. At 40 lengths (a smidge over 1.2 miles, or half distance) it was only 9 o’clock! Go me! I set to with a will, found a decent rhythm and carried on. I was worried that I would tire and run out of time before I’d done the second half. Cracked on and did the full 2.1 miles in 1.43! GO ME! That really pleased me. I had to go through the watch length by length to make sure I’d not skipped any, but no, all in order. Knocked 18 minutes off my estimated slow swim time! Super. It’s not an outdoor swim, but at least I know I can go the distance and be well within time.   Today (Sunday) I had my first marathon race. It was the Lakeland Trails marathon. As the name suggests, it was in the Lakes. An area not renowned for it’s flat bits. Racing around Coniston Lake. Off road. On tracks that mountain goats would shun. And over grass and bog. And fording a thigh high stream because the bridge was having work done on it. That added weight to already tired feet and helped towards the popped blister count, I’m sure. And it was baking hot. And I lost two of my energy gels. Everything less than ideal for a first marathon. Although it was a Lakeland Trails marathon (the first two words being pretty hefty clues to most of the above) the blurb online showed it as being a bit hilly. More vaguely hilly. Possibly gently undulating. It was pure painful hill climbing and treacherous headlong descents. By about 7 K (another thing, the signs were all in K’s, I only work in miles, might as well have put the distance in bananas. I had no idea how far I’d done, or even how many K’s in a marathon!) my legs were so sore and tired that I […]

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