I don't usually vent my frustration on here

I've just been watching the news and I feel that so many people need a reality check. All the people who were stuck on the trains in the euro tunnel being interviewed on the news crying and sobbing about being stuck on the train with no drinks or food and dirty toilets. Then they had the bare faced cheek to stand there and say that the so called ordeal has ruined Christmas. How dare they when on the same news programme there was the story of another British soldier who has been killed on duty in Afghanistan. Come on people its time for a reality check! get a grip on reality you sad pathetic losers.
Whilst I'm in the festive mood, remember if you get chance to buy Rage against the machine even if you don't like it and prevent "the crap factor" from being number 1 this weekend. The song is rubbish anyway but the point is do you want to be dictated to as to what your Christmas number 1 will be or would you like to choose for yourself.

2010 - The big plan - Ambitious? - Maybe

Ok, its time to unveil the game plan for 2010. I have now put some things in place and decided what the season goals will be. I am aiming high and hope I can bring the form I had at the end of the 2009 season through into next year and try to improve on it. So what's on the cards? I have ambitions to qualify for 3 World Championships!

Part 1 of the plan - I have entered the Clumber Park Duathlon which is the national champs and also a World Champs qualifier. I am hoping to qualify for an age group slot for team GB and race the World Champs in Edinburgh in September.

Part 2 of the plan - I will submit some of my previous results from 08 and 09 to hopefully be selected for the World Long Course Champs for the GB age group team which are being held in Germany at the end of July.

Part 3 of the plan - I have entered Ironman 70.3 Antwerp with a goal of qualifying for Clearwater age group World Champs held in November in Florida.

So there you have it, my extremely ambitious plan for 2010. Is it achievable? I guess time will tell! I am also doing the London Marathon in April and hope to finally get it right. I have not had much luck at London over the last few years so fingers crossed it might go well for a change. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? probably but if you don't aim high what's the point in trying.

This, That and Man Flu

Well its "off season" so not a lot going on really. I had a full month off the bike after my last race and have only just started getting going on the bike. Done a few 1 hour rides but no distance yet. I have fitted a set of crud road bike guards which seem to do a great job and are the only guards I have fitted to the Giant OCR winter bike with any success. Its not time for the turbo yet as its not quite at the snow and ice stage of winter so still out on the road. I have been offered a Hope vision 2 front light to borrow for the winter from my sponsor and should have it fitted this week. I have spent the week watching Anthea suffer with a heavy cold and matched her symptoms at about 1 - 2 days behind her. Of course me being a man, my condition is a lot worse!! I have "man flu" but I am still managing to do a bit of training as its only a head cold and not on my chest. I am stuck in work today so have been surfing the web a bit and found the bikes pictured. If I had between £4000 and £6000 (dreaming, I don't have any money for a bike) I would of course do a custom build but for an "off the shelf" bike from those shown I think I would opt for the Bianchi, which would you choose?

More media coverage

This weeks coverage is of the End to End Mountain Bike race I did in the Isle Of Man, it was shown 4 times over the 3rd and 4th November on Sky Sports 3. I was filmed leading the main pack of 970 riders trying to close down the 3 breakaways. I even had my name called out by the commentator! Beat that Turboman!!! Next weeks media coverage is the main story on the sports pages of the weekly newspaper "The Bridlington Free Press" and no its not free before you ask!

I now have a provisional game plan for next seasons targets but will reveal all after I find out a bit more info about the races planned and will then make it public knowledge but lets just say its ambitious.

Hear my radio interview - for one week only!

For those that don't know I was interviewed for BFBS radio at the weekend regarding the Yorkshire and Humber title. If you want to hear my embarrassing interview click on the following link http://www.bfbs-radio.com/pages/extranet/listenagain.php and scroll down to "From the touchline" its Saturday part 3 and starts at 29 mins just as the Saturdays record is finishing. Try not to laugh at me. Yes I know i'm a sad man but its as near to fame as i'm going to get!

2 wins in 1 day

Well that's it, the season is officially over for me. I had my last race on the 11th October at Dalby Forest. It was an off road duathlon and I had to race it as I needed the points for the Yorkshire and Humber Championship. The championship is a series of 20 races with your best 4 to count. I was in 2nd place in the league and hoped my 2nd place earlier in the month at the Hull sprint would have been enough to take the title but it left me .4 of a point away from winning the league. This left me with no alternative but to enter the off road duathlon at Dalby Forest. I had to do some smooth talking with my sponsor Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ to borrow his Giant Anthem XO again for the event. Paul was very kind and agreed to lend me the bike and for the first time in years I actually went out to reccy the course (how serious is that?). I knew I would struggle with the technical sections of the course but hoped the big climb and sections of open fire track that I could use my power to stay competitive. I had to have a game plan and stick to it as I needed a podium finish for the points. Run 1 was 2.5k around a couple of grassed fields before dipping into single track with lots of decents and climbs through the woods. I arrived back in T1 in first place by 30 seconds and set off on the bike. The bike course was 4 x 7.5 k and by the time we had covered the first technical part of the course I was down in 3rd. On lap 2 I had dropped to 6th and was thinking of stacking it as I would not get the points I needed but decided I could still get some time back on the run. At the end of lap 3 I was gaining confidence on the technical stuff and had got back up to 4th and on the last lap regained 3rd. Arriving in T2 the leaders were 2 1/2 mins ahead and I set off to give chase, at the end of lap 1 the gap had closed and I pushed harder on lap 2. The gap was still falling and on lap 3 I took the lead with about 3k to go. I continued to push hard and pulled clear to take the win by 1 min 5 seconds. My run was the fastest of the day by over 3 mins!. So a great result, I won the race and I also won the championship. I am now officially the Yorkshire and Humberside Champion. I won a pair of Spuik MTB shoes worth £85 and a UKMTB cycle top. I am awaiting confirmation of what I have won for the championship and should hear this week. That has topped off the year for me and I feel the season has been a success after a bit of a dodgy start. My 4 races to count in the championship were 1st/2nd/2nd/5th. I can now enjoy a bit of a break before planning next years races and targets but think 1/2 IM is the way forward with an aim of qualifying for Clearwater and hopefully I might do a GB long course either world or european champs.

Last triathlon of the year but not the last race.

Well the Humber Sprint Triathlon was the last tri of the year for me, however its not the last race of the year. The weather was cold but nice and dry and not to windy after the previous days storm. I was off at 10:10 so by the time I had got out of the water in 7:24 which included the long run to T1 it was quite warm and getting warmer. I was about 10 seconds behind Dean Kirkham who is also a GB age grouper so new I would have to push hard on the bike and for the first couple of miles we were draft legally very close until the main climb started and I pulled ahead and opened a bigger gap of about 40 seconds. There was a nice fast decent and a tasty little climb about 1 mile from the end of the bike course. I arrived back in T2 with a bike time of 33:20 which was a bit slower than I would normally expect although it was the second fastest bike of the day. I changed into the fastwitch 3's and I was off on the run. This was flat with the exception of the 2 return crossings of a main road flyover which I felt very strong on. I crossed the line in 1:00:33 which was the fastest time of the day until about a minute later when the very talented junior (only 16 years old) Ollie Dixon crossed the line in 59:53 to beat me by 40 seconds. I was still the winner of the open category as Ollie picked up the junior prize. So another podium finish for me to end the tri season. It would have been nice to have won it outright but I will settle for second.

Only 2 races left now, the Dalby Forest Mountain Bike Duathlon on Sunday 11th Oct, then I have a bit of leave before the Henlow 10 on the 21st Oct. I am looking forward to that if I manage to hold on to my form as I did a 59 min 10 mile run in training a week ago. If I keep up that sort of form I would hope to run a 57 at Henlow all being well.

Manx End to End Mountain bike enduro

One of the hardest races this year! I was very fortunate enough to be lent a tasty top of the range Giant Anthem XO from my sponsor and friend Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ for the event. The only problem was not borrowing it sooner to get used to it. It was nice to be back in my homeland for the first time in 2 years. The Isle of Man is a beautiful place, just a bit too quiet. Anyway on to the important stuff, the race. I must admit I did underestimate how hard it was going to be. After doing Ironman events and other long course races the thought of a 47 mile ride seemed easy. I would soon find out that the off road thing is quite hard. The massive climb of Ballacob was the first wake up call, its so different to the road bike as the cadence is crazy, spinning away and not getting anywhere, sit down and the front lifts up, stand up and the back wheel spins. The other issue for me was lack of off road experience when picking lines, I had my foot down loads of times and also in ruts I would often pick one too deep and hit the pedals on the side. On the descents though I was as crazy if not more crazy than the experienced mtb riders and was hammering down them with no concern for crashes. By the half way point though I was already suffering from cramp. The inside of my thighs were killing me, I put it down to the wider cranks/chainset as I had never had pain in these muscles on a bike before. I only had to stop once, I had a minor crash in some deep mud, got up and carried on about 1/2 a mile up the track and when I went to put my glasses on realised they had fell off in the crash. The track was too narrow to ride back down so I had to leave the bike and run down, I found the glasses and ran back up to the bike. There was no way on earth I was leaving my oakleys behind!! I think it cost me about 5 or 6 minutes but cheaper than funding a new pair of glasses. By the end of the race my upper body was feeling a bit beaten up from all the bumping around and as I crossed the line I felt relieved it was over. I finished in 3hrs and 37 mins, in 52nd place from a starting field of 970 riders which was a gold standard finish, gold cut off time was 4hrs which should give you an idea how hard the think the course is. My sister was on form and finished in 4hrs 17 mins to take 3rd lady in her age group and my dad was awesome having only taken up mountain biking a year ago at the age of 59 finished in 5hrs 59mins. The race will be shown on sky sports at the end of October/early November if you want a chance to see the course, I may well have to do this race again but with a bit of practice.

Pics

My fast sister Nikki with family friend Chris, me at Ballacraine enjoying it because I was about to do a short stretch on the road! the one of my sis and me on the same bit of off road is Creg Ny Crock and the last 2 are looking tired coming up the Howe which is the climb to the finish. Still looking for a pic of my dad but I will find one!!

Vitruvian Triathlon

Plan "A" Friday 4Th depart Bridlington 0730hrs to arrive at Liverpool 1000hrs to collect Beth off the ferry from the Isle of Man as she had been on holiday staying with my mum and dad. Return to Bridlington at approx 1330hrs, lunch, load up the car and set off for the Vitruvian to register at 1700hrs, meet up with Mat and then go to his house for dinner and sleep over. Race Saturday and drive home. Sounds good so far? Plan A goes tits up at 0950hrs when my dad rang to say the ferry had broke down half way across and was returning to the Isle of Man. The ferry company had decided to put everyone on a new boat when they got back and set off again. They finally got under way at approx 1130hrs but due to extreme weather didn't arrive in Liverpool until 1550hrs!! I then had the pleasure of driving Beth back to Bridlington during Friday rush hour traffic and didn't arrive back until 1930hrs. OK plan "B" no chance of getting to Mats until at least 2200hrs so plan "B" is have some dinner and go to bed at 2120hrs and try to sleep, get up at 0200hrs on Saturday and drive down for the race. Got a phone call from Mat asking how far down I was at 0430hrs and told him I was in a lay by about 20 miles from Rutland Water having breakfast. Arriving at Rutland at about 0500 I joined the long Que for the car park knowing I still had to go and register, set up transition and be out of transition for 0600 for the race brief. This was achieved with relative ease and I could finally relax and start thinking about the race.

The swim started and I tried to stay on the outside of the group and managed not to get knocked about too much, I exited lap 1 and ran round to start lap 2. I think I was on about 16 mins when I looked and lap 2 went well exiting the swim with a time of 31:39. Not too disappointed with that but would have liked to have been nearer the 30 min mark. I had a slow T1 as I put my socks on so I didn't have to mess about in T2. Out on the bike and I set off at a sensible pace and found we were straight into a head wind. Once over the "Rutland Ripple" with the change in direction it was a nice tail wind and 53 x 11 time. I passed a lot of people on this section of the course. I went through the first lap avoiding the drinks station as I had plenty of fuel on board and made up a couple more places in that area. On lap 2 the ripple had become a hill and I managed to make up more places on the climbs as people started to fade. I finished the bike in 2hrs 22 mins and 2 secs. The legs felt quite tired and I was not looking forward to the run, I set off from T2 and as soon as I dropped down the hill to the lake side I stopped to empty the bladder, this took over 30 seconds which I was pleased about as it meant I was well hydrated and could push on the run. I ran hard and was catching loads of people. I finished lap 1 and started lap 2 feeling really good. I pushed on across the dam and out to the turn point. On the way back I tried to pick up the pace and was going well to the 19.5 k mark. At this point the speed took a turn for the worse and I felt the small rise in terrain, I ran down the hill to the dam with good speed using gravity to the max and managed to recover a bit so the last little climb from the waters edge didn't present a problem and then its down hill to the finish picking up the pace as I approached the line. I ran a 1hr 27min 02 sec half marathon. My finishing time was 4hrs 23 mins and 32 seconds which was good enough for 25Th overall.

So my first ever Vitruvian done, I will now have another go at it with a target of sub 4hr 20 min next year. The drive home was a killer, I was sooooooo tired. I had to do a espresso coffee stop to wake up a bit. I got home at 1530hrs, sorted out the kit, had some dinner and was asleep on the sofa by 1930hrs. A tough day at the office but I really enjoyed the race.

Beverley Triathlon

A great race from start to finish, that's the first time this season. I had a good swim, exiting the pool at the same time as Ed Charlton Weedy from the Army tri team. For those that don't know he is the Interservice Champion this year. We left T1 together and I got my feet into my bike shoes quicker and led out the first mile through the town. Once we hit the road Ed showed his true strength on the bike and passed me. I don't get passed very often on the bike in a triathlon so was surprised at how easy he seemed to pull away. I tried to go with him and held the gap at 1 min 10 secs. I knew if I stuck with him I would be leaving the rest of the field behind. I got back to T2 and was as slick as ever, I set off on the run knowing that I had worked hard on the bike and was destined for the podium unless something went badly wrong. I ran hard and could see Ed in front of me at the turn. I was closing in on him but couldn't get close enough. I finished just 50 seconds behind him. I had the 4th fastest swim of the day, the second fastest bike of the day and the fastest run of the day. My reward for the effort was £20 cash, a free entry into any of the freebird events next year, a trophy and a bottle of wine. I reckon I raced faster due to wearing my new Oakley Jawbones LOL!

Ultimate bling, oh yeah a race report too

Blingy Bling Tastic, yes after a 4 1/2 week wait I finally received the ultimate bling item of the year - my Oakley Jawbones in Livestrong colours!!!! You know you want some!

Anyway on to the race, the Allerthorpe Classic standard distance tri. It was to be the first swim in my new Blueseventy Helix, maybe not the best plan to do my first swim in it on a race but it seemed to work out ok. I swam a 23:22 and 29th out of the water. I had a bit of a struggle in T1 as the new suit has different cuffs and I struggled to get out of them (a bit of lube on that area next time). I got on the bike and it was a flat course but very windy. I was going well but didn't feel anywhere near as fast as other races this year, not sure why but it just wasn't quite there. I made good progress and got back to T2 with a bike time of 1:01:19. Had a flyer in T2 with a sub 20 second transition, and off on the run. This is where I feel cheated. I know everyone had to do the same distance but I feel robbed due to the run being very long. I was running well and catching people as I went, I thought I had done a good run but found that I had only run a 40:23. Obviously the run was long as Phil Graves and Andy Fisher only ran 37 and a 1/2 for it. I finished with a 2:05:04 but had the run been accurate I reckon I would have beaten my p.b of 2:01:10. I finished 8th overall so a good result on a tough day due to the wind. I now move on as its back to doing a sprint on Sunday then a couple of weeks before the Vitruvian.

New Wetsuit

I've parted with some cash and got a new wetsuit, the old one was only just hanging together after lots of repairs over the last 4 years. I now have a blueseventy helix from Simon at www.thetristore.com for a bargain price of just £299.99 delivered. I will give it a test on Sunday in the Allerthorpe Classic tri, no time to test it prior to the event so will have to race test it! Review will be on here after the race along with race report, stand by!

Interservice Race

The interservice race took place on Wednesday 29th July in the stunning grounds of Sherborne Castle in Dorset. The forecast was for rain and lots of it, but on arrival the roads were dry. The swim start was really wide which meant it wasn't too much of a fight during the first 300 meters. I had lots of room and settled into a nice rhythm straight away. I exited the water in 23:17 which is a good swim for me. I had a good transition and then set off in pursuit of the fast swimmers knowing I would pass most of them on the fantastic long hilly bike course. I knew the course would be hard and the weather made it harder which played into my hands. I finished the 50k bike in 1:20:05 the 4th quickest bike of the day and the fastest RAF bike time by nearly 2 minutes. A faultless 2nd transition and I was away running and feeling good on the 10k run. I managed to put in a 35:17 run and a total time of 2:20:01. I had a good all round race with no real weakness on the day. I finished in 10th place and was the 3rd RAF finisher. A satisfying race for a change :-)
Next week I have another olympic in yorkshire, the week after is a sprint event and then just 2 weeks later its the Vitruvian.

I've swam across the river Humber

Organised by the Barracuda tri club www.barracudatriclub.com

I had a great day today. Today was the day I got to swim across the river Humber. We met at 3pm for a safety brief and after being told how dangerous the swim could be we then went to the rivers edge to get on board the lifeboat that was taking us across the river. On arrival at the other side we got into the water in 2 groups based on pace. The first group (my group) set off with the other group setting off 30 seconds later. We had to try and stay together for safety reasons and so the safety boat could keep an eye on us. The first 2/3 of the swim the current was pushing us up stream. As we got to the middle of the river it got a little choppy, the current was still pushing us up stream. With about 800m to go the tide turned and before we knew it we were having to review our approach as we were being moved towards the sea by the strong current. We arrived on the shore after covering the 1.5 mile swim in 38 mins. A fantastic afternoon swim with amazing views of the Humber bridge.

Ironman

Just looking at the rest 0f the RAF guys and was thinking of joining them in the Ironman Switzerland fun but have decided enough is enough, I am not paying 420 Euro's and that's that. No way on this earth will I pay that ransom to the Ironman franchise!

A couple of races with decent results at last

Last week was the RAF Sprint Championships at RAF Cranwell. For me it meant finishing a night shift, driving for 2 1/2 hours to Cranwell, racing and then driving home for a shower, shave, and then driving back to work for another night shift. A bit of a tiring day!
So the race, I found out I was in wave 22 of 23 waves along with Mat, Brad and JC. Its the first triathlon that JC has been at with me since our trek down to Ironman France. I had a terrible swim, including T1 (which was slick) I was 7:19 which I'm not happy about. This left me a large gap to close on the bike which fortunately I managed to do. I thought it was Mat I was catching on the bike but couldn't be sure until I got close enough to recognise the M dot tattoo on his calf. I thought it best to make sure I passed him as fast as I could and to look smooth as well (its all about mind games) so he would think he couldn't catch me and pass me back. At the same time the same plan was being used on JC as well. I got to the turn and seen I had a gap on them so pushed hard back too. I arrived back at T2 surprised that I hadn't caught Brad. I had another good transition and set off on the run to get Brad. It took a while and when I passed him I had about 1500m to go so worked at a comfortable rate all the way back. The result was 4th overall which was a good result for me especially after doing the night shift.

This weekend was the Ripon Triathlon (Black Sheep) run by the NYP Tri club. I had a faff getting there and only just made it on time to register. After setting up I went through my kit to double check everything. The race was split into three waves based on your swim time, the fastest swimmers were in wave 1, then wave 2 and 3 all 5 mins apart. I was in wave 1 and when we started I struggled through the weeds, when I got into clearer water I settled into a good pace but got caught up in weeds again at the top of the course. I exited the swim on 24:54 which I wasn't impressed with. Leaving T1 I heard the race commentator through the loud speaker, I was in 106th place. I worked hard on the bike passing lots of people but inevitably there were people trying to draft off my wheel. I told them where to get off but they still tried it on. I made great progress through the field and on hitting T2 I heard the loud speakers say I was in 16th (that means I passed 90 people on the bike!!!). I did a 1:07:01 for the 44km rolling bike course. I tried to run hard but couldn't lift my pace although I wasn't going slow! I made up a couple of places and finished 11th overall. I ran a 41:15 for the 10k (I know it was long so not worried) as the winner only did a 37:43 and he normally runs a 32 min 10k. Pleased with the finish but disappointed with my swimming at the moment. I am looking forward to the Inter-Service race as the bike is 50k which will make up for my poor swimming!

Off to swim across the river Humber on Sunday afternoon, it should be a good experience swimming near to the Humber bridge, it will provide a quite unique view of the bridge.

Finally got a couple of things lined up this month

I've now got a couple of things to do this month to keep me going. Next week I am going to attempt to get to Cranwell for the sprint champs, this is provisional as I am on nights the night before and will have to drive down straight off the night shift, do the race and drive straight back to do another night shift. A couple of days later I have the Black Sheep triathlon at Ripon race course. The week after that I am taking part in a swim across the river Humber. This is not a race its a group swim as we will be escorted across the river by the life boat due to the health and safety issues with the swim as the river is very busy and has an extremely strong current. I can't wait to do this as its a very rare opportunity. A week later I have a 100 mile sportive ride that I did last year and a few days later its the Inter-services at Sherbourne. All in a busy few weeks. Can't wait for the weekend for the tour to start as well :-)

Oh dear a month with no posts, sorry.

Wow it really has been a full month with no posts? I don't really know why but I've just lost my way lately and not been focused on much to do with triathlon or anything else for that matter. After Driffield I did train for a couple of weeks, and then went on holiday to Lanzarote with Anthea to celebrate her birthday so I was under strict instructions that the bikes were to stay at home!! I was very happy to see that our hotel http://www.princesayaiza.com/ had a very large pool (my guess is 35 meters) so that was great for training, I did swim training 4 times during the holiday. I also found a great run which involved a climb to the top of a volcano which had a track around the top, this was approximately a 10k run but with lots of climbing as you can see in the pics taken from the top. We hired a bike on 1 of the days we were there and Anthea and I did an 80km ride taking in some of the Ironman route. Anthea had a Giant TCR and I had a Trek. By the last day of the holiday I was starting to get stomach cramps and the day we flew home I felt quite ill. This was the start of another 10 day period of Colitis problems. I have worked out that I have probably been ill in total for at least 5 of the last 12 months. This has been the main contributing factor to my lack of drive and motivation of late. The other contributing factors have been that I got totally screwed over by the promotion board (again) due to the wan**r techies getting all the slots thanks to the ridiculous joint trade I now work in. Also the next race on my calender got cancelled which didn't help, and the following event I was planning to do (The Cleveland Steelman) I can't race as the organisers are ****** (you fill in the blanks). I emailed them over 3 weeks ago to ask if I could have someone Else's slot as he wouldn't be going. I had no reply so I emailed again this week and they replied this time saying you can't have someone Else's slot and the event is now full! great!! So whats next, well unless I get some races sorted out its the Vitruvian in September?

I do have some positives from the last 10 days, I ran 10.1 miles from Fylingdales to Whitby over the very hilly roads on the Yorkshire moors in a charity event for Help for Heroes and clocked 58 minutes. I also ran a 9.8k training run at home in 34:14. I have done a couple of club time trials on the bike too and seem to be going well in those.

The photos are me in the pool on holiday, a view from the top of the volcano I was running up, the trainers now pink due to the dust from the run up the volcano, me at the top and the bike I hired for the day.

Driffield Sprint Tri

Having completed the London Marathon I started running on the Wednesday (3 days after the race) and the thighs were still tight but moving OK so I ran on the Thursday as well. I felt OK and just did 4 miles. On Friday I woke with severe pain in my right foot. I walked the dog and had to keep stopping to take the weight off the foot. It was very painful and very worrying. I got to the Tuesday and it was still giving me lots of problems so I went up to the hospital to get it checked out. I was told it was a damaged tendon. I rested it for a week and then it seemed better. I did a couple of 3 mile runs and it was holding up so tried 10k which went well for 5 miles but the last mile it was sore. I rested it a couple more days and tried again and it seemed OK. This took me up to the Driffield triathlon with little running since the marathon. I arrived at Driffield in a confident mood as I was sure I could swim sub 6 mins for the 400m and I was biking well in the cycle clubs TT's but was unsure how the run would go. I started in wave 10 of 12 as last year I had to slow down a couple of times to let faster swimmers past and didn't want to do that again so put a slower swim time on the registration form. This turned out to be a mistake as I was first out of the water in my wave. I didn't check my time but i'm sure it was sub 6 as including the quite long run to T1 I was 6:27. I had a great transition but new the bike was going to be hard as I had no one to chase being first out the water. The roundabout was the only place I had competition as I had to stop for traffic and a rider behind managed to get past as I set off again. No problem as we then started the climb and I soon passed him and left him behind. As we got back to the roundabout on the return leg I had chance to see how far behind others were but couldn't see anyone behind. I got back to T2 and had another fast one. I set off on the run and felt strong but knew I wasn't as fast as I should be. I think looking at the times the run was long as all of the top 5 ran 19:50 and over. I finished in 5th overall and 3rd in my age group. The 4 who beat me were in the last wave of the day. Maybe if I was in that wave I could have caught them and finished higher, but then maybe not? I will never know. I'm pleased with the result as I havn't really done the short fast stuff after preparing for an early season Ironman and then the London Marathon. Next event is the Allerthorpe sprint, this is open water so a mass start and a chance to chase the leaders knowing that anyone in front has to be caught!

I love the smell of rapeseed in the morning!

I managed my first long ride since IM SA this morning. It was warm but overcast and quite windy but a great day for cycling. I did a rolling route with quite a few hills in it. I cycled for 3 hours and loved it, a great soundtrack was playing with a selection of tunes on the ipod. I love this time of year because every few miles you get the lovely smell of rapeseed growing in the fields and the view is always great with the bright yellow fields. Pictured is the fantastic TCR Advanced supplied by Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/

Cycling club 10 mile hilly time trial

Well just back from the Bridlington cycle clubs first event of the year. A ten mile hilly time trial. It was a great night for it, pi$$ing down with rain and very cold. I opted for the standard time trial bike, so no deep carbon wheels and no pointy aero helmet, and I also opted for the extra baggy waterproof coat to be as aero as possible! I was off number 10 and the legs somehow managed to do an ok job really. I clocked a 26:34 (winner was 24:20). I was speaking to one of the local lads about how the course compares to a flat 10 for time and he reckons about 3 mins off the times clocked tonight. Happy with that, lots of room for improvement, warmer weather, all the aero gear on and not doing a marathon 2 days before, I reckon I could have a good race on the 17th May at the Driffield Sprint Tri.

London Marathon

I went to London with an open mind and playing my cards close to my chest. I decided not to tell anyone my target time as it only leads to questions if you don't make your predicted time. I can now tell you I had gone with two targets in mind. I had hoped for a 2 hour 55 min race time as the first target, and secondly I was aiming just to be able to run the whole race without any stops and no walking. So for those that know already I didn't hit the target time and ended up with 3 hours 3 mins but I did achieve the other objective and managed to run the whole way with no stopping. This might sound like a silly objective but given the results at the Fleet half and Ironman South Africa I was under pressure (only from myself) to get a good result. I was a bit ill after the race, I had tingling up both arms and legs and even my face was tingling, I lay down at the meet up point but half an hour later I was told I looked very ill and was pale with blue lips. I sat up and felt sick, I had to run behind a bush and was sick 3 times. I felt rotten for a couple of hours but slowly got better and by 8:30 that night I enjoyed a nice take away curry and a beer. I am happy with the way the race went really given that it was only 3 weeks since the Ironman. At the end of the day I suppose 3hrs 3 min is not a bad time anyway but I now need to get over the marathon and focus on the next race, the Driffield sprint triathlon. It will be a bit strange doing such a short event after the start I've had to the year and I'm looking forward to it.

The end of the Ironman Journey? Don't be stupid!

Well I swore blind that South Africa would be my last Ironman but as the tiredness slowly eases off and the training starts to slowly build I have had time to think and now know I will do another one. I don't know which one, or when it will be but I will do one. I know I have a low 10 hour race in me possibly sub 10? but I havn't finished with Ironman just yet!

So its time to think ahead to this season, I have entered the Driffield sprint on the 17th May and the Vitruvian in September but what else to race? I think I will be doing the Cleeveland Steelman (1/2 Ironman distance) and possibly enter the hardest race in the world (Wensleydale Big Cheese) I have still to see if any of the RAF girls and boys are brave enough to join me at this one. Not sure what else really, possibly the Interservice olympic if I'm selected as I will not be doing the Dambuster selection event this year. I will have to start looking at what else I would like to do and also seeing what I am available to do.

So its just 10 days until the London Marathon now, not really sure how that's going to go? I'm not expecting a good time and I'm not putting any pressure on myself either, what will be will be, I've not really got any interest in it if I'm honest, its just a training session for me this year. Last year I was fired up and in great form but was let down with health issues. This year, no interest and not feeling in great form so just a nice day out and enjoy it. Check out the picture of all the tablets I'm on at the moment, I rattle when I walk!! I'm slowly coming off some of them after the problems I had before the Ironman and I've started some new ones which I will be on for the next couple of years possibly longer subject to the 3 month trial I'm on now. I have to have weekly blood tests to see how I'm reacting to them. I might be able to stop taking some of the others that I've been on for a year as they don't seem to be helping, I will find out in a couple of weeks. Eventually if everything goes well, I could be on just one tablet 3 times a day, I will have to see how things go over the next few months.

So apart from Ironman what was good in South Africa? I found the place was fantastic in the short time I was there. I would definitely recommend it to anyone as a holiday destination and would like to go back with Anthea and Beth someday. After the layout of flight costs its actually a very cheap place to be, car hire, hotels, eating out and activities are all good value. Check out me and my friend in the picture, what a great experience, in with the lion cubs one day, then in with the cheetahs the next day. Highly recommended!

Back in training

Well today was the day I had to return to work after 20 days off. Weekends are good at work as I get chance to train for a while. I brought the bike and turbo in and set up in the gym. I did a mini brick session, 5km run on the treadmill at 18:37 followed by 10 mile on the turbo, another 5km run at 18:42 and then another 10 mile on the turbo. After the session I checked the turbo details and had completed the two 10 milers in a total of 48 Min's. Before I started I felt quite fresh but certainly found it harder going than I imagined it would be. So that's it Ironman out of the way and now back in training. I've entered a sprint on the 17th May, I have the London Marathon on the 26th of this month, and if I can get off night shift early enough next weekend there is a 10/40/5 duathlon in Hull that I would like to do. I could do with a good race under my belt to help with the confidence at the moment as I've raced twice this year and not had the results I'm used too! Its early days yet so I'm not worried yet but need some good results to give me a boost.

That race! Disaster or a great experience?

Well here I am after 26 hours of travelling back home and updating the blog. So how was it? A hard day would be an understatement. The night before the race was OK, got everything done in the afternoon, racked the bike and transition bags and went to the compulsory race brief. We had an early dinner at about 1800 hrs some nice pasta and garlic bread. That night I tried to go to bed early but couldn't sleep, I was still awake at 1 am and managed to sleep until 2 am. Unfortunately Anthea thought we were 2 hours ahead and phoned to wish me luck at what she thought was 4 am as that's what time I told her we were getting up. It was only 3 am !!! and I couldn't get back to sleep so I reckon I had an hours sleep. At 4 it was up for breakfast, a tin of rice pudding followed by toast and jam, coffee and a cup of tea. We walked the 1km to transition from the hotel sipping on the energy drink and mentally preparing for the day ahead. It looked like it was going to be a good one with no wind and warm weather. After checking the bike over I changed into the wetsuit which had been repaired after tearing the sleeve on the Friday training swim. We lined up on the beach as the sun started to come up on the horizon. At 7 am the canon sounded and we were off. The first 450 meters would be rough to the first 90 degree turn and I was right, I've not been that badly beaten up in a race for years! At turn 1 there was then a 600 meter stretch and it was only half way across that stretch before I got settled into bilateral breathing. After 29 Min's I was on the beach run before starting lap 2. This was a better lap for being in control as the 1500+ field had spread out nicely. I enjoyed the second lap and had time to think about the fact we were in the Indian ocean with no shark nets, just 2k from the harbour where the great white was photographed 2 weeks before the race. At the end of lap 2 I ran up the beach and crossed the timing mat in 1 hr 2 Min's 35 secs. Happy with that as I had been regularly hitting 1 hr 4 min in the pool in training. A good transition of 3 min 38 saw me on the bike and down the road to start the 3 60km bike laps. The first lap was uneventful and I felt good to go and confident. On lap 2 I felt as though I was overheating and started to struggle to take on any nutrition (food/gel/drinks). By the end of lap 2 I had been sick and couldn't get anything down. As lap 3 began I knew it was not going to be a good day, I continued to cycle and at one point I was yawning a lot and actually cycled off the course onto the grass and gravel at the roadside. It certainly woke me up a bit! I was feeling the full effects of heat stroke, dizziness, tiredness and nausea. As I got back to T2 I passed the bike to the bike staff and ended up with a 5 hr 36 bike time, I grabbed my stuff to prepare for the run. In the changing tent the helpers were trying to assist but I told them to leave me while I cooled off, I asked for headache tablets and they went and got me some. I felt like I was in there for an age but in fact was only in T2 for 6 Min's 25. I didn't want to start the run as I knew it would be hell with no nutrition and already badly dehydrated, however I hadn't come all this way not to finish either. I set off for a very long afternoon of run/walking. I ran for the first 6k I think and then started the first of many walks. The sun was baking me alive, I looked for shaded areas so I could get out the sun for a while but couldn't find any. On lap 2 of the run I was being sick again, after a couple of times I finally found a shaded area at the road side and had to lie down before I fell down as I was so dizzy. A race referee stopped and offered to take me to the medical staff but I was having none of it and got up and started walking again. I managed to run a few kilometers at a time and did eventually get to the last couple of k as the bay was starting to light up with the thunder storm heading for us. Crossing the line in 12 hours and 6 Min's in the dark was believe it or not a good feeling. I was pleased that I didn't give in and made it round. The next part of the adventure was still to come, as I lay in the recovery tent which was about 60 meters long, from out of nowhere the wind picked up severely and after a couple of minutes blew the recovery tent down. I was sat on the side that lifted up and received a thump on the elbow by one of the pegging down eyes. I have a quality bruise on my arm now. There was fortunately just a few with minor injury's but no one seriously hurt. It then turned into a big storm, wind, lightning, thunder and rain. I got back to the hotel, had a shower and slept for an hour and a half. I woke at 2230 and Mat and I went for a coffee and then up to the finish to see the clock hit 17 hours. One guy was on the red carpet at 16 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds. He was in a bad way and missed the cut off by 12 seconds! No medal or t-shirt for him the poor sod. So that was Ironman South Africa in a nutshell. A bad race? possibly, but its still an Ironman finish! An experience not to be forgotten.

Time for Ironman!

Hi folks, just a quick one to update you. After a 3-4 weeks of tummy probs i'm feeling a lot better and tomorrow is Ironman time. The bike is racked, transition bags hanging, time for food and rest ready for the morning. Its going to be a scorcher with light wind and 30 degrees. Course looks good, will just have to see what the day brings as far as performance goes. This will be my last Ironman so I hope for a good race. Will update you more after the race and loads of pics when I get home. You can follow the race on ironman live website using my number which is 602 if you want to track my progress.
Bye for now
Daz

Form is temporary, talent is permanent!

Well the first race of the year has been and gone, the Fleet Half Marathon. Lets say it didn't go exactly how I had imagined! The truth is it was a disaster. After just one mile I was struggling to get my breath, I slowed down to try and get things under control but it made no difference. At about 2.5 miles I walked off the course and tried to get my breath, I couldn't inflate my lungs fully as I had a huge amount of pressure built under the diaphragm. After a minute or two I tried to run again but it was no better. I had some serious thoughts of jacking it in for the day but knew I hadn't done any long runs for 4 weeks due to injury and then illness, in fact I'd only been running just over a week after the physio appointment. I decided I would have to finish no matter how slow I was. At about 4 miles I burped loads of times and felt the pressure release. I then tried to settle into a decent pace to get round. I felt OK up to 11 miles but by then the lack of running was starting to show. I could feel my legs trying to cramp but managed to run all the way to the finish. I ended up with a 1:23:01. I suppose lots of people would be happy with that time, but I'm a perfectionist and I am not happy. I am worried how the Ironman marathon will go? only time will tell I guess. Still to keep positive the main thing is my ankle held up for the distance and seems to be healing well.

Tough times ahead

Well its been an eventful week with mixed emotions. Last week was an uncomfortable week with the Colitis. The week ended with a visit to the gastric specialist to see what he suggests as the "flare ups" seem to be getting more frequent, in fact it seems to be every 2 months now. I have been put back on some extra medication on top of the normal stuff to settle things down again. After South Africa I am to start a new form of medication called Azathioprine used in conjunction with my current medication. This stuff is a bit nasty and will wipe out my immune system by reducing the number of white blood cells in my body. The result is I will be highly likely to catch every cold/flu/virus that's going around this year. I have to do a 3 month trial on the drug to see how it affects me, I also will have to have weekly blood tests to monitor my health at the same time. If it goes OK then I will go onto a 3 year course of the drug and then try to come off it at the end. There are lots of side affects that I will have to watch out for but the doctor says as an athlete I am more in tune with my body than the average Joe and will know quicker if things are not right. I also had a shock when he suggested that another alternative is surgery to remove the bowel completely and spend the rest of my days on a colostomy bag or an internal sack connected to the large intestine to replace the bowel but its not as efficient and I would have to make much more regular toilet visits. I have to say I'm not keen on this idea and think I will try out all the medication options before it gets to that stage. It has come as a shock and made me realise how serious my illness is. Lets hope for an improvement on the new medication next month.

On a lighter note, I got the all clear to try some running from the physio on Thursday last week. I have ran a three mile, 4 mile, 5 mile, and a 10k since then. My ankle is still stiff but seems to be holding out so I hope things are on the mend. I had a big day on Sunday, 1500m swim and a 10k run in the morning and then I did the big one again, another 112 mile turbo session. I did it in 4 hours 52 this time but used a bit more resistance than last time. Today I did an 18 mile ride, 5 mile run and then down the pool this afternoon for a 3.8k time trial. I managed a 1hr 5min 08 secs for the swim which I am pleased with.

I must at this point thank Sags for all the motivational texts I have received over the last week or so, they have helped me out when I have been feeling rather down. Thanks mate.

From bad to worse

Just when it seems things are going to be OK I take another knock back. The ankle injury seems to be on the mend and I managed a steady test run of 3 miles on it today. I will see how it feels tomorrow but I think it might be ready to build up slowly over the next few weeks. The bad news is I've had a major colitis flare up and my insides are in pieces. I've been back at the doctors today and I have to go into hospital on Friday to see the specialist for an emergency sigmoidoscopy. It looks like the medication might not be working out as the flare ups are becoming more frequent. I may have to try a different type of medication but will know more on Friday after the tests. Its not the best timing and I am worried as its only 4 weeks this Sunday until race day. Not feeling too good and definitely loosing motivation and confidence as each day goes by. The target time for IM South Africa is not looking good and just a finish is becoming the new target.

Got some new tyres today for the race wheels, Michelin pro 3 race with white sidewalls to match the white saddle and bar tape on the race bike. What do you think of them?

Tibialis Posterior Syndrome (The latest injury)

Am I the most unlucky athlete around? Life just seems to be injury or illness and I'm getting fed up of it. The latest suspected diagnosis is Tibialis Posterior Syndrome. The details of the injury can be found at http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/ankle/tibialisposterior.htm I am lucky to be on the East Riding Talented Athlete Scheme and as a result I have priority treatment available locally with the physio. I am in hospital on Thursday to confirm the doctors suspicions about whats wrong with me. I hope things start to pick up soon or it will be swim, bike and a bloody long walk in South Africa! I'm rapidly loosing my motivation to train now as it just seems to be one knock back after another. If I can be back running in the next 2 weeks I will be happy, but after already being off running for 10 days things don't look good for the Ironman.

112 Mile Turbo Workout!

Yes that's correct, you did read the title properly! On Saturday I did a 18.4 mile run at an average of 6:53 per mile. This rounded off my weeks running with a total of 52 miles. This week I am having a few days off running as I am having problems with shin splints. Now to the headline story, the monster turbo set. I never thought I would see the day that I would do an Ironman bike split on the turbo trainer. I set up the dining room as usual with the laptop in front of me, the first movie of the day was American Gangster, this was chosen for the reason that its over 2 hours long and would see the first part of the ride off. I had a pack of Jaffa cakes and a banana on stand by and a 750ml bottle of High 5 4:1 in the bottle cage. Beth took the picture early on before the sweat had started to flow! I had on my X Socks as the calf's were a little tight from the day before, but generally the legs felt ok as I had spent yesterday evening and last night in my new Skins tights for recovery. At about 2 hours 45 I stopped for a bladder emptying trip up stairs and made myself a coffee, and then it was straight back to business. I had been maintaining about 23.7 mph for the first 90 mile but then things were slowly beginning to slow down. By 105 miles I was in the low 23's / high 22's and by 109 miles in the 22 mph zone and slowing rapidly. I hit the magic 112 miles in 4 hours 48 mins and 36 seconds. I then did the last 12 mins of the hour as a warm down finishing with 115.7 miles. I would be pleased to do that on race day but I know that on the heavy road surface that South Africa course has and allowing for the wind etc that its not very likely to break the 5 hour mark and will more likely be about 5 hours 20 on a good day. Still its been a good workout and a mental boost. Turboman will be proud of me!!

Bike Position

Anthea took a couple of pictures during last nights turbo session for me. I wanted to see how my position is on the TT bike in comparison to my road bike with clip-on tri bars. It feels comfortable for 1-2 hours on the turbo but as I've said before, I've not ridden it on the road yet. I know how comfortable the TCR Advanced is and I know I can race on it and feel good for the run. I wish the weather would pick up soon so I can do some proper testing in order to make the decision which bike to use for Ironman South Africa. The course is mainly flat so common sense says the TT bike, but if the angles are to severe then it will be hard to run off the bike. What do you fellow bloggers think!!

Nice weather

OK so not quite as bad as the picture yet! Today I managed to get 83 miles under my belt on the road. I met with the Bridlington Cycling club but they had only planned a 44 mile loop. I rode with them for 23 miles on the front of the bunch all the way out with a tail wind. The weather was very windy and the odd dusting of hail stones was falling. I wanted to do more than they had planned so at 23 miles split off in a different direction. I had to change my route as the hail/sleet got heavier and I didn't want to get stuck on the Yorkshire wolds. I did a small loop and ended up on the reverse of the outward ride. I had a strong head wind back and then when I got to Bridlington I did a 17 mile loop again with lots of showers of sleet and hail, at the end of the loop I felt OK so I did the same 17 mile again. When I got back I had clocked 83 miles. I was pleased to have got a long ride in as I originally scheduled it for Saturday but I was tired from Fridays 18.7 mile run. That was a tough run on a very hilly circuit on a windy afternoon/evening and ended up finishing in the dark. I managed to get 50 mile of running in last week which is a good total and I am pleased with the way the training is going at the moment. Looking ahead the next few days will be on the turbo trainer given the amount of snow that's forecast. Feeling more confident about South Africa as the weeks tick by. Only 9 weeks today until race day!!!

Broken spoke creates resistance training!

So another week has gone by already, still not feeling 100% but still managed to get some training done. The highlight of the week has been today clocking 85 miles on a solo bike ride. I heard an awful sounding crack at 40 miles and on looking down seen a huge amount of play in the front wheel. I knew what it was straight away. The spoke had broke at the hub and was flapping around so I tried to bend it round another spoke until I got home. This wasn't happening so I bent the spoke enough to loosen it off and unscrew it from the nipple. Success! the spoke was out but the nipple was now rattling around freely within the wheel and of course the wheel was badly buckled. I loosened the brake off as much as I could but it was still creating resistance as it rolled. I initially thought of heading straight home which would still be 30 or so miles direct but as I cycled along I realised that I would be able to continue on the planned route. I finished the ride clocking 85 miles, I felt very strong at the end and would have liked to do another 10 miles but I had ran out of time and had to get home. This has been a big boost in my confidence and feel if I carry on at this rate I will be fine to do Ironman South Africa. I have had an easier week this week due to illness but still managed a 15 mile run earlier in the week and was very pleased to clock 59 minutes for a 3.5k swim. Confidence is growing with the fitness and I just hope to remain healthy and injury free. The problem I have now is that I am on Monday - Friday days for the next 5 weeks which I haven't done for a few years now. This means a total re-think of my training. Not sure how it will work out but time will tell I guess?