The death of a blog...

A while ago I wrote a blog post about how I had decided to move my blog.
Stupidly, I appear to have posted this on the new blog.. but not the old one.
GENIUS.
The blog post is HERE And the new blog site is http://austinslide.wordpress.com
I do have a bit of an update on the previous post though that makes this post all the more appropriate. The journey from couch potato to Ironman is on hold.
Not cancelled.. just on hold.
There are personal reasons for this, if you wish to know what they are.. keep reading!
Ironman training takes a lot of time. I have a full time job and two young kids.
I work Monday to Friday, and I don't get to see my kids as much as I would like to. My wife works on a Saturday, so that's my day to be a full time Dad.. which I love.
This means that Sunday is our only family day together. I wish we had more time together as a family, but like everyone else we have bills to pay so we gotta work!
I think I wrote a post before on priorities, I wont bother looking for it or linking to it, but the key message is thus... Unless you're a professional athlete... Training is hugely important, but it shouldn't be a number one priority in your life.
Some people put work first. I put family first.
So, basically I don't have the time to put the hours in that are needed to complete an Ironman (properly). In fairness, I don't really have the time for half Ironman training.. but that's a point to discuss in a later posting over on the new blog http://austinslide.wordpress.com
Does this bother me?
 Nope.
This year hasn't really been triathlon focused anyway. The first few months were all about boxing, which was an amazingly fun and completely different challenge. Ive been running fairly consistently, but not in a structured manner. I haven't really been on the bike at all, and I've been swimming once since the end of last season. At the moment I'm doing a bootcamp with a bunch of martial arts folks (again, the subject of a later blog post) and its also an amazingly fun challenge.
So this year is all about doing some new things and just having some fun. So, in short.. this blog is pretty much dead. All the content is now on the wordpress site and moving forward that is where I will be updating on what I am up to. I hope all you lovely readers will continue to follow my exploits there.
<3
 A

To err is human, to really screw up you need to be a runner.

The most common mistake beginner runners make is to do too much, too soon.
Its almost inevitable. Seriously... don't beat yourself up up over it.
You start out and its HARD going. Seriously hard. If you're following a plan like the one I started with or the one I hand on to many others to help them get started you will start out running 1 minute or less with long walking breaks.
Then after a while, running feels good.
WOW
Seriously.. you can run.. you've gone from couch to 5k, or from nothing to 30 minutes.. or whatever it is and suddenly YOU FEEL GOOD.
At the start it seemed like it would never happen but... You ENJOY running.

Little side note.. as a scientist...
What has actually happened here is that you have developed a level of cardiovascular fitness. Your heart has upped its game and is now able to support this insane new activity you are doing. Your heart is AMAZING. Seriously.. just as a little test.. take something in your hand, a soft ball or a ball of paper or something, and squeeze it tight, really clench your fist.
Do this 100 times..
If you get to 100 and its still easy, keep going.
What number do you get to? 150? 200?
Perhaps the muscles in your hand and forearm told you to stop at 50.. or even 20.
That activity, that clenching, is done by your heart 60-80 times per minute every minute of every hour of your entire life.
Seriously incredible huh?
Anyway.. the heart is starting from a much stronger base point than your puny little skeletal muscles, so its probably unsurprising that when you start running, it can up its game a little easier than anything else.

Back to the main story.
So.. running feels good. So you run further.. you run faster.. and you can do it. you can breathe.. you don't collapse and puke or want to die.
You CAN do it.
Thing is.. you cant really.
The original limiting factor for a total beginner is the cardio fitness. After a while the limiting factor becomes the skeletal muscles... the legs.
So its highly common for people to push to far, too fast to the point where they get hurt.

2 days ago I went out for my first run in a few weeks. During boxing training (all 8 weeks if it) i did very little running.. probably less than 10 miles per week.
The other night I went out and i was feeling great. My cardio fitness was spot on and after a very brief warm up I started flying down the road... I was doing a 6:30 minute mile for a bit, then I caught myself on and slowed down to an equally stupid 7:30 pace.
I only ran 4 miles, but at an 8 min mile pace overall.
After a long break.. I should have been running about 2 mins a mile slower than that to give the legs some time to get back into it.
But no... I didn't.. I hammered it, ran too fast and guess what?
Yeah my legs hurt like hell today.
:D
So.. in short.. try not to do too much too fast. Try no to hurt yourself... but don't beat yourself up when you inevitably do.

That ever illusive motivation...

Motivation is something I often struggle with.

I know a lot of people may be surprised by this, but let me put this into perspective..

When It comes to training and racing.. I'm a "mid-packer"
Basically, I run in the middle of the pack. I'm never going to win, but I will never come in last (I hope)
Ive no issue with this. I don't consider it mediocrity, I consider it standing proud among people who are great at what they do.
There are people in front of me who train harder and are who are naturally faster
There are people behind me who train less and are maybe just naturally a bit slower.
Of those that train harder... do they have more time? Do they have less commitments or responsibility? Or do they just have more motivation.
Its a combination of these things, combined with innate ability and many other factors.
I am fitter than a lot of people I know. The fact that I can go out and take part in an event that requires a certain level of fitness and skill, puts me in a group that is well apart from the majority of the population. Being in the middle of these folks is not mediocrity.

Saying all that, sometimes I struggle with motivation just as much as the person who does no exercise and sits on the couch all night watching TV, drinking wine and eating potato chips.
Oh.. wait... I AM that guy.

I post on here mostly about my athletic endeavours... but the truth is that getting out the door and training is a lot harder than buying a bottle of wine and hanging out on the sofa with my wife and watching a good movie.

In the long run though, going out and training is going to be more beneficial, plus I will feel a lot better the next morning. Sometimes though.. its still really hard to get out and do it. Ive blogged before on the importance of goals, and having something to train for is a real motivator. Sometimes though, its still hard.

I just thought I would share this thought.

This blog has become something I seldom post on, but a few peoples messages to me on the last post reminded me that not only do I enjoy writing blogs, people also enjoy reading them, so I'm going to try and write more often.

Fight Night

I always plan on writing these event based blogs straight after the event.
On the one hand perhaps I will better capture the post event thrill.. on the other hand I want to do it before I've talked to everyone about it already and told my story and got tired of saying it.
On the flipside, coming back to do this a few weeks later in the cold light of day probably has benefits too.. So here we go.

The fight night came around and it was a truly incredible experience.
I cant tell you now that physically, its like nothing Ive ever gone through before, and emotionally its certainly pretty high up the rankings too.
On the night of the fight we all arrived to the Europa hotel and had our briefing. We were brought to the function room that was set aside for us and we were led in to the ballroom where the ring was set up and we got to have a look around before anyone was brought in. The ring seemed smaller than I had expected, and the room seemed pretty damn big. At this point myself and Neil, my opponent, posed for a quick photo.



After this we went downstairs to wait as the spectators were brought in, then we were led in for the "Parade of Champions" we were all led into the room and into the ring and got to see the crowds. It was amazing, there were about 800 people all clapping and cheering. I climbed into the ring and looked around to find my wife and friends and was hugely relieved to find them. Then i was able to relax and take it all in. It was amazing. Such a buzz, and everyone else was the same. We were all grinning and clearly excited. Then, we were led back downstairs and the first fighters started warming up. Some of the guys chose to go upstairs to watch the earlier fights. I was up pretty early so I just stayed down in the room getting myself mentally and physically ready.

The preparation for this was weird. I'm used to racing and there are a range of emotions you can feel... Nervous, excited, eager etc etc. But the objective for me in a race is to do it, possibly to hit a time goal. Its not to win. This was a head to head battle and I needed to get into the ring wanting to win.

This was a completely new experience for me. I'm not a competitive person and am not really driven to be a "winner". Getting myself to a mental place where getting in there and winning was my objective was a very different experience.

As the time came closer to my fight, I started getting physically ready doing simple warmups. One of the trainers took me aside and did some pad work with me and I was starting to feel ready. Neil openly admitted that he was really nervous, and I think this gave me a bit of a mental edge. I wasn't nervous, I was ready to go. We were led upstairs and stood waiting to walk into the room. I heard my name being announced and I took the long walk to the ring to my entrance music which was "Solidarity" by "Enter Shikari". It was a good choice and I was totally ready to go. I stepped into the ring, walked to my corner and waited. The guys in my corner talked me up and got me ready and I tried not to be too overwhelmed by the music and the cheering crowds.

My opponent entered the ring, the ref called us forward, gave us our briefing and the bell rang and suddenly the crowds and the noise disappeared. For the duration of the fight there was just me and my opponent. It was incredible. We could have been in an empty room. It was just pure focus and it was very intense. The rounds were 1.5 minutes long, but in some ways they seemed to last an eternity. The breaks between the rounds were 1 minutes but they seemed to be mere seconds. The coaches in the corner were amazing. They briefed me after each round as to what I should be aiming to do for the next round, what my opponent was doing and where he was weak and What I needed to do to exploit that weakness.

Physically the fight was really tough. Anyone who has ever done an intense workout using a punchbag will know how hard it is. Being in the ring is like this but while being used as a punchbag at the same time. All the while trying to pay attention to what you are doing, where your guard is and what your opponent is doing. Throwing punches while avoiding them and hitting while being hit.

There were only three rounds, but by the third round I was totally wrecked. Getting out and fighting that last round was really tough. If i didn't have the base fitness from the running and triathlon training I don't know how I could have done it.. Pure adrenalin I suppose. I won the fight... but at the end of the day, we were both winners for going through the 8 weeks of training and having the balls to get into the ring in the first place. I managed to raise a good chunk of money (over £1200) for Aware Defeat Depression NI and that made it all worthwhile. My Just Giving page is still open so feel free to go and throw a few quid my way if you haven't already done so.

After we finished, we hit the bar and very much enjoyed the rest of the evening, watching the other fights and cheering on the other competitors. The whole experience was truly phenomenal from start to finish, all 8 weeks of it. I met some amazing people and made some good friends. I'm sorry its all over and am looking forward to the reunion of all the fighters, when we will get together, have a few drinks and watch the DVD of the fights. :D

As with the last blog.. the pics are courtesy of Nico Fell. Cheers Nico.

What a ride..... FIGHT NIGHT.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
- Hunter S. Thompson

The last 8 weeks have been crazy.
The training for the boxing has been intense and incredibly good fun.
Ive met an amazing bunch of people and literally enjoyed every minute of it.
They say all good things must come to and end, and in this case the end features me climbing into a ring and going toe to toe with one of the amazing people that Ive met.

The whole thing has been good fun and the camaraderie has been phenomenal.
For 3 rounds tomorrow night, that camaraderie will be put aside and myself and Neil Reid will go head to head and we will fight.

Its such a weird thought, but its going to be a fun and exciting night.
Neil and I have already agreed that the winner is buying the first round and we've already planned that the moment our fight ends there will be an immediate rush to the bar by Neil, myself and Nico Fell who has been doing the photography throughout and whose photos are above and below.

When I signed up to do this, I was nervous and apprehensive. I am doing this for charity and knew i was stepping outside my comfort zone.
While Ive been overwhelmed with how much fun its all been.. It certainly hasn't been easy. The training has been tough going. Its taken a lot of time and been a big demand and I can tell you.. the first night when I sparred and got hit hard in the head.. I seriously wondered what the hell I was doing. The phrase "I'm too old for this shit" was echoing through my head.

A few weeks on though, the worry has passed. Getting hit isn't that bad. I can take it, and I can hit back. I'm looking forward to the fight and I'm looking forward to pints with my opponent and the rest of the crew afterwards. I'm fighting early and I'm really looking forward to introducing my wife and mates to some of the other guys and girls from the training and us all having a bit of craic and watching the rest of the fights.

On top of all this, Ive managed to exceed my target for the charity... and am still hoping to get more. There is still plenty of time to visit my just giving page and to throw a few quid. For you UK folks, don't forget you can also donate by text. The text code is
ASTY50 £? to 70070
Just replace the ? with a number of your choice..

Thanks for your generosity and thanks for reading and thanks to Nico for the excellent photos.

http://www.justgiving.com/AustinTanneyTheFight

13 and Finish strong

Just finished the last of my 13 days of training in a row to kick off the new year.
On Friday, the thirteenth, I got the tattoo pictured above. Its nothing too deep or significant, more a bit of fun than anything else to be honest. Kinda fun to have got it done in the middle of this 13 day session.

The other day I was chatting to my boss who is training for his first marathon. He was asking for a few tips and one of the tips I gave him was something I've said to a good few people and something I try to do myself. Try and train to finish strong. Most people start out fast and strong and fall to bits at the end. Its a good idea to train yourself not to be like this. Finish strong in training and you'll finish strong in a race. Today I lived to to this myself by ensuring the last day of the 13 days training was my strongest and fastest run. It felt good.

Tomorrow I have a rest day then on tuesday night the boxing training starts. Dont forget to pop along to sponsor me!!!
http://www.justgiving.com/AustinTanneyTheFight

simple update

Just a quick update.
Off season is officially over. I'm planning the season out. Starting out with the boxing, then three half ironman. Distance then hopefully a marathon to finish the season.
The formal boxing training starts next week so until then I've kicked in my own base training to get a bit of shape and conditioning back.
The off season was too long and I've lost too much fitness, but I'm getting focused again. I've now trained 10 days in a row with bike, run and strength training sessions. I'm aiming to keep this little string of sessions going till Sunday totally 13 days in a row. After that I'll take one day off then the boxing training kicks in and I will definitely blog on how that goes :-)

Taking a detour?

Its hard sometimes to come back and write a blog post when you leave it too long.
Ive had a few things I wanted to blog over the last while, but life has been busy and the longer I leave it the harder it gets. Tonight Im biting the bullet and getting writing...
Im planning out my next season.
My "off season" has been a bit too off.. Ive been barely training at all and drinking too much and eating too much.
Next year I had a few things planned, but recently something came up that has caused me to take a slight detour from my planned training journey.
The other night I signed up for an event called "The Fight"
This is white collar boxing. 30 people who have never boxed before have all signed up to do the same thing...
On the 17th of January we will all commence an 8 week intensive training program which culminates in a big fight night.
All of us will get in a ring in front of around 800 people and fight.
Im no figher, in fact im actually a pacifist. The main reason I am doing this if for charity.
I like to do something for charity once in a while. I dont do it too often as it gets annoying to ask people too often too support you to do these things. I never ask people to sponsor me to do triathlons or running races a these are the things I do for pleasure. I might as well ask people to sponsor me to watch TV and drink wine.
The Fight is different.
Doing this genuinely scares me. The training is no big deal. Ive heard its intense and tough going, but I know I can handle it. In fact while training for this I will continue to train for triathlon, so in addition to the boxing training I will still run, bikle and swim as I will be doing at least another 3 half Ironman races next year and probably a marathon. The full detail of the remainder of the year wil be a subject of another post at a later stage....
The thing that is gonna be tough about this is the final event.
I will get into a ring and face an as yet unknown opponent who will be intent on knocking me down and knocking me out.
Im 36 years old. I will be 37 in a few weeks. How many people do you know who, at the age of 37, get into a ring in front of a huge audience and trying to avoid getting the absolute crap beaten out of them?
3 years of full on training for running and triathlon has not in any way prepared me for dealing with being punched in the face. Repeatedly.
Seriously, when did you last get punched in the face?
Its going to be an intense expereince and a hell of a journey.
Im looking forward to it in many ways, and i am hugely nervous in other ways.

So, do me a favour, click the link below and start off by giving a few quid now. I will blog more on this over the coming weeks, and I will be a bono-level pest about this as I have a pretty big target that I really want to hit. Im not getting the crap beaten outta me for nothing.
:D
http://www.justgiving.com/AustinTanneyTheFight

Galway Ironman 70.3

This is a long one with a fair few pics :D
Finally.. my A-race of the season.
Well.. this was always my planned A-race. However it ended up being a joint A-race with Groomsport. My main aim for the year was to complete 2 half Iron distance races 2 weeks apart.
I hit that objective.
The scale of the event in Galway was phenomenal. This was the first Ironman branded event I have been involved in and it really was huge. Just for context... this is the third half iron distance Ive done this year. The first had around 40 entrants. The second had 130. Galway had over 2,000
Wow.
I got up early on Sat, got the bike sorted and drove down to Galway. Sadly Steph had to work so she and the kids couldn't come along as support.

I got down in the afternoon and headed for registration and instantly the scale of the whole thing hit me. I walked into the registration hall and saw the massive Ironman banner and the scores of people and staff and was part excited, part nervous.

After registering and picking up my Ironman branded bag (with disappointingly little swag in it) I went out to sort out my gear into bags. This whole concept of having specific bags for each discipline and packing them and registering them the day before is new to me. All the other races Ive done over the last 3 years Ive just turned up on race day, dumped my bike and box of gear and that is it. For this you have to have far more organised. Once I got the bags packed though and headed to rack my bike I could see why.. and this is when the scale of it really hit me.

Bikes as far as the eye can see. The length of the bike racking area was huge. After racking the bike and registering the bags i went for a walk to see the distances involved in the transition. I reckon the distance from swim exit to bike mount was going to be easily over 1km. There would certainly be no fast transitions going on. I then went and checked into my hotel and pottered about until it was time for the race briefing. The briefing was the next stage in the whole thing being HUGE. I was in the second briefing. the first was for the first thousand. Mine was for the second thousand. The host was Mike Reilly, "The Voice of Ironman", the commentator at all the major Ironman events including the world championships in Hawaii. The briefing was actually fun and entertaining and afterwards I felt a huge mix of excitement and nerves. Which is weird.. i mean, I had done this distance race just 2 weeks previously but the scale of all this definitely had an impact.

RACE DAY.
Race day was an early start. My alarm call was for 4:30 am. I headed out of the hotel and noticed a few other triathletes in the breakfast area. I joined them for some porridge and coffee then wandered out through the lobby which was still full of people drinking and partying who were at the hotel for a wedding. That was a bizarre moment!
When I arrived in transition it was still dark but T1 was busy.

I racked my bike and just wandered around absorbing the atmosphere.

My wave was due to go at 7:05am.. just 5 mins after the pros. It was cold and very windy. I got changed into my wetsuit and headed down to the swim start. It was shortly after this that Mike Reilly came on the mike to inform us that due to the weather and the waves, there were a few changes. First of all the start was being delayed by 30 mins... secondly the swim was being cut to 750m. There were general mixed feelings on this. I myself had mixed feelings.. What bothered me most was the delayed start. At this stage it was about 6:40 and with a 30 min delay that meant standing about in the freezing cold and wind for nearly another hour. At this stage I was getting more worried.. I hadn't packed any additional clothing into either of my bags. The sun was starting to come up though, which was good as I didn't fancy swimming in the dark. The time passed slowly, but eventually we made our way down to the water. My age group was split into two sections based simply on the first across the mat. I was eager to go as soon as possible so pushed forward. Many weren't so eager and held back so it worked out OK. We watched the pros go of then went into the water. I dropped down to flush my suit and fill it with water.. something that usually takes your breath away with the shock of the cold, but the water was actually around the same temp as the air and it seemed OK. Finally the horn went and we were off.

The swim was tough enough. The waves were big enough to make it really difficult to get into any kind of good rhythm, and to make sure I ended up swallowing a lot of sea water... but on the whole it was OK. My first ever open water swim at Causeway Coast tri last year was about 10 times worse. In retrospect I am glad that swim was so bad.. as everything since has been fine. Even this swim which was considered a safety risk didn't really seem that bad and I exited the water feeling fresh and not overly exerted. It was slow though. There has been talk since that the swim was probably closer to 1km.. and as it took me just over 22 mins I would be inclined to believe this. This would be slow for me even to do 1km, but in rough conditions I think that is about right. Any time that I gained by having the swim cut short was rapidly lost in the massive transition. My T1 time was 7:40!!!!

I headed out on the bike and the conditions really were rough. It was cold, it was grey and it was raining heavily. I had opted to pack my prescription sunglasses into my bike bag and had checked in my normal glasses and it really wasnt a day for sunglasses! Despite the harsh conditions, I enjoyed the bike, as you can see from this photo, captured by the guys at Irish Triathlon.

The first 40 or so miles I had managed to sustain an average speed of over 20mph. I was really happy with this.. but the last section became really tough. The rain really started to drive down and a big headwind came along to really hammer us on the last section. There were quite a few accidents and crashes and I saw at least 2 ambulances out on the course. For the last 10km or so I started to harbour dark thoughts of DNF... the cold and wet had got right to my bones. My feet were numb blocks of ice and I couldn't feel my fingers, and it was getting tough to even get the bike up to 16mph on the flat due to the headwinds. Despite all this I managed to massively beat any of my previous times on the bike and came in at 2:56:54... easily beating my perfect race day bike target of 3 hours.. and a full 16 minutes faster than Groomsport two weeks previously. When I made it back to transition. I dismounted and ran the long bike area on numb stumps, buoyed by this time and kicking those dark thoughts out of my head. Others came in at the same time and we joked with one another about how numb we were. I racked my bike, ran out, grabbed my run bag and sat down to change shoes. The atmosphere in T2 was great despite the conditions and when I jokingly yelled out "can anyone feel their feet?" i got a resounding reply of "NO!!!" yelled by about 15 people at the same time. One guy happily shouted "I've got dry socks though.. I've been looking forward to these for the last 20k!"

I knew what he meant. I don't wear socks on the bike and my bike shoes had filled with puddles of water about 10km into the bike and had stayed that way the rest of the course.

I headed out on the run on my cold numb feet and just hoped like crazy that I would warm up.

The run course was really nice and the number of people on the course was amazing. It was 3 loops in and around Galway city and the atmosphere was fantastic. The supporters cheers helped keep the pain at bay, the buzz was great and the volunteers at the aid stations were amazing. The whole lot of them were so enthusiastic, cheering us on as they handed us water, coke and gels.

The run, for me, was good. I was solid and didn't walk, other than to knock back some coke and water in the aid stations. My overall pace was better than in the last race and I felt stronger and better. I had nailed the nutrition on the bike a lot better too and thus had more left in the thank for the run. The only thing that made the run really tough was a few sections where the wind was just incredible. On the sections where the headwind really kicked in, my pace was slowed massively. My pace dropped from around 8:150-8:30min miles to around a 9:30-9:45min mile. Overall this knocked a good few minutes off my overall time, though I still beat my time from Groomsport here too.

The final run up the finishers chute was AWESOME. The cheers of the supporters was incredible. Running along getting high-fived by the kids in the crowd was such a buzz.. and hearing Mike Reilly shout my name as I crossed the line was just brilliant. The volunteer at the finish put the medal round my neck and I was damn proud of myself.

Overall.. it was a TOUGH race.. but it was all the better for being tough. Despite the crazy conditions, I knocked lots of time off my previous bike times and even managed to knock almost a minute down off my run time in Groomsport which was my best time to date. Overall my finish time was 5:28:48. My dream time for the day was 5:30. The swim being cut short obviously means that I didnt do the full distance.. but the time lost in transition and the battle against the elements means that Im very happy to take this as definitely hitting my target.

Thats 3 half ironman distance races done in one season. Two of them done two weeks apart. PR's set and smashed. Thats a happy end to my 2011 tri-season.

Splits:

Swim: 22:08
T1: 7:40
Bike: 2:56:54
T2: 6:06
Run:1:56:02
Total: 5:28:48

Groomsport 2011 Half Iron

Yesterday I completed my second half-iron distance race of this season. I had done this race last year as my first. It was very tough and I was hoping that this time it would be easier. Realistically, I wasn’t sure what to expect though. My training has been a bit on and off and has seriously lacked in consistency or planning. On the positive side, when I have trained it’s been mostly good training and I’m not injured or hurting in any way.

This race was the first of a double A-race session, the second of which is another 70.3 in Galway in two weeks. So I had to pace this right. I couldn’t just go out and wreck myself and not be able to race again in two weeks.
As a result of this, I paced the race much more carefully. I took it easier on the swim and held back just a little on the bike. In honesty though I didn’t hold back THAT much.

I started the day by meeting up with Lisa and Greg which was great. It was nice to have some friends to hang out with pre-race. The atmosphere was good and everyone was in good form.

The swim was an uneventful 2 lap affair (yes.. 2 laps Greg) and I came out of the water in 34:42. This was a few minutes slower than last year (last year was 30:10) but I went harder last year and besides, I’ve only swum 5 times in the last 12 months, and 4 of those times were in races.
T1 was fine, a few seconds slower than last year, and I headed out on the bike.
On the bike I felt good. I got some food in and enjoyed it. I kept a stead 19 MPH average for the first lap, got passed by a few people with aero helmets on tri bikes and passed about as many as passed me. On the second lap… pretty much the same probably dropped to about an 18.5mph average (I think) and a few people passed me and I passed a few.
The third lap I clearly started to show that I haven’t been cycling enough. By then the field had spread out and I didn’t see many people for that whole lap. I started to tire and I just started to feel heavy and slow. There was more of a headwind and my speed dropped to around or below 17mph. this is where I really decided I needed to be smart and pace myself. That was the speed that I could do with the same effort level and when a few people passed me in the last 10 mile stretch, rather than push and stay with them I let them go. Last year in the race I was happy with my performance as it was my first, but I fell to pieces on the run having put too much into the swim and bike. This time I wanted to run better.

I got off the bike in 3:12:57 (slower than last years time of 3:09:32) and was also slower in T2. So.. at this stage I’ve already lost nearly 10 minutes off last years time. At the time I didn’t know this level of detail, but I had a fair idea I was a good bit slower. However I also knew that I was going to do the run better.
I set out running and felt ok.. My real target for this whole race was to run the whole run section (walking the aid stations to drink water doesn’t count). In both previous races I was forced into a run/walk strategy due to the pain and exhaustion… I didn’t want to do it in this race, and it worked. I ran the whole thing and only walked the aid stations. I aimed to keep a 9 min mile pace for the whole run. As I progressed I started modifying my goals a little. In addition to not walking, I also wanted to do a sub 2 hour run. Then, after a few miles, I realised that if I kept the 9 min mile pace going I could beat last years time by a few minutes.
The run was tough… but I managed it and hit my targets. I did the run in 1:56:34, an average pace of just under a 9 min mile. My finishing time was 5:50:28. A ten minute improvement over last year.

Last year I had really died on the run… so despite losing time on every other part of the race, I still managed a 10 min PB. Triathlon is a complex thing.. there are so many factors to consider, but it just shows, any weakness you have in any discipline really becomes apparent over longer distances. I am not really any stronger in any of the 3 disciplines than I was last year. I had a prolonged period of inactivity due to injury and since then have been sporadic in my training. All I really did on the day was pace better, have a better mental attitude and had the experience of 2 races of this distance under my belt. It really made a difference.
Today I’m walking easily and have not real aches and pains. I have some stiffness in the legs but overall I feel good and will be able to race in Galway in two weeks.

My friends Lisa and Greg did fantastically. Lisa did her first 70.3 and did it in the fantastic time of 6:35. Hugely impressive.
Greg is a machine and was finishing his tri-season, which included the full IM Lanza course, and he finished in the top 20 with a 5:20 race.
A great day all round.
Swim: 34:42
T1: 03:33
Bike: 03:12:57
T2: 02:45
Run: 01:56:34
Total: 05:50:28

Oh, and for anyone who has read this far, I am going to keep this blog going, but am posting much more on my Google plus profile. Feel free to add me on there.

Causeway coast triathlon 2011

Yesterday I did my first Olympic tri of the season. This was actually only my second Olympic ever.. and the second time doing this particular race. Last years race was pretty hectic. The sea was nuts.. lots of big waves and sharks. Seriously.. SHARKS. The swim nearly killed me and took an insanely long 43 mins.

I had been undecided about doing the race again, not because of last years conditions which were mental but enjoyable, but because it was only 2 weeks after my first half iron of the season and last year the half iron distance race screwed me up for a few weeks.

Well, the half iron passed and went well as mentioned in the last blog post and I recovered well. I was out on the bike 2 days after the race and actually did a 10 mile TT in just under 30 mins... and then went on to do a total of 19 miles. I also ran twice and did another hard bike session on my new bike.
Oh.. yeah.. I got a new bike.. but that warrants a blog post of its own so it will have to wait.

At this point I realised that I was totally fit for an eager to do the causeway race again. Sadly I had left it too long and registration had closed. Thankfully though the race director is a legend and I dropped him an email and he registered me no problem.
I threw in a few more hard bike workouts and some run speedwork then took a few days off to "taper"

Strictly speaking this is a joke.. I didn't taper, I had some work related travel that took up a few days and then I took one extra rest day :D

The day of the race arrived and despite being last to register, I was one of the first to arrive on race day morning. I met up with my good buddy Lisa and we hung out and chatted, registered, set up transition etc. Her race report is excellent and she WON HER AGE GROUP, so go read it)
The race itself was excellent. The sea was lovely, the swim was much easier than last years, which was clearly evidenced in my time. Last year it took me 43:35 mins.. this year it took me 24:29. Yeah... that's right.. 19 minutes faster. Crazy. And its not from training, cuz I haven't done any swim training.

The bike was good, pretty hilly and sadly on the downhill sections it was windy so I was a bit slower than last year. The bike leg took me 01:16:03. Average speed of 19.7mph this is decent for me but a few mins slower than last year (when I did it in 1:12:26.) This slowdown was partially the conditions, partially some annoying hip pain i developed for the last 8 miles or so but probably mostly due to the fact that last year this had been a bit of a priority race and not something that I did at the last minute two weeks after a half ironman and with 3 hard bike workouts in the short time between the two races. Considering all this I'm actually VERY happy with the time.
The run was OK too.. I haven't done a lot of speedwork and managed the 10k in 48:22. This is OK.. an average pace of 7:48 which is faster than Ive run for a while. Last year I actually did the run in 43:52.. but it was a shorter and easier run course, so again I am happy.

My overall race time was 02:33:52... which I'm very happy with indeed. Nearly a 10 min PR.

The only thing I'm not happy really about with this race was my transition times... it seems petty but T1 was 3 mins and T2 was 2 mins. 5 mins transition in an olympic is a lot, and for me its over 2 mins longer than I should have been, and indeed was last year. It came down to bad prep and not really thinking about what I was doing. Knowing this I know that I can easily shave this time down below two and half hours without too much work.

One thing I'm really happy with, as with the last race, is the swim. There were lots of much faster swimmers.. but the overall winner of the race only beat my by 1 min 45 secs on the swim. He beat my by 33 mins overall... hell I wasn't even close.. but it really shows me where I can make up lots of time and its really not one swim. Its EVERYTHING else :D

I should really learn to swim properly tho.. it would make sense.

Overall it was a great race and a great day out. As always, the organisers and the participants were a lovely bunch of people and the whole thing was a fantastic experience. Even the post race food was lovely and very plentiful. This is one race that I will really try and do every year if I can.

Eskragh Half Ironman

©Shane Molloy Photography

Saturday was the first triathlon of the season for me.
The approach to this race was a bit of a mental battle.
It was my first race since the broken wrist, my fitness levels still aren't where they need to be and on top of all that I developed some kind of random and inexplicable problem with my hip.. it hurt to walk. No idea why or how it happened.

In the month or so running up to the race I went through a variety of plans.
initially, due to the fact that I hadn't had a swim in about 8 months, I figured I would skip the swim and just do a long bike ride and run. However in the last few weeks I managed to get back in the pool twice. The first time was a 1500m session, the second was 3000m. So having concluded that I might manage the swim without drowning, I decided to give the whole thing a go. Then the hip problem kicked in. So I figured that I would try the swim, and maybe the bike and not run.

In the last few days coming up to the race I seriously considered just dropping it. However I got some great advice from my mate Iain, the nutter who calls himself a "lazy triathlete" but who qualified for and raced Kona last year :D
Iain's exact words were (and this warrants a direct cut and paste from the email)

Maybe do this weekends race but have it in your head that if the leg gets too bad you'll stop. That's what the Pro's do, Chris Lieto dropped out when he was leading IM Texas last week because he's carrying an injury. Jodie Swallow did the same in St George. They got in a solid swim & bike training session then put a few miles in their legs.

This made a lot of sense to me. I guess in a lot of ways I probably had a lot of psychological blocks against doing the race anyway.. First race back after a serious injury.. Is a half ironman too ambitious? Can I complete a half ironman with nowhere near enough training? etc etc etc...
Anyway.. I turned up on the morning pretty convinced that I wouldn't finish the race. I always try to set a series of goals, the biggest goal being the most achievable.
Normally my first goal is to finish...
For this race, my main goal for the day was to start.
My next goal was to finish the swim, then to finish the bike.
In honesty.. that was about it. I didn't really even expect to start the run.

So I turned up on race day and wasn't even really nervous. The field was STRONG. I mean.. you could tell by the bikes and the look of the folk who were there. It was a small race, around 40 entrants. Still though, everyone was very friendly and the organisers, "Tri-limits", are really nice guys. If you ever get a chance to do one of their races I highly recommend it.

The nerves kicked in a little when I stood and looked out at the lough. I've only done two open water races before, the causeway coast Olympic and my first half ironman at groomsport last year. In both cases the swim was 2 laps, which was nice as it gets you out of the water and gives you a few seconds rest from swimming. this was one lap, and looked LONG. A photo of the lough is at the end of this post. Still though, my aim was just to start, and there were lots of people out there to rescue me if i started to really struggle, so I racked up my bike and got myself ready to give it a go.

The swim turned out to be really nice. The water was warm and clear and as there weren't too many people it was pleasant. No one swimming over you, kicking you, punching you.. and no insane waves or tides. Just a nice little swim in a lough to start the day. In all honesty I think the swim distance was a bit short as I completed it in 25 mins and I'm NOT a great swimmer. the last 70.3 I did it in 30 mins and I hadn't done any training to explain any significant improvement, so I'm assuming it was short but am happy to have done it. I came out middle of the pack, took my time in T1 and set out on the bike.

©Shane Molloy Photography

The bike course was lovely. No real winds, nice rolling hills that weren't steep enough to really push you on the climbs but were steep enough to get well over 30mph on the descents. I actually really enjoyed the bike and felt good and strong for the first 46 miles. The last 10 had a bit of a headwind and a few too many hills which slowed me down a fair bit. However I still completed the distance in 3:06, a 3 minute improvement over my time in the Groomsport race last year which was a 3:09. Overall I felt better on the bike in this race too.

Now, to be honest, by this point my goals for the day started to change. I started the day giving myself about a 15% chance of finishing. However from about the halfway mark on the bike, I knew I had PRed the swim and was starting to think I might PR the bike. Despite the slowdown for the last 10 miles, I still finished pretty strong. The big challenge, of course, would be the run.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to run at all, and dreaded feeling anywhere near as bad as I did in the last 70.3... However when I racked the bike and set out on the run I actually felt OK. Nothing hurt and I was running at about an 8:30 pace. I forced myself to slow down and just kept going. It was a 4 lap course and I ran the first lap solidly. I walked the water stop, for about 10 seconds, then ran the second lap solidly again. From about mile 8 on I had to do a little bit of walking on each mile, but I had managed to avoid walking for the first 8 miles, whereas in the last race I had been walking from the start.

I finished the run in 2:08... an 11 minute improvement over the last time (2:19).


©Shane Molloy Photography

So.. I set out to start, and didn't think I'd finish. I ended up PRing every distance and running a much better race than last time. The swim may have been a bit short but the bike was fine with a small improvement there and the run was a massive improvement. My previous finish time was 6 hours. This one was 5:39. I'm very happy indeed with this.

Thanks to the guys at Tri-limits for putting on a great race and thanks to all the friendly participants who made it a really pleasant race. And a final thanks to the guy who actually recognised me from this blog.. which was great as I didn't realise anyone really read it ;) I was buzzing so much from finishing that I didn't catch your name so if you re reading this, drop me a comment...

Sorry this has been a bit of a long one... Thanks for reading :D


Not sure who took this, but I look a lot more laid back... found this pic on the Irish Triathlon website.



My own photo of the lough.

Back on form...

Finally I'm feeling really like I'm getting back on form.
This week I really kicked it back into tough.
Steph and Alexa are away to the states for a visit, so Im on holiday and being full time dad for 2 weeks. For the first few days though Zane was still in school so I took advantage of this and got some solid training in.
On Wednesday I started out with a 16 mile run that took 2.5 hours..
On thursday I knocked out my first half century bike ride of the year. 50 miles in 3 hours 10 minutes. Not gonna win any records for speed... but decent enough training and all zone 2.
Finally.. today, Friday... I finished off this 3 days of tough training with a self supported olympic distance triathlon...
First of all I got back in the pool for the first time in about 7 months. It was tough and I was slow but I managed the 1500m in 34:37... Not bad.
Then I drove home, and headed out on the bike. Which was an Awesome ride. Zone 2 all the way, felt great. Bit of a balls up at the end.. blew out both wheels.. Then blew out one of my two spare tubes when changing it.. had to ride last mile home on a flat back wheel.. time for changes isnt included :D Still managed the 25 miles in 1:31:17 (not including tyre changing time). Would have been better if it wasn't for the last mile on a flat.
Finally, I headed out on the run. The run itself was tough going.. but after these three days and as the first brick I've done in ages, this was to be expected. Still did it in 58:48 with an AP of 9:29.. so not bad overall! A decent 3 hours worth of training, which brings the week to a total of nearly 9 hours for the week in just 3 days.
Feels good. :D

Sort your Zones out...

Ive done quite a lot since my last blog post.. Training has been up and down. This blog post is a bit of a training tip though, rather than an update on my training.. and the focus is training zones.

Most people train with a heart rate monitor. If you don't, you should, go buy one.. I'll wait....

Got it?

OK.. good.

So.. Its one thing to have a heart rate monitor (HRM) but its another thing to actually use it correctly. In order to do so, you should actually train according to your heart rate. The key to doing this correctly is to discover your own heart rate zones. Now lots of websites and probably even your own HRM software will probably offer to do this for you based on your age. It may even be really fancy and ask you to determine your resting heart rate. This is very basic and there is a way better way to do things. The way to find your ideal training zones is to base your training on what your heart rate is when training. In order to do this you can do a lactate threshold test. I first heard about these things from Joe Friels book "The Triathletes training bible" and thankfully Joe as a blog post that explains both how to do a LT test and how to set your zones based on it. LT tests are tough. It basically involves you doing 30 mins running or cycling (you will need to do both.. at different times) to find out what your average heart rate is at lactate threshold.

I did a run LT test the other night for the first time in over a year. I'm glad I did as I discovered that my standard zone 2 heart rate was a bit better than i thought and my pace for zone 2 runs is a little better than I was aiming for.

Training according to heart rate makes sense. Its a way of gauging your pace and effort based on what your fitness levels allow and what you re capable of and what your body can do, rather than what you want to do or think you can do. Running based on heart rate and doing a lot of zone 2 training can reduce injuries and ultimately make you fitter and faster... So.... clear off and do a wee LT test. :D

Just to finish, and cuz I like pics in my blog posts.. here is a little pic of me, covered in mud at a recent adventure race/ mudrun i did recently...
DIRTY

Woah.. its march already???

Training has picked up a bit over the last month..
Actually, having just checked back when I last blogged.. things have really picked up a lot.
Ive made it back out on the road on the bike.. twice now. On both occasions I went out on a Sunday morning and did a 30 miler. Both were tough.. wonderful Belfast conditions were in full force. The first week was windy as a wind tunnel, and it was hard going. The second time it looked like it was going to be a nice day.. so I went out in just shorts and a short sleeved cycle top and some arm warmers.. big mistake. It rained so heavily that for a while i couldn't see.. then it cleared up for a while, then there were hailstones. When i got home I was physically shaking with cold for about 20 mines. But it felt good to get out.
On both occasions my wrist ached like hell, and was sore for a few day after.. but I'll just have to get used to that. What the hell, its another reason to argue that I need a full carbon bike, right?
I managed to get in 200 miles of cycling in february with about 40 miles of running. This pretty much doubled my cycling and running mileage from January
Target for March is to try and get in about 300 miles biking and about 50 miles running.

I kicked that of tonight with my first run of the month and my first double digit run in about 6 months. Ive been focussed this last while on running slower, which has been a real necessity as im trying to get my mileage back up and the speed needs to be sacrificed to do so. I realised today while updating my outlook calender that my first race of the year is only two and half weeks away. The larne half marathon will kick off my 2011 season. Im not aiming for a PR.. im just aiming to get round the course and have a nice run. Im hoping to finish sub 2 hours... which is WAY off a PR.. but after the amount of time off and lost fitness that Ive had, it will be a good start to the year. The PRs can come later
:D

Looking up

Things have started to improve this month. While I'm still far from back on good form, I have undoubtedly started training again. Admittedly this entire month has had less hours training than a previous heavy week.. but its improving. Ive built up at a safe and semi-conservative pace. Ive pushed myself, but not too much, and I'm starting to see results. Ive shed some of the excess weight I picked up along the way and I'm abe to run and cycle (on the turbo) and enjoy it again. The first few runs this month were horrible. Truly unenjoyable and unpleasant. This week I managed a 5 mile run and enjoyed it. Then 2 days later did a 6 miler and enjoyed that too. Longest runs for 3 months, and the most enjoyable. Hopefully next week I'll be back to running an hour solid.

I'm also considering trying to go out on the bike on the road again. Possibly this Sunday morning. I'm nervous to do so, but Ive gotta shake off the fear and do it. Actually, in honesty, its not even fear. Its a complete lack of desire tempered with a touch of dread. I'm just hopeful that 2 Min's out on the road and my love of cycling will overpower it all and my problems will be solved. Fingers crossed for that.

Haven't considered swimming yet. Got a new tattoo a week a go so need to let that settle in for a few weeks before I can swim. I cant imagine how weird swimming is going to be. I'm hoping it will be OK though. Again, fingers crossed!

The Turbo

I'm currently sitting on a train to Dublin, and this seems to be as good a time as any to write a quick blog update.

I was just following a conversation on Twitter there about turbo sessions, and found myself thinking, as I have on many occasions before, am I the only person in the world that actually likes using a turbo trainer?

I often hear people berate the trainer. It seems to be hated almost as much as the dreaded treadmill, or dreadmill as I personally call it.

I like the trainer. I do. Last night, for example. After we got the kids to bed, Steph and a friend of hers had gone out to a Zumba class, but got stuck in traffic, so they came home and decided to play the Dance Central game on the Xbox as a replacement. So guilt free I retired to the front room to hit the trainer. With the kids asleep and Steph busy, I didn't have to worry or feel guilty that I should be doing something else. The only worry was the downstairs neighbour, who has on one occasion, complained about the noise of the trainer. But it was only 8pm... so even that worry was appeased.

I turned on the fan, dimmed the lights, queued up a few tracks on the ipod and jumped on the bike for some intervals and had a good solid hour workout. Which I fully enjoyed.

Why do I enjoy it so much? Well... at 8pm at night in Belfast at this time of year, its dark. Cycling in the dark is OK.. but its not the safest thing in the world. Its also cold, so requires about 4 hours of getting ready to actually go outside. Finally.. and most importantly.. I can do completely focused training sessions. Last nights was intervals to build speed and power. When I cycle out on the road, I'm not really very good at this. I just happily cycle along and enjoy it.

Now at the moment, I'm not cycling on the road anyway. I still don't really have the strength or flexibility in my wrist, and I don't have the confidence either. This is not the issue though, last night was just a prime example of how enjoyable using the turbo can be. I got a really good hours training session in. My legs feel it this morning much more than an hour on the road would achieve.

Weirdly, the total opposite is true for running. I cannot run on a treadmill. Well, obviously technically I can, I just hate it. Id much rather be outside, regardless of the weather. Rain, wind, snow, whatever. I guess the turbo haters just feel the same way

Now, apart from the fact Id rather be outside.. I also have a bit of a rationale for this loving the turbo and hating the dreadmill thing. I think running outside makes you a much better runner. The wind, hills, fluctuations in the terrain etc are all good for the leg strength and stability in a way that running on a treadmill just wont achieve. Conversely.. If you use it right, I think the turbo can provide very significant gains for cycling. There are no downhills on the trainer. Provided you are using the right resistance and gearing, using the trainer should not be like cycling on the flat. Even a steady state spin should be a like a constant gradual incline. My average speed on the trainer is by default several mph slower than it is on the road.

Fair enough you can set a gradient on the treadmill, but its not the same. Maybe its just personal preference. If you love the treadmill, feel free to comment or drop me a mail !

Back on track? Meh.

Another month has passed since last update.
Ive had to do a lot of thinking over the last few weeks.
Not doing any training for about 3 months now has resulted in me losing lot of fitness. Ive had to evaluate my plans for this year. 2011 was meant to be the year of my first Ironman. Ive had to reconsider this, I was struggling with this a lot and was very grateful to Phil Lavoie with whom I had a great chat over the whole issue. Phil is a phenomenal athlete who has clocked up some incredible times in the IM's that he has done.
My basic issue is that I don't really want my first Ironman to be a horrible experience. I don't want to be desperately trying to beat the cutoff and I don't want my first to be my last. In short, I don't want to go into the race not sure if I can finish.

So my plan this year is now to complete a few half Iron distances and get faster at them. The day I made this decision I signed up for the Galway 70.3 event. The first WTC event in Ireland.

Trying to get back to training has been a lot harder than I anticipated. While my wrist is recovering and is still pretty sore. My range of motion is terrible and i cant support any weight with my right arm. Ive put on a lot of weight and can feel it. being off over Christmas, eating too much and drinking a lot (partially for pain relief!) really didn't help.

I went for a 3 mile run last week and my legs hurt for days afterwards. I got some new shoes at the weekend and went for a 4 mile this week. In short.. it sucked. I hated every minute of it.

This saddened me greatly as I love to run, I really love it. I'm sure the love will come back, hopefully sooner rather than later.

As for cycling.. well, I spoke to the consultant about this last week and he said that if I really wanted too I could try and go out on the bike again but to be very careful due to the restricted range of motion and lack of strength. The truth is though, I dont want to. The accident has thrown me quite a lot psychologically and going back out on the road is kinda scary. I'll get over it, but I'm not even going to try until i get a bit more strength and flexibility in the arm.

I have, however, been back on the trainer and just finished my first hard trainer workout with intervals and some high intensity effort levels... and I feel pretty good.

Ive got some plans in mind for racing this year.. and over the next few weeks I will see how I feel and how the trainig goes and see how achievable they are. Hopefully now that I am back training again, I will be back to blogging a bit more often.

Life is full of challenges

I think this may be the longest I've gone without blogging... and I'm terrible at it at the best of times.

The last few months have been incredibly busy, but not so much with training. I had my off-season, then just as i was starting to get back into training, I had a spot of bad luck.

A few months back I bought a motorbike and started commuting to work. It was economical and fun. After a few months of this, the bad luck struck. While driving through a town on my way to work, a car pulled put in front of me from a side street.. I had always heard that the biggest risk with motorbikes is other drivers and its very true. The driver just drove out directly in front of me. I was lucky in that i was probably only doing about 10-15mph when I impacted... But I hurt my wrist.

A visit to the hospital revealed that it was broken. The bad luck continued in that it wasn't a clean or simple break... So they dosed me up with morphine and something that removes your memory and did things to my wrist to try and set it right.

A week later some more X-rays meant more bad luck.. The bone wasn't setting right and I needed surgery. I am hugely impressed time and time again by the British National Health System. I was called in for surgery the nest day.

The surgery happened, I got a plate put in my arm and spent the night in hospital.

I'm not dwelling on details, and this is not a desire for pity of any kind... but its probably worth noting that I have a few little phobias about medical procedures... particularly needles. Surgery is something Ive always been terrified of, so it wasn't really a fun experience inside my head. Plus, the pain afterwards was pretty damn intense.

Its now 2 weeks post surgery. The pain is getting better, although I'm still popping painkillers 3-6 times a day. I'm due for a review appointment tomorrow morning, so please send good wishes and positive thoughts my way that everything is healing well!

Anyway.. there is a point to all this, and its not meant to be just a blog post of complaining. I haven't done any exercise in nearly a month now. Over the last few weeks I've been endlessly frustrated by only having one functional arm. The frustration isn't helped by having little sleep... but the thing is, its really hard to function with one arm. Simple things become lengthy and arduous tasks... things like picking up the baby, changing her diaper, buttoning a shirt, typing, putting on Zane's shoes, tying shoelaces etc etc. Some of these things seem damn near impossible with one hand... Seriously.. how do you tie shoelaces with one hand? If it wasnt for my awesome, wonderful wife I don't know what I would have done.

Through all this, through the pain and the frustration, I've found one thing often popping into my head... A guy called Jason Lester, here's a little part of Jason's story from his wiki page

Lester grew up playing baseball and football. When he was twelve years old, he was hit while on his bicycle by a woman driving 70 mph who ran a red light. He was left for dead with 21 broken bones and a collapsed lung. Lester lost the use of his right arm, which became partially paralyzed as a result of the accident. During the next several months he began a lengthy hospital recovery. While he was still in the hospital recovering, his father, and sole guardian, died of a heart attack.

Jason is now an endurance athlete. In 2008 he became the first physically challenged athlete ever to complete the Ultraman World Championships in Hawaii finishing the ultra-distance triathlon where he swam 6.2 miles, biked 261.4 miles and ran 52.4 miles to the finish line.

In 2009 he won the ESPY award for best male with a disability.

Last year, himself and Rich Roll did the "Epic 5". 5 Ironman races in 5 days on the 5 islands of Hawaii

My accident was small by comparison. I wasn't going that fast and only broke one bone. However, on a personal perspective Ive had a horrible few weeks. I cant even imagine what Jason Lester went through. Ive had a few weeks of being frustrated about not being able to dress myself or my kids. Jason has done the Ultraman race with one arm.

This whole experience has really highlighted to me how much of a challenge disabled athletes face. My temporary disability has shown me how hard everyday life can be.. never mind training or competing.

So.... pop over to Jason's website maybe consider donating to the charity he runs and most importantly.... Just take a few minutes to just appreciate what you have in life. If you've got 2 functioning arms, legs, ears, eyes etc then be glad you do. And if you've been slipping on the training because its too dark or too cold? Get off your ass and go do a few miles for me please... I'm missing it.

70.3....... DONE

I'm going to actually try and make this a concise and short race report.
Yesterday I did my main "A race" for the year.
This was essentially what I had been training for all year.
Beyond that it was the next link in the chain that ultimately leads to doing a full Ironman. Suffice to say this was pretty important!

I had been really concerned over the last few weeks. I was injured. I'd been to see a physio a few times and I hadn't trained AT ALL for the last 3 weeks. You could consider it an extended taper... but my original intention would have been one more BIG week of training with 2 weeks of actual tapering (ie still training but less).
Instead I got 3 weeks of inactivity and, funnily enough, weight gain... Not ideal, but those were the cards I was dealt.

I arrived on race day excited and nervous. Nervous of what i was about to do, and even more nervous that my knee was going to pack in on me. I was early and I wandered around soaking up the atmosphere. It was awesome to bump into Lisa and her family as they had come down to give some support

As the start approached my nerves got worse... but so did the excitement.. eventually they led us out of transition and I walked with the 200 or so other competitors down to the beach.

THE SWIM
My last open water swim was ROUGH the sea had been very choppy and rough.. this time round it was flat and still. Last time round I also went out too hard, this time round I deliberately started as slow as I could.. and the tactic worked. The swim felt easy, I stayed relaxed and even when I got thumped or kicked in the head, it didn't throw me off (too much) and despite taking in some water, I cruised the two laps in what felt like a pretty easy 30 minutes and 10 seconds. For a 2km swim I'm very happy with that, especially considering the last one was only 1500m and took me 43:35. I took my time in transition and felt ready for the bike.

THE BIKE
The bike course was lovely. It was flat and pleasant with lovely scenery. In retrospect I realise now that I went out too hard.. but it felt good. the injured leg gave me a few twinges that caused me to hold back a little, but overall I was more than happy. Along the course the occasional spectators and the cheers from the volunteers was a fantastic boost.
At one point along the course I was going through the village of Donaghadee and totally unexpectedly saw my wife with Alexa and our friend Fiona. This unexpected site and their cheers of encouragement literally brought tears to my eyes :D
Although I did instantly realise that tears were a loss of body fluid that I couldnt afford and knocked that on the head immediately.

According to my garmin the course was a few miles long, so my time of 3:09:32 was perfect and I was pretty much on course for my best possible scenario race day... but with the lingering injury the worry was always the run...

THE RUN
I racked my bike, pulled on my shoes and headed out on the run and IT HURT STRAIGHT AWAY.
Funnily enough, the majority of the pain was in the leg that wasn't previously injured... although Id been feeling some twinges in that knee, probably from overcompensating for the injury. I knew within minutes that there was no way I was running the whole course. In fact I was very worried that I was going to have to just walk the whole thing.

It took me a while to work out what to do, and the off-road nature of the majority of the course made it hard to get into a routine.. but I settled eventually into a run/walk strategy of 4 mins run, 1 min walk.
For the first half of the run it basically worked something like this
Minute 1: Oh I feel ok, cool, whoooo, yeah
Minute 2: Oh, shit, no.. this hurts
Minute 3: oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit
Minute 4: ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Minute 5: Walk... hang on.. walking shouldn't still be hurting should it?
REPEAT.

As I progressed through the second half... It got harder. For the last few miles, I was having to throw in little extra walk breaks now and again.
But the knowledge that I was going to finish kept me going. I had totally lost track of my time, I was convinced that I must have stopped my stopwatch and re-started it at some point and i was convinced that I was about 15-20 minutes slower than it was saying. There was no way I was going to be close to 6 hours... as long as I was under 6:30 I was going to be happy.

As I came down the hill towards the last stretch, my awesome and amazing and supportive wife was there cheering. I head the announcer saying something that led me to believe I could still make it in under 6 hours... BUT, I didn't care. In the last race, at the end, Zane was there and came out to run beside me, but I was so focused that I didn't really see him and kept running. He ran beside me, but I was disappointed in myself for not realising he was there and running with him. I was NOT going to do that again and I didn't give a shit what the time on the clock was.
I stopped dead
"Wheres Zane?"
"He is over there on the beach!"
I shouted to him and he came over.
I took his hand and asked him if he wanted to run with me and he said yes.... So we ran the last stretch, hand in hand over the finish line. There wasn't a huge crowd but the cheers were amazing from those that were there, and the fact that I was running with Zane seemed to make people cheer even more :D
I crossed the finish line in 6 hours and 10 seconds and crossing that line, holding my wonderful son's hand was an incredible feeling.

SUMMARY
So, despite an injury, my last few weeks training being messed up and it being my first half ironman, I hit my target of 6 hours. Looking at my splits based on my training, experience and the level I am at, I think I was as fast as I could have been in the swim and fast as I could have been on the bike. The run was not even close to what I could have done if I was in peak running condition. But a 2:19 half marathon that is mostly off-road is still not bad, especially considering that the entire 13.1 miles actually felt like the last 6 miles of a marathon!

During the event, and particularly on the run, I gained a newfound repsect for those that do the full Ironman distance. While running it did run through my head that there was no way I could ever do that. I can though. And i will.

A few photos from the start courtesy of Lisa...