It's on! Ironman UK 2014

So, its back on for another year! As I eluded to my previous blogs I almost straight away re-entered Ironman UK for another year after my first year. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced and I wanted another fill!

I was very conscious last year of my loss in motivation during the run up to the event, which I put down to long overtraining. Its largely recommended to have time off during the winter and then pick up training again during the new year. However when I did London Triathlon in 2012, and consequently decided to do Ironman in 2013, my enthusiasm got the better of me and I trained solidly right the way through. I don't think this did me any favours at all as it meant after what was almost 18-months of training I was pretty much sick of it all, with the exception of racing.

This year I trained for a month post IMUK, but then all but stopped running and swimming for a few months to give myself a rest. I was still cycling, but nowhere near what I'd call proper training volume.

Result of this now? I'm raring to go more than ever, and I'm loving training!

So this year the date is 20th July, and so 30 weeks back from then works out as the 23rd Dec 2013, so it was then that I began my training, largely in line with last years 30 week plan, albeit with a few changes. The first week was scheduled to be a 6-hour week with 2-hours of each activity. I decided to go easy on the swimming as I'd had a fair amount of time off from swimming over the last few months, as well as believing the Fink program is a bit swim heavy for me. So I made up the time on the bike putting in just over 4-hours. I stuck to the program on the running, which was also to me the most interesting.

The sum total of my run volume from the end of September to late December was just over 5-miles. So that's nigh on 80 days of not running. As you might expect the first couple of runs were hard work to say the least. The third run (only 4 miles) was the hardest of the lot. To just hold 8-minute miles I was pretty much redlining, and even had to stop for a rest. The fourth run however was like an epiphany, I just felt like I was pretty much cruising at 8 min mile pace which was great, and it felt to have some semblance of run fitness coming back, having largely maintained my bike fitness over the past months. I even managed the total 45 minute long Sunday run.

The bike I'm pretty happy with. I love riding my bike and so it wasn't difficult to keep getting the miles in. During the past few months I'd also been commuting to work by bike which was also keeping the miles coming in. As you might expect my power numbers took a hit after the summer, but they seem to have stabilised nicely now, and should start increasing again as I put more volume down. Looking forward to seeing where I can get my FTP into the summer too.

So below is my summarised training week. Looking forward to next week now, and even more volume!

Life after Ironman

Septmeber:

Back training pretty much full time again now and loving it. Concentrating on building up my running as its obviously my weakest discipline and it feels like its actually improving more than it did during IM training which is weird but probably due to the lower volume of biking and swimming.

That said very soon after IM I bought a powermeter for the bike, so am now doing much more targeted stuff on the bike which is brilliant too, its awesome to use for pacing rides aswell.

Been enjoying the weather though and done a few OW swims, and some decent cycling. Got an oly distance race coming up on the 15th too so will be interesting to see how I go there. Also hoping to go a half marathon in October but am on holiday until the day before so not sure if its going to work. Going to a resort in greece with a 50m outdoor pool, mountainbiking, watersports etc. So should be able to get some decent training in there too.

Really enjoying my training at the moment but conscious to try not to overdo it. Loving the freedom of no plan, just training as I think I need to. Thinking of doing something like this next year, as a rigourous fink type plan is just not best for me. Planning to really focus on my running now until the beginning of next year. Then pick up the volume again of the other disciplines into the new year.

Also joined up to a local tri club who have coached swim sessions twice a week so will be joining in on those in the near future.

Race update:

Well the weather just about held off for my oly distance race. Slightly damp and windy but that's September for you.

Had some bad swim experiences recently where I've seeded myself in the middle of the pack and been climbed all over, especially at IMUK! Changed tack for this race and got myself right to the front. Went off full gas for the first 200m or so and had loads of space. Couple of faster guys got away but I was still swimming well. Got out of the water in 24 mins (previous best was 26, so chuffed with that).

Out on the bike for 2 laps of a fairly flat course, two foot down stops at crossroads too. Was pretty cold, but the legs felt in fairly good nick. Managed the 3rd fastest bike split out of 226 competitors as well :D

Ride link: http://www.strava.com/activities/82610421

Onto the run and it was a 6 lap undulating trail run, which was quite rutted and muddy in places so not the fastest. Not helped by me having to take a poo stop halfway through :( need to think about wearing tri separates too as the trisuit was a massive pain at this point.  Got back on the run and felt good.

Finished in 2:25, a 6 minute improvement on my previous best so I was chuffed, and 26th out of 226 people as well.

Things to think about, are continuing my run technique training as its really paying off, and improving my cycling more. Training with power is the single best cycling investment I've made. Already seeing the training benefit.

October:

Got a few pictures back from my previous end of season tri where I managed the third fastest bike split at 22.1mph :)

Training with power has brought my riding on another level, and I can't wait to see how much I can improve through the winter. Provisionally set my FTP at 220w on first testing, and its now up to 266w at the last test. Part of that is a low first test but part of it is undoubtedly improvement.

Begun swim training with my local club which is cool, and nice to get some pointers rather than just improving fitness levels which I have been doing previously with no real technique work.

Just got back from a weeks holiday in Greece. Spent a lot of time on their mountain bikes, and racked up over 80 miles which seems good going considering how slow they are in comparison to roadies.

Had a couple of sensational rides for the scenery. Incredible to ride there in great weather and perfect terrain. Not my usual thing mountain biking but quality fun nonetheless. Some awesome climbing to be had to, and even picked up a couple of cat 3 KOMs while I was there as well :D

Radio Mast Climb:

From the top:

Other rides:

Swam most days as well, either in the 50m pool, or in the sea which was awesome. Crystal clear so no worries about sighting either. Great fun.

Managed my fair share of this too:

Run training has taken a bit of a back seat after this:

I had been transitioning nicely into forefoot striking, but a paddleboarding accident on holiday has torn all the muscles in my little toe which has been annoyingly painful for this week. So haven't done a run session for just over 10 days now. Will begin picking up the volume in the next few weeks though.

After having been on an active holiday I can really see the benefits a training holiday might have. Going to look into getting away early next year for a training camp. Potentially Lanzarote or something.

Looking forward to picking up the running, cycling through the winter, and continued swim training.

Happy training all.

A look back at the training by Month, and Key Weekend Workouts

Seeing as I took the week off after IM to recover, I'm now feeling back to 100% almost despite a few aches and pains, I now have a load of free time on my hands. So I've been cleaning bikes, and generally doing odd jobs and stuff at home amongst eating to my hearts content :)

I decided to take the time to have a look back at the data I collected so far this year in training. In the hope I might be able to identify some areas to improve and focus on for next time.

Firstly we've got my total volumes below:

So you can see attempting to follow my plan, my cycling volume increased nice and linearly upwards towards the goal. (bearing in mind its organised by month, so some of the missed workouts aren't seen in the detail, with the exception of April appearing to be a fairly poor month. So cycling volume looks good with a nice progression.

Run training appears a little less successful, with volume staying level, even decreasing across the time period. This is despite my long runs increasing in distance, so it appears my smaller run workouts fell by the wayside during training and I was either concentrating on long runs or not at all. (I'll go into more granular detail below).

Swim volume, appears to have followed run in its decrease. There's no real excuse for this other than laziness. I swam too much prior to the plan, and I think the plan weights far too much in favour of swimming with in excess of 3 hours a week for most of the plan. For me, I appear to require little training to maintain my speed (I could comfortable swim IM distance early in the season, and didn't really appear to build speed throughout). Therefore I got bored with swimming early in the season and just maintained. If I enter an IM again I will start swimming less, and then ramp it up later in the plan to keep it fresh.

Cycling in detail:  

Looking at the above graphs we can see further detail in my workouts throughout the 30 week plan. (Bear in mind these are only Saturday long rides, not total volume). So there was a nice progression up to four good century rides prior to the main event. There were still quite a few weeks missed, but overall it doesn't appear to have had a major effect. I am hoping to maintain a better level of cycling throughout the winter, so I can introduce greater mileage earlier on in the season next year. You'll note I began this year with some pretty small rides in the region of 20 miles.

However, if we then look at pace of rides, you would hope this might stay level across the season, or even increase with the rides, however in actual fact my pace has decreased with the lengthening rides. From 19mph averages down to under 18mph for my longer rides. With the exception of the Outlaw half on week 22 which was a 2:45 bike leg at 20.7mph average speed. A cracking ride if I say so myself, but probably too hard to be able to run well off of, which was the result with a 2:12 half marathon!

Lessons to take forward, do less junk miles in the week. Speed or threshold sessions with hill climbs, and then long rides at the weekend. I spent a lot of the early season just riding Z2 in the week, which I now think was a little pointless to a degree. Sure miles are miles in the saddle, but I think they could have been more productive.

Running in detail:

And I wonder why I sucked at running during IMUK and my races earlier in the season! The volume there is pretty appalling in reality. A lot of missed sessions towards the end of the program, with my longest sessions being three half marathons this year. Looking at my average pace across the program that also increaed with distance to average over 9 min/miles on my longer runs. And never really improved from the beginning of the year at 8:30 min/miles. 

Similar thoughts from cycling training here too. I'll be going for less volume, but more targeted sessions. I'm currently thinking along the lines of a speed session, an easy session, and a long session with some hill and technique work included too. I think I spent too much time just going through the motions and racking up distance (albeit small) rather than understanding what I needed to get out of each session. 

So definetly some things to focus on, and ways I think I can improve. I'll also hopefully be training with power on the bike soon, which should help reduce junk miles and enable me to tailor training specifically. 

I set out with the aim of specifically targetting my running this year, but it appears to have failed, so this is something I really want to work on this winter in preparation for next year. 

You are an IRONMAN!!!!!!!

Safe to say I've been waiting to write this one up for in excess of a year, here goes! 

My work week ended on Thursday and I began by getting everything ready to load the car up ready to head off Friday morning. I've become a pro at this it seems as it took much less time than I remembered getting ready for Outlaw! Spent the rest of Thursday on a fairly easy ride to try out my new aero helmet, a Bell Javelin that I was hoping to wear. I got on well, despite being a lot sweatier than my usual kask road helmet. Comes with the territory I suppose, plus it was a seriously hot day! I slept pretty well Thursday night, and felt great from the bike ride too.

Woke up Friday excited and made my final preparations and last minute supplies run before heading up north to Bolton. The traffic was pretty dire most of the way up, and it ended up taking around 5 hours in total before I was at the Reebok stadium where my Ironman experience was to begin, at this point my feelings were a sandwich filling of nerves, surrounding by great big slices of excitement. I just wanted it to be Sunday morning, and to get cracking. 

I left the car in the Reebok carpark and wandered up to the Stadium to be greeted by the huge inflatable Ironman banner, and Ironman signs everywhere. Having come from pretty smallscale triathlons this year, this was clearly a different setup all together! I wandered inside, and again the place was covered from head to toe in Ironman branding. I registered, and signed my life away before receiving my bag full of more bags and stickers to brand myself with.

Then made my way downstairs for the briefing. This did nothing whatsoever to calm my nerves or excitement. But what was clear was how they were really hammering the whole Ironman thing home, the brand, the experience, the dream. I'm not usually one for americanized branding and the like, but I was lapping it up. This was what I had sacrificed 9-months worth of training for, and I was loving it so far. In my mind, I'd earned the right to enjoy so far! 

I then headed back to my hotel, after stopping at pizza hut for dinner (ideal pre Ironman meal, not) and chilled out for the evening. 

I was up excitably early Saturday morning as I had to rack my bike and run kit in the two separate transitions. After checking and double checking my bag contents I set off for Pennington Flash to sort the bike first. 

Bike and bags ready to go!

Racked and stickered up

Tucked in for the night

T1 filling up

T1 Bike bag racked and ready

I'd been checking the weather all week up until this point, and it was a pretty nice day with hot sunshine with a few cloudy spells and no rain as yet. I hoped this would continue as I racked my bike, and used the supplied cover to tuck my bike in for the night. I nervously waved goodbye to my bike, and racked my bike bag. I then went for a wander round the flash to get my bearings.

Further nerve unsettling moments were gained looking at the swim, it was reasonably windy on the Saturday and the flash was looking pretty choppy, with the turn buoys a long way off. :eek:

I then headed off to rack my run bag at the transition based in the school just off the bike loop. Nothing out of the ordinary here, just a sports hall and changing facilities with the playground used for storing the bikes. 

After I'd sorted my bags, and as I was close I decided to go for one last course recce up the now infamous Sheephouse lane.

Couple of cyclists tackling the infamous IM gradient

Much as I remembered it, save for quite a lot of gravel in parts due to the rain, I hoped to god this would be gone come race day. I wasn't feeling to bad about the climb in truth. Mostly as all my training rides have equal or more climbing, with more severe gradients. I guess they just don't have the total climb from bottom to top in one go like sheephouse. I then bumped into a friend I met at a training day and we chatted for a good while about all things triathlon, like only triathletes, and nervous Ironman virgins can! We were also racked virtually next to each other, which was good to have someone I knew in transition. Back to the hotel, and I met up with my parents who had come up for the two nights to spectate, which was great boost. Dinner at the pub next to the hotel, and then I retired to my room for my last nights sleep before the big day. I sat in my room for a couple of hours just running everything through in my head to make sure I had everything sorted. Then had a cup of sleepy tea, and tried to get some shut eye. 

The tea strategy seemed to work as I had an unusually good sleep for a night before the race, however I was still wide awake an hour before my alarm at 3:00am! I eventually raised my self from the bed at 4:00am and began to put my nutrition strategy into play with a double helping of porridge. Once dressed and ready I got sorted and headed off to the flash, with my bike bottles and gear. The roads were dead until I got near, and suddenly there were people and cars everywhere getting into the flash. The nerves were really building now, as it was getting very real. By this point my worse weather fears were being realised and it was raining quite heavily and with seeming conviction. Hood up and I put myself my own little zone and concentrated on everything I wanted to get done in transition. Bike tyres pumped up, nutrition loaded up, and garmin on. I then had to take a toilet break, and head back to the car with my excess gear. Back into transition and time was quickly ebbing away towards the 6am start. Wetsuit on, swim cap and goggles at the ready and we began the shuffle towards the water. I'd also caught up with my friend in transition so we were nervously chatting while edging towards the water. By the this time the weather had cleared though, and although it was a bit cold it was looking clear :) Now usually I prefer to get in the water at least ten minutes before, to settle down and warm up a little and find a position I'm happy with in the water. Having grown up being a fairly strong swimmer, I've never struggled with the discipline, but I always want an escape plan, so like to position myself toward the edges if possible. It wasn't possible. We were still queuing to get in the water at almost 5 minutes to the start. I jumped in, and got near the start line just before 90 seconds to go was sounded, and the national anthem was being played out! Nice touch, but I wasn't in the mood for listening and or being patriotic! 

In my brief triathlon experience I have successfully negotiated two open water starts, one with 500 others in London docklands, and one with 1500 others at Outlaw half (albeit split in half). This was different, even after a good 500 meters after in my previous experience it settles down and you can find plenty of space, here it was still every man for himself. I settled into some sort of a rhythm after a while, but it was fraught with being climbed over, and or having to go over or around people. Not enjoyable in the least. I was dreading the turnaround which was now looming, and despite feeling like I was swimming OK, I began to feel as if I was getting seriously short of breath and as if my wet suit was horrible constricting me. It was a seriously panic-inducing feeling and I was ever so close to putting my hand up and trying to get out. I'm guessing it must have been the beginnings of a panic attack. I wanted out. This had never happened to me before and it was horrible. This was not the race plan I had in mind. After several minutes of this I managed to maintain control, and talked myself down and calm down. I then began to breathe in a controlled way and even settled into a much better swim. Before I knew it I was at the Australian exit, and the end of the first lap. I checked the watch, despite all the goings on I had managed a 32 minute lap! I jumped back in and re did my goggles before setting off again. Much more spacious this time with the exit separating people much more. I tired to settle into a rhythm again and just plodded away. Eventually it was done, and I was jumping out of the water at the other side, although slightly disappointingly in 1:11. Especially after my first lap pace, and having done a 1:06 in practice a few weeks prior. Hey-ho, onwards! 

Jogged into the transition feeling decent, and proceeded to change into my bike gear. I had decided to just use my trisuit and whack a bike jersey on over the top for the pockets for food, and for warmth. All sorted I jogged to get my bike and headed out onto the road drama free.

After 6 miles of easy spinning I remembered to start it, and began checking heart rate. I began to fuel up with some gel and water, and just kept thinking of cycling really easy. It was pretty cold with a wet trisuit to begin with, but after around 20 miles, the warming day, and drying suit began to get me up to temperature. During that time I was having a bit of trouble getting my garmin to read my cadence and heartrate monitor. I eventually got it sorted, before realising I'd left the thing not started for about 6 miles. So unfortunatley didn't quite capture the whole bike on gps, but it worked nicely as an extra boost, to look down and see I'd covered x miles, and then to know I could add another 6 to that!

Bike Data:  http://app.strava.com/activities/72373556

Despite all that had gone on in the swim I was feeling good for the day. I tried not to think about what was coming up, and just on the exact task at hand. First time up sheephouse felt great, tried to keep my heartrate low and was going at a good rate even overtaking people, but being mindful not to push too much.

Started refuelling at this point with some solid food too. I'd emptied 15 gels into one of my water bottles, mixed with water so rationed that out every half hour which worked really well, and a lot better than getting sticky and making a mess trying to open gels and then store the useless wrapper. Rest of the loop I felt good and just settled into a nice flow. I was enjoying the cycling as its my favourite discipline, so I just let the miles come. Back onto the loop for the second time, and going up Babylon lane was an incredible experience. The support was mind blowing, it was honestly like what I imagine the tour de france to be. You can't help but respond with a massive grin and extra effort. I was absolutely loving it, second time up sheephouse felt nearly as good as the first, and I settled into a great rhythm again, and just span away to the top. By this point in the ride everything was still going well, I was well fuelled and feeling good. The time was taking care of itself, despite having had to stop twice to pee. Decided it was the time nor the place to learn to do this on the fly like I saw a couple of riders doing. Onto the third lap, and up sheephouse again, still felt as good as the first, although I was mindful I was probably going a little slower at this point. I carried on just riding to heartrate and just riding easy. The last twenty miles everything began to slow down a little more and I was conscious of letting my nutrition slip a bit, and having run out of solid food, I couldn't handle any more gel. I still felt ok though, and it got better after some banana. At this point it also began to spit with rain very slightly. I wasn't too affected by this, and was just looking forward to getting running, and I was thankful it had held off until then! Eventually past the beginning of sheephouse and a right turn instead of carrying on up the hill felt great, as did the largely downhill flowing section to the school, and transition 2. 

I carved into the school entrance and immediately spotted a red line on the floor so began to stop, only to realise this was just to warn of the speed-bump, and not the dismount line! Back on the pedals and off the bike before the mount line. Wasn't quite with it at this point as I wanted to go and rack my bike myself. Didn't quite realise I was supposed to hand it over to the volunteers. After realising what was going on I let my bike go and grabbed my garmin from the bars so I could reset for the run. Jogged into the hall to get my bag and immediately noticed some quite nasty pain coming from my right foot, something I'd never had before. One of the first things I noticed on entering the transition hall as well was a chap on a stretcher being attended by paramedics! Hope he's ok and it was nothing too serious!  I sat down and got ready, new socks were a godsend, as was a quick foot rub to see that the pain was just superficial from my cycling shoes and nothing too bad. After another loo break, I was on my way out of the hall and onto the run. 

The right foot still felt a bit sore but soon cleared up after a mile or two. I was feeling good at this point and into a nice steady rhythm, steady being the operative word! The first aid station came and went, and I just grabbed water and another loo stop. A much needed number 2 at this point! I set off again feeling good and before I knew it I was at the loop.

Greeted at the loop by a large bagpipe band which was really cool, and really got me going. It was at this point I was struck by the volume of people already on the loop, and all the people with the lap bands already. Lap band envy was beginning! After the first lap and walking the aid stations and hills I still felt reasonably good. No stomach issues or cramping to report either, but I was struggling to keep any pace. I suspect not having the run volume in my legs was coming back to haunt me at this point. I managed to keep running for the most part, and continuously set myself goals to run to the next lamp post etc. On the second of the laps I began to take on coke, and the energy drink they had "power horse", which seemed to me pretty potent, as it began to get me going again. As well as taking some extra gels. 

I kept checking the time and realised I wasn't going to make my target time of sub-13 hours but at this point I wasn't bothered, and just wanted to finish. Last time round the town centre before heading out to the far turnaround point was seriously tough, by this point there had been several seriously heavy showers, and I was drenched through, as were my socks and shoes. I walked a lot of the last lap, but was spurred on by all the spectators shouting my name. I also spent a lot of the time high fiving any spectators with their hands out as this was not only good fun, but took my mind nicely off the pain. As soon as I got within sight of the downhill section into the town centre I began to run once again, and now knew I was going to finish. 

Finally I was through the town centre and on my way to the finishing shoot, I was finally able to take the left turn into the finishing area and it felt amazing. I was grinning from ear to ear and had broken into what felt like a sprint for the line. Through the last little maze section of the run and onto the red carpet. One of the best feelings in the known world! I sprinted down the chute, and across the line to finish in 13:20, while hearing those immortal words, "Mr Whatley, you    are    an   IRONMAN!!!!". I had done it and it felt absolutley epic. 

All my worries and pain was forgotten for some brief moments while I first received my medal, T-shirt, and then the food. Dominoes pizza never felt so good. I managed to summon the energy to get back up and talk to my parents about the day had gone, before getting my transition bags and getting into a fresh change of clothes. My head was still buzzing at this point, and I was still grinning like a cheshire cat. I couldn't beleive it. I was an Ironman, I had actually done it. After the months of training and sacrifice, it was all so worth it. 

I eventually got back to the hotel after collecting my car from the flash, and attempted a night sleep content in the knowledge that I had completed the race. Not much sleep to be had though, as my head was still buzzing from all the caffeine and energy from the day. Still, I was now an Ironman. 

--

Closing thoughts

When I was first considering this race way back in the summer of 2012, I knew I wanted my first to be a proper Ironman run race, and I'm so incredibly glad it was. The added polish and touches just topped it off for me, something I've just not had with other races I've done. I was also a little concerned that the Bolton course isn't often held in as high regard as some of the other courses but my closing thoughts were that it was incredible. As an experience it was one of the best I've had in my life, and the support, competitors, and course were what made it what it was. Swim was as expected I guess, I loved the bike, and as my favourite discipline really enjoyed the course. Ever so glad I recce'd it before the race as that was worth its weight in gold. The run was tough, and psychologically I really dislike repeating loops.

Overall I was ever so slightly dissapointed  (if you can call it that, as my absolute overriding emotion is happiness really) to not come in under my 13 hour goal, but it really didn't dampen my happiness of just finishing what was a seriously tough race. Plenty learned and plenty to take on board for next time. 

Will there be a next time? 

Hell yeah! I'm sold on this Iron business, you just can get that feeling anywhere else, and boy do I want it again. Probably not next year, as I want to pursue other things and build my technique and speed, but I will be back to do another Ironman event for sure, and hopefully with a goal of sub 11 or the like. 

w/c 29/07/13 IRONMAN WEEK!!!1

ahhh its almost here!

Almost all the training done. Had a good past week and got all my sessions in as per my plan. Only another couple of light sessions before the big day.

Heading up to Bolton on Friday to register, and chill out on Saturday before a 4am alarm call Sunday morning.

Pretty excited and nervous now.

w/c 15/07/13

Well, I've not been here for a while!

Things have picked up since my last blog post, the hamstring (touch wood) is all better now after a week and a bits break. This has really put my running back and am only now just getting back to where I was, but somewhat deeply concerning is the fact that a half marathon is the longest run I've managed this year, and or ever! I have managed two half's this year, one during outlaw half and one during training. So now being in the first week of a three week taper, this weekend is really the last chance to get a lengthy canter in. Will report back with findings!

After my last blog I took up a trip up to bolton for an organised training Saturday which involved a full length 3.8km open water swim followed by a couple of loops of the bike course. Something I had really wanted to experience prior to the actual race itself.  I drove the 180 odd miles on the Friday afternoon, then camped the evening before the training day, and camped again the night after the ride. Too tired to face driving 3 hours back down south after that! The weekend went really well, I managed the swim in 1:09 including an unscheduled piss-stop (I couldn't go when I was swimming along!), so that was a nice confidence builder.

 Camping, IM style

The bike leg of the day was somewhat tougher, but riding in a group of like-minded ironmen and ironmen to be was great fun, and a real breath of fresh air from training alone. The weather was decent, and we totaled just over 100 miles without feeling too bad.

My peak week was to follow this, which also went quite well, covering just over 160 miles on the bike, and swimming around 5k, however again the run volume was decidedly low at just over 12 miles covered :eek: Decided to cycle across the old Severn bridge as part of a century ride on the Saturday which was pretty cool.

This week started off well with a great run session (you know the one, where you feel just like a gazelle effortlessly hopping along. albeit at 8min/miles), and a good quick swim session. Decent bike on Wednesday but then Thursday and Friday took rest days as I was absolutely knackered having been doing some long work hours.

So its Saturday morning, and I'm waiting to get out on a longish ride today, although the wind seems to be picking up a little so not sure whether to get out on the tri bike with the deep sections or to take the road bike. Ideally i'm sure the miles are better spent on the tri bike!

EDIT: 22/07/13

Well I managed to get out on the TT bike for a windy 65 miles or so which was decent fun. Cycled up near Fairford and managed to peak a few of the aircraft at the air tattoo, including the Eurofighter which was cool to see.

On Sunday managed a half marathon in the heat. Felt decent overall but was suffering a bit with dehydration towards the end. Nice confidence builder. The race is just under two weeks away now. Very close. Excited, nervous and worried all at the same time now!

W/c 24/06/13 :(

Well I'm borderline entering a state of depression writing this, it's all gone completely tits up. Following my recent hamstring trouble, the muscle in question is just not getting better, and continues to be painful despite four days of full rest, which in itself one of the hardest things I've done yet. I'm going completely potty over the thought of sitting here doing nothing 4 and a half weeks away from a race I've trained for six months for!

Just not sure what to do now, with every extra day doing nothing it feels like I'm just washing all the fitness I've built up down the drain. Even having doubts if ill be in any shape to be on the startline.

Not in a good place, and completely lost on what to do next really.

w/c 17/06/13 Massaged body, bruised ego

Well things took a turn for the slightly sub-optimal following last Monday's sports massage. Waking up Tuesday morning the legs felt immeasurably better, nice and lose with minimal aches. I finished work and had eaten so decided I could get out for a nice run, what with it being warm and sunny out. I set out on one of my usual routes, and my running has been feeling pretty good of late, so I realised I was covering ground well and I felt good. Checked my pace at the turnaround and saw that I was on for a pretty decent time. So, stupidly I thought I'd push on and try for a 10k PB. Previous PB has always been just below the 50 minute mark (not the fastest I know).

So after a pretty long effort I cracked the 10k in 47 minutes which was great and I felt like I was running really well. Until that is I suddenly felt a nasty twinge in my hamstring. Now, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that the massage worked wonders for the reduction of pain in my hamstrings, but they were still being repaired by my body, and the last thing I should have been doing was sprinting (for me) 10k's. Looking back now it was pretty darn foolish, and I'm certainly regretting it. It wasn't a severe pain, but it was noticably there, and enough to stop running and try and stretch it out.

I pushed it to the back of my mind for the remainder of the week. Had a good ride on Wednesday in the sun, and skipped the transition run to let the hammy rest. I also took a view on changing my road position slightly by moving the saddle down a touch and moving my cleat position back a touch to try and be a bit kinder on the hams.

Thursday came, and following having applied for a British Cycling race license earlier in the week I was all set to enter my first cycling race. Luckily I have the Castle Combe racing motor racing circuit fairly local to me who run a Summer series of races every Thursday evening. I paid up my £12 and pretending like I knew what I was doing while waiting around for the race time of 7:30 to approach.

Probably not the best number to begin my racing career with!

The start time rolled around, and after warming up round the car park everyone cruised onto the circuit. Prior to my entering I'd read a lot of Cat 4 race reports, and all made a point of staying in the bunch.

The starter set us off and immediately I was surprised by the pace. Up to 26mph + very quickly. I wanted to build confidence by staying at the side so I had an out should I need but this was probably not helping me as I wouldn't have been getting the full bunch effect. But I didn't feel comfortable cornering inside the group, and or pushing into the group. The full race is 17 laps, or 32 miles. I managed to stay with the main group for 12 of those laps, before getting unceremoniously dropped coming out of one of the chicanes.

I just wasn't used to the surging nature of the group, constant little sprints and efforts, interspersed with barely any recovery time made for a tough introduction. I'm keen to go back and try to stay with the group for the whole race. I'm sure I can do it next time, and its a good workout even if I don't.

Friday came, and after work I went out for a run, but cut it short to just 15 minutes after I felt the same hamstring pain as Monday. Not good.

Saturday, and a 5:55am alarm woke me with a start. I'd planned to do the Bike Bath 100 mile ride this morning, so before I knew it I was up with a belly full of porridge and on my way. The weather was miserable, with showers due all day and 20mph winds. Overall the ride was enjoyable despite the weather, but was surprisingly a bit tougher than the great western sportive. Great feed stations and organisation though.

Ride:  http://app.strava.com/activities/62092547

After the ride my hams were pretty achey. I stretched, and had a protein shake for recovery before driving home. Once home I had an ice bath, followed by a shower, then stretched again. All of which helped my recovery for Sunday I'm sure.

Woke Sunday and relaxed most of the morning. Endeavored to complete the scheduled 2:15 run on Sunday, but the hamstring pain was still mildly present. I cut it short and managed an hour still. All the more dissapointing, as I feel my running has really come along since the Outlaw, and I was on a roll. Undecided on how to continue now, the last thing I want to do is make it worse. But with only another 3 full weeks of training before taper, I'm terrified of missing the workouts and just not being able to handle the full marathon come IMUK!

My thoughts on IMUK overall at this point.

Swim: Little bit nervous, I've still been slacking on the swim, so really need to pick this up in the next few weeks as a confidence boost. Something I should be doing as I can hopefully remain injury free in this discipline!
Bike: Feeling pretty good, and happy covering the 100 mile distance, albeit on the roadbike, and at a pretty slow speed. Focus on the TT bike for the next few weeks, and getting comfortable with the long distance on that bike. Weather is looking good for the weekend so this should be a goer.
Run: Pretty worried about this now, just want my hamstring to be OK so I can get some more decent volume in prior to the big day.

So as usual its been a learning experience this week, and I'll definitely think twice about my performance following any massaging!

w/c 10/06/13

Just a small update for this week. Not too much going on at the moment. Had a good training week and hit some good sessions. Managed a full 3800m swim session on the Tuesday, and hit all the other sessions in the week with the exception of cutting my swim on Thursday short.

Woke up Saturday feeling ridiculously tired, probably not helped by not getting a particularly early night which was pretty stupid. But felt totally drained. Had planned to go out for a 5hr ride, but what with feeling pretty poor, and the weather being horrendous (20mph+ wind, and rain, no thanks!) I decided better of it. Instead I did absolutely nothing, should have gone for a run but just didn't feel like it.

I hoped to feel better for Sunday and the weather was certainly looking up, so I thought about getting a good ride in Sunday instead. Luckily there was a local 100mile Sportive on the Sunday, so I turned up Sunday morning and rode the Sportive. Never done one before, so was pleasantly surprised. Good fun with a great bunch of friendly people, and was nice to ride in a pacey group rather than completely solo.

Ended up finishing in just under 6 hours, including the food stops (lovely excuse to eat plenty of free flapjack!) and was happy enough to get a gold with an average speed just over 17mph. Was on the road bike so am hoping I can carry a bit more speed on the TT bike than that, but happy with fitness overall. Didn't feel bad afterwards either save for some pretty tight hamstrings. There were a few photographers out on the course so will hopefully get some pictures to update the post later

 Ride: http://app.strava.com/activities/60702267

Woke up Monday morning, and the tight hamstrings had not subsided. I remember getting the feeling after the Outlaw half to a lesser extent, but it can't have been helped by racing then sitting in a car for 2hrs 30 to drive home. Anyway, they were tighter than ever this morning, so I decided to go for a sports massage, another first of mine. It was brilliant, my hamstrings were pretty knotted and very tight, as were my calfs aswell. Feeling much better now, so should be good for the weekend, when I'm hoping to enter another local 100 mile sportive. Think I'll be looking to get a few more massages in before my main race too, as I think its probably money well spent.

Also applied for my British cycling racing licence this week, in the hope of getting into a few Cat 4 races. There is a circuit race local to me run on summer evenings, so weather permitting may enter my first road race this week! More to come on that pending weather!

So overall, a good week. Dead keen on most of my sessions now which is a vast improvement. Racing and training with other people has definetly helped with that massively.

In the meantime, thanks for reading!

w/c 03/06/13 Back to the grind

So Outlaw half has been and gone and its back to the grind. Motivation has definitely been renewed by my latest race, and I really what to get into the final leg of my IMUK prep.

I started the week with a slow run on the Tuesday which was really difficult. My whole body was still in pain, but I stuck it out. I think these sessions almost count for the most, and feel great once done. This was no exception. Still pretty baked from the race I only managed around 1500m in the pool that evening at no great speed.

Wednesday came and I got out on the bike which felt ok. Missed the following run due to pure tiredness.

Thursday and up early for the swim of which i managed 2500m. I felt much better now, and had largely recovered muscle ache wise. I also managed to get out on the TT bike, and hit a few PR's on strava despite it being pretty gusty out. Bike legs where feeling much stronger by this point.

Now, I should have made it clear that this was not going to be the usual blog update as this weekend my Sister was getting married on the Saturday. This was at our local church and then the reception was at home, with a large marquee on the lawn.

A lot of Friday was spent as Thursday prepping stuff for the wedding, mowing lawns, general odd jobs, and collecting people and things from various places. As a result I always accepted my training would take a break over the weekend which I had no problem with.

I did manage to get out Friday afternoon and had one of the best runs I've had in ages, I felt really strong and  the legs felt powerful. Hopefully an after effect of the half iron distance. I only stayed out for an hour but it was really good.

I woke early Saturday and began to get the last remaining things for the wedding. No training today, just had to be in the church to be Usher for half 1. This was followed by the reception at home.

Quite honestly one of the best weekends of my life, I've never seen two people quite as happy in each other as my sister and her new husband which was pretty humbling (soppiness over). The party that followed was also amazingly good. Brilliant time. Unfortunately I think I'm now suffering with a bout of post wedding blues if that even exists for brothers of the bride!

Its Tuesday and I've just about recovered from this and managed another decent run this morning. After a week of eating like an absolute pig (I don't want to see another cake ever again) I'm geared up more than ever to attack my last bit of training before the big day. Really can't wait to crack on now.