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2015, and the beginning of a cycling focused year.

Feels an age since my last post after Ironman UK 2014!

Quite a bit has changed, I'm now living in London, and have decided to concentrate in 2015 solely on my cycling. Cycling has always been the aspect of triathlon I've enjoyed the most, and its always been by some margin my strength. So it kind of sense to me, especially as I was struggling to come up with goals that would keep me really engaged in triathlon training.

So I moved to London in October, and soon after I started looking for a club to join to get out cycling with, as the only place I'd been riding to date was round Richmond Park. I asked at a few, most of which had waiting lists! Not only that but required you to be getting out on a "newbie run" to get used to riding close to others. That was until somebody recommended me to a group of cyclists called Paceline RT. Their ethos was to race hard but also give as much back to the sport in terms of organisation volunteering as possible, which I really liked. I'm now a member, and have been on a couple of rides, which have been great, and the people have been really welcoming!

I started training again proper late December as I attempted some of the Rapha Festive 500, weather conditions and fitness meant I only did around half of it but it got me out the door. Training since then has ramped up a fair bit and I'm now doing around 8 hours a week and my watts have started to increase nicely.

My aims for the year are as below

• Get to Cat 3
• Start to be in the mix in Cat 3
• Get some TT's under my belt and improve on my 23:28 10 time from 2014
• Race the relay bike leg of Outlaw Half (Entered solo, but switched to relay entry)
• Race lots and have fun!

So some fairly simple aims, hopefully all of which I can accomplish. One of the benefits of being a cyclist rather than triathlete is the frequency of races, I've already pinned a number on twice this year, and its not even February. I was waiting until April last year to get my first triathlon in. 

So onto the races that I've done so far, both of which have been at Hillingdon cycle circuit, as a part of the Imperial Winter Series. 

Hillingdon Cat 4 Race - 17/01/15

The circuit is a 10 mile ride from my house, so I set up a route on my Garmin and trundled off to hillingdon, being as light on the power as I could. I'd done a fast club run the week before and my legs felt the best they had in a while, so I was hoping to hold onto the bunch at least. I've only raced cat 4 once before, and I ended up getting dropped from the bunch a couple of laps before the end. So I just wanted to gauge fitness.

I got to the sign-on an hour early and got my number, which was stupid on my half as I ended up sat there shivering prior to the race! I busied myself with checking out all the competition and looking at the other peoples rides, there was some nice bikes there too. Eventually it was coming up to 1 o clock and all the Cat 4's starting heading out onto the circuit. I did one quick lap to familiarise what is a fairly simple circuit. The conditions were ok bit the circuit was damp and I was nervous into the corners. There was a stiff headwind blowing onto the last corner and final straight as well, which we were told was slowing the bunch up a lot. 

I pulled up to the bunch right at the back before the start and waited for the flag to drop getting pretty nervous at how I would fare at this point. We were off amongst a throng of cleats clipping in. The pace started and was a fair tempo, but I quickly realised I shouldn't have a problem holding on, and began to settle in and feel comfortable in the bunch. I also quickly realised the last corner was a great place to close on the group if needed due to them being slowed by the wind. The first couple of laps were tentative as I was a bit nervous at the speed of some of the cornering, but it felt ok. 

I was mindful only about 3 laps in that I was pretty much just hanging at the back of the bunch, and from everything I've read about others road racing, was that if you're not moving forward your going backwards in the group. So I decided to try and work my way up to near the front for a bit, using the last corner as a slingshot when the group slowed, I swung round the outside, and was quickly coming up on the bunch leaders. Before I knew it I was putting in a proper effort, and was off the front. Stupidly I thought I could stay away and put in a pretty big effort, in the hope that some others would bridge across but nobody seemed to, and after a lap and a half the bunch was catching back up so I wound the effort back down and waited for the group to catch, before I quickly ended up back at the rear of the bunch. The effort felt great though, and the feeling of getting out in front of the bunch was electric, I loved it.

I decided to measure my effort a bit more across the next few laps, but ended up being more naive and attacking a few more time to no avail. The racing felt good though, and was clean, plenty of communication in the group, and nobody seemed to be riding too wildly. 5 laps to go and I still had in my head a vision of me solo'ing to victory. I blame idolising Tony Martin, and some of his insane solo breaks! So with one lap to go I gave it everything and got past the front of the group and round the first two corners, I was clear, but the group were chasing hard, and I was getting caught by the time the track started to pitch up slightly. By the corner complex I was back on the front, and by the last corner I was spent, and sat up. Ended up rolling across the line in 36th.

So a fun experience for my first race, and I was most pleased with the fitness level, especially knowing that I still have so much more to give in terms of besting last years peak fitness. Managed to get a mention in the post race results report, and even won a spot prize of a full bike service worth £100 or so. Awesome!

I trundled back home, happy in the knowledge that I'd left it all out on track, something which I never really got from triathlon, and the buzz and adrenalin of racing was brilliant. Looking back at my power file, I'd also made a couple of Pb's which was great too. 

The next couple of days I took some advice from the Paceline guys, and had a think about how I wanted my next race to go which was to be the following weekend. In summary, less futile attacking (a lot of last weeks was just me wanting to test myself and see my level vs the bunch) and I wanted to sit in a bit more, and observe the race, follow any attacks that look good, and potentially feature in the sprint. 

Hillingdon Cat 4 Race - 24/01/2015

The week up to the race had been training heavy, and I'd covered around 90 miles. This was despite carrying a bit of a knee niggle, which I'd realised had been down to bad cleat position. Hopefully this wouldn't affect the race. Conditions were better today than they had been all week. A sunny, clear but slightly windy day. I set off to Hillingdon into a headwind, and straight away my legs felt awful, totally blocked, and putting any power down felt seriously tough, and I felt lethargic. Bad news. My head wasn't really in it as soon as I felt this, but I just kept my head down and carried onto Hillingdon. Good training riding with a bunch if nothing else I thought. 

I arrived at a more sensible time, and just had enough time to sort myself before heading out onto the circuit. I'd also brought a change of base layer and jersey to change into before the start, to try and keep a bit warmer which seemed to work. 

We set off and the first couple of laps the tempo felt the same as last week, the wind was blowing slightly differently though, and the bunch was fast down the back straight, but slowing climbing the small rise into the corners. I was feeling abysmal by this point and was just hoping to stay in touch of the bunch all race in tact. The riding was a lot more ragged this week, and I saw 3 separate crashes, which worried me a bit. I pretty much sat in the bunch the whole race up until we got shown the 5 to go board. I decided to use this opportunity to at least try to move up to the front a bit. My legs had started to feel a bit better by this point. I'd scoped a few places on the circuit to move up, and executed these nicely on the 5 to go lap nicely, to find myself very near the front. When suddenly I felt myself going clear, and stupidly decided to dig and give it a proper go. The watts came up and I put in a proper effort, I was way faster through the corners using what I had learnt last week, and quickly had a small gap on the bunch, I went through the 3, and 2 to go lapboards clear, but on reaching the corners the bunch had closed, so I used the opportunity to sit up and recover a bit. Which luckily worked as I was able to hold near the front of the bunch on getting caught. 

We flew through the last lap board with the pace much higher. I almost got completely squeezed on the straight, and for the first time actually touched bars on both sides with two riders trying to close up, I held my ground and we started to come up the back straight. I put in a bit of a dig and made some more ground on some other riders that were now up at the front. Through the last complex of corners and I was in position to contest the sprint. I felt I launched at a good time, and didn't appear to go backwards at least, but my legs were shot from the earlier big 8 minute effort. I sprinted across the line and was fairly sure I was at least in the top 10, so had secured some points, I hoped.

My legs were absolutely on fire with lactic acid as I rolled back to the clubhouse building. I quickly got changed and started to spin back home. My legs were completely shot by this point and I was struggling to even get over 150w. But once I again, I had to be pretty happy that I'd given it everything. Despite attacking accidentally off the front again, and too early. At least I'd hopefully salvaged something from it. 

I'd smashed a couple of power pb's notably 10 min power which was 50watts higher than previous best, due to giving everything on my futile attack! 20 min power was also 10watts higher than my 2015 best, but looking at the curve, this wasn't even really a representative effort. I know when fresh now I can best that for certain. 

The next few weeks

I've got another Hillingdon race coming up on the 31st, so will aim to be fresher for that, and again, aim to either attack at an actual opportune moment, or contest the sprint properly. But I guess it depends on the race, conditions and suchlike. But I'm please with current fitness and form. 

I'm also dusting off the TT bike for the 8th Feb, for the KW Sporting 14. The course which I recce'd earlier this week. The course takes a steady rise for the first half of the lap, followed by a fast rolling A-road, and a fast slight decline section back to the start. Its two laps, so should be interesting to see how I go there. 

In addition I've got some Novice racers training days at the Cyclopark, which are necessary if I want to compete in the surrey road race league later in the year. 

After that, I'm off on a training camp to Alicante at the start of March, so am really looking forward to that. It'll be my first, and I'm a bit anxious as to whether I can cope with the volume, but hoping by then fitness is further improved! 

So far I'm loving it, racing is fantastic, and I'm way more engaged in training than I have been for quite a long while. 

 

IMUK 2014

This year has been a strange one so far, I began the year hungrier than ever to smash last years races and put the time in to get some strong results. It all seemed to start off pretty well, my running was quicker than it ever has been (still slow by most standards) and my cycling had taken on another level with the use of a power meter. However it was about 4-5 weeks out from IMUK I felt like I just didn't want to be doing this anymore. Training sessions were a drag, and my only motivation seemed to be not wanting to embarrass myself completely on race day. This wrapped up with the fact that my peak weeks were mixed in with some unavoidable social events meant preparation did not go to plan, Instead of a peak week of 20 hours, it was actually 2 hours :( . In the end it looked like I was in a similar position to the year previous, having not quite capped off my long cycle or run sessions. Swimming was another thing altogether. Even post race I've only swam 29km year to date.

So after the peak weeks that never happened race week arrived, and so I was just hoping that I'd maintained some semblance of fitness in order to complete. My only saving grace was my own assurance that an extra years Ironman training endurance had to be worth something. The extra fitness had seemed to come through in my half iron warm up race, so this was positive at least. I only exercised up until the Wednesday prior to the race to keep myself as fresh as possible. On Friday I left to get up to Bolton nice and early in order to register, get set up and then relax Saturday prior to the race on Sunday.

I arrived up at the newly named Macron stadium at around 2pm after a long and slow car journey, to the new T2, and registration tent. All the usual expo stuff, and simple registration, a much better transition bag given out this year though which is always a nice touch. After registering I headed over to the stadium for the race briefing, which was much the same as the year before. I was made to feel like a bit of an old hand, being the only guy on my table who was coming back for a second serving! All the other competitors were Ironman virgins so to speak.

After registration I settled back at the hotel with some pizza, got to love carb loading prior to race day.

Saturday arrived and it was time to get over to T1 with my bike and bags. Sadly it was pretty much raining all day, so I headed over in the wet to rack my bike and get the rain cover on asap to stop c.£5k's worth of bike getting sopping wet. Had a quick look around to familiarise myself but pretty standard stuff. Wandered over to the lake in order to gee up some pre race nerves. Which as with most of my races this year had not been present, at least not until the start line. Breaking news though, the swim looked long. To add to which it would be the longest swim I would have done this year by approximately 1800 additional metres. Superb prep work! I was suitably nervous in that moment. Especially given my swim last year (Read last years IMUK report, not pretty).

After this I caught up with a friend also racking his bike. Since IMUK had changed the bike course this year for a 2 lap course rather than 3 shorter laps (more on this later) and I had not seen the new course (another prep fail) Jason and I wanted to take a look at the course and suss any dodgy points etc.

Well driving round the course at 60mph in the pouring rain probably isn't the best preparation, for course knowledge, nerves, or the body. It was kind of Jase to drive me round though, and I felt at least I had a better feel for areas of concern and just the course in general. Several sections I thought would be carnage, but actually riding them turned out not to be so bad, guess driving and cycling don't transfer too well.

Back to my hotel and I settled down for a night of sleep, not before applying a few layers of sun cream. Despite the unrelenting rain all day Saturday, Sunday was actually forecast to be sunny!

The alarm was due to buzz at 3:15am but I was awake at 3am. I whacked the kettle on to get some porridge on the go and while I waited applied my sexy number tattoos to my arms. Two porridges and an energy bar later I put my race gear on and got ready to head out of the door. With everything I needed in the car I drove over towards Pennington Flash once more. Parking at the Morrisons nearby necessitated a 5-minute walk through the back of the country park towards the flash. In what I hoped would be the scariest portion of my day I navigated my way along a pitch black path through the woods, alone towards the lake.

Upon coming out the other side I was greeted with a familiar train of nervous athletes making their way towards the lake, I'm guessing they were the sensible ones who took the well lit roadway. I got to my bike and set nutrition and Garmins up. Interesting to be racked adjacent to the pro field in order to oggle their bikes and them in general. :blushes: A quick hello to the parents who had made the journey to spectate and it was time to get the wetsuit on. Nice and early. Trouble with it being so warm was that it was tough to even slide the wetsuit on, but an absolute sweat fest when it was on! Needs must though as I wanted to get in the water nice and early to place myself exactly where I wanted.
Nerves build and I jump into the water, I swam over to the very far right and placed myself at the very front in order to try and avoid any carnage.

The buzzer sounded and they're off, in all my open water mass start experience, this was one of the cleanest start I'd had. Lesson learned, get to the front, maybe at the side! I settled in pretty nicely and was well on my way. The first lap went without incident, and I actually had the first lap done in 34minutes. Second lap was a bit choppier due to the volume of people moving through the water but the journey out to the far turn buoy also passed without incident, save for beginning to feel my neck chafe. On the way back in I began to fade pretty bigtime though, the lack of long swim training was showing now! I finally jumped out of the water with a 1:14 swim. Not too shabby all things considered.

I jogged towards transition, and for some reason my attitude by this point was pretty poor, I was struggling to motivate myself to even get changed for the 112 ride. I slowly managed to sort myself but was then out on the bike after 7 minutes of faffing.

I jumped on and pedalled out of the country pack towards the main road, negotiating the speed bumps on the way, as well as every type of spilled energy bars, gels and drinks you could care to imagine (Do people purposely try and balance food on their top tube and hope it'll stay put for the durations?? or do they just not try using bottles and food on their bikes in training!?) I also passed a cyclist who'd decked it on one of the speed bumps, he looked ok though thankfully.

Out onto the main road and I went to apply some power but felt horrific! I had some odd pain in my left groin I'd never experienced cycling before, and generally felt sub par. I tried to get as much drink in me as possible hoping this was the solution. After 15 miles or so I was ready to drop my bike and wander off the course, but I had a word with myself and cracked on. By this point I was climbing sheep house lane, into the mist and rain, which did nothing for my mental state. My visor was so fogged by this point I had to tip the helmet right back and peer under the steamed visor. I climbed sheephouse steadily and without incident and was beginning to feel a little better by this point. I used the fast decent following the climb to try and air out the helmet which helped a touch.

At the top of the Sheephouse climb

Climbing Sheephouse, complete with very foggy visor!

I began to settle into the ride, but it wasn't until an hour in that I began to take on food, possibly  no definitely a mistake. 30 miles in I felt better for having nutrition and gels etc. and began to crack on a little. The nature of the course however is that its incredibly bitty. Loads of climbing, lots of dead corners, and bad surfaces to attempt to maintain speed over. Which all adds up to a huge variability in power output. Now my training rides I could usually pick a course I could settle into, getting a Variability Index (VI) of close to 1.00 (1.03-1.05 in most cases), I ended up with 1.30 here! This all added up to a mild blow up around 90 miles in. I started to feel pretty sick, and was probably dehydrated. I tried to force food down as I knew I'd need it for the run but it was seriously hard to swallow. My target for the bike leg had been around 200w, but I was struggling to get around 150w out by this point. Afer 6:12 on the bike T2 finally loomed and I wheeled my bike up to a friendly volunteer who relieved me of its presence, before tottering over to the change tent and my run bag.

Bombing towards Sheephouse for the second climb, love this section, approx 35mph at this point.

Same place, different angle

I grabbed my bag, then a seat in quick succession. At this point all the muscles in my legs began to spasm and cramp rather nastily, I ignored it at the time but I'm figuring it was down to not taking on enough water during the bike, which was in turn probably another reason for the 90 mile mini bonk. Run shoes on I headed out onto the run course, and surprisingly felt reasonable maintaining a very steady run pace. It was on now, there was no chance I was given in now. Numerous times during the day up to that point I'd considered quitting, but strangely as soon as I was running it never even crossed my mind.

Almost looks like a smile at this point, early days!

I jogged in towards Bolton and felt reasonable. After a couple of aid stations I arrived onto the remainder of the 3 loop course. The 1000 mile stare was well in use by this point and I just tapped away, walking the aid stations, the big hill and a few bits in between. The support was pretty monumental though, and that helped a great deal, as did the on course nutrition. A couple of times I came close to running out of food before just making it to an aid station for as much water, coke, gels and pretzels as I could stomach. After 3 laps of much the same I was finally able to make my way into the finish chute.

1000 mile stare in fine operation - IN THE ZONE!

I'm gonna finish it! Sucking up the atmosphere at the finish, and loving it

Still loving it...

I high fived my parents and a bunch of spectators on the way in and sprinted down the chute arms aloft with that feeling you just don't get anywhere else. Finishing an Ironman, with a healthy pb for good measure. I even managed to crack a 5 hour marathon. I should really try and do one without a bike ride first one day!

YOU ARE AN IRONMAN, again...

12:41 (40mins better than 2013)
Swim - 1:14
Bike - 6:12
Run - 4:58

So that was IMUK 2014. Plenty more lessons learned and things to take away in order to improve in years to come. On finishing happily I was reminded once more why I entered in the first place, and why I spent all that time training.

Finishing any triathlon brings a nice sense of accomplishment, but Ironman is something quite special, I realise how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to have done two now. However at this point in my life (I'm still only 26) I think I need to take a break from it for a year or two. Its a sport which does not lend well to having a social life, something which I like to think I enjoy having!

So watch this space, I'm sure I'll be back doing IM distance in the future (a nice fast flat course like IM Barcelona tickles my fancy at the moment) but I think for next year at least I'll be working on run technique, cycling more and maybe doing the odd sprint or oly distance tri for fun.

Outlaw Half 2014

I awoke the morning of Sunday 1st June in a sweaty state at 3:50am, 20 minutes before my alarm. I was fully awake now anyway and wasn't going to sleep anymore so decided to get out of bed and begin to prepare for the days racing. I felt seriously dehydrated, not sure whether this was the previous nights food, the stifling hotel room, or a mixture of both not good. Immediately I started drinking a load of water in order to feel normal again!

Two pots of instant porridge later and I packed up the hotel room and made my way downstairs to the car, and a painful 40mph (average speed cameras) drive across to the National Water Sports centre. The conditions however, could literally not be more perfect. Cloudless sky, and windless conditions. Excellent.

When I arrived the centre was already a hive of activity and I found myself a parking spot and began to unload all of my gear I would need for the day. I found it strange this year I wasn't really particularly nervous, but was becoming nervous for fear of not being nervous enough if that even makes sense. Worried I was becoming over confident!

I got to transition which was a pretty cramped affair and managed to set out my stuff the way I wanted it, and put my wetsuit on. It was by this point I was in severe need of a toilet stop, which I began the long queue for at 6:10am, the race was due to kick off at 6:30am. 10 minutes later I was still queueing and the organisers were beginning to gather my wave at the water! One seriously quick toilet stop later and I was jogging down to the water front still grappling with my wetsuit to try and get it on, now I was getting nervous!

I finally managed to get the suit done up, hat on, goggles sorted and in the water with a couple of minutes to spare. One of the great things about this race is the wave starts, and the space you get. I seeded myself in the faster group to the left hand side, with ample room to spare. 1 minute to go, watch ready googles sorted, ready to go. 10, 9, 8... you get the picture! We were off, immediately I found a good amount of space and was swimming nicely with room either side, perfect! The water itself absolutely stank though and was seriously full of weeds. At times it felt like you were fighting through it slightly.

The long outward leg was fairly uneventful, and due to this set to be the longest swim I'd done all year I wasn't expecting too much in the way of pace, eventually the halfway mark came without incident, I steered clear of the buoys to prevent any biff, and was shortly round the second turn buoy and back towards transition. Quick check of the watch showed 16 mins which I was more than happy with. On the way back in I managed to find a great pair of feet to follow in which I'm sure saved me a minute or so. I throttled back a touch in the slipstream and felt good.

Eventually the swim exit loomed and I began to kick to wake the legs up slightly, up and out of the exit feeling decent, albeit with a bit extra weed plant life attached to me! Swim time 33:34

T1 was a fairly sedate affair, bit of a struggle to get the wetsuit off without cramping up my calves, but eventually fine. Helmet on, number belt, nutrition in the pockets, bike shoes on and off out of transition onto the bike course in 3:51.

Now the bike has always been my favourite discipline and given the conditions I hoped this would be no different, especially as an already fast flat course. I managed a 2:47 here last year so hoped to better this. I set out riding to a fairly inspecific power goal of around 220-240, managing it as I went and comparing power to heart rate so as not to over exert myself. The bike course was brilliant fun and went mostly without drama. My garmin decided to enter a sort of diagnostic mode a couple of times which was a bit annoying but nothing a quick reset couldn't sort. I felt good for most of the bike, and was on top of my nutrition nicely. I had to make a toilet stop at the first aid station which cost me a minute or so, this was as a result of waking up so dehydrated and drinking so much in the morning! Toward the latter end of the bike my quads began to become a bit full of lactate, which was annoying as they really shouldn't have considering I was going reasonably easy. I began to push a bit more the last 10 miles, as I was coming up on a bit of traffic and wanted to get past, and I was still feeling really good by this point. Much different to last year where I was falling apart at this stage!

Thumbs up! Feeling good. 

Eventually onto the last mile and I did a few short bursts out of the saddle to wake myself up a bit. Into T2 with a bike split of 2:36, 10 minutes improved from the year before. 22mph average with an average power of 214w. Quite a bit less than what I was expecting to ride to, possibly as a result of the morning dehydration. Happy nonetheless to come in quicker and with plenty left for the run. T2 was dealt with in
2:07 and I was off out onto the run course feeling pretty good.

I started off the run at sub 8min mile pace which was probably too quick but I felt good so just ran by feel, I ended up turning off my garmins HR warning as I was pushing 168bpm by this point. High, but I felt good so just rolled with it. A couple of miles in and still feeling well. The run went largely without incident and felt as good as you can throughout. Had to make two toilet stops for a minute or two each time which was a little frustrating but something I've come to expect consuming so much caffeine. I concentrated on a rhythm and just kept tapping away. Walking aid stations where I felt I needed to.

The grass section was a bit energy sapping and the toe path was congested at times, especially with members of the public still being allowed on!

The last lap of the lake was tough and the sun was beating down by this point, but I was still feeling ok so began to push a bit on the last leg. I knew I'd probably just missed out on a 5:10 finish but under 5:15 was still on the table and a sub 2-hour half, so I kept going.

Down the finish chute, and you just can't beat that feeling. Smile says it all!

Overall a pretty well executed race in great conditions. The main aims where obviously to complete, and better last years time of 5:39 which I did pretty comprehensively throughout the race so I was super chuffed with that. I think just having the extra years endurance in the body helped so much all over with that, as well as the experience to know roughly how I should be feeling.

Looking forward to the next BIG block of training now IMUK is very near indeed. Need to get three or so big 100 mile rides in the legs and a couple of big runs before the taper. Started back to try and train today but only managed a 500m swim and a couple of minutes running, due to picking up the biggest blister I've ever seen on my left foot. Something I didn't notice on the run, but definitely did afterwards! Product of not changing socks in T2 I think. Lesson learned!

Training Update

So its been a while since I 've penned any updates, about time. Anyone would have thought I'd lost interest in triathlon! Thankfully as I write training has been going very well, as always with a few caveats and exceptions! Last year my main weakness was my running, which was something that I specifically concentrated on over the winter. The technique work is now paying off which is great fun to see. More detail on that later!

Swimming

There has been none! Last year the plan I followed concentrated a lot on swimming and I kept up with it for the most part at the beginning of the plan, then I got so bored with the volume I let it drop off before the race which was rather silly. This year I've gone the other way and tried to keep a couple of sessions going before ramping up towards the later months. I've always been able to maintain a reasonable base of swimming so am hoping this plan works.

Cycling

This has been going very well. I've been hitting all my volume targets weather permitting and now that the clocks have gone forward getting out after work for a good length ride is so much easier. Training with power this year has really brought my riding on another level. As has having a very good new position on a correctly fitted bike! This is being reflected in my power numbers, and more importantly my training ride times. I've also been able to maintain close to 20mph averages for almost 70 miles at the moment, something which I was quite far away from last year. Hoping this should also improve given race conditions and aero wheels and helmet!

Running

My main area for improvement this year is going well. All of 2013 I barely set a PB as my running became gradually more and more inefficient. I was heel striking and doing it slowly. My main long runs were around the 9:00min/mile pace if I was lucky. I've chopped almost a minute off that pace, so my times are coming tumbling down, and as a result I've already set 3 new 10k pb's this year. This feels great, and is exciting. The last pb I felt like I was just out on a tempo run until the 5mile point, at which I realised a pb was within reach, so I all but sprinted the last 1.2miles. Not the most efficient way to get a pb, which fills me with yet more confidence given I'm sure I could go faster if well paced.

All of this is fairly meaningless over 10k distance when related to the IM distance, so I'll need to shift a focus onto doing some slightly longer distances over the next few weeks. It'll be interesting to see how this speed translates into splits in my coming races though.

Less than a month now until my first race of the year which is a sprint distance, so over the coming weeks I'll be concentrating on bringing up my swim volume and pretty much maintaining everything else. The bike distances will also start to pick up quite considerably too.

Looking forward to it. Another positive to note this year is my general outlook. I've been concerned that as I've completed the IM distance that I'd lost some of the fear that pushed my last year. I'm very aware that I do not want to become complacent. But I think being more laid back about training and striking up more of a balance between social time and training time has left me in a much better position. Last year I was fairly anal about missing sessions, and often pushed myself to being burnt out or ill, even injured. I've managed to avoid those things so far, yet am still performing better than this time last year, which is really positive.

I'll be looking to do some more analysis soon to try and quantify exactly where and how different my fitness is year on year.

Jan Training update

So training through January has been going pretty well so far.

Swimming volume is pretty minimal still but that's always been the plan. Will be looking to pick this up in the next few weeks.

Cycling volume is average at the moment, didn't quite manage 200 miles in January but power is fairly good, I'm looking forward to cracking on with this in Feb weather permitting.

Running is where the real progress is coming at the moment, having been running midfoot/forefoot strike now I'm really seeing the benefit. Manage a "long" run of 8.5 miles on Sunday at an average pace of 8:10min/miles with the last three splits being 8:01, 7:41, and 7:08. Talk about finishing strong. I also managed to top a two year old 10k pb in Jan so the new one is 47:08 (Too early to aspire to a sub 45 this year!?). Both these things I just could not have done a year ago, which is super exciting for the rest of the year. The run has always been what has held me back from some competitive results.

The first week of Feb has been a bit of a write off though as I've been out with a nasty cough/cold. Better to just suck up the time off an recover quickly that to try and train through it and prolong it, having taken experience from last year. Really looking forward to training again next week.

I've also replaced my old Boardman with something a little newer to keep me motivated on the bike! Still dialling it in, and only done a little ride on the rollers and 20 minutes out on the road to check everything over. Initial thoughts are that it feels seriously quick. Hydraulic brakes are also awesome.

Happy training all!

Training update

So quite a bit has happened since my last update. I've now completed my first four week block of base training which overall has gone pretty well.

At the end of last year I had specifically been working on changing my running technique as it was always something that I knew had slowed me down. I was a clear heel striker which is quite obviously a very inefficient way to run, essentially braking yourself with each step you take, the video below gives a nice explanation:

All the work and painful calves at the end of last season are now paying off, as I feel massively more effortless when I run, and my speed is also picking up with the same effort which is a fantastic feeling. I even managed to pick up a 10k pb on a recent training run without too much extra effort. This even included a pretty big hill so could have been even faster! 

In bike news I sold my Boardman bike recently. It was a great bike but was not ideally suited to my body shape. I bought it based on the normal size for your height method which seems pretty common nowadays. I decided I did not want to make the same mistake again and so invested in a bike fit with Ten Point in Amersham. The whole process from start to end was absolutley brilliant. Every small change was talked about and explained to me, and we worked for almost two hours through the F.I.S.T fitting protocol to get the perfect position. (Check out Slowtwitch.com if you want to know more). After this process I was given the crucial stack and reach figures that were most suitable for me and we went through some bikes that might be a good fit. I had been secretly hoping Cervelo frames were within my range and happily they were almost perfectly suited to me :) As a result I've decided on the new P3. Pictures to follow!

Training wise the bike has also been going well, and my power is now starting to come up. My 20min power has even improved on last years best, which is encouraging at this point of the year! 

Swim training is the weak point at the moment, and I've missed a couple of sessions recently. I'll be hoping to pick this up this week and start to see some improvements hopefully. I've always held reasonably good swim fitness so its not something I'm too concerned about at this point of the year.

Thanks for reading guys, train strong!

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.