One more time

I'm sitting in my back-yard in the sun enjoying a cup of tea.  I've been awake for a long time.  The thought of swimming is ever present.

I have toyed with the ides of not going to Eton to do the Ultra-Fit tri but you lot have convinced me that I can do it.

So I'm going to jump on the bike in a bit and cycle down there.  1000m swim.  It is make or break in my eyes. If its no better than last week, its the end of Triathlon for me.  I'm sick of feeling like this.

Thanks for all the support.

Crossroads

I work life is going very well at the moment.  I got offered the job I went for this week.  It was highly sort after and even though I thought I'd messed up the interview, they said I was the obvious choice which was amazing.  So I start in full time work in September.  Blimey.

Unfortunately, when one part of your life goes well, another often suffers.  My training is now a problem.


When, at the end of last year, I chose to do the Ironman, I put some thought into it.  People told me that my NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) year is very tough so I thought I couldn't do something like an Ironman in 2011.  So it was this year or 2012 so this year it was.  I knew I'd be working hard but would also have some time to myself to train hard.
 

As its turned out, its been so much harder than I thought.  Currently, I'm up at 6:30, get the kids ready, drop my youngest off at school before 8, in work before 8.  Work all day, leave about 5:30, home by 6.  Kids, dinner etc. and then do coursework until bed.  I'm not asking for sympathy, I actually enjoy it but its leaving me no time for exercise during the week.  This is NOT Ironman training.
 
My training this week is a prime example.  A hard weekend followed by nothing more than five 6 mile rides to school and back.  That's not going to sustain me on a 15 hour endurance event.  I know how you have to respect the distance for a marathon so an Ironman needs to be revered.
 
This, coupled with the swimming, has left me at a crossroads.  Logic says I should just be pleased with the school/job stuff and go back to exercising for fun.  Yes, I will loose the £300 for the entry fee but I can take away the stress and enjoy my summer.
 
On the other hand, I'm not one to quit.  I've never really quit any sporting endeavour.  This will be a first.
 
As there is no time pressure to make a decision, I can leave it until the week before but I will probably come to some sort of decision soon. 

Post from 28th April - forgot to publish post.

What can I say, some people are just crazy.  Well, crazy isn't the word.  Psychotic maybe.

It had been a long day.  As part of my teaching course, the 35 students put on a show for the school we are based in.  In 5 days we write the show, design and make the set and perform it.  Today was the dress rehearsal and I spent a long time prancing around as the queen of hearts.

I set off on my short cycle home pulling up at the lights.  It was across a busy road and the left lane was left turn only so I pulled up at the front of the other lane.  The left lane went green and cars started to go.  My lane was still red so I waited with the other cars.  When my lane went green, I set of.  Out of no where, a car shot past me on the left.  They had to floor it to get around me into the other lane.  It went past so quick and so close that I wobbled.

I carried on a little shaken and with 2 minutes, I passed the blue mini stuck in traffic.  They were stopped at the next lights so I looked in the car expecting to see a spotty 17 year old bloke but no, a women.  I gestured to them that they were mad and dangerous and got a torrent of abuse back.  She asked me to come and have a go;  I laughed and continued on.

As she passed me again, she decided to see just how close she could get to me.  It was very close as it turned out.  I was shocked.  I swear that any closer and she would have knocked me off.  One car passed me and the driver shook their head and smiled.  The next guy was a van who offered me a hammer with the obvious suggested that I take it too her car.

Logic took over and I just ignored her as I passed again.  I thought of taking her number plate and trying to get one of the drivers to be a witness but it wasn't worth it.

Eton Sprint Results

Place: 621 out of 1095
Time: 1:21:25

Swim 400m: 14:01
T1: 3:12
Bike 20.4km: 38:38
T2: 1:29
Run 5km: 24:04

First place: 55:37 (6:01, 30:01, 17:40)
Last place: 2:17:00 (13:43, 1:12:16, 41:40)

Quickly looking down the results from place 600 to 700, I am the fastest on the bike and high up in the run as well. Just getting my swim down to 10 minutes and my T1 to 2 minutes puts me in 400th place.

I also noticed that the last place person beat me on the swim !!!!!

Is tri for me?

It was the day of my first Triathlon today.  The Eton Supersprint.  400m swim, 20.4km ride and the a 5km run.

Our car is broken so I had to cycle the 30 miles to the start of the race.  Not the ideal preparation but a nice warm up.  I actually enjoyed it.  It was cold but clear and I didn't get lost.  I managed to get all my gear in my Etape rucksac but the strap decided to break after a couple of miles.  I tied it up and it survived the rest of the journey.  Cheap French rubbish.

I got there at 9:20 so had a long time to wait until the 10:45 start.  I had no idea what I was meant to do so copied everyone else.  By 10 my bike was racked, I'd had a coffee and my gear was randomly strewn in front of my bike.  I looked around to see what others were doing and tried to copy them.  At 10:15, people were putting on their wet suits so I joined them.  For the next five minutes, I decided to put on a slapstick performance.  First, I put on the wet suit backwards.  I then tried to taken it off and fell over.  I eventually got it off, turned it around only to put one leg in a leg and the other in an arm.  I looked around but thankfully, know one was filming.

I was eventually ready and walked to the start with all the other 40 & 41 year old men (I had been  moved to the wrong age group!) and before I knew what was going on, I was floating around in an 11 degree lake wearing a silly hat.  We had a briefing, got a countdown, the hooter sounded and we were off.  Well, most of the 60 people were off; I just bobbed around trying to breath.

When I did set off I got to 20 meters out and stopped.  I could not breath.  I was panicking.  All I could think of was to get out and quick.  I started again but stopped.  This was terrible.  I watched as the pack disappeared.  The support in the boat asked if I was ok.  I said no.

I tried again but it wasn't happening.  Panic is the only word to describe it.  The bloke in the boat asked what was wrong and I said I just can't put my face in the water.  He said I should just carry on with breast-stroke or front crawl but with my head out so I did.  I occasionally did 5 or 6 strokes with my head in water but that resulted in me stopping a bit to try and relax.

I was last at the first buoy but whenever I did proper front crawl, I caught up the back markers in no time.  I just could not sustain it.  I thought it would never end but I eventually turned around the second buoy and was in the home 120 meter stretch.  I had the slowest ever race with another bloke for last place and it ended in a dead heat.

I was gutted.  I staggered out of the water after just 10% of the IM distance and I was exhausted.  At that point, this was going to be my one and only tri.  As I got to my bike, I saw a friendly face in Simon.  It was great to see him.  He said I'd done well and to keep going.  I did not hurry through my transition much to Simon's amusement.

I set off on the cycle and I was mad.  I never thought it would go this badly.  I channeled my aggression into my cycling and tried to keep my speed up, constantly encouraged by Simon on each of the 4 laps.  In spite of the wind, I got into a good rhythm, passing some of the people from the swim.  I enjoyed all of the cycling passing many people with tri bikes and finishing comfortably inside 40 minutes (I didn't stop my watch).

My T2 was good and I was out on my run in no time.  My legs were tight after the ride and it took about 1km before I picked up the pace.  It was 2 loops of an out and back course and I was quicker on each of the four legs.  I finished strongly in around 1:20 but I'm not sure exactly what time.

After a long chat to Simon, I decided to just take each event as it comes, get down to Heron lake every chance I get and just try and conquer my fear.  I am also seriously thinking of a hypnotist to try and get ride of this panic feeling.

At least I can now say that I'm a triathlete :-o

Fred Whitton Video

Fred Whitton video on You Tube
This was shot by my mate SimonO.

Fred Whitton Photos

Nice shot but I hate my helmet.  I bought a new Giro Ionis today!!!

Simon O, Bob, Tom and me.

The Fred Whitton Challenge

Well, its been a week. I intended to write my Fred Whitton report on Monday but its been a very very busy few days. I've said it before but this teaching lark is hard work.

I've also had a stinking cold, the same one I had in my 1st placement and 2nd placement no doubt. Feeling rotten, waking before 6am and working until midnight each day is not very conducive to blog writing or exercise.

Anyway, the hard work might be paying off as I have an interview for a job on Tuesday. Its a reception class teacher in a great school and I really want it. I'm up against 5 others so its going to be tough. I'm trying to stay relaxed but I really want it so I'm very nervy.

Anyway, back to cycling. This was my second attempt at the Fred. I did it last year in 8:50 which I was pleased with at the time given 30 minutes of stops for machanicals. This year I did not know what to expect. I had done a lot of cycling last year and loads of hills. This year, I had completed more exercise hours but not cycling up hills.

I set off with some mates and we planned to stay together for a while. From the off, it felt hard. My breathing was shallow (the countryside makes me wheezy) and the hills felt hard. I got up the first hill and then Kirkstone pass to find everyone waiting for me.  This was mainly because I had forgotten to tighten my front quick-release and after a 30 mph downhill, I chalked off one of my nine lives.

We continued and by around 40 miles, I was starting to get into it. Still not great but a few fast miles in a train certainly put a smile on my face.

It was then onto Honister, the second hardest hill on the route. It kicks up really hard from the bottom and is really tough. I got up in one go and enjoyed the decent to the first feed station. A few minutes later, everyone else arrived and we set off after a short malt loaf break.

It was straight up Newlands which felt ok and then Whinlater which was much harder than I remember. Even with the Tour de France style crowds, it was a pain.

I remember it being fairly flat between Whinlatter and the second feed station but there is Fangs Brow, Kelton Fell, Cold Fell and Irton Pike that I had forgotten about. I got to the feed station feeling ok but weary of what was to come.

It was further than I remember from the feed to Hardknott but it hove into view and looked more ridiculous than I remember. I got up without walking last time but I stopped twice. My aim this time, no stops. It gets so steep, so quickly and it was hard getting from the phone box to the cattle grid. People were walking already but I soldiered on. Its in two stages, the bottom goes up to about 25% before in levels off to a mere 10% so I just focused on getting there for a 'rest'. Its a balancing act between going for it and not blowing up. Go too slow and you fall off. Go too fast and you'll never make it.

I made it to the 'flat bit' and went as slow as possible until my heart rate went down a little. There was a girl giving out cups of water in a passing point and I cycled round in a circle a few times to take a cup (I had emptied my water bottles out at the bottom). How kind.

I got ready and went for it again. It was the famous 33% switchback. I went hard and did it ok. Only problem was, I forgot how long and steep the last bit was. I only just made it with the pain getting greater and greater.

It was then the terrifying decent before the valley and Wrynose which was hard but ok. My lack of miles on the bike were really taking there tole and I limped home. I finished in 8:30 which was pretty good if not brilliant.

Stats
Total Time: 8:30:41
Ride Time: 7:53:02
Average HR: Zone 3.2


Nutrition
1 x SiS gel
2 x Packets of shots
1 x Powerbar
2 x Ham sandwich
2 x Cherry flapjack
2 x Torq drink bottles
2 x High5 4:1 drink bottles
2 x Water drink bottles

Fred Whitton Build-up

After leaving London just before 8, we finally made it to Coniston just before 1am.  It was an uneventful drive but its such a long way.  Thankfully I wasn't driving this time (cheers Ed).

There was no one to meet us at the B&B so we carried the bikes up two flights of stairs to our rooms.  We will probably get a telling off in the morning but its better that than two missing bikes.

I'm looking forward to my bacon and eggs in the morning.  Ed is being all sensible and having porridge but I'm on holiday so sod it.  I plan to run for about an hour tomorrow anyway so its good fuel :-)

Windy ride and a mouse

Went for a ride in Richmond Park today.  I was hoping the weather was going to be better than Sunday and it was but not by much.  It only rained a bit but it was really windy making much of the ride very hard going.  I managed 34 miles in just over 2 hours which I was pretty pleased with.  Its not quite the mileage I had planned but its all I could fit in.

Whilst I was getting my gear together, I took out one of my kit boxes to find this.  It seems a mouse has taken refuge in my box and had a party with my energy bars.  It has munched its way through a gel and two bars, one with caffeine.

I'm now on the hunt for a very active, alert mouse.

I didn't die

As I lay in bed last night, thinking that Staines was not a very glamorous place to end my life and that drowning was not the way I wanted to go, I really thought there was a possibility that I would have to blog today to say that the Ironman dream was over.  I thought that if today went badly, I would at least have time to get some of my money back from Ironman UK.

It was with this positive, up-beat view that I got up at 5:40 and set out down the M4 to Staines and Heron Lake for my first ever swim in a wet suit and my first ever open water swim.  I got there at 6:30 and met up with Simon, my mentor for the morning.  He's a good friend who did the UK Ironman in 2008 so is well placed to advise me.

As I parked up, I saw there were already people in the water and it just looked odd.  I've never seen a triathlon so it was all very new.  I put on my wetsuit on top of a pair of Kraft shorts and a compression top as its what I will be wearing in two weeks time.

All suited up (with my two borrowed swim caps) I followed Simon down the small jetty into the water.  It was cold but not too bad.  I felt it on my hands and feet but it was OK.  That is until I started swimming.  As soon as I put my head in the water in was freezing.  It took my breath away and I had a little panic.

What was brilliant was the wet suit.  Everyone had told me that they are really buoyant and keep you afloat and its true.  I was not going to die in Staines.  I could just stop and float without effort.

From then on, a pattern formed where I would swim about 20 strokes OK but feel more and more stressed and tight-chested forcing me to stop.  I'd relax and talk to the extremely patient Simon and then set off again.  It was the same feeling as in the pool; not out of breath from a lack of fitness but from a panic or fear or something.

The good news is that my speed seemed OK so I know that as long as I keep going or even reduce the stops down, I can finish the distance.  I will now go every week I can and just concentrate on doing slightly longer each time.  I will try and increase that 20 stokes to 25 between stops and then 30 and so on.

A huge thank you to Simon for holding my hand (figuratively) around the lake and only spooking me once by hiding behind a buoy.  He did laugh when I yelped after something touched my foot (definitely a shark or stingray) but I'll forgive him that.

5K Race

I had to get up early to collect my daughter from a sleep-over and deliver her to the station so she could go off on her Duke of Edinburgh trip.  As I was up, I cycled over to Wimbledon Park to run the Park Run 5K.

I find these 5K races fun but incredibly painful.  I can't just jog them and end up going balls-out for the entire run.  I don't find it fun running on the edge for 3 miles.

Also, it feels so hard whilst running but as you recover within 2 or 3 minutes of finishing, it never feels like you have given your all.  With a marathon, you know you have done something incredibly hard but with a 5K, I always have the feeling that I could and should have gone harder.

I had decided to try and get my PB and get under the 22 minute mark.  I know I can do it and it really annoys me that I never have.  I set off quickly and got with four or five others all going hard.  I instantly felt on the edge and having to concentrate so hard to keep the pace up.  I heard my watch bleep and looked down to see 6-something at the 1 mile mark; sub 7 minutes so on target.

At half way there was a bloke reading out times and I went by in 10:45 so really on track.  11:14 to do the second half.  But it was really starting to hurt and my legs felt like jelly.  I lost touch with the group and felt I was going nowhere.  As I got closer to the end, I knew I had a slim chance of getting under 22 so I tried to push on but there was nothing left in the tank.  I cross the line in 22:28.  I'll be back in 2 weeks time to try again.

Distance: 5K
Time: 22:28
Average HR: 176 (zone 4.4)
Position: 59th out of 178
Cadance: 85