Recovery???

2 weeks on from the ironman and as the sun was shining the ironmen donned their trainers once more for the first run since the big event. It also happened to be Phil's 30th birthday!! All the chat was about the event and on completing a 4 mile bimble, everyone seemed to be feeling fairly pukka...... Next morning and things had changed!! My knees and ankles felt like they were going to fall off and PH's lower back was still screaming. Still plenty of room for recovery - although try telling that to Phil who had actually cracked the rowers revenge tri the day before!! More info to follow I'm sure.....

YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!

Sunday 18th September 2011 - Harrison, Hindley and Ballard are now officially IRONMEN!!!




The day before the race - sorting out the masses of gear and nutrition needed for the day - all to be sorted into colour coded bags and checked and double checked.

Last minutes tweaks also made on the bike.....as this stage she was looking good!!

The Pre Race Briefing - nearly 1000 prospective ironmen gather in a marquee to go through the rules and regs of the event.

The pre race expo, although a bit small in scale contained some excellent stands including one from our buddies at B2P triathlon and also Athlete Services in Henley who were to prove our saviour hours later.

Harrison and I at the pre race briefing. butterflies were starting to flap in the stomach at this stage.

H is showing his fighting spirit already!

Sprits were high as we tucked into some paella and a coke

Soon after - the drama kicked off - Hindley's tri bars fell off, my front tyre blew out and H's speedometer packed up! What should've been a quick job of racking the bikes was turning into a right mission!

The drama continues......

Crisis! A broken derailleur on the Fuji! Bikes were supposed to be on rack by 6pm and at 5:20 a major problem hits! Myself and H rush back to Phylis Court T2 to seek the help of the boys from Athlete Services bike repairs - luckily they source a new part and have the bike fixed by 6:30. Some serious flirting by Harrison with the (male) race organiser allows us to rack our bikes late..... we are in!!!

6:30 am - September 18th 2011

The moment is here and we line up to enter the water. It's still dawn and mist is wrapped around the Thames. Music far too similar to the theme tune of Jaws booms over the loud speakers. Shhiiiiiiiiittttttt!!!

A quick goodbye to loved ones and pats on the back all round. It's great to be joined by Neil who wishes us luck. Such a shame he's not in there with us.


Myself and Phil hit the water at 6:40 with H starting in wave 3 at 6:50. There's no looking back now. It's on. A quick high five with Phil before the hooter sounds and we're off!!!!

The first 500m is a washing machine before we settle into our rhythm. I have the best swim I've ever had and relax into my stroke. The surroundings are amazing and its a privilage to be there. I exit the juice after 1hr 06mins. Delighted. Into transition where I am quickly joined by H and then after a few more mins, Phil. We're all out. Stage one done!

Staring down the barrell of 112 miles is tough!! Still on a high from the swim, lap one of the bike goes well but my stomach is full of Thames water and I can't take on nutrition. I try to eat but struggle. I know this will hurt me later on.

Stewart pushes ahead on the bike, lap two for me is a killer and I dig deep, remembering my bro especially as I hit Pishill for the second time. Lap 3 is better and I start to eat and hydrate.

Phil catches me around 8 miles from the end and its a privilage to enter T2 with him, a real highlight of the day. Great support from family and friends.



Working hard out of T2 with 26.2 miles ahead. I'd dreaded this moment but actually feel really good. The legs that are usually like jelly after a cycle feel pretty good. This should've been a sign to take it easy but I try and push on.

I know H and Phil will pull away from me on the run so I settle into a me Vs the course mentality.

Great support from the crowd despite the torrential rain that hit us at this point.

After a really solid first lap of the run (6.5 miles) I started to seriously feel the effect of my poor nutritial apporach on the bike. As I began lap two I felt faint and weak. A good feed station perked me up, as did unbeleivable support from my family and friends. I pushed on, chatting to other runners and people in the crowd. Each run on the tow path back towards Henley was inspirational. By lap 4 I was exhausted but new I had another 6.5 miles in me and pledged to enjoy the last hour.

Crossing the finish line!!! Ironman.....done!!

Awesome feeling as I crossed the line in a time of 12hrs 17mins and 08seconds. The competitive part of me was dissapointed not to break 12hrs but given my 2 weeks prior to the event I couldn't help but be over the moon. I felt completely drained, but on top of the world. I never thought I could've completed a 2.4 mile swim, or a 112 mile bike and although I'd done a martathon before, I had no idea if I could do it on top of nearly 8 hours on exercise. To do them all was probably my top achievement in sport. It was made all the better by sharing it with two of my closest friends, Mr Harrison and Mr Hindley who quite frankly, bullied me all the way to the finish line!! I never want to hear Stewart say "come on AB, one more lap" ever again. But I know I will!!!!

Mission complete!

It's been a long, hard and very eventful few months but in the end......... We got there! Here's a run down of my lead up to Challenge Henley

End of July 2011 - I returned from America feeling in fantastic shape. Training with my buddy and pro triathlete Pete Mallett had inspired me and along with some improvments in my swimming tekkers from our pool work, and running speed from our track sessions and nightime runs through Boston College and NorthWestern Uni Campuses I felt great. I followed this up with a 3km lake swim at Marlow. for the first time ever I was close to Harrison come the end which gave me a lot of confidence.

August 1st-14th 2011 - The first half of August passed far too quickly and didn't contain nearly enough sessions. A few decent runs were smashed, the lowlight however came whilst riding a loop of the Challenge Henley bike course. I picked up my first ever puncture coming down Pishill. I then failed to prepared which left me unable to fix it roadside. With no signal on my phone it took an hour to walk to the Crown Pub where the friendly barman lent me his phone and sorted me a J20 and some nuts! Luckily my girlfriend was able to drive to my rescue!

August 14th - 30th 2011 - So this was the time to step up the milage and hit the road hard. This I did, but interspersed with a week on holiday in Spain! That said some decent warm weather training was completed in sunny Alicante including some beach runs and an early morning run in Calpe bay.

I returned from Spain feeling refreshed and trained well, including some good sessions in the lake at both Marlow and datchet and some solid runs. The bike was beginning to become a worry with few miles completed.

Sunday 4th September - MAIDENHEAD HALF MARATHON

In preparation for Challenge Henley - Myself and Jon Childs (The Iron Lady) cracked the Purple Patch Maidenhead Half Marathon. This was a 'late doors' decision but one that proved to be a good one as the course was fantastic and the event was very run as ever by Chris and Claire.

After a solid start JC pushed on after 3 miles which left me to keep up the pace of subbing 1hr 30mins which was my target. I managed to do this and stayed strong through some dodgy patches around 7-8 miles. At 9 miles I was joined by an athlete from Maidenhead Athletic club, we pushed each other on fro 2 miles before he ate my dust as I picked up the pace for the last few miles. Picking up the relay marathon course for the last 2.6 miles was a real inspiration and helped counteract the heavy rain that drenched us. I was elated to come in at 1hr 28mins.

2 weeks till ironman....

The plan was to train at around 50% intensity for a week and then drop down to 30% the week prior to training. Unfortunately I suffered a berevement in the form of the sad death of my brother the day after the Maidenhead Half. This knocked my preparations into touch as I struggled to come to terms with this news. Doing the ironman was never in doubt, although the day before the race I was physically, but especially mentally drained. My focused had changed to just completing the ironman in memory of my bro. But could I do it? And could I last the bike course having only done a longest training ride of 49 miles? As the event loomed there were lots of doubts and emotions in my head........

Challenge Complete!

An extremely exciting start to the iron man, we took our last group snap before becoming Iron Men!

Alex and I were in the same wave and Mr Harrison was scheduled in the wave behind.

The morning was one of the most surreal mornings and was captured very well in the first three minutes of the following You Tube

clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UvVRDdiJ2s.

Going into T1 I was elated, the swim was over

and I survived it! I rarely broke my stroke and maintained a relaxed swimming style throughout, knowing that I was never going to brake records I swam within my capabilities and

enjoyed the beautiful morning and the excitement of the event. It was a cold morning and I felt extremely cold entering T1, it took me approx 1 1/2 hours to warm up on

the bike and gain a sense of excitement back into my race. The supporters throughout were amazing and lifted the spirit of all the athletes taking part, I was particularly privileged

to have a very strong support team, which made up of my lovely wife, Mother in law, very close friends from Worksop, friends from Marlow and colleagues. Once again I approached this element of the competition with vigour but maintained my focus on my own race, knowing the bike wasn't made for 112miles and a climb totalling 5900ft per loop. The cycling was exciting topping out at 40mph from Neetlebed back towards Henley was exhilarating, however the high gears made each climb difficult.

The aggressive position the late 80's retro bike left my lower back in agony entering the final stages of the event. Entering T2 was a great

feeling however I was unsure of how I could run having the unwanted strain on my lower back.

My first lap was all about jogging off my aches

and pains. The crowd once again kept

me going as I managed to focus on my stride and pace, to ensure I stayed relaxed I thoroughly enjoy the event and at this stage I knew there where never going to be technical difficulties that could stop me from achieving my goal. I hit the first half marathon surprisingly well, clocking around 1 hour 47 minutes. Aiming to sub 4 hours

on the marathon was at this stage in my grasp. I was fortunate not to have any toilet troubles and clocked a 3 hour 47 minute marathon. Overall I clocked a 1hr15minute swim, 6 hrs 28min bike, which gave me an 11hr 42minute Iron Man time. To see Stewart and I finish click on the following You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBX_VcP9HzU to See all our

results and pictures click on the following links: Photo's: http://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?event=Sports%2FGKDE%2F2011%2FChallenge+Henley-on-Thames&new_search=1&match=426 Results: http://results.racetectiming.com/MyResults.aspx?CId=38&RId=214&EId=1&AId=72232

Harrison 3rd leaving Hindley eating his dust in 4th

Harrison smashes out his first road triathlon in a very respectable 3^rd position for his age category and 11^th in the overall position. Both competitors started fast in the water, however the fast start took its toll on Hindley as he had failed to stay relaxed and suffered for his mistakes. This poor swim left him 6 minutes behind Harrison. Both athletes smashed out a trouble free bike ride and concluded the event with a fast run. The race results can be found following the link below. The picture from left to right, Phil Hindley, Martyn Edwards (F3 Event Director), Sam Gardner (Pro Triathlete), Stewart Harrison. All the men will be competing in Challenge Henley, Sam will be competing in his first long distance triathlon and Martyn has recently signed up for the half iron man distance.

http://www.stuweb.co.uk/swp/default.asp?a=2&e=637

Ironman

Harrison and I have smashed out an iron man this week! Approaching each discipline separately rather than together we decided to start on the bike, cycling our furthest distance we rode the official loop of the Challenge Henley course. Tackling the long taxing hills three times put a massive strain on our body. We completed the course in 6 hours 36 minutes, happy with this we decided to have a day to recover and put our furthest run in, wanting to become familiar with the Challenge Henley run course we set out to run three out of the four laps aiming to complete 19 miles. However we added a little extra to each loop to complete the gruelling 26.2 miles in 3 hours 54 minutes. Being fulfilled with our achievements on the run and the cycle we could not justify cutting our swim short so the following day we swam the 3.8km. This week has been all about putting in the distances, this has had both physical and mental gains. On completion of this I have decided to further my research on preparing myself mentally and methods to increase mental strength.

Lake swimming in Italy

A holiday with Mrs Hindley to the Italy Lakes offered me with a great opportunity to gain confidence in my swim and get some millage in. Within a week I managed to get 6 good 3km swims in I also managed to get 4 good runs in, a hard 1hr run, 2x 12 mile runs and15 mile run. On my return I contact Harrison and we had a spin out on the bike covering 50 miles, I picking up a puncture 35 miles into the cycle but this offered me practice to use my foam canister. The repair job on the tub lasted a further 15miles. In general the cycle ride was a really good eye opener as we meet approx. 50 cyclists all cycling the challenge Henley loop. The training session inspired Harrison and I to get some millage in our legs!

Training on the bike

The bike element could be argued as the most important out of the three disciplines, it is certainly the furthest distance and takes the longest time to complete therefore it is one that cannot be neglected and ignored! With this in mind my recent focus in training has been towards the bike, getting strong on the bike and more importantly getting my legs prepared for the hills that Challenge Henley course demands. Cycling approximately 200 miles in 4 days the training was going well just before picking up a puncture in my back tub. A trip to the bike shop slowed my progress down. Whilst I was still at work I decided to ordered some spare 650c tubs for my front wheel and visit the bike shop at the weekend to get me back on the road for the week ahead. Not wanting to lose days training I cracked out a small 4 mile run and a 3km swim over the weekend. With training slowing down slightly over the weekend I decided to swim 3km followed by an 83 miles bike ride, which was my furthest cycle to date. Rest for a day I decided to get back out on the bike and get two hours in the saddle.

Training up date

Alex and I closed the training month of July with a long distance triathlon training session. Fresh from America Alex was keen to get some millage in after his success in a sprint Tri. Over in the States Alex has been working on his swimming technique and as a result the hard work has paid off. We set off to complete 2.25km swim in the lake, Alex looked extremely comfortable and strong. We followed the swim with 39miles on the bikes and 13 miles run.

Thames Trots

Down Tow Up Flow Half Marathon.

The race was the first long distance running event since i completed the Marathon in April, it followed the Thames tow path from Marlow into Windsor. The course was flat so i set out hard and aimed to run as close to my PB as possible. Although i knew this was going to be tough as i entered Cookham at the four mile marker, I suffered with bowel problems and was forced to take a pit stop, getting any where near my PB was going to be a challenge! Disappointed and frustrated with myself i attempted to make up the time lost by attacking tricky corners, road crossings and bridge crossings.

The beautiful scenery of the course took my focus from my bowels and allowed me to run and enjoy the course, well for three and a half miles until i had had to pull over for a second pit stop and this did not improve, a third stop off came close to the ten mile marker, this was not a good run! Runs being the appropriate word! The course itself was not closed off from the public, so i apologies to fellow athletes, cyclists, dogs and walkers. Going into the last three miles i still had my sights set on subing 1hr 30mins, so i picked up the pace and focused on catching up the athletes ahead. I cracked it, running a respectable 1hr 28 mins which included 3 pit stops and a dehydrated body. The run was a serious wake up call, to how difficult the Iron Man is going to be.

First Olympic Distance Triathlon

Marlow Triathlon was my first Olympic Triathlon, I anticipated on what I was going to expect after watching the start to the Marlow River Swim on a wet Saturday afternoon. Feeling a little nervous about the swim and not feeling confident about my bike I was eager just to get going. Like all starts the first 4 minutes in the river was manic, not relaxing and quite frustrating, the memories of entering the boxing ring came flooding back! Alex describes it well in his previous post. Once I settled into my stroke I felt comfortable and thought I was passing people, which always provide you with confidence. However there is lots of work to still do on the swimming front!! Happy to get out of the water I entered the transition zone and wrestled my wetsuit off. The T1 process will hopefully only get faster the biggest thing is to remember everything… cycle helmet clipped, nutrition etc. Cycling out was great as the course included elements of the Challenge Henley route. Cycling up to Nettlebed was taxing but coming back down the hill was exhilarating. I tried to stay strong on the bike and not thinking too much about the run, going into T2 was a relief as I have recently had a large number of issues with my bike, which results in low confidence about the technology and whether I have the right bike for this event. My aim for the run was to clock as close to 40 minutes as possible and to attack the fellow competitors, knowing that the run is my strongest discipline I really wanted to make an impact on the field. Shaking off tired legs I clocked 20.45 for my first 5 km, motivation and support from my wife instilled a fast 2nd lap, as the aim was to close the gap on all the triathletes in front. Relatively pleased with my run and overall time, with nothing to compare it to have included the results from fellow competitor and GB triathlete Mark Yeomen. Out of the 215 competitors that finished I came 26th overall. An analysis of my performance indicates time lost throughout my swim, as indicated before this is an area that requires more work! Area for improvement in T1, Mark’s time here is ridiculously fast! I think I’ll get the baby gel ready for the next event. I’m fairly surprised with my bike but I know I can improve here too! In general if I aim to take this serious I need to work on all element but my focus will lie both in the swim and the bike, with such a short time frame to Challenge Henley. The results from the race can be found following the link: http://www.f3events.co.uk/ additional action shots can be found on the following link, http://www.sussexsportphotography.com/ using the hyper link Marlow Tri, you can filter using my race number 351.

Mark Yeomen Philip Hindley


Swim Time 00:20:59(5) Swim Time 00:28:29(87)
T1 00:00:32 T1 00:01:10
Bike Time 01:04:21(4) Bike Time 01:10:30(53)
T2 00:00:32 T2 00:00:36
Run Time 00:40:00(15) Run Time 00:39:02(10)
Overall Time02:06:27 Overall Time 02:19:49

Previous training update: I have really enjoyed embracing the triathlon community in doing so I built a great relationship with an outstanding athlete who is on the top of his game for his age category, Jules. Jules has recently won the Windsor Triathlon and smashed under 5 hours for a half distance Iron Man in Milton Keynes, a true inspiration and a great motivator, it’s great to have Jules down at the lake.

Previous lake training distance have included 4.5km, Aquathlon with Harrison (3.8km swim & 7 mile run), my previous two swims have been 3km. After buying a new pair of goggles for the triathlon my last swim has felt like my strongest, visibility certainly aids swimming performance! Prior to the Triathlon I had a great ride out on my bike with another excellent triathlete who will be alongside us on the starting line on the 18th of September for Challenge Henley, Laurence Miles. Laurence is a GB long distance triathlete, who achieved 10th overall position on Marlow Triathlon at the weekend, 2nd in his age group, a frustrating 15 seconds behind the winner who has also represented GB for triathlons. Laurence and I cycled a loop of the challenge Henley Course, clocking 70 miles in total.

Training update

With a far too hectic work schedule kicking off, training has been difficult to fit in but have managed some good sessions. Have been in the pool alot working on technique and doing some shorter sprint sessions and longer distance swims (which are really boring compared to in the lake at Little Marlow). Have also put in some runs, nothing of a huge distance but some good intensity. Enjoying running around Boston at night, some amazing views, photos to follow. Also cracked my first decent track session for a while, not a lot of speed knocking around in the chicken legs but did some solid 400m and 800m reps. Again the heat takes its toll abit but it's great to be enjoying tops off training. Need to look at some longer stuff in prep for half ironman on 30th July. Could be interesting!

Marlborough Tri 2011 - Podium finish!

Last Sunday I travelled to the town of Marlborough about an hour west of Boston to compete in the third annual Marlborough Sprint Tri. It was completely thrown together last minute and a big thanks to Pete for lending me a bike (about 10 sizes too small!) and for sorting late entry into the race. The event kicked off at 9:00am but it was still blazing hot. The swim was only around 500m but it was emotional as the first 200m were like a washing machine of bodies all colliding with each other for space. Great experience but not very nice to be literally fighting for position. Managed to find some clear water but exited the swim way down the field. The bike course was a 20km course split into 3 loops. This included some challeneging hills but also one kick ass decent that allowed you to seriously test your nerve and the size of your kahoona's!! Despite my riding position being aweful on the small bike, I left it all out on the cycle course but then paid the price on the run (felt terrible all the way round). Was all in all pretty chuffed with my time of 1hr 19mins given the type of training I've been doin. I was a whole 18mins behind Pete who won the event overall. Great effort. Looking at my splits I did give away nearly 3 mins to him in transisition! It was a great experience and great to race with Pete and in the same event as Olympians like Jarod Shoemaker and also Dick and Rick Hoyt. Dick Hoyt competed with his severely disabled son Rick towing him in a dingy on the swim, with him on the the front of his custom built and bike and in an adapted push chair for the run. Inspirational stuff. I was stoaked to come in 39th overall (including the elite men), In the top 10 of my wave and 2nd overall in my age catagory (25-29). You can't argue with a podium!! It was a shame Harrison and Hindley weren't there as I'm sure we could've sweeped the board! No wait, Stewey would be in the veterans section!!! Great day and great to say I've raced in the USA. Even a flat tyre on the freeway driving home couldn't damped the spirtis. Totally awesome dude!!!

First session stateside

For the next few weeks I've left Harrison and Hindley (and hopefully Mr Prior) to keep smashing the training hard in the UK while I'm away working, sunbathing and warm weather training in Boston. A good start has been made with a killer pool session yesterday. I'm lucky enough to be training with Pete Mallett, a former member of the US Tri team and experienced world cup racer. Pete and I completed some sprint work in the pool and looked at some drills working on the catch phase in the water and tunring more efficiently in the pool - not essential for ironman but essential for looking the business!!

Possible opportunity this weekend to race in a sprint tri just outside Boston - updates on this and future training to follow. Hoping the boys back in berkshire are training hard - no doubt of this! Half Ironman pencilled in the diary for July 30th - fingers crossed were ready!

Strange fish!!

With the sun in the sky the ironboys headed over to little Marlow lake for the first open water swim of the training program. Harrison, being an experienced lake dweller was chomping at the bit. AB and PH were a bit more sceptical, mainly because they can both only just about swim!!

It turned out to be an awesome session and a great atmosphere down at the lake. despite the initial worries, a total of 3KM was covered! Only 800 meters short of the full ironman distance. Confidance gained no doubt!

Photo (L-R) Phil 'the dolphin' Harrison, Stewart 'the stickleback' Harrison, Alex 'the mutated sea bass' Ballard.

They've won it four times!

Team BCA retained the Pharmalink Maidenhead Relay Marathon for the 4th consecutive year on a wet and windy Sunday in June.

The team of Si Neale, Alex Balalrd, Stewart Harrison, Phil Hindley and captain Jon Childs romped home in a collective time of 2:33:00 after all running two blistering legs each around the 2.6 mile course. Some awesome running was on dislay despite the harsh weather and PB's were logged by all the BCA athletes who were looking lean and hungry despite already taking the event title for the previous 3 years.

Check out the link below for the event video

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/leisure/article-21763-video-maidenhead-carnival-2011-sunday-highlights/

The BCA-B team were also on great form with some top runs from all the athletes.

As the trophy was presented the organsiers stated that a 5th win next year would net the BCA team the trophy for keeps! Let's have it then!!

Team Hulkamania Smash up the Green Belter!

Young Gary Clarke and myself SMASHED UP the legendary Green Belter Course in Hambeldon Estate on Saturday, we teamed up in silly rig as the famous wrestler Hulk Hogan. The Adventure course/competition consisted of a multi-sport mix of biking, running, kayak and a "Green Machine" obstacle course to finish on.

The opposition didn’t show too much fear in their eyes as they witness team Hulkamania pull up on their ill equipped bikes, the fellow competitors prepared well with their specialized tri boxes for, well equipped nutrition and bikes that cost more than my first car! Team Hulkamania attempted not to be phased by the big guns on show and muscled in on the front line for the start. We hit the first run hard and went into T1 in the top 10, entering the 20km bike section, we struggled and fell into the top 30, the bike was taxing, sheer sweat and determination ensured that we didn’t slip too far from the front. It’s not very often that Hulk Hogan has rubbery legs when competing but on this occasion we both had to run our rubbery legs for the first 2km of the second run (10km), by the time we completed this stage we edged our way back into the top 20, leaving too much to do top get in the top 10, but we were in the top 5 in the team competitors we gained strength from hearing this and picked up our pace taking over 1 team in T3, striding out towards the Thames for the kayak, hulkamania put some hustle behind their muscle to power their way into 3^rd position coming out of the Thames, with the second team in sight, we managed to overcome cramp to sprint ahead of the team before entering the ‘Green Machine’ obstacle course, team Hulkamania came 2^nd overall in the paired event and 14^th overall.

PB’s all-round in Marlow 5

Team BCA Smashed out Marlow 5 in first place as a company, after winning a £10 Waitrose voucher can we call ourselves professional athletes?

P.Hindley: 30:04 (PB)

J.Childs: 31:16 (PB)

A.Ballard: 31:26 (PB)

Birthday Swim in the River Thames.

To celebrate Stewarts 33^rd birthday the three of use decided to go for an open water swim, slipping into the Thames and trying our best to put the pool swimming into practice. As expected Stewart was strong and Alex once settled into the open water looked comfortable and applied his pool skills to good effective use, whereas I was lucky to survive, a serious wake up call and an extremely poor swim from me however I did manage to apply the front crawl technique 90% of the way whereas in comparison to my swim the same time last year I could only manage breaststroke. I know swimming for me is going to be a challenging discipline, one that needs serious work on!

Great Welsh Marathon

As the spring sun broke through the early morning Llanelli mist on Sunday 10^th April, six athletes lined up for the 9am start of the Llanelli Great Welsh Marathon.

The two lap, technically demanding, undulating course, was superbly organised, steered us through the length of the beautiful traffic-free coastal path / cycle-way, stretching from Machynys Golf Course in the east through to Burry Port Harbour in the west

As the temperatures raised to 21 degrees C the scenery was only of secondary importance to us all as our priority was to remain hydrated during the race. With this being the first marathon for Alex, Sarah, Si and I we were excited and somewhat anxious about the distance. Alex and both lined up on the start line with the thought of the iron man in the back of our minds, Simon lined up for his first competitive race in months as he he’s been laid off due to injuries, Jon striving for a PB, and 8 weeks ago Sarah and her Father Tony set themselves a challenge to complete a marathon before Tony turned 60 years of age.

Not knowing how to approach this race I settled in to my stride and sustained a comfortable pace, Alex, Jon and Si ran together for the early stage of the race and Sarah ran alongside Tony. On completion of our first marathon Alex and I were happy with our times, Jon smashed his PB, Si successfully ran a respectable marathon post injury, Sarah and her father was successful in what they set out to achieve. Well done to all!!

Times:

P.Hindley: 2:58:06 (PB)

J.Childs: 3:21:23 (PB)

A.Ballard: 3:23:40 (PB)

S. Neal: 4:05:34 (PB)

S. Lipscombe: 5:07;05 (PB)

T.Lipscombe: 5:59:51

Harrison and Hindley smash their P.B's on Reading Half

A stepping stone in the right direction in the quest to become an iron man, Harrison and myself clocked P.B’s in the recent Reading half marathon, this is an annual event for Harrison and for myself this race was run in the build up to get me prepared to run a marathon, the target for us both was to sub 1:30, however this looked bleak after Harrison suffered with stomach ache and I wasn’t feeling the best from a hard swim session on the Wednesday. Beside this we approach the race with a lot of spirit and enthusiasm, the energy drawn from the amazing crowd supported our race, whilst the beat of the drums running under the bridge gave us the drive to push on, beside the demoralising last mile, running into the Madejski Stadium was awesome. The picture above is of two wanna be elite athletes outside the elite tent with 2009 European cross country champion Hayley Higham.

Mr. S. Harrison position 346 Time: 1:25:31
Mr. P. Hindley position 302 Time: 1:24:39

Busy days ahead- Focus!!!

When things get tough, it doesn't just have to be the training. Life can throw some unexpected curve balls and it's down to us to deal with these. That's why we train. A good friend of mine uses this poem by Rudyard Kipling to help keep his focus. Not my usual approach to training, but in the current climate, more than appropriate. Have a read and let me know if you think its an appropriate training aid.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

podgy knee

The training seemed to be going sign well, pretty strong swim by the team this morning but during my run tonight I've developed a
very podgy knee.... Ice and beer should hopefully fix it for tomorrow's early session! Its far to early to be missing training....

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Week 1 training program - Yikes!

5 days into training proper.... realisation of how much this is going to hurt is sinking in!

We're working off a 30 week periodised program laid down by triathlon legend Don Fink (from the publication 'Be Tri Fit'). Week 0ne is as below. We're 5 days in and in bits already!

Week 1

Mon: Rest
Tues: Swim #33 (1hr) and Run HR Zone 2 (30mins)
Weds: Bike HR Zone 2 (30mins) QUICK CHANGE Run HR Zone 2 (15mins)
Thurs: Run HR Zone (30mins)
Fri: Swim #34 (1hr) and Bike HR Zone 1 100RPM + (30mins)
Sat: Bike HR zone 2 (1hr)
Sun: Run HR zone 1 (45mins)

Swim #33 = 300Wu, 8x50DR,12X100@20SEC, 8X50DR, 200CD
Swim #34 = 300Wu, 8x50DR, 4X125 rest 20secs, 4X 175 rest 30SEC, 4X125 @20, 8X50DR, 200CD
In total the week is supposed to involve 6hrs training although given the swims have taken longer than expected it'll more than likely end up at 7hrs. By July we're programmed to be doing upwards of 14hrs per week!

Who's idea was this.......?!

The last ride - Paul's new socks!

Last Sunday saw me going on the last cycle ride before the training begins proper, and it certainly looks like I need the training; 44 miles seemed a bit of a struggle but we did included 3 serious hills, one of which is on the Ironman course.

My general feeling is that I'm ahead of where I need to be in terms of general fitness but I am still concerned about the swimming. The training looks brutal!

Thanks to the lads for keeping me company on a cold Sunday morning. (L-R) Nick, Paul, Sean, Mark

The route... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/69234569

Bike fitting

Instead of a few beers with the lads on Friday night after work it was over to Evans Cycles in Reading for a bike fitting.

We had an idea of the bike that we could afford and it was just a case of getting the right frame size. Or so we thought...

The shop manger put us on to his top man, Adam, who explained every difference between a triathlon bike and a regular road bike, which left me in no doubt that the correct machine, perfectly fitted to each of us, would be essential for us to be able to be fresh enough for the run.

My last week...

The 30 week count down begins next Monday, and so I'm going to be starting my specific training plan. Each individual session is tailored to build on the last, and each week is built on the previous one and so on, in three 10 week cycles, Base, Build and Peak.

My current levels of fitness are about right but I am yet to attempt a properly structured swim session. That'll be tomorrow morning then! This is the only bit that concerns me at present, fitting in 3 swims a week, but I'll manage. I have to.

Oh, and after consulting my training plan, it looks like Monday is a rest day. RESULT!

Early morning training sessions

As my official training programme starts in about 10 days time, I thought I'd start to get myself conditioned to the schedule. During the week it mostly consists of 45 minute run, cycle or swim sessions, with no more than 3 days between a particular discipline, followed up with a long run and cycle at the weekend.

As far as the swimming is concerned, I am only concentrating on technique at the moment, with my fitness coming from the other activities. The run and cycling sessions are all determined by time as opposed to distance, with strict heart rate zones being crucial to ensure that I'm working for optimal gains for the time and effort expended.

Why work harder than necessary and stress your body, which will effect your future training and competition performance? http://goo.gl/2XNvV

Why train for longer than is necessary and waste valuable time?

Careful planning and preparation is the key to success in all walks of life. Train smarter not harder.

The Ironboys

First 'promo' shot!

(L-R) Alex, Stewart, Neil, Phil

All in need of some warm weather training by the looks of things!!

Don't forget to breathe!

With all these technical points for swimming.....swimming around in my head I'm finding I've lost a lot of focus on my breathing during my strokes - this means I can do about 50m before I'm wrecked! I made a decision today to move from breathing every 4 strokes to every 2. Neil, Phil and Harrison all seem to favour this way and so did pretty much everyone else who was training early doors this morning. So I took the plunge. Hayley recommended it as it suits open water swimming better (choppy waters, need to sight etc). Be interesting to hear anyone thoughts on breathing patterns etc.

Gonna give this workout a try on Fri morning.

Warm up:
200m easy swimming

Set 1:
2 x 100m Front Crawl - 20 seconds rest - concentrate on long strokes
4 x 50m Front Crawl - 15 second rest - concentrate on leg kick from hips
2 x 100m Front Crawl - 20 seconds rest - try and put all together

All distance to be at 50% max intensity -

set 2:
1 x 100m swim - try to breath every 4 strokes
20 seconds rest
4 x 50m swim get faster each 50m - last 50m should be arounf 70% effort - 10 seconds rest between each 50m
20 seconds rest
1 x 100m swim - try to breath every 4 strokes

swim down - 200m super easy and relaxed Total distance: 1400m

50 Mile Thames Trot Ultra Marathon

50 Mile Thames Trot Ultra Marathon

I have recently embarked on the biggest challenge of my running life, in preparation for the endurance slog that the Iron Man will bring. The event took place on the banks and towpaths of England's largest river as well as footpaths and bridleways covering 50 miles; this is known as an Ultra distance course, the event organisers are called Go Beyond Ultra, which says it all! The run started at Oxford and followed the River Thames, by the first few miles I was questioning why I had packed so much, and the extra weight of my rucksack certainly increased the difficulty of the event. However the scenery was great and inspiration was gained within the first half from seeing a vast amount of rowers training hard on the water. During the second half of the race we decided to make a tactical change in our approach to the check points, which resulted in spending less time taken at check points and walking while we fuelled up. Entering Reading, motivation was increased as a thought that Mr. Harrison once said to me kept going through my head “every step taken is a step closer to home”. Shortly after we were joined by a fellow Iron Man Mr. Ballard, who offered inspirational words and encouragement, the sound track to Karate Kid helped enormously. The final stages were somewhat challenging as we made our way down to Henley in the dark, Knowing that we had finished was a great feeling and hearing the joy of happiness from my wife was special.
A big thanks goes out to my Ultra-Marathon buddy Gary Clarke, who made the event very enjoyable! I look forward to running the Great Welsh Marathon with you in April.

Attempt to show some of the training

I am trying out some new technology and thought I would see if I can upload my runs onto the blog so that everyone can see the hard work that is going on behind the scenes. Here's my first attempt at uploading a really hilly 15 mile route I completed yesterday. Really bad DOMS due to the hills, but 15 miles in nothing compared to Hindley's 50 miler he completed at the weekend.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/05bf/9656/4d4e/a85c/Cyclemeter-Run-20110206-1239.kml

Let me know if it doesn't work and I will speak to my tech friend. Neil...........!

Friday's swim session

Now that we've all had the benefit of Hayley's fantastic coaching skills, today was the first session where we were all focused on developing technique; knowing the right skills to work on has seen confidence improve if not the distance we're swimming.

YouTube is a fantastic resource for learning new things but something as technical as swimming definitely needs the presence of a coach, I think we'll call it YouSink from now on!

My official training programme starts in 3 weeks time and I feel that I'll be in a good condition to start to specific sessions that it dictates. Factored into this programme are several endurance events and the team are busy identifying suitable Olympic triathlons, Marathons, half ironman competitions and more. All of this extra competition is going to send the calorie consumption through the roof, luckily I believe we have secured the Toby Carvery as our nutritional sponsor......

Ten top tips for a top ten swim!

This last week has seen all of us get some time under Hayley's watchful in the pool. Check out her tips for improved performance below:

TOP TIPS for FRONTCRAWL

1) RELAX!! Enjoy swimming. Don't try too hard.
2) Do not try and touch the bottom of the pool! - Keep the arm bent whilst under water
3) Keep your elbow above your wrist - especially key when underwater
4) Keep your body as narrow/streamline as possible - engage the core. Your core is what connects your arms and legs together when you swim. A weak core will lead to a inefficient stroke.
5) Keep the arm stroke long - enter and stretch - smooth pull - full extension
6) Minimize cross over - left arm stays on left side of body/right arm stays on right side
7) Kick from the Hips
8) Kick for balance not for power
9) Kick from the hips
10) RELAX!! try and swim with a neck - shoulders down and back

I think it's fair to say we've all benefited massivley from some coaching. Big thanks again to Hayley.
Phil and I trained down at Windsor pool this morning where there were a number of B2P swimmers racing each other... I wonder how long it'll be before we're mixing it with these guys! Bring it on!

A big helping hand...

Things look like taking a turn for the better for the Men of Iron thanks to the involvement of Hayley from B2P Sports in Windsor. As a recognised swim and open water swim coach, Hayley has kindly agreed to drop in and give the currently floundering lads some serious coaching. Her expertise will no doubt prove invaluable.

B2P Sports is a multi-sport concept store and friend of the Men of Iron. Based in Windsor, they sell wetsuits, trisuits, cycle / run / fitness / swim / compression wear, nutrition, trainers, bikes & much more! Check them out at http://www.b2psports.com/