Just thought I'd write a quick update following all the excitement of Double Iron weekend, I must add I'm still over whelmed by all the comments and handshakes from everyone. Already thinking of next year and what to go for, would love to do another Enduroman race, I know what distance I want to do, but keeping it to myself for now, let's see how the rest of the year goes and plan it all out over winter.
Just entered Bedford Classic Triathlon, which is a qualifier for the European Triathlon Championships in Turkey next June, also entered the British Quadrathlon Championships (http://www.lincsquad.co.uk/events/brigg-bomber/) and a great sprint quadrathlon at Boxend Park, Bedford (www.quadracracing.co.uk).
I've decided to withdraw from Hell on the Humber (a 12 hour endurance run across the Humber Bridge) after IM Austria I want to move away from long distance stuff for the rest of the season, 1) because I want a change, the training hours are long and I want to get some speed back, 2) I've just started a new job and training time will be tight 3) it's very close to the Club Relays and as team captain I want to be in the very best (and fastest) shape I can possibly be (we have a few targets on our backs this year!)
So I've just been ticking over in training for the last couple of weeks, I basically had a whole week off, no training after the double, my whole body needed the rest, it's took a little time to get my training mojo back but ..... its back now.
Did the club 10 mile TT last week to see where I was at speed wise (I did the first TT of the season back in April, before going out to Israel for the European Championships just to test the TT bike out, it was a very wet evening and I took it steady on too many corners, was 1 minute off my PB then) I felt good at the start line and confident that I would beat last season's PB. The weather was great,a bit of a side wind, but good conditions. I beat last year's PB by 11 seconds & clocked a 22:15 and 3rd place, ...... quite pleased with that, wait till I get my fast legs back !!
Nice 35 miles on the bike yesterday, good pace until I came across a strava segment on my way home with a tailwind, just had to go for it, a lungbusting 3 miles but took the KOM (for now anyway, I'm sure someone will take the section on soon).
Planning to run the 8 mile to the leisure centre tonight for an hours swim session, if its not too dark will no doubt run back as well, I love it when my mojo's back.
That's enough for now, next update will be Ironman Austria in a few days, should PB, by how much?, who knows, but I'm going to get through a few gorilla's ...... promise ;)
Sunday 24 June 2012
Monday 11 June 2012
Double Iron - Race Day story
Its 6am, Saturday 9th June, good morning ......The weather has turned for the better, no wind or rain last night, the sun is out, the birds are singing.
The weather forecast is good for the weekend.
So today (and into tomorrow) I'm going to do an Ultra Triathlon, that's swim 4.8 miles, cycle 232 miles and run 52.8 miles in the Double Enduroman at Avon Tyrrell, my family & some close friends are going to help me.
The event is a Double Iron distance race, Double Enduroman http://www.enduroman.com/uk/ an IUTA sanctioned World Cup race, European & British Double Iron Championship.
Right then, breakfast 2 lots of porridge with jam, peanut butter/ jam and banana on crackers, coffee, and bottle of gatorade. Final checks on bike, lights, kit. Racked my bike at 7am, chill out till 8am, wetsuit on & walk down to the lake with my support crew.
How was I feeling? ok actually, we'd planned well, I'd trained well, I'd got the best support crew I could wish for, we were buzzing.
A good crowd had gathered to watch the start, from 47 entries just 39 starters, the majority from England but entries with from Ireland, France, Spain, Netherlands and New Zealand.
Suddenly I heard my mobile ring tone "the Superstars theme" it was loud, very loud, nope it wasn'y my phone, my support crew had brought Clarky's boogie box down to get me hyped ..... awesome, race face on, big style!
 |
| 10 minutes before start - Race Face on ! |
I entered the water, it was warm, this was good, I'd had some problems in open water swimming recently (since starting back after my collar bone break), after about 20 minutes my left hand would form a "claw" shape that I couldn't straighten, this hadn't happened in my long pool swims so I knew it was only a problem in cold water, I was relieved the lake was warm.
I made my way to the starting bouys, I looked around, everyone was backing off away from the start line, strange I thought, but I'm staying here. The countdown sounded and we we're off. I didn't fly off like a madman, after all this was a 4.8 mile swim not a sprint but I did find myself leading for a short time, which amused me.
I settled into a rythm, forgot about it being 4.8 miles or 26 laps and focused on counting down 6 laps to hydration time. The swim was fairly incident free, I got a big kick in the face at one of the bouys as I'd held my line through the turn against one of the real fast swimmers who then cut across me exiting the bouy, it stunned me a little but its all part of the game. During the third block of six laps I could feel my left hand starting to "claw", this wasn't good but I just had to battle through it, I didn't feel like it was propelling me through the water at all but nothing I could do about it, as Dory says "just keep swimming"
I was starting to tire, I just wanted to it to be my final lap, I kept loosing count, funny how you stop be able to count when swimming, I checked with the time keepers as I swam past the lap count funnel, not long now, 2 laps to go.
I was aiming for a 2 hour 15 min swim (I did 2.4 mile in an hour & one minute at the Outlaw two years earlier) so this was realistic I felt condisering I'd only just started swimming again after 4 months.
My swim time was 2:18 so just about right to be honest, happy with that. Clarky had noted all my swim lap splits down, with notes on drink, food & how I felt (see below);
lap 1 3:49
lap 2 4:20
lap 3 4:31
lap 4 4:31
lap 5 4:31
lap 6 4:35 (1 minute - some leg cramp on lap 2 - 400ml gatorade - feeling good)
lap 7 4:40
lap 8 4:44
lap 9 4:46
lap 10 4:47
lap 11 4:58
lap 12 5:00 (1:30 stop - cramp lap 11 & 12 - 400 ml gatorade & half banana)
lap 13 5:05
lap 14 5:18
lap 15 5:14
lap 16 5:18
lap 17 5:41
lap 18 5:29 (1:45 stop - kicked in head - 400ml gatorade & half banana - feel ok but tired)
lap 19 5:30
lap 20 5:35
lap 21 5:30
lap 22 5:35
lap 23 5:37
lap 24 5:47
lap 25 5:46
lap 26 6:28
I staggered out of the lake in 10th position and headed up the matting to my support crew who were waiting with coffee, woolly hat and trainers for the long walk up to the house to transition.
Swim exit video - click here
T1 was funny, me, Dobbers & Clarky trying to get me out of my wetsuit and put dry cycling gear on whilst eating porridge with jam, peanut butter/jam sandwich, mars bar and drinking coffee, flat coke & water.
Nearly ready to go & get my bike ....... hold up, I need to go to the toilet, quickley, actually very quickley, think I'd drunk a little too much lake water.
Clarky led the way to the nearest toilets, men's occupied, oh dear, "get in the ladies" Clarky shouted, we will not go into details here but I was a while !
Dobber tweeted
Feeling better, we raced back to the tent & Dobber, finished getting dressed and I raced to my bike.
The plan was 4 laps then stop for food, I stopped at the support crew station and picked up a bottle of gatorade and another of water, took some jelly beans, a gel and banana. Let's get lap 1 done, race time was now 2:45, it had been nearly half an hour since I exited the water, no panic, its a long day, night, day!
The tweets kept coming from Clarky, Dobbers & Sarah (signed into my twitter account)
Again my lap times were recorded with notes on nutrition and how I felt, I suffered bladder cramps for the first 100 mile then it eased a little, my hydration plan was working well but it meant I was stopping somewhere to relieve myself every lap, which was good but also it was costing time, but this strategy would repay itself later in the race we were sure.
lap 1 38 mins
lap 2 40 mins (peanut butter sandwich, jelly beans, water - bladder cramps)
lap 3 41 mins (water - still having bladder cramps)lap 4 38 mins (10 minute stop - rice/ sweet & sour sauce, 1 litre water - still bladder cramps)
lap 5 38 mins
lap 6 40 mins (quick stop - took water & coke - nutrigrain bar & cake - high5 not going down well)
lap 7 43 mins
lap 8 43 mins (30 minute stop - toilet (lets not do details again!) - pasta & ham)
lap 9 42 mins (drank full bottle of water on that lap)
lap 10 40 mins (4 minute stop to fit lights)
lap 11 45 mins
lap 12 45 mins (+2 min chat - feeling good - food stop next lap)lap 13 46 mins (12 min stop - pasta & cappuccino)
lap 14 46 mins (gatorade)
lap 15 47 mins (rice pudding & cappuccino change base layer as getting cold)
lap 16 45 mins (drank 500ml gatorade - pasta next stop)
lap 17 47 mins (pasta, coffe - getting bored)
lap 18 49 mins (drank 500ml gatorade & 350 ml water - crackers & jelly babies)
lap 19 45 mins (3 min stop - satsuma)
lap 20 46 mins
Only thing I would change would be to get a better set of lights, none of the bike route had any street lights and between 10pm and 3:30am it was very dark so had to take less speed into many corners as I couldn't see very clearly where I was going.
Georgie's poster video - waiting for early bike lap return - click here
Early bike lap return - click here
 |
| 170 mile into bike route - coffee & rice pudding stop |
Strava extract of the cycle ride (below);
So Clarky & Sarah dragged me into the warmth to change for the run, only 52.8 miles to go (48 x 1.1 mile woodland trail loops)
Apparentley I was less than helpful while they tried to put my socks on, etc ... well I had been racing for over 18 hours already !
Another (let's not talk about it) toilet stop and off for a little run around the woods we go, new plan was to walk up the hills, run everywhere else, legs felt ok, I felt ok just tired. A quick drink, check in with time keepers and off we go.
Again my laps were recorded, again I was stopping nearly every lap to relieve myself but atleast I was well hydrated.
lap 1 12 minslap 2 13 mins (took water & ritz crackers)
lap 3 13 mins
lap 4 16 mins (2 min stop porridge & coffee)
lap 5 13 mins (water)
lap 6 14 mins (gatorade)
lap 7 12 mins
lap 8 13 mins
lap 9 13 mins (took 350ml gatorade)
lap 10 13 mins (coffee & nutrigrain bar)
lap 11 14 mins (took 200ml gatorade & cake)
lap 12 12 mins (3 min stop, cappuccino & cake)
lap 13 16 mins (350ml gatorade, half cap, cake)
lap 14 13 mins (took 350ml water & fruit bar)lap 15 13 mins (took 350ml water & fruit bar)
lap 16 14 mins (took 350ml gatorade)
lap 17 12 mins (took walnut cake)
lap 18 14 mins (took half satsuma)lap 19 13 mins (half satsuma & sip of water)
lap 20 12 mins (1:30 cappuccino stop)
lap 21 13 mins (took 350ml water & satsuma)
lap 22 13 mins (cappuccino)
lap 23 15 mins (water)
lap 24 14 mins (jaffa cakes, water)
well thats one marathon done, one to go!
I had to change my clothes they were wet & rubbing in all the wrong places, I really needed to visit the little boys room again for the forth time in the race (again you don't want to know the details). I lost 17 minutes in all stopping and it cost me a place, but I felt much better after.
lap 25 14 mins (porridge & gatorade)
lap 26 14 mins
lap 27 12 mins
lap 28 12 mins
lap 29 13 mins
lap 30 11 mins
lap 31 12 mins
lap 32 13 mins
lap 33 13 mins
lap 34 13 mins (4 min stop, coffee)
lap 35 12 mins (1:30 stop)
lap 36 14 mins
lap 37 (no time, I was that fast, support crew didnt see me :) was about 12 mins
 |
| 2nd marathon - let's get this over with! |
lap 39 15 mins
lap 40 13 mins
lap 41 13 mins
lap 42 12 mins
lap 43 12 mins
lap 44 12 mins
lap 45 12 mins
lap 46 13 mins
lap 47 12 mins
lap 48 10 mins
In the second marathon I started running straight through the turn circle where my support crew were based, they had half bottles (350ml) ready for me to just grab and swap over, I was running on empty, totally exhausted, really don't know where I found the energy to speed up in the second marathon, I just wanted to get it over with, so started doing blocks of 3 laps without stopping at the support crew station, it was hard work, VERY HARD, but did feel awesome running straight through the turning circle past the support crews, timing points and crowd while many competitors stopped or walked.
I can't remember just how many laps I had to go, when Clarky told me I was 3 minutes behind 7th place, it was probably around 10 laps to go, I really didn't know or want to know, I was giving it everything I had, I had nothing left, and I remember the conversation "mate, i've got nothing left, what will be will be". And I carried on.
Next lap I saw him coming towards me down at the lake, "go away" I thought "I'm not interested", then he said something that woke something inside of me "you gained 30 seconds on 7th in the last lap, go for it" ....... so I did! I really don't know where the energy came from, I just got into a rythm and started knocking off consecutative 12 minute laps, the fastest laps I'd done all day, I was buzzing now, I was passing competitors at every corner wondering if that was 7th, my support crew, the race director & officials were all pushing me on, I was running well, I felt awesome, racing through the timing station & crowds, another lap done, then I saw Clarky a thumbs up and a high 5 I'd just taken 7th on the downhill section into the circle, I raced through again and tried as hard as I could to show I was running well, at the top of the hill I went again, leaving a number of competitors behind on the hill.
Later in that lap I saw Steve Dolby, "youve left him behind mate, he's stopped to rest at the top of the hill, youv'e taken 7 minutes out of him in that last lap alone, come on"
I just kept going same pace, same rythm, the laps were coming down less than 4 to go now, it was difficult to know out on the course who you were racing as there were half iron, full iron and 100 mile run competitors with the double iron competitors out on the run course and with it being multi-lap if you did see a double iron competitor you had no idea if they were on the same lap as you.
I ended up finishing 8th after all that hard work but I suppose it could have been 9th if I hadn't upped my game, I do remember a runner come speeding past me with a few laps to go and thinking "I hope he's not just taken 7th" ..... I did wonder whether to try and go with him but he was too fast, I just hoped he was in a different race, he wasn't he took 7th, fair play to him.
With two and a half laps to go I got the message, youve got 38 minutes to go sub 30 hours .... "really?" I thought, I'd got no idea what time it was, how long I'd been running, I had decided not to take my garmin or a watch, the loops were 1.1 miles, support crew were timing me, if I really wanted to know I could ask ....... I hadn't wanted to know ...... up to now!.
I must admit I thought sub 30 was gone with all the toilet stops but here I was with less than 3 miles to go to finish the double and I had a whole 38 minutes to do it, now this might seem like a piece of cake normally but I was knackered, well & truely knackered, I'd been racing for over 29 hours, how much more did I have left, I just kept going and kept my rythm, the plan walking up the hills was working, keep at it I thought don't let your pace drop and your home.
Clarky, Dobber, Claire, Sarah & the kids where buzzing with excitement "come on sub 30, you can do it", it spurred me on more and more, dig deeper, go faster, its nearly over, I must admit getting a bit emotional but pushed it back to the back of my mind, I haven't finished yet!
Towards the end of what I hoped was my penultimate lap, on the last hill before the descent into the circle where the chip timing, support crews and crowds were, I saw Steve Dolby, I needed water when I got into the circle, I shouted at Steve, he raced through the short cut to the circle to make sure it was ready for me when I came through, I didnt want to waste anytime stopping, it was nearly over.
I remember running into the circle praying that the time keepers would confirm this was my last lap (in an Enduroman race the last lap is always run in reverse, so that remaining comptitors can see you are on the last lap and congratulate you with high 5's and well done's) I'd been thinking of this moment since I clicked the enter button for this event back in November 2011, "I hope this is my last lap" I thought.
I got to the timing mats, looked at the timers "last lap" they shouted ....... wow, I've done it, 1.1 miles to go, lots of high 5's, smiles and well dones, come on.
I turned and ran back the way I had come in, back past my cheering support crew, I threw the water bottle up in the air and shouted something, can't remember what, probably "wahoo" or "come on", and off I went on the reverse final lap run. As I ran out up the hill, I hoped that the half full water bottle had landed safely & not on someone's head .... ooopps !
I didn't bother walking up any hills on that lap, I ran all the way, fastest lap of the day ... AWESOME
Over the timing mats "must be sub 30" I thought, the music was loud, the crowd was cheering, I sprinted through the finish gantry arms aloft where Dobbers & Clarky sprayed me with Guinness (what a waste) and into Sarah & Georgie's arms.
The Race Director gave me my finisher Double Enduroman "sleep can wait" T-shirt, Enduroman medal & IUTA Double Iron finisher medal, I then hugged all my support crew. I am a DOUBLE IRON FINISHER, not only that but I'd broken the magic 30 hour barrier on the tough Avon Tyrrell course, I was overwhelmed & exhausted.
I walked to behind our support crew tent and sat against the wall, Clarky interviewed me!
The tweets & facebook messages were outstanding, we must have had #DIM trending on twitter, Sarah, Clair, Clarky & Dobber were reading some out to me during the race, but I was absolutely amazed when I read through them all on sunday night, overwhelming, thank you to all.
Final results (link http://www.enduroman.com/results/ )
Phil Binch - Double Enduroman - Avon Tyrrell
4.8 mile swim 2:18 - 232 mile bike 16:17 - 52.8 mile off road run 11:13 - total time 29:49
Finally the most important thing I have to say is a HUGE GREAT BIG THANK YOU to my support crew Sarah Binch, Georgina Binch, Steve Dolby, Clair Dolby, Annie Dolby, Ellie Dolby & Steve Clark, quite simply I could not have achieved this with out your support, advice and encouragement, you are all superstars <queue the music>, I don't know how to repay you for what you have helped me achieve, but I'm going to try, soon we will eat & drink till dawn :)
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| Gorilla Race Team - Double Enduroman 2012 |
Saturday 9 June 2012
Double Iron - Pre Race Prep
Well it's very close now, still not nervous but had lots to organise over the last couple of days.
I'd had my sports massage with Emma http://www.emmadavies4fitness.co.uk/id8.html yesterday to wake up my legs after some rest days, painful but fantastic. Emma also worked on a couple of niggles I had, a sharp pain in my right shoulder (which usuallly developed after about 20 miles on the bike) & a dull pain in the right glute (from over training basically). Felt great afterwards & the niggles were gone!
The race is at Avon Tyrrell in the New Forest near Bournemouth, a 250 mile road trip so taking everything I could possibly need was priority, even the truck struggled to hold everything, Georgie's & Sarah's wellies were squeezed under seats, Steve & Clair had to take some gear in their car.
One hour before we left, I was still in a "which bike to take dilema", I hadn't been on the TT bike much at all but thought it would have been nice to have the option to switch during the race, but this would mean that my daughter wouldnt be able to take her mountain bike to enjoy. After some deliberation, I stuck with my road bike, it had got me through all those training miles, surely it deserved to complete a double iron as well <laughing>
Food was packed, over the last few days I've never eaten so much pasta, chicken, tuna, potatoes, etc. We'd bought all the race food; porridge, rice, pasta, satsuma's, bananas, rice pudding, jelly beans, jelly babies, nutrigrain bars, jaffa cakes, ritz crackers, jam, peanut butter as well as gatorade & gels, Sarah had also made some Parkin cake & Walnut/Banana cake.
The weather was not looking great down near Bournemouth either, strong winds & heavy rain wednesday & thursday, looking like it improved over the weekend but it looked like a wet race so I had to be prepared & packed loads more gear ....... the truck was FULL !!
We set off in convoy about 10:15am, stopped half way for coffee (a must if you know me), hit some really bad weather getting close to our destination but luckily when we arrived the weather was clear, so quickly set up camp before the predicted wind & rain came ......
That night .............. the wind & rain came ....... BIG STYLE ..... still forecasts suggested better weather for the weekend <fingers crossed>
I slept ok that night although had to get up a quite a few times to visit the toilet (a good sign that my hydration plan was working well I suppose) and also to re-peg some of tents guy ropes that had been pulled out by the wind.
I was still feeling good about the race, I'd done the training (although I'd not done the race distance in any of the 3 disciplines before), I had a good race plan, I felt strong.
After breakfast I headed out in the truck to recce the bike route, an 11.6 mile loop in the New Forest, beautiful, a couple of fast straights and a good number of nice climbs, none very tough but they would certainly test the legs after 200 miles. I also checked out the shorter back up route that athletes had ridden yesterday & today due to flooding and fallen trees on the original race route, I was happy with both routes. The original longer route was more exposed with no street lighting anywhere whilst the shorter route was more residential and sheltered, but would have to be in the region of 40 laps, which might get a little repetative!
Walked the run course in the afternoon, all off road apart from the main circle and climb into the forest, some technical bits through the forest and round the lake, with an uphill drag back up to the house, that will be tough, especially as I'm going to have to do it 48 times (1.1 mile loop) !!!
4pm was registration & blood tests, the event was now an International Ultra Triathlon Assocciation (IUTA) European & Britsih Championship Double Iron race.
6pm ..... race briefing ...... the Race Director started talking through the race, how tough the bike & run routes were and how long it took to complete, this was when my heart sank, I suddenly lost what confidence I had, became nervous and asked myself "what the hell am I doing here", the briefing went on, the feelings got worse, the finishing times he was talking about were much longer than I had predicted, how could I have got this so wrong, my support crew needed to be heading home on sunday evening but the Race Director was talking how most would finish late sunday night and even monday morning ....... panic !
Support Crew to the rescue to sort me out, if I finished sunday night so be it, let's just finish it, forget work, school, etc .... focus on the race, so I did.
Talking to some of the other athletes who had done this Double before under 30 hours was considered pretty darn good, most would be over, few would be under, only 3 athletes were under 30 hours last year.
With a revised start time of 9am (originally 6am) on Saturday, a 30+(ish) hour race would mean a late afternoon finish, still time to pack & travel home, panic over, race face on !
We had also revised the run tactics over pasta that evening, originally I was looking to run 4 laps (4.4 miles) then walk a lap taking on hydration & food, but talking to past competitors the tactic that worked best seemed to be walk up the hills, run the flat & descents, taking on hydration and food every lap, so that was now the plan.
We confirmed the swim plan, 6 laps (1.2 miles) then 350ml gatorade & half banana, a full bottle of gatorade on the walk to transition with porridge before the bike.
The bike plan was atleast 1 litre of fluid every hour (alternating gatorade/ water/ flat coke (full fat), stopping every 4 laps (46.4 miles) for pasta or rice, taking banana/ cake on every 2nd lap but always carrying a gel, banana & jelly beans.
Right, we can do no more, 10pm ..... bed time, tomorrow we race the Double Iron, COME ON !!
I'd had my sports massage with Emma http://www.emmadavies4fitness.co.uk/id8.html yesterday to wake up my legs after some rest days, painful but fantastic. Emma also worked on a couple of niggles I had, a sharp pain in my right shoulder (which usuallly developed after about 20 miles on the bike) & a dull pain in the right glute (from over training basically). Felt great afterwards & the niggles were gone!
The race is at Avon Tyrrell in the New Forest near Bournemouth, a 250 mile road trip so taking everything I could possibly need was priority, even the truck struggled to hold everything, Georgie's & Sarah's wellies were squeezed under seats, Steve & Clair had to take some gear in their car.
One hour before we left, I was still in a "which bike to take dilema", I hadn't been on the TT bike much at all but thought it would have been nice to have the option to switch during the race, but this would mean that my daughter wouldnt be able to take her mountain bike to enjoy. After some deliberation, I stuck with my road bike, it had got me through all those training miles, surely it deserved to complete a double iron as well <laughing>
Food was packed, over the last few days I've never eaten so much pasta, chicken, tuna, potatoes, etc. We'd bought all the race food; porridge, rice, pasta, satsuma's, bananas, rice pudding, jelly beans, jelly babies, nutrigrain bars, jaffa cakes, ritz crackers, jam, peanut butter as well as gatorade & gels, Sarah had also made some Parkin cake & Walnut/Banana cake.
 |
| Race Food |
The weather was not looking great down near Bournemouth either, strong winds & heavy rain wednesday & thursday, looking like it improved over the weekend but it looked like a wet race so I had to be prepared & packed loads more gear ....... the truck was FULL !!
We set off in convoy about 10:15am, stopped half way for coffee (a must if you know me), hit some really bad weather getting close to our destination but luckily when we arrived the weather was clear, so quickly set up camp before the predicted wind & rain came ......
That night .............. the wind & rain came ....... BIG STYLE ..... still forecasts suggested better weather for the weekend <fingers crossed>
I slept ok that night although had to get up a quite a few times to visit the toilet (a good sign that my hydration plan was working well I suppose) and also to re-peg some of tents guy ropes that had been pulled out by the wind.
I was still feeling good about the race, I'd done the training (although I'd not done the race distance in any of the 3 disciplines before), I had a good race plan, I felt strong.
After breakfast I headed out in the truck to recce the bike route, an 11.6 mile loop in the New Forest, beautiful, a couple of fast straights and a good number of nice climbs, none very tough but they would certainly test the legs after 200 miles. I also checked out the shorter back up route that athletes had ridden yesterday & today due to flooding and fallen trees on the original race route, I was happy with both routes. The original longer route was more exposed with no street lighting anywhere whilst the shorter route was more residential and sheltered, but would have to be in the region of 40 laps, which might get a little repetative!
Walked the run course in the afternoon, all off road apart from the main circle and climb into the forest, some technical bits through the forest and round the lake, with an uphill drag back up to the house, that will be tough, especially as I'm going to have to do it 48 times (1.1 mile loop) !!!
4pm was registration & blood tests, the event was now an International Ultra Triathlon Assocciation (IUTA) European & Britsih Championship Double Iron race.
6pm ..... race briefing ...... the Race Director started talking through the race, how tough the bike & run routes were and how long it took to complete, this was when my heart sank, I suddenly lost what confidence I had, became nervous and asked myself "what the hell am I doing here", the briefing went on, the feelings got worse, the finishing times he was talking about were much longer than I had predicted, how could I have got this so wrong, my support crew needed to be heading home on sunday evening but the Race Director was talking how most would finish late sunday night and even monday morning ....... panic !
Support Crew to the rescue to sort me out, if I finished sunday night so be it, let's just finish it, forget work, school, etc .... focus on the race, so I did.
Talking to some of the other athletes who had done this Double before under 30 hours was considered pretty darn good, most would be over, few would be under, only 3 athletes were under 30 hours last year.
With a revised start time of 9am (originally 6am) on Saturday, a 30+(ish) hour race would mean a late afternoon finish, still time to pack & travel home, panic over, race face on !
 |
| Support Team meeting |
We confirmed the swim plan, 6 laps (1.2 miles) then 350ml gatorade & half banana, a full bottle of gatorade on the walk to transition with porridge before the bike.
The bike plan was atleast 1 litre of fluid every hour (alternating gatorade/ water/ flat coke (full fat), stopping every 4 laps (46.4 miles) for pasta or rice, taking banana/ cake on every 2nd lap but always carrying a gel, banana & jelly beans.
Right, we can do no more, 10pm ..... bed time, tomorrow we race the Double Iron, COME ON !!
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Double Iron - Race Plan
A great meal with family & friends last night putting the final details together for the race plan.
So to my wife Sarah, daughter Georgie and close friends Steve Clark, Steve Dolby, Clair Dolby and their children Annie & Ellie who are travelling nearly 500 miles in total to support me, feed me and encourage me in a race that will last more than a day, what can I say, words can not express how much I appreciate this, you are the greatest, THANK YOU.
Ok mushy stuff out of the way, whats the plan.
Well I've had a couple of days off training, just going to do a decent steady swim tomorrow, probably about 4k, and just a bit of easy spinning on the bike and running for a few hours.
Although this is a serious challenge we all decided that we must have some fun with it especially in the early hours to help me mentally, keep me in good spirits and focused, think I need to be ready for some banter !!!
I'm carb loading big style this week to store energy in my body, lots of pasta, potatoes, oats, veg, fruit, cereals and also taking on board extra protein chicken, fish, eggs ....... not all at once though, that would disgusting ..... or would it ? <laughing>
Increasing fluid intake now, if I haven't got water or an electrolyte/carb drinking in my hands every second of the day then shoot me!
An extra big carb loading meal on Wednesday & Thursday, the race starts 9am Saturday, so I can get up early have some porridge/ fruit/ coffee and relax a little.
Swim - 26 x 295m laps (4.8 miles)
- should take about 2 hours 10 mins
- take on electrolyte drink/ banana/ yophurt every 30 mins
T1
- steady walk to transition to change into dry cycling gear
- drink 1 bottle of electrolyte drink
- porridge/ peanut butter & jam sandwich/ fruit
Bike - 20 x 11.6 mile laps (232 miles)
- always carry a full bottle on the bike, swap every lap so support crew can see how much I'm drinking (very important!) alternate between water with gel & electrolyte drink.
- carry any 2 of (gel, banana, nutrigarin bar, jelly beans or babies)
- every 2 laps take on fruit (satsuma/ banana) & wholemeal bread sandwich (peanut butter/ jam)
- stop every 4 laps for meal (veg pasta/ tuna/ eggs/ chicken/ cereal/ fruit/ yoghurt/ coffee) with salt
- check I'm going to the toilet!
- change clothes if needed ie weather
- protein drink every 2 to 3 hours
- stretch some part of the body every lap (support crew to tell) this should be funny :)
- 2 hours before I need to increase my fluid intake
- 1 hour before I need to spin an easier gear to get my leg cadence more akin to a running cadence.
T2
- 1 electrolyte drink
- vaseline toes/ plaster over nipples !
- don't stay too long, get out and get a lap or 2 done
Run - 48 x 1.1 mile laps (52 miles)
- run 4 laps, walk 1 lap & repeat ...... lots of times !!
- take small water bottle & banana/ gel (or similar, nothing to chewy) on every 2nd lap
- take on cereal/ porridge/ fruit at beginning of walk lap (stop if needed)
- take electrolyte drink/ flat coke and food/ salt (fruit/ jelly beans/ nutrigrain) on walk lap
- need to drink 1 - 2 bottles of water/ electro per hour
- if not been to toilet in last hour, need 1 bottle of water quick !
- change clothing as required re weather
Well thats the plan, the rest we will have to make up as we go along, anything could happen, but Im feeling good about the test, the swim should be fine, teh bike I'll probably get some back ache & bum ache but I can cope with that, the run ..... well the run is goiung to hurt, the hamstrings & calfs will tighten & I'll have to just keep moving.
Am I racing or am I competing ?
Well the first goal is to finish above all and actually I quite confident about doing that (it would be foolish not to be wouldnt it?), I do have a time in mind, I've hand it in my mind since the day I entered, but I'll keep that to myself for now.
Where will that mean I finish who knows, there are a lot of strong ultra triathletes out there & this is my first triathlon beyond iron distance ..... so bring out the Gorilla and let's get on with it !
So to my wife Sarah, daughter Georgie and close friends Steve Clark, Steve Dolby, Clair Dolby and their children Annie & Ellie who are travelling nearly 500 miles in total to support me, feed me and encourage me in a race that will last more than a day, what can I say, words can not express how much I appreciate this, you are the greatest, THANK YOU.
Ok mushy stuff out of the way, whats the plan.
Well I've had a couple of days off training, just going to do a decent steady swim tomorrow, probably about 4k, and just a bit of easy spinning on the bike and running for a few hours.
Although this is a serious challenge we all decided that we must have some fun with it especially in the early hours to help me mentally, keep me in good spirits and focused, think I need to be ready for some banter !!!
I'm carb loading big style this week to store energy in my body, lots of pasta, potatoes, oats, veg, fruit, cereals and also taking on board extra protein chicken, fish, eggs ....... not all at once though, that would disgusting ..... or would it ? <laughing>
Increasing fluid intake now, if I haven't got water or an electrolyte/carb drinking in my hands every second of the day then shoot me!
An extra big carb loading meal on Wednesday & Thursday, the race starts 9am Saturday, so I can get up early have some porridge/ fruit/ coffee and relax a little.
Swim - 26 x 295m laps (4.8 miles)
- should take about 2 hours 10 mins
- take on electrolyte drink/ banana/ yophurt every 30 mins
T1
- steady walk to transition to change into dry cycling gear
- drink 1 bottle of electrolyte drink
- porridge/ peanut butter & jam sandwich/ fruit
Bike - 20 x 11.6 mile laps (232 miles)
- always carry a full bottle on the bike, swap every lap so support crew can see how much I'm drinking (very important!) alternate between water with gel & electrolyte drink.
- carry any 2 of (gel, banana, nutrigarin bar, jelly beans or babies)
- every 2 laps take on fruit (satsuma/ banana) & wholemeal bread sandwich (peanut butter/ jam)
- stop every 4 laps for meal (veg pasta/ tuna/ eggs/ chicken/ cereal/ fruit/ yoghurt/ coffee) with salt
- check I'm going to the toilet!
- change clothes if needed ie weather
- protein drink every 2 to 3 hours
- stretch some part of the body every lap (support crew to tell) this should be funny :)
- 2 hours before I need to increase my fluid intake
- 1 hour before I need to spin an easier gear to get my leg cadence more akin to a running cadence.
T2
- 1 electrolyte drink
- vaseline toes/ plaster over nipples !
- don't stay too long, get out and get a lap or 2 done
Run - 48 x 1.1 mile laps (52 miles)
- run 4 laps, walk 1 lap & repeat ...... lots of times !!
- take small water bottle & banana/ gel (or similar, nothing to chewy) on every 2nd lap
- take on cereal/ porridge/ fruit at beginning of walk lap (stop if needed)
- take electrolyte drink/ flat coke and food/ salt (fruit/ jelly beans/ nutrigrain) on walk lap
- need to drink 1 - 2 bottles of water/ electro per hour
- if not been to toilet in last hour, need 1 bottle of water quick !
- change clothing as required re weather
Well thats the plan, the rest we will have to make up as we go along, anything could happen, but Im feeling good about the test, the swim should be fine, teh bike I'll probably get some back ache & bum ache but I can cope with that, the run ..... well the run is goiung to hurt, the hamstrings & calfs will tighten & I'll have to just keep moving.
Am I racing or am I competing ?
Well the first goal is to finish above all and actually I quite confident about doing that (it would be foolish not to be wouldnt it?), I do have a time in mind, I've hand it in my mind since the day I entered, but I'll keep that to myself for now.
Where will that mean I finish who knows, there are a lot of strong ultra triathletes out there & this is my first triathlon beyond iron distance ..... so bring out the Gorilla and let's get on with it !
Monday 4 June 2012
Double Iron - Enduroman is getting close
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Training has been going great to be fair, probably why I haven't written much on the blog recently!
I've been putting in 20 -25 hour training weeks since the beginning of May, with a 30 hour week for the last week of May which included 3 swim sessions (open water & pool) one of which was a 4k swim in 67 minutes, which gave me loads of confidence.
I've only done an 8 mile & 15 mile run this week, which I feel bad about, as I was just starting to get back into it following my 5 x 6 mile runs (30 miles) earlier on in the month. Still not happy with what pace I'm going to run the double at, really need to sort this, but a 52 mile run is going to hurt anyway, never mind after a 5 mile swim & 232 mile bike!! I've always said IM runs are all in the mind, let's hope so, the gorilla can get me through that !
Cycling, well that's awesome, loving clocking the centuary rides up, I'm now into double figures for the year, and averaging nearly 400 miles per week over the last 4 weeks.
And I've managed to sneak 3 kayak sessions in in the new toy, never paddled anything as fast or as unstable, so still getting my confidence with it, I haven't been for a swim yet in it, so that's good, been thinking that I will enter the British Quadrathlon Championships this year after all, a 3rd & 6th in the last two years, not sure what I can do this year but I love the race.
Back to training, I clocked up my biggest ride ever on 28th May, 150 solo miles averaging 18.2 mph, felt really good at the end, it would be fair to say I was buzzing and felt like I could have carried on but had to be somewhere ...... I'll save the 200 miler for the double, laughing.
So in 6 days I take on Double Enduroman, a 4.8 mile swim, 232 mile bike, 52 mile run, to be honest I'm feeling good about it, it helps not thinking about the distances too much, after all its only a swim, bike, run.
It also helps being multi laps & seeing my support crew, many, mnay times (lol), I've done a few training sessions that are multi lap to get me used to it, 25 laps around Messingham playing field starting at 4:45am on Friday helped me finally sort my pacing issues out, the plan is coming together nicely.
A meal & chat with my support crew tonight, who will keep me motivated & fed during the race, so that I can share my race plan, there is simply no way I could do this without them, I am a very lucky boy, once this is over I'm going to treat them to one hell of a night out !
So I've had a couple of days off training now and back on it today but slow, steady & short(ish) however I do want to get a couple of long steady pool swim sessions in this week. Might even have a paddle in the kayak just to be different.
Been folloing the Deca Enduroman guys at Avon Tyrell this week, day 4 today, those guys are going through some pain, massively inspirational, can't wait to get down there on Thursday and watch them for a couple of days before I start on Saturday.
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