Good evening, from a knackered Triathlete.
Only 5 events remaining on the 2012 plan list after completing the Norwich Triathlon this morning. These are:
July 2012 Victory Triathlon
August 2012 - Ely HALF IRONMAN
August 2012 National club relay Championships
Sept 2012 - The Great Barrow Challenge 480 mile cycle (reduced from 500 mile for some reason)
Nov 2012 - Norwich half marathon
http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz
Tour de France has begun, love it. Prologue & Stage 1 completed already, currently watching todays sky plus'd stage whilst i write.
Couple of stats for you. This blog has had 2759 views since it started. Hopefully it's inspiring rather than putting people off exercising
Fatman to Ironman thread on RW has had 33141 views & 2735 posts since it was born on 18th April 2012
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/triathlon/fatman-to-ironman/191464.html
Come say hi, get mugged off & talked into doing an IM event in 2013.
Enough waffle, heres the weeks training.
Monday - 1hr 2min bike/15min run brick
Tuesday - rest day (2mile work bike)
Wednesday - 38min bike & 48min open water swim. Huge result for me on this swim. Managed to swim 140m & 146m non stop front crawl. Looks like the days of not being able to swim a length are long gone :-)
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| The lake where i swim |
Thursday - 1hr 2min bike/15min run brick
Friday - 56min bike
Saturday - No training but spent 8 hours helping set up the Norwich Tri, good fun. Did another park run marshall while Arleya ran
Sunday - Norwich Triathlon (report below) Helped clear up & load truck for a few hours (exercise i guess)
Norwich Triathlon organised by TriAnglia.
I'll just start of by saying what a fantastic event this was, best Triathlon (& longest) I have done & it was certainly in the most pleasent setting. I couldnt get any pictures though as Arleya (my camerawoman) was on marshalling duties. i may be able to find a few on FB.
Run down on the day.
Up at 5.15am, porridge, banana & two cups of coffee for breakfast. Loaded car, bags had been packed the night before & set off the the venue.
3 minutes later arrived at the venue & was able to park a hundred yards from transition. If Carlsburg did Triathlon venues :-)
I registered the night before so just needed inking up. Number 547, wave 5.
Wave 1 & 2 Olympic distance racers
Wave 3 Relay teams
Wave 4 & 5 Sprint race
Each wave had their briefing 10 minutes before their start time at the Open water centre, apart from relay who had a seperate one. Instructions were clearly announced over the loud speaker in between some sweet tunes being played.
I set up in transition, wish i'd waited because i wound up in Mr Selfish bike rack area again. (Came back from my leg to find someones bike on top of all my gear. Not sure if the 2 seconds gained in careless bike slinging meant a podium position for this person. grrrr)
So, after I'd set up i had a a couple of hours wait till my start, had another banana. Met an old friend Ian , a guy I used to work with who was doing his first Tri. We went down to the lake & watched the first Olympic swim wave come passed.
Time for toilet before lubing up & donning wetsuit, as it happens i must have had about 10 wee's in an hour before the race?? There were only 3 portaloo's so there was a massive queue which was hardly moving. After 10 minutes the local folliage was starting to look appealing. I then noticed two other plastic huts which i thought had said mums room on them (baby changing maybe?) then i saw a guy come out to which i realised the sign said mens room. These contained 6 urinals. Doh, should have gone to specsavers. Enough detail on that i think.
So, walked up to the swim start, excellent sign placement to find this :-) Had another wee when i got there (in the toilet). Briefing done, in water, not cold. 9.45 away we go. So, learn from previous open water swim. Dont set off like a nutcase, there is a reason i'm in slow swimmer pack. I controlled my urge to rush & waited a few seconds for people to disperse. This strategy made for a totally relaxed swim start.
Did breast stroke for 100 metres then alternated breaststroke/front crawl. First time i've done this in an event. My best 750 to date has been 22 minutes. Managed today in 19:43. I think this may include the run to transition though as my watch was on 18 min when i came out the water. Either way, chuffed with the swim time.
Nice run to cheers & clapping up to transition where i was in & out in under 2 minutes. God bless sensual lube. Bike leg always good for me & i picked off 20 + competitors on the bike. Apart from that, uneventfull. Took 35:12 to complete the 18 k course. Pleased considering it had been the hilliest Tri course i have yet done.
T2 was quick despite the aforementioned ignorance, 19 seconds.
Run took me 31:22 to complete the 5.5k course. First half was quite tough as it was mainly up hill with a few steps through the woodland along the way. Nice route though, i will be using it in training. Once we got to the end of the woods we were on my normal training path so i was away round the lake.
I'd had my heart set on finishing in 90 minutes but the more i thought about it i didnt think i'd quite do it. Time was ticking away as i was running up towards the open water centre & i couldnt remember exactly how far it was from there to the finish. So, i opened up a bit & came in at 88:31.
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| Arleya giving competitors their well deserved banana's & water |
Well done to Mark Philo for organising this event & all the helpers / marshalls this weekend.
Great Barrow Challenge. All registered & paid up so no turning back now. Looking forward to the 4 day cycling & camping holiday
Details here if anyone fancies it
http://www.greatbarrowchallenge.co.uk/
Next event is two weeks time. Victory Triathlon at North Walsham. That will be my last Sprint Tri. Just going to do olympic, middle distance & IM events going forward. Hark at me, struggled to ride a bike further than 12 miles a year ago :-)
And finally, a massive well done to those who have completed & who are still out on The Outlaw Ironman distance course today.
Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journey
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/
Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP=
My charity page for event listings & making a donation
http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz
