O.M.G.

I've spent the last 6 years or so reading and listening about the exploits of friends and triathlon aquantances racing in far flung destinations. Phil at Ironman Switzerland and New Zealand, Matt going to Kona, Slacko at Ironman Austria and attempting to qualify for Kona; the list goes on. I really enjoy reading about these events and the Tritalk forum is full of tales from guys n' gals heading off to every destination imaginable, usually fairly exotic, warm and fast.  It's now Simon's turn, as in 6 weeks' time he will be taking part in the Alpe D' Huez triathlon. I am very jealous.

It's been an ambition of mine for quite some time to join them and a couple of years ago I was looking at the Norseman as a potential event (still well and truly on my bucket list by the way). However a race like that requires a not inconsiderable amount of spare cash and spare time, two things that have been in short supply in the wheezy household. Until now. :-)

Yes, I could jet off on my own but as this is merely a hobby of mine, leaving the wife and kids at home while I went off and had a holiday and a race on my own would be about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit, so the race or at least the immediate area needs to be family friendly, somewhere where we could all have a good couple of weeks' holiday before or after the event. It also needs to be in the school holidays, which actually rules out quite a few of the European Ironman branded events like Lanza, France etc. But most importantly, the event needs to scare me. I need something that will ensure that I am getting out there, getting the training done. Ultimately that's been my downfall with my triathlon so far this year with the age group qualification from the Dambuster; it just hasn't grabbed me, made me frightened, made me commit. The DW frightens me still, despite three starts, running a sub-3 marathon frightens me and is still tantilisingly out of reach but for whatever reason, the goal of AG qualification has not floated my boat. So, what's out there that would give me a good kick up the backside and get me tri training?

Norseman; Would absolutely LOVE to do this race but a support crew is needed. Another layer of stress and complexity and I don't want Sue to have to do the supporting. One day, but not now.

Ironman Switzerland; Looks fab, heartbreak hill looks immense, big crowds, great venue, sells out in a heartbeat but I would need a third mortgage to race it. With proper training would be a good pb course.

Embrunman. First heard about it properly about a year ago on the IMtalk podcast. OMG. Ironman distance race with a climb of the Col d' Izoard, an absolute monster of an alpine climb on the bike course, regularly seen on LeTour plus quite  a few other lumps en route so it's obviously not a fast course; no pbs here. Now that scares me; it looks genuinely epic. The perfect destination for a family holiday to boot and it's half the price of an mdot race.The clincher is though that Sue thinks it's a pretty good idea too. We are game on.

Words of caution. It's 15 months away. That's a long time. Can I keep motivated and injury free for that long? This race, like the DW, is not the type of event where I could just rock up and bimble my way around  It simply looks too hard and too unforgiving. But bloody hell, I'm looking forward to giving it a go.

Replies.
Hodge; All good mate. :-)

There are worse commutes in the world

Half way up Boxhill with the sun actually shining.

Pearson 150km Sportive

I've had a nice couple of weeks. Work stress has tailed off drastically as well as stuff at home so all of a sudden I have got more time on my hands than I have had in a long time. Early last week Jamie and I met up for another condor paddle which went really well. A paddle up and around the island at Elmbridge a couple of times and back through the Desborough Cut. A solid hour of  K2 paddling which we both walked away from without doing any damage to ourselves. It felt pretty darn good. :-)

Sunday was a bit more challenging. Simon had been given a couple of entries to the Pearson Sportive and asked me along. 150 kilometres of bike miles on some patchy commuting and a couple of 10 mile time trials? Oh go on then. Last time we did a sportive together Simon had basically dragged me round 90 miles while I was slumped over my handlebars trying to keep at least near his back wheel and while I knew that it would be difficult I also knew I was a lot fitter than I was that day.

It didn't start too well. We cycled the 6 miles from Simon's house to the start at the Royal Marsden Hospital, for whom the ride was raising funds for. Unfortunately we didn't make it out of the car park before Simon had a puncture. At least we were able to repair it before our timing chips were dibbed. I then realised I had left my drinks bottle in my car so I ended up stopping at a local co-op to get water and food to last me until the first aid station at halfway. Then 10 minutes later we had our heads down following a group through Banstead and descended a long hill to reach a junction at the bottom which then didn't an arrow to follow. Doh. We had taken a wrong turn so now we had to turn around and climb the hill to retrace our route. Oh well, lesson learnt. Keep a better look out for the arrows at junctions and don't rely on others. About one hour later as we made our way towards East Sussex Simon suffered another puncture, so he replaced it only to find his new tube had a faulty valve. By this time I think he was ready to throw his bike into the nearest hedge as he had now used all his spares and was starting on mine, which were patched up as well. So another 20 minutes while we sorted it. At least it was getting a bit warmer and the roads were good, so we ended up passing people that we had already past 3 or 4 times before.

I felt really very good. I was keeping a pretty good cadence and was able to take turns on the front as we basically 2-upped our way over Ditchling Beacon and into Brighton as it started to try to rain and the temperature dropped. Brighton was the only real downside to this whole event as the route takes the riders into the centre of town and along the beachfront before heading out again towards Devils Dyke. It just meant that we encountered a lot of stop-starting at traffic lights which I think would have been better avoided by missing out the town centre entirely. Nay bother, a quick break at the first aid station where I gorged myself on flapjacks, cakes and bananas before heading north and home.

More 2-upping back home, feeling comfortable but as we approached the second aid station at 75 miles I could feel my legs tightening and my energy levels dipping. I felt briefly better after the quick stop at Rusper but I soon emptied again 5 miles later and from that moment on it was pretty tough. Thank the lord for compact gearing as I just spent the next couple of hours spinning up the rises and freewheeling down the hills. Simon was really strong all day and while I was able to keep up on the flats and do my share on the front as soon as the road kicked up he was gone and would be waiting for me at the top and by the end of the ride he was still looking very fresh.

 As we rolled into the finish we had over 100 miles on the clock and with the extra cycling to and from Simon's house we completed 110 miles. A solid day's riding in anyone's book. I was really pleased with how it went and up to 80 miles was feeling pretty strong so I have to be pleased with that. With a few more miles in the bank maybe I can challenge my 10 and 25 mile tt times after all. I would recommend this event to do. It was well signposted and was a very pretty route and was not too busy, although we crossed paths with at least another 2 sportive events on the day. All in all, a grand day out.

Taking my time

I've been out of a routine for some time, except for wake up, go to work, come back from work, do a bit more work then go to bed. I've done bits here and there but not with any regularity as you can probably tell. I was meant to do the second Phoenix 10 mile tt last night but everything conspired against me, the most important of which was not having a bike. It's gone in for a service and it's turned out that it has needed a pretty major overhaul. I must have put some miles in on it at some point, but not lately.

I am running again, slowly and comfortably. I'm taking my time and ensuring that I do not muck my back up again by sticking to soft ground which is a lot easier now the sun's out and it's not constantly tipping down. The need to run a good marathon is burning brightly so I've entered the Bournemouth Marathon in October. I have 20 odd weeks so it's going to be a gradual build for 4-6 weeks before launching into a marathon schedule to build for a <3.10 marathon.

I just have not been able to get on the river in the last 2 weeks but hopefully over the weekend I can get back in a laance and meet up with the improvers' group at the Royal. Jamie and I are still threatening to go and race a Hasler if we can both get a weekend pass at the same time.