Swimbling challenge

Swimbling

Another day another ......... really stupid bloody challenge I have set myself. These challenges are to raise money for Macmillan for the excellent help they provided for my late Cousin John (Loki) and his wonderful family. If you would like to donate, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/doddi-deca

To help prepare for my deca ironman in June a good friend of mine who is taking on his own deca ironman this year, James Page, thought it would be a good idea to test ourselves on a long swim. Another friend of ours joining the challenge fun bus is Mark Yates, he is already no stranger to the deca (for the long read https://theinspire30challenge.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/mark_ugly_10_deca.pdf)

Three Amigos

The swim for me is the hardest of the disciplines in triathlon, mainly because I hate swimming :/ and secondly it is really difficult to train for such long distances. Most pools only provide 2 hours of lane swimming at most in my area.

This challenge is to swim 1 mile every hour on the hour for 24 hours, the maths is simple that even I can do that, 24 miles. The quicker you complete each mile the longer the break you have before starting your next mile. The challenge starts on Saturday 20th April and finished the following morning.

This challenge is all about preparing myself for the deca ironman. I am hoping to learn a lot about my body when swimming for such a long time. The most important being how to take on nutrition and also how to get/stay warm once my body temperature drops. I have genuinely just shivered whilst typing this out.

The swim is happening in an open air 50m pool. That doesn't sound too bad you think, until I learnt that the temperature is only 16oC!

For a while I have been thinking, I have this! It's just swimming. As it closer the panic of what I am attempting is kicking in.

To summarise

1. I hate swimming
2. I hate the cold
3. I hate swimming in a pool the most
4. I have never had to take on nutrition whilst swimming

Most of all I have to stay mentally strong and remember why I am doing this

Deca Ironman is on

It has been a long time and just when I thought I could 'retire' from these crazy events, my last being in 2015! my Triple Ironman . Claire at http://decauk.co.uk/ decides to host the UK's first Deca Ironman. How can I resist!

The Stats

To summarise this is a continuous 24 mile swim, 1,120 mile bike ride and then finishing with a 262 mile run all of which you have to complete within the 12 day cut off.

Putting this into some perspective it is approximately the equivalent of:

Swimming the English Channel (or a little under a marathon distance)

Cycling from Land's End to John o'Groats and back again

Running from London to the Lake District

It all kicks off on July 21st!

The Why

I was originally going to keep this on the quiet and just announce when I felt good and ready (closer to the time) but sadly my cousin John Power aka Loki Dread had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and I felt i to do something to 'help'.
Given this awful news I decided to raise money for a good cause which is why I am raising money for Macmillan. Macmillan has been amazing in helping John and his family come to terms with his illness and supporting him throughout with home care. If it was not for Macmillan he would not have been allowed home surrounded by his loving family of a wife and two amazing young daughters.

I had announced my event just before Christmas on other social media places but I have now decided to kick start my blog again throughout this journey to keep others updated and myself on track.

Sadly John passed away in the new year.

This is for you cuz

You

It would be amazing to have donations, if you would like to please use this link https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/doddi-deca

The Brutal Triple Ironman

The Event

The Brutal Triple Iron distance triathlon is a continuous triathlon race that is three times the distance of a typical iron distance race. This adds up to a 7.1 mile swim, 348 mile cycle and a 75 mile run. Just to add that extra spice to the event 'evil' Claire (the Race Director) hosts the race in the the beautiful area of Snowdonia in North Wales and with this comes hills and lots of them! The cycle section was 12 laps of a 29 mile loop accumulating approximately 30000ft of climbing. The run requires you to run up and down Snowdon once (3500ft) then 13 laps of the lake, each lake loop is about 500ft of climbing which if my brain is still functioning is around 10000ft of climbing. So not a 'normal' weekend away then......

Training

I decided to take a slightly different tack with my training for this event, normally over the weekends I would do a big day of swim, cycle, run on the Saturday followed by a slightly lesser day of one of the disciplines (typically a cycle or run). This time I decided to use my commutes to work more as my training to free up a day over the weekend for family time. I also felt that I didn't need to concentrate on my running as much, having survived the 200 mile ultramarathon I knew I could get myself through that part no matter what, or so I thought.

The only other training I did was to complete the Outlaw Iron distance triathlon which was 8 weeks before this event which I managed a PB in 10hrs 44mins. The most important part for me on this was to try and get a sub 4hour marathon which I managed. Then, 3 weeks before the event the same organisers of the Brutal Triathlon also held a Brutal Swim which is in the same lake, this was my test. It was a 10km swim, so almost the distance I would need to do on the day (I hadn't swam more than 4km this year). I hadn't officially entered the triple iron triathlon up until this point, I wanted to see how I faired on this swim first with it being my worst discipline aswell as having a dodgy shoulder to see if I could even get though it. The swim was a success with only a small irritation to my shoulder, nothing that a few pain killers wouldn't sort out on the day, the following day I was officially on the start list.

The Triple - A Tale of two halves

This was going to take 3 days so my cousin kindly let me borrow his campervan. This was a welcome relief, a good place to stay that is warm, dry and comfy not just for me but for all of my crew is vital. He helped me setup the night before and then left me to it. That night just me, my wife Gung and daughter Keisa stayed in it to allow me to get as much sleep as possible, I think I managed a whopping 3 hours, timed by the church bells ringing every hour that I failed to nod off.

Swim - 3hrs 37mins

5am alarm, breakfast down me ready for the 7am start. It was a beautiful sunny morning, everyone agreed that Claire (the Race Director) must have done some deal with the devil because this was unheard of! I had a good chat with fellow competitors James Page who is now a good friend, another local Paul Ward who I have done some training with in the lead up to this event, Doug Waymark and TC sandbagger extroadinaire. I also met up with Rich Fuller who looked full of energy and raring to get started. I also wished another good friend (and now hero) who without him would not have done what I did this weekend Chris Bennett who was taking part in 'just' the single distance which is still a massive accomplishment by any standards.

Me, Chris and daughter Keisa before the start (TC making an appearance at the back)

I left it as late as possible to get in the water, I even got in after TC who is always fashionably late!! After all what was the rush. The start call went.....and there was still no rush for those taking on the double or triple as can be seen in the photo (red and blue swim caps all at the back).

My favourite picture, me and James wishing each other luck at the start (centre blue swim caps)

The first 6 laps were fairly uneventful except for my parents joining as part of the crew at some point before then which was a great welcome sight. My wife and daughter cheered me on with smiles, shouting and plenty of signage

My dodgy shoulder didn't really give me much grief this time, I think because I concentrated on keeping my swim stroke as efficient as possible, however two other unexpected problems occurred (as they naturally would do on such an event) throughout the swim.

Firstly, my little finger and the one next to it on my left hand failed to do anything, when I mean anything I mean they just sort of dangled there unable to make a cup shape when swimming, I put it down to the cold temperature. It actually became quite amusing and I found myself looking at my hand under the water to find it doing all sorts of weird things. Before the start TC gave me a tip to clench my first on the recovery stroke but this still didn't fix the floppy fingers. As I am writing this they are still not functioning correctly, together with the cold swim and wresting my arms in the TT position for such a long period of time I suspect some temporary nerve damage.

On the last two laps my hip flexor also suddenly locked up, although I don't kick much anyway it left me unable to keep my legs up towards the surface of the water, they just dangled dragging helplessly like a dead weight. But how can I be unhappy when I had crew like this helping me along.....

Bike - 27hrs 9mins

Before getting onto the bike I decided to get a good breakfast down me that would hopefully see me good for a few hours, potato cakes, boiled eggs and bacon ..... yum!

Eventually I managed to get out of the nice warm and cosy camper and onto the bike, took it steady heading out of Llanberis and bam, I pulled a muscle in my arse cheek. Probably from the cold and sitting around for too long without stretching myself out properly (at all) this lasted for the first two laps, but how could I complain ... I was out of the swim and it was a glorious day!

The first 4 laps went well and I felt really consistent, on the next lap it would be getting dark on my return so I opted to put my lights on which took a lot of faffing trying to figure a way of getting them fixed onto my TT bike (planning next time!). The 5th lap I then came back to the camper for a change of warm clothes and get some warm food down me. Twhere his time it was a bowl of warm scouse made by my mum (hotpot to normal people), I opted for a second bowl just to be sure.

Back out for lap 5 and Gung and my dad decided to follow me in the car as it was now completely dark. Time passed relatively quickly as I spent all of this lap worried that they had taken a wrong turn because I hadn't see them for so long.

Lap 6 was probably the lowest point on the bike, it was early hours in the morning, normally I enjoy cycling at night but this time it was different I didn't see cyclist for the complete lap and only a couple of cars. Together with the loneliness I found it difficult at first to adjust to riding at night, it was worse just before Bedgelart and coming down Pen-y-pass with the low cloud now descending on us reflecting back all of my light.

The next 2 laps Chris yet again helped me out and followed me in the car, this time when there was no traffic around he was able to stay behind me for the most part. The extra light helped and it felt like I had someone with me.

On the penultimate lap Gung again followed me with my mum so she could at least see some of the scenery which by then was cloud and rain.

At the bust stop turn around area I seen James Page coming in, we had a good chat about the day/night we had so far and he then told me I was in first position! I had given it some throughout the night (I need to think about something) but due to all the stops I had taken I imagined I was around 4th place. This was the first time I had known my position, I always tell my crew not to tell me, after all there is still such a long time to go I don't see how it would help my performance but there you have it, in first.

For the last lap I actually had two cyclists Carlo and Greg from GOG Triathlon my local club accompany me. It was great to have someone to talk to, it made the time pass much more quickly.

And then it was done. I had a good welcome back and everyone commented on how fresh I still looked and the fact I was still smiling and somehow still in first.

Snowdon - 3hrs 53mins

Going up Snowdon was something that I was looking forward to. After all that time alone on the bike it would give me chance to have a good chat to my crew that would be going up with me. My crew to go up with me was Chris (who had just done the full distance the day before), a good friend of mine from back at school Robbo, Kev who is a keen runner bit I think was a little petrified with the idea of getting up snowdon and Gung who would go partly up the mountain with us.

We set off all in good spirits just keeping to a fast walk and enjoying it as much as possible. I was surprised to see my legs still felt fresh. Past the halfway house, under the bridge were you take a right turn is were the weather really set, we had pretty much everything thrown at us, strong wind and even stronger rain. We got to the top, took the obligatory photo at the summit and made our way back down again at a gentle trot. We met up with TC and hos crew (Suzy and Carl) about halfway down and had a good natter about the day(s) so far. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

As we started to get to the stoned pathway area I started to feel really dizzy, I simply put this down to fatigue (I hadn't had any sleep yet) and having my head down whilst concentrating so hard on my foot placement.

Run - 25hrs 37mins

I had a small rest after Snowdon and went to see Adam the masseur/physio. Coming down Snowdon I started to feel the onset of my stress fracture in the same area that I suffered with during the RingOFire ultra the year before. There was no point in doing further damage with an injury like that, it took long enough to recover last time. Thankfully he put it down to muscle problems and to take a few pain killers and basically man up.....I would be doing a lot of this from now on.

As the title says, it was a tale of two halves and this is where it all went tits up.

Im not actually sure on the real timing, it all got a bit hazy as you can imagine but as soon as I started running the dizziness continued and my stomach now started feeling queezy. I got around around the first lap without a hitch but felt really uncomfy. The second lap was again not a bad time but just before going up the steps before the bridge it happened......most of the food I had been taking on for the past day came back up again.....shit. Most of it pizza, my favourite damn it, what a waste.

Back to the camper and a slightly longer rest to see if I could settle the stomach, out again I went and immediately felt the same feelings. There was nothing left to come back up but I could feel the stomach wanting to try. I took the strategy to run when I could and then walk when I felt it coming back on again. It didn't take long for the feeling to go down (100m walk or so) but it started to eat away at the time a lap was taking but at least I got around. I went back to the camper and decided to have some sleep to see if that would sort it.

A 30 minute alarm call were I think I totalled about 10 minutes sleep and I attempted another lap, it was much the same as the previous lap....now my mood wasn't quite the same. I felt broken, it was the first time I have felt like this and it is a horrible feeling not being in control of your own body, unable to fix it. I couldn't eat anything at all and this continued for most of the run.

I finally got around the next lap but decided to have another hours sleep, I needed to sort the stomach otherwise I wouldn't be finishing at all. This time I got into the bed (previously I slept in a chair), and an hour later which seemed like a couple of seconds I was woken "pass me a bowl quickly" I think were my first words....bugger still not sorted then. Another hours sleep was taken, when I woke I still needed the bowl but I at least got changed ready to go out again. Unfortunately I just couldn't get myself off the bed without wanting to hurl more chunks. Its no use, I told Gung not to bother setting the alarm and off back to bed I went. I had called it a day(s) and had decided not to continue anymore.

I woke at some point around 7:30am (Monday? I guess) and I had only done 3 of the 13 5.2 mile laps.

My first thought was f**k it, I don't want to be coming back for another attempt....there actually isn't going to be another attempt. The Brutal triple is apparently only taking place in 2015 and not again (we shall see :-) ).

I jumped off the bed and decided to see how another lap progressed. I could at least then tell myself I gave it my all.
Although the stomach problems were still there I could at least manage it with my 'run and then walk when I felt like puking strategy'. I could still make this and within the cutoff. So, I just went, clothes on, shoes on and out the door. There wasn't time to get anyone to come out with me my mind just wanted to get out and have a go.

The first lap went well and Chris managed to catch up with me on his bike once he was awoken from his sleep by Gung. Another lap went by with Chris and then after that Thelma a local running friend of mine stayed with me for 2 laps to give poor Chris a rest from his duties. By now I was at least managing to get a few blueberries down me and a small bite of a digestive on each lap washed down with a bit of milk (of all things).

Gung then decided she would give a lap a go with me which was great to have her accompanying me, I'm not sure she realised how far and hilly a lap was though but she did fantastic staying with me despite not having run for a long time.

Thelma and Chris' partner Sandy did a lap with me after that, then from that point it was down to Chris again.

With four laps to go I found James Page I ran with James Page who was still looking and running great and he only had two laps left to go. Way to go James second place for you! I stayed with him until the stomach kicked in just before the bridge were I had to walk to let things settle and my quad also started pulling at this point.

Now I am not sure which of the next three things had the biggest impact but after these quick succession of events I started to feel so much better. Firstly, walking up the road at the back of the lake I managed to swallow the biggest fly in the world.....mmmmmm protein. It was so big it choked me and I could feel it wiggling on its way down. I think Chris thought I was having some kind of attack based on the nervous look on his face. At the top of the hill I only just noticed that some kind folk had been leaving some food out, I grabbed a raspberry (it made a difference to blueberries) and it was very sour which gave me a nice kick. Then before starting the last three laps I put on some compression legging not just calf ones.

I felt like I had new legs coming down hills and my stomach seemed to ease a little. Game on. I didn't know at this point that I was in 5th with 4th not too far ahead, I just wanted to do my best now that I was allowed. I can honestly say, even after two/three days of racing my legs felt great.

I went into the marquee at the start/finish, congratulated James on his 2nd place finish with a man hug and back out I went. I passed TC already holding his medal and now attempting to pack the car at the start/finish and he commented on how well I still looked when I passed him. Both agreed it would have been 'fun' to have been running for top position but it just wasn't to be.

I think my last two laps were among my fastest yet, the last lap was done in the dark and was the only lap since the downwards spiral were I didn't need to stop. I passed Paul Ward at the beginning of this lap who despite still having a while to go was still smiling happily and he knew he would finish no matter what.  I then bumped into another runner along the footpath, had a quick chat and asked the usual how is he getting on, "I have one lap to go". I continued not thinking much about it until I realised that could have been the guy in 4th place. Me and Chris debated for a bit as to what "I have one lap to go" means. Does it mean he is on his last lap or does he have one left to go after this???

Chris said not to worry about it, so I didn't. At the top of the hill I didn't stop for a magic raspberry this time, I just wanted it over now.

I had no emotion at all until I got back into the field area, I was on my way to the finish and I just felt relieved and proud that I had dragged myself to the end despite everything that had happened.

What a finish with my friends and family

Total: 61hrs 18mins

Afterthoughts

Firstly, dont run 75miles on nothing but blueberries, you tend to get tired and loose a lot of weight, just over half a stone was lost that weekend.

I loved the race and most importantly I finished the race BUT I cant help but be .... disappointed / annoyed that I couldn't give it my all. Its now a week later and my stomach is just about feeling OK. At the moment I am putting it down to a bug, I hadn't felt great in the week up to the event but put it down to nerves and the dreaded taper but my daughter also came down with something similar just a few days after. Who will ever know

Thank you to all that helped out Gung for always being there and allowing me to do this stupid stuff, Chris who gave amazing support throughout all the event despite having done the single himself, Kev, Leah and Robbo for travelling all the way over to support me on Snowdon, Mum Dad for the food, support and shout outs (next time get more sleep :-) ), Thelma, Sandy (Chris' patrner), Greig, Carlo and Gee for making the camper available.

Thank you to Claire and her team at Brutal events for putting on such a fantastic event.

Thanks for reading

Enduroman 200 mile ultramarathon

Well were do I start!

I got the t-shirt and even earned a trophy, if your interested how hard it was read on :-)

Last year I entered the Enduroman Double Iron Triathlon which went unexpectedly well. I loved the event and not just because of the result, it had a tremendous friendliness to it were everyone is looking out for each other. I knew that I would be back again this year, the problem was what event to enter? It needed to be special because it was initially announced that it would be the last Enduroman for some time!

The numerous events held at Enduroman were a quin either continuous or 5x1, to attempt this needed a lot of time to train which I simply didnt have, there was also a triple  with the same formats available but I intend to take on a triple in September. I have thought about doing the double again and aiming to go sub 24 hours but I fancied something different for this year. This left the running events of which there could be 6x1 Marathon (a marathon every day for 6 days) and Run to the Max were you choose how much and when you run over the 6 days, for these events I couldn't get the full six days off work. This left the 200mile ultra marathon.........to be honest I think I had already made my mind up to have a go at this a long time ago and found excuses not to attempt the other events on offer, it had a certain appeal to it :-)

Stats

So the Enduroman has many events happening at the same which meant the run course is occupied by all participants at some time through the week. It is a 1.1 mile looped course that has everything, difficult downhill rutted trail, tree roots (which get higher as you get more tired) littered around the back of the course around the lake then a cruel steep hill up towards the finish section.

Yes you heard it correctly it is a 1.1 mile loop which meant going around the sodding course a total of 182 times! The elevation per loop isn't a great deal but multiply that by 182 times and I got the figure of about 23,500 ft (according to my Garmin) all to be done within a 60 hour cut off.

This was going to be a mental game as much as physical.

Preperation

Well this will be short! Since probably September last year I seemed to have a niggle here or there, most notably has been my troublesome calf, my IT band causing knee pain (which caused me to abort The Hill event back in December) and a pain underneath my right foot and a weak ankle because of too much rolling over.
These injuries limited how much running I could/wanted to do. With only 3 weeks leading up to the event I decided not to do any off-road running because of the realistic chance of rolling on my my ankle, one more roll and I am sure I would not be able to start the event, My choice was to run to work which was a 20 mile run but wouldn't give me the hill work I wanted. I managed this a total of 3 times! the furthest distance I had covered since January, bring on a 200 mile slog!

Pre Event

As we got to Avon Tyrell which is were the Enduroman event is held I suddenly remembered how difficult the course was, this coupled with the lack of training I decided to weigh up my options. I had already wiped out the idea of completing the full 200, my real goal at this point was to try a sub 24 hour 100 mile and to then see where I could get to within my own 48 hour cut off ideally aiming for 150 miles (the furthest I would have ever ran).

I tried to occupy my time as much as possible in the lead up to the event by helping people already competing were I could. Dan Earthquake who is in charge of all the swims even allowed me to be chief puller outer (getting people out the lake when they have completed their swim) but mostly my time involved eating all my food I had brought for the entire week, or as athletes call it carb loading.

The Race

Race briefing was held on the Friday at 12 midday with the race starting at 2pm. Having only 6 athletes (idiots) turn up it was fairly brief and without any fanfare.

Within the first 500m it was clear who was going to be strong in this event, immediately Steve Wyatt and Lloyd Purvis shot ahead as if it was a single marathon, they looked the business and running together as a team would only help their journey. Meanwhile the rest of us took it steady with me just slightly faster running at what felt to me a comfortable pace. 

First Marathon

The first marathon (24 laps) felt fantastic (as they always do) and most importantly I didn't feel any of the niggles coming to bite me which they normally do within the first 20 miles. I was starting to have a bit of hope.....I was regularly taking in water from my crew (my dad) which again is something I normally forget to do.

Double Marathon

With just over 30 miles done it as at this point it all started to fall apart. My IT band flared up again and immediately started affecting my knee and therefore my running, I was having to land heavier due to compensating and was now needing to take it easier on the downhill sections. Luckily it was tea time. Avon Tyrell have a canteen and provide cooked food, my dad would get me a take away, so I sat by the tent leg raised eating my first bit of warm food, it was already getting a bit too comfy, a quick 20 minute power nap should sort me out.

The bad thoughts of failure were already going through my head but these were quickly overridden at the thought of traveling all this way and dragging my dad down just for a marathon distance. No this was not going to happen so I cracked on.

I eventually completed the second marathon in a time of about 11:30 which was much slower than the double marathon I did last year (after having already swam 4.8 miles and ridden 232 miles) so it was apparent this was going too be much much tougher (I now realised how much fitter I must have been last year).

Throughout the first night was fairly uneventful eat run/walk say ouch repeat.

At some point during this stint I heard that Lloyd Purvis who was running with Steve Wyatt had dropped out due to feeling ill. He commented that it was the worse he had ever felt in the first 20 miles, I think he made the right call considering there would be another 180 miles still to go. I hope he comes back next year to exercise those demons, I for one will be giving him as much support as possible because he became a great welcome sight full of cheers and support from the sideline.

Where's the medic

Some point through the following day I decided I needed to seek some medical help from Rich Bell of Extreme Medics. At the race briefing Rich had mentioned to get help before the condition becomes untreatable. I got on the table and he identified the problem immediately as having a banjo string for an IT band (the curse of the non stretching triathlete). The medic being a 6ft monster did his best not to hurt me whilst massaging the leg, I only cried and swore a little bit, he then sent me off on my merry (miserable) way.

Onwards and Up(down)wards

Throughout the night all I could muster was a power walk, down hill was too painful and uphill was a waste of energy. I met up with Thomas Hayward at this point who despite feeling good physically I think he wont argue that he was having a few mental problems, tiredness was getting to him and the thought of the overwhelming distance still left to do. We chatted about all kinds of things, the usual ultra running nonsense, family, future, the meaning of life. The only thing we couldn't solve was how many laps or what distance we had left to do. Simple mathematics was comically entertaining but seemed to pass the time.

Lake Dip

At some point through the Saturday morning I went back to see the medic to see what else he could do. The previous visit had only subsided the pain for a few laps. He gave me another 'pleasant' massage and this time gave me a magic pill and said that's about all he could do for me, rest is the only thing that may help.....bugger.
I was now way down from were I wanted to be never mind getting close to the 200. I needed to do something time to take a dip into the lake to see if that sorts the legs out. I stripped down to just my shorts jumped in for a cold 10 minutes with the fish nibbling at my sweaty feet. When I was in the water my legs were actually starting to feel a little better unfortunately this was just the numbness kicking in.

A new low

It was now approaching tea time again and I was basically feeling awful, I kept smiling but I was hurting badly. I decided it was time to eat and rest. I quickly threw my food down set my alarm for an hour, took my shoes off and instantly fell asleep with my legs raised up on one of my bags.

Two hours later my dad shouted into the tent checking if I was there. He too had fallen asleep and when he woke up he assumed I was still out hobbling, I honestly cant remember if I had either slept through my alarm or had woken up and given up by going back to sleep.

I was in agony everything was hurting, it took an age just to sit up, my dad made a brew while I made a change of clothes (I had sweated like mad whilst asleep).....shit......big mistake I couldn't get my feet back into my shoes, not even close! Luckily I brought a pair of my trusty Hokas that I occidentally bought a size bigger than normal, I only just squeezed into these! Damn I had to continue.

Magic touch

I continued to power walk as best I could for a few more laps trying to assess what hurt the most/least and whilst walking up the steep tennis court section I held my hands on my hips and started to pinpoint areas on my glute where I normally massage with a ball. Having got to the top I attempted to run like so many other failed attempts before this but this time I could actually run (well it still wasn't fast but I was moving)

I don't really know how long I kept this up for but it seemed like days, I was hearing comments throughout like 'you are flying', all that was going through my head was to use this energy while I still can! I was still hurting but my mind was now able to deal with the pain and block it out.

Throughout the Sunday day I refused to sit or even stop I had learned that stopping is what was causing my knee to lock up further. If this happened it was taking a full half a lap to get myself going again.....I dreaded needing to take a pee stop! all my food was on the go including the hot food. A full Sunday roast including gravy is difficult to get down you whilst on the move but I managed it.

Brain fade

From approximately 6pm on Sunday afternoon it became just a blur, I remember Steve Wyatt completing his last lap in reverse and he still looked fresh as a daisy (that man is a machine!). I think it was around this point that the wheels started to really fall off again, it suddenly hit me how much I still had left to go, I still had just over a marathon distance in order to get to the finish line!

This was the time that in a bizarre way I am most proud of. I proved to myself that I had a strong mind, I wanted to quit so much with every lap even when there was on 5 left. 5 laps although was only 5.5 miles was still going to take me nearly 2 hours! But I just kept on going in the dark and at this point there were not many people left in the turning circle and who could blame them (except the awesome Carl Howells and Suzy Coates) and only me and Thomas left on the course.

The Finish

I eventually got to the last lap and so off I went with Carl Howells keeping me company (its lucky he did come with me otherwise I would have got lost). 

Normally when I get to the finish section a huge adrenaline rush surges through me and the finish line is an awesome experience. This time for me there was no excitement, just sheer relief. I recall the words in my mind "Thank f@ck for that!". Finishing time was around 61hrs 30mins and only the second person to have finished

Finish line with my dad whos birthday it was!

The man himself Edgar - Thank you

Dan Earthquake gave me fantastic support throughout

Thomas was not going to be that long behind and I wanted to see him finish so I hobbled into the building and lay down on the couch. Some time later I was woken by Dan and Edgar, Thomas was on his way in. It was now a race between me getting off the couch and Thomas coming into the finish....I only just made it!

Aftermath

The awards ceremony was only a couple of hours away. I didn't bother getting changed, flopped into the tent and fell asleep. I woke up an hour before the ceremony so that I could get a shower (I stank!!) and grab breakfast sitting down on an actual chair!

The Three Amigos Me (2nd), Steve Wyatt (1st), Thomas Hayward (3rd)

Reflection

The race was always going to be tough, did I underestimate it? Absolutely. It was put into context when one of the heroes doing the continous quin ironman said that I/we were nutters!

If I didn't have my injuries and had time to train properly for it I know I could have taken a large chunk off my time, would I do it again to prove this...not a chance. It took me to places I don't particularly want to get to again in a hurry.

Finally there are so many people to thank especially Edgar, Chris and Dan for putting on this fantastic week of events. My dad for being my support crew and in his first week of retirement too. Everyone else that were either support crew or taking part in the event.

I will be back to Enduroman for more

But first I think I need a rest

An itch that wont go away

Just as the title says I have had something churning over in my mind for quite some time now. Despite the setbacks that I have had for the past few weeks/months with injuries and general lack of mojo there has been a thought process or should I say an event drilling its merry way into my head.

I even went through the process of booking another event (sorry Equinox24 I will be back in 2016) that happened to be on the same weekend as this one just to try and clear it from my mind, as you can probably already guess, the mind won. I gingerly approached the subject to the wife and surprisingly she was keen for me to give it a go, I'm wondering if there might be some life insurance involved somewhere, and I might be slightly over exaggerating the keenness on her part  but it was a yes. I have now committed myself to taking on this challenge.

This event is a one time event never to be held again (maybe) which if I am being honest is part of the appeal, it is the Triple Brutal iron distance triathlon, this is a continuous 7.2mile swim, 336mile (30000ft) cycle and 78mile (6000ft) run with the addition of a stroll up and down Snowdon itself! Not only that but being held over in Snowdonia it is probably going to have some interesting weather thrown into the mix especially considering that the event is held in September.

I have already completed the single iron distance of this event back in 2012 which was my first year of triathlons and I still remember the pain it caused, especially the cold swim! This is without a doubt going to be my toughest challenge to date and I have no idea how I am going to get the training, food, sleep and family life (not necessarily in that order in case she is reading!) to all fit together but I/we will make it work.

It has only just occurred to me whilst writing this blog that this year I will be doing 5 ironman events in total, this will not only double my total iron distance races but it will also take the total to a nice round 10! I am counting doubles and triples as 2 and 3 iron races :-) This is going to be a tough year.

If anyone needs me I will be swimming, riding or running......

Time to reflect

Its been a while since my last blog, that's mainly because the second half of '14 didn't go according to plan.......at all. To go from winning my last two big events Equinox 24 run and Double Enduroman iron distance triathlon to broken wasn't playing well in my head. It wasn't that I wanted to win, I just wanted my body to behave itself.

After the RingOFire back in September '14 I decided to do as little as possible as my body was getting a bit fed up with the punishment that it had been taking. That and to be honest I simply wasn't looking after it, I knew this yet I did nothing about it, rest I thought would sort it out. I was becoming so tight in the legs that I was now struggling to touch my toes, could't even get my leg over onto the bike properly. Something had to happen.

Equinox24

It was time to have another go at the Equinox24 again. Everything was starting well considering that I hadn't ran over 15 miles since RingOFire, I wasn't quite up to speed as the year before but not far off and I had plenty of energy left. At about 80 mile in all of a sudden I literally couldn't move, I could barely walk and an excruciating pain in my right chin and also my groin was locking up. I knew it was time to call it a day before I did some serious damage. I managed to get to the finish line of the next lap and straight to the massage tent. The guy took one look at my leg now twice the size as normal and pulled one of them faces 'your buggered mate, get to hospital'. By then I actually couldn't walk and I needed carrying back to my tent.

It turned out that I had actually got a stress fracture whilst doing the RingOFire, they deduced this because it was already on its way to healing. Looking back I actually know the instance it happened, it was on the last day about half way in, all of a sudden I got an excruciating pain in the chin which brought me to a standstill but all I did was wrap my buff tightly around the chin and continued on with a drip feed of Ibuprofen and Cocodomal (I was invincible!)

Considering I had a stress fracture I guess getting to 80 miles isn't that bad but how much damage had I now done and how long will it now take to heal.

The Hill

Now it was time to consider what to do about the hill. The Hill is a 160 mile 'race' which simply goes up and down the same hill, usually in awful conditions and having just 48 hours in which to complete it.

Typical weather

My injuries were taking longer than I thought they would to get better I was barely managing 10 miles without some discomfort, to add to that an old calf injury on my left leg kicked in again (again down to the lack of movement in my body). It was time to face facts and consider dropping out but so close to the event I wasn't allowed to defer. A friend of mine who is an extremely good runner (UTMB, Western States etc) said he would take my place, great this made me feel much better but then a week before the event he also picked up an injury and couldn't enter.

There was only one thing for it, I would have to give it a go. I had been warming up a bit better than I normally do before my runs (i.e. doing something) and had a relatively pain free (less) run. This was probably my own way of convincing myself to take part.

Event day went as was expected I guess, I got about 30 miles in and the legs just weren't happy, the calf wasn't hurting but there was just that niggling feeling something was about to happen, also probably because I had been compensating I was now having trouble with my right knee. For once I made the right decision and stopped early before serious damage was done. There was no way I could continue for another 130 miles so damage limitation it was.

2015

Since The Hill I had plenty of rest and just ticking over rather than full on winter training. Lately I have also been doing a lot of stretching which has also vastly improved my mobility, not anything like it needs to be to prevent injuries but it is definitely heading in the right direction. Stretching and staying healthy are my main goals for 2015 and obviously more stupid events!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take part in CTS Angelsey Ultra, its only a 33 mile run with plenty of hills but I had done it last year so I could use it as a marker to see where my fitness was. I managed a PB by 10mins dipping just under the 6hrs and in 14th place. My fitness is not were I would like it to be but its in a better place than I thought it would be. I just need to get this calf sorted then its game on!

So far this years big events are WasdaleX extreme iron triathlon, Outlaw iron distance triathlon, Equinox24 and I have to give The Hill some justice towards the end of the year. I will also be down at Enduroman again this but so far undecided what event to try. If my calf heals correctly I am tempted to try the 200 mile ultra otherwise it might be the double iron distance again.

Fingers crossed for a good 2015.

Thanks for reading

RingOFire Race Report

RingOFire Race Report

The RingOFire is a 135 mile foot race circumnavigating the island of Angelsey along the coastal path over 3 continuous days, with an accumulative ascent of around 13,500ft. It is in its third year now and I am sure it will become one of the "must do" races. Completing the race also earns you 4 UTMB points which illustrates just how tough this race is. The previous two years that it has been held there is been at least a 50% drop out rate.

As usual my training has been sporadic at best, a month before the start whilst supporting a friend on his first iron distance triathlon I somehow managed to damage my calf muscle in both legs (again!) simply by walking around. Over the winter i think i need to do some serious work on getting this sorted. A couple of weeks before the event I was still having trouble with my left calf. I even tried to wimp of the event asking if I could defer to the following year, as I expected it was too late for that, so being a tight arse there was nothing else to do ......time to MTFU!

Day 1 - Holyhead Breakwater Park to Amlwch

Day 1 is 35.7mile starting at 13:00 which thankfully allowed me to get a good sleep at home and then travel direct to the start line, at least that would be one good nights sleep I would have. I decided to get there as registration opened in order to get one of the trackers that had been available so that my wife and a few select friends could follow me from the comfort of their home.
I had been forewarned to take day 1 as easy as possible so that day 2's 66 miles would be as easy as possible. As is normally the case all thoughts of how to run the race finished as soon as we started ans I just went with the flow. That flow was way too fast!

At the point of leaving Holy island it was confirmed to me that I was totally useless at navigation and this was my biggest feat about entering this race but I kept saying to myself how can it be "just keep the sea to your left". The first place I could go wrong, I went wrong. Time for some different tactics, follow everyone else!

At some point through day 1 I met up with Chris Campbell, we chatted and seemed to have a similar pace whilst both agreeing it was too fast. However, we were feeling good so just cracked on. We finished day 1 in good spirits and in a decent enough time of 6hrs25mins.

Despite finishing before 7pm the only thing the early finish allowed me to do is faff with my kit for a couple of hours longer than expected, the most crucial part was deciding what shoes to wear. I love my Hokas but I knew the terrain was going to be much more technical with a number of rocky beaches but I have never ran this sort of distance in anything other than Hokas.
That night was spent in a communal sports hall so you can imagine the wonderful noises echoing around the place and the fact that other athletes wouldn't be finishing until much later meant for a restless night.
There wasn't that many people in the hall when I arrived so I had the pick of the place, so I found a decent space laid out my sleeping bag and then went for a much needed warm shower followed by hot food being served in the canteen. Unfortunately upon my return I found that a live musician had setup right next to my bed, amp and all "awesome just what I wanted", although it was actually quite nice to listen to I just wished it was a little further away. I probably only managed a couple of hours sleep at best.

Finish of Day1

Day 2 - Amlwch to Aberffraw

Day 2 is 65.9 miles this time just like day 3 starting at 06:00. Not even needing my alarm I decided to get up earlier than most at around 4am, my head was spinning with the day that lay ahead so I thought I may as well get up and get some breakfast and a gallon of coffee. I also made the decision to give my Salomon Speedcross a go today due to the techincal terrain that I assumed I would be coming across.

Outside I met up with Chris again and we decided to start off the day together and see how it goes. Once again we ended spending the whole day together and when I mean all day I mean 15hrs 22mins of it.

To be honest this day was just a bit of a blur starting off with lovely hilly countryside and then turning into either horrible rocky beaches or punishing tarmac roads, it may have only been a small percentage that is like this but it felt continuous.

As we meandered through Beaumaris and the seafood festival that was taking place a considerable amount of rain decided to descend on us, I hate the rain because with that normally comes coldness which I usually struggle to shake it was now decision time, put waterproofs on and overheat or just keep on trucking, unusually for me I just kept on going which turned out to be the correct choice, after a short while it had stopped and I was dry in no time.

Throughout day 1 I had been taking on coke which is something I never normally do as it always leads to stomach problems but it turned out fine, wow its a miracle I thought, I am able to fart and be confident it wont have lumps in! Day 2 was not the same, at the halfway point just outside Beaumaris I had to go, I couldnt hold on any longer, kindly a home owner allowed participants to use his bathroom just by the checkpoint (he may have retracted that offer after I left), I felt much better but was still "indecisive" for the rest of the day. Another lesson learnt.

Coming in to a much needed checkpoint

Towards the end we (the royal we) made a navigational error, it may have only cost us about 20 minutes but it frustrated Chris (I found out he was also a part time rally co-driver), we were getting tired and just wanted to get to the end.
Darkness fell and the miles just seemed to take longer and longer, especially the beach sections. Eventually we arrived at the finish tired, hungry and stinky.

My feet didn't feel good but I was surprised that it was just the one blister on the bottom of my foot and a bit of a stiff ankle. Again being the ultra guru that I am I didn't have a clue what to do so I just left it and hoped it would miraculously be gone in the morning.
There was some food at the finish but no showers which I hadn't prepared for, Helen Pickford (3rd Lady overall) kindly offered some babywipes to clean myself up as best as possible, got a couple of pot noodles down me and tried to get my head down for what was left of the night.

Day 3 - Aberffraw to Holyhead Breakwater Park

Day 3 the final day of a mere 33.4 miles this time I was going with my tried and trusted old pair of slippers (Hokas). It was a bit surreal in the morning I hadn't bothered getting anything ready the night before and it was 5am when I managed to get myself out the sleeping bag. I took a look at my feet, oh dear that blister was now the size of the ball of my foot. Still no idea what to do I stuck a blister plaster over the top of it without first popping it (another lesson learnt), another plaster on my little toe from rubbing and took an ibuprofen to try and loosen up my ankle.
I didn't feel like any food but managed about half of my porridge before realising I needed to pack my things up and get a move on, before I knew it it was 6am. I met up with Chris again and we both agreed it would be rude not to finish the event together, he had been an great companion of similar ability and I was learning a lot from him. Only 56 started day 3, the other lucky ones were still tucked up in there sleeping bags as we left.

Bugger I forgot to fill up my water bottles.

For me this was the best day, the weather was fantastic the scenery was spectacular and that finish line felt achievable!

All except for that last point stayed with me until the end. About ten miles in we hit a long uphill on road and then suddenly I got a shooting pain from that dodgy ankle, it brought me to a sudden stop too painful to walk suddenly I had doubts that I could finish. I took some Ibuprofen and Cocodomol and tied my buff (found another use!) as tight as I could around were it hurt most and walked for a little while, eventually the drugs did there job. The pain came and went for the rest of the day, coinciding with the times that I took my concoction of pills, whatever would get me to the end.

I am not sure if it was the pills, the fact that I was so close or both but when I reached the area before Holy mountain the pain subsided and I was feeling really strong again. Unfortunately Chris had slowly been on a downward spiral his feet and chins were starting to hurt really bad and he had been having the gut problems I had the day before.

I couldn't leave him at this point so I made the decision to stay with him until the end no matter what. After all if it wasn't for him I would probably still be lost on day 1.

The last honesty book section

The last checkpoint was reached which was an honesty book section whereby you take a page out of the book and hand it in at the next checkpoint to prove you had been there. Now it was just a small matter of Holy mountain.

Passing south stacks

I can see the finish line!

We made it across the finish line of day 3 in 8hrs30mins which brought the total time to 30hrs17mins.

Well earnt

What an amazing event, great support and a beautiful place.