A Disappointing Day

I’m sure most of you saw on Facebook and if not have guessed from the fact it’s taken me until today to put a post on here but I wasn’t able to complete the Ironman UK 70.3 on Sunday.  I knew that the cut off time for the swim and bike was going to be tight for me given the bike course.  The swim went really well, I was aiming for 45 minutes but did it in 39 so was really pleased that I had that extra time to take into the bike stage with me.  The bike itself was going well; the first lap took me 2 hours 11, giving me 2 hours 30 for the last lap before the cut off time.  I was confident that I would get that done and drag myself around run.  Then, a bit of bad luck hit.  I somehow managed to puncture both my tyres at the same time.  The time I lost repairing them both meant that I didn’t get back to transition in time for the cut off and therefore wasn’t able to do the run.  As I’m sure you can imagine, I was very disappointed and upset when it happened and still feel the same to be honest, even after a couple of days and some very supportive and kind messages on Facebook.  The punctures are not at excuse.  Yes I would have been made the cut off time without them but to be honest, the time shouldn’t have been that tight and I should have been able to repair the punctures quicker.  It has shown me that I need to work on my cycling because I used to think it was my strongest of the three disciplines but obviously that isn’t the case anymore.

The only thing I want to add is that the worst part about not meeting the cut off time for me was not doing the mileage I pledged to do for the sponsorship side of things.  I just want you all to know that although I didn’t do it on the day and it wasn’t the same course, I have done  a half marathon tonight after work so that my mileage is back on track for what I have said I will do.  It wasn’t a quick run by any stretch of the imagination and after the weekend efforts, it hurt like hell.  It also didn’t take the disappointment of Sunday away but I do feel better knowing I haven’t let down those of you kind enough to sponsor me.

Now it’s on to the next event which is one of the extra ones I’m doing to make the total up to 20, the Caerphilly 10k on Sunday.  Hopefully, last week will be the only disappointment of the year and I’ll have a good run this weekend!