The Last of The Sportives

Yesterdays Wales Sportive marked the end of the sportives for this year's challenge and it couldn't have been in nicer surroundings.  Starting and finishing in Tenby the route took in some of the fantastic Pembrokeshire countryside including a fair amount of coastline which made for very enjoyable riding.  The weather caused a few problems though because although it was dry (which is always appreciated!) it was very hot and sapping on the energy levels.  I had company for this one though with my friend Paul joining me for what would be his own personal challenge with this 70 mile route being 20 miles further than he had cycled before.

The ride went really well and I've got to be honest, I enjoyed doing the shorter distance compared to what I have done on the other sportives this year.  It seemed to change how I viewed it and was more of a "fun" ride rather than constantly thinking about how much further I had to go.  Timing wise it wasn't a very fast ride but given the heat, the slow and steady approach seemed the most sensible and was needed given the lack of water/feed stations available on the route.  The finish in Tenby town was fantastic as well with people lining the streets to cheer you on the final part.  It felt like being in a proper bike race and was very nice!

So that's the pure bike rides done although I'll still be riding the bike in more of the events with a few triathlons still to come.  I'd never done a sportive before this year and although the first one wasn't the best experience and I struggled with the Wye Valley ride, I'll definitely be doing more in the future.

Don't forget if you'd like to sponsor me you can at www.justgiving.com/huw2013

Ferries and Fun

I’m a bit late doing this sorry but I’m sure you’ll forgive me given the long day I had yesterday.  I’m not complaining though as I had a lot of fun yesterday.  The Wight Ferry Sportive as it is known was one of the first things to get the challenge for this rolling.  I stumbled upon it by mistake a while back and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to give it a go.  The organisers sold it as being an adventure rather than a bike ride and with 2 ferry crossing involved, it certainly was!

Before I took to the start line though I had a bit of a challenge on my hands to get there.  You might have seen in my last post the picture of my race number burnt on my arm.  What I didn’t realise as the time and what I didn’t find out until Monday evening was just how badly burnt my shoulders were, to the point where they had actually blistered.  Now, I’m not looking for sympathy because it was my own stupid fault that I burnt in the first place.  As you can imagine though it was extremely painful but thankfully after lots of after sun, sudocrem and a fair slice of luck my shoulders were, just about, recovered enough for me to start.

The sportive itself was a lot of fun.  It started with a mad dash to the ferry port to make the first crossing of the day.  I felt like I was in a proper bike race as we all hurtled along at 7 in the morning!  Thankfully I managed to make it and knew this would give me the time I needed to get around the Isle of Wight without any fear of missing cut off times which is what happened back at the Wye Valley ride.  On the Isle of Wight the roads were up and down but nothing too severe and even the two big hills of the day just before we got back to the ferry port weren’t anything I wouldn’t be happy to tackle again.  To be honest, the hardest part was getting back on the bike after ferry crossing back to the mainland because in the hour or so that I was off the bike I’d cooled down and my legs had stiffened up so getting them working again was a bit of a task but I got there after a couple of miles.

Overall the whole day really was good and has definitely been the best of the three sportives that I’ve done so far this year.  I know the weather was a factor in this because riding the bike is defiantly easier when the sun is shining!  I would happily do it again though and if next week’s ride in Tenby is half as fun, I’ll be very happy!  Hopefully they’ll be giving out ice creams at the finish as well like they did yesterday.  You can see form the photo that mine definitely put a smile on my face!

 

The Half Way Point

So, today marked the halfway point of this challenge and there was a slight change of plan to go with it!  Due to a problem with the water for the swim, the race today was changed from a triathlon to a duathlon.  For those of you not familiar with it, a duathlon is in three stages but only consists of 2 disciplines so there is a run stage, a bike stage and finally a second run stage.  This meant that today’s distances were a 3.1 mile run, 35 mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run to finish off.  This was a new experience for me and isn’t something I have trained for.  It also meant a double helping of my weakest and least favourite of the three disciplines.  That coupled with the hot but windy conditions (I know that sounds like a bit of a contradiction but it was like that I promise!) meant it was a very difficult day.  I’ll be totally honest and say that whilst I’m glad I’ve now done a duathlon, I don’t have any intention to do a second.  Coming off the bike I felt completely drained so the final run was very difficult and also very slow.  I’m sure the weather conditions played a part in that but none the less; I can’t imagine doing one again.  On a positive side though this was a race that the club used to get a many people as possible to attend and despite a slightly reduced number due to the swim cancellation it was nice for me to be racing with so many familiar faces and that aspect I really enjoyed.

It’s on to the next one now which is just the small matter of a 101 mile bike ride on Saturday which should be interesting.  I’m hoping for a dry but cool day but as long as the wind stays down, I’ll be happy!  I haven’t got a photo from the finish line today because by the time I’d finished and recovered enough to want a photo taken, the line had been taken down (yes, I was that slow!).  Instead though, here is a photo of my little memento from today, my sunburnt arm with the only white parts being where my race number was written on in permanent marker.  Now surely me having to walk around for the next few days at least is worth a pound at least!  www.justgiving.com/huw2013

 

Caerphilly 10km

It was back to the running today. Now normally the thought of a 10km run for me is horrible. I know that might sound a bit stupid given what I'm planning to do this year but I'm not the best running in the world and it certainly doesn't come naturally so frim start to finish is hard work. However today I was glad to be going for a run, if nothing else it mean I could get over the disappointment of last weekend and get back into the thick of it in terms of my challenge list. There's not too much I can say about the run really. It was very well organised, was a nice route and I enjoyed myself doing it. I was hoping to do the run in under 1 hour but crossed the line in 1 hour, 1 minute and 20 seconds. Despite being just over my target it was difficult to be unhappy given that it was still a good 2 minutes quicker than my personal best on a 10km so all in all I was pleased. It was also nice to see so many people from the tri club and some other familiar faces there and the local residents were fantastic for coming out onto their doorsteps to cheer us all on. All in all it was a really good boost. Last weekend will take some time to get out of my system, but it's getting there slowly.

I mentioned in my last post that I was hoping to extend my challenge to 20 events. Well, that's more or less confirmed now so I thought I'd give you the revised list. The two things that I want to point out are that even though I didn't do the actual half marathon last weekend, I did go out and do it this Tuesday, so I've left that mileage in there. Also, I know I was 12 miles short on the Wye Valley Warrior but I've reduced that to the 85 miles that I did do, increased the Isle of Wight ride to 101 to reflect that change and also I've switched from a single to a double distance triathlon at Top Barn. This will make up the mileage difference and mean I'm actually doing more than I originally planned, despite not adding any new cycling events. I know it wouldn’t be the end of the world being a few miles short but I just want you all to know how determined I am to meet these mileage totals! Anyway, here is the new and definitely final list:

Pontypool 10km Run - 24th February (6.2 miles)

Newport Half Marathon - 3rd March (13.1 miles)

Gwent Levels Bike Ride - 17th March (46 miles)

New Forest Cycle Sportive - 13th April (87 miles)

Wye Valley Warrior Cycle Sportive - 19th May (85 miles)

Brecon Triathlon - 1st June (0.2/12.4/3.1 miles)

Blenheim Triathlon - 9th June (0.4/12.2/3.3 miles)

UK 70.3 Triathlon - 16th June (1.2/56/13.1 miles)

Caerphilly 10km Run - 23rd June (6.2 miles)

Top Barn Triathlon - 30th June (0.9/34.8/6.2 miles)

Isle of Wight Cycle Sportive - 6th July (101 miles)

The Wales Cycle Sportive - 13th July (70 miles)

Mic Morris 10km Run - 21st July (6.2 miles)

The London Triathlon - 28th July (0.9/24.8/6.2 miles)

Brecon 10 Mile Run - 4th August (10 miles)

Cotswold Classic Triathlon - 11th August (1.2/56/13.1 miles)

Parc Bryn Bach Aquathlon - 29th August (0.4/3.1 miles)

Tough Mudder - 22nd September (10 mile obstacle course)

The Wye Not Tri - 29th September (0.4/12.4/3.1 miles)

Cardiff Half Marathon - 6th October (13.1 miles)

In total I will be covering 5.6 miles swimming, 597.6 miles cycling and 116 miles running throughout the year.

Finally, here is the photo from today and also the link to the sponsor page www.justgiving.com/huw2013

 

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!

Blenheim Triathlon

Firstly, apologies for no clever or interesting title but I'm beginning to run out of ideas! 

Anyway, Blenheim Triathlon.  Ever since I heard about this one sometime last year I wanted to do it.  It seemed like a great course in a fantastic location and it certainly lived up to my expectations.  The whole day was great fun, even the sometimes boring pre race brief was made entertaining thanks to the very lively guy delivering it.  The triathlon itself went really well.  It was the first open water race of the year and I was glad to get that under my belt.  To be honest, the swim went better than I expected and I was a little disappointed when I reached the end!  The bike and run sections were uneventful really which is good, especially given the drama I've had with my bike this week (long story!)  My finish time was 1 hour 34 minutes 57 seconds which I'm really pleased with and is another race ticked off in the build up to next weekend.

Just a little side note before I finish up, I've had a little look at some more events and am hoping to be able to up my challenge to 20 events, partly because the extra events are ones I really fancy doing and secondly because 20 is a more round number than 16.  I'll let you know as soon as they are all booked up though.

Don't forget the sponsor page is still live at www.justgiving.com/huw2013 and I'll be hopefully getting the total raised updated this week from the sponsorship forms I've got dotted around to give a better picture of how I'm doing.

The Triathlons Begin

The fun of triathlons stated today with the Brecon Triathlon.  I honestly mean that as well, I really do enjoy them.  OK, I enjoy them once I’ve started.  Getting my kit together the night before and the hanging around to start isn’t the best and I always get nervous before hand but I honestly do enjoy them!

Despite this being labelled by the organisers as a “novice” triathlon it is a fantastic one to do and the field is always a mixture of complete newcomers and first timers to highly experienced and competitive triathletes using it to build their form for the bigger races coming up over the summer.  For me there were a few reasons for taking part this year.  Firstly, it’s quite close to home so it means that all the family (and we’re quite a crowd!) can come along and see what it’s all about, have a laugh at me in my tri suit but also cheer me along.  It was great coming up to the finish line hearing them all shouting and cheering and I’m really really grateful to them all for coming to support me.  The other couple of reasons are that it was a good way for me to get a triathlon in before the UK 70.3 in a couple of weeks time but also, because I did it last year, gave me a chance to see how I’ve improved over the last year.

The race itself went well.  The swim stage was in the leisure centre swimming pool, so no open water to worry about, that will come next week!  I wasn’t overly pleased with how it went but despite that, I still improved on last year’s time so can’t complain too much.  The bike and run routes went well, both being long enough for me to get into some sort of rhythm but not long enough to cause any problems or major tests.

My total time was 1hour 33 minutes and 43 seconds which was around 22 minutes faster than my time last year.  I’m chuffed to bit about that because it shows that I’m made a big improvement in the last year and that the training I’m doing with the tri club is working.  I’m also pleased that I the time was knocked off in all 3 stages (2 minutes on the swim, 10 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the run) which shows the all-round improvement that I’ve made.  Obviously there were parts today that I wasn’t completely satisfied with and would chance if I could go back and do the race over but that’s part of it and why we all keep training week in, week out.

The events are coming thick and fast now with the Blenheim Triathlon waiting for me next weekend which will be another good tester before the UK 70.3 especially with the already mentioned open water swim!

Don’t forget you can sponsor me at www.justgiving.com/huw2013 and surely the embarrassing photo of me below in my tri suit is worth £1 at least!