One last '50 Weeks to Kona'... honest!

We've moved...

2010-07-28T10:54:00.000+02:00

Dear all,

Just to let you know that H and I have moved our blogs. With Ironman coming to and end very soon we thought we'd go our seperate (blogging) ways...

H can now be found at www.helenturton.co.uk.

Tom is now at www.tomwilliams.squarespace.com.

Thanks for being such a great part of our journey so far, here's to the future ;)

T & H x

Snap...

2010-07-18T18:50:00.000+02:00

As the end of my triathlon career rapidly approaches, and along with it my life on a road bike, there are regular 'this is my last one of these' moments... I've always wanted to do a 100 mile time trial and woke up at 4am this morning ready to really go for it in my my last ever official TT and my first ever over a century...

Going into the race off the back of a few easy days I was confident of going well and had planned a ten mile Ironman paced run straight off the back of it as my final big session... a great opportunity to practice my race nutrition strategy... just three and a half miles after the start my chain snapped and with it the chance to exit my cycling time trials 'career' on a high. Frustrating isn't the word really but there you go...

For the rest of the day I joined H and turned spectator / support crew for our mate Ady, who paced a perfect one hundred miles to come in just under four hours and 25 minutes. At 4:56 pace for 112 miles it was a great sign for his assault on the Outlaw both in terms of pacing a long ride and also having the strength to finish a five hour ride stronger than it was started :)

I'm off to bed...

T

Feeling fit fit fit...

2010-07-16T11:09:00.000+02:00

I'll keep this short as I really should be doing some work... With a touch over three weeks to go until The Outlaw Iron-distance triathlon I find myself in the shape of my life, significantly stronger, fitter and (more importantly) less tired than the same time before Ironman Switzerland 2009 where I set my PB of 9.28... BUT... and this is a BIG BUT... there are still a touch over three weeks to go... too many to taper, yet plenty of time to over-cook things and arrive in Nottingham tired and worn-out.

This Saturday just gone I raced at Ripon Olympic Triathlon and despite the distance being a little fast for my short stumpy legs I ran through to 7th overall out of 700 finishers, Sunday morning saw six hilly hours in the saddle with Ady and Adam and then later that day Adam and I popped out for a 20 mile run with 16 very conversational miles thrown in at 7.10 pace, Monday morning I was in the pool for some hard interval work, Monday evening a chilled out seven mile run with H and then on Tuesday my mate Guy and I rode 80 miles of the Outlaw bike course including two laps of the main loop riding completely draft legal (minimum 15 metres wheel to wheel) and VERY comfortably in 2:37:17 for 58.8 miles (4:59:41 pace for 112) followed by a relaxed first ten miles of the run course in 75 minutes... apart from Ripon, where it was a max race effort, the rest of the sessions have all been comfortably within me. I can honestly say I'm in the shape of my life... a good place to be... a challenging place to be this far out of an 'A' race though. Ideally The Outlaw would ideally be a week earlier, the tough sessions would be over and the taper could start... there's just a little bit more to do though...

Today has been a complete leg rest day with just a short and very easy swim (10 x 150 easy off 3:30) with Hels and Ove, and tomorrow will be similar except with an open water swim and perhaps a short spin on the bike. Sunday I'll be on the start line of my first and last 100 mile cycling time trial, a ten mile Ironman target-pace run off the back of it will give me a chance to practice race-day nutrition.

Then, it'll be time to drop the volume, up the intensity and sharpen up for one final 140.6 miles of swim, bike & run.

I'm loving every moment but cannot wait to draw a line under my triathlon career, and move on to the next exciting chapter in the wonderful thing we call life...

T

Take two...

2010-07-04T16:37:00.000+02:00

This week's picture was taken by H on her iPhone as our mate John Coleman pushed me off for my second assault on the same 50 mile time trial course within seven days. Last week my legs felt about as empty as they ever have in a bike race yet I managed to squeeze out a 1:58 and average just over 25mph... yesterday I was determined to give that result the kicking it truly deserved!

So... ?

Well, I kind of did... and I kind of didn't!

From the start to the finish I felt significantly better than seven days ago... my legs felt strong and pushing through each of the 50 somewhat windy miles I managed to nudge my heart rate back toward where it should be... averaging 149 and maxing out at 157 (compared to 141/150) and getting close to the low 150's average and low 160's max that saw me pb at the Circuit of the Dales back in April. Only having distance and heart rate on the display of my Garmin crossing the I had no idea what time I'd done... it felt MUCH fast than the first effort but had been really windy in places and was without a doubt a slow day...

Cruising back to the event HQ I flicked through my watch's memory reminding myself not to be disappointed if it wasn't the 1.56 I expected... 2:01:33 and a full two and a half minutes slower! Knowing that the conditions can make so much difference to bike time trials I put my disappointment to one side, replaced it with positive thoughts about feeling great, feeling fast and feeling strong and set out on a four mile run at my target Ironman pace... just under 30 easy minutes later it was time to check out the results and see how I'd really done...

A quick scan over the times of those who also race last week showed a fairly consistent 4-5 minute deficit over the previous event suggesting my ride would have been worth something between 1:56:33 and 1:57:33 on a good day... so all in all? A good day ;)

Other than that... I'm back in the pool / lake and with my nerve injury behaving itself am swimming faster with every passing session. Run wise things are fairly steady away, Ironman target pace (7:20-30 per mile) is feeling super easy with a very comfortable 18 miles done last week in 2:15 dead and an average HR of 137... I also seem to be running pretty well off the bike sessions. With three good training weeks left in my competitive triathlon life things are starting to get tough (5 hours on the bike this morning are about to be followed up with a 20 mile run) but I'm feeling strong and looking forward to Ripon Olympic Tri next weekend, the Yorkshire Cycling Federation 100 mile TT a week later and then Castle Howard Triathlon the week after that... in between I've got my normal massive brick session on the 13th of July (might reduce the run to ten miles rather than 20... I said 'might') and two more cracks at my Pool Triangle TT pb of 29:56 (I did ride a 29:58 this week so am there or there abouts).

In five weeks it will all be over... better make it all worthwhile ;)

T

It' been a while...

2010-06-30T13:43:00.000+02:00

I think I may have set a new PB... the longest ever gap between blog posts. Having spent the last three years sticking almost exactly to our Sunday deadline it's now been over two weeks... apologies. It's not actually that I've been super busy but having spent the first five months of this year knocking out pretty much continuous 18 hour days of training and working I've been really really enjoying my new found chill time...

Anyway...

I do keep promising a more in-depth reflection on my Lanzarote experience but still don't really know how I feel about the whole Ironman thing. Not qualifying for Hawaii still plays on my mind pretty much every day, much more than I thought it would... perhaps a good performance at The Outlaw on August the 8th will quiet the frustrations that I'm feeling? In 2009 I wasn't prepared mentally for breaking nine and a half hours only to be cheated out of my slot and in the same way I hadn't really considered this year that I'd fail to deliver on the run when 'only' needing a 3:30 marathon to book my plane ticket.

I have, of course, considered having another crack... either at a race later this year or sometime in 2011... but I only have to remind myself of the unacceptable sacrifices that I repeatedly made this year in order to get into Kona 'shape', for those thoughts to rapidly be over turned. My time as a competitive Ironman athlete will certainly come to an end on August the 8th where a great run off a solid bike will hopefully leave me happy that throughout my short triathlon career I placed all my multi-sport eggs firmly in the Iron basket.

So... how's it looking...

Well, last year I came back from Lanzarote a little too soon and despite some good performances between then and Switzerland I never quite felt recovered. This time I've taken things a little easier and as such am a little heavier and not quite as 'match-fit' as I was but there is certainly a good level of base fitness which with a little sharpening over the next month should see me hit the start line in Nottingham ready to rock.

My chronic nerve issue which was hugely affecting my swimming seems to have calmed down significantly and yesterday I managed a set of 10 x 300m at an average of about 4:35... pb shape would be 4:20-4:25 off a little less recovery but certainly a step in the right direction.

On the bike I've hit a 30:01 at the Pool Triangle TT which is my third fastest time ever and only five seconds off PB and this weekend gone I hit 1:58:54 for a 50 mile TT which although not quite a PB (seven seconds short) was the result of perhaps the worst my legs have ever felt in a bike race so on a good day I'd expect to knock a couple of minutes off that... 1:56? We'll find out on Saturday when I have another crack at the same course ;)

Running? It's running off the bike that matters really, as I found out in Lanzarote... at last weekend's Allerthorpe sprint triathlon I didn't exactly set the world on fire with my 19:19 5km run but I'd hit the 20km bike as a full-on TT effort and for the first time in a long time (perhaps ever) no-one came past me on the run, where I moved from 7th to 6th overall... and felt great.

Overall, things are gathering momentum as The Outlaw draws closer... I should hit my first 20 hour training week this week, running off the bike will become the norm and my swim volume is returning gradually to pre-2010 levels. I've got more of an intensity based focus this time with at least one race per week scheduled for the next month and fingers crossed my weight will start with a '6' before too long ;) This weekend I've got another 50 mile TT, the 10th is Ripon Olympic Tri, the 18th is the YCF 100 mile TT (where I'll be giving it everything to get close to four hours), then on the 24th I'm doing an Olympic Triathlon at Castle Howard. In between those there's a mix of Pool Triangle time trials, LBT aquathlons and perhaps a ten mile TT plus the odd parkrun thrown in for good measure.

It's great to be back... but even greater to see the light at the end of what has been an amazingly exciting, challenging and life-changing adventure...

Laters

T x

Back in the groove...

2010-06-14T00:30:00.000+02:00

Before I kick this week's blog entry off, I know that I haven't written my promised Lanzarote reflection... as soon as I find a couple of hours to switch everything else off and give it my undivided attention it will be done ;)

As for today... I was racing at the National Middle Distance (half-Ironman) Championships in Bala, Wales, my final competitive half-Ironman race ever! From my experiences last year, when I raced Ironman Lanzarote followed seven weeks later by Switzerland, I knew the danger of training too hard too soon and so found myself treading water this morning having not trained seriously for three weeks... four if you include race week in Lanza. I actually only entered this in the first place because I thought it was one of my triathlon club's championship races, by the time I realised it wasn't, the one that was was full (Cleveland Steelman) and so I figured it could become my first 'proper' training session to kick off six hard weeks of work before a two week taper into The Outlaw Iron distance race.

Swim - 2,000m (32:00 80th/624)

With the water noticeably warmer than previous years in Bala it was actually quite a nice swim. Following 200 hard strokes straight from the gun I focused on technique, bilateral breathing and finding a good pair of feet to hang on to. As usual I managed to avoid anything resembling 'biff' and including the the odd error in sighting and navigation plus a stop to re-adjust my goggles I completed the 2,000m in 32:00. At 80th overall swim split it was probably a couple of minutes down on where I'd like to be, but, and I really really really don't want to tempt fate here, as my third pain free (ish) swim of the week maybe, just maybe, my swim injury is easing off??? If so then with eight weeks to go I just may get to the start line of my last ever competitive triathlon in my best ever swim condition...?

Bike - 50 hilly miles (2:20:11 24th/624)

Despite my legs still feeling a little sluggish from Lanzarote, a solid ride in Wednesday's Pool Triangle 20k hilly TT gave me confidence that I'd ride well today. I'd not done this course before but with a 2:05 on the old course I'd hoped to break 2:20 (guessing it's about 15 minutes slower)... the 'new' course (since 2008) is an out and back and with a fair head wind on the 'out' I was looking good hitting the turn in 1:10. Despite a reasonable tail wind home my legs weren't playing ball though and as they tired my heart rate dropped and I really had to dig deep to come back in the same time for a 2:20.

Run - 20 hilly km (1:25:32 41st/624)

Frustratingly I seemed to pick up where I left off in Lanzarote and almost immediately dropped into survival mode, worrying more about who was behind me than those in front. Perhaps my 19:55 parkrun yesterday morning was a little hard, perhaps dropping two of my bike gels exiting T1 didn't help, maybe there's still a little Lanza in there... or perhaps I just need to work on my running off the bike. Either way the first five or six kilometres were a real struggle... as the turn got closer though I seemed to relax a little, people stopped over-taking me and gradually I found (finally) some run form. Hitting the turn-around in 44:00 I felt I could beat my previous best run in Bala (1:25) as it's mostly downhill on the way back... stopping the run clock on 1:25:32 I was most pleased with the fact that I'd actually felt like a runner for the first time in a while.

Overall - 4:20:24 & 24th out of 624

A mixed day really... super pleased to feel good in the swim and although a little slower than I would have liked, if I have seen the back of my nerve issue then it's happy days and full steam ahead in the pool! I'd have liked to have felt a touch better on the bike and gone a touch quicker but all things considered it was a good day on two wheels. As for the run, the second half has given me back a little confidence that maybe I can still run well off the bike. In my previous two National Middle Distance Champs (at the Vitruvian in 2007 & 2008) I finished overall 17th and 13th respectively so a backward step in some ways... but given the last month or so I'm pretty pleased and it's a great place from which to start six hard weeks of training before my two week taper.

Other than that it was great to hang out with some awesome people for the weekend... the triathlon community is full of them and I can't wait to be chief cheer-leader in 2011 ;) Well done to everyone who took on a super challenging course on a super challenging day... I know it didn't go to plan for all of you but you really should be proud!

See you soon,

Tom

Home time...

2010-05-31T02:19:00.000+02:00

Five years ago this month Helen, Sam and I, having never even seen a triathlon before, stumbled upon the Lanzarote Ironman whilst looking for something to do on a surf holiday with no surf... it was an act of chance that would change all of our lives forever. Last Saturday our amazing five year journey came to and end and with 14 Ironman finishers medals between us it's been quite an adventure.

We'll probably keep this blog going until what will be my final competitive triathlon at the Outlaw Iron distance race in Nottingham on August the 8th and so I'll save the whole reflection thing for the next few weeks and months. Today it's all about the race report from the day that so nearly was...

Race Week

H and I arrived in Lanzarote, managing to just avoid yet more ash cloud disruption, on the Saturday before the race and with it being our sixth trip to the Island since the adventure began we felt at home pretty much straight away. It amazes me how people can spend an entire English winter suffering through long swim, bike and run sessions only to arrive at the race venue late and risk last minute worries and stress. With six full days in which to get stuff done prior to the race just a little bit of bike maintenance, kit buying, race bag packing, nutrition sorting, registration training meant that by Wednesday morning everything that needed to be done. We try and avoid all the pre-race hype and base ourselves in a beautiful little backwater of Lanzarote called Famara where our little one bedroom detached bungalow is provides sun for H, shade for me and peace & quiet for both of us. As usual I took a complete rest day two days out from the race and then slotted in a 30 minute run including 5 x 30 second efforts before breakfast the day before.

Racking & The Day Before

The day before race day is a strange time in Ironman, pretty much everything is done and the feeling of 'waiting' and quite strange. As an Ironman athlete you're used to there being something to do pretty much all the time and, particularly once your bike is racked there really is nothing to do except sit there... even most of your eating is already done! With us being tucked away in Famara Friday was pretty much the first time that I could get a good look at all the other athletes, and more importantly my rivals for a coveted Kona slot. The allocation had been posted at the organisers tent and 10th or best would be required for guaranteed qualification. This was pretty much as I expected and I guessed that a top 50 overall and a finish time starting with a '9' would be required if I was to book my ticket to Hawaii. Once everything was racked, my bags were hanging on their hooks (having been checked, double checked and checked again - not sure how I think my shoes might not be in my run bag seeing as I put them in there in the first place and triple checked them, perhaps one day I'll be surprised!) it was time for an nice early dinner. Not wanting to mess with my stomach a nice simple pasta dish was order of the day... Phil Graves did persuade me to join him for a black pudding starter though!

Race Morning

Arriving at transition at 5am the familiar race morning buzz was starting to build and again getting there early meant that I could remove the chance of any last minute stress and panic in the event of some unexpected 'moment'. By 5:30 I'd pumped my tyres up, stuck nutrition on the bike, checked my bags (again!) and benefitted from the early morning lack of toilet queues. By six o'clock I was sat down with H and enjoying 20 minutes of quiet time whilst the Ironman world wandered up and down. We also bumped into my club mate Richard Howarth, it was great to see a familiar face from back in Leeds and I knew that despite his awesome swim ability (Rich swam 50 minutes and was 11th out of the water) there was a good chance we'd find oursleves in close competition for a 35-39 qualification slot seven or eight hours later. I pulled my wetsuit on at about 6:30 and as usual shed a few emotional tears as I waved goodbye to Mum, Ray and H and wandered down to the water for a quick warm-up.

The Swim - 58:56

Despite being surrounded by 1,500 people who are about to do the same thing as you, the moments before the gun goes are up there with the most lonely in sport. At that point it's just you against the world, even if your best mate was stood right beside you you'd be unlikely to recognise them and even if you did they'd disappear into a thrashing of arms, legs and water the instant of the bang. Readers of this blog will know that I'd only managed about 10% of my normal swim volume in the 20 weeks leading up to the race and despite a couple of confidence building swims during race week I really didn't have a clue what was about to happen. As usual my Ironman Swim God was watching over me and for the sixth time in a row I completely avoided anything remotely approaching 'biff' and once round the first turn buoy found some nice feet to hang on to and settled into a great rhythm. My swim strategy had been to think about technique, tactics and pacing and not worry about fitness. With no regular feedback in open water swimming (i.e. a time check every 50 minutes) it's easy to let the negative thoughts creep in and imagine that not only are you at the back but even going in completely the wrong direction, when you've had such a bad swim build up the temptation to convince yourself this is the case and for your head to drop is strong. I felt good though, really good and exiting the water at half-way to the amazing shouts and screams of H motivating me for the first time in the race (see pic) was thinking I might surprise myself. Probably around 1,000m later my lack of swim volume was showing its face as my arms tired, and my lack of open water practice was showing as I got seriously sea-sick... all this combined with my goggles really starting to hurt as I'd not worn them continuously for this long since July 2009 meant that by about 3k I was really 'over' the whole swim thing. Not wanting to start off the day with negative feedback I'd not started my watch so that I couldn't be disappointed with my swim time. Fortunately there was a race clock at the exit and with a time of 58:56 I learned two things... a) the swim was shorter than last year and b) despite that I must have had a blinder as at six minutes ahead of my predicted time I must at least have 'split the difference'.

The Bike - 5:33:24

With what I thought would be my weakest discipline done and dusted I set off on the bike in 140th place overall, and with a top 50 the target, had some serious work to do. Despite that, and the desire to take at least ten minutes off last year's 5:41, I knew that the fastest Ironman bike split is built on the foundations of a steady first couple of hours. In my head I had split the course into three sections - The start to Famara (2:15 and easy), Famara to the top of Mirador (1:45 of steady work) and then Mirador to the finish (1:30 of hard work) and knowing it like the back of my hand felt comfortable in familiar surroundings from the start. For the first 20 miles my left leg was really struggling to keep up with my right, it just felt weak and despite my heart rate being about right (aprox 145) and my perceived pace feeling good, as I moved up the places I was a little worried. You can only play the cards you're dealt though and I just kept saying to myself that it was probably stiff from the swim and would not doubt loosen up as the race went on. I also had to stay on top of those negative feelings associated with the odd athlete flying past like I was stood still... they're either better than you or going too fast, neither of which are reasons to 'react' so early into such a long race. With the words of Ryan Hall ringing in my ears I repeated out loud (a sign of madness I know) that I 'must have faith in my ability and stick to the plan'. It was nice to see some familiar faces and as Jim Peet went by and I in turn went past Rob Quantrell the brief moments of positive encouragement between us really helped to keep the spirits high and the mind focused... although Rob's contents of 'go on Tom, kill it!' probably lifted my heart rate a little high for a while ;) Coming through Tinajo at about mile 40 I once again benefitted from the shouts of H, Mum and Ray, which seemed to give my left leg a good shot of aneasthetic. Just 20 minutes later I was beginning the second 'section' of the bike... climbing from Famara to Haria and starting to feel really great.

You can't win the race over the next 20 miles but you can certainly loose it if you succumb to temptation and hammer the hills. By this time though I was starting to feel great and making solid progress up through Teguise. I'd caught last years female winner Bella Bayliss at around 60 miles, which at around 20 miles earlier than last year was a great boost prior to the final proper climb up to Mirador. The views from the top were, as always, amazing and as the highest point on the course disappeared into background I got myself ready for the final push home. At about 87 miles you make a right turn at Tahiche for a 5k climb to Teguise and then with all the tough stuff behind you and a tail wind home if you've paced it well then it's 'happy days' until the run. I knew mum, Ray and H would be at this roundabout and had been looking forward to seeing them for a while. As always their shouts spurred me on and seconds later I caught up with Rich Howarth... he told me he'd swum 50 minutes and he's a strong cyclist so I knew I must be going well to have made up over eight minutes. As we climbed up to Teguise I'd never felt so good 90 miles into and Ironman bike, had avoided pushing it for any of the ride and with my biggest ever bike training volume in the bank I was confident that I'd have no problem unleashing my best ever run form. Just coming into Teguise, the final proper climb was done, a guy by the side of the rode shouted that I was in 80th overall and with 60 places taken on the bike a top 50 was looking good...

Ironman's a funny thing though and no sooner had I practically awarded myself the Kona slot than my legs blew into a thousand pieces... Rich, who I'd caught so quickly just 15 minutes earlier, edged further and further away and with absolutely nothing to give all I could do was try and keep the pedals turning and limit any damage. Over the next ten miles I lost 30 places but knowing that the final ten were mostly downhill just kept pushing and pushing, if I could just get over the top then just maybe I could turn things round before the run. It's so important to stay positive at times like this, not to panic and just try to get through the low patch... Four caffeinated Power Bar gels and ten fast downhill miles later and it was time to strap on my running shoes and get stuck in to the final three and a bit hours of a five year journey...

The Run

Setting off on the run I knew it was all to play for, had you said at the beginning of this year's training that I'd be starting the run with a great chance of qualifying I'd have been over the moon. I've run so well recently and with vivid memories of cruising round the London Marathon at 6:40 per mile just four weeks earlier I knew I had it in me to smash my Ironman marathon pb of 3:24. The run course was different this year and consisted of an out and back, 1 x 18.7km and 2 x 11.9km - I'd measured an early mile of the run course during race week so that I could get some early feedback and clocking just under 7:20 for the first time through I was definitely pushing it but also feeling strong and certainly capable of holding the effort level. This year has been all about putting it out there, I could of course have played it a little safer but I did that in Switzerland last year and missed by three minutes, and I fully expected Kona to require well under ten hours... 3:15 would give me 9:56 so set off like I meant business. Getting to the first turn at around 9km I was still feeling good, a few people had gone past but a few had come back and even then I was still super confident that I'd survived the blip on the bike and was back in control.

About half-way back to PDC my entire race changed in seconds, coming into an aid station I necked a cup of Coke and almost instantly suffered the worst stomach cramps I've ever had. Having never really struggled to take energy on during Ironman events I wasn't too concerned... 'just run through it' I thought, confident that within a few hundred metres I'd be back in the game. It just got worse and worse though and by the time I got to the next aid station I found myself doubled over and struggling to even stand up straight. In what seemed like a matter of minutes I'd gone from running sub 7:30 per mile and looking forward to flying through the final 25km to struggling just to keep running and wondering how or even if I was going to survive the rest of the marathon.

Setting off on the first of the two 11.9km sections I knew that Kona was disappearing from right in front of me. Just moments ago I'd felt I had one foot on the plane, yet here I was completely helpless as athlete after athlete slowly went by and with every '35-39' written on their race number my five year dream faded a little more and a little more. At this point I really started to struggle mentally, as I thought about all the work I'd put in... the early mornings, the freezing cold bike rides and the hours of painful physio... then my thoughts moved on to what I'd be doing for the rest of the year now Hawaii was not going to happen. Tears started to roll down my face and with well over ten miles left to run I was about as low as I've been in a race. Eventually though my mind turned to an email I'd had from friend and top British Ironman athlete Mark Stenning, 'keep your emotions in check' he'd written, now it probably wasn't intended for a moment like this but it was just what I needed... with 10km left in my final ever official Ironman event (at least I knew that now) I wasn't about to go out with a wimper and pulling myself together I tried to work each gap between aid stations... the reward to myself being that when I got to each one I could come to a complete stop and dive into the sponges, drinks, gels and support.

As the finish got closer and closer I challenged myself to run my measured mile as fast as I possibly could, at the aid station before it I took an extra 30 seconds, dusted myself down and set off for the finish (the end of the mile was only about 400 yards from the line). What felt like six minute mile pace and took the same effort as five minute mile pace actually saw me cover the 1,609 metres in eight minutes flat. I'd not given up and with 100 yards to go allowed myself a big smile, I may have missed the plane to Kona but from the start of training to the end of the race I'd absolutely truly given it everything I possible could. Something that five years ago I could never have dreamed of.

The Finish Line

The finish chute of my first ever Ironman triathlon, way back in Austria 2006, was probably the most amazing moment of my life. It marked the achievement of something that deep down I'd never believed possible and was the culmination what was at that time the hardest training I'd ever done by quite some way. Helen, my mum & Ray and loads of friends had come to support and seeing as without them I would never have even got to the start line let alone survived the race I'd spent what seemed like hours taking in the moment, dishing out the high-fives and generally celebrating. Yes it cost me a load of time but it was absolutely worth every second.

This year I really wanted to do the same, and once I realised that Hawaii was pretty much over that desire became even stronger. I wasn't about to cross my final Ironman finishing line without giving out a little love... in the back of my mind though I had Switzerland '07 reminding me that in the two minutes that I messed around with my Dad and H just yards from the line six athletes from my age group had gone by... it hadn't cost me a slot but it certainly could have done. As much as I'd written off my chances in this race, the idea of going through everything that I have only to be a gentleman and let someone past me and straight 'onto the plane' didn't bare thinking about. Turning to look back as I hit the blue carpet there was no-one remotely in sight... the smile in picture two and the expression in picture three sum up my race pretty well I think ;)

The End

So, what started in Lanzarote in May 2005 and took me on the most amazing five year journey, finished in Lanzarote in May 2010. I'll never actually get to race in Kona and I'm finding that a little harder to deal with than I thought, but I'll save the reflection for a future post. Thanks so much for all your help and support along the way... but most of all I'd really like to thank my beautiful wife. With H I would never have been brave enough to dream the dreams nor had the support with which to live them.

See you next week,

T x

Close... but no cigar...

2010-05-27T17:25:00.000+02:00

Well.... apologies for not posting at least a little something last Sunday. We didn't land back in the UK until very late on Monday night / Tuesday morning and since then I've been just about the busiest I've ever been with three days in a row of no more than four hours sleep and so much to do from the moment I wake up till the moment I fall into bed about 20 hours later. It's mostly been exciting stuff, Martin and I have just delivered a great presentation on Marathon Talk to the European Sponsorship Association at the BOA, so we're largely talking good busy... I am having to keep my eyes open with match sticks though and am focusing on getting through the next 36 hours before a lovely long weekend chilling out with my amazing wife :)

Thanks so much for all your belief and positive comments over the build up to Lanzarote, during the race, and then over the days since I crossed the line. At points I've been moved to tears by the sheer weight of support... I must have received messages from 150+ people and it's been truly life changing, and I don't say that lightly! The thing is, I'm doing nothing that millions of other people don't do every single day, it's just that I talk about it... it seems silly to me then that I should receive so much benefit when others are facing up to the same challenges with little or no recognition or support. I've got my thinking cap on and am dreaming up ways to spread all that positive energy around a bit... you'll have to leave that with me for a while though ;)

I'll leave my final, Ironman race report to the weekend but I'll briefly answer the two most common questions now...

1) Is it REALLY your final official Ironman?

Definitely - 100%! I'm entered in The Outlaw on the 8th of August and will be looking to bow out of triathlon in style. Nottingham rather than Kona will be the final destination of this wonderful journey.

2) How do you feel about it?

Actually, a lot worse than I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, I'm managing to keep things in perspective and feel truly privileged to have had the opportunity to complete six Ironman events... and am really proud to be able to look back and honestly say I couldn't have given even one more heart beat of effort to the five year journey. It really is only a game and there are FAR more important things in life. The fact that I'm unlikely to ever reach the start line of the most iconic triathlon in the World leaves me feeling really sad though, and the added disappointment that a 3.31 run would have done the job is so disappointing.

Anyway, there you go... tune in next week for the gory details of my Lanzarote roller-coaster,

T

Race week...

2010-05-18T16:52:00.000+02:00

Managed to steal a couple of minutes to post a quick blog entry... will try and post something later this week but may not get the chance so this could be the final entry till the race.

Don't forget you can follow us via twitter.com/tomstraining every single day (don't need to be a Twitter user).

We had a remarkably trouble free journey over here and have settled straight into the chilled out Lanzarote lifestyle. I rode the northern end of the bike course on Sunday, went for a nice 10k run with H yesterday and swam a lap of the swim course this morning. I do still feel tired, particularly in the legs but with every single day things are getting better and I'm actually starting to feel a little confident!

This evening Mart and I will be recording Marathon Talk over Skype and we have a great interview with American running sensation Ryan Hall so don't forget to tune in on Wednesday. Tomorrow it's race prep day with a lap of the swim at the same time as race start, breakfast, a quick ride of the first and last few miles of the bike and then a few miles of the run course in the heat of the day. Then at 3pm it's massage time and feet up. Thursday will be a complete rest day and be spent mostly at La Santa for registration and the race briefing and then Friday see's back racking and an early night... not! Saturday... well, we'll see about that ;)

As for my race plans... I need to stay positive in the swim, with no idea of how fast you're swimming or what position you;re in it's easy to let the negative feelings creep in. It will be what it will be and I'll need to stay positive and swim smart... high cadence to reduce the power needed per stroke, plenty of hanging on peoples feet and a focus on technique technique technique. From then on I'll be putting everything absolutely on the line, if you're following me on the internet please don't get excited until you see a finish time, I will be on the limit all the way and holding nothing back... the potential for mid-race detonation is very real.

I felt that throughout the training for and racing at Ironman Switzerland I was playing the numbers game and doing just enough to get my sub 9.30 and qualify... 9.28 did happen but qualifying didn't (missed by three mins) and despite a massive PB it was probably the worst I've felt about a performance in a long time! As you know, this year has never been about just getting to the start line or doing 'enough'... it's been about giving absolutely everything for one final time, laying all my cards on the table and seeing where they fall. I can honestly say that I couldn't have given even one more heartbeat to my training for Ironman Lanzarote, I've been right to the edge and amazed myself not to have fallen over it, I really have taken myself to the brink, furtther than I ever thought possible and I have no interest in going through those dark winter days again.. this then is it. Whatever happens on Saturday I will invest every available drop of effort into the 140.6 miles and whatever my time is, whether I qualify or not and even if I don't finish I'll know that I really truly gave it everything...

Speak soon,

T

Everything... nearly...

2010-05-12T10:45:00.000+02:00

First of all, apologies for the delay in getting this week's blog post published, our home internet went down just before the weekend and BT only got round to fixing it late last night...

Well, with tonight's Pool Triangle 20k time trial the final challenging session left before I toe the line in Lanzarote, what could be my final ever Ironman training block is pretty much over. For the last 14 and a bit weeks my goal has been to get to this stage feeling like I've given it absolutely everything possible and therefore maximise my chances of taking this journey to it's intended final journey... Kona. People often say that 'you always feel like you could have done a bit more', well I certainly don't! The last four months have been by far the most challenging of my life, with low's like I've never known and many many times when not only have I felt like throwing in the towel but I have actually chucked it all in. Time and time again I've managed to talk myself round, get back in the saddle, and push on for just 'one more time'. Suddenly, I find myself just ten days from the greatest challenge of my life and yes, I absolutely, positively could not have given even one more heart beat.

This Sunday I had scheduled my final big session, every year I do what I like to call my 'mega-brick' - a close to Iron distance ride followed by a close to Ironman pace 20 mile run - and despite the odd (supportive) suggestion to save it for the race, it had been written in stone ever since the same session got the better of me prior to last year's Lanzarote race. Sometimes you need to do something just for yourself, despite the fact that it might not be the best thing to do... I realise that it was only two weeks after the London Marathon and more importantly less than two weeks (just) before Lanzarote... but my goal this year has never been about simply getting to the start line and if I was going to feel like I'd truly given it everything then this session had to at least been attempted.

The bike is 'only' 83 miles but as six laps of a super hilly loop (see below) with a total ascent of around 1,600 feet per lap i.e. close to 10,000 feet total and several climbs per lap that require a near max effort just to reach the top I'd suggest that it's at least a tough a route as Lanzarote itself. Last year I'd started off well but blown to pieces after four of the six laps, finishing in with a ride time of five hours and 12 minutes... this year was a different story though with laps of 47, 48, 48, 50, 50, and 50 minutes bringing me home in under five hours and full of confidence.

Starting out on the run (half mile out and back up the nice and flat Castley Lane) I was intent to match the previous five hours but within just a few hundred metres I knew I was in trouble. I managed to fall into 7.10-7.20 per mile pretty comfortably and my legs felt great... my body was saying otherwise though and a combination of a really bad stitch, severe muscle pain in my neck and an overwhelming desire to lie down and go to sleep (what the?) suddenly took me back to Germany 08 and the suffering that was 42.2 miserable kilometres. By mile five it was clear that I was in trouble and, despite opinions to the contrary, I'm actually quite sensible and knew then that a) it would only get worse and b) if I tried to push on not only could it do some serious damage but my whole five year journey might end there and then. So, I turned down the engines and jogged it in to mile ten where I drew a line under my training for Lanzarote 2010.

On reflection? I'm really pleased with myself for attempting the session, no-one ever achieved anything through a lack of belief and commitment. I truly believe that once you have chosen a path you have to believe in that choice with 100% conviction, at the same time however there may come a point where that choice needs to be revised in order to protect the main objective. Had this been four or more weeks from my A race I may well have pushed on but with just 13 days between then and Lanzarote in which to drag myself into 'all-time' condition it was clear to me that I had to stop. Besides, I know that my running is better than it has ever been with 6:40 per mile in London feeling super comfortable just two weeks ago. Sometimes it just isn't there and you just have to be thankful that it wasn't during the main event, I will however take some great lessons through to the race...

1) I'll reduce the amount of energy I get from bars and increase the number of gels as the stitch problem may well have been related.
2) I'll hit the caffeine from about four hours into the bike and then continue through the run.
3) I'll work hard on upper back and neck mobility over the next ten days as that stiffness proved a serious limiter once I tried to stand up straight and run tall.
4) I'll concentrate on good quality sleep and rest (obvious really) from now on as tiredness clearly played a part in my struggles on the run.
5) To ride sub five hours on that course in full winter gear (it was freezing) shows that I'm in the best bike form of my life so have faith and be brave - I know I can run.

So, that's about it... tonight's my final hit-out with a crack at the Pool Triangle and then we're off to Lanzarote on Saturday (Icelandic volcano permitting).

I'll be updating from Lanza every day via my twitter feed (twitter.com/tomstraining) and my Facebook account (come and say hi here) and although you should be able to follow the race via Ironman.com I would suggest that H's Facebook and Twitter updates from my iphone will provide the best race-day info.

Next week, I'll blog from Lanza, although it might be a little late and then tune in on Sunday the 23rd for what may or may not be the last ever entry to what has been a wonderful adventure...

In ten days we'll know,

T

I've seen the light...

2010-05-04T01:22:00.001+02:00

In fact, not only have seen the light… I can almost touch it!

This morning I enjoyed a really great five hour ride, in the Dales, with my good mate and cycling sensation Guy Willard. We were both after a pretty easy time so the conversation flowed all the way round and the warm Yorkshire sun did it’s best to keep us company and the dark clouds at bay. As we dropped down into Burnsall (home of the finest flapjacks in the world via the subject of today’s photo – credit to Guy) the conversation turned to this blog and thoughts around how it’s documented what has been a pretty special journey. If there’s one thing that I feel we perhaps haven’t captured as vividly as I would have liked it’s the many low points which have been surprisingly frequent on the road to achieving our athletic dreams… a road which has so often taken us outside of anything remotely resembling a comfort zone.

Whenever I’ve been in the midst of these dark times the last thing on my mind has been to tell the world… partly because I don’t want people to think I’m looking for some kind of sympathy or attention, but largely because, at the time, I don’t particularly feel like writing about it. Quite often I’ve sat there deep in thought, wondering why I seem so determined to take myself to the edge of sanity again and again... the idea of capturing the moment through a quick video diary has flashed through my mind… then quickly passed out the other ear, only to re-surface at a later date when all is once again well in the world and the moment has been lost forever.

Why do I feel that it’s so important to get my somewhat depressing message across? The thing is, as with lots of difficult and challenging times in life, we so often sweep the tough stuff under the carpet in order to paint a rosy picture of how amazing everything is. Now, I’m all for a little positivity from time to time but it’s a fact of life that pretty much anyone who has ever achieved something special has equally been through periods of doubt and despair. In fact, I’d go as far as suggesting that there would be a strong relationship between achievement and ‘challenge’… delve deep enough into the history of your most inspirational heroes and I’ll bet you anything that they’ve experienced lows that you or I could only dream of. The problem if we don’t talk about these times in our lives is that when we find ourselves in the depths of despair we feel like it’s only us, it’s something we’re doing wrong and that the best course of action would probably be to give up on our ‘unrealistic’ dreams… after all, Kelly Holmes, Steve Redgrave or Paula Radcliffe never had a bad day … right?

So, I have two challenges for you, assuming you’ve set yourself the target of achieving something amazing (note: anything – it’s your dream not mine – but if you do one thing in life, do something amazing)… when the going gets tough and you feel like throwing in the towel tell as many people as you think will listen, let them know that it’s completely normal, you’re not doing anything wrong and that with the right support and positive re-enforcement you WILL get there. Secondly, if someone confides in you with their own trials and tribulations then believe in them, support them and take inspiration from another person putting themselves on the line and challenging their dreams.

Life… if it was easy they’d all be doing it ;)

p.s. Thirteen of the sixteen weeks down and I’m still bang on target with 208 hours deposited in the cycling bank. With three weeks to go I’ve got through the two weeks either side of the marathon, which I knew would be hardest, and only have the small matter of my traditional ‘mega-brick’ (five hour hilly ride followed by a 20 mile run) next Sunday (9^th May) before we're off for some fun in the sun. The last three weeks have been by far the most challenging of my life and contained the appropriate number of ‘lows’ but with just one blog left before landing in Lanza… I just may have seen the light ;)

Two down... one to go...

2010-04-26T02:07:00.003+02:00

I’m writing this whilst we cruise along the M1 northbound at 10.30pm on Sunday night on our way home from the London Marathon. With 80 miles to go we popped into the services for a celebratory Burger King to swap drivers and with 27 days to go until the most important race of my life I’ll need to reign in my taste for junk food for the next four weeks.

Twelve weeks ago, with my motivation at an all time low and my energy levels following suit, I spent some time seriously contemplating an early retirement from my Ironman journey. My self-imposed conditions for giving it one last shot on the 22^nd of May were that I would set myself a training schedule which I believed would put me in a position to qualify for Hawaii in Lanzarote next month. My only motivation with regards taking to the Canarian start line is to qualify for Kona and as such there can be no half measures, either in training or racing. I’ve not considered the demands of the 16 week schedule on my body, and whether or not I would be able to survive… I simply set myself what I believe is required, and anything less would simply remove any chance I have of achieving my ultimate (and only) goal. With 12 of the 16 weeks down I can definitely say it is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, by quite some way, and with four weeks to go I’m still not convinced I’ll make it to the start line. Nevertheless, so far so good and with my two main training goals / fitness markers achieved I believe that with 27 days to go I’m still in the game.

With swimming reduced to a bare minimum due to whatever the mystery injury is that I’m suffering from (long story) it’s up the my bike and run to do the talking. So, that meant two serious training / racing goals in the build up to Lanza… The Circuit of the Dales 50 mile super hilly TT (in it’s 50+ year history only two people have been under two hours on the full course, and Chris Boardman wasn’t one of them!) and The Virgin London Marathon.

The former saw me pb by around ten minutes with 2:21 and proved that my 16 weekly bike hours is doing the trick on two wheels, confirming my thoughts that having started 2010 in the worst bike form of my life I’d found the complete opposite by early April. The latter would be my chance to do the same for my running and suggest that my target 3.10 run split in Lanza really is possible…

So…

It had been a far from ideal build-up to today’s race, overtime on the podcast along with a return to teaching at the University found me needing solid 20+ hour days (literally) to fit in my 16 hours bike hours. Arriving in London I was pretty much the most fatigued / tired / knackered I’ve ever been, my legs felt about as close to lead as I could imagine and thoughts of running a ‘comfortable’ marathon, let alone in under three hours, seemed somewhat of a pipe dream. Still, if I’m going to run 3.10 in Lanzarote then I need to be in sub-2.50 marathon shape, so today’s target of 2.55-2.59 would need to be comfortable… Despite my default confidence, having seemingly emptied my legs over the first part of this week I was somewhat concerned that they wouldn’t have the strength required to hold 6.45 per mile round the streets of London for nearly three hours. Because of this I tried to stuff in a little extra food and drink over the last few days in the hope that they would last the distance… which was nearly my undoing, as despite my legs feeling great from start to finish and feeling like I had an extra gear right through miles 1-26 I found myself needing two rather long wee stops and an even longer ‘number two’ stop, as well as a ten mile fight with the ‘gingerbread men’ (check out Tony’s Trials on Marathon Talk if you don’t know what that means) in the second half of the race. (Sorry R & K but those jelly babies would almost certainly have pushed me over the edge!).

Anyway, here are my 5k splits (corrected to remove toilet breaks)…

20:29, 20:46, 20:53 (+30 sec stop), 21:02, 20:37 (+30 sec stop), 20:37, 20:35 (+60 sec stop), 20:40 & then 20:29 pace for the final 2.2k.

All achieved with the feeling that if required I could have dropped any one of them under 20 minutes if I’d wanted to. A finish time of 2:56:39 (including toilet stops) is bang on 6.45 per mile and at the effort level that it took I’m pretty confident that with 27 days to go I am most definitely still in the game ;)

There’s many a slip from cup to lip though and with four weeks until Lanza there are plenty of hard training sessions and key workouts left to bank before I attempt a short and steep taper into the defining moment of my Iron journey. In six days time I’ll be on the start line of the Yorkshire Cycling Federation 25 mile time-trial champs, the second fastest marathon of my 14 or so 26 mile efforts, just six days prior, will not be accepted as a legitimate reason for a sub-par performance.

With my swimming looking like it will cost me at least five minutes over my Kona rivals and a sub ten hour performance likely to be required, over perhaps the hardest Ironman course in the world, nothing less than ‘everything’ will do the job. I’m sure that a few of you reading this will be thinking that I’m pushing it too hard and doing too much… my answer to that is I’m doing what is required to achieve my goal, nothing more and nothing less. Yes, I may not make the start line, but that isn’t my goal.

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”

- Pre

See you next week,

Tom

26.2… This chapter ends here…

2010-04-26T02:03:00.002+02:00

So, with Paris marathon still in my legs and very little running in the two week gap my body had to recover, my expectations were swaying in the breeze of uncertainty.

I’m surprised to report that I was only two minutes slower than Paris and my legs certainly aren’t as trashed as they were then. So I have a 3:29 (from Paris) and a 3:31 (today) in the space of two weeks, that’s not bad going is it J

I thought a lot (well that’s a lie, about two weeks actually) about how I was going to approach today. Was I going to just run round with friends and enjoy the ride or was I going to try for a pb? I waited until Saturday to decide and not surprisingly I decided to give it a go BUT (the plan) if it ever got too much for my poor legs then was to back it off. And that’s what I did. I went for sub 3:20 (my pb) and felt great but at mile 16 I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sustain the pace without imploding into a tiny million bazillion pieces …and going through hell wasn’t on my day’s itinerary. I slowed down and instead enjoyed the amazing atmosphere, weather and general pain that comes with 26.2miles… my last 26.2miles for quite a while.

Here endeth a rather HUGE chapter of my life in the athletic world. Last year saw the end of Ironman and crossing the line today in front of the Queen’s house (with a huge smile on my face) draws a line under double run days and 5am starts. I’d love to write something really poignant about how that feels but to be honest it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. With sore legs and a tired body I still feel like an athlete, will that change the week after next? Who knows? How do you make the transition from athlete to normal person? I’m hoping the stork will come and visit us after Tom’s done Lanza and the new chapter in our life will begin. Until then I need to have a rest. I will, of course, keep running, just not as emphatically as I have done. parkrun will play a large part in keeping me sane… thank you parkrun for existing!

Well done to all of you who ran today (especially Tom, read his blog) I can’t wait to watch him in Lanza, it’s going to be a special day! My permanent source of love and inspiration, you’re AMAZING.

To Kay for her incredible marathon journey and HUGE pb, you’re inspirational girl x

To Chris Jones who gives his all, it’s there for you Chris, well done x

To Michael Jameson, I hope you enjoyed it out there Mike x

To Paul Gaile, a pb and super speedy, amazing x

To Dave McGuire, you always love the day Dave, and always have a smile, love your enthusiasm, great time x

To Tony & Ruth (of marathontalk.com’s Tony’ Trials) officially the fastest baby to run a marathon! x

To the rest of the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research team, well done x

To Nicky who has already run 6 marathons this year!!!

And to Mel's Dad who ran 3:21 and had suffered bad cramp!! Brilliant time x

And to all I’ve forgotten (apologies) but well done x

And then of course, thanks to all who came to support and to all who sent their love and support. Seeing your little faces willing me on was such a boost. Thanks for the jelly baby offer Kirstie, it was great seeing you and Mr Hami (twice).

If you haven’t done London Marathon yet it’s a must. Honestly, it’s one of the most amazing marathon experiences, ever.

I’m not sure if I’ll keep my part of the blog going yet. It could be a very boring read, but thanks to you all for every word, every piece of advice and every inspiration for the past five years.

Definitely time to sign off before I cry Gwyneth Paltrow style.

H x

Team Williams....

2010-04-18T21:40:00.006+02:00

Joint blog this week, we're having a time issue (or lack of it...)

I can sum my epic week of life in the running world up in one sentence...

'This week I have been a non running, cake eating, marathon recovering, almost normal person.'

The nice thing about recovering from a marathon is that for the first week your legs and body ache enough to be incapable of anything other than rest (unless you're Russel Gardham and you PB at parkrun by quite some way!!!) I've actually enjoyed not double day running. I've been able to lie in, eat what I've wanted and had more time than I know what to do with when I've not been running, showering from running, eating after running or sleeping because of running. All very unusual.

However...

A whole week of that has left me feeling, lazy, unhealthy and in need of some fruit! You long term blog readers will know I have no moderation button. I'm training or I'm definitely not training. I'm eating well or I'm eating anything with no nutritional value whatsoever etc. This week has been no different. I've opted out of the training world and into the cake eating world. As of tomorrow training will resume and cake eating will stop...on or off...simples!

Oh and yes... the memory of those painful few miles last Sunday have already been wiped from my memory bank which means that I have decided I will run London, sod it! Just don't expect me to win ;)

So that's enough about me, what's Tom done this week.

16 x 16 appears to have caught him between the devil and the deep blue sea. It's keeping him from going under (mentally) but at the same time it's proving to be very difficult (time wise). Any time spent away from home prevents those hours from being ticked off. Getting stuck in Bournemouth due to this volcanic ash episode has not helped at all. And so today, instead of racing Skipton triathlon he got up and rode from 6am until 3pm. Yup, that's right, 9 Yorkshire hours in the saddle. Tom's incredibly fit at the moment and very strong but hitting that 16 x 16 is a true test and one I'm not sure I could have stuck to. Come Lanzarote he is going to be so strong both physically and mentally, these long days in the saddle will pay him back I'm sure.

As for the swimming... I'm pleased to say that in our #winterswim finale (a 10km relay) Tom did the distance, something we weren't sure would happen. Team Williams which comprised of Tom and ...myself had 5km each to do. If you were a betting man you wouldn't have even looked at us. I haven't swum for over 4mths and Tom...well, you know his swimming story.
Alternating 25 x 200's was how we decided we would break it down. 2hrs and 49mins later and we were the proud owners of sore arms but at least Tom had 5km under his belt. His arms certainly not pain free and no better than normal but he got through it. His epic Iron journey continues...watch this space.

Well done to all of those who were racing today, it was great to come along to Skipton and give you all a shout. Some great races had by you all on what is for many the first tri of the season. Have some cake (if only to stop me eating it!)

It's 9pm which means its bedtime. I'm double running tomorrow...yipeeeee!!!!! And Tom...he'll be on his bike!
Laters.

H & T x

P.s Bradford's parkrun (see above pic) is now up and running and it's a beautiful course so if you're in the area on a Saturday morning go and play :)

Taking a gamble...

2010-04-12T00:10:00.003+02:00

So, here you all were reading my preparations for the London Marathon and out of nowhere (and in secret) I travelled to Paris on my own on Friday and today I ran the Paris Marathon! That's me & Russ at the end.

Why?

Well, two weeks ago I tapered for and ran Wilmslow Half Marathon in preparation for London. I was expecting to run really well especially after my result in Silverstone at the end of a super hard week and no taper. Wilmslow didn't quite go to plan (easy mileage week and a taper) and yet I wasn't really sure why...

... until a day later and it all clicked into place. It was the 'wrong time of the month'. And then Tom reminded me London would fall exactly one month later.

So... I had two options... Take a chance and run London OR look for a marathon that fell two weeks earlier.

The thing is I'm unfortunate to have had many of my 'A' races ruined by the joys of my monthly cycle. Increased lethargy, really heavy legs and an inability to push myself have left me feeling disappointed at many of my races.

So knowing my performance at London was almost certainly going to be hampered it was time to look at my options. I could of course run London, feel crap, waste the endless hours and miles of effort for a result I could practically predict before I even start... OR take my chances.

I made a phone call to a very good friend with amazing connections in the business world of sport (8 days before Paris which was full & closed) and before I knew it he had me a place (thanks James) and I had eight days to taper for it (gamble number 2).

I finished my 70 mile week on Sunday, and then had Monday, Wednesday and Friday as rest days, ticking over on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to keep my legs and mind at ease.

I went off at 3:20 pace feeling great (getting to half way on target). The bad man came at about mile 19, he stole my ability to run, and I was thankful to cross the line in 3:29.

I had to do it and it was a gamble, a gamble I'm really pleased I did. I took a chance, I didn't pb but I'm proud of myself for trying anyway.

My mate Russ who I've been long running with in Leeds (he always training for Paris, me always training for London!!) ran really well getting a huge pb and running 3:18, great work Russ :-) thanks for your company, hope your return journey wasn't a nightmare.

So that's why I ran Paris.

Unfortunately because it was so last minute and Tom was also racing, he couldn't come. One thing I do know is he's an amazing influence on me. Without him and his outlook on life I would never have had the confidence to travel to Paris on my own and run this marathon. So a million heartfelt thank you's go to my ever supportive amazing (and speedy - read his blog) husband xxx

And a huge thanks to Brian (Tom's pa) for sorting my accommodation out (I stayed with his good friends Mike & Robin) who were lovely.

My legs are marathon smashed and it's too soon to decide whether I'll run London (for pure fun, not for time) or not. I'm writing this on the flight on my way home and am more than ready for bed.

Hope you've all had an amazing weekend :)

H x

Ma femme est une legende...

2010-04-12T00:09:00.000+02:00

This week it's (nearly) all about my amazing wife, who jetted off to France under the proverbial cover of darkness on Friday morning for a covert mission to take on the mighty Paris marathon. Her blog entry is likely to be infinitely more interesting than mine so I'll let her fill you in on the details, but just thought I'd start this short blog entry by saying how amazingly proud of her I was as she blagged a last minute entry and set off to take on the wonderful challenge of racing 26.2 miles.

This week has been a real roller-coaster on my journey to Lanzarote on May the 22nd. I started on the wrong foot with FAR too much chocolate on Sunday and Monday, leaving me feeling sick as a dog and almost devoid of any motivation and about as far from the athlete that I so desire to be. It's amazing how poor food choices can really affect my mood, but they do, and frustratingly I have a great habit of adding to the problem by comfort eating and simply adding to the issue. Fortunately I also seem quite good at chucking in a couple of hard sessions and jump starting myself back into gear... this week then I had a 130 mile ride scheduled for Tuesday, a hard 22 mile run for Thursday and the Circuit of the Dales hilly (very - much more vertical ascent than Ironman Austria in less than half the distance). The 130 was always planned as an easy ride and I've never struggled with distance, but Thursday and today were key sessions in the build up to Lanzarote... both of which I've done for the last three or four years and so would therefore provide some great feedback...

To keep this short I'll just drop in the stats...

22 Mile hilly run including the Leeds Half Marathon Route...

2007 - 2:32:59
2008 - 2:33:10
2009 - 2:38:55
2010 - 2:30:25

Circuit of the Dales hilly 50

2006 - 2:38:22
2007 - 2:30:31 (short course)
2008 - 2:32:55
2009 - DNS
2010 - 2:21:03

So, with four good training weeks (and they will be good, believe me) and a two week taper... the swingometer is tilting slightly toward Hawaii ;)

T

p.s. the first rule about swimming is that we don't talk about swimming!

Chill time...

2010-04-04T23:00:00.000+02:00

Exactly seven weeks from this very moment I'll be kicking back in Puerto Del Carmen (Lanzarote) and the final chapter of this blog will have either a) just come to an end... or b) just started. Over the last few years Ironman has given me the most amazing highs and also the most difficult lows that I have ever experienced and with, potentially, a mere 42 days left of this wonderful journey I have a feeling the roller-coaster will chuck in a few more twists and turns for good measure.

Hels and I spent this afternoon kicking back in the great company of our friends Liz, Chris and Russell and having got out at 6am for a nice five and a half hour ride with my mate Guy and done all my todo's (other than the blog) it became a super rare afternoon of doing nothing much in particular... a real treat in the endless business that is our current crazy lifestyle.

Anyway, this is meant to be a blog about the road to Kona so where are we? Well, next Sunday I'll be able to tell you a lot more... I'm racing in the Circuit of the Dales time trial and having done it almost every year since I started triathlon it should provide me with some great feedback on where my bike legs are at. I feel that my 16 x 16 hour challenge (16 bike hours a week for 16 weeks - I'm currently one hour up on target with 145 hours in nine weeks) has so far brought me on par with my best ever bike condition, yet with a steeper 'trajectory' heading toward Iron day on May the 22nd... this time next week I'll know. Running is flying... despite taking it easy, feeling rubbish and having two extended stops for gingerbread men (if you don't know what that means then catch up with Tony's Trials on Marathon Talk) I snuck under 2:30 for a very hill 20 with an average heart rate in the 130s... I know I'm in my best run shape ever and that means I know I can break 3.10 in Lanza.

As for the swim... let's not talk about swimming just yet shall we ;)

Right, it's Easter Sunday and I've still got time to do a little more of nothing in particular...

Night x

Throwing caution to the wind...

2010-04-04T22:19:00.003+02:00

Quickest ever blog for two reasons...

A) I've consumed way too much chocolate and I need to lie down

B) It's Easter and even Sainsbury's are closed!!!
That means everyone's entitled to a day of time out...

In a nutshell...

...I've run 70miles this week (even though I was trying to get my mileage down!)

My long run is now done... it was long and it was tiring.

And today for the first Easter in a long long time Tom & I have indulged in hours & hours of endless chit and chat over lunch with mates at our house with no second session to be done, no washing machine on, no clock watching & no calorie watching....ahhhhhhhhhh wonderful.

Hope you all had a marvellous Easter and feel as sick as I do...

Night night.

H x

On track and a little off track...

2010-03-28T19:31:00.005+02:00

Tom's currently stuck on the M1 travelling back from an epic weekend of riding so his little blog is via me and I can report he is certainly on track at the moment. MRI scan results await but fingers crossed we're on the road to getting the swim issue sorted. His running is going really well, he's so strong. On Thursday he and his mate Paul went out and nailed an 18 mile run. And for those of you keeping a check on his 16 x 16 bike plan, with this Saturday's 80 miler with mates Sam & Dom and today's (Sunday) 100 miler with mates Jev & Sam I can confirm that he is an hour up on target :0) I can't wait to watch him race in Lanza.

Today I ran Wilmslow Half Marathon. If school were to write a report on today's performance the words, 'not bad but could do better' would be in there. If I could bottle what makes the perfect race conditions for body, mind and weather I would be sitting here now a millionaire. So here are the facts plain and simple:

Two weeks ago I ran:
Silverstone Half... which was long (on my garmin 13.47miles) Windy (ridiculously) No taper (67miles already in the legs) Finish time 1:32 (average of 6:52min miles).

Today I ran:
Wilmslow Half... which was accurate (on my Garmin 13.29miles) Windy (but not as ridiculous as Silverstone) Taper (only 30 very easy miles in the legs) Finish time: 1:33 (average of 7:02)

If only I knew what made the difference? Maybe the fact that I didn't expect to perform very well at Silverstone took all of the pressure off me (in my head) and I just ran with no expectation of what would happen? Then today I expected to be in great nick yet in some way put that pressure back on myself? Who knows. The good thing is in days gone by I'd have beaten myself up about it and yet today it's just a run, not a bad one, just not a great one. Tomorrow's another day and because my legs aren't sore in the slightest I know I could have pushed them harder in different circumstances and so another good week of training can resume :0)

Game on for London I say. The test now being not to put any pressure on myself to get a certain time!! Answers on a postcard.

Well done to all of you who were racing this weekend and there were a lot. Wuhoo, the clocks have gone forward, the sun is trying to shine and the races are starting to come thick and fast!!

H & T x

Made it... maybe...

2010-03-21T22:58:00.003+01:00

Once again it's a joint blog, this week written by me (Tom). H is away on a photo shoot and I've been on the go since 5am and it's now half-past bedtime so a quick update is the order of the day...

H has, for the first time ever, managed to time an injury to perfection... there's never a great time to pick up a niggle but if you really have to do it then there is such thing as a good time. With her running going pretty much as well as it ever has, the seeming endless stream of snivels and sneezes nothing more than a distant memory and an awesome race performance in the bank (last week's 1.32 half marathon on a ridiculously windy, ridiculously complicated and seemingly long course) this Thursday's 20 miler saw what can only be described as a Some Mothers Do Ave Em comedy sketch! Still, coming out the other end with nothing more than a slightly strained ankle the prescribed rest days could not have been timed better seeing as she's a) got a really busy work week and b) taking it easy before a hard effort at next Sunday's Wilmslow half marathon.

As for me... well, running and biking continue to move forward on almost a daily basis. I managed to knock out 18:24 at parkrun yesterday which is only about 7 seconds off my PB (achieved this time in 2008 just before I ran 2.49 in London) and followed that up with an easy three and a half hours on my bike in the afternoon. This morning I was up at 5am for two TT style laps round the infamous Pool Triangle time trial course... my all-time pb for one lap is 29:57 so doing the double in 67:20 at 7am on a windy day in March... and clocked another 5:15 in the saddle this afternoon to keep my 16 x 16 challenge running with 112:30 banked after seven weeks. I wish my financial bank account was a healthy as my two wheeled version ;)

There is of course something missing... swimming? Well, with Lanza eight weeks on Saturday it's seeming unlikely that I'll be able to do much more than cross my fingers and HTFU. Nothing seems to be helping and the latest is that I'm looking at a private MRI scan this week on my neck and upper back to look for evidence of nerve compression. If the race was tomorrow I'd get in there and tough it out, probably without loosing a qualification costing amount of time... but it's not... it could of course get better, but then again the continued lack of pool time certainly won't be helping... cross you fingers for me ;)

The title of this week's post??? Well, having set myself the training load that I though it would require to get to Kona I have to admit the last seven weeks were perhaps the toughest of my life. Combining a full-time job, podcast monster (loving every second but boy does it eat time) and a huge training volume was far from sustainable and ever so nearly finished me off. The University's Easter break, which started yesterday, could not have come a moment too soon and by Thursday I was most certainly cooked. It's seems however that by the absolute skin of my teeth I've made it to this much needed four week block where recovery and rest can once again live side by side with Ironman training and all the other general life type things... with nine week's to go things are looking brighter by the day... well... some things ;)

See you next week,

T & H x

TT tastic... It's all in the mind...

2010-03-14T22:54:00.000+01:00

It's late on Sunday night... we've just got back from Silverstone and bed is calling...This.Will.Be.Short.And.Sweet!

The beginning of the weekend started early on Saturday morning in Ingleborough (a remote and beautiful part of the Dales) to support Tom in a cycling Time Trial. I'm always blown away by Tom's 'mind over matter' attitude and have certainly taken something away from his ride on Saturday and used it today in the Silverstone half marathon. Tom ran 22 miles the previous night (and 22 miles is never easy no matter how easy you run it.) He then approached Saturday's TT as if that 22miler (only a matter of sleeping hours prior) hadn't even exisited and to my amazement he had an incredibly strong ride. Now, I'm sure, had he not done the run he would have been even stronger than he was but it honestly amazed me and if I'm honest intimidated me a little bit. How could I possibly use my hard 18 miler on Thursday and the fact that running Silverstone would tot my weekly mileage up to 80 miles as an excuse for a poor run after Tom's brilliant attitude and race result?! O oh, where were my excuses going to come from??? The clear difference here is that I was already projecting a bad run onto myself before I'd even done it. Telling myself there was no way I'd run well after a hard week and a hard run so close to the race. Tom did the opposite and left all judgement until post race.

Silverstone was never on my race list so this is where my initial quandry over race prep was coming from. I've worked with the Celebrity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Team providing their photography at running events for years and so was going to be in Silverstone working and with the offer of a free race entry then it would have been rude not to!

So how did I do? Well, I tried to take a bit of Tom's 'gung ho' attitude and pretend that I hadn't had a hard week of running already, that my legs weren't sore and that I was going to get a great training session out of it whatever. Although, this took my head a little while to get around.
The result was a respectable and pleasing 1hr 32mins. Conditions weren't perfect as it was ridiculously windy but I felt great. My legs felt great and I ran really well. I sat in with the 7min mile pacer and felt strong and in control until mile 10 where my pace just dropped enough for me to drop off the back. I managed to always keep him in sight but never quite got back. I'm over the moon with the result and had Tom not ran his 22 miler then TT'd like he had the freshest legs in the world I probably would have psyched myself out of that run and who knows I might stil be out there now!!!

So.... thanks Tom (inspirational as ever) I do listen to you...sometimes... you know :-)

Well done to all who raced today and to those whose training is starting to ramp up. Sounds like folk are getting fit to me.

Laters.

H x

My Olympics...

2010-03-14T22:53:00.000+01:00

Ten weeks from pretty much this very moment I will know once and for all if I’ll ever reach the World Ironman Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Although I feel like I’m going on a bit, in a ‘change the record’ kind of way, as the days rapidly tick by this really is the moment that the previous five years have all been about. In Episode Eight of Marathon Talk I talked to European cross-country champion Hayley Yelling about her running career and listened to how she missed qualifying for the Olympics, in what perhaps was her final chance, by 0.14 seconds. Most of the time in life there’s a chance to have another go and get something right, but every now and then there comes a single moment that is unlikely ever to be repeated. The 22^nd of May 2010 will for me be that moment, my final chance to qualify. If I miss out then, and it could easily be closer than the three minutes that I was short in Switzerland 2009, I will never reach the Big Island…. my Olympics.

Because of that I’m beginning to feel that my entire Ironman ‘career’ could well be defined there and then in Lanzarote and, aside from the issue of qualification, my current swim issues are really playing on my mind. From the very beginning of my Iron journey I’ve wanted to be strong across all three disciplines, to the extent of consciously putting swim / bike / run ‘balance’ ahead of overall finish time. Starting as pretty much a non-swimmer I’ve dedicated hundreds and hundreds of hours to building my first triathlon discipline to reach a par with my cycling and running… to the point where it typically provides my highest ranked split against the rest of the field (albeit more a reflection of the typical lack of swim focus exhibited by triathletes). I’ve always wanted to be a great triathlete and not a great duathlete who survives the swim, despite the knowledge that in terms of finish time, and therefore chances of qualification, my training time may have been better distributed with a bike / run focus. Frustratingly, as I approach what may well be that defining moment, some kind of nerve compression syndrome has meant I’ve averaged around 1,000 metres per week (compared to previous years of 15-20,000 weekly metres) for the last few months. Despite working really hard on it with a brilliant physio we just can't seem to turn things round and with less than 70 days to go I'm not convinced I'll get anywhere near my previous swim efforts. I'm currently estimating that it could cost me around five minutes into T1 however with my bike and run fitness getting stronger every single day I'm actually confident that I could turn such a deficit around and still break the ten hour barrier (my predicted MINIMUM performance to qualify). BUT... more than the time 'penalty' I'm really struggling to deal with the fact that in what might be my final official Ironman I'll be 'surviving' the swim and hammering the bike & run. On top of that, I really really love swimming and can't have enjoyed a single swim since way back in 2009.

Still, on a positive note... a really relaxed yet very hilly 22 on Friday night (2:44 - average mile 7.29 - av hr 140) suggests that my running is pretty much on par with this time in 2008 (when I went on to run a strong 2.49 in London) and with 98 hours in my cycling legs over the last six weeks I'm pretty close to turning my 'what seemed like a lost cause' bike fitness into something resembling that required to break 5:30 on the toughest Ironman bike course in the world.

Before I sign out this week, well done to my amazing wife who despite something of a psychological 'speed wobble' on Saturday managed to turn things round at this morning's spaghetti junction of a half-marathon (see today's pic) and battle through the wind to get within a minute of her all-time half-marathon pb...

See you next week...

It's great up North...

2010-03-07T20:58:00.000+01:00

At the moment things are pretty crazy... slotting full-time Ironman training around a full-time job is never easy, but chuck in a healthy dose of podcasting and time is no longer your friend! Never in my life have I been as busy as I am now... it's 7.15 on Sunday evening, I've been on the go since 6am and still have three or four hours of work before my head will be aloud to (briefly) hit the pillow. In what will seem like no more than a fraction of a second I'll be starting my week off with a pre-6am run followed by a stretch and (maybe) a swim. Proper work (if you can call academia that) will start around 8:30 and with no break scheduled in my day until after Martin and I have recorded Episode Nine of Marathon Talk (unlikely to be any earlier than 10pm) you can see that time is clearly at a serious premium. Still, it is what it is and no-one ever achieved anything extra-ordinary by living an ordinary life ;)

So, to today's photo... regular readers of my ramblings will have expected this week's scribble to be a race report from my favourite duathlon and scene of my one and only 'proper' podium, the Ballbuster. That picture doesn't look much like Box Hill though! Taking my opening comments into consideration you can imagine that I'm pretty tired at the moment and walking that treacherous tight-rope, no doubt familiar to so many of you, so often travelled by the working endurance athlete. Had we travelled down south it would have meant a five hour drive after work on Friday, followed by a rubbish night's sleep in a rubbish hotel, followed by a 5am start, followed by the toughest duathlon in the UK, followed by a five hour (if we were lucky) drive home, followed by collapsing into bed at the end of a rather tough 24 hours. Instead I opted for not having to mess around packing all my gear on Friday afternoon, followed by dinner with my wonderful wife and brilliant brother-in-law in my favourite restaurant, followed by an early night, followed by a (kind of) lie-in, followed by 113 very hilly miles around the most beautiful countryside in just about every form of winter weather you can imagine, followed by being home for (a late) lunch.

As disappointed as I am in not doing the Ballbuster, even more so seeing as my pb would have got me on the podium, sometimes we have to look at the bigger picture. At the moment for me there really is only one picture and that is in the form of 140.6 Lanzarote miles on May the 22nd... and when faced with a choice between loads of driving, a bad night's sleep and a 90 minute (albeit hard) bike ride or no driving at all, a great night's sleep and eight hours in the Dales there really is only one answer.

Today's photo was taken just before I descended into Kettlewell down (allegedly) the steepest tarmaced road in England and the scenery was so breathtaking that I was compelled to pull-over, remove a million wet damp layers of clothing which were (just) keeping me from hypothermia and snap a few shots.

Before I sign off and get back to my marking mountain you might be wondering how my 16 x 16 challenge is going? Well, with five weeks gone my bike miles bank account is in credit to the tune of four hours and 15 minutes (somewhat healthier than my financial version) with 84 hours and 15 minutes 'deposited' to date. I'm feeling stronger every single day and with time trials scheduled for the 13th and 21st of March and a 100 mile sportive with some great friends / strong bike riders on the 28th if I make it to April in one piece there might still be another twist in the road to Kona.

Well done to my Iron buddies who took on Taupo this weekend, sorry I've not been around the blogosphere recently but my once zeroed daily Google reader now stands at well over 300 entries... I'll catch up with you soon, promise.

See you soon,

Tom

p.s. Well done to all my amazing VARR mates for a great performance in this morning's fifth and final cross country race... both the boys and girls teams won and the boys will now be promoted to the premier league of the PECO cross country league!

At last...

2010-03-07T15:37:00.003+01:00

...I've started to run a little more like I used to...

Blog done :0-)

After 8 weeks of quite a few miles, quite a few lost voices and quite a few sore throats I was beginning to wonder if I was doomed to run Oompa Lumpa style for the rest of my days. For the last four weeks I've had a really good block of consistent training. Yet still my speed has been (for me) consistently slow. It's like my legs have had amnesia for the last two months and have mistaken themselves for legs of a cart horse. I've checked... and they're not THAT hairy! Anyway, I resigned myself to the fact that having jumped out of the Ironman loop I wouldn't have the fitness benefits from riding and swimming long and now I'm working a lot more fitting the miles in is a challenge.

Until... Thursday evening this week when as usual Russ and I were off out for our long run. We've worked up every week going 16 miles, 18, 20 and 22 and so this week it was back to 16 miles but with a little bit of pace added. Off we went wondering how on earth we were going to fool our legs into injecting some pace. Surprised by our first faster few miles and how easy we were finding keeping the pace we chatted enjoying the late evening sunshine. Where does it come from? I mean how does that work? Is it just like a little switch when you're body has soaked up the time on your feet and the speed sessions and then like a microwave do you reckon it just pings to say... "Ting, you're now fitter than you were so I'll allow you to push those cart horse legs a little faster"?!

So a confidence boosting run which is just what my cart horse legs needed and now I need to just maintain that for the next seven weeks and we'll see what happens come London Marathon day. Giddy-up legs :-)

Last Cross Country race of the season today and a great result for our Virgin Active Road Runners coming first in the girls team AND in the boys!! Well done VARR :-)

Work this week is manic (again) all is good and I'm loving it but thank goodness I'm not Ironman training because lord knows I'd struggle to fit the hours in. I'm absolutely loving hearing everyone else in the IM world's progress and now race season is upon us I'm excited to come and support you all and of course Tom. I love it, it's such a wonderful sport with such a wonderful community. So you lot, get out on those bikes (wuhoo to the sunshine!) get in that pool and run those little legs ragged. I'll see you on the road (I'll be the cart horse you pass while you're all on your bikes!)

Happy week.

H x

Pic above is time out I had with my brother on Friday and Saturday, sitting next to an open fire and catching up... wonderful.

Twitter style...

2010-02-28T20:19:00.000+01:00

"Week four of 16, 68 hours in the cycling bank and today was surprising to say the least, my first ten of 2009 in 23:42 http://bit.ly/aGPgNJ"

I thought 140 characters would be more than that but time is currently not my friend... desperate times and all that!

T x

Hill 60...

2010-02-28T19:13:00.007+01:00

Short and sweet this post shall be because as usual Sunday is far from being a day of rest!!

I've had a really, really busy week at work this week and spent oodles of hours stuck in ridiculous motorway traffic but on the plus side have loved the jobs I've been shooting. Work is going really well and with my Blue seventy adverts of Ali Brownlee hitting the mainstream triathlon magazines this month it's even more rewarding to see the final images in place and also great to get such great feedback from you, the readers, thanks, it's really appreciated.

I wasn't sure how much running I was going to fit in but counting up I've still managed a 70 mile week. Today I ran 22 miles with my mate Russ and thankfully (if not a little selfishly) he too was tired after a hard week and so we took it really easy this morning. Even 22 miles slowly is enough to kill the old legs though so I'm feeling it now, I just want to lie on the sofa and do nothing...

...Unfortunately in the Williams household that opportunity is rare and after scoffing a delicious but rushed lunch of roast veg and rice, Tom and I skipped off to meet our mate Rob who is trying to organise a new parkrun in Bradford. The venue is perfect and we walked around the park to measure what the course may be and to see how viable it was looking. I think it'll be a great addition to the parkrun series, so fingers crossed it comes off.

We were lucky to hold the National Cross Country champs (see above pic) in Roundhay and so we spent Saturday afternoon on the muddy fields shouting encouragement to our Virgin Active Running Club members who threw themselves wholeheartedly around the challenging course... see pic...that hill ain't called Hill 60 for nothing! Well done one and all, we loved spectating :-)

And last but certainly not least, the BIGGEST WELL DONE to Tom who pulled out a 23:42 10 mile TT this morning, much to his amazement. I'm so pleased for him, what a great way to start his season and he can only improve with every pedal stroke. That sure is testament to your determination and hard work Tom, keep on truckin' :-) x

London's not that far away, my goal posts change every day... but then I'm a girl!

H x

P.s for all of those up North, I'll be on BBC Radio Leeds at 9:15am tomorrow (Monday) with Mabeth from the charity Naomi's Fund, talking about the 365 Project :)

Go legs go...

2010-02-21T17:36:00.003+01:00

I'm giving top marks to my legs this week. I've made them work hard and they've been really good to me. Today...right now...they're tired. Thwarted by yet more snow which meant we couldn't get to our cross county race we hit the woods in the thick snow and did 9miles easy..really easy. Those 9miles took me to an 80 mile week. The first one I've had of that distance in a long, long time. In fact probably 6 years. Double run days have really helped pull my mileage up. They've taken the stress out of just doing long slow runs or long hard runs. I've been able to choose a session to do and use the other run session as a recovery. A great way to keep some quality in there. I don't feel completely on top of the game at the minute but it's still early season and I know it will come. At least I know my body and mind is willing.

I think the week coming up is going to be a challenge. I've got a really busy working week and can see double run days disappearing before my very eyes but that's fine. It's not all about the number of miles and so if I can at least fit in the quality harder sessions the shorter recovery sessions will just have to fall by the way side. My running mate Russell and I have our 22 miler a week today. Please let the snow have gone, gone gone!!

It's odd going back to just running. I was managing to get some great pool sessions in and even the odd turbo but as time gets stolen by work etc I've been forced to concentrate on running. I miss the pool though and will probably try and get in a little more once Tom's back on track. The bike... a lot of people have asked, do I miss the bike? You know I do and I don't. I miss being in the middle of nowhere, I miss that purity of fresh air, two wheels, a flapjack and the solitude of being 50 miles away from home in the most beautiful Yorkshire countryside untouched by Sainsbury's, cars, pollution or housing estates. But clearly (seeing as I haven't been on those two wheels for quite some months now) I don't miss that enough. I did pay my training dues to that scenery over the past few years I guess... maybe when the memories have run out I'll want to go back and refresh them?!

Time to get Sunday evening dinner on the go..that's what just running does..it gives you back time, I can fit so much more in now I'm not on my bike for oodles and noodles of hours!

H x

Oh.. a little 365 update... 190+ pictures have been sold, wuhoo!! Only 175 to go :) I'm going to try and post the ones that are left on the facebook site so if there are any you'd like to own just get in touch and I'll happily post it out to you :)

And a huge thank you to Donna & Nadya who came up from London just to see the exhibition, have dinner at Salvo's and catch up in the real world instead of via the 140 characters that the world of Twitter allows! Tom, myself, Khara and Steve had a great night with Donna & Nadya and then this morning we showed those Southerners how to do snow!! Okay snow, time to go please. Thanks again guys, great to meet you. x

Sorry, couldn't go without saying how much I'm loving Marathon Talk, what a sterling job Martin & Tom are doing and I really look forward to my Wednesday run to hear the latest episode. Hope you are too.

x

A small chink of light maybe?

2010-02-21T12:22:00.000+01:00

It's been three weeks since, in a last minute attempt to turn my failing two-wheeled form around, I set myself the target of sixteen cycling hours per week for the sixteen weeks leading up to Ironman Lanzarote. Sitting here gazing out of our office window at some pretty serious snow things could have been looking tough, but with 15 hours and 45 minutes banked since Monday, a short afternoon turbo is all I need to stay ahead of the game.

Looking through my plans for the remaining 13 weeks until Lanza there a a couple of weeks where 16 hours would not only be difficult to achieve but also raise the injury / burnout risks too high. So, I've moved the goal posts a little (don't worry Mr Lord, I'm still following your 'at least' advice) by saying that my overall running total will not fall behind 16 hours per week i.e. after four weeks I will be on 'at least' 64 hours, after five weeks 80 hours etc etc. Some individual weeks may drop below the target 16 however...

The week commencing the first of March takes me down south for the spring Ballbuster, I've done this race every year of my multi-sport career and it will give me some great feedback on where I am. I'll want a fairly easy week because of that and bearing in mind it's on a Saturday, only involves 90 minutes of cycling and we have to drive all the way home for cross country the following day I think any more than about ten hours total ride time for that week would be the wrong thing to do in terms of rest and recovery... I'll need to have 'banked' six hours therefore over the four preceeding weeks in order to stay ahead. At the moment I'm 2:45 over and a two hour turbo this afternoon will take me to 4:30 over... another 90 minutes is needed next week then... so 17.5 hours it is.

My other major problem week is London Marathon week but with plenty of time to go, including the Easter holidays, that shouldn't be too problematic.

Finally, of course, there's Ironman race week... this is a 256 hours in 16 weeks challenge after all... a 5:30 ride on race day and another three hours in race week would require a pre race-week credit of seven and a half hours...

I'm enjoying feeling like a cyclist though and am getting stronger every single day so despite still getting dropped on the majority of my group rides things are definitely looking up...

... talking of looking up, and hopefully I'm not cursing things here, I've had a complete week off swimming and following physio, massage and stretching am hopeful that tomorrow morning's easy couple of k will be pain free!

Running? My trainers have really kept me going over the last few months where everything else has fallen by the side... my weekly mileage isn't stellar but I'm probably running as well as I ever have at this time of year and more importantly I'm really loving it. Unfortunately we had to abandon getting to this morning's cross country race in Dewsbury... when, as the snow fell thick and fast, we saw three accidents and lost control of our own car, all within ten minutes, we took the sensible decision to come home and right the blog ;) Which now it's done I think an easy 90 minute run in the snow is calling...

See you next week,

Tom

p.s. What with training, working, podcasting etc I've been unable to find the time to read any of the various blogs I subscribe to. My normal daily 'zero' of my Google reader hasn't happened for well over a month and with 300 articles to read apologies if I've neglected my fellow bloggers... there is light at the end of the tunnel in areas other than just training though so fingers crossed I'll stumble upon a lazy afternoon sometime soon and catch up with the world ;)

Thanks...

2010-02-14T18:16:00.000+01:00

... for all your amazing support. Every once in a while there comes a point where, in order to achieve something special, you have to put everything out there and let the cards fall... right now, for me, this is that time. Just under five years ago I set myself the goal of qualifying for the world Ironman championships within five years... there are 14 weeks and one chance to go. I've not had the greatest start to my final mdot campaign and behind in all three disciplines I needed to make a decision, do I go for broke or do I fold. As you already know it was one of the toughest decisions of my life, but going for it I am. I sat down and I mapped out what I thought it would take over the next couple of months in order to break the magic ten hour barrier in Lanzarote, likely to be the minimum requirement on the day, and last week I wrote it down on here for all to see. My ability to tolerate that training load is neither here no there... to set anything less challenging would be to admit defeat already. Yes I may not survive the following fourteen weeks, but to set the bar any lower would, in my mind, guarantee 'failure' so here we go!

The number of positive comments I've had on the blog, and also via text, email etc. has been amazing and most people seem to have adopted the 'he's gonna go for it anyway so we might as well support him' point of view. You see, there comes a time when we have to commit to a decision 100% and anything other than the offer of 'blind faith' from those around us simply serves reduce our chances of success... I'm sure some people think I'm gonna go down in flames but if you could save those 'you're doing too much' comments until May the 23rd that would be great ;)

I'll leave you with a comment from my great friend and true inspiration Steve Dennis, from last week's entry. In the literary world Steve has achieved truly great things having battled through tough times and the negative energy of others. One day I'll hare his story with you, it's far more inspirational than mine...

"Remember, every champion has held his - or her - head in his hands; fallen into that pit called doubt; and cried with frustration. We'll never know how great is the number of the towels that were ALMOST thrown in. But it is at this very point, when others toy with giving up, that the great move forward. Ask Kelly Holmes how many times she almost quit before powering through that ticker tape towards gold. You've never been a quitter, but allow yourself to honour these thoughts -- process them -- sit with them -- then move on. Visualize what you've always visualized and you'll get there. And know that every single one of us will be cheering you on, every step of the way. Chin up. Head down. Crack on!!! With love and gusto from LA - Steve"

This week saw 17.5 hours on two wheels ;)

See you in seven,

Tom

Short and sweet...

2010-02-14T17:33:00.002+01:00

I'm short on time because today I've run 20miles, done two loads of washing, prepared and cooked the dinner for our Valentine's meal tonight and am just about to skip off to the pool in the hope that I don't drown whilst doing my 1500m #Winterswim. Valentine's Day doesn't really start for us until 6pm tonight!

My running's going... well, it's ticking along nicely, not as well as it could be ticking but it's moving so that's a good thing. Really what I want to write about in this tiny little window of time is Tom. He's been amazing this week. He's really picked himself up and got out there on his bike and ridden and ridden. I take my hat off to him, I really do because if it were the other way around.. I think I would have chucked the towel in! He has guts, determination and a great sense of confidence, I love it, he really inspires me to always keep trying and that's why I haven't become disheartened when I've been thwarted by illness during my marathon training. In fact on Tuesday evening I once again lost my voice and acquired the world's most irritating stomach wrenching tickly cough. Two rest days later and some great words from Tom and I've finished the week with a 20 miler and 67 miles in total for the week.

So Tom, this post's for you. I'll always be 100% behind you, whatever, whenever, and I know you're gonna be in great shape come May and in no-time you'll be flying on the bike :0)

Right the pool is calling, it's time to drag my tired body through the chlorine.

Happy Valentine's, the pic above is today's pic of the day, it's called Best Friends... we all need them.

H. x

Desperate times indeed...

2010-02-07T19:58:00.000+01:00

After going on about 'drastic times' in last week's entry I've decided to upgrade that to 'desperate times', in fact if I'm honest I've never been so low in terms of how I feel about my training. On the plus side I seem (touch wood) to have broken free from my ridiculous run of illness and my running is... well, my running is the only thing keeping me from jacking the whole thing in and taking up something less taxing! Despite the odd pool session that keeps me hopeful of one-day being able to swim again, I just can't shake this nerve problem and am limited to one easy swim per week and then there's the cycling... I've not strung a decent bike training week together since August and on pretty much all of the few rides I've been on since then I've been hanging off the back trying desperately to hold on to the wheel in front. Last week I promised that I'd go for sixteen 16 hour bike weeks (plus swim and run) in a last ditched attempt to get in shape for Lanzarote, when I say 'in shape' I mean sub 5.30 bike shape as anything less than that will almost certainly not cut the proverbial mustard. By Friday I was sitting on the grand total of two (yes, two) hours and things were looking bleak, time for some honesty...

My big problem at the moment, above all the fiddly stuff like injury, illness and too much snow, is that I'm really not sure if I still 'want it' enough, or at all for that matter. With other amazing things (here & here to name but two) taking hold of my life the thought of spending full working days sat on two wheels (as beautiful as the Dales are) just doesn't flick my switch like it used to. So, that means the only sensible option would be to kick this triathlon malarky into touch once and for all, go back to the significantly cheaper and infinitely less time consuming pass-time of running and get on with my life!

Well, on Friday I though of doing just that, right there and then... whether or not I meant it (even I don't know) it sure was a good test of desire... The thought of not having to worry about my arms hurting in the pool and no more million-hour bike rides, not to mention the nice little earner that flogging two rather expensive bikes would provide... and the space I'd generate from getting rid of my bike kit, oh and then there's the end once and for all to those ridiculous 5am alarm calls just so I can fit two sessions in BEFORE work and as much as anything the huge financial benefit from no longer entering races that cost £350... really had me thinking for a minute!

But... the tears (really) that followed soon after the thought of pulling the plug four and a half years into what was always meant to be a five year journey (anything that can be achieved in less than that time is hardly worth it... yes?), bringing this blog to an rather abrupt end and forever not knowing if just maybe I could have made it swiftly reminded me that the flame, however faint, is most certainly still burning and with 15 weeks left to turn things around I managed 7.5 hours yesterday and 6.5 hours today... 16 hours on the bike in one week... DONE!

Chatting to H just before writing this it became clear to me that no matter what happens on the 22nd of May, as long as I get to the start line in my best possible shape (it's not too late for that) and give it my absolute all then on May the 23rd I will be forever content. It's never really been about qualifying, it's been about seeing how good I could be... and if I stop now I'll never know. One thing is for sure though, 2010 is absolutely it, I've been so close to the edge so many times over the last few years and as every season passes I get a little bit closer... wherever that takes me in the next few months, that will be 'as good as I could be'.

Bedtime,

T

p.s. today's pic? I did a search in Google images for 'desperate times' and when this came up it brought a rather large smile to my rather sad face so thought it might do the same for you ;)

Choices...

2010-02-07T14:41:00.004+01:00

I was handed my ass today... as Tom often says. It's a little heavier than normal due to the copious amounts of chocolate and cake that were rather lovingly purchased for my birthday this week! A 10km can do that to you- hand you your ass that is. You see 5km is short enough so a few seconds difference leads you to believe that those extra few cakes aren't making the difference and the lack of speed sessions don't matter either...oh how wrong and deluded I've been!

Dewsbury 10km this morning was a sharp reminder of just how much difference those cakes and biscuits do make and how important it is to get quality speed sessions in. My time isn't bad at all in the grand scheme of things. I ran 43minutes 11 seconds. But in 2007 I ran 41minutes and 33 seconds and I know I'm fitter now than I was then. The difference is more than minutes and seconds though... it's choices. Life has been manically busy with the exhibition, training has been thwarted by illness and I have been more relaxed than normal with 'treats'. The first two are down to things I have had no control over (kind of) and the last one, well actually it's more about state of mind than it is about calories. To be honest, I don't feel bad about the odd extra chocolate bar or slice of cake, I'm not even that much heavier. But coming away from today's race a little disappointed has shown me that it's time to change my mindset. If I want to be in shape I have to be in shape mentally as well as physically, so if I want to get back to running well for me then I have to get my head back into a different space. 'Tis as simple as that! It's there for me all I have to do is make the choice. If I wasn't disappointed with today then I'd stick with the way I'm training/eating but I'm not so it's time to regain my old will-power, say no to one too many treats and get the quality sessions in. And as this guy says...

"You are the only person on earth who can use your ability." Zig Ziglar

Well done to the Virgin Active Road Runners for a great turn out and some mighty fine times out there and to my mate & physio Ove who pb'd running 40mins, loving your work Ove, I'll be back to try & catch you soon ;0)

My exhibition for all those that followed my picture a day project couldn't have gone better. I'll blog about it's success in detail on my photography website, but over half were sold on the evening and the charity are over the moon! They're still available to buy too as Salvo's are holding them (the ones that haven't already been bought that is) for the next 3 months. They're all £25 each. All of the pix are still here to view sitting in two albums, album one here and album two here. To buy call Salvo's ask if the day you'd like is still available, leave your details and purchase it...easy peasy.

Right I'm off for the last chocolate Hobnob for tomorrow I'm in training for the London Marathon don't you know ;)

H x

New hat...

2010-01-31T18:18:00.004+01:00

The title of the above picture is 'New hat'. I took it yesterday in Leeds Hyde Park having just run parkrun. It didn't make picture of the day but I think it probably sums up exactly where I am at the moment...not literally of course, firstly I'd be freezing cold and secondly red never did suit me!!

So why does Queen Vic wearing a traffic cone on her head sum me up I hear you ask?! Probably because I'm so used to being known for one thing for the last few years. And that one thing hasn't really been photography. Of course most around me know I'm a photographer but that hasn't been the thing that has defined me and that's because triathlon and endurance training in general has.

Taking my foot off the training gas and placing it quite firmly on the photography one has up-turned my world. I wasn't sure I'd manage to make that transition to be honest. You know, the one from living life in an athletic bubble, where all you need to worry about is recovering enough for the next session and how training was going to fit around work. Now I almost certainly put work first (because I love it and we can't live off fresh air.) For once I'm training around work. I love that too. Transition made.

I'm getting back to my normal self after those hideous weeks of illness and I did feel much better running that half marathon last weekend but another good week of training this week gave me another gear in today's cross country. A few more good weeks of consistency and some harder work (and a bit more self control in the biscuit department!!) and I'll be in good shape come the London Marathon. These things I know because I've been there. That means that my mind has been freed to allow me to move my photography forward. Bombarding you all with my daily picture has been a fantastic adventure for me to take myself on. I absolutely can't wait to see them all exhibited on Wednesday 3rd February 2010. In fact I sit here typing this out with only one more day left for me to complete my year long project. A whole year!! It doesn't document my life (that wasn't the idea) but it does document moments or things that I've been privy to, liked the look of or just plain took a chance on, and that's when I knew my journey was starting. In training when you learn to relax and go with the flow (something I got close to doing but never quite managed) magic happens. And in my photography, whether you like or hate my images, there have been days where magic has happened and that's been in my hands, I love that feeling. The odd time it happened in triathlon, I loved it too but I never quite believed.

So me and my 'new hat' plan to run the London Marathon with as many quality miles my legs can afford to run. Traumatising over fitting sessions in around work won't happen. 'Training smart' in true Yelling style will happen. And fingers crossed my photography keeps growing from strength to strength. Hope to see you all on Wednesday :0)

H. x

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." Herman Cain

P.s Well done all you VARR runners today, fantastic!

Sixteen x Sixteen

2010-01-31T18:17:00.000+01:00

Sixteen weeks! That's all there is until perhaps the final step of this five year journey, and as the sands of time fly past our very eyes thing's are somewhat lacking in the training diary stakes! This time last year 500 January miles in the Lanzarote sun had kick started my cycling season into gear, I was in the swim form of my life, and had just cracked 80 minutes for a half marathon for the first time ever... fast forward 12 months and I'm yet to ride outside more than once in a single week and struggling to achieve any swim consistency thanks to tightness in my back causing my ulnar nerve in both arms to refer pain into my forearms and hands. Running, as the best of the three, is just about hanging in there and the only thinking keeping me from pulling the pin on my Kona dream.

On the positive side, which I'm having a pretty tough time finding, my run fitness is good enough that four months of consistent training would be enough to find the levels required to pb my Ironman marathon and even if it was tomorrow I could grit my teeth and push through to a swim only a couple of minutes down on 'best case'. But, and this really is the biggest 'but', if I'm going to take this journey all the way to Hawaii in October (or ever for that matter) I'll need to find some serious time over the 112 mile Lanzarote bike course. In 2009 I rode 5:40 before a 3:31 marathon and missed by 17 minutes... even a 3:15 run would therefore need an improvement on two wheels, not only in terms of time but also in terms of having the legs to run afterwards.

So... drastic times call for drastic measures... hence the title of this week's entry. Last year, when chilling out in Famara before Ironman Lanzarote, I read the fascinating book 'In Search of Robert Millar'... in it (and forgive/correct me if I've got this completely wrong) the young Millar asks an established Tour de France rider what it takes to get to the top... the answer simply... 16 hours per week. So, despite my current 16 hours per month (if I'm lucky) regime things are about to step up... I've joined Yorkshire Road Club and will be spending the next 16 weeks training predominantly as a cyclist with swimming and running fitting around the edge. I've scheduled a bike event for pretty much every weekend from now until May the 22nd and will be deforesting my legs before the night is out, after all... if you're going to perform like Lance you need to look like Lance ;)

16 x 16 = 256 and just maybe a plane ticket to Kona...

T ;)

Here we go...

2010-01-24T23:46:00.001+01:00

Finally... after quite a few weeks of joint posting, late posting and the occasional very late posting here I am on a Sunday evening typing away, just like old times.

It's been a crazy month or so with loads of exciting goings on and our feet barely touching the floor. Since early December H and I have been alternately ill and have managed to tick most of the possible flu, cold, sore throat, snivelly, snotty, bunged up, Delhi belly etc etc boxes. But... for the first time in ages we are both fit and well, and hopefully it will stay that way for the remainder of 2010. All that, combined with the snow, has seen our training take a serious knock but with clear roads and even clearer heads a good February will no doubt see us back on track for each of our major athletic goals (London Marathon for H on April the 25th and Lanzarote Ironman for me on May the 22nd). We both raced the Brass Monkey half marathon this morning and with all things taken into consideration it was, as our great friend Ian put it, a fact finding mission to see where we we currently stand... I'll let H talk about her race but for me things went pretty well...

I've put in really strong performances in this race for the last couple of years and didn't expect to get close to my previous best of 1:19:35, I also really couldn't predict what my legs might be capable of so the only real race strategy was to run on feel, start fairly cautiously and just enjoy racing. I'd also trained right through (two hour turbo sessions on Friday and Saturday) so knew my legs would be a little slow to react. Last year I'd kept my heart rate in the low 160s for the first five or so miles so hitting the first mile in under six minutes with a heart rate in the low 150s things were looking up, coming through seven miles only 20 seconds down on my 2009 effort without seeing much over 159 things were really looking up... that was the point in last year's race though where I pushed on and picked up the pace right through to the final mile, this year was a different story... a few of us had formed a really good group and taking turns to push forward were maintaining a great pace, come mile eight however we were suddenly 30 seconds behind 80 minute schedule and with some of us (me included) struggling and some strong it was time for plan B... Dave and Steve pushed on (to pb's for both I think?) and myself, Ian and Rich H switched over to 'operation damage limitation'... I always look to have something in the tank for the ten mile marker and feel that if you've paced it right you should be able to find another five or so seconds per mile for the final three... this morning, although I did manage to up the effort level at that point, there was no corresponding increase in pace and it was time to 'survive'. Just when things were really going south however, around the 12 mile mark, a couple of female runners came flying by shoulder to shoulder and I managed to use their momentum to tuck in and hang on for a 6:10 mile thirteen and a 1:21:29 finish time. So, all things considered I'm super pleased to get within two minutes of my best ever half marathon and with a great swim banked on Friday (6 x 400 off 6:30 av 5:51) at least two of my three disciplines look reasonably positioned for a four month push to Lanza.

As for the bike... we'll see what happens in February. I know my two-wheeled fitness is someway short of 12 months ago, when I'd just returned from a 500 mile week in the Canaries, but with momentum seemingly returning, perhaps that sub ten Lanzarote Ironman and ticket to Kona is not such a lost cause... one thing is for sure though, this will be my final season of competitive triathlon and having chosen a non-mdot race for 2010 Ironman number two, May the 22nd will see my final chance to ever complete our road to Kona...

See you in seven,

p.s. Today's photo? One of H's great iphone snaps from when we spent the evening in London watching the musical Mamma Mia with my Dad and his wife Eleanor... good times :)

Coming out of hibernation...

2010-01-24T22:17:00.005+01:00

I've heard that said a few times today... the title of my blog that is.

It's true, I think today for those that raced in this morning's Brass Monkey it actually woke us all up from our sleepy central heated houses and thrust us into 2010 - a tad later than planned and a little more unprepared than planned - but I feel, finally, we've all broken through!

Since getting ill on January 4th I really haven't been quite right and only this week have I actually felt human and healthy again. I was disappointed that I wasn't looking forward to this mornings race. In October I'd planned to be in great shape for today. I had begun Winter training on such a high and got myself in good nick. Then Christmas came and the routine went out of the window. I was busy at work, we spent a lot of time dashing here and there and the devil that is chocolate had started to seep it's Christmassy deliciousness slowly but surely into our cupboards via Sainsbury's and gifts... fatal!

The snow has gone, the ice has melted, and order is being restored in Meanwood. Phew... I was concerned Santa swapped my training mojo for sacks of chocolate and believe it or not I'm so much happier to have my mojo back. So... the burning question... how did I run? Especially seeing as being ill seemed to have rendered me capable of only running like one of Willy Wonka's Oompa Lumpa's.

Firstly, there was no PB (personal best) and no surprise there. But... I LOVED it today. Yes, it hurt and yes I faded near the end but I had such a great time, mostly down to the fact that for the first time I didn't run in a bubble on my own. There was a little group of us, myself, and mates Paul Sanderson, Rich Pullen and Debbie Stockley. Wow... we worked so well together. I reigned the boys in for the first 8 miles and they were strong come the end and loving it and Debbie, well what a race she had. Debbie, you were AMAZING, your grit, determination and race spirit was brilliant, you worked hard and never gave in, that helped me so much today I can't tell you, a huge WELL DONE on your 10 minute pb!!!!!

I felt comfortable in terms of my engine, we were ticking those 7:06min miles off with the odd 6:58 thrown in there for good measure like little metronomes, but my heart and lungs were writing cheques my legs couldn't cash and come mile 10 I started to fade. I crossed the line in 1:34:31 with a big grin, Paul was 15 seconds ahead of me, Rick was literally just behind me and Debbie came through seconds after that. A line in the sand that I can work on now. I just need to get these little legs of mine out on the road and used to getting a pounding again.

Time with good friends was had this weekend too as Ozzer and the Eekster who came from Oxford, stayed with us over the weekend and also raced well today, nice times kids and so good to get together, loved it!

Congrats to all the VARR runners and thanks to all the supporters who braved the cold sleety rain today, the shouts are all much appreciated.

It's good to be back.

H x

P.s Here's my 365 project invite again for those who didn't catch it first time around.

P.P.S Debra, Andy and Suki, you were missed, hope you had fun in the Lakes.

Life's a whirlwind...

2010-01-19T23:40:00.004+01:00

…and we’re whirling around in it. I’m currently typing this as we speedily head North up the M1 in a bid to get back in time to take run club (this is us on the first half of the journey while I was driving). We’ve been in London to see Tom’s pa who is here for a two day meeting and we’ve been lucky to tie that in with a shoot that I was booked to do for Blueseventy with Alistair Brownlee. Work for both of us has been pretty manic, especially with Tom & Martin embarking on their Marathon Talk podcast but they’re loving it and I can’t wait to hear Episode 2 which will be out tomorrow (Wednesday). Thanks for the brilliant feedback from all of you who have downloaded it.

Training wise Tom has had a great week of swim, bike and run, culminating in the PECO league Cross Country on Sunday where our club, Virgin Active Road Runners all did brilliantly on a tough muddy, boggy, squelchy, wet, cold course in Ilkley. Finally the snow has gone and the ice has melted which means that we can hit the streets for our runs and Tom can get outside on his bike. On Thursday Tom, myself and our mates Dave, Paul and Russell ran our long(ish) run on a treadmill because of the icy roads. We’ve done it before and I remember it not being very pleasant then and so this session didn’t disappoint! Tom and the boys had good strong runs, they did really well. I was still recovering from the flu which had left me with lingering nausea and the second I finished I felt as sick as a dog and had to go straight to bed when we got home. What a mental challenge 22.5km on a treadmill in a hot gym is, but we all did it. Thank the lord that the ice has gone because the thought of running 16miles this week on one of those brain challenging machines is enough to tip me right over the edge!!

Brass Monkey Half Marathon is this Sunday and so unfortunately have any thoughts of a pb for me and probably Tom. We had hoped to be going into this race in good condition but with our Christmas escapades up and down the country and then being ill for what feels like forever and the lingering snow we're a few weeks short of pb's I think. The plan is to run it hard anyway and use it as a hard training session, you can't beat a race for pushing yourself.

I'm afraid our blog has been a little neglected of late. Not at all on purpose but mainly due to how busy we've been and how forgetful we're becoming due to how busy we are!! I promise that normal service will resume as soon as we're sorted and organised and actually in Leeds on a weekend!!

18 weeks of hard training for Tom now that the clock is ticking towards May and the Lanzarote Ironman and for me I've got 14 weeks to go before the London Marathon and both of us are looking forward to getting some hard consistent training in. Please, no more snow!!!

Last but not least before I sign off so I can get my weary self to bed, finally my 365 picture project details are sorted and I'd like to invite you all to the event. You'll find all of the details on this invite. So if you're reading this you are cordially invited to come and share the evening and maybe buy a print or two. Hope to see you there :0)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz it's bedtime.... and Tom is editing Ep 2 of Marathon Talk.... he could be a while... just this little joint blog for both of us again this week.

H & T x

2010 starts tomorrow...

2010-01-10T17:40:00.004+01:00

Not the best start to the year for either Mr Williams or Mrs Williams. Tom was the first to be struck by poorlyness and then on return from the Yelling household I came down with flu and am only just recovering now.

Therefore Tom & I have decided that our 2010 starts tomorrow (Monday.) Back into a routine will do us both good, I just have to ease into it gently and Tom needs to make sure he's getting his bike miles in.

We're both super busy at the mo too. Tom's right in the middle of launching the Marathon Talk podcast that he and Martin are producing every week which sounds like it's going to be fab. It's a free weekly podcast that will be available to download on iTunes starting on January 13th and then every Wednesday after that.

And as the days tick by (today is Day 342) I am but 23 days away from the end of my 365 project and the exhibition. The exhibition date has now been confirmed as Wednesday 3rd February 2010. The venue will be Salvo's Restaurant on Otley Road in Headingley. The time is yet to be confirmed. Invites will be going out very, very soon. I hope you'll be there. Drop me a line if you'd like to come.

I think 2010 has much in store for both of us this year, and I do sense change for us both, a lot of change. Changing work commitments for Tom, possibly moving and training for our goals this year should keep the pair of us on our toes. I know any thoughts of pb'ing at the Brass Monkey Half Marathon at the end of January have gone down the pan and instead it will just have to be a hard training run. Tom's struggled to get outside on his bike and with more snow forecast I forsee more turbo time in the garage! As for me, well being ill for this whole week has wiped me out. I can't wait to feel fit again. Christmas put a small dent in our usual routine of training, and then Christmas pudding, chocolate & mince pies etc put a dent in our willpower!

So, tomorrow...2010 starts tomorrow and we'll be up at the crack of dawn like the good old days and we'll be in the pool starting our new year the way we would have liked last week.

Happy New year...

H & T x

P.s The pic above is of a lone man watching the sun set on the first day of 2010... (and is one of my 365.)

Too much talking...

2010-01-04T13:15:00.002+01:00

For the second week running we find ourselves apologising for missing our Sunday blog deadline... sorry!

We've been down in Poole with our mates Martin and Liz and have spent pretty much every single minute working on Tom and Martin's exciting new project...

'Marathon Talk' is their new running podcast, with episode one due for Wednesday the 13th of January. It will be free to download with a new episode available every Wednesday covering a wide range of subjects from the world of running through regular features, interviews and discussions.

Please log on to www.marathontalk.com for more information and to find out how you can keep up to date with Marathon Talk.

If you have any thoughts about things you would like us to cover, ideas for the show or feedback re the website or podcast (once it's available) please let us know via info@marathontalk.com.

Normal blog service will resume next week,

T & H

Ooops....

2009-12-29T01:02:00.000+01:00

Our title says it all... for the first time in the three years we've been blogging we missed a Sunday deadline!

Christmas has a serious talent for jumbling the days of the week up and before we knew where we were it was Monday!

This time last year Tom and I just got married, honeymooned in Miami, returned home for a fairly unceremonious Christmas and then disappeared off to Lanzarote for one of the hardest training camps of our lives. What a way to start 2009... exhillarated but exhausted!

Twenty-ten is going to be a whole new year and a very different year. If there's one thing we won't be starting the year with it will be fatigue. On Boxing Day Tom and I love to run the Chevin Chase, a 6.9 mile challenging off-road run. Last year having just returned from the States we had our worst ever races on the Chevin. Jet lag and the general malaise from our honeymoon weren't really the best prescription for a good race. This year we went into it in much better condition, following a wonderfully relaxed Christmas with plenty of key run sessions. Regular readers will know we've both struggled a little with our usual commitment to the pool and for Tom on his bike, however running races have been going well and this year's Chase (albeit it an icy snowy challenge) was a huge improvement on last year will both of us placing higher than 12 months ago, and it felt great to race on strong legs even if they were a little too full of quality street.

So, we're putting the finishing touches to 2009 with way too much chocolate, mince pies and the kind of food I might as well just clag to my hips. Unfortunately moderation wasn't one of the gifts from Santa this year, however we have managed to get out and put a fair few running miles in.

At the minute I'm sitting typing this at my mum's house in South Shields with a full tummy and a DVD on the box. Tomorrow we're back to Leeds and counting down the days to January the 1st and the start of an exciting year.

See you in 2010 with some really exciting news,

H (& T) x

A bump in the road...

2009-12-20T22:20:00.000+01:00

There's something about December... every year I spend November motivated to the absolute max, getting stuck into my routine and flying towards Christmas ready to start the new year in the shape of my life... only to come to a grinding halt come month number twelve! There's just something about this month, no matter how hard I try I'm completely unable to listen to my alarm clock, ignore my lazy streak or avoid the chocolate box! This year, as if my own yule tide will power (or lack of) wasn't enough of a spanner in the athletic works I seem to have developed some kind of repetitive strain injury which is causing me a reasonable amount of discomfort through both arms when swimming and cycling. According to my good friend and physio extraordinaire Ove it's likely to be caused by too much time at my computer with bad posture... so less work and more training should do the trick then ;) In all seriousness it seems to be aggravated by swimming so I've not been in the pool for a week and will probably avoid it for another couple, cycling isn't great so other than a pre-crimbo long ride with Ben G scheduled for this Wednesday I'll be keeping off two wheels for a while. In an attempt to fix the problem I'll be partaking in a little sports massage, thinking constantly about my posture, particularly when tapping away on a keyboard, and booking an appointment with Ove asap. I've been working with a few athletes recently and have been emphasising the fact that the priority, for those people with summer goals, should be above anything else to arrive in 2010 injury free, healthy and good to go. For the moment then I'll be shelving my plans for swim PBs and bike miles in favour of a little more running and a lot more recovering. What makes things really hard is that not only do I really want to be swimming and biking there's actually nothing stopping me... except for common sense and the knowledge that if I start 2010 super fit but injured I'll be unlikely to reach the spring whereas if I compromise a little match fitness for a great foundation from which to build toward Lanzarote then 2010 will no doubt be rather special.

On the flip side of course is that running seems to be going really well at the moment... I've seen the light with regards shoes and have swapped my super heavy and somewhat clumpy Mizuno Wave Nirvanas for the lighter and somewhat smoother Mizuno Wave Inspires. For years I've avoided anything approaching lightweight shoes due to fear of getting injured but as I've said a few times, this year is about taking the odd risk in order to maximise speed. I've also got stuck into my Tuesday night tempo run and Thursday evening track sessions (12 x 400 off 2:30) and am enjoying feeling fast for the first time in quite a while. I won't bore you with the stats but due to the track being closed this week I repeated an interval session not done since this time last year and ran far quicker than 12 months ago. This morning we raced cross country with our tri club and again I was both surprised and pleased to finish a little closer to the pointy end than I'm used to. The big test of course will come on Boxing Day when H and I line up for the Chevin Chase, where my best performance came two years ago with 45:59 and 34th place...

At that I'll wish you a very happy Christmas and fall back into my December comfort zone ;)

T

p.s. today's pic comes from yesterday morning's parkrun where a few like minded people came together a demonstrated that with the right attitude and a little bit of teamwork great things can be achieved :)

Team work...

2009-12-20T16:52:00.005+01:00

Another lung busting, leg burning cross country challenge today. Why oh why do they hurt so much?! Is it because it's off road and I don't run off road very much or is it because you know you're not running for yourself but you're running for your team? (see above pic). Leeds and Bradford Tri Club has some very strong athletes and it's great at this time of year to all get together and be running for each other as opposed to against each other. I love it. I love being part of a team, I think that's why I love parkrun so much. It's really not about the time. Of course I have my own personal goals and times I'd like to break but I just love seeing the glee on newcomers faces for doing something they've never done before and knowing they'll be back for more. Being an athlete shouldn't be defined by speed, but by dedication. Not even dedication to a team, but dedication to one's-self. A commitment to move out of a comfort zone and try something new and challenging.

My training's in a bit of a funny place at the minute. I'm not training very consistently due to work commitments and general Christmas busy-ness and that means I'm not in a very good routine to slot training in and then this has a knock on effect because I can't be bothered to do it when I can't do it at my usual time!! I'm actually in good nick at the minute though and that's just enough to keep me hitting the roads for my key sessions so my fitness hasn't gone down the pan thankfully and I'm really pleased with today's run, 7th lady home. Yesterday I had planned to try and nail my 5km time to squeeze under the 20min barrier but the snow and ice put pay to that as I slid around the course in 22mins and 2 seconds. Still, it's out there waiting for me to cough up my lungs in an attempt to pb, I'm just not sure when that will be, I'd have loved to have done it before the end of 2009 but we're marshalling the next one on Boxing day and will be away for the week after so 2010 it shall be.

Tom's mum and step-dad Ray are here for a few days and it's lovely. I knew from the second they arrived that finally the Christmas festivites could commence. The mince pies have been cracked open and the house has been Christmas-ified with a little fat tree and the cosy glow of the Christmas lights, it's great to spend time with them (even though we did drag them to Temple Newsam to stand in minus temperatures this morning while we threw ourselves round the fields!)

Tonight we're off to the cinema to see Where The Wild Things Are so I must go and get ready... ahhhhh throw another log on the fire and pass me a Quality Street will you :)

Happy Christmas one and all.

H x

Daily pix still here and here.

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

2009-12-12T18:35:00.002+01:00

As I near the end of the year I can feel the draw of Christmas joy (usually found in boxes of Quality Street!!) Parties are happening and celebrations of a year gone by are nearly upon us. In fact this time last year Tom & I were approaching our wedding day and a whole year of events and mammoth training sessions which I'll never forget! I'll save the look back on 2009 for another post but today I can feel a change in the air. Something about 2010 and it's speedy approach is very appealing. I chose the above pic (taken at our very good friend Jevon's place) because I feel like 2010 is a new dawning for both of us. Tom's so excited about his new projects it's already like Christmas in our house. I love it, and I can't wait for the whole thing to take off.

Life is good... really good. I'm really looking forward to running regularly with our mate Russell and hoping that his speediness will drag me through to my 2010 desires. I think it'll be really good for both of us to do our long marathon training runs together. I'm so used to doing a lot of my training on my own, especially running, that it will be a nice change to have someone to go through the highs and lows of those long, cold Winter training runs with.

Work is going so well that I'm frightened to jinx it. I've got some fantastic shoots lined up and I'm loving dipping back into the world of TV every now and then. The exhibition project couldn't be going better. I'll be ready to spill ALL info about it for those interested at the beginning of January but I do know that the date will be 3rd February 2010 in Leeds at Salvo's restaurant. The rest of the details etc will be posted like I say early January. I've had an awful lot of interest in my little pictures and am very excited to see them all printed and framed.

Christmas in the Williams household will be a cosy relaxed affair and I can't wait to get my teeth into the Chevin Chase on Boxing Day. Last year I ran like a mule (having just returned the day before from our honeymoon in Miami). A no pressure almost guaranteed improvement from last year, I like it! Followed up by a great afternoon (as is tradition) at the Kennedy household et. al.

So, the clock is ticking, it's Saturday night and tomorrow we celebrate being married a whole year. Time to sign off cyber world and sign into celebrations :) :) :)

Happy Winter training peeps, keep up the good work and do a few bike miles for me seeing as I'm no longer friends with my bike. Anyone want a Quintana Roo Lucero race machine???!!!

Daily pix still here and here.

I'm off to spend time with my wunnerful husband :)

H x

Three hundred and sixty five days...

2009-12-12T13:22:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is mine and H's first wedding anniversary and it seems almost impossible to believe that a whole year has passed since we promised the world to each other in front of our nearest and dearest. Our friend Jevon wrote a wonderful blog entry about the passing of time only last week and here I am, flicking through our wedding pics, wondering just the same things.

Sitting here considering what to write there are many wonderful experiences I could reminisce about and even more exciting adventures in store for year two but for me it's all about the next 24 hours...

Our friend Lisa P bought us a terramundi money pot as a wedding present and for the last 365 days we've gradually filled it with gold coins... tomorrow morning we'll be cracking him open and heading off to Swinton Park Hotel in North Yorkshire to treat ourselves to some well deserved 'us' time. We're fortunate in that we have loads of things in common and really do love spending time together. Although I've never added up the hours (surprising considering my love of stats!) I'm sure that out of every 24 we're within touching distance of each other for well over half.... but... and it's a BIG but... it's probably not that often that those precious seconds, as all seconds are, are spent simply on us. If we're not swimming, biking or running with someone we'll be skypeing, facebooking or tweeting, H might be photographing people and I might be standing in front of people... in the rare moments that we aren't filling one or more of those roles we're probably steeling precious time to visit friends or family or maybe plotting our next steps on this wonderful journey through life. There's even the odd random day, take today for example where I spent the morning in the company of 200 people dressed up as Santa Claus as they ran laps round our local park. Of the last 365 days though, I wonder how many seconds out of our yearly budget of 31,536,000 we actually spent as just us? H is without a doubt the single most important part of my life yet, thinking about it, despite the hundreds and hundreds of hours we spend together the amount of time we spend truly and simply on ourselves, and absolutely positively nothing else, is minimal... at best! I'm sure that's one of my main motivations for long training hours... a 5k swim, 100 mile bike or 20 mile run with H is pretty close to 'just us', certainly closer than most will ever manage... but there's always a clock, heart rate or training partner ensuring that three is most definitely a crowd.

So...

In an hour or so we'll be falling into bed and just before we embark on our final sleep before December the 13th we'll be turning off our phones, unplugging our computers and locking away all our training gear... none of which will see the light of day until we wake up on December the 14th. Tomorrow we'll each be spending every single second of our allotted 86,400 on just us, totally disconnected from the big wide world... just us... 172,800 seconds, very well spent.

Time... how do you spend yours?

See you in 604,800 ticks of the clock,

T

Two steps forward and one step back...

2009-12-06T20:21:00.001+01:00

It's easy when writing a blog about training to only talk about the good times, paper over the not so good times and make out like you're never injured or ill and pb for fun on a daily basis. The bloggers I most admire however are those who are honest and not only praise themselves when they do well but also let everyone know when things are slightly off course. If there's one thing that I've learnt during my journey from couch potato to Ironman athlete it's that no matter how fit or fast you get there will still be plenty of time where you're not on the proverbial ball and for whatever reason (sometimes 'just because') you feel like you're going backwards. I vividly remember watching an Ironman for the first time (Lanza 2005) having never even seen a triathlon and thinking that these 1,500 super athletes must surely feel like Buzz Lightyear 24/7, never have an off day and float around permanently in some kind of zen like state of uber fitness. Four and a half years later and with five Ironman finishes in the bank I'm sorry to say that that couldn't be farther from the truth... in fact with an opportunity to test your physical form pretty much every week and an easily accessible diary of lifetime best performances it's easy to feel less fit than ever before.

Before I outline what has felt like a somewhat below par week on my iron journey I'd like to point out that I'm doing this not because I'm particularly worried nor because I could do with a little tinternet based support... I just think it might help anyone who's not quite hitting their targets at the moment and ease the 'I don't feel like my training's working and I'm never going to get any better' wobbles... if there was ever a time when outcomes mean nothing and the process means everything then December is that time.

As H has said in her blog we've both been unusually busy recently, and I'm not sure we coped that well with the transition from low training volume and work loads in late summer / autumn through to a return to full training and increased work demands from the beginning of November. Arriving at our mate Jevon's place last Friday my mind was full of to-do's that hadn't been to-do'd and my body was creaking under the strain of four good training weeks on the bounce. A Saturday and Sunday respectively comprising of five hours in the saddle (most of which were spent hanging on to Jevon's back wheel) and a very hilly ten mile running race at max effort, either side of a double helping of curry, beer and chocolate took me into this week with not only broken legs and lungs but also will power. I am pretty good at backing it off though so both Monday's sessions were canned and it quickly became a rest day, Tuesday morning's swim suffered the same fate as did everything on Wednesday. By the time I got to Thursday morning's swim, which was due to include a max effort 400, I was feeling rather flat and with completely the wrong mental attitude only managed a 400 warm-up, 4 x 50m and half of the aforementioned 400 before pulling the pin mid length (number 9 if you're interested), walking (yes walking) back to the side and storming off in a sulk! Thursday evening's run never happened and then Friday became a rest day... well, I had done at least 60 minutes of training up to that point and I'd hate to over do it! So, that made five days where eight sessions were scheduled and only one and a bit were completed, I hadn't even got on my bike and with a 400m swim pb of 5:32 to beat I'd thrown my toys well and truly out of my #winterswim pram when five seconds down at half-way.

Suddenly my dreams of one final season of Ironman glory felt about as likely as Yorkshire not producing the next triathlon world Champion!

It's funny really, no matter how experienced you are it only takes a couple of off days to create feelings of doubt and consign recent feelings of returning fitness to the depths of your most distant memory banks. My point being that it's important to realise that to improve consistently week on week for more than a month or so is impossible for all but the most chemically enhanced amongst us and in order to take a giant leap forward it's necessary to take plenty of small steps backwards along the way. I'd also be willing to bet that pre-Christmas fitness (in relation to lifetime best) is inversely related to race season fitness (in relation to lifetime best). I know for a fact that this week I've been less motivated, slower, felt less fit and generally been more grumpy than this time last month.. but I also know for a fact that come the start of race season proper I'll be firing on all cylinders.

So, if you're worried that things aren't quite on track at the moment and you're experiencing the odd yuletide swim, bike and/or run arse kicking (even it's it's from your own training diary) then fear not... the proverbial boot will be on the proverbial other foot when it comes to the proverbial showtime ;)

Have confidence in your process and I'll see you in the summer,

T ;)

P.S. I think I may have set a lifetime PB for most analogies and proverbialisms (is that a word?) in a single blog entry?

P.P.S. Thanks to my running club friends for dragging me out of my somewhat slack week by way of five very hilly and very very muddy miles of 'doing it for the team' max effort ;)

Winter legs...

2009-12-06T14:27:00.004+01:00

One thing I have noticed is that when things aren't in place and organised my brain goes to mush, my motivation to train disappears and my nutritional strategy goes up the swanny!

Tag team illnesses between myself and Tom have meant I've not been in the swing of training for a few weeks and that tiny dent in our usual orderly routine has thrown me out of kilter. Combined with my ever increasing work load (which is brilliant & I'm loving it), I discovered that if things aren't in place then something has to give. This week it's been the sessions that I don't class as key. Still, I don't like it and come tomorrow morning now that I've spent a week making to-do lists and organising my time better I should be able to to get back into my routine.

Winter is certainly here and I'm showing my legs the Winter way. I'm loving the cross country series that we're doing. It's great to run as part of a team and being able to run in two leagues means I get to run with Virgin Active Road Runners and Leeds & Bradford Triathlon, awesome. I threw myself up hill and down dale yesterday getting caked in mud for 5miles of pain & fun. I'm hoping the benefit of doing the cross country series is going to pay me back in Spring and fingers crossed eventually getting that sub 20min 5km time at parkrun!! I've not had a chance to have an assault on it for about 3 or 4 weeks and plan the 19th as my next chance.

I got out for 16miles today. Just to remind myself that I can still run long and really enjoyed that time on my own, ipod in, 8 undulating miles out and 8 back, negative split - running 1:06 out returning in 1:01, that's a good sign for me, I've not run longer than 13miles since The Vitruvian in September so I'm pleased I could average sub 8min mile today.

SO now that order has been restored. Life is back on track, the house no longer looks like Hansel & Gretel have been throwing crumbs all over it in a bid to escape and come tomorrow I have no excuses for why I NEED that chocolate bar or why I'm too tired to do that training session. My brain is de-cluttered...lovely :)

'Til next week....

H. x

Daily pix still here and here...

The masterplan...

2009-11-29T23:29:00.000+01:00

With Christmas fast approaching and Lanza getting closer by the day I though it was about time I laid out my race / training plans from now till then, partly because you guys might be interested and partly because I need to know myself...

Ironman Lanzarote is on the 23rd of May (25 weeks yesterday) and despite me having several equally important races after that it will be approached as if it was the one and only 'A' race of 2010. The only way to give something truly 100% is to give it truly 100% so I'll start thinking about the Outlaw on Sunday the 24th :)

So....

December 26th - Chevin Chase (entered) - A super hilly seven mile cross-country race, I've done it quite a few times and never quite got it right. This year I'm really keen to do well and confident that a number of XC races in the build-up should see me good. Best ever result was in 2007 with 45:59 and 34th out of 814.

January 24th - Brass Monkey (entered) - My favourite half marathon of all time, I've run it for the last five or so years and broke 80 minutes there (first and only time) with 1:19:35 for 37th out of 1,280. As with all my 2010 races I've got no time (outcome) goals but expect to hit the start line in my best ever condition ;)

February 27th - March 7th - Lanzarote Training Camp (to be confirmed) - Like 2009 I'm keen to find some winter sun and a few of us are looking to sort a self-supported Ironman camp, nothing's confirmed yet but something like 500 miles of cycling, 50 miles of running and several open water swims should fit nicely into a well organised week.

March 14th - Yorkshire Road Club 10 Mille TT Champs (to be confirmed) - My newly joined road cycling club have their ten mile time trial champs early in the year and what better way to get focused and fast ;)

March 27th - Big Cow Duathlon (to be confirmed) - Having just spent the weekend with our great friends the O'Neills, Jevon seems to have found a suitable compensation to missing my favourite duathlon in the world (the spring Ballbuster, we'll be in Lanza) with this nice 4.5k / 16k / 4.2k effort. I'd not normally travel for such a short event but with a great looking cycle sportive the next day it could make a great weekend of training...

March 28th - Team MK 100 Mile Sportive (to be confirmed) - Following the previous day's max heart rate uber-sprint I'll be looking to jump onto the road bike and give it everything over 100 miles of rolling English countryside.

April 4th - Circuit of the Dales Hilly 50 TT (date and entry to be confirmed) - This super hilly 50 mile time trial has been going for over 50 years and boasts past winners such as Chris Boardman and our great friend Carl Saint, it was also my first ever TT back in 2006. It's a good 20 minutes slower than a fast course but with a pb of 2:32 (compared to my 1:58 for a flat 50) and having recorded my first ever DNS there this year I've certainly got unfinished business ;)

April 25th - London Marathon (entered) - I've done run London five or six times and having passed on it this year I just couldn't resist sticking my name down for 2010. It's only four weeks from Lanza so I'll not be having a go at my pb (2:49 in 2008) but again I should be in my best ever shape so it'll do for my last and longest training run and a nice 2:58 will give me 'good for age' entry for 2011 & 2012.

May 23rd - Ironman Lanzarote (entered) - This is it, possibly my last ever official mdot race and I intend to go out in style. This year I finished in 10:20:20 and 89th out of 1,052 male finishers... in 2010 I'll be stronger, faster, lighter and will certainly race harder... watch this space ;)

Other than that I'll be doing XC races for my running club on the 5th of December, 17th of January and 31st of January and for my tri club on the 20th of December, 10th of January, 31st of January and 21st of February. I'll also be racing parkrun whenever possible and slotting in plenty of long training rides and the usual mega-brick bike/run sessions with Mr Ben G ;) Not to mention competing against my wonderful wife in #winterswim (we're level on points at the moment) and running hard every week with Dave 'Mad Dog' McGuire.

Sounds good?

Finally... today's picture is courtesy of Martyn Loach and is from a brilliantly organised hilly ten mile running race that H, Jevon and I did this morning. I'm not sure where I came but I gave it everything and managed a slight negative split on the two lap course to finish in 64:36... onwards ;)

T

Induglence...

2009-11-29T22:07:00.004+01:00

We've just returned from a weekend with our very good friends The O'Neill family. In the past our days together have tended to be training fests... days are spent toiling on our bikes, running up random hills for miles and even competing with Jevon's youngest daughter Alice in the pool. This weekend was a little more leisurely...well for me. In fact I'd go as far to say I had a lazy weekend which was great but I'm feeling a little like Tinkerbelle (see above pic) their rabbit, their large cute cuddly rabbit) as in so well looked after, kept warm and cosy while the weather's rubbish outside and a little over indulged!

It's always great to get away for the weekend especially when it's to spend time with lovely people who are on the same wavelength. I had planned to run on Saturday while the boys went out for a long ride but was way too warm and cosy in a house full of life with two teenage girls springing around and the company of Jevon's wife Fiona. How could I resist the luxury of a boy free day! Thankfully the fact that we had all entered the Pednor 10 mile race held today (Sunday) and only just round the corner from them meant I didn't need to feel too guilty...until curry was ordered in and scoffed before we hit the cinema room in their house, and then copious amounts of chocolate were consumed whilst watching 'Burn After Reading', a rather odd Cohen Brothers film. Curry, film, chocolate, what great fuel for race day I thought.

This morning arrived and a little down on our usual 8hrs kip we peeled ourselves out of bed for an early breakfast. Having eaten enough chocolate to keep me going until next Christmas I didn't really need any more food but I threw down a bowl of cereal and off we went into Pednor in the rain to see what our little legs were going to do. Jevon's plan was to take it easy round the course (2 x 5mile loops) and if his calf or back started to give him jip he was going to can it. 2 miles in and I could hear the little bugger (actually big bugger would be more accurate) and there he was, running strong which is remarkable considering their 80mile ride the previous day coupled with his running niggles which have prevented him from getting out on the road. I felt okay, my legs felt strong but I felt a bit sick and so on the hilliest section Jevon was no longer at my side as he ploughed up the steepest section of the run. I managed to keep him in sight and caught up on the first downhill section but with his easy first lap plan still in play he got even stronger on the second and left me for dead as he hit the 5 mile mark. A small field and no one around made it a little difficult to not switch off, and a few times I had to remind myself I was in a race not bimbling round Pednor house hunting! 73mins later on an undulating course and 3rd lady home it was over, time to hit Starbucks and top up that already full sugar level!

A weekend of indulgence with friends and my husband and a race to boot, wonderful. Thanks guys.

This weekend coming I was looking forward to hitting parkrun and seeing how close to the 19/20min mark I could get but I'm going to have to wait ANOTHER week as our cross country race falls on Saturday, so it'll have to wait until the 12th before I can see if I've got a tiny bit faster... I've got people to catch!!!

Time for bed, I've now got a weekend's worth of chocolate to sleep off... I could be some time!

H. x

Daily pix still here and here.

Easy as ABC... and sometimes D!

2009-11-22T23:11:00.001+01:00

Having legged it round the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k this morning in a close to pb 37:51 (H also ran a 'close to pb' time with 41:45) then chilled out over a celebratory coffee with some great friends and training partners we popped home for a quick change into our Sunday best in time to sit down for the annual Yorkshire Road (cycling) Club (YRC) Christmas luncheon at 12:30. As last year we had a great time in great company, our friend Carl Saint was guest of honour having won the World Tricycle Time Trial Championships earlier this year (well done mate) and we spent a few hours surrounded by amazing history and heritage... today's photo was first awarded in 1899 (yes, that's 110 years ago) for winning the YRC 12 hour time trial champs with a distance of 192 miles!

That finished at around 4.30 and with our running club's equivalent event due to kick off at 5.30 this evening at our favourite Indian restaurant in Leeds we've nipped home to grab a couple of things and I thought I'd take ten minutes to start the week's blog ;)

Time's up.... back in a couple of hours...

Wow, what an amazing evening! In total we had 29 runners competing in the Abbey Dash this morning and 40 dressed up smart at the Aagrah tonight. We're only a little running club but what we lack in size we more than make up for in commitment, enthusiasm and laughter. It's something I've been involved in since moving to Leeds in 2001 and despite the best efforts of our hosts to stick the proverbial spanner in we've gone from strength to strength over the years and with 2010 just round the corner are looking forward to exciting times.

I was planning to waffle on about something boring like how I classify my races into A, B, C and D categories and what each of those means (hence today's title) but having spent the entire day in the company of more inspirational people than I ever knew existed I'll save that for another day...

For now I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who motivates me every single day, most of whom probably never realise it. I'm fortunate enough be involved with quite a few different groups of people, who are interested in two things... 1) achieving exciting things and 2) helping others to achieve exciting things. It's got to the stage where I seem to know quite a few people with this same positive outlook on life and it seemed that all of them were either running the Abbey Dash this morning or standing at the side of Kirkstall Road as we all went by. Running the 5k back into town from Kirkstall Abbey there seemed to be a constant shout of 'go on Tom' and with every one of those I found the strength to turn it up just that little bit. I was really going for it today and got myself in a bit of a zone but believe me I heard every single shout and they absolutely made the difference.

Most of the people I hang out with now didn't know me when I was in my twenties but believe me when I say that parkrun, Run Club, LBT, this blog and even the exciting new #winterswim have changed my life more than you could possibly imagine... and if you've been part of any of those great adventures in even the smallest way then I owe YOU a massive THANKS.

See you next week,

T

Today I'll be mostly 'Dashing'...

2009-11-22T08:41:00.003+01:00

'Tis early-ish o'clock and I'm writing this now because today must be our most eventful day in our social calendar and there will be no other gaps left available apart from the one where I fall into bed when we get in tonight.

In an hr and 45mins I'll be legging it up Kirkstall Road and back with a few thousand other folk to see what my little legs can run 10km's in. I actually have no idea. I know I've been running shortish 20mins for Parkrun but could I sustain the same effort for double the distance? Errrrmm....not if you want to see me cough up a lung. SO, I'm quite excited to see what I do have, I guess I'll know in 2.5hrs!!

I've had another mixed bag of training this week. As you know I've had laryngitis and to accompany that I've had the most annoying tickly cough known to man. The throat thing...not a problem, no pain, no flu symptoms, just strained and poorly vocal chords. Cough... more of a problem. Coughing fits in the middle of the night for nothing other than that bloody tickle. So another week of fairly light training but my treadmill session on Tuesday evening's is still progressing and I'm really pleased with how that's going. I swam really well on Thursday with my fastest set of 200's and that feels great to be getting faster. I'm just having to take a few steps back before heading forwards again. I thought I'd overcome the whole throat, cough thing until I woke myself up at 2.30am this morning with yet another annoying tickly coughing fit. What's a girl to do?! I feel absolutely fine which is great. I've had another two extra rest days and hope that that's me and illness done :) No more cough I say!

It's our running club awards ceremony tonight which I'm really looking forward to. The club has gone from strength to strength and we see newcomers all of the time. I'm really looking forward to seeing our sea of red and white Virgin Active Road Club running vests today and then celebrating our year of running with them all tonight, we have an awesome bunch of mixed abilities and personalities, fantastic.

Right, I've got much to do and time waits for no man... time for me to get this head and these legs prepared for 41+mins of pain... I'll keep you posted.

Daily pix still here and here...

H x

Stop...and Go!!!

2009-11-15T10:46:00.004+01:00

After five years of training for Ironman and gradually building our bodies to be strong enough to cope with regular 20+ hour weeks of solid training it's easy to see why you can become blind to the stresses and strains your body still has to go through even though you become mentally and physically immune to the demands you place upon it day after day, week after week.

When I first started training for Austria in 2007, it was a slow build. I was stressing my body little by little and seeing how it could cope with the longer sessions. The same for Tom too. Eventually we hit this year with the ability to train really hard and really long without injury or illness and compete in two Ironman events within 7 weeks of each other. A great testament to how well our bodies had adapted over time to the necessary demands. And also great testament to how we treated our bodies in terms of nutrition and sleep to allow those injury few years to happen.

A comment left on Tom's joint blog last weekend however, has really given me food for thought this week. Our good friend Gabriel commented on Tom's lack of injury... 'You don't seem to get injured like me which helps me back off the workload when I am nearing my limit.'

It's made me think an awful lot about how I felt this year and what I could have done to have improved my perfomances, afterall my training was as consistent as one would hope and I suffered no injuries, neither did Tom. But did the fact that we allowed our bodies to soak up high volume day after day, week after week actually work against us in some way as opposed to for us?? Would a few days of enforced rest due to the odd snivel or tight muscle have allowed a few more extra recovery hours to give us that extra bit of 'zap' that I feel we both lacked this season?? Interesting words me thinks and Gabriel's comment has truly hit a note for me.

On Sunday evening while I was working last weekend I started the hideous process of coming down with gastroenteritis. On Monday I was forced to lie on the sofa in my dressing gown for fear of not being near a loo. On Tuesday I was 'fixed' and trained, did a light swim in the am and then did my harder treadmill session followed by run club on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday I had to fit my longer run in early in the morning due to work commitments etc and so I ran 13miles. I thought I'd had a 24hr bug and was amazed that I had woken up on Tuesday feeling so fine, albeit a little 'empty'! Off I went and trained hard on Thursday too. However, on Friday I had the beginnings of a sore throat and on Saturday morning I decided not to train. By yesterday afternoon I started loosing my voice and now as I type this I'm practically mute. Time for me to think about Gabriel's comment. Is this enforced rest the thing that is going to give me my zap back? Laryngitis is a viral thing I think and god only knows where I've picked it up from but actually I think I'm happy I have. Monday's gastroenteritis was the first time I've been ill this year. Nobody likes being ill (especially not the athletic type) but I do think there are nuggets in Gabriel's observation) and I'm hoping this means my body is not as strong as it was over the beginning of the year and the result of that will mean I come back a little fresher. I see that I should have given my body more time to recover from the stomach bug on Monday before resuming training as usual but that's the typical old Ironman in me. I'd be interested to know what you think? Do you never get injured or ill allowing you to never back it off? Or do you suffer from the odd niggle or snivel but always come back stronger? Answers on a postcard...

Today's post is a joint blog because the true 'writer' in the Williams household is in the middle of writing a feature for Triathlon Plus. Tom's just had his first piece published in this months edition and it's fantastic to see his great skills on the published page! Here's to many more :)

Time to take my silent voice out for a stroll in the woods for some fresh air. I haven't trained for two days which would usually make me grizzly and unbearable to be around. Gabriels' off the cuff remark appears to have worked wonders, but if I don't come back like Usain Bolt there'll be hell to pay ;)

Happy Winter training guys.

H x

Daily pix still here and here.

The year ahead...

2009-11-08T22:04:00.000+01:00

With H off doing her 'luvvie' thing this weekend in Northumberland (she's shooting stills on the latest ITV drama) this is going to be somewhat of a joint blog. Tim posted a great question on my last entry so I thought I'd try and answer it here by way of a season plan of both of us...

Lets start with H... regular readers will know that Hels has put Ironman to bed and will be focusing mostly on running. She really wants to work on building her photography business and with that comes a reduction in the time available to train. This season she averaged around 20 hours per week with plenty of 25 hour plus blocks thrown in for good measure but for the 09/10 season we're planning to half that volume to around 10-15 weekly hours. Rather than seeing a corresponding drop in performance levels she'll be looking to hit around 8-10 hours running per week and fitting in swim sessions and the odd bike when time allows. Although her multi-sport performance will likely drop she should be able to knock off a few long-standing run PBs. It's unlikely that H will do any triathlons next year but that will depend largely on how much bike she gets in over the winter, she's been super busy at work recently so may well only get out a couple of times per month. We are aiming to keep a minimal level of cycling in her programme a) as it's a great way to build leg strength and muscular endurance with minimal impact and b) we haven't ruled out the odd duathlon or maybe tri in 2010. There will however be plenty of swimming, simply because she really enjoys it and having gone from a non-swimmer to sub six minutes for 400 it would seem a shame to stop. November and December will be treated very much as training months and although there will be plenty of road and XC races they'll be trained through. Her first 'A' race is going to be the Brass Monkey half-marathon on January the 24th, probably followed by the Silverstone half in March and then the Virgin London Marathon on April the 25th. In between those there will be a load of smaller local races to keep the competitive fires burning and of course there will be regular outings to our very own Leeds parkrun. At the moment we're not looking past London for H... one of the great things about running is that with the exception of a couple of super popular races there's no need to plan your season years in advance. She may look to do an autumn marathon but with plenty to choose from we can leave that till after London.

What about me?

The question that Tim posed was

"I'm interested to hear your plans for next year involving the Outlaw. Specifically since you'll qualify for Kona at Lanzarote will you train/peak for the outlaw and race it or use it as a training day or a long swim bike?'

Firstly, thanks for the vote of confidence mate :) Despite the title of our blog Kona is no longer the driving force for me that it once was, yes I'd really love to race there, but events of this year have reminded me that it really isn't the holy grail that it's made out to be (for age-groupers at least). Although I would be disappointed if I missed the cut again, my final season of Ironman certainly won't be judged, be me at least, on whether I get to the Hawaii or not. I wouldn't even call it a goal anymore really, my focus for Lanzarote is to get to the start line in the best shape of my life and execute the best race of my life... I'm determined to focus on the process this year rather than the outcome. The Outlaw will receive the same treatment, as will a third (and final) Ironman if it happens. I do definitely intend to give the Outlaw everything in terms of training and racing ;)

I've always wanted to race a UK based Iron distance event but having spectated at IMUK several times I certainly don't have enough faith in the organisers to deliver an event deserving the five months of blood sweat and tears that it takes to get there. To be honest I'd given up hope but then up stepped the guys at One Step Beyond with their new 'Outlaw Triathlon', I just couldn't resist the opportunity to race an event like this in what will hopefully be really great shape (I'm confident that their ability to deliver an event is somewhat better than their ability to choose a decent name for an event!).

So, with the Outlaw well and truly on the schedule that left me with Ironman Lanzarote on May the 23rd, the Outlaw on August the 8th and possibly Hawaii on October the 9th. That obviously makes three Iron distance races in a season, yet having done 'just' two this year I found myself blown to pieces come September and having to pull out of the Vitruvian for fear of exploding! So just how do I plan to survive 2010?

Having spent a large amount of time reflecting on my performances this year two things have become clear 1) I was very fit and 2) I was very tired. I pretty much PB'd from start to finish all season... half-marathon in January (1.19), Ballbuster in March (2.55), Olympic tri in June (1.59), Pool Triangle TT in June (29 something), 50 mile TT in June (1.58) and Ironman in July (9.28)... so the fitness was clearly there. But, and this is a big BUT, for the majority of those events I felt pretty knackered and certainly someway short of 100%. On thinking a little clearer I think I can trace the majority of that tiredness back to a four week period between December 08 and January 09... H and I got married on December the 13th, which although was without a doubt the best day of my life was also pretty tiring both physically and mentally. We then hopped straight on the plane to Miami and by the time we hopped off at the other end I'd developed as bad a case of sickness and diarrhea that I've ever had. A couple of days later I'd recovered and proceeded to log a good 40+ mile week of running and a few hours of swimming in the heat and humidity of South Beach before flying back on Christmas Eve, doing a long ride on Christmas Day and then the Chevin Chase (7 mile XC race) on boxing day! In the blink of an eye we touched down in Lanzarote on January the first and kicked off 2010 with 26 miles of swimming, 500 miles of cycling and 75 miles of running in the first ten days! To be honest, looking back at that lot it's a wonder I survived to tell the tale! Still, my fitness was clearly improving and a week after landing back from Lanza I broke 80 minutes for the first time over 13.1 miles and it was game on. Unfortunately, that massive month put me in a state of fatigue that 400 hours training over the next 20 weeks was never going to let me recover from.

The biggest lesson I've learnt from all that and something that I am determined to focus on this coming season is to not put myself in that hole in the first place. Full-on Ironman training is not something that allows much space for recovery and come January I'll be giving it absolutely everything for 20 weeks, at the moment I'm feeling really good and will be prioritising sleep, food and rest over training to make sure I stay that way!

So that's the first cause of my fatigued dealt with, what about the second. What really pushed me over the edge was two Ironman events in seven weeks with no time allowed for proper recovery... the week after Lanza I trained for five hours, but the week after that it was 25! By the time I crossed the finish line I'd been going hard for seven months since the aforementioned hole digging process! Now, if you're going to perform to your highest ever level, you have to be prepared to follow that up by being the tiredest you've ever been, and that's fine... unless you've just booked a slot to the world Ironman champs and have to do it all again in a couple of months! To be honest, I think had I made it to the Big Island this year I may well have ended up doing serious long-term damage to myself. Unlike the Vitruvian I wouldn't have pulled out and looking back I actually breathe a sigh of relief that I wasn't given the opportunity to nuke myslef!

I've just outlined a schedule though to three great Iron distance races in the space of a few months so how will I a) be able to perform well in all of them and b) survive to see 2011? (Which I think is the main point of Tim's question... sorry if I'm going on a bit)

Well, despite pre-season concerns over doing two Ironman events in seven weeks I actually felt that racing in Lanzarote was beneficial to my performance in Switzerland. I basically didn't really take any rest between each race, therefore not allowing my body to slip into recovery mode as with only a few weeks to play with there probably wouldn't have been time to wake it up again. The problem, as I've just stated, is that having done that successfully (in terms of race performance) there was nowhere left to go and my season was effectively over... this year I may well have (if I'm lucky) one final Iron destination. Fortunately however there are eleven weeks between Lanzarote and the Outlaw and those extra 28 days should allow time to recover properly from the first race yet still have time to build things up for the second. So the gap should look something like...

Weeks 1-3 - active recovery and a gradually building volume of something like 5, 10 and 15 weekly hours.

Weeks 4-6 - a return to my standard 20 hour basic week and hard work across all three disciplines.

Weeks 7-9 - some 'race pace and above' focus and a couple of big sessions plus the odd race.

Weeks 10-11 - taper time!

In terms of Outlaw performance I'd probably rather they were closer together, but in terms of carrying on the season that extra four weeks should make all the difference.

It will then (if selected) be nine weeks from the Outlaw to Hawaii, of the three events Kona is probably my lowest priority in terms of performance, just being there will be pretty special. I will of course be approaching it as I have every Ironman I've done though and aiming to go out in style ;) I'll probably leave it until after the Outlaw to decide the best schedule for those nine weeks depending on how I'm feeling. At half-way between seven weeks and eleven weeks it could go either way i.e. keep the tempo rolling or back off for a couple of weeks and build again. Although I don't really mind how I feel directly after Kona as it will be 'pipe and slippers time', I've got no interest in sticking myself in a hole that could take years to get out of.

Anyway, hopefully that's answered the question?

In brief... all three will be very much 'A' races and approached 100%, by not digging a big early season hole I should avoid ever reaching a state of deep fatigue and by allowing a few weeks of PROPER recovery I should be able to peak for events two and three.

How hard can it be? ;)

T

#winter swim

2009-11-01T22:05:00.000+01:00

I fear that I might be about to create a monster! A week or so ago I was chatting away with my great Iron-buddies Ben and Ove and looking for a little motivational nudge to ramp things up over the winter came up with the idea of a handicapped swim competition between the three of us. Me being me though I couldn't help posting it on Twitter and Facebook and within 24 hours was receiving messages of interest from people I'd never ever heard of from all round the world! So, here we are then, I'm a little pushed for time this evening but promised I'd get some details out by the morning...

The bottom line...

Swim 400 metres as fast as you can by midnight next Sunday and Tweet the time using the hashtag #winterswim. All updates regarding the competition will be Tweeted by me via twitter.com/tomstraining using the hashtag #winterswim.

The details...

Concept
One of my all-time favourite training quotes, which I heard whilst listening to one of the great IM Talk podcast series, is that athletes should 'train as hard as they can consistently train'. There are two key words in that sentence and these, in order to importance, are 1) consistently and 2) hard. Ironically these are two things that most people typically fail to achieve between November and February (inclusive), preferring to waddle through the winter months with the odd splash in the pool, an occasional cafe ride and perhaps a couple conversational jogs to get them out of the house. But... as my Ironman compadre Mr Jevon O'Neill keeps reminding me... 'Champions are made in the winter'... but, and this is where it's at... only if they train consistently... and hard (not hardly)! So, I'll leave you to your own devices re the bike and run but the chances are you're a triathlete and if so there's an even greater chance that your idea of a winter swim is 5 x 100 with fins, paddles and a pull buoy (read lazy boy) so for the next four months prepare to become a swim champion!

What?
When we're talking swimming, 'little and often' just doesn't cut it, 'hard and often' does however so from this point on you'll be required to swim a max effort timed swim at least once every two weeks. We'll work in two week blocks, which for those of you a little slow on the social networking uptake means you only have seven days to swim your first timed effort (400 TT) which will then act as your baseline time from which swim number two will be measured.

How?

The initial base times must be submitted by midnight on Sunday the 8th of November (UK time) and will consist of a max effort 400 metre swim. Once base times are submitted, many already have been, they will be converted into a percentage of the current Olympic record for that person's gender. This figure will then become your handicap and subsequent performances will be measured against it. I will then host these somewhere on the internet (to be sorted this week sometime) so that they can be accessed at any time by any of the entrants. The person who improves the most, in relation to their best previous performance, each time will win the most points (not decided how many yet) and whoever has the most points at the end of the season will earn the right to call themselves the CHAMPION! Note: I've already had a few 'that's unfair' moans... the bottom line is if you do a flat out timed effort every other week from now until April I pretty much guarantee you'll arrive next summer in the best swim shape of your life and if that isn't a bargain I don't know what is!

Dates and deadlines...

Oct 26 to Nov 8 - 400 metres (baseline time)

Nov 9 to Nov 22 - 100 metres

Nov 23 to Dec 6 - 400 metres

Dec 7 to Dec 20 - 200 metres

Dec 21 to Jan 3 - 400 metres

Jan 4 to Jan 17 - 800 metres

Jan 18 to Jan 31 - 400 metres

Feb 1 to Feb 14 - 1500 metres

Feb 15 to Feb 28 - 400 metres

'Bonus events for the Bonkers'

Mar 1 to Mar 14 - 3,800 metres (Ironman distance)

Mar 15 to Mar 28 - 400 metres

Mar 29 to Apr 11 - 10,000 metres (Olympic OW distance)

Rules

Swims can be done in any type of pool and you are welcome to change from one swim to the next i.e. from short course to long.
ALL swim aids that would not be permitted in an Olympic final are deemed illegal, so certainly no flotation devices, paddles etc. If someone could let me know if Mr Phelps would be allowed a Wetronome or similar device in 2012 then we can make a ruling on those little fellas.
All correspondence must go through Twitter under the hashtag #winterswim - if you don't know how to do that then Google it, it's not rocket science and I don't have time to utilise the many different forms of messaging available.
Times must be tweeted under #winterswim by midnight on the final Sunday of each block, late efforts will not be accepted.
As we've already said, this is all about consistency throughout the winter, once enrolled any missed swim will result in immediate disqualification from the entire competition - you have been warned!
Late entries to the competition will be accepted, although you're first event will only act as a base line time.

That's about it for now, please forward this to as many people as possible, #winterswim is a fully inclusive event, handicapped in favour of novice swimmers and designed to keep all of us on the freestyle straight and narrow until the sun once more shines!

See you in the pool,

Tom

Life/work/training balance...

2009-10-31T16:37:00.004+01:00

It's just amazing how much more I can get done now that I'm not putting in 20+ hrs of training. I'm still swimming 18km a week and after tomorrow's run will have done a solid 55miles of running this week, the bike... well I haven't had time to fit one of those in. But I've had a good week at work and still got to bed at 9pm every night this week and had a leg rest day!!

At run club on Tuesday night I was chatting with my friend Alison who is living her Ironman dream right now and loving it. I told her that I actually felt relieved not to be IM training anymore. I'm hoping this is a sign that I'm happy to move onto pastures shorter, faster and newer (if that's a word).

Tom's signed himself up for Lanza and the new UK Ironman distance event The Outlaw and I've signed up for The Brass Monkey Half Marathon and the London Marathon. I'm liking the change...and the fact that I don't have to get out in the cold, wet, Winter rain to HTFU for hours on end. Somehow I feel like it's easier to do the whole work/training thing too. I often used to get booked for work and try and wangle it so it fitted in with my training. Now I know I can always do a run more-or-less anywhere I am and at more-or-less any time of day, but also if I don't get to run, it doesn't matter and so training is no longer a burdon on my work commitment and vice versa... everyone's a winner. Work has just gone from strength to strength now that I'm concentrating on it a lot more and I've got some exciting shoots lined up in the next few weeks.

One think that can slip by without noticing though is the life/life balance. One thing we have to make sure we schedule into our life is quality time. It's just so easy to let training, eating, sleeping, working all become part of every day life. We train together, we eat our meals together, we go to races together but everything doesn't revolve around triathlon or running and so time aside from training is something that we've worked really hard to achieve. Sometimes I think people think we're maybe a bit too focused or serious about our training but actually we aren't. Of course we want to do well and yes we train hard, but we'd both give it up at the drop of a hat if either one of us wasn't happy or if it was detrimental to our lives together. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to share this kind of selfish lifestyle with Tom, not many people have that.

So, tomorrow I'm doing the Guy Fawkes 10, a hilly (very hilly I hear) run race in Ripley, North Yorkshire. I've saved up this week's HTFU for the weather which is due to be awful for it!! Hope my legs serve me well, they've worked hard already this week.

Today we marshalled at Leeds parkrun and then helped with our mates Red Welly Relay Challenge which saw the girls team thrash the boys!! Well done girls :)

And a happy IM training all you hardcore lot out there, braving the elements to turn those bike Winter miles into IM Summer smiles :) I'll be holding the coats...

H x

Daily pix still here and here...

Writer's block...

2009-10-25T12:22:00.000+01:00

It's not often that I'm stuck for words but sitting here staring at today's photo I'm suffering from a severe case of writer's block. I'm therefore going to delegate this week's task of providing blog content to one of my all-time athletic heroes and 2007 World Ironman champion Chris McCormack! Apologies to those of you who have already read Macca's race report from Kona but it really does capture so many of the things that I try and get across in my weekly ramblings. Whether or not you're a triathlete there is so much to be learned from the great man's reflections on something not quite going to plan, (remember last week's process v outcome thoughts)... check out his brilliant blog entry.... HERE

Before I disappear.... swimming's going great, running's going OK and cycling's just going... BUT it's good to be back and I'm certainly moving in the right direction (as testified by the fact I managed to squeeze into my wedding suit trousers last night, which was by no means a foregone conclusion!).

Also, thanks for the great comments on last weeks entry. I finally got round to replying yesterday afternoon and almost wrote a whole blog entry in the process!

Right then, the sun's showing its face over the clouds and I'm off out on my bike with my wife.

Laters

T

An ordinary week...

2009-10-25T11:17:00.004+01:00

So I did it... I got back on the bike last Sunday and went on a 50miler with my mate Emma. The route was perfect, the weather was perfect, the company was perfect. However my legs weren't perfect... For the first hour they were as happy as Larry, although a little in shock at what I was asking them to do. By the second hour my legs started telling me they hadn't been on a bike enough recently to ride at the same pace as Emma nor were they going to do so and so by the third hour they'd given up the ghost as I forced them to pedal back to a much needed large helping of Emma's roast veg. We had a great gossip in those three hours as Emma plugged out a constant even pace while I desperately tried to hold on and chat at the same time, often resulting in me dissappearing off the back. A session that taught me a lot. Firstly leg strength like fitness buggers off as soon as you don't use it. Secondly I never ride at an even enough pace when I'm out on my own and thirdly... cycling's not all that bad. I do however, have to look at what I want to achieve in the cycling world. With my focus going to running for the Winter and Spring season and adding in my 3-4 swim sessions a week, it's going to leave me little space for any real bike time. I can't have everything though and so something's got to give. I'm going to try and just maintain on the bike with one turbo session a week and one outdoor ride a week and I think that's going to suit me fine. In fact after writing this post I shall be donning my cycling attire and having a ride out to Burnsall with Tom it should be just over 50 miles, lovely.

I've had a great training week. I've managed 18km in the pool with some very strong 5km swim sessions which I'm really pleased about. I'm having regular physio again with friend and great physio Ove Indergaard and it's making a real difference, thanks Ove. I'm running consistently too which is great. I just need to get a few more speed sessions in and I reckon that sub 20min parkrun will be mine. I ran really well this weekend. No pb this week with my 20:43 but I ran hard from gun to tape, my heart rate average 175 and my max at 181. I just need to get more of those short sharp sessions in, a little more time and with a sprinkle of good luck and the wind on my side I reckon I'll crack it.

Friday evening saw the first dip into the sweetie bag for five weeks and I saved myself for Tom's heavenly chocolate pots. Loved it while I scoffed it (although it was probably a tad too big and a eaten a little too close to bed) but then paid the price for the 70% choc sugar hit and didn't sleep a wink after 3:15am, just too full of sugar, I felt hideous. So with a new reviewed version of one treat a week I think I'll just stick to a bar of the stuff after dinner or a restaurant dessert if we go out for a meal, then we can't go overboard. If I JUST ate the dessert I'm sure it would have been fine, but someone's got to clean the bowl out while it's being made and when you haven't had chocolate in a while that bowl tastes like it was sent from heaven... mistake! Lesson learned, no hard core desserts close to bed and no eating of the mixed ingredients before either!!

The disaster of the week has only just occurred... the washing machine has finally given in and washed itself to death. I don't blame it, it trains harder than we do and must be on at least three times a day when we're both training twice a day. I have an ongoing battle with our washing basket. My mission to get it absolutely completely empty is futile but constant and I'm already stressing about what I'm going to do between today and tomorrow when I go out and try and get a new one. I tell you a "woman's work..."

Daily pix here and here...

(The pic at the top was taken in Dunstan Steads nr Alnwick while I was shooting for a new ITV drama).

H x

A clear lack of goals...

2009-10-19T12:57:00.000+02:00

(Note: Sorry for the slight delay this week, I got caught up in a rather excting new writing project (all will be revealed soon) and had to put things on hold for a few hours. Still, better late than never...)

Well, maybe not a lack of goals... just a complete change in thinking as to what they are. Let me explain...

For quite a while now I've wondered about the possibility that I somehow manage to limit my performances through my goals. At first glance running a 2:58 marathon when your target is three hours or doing a 9:28 Ironman when the aim is to break 9:30 can seem like a success (especially when like me you used to be a lazy, overweight, binge drinking Brit), and for several years now I've enjoyed pb after pb. But, and this year convinced me, it can become all too easy to do just enough to hit your target yet fall short of your true potential. What this year has also taught me is that no matter what time I do in a particular event, I'm only truly happy when I feel I've given my absolute best. When I say 'best' I mean from the start of training to crossing the finish line and to be brutally honest I don't feel I managed that for any of my 2009 events. Before I get buried under an avalanche of 'people like you will never be completely happy with your performances' let me provide you with a few examples where I've walked away elated knowing that I'd just given my best...

My first ever marathon - in 1999 as a somewhat overweight student I gave up the booze in January and gave everything I could for 15 weeks before perfectly pacing a 3:53 marathon (1:57/1:56) and crossing the line totally spent.
My first crack at breaking three hours for the 26.2 - several years later I lined up on the start line of the Lausanne marathon having run more training miles than ever before (or since), went through half in 1:30 and then promptly exploded at around the 20 mile mark. It took everything to hang on to some kind of speed and falling (literally) over the line in 3:10 I lost all use of my legs (literally) for several hours.
Ironman Germany 2008 - Despite blowing up well before the end of the bike and missing my overall time goal by over 30 minutes, as well as maybe making a few mistakes in training such as neglecting my cycling in favour of running. I honestly absolutely gave everything through every week of training and gave more to that nine hours and 59 minutes of racing than any race ever before (or since).

I could go on, but for me those three events are prime examples of focusing 100% on the process from start to finish (training & the race). The second two are probably my proudest achievments in sport, note that I missed my desired outcome in both, and great examples of true happiness coming from the process rather than the outcome. Yes, I missed my target but I went for it 100% and walked away knowing that I had given my all. I'm much happier about my 9.59 at Germany than my 9.28 in Switzlerand!

This year I went into both my Ironman events a good few kilos heavier than I would like to have been, I knew that having not taken part in a running race since January I was well short of my 2008 run form and set my race gear up somewhat conservatively... all of this 'knowing' that it would be 'enough' to hit my pre-race goals. In Lanzarote that complacency dropped me right in it when the run got tasty and in Switzerland I was the victim of measuring my efforts (training more than racing) against what I thought others would achieve. At the beginning of the season I wrote on here about getting back to really hurting in races and truly giving it my all, I maybe got close to that in terms of painful races but at the same time constant analysis of my training and racing performances, although accurate lead me to fall somewhat short of what on reflection I know I can achieve.

This next 12 months is likely to be my final Iron year, and I know (absolutely) that I can go a lot faster than ever before if I can just stop focusing on the outcome and concentrate on the process. To put that in context, I would have thought that to qualify for Hawaii would take just under ten hours in Lanzarote, to break ten hours in Lanza would be a dream come true regardless and having gone 10:20 this year it would be a big step forwards... a success? Maybe not... the problem is that by concentrating on the outcome, I'm forgetting what it is that will see me sign off from mdot a happy man... the feeling of having given everything (truly) to the process... regardless of the outcome. The truth is you see that I'd rather give everything and go 10:30 (missing Kona) than just do 'enough', break ten and book my place at the Big Dance. The danger of setting the sub-10 target is that the second I feel I'm in shape to do just that I'll back it off and cruise to the start line.

A great example of this happened last week when I did my first timed mile for ages. My previous pb was 23:38 and I was over the moon to stop the clock in 23:52... the problem is that almost instantly I felt myself feeling complacent about my swim ability and losing the drive to spend a long winter flogging myself in the pool. Why bother, afterall I'm ahead of this time last year and should easily do 'enough' to swim my target time?

So this year is going to be completely devoid of time related goals, there will be NO TARGET TIMES... yes I'll measure what I do but that will only serve to confirm forward motion. I intend to push as hard as I can from now through till Lanzarote and beyond, be as dedicated as possible, as strong as possible, as light as possible, as fast as possible and race as hard as possible. Whatever the outcome of that process is then that will be the outcome... nothing more. But I will walk away from Ironman happy that for once in my life I've put everything on the line and given my absolute best.

Today's image is current World Ironman Champion Craig Alexander who summed it up perfectly in the post-race press conference in Kona, note there is no mention of time or position (outcome), it's all about a 'good performance' (process)...

“There were a lot of bad patches today. Last year to win was exciting but this year is more rewarding because it was a different race. It was a harder race. This year I had to work at it and chip away for every mile on the bike and the run.”

“There are some great bike riders in our group. I felt the pace was slid early. I got dropped two or three times on the way up to Hawi. The thing is, my main focus was just to give a good title defense and put in a performance I could be proud of.”

“I didn’t attack [Lieto] I just found a rhythm. But I didn’t feel that fluid motion I felt last year. Today I felt like I had to work for every second.”

“I think a lot about my family out there. They sacrifice a lot for me; we travel a lot. I certainly feel, not a pressure or obligation, but a duty to the people who make my career possible. I don’t want to let them down. It’s nice to give something back with a good performance.”

(Quote borrowed from Simon Whitfield HERE)

Hold on to your hats,

Tx

I have bike amnesia...

2009-10-17T17:08:00.005+02:00

I'm trying to keep ahead of the game and get the blog done today (Saturday) before the business that is Sunday means another late night at the computer. I'm an organised girl these days and loving it!

I'm really enjoying my training at the minute. I'm even enjoying the 'no particular' focus of it, which is generally very unlike me. I'm swimming as much as I was and managed 17km in the pool this week. I think I'll have to drop one of those sessions once my run focus becomes more scheduled but I'm loathed to drop much more of my swimming as A) I enjoy it and B) I think swimming is a great non weight bearing session that can benefit both endurance and strength. My running is ticking along at a great pace. I'm starting to get a feel for the road again and am just beginning to shake off the Ironman shuffle that I had perfected. It did me well for four years and actually suits my natural running style. I have the knee lift of a 90yr old and barely raise my feet off the ground, in fact Tom often wondered if I was speedwalking but no that's me and my Oompa Lumpa running style.

Getting running fit I think I'm going to really enjoy. Mainly because it's a great change to what I've been doing for the last four years and also I can set myself completely new goals, ones I didn't even have when I used to just run. I also think I'm benefiting hugely from the volume of Ironman training that I've put my body through. I just have to find some of those 'fast twitch' muscles I hear talk of, as my legs ignore me when I ask them to switch on!

However, the speed is coming slowly and I'm enjoying the short, sharp sessions. Well, I have been used to 8-10hr training sessions so a 50min speed session mentally seems like a walk in the park...until my brain realises that it's now got to forget 'going long' and instead learn how to go short and painful. The perfect test of my speed has become Leeds parkrun and having pb'd again this morning by 34 seconds I'm really enjoying that lighter, faster feel that comes with actually picking my feet off the ground. So with a 20min 31second 5km under my belt I can feel the lure of the lower numbers drawing me in, can I get under 20mins? I have done a 20:10 but that was on an uber fast course one Summer when I was only running and getting plenty of miles in. So with that in mind and being generally fitter and stronger I'm sure with more hard work that elusive sub 20 should start getting closer. How close to Tom can I get???

As for the bike :( :( :(

I've been a little naughty and kind of neglected it. I've done two turbo sessions a week but haven't actually been outside on it since The Vitruvian which was about 8weeks ago!! I've lost my bike mojo to be honest, I'm just not interested in getting out on it! However, my mate and fellow Ironman Emma Rand has seen my naughtiness and in a bid to stop it any longer has asked me to go out for a ride with her. I hope I find my mojo whilst on tomorrows ride in York... maybe it's fallen under a bramble bush. I couldn't really tell you why. I think the bike has always been something I've had to force myself to enjoy because IM training has such huge bike volume in it. I actually do enjoy racing my bike, just not training on it. Anyway, I can't thank Emma enough for forcing me out tomorrow I just hope my legs don't fall off in the process down to the fact that they don't know what riding is anymore...or hills for that matter... hmmmm hoping Emma's planning a flat ride!! So tomorrow I shall know whether my destiny lies in staring at the back of the garage door for short sharp sessions or whether I'll actually bother my big beeee-hind to get out again.

So that's it for me this week. I'm off to find my bike memory...let me know if you see it...it could be in Starbucks feeding itself on cake and coffee!! Oh and my month of no caffeine, biscuits, choc etc is up on Monday, yeahhhh... but, I'm going back to one treat a week and I'm enjoying my new found discipline... well I never said there was a size limit on the size of that one treat did I ;)

Daily pix still here and here...

Chow for now.

Hels x

Courage, passion and conviction...

2009-10-11T13:32:00.000+02:00

Here we are, once again celebrating the athletic genius/perfection/awesomeness of GREAT British athlete Chrissie Wellington. I've lost track of how many Ironman victories that is, but to makes things easy for us 'stattos' let just say she's never lost, for in the world of Wellington it's significantly quicker to count defeats over victories.You know when someone is truly special at what they do when you still get great enjoyment from their performance despite the outcome being decided practically before the start gun's finished smoking. In a similar way to Tiger Woods or Roger Federer she's simply a joy to watch, the opposition merely there to add some decoration to the occasion. On what was clearly not a fast day she snuck under the 17 year old course record and won by 19 minutes and 57 seconds, to put that in perspective there was only 18 minutes between the first and 15th (yes, that's 15th) male athletes. It's rare that I enjoy such sporting domination, she certainly doesn't possess what one could accurately describe as a rival and even the term 'under-dog' suggests a sporting chance which clearly no female athlete (and few male for that matter) has the luxury of having! What really is scary though is the fact that she clearly has more to give, I think we'd be naive to think she didn't push herself very very hard this weekend but there's certainly more in the tank. She probably rode that bike course more 'solo' than any other athlete... imagine if she could find a couple more minutes in the swim and get out on the bike with the main group of male pros? The first female swimmer hit T1 with Craig Alexander... perhaps CW could stay with him!

Talking of Craig Alexander, you'd do well to find a more measured performance anywhere in elite sport and I got the feeling that he knew exactly where every other athlete was during every single minute of his 8:20:21 effort. It's almost like he has some kind of in-built radar system that tracks everything around him and allows him to execute the perfect race performance based on the situation at any given time. Although not quite as dominant as Chrissie you also feel with Alexander that there is plenty plenty more. I'd hoped this year that someone would step up to the challenge and force something special but with 'only' a 2:48 run needed it's back to the drawing board for all his rivals... although I'm not sure they actually are ;)

As for my third prediction... exiting the water in 4th and clear of the main contenders it was game on for Phil Graves from the start and by the early stages of the bike he'd ridden into the lead and set about making his mark on this great race. For nearly 50 miles Phil had us all screaming full volume at the video feed, a display of courage, passion and conviction of which we should all be extremely proud. Racing isn't about about making up the numbers, it's about putting yourself on the line without fear of failure and letting the cards fall where they may... at 20 years of age (that's 17 years younger than the current champion) he did just that and with the world at his feet the next decade or two promise to be quite a ride.

Last of all, but certainly not least of all, a MASSIVE WELL DONE to all our amazing fellow age-group athletes for taking on the 140.6 miles of 100 degree Hawaiian challenge. Some surpassed their goals, some hit them and some missed them but YOU ARE ALL CHAMPIONS.

Recover well and thanks for the inspiration,

Tom

The road ahead...

2009-10-11T12:32:00.005+02:00

So, the Ironman season is officially over. Hawaii is already winging it's way into yesterday and as Kona comes to a close and the brilliant competing athletes rest their weary bodies I bet they're already thinking about the next one, the next step, the next Kona.

Did I want to be there? Yes, absolutely. Do I want to go there? Yes absolutely. Do I want to race there? If you'd asked me that last year I'd have said YES. Ask me that today and I'm happy to say no. I loved it as a spectator last night/this morning, even if it was from the luxury of our sitting room and not in the surroundings of palm trees and white sand. I'll always have a special spot for Ironman, it's taught me way too much about myself to ever turn my back on the incredible journey that I traveled while I was doing it. But I'm not hungry enough for that feeling to want to do another year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not utterly convinced that I'll find it easy to have hung up my Ironman shoes once Winter's out of the way and Tom's gearing up for Lanza, but the truth will out me when that time comes.

Watching our mates out there and our very own incredible Master Graves made me feel enormously proud, but I'm happy to be going into the next season of Ironman as a spectator. I can't wait to be holding the coats for Tom and our mates Sam & Dom. Actually one thing I know I'll miss is the feeling you get when you cross an Ironman line. I don't think any race can ever come close to that feeling of being completely and totally utterly spent, that's what I'll miss. But for now I'm happy to leave my IM journey and move on.

So, to all those who fought in the Ironman fields of various countries to earn those highly sought after Hawaii places, well done, I truly hope you loved every minute of it (except for the painful bits which you'll forget after a few beers and a round of chips). I hope we get to taste the Kona feeling in 2010, for me it'll be by the side of the road but hopefully for Tom it'll be out there on those lava fields.

Here's to a Winter of success. Recover strong you Hawaii Ironmen, you're all legends.

As for little me and training, I'm really enjoying the variation, especially in my running. It's nice to only have a 50min session to do instead of a 7hr and 50min session so I think I'm going to enjoy the new challenges of seeing how fast I can get my little legs to turn over. Running Leeds parkrun this week saw a 41sec improvement from two weeks ago when I ran 21:46 to yesterdays 21:05, the time is on it's way down, I like it.

I'm also just about to enter into week four of giving up caffeine, chocolate, biscuits, crisps and sweets etc and I've found it remarkably easy. I'm looking forward to going back to the 'one treat a week' thing though, a girl can't live without chocolate!! So, I'm just about to pull on the old trainers and skip (actually probably bimble after such a late night) onto the streets of Leeds for a run in the sun.

Have a great week.

Daily pix still here and here.

H. x

Kona Special...

2009-10-04T21:02:00.002+02:00

Only six days to go until the biggest race in the Ironman calendar and I can barely contain my excitement, to the point where H and I have decided that in 2010 qualify or not we're heading to the Big Island to take in the race day atmosphere. Hels and I love hanging out supporting at races as much as we love racing them and with so many friends competing next Saturday it just doesn't seem right that we aren't there. On top of that, in Chrissie Wellington we (GB) have one of the greatest Ironman athletes of all time and in Philip Graves we have one of the most exciting prospects in the sport (and photographer responsible for this week's pic)... this year, as does every year, promises to be very very special and good as it is, watching online is no substitute for the real thing!

So who do I think will take the spoils...

In the men's event it's hard to look past Craig Alexander, as great as the field is he seems to have the quiet confidence of someone who knows what it takes to win, has been there before and is more than capable of upping his game should the situation arise. He claims he can run 2:35, last year won with a 2:45 and with McCormack pulling out during the bike perhaps that was simply 'enough'... if he needs to run faster than six minute miling I have a feeling he will. Talking of Macca, he is without a doubt one of the all-time greats of triathlon (not just the long stuff) and having broken through for the win in 2007 after many years of trying, and in the process emulating one of his main inspirations (Mark Allen) I have a feeling he'll not be happy until he's got a little closer to Allen's total of six titles. Perhaps we'll see a repeat of the famous 1989 'Iron War'? Hot on their heals is a who's who of Ironman rockstars with the likes of Eneko Llanos, Rutger Beke (last year's 2 & 3), Marino Vanhoenacker and Ronnie Schildnecht leading the European charge and Cameron Brown & Andy Potts leading the non-euros.

But what about the young (youngest in the field actually) Mr Graves? He's clearly a phenomenal talent and having had the privilege of working with him in the build up to this race I can assure you that there is a very wise and mature head on those nearly teenage shoulders. I'll predict three things for Phil next Saturday 1) he'll race with courage, passion and above all conviction 2) he will at some point in the day change the shape of the race and 3) we will all be extremely proud. Remind anyone of another young lad from Yorkshire?

And now the girls...

Or should I say girl? I've never been so sure of an outcome in my life, there's very few athletes in the women's field that I would call great. I think a large percentage of the spectacular summer  performances are aided by them being in the thick of a large number of age-group men on the bike (something they're not afforded in Kona with the 15 minute start) and unfortunately for the 'good' female pro's they're competing against almost certainly the greatest of all time. Barring mechanicals, injuries or crashes I think we'll see a new course record (perhaps wind dependant) from Chrissie and a very large margin of victory... probably over 20 minutes.

Last but not least, our mates...

Ozzer, once again you're showing me the way, have a fantastic race and stick in a couple of hard miles for me. Russ, Jo and Steve we're loving the almost daily blogs from the big Island, you all have very different goals for the day... race wisely. Nick, like Ian you've been capable of getting there for a long time and it just took everything to click on a summer's day in Bolton, embrace every heartbeat. Mama Simmons, a year ago becoming a full-time mum you never thought this possible, impossible is nothing ;) And also Ben Bigglestone, we don't know you and have never met you, but as best mate to one of our best mates and one time LBT member we'll be shouting loud and proud!

I think that's it? 

Swim like there is no bike, ride like there is no run and run like you're in Kona!

What about me?

I'm sat here in bed with a severe case of man flu (that's worse than swine or bird flu and considerably more painful than woman flu) having popped myself over the edge running today's Harewood 10 mile trail race with a head cold. It hurt all the way round but unfortunately not in the 'legs burning athletically' kind of way but more in the 'you really shouldn't be doing this you silly boy' kind of way! Still, it's good to be back racing, H did great and it was nice to hang out with our mates from Virgin Active Road Runners.

See you in seven days, one of which promises to be rather special,

T

p.s. no idea what happened with the font this week? Normal service will resume shortly I expect.

Sunday morning...

2009-10-04T09:05:00.005+02:00

It's Sunday morning and very unlike me to be writing the blog this early but we have a race to go to and family to see and a birthday to celebrate (my cousin Ben's). So here I am full of porridge with an hour to go before we leave for the Harewood 10 mile trail race. Eeeeek not quite sure how I'll fair it just being a run an' all!! I mean what?! No swim or ride to get me warmed up, what's that all about! It really does feel odd just doing single discipline races and I can't have done a lone running race in over a year (discounting the Great North which I walked with my ma of course). The time for me today is completely irrelevant, I'm just looking forward to getting out into the scenery of Yorkshire and getting a great workout with mates.

I'm pleased to inform you that my willpower button has been switched to the 'on' position (finally) and so far I've stuck to my month of no caffeine, chocolate, biscuits, crisps or sweets etc, and I feel so much better for it. I'm enjoying my training sessions and my body is enjoying the healthy fruit and veg that I'm feeding it, ahhh it feels good to be back on track. I'm benefiting from the fact that I shall no longer need to shoe horn myself onto the sofa as the pounds slowly but surely melt away. I find it a bit odd really that nothing at all has changed. If you had asked me did I want to eat healthily and cut out the crap a few weeks ago I would have said yes but clearly I actually didn't want it enough to actually do it, even though I hated eating nothing but junk. I'd love to understand it all a bit more, because here I am over two weeks in and I'm feeling as strong willed as anything. Sainsbury's goody counter still makes my mouth water but with glee I stood next to the free 'taste me' bits as I waited for my bread and didn't even think about popping it in my mouth! What is it that has turned the switch though???! Psychologists get your books out and let me know. All or nothing... please explain, answers on a postcard :)

My week in work has been hectic in terms of time spent editing at my computer, jeez it kills me to be so sedentary, but it's great having work to be editing so it's all good :)

So a short blog from me this week, I'm off to race. And this time next week Kona will have been and gone, god I'm sooooo excited to watch that race (Tom's blogging all about it now). Huge wishes to all out there, taper well and rest strong for there are nothing but mere days to go before the gun goes :)

Daily pix still here and here for all interested.

H x

Back on the hamster wheel...kind of...

2009-09-27T13:50:00.000+02:00

Training resumes... but not quite like the above picture.

It's that time of year again.... the pre-amble to show time in Kona.

I've been fortunate to spend a bit of time with Phil Graves (he of Ironman UK victory at the ripe age of 20). Seeing how hard he's worked to get into great shape for the big day has been a grand insight into hard, hard work. The above picture is Phil doing a half marathon in Leeds University's heat chamber. It's ideal for his race prep but if you've ever ran on a treadmill you'll know how incredibly boring they can be. Luckily for most of us those treadmills are in air conditioned gyms surrounded by banks of televisions with other people milling around to help keep our minds active and our feet moving on a belt your fingers are eager to stop by the press of one button. Not quite the same in the heat chamber where the temperature and humidity (approx 32º and 65% respectively) are there to replicate the conditions in Hawaii. Surrounded by plain white walls with one glass panel so the boffins can keep an eye on Phil and his stats it's hardly luxurious! And instead of a bank of television's playing MTV are two fans which help keep Phil's core temperature (which is constantly monitored) safe by having the air that's in there blown onto him to keep him cooler. A great tool for acclimatisation but a grueling one. Although I reckon the benefits of sucking up hard sessions on the bike and on the treadmill in that small white box will benefit him mentally too, because surely the mental strength Phil's needed to train in there will pay him back ten-fold on those roads in Kona. I can't wait to see how he does, keep an eye out for him he's a talented lad.

Loads of our mates are on their way to Kona as we speak and I can't help but feel a little envious that we're not going to be there to be part of it, even as a spectator. We've decided therefore that whatever the outcome of Tom's races next year we'll go because I can't imagine how fantastic it must be to be surrounded by such uber athletes and such a positive vibe, full of the many different stories of how they made it there. Instead, we'll be glued to the computer, catching all of the glory via the magic of the web but it's not quite the same as being in Hawaii now is it!!

The Winter months in the Williams household however are really quite the opposite and often spent shedding the rather large amounts of chocolate which I should have just glued to my hips instead! So what has the week had in fold for the first week back? Well it hasn't quite gone according to plan but that's because of the spanner that work likes to throw in every now and then.

Monday I had to rest. I was so tired after a long weekend of working, then walking the GNR with my ma and finishing it all off with her surprise party and a very, very late night.

Tuesday we hit the pool at 6am and did a 3km technique session which I really enjoyed.
Tuesday pm we started the first of what will become our regular tempo treadmill session which is about an hr long including w/u and c/d then I took our running club's middle group out for a 7mile run.

Wednesday I worked all day in Leicester so I had to have an enforced rest day :(

Thursday I snuck in a 3km swim at 6am and got out for an hrs run at lunch time before I started the first of two night shoots, working from 7pm til 5am on Emmerdale.

Friday I had planned to sleep until about 11am but I woke up at 9am and made myself do a 90min turbo session before sneaking in a quick meeting about an exciting work project and then skipping off to Emmerdale to do the last night shoot. 7pm til 5am again.

Saturday I had 2hrs sleep and we ran to parkrun in Leeds, I managed a respectable 21.38, not bad on 2hrs kip and we ran home. I then promptly fell apart but not wanting to sleep through the day so I could sleep last night it was a painful experience for A) my eyes, B) my poor addled tired body and C) Tom.

So here I am ten hours kip under my belt and certainly feeling much more human for it (much to Tom's relief). We're about to hit the streets in 20mins and run 10miles in the sunshine before coming home to do little else, lovely jubbly.

So to all those folk we know heading their way out to the mecca of Ironman, we wish you all a safe journey and an even safer but speedy race, we can't wait to cheer you all on from sunny Leeds :)

For those of you who are enjoying my daily pic then I can confirm that I'll be holding an exhibition of all 365 of them in Leeds in February 2010. It's a very exciting project for me and the chance for you to buy your favourite limited edition framed image with all of the proceeds going to a fantastic charity called Naomi's Fund which is still in it's infancy and organised by a close friend. I've also just refreshed and updated my website and have added a blog to it which is where I shall be posting all of the info about the exhibition as it starts to take shape, I'd love to know what you think and if you'd be interested in coming to the exhibition and indeed owning one of those pictures?

Happy days,

H x

parkrunning....

2009-09-27T13:48:00.000+02:00

Although I did manage an Ironman marathon pb at Switzerland this year (3:24) I felt a long way from my 2008 running form (2:49 at London) and by the end of this triathlon season I found myself consistently getting off the bike at the pointy end of the race and reversing rapidly through the field! Chatting with jack about my training for 2009 we decided that any improvements in Ironman running would come from increased bike volume, as such we kept run volume the same as for 2008, stuck an extra four weekly hours on the bike and beat my previous run pb (3:40) with 3:31 in Lanzarote then again in Switzerland. This coming year is about taking the next, and perhaps final, step towards my best possible Ironman performance and as I stand here my running is firmly my weakest of the three disciplines and someway short of where I'd like it to be.

So, whats the plan?

Looking back on the last year, my only running race of 2009 was January's Brass Monkey half marathon, although I pb'd with 1:19 that was eight months ago and by the time I got to my A races would no doubt have struggled to get close to that level of performance. This coming year I've therefore decided to get stuck into as many running races as possible, certainly over the winter, with the aim of getting in the best running shape ever by the London marathon (not sure how I'll approach that yet but am definitely going to run) and then holding on to that until Lanzarote four weeks later. With this in mind yesterday morning saw my first running race since the Brass Monkey back in January!

Having only got back into training on Monday and with the scales showing me over a stone heavier than when I ran London last year I wasn't expecting a pb (18:10 some years ago) performance. I was expecting around 20 minutes of lung-busting effort though, and can assure you that I delivered that in style! Just looking at my Garmin data I see a max HR of 180 and an average of 172, numbers the like of which I haven't recorded for several years. I was so blown by the end that I forgot to press stop and as the results haven't been published yet I'm not certain of my finish time but I think I snuck under 19:50 but to be honest this season isn't about times, even at Lanza where a sub-ten will almost certainly be required. Over the next 12 months I'll be going as fast as I can and training to achieve that, whatever performance values that produces will merely be an outcome of that process, nothing more nothing less.

I'll be racing parkrun every week that we aren't racing somewhere else, next week we're doing the Harewood 10 mile trail race and in 14 days I'll be back on the Hyde Park start line and looking to take another step forward a couple of weeks lighter, stronger and faster.

On a different note, and somewhat more excitingly, Hawaii edges closer and two weeks today we'll know all the 2009 Ironman answers. The race will be shown live on Ironman.com and with coverage pretty much as good as Auntie's and a strong British contingent I thoroughly suggest logging on and staying up. In Chrissie Wellington we have the strong favourite to take the women's title and in a young Mr. Graves we have perhaps the most exciting Ironman talent to come out of the UK in many years. I've been fortunate enough to be part of the team helping Phil out with his Hawaii preparation and can assure you that aside from his awesome physiology he is a truly special athlete. Champions possess qualities that cannot be measured in a lab or on a track, and I can assure you that whatever the outcome on October the 10th a young lad from Yorkshire will be at the pointy end of the process ;)

Hold on tight,

Tom

As promised...

2009-09-24T11:21:00.004+02:00

It would be so rude of me not to post having had an amazing week last week & I did promise I would so here is a brief blog :)

Last week was hectic and busy but full of promising things on the work side and then the joy of being able to start training again on Monday gave me light at the end of a very greedy tunnel!!

Having more time on my hands while I've been resting has meant that I've managed to put an awful lot of time into my business & I've shot some really interesting projects, sold some images on and am starting to reap the rewards from my effort which I plan to maintain along with a less heavy training schedule. Training will become much more run focused giving me that extra amount of time for shoots and editing which regularily have me glued to the computer. I swear I didn't realise how inactive I can be through the day when I'm editing and if it wasn't for a training regime I could turn my bum into the size of our sofa in a few months quite easily!

The great thing about loving triathlon and exercise in general is that I've met some incredible people along the way, people who will be lifelong friends and even people in the cyber world who all have common interests and goals. This means that not only do I get to keep in touch with the triathlon world while I'm out of it, but I also get to put my photography skills to good use and have shot a bit for Triathlon Plus & Triathlon Europe, it's all good :)

I appear to have filled my rest days with cake and chocolate!! Where is the incredible willpower that I possess while I'm training!? I've really got it all the wrong way round. While I'm training hard I could afford to have the odd cake or chocolate bar every now and then but strangely I don't want to eat that sort of stuff and then when I'm resting I eat it just because I can, have no willpower (not a single drop) and avoid most fruit and veg (which actually I love). But there you have it, one day I might get the bottom of it, but I tell you my poor legs don't like having to re-start training with a heavier load!!

I finished last week off with what was definitely the highlight of it and that was a weekend at the Great North Run which finishes in my home town of South Shields. I've watched it since I was little girl, must have ran it at least 10 times and then this Sunday I walked it...with my ma and her little friend Marie (see above pic, my ma's on the left). They've been walking training since April and I have to say I've been really impressed with their dedication. Building up from no miles to 12 miles has been great for them both and it was a huge achievement to cross the line in 4hrs on Sunday, both with big beaming smiles and me with weary legs, I tell you they'd have hurt less if I'd have ran it!!! We topped it off by surprising my ma with a 60th birthday party and all her friends and family came to share her day, it was fantastic and an amazing way to celebrate her success.

So, that's me, and now I'm back into training (although I could be thwarted this week with two night shoots on Emmerdale) but I appear to have my willpower back and have given up chocolate, crisps, sweets, cake and caffeine etc for a whole month before allowing myself one treat a week to stop me going mad :) Time to trim up my sofa size backside!!

Pic a day is still coming along nicely and is here and here.

H x

Back in the game...

2009-09-21T03:06:00.000+02:00

Far too tired for pictures today... this post is from Tom ;)

Today I think I may be setting another pb... the earliest I've ever managed to write my blog! It's Saturday morning, H and I are in Newcastle for the Great North Run (spectating) and I've managed to steal a few moments in the cafe at the Baltic Mill, hop on their wifi and here I am...

Straight to the point...

Today is day 27 of my 28 days of rest and on Monday it all starts again in my attempt to have a stellar 2010. Normally the Great North Run marks the end of my season, this year with things being a little tougher and me being a little more tired I brought my month off forward by four weeks. The term 'rest' however has many different interpretations, particularly within the world of endurance sport, and often when we hear 'I'm not training at the moment' it's followed up by 'just out for an 'easy' couple of hours'... you only have to tune in to the wonderful world of Twitter to find seemingly contradictory Tweets referring to 'rest' and 'exercise' in the same breath. Now, I'd be the last person to say what would or wouldn't be the right thing to do, and this isn't about outlining some kind of 'best' strategy for end of season recovery, rather a clear and honest description of the physical activity I've done over the last four weeks. No playing things down, no bravado, no 'didn't mention that two hour ride because it was too easy'... this is absolutely all the physical activity (above that required to function during a normal day i.e. walking up the stairs) that I've done...

Week One
1 x 60 minute Run @ 12 minute mile pace
1 x 900 metre swim at 5:30/300m pace as 3 x 300

Week Two
1 x 60 minute Run @ 12 minute mile pace

Week Three
1 x 60 minute Run @ 12 minute mile pace

Week Four
1 x 60 minute Run @ 12 minute mile pace

That's it... make of it what you will. As I said it's not about right/wrong etc. Just an accurate account of what 'I've just had a month off training' means to me in 2009. How do I feel? On the down side?... fat, lazy, unfit, generally minging and likely to seriously suffer for the next month or two of training... on the up side?... my once deflated mojo has returned stronger than ever before, I can't wait to swim, bike and run morning, noon and night, and with friends, training partners and heroes (I'm fortunate in that many people fill all three of those roles simultaneously) supplying inspiration like I've never known... it's time to get busy ;)

Having started this blog further from 'deadline' than ever before I find myself sitting here at 2am on Sunday night / Monday morning... how did that happen? Well, my moment in the Baltic was shorter than expected and our proverbial feet have failed to touch the floor since. Today I hung out at the great North while H and her mum shared some quality time together, not to mention 13.1 miles... well done ladies ;) This evening we had a brilliant surprise party for said mother in true Geordie style with booze and banter aplenty and good times had by all. Unfortunately we didn't manage to leave until midnight so it looks like we'll be starting our new training season with five hours sleep and no morning session. Still, it was worth every second of a brilliant brilliant weekend :)

Night all,

T

Little post...

2009-09-21T02:51:00.003+02:00

It's nearly 2am in the morning and we've just got home from what has been a brilliant but hectic weekend. This means that bed is seriously calling. In fact I'm not sure how I'm managing to survive, my eyes are hanging out of my head.

I'm off to bed in the knowledge that the dawn of Monday morning will bring a month long ban on chocolate, sweets, crisps etc and also caffeine. Time to re-introduce a bit of discipline and healthy eating into my diet and actually, I can't wait.

I shall therefore re-post a 'proper' blog tomorrow eve when my head isn't an inch from the keyboard.

Night all.

H :)

What's next?

2009-09-13T22:31:00.005+02:00

With H away at the BIPP National Photographic Awards I'm sat here on my lonesome with the task of putting together a joint entry covering both of our athletic aims for the next few months and beyond. If you happen to pass our house in the early hours of the morning and it looks like we're up early... that's me sleeping with the light on!

H always knew that this year would be her last season of Ironman, and I promised myself that if I didn't make the big one in 2009 then 2010 would be my last. Well time really flies doesn't it, and here we are with another season of triathlon speeding off into the distance. What seems like only moments ago we embarked on the amazing adventure that is ultra-distance swim, bike & run and suddenly we've got nine Iron distance finishes in the bank and find ourselves thinking 'what next?'....

Training for both of us starts a week on Monday, and as for what that will be geared towards,

I'll start with H...

With her photography business pushed slightly up the pecking order of daily commitments, something needs to give in the time department and that's likely to be around 5-10 hours of weekly training... reducing her seven-day budget for exercise to around 10-15 hours. Rather than this resulting in a proportional drop in performance she's decided to focus mainly on running and have a crack at a few old single-sport pb's. If time allows her to maintain swim and bike fitness over the winter then we may see her in the odd TT, duathlon or even shorter triathlon in 2010. For the time-being though we're looking at the Brass Monkey half-marathon in January, another half in March and the the London Marathon in April to provide the main sources of inspiration for her winter training.

As for me...

It's been a funny old year for me, I've knocked out a couple of great Ironman races over the summer in times faster than anything I could have even dreamed of when we first embarked on this wonderful journey. But, I feel surprisingly unfulfilled... and on reflection I don't think that's down to the lack of a Hawaiian plane ticket, rather a sense that in focusing so hard on what (I thought) I'd needed to do to get there I forgot the actual reason why I needed to do it. It's not, for me at least, about a finishing position or qualifying slot, rather the knowledge that I really truly could not have given anything more to being the best I could be. Somewhere over the last 12 months I let that principle fall by the side and in doing 'enough to qualify' not only did I not 'really truly give everything' (don't let the training hours fool you) but I also didn't do 'enough to qualify'... just. Perhaps that slight miscalculation in what it would take to achieve my 'dream' actually allowed me to re-focus on what my dream really truly is. Anyway, that's the subject of another Sunday sometime later this year. Getting back to the point...

I've entered Ironman Lanzarote 2010 with the aim of being the best I can be, and although I'd absolutely love to grab a Kona slot it's not about that. This year it went to 10.03, I'd hate to do 10.02 only for it to go to 10.01 and leave me wondering yet again. Whatever position I finish in in Puerto Del Carmen on May 22nd it will be the absolute best position I could possibly have achieved based on my starting point a week on Monday and the time available to me from then until the race. What will that be? Who knows, but I really believe that I can take a significant step forward this winter. Funnily enough, the only other race between now and then that I really really want to do well in is the Chevin Chase, I've done it for the last few years and it's a truly brilliant event. Seven (ish) miles over just about every terrain and gradient you could imagine provides one of the best tests of fitness around. I've always wanted to go well but coming as it does at the beginning (or end, depending on how you view Boxing Day) of the year I've normally hit the start line rather short of match fitness. My good friend Dave McGuire showed me the way in 2008, taking me down by 3 minutes and 20 seconds, and this year I intend to follow him into the top 20.

Other than that.....?

We're both gonna race more than ever, we love it, it's great training and this year we really missed it. For the rest of 2009 we'll be focusing on running and have already entered the Harewood 10 mile trail race (three weeks today - it's gonna hurt!), Guy Fawkes 10 on November the 1st and the Abbey Dash on November the 22nd. We're also going to run as many parkrun events as possible and enter not one but two winter cross country leagues, one with our running club and one with our tri club. I'll be doing plenty of swim and bike training at the same time and H will be fitting those in where possible. December will mean Chevin Chase and January the Brass Monkey. February is likely to be a big training block before the BallBuster Duathlon in March (probably both of us although H may run Fleet Half marathon the day after instead) and then the Circuit of the Dales (me definitely, H possibly) & London Marathon in April. H is gonna hit London hard, I'm not sure how I'll approach it yet... I've previosuly had mixed results doing it in the build up to Ironman but as I've already said, this year is going to be different. All that leaves is May... Irontime ;)

and then...?

Who knows... loads of plans but we'd only be speculating ;)

For now...?

Apart from the fact it was taken on South Beach, Miami, today's picture sums us up pretty well at the moment. In the last 21 days I've swum for a total of 15 minutes, done around two hours of very easy jogging and not even touched my bike. Perhaps a little more activity would be better for me but I'm an all or nothing kind of guy and in eight days I really truly will be giving it my all. H is doing a little more, not a lot, and will no doubt be giving equal amounts come Monday week.

See you in seven... if the bogeyman doesn't get me tonight that is!

T (& H)

p.s. you might have noticed a list of each of our race results from 2009 appear, you can access these via the link on the right hand side of this page and as time allows I'll be adding 2008, 2007 etc etc.

Tom's Race History

2009-09-08T17:05:00.001+02:00

Click on the event for official website and 'blog' for that week's blog entry...

2009

August 16 Allerthorpe Olympic 2:05:47
(21:25 59:52 44:30) 10th overall blog
August 15 LBT Aquathlon 30:17
(14:30 15:07) 5th overall blog
August 9 VOTWO Swim 1:06:52
24th overall blog
July 12 Ironman Switzerland 9:28:48
(57:58 5:03:00 3:24:41) 108th/1,979 blog
June 28 Otley CC 50 TT 1:58:47
32nd overall blog
June 27 LBT Aquathlon 28:06
(13:44 13:37) 1st overall blog
June 14 Cleveland Olympic 1:59:59
(21:34 1:00:39 35:58) 4th overall blog
May 23 Ironman Lanzarote 10:20:20
(59:39 5:41:00 3:31:24) 93rd/1,138 blog
March 21 Ballbuster Duathlon 2:55:22
(49:51 1:12:11 53:18) 8th overall blog
January 18 Brass Monkey Half Marathon 1:19:35
37th/1280 blog

Helen's Race History

2009-09-08T17:04:00.012+02:00

Click on the event name for official website and 'blog' for that week's blog entry...

2009

September 5 The Vitruvian 4:51:28
(30:41 2:35:18 1:42:05) 5th girl blog
August 16 Allerthorpe Olympic 2:20:41
(23:26 1:07:44 49:31) 5th girl blog
August 15 LBT Aquathlon 31:51
(15:42 15:32) 2nd girl blog
August 9 VOTWO Swim 1:15:42
blog
July 26 LBT Aquathlon 31:23
(14:49 16:oo) 1st girl blog
July 12 Ironman Switzerland 11:15:10
(1:03:58 6:03:06 4:03:23) 59th girl blog
June 28 Otley CC 50 TT 2:20:06
64th blog
June 27 LBT Aquathlon 30:54
(15:05 15:05) 3rd girl blog
June 14 Cleveland Olympic 2:15:35
(22:48 1:09:38 41:13) 2nd girl blog
May 23 Ironman Lanzarote 12:32:28
(1:04:16 6:38:30 4:37:54) 27th girl blog
April 5 Circuit of the Dales TT 2:40:02
1st girl blog
March 21 Ballbuster Duathlon 3:23:33
(56:43 1:26:10 1:00:38) 5th girl blog
January 18 Brass Monkey Half Marathon 1:38:09
blog

Season review... Twitter style...

2009-09-06T19:16:00.004+02:00

With our swim, bike and run season finally coming to an end when H crossed the finish line of yesterday's Vitruvian triathlon (see today's pic and H's blog) I thought I'd put together a 2009 end of season report. With nine months of racing to cover there was a serious danger this could have turned into a 'War and Peace' length epic so to stop me going on I decided to limit myself to 140 characters per calender month.

Are you sitting comfortably...

January - Started with a ten day training camp which nearly broke both of us and finished with the Brass Monkey Half marathon - T 1:19 (pb) and H 1:38

February - Training, training and more training before flying to Lanza on the 1st of March. I did manage to sneak in a shiny new 400m swim pb of 5:33.

March - Our second Lanza camp, a strong bike focus saw us hit nearly 1000 miles between us in seven days. Ball Buster duathlon T 2:55 (pb) H 3:23

April - Kicked off with the Circuit of the Dales... T - DNS! H - 2:40 (MASSIVE pb) then 160 mile mega ride on the 12th and two 100/10 big bricks

May - Started with mega brick - 5 hour ride / 20 mile run and finished with Lanza - T 10:20 (59/5:41/3:31) and H (64/6:38/4:37) - close, no cigar

June - Cleveland Olympic - T 1:59 (pb) & H 2:15 (pb) then 50 mile time trial - T 1:58 (pb) H 2:20 (pb) and I snuck in my first sub 30 Pool Triangle

July - Ironman Switzerland - T 9:28 (57/5:03/3:24) (pb - missed Kona by three minutes) and H 11:15 (63/6:03/4:03) - rest, rest and more rest.

August - VOTWO Swim - T 1:06 & H 1:15 / Allerthorpe Olympic T 2:05 & H 2:20 / Club 10 T 23:53 (2nd) H 25:50 (pb & champ) / H 32:42 at Pool T (pb)

September - Feet well and truly up for me, H finished the season in style at the Vitruvian with 4:51 (30/2:35/1:42) for 4th in cat. Training starts 21st

So there you go, not that many races (no marathons, only one running race and no middle distance races, which are my favourite, for me) but plenty of pbs and more training than you can poke a stick at. The first time that either of us have attempted two Iron distance events in a single season taking our combined total to nine... good reason for me to do Lanza as our number ten and satisfy my OCD. Will there be a number eleven? Watch this space ;)

With less than two hours training in the last two weeks and even less than that scheduled for the next two I find myself firmly in the middle of my month of rest. Despite growing wider by the day (I'm down to my final two pairs of wearable trousers!) I can feel my mojo returning and can't wait to get back on it from the 21st.

I'll pen some thoughts on the above in time for next week's blog.

Finally, don't forget to cheer Alistair and Jonny Brownlee on at next weekend's world triathlon championships from the Gold Coast. They're favourites to win the senior and junior titles respectively and are in great form. I was under the impression that the BBC were covering it but can't find it in the listings, if not then check out triathlon.org for live video via the tinternet.

See you next week,

Tom

The season is done...

2009-09-06T19:06:00.006+02:00

The Vitruvian... 4hrs 51mins 28secs

Pre-race I honestly had no idea what to expect of my body. I've had some great results in our time trials so I knew I was getting stronger on the bike but because they were over such a short distance I wasn't sure how my legs would fare over 51 slightly undulating miles. In fact through the latter part of training for The Vit I struggled to motivate myself to get out on the road and get some decent mileage in. I also had to be strong when Tom 'pulled the pin' on his season early because it meant that I had to motivate myself to not only do the session but to get out of bed early in the morning's and leave Tom snuggled up and sleeping, and that, I can tell you wasn't easy!

Race morning...

Racking the night before meant that race prep was easy. Up at 4am, breakfast at 4.30am, arrived at Rutland water at 5am, perfect. The moon was still out as we drove to the course and when we got there we were greeted with the most beautiful sunrise over Rutland water. Once transition was sorted I met up with Tom and his mum & step-dad Ray, (my ever presents.) Ady and Sarah had come to watch with their kids and our two lovely friends from run club Jaz & Janice had come all of the way from Leeds that morning to watch the day.

7am - The swim 1.9km - 30mins 41 secs

I'm usually a bit of a biff magnet in my open water swims. I just seem to love putting myself in the middle of the melee' so today I took Tom's advice and went as far right on the front as possible. No biff!!! Amazing to actually be able to start swimming instantly and it made a huge difference. We were the last wave to go off so we joined the throng of thrashing arms and legs from the previous waves but somehow I managed to avoid all hassle and swam like I was out there on my own. I managed to find a pair of feet that were swimming just above my pace and as we exited from the first lap and onto the second Tom shouted that I was 10th out of the water. Back out for lap 2 which went without any incident and I had managed to move up a couple of places to 8th.

T1 went remarkable well, I'm usually terrible at getting my socks on over my wet feet but I was calm and before I knew it I was out on the road just behind Jo Carritt who flew off into the distance before I could blink.

The bike - 85km - 2:35:16

Windy but a good course, nice undulations to stop the boredom setting in and great road surfaces, wonderful when I hit the road with the wind behind me. Unfortunately though, it was incredibly busy with traffic which held me & lots of others up. I worked really hard but comfortably on the bike. It took me about 45mins before I started feeling good. Cold legs from the swim, high heart rate from the adrenalin and huge head winds made it all seem a little hard early on. I really got into the swing of it once the sun came out to warm me up and I really enjoyed feeling strong. It's a two lap bike course and just before the end of the first lap I spotted Jo Carritt ahead and pushed passed her. Going back into the race area for the turn around Tom, Yve, Ray, Jaz, Janice, Ady, Sarah and the kids were all going nuts. Spectators are wonderful aren't they! Managing somehow to ride my way into 3rd place I couldn't believe it, and back out I went for the last lap. Armed with a Snickers bar (great race fuel) and a sick enjoyment for the head wind I still felt strong and kept plugging my way through the field knowing that my run was my weakness and that the girls around me were all great runners. Caught again by traffic (a horse box this time) just before the end of the bike section I had a chat with Jo Carritt who had caught me back up. And as we came into T2 together I knew my 4th position (we'd both been overtaken by a faster girl toward the end of lap two) was numbered by only a matter of seconds... she's an awesome runner.

T2 went well and Jo shouted to me to have a good one as she ran out, I followed seconds behind her but certainly not at the same pace!!

The run - 21km - 1:42:05

Oddly when I first came into triathlon the run was always my strength. I'd do okay in the swim, go backwards on the bike and then make up the time on the run. Now however, I'm able to hurt my legs on the bike and Ironman has stolen my running speed so I can plod forever but with no real pace. With Jo Carritt ahead and really no way of catching her... she was gone, gone, gone I was in 5th. The course is an out and back x 2 so you get to see who's ahead of you and by how much and then also who's behind you and by how much. I knew I'd probably manage to run the half marathon in under 8min miles (7:45's) but that some of the girls out there are like whippets. I spent the first half of the lap wondering who and how many were going to pass me. Ten minutes in and I was passed by a girl from Army tri. I had a smile to myself, here we go I thought. I'm amazed though, I held my pace, ran the whole thing incredibly evenly and managed to hold 5th place. Bloody brilliant!

Post race... flapjack, friends and smiles.

What a great way to end the season. It's so nice to finish it off on a high. I actually had a great swim, a great bike and a great run. I'd love to get my run speed up, hopefully over the Winter months that's what I'll do. The Vitruvian is a well run event and I came home with a huge smile. I think that's probably the first time where all three disciplines have come together and shown my ability. I swam no differently yesterday but avoiding all fists and feet meant I could actually swim instead of ducking and diving and so it's great to have a time that matches my expectation off the back of my training. The bike went really well and like I say I felt really strong, I was a minute slower this year than last but the wind was a lot stronger so I've certainly improved my bike strength. My run, well, no surprises with my time, that's exactly what I expected but that's not a negative, I just know where I am and what I'm capable of on the run section.

So, there you have it one perfect race with perfect timing being that it could very well be my last triathlon for a while. I can't wait to become chief Ironman coat holder and supporter for Tom next year :)

I won't go into a deluge of thank youss, you're all amazing and very special for the parts you play in my life and I'd be here forever so here's one HUGE thank you to you all for everything, I know for once the words... "it's been emotional" couldn't sum it up any better!

I've got a two week rest planned and then I'm going to get back into my running, concentrating on finding that pace in my legs, aiming for the London Marathon 2010. Swim and bike I'll maintain on minimal training and see what happens next year before I enter any races.

It's a great feeling to be able to rest without guilt and I can't wait to watch Al & Jonny Brownlee race in the final of the World Champs on Saturday and not long after that the big one in Kona, bring it on. We know so many people racing I can't wait to cheer them on from t'interweb!!

Thanks again for the love,

H. x

P.s I'm way into my 365 pic a day project... and I'm in talks with a charity to hold an exhibition with the aim of selling the images - the profit going to the charity. Exciting and in the pipeline, have you seen one you'd like? They're here or I post them here daily.