Since tri season finished I’ve been pretty focused on the running.  Going out 3 times a week for distances of between 8 and 16K and managing to steadily improve my average speed.

I agreed to enter the Marathon back after Kathryn and Ian did Bath but I didn’t initially sign up as I wanted to be sure my ankle could cope with it.  My target time was initially 2h15 but then I dropped that to 2h05, 2h, 1h55 and then in the week or so before decided that provided I didn’t blow up in the extra distance 1h50 was achievable.

To be honest from training it was suggesting that even 1h45 might be possible but would be a push and require me to maintain 5 minute kilometers for the entire duration of the race.  Chris was more confident in my ability to do it than I was but then at the same time I said he should be aiming between 1h50 and 1h55 whereas he was aiming for 2h.

We got their nice and early thanks to K getting us a great space nearby and moved ourselves up the field to start with people with similar targets.  There were 9000 runners in total all lined up by the City Hall.  The race started and I put in my usual couple of quicker KMs which would be needed if I was to stay anywhere near a 5minute average.  6K in and I was a minute and a half up on a 1h45 schedule and for much of the trip along the barrage had the 1h40 pacemaker in sight.

I felt strong on the slopes there were, often taking several people as soon as we hit any sort of incline – the advantages of training round here!  At around the 8 mile mark I started to feel a pain in my knee which was to get worse as the race went on but being still ahead of schedule I kept going and going and trying to block it out.  K was buzzing around town to try to see us as often as she could (and she did it much better than I did in Bath) and that always helped.  What didn’t help was being run down by Batman, Robin and a giant Champagne Bottle!

Coming into the last kilometre and a bit I knew 1h45 was on but was going to be tight so I digged in and upped the pace reasoning that I could worry about the pain soon enough, as it was as I approached the finishing straight I realised that my Garmin had under measured so when I thought I had another 150m to go I actually didn’t – final time 1h44:09.

Must admit to being over the moon with that time as I did think 1h45 was a little optimistic – Chris also came in not far behind pretty much bang on 1h48.   I knew he could do 1h50 if he pushed it but to beat that by another 2 minutes is good going – I’ll have to watch myself when he sorts out his chesty-coughy-cold-phlegmy-mystery illness.

A great event, course was really good, and my shiny new freebie oakley’s got their racing debut!  Do I want to do another – not just yet.  It’s taken 3 days for my knee to settle down again – seems it was some sort of inflamed ligament.

Not the Darwinian sense this one but a “high-octane urban-based running event with obstacles designed to keep you on your toes” as the organizers put it.  Supposed to be 10K but actually more like 14K the race started and finished at the Millenium Centre via the Millenium Stadium but by way of a pile of hay bales, a construction site, some fire hoses, an army assault course, two trips into the Taff, a Parkour section, up and down steps in the stadium, a wind, rain and heat elements challenge and and 8 foot ball to finish!  There were other bits too but I can’t remember them all.

Chris and I did it as a team and it was great fun, apart from when Chris left me the wrong side of a wall I couldn’t climb and then an 8 minute queue at the penultimate obstacle just due to sheer number of people. I’ll get some pictures up soon.

Sunday 20th September.  Our first anniversary.  It’s cliche to say it but it’s gone so fast.  We went back to Llangoed Hall for the night and had a great meal and stayed overnight.

Thanks all for the cards and gifts.

Meant to post after I did Tuska just never got round to it.  First of all I have to say that my theory that Tuska wasn’t much more than in the Aquathlon were sadly proved wrong.  Swimming in the sea at a time when the tide was dragging me backwards on the first third, the second third had waves trying to roll me over and the final third was straight back at the waves it was so much harder than a nice flat pool.

I’ve never thought about quitting a race part way through before but when less than 200 meters in someone is already rolling over for the rescue boat and it feels like I’m making no progress at all I must admit that I considered it.  At various points it was the cost, the shame and the sheer bloody-mindedness that kept me going.  At one point I told myself that I’d at least finish the swim and then my head woke up to the realization that once I’d done that bit I might as well carry on.

I finally rose from the sea like some sort of startled sea monster and staggered up the slipway and onto terra firma.  My slowest transition ever, and by my standards that is slow, but I was out on the bike and so pleased to be on my way.  I’d reccied the bike route the day before and knew there were very few flat bits on the course and some big old climbs so I tried to keep my energy but was still able to go along at a decent speed.  Being almost last out of the water meant there were very few behind me so I could mainly focus on catching people in front.  Was impressed with myself on the long drag up the A48 as I hauled in several competitors and it was very apparent that the weight I’ve lost training is definitely making a difference.

Finished the bike and onto the run where I hit a good speed early and managed to overtake 7 or 8 people on the way round – my localized hill training paying off here – and in the end I came home in a good (for me) time.

The swim was so hard though and although I’m pleased I got through it it’s made me realize that if I’m going to progress in Tri I need to learn to swim properly or at least better than I currently do.

Or at least that’s what the marshals at the Cardiff International Pool Aquathlon managed to do.  When attempting a daunting, never before done by yourself 500m swim in a wetsuit you’ve never worn before you’d like to think that at least you wouldn’t have to do anymore than planned.

Marshal had other ideas when he called out 3 laps done twice as we went around the large triangular course they’d laid out.  It wasn’t just me but everyone in my wave who was affected.  I managed to do it mind and I guess in theory Tuska is now only a little bit more rather than 50% more.

Got out of the pool and into T1 – is it just T for a aquathlon or duathlon? – and managed to get the wetsuit off easy enough,  Took a while faffing with socks which I wouldn’t have done in a big race an set off on the run aiming at a run time of about 32 minutes.  Problem was I couldn’t settle into a rhythm at a fast enough speed and kept falling off the pace.  Managed to overtake several of the faster swimmers in my wavebut still only came in on 34 minutes.  Not really happy with that and the 32 minute target would have seen me jumping about 8 places in the field.

A good event though and less wary about Tuska’s swim now – although I do need to add a 22K bike in between with some killer hills.  Why do I do it?  To see if I can I guess.

Off to Maindy cycle track in the week for a couple of hours of leg spinning – must try and work on getting my cadence up to something respectable and a track is about the easiest way to do it I guess.

It’s all been going on in the last few weeks.    Been training well and also been doing quite a few different events – started with the Gower Bike Ride on the 5th July which was 29 miles of undulating roads starting and ending in Swansea and taking in a good section of the Gower – wasn’t easy but I did pretty well (Ian beat me though) considering it was the first time I’d even sat on my bike since doing the Duathlon in March.  Weather was lovely for it too but I must admit there was a climb at the end where I had to get off for a 100 yards  as my legs wouldn’t go round any more.

On the 11th July I took part in my first Parkrun -  a free 5KM time trial around Blackweir Park (22:51) a very well organised event and I’m sure I’ll do more.  14th July was the next of the Rose Inn series and Chris pulled out due to his illness so I was doing it solo.   I set the previous Rose Inn race as a virtual partner on my Garmin and effectively raced myself around the course, I was well up on the first lap and kept it going well giving myself a chance at sub 30 minutes.  A big effort in the last 400 metres got me home in 29:49- a time I wouldn’t have thought possible a few months ago.  Shame I’m not going to be able to get the 3rd one done to qualify for the series competition as we’re on holiday but I don’t think I’d have won anyway!

19th July was the Hereford Triathlon – 400M swim (freezing outdoor pool), 16K bike, 5K run.  A nice early drive up there to Chris’ in-laws and a nice ride over to the venue we were due to go off just before 10am.  I started off a minute behind Chris and this lead grew to about 3 minutes after the swim.  I made up a minute on him on the bike and then caught him about half way round the run.  We stayed together from there ending up a minute apart on the final times.

25th July was the Cardiff Triples event held at Maindy Pool/Velodrome.  A crazy event which involves teams of four completing 3 short triathlons one after the other with only 5 minutes break in between each.  Chris, Ian myself and Gareth McNamee (an old friend of Chris’) comprised team Fat Chance and considering that 2 of them had never done a Tri before I think we did pretty well.  In our wave we were among the best on the bike stages  (legal drafting) but let down on the Swim (mainly me) and the Run legs.  Official results show us dead last but our final leg time was wrong and we did 11 laps on one of the cycles so we’re hoping the results get amended (moving us from last to second, but not, last).

That sums up July events but this coming weekend I’m debating doing another Parkrun and am entered in the Cardiff International Pool Aquathlon.  Unique for a pool swim wetsuits are allowed (chance for me to debut mine) and rather than swimming lengths we will be swimming around a triangular shaped course – 5 laps of 100m.  I must admit to being a bit worried but we’ll see how it goes.  The run after is 6.5K around the bay back and forth over the flyover a couple of times and then up and down the river.

All good prep for the upcoming Tuska Triathlon where I’ll have to do a 750m sea swim in Porthcawl followed by a 22K hilly bike ride and then a 5K run.  Going to be a tough one.

Last two event of the season (apart from maybe more free Parkruns) are the Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest event, see the link and watch the video to do it justice, and then the Cardiff Half Marathon.  These are both in October so September looks fairly quiet unless Kathryn decides we should do the Cardiff 10K too.

Between all the sporting activities I’ve been doing Kathryn and I went with Ian, Charlie and Aled to the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford.  It was a good day and considering the bad forecast the weather ended up being pretty good.  So much so K got a bit of a sunburn.  I took plenty of photos and have uplaoded a selection onto our Flickr page.

Ok so the title pun has been done 1000 times before.  Following my eye test I’ve needed to get glasses and today Kathryn and I went into town nice and early to see what we could get.

Turned out Vision Express had a special Oakley day on which meant that, unusually for Oakley glasses, they were available at a discount.

I ended up going for two pairs – one pair of normal spectacles which will be for everyday use and a second pair of sunglasses which also have my prescription in.  They’re the Lance Armstrong Livestrong brand so I think I’ve probably donated some money to charity too – they may even help my cycling!

I’ve got to wait for the sunglasses as Oakley make them up themselves but the normal frames were available on a one hour service so I have them now.  Putting them on was very strange as everything went into a sort of tunnel vision but in the centre of the glasses it was like changing from Standard to Hi-def TV.  I’m trying to keep them on now so I can get used to them.

On Tuesday Chris and I entered this 4 mile race around the village of Redwick.   I’d set myself a target of 33 minutes with 32 minutes being an optimistic bonus and I ended up coming in in 31:27 which was, for me, a great time and about the fastest pace I’ve run any sort of distance in a good while.  Chris and I went round the first of the 2 laps together and then I pushed on for the second lap and finished just under a minute ahead but most of that was probably down to Chris’ ongoing asthma issues.

We missed the first race of the 4 race series but you only need to do 3 of the 4 to get an overall ranking so I’ll try to do that although one of them clashes with cricket.

We’ve actually been doing quite a lot of running recently including some off road, on Friday after work for example we got lost and ran the wrong way a few times before completing a respectable 10.5K in just over an hour.  To aid my running I went along today for a foot assessment (my first since the op) at the excellent Run and Become in Cardiff and after much searching and testing it turns out that my current Asics Gel Cumulus are actually about the best for me even though my two feet are now markedly different.

Must throw in a thanks to Kathryn for driving us both down and supporting and roll on the 14th July when we get to do it all again!

1 careful owner (Kathryn), one slightly less careful owner (Me).  Have a look here.  For those two lazy to click the link this is what Darlows have to say about it.

Offered for sale is this stylish 3 bedroom dormer style semi in Rumney, well presented throughout this property would be ideal for those families looking to upsize, an attractive price completes the package!.