Following on from the slightly stunted performance at Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire last year my big race this year was going to see me return to the scene of The Outlaw albeit in the half distance.  The race sold out in record time (something like 30 seconds) but I was lucky enough to get in as were a number of my clubmates including James and Richard who were there alongside me in 2013 for the big one.

Surely this year I’d get much better training in – the baby is a year older and he can’t be anywhere near the handful this time round. Yeah right.  It sounds like an excuse, and it probably is really, but K got accepted in the London Marathon ballot for this year and after ten years of trying and supporting me through the last few years of training I felt that it was only fair that her training take a priority.  So when time was tight I always made sure K got here sessions in and I ended up picking up bits and pieces here and there.  I had a loose plan outlined where I would focus on cycling in the winter months, on the turbo if required, and having entered the World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff in March I would move into a run focused build before that and then be nicely set for the few months preceding the Outlaw Half.

As it was the bike training barely happened at all and the running wasn’t much better.  I didn’t really start any training until February when I put myself on a TrainerRoad Half Ironman training plan and for 3 weeks I did pretty well – hit every turbo session and added some runs in between.  Then I fell ill and basically had migraines for 2 weeks going into the Cardiff race.  I shouldn’t have run it really as I couldn’t elevate my heart rate without getting the headache back but I did what I could and ran my slowest standalone road based half ever – a handful of seconds under 2 hours.  Then the next weekend on my first bit of exercise post race and 8 weeks out from the Outlaw I badly sprained my ankle and end up in hospital.  I was on crutches for 2 weeks and unable to exercise for another 2.  So I’m 4 weeks out from the race and I get back on the bike – I couldn’t even unclip on the turbo so when I sat on there I had to slide my foot in and out of a shoe. 10 days of short turbo sessions and I manage a couple of slow runs of around 10K.  With a fortnight to go until the race I do my first outdoor cycle since July and that’s 60K with a parkrun in the middle. 2 days later I’m working in Durham for a week in a nice hotel so I get some more running done and on the last day a decent swim in the hotel pool of 1000m.  However, I injured my neck as I haven’t swum in so long and then don’t do anymore training before the race because it’s that sore.  I did get a sport massage a couple of days before which in hindsight was a good idea.

Writing this now makes me feel like a bit of a whinger and perhaps I do need to just MTFU sometimes and get more training done regardless of what is blocking me but hindsight is great isn’t it.

So onto the Outlaw Half – I’ve done this course before, expect to be somewhere around the time I did in Staffs but hopefully sub 7 hours.

Kathryn and Alex are there with me and I’m unusually calm before the race – nothing like as nervous as usual. Perhaps because I was so badly prepared that there was no real pressure on time.  I’m in the first of 4 waves starting at 6:30am, and settle into my usual slow and steady plod through the water.  I’m not at the first turn when the next wave are catching me but I stay wide enough to not be hugely affected.  I’m conscious that I need to hit halfway in under an hour ideally to remove any cut-off pressure so am happy to see that I’m a few seconds under 29 when I hit the 2nd turn – it’s not quite halfway but close enough.  I continue on being passed by swimmers from the next 2 waves but as long as there are a couple of people from my wave around me I’m not that concerned.  I exit the water in 1:01 2 minutes down on 2013 but considering I was swimming 1000s of metres a week then and I had done one swim this time I can’t really complain.  I’m unusually smooth through transition and while not as fast as most much quicker than usual to the extent that I start the bike a minute ahead of 2013.

This opening stage of the bike was the one area of the race where I was disappointed – I couldn’t push any sort of gear early on so ended up spinning a high cadence for the opening 20K or so being overtaken by more people than I’m catching.  Disappointing when you’re as bad a swimmer as I am.  I find the hill at Oxton Bank easy enough and after the first feed station really begin to pick up pace.  It starts on the downhill but I keep the power down on the rollers that follow pushing a heavy gear and finally overtaking a number of people who had previously passed me.  At the 38 mile measured split I’m now 4 minutes down but I’ve lost most of that 5 minutes in the opening 30K. Something to work on in the future.  The last section of the bike is a struggle as my back is aching a bit but I keep pushing as hard as I can and make up more time.  I dismount the bike only a minute down on 2013 and another good transition (albeit I forget to slip my cycle shorts over the tri shorts off) means I actually start the run 4 seconds up. Yup, that close.

I know I don’t have the running volume in my legs so resolve to take it very easy for the first half and keep my HR in check.  This avoids the run walk I ended up doing in 2013 and to my surprise by half way I’m now 90 seconds up.  At this point the wheels fall off and my lack of endurance fitness kicks in, I need to work each aid station, take on more fuel and although I keep going I slip steadily back and ultimately finish 4 minutes down.  The one advantage with not racing the finish was that  I did get to take Alex down the finishing chute and I reckon that cost me up to a minute – I enjoyed it but he seemed somewhat oblivious.

I can’t be unhappy with only being 4 minutes down on my PB with a pathetic amount of training.  Where I can be unhappy is not being able to put together a serious block of training.

As has become tradition my training volume for the year is below.

Running
20 runs totaling 17 hours 34 minutes, 172km distance, 1797m of climb. Longest 21.1km in 2 hours.

Road cycling
1 ride in 3 hours 6 minutes, 60km distance, 182m of climb. Longest 100km in 5 hours.

Turbo
29 turbo sessions totaling 25 hours 42 minutes. Longest 90 minutes.

Swim
1 swim for 35 minutes. 1000m.

My next challenge is a 24 hour cycle track relay race where me and a team of 5 others will ride around Newport Velodrome for 24 hours straight raising money for charity.  What I do want to do is find an iconic event, probably a middle distance again, for my 40th birthday next year – and if I do I will definitely get some training done and I will PB (unless I pick something stupidly hilly).

From a sporting perspective 2014 was mostly a write off for me – in January I got a cold/cough I just couldn’t shake and then ultimately I was diagnosed with Asthma and given 3 different daily medicines.  It took me a long while to get back into training and the highlight of the year in terms of triathlon was managing the run leg of a half distance relay in under two hours.  Somewhere around July last year with a bun firmly ensconced in Kathryn’s oven I was seduced by the idea of an all new Ironman 70.3 event in the UK. Fast and flat they said and in Staffordshire so not that far at all, I reasoned. Lake swim as well, always important to a swimmer of my calibre (ahem).

Baby would be 6 months old by the time the race was due and would of course be unlikely to affect training for a half distance. At least that was my naïve thinking at the time.

Credit card at the ready a few weeks later and the race, and 3000 places sold out in 14 minutes. I was one of them. Heady ideas of putting significant time into my Outlaw Half time saw me sign up for coaching about 8 weeks before the baby due date and I started doing some proper training – swimming, running, cycling and even strength and conditioning work. How could I fail!

December 17^th and suddenly everything went Fresh Prince on me as “my life got flipped-turned upside down” when a little bundle of Alex turned up. My little boy is amazing but he’s really not conducive to great training – hourly feeding, colic and an exhausted pair of parents meant I managed 6 sub one hour training sessions between the birth and April. My coaching was put on hold and then cancelled and the idea of doing the race looked increasingly unlikely.

I’d entered a 100km Sportive on April 6^th and hadn’t ridden outside for almost six months. A number of turbo sessions the week before, including 90 minutes on Good Friday and then straight into the Easter Monday event. It wasn’t pretty. I vowed half way round that I would have a final can of Coke post ride and then that was me for full-fat pop until after Staffs – at least the ride in the 70.3 was going to be flat (I’ll come back to that).

Training didn’t come easily even after that but I did manage a couple of long rides (longest 70km) and a few runs over 10km, (longest 14km). The fact that both those long sessions came on the same day, a fortnight out from the race, was the only thing giving me any real hope. At this point I hadn’t swum since December (and only then up to about 1500m) and hadn’t been in a wetsuit since Summer 2013. In the end I managed one river swim 9 days before the race for all of about 35 minutes. For a 1.9 km an hour swimmer that wasn’t ideal but hey.

So in the final days before the race I’m doing my usual prep and checking out the routes – nice easy swim, nice flat bike with only 900m of climb, run…. Hang on a minute – 900m of climb in 90K? The last I looked 100m of climb per 10km isn’t really flat. I can do a “hilly” local ride and not do much more than that. Wimbleball 70.3, notoriously hilly, is only 200m more. My one recent long ride was pancake flat in comparison, under 200m climb in 70km. I’m so under-prepped it’s untrue – I’m just aiming to beat the swim and bike cut-offs now and letting the run take care of itself.

We’ve decided that the weekend isn’t going to be baby friendly after all so my father comes up with me and the wife and boy stay home to support from afar. We travel up on Friday afternoon, based on-site at Shugborough, and register and that evening I get my bike and T1 bag all ready. I have to take it 20km away to the start and have it racked at 10am the next morning. The weather is very wet, the forecast for the race isn’t much better so I take the pragmatic decision to leave my normal wheels on and leave the race wheels, which I’ve not ridden since Outlaw 2 years ago, in the bag.

Two legends

We arrive at Chasewater – I can barely see the buoys at the far end which doesn’t ease my nerves. 1.2 miles is really a long old swim for someone who hasn’t done any. Post bike check-in and we drive the bike route – it feels lumpy, barely any flat on it and 3 climbs of real note although none of them particularly long. Lots of standing water too. It takes us 2 hours to drive the course and I’m needing to ride it in under 4. I’m not getting any more confident. Did I mention that I’ve also discovered the run has a big old hill in it which needs going up 3 times. I mill around the campsite and race village a bit and notice I’ve got a little bit of a blister coming but nothing significant and I do bump into race favourite and all round tri legend, Javier Gomez, in the car park. I ask for and receive a photo. I’d seen Gordon Ramsay earlier but didn’t bother asking for one from him.

Unusually I sleep a few hours and then race morning and I’m probably not quite as nervous as I usually am. I manage some pre-race oats, an apple bar and a banana. The weather is nice and I don’t even let the fact that I’ve forgotten to put on my number tattoos bother me.

In the water 10 minutes later than planned due to a delayed start, I’m off in the second age group wave in a fetching yellow cap. I’d mentally said to myself that I wanted to round the first buoy in 15 minutes and the second and third in 20 minutes. Giving me 5 minutes to get to the exit and plenty of change. So when the first blue-hatted swimmers from the wave behind start catching me well before the first marker I know I’m in trouble. I feel like I’m swimming OK but clearly not. No way I’m going to get round here in an hour.

I get to the first marker surrounded by fast moving blue heads and glance at my watch expecting it to confirm my worst fears. Through foggy goggles I can just make out the numbers. 13:58. So I’m ahead of schedule and I work out that they must have started the wave behind off early. I relax into the swim and although I’m being swum over a bit I keep going and round the second marker in 33:58. That’s ideal, bang on the 20 minute target. Third leg goes a little awry as I find it difficult to see the final buoy and I find the majority of swimmers 50m or so to my left around half way down the stretch. I have to make a bit of a detour and notice I’m now 2 minutes down on schedule but nothing to worry about. I kick my legs from here to try to avoid the dizziness and jelly legs I normally get and it seems to do the trick. There’s a decent run from the water to the tent which I negotiate Ok and I’m steady through T1 in ten minutes (including a trip to the portaloo) and out to my bike. Unsurprisingly the area around my bike is deserted so it’s not hard to find my steed. I hit go on the Garmin 800 and am off.

Total swim time was 1 hour 1 minute and considering the lack of training only 2 minutes off a PB. I later find out I was 302^nd of 303 in my wave in the swim. 304 if you count the guy who didn’t make the cut-off!

The start is full of speed bumps and there’s a huge amount of lost bottles littering the road. I keep it in the small ring and just coast out onto the proper roads making sure my legs and head are both in the game.

There’s a hill about 5km in that needs some respect so I decide to take it easy until there but when I arrive it’s actually not that bad at all and I pass more bikes than pass me. The roads from there were much easier than in the car the previous day and I make swift progress until I slip my chain. Doesn’t take long to fix but I resolve to keep my bike in the big chain ring if at all possible for the whole ride. Once through the first 15km the roads are really nice to ride on and while my HR monitor tells me I’m riding sensibly enough I’m going faster than I would have expected. I stay out of any packs but large numbers of them come past, sometimes a dozen or more bikes in size. I feed sensibly and often taking plenty of fluids on board and the 30km mark comes up in 1 hour and 10 minutes.

The next third of the ride demonstrated that some people went off too quickly as I start to pass riders who passed me early on and while the lead women went passed me like I was stationary I was happy enough with my progress. The roads were undulating but happily the climbs I’d driven up the day before came and went with no real problem – they were more rolling than hilly. 60km done and 2 hours 20 minutes. I’m consistent if nothing else.

If the first two thirds were the scenery the last third has the iconic bits of the ride – the drop down to the Litchfield Reservoir before riding across it is impressive as is the views as you swing by the power station. At around 75km or so you enter Cannock Chase and head uphill for the longest climb of the day but it’s nothing too strenuous and it’s here I see the only motorbike referee I saw all day. We were going uphill at the time so he didn’t pay us much attention and by then the likes of Gomez are almost finished so I doubt they were overly concerned about this end of the field.

On this section I pass a few people from my wave and a few more on the final run back to Shugborough. 90km comes up in 3 hours 30 so I’ve paced it really well and I think my decent final split throws a few people tracking me who expected the time to drop off like it had with most ahead of me. In the end I overtook 7 people from my wave on the bike – not spectacular but ok. The overall clock is reading 4:47 as I put my bike onto the rack and head into the changing tent for the second time.

A few more bags around by mine in T2 than T1 shows I’ve picked up some places and I’m quite quick by my standards and off and running in 5 minutes. I’ve promised myself a sip of coke as soon as I hit a feed station and running the numbers through my head I set myself a goal of sub 7 in total. I’ll have to do the run in 2 hours 8 which is faster than I did at Outlaw Half but doable I reckon based on training runs.

Hands up if you’ve finished!

I resolve to run the whole lap apart from walking the aid stations and this works well as I do the first lap in a solid 40 minutes. The crowds on the course at Shugborough and in the village at Little Haywood are really loud and supportive. Two more laps like the first would do nicely but blisters on my toes are making themselves known and I realise that I’m going to probably have to walk some of the long hill. I end up walking the middle section and also a bit of the second hill as I bump into a fellow NEWT. We both discuss how our sub 7 hopes are probably disappearing but he urges me to push on. Second lap takes 46 minutes and it’s just a case now of running as much as I can manage. The hill on the third time is painful on my blisters and it’s frustrating that it’s those stopping me from running more than fatigue – in hindsight perhaps I should have just run through the pain but I could have done more damage in the vague pursuit of a target that had already passed me by. I continue to the finish and miss the fact that my run time at Outlaw Half has slipped by, enter the finishing chute with a number of others and try to savour the moment. I probably didn’t have any right to finish with the training I’ve done but here I am. Dad sees me cross the line and I’ve since found out that Kathryn and the family were watching the finish line camera as I completed. I managed to overtake another 13 from my wave during the run but if I’m honest I only noticed a few of them.

Post race food looks good but I can’t face it as usual, pick up my T-shirt and head outside where I see some of my other club mates finish the race. I have a shower back at the campsite and blisters apart my legs feel fine – I clearly didn’t give all I had and that frustrates me a little. Could I have gone faster on the bike or did I just leave it on the run course?

Don’t know – what I do know is I’ve really enjoyed the race – the bike course was excellent, and I’d say ideal for me, not out and out flat, no big hills but a very fair challenge. The run course could have done without the big hill in my opinion and had the rain come down some of the course might have been carnage on some of the sections with 5000 feet running over it multiple times. The split transition isn’t ideal but I can understand why they implemented it.  Should give a shout out to the marshalls and volunteers – top notch and the support was also very good.

A race I’d probably do again – maybe not next year but in the future. I’ve definitely caught the brand bug though and would love to do a European 70.3 in the future as long as it ticked my boxes (lake swim, wetsuit guaranteed and somewhere where we could have a family holiday around it).

Some final stats of all my training since Alex was born in December.

Running
12 runs totalling 9 hours 40 minutes, 107km distance, 612m of climb. Longest 14km in 80 minutes.

Road cycling
4 rides totalling 12 hours 9 minutes, 240km distance, 1766m of climb. Longest 100km in 5 hours.

Turbo
16 turbo sessions totalling 13 hours 46 minutes. Longest 90 minutes.

Swim
1 swim for 35 minutes. Distance unknown as it was in a river.

I do not recommend any 70.3 first timers follow the above training plan. It’s clearly not enough really, although if nothing else it shows that I’ve maintained at least a bit of fitness despite very sporadic training and racing in the last 18 months.

I sit down to write this report around 36 hours after the 2013 Outlaw Triathlon shut out the lights in the finishing chute and everyone went home.  I’m struggling to type as my hands, especially my right one is still numb but more on that later.

I’ll start my story on the day the final race pack was published and found the time cut off for the swim had been adjusted – no longer would I have 2h15 to be on my bike but there would actually be an enforced cut off at 2hours out of the water.  Easy for most but being a very lacking swimmer all my swim training has been geared to building up the endurance to swim for 2 hours and suddenly a minor tweak had suddenly cranked up the pressure.

My last few weeks of training had been OK but I’d missed a couple of sessions convinced that I was coming down with something that thankfully never happened.  I’m told this is quite normal behaviour and I’m no more neurotic than the next long distance triathlete approaching a taper.  Earlier in the week a bit of a sniff moved further down my list of worries when the stream of heat wave forecasts started coming in.  It was going to be around 30°C and I never race well in warm conditions – I’d never swam in warm conditions either so had no idea how that would work.

I’d always planned on doing my race packing well in advance but kept finding excuses to putting it off so didn’t really do any until the Thursday and then on the Friday sat watching TV coverage of last year’s event while packing everything up.  Not sure if that was wise as it looked both daunting and inspiring.

We set off for Nottingham around 2:30 on the Friday evening and had a nice relaxed evening and once again I was able to get a good 8 hours of sleep in.  I’d written off being able to sleep before the race so had been advised to bank as much sleep as possible in the build-up.

Saturday morning and we headed to Holme Pierrepoint and I was registered in no time at all.  A daunting pile of bags and bits in hand and the wrist band firmly secured I found a piece of floor in the centre and watched the Lions game – a great atmosphere in the room among other likeminded triathletes.  The inevitable temperatures were the main topic of conversation with seasoned athletes suggesting it would be the hardest ever Outlaw and on par with some of the recognised hot weather races.

Test series wrapped up we went into the briefing where race director Andy started by emphasizing the importance of the swim cut off and I felt the colour drain from my face – he spoke for another hour but I’m not sure how much went in.  I went up to him afterwards and explained my fears – he asked a few questions and said that they’d probably be fine with anyone doing 2h5 but much more and they’d have to have a serious look at you and get you through T1 sharpish.  I felt a bit better now and speaking to the NEWT guys (Richie, James and Simon) they were great at helping me calm down a bit.

Time was going on by this stage and I went to fetch my bike finding I was missing a bar end cap – no sign in the boot – but K popped along to the expo area where they were doing bike maintenance and managed to blag one.  Finally bags were sorted, bike ready and I headed down to transition but at the last minute K suggested I follow my coach’s advice and go for a short spin.  I was reluctant but did it anyway and it was a good job I did – my front derailleur just wouldn’t shift at all. I poked and prodded but no joy.  I decided to bite the bullet and give the TFN maintenance guys 20 quid to sort it out.  Had to leave the bike with them and I was amazed to find them re-cabling the front gear workings when I returned – apparently the cable had completely seized in amongst the internal routing – the heat was causing all sorts of mechanical issues by all accounts.  By this point I’m not sure how much more stress I can cope with so quickly hung my bags, racked my bike and headed back to the hotel.

I eat a bowl of pasta and garlic bread, get my swimming kit together and put my head down for the night.  I don’t sleep but I’d planned for that so tried to stay relaxed but worries about the swim cut off keep resurfacing and getting me worked up.

Alarm goes off at 03:30 and the toughest sporting day of my life is about to commence. An instant porridge pot is forced down and then at the venue I eat a banana and keep sipping at a drink.  I’m putting my nutrition on the bike realising I’ve forgotten to put any liquid in my drinks bottle so again K pops off to sort that out. Final touches done to the race bags and I’m into my wetsuit.  Walking to the water I pass the race director and do give real consideration to handing him my chip and calling it off.  At this point, just as I needed it, the NEWT guys saw me and I went with them to the start.

Despite his ambitions at the front James was especially helpful and pretty much put me in the water.  It felt warm and actually pleasant and I lay on my back and took a few deep breaths.  My mantra for the swim has always been “just keep swimming, just keep swimming” and that’s what I needed to do.  I’d never done more than 1.9K in OW and never race distance in the pool.

The race starts and I’m off and going, I see K walking alongside on the bank and I find that helpful.  I glance at my watch halfway down the lake and I’m well ahead of schedule and feeling good and hit the turnaround in 55 minutes.  Suddenly all my fears of the cut-off disappear and I know I’m in control.  My only niggling doubt is that any swim in the pool of more than an hour and a half has caused me to hit the wall but then I’ve never fuelled well before an early morning swim before and I stay strong.  I slow a bit but finish in a comfortable 1h55.

I take it easy through T1 to clear my head a bit – I always feel a little dizzy exiting the water – and can hear a swimmer being let through in 2h07 and wonder what I was worried about. I’m out to my bike and set off around the perimeter of the lake. Disaster strikes.  I’ve forgotten my HR monitor.  All my training done to HR, this weather making pacing critical, and I’ve not put my damn monitor on.

I ask myself any number of questions as I ride the lap and in the end jump off my bike at the end and ask very nicely if I can pop back into transition to fetch it.  I have to run a fair way but luckily I put my hand on my bag fairly quickly and I’m then back out onto my bike.  So if my pretty poor 12 minute T1 wasn’t bad enough you can add another 6 minutes for my rather unique T1b.  So unsurprisingly I’m now in last place of the entire field and all my good work in the swim is undone.

I ride well to start knowing that I’m going to be much later than expected into the first time check at 16miles and I don’t want people following the tracking to panic.  I ride to 35KM before I see another soul but at least then overtake some people and feel I’m making some progress.  I come towards the end of the first Southern loop and the leaders are coming back after their trip around the North loop.  This is going to be a long day but I see James pass so know he’s going well and then see K on the side of the road.  The support around the course is generally good but at Car Colston it’s pretty special as hundreds of people line the road. Sadly most of them are facing the other way as I ride through clearly watching the leaders.  I complete the Southern loop in 1h52 (27kph) and then head onto the lumpier northern loop.  This is fairly uneventful most of the way round as I take it easy up the one real climb on the course and for the only time on the course follow a group of 2 for a while.  A draft buster pulled alongside and I blurted out “surely that’s OK!?” and he laughed and asked if I had enough water and reminded me to keep drinking.  He shot off down the road and I looked forlornly down at my Garmin wishing my bike would go that fast.  Bored of being sat in a line I pulled out, sped off and continued on.

Approaching the one busy roundabout on the course I went to follow a caravan around and he braked at the last minute and I had to stop in a hurry to avoid ploughing into the back of it.  That would have been a tough DNF to explain.  North loop finished in 2h18 (23.5kph) and I’m aware than both my hands are really starting to cramp.  I’ve been on top of my nutrition and drinking plenty so I guess I’ve just been gripping my bars too tightly – it’s never happened before but it’s not getting any better.

I get to the penultimate feed station and the last of the bike timing mats and decide to take a short stop.  The Pirates on this station are great and they get me plenty of water swapping bottles for me like an F1 pit crew – I try to mix a gel into the drink and realise my hands have seized so they even do that for me.

I think this is the point where something in my mind changes and the day becomes all about survival.  I can no longer shift my gears up and I’m riding mostly one handed holding my more painful right hand as if in a sling.  The heat is up to 32°C and I’m beginning to suffer.  My speed is dropping below 20kph far more times than I want it to and my average speed is falling.  I’m now aware of the 8 hour cut off and cursing my 25 minutes of my split transition – should I puncture now with my hands how they are its game over.

I plough on and curse the people at the last food station for going home early – I prepare my rant to staff in T2 and continue on passing some people who are off their bikes and sat on the side.  Didn’t I feel silly when I rounded a corner and saw the feed station – I’d miscounted my miles to kilometres and put them in a different position?  I put a half drunken bottle of water over my head, they provided a new one and I necked most of a bottle of High5. 12 miles to go and I can get off this bike.

Southern loop 2 completed in 2h07 (23.5 again) which showed I was still slowing in real terms. There are a few lumps on the last section and to change gear I had to use the opposite hand to pull my levers – these gearing issues meant I spent large chunks in the wrong gear often pushing harder gears than I would normally do and slowing my cadence.  I had concerns as to how that was going to affect me when I started the run.

Navigating the bumpy section at the end of the bike very conservatively I finally entered T2 after a 7h35 bike split.  Taking away the 6 minutes around where my pre-race worst case bike split would be.

If I thought my hands gave me trouble on the bike I wasn’t prepared for how bad they actually were.  I took 20 minutes in T2!!!  I couldn’t get anything done properly and I think at least 10 minutes of the time were me trying to get socks off and new ones and compression guards on.  I had to get a fellow competitor to pull my top down as I couldn’t do it myself.

I set out thinking I’d aim for a strategy of 3 minutes running 30 seconds walking but this soon became 2/30, 1/30 and steadily worse.  For those that don’t know the run course is basically 2 laps of the lake (~3 miles each), a 7 mile section into Nottingham, another lake lap, Nottingham again and then one last lap.  It was this structure that prevented me from stopping there and then.  At 2 miles in I was all set to call it a day and having run-walked a lap my right calf was in spasm every time I ran and then couldn’t walk.   Continuing my walking full time now I realised I could walk fast enough to meet the necessary 10 minutes per KM I needed to beat the 11pm cut off. I told myself if I could do the next lake lap without too much pain I’d head out into Nottingham.

Many people were finishing at this point but nearly all were walking and once off and going I made peace with my approach and just got on with it.  I saw K and explained it was going to be a late night.  I can walk quickly when required and so was able to continually do 9 minute KM giving myself a decent buffer and it was helped by the regular feed stations.  By half way several cups of salty drinks had eased the cramp right off and I do think I could have run some of the remainder but having long since blown any chance of a decent time I decided to play the conservative approach and just ensure I finished.  I came around my penultimate lake lap with people looking to beat 14 hours but very few of them could muster the jog needed to ensure it – the temperature just hadn’t dropped and around the lake humidity was incredibly high.  Out to Nottingham for the final time and I passed a sequence of people pretty quickly and then when I caught the front person of that sequence I started to chat to him and we basically walked together for around an hour.  Slightly slower than I’d been going but I was fine for the cut off time and the distraction was welcome.  Last 7 or so kilometres I set off again and saw K who had been getting messages all evening and then caught a couple more people around the lake as darkness took over.  With a mile left Richie pulled alongside on his bike and kept me going and with about 400m to go I started to jog before getting the full on after-dark finishers chute experience with the remain crowd in the chute giving out high-fives including K and Phil (James and Richie’s dad).  I leapt over the line nearly taking the tape with me before being dragged back to the line by commentator where the whole crowd shouted the words I’d been working 16h38 minutes for – “David Manley. You are an Outlaw!”

It was late, everyone was tired and frankly with a 150 mile drive ahead of them I couldn’t believe that the NEWT brigade had stayed to see me finish.

I could have done without having to lug my kit bags and bike from transition and in my weary state my 3 kit bags ended up being left behind on the side of the road but thankfully by the time I worked this out in the morning someone had handed them in to reception. A lucky escape.  The marshalls and people at the feed stations were amazing – continuous energy and banter helping keep me going.  Always quick to provide what was needed and just fantastic all round really.

I sit here now relieved that I got through it and proud of the achievement but frustrated that my weakness in hot conditions basically cost me any chance of a decent performance.  I’m never going to be super-fast but should be capable of something in the 14-15 hour mark but I said I’d be a one and done and as it stands see no reason to change that opinion.

My neck is cut from chafing on the swim, I’ve lost a toe nail and have half a dozen blisters, my hip is in bits from the speed walking and I’m still mentally exhausted.  Simon texted me yesterday saying it’ll take me 1 to 4 month before I sign up for another iron distance but I just don’t see it happening.  If I was to ever consider it again it’d be when I can swim properly, average high 20s on the bike and perhaps most importantly sort my diet out to one more conducive of an athlete training 6 or more times a week.  If one thing really held me back it was picking up infections on the back of every big training block.

It’s been a big commitment and K has been awesome all the way through, Marcus my coach has been great although I suspect I’ve frustrated him a lot more than he lets on.  I’ve had loads of backing from family and friends, work colleagues, more recently the people of NEWT, my twitter buddies – I won’t name individuals but you know who you are.  I could have given up after that first wander round the lake but it was not wanting to let everyone down that kept me going.

“Just keep walking. Just keep walking.”

Just over a week ago I replied to an email from Tredz bikes as part of a competition to win a place in the Carten100 bike ride. For those who don’t know and too lazy to click the link this is a 100 mile bike ride from Cardiff to Tenby. That’s quite a long way.

I didn’t think much of it, after all what were the odds on winning, and then when Palace clinched a place in the play-offs I booked a ticket for the home leg without a second thought to the competition. Then a few days before the ride I got an email saying I’d won (gulp) by which point there were a number of things against me.

1. I wasn’t getting back from London until about 2am the night before a 7:30 start.
2. My bike was still in for repair and I’d again have to prep my turbo bike – by this point safely back on the trainer
3. The weather forecast was grim, the worst of it being a 25mph headwind most of the day the whole way
4. 100 miles had been extended to 106 following police advice

I rushed home from work on the Friday and spent some time swapping bike cassettes again regretting doing it up so tight a few days before – was not being able to remove that really a viable excuse? Not really but I must admit my heart sank a little when the wrench finally moved. An hour later I was in the car to London, thankfully in the passenger seat and over 4 hours, a 0-0 draw later I’d decided that I probably couldn’t do the ride. Crossing the Severn Bridge at about 1am I’d pretty much written it off and although K had got all my kit and nutrition ready I climbed into bed, decided I wasn’t doing it and didn’t set an alarm.

This decision meant I slept well but woke up just before 6. I sat awake for 15 minutes when I realised that I’d regret passing up the opportunity and proceeded to get myself ready. Kit ready, nutrition sorted I got in the car and while K drove I downed a can of Red Bull and a banana. Arriving at the Cardiff City Stadium start location riders were already leaving and I joined the queue. I spoke to Peter, the organiser of the event, and he handed my my race number and bike jersey and shortly after I was ready to go. One of the last to leave I reasoned that would mean I’d have groups to pick up all the way to the first stop at Margam where a proper breakfast would be provided.

I said to myself that if nothing else I’d won a free jersey but inside knew fully that I’d be far too stubborn not to go the whole way unless it was physically impossible. Mentally I told myself to break the trip up into 3 separate legs of 30 miles and then do the short bit to Tenby to finish. Easy…..

I quickly left behind the group I departed with as we went up Cowbridge Road but found I kept getting caught at red lights just as the group ahead moved through. The first climb on the A48 I span my way past a few riders, some of who were pushing already. Couldn’t help but feel it was going to be a long day for those riders but massive respect to them if they finished.

Along the undulating A48 before passing my office in Bridgend when the first of the rain started and on through Pyle and then Margam. Closing on the back of a group as we crossed over the M4 I think I missed the start of the sprint as the riders ahead suddenly surged away. obviously they’d picked up the scent of sizzling bacon at the first stop. Here the Express Cafe served up one of the nicest sausage baps I’ve ever eaten and having been stopped for about 30 minutes I set off looking forward to passing the half way point and getting onto the part of the ride on roads I don’t actually know. I often find it easier to ride on new roads as looking around makes the time go quicker.

Navigating through Port Talbot was a bit tricky due to traffic and lights so a mini peleton of about 30 bikes formed but once onto the bypass we were away and I once more left the group behind. It was shortly after as we crossed at Briton Ferry that the wind really started to take effect and then for the first and only time on the ride I gave up my triathlon instincts and joined a line of bikes to get some protection from the wind. I probably stayed in that group for 5 or so miles before it broke up in traffic through Swansea and we joined the Clyne Gardens cycle track which due to the tree lined nature offered a nice respite from the ever increasing breeze but when we crossed into Llanelli the toughest part of the ride was about to begin.

Progress was tough here and I found myself working my way past many small groups working hard to shield themselves from the wind but when we went onto the undulating coastal path, normally a very pleasant riding experience, the elements really did make life difficult. Sections of the path were covered in sand which was both slippery and energy sapping and there was sand battering your face as well as the wind slowing progress to a crawl. Going uphill was actually easier than the flat with the hills themselves shielding the wind. Having navigated through this area the next break couldn’t come soon enough and the Ship Aground pub was a welcome sight for the next official stop at around 62 miles. Drinking a can of coke and using the facilities I must admit I didn’t rush to get back out there but when I did I felt newly invigorated and confident I had the remaining 44 miles left in my legs.

The first decent climb in a while took as past Kidwelly before descending into Carmarthen where riders would get to experience the new longer route. Leaving the A40 at Johnstown to follow the NCR4 path up a very steep hill where numerous riders were pushing I soon found myself in my own spring classic as I rode on some bumpy roads with no sign of anyone in front or behind and it stayed that way for most of the new route until my conservative descending allowed a few people to catch up as I joined the back of a lead group. I took advantage of a short break at a service station on the A40 just outside St Clears leaving myself with two lots of around 20K to the finish. Once more leaving the A40 we picked up the new route to Tavernspite and the final stop but it was clear that many riders didn’t fancy the new route and continued on the A40, I learnt later that many more did the same at Carmarthen doing significantly less distance than the majority.

I’ll take this moment to have a short rant – I understand conditions were tough, and the route was changed at short notice but when you’re in an organised event, carrying a number and wearing the colours of that event you should abide by the rules. The organisers were clear that the two diversions were in place on police advice and I would hate to think that the event could be in jeopardy because some selfish riders didn’t fancy doing the full ride. Also I should add that the number of idiots I witnessed running red lights made my blood boil – one accident would be enough to ruin the event. If you lose your group another will be along shortly. Rant over.

There was a long drag to the final stop and when a Cardiff Tri member went past me on aerobars it was quite satisfying to reel him back in nearer the top of the climb. A glass of lemonade later it was time to finish this thing and knowing there would be far more down than up was a great feeling. I did the final 20K in 50 minutes and the adrenaline rush was palpable turning onto the A478 and seeing a “Tenby 5 miles” sign. Knowing this stretch well I was aware that this was still an undulating road but I worked hard on the uphills and for the first time in a while rode the downhills rather than free-wheeling. It was nice to have small groups cheering during the whole ride but as they do with Ironman Wales the locals of Tenby and New Hedges really get behind these events and it was great to be cheered towards the finish especially when entering the town square and under the finish line.

K was there to meet me right at the finish and while I was out on the road had booked us into a B&B and reserved us a table in the popular Blue Ball restaurant. Not having to head straight home was something of a relief. I didn’t wear my finishers shirt to the meal but the weary look in my eyes and the band on my wrist ensured that everyone knew I was one of that hardy band of men (and women) who had left Cardiff early that morning. Walking around Tenby afterwards it wasn’t hard to identify your fellow Carteners and while no words needed to be exchanged the mutual respect was told in a single knowing nod of the head. Anyone who’s done the Carten has to be given a lot of credit, those who did Carten 2013 have earned just a little bit more.

I can confidently say that 112 miles in Nottingham in 8 weeks time will not be any tougher.

My coach had decided that I should do a couple of local sportives if they fitted around my plan to get some practice at having an organised ride with fuelling stops.  So I entered two, Sarn Helen Sportif and between the two Outlaws an Evans Cycles Cotswold ride.

In the week leading up to my ride Bike Science contacted me and ultimately, my AiR frame, which has had an issue with the rivets in the braze-on dérailleur hanger where the rivet had popped, needed to go back to Boardman and I was asked to avoid riding it.  They’d tried a repair on it but ultimately the rivet wasn’t holding and the flex was causing too many issues with the dérailleur making it impossible to avoid chain rub at the high and low gear extremities.  I say high, this was purely theoretical as I rarely get there in a ride!!!  So the bike has been stripped down and sent back to Boardman under the frame warranty.  So far no complaints with the service, I’m just hoping it gets turned around quickly.

Biggest snag was that having entered the sportive already I faced having to do it on my turbo bike which hasn’t been removed from the trainer in 9 months since I got the AiR.  So Saturday morning, after my long run (reverse of last weeks 17K done 4 minutes quicker – fresh legs make a world of difference) I set about seeing how race ready the bike was.  First job was getting it off the trainer which seemed to have seized but once that was done I set about the bike itself.  Gears seemed fine but the main job was moving the 8 speed cassette from the turbo wheel onto my normal riding wheels – either way I had the change the cassette or the tyre and I’d rather use the wheel I normal use.

First problem then was the rear hanger wasn’t pulling back and so when free wheeling in low gears there was no tension on the chain and it would fall off, that problem solved the rear brake was jamming (not been used in a while) but again resolved easily enough.  Ultimately it came down to me not really having any excuse so on Saturday afternoon after watching Palace clinch a play-off place we set off the the in-laws who live 2 miles from the event start.

This was going to be a slightly shorter ride than my longest but with comfortably the most climbing and I set off taking it fairly easy having no real knowledge of the big climbs on the route.  The ride heads up along the Neath valley before the first climb along the Sarn Helen road towards the “Devil’s Elbow” – this was pretty tough but more that it was relentless than any really steep sections.  A quick water stop at the top and I went over the other side.  The Elbow itself is the tough climb but we were going down it and my usual nervous descending skills came to the fore.  A group were following me but seemed happy to stay there but two people came by us all doing what must have been 70kph on a narrow bumpy surface.  Rather them than me.

Sarn Helen 80 – plus some for luck!

Shortly afterwards I managed a wrong turning near Sennybridge and ended up doing 3 miles uphill before realising my error – I turned around and back tracked to the proper location – picking up the road I was supposed to be on further along felt like cheating. I’d managed to do 6 miles extra and lost myself 28 minutes.  Looking at the results that time alone actually cost me 20 places and I would have been top third.

Back on the right route we faced a head wind all the way to Llandovery, on what should have been the easy section of the ride, so much so that on a long descent it felt like riding into a wall and I was barely able to creep over 32kph.  Brief stop to Llandovery and we set up towards the Black Mountain.  My legs were already tired at this point and I ended up following a couple from Celtic Tri for 30 minutes or so (always at a tri legal distance I might add) before going past them as soon as the slopes started.  I quickly found myself in the easiest gear (one advantage of the triple I suppose) and made my way slowly up but with the cadence barely hovering around 60.  Not knowing the road well (I think I’ve driven it once many moons ago) I just didn’t know where the top was and every time you’d hit a switchback you’d realise there was another tier above.  Got up there eventually to find an abandoned drink station with just some large drink containers and so rolled over and down.  The descent was nice enough but as usual I’m never going to make up the time some daredevil riders might.

Home straight now and we rode down the Swansea valley before a final climb up and over Neath and back to Skewen.  Two miles from the finish I lost a cap from my tool bottle holder and stopped to retrieve it – tired legs cause me to unclip a fraction late and I fell in the road banging my elbow.  Pride hurt more than anything and the following car, who was thankfully a fair way back, seemed pretty confused by what had happened.

A decent event, lacking in a few marshalls, but the usual camaraderie was there even if I did spend large sections without seeing another cyclist.  With my wrong turning I ended up beating my longest ride PB, albeit at a much lower average speed, but I did take my climbing PB from 944m to 1639m which I make over a mile up.  No wonder it hurt – I guess that makes it more climbing for the distance than IM Wales?

Well 68 days now actually.

I’ve just finished a sustained 3 week block of training culminating in my longest training session yet on the weekend.

Starting with the week in Mallorca and then 2 weeks of increased planned training I’ve done some good numbers in this period.

• 29 activities in 21 days.
• 73K run in 7 hours.
• 492K cycled in just under 20.5 hours, 125K of that on a turbo
• 11000m swum in about 5 hours
• You can add 2 vets matches to that total – also, we won the league with a 100% record. Yay.
• Weight hovering at a couple of lbs above 13 stone.
• 28 Strava PRs in the month

I was supposed to do a four hour ride last weekend but a disaster with a popped rivet less than half way in put paid to that so this weekend it was with some trepidation I looked at a 5 hour ride with a 1 hour run off.  I misread my plan on Thursday and missed a second session on the turbo which irritated me a little but I must admit my body enjoyed the 2 day break from running and cycling.

Chepstow/Monmouth/Usk 80 mile route

I set off riding up through Chepstow and Tintern feeling really good on the climbs – there’s some decent elevation there but I didn’t feel stressed by them at all.  Making sure to fuel regularly – combination of ISOgels, Nectar drink and some solid food (a mcvities apple bar and a flapjack) – I never felt that I was fatiguing and was back into Caerleon almost 30 minutes up on my conservative schedule.  I road some windy laps of the flats at the end to make up the required time and beat my longest EVER ride by 50KM and set a new PB for climbing in a ride too.  The Cap Formentor ride from a couple of weeks ago had been the previous record holder – albeit that almost as much climbing in less than half the distance.  The discrepancy in ride time to actual time above was down to a mechanical adjustment 2K in but after that I rode straight through – the only short stop being due to sheep in the road. Those from Wales will sympathize.

The ride finished and I was straight onto the run (T2 time of 8 minutes including a trip to the loo) and I was surprisingly comfortable turning in sub 6 minute kilometres for 58 minutes.  Tired afterwards but very pleased.  Sunday morning was 1h45 run in which I covered a fairly lumpy 17KM with a few walks but nothing of more than 20 seconds and usually less.  This weekend has given me a lot of confidence and I’m going to enjoy this recovery week which will come to a crashing halt when I do the “Sarn Helen Sportif” next Sunday.  That’s about the same distance and Saturday but includes a couple of bigger lumps.

After buying my new bike in June I was aware that the worst component on the bike, other than the fatso on top obviously, was the wheels.  It was for this reason that I kept my old Kinetic One wheels rather than the Mavic’s the bike normally comes with.  I’d done some casual research into other wheels including some very expensive models and chinese carbon varieties.

I’d determined a few things from this

• good, branded wheels were too expensive
• I didn’t trust the Chinese ones to hold up me and my bike
• I was probably fine with the ones I had

Wheel upgrades were long forgotten until K suggested them as an option as a Christmas present and it was around this time that I’d remembered FLO Cycling were about to opening their third pre-order window so I did some more reading.  FLO have a very interesting startup story that would treble the length of this blog post so if you’re interested take a read here.

FLO wheels met a few of my criteria in that they were affordable (FLO sell direct to the customer to keep prices down), the performance figures are up there with much more expensive wheels and they look great.  One of the other key things I knew I wanted in my wheels were that they were clinchers and offered an aluminium braking track – I’ve had a few moments on my bike and didn’t want to sacrifice braking performance that I didn’t need to by switching to carbon brakes.  Plus it means that swapping wheels out is much quicker as I don’t need to swap brake blocks too.

Decision to go with FLO done there was only one decision left to make, 60/60 or 60/90.  I deliberated and changed my mind repeatedly in the 4 days until the preorder opened and on the day was on the site with many other people as ordering opened.  Site went into meltdown but my order for a 60/60 combo was complete while many posters on the FLO Cycling facebook page suggested that they weren’t being quite as lucky – I know FLO were doing everything they could to ensure everyone got their wheels and I think it was mostly all sorted and they’ve promised a more robust mechanism come pre order 4.

The day after completing my order I second guessed myself again and sent an email to the guys at FLO – who incidentally seem to reply very quickly – and after taking my circumstances into account they recommended I change my rear to a 90. So I did and then kept my fingers crossed they’d make it by Christmas.

Ultimately things were to conspire against me, a strike at the port in LA meant my wheels were late leaving the States and then they arrived and were taken in by Customs on Christmas Eve.  I checked the tracking info daily and eventually they were released with charges to be paid just after new year.

For Christmas I’d asked for a couple of necessary presents to complete the wheels, namely a new Ultegra 6700 cassette and 2 Michelin Pro Service Course tyres, in red to complement my bike.  The wheels I chose were also in the stealth red decals.

Once I’d navigate a trip to Parcelforce and paid the £147 customs/duty/handling fee – with that on top the wheels do work out a bit more expensive than ideal but unless FLO get an EU distributor your only hope is that customs let them sail straight through.

The built up wheels ready to go

Finally had time to put everything together and having fitted the cassette realised my torque wrench doesn’t go to the required 40nm so I’ve ordered one from ebay.  Came to the tubes and realised that although I’d picked up some Continental valve extenders a while back my tubes didn’t have the required removable valves.  So cassette on and tyres half on I went back on-line to order more bits.  Ended up going with Conti tubes with long 80mm valves.  These have the removable bit I needed and also meant that the 60 wheel wouldn’t need an extender and the rear would need just a single 30mm extender.  Tubes arrived and in no time I’d finished putting the wheels together and whacked them on the bike.   I probably won’t get to ride them for a bit but it was nice to see how they look and get a photo of the bike with them on.

Boardman AiR 9.0 with FLO 60/90 Combo

I look forward to getting them on the bike in the spring and seeing just how well they ride both in advance of the Outlaw and having a go at a couple of Strava PBs of course,  I’ll report back if anyone is interested.

K joined NEWT a few months ago and while I was considering it I never got round to it.  Despite feeling rubbish at the time and with two weeks out of the pool I went along to the swimming class on the 8th where they do a monthly assessment for new members.  This assessment is basically a 400m time trial to assess what swim lane you should start in and to give you a basic assessment of your swimming.

Previous readers will be more than aware that my swimming is enough to drive a swim coach to despair but there we go.

I told them in advance that I could go all out and do somewhere around 10:15 or take it easier and do 11 which would put me in the slow lane regardless.  I did the TT in 10:30 or so (didn’t wear a watch) and was then given a talking to by the coach.  Explained my situation but I’m not sure they listened that much and then went down to the far lane to join in the training session proper.  A few lengths there and another coach gives me the same grilling.

I’m already made up my mind as to my swimming, I’ve tried properly many times and not gotten out of the claustophobic state and I’m OK with that. My joining the club will probably rest on whether they are willing to let me swim my way or insist on trying to make me do it “properly”.  For various reasons I’ve not been back to a NEWT session in the fortnight since and I’m hoping K will have a word and gauge where they stand on my swimming.

In actuality much of their swim training isn’t going to suit my long distance goal so only one of the two weekly sessions is of use to me.  I’d like to join the club but don’t want to join only to never attend.  Will make a decision in the next week or so.