Bolton Ironman July 31st 2011

My first thought of an Ironman challenge came from one of Matt pritchards tweets. He said he was in training for one, so I messaged him which one he was competing in as there were two in the UK one was Bolton. This was the one he was doing so I thought Yep! I'm in.....

After entering the Ironman my first surprise/shock was how much it costs to enter one ! Over £300..

Well with great intentions I started thinking I will really start to train hard for one of these. Although I have completed some long bike rides, this was going to be something else. The long steady cycles will be replaced with timed swim, cycle and run!

My first obstacle was the Swim... I can't front crawl! So it was off to a triathlon swimming class on a Thursday evening for 45min session at my local swimming pool. This was very funny at the time. There were a couple of fit/healthy looking athletes at the pool waiting for the session to begin and I entered into small talk with them asking if they have been coming long to the session, they both replied that they were training for an upcoming tri event, I replied I'm here cos I've entered an Ironman challenge but can't really do front crawl. They looked in amazement at me saying that they have been doing lots of tri's themselves but wouldn't even think of an Ironman challenge at the mo! Gulp! What have I let myself in for?

After getting in the water the instructor put us all in a lane each, the others were hammering up and down the pool at great speed, and there was me with a float in my hand waddling away not really getting anywhere fast! The instructor was seeing how my legs and feet were performing. I can remember clearly my thought at that session being this can't be right, those fast swimmers wouldn't even attempt an Ironman and there was me -Float in front of me splashing like mad getting nowhere - going for Ironman challenge ha ha.

As the months past I did seem to get in some good run training, I would take the train to Rochdale then get off and run back to pick my daughter up from school, this would happen regularly in the months after entering the competition, I also had a little 13mile Skateboard ride back from Hebden bridge one afternoon before picking my daughter up from school.

All the training that I could do was limited really to an odd Sunday or on my days off whilst my daughter was at school, all the rest of the time was a balance of family time and work time. I did however get some swimming time put in especially in open water to get used to it on the day. These swims were mainly after work for an hour on a Mon or a Thurs (Was trying crawl at these sessions but it still was not working and ended up doing breast-stroke)

Some of the Sundays I had free, I completed some good distances even managed a cycle to Winderere and back (That is still currently my longest ride to date 166miles)

As time went by the competition was looming, and my training had more or less dwindled away! In the final 6 weeks before the event I had completed a day cycle 72 miles, and 2 x 1mile jogs - And that was it! Not very much at all....
As for my diet, well that didn't really change at all. I was still on the wine and beer regularly, also still eating lots of fast food and curries regularly.

When I entered the challenge, I sorted a day off at work before the event as i thought it would involve some sort of placing of the bike and briefing, so good job I did book that day off, I also asked my colleague to swap our days off for the week after Ironman, this would give my the Monday off rather than my usual Wednesday off, so I could recover. 2 weeks before the event I reminded my colleague that I needed the Monday off for that particular week... his reply was I'm on holiday that week ! Jeeeez.... I thought, I'm going to be knackered on that Monday, to make maters worse it was a new store opening at work, which meant that I would have to be in for 6am, also the store was an hour drive from home :-(

On the day before the race I was very chilled (Saturday off work ?? never normally allowed.. too busy..) but hey! I was driving over to Pennington Flash to put my bike in place and to register for the comp.. It was very sunny and really good atmosphere around the place, I was excited and also little nervous about the following day. But today was great, also had to hang around for the race briefing at the Reebok stadium in Bolton around 5.30pm for 1hr.

It was good to hear the briefing of rules etc for the Ironman (But no ipods, iphones etc due to health and safety issues!) I thought damn! How will I update everyone on Twitter and facebook ? I also would miss my music that I normally listen to on my cycles usually..

After the briefing was done it was home to have some food and get to bed ready for the early start the following day. I did eventually get to bed for around 11pm, I set my alarm for 2.30am so that meant could get to Reebok stadium for 4am to get the coach to the swim/bike transition area. I couldn't really sleep the night before, I was panicking that would oversleep and miss the competiton..

The race morning was here and I was feeling pretty good considering not much sleep, my plan was to do breaststroke for the swim, my time target in my head would be 2hrs, anything less would be a bonus!

After the mass swim start I was keeping far to the side of everyone else, so I didn't end up getting smashed to bits at the start. After the first lap I checked my watch it was about 40mins - I was buzzing at this time I was ahead of my expectatation of the swim, after second lap I was coming up to the finish and could see the timing clock at about 1hr 45mins, I was out of the water and running to my bike, the compare shouted out over the loud speakers my name Awesome :-) that gave me a brilliant buzz... At the same time though my calf muscles had really seized up as I was running to the bike (Shit I thought is this the end with this calf problem) but I carried on into transiton, I can remember saying to a fellow race goer, Thats the hard bit done! ha ha.

On the bike now, and my calf muscles were ok so its was going well again, I stuck to my plan of the bike and took it steady. I didn't want to push it too much as I could have been shattered for the run part! I did the bike in 7hr 57mins, I was pleased with that, as was bang on my time that I had set myself (to be starting the run for 4pm) This would leave me 7hrs to complete the marathon. Even now if I run/walk the course I will be an Ironman.. and that was the plan for the next 5rs and 40mins until I crossed the finish line and became and Ironman :-)

After the race I was over the moon, I'd done it! But now my thoughts had switched to finding the coach that took my back to my car, then was the trip back to T2 to pick up bags and bike. After this was complete, I had the drive home, I got back about midnight, then it was to bed and to be up for 4.30am ready to set off for work and the store opening. On the morning the only issue was my calf muscles were a little sore... after this 13hr day at work had passed I did eventually have a good nights sleep on the Monday night. Happy days :-) BOOOOOOM!!

Cycled to Windermere and back in 1 day.

It was my week off and Thursday 24th Feb was the day that I could get out on my bike and go for a decent ride. The alarm was set for 5.30am, I was up at 5.20am so that was good. After some porridge and a few brews I was off out Wha-owww!

It was dark and damp but the forecast was to be nice today (Fingers crossed) I set off heading for the Lake District that was my plan and probably when I arrived there to spend a little time there and catch the train back!

Its a long slog up to a little village called Mountain halfway to Keighley, then its mostly downhill from there. As I arrived in Keighley it was light and I was felling better although the weather was still grey and damp!

On the downhill into Keighley my shades fell off and into the road, I was travelling at speed by now and thought I couldn't be bothered to stop so I left them (The thought of having to stop, go back to retrieve them was too much hassle plus they were a cheap pair anyway) luckily !

After Keighley I had a choice to go along the main bypass towards Skipton or take the old road to Skipton - The old road it was although lots of potholes to contend with.. but much nicer scenery going through little villages like Steeton and Eastburn, also had to stop at the level crossing for local trains to pass by.

After a stop at the petrol station after the level crossing for Sandwich and water/sports drink it was off again towards Skipton (A629) I carried on along this road and rather than going into Skipton centre I opted to get straight onto the A65 towards Kendal. This road is quite bad for cyclists in places - Plenty of sharp bends etc with lots of HGVs flying past you..

Out of Skipton I'm heading towards Settle.. although no stopping into Settle centre but onwards along the A65 - Got to Little Chef and stopped off for a brew and Beans on toast after an hour of chilling there, I'm back on the road its still grey and damp but back home its supposed to be sunny! Typical ha ha.

Whizzing along after my food and drink, I go through a nice place Kirkby Lonsdale nice bridge in centre.

Its a welcome sight when I pass over the M6 this makes me feel good as I'm more of less in the Lakes now. Still plodding on I take the A590 then onto the A591 which takes me into Windermere. I take a shot of a flying Chinook passing by over Ings. By the time I reach the Windermere sign I am a little tired, and think do I go down the nearly 2 mile descent to Bowness or just turn back here and start to go back minus the hill climb back up from Bowness..

Theres no option you can't go to Windermere and not go to the waters edge at Bowness :-) Its sooo nice there, and it lifted my spirits. Its funny that after I reached Bowness the sun came out for a short while, plus I ate a few bags of crisps (Salted) and this really perked me up - Must have needed salt replacement cos it did the job and I was again full of energy!!

That's it.. I'm cycling back (Well as far as I can get then it could be Train time somewhere along the way back).

I was at the end of the A590 and going over the M6 (The sun was out and now it was the first I saw of the blue skies (Brilliant!) That inspired me to now carry on- I was headed back the same way I came along A65 (This time it was near sunset and darkness! By the time I reached the village of Long Preston it was getting darker, all I wanted was a bag of chips for the salt intake again.. There was no chippy that I could see in Long Preston so I carried on in the hope there would be one in the next village of Halliwell (Yes!! there was a tiny chippy just off the main road) now it was in darkness.

I was chatting to the people who have the chippy they asked where I've been cycling (You can imagine the look on their faces when I told them where I'd been and where I was going back to ha ha) Also another cyclist pulled into the chippy for food, the owners told him what I was doing his reply was (That bag of chips is going to get you back to Huddersfield?) I said Yes :-)

Back out after chips and a brew I was buzzing again, but now it was pitch black on the A65 - Scary !! With wagons and cars speeding up behind me all the time, also having to watch very carefully for potholes in the road - very tricky!

The only street lights I had on way back was going through Keighley centre, most of the roads back had no street lighting. I was more or less out of Keighley district and high upon a hillside when I stopped to take a pic of Bradford in the distance (Wasn't sure if it would come out or not but it did). From this point it was more of less downhill - Phew what a nice cycle down into Brighouse - with Street lights too (Bonus)!!

Now I'm in Brighouse, I forgot the last climb up towards Bradley - the hill is a killer especially after such a long day ! After over 15hrs I'm back home totally knackered but very chuffed that I have a new daily Cycling record 164.4 miles in one day (Previous record was cycling from Holyhead in North wales back home to Huddersfield that was 157miles.