Starting Over

So... a second attempt at starting a blog detailing my pretty obsessive lifestyle of Ironman race training.

A quick history.

In late 2006 I started running, enjoyed it a lot, training without any real plan four-five times per week. I used a HRM, and bought a Garmin 305 to track my pace vs HR, and after a few weeks reached a level of 5min/km at around 160bpm.

In April 2007 I ran my first Half Marathon on a very hilly course, finishing in 1h36min, which I was very pleased with!

I then entered a Marathon in Kassel, which would be in June 2007, and started preparing. In the meantime, a friend introduced me to cycling towards the end of May 2007, and I bought a bike.

I could already swim ok, having played water polo during my teens, and one evening after hearing about my bike, my Father asked "so when is your first tri?".

Fatal question!

So, I entered some races... An Oly end of June in Roth, a sprint in July, a half Ironman in Wiesbaden in August and a Half Ironman in Cologne in Spetember, two weeks after Wiesbaden.

I ran 3h30 in Kassel (a two loop course which has some hills), finished Roth in 2h24 (with a 40min 10k), finished in top 20% in the sprint.

Wiesbaden was great fun, finished 5h23min on a very tough course, very happy.

After Wiesbaden, I called the people in Cologne, and changed the Half to a Full distance Ironman entry.

The ironman was a great experience, race report is here, finished in 11h18.

Then, I ran the Frankfurt marathon six weeks later in 3h13min. All was well!!

Unfortunately, I started to mess up a bit.

Race weight was 70-72kg during the summer of 2007. I had entered IMDE in July 2008, started training in Dec 2008. I tried following the Don Fink "Be Iron Fit" plan.

Come IMDE July 2008, and I was 75kg, lots of cycling under the belt, not much swimming and running.

The race was terrible. Started well with a 1h03min swim, I was sick on the bike after 90km or so, and hobbled the run feeling sorry for myself. 11h35min finish, only race of 2008.

Very annoyed!!!

So, I did nothing after that, until bumping into a coach at a party in October 2008. He was nice, had been to Hawaii (and runs sub 3hr Marathon in an IM!), and I signed up with him for a year, entered in IMCH for 2009.

Training went very well, apart from not enough swimming. Regular lactate tests, bought a powermeter, ran a 1h31 HM in Feb 2009.

I went into IMCH overweight (again) at 74kg. The swim I took easy, although I was still tired after as I hadn't done enough training (being able to hammer out 1h05-1h10min IM swim off the cuff due to swimming history is not always good - it makes one less motivated to train). I rode the bike very easily in 5h50min, 177Watts avg, power (FTP was ~250W), and ran the first loop of the run feeling great.

However, the wheels fell off, and going to the toilet and seeing uring the colour of black tea explained why. Postmortem counting revealed just over one bottle of water on the bike. Not enough!!! I was massively dehydrated, and limped home to a personal worst of 11h52min.

Ugh.

Then, in Sept 2009, I got married, and on Honeymoon played football, was tackled badly, and ended up with Achilled Bursitis, which is an awful injury that put me out of action until April 2010!

I started gentle running with it 90% better.... as soon as I started intervals in June 2010, it flared up again, so I rested it, and that's where I am now.

Cycling and swimming are ok, no problems with the ankle. The bursitis is 99% better - I feel no stiffness in the morning, just the odd twinge now and again, I know I could start running again. But, I'm leaving it until November, when the IM training starts for IMDE 2011!

In the meantime, swimming and cycling are the focus, I'll train as I like until November.

What I have done since April is control my weight. Down to 75kg in an untrained state, having cut out sugar in drinks (as well as a massive reduction in eating sweet things).

Enjoy the blog!!

Richard