The build up

Candy’s thread in July 2006 said that if anyone was going to enter then they had better “get a wriggle on”… so I entered. Then I got an “Ironman In Training” t-shirt made. And then I got a fleece. I had a lovely autumn wearing my new clothes and eating like an ironman – if it contained protein, sugar or fat it was mine. Then I followed my plan of having a month off of exercise for Xmas, and then I had a little ski trip…. This ironman thing was the life….

January came and my ski trip left me feeling fat and slow. Worse still, my achilles was really unhappy – so I held back from training….

February came and I was still enjoying wearing my “Ironman in Training” clothing, but actually work and other hobbies were consuming far more time than training. My achilles, though, was at least beginning to feel stronger and thanks to adiruns I did at least get one slow longish plod in a week….

March came and work took me to Taiwan where I put in some long hours and ate a lot of food. As I flew home, I sat there on the plane reading an emergency guide to marathon training. As I read I worked out that I was over 13 stone, that I had not been out on a bike ride since 2006, and that I had done a total of an hour’s exercise in the previous 7 days. I wasn’t really that close to athlete status… As I asked for another beer from the stewardess, I calculated that I had 16 weeks left until Austria (I was wrong – it was actually 17) and that it was time to stop posing in the kit and to start training in it instead.

The main challenges for me were building the bike miles (have I mentioned that I hate the bike?) and then in generally just getting fit… The only way I could see forwards was to get out there and put in some hours.

As luck would have it March and April brought gorgeous weather – there was lots of sunshine, and a particularly hot Easter. My bike saw action each and every Saturday in Spring, with consecutive weekends bringing long rides in miles of 18, 18, 50, 20, 50, 70, 80, a 52-and-61 Easter double whammy, 20, 81 and 76. I wasn’t quick – I think my average speed was around 14mph, but I cycled further than I’d ever cycled before, and hitherto-daunting distances were now the norm. One hiccup, though, was that the bike really made my back ache. From about 2 hours into any ride, I would find my lower back in pain and really from then on, each bike ride was a nasty chore… Have I mentioned that I hate the bike?

One remedy was (surprise to surprise) to spend some cash As May approached I found myself in the mysterious world of road bike shopping… among the items listed on ebay was a little pirate – a yellow and black Giant with an Ultegra heart and a carbon shell. My credit card was decided – this was definitely the cure to my backache.

May progressed and with the pirate bike still in cyberspace, I made a burst for race length bike miles – I went out one morning, headed over to the Windsor triathlon course and went round the loop again and again and again… I didn’t come back until the computer said 113 miles completed. Excellent. I’d done it. I’d mastered the bike distance… And it had only taken 7 hours… And how my back ached… I came onto the forum to celebrate and someone (I forget who) immediately said well done but then started telling me that Austria would of course be much hillier – thanks for that! Two weeks later to prove it hadn’t been a fluke I went out once more… this time I took in some of the North Downs on my ride… this time I flew through 112 miles… this time took just 7 hours 40… and how my back hurt… where was that new bike?

The answer was in the post – with perfect timing my new carbon pirate baby arrived and she was gorgeous… I set her up and immediately took her to Bala for the middle distance race. My first experience on carbon was one of wobbliness. Yes I’d shaved some grams off my frame, but there was still quite a lot of weight above saddle level. Going downhill, in particular, was quite an unnerving experience. Bala itself though was superb. With a very lucky break in the weather, with superb pirate camaderie and with the world’s best supporters cheering us along, both Shiraz and I had excellent races – so huge thanks to all

Following Bala, I got home and did one last century ride – back on the Windsor flat and this time managing 6 hours 45 – faster than before, but actually (ssshhh – don’t tell anyone) my back still hurt!

Next up was Windsor – an Oly length tri I’d done the year before – and where I’d found the run really tough. This time was different. This time I flew. This time the run felt so short and I managed it in style. Suddenly I was seeing the benefit of all the IM training – a finish just outside 2:20 – a 7 minute improvement on last year – so I had fish and chips to celebrate

From Windsor onwards was the tapir… but I didn’t tapir very hard – I just reduced some of the run and bike miles and actually might even have upped the swim. This isn’t necessarily what I’d recommend to others, but for me it seemed OK.