Medowie Lions and the Double Iron Tri

Its a little embarrassing to be honest. As I sit here writing this blog, I am ashamed to say that my plan of writing 4 a month, one a week, did not work in August as I only managed 2! Not acceptable! How on earth have we arrived in September already! Its only 110 odd days till Christmas!!!

So, since my last blog, I did a lovely impromptu 30 mins speaking gig at the Lions Club of Medowie, it was fantastic. Such a low-key event, but a lovely group of people, all so thrilled that I was there. They had a great little set up, I was able to use pictures and videos, and it went down very well. Similar to Port Macq, I have been working on speaking for an hour, but I cut it right down, which is a challenge in itself. But we got there, it was good, and already I have received a call for the next one, so momentum is building.

Then, on top of that, I have been asked to do a podcast/YouTube video followed by a live event later in the year. The recording for the pod will be done next Monday, so that’s exciting, I cant wait. Of course, Tony has been instrumental in me getting that gig, for which I am so grateful. As soon as I have the recording, I will let you know!

On the exercise front, I managed to squeeze into my old triathlon wetsuit, something I haven’t worn for almost ten years. Swimming is the one activity I really can do, and I was glad to be back in the water doing it. I only swam 1km, but it was great. I think, I do, still have a big event in me, somewhere and I have no doubt, if I do, it will most probably be swimming, low impact etc, so, nothing will be happening anytime soon, and I mean years, but I’m going to try and swim once a week through the summer and see what happens, see where I am at.

With that in mind, this week’s event is going to be the double iron triathlon, a race I did in 2007. This was my first step towards going ultra distance. This particular race was 7.6km swim, 360km bike ride followed by a 84.4km run. It was a long way, a whole new challenge.

Have a great week guys…..over to my 2007 version of Rich! Xx

October 2007 Virginia Double Iron Triathlon 28hrs 31 minutes 4 sec

I turned up to the double iron triathlon in good sprits and ready to go. As it was a new distance to me, and a distance I really wasn’t sure I could make, from the second I had left the UK, I was a little nervous. I had spent 3 days in Washington before we drove down to Lake Anna State park, where the race was taking place. I say “we”, as I needed a support crew for the race and my mother had come along. Although this was great, I was slightly concerned how she would cope, not only with me racing throughout the night but also with me pushing myself to my limits. We arrived at the race site on the Friday evening.

I had prepared everything to the best of my ability and was fairly happy that I couldn’t have done any more. What I hadn’t prepared myself for, was the fact that a “triple” iron was going on during the same weekend. Firstly, I didn’t even know that that distance existed, but as we drove up the drive, we saw the athletes going round and round. I had that sinking feeling that I had got the days wrong, but I hadn’t. The triple started on the Friday morning, the double the Saturday morning, and we all had to finish by 7pm on the Sunday night. I was relieved but also nervous. The following morning, the race would start at 7am so it was going to be an early start….again.

The alarm went off at 4.30am and sleepily I got up and got ready. We were staying just a short drive from the race site, so it didn’t take long to get there. We arrived safely, met and spoke to a few of the other athletes, checked all my equipment and gave my mum a final brief as to what to do and also expect. This race was long and she hadn’t seen me compete like this ever before and I knew that it would be difficult for her to get her head around. All suited and booted, we made our way down to the lake for the start of the race.  

There was a field of about 20 athletes, all toned and ready to go. I was the youngest and probably the most scared, but as I maneuvered myself to the back of the group (I figured I would be a slower swimmer out of the bunch), the gun went off and we were moving. I knew that rhythm would be important but having had a good training period in the lead up to the event with no injuries or problems, I thought that finding my rhythm wouldn’t be too difficult. Fortunately, I was proved correct and I settled very quickly. I was in my element, two day’s of total sport, no distractions and so hopefully no problems. As I settled, I moved along at a nice pace and slowly began to work my way through the field. Having thought I was going to be one of the slower athletes, it proved to be a long way from the truth; I was actually one of the quicker ones. The swim consisted of 12 laps in total and I was planning to break at the end of the 6^th. As I rounded the buoy at the end of the first, I found my self in 2 place overall, but I was happy with my pace, so I continued on my way. My initial reaction was to slow down, but I wasn’t pushing it so I decided to continue at MY pace. By lap six, I was leading but it was time to stop. As I stopped, mother was there with a banana and some water, she told me I was doing well and then I set off on my way again. She didn’t know my time, but that didn’t matter. I had been aiming for around 1hr 10 minutes, just slightly slower than a single ironman swim and I knew I wasn’t far off that. Jumping back into the water I continued on with my swim and six laps later was exiting the water in first place and with a time of 2hour 24 minutes, split times of 1hr 11min and 1hr 13min respectively. Not bad I thought, and being satisfied, got changed, had a sandwich and jumped onto the bike. Only 224 miles to go before the 52.4 marathon run.

The bike was the part of the race that I feared most. The ride itself, being 224 miles was abit of a monster and the longest I had done in training was 160miles, so I didn’t actually know if I could last the whole ride. But, my plan was to ride for three hours or for 50 miles (whichever came first) before I stopped for food and would try to drink one bottle of fluid each hour. My overall target for the ride would be in the region of 13 hours. With the sun now up and the temperature rising I figured that my strategy was probably about right. So, I was on my way and enjoying it. What made it that much nicer was that there were still triple iron athletes riding and so it was nice to talk to them but also, you could see exactly where you were in relation to the rest of the field. I was doing well and enjoying the daylight ride. As night approached, I was still on course for my targets and although I had dropped a place or two, I was feeling strong and happy. At about 7pm, it started to get dark and it was here that things started to go wrong. In my naivety, I hadn’t actually done a night ride during training and as we were right in the sticks, night riding here was very dark indeed. I had my lights ready, but they didn’t make a huge difference and although the route was a 5 mile lap done lots of time, I knew what was coming but inevitably, my speed dropped. If I can give you some advice now…..don’t ever turn up to a race that goes into the night having not done a night ride prior to it!!! It was a total nightmare. Along with the darkness, I was getting tied and so the cold went straight through me. It was horrible. It was so dark, that although the straight bits were ok, the bends and down hill were not pleasant and every time your eyes got used to it, another athlete would pass you from the other direction and blind you with their lights and you would be back to square one, I never got used to it and so, my last 50 to 60 miles of the ride, were very disappointing. I had slowed right down, had fallen to 7^th place overall and had lost about 3 hours on the leaders. At about 2am on the Sunday morning, I entered transition for the last time on the bike and I was a relieved man. I had been cycling for around 14 hours and although, not too far away from my target, I felt I had lost a few hours once it had got dark. I got off the bike and put my running shoes on, they couldn’t have come soon enough and although the thought of running 52.4 miles might be daunting, at this stage, I was looking forward to it.

My strategy for the run was simple. It consisted of a 2 mile loop and I was planning on walking the hill and running the rest. I would leave a bottle of water at the top of the course for emergencies but I would take on all my food and liquid whilst walking. And that is exactly what I did.  I went straight into it, determined to try my hardest to make up for lost ground and was planning to do around the 12 hour mark for the two marathons. I felt strong, had warmed up and I also felt fast. As people were sleeping, I couldn’t really tell how I was getting on, but the general consensus was that I looked good and if I could keep it up, would probably move up the field nicely. I kept eating and drinking, I kept wee-ing, which was a good sign and I just ploughed on. I was getting updates on how I was going and as I passed each person It  inspired me and made me pushed abit harder when I thought I could. As day break arrived, it was a huge relief as it started to get warmer and I got another “wind”. I would say second wind, but that had long gone, more like the fourth or fifth wind. I went from 7^th to 4^th through the night and was now 45 minutes behind third place and I knew he was going slowly. I pushed and pushed and knew he was getting worried as I could see him trying to go faster and faster. But I carried on and at about 9.30am local time, I passed him. On to second place, and he was a further hour up the road. It was going to be a tall order as there weren’t many miles to go, but I tried to catch him. At 11am approx, I came down the hill for the final time, defeated into third but having closed the gap to about 30 minutes of 2^nd place. As I crossed the line, I was delighted with what had happened although still slightly annoyed with my bike ride. I had finished in a time of 28 hours 31 minutes and third overall. On top of this, I did a 10 hour double marathon. I had been flying. Crossing that line was hugely satisfying and as I slept on ground next to my transition area, I was left dreaming of returning the following year to do the triple.

A week later, writing this, still alittle sore……we will see.