Enduroman 1st - 10th June 2012

Real shame Barley but if it helps towards your A race then it has to be the right decision, see you for a beer or many at AT

PTL.7k is amazing.......well done

i am still under the weather....i haven't managed to shake this infection.......did a 21 miler on the bike this morning and then cycled home form my mothers this afternoon after dropping the car off there......another 10 miles on the bike and my legs were not really in it......will have a few more days rest...........bed time for me now

Cat5 - Lake was 12 degrees Tuesday night and 14 on Thursday

Tropical 14.8 today. Will be going along tomorrow for 5 laps (3.8K)

Did manage 2 * 1 hour Sea swims off the South Wales coast over the weekend and a couple of runs round the sand dunes.

Not sat on my bike for a week (most unlike me!) but will rectify that tonight.

Barley thats not good in a way but not bad in another way, if you know what I mean. Hopefully you will get sorted for the end of June for your main race. Look forward to seeing you at AT anyway.

Purple, couldn't contemplate 280 lengths with a pull buoy, great going. Out of interest what happens on the day? I presume you don't or can't use a pull at AT or is it just for upper strength training in the pool?

Seren, hope you feel better soon, it seems a few weeks or not being right.

Trying to get the mind right for a 20 mile run tomorrow. 5 x 4 mile loops with food stops in between dodging showers I think! If I get there it will be my longest run to date

2 hour run for me tonight. For the first time in weeks I felt good and my body felt back to normal. It was a great relief. 

Seren - I hope you feel better soon.

Chilli - good luck with your run tomorrow.

I still haven't got in the lake yet. I will have to do that at the weekend.

chilliboy........most wetsuits give buoyancy to your legs and the pullbuoy kind of replicates that.......some crap swimmers like me don't use their legs and swim better with a wetsuit or pullbuoy than they do without......

hope your run goes well...

Purple so pleased to hear your back to strength

Wow I woke up this morning buzzing and full of enery 

It made realise that I haven't felt normal for weeks, possibly months! I have also lost 4lbs in the last week so it seems like my body is beginning to behave normally again.

On the downside its pissing down again here and its freezing, getting in the lake is going to be difficult.

Nice one Purple, hope it continues to pick up for you in the next few weeks and get to AT fresh.

Got my 20 miler in this morning. The first 12-14 miles were fine, I've kind of got used to that distance but 14 -16 was hard. At 16 I had a stop ( as I had a 8 and 12 ) for some food comprising half a small container of rice pud, 2 pieces of malt loaf and a small honey sandwich. It was hard work getting going again on that final 4 mile loop but I did. It wasn't too pleasant and it was slower than the other loops by  about 5 minutes but again I can say my longest run ever! Was running for a total of 3 hr 27 mins with about 13 mins of stops at 8, 12 and 16 miles. Didn't stop whilst running at all. Quite pleased with that but it's going to be hard on the day.

Read a great quote the other day. " Anyone can be fit. It's being hard that's hard!"

like it chilli............on the day there is going to loads of people out on the course......all in different states........the feeling of being part of something big will get you through......its very different to a big Ironman event........but the feeling of being with a group of incredible athletes is amazing.........

and when its time for the last lap and you can turn around and run the last lap backwords.the feeling is brilliant...........the knowledge that you can soon stop

purple.so glad that its coming back together again...........listening to the body and resting is definitely the way to get to the start lione of these events

Thanks Seren, I'm getting to the stage now of I just can't wait. Although my brothers and I are booked in for camping for the weekend, we have also booked a Premier Inn about 8 miles away for Mrs Chilli and the 2 bambino Chilli's. They might not get there until mid morning or early afternoon when the bike will be nearly done but I can't wait to have the little ones there to hand me food or water and shout for me. What a lift that will be!! Love the idea of the last lap backwards. Look forward to congratulating others and then get it myself later. BBQ food booked for the Sunday night but not sure how much I will eat but hopefully won't be far away by then ( later not earlier! ).

Honestly I've had a great journey, may not have done enough training but I feel good and am injury free at the moment. The whole winter of cycling and running mostly on your own is hard. Just thought the weather may have picked up by now. Last week I had more clothes on than a lot of days in the winter!

Swam tonight. Was last one out the pool at 10pm, in fact got kicked out!! Did 128 lengths for 2 miles in 1 hr 10 mins. Pleased with that. Meant to be biking tomorrow but the weather forecast is bad. Strong winds from the east with rain most of the day and only 7 degrees. Whats going on. The local weather girl said tonight the average should be about 15 degrees for the middle of May. Not even close. There was ice on the garage roof this morning!!

I am freezing this morning Chilli..........we have had 2 sunny days here but back to grey skies..........we need it to warm up a tad or that water is going to be freezing for those doing the triple and the later days of the deca............

stuck into day.could go on the turbo but not feeling the motivation to get on it as its not my favourite piece of equipment

I am going to brave the water this weekend. I think I need to do some cold water training.

Maybe I should start to have cold showers to try and train my body 

This weather is mad !

Well I got soaked for 3 hr 25 mins and 54 miles later one cold bunny!! It was hard getting the clothes on this morning as it was raining as predicted. The wind wasn't as bad as what they had said but it wasn't warm. First hour or so was ok but as the water seeped in gradually it started to get colder. Glad I went out though but not as many miles as I'd have liked. Try for a good long one next week. Warmer, sunnier weather would just make it so much easier.

I've not open water swam as yet. The tri club hasn't started yet as we seem to have had too much rain over the weekends which puts the water level in the Tyne over the risk assessment level ( and it is too cold by all accounts ). There may be an alternative in a lake on a Thursday that I will have to try and get to. Otherwise it is 2nd June beginners trip in Talkin Tarn near Carlisle and then Enduroman! See how that goes then. Not sure how the body will like it.

Seren, I toyed with the turbo for a long session in the kitchen this morning however I was made up after I got back from being out on the road. Turbo's are for shorter, harder sessions in my book or severe limitations on time.

right.been a bit stressed out the lasrt wek and no training.so got out on the bike today.only 62 miles but we took in the Bwlch and the Rhigos mountains.never attempted them both in the same ride........really enjoyed it....

I have been concentrating today on remembering all the great long rides, runs and swims i have done in the last 6 months...........i have not got much short stuff to back it up.but i have had some good long sessions..........and i am sure that these will get me through.......

in other news i have a duplex carotid  artery scan thingy on Thursday............i hope if they see anything on it they mention it pretty damn quickly to the consultant.......

That's a good ride Seren.

70 miles for me today, but nice and flat. I'm just focusing on ticking over now, I don't want to do anything that is going to exhaust me.

I've also lost a bit of weight this week 

Good luck with the scan, I'll have everything crossed on Thursday 

Good to see lots of hard work still going on, also that youre feeling the energy again Purple

Long run for me today, really struggling with motivation now. This always happend to me at this point, I never have a problem tapering !

I am really looking forward to the event now, getting excited 

We have just been told that the start time has been changed from 6am to 9am for the Double. I would have prefered the 6am start, but at least we get a lie in.

absoulutely gutted by the delayed start.really think it might make the difference between finishing and DNF.....................

I will not gain any more sleep just waste energy in nervous anticipation........

I have been visualising different parts of thsi race.playing nutrition strategies...........and now useless..

instead of being able to be off the bike around dawn and start the run when the swimmers start in the water...i ahev to keep on cylcling into gthe next day and then get overtaken by those on the bike on the last day including the single people...............

and then instead of being able to finish the run at midnight to 1 am ............i will now have to keep running through another night to a 4am finish...........and i don't do well at night........

so I'm a bit down about it at the moment...........i can understand those in gthe quin and deca left worrying about the fast swimmers.............but can't they let the 8 women doublers start at 6am with the others and let the men go off at 9

what happened to that post !

I do agree, I've spent the morning telling myself to be positive about it but I was absolutely gutted when I read the mail this morning.

Should we lobby for a girly 6am start??