Narcissism rules OK!

After so many weeks writing about the team my company intranet decided it was time to write about me!

Chris Bennett: 'call me Ironman'
If you see a cyclist speeding past you on the way to work, a runner sprinting up the mad mile to Banstead or a a wet-suited figure in the Guildford Lido on Tuesday night it is probably Optician’s editor Chris Bennett.For the last eight months Chris has been training to take part in the Monaco Ironman 70.3 triathlon and this has meant up to 17 hours of training a week to be ready for the event.On 2 September Chris will swim 2km in the sea, cycle 90km through the French mountains and then run a half marathon. But this is no fun run and cut-off times mean anyone not completing the course fast enough will be removed from the race.Some might ask what possessed Chris to agree to partake in such a punishing event. Surprisingly, he maintains it's all a matter of professionalism. "Last year optical companies Oakley and Transitions decided they would put together a team of opticians to take part in the event and as Optician is the leading journal in the sector they invited us to cover it," he explains. "The coverage impressed the organisers so much they invited me to become their media partner and cover all the athletes’ progress. After a short time they asked me if I would like to take part in the event and it seemed like a good way of getting into the story."When the coaches explained to Chris that Ironman was a life-changing experience, he didn’t quite understand what they meant. "To be able to compete properly you have to change your diet, your sleeping habits and your lifestyle," says Chris. "Exercise becomes an everyday part of your life and the once-impossible becomes your normality."As a father of three, Chris says time is the tightest commodity. "Trying to fit in all the training takes thought and planning. I have three kids, all with friends and clubs to be taxied to, there are things to do around the house, holidays, plus all of my work commitments to juggle," he says. To illustrate this, he describes an average training week.

Monday: visiting clients during the day. Evening: Lower body and abdominal workout at home.
Tuesday: cycle 12 miles to work and 12 miles back home. Evening: 2.5km swim in Guildford Lido.
Wednesday: cycle to work and run home. Evening: yoga and stretching.
Thursday: 3.6km wetsuit swim in Guildford Lido with training drills in the evening.
Friday: run into work and cycle home. Evening: flexibility training.
Saturday: bike 32km then straight into a 5km run – repeat three times consecutively.
Sunday: one-hour recovery run.
And this is for just half the full Ironman distance - the 70.3 is the distance of the race in miles.Despite the gruelling training schedule, Chris insists the Ironman philosophy improves your whole life. "Ironman is as much about the mental as the physical," he says. "You have to plan your life, family and work to live in harmony. This makes you take a more measured approach to everything."As well as the commercial benefits for Optician, the project has helped the magazine engage its community of readers and develop web 2.0 streams. "Optician invited readers to become part of the Ironman team through the magazine and lots of readers expressed interest. The eventual team member's progress has been followed in the mag and she has become a minor celebrity within optics."At the heart of the coverage is Chris’s team blog, which has been phenomenally successful and, he says, could easily work across markets as a blueprint for other sponsored, third-party blogs for similar events.In fact he believes triathlons could be an ideal event for other RBI magazines to explore as commercial sponsored events. "You would be amazed by the type of people taking part in Ironman events - they are successful business people not sports jocks," he says. "The Monaco 70.3 is sponsored by an investment bank and the participants are intelligent, successful people who use their training to maintain their physical and mental edge. It also has the attraction of including loads of gadgets and travelling to exotic locations. The ethos is all about excellence and achievement in an atmosphere of exclusivity."For Chris, the personal rewards far outweigh the commercial possibilities. "When I first agreed to do the Ironman my concerns were whether I could finish, now I am beginning to think about how good a time I can get. The changes I feel physically and mentally are staggering and I feel empowered by the whole process. My body has changed shape and I have endurance to do things I would never have considered before."But, of course, not everybody shares his enthusiasm. "My partner thinks I’m having a mid-life crisis and have become obsessed with exercise. She nearly fell off her chair when I said no to a beer last week," he says. "All I Know is I feel great, if a little smug, when I hear the ‘young free and singles’ moaning in the lift about how tired they are - it makes me laugh."