Meet the course

Optician's Ironman team had a great training weekend down on Exmoor introducing themselves to the terrain. They all got the chance to meet up, scope out the course and check out the other team members.

Chris Fiona and Emma, stayed at the delightful Holworthy farmhouse B&B. Our host, Gillian Payne, made us feel right at home and had stacks of information on the course, organisation and everything else to do with the area and competing in the UK Ironman 70.3 event. The farmhouse has an idillic setting above the lake and between the cycling and running life was relaxed and enjoyable.
The trio at the framhouse were joined by Rob from Cornwall. The four reccied the bike course and then went for a short jog. Rob and his family headed back off to their hotel in Bampton and Chris, Emma and Fiona headed for the pub.
Sunday saw James and Lyndon join the group for another scope of the course and a slightly less successful look at the run route. The weather was not kind on Sunday and, after a slight hiccup over meeting up points, the team decided a single lap of the course was sufficient. Still a creditable 35 miles of hills and twists and around 2 hrs 15mins. We will have to improve.
Our quiet Cornishman Rob, an awesome athlete by anyone's standards, completed a second lap on his own.

The plan had always been to have a Brick session (running straight off the bike) and given the conditions and the toughness of the run that too proved a valuable experience. In restrospect a single lap of the two lap bike route was enough.

After a cup of tea, a pasty and a review we all decided it had been a useful meeting with no disasters and we should be pleased. Everyone left with respect for the course and no illusions over what exactly lies in store for the team come June.

Optisoft goody bag

I recieved the Optisoft nutrition pack today. I didn't realise there were so many gels, drinks, bars and mixes to choose from. My normal fare is a banana and a handful of raisins.
Many thanks to Optisoft.

Inspiration, ‘some’ statistics…………..and a reality check!

Inspiration from Liss running and Farnham Tri clubs, Statistics from my new GARMIN FORERUNNER and a reality check with my new age grouper GBR suit!

With only 6 weeks to go, the reality of the tasks that lie ahead have hit home. Not only for the Optician Ironman 70.3 team but also having been called up for the GBR age grouper Olympic distance world championships in Vancouver which is also in June!

The shorter Olympic distance:- 1500m swim/40km cycle with a 10k run and the longer Ironman 70.3:- 1900meters swim/90km cycle and 21km run.

Both distances, in theory, require completely different training but both oportunities are an irristable challenge! Amongst other things some training advice, motivation and my faithful transition specs continue.......

Farnham Tri Club have some great athletes whom have and are performing numerous full IM distances and even Ultraman contenders (4m swim, 175mbike and 36m run!). Their advice is to build on the base endurance by combining shorter sharper fartlek speed work for all disciplines.

Having taken the advice I joined in the running track session on Monday it went something like this:-

4 x 400 warm up, 400 sprint,400 recovery,400 sprint,400 recovery,800 sprint, 400 recovery,800 sprint,400 recovery,800 sprint,400 recovery,400 sprint,400 recovery,400 sprint, 400 recovery………………….

I was one of many to say ‘I felt sick’ – this is apparently normal! – give me a long plod any day! Unfortunately I missed pressing the start button on the Garmin and hence no stats – Doh!

A ‘new’ inspiration came from Liss running club when we cobbled together a team of 4 at the end of season dinner dance, for the next days orienteering event. Needing to get in some cycle training and build up some stats, i cycled to the event (16.05miles) , ran 5.21miles and cycled home post the event (23.32miles) – Stats courtesy of the Garman Forerunner – managed to press the start button and even toggled between the bike and running modes this time!

The best and the worst bit – Our orienteering team (Ann, Lucy, Bill and I ) won some chocolates for coming 2nd – Yummm. As for the Tri suit – need to loose a few pounds in 6 weeks!

Fiona

Remember to sponsor us and hence help Vision Aid Overseas. www.justgiving.com/opticianironman

Raising the roof and some funds

This is Soo and Fred McShaw celebrating a double win at the Optician Awards on Saturday night. Not only did fifteen winners walk away with a trophy but it was also a great fund raising night for the Ironman Team.

In my welcome I highlighted the team and £1,200 was pledged in support. In addition another £1,800 was raised through the Casino and other pledges so over £3,000 in all.

If you want to add to the total click through to the just giving site.

The Goggle box

Another box of goodies arrived today for distribution to the team. This time it was goggles courtesy of Aqua Sphere. We have Eagles, Seal, Seal XP, Kaiman and the new Vista goggle.
The team have all put in their requests ready for an open water swim this Sunday. Unfortunately the venue has decided it's too cold for open water swimming so have postponed the opening of the lake.
I have the Optician Awards this Saturday night so wouldn't have been able to make the swim anyway. At least it gets me off the hook having to try!
The best part of all is that I will be meeting most of the team next weekend when we meet up to cycle the course on Exmoor. That means I won't have to re-package and post out all of goggle I can take them along. I will deliver the others by hand --if the team can wait that is.

Now that's what I call data

I've started to get to grips with the 305. I am astounded by the amount of information it gives you. What I intend to do with it all is another matter. The scariest bit for information for me was the calaories burned. Despite chopping the first 35 minutes off of my workout the reading still said I burned 2,600-odd calories on my Sunday morning ride.
I think I'll have to up my food intake even more.

A full weekend of training

Who says men can't multi-task. Saturday morning started with a spot of digging and planting on the allotment while walking Henry and learning my Optician Awards night speech. After the chores I took out the Garmin for its maiden run on Saturady afternoon. Wow what an incredible gizmo. What will they think of next.

Sunday morning was stunningly beautiful. I was up and out on the road for some hills ( when I've figured out how, I will upload my route for you all. 40 miles, Box Hill leith Hill Whitedown, Ranmore plus a few in between.

On my aching legs from Saturday's digging it was a tough ride.

You can see from the picture I got all arty and emotional about the early morning sun. I was so glad I got up and out. It made me realise how tough the event is going to be.

The moment I made it back home the heavans opened and the rest of the day was a wash out.

What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago we were all sledging down Box Hill and yesterday it was blazing sunshine. I got a tourist to take a picture just to prove it. I'm not sure what. 'Make sure you get my Garmin in' is in Polish is but I didn't manage to get message across and he didn't get my Garmin in the picture. A fair swap.

Thames Towpath Ten; it DID snow! (See Andy A, 31st March).

I was woken up on Sunday morning to my dad's dulcet tones "it's 'orrible out". It didn't matter that it was actually snowing, and snow was settling on the car as fast as we could clear it off, we all headed off to Chiswick for the Fuller's Thames Towpath Ten, so named because it's sponsored by Fullers Brewery, and is a ten mile jaunt along the Thames Towpath. Bear in mind that at the race last year temperatures of 23C were recorded and dehydration got the better of a few runners, so there were a few nervous looking runners huddled over coffees in the pavilion before the race. I think we were all wondering whether the race would actually go ahead. Mum and Dad were marshalling the gate 'start line is to the left, by the white line on the field'. This is the field that had 2 inches of lying snow on it, and more was still coming down!!!!!!! Still, we started - 2 laps of the field (through the snow) then up over Chiswick Bridge. At the first mile marker I realised I couldn't feel my toes but I soon warmed up. Dropping down onto the towpath was when I got my rhythm and did my usual trick of looking ahead to spot who I'd overtake next. Had a chat to a lovely girl from Thames Turbos about triathlons. The river does a big loop around to Richmond, so the route follows the towpath all the way past Kew Gardens. This is a particularly nasty bit of the course as the path is really rough, rocky and puddly, so I kept my head down and ticked off the miles. A particular nuance of this course means running up the stairs onto Twickenham Bridge which is never great, but then I had the strange sensation of snow blowing into my left ear horizontally. It was perversely refreshing to start with! At Old Deer Park in Richmond the route cuts across to head back to Kew Bridge - past an army of snowmen being built - then back to the river for the last 3 miles. The marshalls all looked frozen, at least running kept me warm. The entrance back onto the field to finish had turned into a quagmire and the icy grass made a sprint finish virtually impossible, but I still managed to finish in 1:28:13, which is only 30secs slower than my PB. Not bad considering I cycled 9 miles to work & back on Saturday. So why did I bother to turn up when the weather was this bad? The best memento ever - An engraved Fullers Beer glass. Which I christened with London Pride. The immortal words - 'Whatever you do, take Pride' were not lost on me today.

Emma Saville

A different kind of training

A rather strange weekend of training to report. The forecast of bad weather had meant Myself , Lyndon and Fiona had agreed to make a call on the Saturday night to decide whether the Sunday early morning ride would happen or not. While I was at the local theatre listening to my kids' school production of We Will Rock You ( it was awesome) Lyndon and Fiona agreed that they would meet. If the weather was too bad said, Fiona ' we could go for a run instead'.

Now this was a problem for me. On saturday I started the day with a stint on the allotment and then decided to go for a 'pace' 11km in my new trainers. bad idea. Despite taping my feet I managed to pull a couple of blisters, so there was going to be no more running for me.

I got up at 6.30, had a bite to eat and noticed a few flurries of snow. By 7.00 it was really coming down. By 7.45 I phoned Lyndon to say we couldn't cyle and I couldn't run but I would meet the real Ironmen (Lyndon and Fiona) as I was already up.
By 8.50 I had got to the car, written on the winscreen, and set off.

By 8.55 I had managed about half a mile and decided that it was time to head home. The A246 to Guildford was pretty much impassable. Time to go home, discretion, valour and all that.

A couple of hours later, once a few Chelsea tractors had created a bit of slush, Mrs Optician Editor, my three boys and Henry( dog), headed off for some local snowy slopes. I convinced myself running up and down the hills was as good as a zone 1 bike ride. It was certainly more fun.

I ache all over today but more from impact that fatigue. Now that's what I call a weekend of training.

I'll see your Northwaves and......

ANDY A

Pimp my ride

I Bought some new cycling shoes this lunchtime. I'm a new convert to cleats, I only got my SPDs a year ago, so thought it time to invest in some proper road shoes for those longer rides. I am also beginning to fret about Florida which is going to be hot, hot hot and my current shoes are very much on the heavy duty side. The upshot was new shoes and new pedals.

Before I went into the bike shop I promised myself that I would think comfort first. Unfortunately comfort in cycling shoes is white and blue.

If the shoes get an outing this weekend I fear they may not stay white for too much longer.