In praise of Triathlon

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The gym was a result of me learning that muscle to fat ratio was an issue with diabetes. It is basically a ten foot by fourteen foot shed that came as a huge flat pack. I fitted better windows and doors to it, lined it with mdf and painted it inside with white emulsion. Fitted carpets, lighting and electrical sockets went in and then we bought the weights, weight bench etc, second hand via one of the internet selling sites. I bought the treadmill from one of the girls at work who had stopped using it. Gradually we added the spin bikes, a full wall mirror, a cheap lateral exerciser and a few more weights. We've decorated it with a few posters and we hang our finisher's medals in there. It was completed in August 2013 and both myself and wife Liz have been using it regularly ever since.

"... some good Spring events to look forward to..."
Last year we did a 10K at Cleethorpes on New Years Day. I was slightly caught out after having a lazy Crimbo and then suddenly realising that the run was less than a week away. Still, I was off work so I hit the old disused railway path every day until the run. Otherwise the big opener is in February, the ten miler at Pocklington called Snake Lane. It is a flat course but I always find it tough going due to my being less fit after winter. I'm also slightly amazed by those proper runners that do the run with next to nothing on. I'm layered up like Scott of the Antarctic when I do it.
 
Sunday 13th Nov and the weather couldn't be more different than yesterday. I did a leisurely 1.5K swim and a short relax in the bubbly spa thing, followed by a proper bike ride with bends, sun and hedges. Due to the wet and muddy roads I used my commuter bike because (a) it is my only bike that has mudguards on and, (b) it is already filthy. Checking the tyres before I set off I noticed that the rear tyre needed quite a bit of air. A mile from home I noticed that the rear tyre was half flat. I pumped it back up and made it home before it went down again. Mending the puncture is now on my to-do list. I am now glad that I shelled out on a slightly more expensive bike pump. The muddy fox ones are so cheap that they are almost giving them away. They tend to be not too brilliant at putting air into bike tyres though, which can be a bit of an issue.

I have now signed up for the adult improver swimming classes at the gym. I am looking forward to doing them with the appropriate amount of dread. My swimming does need work though, proper triathletes do the 3.8K swim in about an hour, yesterday my time was one hour and forty six minutes.
 
I've now done my first adult swim class and it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Unfortunately I mentioned this to the coach at the end of the session which, with hindsight, might have been an error. Some faults in my crawl technique have been identified and I have been set some drills to try to sort them out. Anyway, I've signed up to do it all again next week.
 
I forgot to mention an entertaining moment that occurred at the end of my swimming lesson when one of the ladies in the class burst out laughing when I took off my swimming cap. Some explanation, at this gym, swim caps are compulsory for all users of the pools. I have been shaving my head for a very long time now, since I have had male pattern baldness basically. So when I took off my swim cap and revealed that I had a head as smooth as the cap was, this was apparently very funny.
 
As I am trying to keep my exercise levels up during the winter, I became curious to know how I am doing compared with this time last year. The records created by my GPS watch have allowed me to make a comparison between November 2016 and November 2015. I was surprised to find that at this time last year I was still cycling to work. Anyway, Nov 2016 scores 16 swims, 1 bike ride and 5 runs. this compares with Nov 2015 which scores 5 swims, 10 bike rides and 2 runs. So last year's total is 17 and this year's total is 22. There are also a couple of indoor bike rides that don't show up on the records. I have also manged to score a new PB of 24 minutes at the Humber Bridge Parkrun. On balance I would say that I am doing slightly better than last year but I still need to work harder if I want to stay off the pills.
 
@Northerner
My best time for 5k is a couple of seconds over 22 minutes. This was set at a different course a couple of years ago, when I was a couple of years younger.

Mentioning to my swim coach that my swim class was less testing than I expected did indeed turn out to be a mistake. Having identified and corrected the flaws in my front crawl technique, and having assessed that I am not as bad a swimmer as I claim to be, he set me three sets of twelve lengths with 45 seconds in between. The following day there wasn't a single bit of my body that didn't hurt. I am also taking the first steps towards learning how to do butterfly stroke.
 
Eleven weeks to go to my big 140.6 event and my training seems to be going quite well. The daily swims during the winter seem to have improved my stamina and technique, open water swimming starts today and I'll be putting myself to the test. I'm taking my new road bike out on 30 mile rides on the weekend and setting new PBs for the course. The running is coming along, I've set a new PB for both parkrun courses that I do and for every organised run that I've done so far this year and I'm hoping to continue this trend at the North Lincs Half Marathon next Sunday. I'm managing to avoid injuries mostly, the ocasional twinges from the hinges but nothing serious, so I'm reasonably happy.

Then I take a look at this month's 220 Triathlon magazine and see that it has a twelve week ironman training programme in it. Of course one look at it and I see that I'm obviously not doing anywhere near enough training to have the remotest chance of finishing. I should already be doing 3.8K open water swims 60 mile bike rides and 20 mile runs on a regular basis by now. A little sober reflection is needed I feel. I'm 58, I'm not 26 and preparing to take a stab at Jan Frodeno's world record. My plan to build up distance and intensity over the next ten weeks is a sound one and has a much better chance of getting me there without turning me into a cripple. A big part of dealing with these kinds of events is about building up self confidence so maybe I should refrain from looking at magazines for the next eleven weeks. I'm also really looking forward to having a couple of beers on July 24th, I really love beer but I've obviously had to be on the water wagon since December.
 
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You have to do these things at your own pace Chris - I'd be constantly injured if I followed some of the running training programs. Like you I'm 58, although in my head I'm about 35 🙄

Good luck! 🙂
 
Good luck with the training Chris. 🙂 I've had a look at the cut off times for the different stages. I think the swimming would do for me but even if I made that one I'd then be panicking to make sure I made the cut offs for the bike and run.
 
On some events they are a little bit flexible when it comes to cut off times. I think that they take a good look at you and as long as you don't look as though you are dying on your feet they let you carry on. The seventeen hour finish time is very strictly enforced however. Martyn Brunt tells of one his club mates who only had five hundred yards to go, they put a barrier across the finish and he got no medal or tee shirt.
 
Went open water swimming last Monday, didn't stay in the water for too long 'cause it was effing freezing. Thirteen degrees apparently. There was still one nutter who went in with just his speedos on. I'm not too worried about only doing a short swim at this stage, the water gradually warms up as the year progresses so this is about as bad as it gets.

I've also just completed the North Lincs Half Marathon in about 1:48:40, a new PB by about eight minutes so I'm well pleased.
 
Great result in North Lincs, @Chris Hobson.

I marshal at several triathlons each year, and have decided that the illegality of wetsuit boots means I'll never do an open water triathlon, although I do swim in open water when I get the chance, in wetsuit & boots when cold, shortie wetsuit when warmer and just swimsuit when really warm. Wearing hard gas permeable contact lenses, which can't be warn when swimming, due to risk of losing (googles can be kicked off by other swimmers, so that's not the solution, and at about £90 each, too expensive to lose) and not owning a road racing bike are other issues. However, I'm pleasedto be able to report that yesterday I completed my second Keswick to Barrow walk, 42.75 miles.
 
You can get prescription swimming goggles, would that be a solution?

A long while ago I did the hike across the North Yorkshire Moors that is known as the Lyke Wake Walk a couple of times. It is about forty miles and is said to follow the path used by Viking settlers who used to honour their dead by lighting a pyre on a boat and pushing it out to sea. I always imagine that the eighty mile round trip would finish one of them off and they would immediately have to set off again.
 
Then I'd have to put CL into my eyes in transition - and I've been far too close to that fast moving chaos to risk it.
Lyke Wake Walk is one of the classic long distance walks. LDWA Long Distance Walking Association, plus other organisations, notably Scouts, put on some excellent walks. It's often said that the cakes at support points are often so good that people actually put on weight during their walk. I did Six Shropshire Summits with my Ranger & Venture Unit in 1983. First summit is in Wales. We started about 6pm, so walked through the night. Covered about 10 extra miles, as we followed the navigation of 2 people who had done it before, one of whom was studying Geology and Geography at university at the time. Perhaps the fact that she changed to triathlon soon after and never again did a navigation event is not entirely unconnected...
 
Mention of the Lyke wkye walk is making me feel homesick again.
 
Latest! I've just lost a week of training due to being zapped by a really evil snot monster. I'm pretty lucky in that I hardly ever get colds, I can't remember the last time I had one, but this one got me. It was just starting to show itself last Sunday as I was preparing to run the Beverley 10K and I was wondering whether it would be best to pull out. I decided to run it and just see how I felt, I could slow down and forget about target times if I didn't feel good, or possibly pull up halfway through. As it turned out everything went well and I posted a new PB of 47:20. After having a week off sniffling I got back into it by doing my regular 30 mile cycle loop on Saturday. Despite a stiff breeze, dawdling car drivers and a heavy shower hitting me a mile from home, I managed to do it in a few seconds outside two hours, a new record for the course. Thinking about it, the shower might have actually helped. The next stage is doing this route twice which I will hopefully fit in this coming bank holiday weekend.

Update:
Over the bank holiday weekend I did my thirty mile loop twice, with a few variations in the course. It was pretty breezy and my pace was slower than I had intended. I will have to work on improving it otherwise I will have to seriously revise my target time for the Outlaw.
 
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I've just completed the sprint triathlon at Allerthorpe near York. Overall time was just under 1:28 and I finished 151st out of 230 finishers and three DNFs. In every event that I have revisited this year I have managed to score a new PB. This is the first time that I have done a sprint at Allerthorpe so I didn't have a previous time to beat. However my GPS watch has awarded me a PB for the 20k bike leg which I did in a time of 41:01, a good time for me but I was being constantly passed by faster cyclists. I did pass a couple of people who were slower cyclists than me but better swimmers. I passed quite a few people on the run and nobody overtook me, running seems to be the part that I am best at.
 
Chris Hobson said:
I've just completed the sprint triathlon at Allerthorpe near York. Overall time was just under 1:28 and I finished 151st out of 230 finishers and three DNFs. In every event that I have revisited this year I have managed to score a new PB. This is the first time that I have done a sprint at Allerthorpe so I didn't have a previous time to beat. However my GPS watch has awarded me a PB for the 20k bike leg which I did in a time of 41:01, a good time for me but I was being constantly passed by faster cyclists. I did pass a couple of people who were slower cyclists than me but better swimmers. I passed quite a few people on the run and nobody overtook me, running seems to be the part that I am best at.
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Hugely impressed Chris! Well done! 🙂
 
One of my friends was an official at Allerthorpe. Really strict on safety everywhere, including lack of excess mess in transition. Hope you didn't cross paths @Chris Hobson.
 
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