A significant proportion of the Nolans (including a few singers) travelled down on the Saturday morning to an overcast & slightly wet Nottingham arriving late morning at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepoint. 

We had a quick look around and I was slightly curious and privately worried as to how 950 people would cope with a mass start in a stretch of water that was no wider than 100m and then would need to filter into a space half of that width…  With this in mind and with last years experience at Ripon where I might’ve got battered in a mass start with about 300 people I’d decided caution to be at the top of the strategy…

Following an uneventful registration, bike racking and drop off of my transition bags we eventually found our campsite after taking a few wrong turns… I still refuse to buy a sat nav (despite my techy job) because I like getting lost and it winds up my Mrs…..

So tent erected with all mod cons except the bloody hair straighteners for the sheilas and then we had a bit of time to chill with a brew and a chat before journeying back to HQ for the race briefing…  I think the race director introduced himself as Ian Hamilton and considering the responsibility he had for me & 949 other nutters he was extremely relaxed and full of humour.  I believe his relaxed confidence during the briefing was later evident throughout the rest of the weekend in the many volunteers that were there for us.  I know this event wasn’t the first his organisation had put on but my impression was one of professionalism.  The race director was full of jokes and I believe made fun of the organisation of a similar event the previous week.

So on to find the award winning chippy I had ‘googled’ for what has become my usual pre-race fish ‘n chips meal… Umm nice!

And then back to the campsite where we devoured our chippy tea with a bit of banter with Ian & Trevor who did a fantastic job in masking their longing to grab my fish ‘n chips and leg it!!!

Bedtime for me arrived at about 9.30 with several alarms set to make me spring off my blow up bed at 3.45am…  Considering I have extensive experience of being kept awake with snoring (not  my wife I must say) I had procured some industrial earplugs on the off chance of a disturbed night….  What we all experienced to varying degrees was snoring from another tent not too far away that kept many awake…  At one point I thought I was in the middle of the Serengeti listening to the roar of a male lion!!!  I might be prone to exaggeration on occasions but it was rather noisy!!!

Anyway porridge and banana by the light of a lantern and a crescent moon and then onto HQ to get it on…

Swim:  The hooter went at 6am with me hanging back to allow the more experienced in front of me to get the scrap underway.  I got going and took it easy until I could see sections of clear water into which I upped the pace to move into.  Getting out in 1hr 6mins which was a surprise because there wasn’t a time I can recall when I was blowing hard!?!?  So I don’t know if it might’ve been a bit short…

T1:  Complete disorientation.  I legged it into the tent and went down the wrong aisle and then stood staring at even numbers looking for 497…  It took a while to register that I was on the wrong side!!!  Bike gear on, forgetting to put on my new cycling mitts, I found my bike and was off.

Bike:  11 miles out to a loop of 30ish miles x 3 and finally 11 miles back to HQ….  Throughout my training I had practiced and refined my eating & drinking strategy but after about 90 minutes I started to feel sick.  This made the 1^st lap seem to last forever but I kept eating and drinking, kept the concentration and kept going…  The sickness was still there throughout my 2^nd lap so I starting drinking water and consuming gels which seemed to settle the stomach and I was then able to enjoy the remainder of the ride and on a positive note my quads weren’t screaming ‘stop’

T2:  Was less frantic than the T1 experience and I managed to find a seat…  Running gear on, not forgetting a bit of sun cream and off I went…

Run:  I was initially surprised that my legs didn’t feel terrible after 6 hrs on the bike and I was able to run a bit quicker than the shuffle I was expecting….  But, bearing in mind the advice I got from those with several IM t-shirts I held back and maintained a run at maybe 70%.  This worked a dream and in no time I had reached the first turn around point…  When more and more people around me (some with the IM tattoo) were walking I was going well and felt happy.

The support was fantastic… Especially from the family, Colleen had spent a week making banners for the rest of the Nolans saying stuff like ‘Keep smilin’ Dad’ and ‘Go bro go’…

Have a look at the following clip of me coming to the end of my 2^nd loop….  Colleen handed me some jelly babies (fantastic), Kiera handed me a warm melted mars bar which I had to throw back… Sorry Kiera!!!

On starting my final lap I looked at the watch and thought I had a good chance of doing a sub 12 but there were still 7 plus miles to go…. I told myself to dig deep and continue to the turn around point without walking which I managed but the legs were complaining….  Shortly, after the turn around, there was a stretch of about 500 metres in which I repeatedly walked for 20 seconds and then ran for 1 minute….  This gave me something back which later allowed me to run the remainder quite strong…

Here’s the finish with the family…

What a fantastic experience I’ve had through training and the race!!!  I would recommend this race to anyone.   If you haven’t done this distance yet, this is a great way to start….  If I can do it so can you!!

Thanks for reading…   I’m off in the direction of a beach!!!  Keep smilin’

Here it is!!!   I can’t believe how quickly time has passed during the 6 months of training.   People keep asking me how I’m feeling right now…. Whether I’m nervous…excited… crapping oneself (sorry juniors) .   I can say definitely excited but no nerves yet.  I’m just putting this down to my ignorance of the experience.  I suspect the nerves might arrive just in time to keep me awake at bedtime on Saturday night…  so with this suspicion I’m in bed each night this week by 10pm doing my visualisation (thanks for the inspiration SJ) and hopefully getting a good 9 hours kip.

Just a word or two on ‘visualisation’.   Each time I’ve done it I win the race… it’s amazing!  The other night I was ironman world champion in Hawaii, what’s more, I was riding my old Raleigh Chopper and on one occasion I gave Chrissie Wellington a backy when she got a bit tired.   Quite honestly with success at this level I might not do real races after Sunday…

(Back to the serious stuff….)

So I’m packed up, the bike has had a bit of a clean and polish.  I have a zillion gels and bars packed in to the right bags and I’ve got my final pre-race elbowing in store tonight from Pam.  Just need to sort out a few bits for the camping weekend and I’ll be ready for the start line…..providing that the alarm clock goes off at 3.30am (as advised by TC) so I might hungrily gobble up my porridge etc before the birds start singing….

Since my last update I have wound down the training to virtually nothing….  The last week has just involved Saturday swim, a very leisurely ride in the direction of Rivington to watch IMUK and then I ran the warm up of the Monday night track session before watching all my track buddies suffer a long session.  I’m sure I don’t normally look as knackered as some of you did!!!

So… that’s it…. bring it on!!!  

Thanks for reading and cheers for all the good luck wishes…

Finally, here’s a song that reflects my state of mind at the moment…I’ll be humming the chorus during the run…

Hi all…  I’m tapering nicely at this moment in my 20^th & final week of planned training…   I’m quite content that I’ve made it to this point without any major problems!!!  I think it was during my 4^th training period that I had a week of disruption with lower back & glute pain, but apart from that I don’t recall much more that’s kept me from the plan….  Yesterday I clocked a 50 mile ride featuring the 4 mile climb at Cragg Vale (the long climb on the ‘Over the edge’ ride) followed by a 30 minute run and without wishing to jinx anything I felt quite alright….

Since my last blog entry, I’ve reduced the volume to a point that will leave me with my final early morning Wednesday run this week of around 1hr20….   I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to staying in bed like normal people!!!!   I’ve enjoyed the discipline but right now I’d be happy never to see the clock radio at 4 something again (until the next challenge!!)

How’s my mental prep?  Not bad I guess….  I’ve had loads of advice recently from our experienced ironman members…  99% of it on how to get through the run.  Other tips include trying to do a bit of race visualization whilst resting or when I’m trying to get to sleep….. So with that this race is now consuming my thoughts when I go to sleep as well as when I get up!!!  I don’t know whether I just lack in the imagination department or whether the old grey matter is already blocking out my minds imagery of pain but I’ve not got the hang of it yet…  Will persevere and hopefully get to grips with it…

Right now I’m trying to banish thoughts of finishing times that I’d be happy with in favor of approaching the race for enjoyment…  If I ever attempt this distance again I’ll worry about a time then!

Good luck to fellow-debutants Jonathon and Chris at Ironman UK this weekend….

Thanks for reading….

27 days (or 3 weeks on Sunday) left to prepare… Don’t think there’s much I can or should do now for my physical ability to get through the 140 miles in one piece….  So  I think it’s down to mental preparation from here on in….  A starting point for my mental readiness is whether I think I’ve banked enough training…..  Tricky one.  I’ve no worries about doing the swim.  My only hope is that I make it through without getting badly kicked, punched or have some pillock try to swim over me as has happened in races before now…  I’m quite content with the running.  I’ve done a few 2 ½ hour runs and have noticed an improvement towards the end of each.  At the outset of training a little over 5 months ago, I had only planned on a long run of up to 2 hours so I’m quite happy with what I’ve done…  Bike:  I don’t think my riding has been better but have I done enough?   I’m sure this is a question that haunts everyone in my position and quite honestly I’m hoping not to worry about it… Que sera and all that.  I’ve done several 5 ½ hour rides some of them hilly and yesterdays ride to Southport was bloody windy although it was fun coming back with the wind giving us a push!!!  The end of this ride signaled the start of my taper which I’m relieved to get to…. So just ahead of me now I plan to do all the usual sessions (including the early morning ones)  but the volume will be gradually reduced…  For example, yesterday I clocked up 90 miles in the saddle, so over the next 3 Sundays I’ll aim to do a 60, a 50 then a 40 mile ride followed by a reduced run…  Similar theme with all the other sessions although the track session can be a bit difficult to hide from with its intensity so I would hope that my track buddies might give me a stern look in the weeks to come should they see me sweating… 

With a 90 minute pre-work turbo this morning I’ve completed my 5^th training period and I’m still in one piece!!!  In the last two weeks I’ve clocked up 30 hours of training.  A fortnight ago I did wonder what agonies might be around the corner with 15 hours planned per week, but apart from the obvious muscle fatigue I’m quite happy to be relatively niggleless (I’m sure that’s a word).  In both weeks my Wednesday morning long run peaked at 2 ½ hrs…   I was in bits first time and completed the last 30 mins with a perfect / agonised Ironman shuffle….  The 2^nd attempt (yesterday) was completed a lot better, with the feeling of running rather than shuffling.  Apart from undergoing the physical prep, I used these two long runs to practice laps and consuming gels, flat coke and water.  Probably like most I get bored doing laps but felt this was a good mindset for the race which is only 5 weeks on Sunday.

Swimming has been going well (for me) and I’ve felt better than usual on occasions…  I was tortured recently at a club swim… I jumped into the endurance lane and completed 8x300s for the main set alternating between slow and fast.  I was quite happy with my speed on one or two of the fast efforts and whilst I was fighting for breath got a bit of encouragement from a proper swimmer (Fay) who told me to ‘attack’ after the 1^st 100m….  ‘Bloody hell’ I thought ‘I’m dying!!!’

I’m also quite content with my pedaling at the mo….  I’ve completed 2x5 ½  hours rides.  The first was a toughie…  Ian & I headed north towards Lancaster through some of the most picturesque countryside I’ve pedaled through….  Most of the ride was spent climbing or descending and we only clocked up 75 miles…  Like I said it was a toughie…  One of the climbs (Sabden) was the steepest I’ve done for a while.  When Ian said he wouldn’t be chasing me up it and remembering some advice from the previous day I ‘attacked’ the hill and felt quite comfortable until I looked over my shoulder and saw another cyclist who had overtaken Ian….  I wasn’t going to be beaten, so with eye balls nearly popping out, I leathered it to the top… Following a few other bits of fun I was quite exhausted and as it was fathers day I had no household expectations (jobs lined up!) so went to the inaugural Manchester Day parade and then I fell asleep with a beer.

For the 2^nd ride, I had planned to ride alone on Saturday (with family commitments) but got an email from Neil late on Friday about riding….  He turned up at my house for a 6am start….  How mad is he?  At least I’ve got an excuse for getting up at stupid-o-clock!!!  Apart from following a really good route to Southport on his Garmin box of tricks, I was really pleased he came because my chain snapped!  Neil was carrying a spare 9 speed chain link which fitted my 10 speed chain and got me home with a bit of clunking…  Considering I lean towards an atheist outlook on life (despite a strict left-footer upbringing) some might be drawn to believe this was an act of God….  I just believe I’m a born lucky bleeder!!!!  I hope my luck lasts through until August 8^th.

So 5 weeks on Sunday, I’m going to enjoy a rest week and then enjoy tapering in the 6^th and final training period….  Can’t wait for the day now and then I’ll sleep for a while…

Thanks for reading…

Started my fifth period on Saturday…   This is the toughest by far and yesterday I was already dead on my feet (or sat at my desk!) during the afternoon.  Considering last week was rest week I was slightly concerned in view of the stage I’m at and what’s ahead of me….  I think I need a bit more sleep…

I messed up Sundays long bike / run session… the plan was to get out mega early with Ian and pedal for 5+ hours but looking out the window at 5 am revealed buckets of rain falling….  So I went back to bed with the very hastily revised plan of turboing & running….    Once I got up a few hours later the rainy sky had been replaced by a blue one!!!!  In retrospect, I should’ve started the session at stupid-o-clock as planned on my turbo and then gone outdoors once the sky had cleared…. Still, I felt I had worked a bit on the turbo, and somehow managed to stay on the bloody thing for 3 hours before leggin’ it for a further hour and a bit.  Not too disappointed to miss the 5+ hour ride as I’m sure a 3 hour turbo is worth more on the road with stops…. At the start of this session I did wonder whether I could handle the boredom but Rock Radio saved the day by pumping out mega tunes with the volume stuck on 11… Sorry neighbours…

The plan for this week has been shuffled to accommodate the family singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me this morning (think your card with the tenner inside must have gone missing in the post)… yes 29 again, don’t be fooled by my grey streaks…. So I had a good hard swim yesterday morning for an hour which felt good considering my shoulders felt sore on Sunday and then onto the track during the evening which was approached cautiously at the outset but then a bit harder towards the end when I felt good.

The plan for today and tomorrow is to pedal to work taking the long way home over the Norden to Edenfield hill and then the long run going to Thursday morning attempting to perfect my ‘ironman shuffle’ for 2Hr20mins….

That should finish me off all ready for an elbowing from Pam during the evening….  I expect it to hurt a bit more than usual.

Thanks for reading...

I’m supposed to be busy resting this week at the end of the 4^th period of 6 in the plan and with the exception of racing on Sunday at Coniston and the track session last night I have been extremely busy doing nowt….  Last week was a good one completing all my key sessions without any further occurrence of the niggles I’d experienced following being chased by that BIG dog….Grrrr!  I’ve been particularly pleased with my riding which involved another trip to Southport with a run after and then I pedaled to work on Thursday feeling full of energy so decided to push it on my return journey getting home in record time

I had a really enjoyable weekend in Coniston with family & club mates for the Saturday race followed by one or two medicinal sherberts to ease the achy muscles… I must have had maybe more than two because I’ve had little or no aching to speak of!!  Don’t understand that!!! 

This week is all about preparation for the next period of the plan which is the toughest.  The plan says I should get through 16 hours per week which if all goes well will be quite a bit more than I’ve ever done.  With this in mind a couple of extra massages need to be put in the diary to get me through it and my stretching and wobble-boarding need to be done consistently.

Last night Paul Taylor (another Outlaw in training) hinted that the bike course was a toughie….  This came as a bit of a surprise as it had been described as a ‘fast course’ which you’d interpret as flat…  It is mostly flat as it turns out, he described it as a toughie because we need to pedal all of it instead of other less flat courses where you might enjoy  free-wheeling the descents and getting a rest….   My gut feeling is I’d rather do a flatter course on my debut than a hilly one even though I enjoy climbing… With all this in mind I’m going to look at the diary and see when I can travel down to Nottingham to ride a few laps of the course…

Everyone’s welcome to keep me company…

By the way the mighty Slayer were awesome and have now qualified as the worlds best band….  Bang that head that doesn’t bang!

As I sit typing my legs aren’t happy following a 2hr10min run this morning at the crack of dawn…  During the run I felt great and full of energy for the first hour and a bit but maybe I should’ve slowed down a bit….  This has been the longest run (time wise) that I’ve ever attempted so I shouldn’t be surprised really that the legs are giving me the silent treatment

My Wednesday morning run frequently involves being chased by stray dogs….  Last week I was 10 minutes from completing a 2 hour run when a BIG dog started bounding along with me and on a few occasions got within sniffing/biting distance….  That dog now knows quite a few human swear words…

Since my last update I missed my Thursday pedaling just because I needed an extra days rest.  So with Thursday and my usual Friday rest day I felt fully refreshed for Saturdays swim and my Sunday long ride which started at 6.40am and headed in the direction of Southport.  I really enjoyed this ride apart from enduring the worst bit of road I’ve experienced…  A stretch of about 1 mile on the A6 west of the Blackrod/Horwich junction…  I’ve only just stopped shaking!!!  Think I might’ve ‘leathered’ the outward journey a bit too much and I paid for it on the return being slower by 20 mins.

With this in mind I have to question what sort of pace I should be training at?  If I can ‘leather it’ for the best part of 80 miles, should that prepare me well for race day at a slower pace or should I be focusing on my slower race pace now?   Any advice out there amongst our Ironman membership?  This might be something that I should be focusing on now with 10 weeks to go….

Just a bit of pedaling tomorrow, an elbowing from Pam in the evening and there’s another weeks training in the bag….

Just got to mention that on Sunday night I’m going to experience the 2^nd best band ever to walk the planet…. Slayer!!!  (Metallica being No. 1)

Not everyone’s pint of snakebite but without doubt an experience.  Judge for yourself….

I’m just a few days into the 4^th period of the plan which is the beginning of the 2^nd half… the tough bit!!!  So far my approach has been to cautiously build the distances whilst maintaining a disciplined regime of daily stretching, although I think I need to introduce a bit more caution into the stretching….  Last week I had a bit of lower back pain which a physio diagnosis pointed at over-stretching the hamstrings to a point which resulted in a bad tempered sciatic nerve….the words were ‘it doesn’t like being stretched’.  On that advice I’ve changed the regime and a week and a bit later I’ve not had a reoccurrence of the trouble….

My Coniston recce weekend was really enjoyable…. Look at my report in the forum for the details http://www.boltontri.com/index.php?option=com_ccboard&view=postlist&forum=4&topic=9&Itemid=64

… I’ll only say, get your entries in to experience an exhilarating bike course…

Since that weekend I really backed off training with it being my rest week but also to let the lower back pain go and then I resumed on Saturday with the usual evil swim session delivered by Mr B… I was knackered after the warm up trying to stay on the toes of our youth triathletes… Must try to hold back a bit especially when it’s a warm up!!!  The following day was the annual ‘Over the edge’ bike ride which is no more than an ‘undulating’ 55 mile ride.  The word ‘undulating’ has recently been confused by a few members who might need to recall and compare this ride to the experience of an Alpe before using words like ‘Hellish’….I think someone’s going soft!!!

Yesterday, as a result of the ‘undulating’ ride, I described my legs as ‘battered’ and was curious as to whether my track buddies had a similar level of ‘batteredness’ (I’m sure this is a proper word)… A few had a bit of soreness but nothing major… The session was a bit beastly doing 8x 2mins hard, 1min recovery, 1min hard, 30s recovery & 30s hard, 30 s recovery although the legs feel reasonable today.

Had a good swim this morning:  1000m warm up and then 10x200m with 20s rest.

Tomorrow I’m up a stupid-o-clock for a 2 hour run and then a bit pedaling on Thursday should leave me longing for Friday rest day.

Thanks for reading.