How Hard Can it Be?: April 2012

Monday, 30 April 2012

April Training Update

We had a holiday booked after the Pwllheli Triathlon to see family in Mexico so whilst the training was low the fun and chill out was high and just what was needed! :-)

I managed to get a couple of early runs in around Puerto Aventuras Marina and a 3/4 mile open water swim over coral reefs across the bay whilst away which was fab!

Jet lag on the return wiped me out so overall the training this month has been a bit sparce...

1/4/12 ~ Pwllheli Sprint Triathlon (as below) in 1.28.00

3/4/12 ~ 2.5mile run around Puerto Aventuras Marina in Mexico in

24mins 37 secs

5/4/12 ~ 2.5mile run around Puerto Aventuras Marina in 24mins

31secs

9/04/12 ~ 3/4mile swim across Puerto Aventuras bay and back in

32mins 52secs (Avge 28 strokes/min)

21/4/12 ~ 7.8mile bike around Bradwall Green and Brereton Green
in 28mins 11secs averaging 16.6mph
24/4/12 ~ 7.6mile bike ride from Total Fitness in Crewe to

Wheelock, Winterley, Haslington and back in 26mins and
4secs averaging 17.5mph

~ 3mile run around Crewe from Total Fitness in 25mins
59secs

26/4/12 ~ First UK open water swim of 2012! 800m swim at a cold Boundary

Water Park with Uswim in just over 19mins 27secs (Avge 25

strokes/min)... 13'c water temp and 8.5'c air temp!?

28/4/12 ~ 8 mile run around Pwllheli Marina out to Aberech and back in 1hour

10mins averaging 8.44min miles
30/4/12 ~ 3 mile run around the Wheelock rail trail in Sandbach in 24mins 13secs
averaging 8.06 min miles

And finally... The folks from work that I'm doing the team challenge triathlon with at Capesthorne in June have kindly agreed to fund raise for the RNLI which is a massive boost :o) Just got to beat the girls team now! ~ http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/FindelTri

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Pwllheli Triathlon ~ Done! (Time: 1.28.00)

A great day out at the Pwllheli Triathlon today but slightly disappointed with the overall time which was 49 seconds slower than my last outing here. Even more so as I coasted the run thinking due to my own timing error that I was going to finish in just over 1hour 24mins... Turns out I'd accidentally stopped my watch between swim and bike rather than get a lap time for T1 :-(

The 400m pool swim was completed in 10mins 19seconds which was far from my best.

T1 (Swim to bike) was fairly respectable at 2mins 7 seconds.

A lovely 20km bike route out of the leisure centre, around Pwllheli Marina and then a two mile steep hill climb out of Pwllheli back towards Caernarfon turning right at Four Crosses towards Chwilog and then dropping down hill to the A497 back to Pwllheli... 48mins 4secs

T2 (Bike to Run) was 1min 19 secs

Followed up with a reasonable 5km run around Pwllheli Marina in 26mins 12secs

The transitions were all quicker than last time but with the exception of the run my other disciplines slower. Perhaps the 14mile 'dry run' bike ride the day before (which turned into a race pace sprint for the last 8 miles) followed up with a couple of pints of San Miguel and burger and chips the night before weren't the best pre race preparations?! ;-)

Why am I doing this?!

I got drawn in to running in 2007 to raise funds for charity and discovered it's a great way to keep in shape! I expanded the fundraising to open water swimming in 2010 and loved that too which lead to taking up cycling and Triathlon's in 2011!

I've kept a training blog for the past three years and found it a huge motivator to get out and do something to report on so here I am again! I'll be keeping a record here of all my training and event ups and downs as well as a few deviations on my hobbies. I'm planning a few events this year for my own benefit and a couple of major events to raise funds again for two charities that mean a lot to me:

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution ~ http://www.rnli.org/

In September 2007 I had an accident whilst sailing my Laser Pico dinghy out at sea off Abersoch, North Wales. The Abersoch crew came to my aid and I'll be eternally grateful ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk6edftmHtg

I spend a lot of time out at sea with family and friends and it made me realise just how dependent we are on this life saving volunteer emergency service funded entirely by charity.

I ran the Great North Run Half Marathon to raise funds for the Abersoch RNLI station in 2008 & 2009. In 2010 I taught myself front crawl and swam a mile in open water at The Great Salford Swim and in 2011 rolled it all up taking on the Tatton Triathlon Olympic Distance.

This year I'm going to extend the cycling by riding Coast to Coast from Morcambe to Bridlington along the 'Way of the Roses' route ~ http://www.wayoftheroses.co.uk/. It's a 170mile ride over 3 days from 24th to the 26th August...

How hard can it be ;-)

The Isaiah Trust ~ http://www.isaiahtrust.org/

A registered charity started in 2001 by two good friends with big hearts, Nicky and Tim. The charity helps kids in Kenya orphaned by aids and surviving on their own on the streets in some of the most apalling conditions imaginable. The lives that these kids endured prior to the charity beggars’ belief and as a parent myself brings tears to my eyes... But the Trust has and continues to do some amazing things for these kids... Providing outreach and rehabilitation centres to give safe havens and remedial education, setting up orphanages and foster parent programmes. Helping children get back in to the state educaion system and providing 'resource centres' for older child who have missed too much schooling to teach them a skill or trade to earn a living. The Trust is now working hard setting up farms to establish sustainable food programs as well as teaching children farming skills. The trust has helped change the lives of so many kids but there are so many more yet to help...

After a four years of running the Great Manchester 10km Run, to raise awareness and funds for the trust last year I ran the Edinburgh Marathon which was awesome! This year I've signed up for the Liverpool Triathlon Olympic Disatance event (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) where I'll be looking to get under that elusive 3 hour target! Watch this space!...