How Hard Can it Be?: June 2012

Saturday, 30 June 2012

June Training Update

This month the training has been focussed around preparation for the Liverpool Triathlon, a 5150 European Championship event where I'll be doing the Olympc Distance Triathlon... 1500m Swim, 40km Bike Ride and a 10km run.

Hoping that I can squeeze under the 3 hour mark which has eluded me on my previous 2 attempts last year at Tatton (3.07) and Capesthorne (3.09). It's going to be a challenge! I've been working on improving the bike pace, even to the extent of investing in an 'Aero drinks bottle' which when slung between the Aero bars means I can stay tucked down whilst grabbing a drink. It seems to work well improving my speed by about 1mph on runs out with it so far. Here's hopeing it makes the difference!

A summary of this month's training below...

02/06/12 ~ 1500m Open Water swim with Uswim at Salford Quays in 34mins 55secs
06/06/12 ~ Bike to Run Bricks session. 13mile bike ride from Sandbach around Hassall Green, Winterley
                  to Haslington and back in 46mins 41secs avge 16.6mph then...
                  1.5 mile run around the block in 12mins 11secs :-)
09/06/12 ~ 1500m Open Water swim at Salford Quays in driving rain and wind. 36mins 19secs (am)
                25mile bike ride with my mate Dom from Sandbach, through Middlewich, Church Minshull,
                 Nantwich and Crewe at a comfortable pace averaging 16mph in 1hour 34mins (pm)
10/06/12 ~ 3 mile (5km) cross country run at Capesthorne Tri as part of the Findel relay team in 25mins
                 and 13secs
12/06/12 ~ 3.7mile 'cool down' run with Karen on a figure of 8 circuit around the Wheelock Rail Trail
14/06/12 ~ Bike to Boundary Water Park, 8miles in 29mins 7secs averaging 16.4mph
                  1500m Open Water swim in 34mins 58secs
                  Bike home from Boundary, 8miles in 31mins 25secs averaging 15.1mph
16/06/12 ~ 1500m Open Water swim at Salford Quas in 37mins 28secs
19/06/12 ~ 8mile bike ride loop around Bradwall and Brereton trying out my new 'Aero drink bottle'!
                 31mins for the distance averaging a good pace of 17.1mph
20/06/12 ~ Up early for a pre-work bike ride, 6 miles to Bradwall Green and back in 22.5mins averaging
                 16.4mph
23/06/12 ~ Dragged myself out of bed on a morning of wind and rain for a 1500m open water swim at
                 Uswim's Salford Quays session. 36mins 30 seconds for the distance.
24/06/12 ~ An 8 mile steady pace run around Bradwall Green, Elworth and the Wheelock Rail Train.
                  average pace of 9mins 23secs/mile and 1hour 15mins for the whole run.
25/06/12 ~ 14.3miles on the bike this evening on a lovely sunny evening. Through Bradwall to Holmes
                 Chapel and back averaging a good pace of 18.3mph in 47mins 30secs.
28/06/12 ~ 7.8mile steady pace cycle around Bradwall and Brereton Green averaging 16.1mph

Not a great success on the Isaiah Trust fundraising for this event, only £20 so far but here's hoping some more funds come in ~ http://www.justgiving.com/Daves-IsaiahTrust-Triathlon

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Capesthorne Triathlon RNLI Relay ~ Done!

A great day and some superb performances pulled out of the bag by both of the teams we put in to the Capesthorn Triathlon to raise funds for the RNLI!

Nick and Jo went first in both teams in the swim in pretty awful

conditions, finishing with only 15 seconds between them!

Next up Kev and Lisa on the bikes on a 20km circuit around the grounds and local roads. As the boys had started in the wave before the girls it was impossible to tell who was in the lead at this point.

Kev handed over to myself for the run and then Lisa off the bike ran around with Marwa on one of her first runs over this distance. The cross country course wasn't easy and torrential rain for the previous few days made the going very heavy! My time for the 5km circuit was respectable at 25mins 13 secs.

It was then a nail biting wait for Marwa and Lisa to cross the line and then to the finish computers to reveal the boys had just scraped a win from the girls... Not that we ever doubted it!? ;-)

A really good day and one of the most enjoyable Triathlons I've competed in.

Another circa £650 raised for the RNLI too! A huge thanks to all involved, particularly Lisa for taking the time and trouble to organise it and cajole everyone in to joining in!

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!...