Number 9 and feeling fine!

Well it has been a crazy month as I have completed 3 challenges in 4 weeks but thankfully the body and more importantly my toes have stood up to the test.

Yesterday (Sunday 15 September) I completed Challenge 9 - the London Duathlon!

This was probably the only event where I knew what to expect as I took part in the event last year. The only difference this time were the weather conditions.

Last year it was probably one of the hottest days of the year with temperatures around 30c, yesterday, although it was a beautiful morning, temperatures struggled to get in to double figures and then there was the strong wind which happened to be mainly going in to you regardless where you were on the course.

Despite that I managed to beat my time from last year by just over a minute which doesn't sound  much but given the fact that Mo Farah and Jonny Brownlee were both beaten yesterday by a second a minute is quite a lot in these events.

Although I wasn't due to start until 10:30, I set off from home about 6am, so another early start while the rest of the house slept.

I got to Richmond just before 8 and had a 25 minute walk through Richmond park to the events village.

The advantage of getting there early meant I could get my bike racked up and I could visit the toilets at least half a dozen times before the start.

As the clock ticked down towards 10:30 the number of people congregating by the start pens grew, they let us through about 15 minutes before the start and I was lucky enough to be in the first 25 to go.

I say lucky, it was not that lucky when you realise that the people passing you in the first few miles were actually in the groups that started after you!

Anyway I set off in to the head wind which was pretty grim. The route was pretty simple a 10km loop (red line) of the park followed by 4x11km loops(blue line) on the bike than a cheeky little 5km loop(green line) to finish.

After about 5km on the first running loop I finally had the wind behind me which certainly helped to recoup some of the time I lost running into the wind.

I reached the first transition and felt ok, I had a quick change into my helmet, cycle shoes and ate some jelly beans, then it was out to cycle 44km.

Now doing the event last year has some advantages but I was also able to remember the steep climb that I had to do not once but 4 times!

You would of thought that taking on the Welsh hills and the Pennines would have helped me but no I still struggled up the hill! 

Fortunately the last section of the cycle route was both downhill and with the wind behind us, which meant you had just enough time to recover before taking on the hill and wind again!

I finished the cycle section about a minute slower than last year but the difference this time was that my legs felt ok and not like they were going to cramp up.

So I racked my bike, changed back into my trainers, took on more fluid and jelly beans and I set off for the last leg and the cheeky 5km.

I had the usual jelly leg feeling associated with changing from cycling to running but this cleared just in time to take on a hill less than 1km in to the run.

Unlike last year I actually got stronger as the run went on and I was able to kick on up to the finish line.

The 5km run was actually just over 3 minutes quicker than my time last year and only 4 minutes slower than my PB for the distance.

It's amazing the difference a year makes as although I was only a minute quicker, I was able to walk away straight after I finished back to my kit, where last year I felt like collapsing in a heap!

So that is it I am now a Duathlete!

Richmond park is a beautiful setting for an event like this and it's great to see loads of deer roaming freely as you run or cycle by.

There were a few lucky escapes with some rogue deer running across the road, however fortunately there was no sign of Fenton! (Check out YouTube Jesus Christ in Richmond Park: Original upload - Brilliant)!

With the bike now being tucked up for the winter there is now only 3 events between me and completing the whole challenge!

Snowdonia Marathon, Winter 100 run and 42miles on a rowing machine!

Bring it on!

 

How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

With less than a week before I take on Challenge 9 - London Duathlon, I thought I'd look back over some of the great coverage that I have had about the whole challenge and help raise awareness of the great work that Springboard Opportunity group do.

I realised when I was going through them that I hadn't shared the interview/article that was done by Technogym several weeks ago. The guys have been great supporting me throughout the year and I hope you like the article - Technogym

On the theme of everyday people doing amazing things I was sent an email recently with a film from the Ironman UK. This was a team of everyday people being given the opportunity to be supported like a pro athlete thanks to Sportpursuit. 

Take a look at the film, it certainly gets me in the mood for an Ironman! Team Sportpursuit

From everyday people to world class athletes, I was also lucky enough to be back at the Olympic park over the weekend for the National Paralympic Day which was a great event. 

I took James along and as well as watching Team GB in Boccia and Table Tennis, James met a number of the heroes from last years Paralympics including Hannah Cockroft and Ben Quilter.

For me seeing James face when he had a medal round his neck was amazing and I personally believe that meeting athletes at events like this and talking to them about their experiences is a massive part of inspiring a generation.

As well as meeting the athletes he was also able to try out some of the sports including Boccia and wheelchair basketball.

It was great to see him trying a number of different sports that he wouldn't usually get to play and was a great rest day for me ahead of Sunday!

Number 8 and feeling great!!

As we enter into September it's great to be able to say I have now successfully completed 8 out of the 12 challenges.

The latest of the challenges was completed yesterday and I must say I really did feel good, a bit concerned that I had gone off too quick but fortunately that wasn't the case as I completed the 100 mile course in 5hrs 52mins (moving time) 6hrs 24mins (including stops).

This meant an average speed of around 16.8 miles per hour which considering that's through peddle power for 100miles is pretty pleasing!

Although the route wasn't as hilly as previous challenges there were constant up and downs and a nasty head wind especially during the section between 50-78miles!

So after a 5am alarm call which gave me enough time to get some breakfast down and the bike loaded on to the car I set off for the start.

It was pretty grim at that time of the morning as it was still dark a sign of the changing seasons.

I got to the start at about 6:40 so I had enough time to register and do my final preparations before starting at around 7:20.

Although I started at a steady pace I soon got with a group of riders and the pace started to pick up which still felt comfortable.

We got to the first checkpoint (24miles) in around 1hr 23mins but as with events like this when you stop and you're not with friends you tend to lose the people you were cycling with.

This was the case for me so I set off again on my own but it wasn't long before meeting up with a guy called Peter.

We got chatting and he told me about doing to Ride London event back in August where he finished the 100 miles in under 6 hours and he wanted to do the same for this one especially at it was hillier than that course.

At this point I didn't want to tell him that it took me over 8 hours to do the Castle 100 in May!

So I stayed with Peter and we kept a really good pace, I was starting to have real concerns that I was going to blow at some point but we reach the halfway point in just over 3hrs.

This was the lunch stop and Peter didn't want to stop for long but I needed to get some more substantial food on board.

To be fair we didn't stay too long and he stayed too which was good.

So feeling refuelled we set off again and this was when we hit the headwind. This was definitely the hardest section of the whole ride.

It was during this section that Peter left me as I once again found a couple of hills that meant my pace dropped to a crawl..damn you hills!

However once over the hills I was able to get back to my previous pace and to both mine and Peters surprise I was able to catch up with him.

The final checkpoint (78 miles) came around surprisingly quick but also at the right time as it gave me the final opportunity to refuel with jelly babies and chocolate bars which was just the boost I needed for the final 22 miles.

So we set off for the last leg however a couple of miles in to the last section Peter started to cramp up and needed me to nurse him in. This meant staying in front of him so he could draft off me, previously we had been taking it in turns but now he wasn't able to take his turn. 

So for the last 15miles I lead him back, fortunately he had recovered enough to do the last couple of miles as I was now feeling the burn!

The end finally came into sight and boom we were done!

It was a great ride and I want to thank Peter for getting me around especially that middle section.

This is Peter the machine!!

The unexpected early finish also meant that I got extra time with the family too when I got home.

James had decided that for my reward I could have a fry up for my dinner, there's no mistaking that he is my son!!

So as I said at the start only 4 challenges remain in the Average Joe Challenge in aid of Springboard Opportunity Group.

Here are the remaining challenges -

15 September - London Duathlon

26 October - Snowdonia Marathon

30 November - Winter 100 (100 mile run)

14 December - Row the channel and back on a rowing machine in Borough Parade Shopping Centre in Chippenham.

I now have 2 weeks to get ready for the London Duathlon which means my focus will be back on running as I think cycling over 240 miles in the last 2 weeks I might have done enough training on the bike now!!