It's all been a bit crazy town in my nutsio little life. We've been to Nice and I managed to struggled through another Ironman. It was an amazing race in a beautiful setting. During the swim the sun came up making the place look magical. No time to take in the view though.
The bike was absolutely stunning. One of the prettiest rides I have done. The first half was tough with plenty of climbing including one 20km beast. Descending on the way back was mad. Fun times. By the end of the bike the sun had left me with a head ache from the constant heat.
Out on to the run my ultra conservative bike was paying off and I ran the first two laps of four feeling great apart from the obvious heat issue. This meant I struggled to get those ever so tasty gels down and the wheels came off half way round the dreaded third lap. This meant a switch to survival mode and racing for a time was out of the window. The heat of the day kept giving and was murder. Dipping my head in buckets and hosing down completely was the only way to keep cool enough to stay upright. The last lap took so much I had to dig into new places.
I may not have got anywhere near the marathon time I hoped for but was pleased not to just walk the last lap when my body was screaming at me to give in. Crossing the line and seeing the Goblin AKA Dr James - is he really crazy? - was ace. We had a comedy hour trying to get to the massage tent, not throw up and then trying to eat. The athletes garden was more like a war zone. After a quick drink and some pizza we headed back to the course to give the love to those who were still out there. Good to see Steve Slay get round to earn himself some quality bling and a tattoo.
A few days later I returned to France to work filming at the archery World Cup. Good to see peeps so dedicated to their sport. After my return we flew off to Germany to see Tom and H race IM in Frankfurt. Watching those guys give it their all was nothing short of inspiring. While they might not have achieved a slot for the Kona IM World Champs they did put in absolutely everything and never gave up. Well done guys. I hope you have at least a little rest now!
This weekend saw Paul Peros realize his dream of completing Ironman as he battled against storms and lightening out on the course in Austria. Shame we couldn't be there as he's put so much into this and achieved a great deal this year. Next stop Lanza. Must also give a big up to Lee Wagstaff and Guy Roberts for earning their first stripes out in Switzerland. Great work guys we ate BBQ and had a few drinks while you were out on the course. Thanks to Ian and Jane for a great BBQ.
Why is it after I stop feeling really tired from Ironman and want to train that I have too much work and the cold fairy comes along? I hate all this snot and feeling rubbish. Staying up late ready to sign up for Ironman Austria last night didn't help. Yes I've stupidly gone and entered another one despite promising myself never again. I just wanna get out there on my bike and ride my legs off ready for Antwerp half Ironman in three weeks rather than spraying slime out of my nose. At this rate I wont have trained much before it's time to taper. Oh well.
No comments:
Post a Comment