Less than 2 weeks ....

My race team(s)

First things first, a little explanation of the team(s) I race for. My first claim club is Chester Tri Club, I have been with them for years, originally living in Northwich it was the closest club, and what a club, very strong sociable side, very good range of athletes, into about as wide a range of active sports as you can imagine as well as triathlon and about as active a club in terms of events and sessions as you could get, anyone in the NorthWest area close to Chester would be well worth having a look at the website

This is who I am affiliated to and will race for them for as long as they'll have me ;-)

During my Ironman events however I wear the yellow skull and crossbones of my pirate team 'The Pirate Ship of Fools' or PSOF. This is a virtual team consisting of a group of athletes/people who by being members of the Runners World UK forum have become a racing team, there is no 'da management' etc as its just a team of likeminded people who want to race, to read about it, go here, an enlightening read that will either make you laugh or potentially join lol !! you have been warned.


Now, to the aforementioned Pirates !

I visitied MK this week to catch up with Meldy about training and gossip after her run at the JWUltra. To my surprise I was presented with a card from all of the pirates and inside a rather tidy sum of cash donated by the PSOF massive, to say I was surprised would be an understatement, moved and humbled might be more like it. I have said my thanks on the forum but wanted to mention their kindness again, I know a lot of them will be watching online on the 10th.

The money has gone towards my purchase of new tri shoes, a picture of which are above. And below, the culprits, well most of them.



Training

This week has been work, exam prep and training tick over, because of feeling ill I have curtailed the training to the extent it feels like the final week in terms of volume and intensity, I am not going to gain anything anyway but I prefer the confidence booster that comes with taper freshness.
I also think a little bit of something without going into high HR's is going to be good to keep the heart and lungs working. I was due to be doing a sprint race in Roade on Sunday gone but resisted even though my 90 min session Sat night felt strong, it was just the thought of pushing outside of the comfort zone for an hour and pushing my already down immune system over the edge. So, I went out for a 3 1/2 hr ride and 3 mile brick run instead. Total hours this week were just over 9, should have been more but sensible head meant two full days off again.

How do I feel ...

Having a cold isn't the end of the world but I have worried about it since it broke, apparently they last for 7-10 days, this is now 12 days and I still have tickly throat and running nose, not serious but thinking about going to docs for antibiotics if it looks like going chesty. From what I know a cold is a virus which won't get touched by AB's but if it goes south, the chest infection could last weeks. Positive thoughts tho, it will shift soon enough, just keep drinking plenty of water and Vit C.
Am also on Echinacea Tincture, have dropped the Beechams, the guy in Boots this morning told me that Beechams etc only masks the effects of a cold to make you feel better, they don't actually shift it, your body has to do that, so I have come off it so I know where its at so to speak and I can fight it head on, we'll see, not overly worried but if I still have it for the race it just means a slightly longer day ;-( I remember Nigel at Chester Tri doing Nice with a cold that broke that week, gutted for him during the week as it was hard to see someone put that much into training to know you wouldn't shift it by the weekend of the race, he finished but it was a hard day at the office.

Race Wheels

Kelly has just rung me to firstly complain that the baby weaning book I ordered for her last week still hasn't come but so far I have received, wheel stickers, spare chargers for the DVD players for the plane, new goggles, replacement headphones from Shure (more on that later) and my new race kit has been posted today to be here tomorrow.
So by tomorrow I will have been able to have a go at blinging up my new wheels. Tai has also sent me a load of samples for the pirates to check out as he is definately interested in getting some bulk orders going for bike stickers etc.

Logo on kit

I decided last week that I would get my kit logo'ed up with sponsor and put my name on the back, an indulgence I know but hey, payback for Phil at D&M Cycles. Marcus did a mock up on the logo for me and how it would look, I then found a place on the web and hey presto. I just had a call from Richard Stannard who runs www.nameonkit.com to say he was posting my pirate top back today and should be with me tomorrow with sponsor and name logos done, can't wait and will post that up as well.

Tracking me in the race

A few people have asked how to track me in the race, I will know nearer the time and will post a few websites up but I have a feeling that the race is streamed live and there is an athlete tracker on ironman.com

My coach

A word on Lawrence, I have been coached by Lawrence Oldershaw for many years now, we have worked together to try to target Kona and to be honest we were both surprised this year. However, just a note of thanks to him, we have worked very well over the last 4-5 weeks prepping for this, more contact than we normally have to make sure everything is right and we are well prepared for each days training, I think he is as excited as I am and it shows in the encouragement and conversations we have every other night, his website is here, to be honest needs a bit of an update but if anyone is interested in being coached it can point you in the direction you need to start.