Not exactly a race report, but as our thoughts turn to Windsor, this was something discussed on a recent bike ride. I thought you might like the picture. Windsor 1998 was my first olympic-distance race and first open-water triathlon. I had, as you can see, only some of the gear and about the same amount of idea. These were the days before aero helmets and aero drinking systems. Tri bars and clipless pedals were quite common but too advanced for me. Oakleys were the height of tri fashion and designed to cover half of your entire head. Most importantly, Speedo were still making tri gear, much of it day-glo, and for a retired swimmer the obvious kit choice was to stick on a vest which matched your skimpy trunks. All I can remember about the race was that I hated the swim, and have never been so happy to stop doing something I was supposed to be good at and start doing something I wasn't....

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The motto says it all. "Normal limits do not apply." and Its billed as "The toughest Ironman in the World". It's hard to say what makes the Ironman Lanzarote course so tough. There's heat, high winds, and a challenging bike course that winds its way up and down two mountains. A swim is a swim, and the 2-loop ocean swim is a great way to start the long day. The bike course is where things get really tough for roughly 1300 competitors. By the time all is said and done, we will have climbed more than 2,600 meters (that's 9,000 feet!). Oh, lest we forget, there is still the run. The out-and-back run course is relatively flat. What makes it so tough are the winds, and the heat ... and the fact that it's a marathon

I had a great race with everything more or less going to plan. We had typical Lanzarote weather with a head wind from Yaiza all the way to Mirador del Rio; we even had 10 mins of rain!!!

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I am a bit of a Tour de France fan and so wanted to have cycled all the famous cols to experience it for myself. Not wanting to take years over it I looked into doing all the Alpine cols in as few days as possible. What I found out was that there route called La Route des Grandes Alpes which is promoted by the french tourist board: http://www.grande-traversee-alpes.com/je-voyage/par-la-route/la-route-des-grandes-alpes.html

It is recommended as an 8 day route and misses a couple of TdF classics like the Col de Joux Plane where Lance Armstrong was in all sorts of trouble in 2000. There is a complication in that the climbs of Alpe d'Huez and Col de la Croix de Fer are stuck out on a loop in the West so I decided to save those for another time. The standard route also missed the Col de la Bonette which was on the 2008 tour and as the highest road in Europe really had to be done.

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Start/Finish in the village of Pauillac near Bordeaux.

Le Marathon du Medoc is not your average marathon. It’s a test of stamina both on road and through various vineyards. It’s a test of your sartorial elegance and chance to compete against some of the best disguises France has to offer. It’s an endurance event offering you the opportunity to taste 22 different wines, mixed with a little food. And it needs to be done inside 6h30m.

It’s not a race for breaking any PBs.

Team South Africa…James Deane, Karen Triegaardt and, myself along with a few adopted (honorary?) Africans..Christine Chambers and the Phillis’s, Tim and Shannon, left the UK feeling pretty smug. The weather for London that weekend was going to be filthy, and as everyone knows, the sun always shines in France and the wine flows.

Wrong. We landed in the rain.

For the unaware, the Le Marathon starts and finishes in the village of Pauillac, about 50km north of Bordeaux. The heart of the Medoc fine wine producing region....

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When I've answered 'Roth', more often than not the very next question is ‘What is that?’  Roth is a small town about 40km south of Nuremberg, in Germany, and the destination of Europe's first every Ironman event.  Why the triathlon held there annually is not splashed all over the current Ironman sites relates to the fact that it’s no longer run under the Ironman brand.  One of the first 2 Germans to race at IM Hawaii was Detlef Kuhnel in 1982, a Roth local.  In 1984 he organised a short distance race in Roth and this graduated, in 1988, to the 1st Ironman Germany Race in Roth with the winner setting a world record time over the Ironman distance at the time. The race ran under the auspices of Ironman until 2001 when the organisers parted company with the Ironman brand.  During that time the race saw some super fast finishes with Luc v Lierde setting (and still holding) the world record of 7:50.27.

 

Since 2002 the race has been run by the Challenge organisation with Quelle as the front line sponsor...

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I entered Windsor like most of you back in Dec, thinking that this season would be different and I would train more and improve on my Windsor PB.

A winter of skiing and then a May and June with plenty more excuses left me frankly unprepared for Sunday. Then, to top it all I went swimming on Thurs night and felt like I was getting a sore throat and cold. A meal afterwards with Tarne and Vix and a bottle of red wine did not seem to cure it either. I went home from work early on Thurs and took Friday off and spent far too much time debating whether I was well enough to race. Alan’s email from the week before “if you ain’t got the fitness now, you’re not gonna have it in the race” was top of mind too! But having missed the marathon I was damned if I was missing this too!

So why did I go to all the effort of Saturday registration, a 4am bowl of porridge and 6.24am swim in frankly what felt like an endless pool with swan shit on top?

It wasn’t for the PB but because I did not want to miss out on a good social occasion, a fun day with a great atmosphere (ok there was probably a part of me too that wanted to check I had not completely lost all fitness!) .

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The National Aquathlon Champs at Milton Keynes is an event I also raced last year, sneaking gold in M30-34 despite a reduced training programme, but finishing some way behind overall winner Andy Tarry (TFN 2XU, M35-39 age group). This year I was confident of a stronger race, though having moved up to Tarry's age group I knew another gold would be difficult. The 750m swim start saw all 70 male athletes strung out in one long row, leading to more than the usual amount of congestion and fighting once the gun went. Things only settled at about half-way, and I got out of the water in a satisfactory 10 minutes, generally unscathed and roughly 16th place overall.

 

Wetsuit off, shoes on and out on a two-lap 5.5km run. Not much to say - no time for pacing or finesse, just go as hard as you can until the finish line arrives. I overtook a couple of people per kilometre, though I think they were all in other age groups. Finished in 29:36, once again behind Andy Tarry (27:05!) and a clutch of 18-24-year-olds,...

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Any trip that starts with a five hour delay at Heathrow, can only get better. And so this trip to Cape Town did. The five hour delay passed in what seemed a matter minutes as 4 of the clubs more social members (ie not really athletes, not an ironman amongst them at that point) settled into the BA lounge to make short work of the lounges’ Heineken and Chablis supply. Training takes many forms, and the demolition job done in the lounge surely helped with our sleep when we eventually boarded BA046 at 9pm. I certainly don’t remember much of the flight.

The 4 in question, Stu Archer, Jo Perriam, Barbara Vincent and myself were joined in Cape Town by James Deane, Siobhan Brownlow, Barney Randall (although since he was never seen…no proof really exists that he was there), Richard Stait, Karen Wells, Karen Triegaardt, Christine Chambers, Greg & Tess Keers and myself. As...

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We recommend the 3 Keers' training camp out of Antibes, with Greg as chef d'equipe, Tess as FOT support car and Egberta Keers as team mascot. Watch out boys, although there was little talk about crank lengths and gear ratios it didn't affect our performance out there on the hills. Watch out chairman... Your current Col de la Madone king of the mountain title is under threat - and she looks better in lycra! With Tess and bump even making it to the top, it looks like the boys may have to find a bigger mountain to climb.

Top training tips: lose the caffeine gels and energy drinks - oysters and eau de vie are all you need.