What's in a name?

2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle, 26.2 mile run. 

A full distance triathlon, an iron distance triathlon.

Whoever finishes first, We'll call him the Ironman

During an awards banquet for the Waikiki Swim Club, John Collins, a Naval Officer stationed in Hawai`i, and his wife Judy, began playing with the idea of combining the three toughest endurance races on the island into one race. They decided to issue a challenge to see who the toughest athletes were: swimmers, bikers, or runners. On February 18, 1978, 15 competitors, including Collins, came to the shores of Waikiki to take on the first-ever IRONMAN challenge.

Originally from: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/history.aspx#ixzz3h7YEgzXJ

I have completed the distance 4 times now, but have never finished first, and unless I am the only entrant never will. 

When I first competed at the distance at Outlaw 2012, I thought completing would make me an ironman, but no! Apparently not. On the finish line I was announced to be an Outlaw and other atheletes informed me that to be an ironman I would have to compete in an Ironman branded event.

I completed Outlaw in 2013 and 2014, I decided to do Ironman Wales in September 2014. People would compare Ironman with Outlaw, claiming Ironman to be tougher. The swim was a sea swim and unfortunately I was not strong enough to swim against a rough sea and withdrew after 1.4 miles of swimming. 

I then competed at Ironman UK in Bolton on 19 July 2015. I was nervous remembering that Ironman is said to be tougher than Outlaw, It was a 2 lap swim in Pennington Flash, A 2 lap bike ride with 2 big hills on each lap and a 3 lap run. 

I was nervous about being lapped and dunked in the swim, it was a rolling start and almost 20 minutes passed before I could get in the reservoir, I swam wide to stay out of trouble and was pleased to survive the 2 laps without even being touched, even though at times it was impossible to sight due to the rain being so heavy and bouncing off the surface as well as my head and back, strange.

So I was now ahead of Wales and further into my ironman journey than in September. It was pouring down and really windy, I left my glasses off to improve my vision and slip slides through the muddy tyre tracks to the mount up point. Yey! I was out on the bike. I now had to pedal for my life to make the cut offs, The wind was horrific, giving side swipes as I went past gaps, similar conditions to Outlaw 2012. I trained on hills as I had researched the course, so the hills were hard but not too bad, again the issue was the wind, mind you the hills were definitely tougher second time round. At least the rain stopped before the run.

The run was a 6/7 mile run out to the main loop then a long loop 3 times. The loop was basically half a long incline up, and half back down to town, with a short steep section near town. It was tough, psychologically not collecting a band till about 11 miles and being able to see miles up the road without seeing the turn points.

So to compare in my opinion 

Cost.  Outlaw £265.       Ironman £400.+ 6%

Swim Outlaw 1 lap, lake, less turns, no chance of being lapped Ironman UK lake, Wales Sea both 2 laps with Australian exit. (Short run between laps)

Bike Outlaw 3 laps 1 hill, sounds great but you have to pedal constantly or your speed drops, course can be windy. Ironman UK and Wales are both very undulating courses, 

Run Outlaw 2 long loops and 2 short loops around the lake. Flat. Ironman UK and Wales both undulating runs.

Support, similar support stations on run and bike routes, All ran by fantastic volunteers.

Crowd support good on all events but Ironman Wales run route possibly has the best crowd support.

Finish Line amazing, music, crowds, hype, announcers You are an Outlaw/Ironman

So that's it, Yes my Ironman race was a bit tougher than Outlaw but not much, I did my homework and trained to the terrain, no one can control the weather. 

Outlaw 2012 weather strong winds and pouring rain

Outlaw 2013 weather temperatures in the high 30s deg C with no shelter

Outlaw 2014 Weather temperatures in the Lehigh 20s deg C and windy

Ironman UK 2015 pouring rain for swim and early on in the bike, strong winds throughout.

So I am an Outlaw and an Ironman too now, but to ordinary folk, who don't do long distance triathlon, 

A 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycle and a 26.2 mile run equal an ironman.

Ironman, Outlaw, Wasdale, Immortal, City to Summit, same distance, different terrain, different costs. Pick one, train for it's course, enjoy it and call yourself what you will, but in the words of John Collins;

"Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life".

What I really am is a middle aged granny, enjoying life and using that to raise funds and awareness for various charities.

If you don't push your limits, how do you know where your limits are?

The sun sets on IMUK-5

So taper week continues, today I got up early and did my training before work, I set off just before 6 am and did a 22 mile flat bike ride, av pace 18.4. I impressed myself, shame I can't do that for 7 or 8 hours and on hills, or in the wind, wouldn't have to worry about cut offs with a pace like that. I followed it with a run down the lane and back and still managed to get to work on time.

This evening was Ripon Runner Junior and minis annual awards evening. It was a great evening of food and celebration, It was great seeing their faces as their hard work over th last year was rewarded.

On the way home the sun was setting rapidly but I pulled over and got a couple of pics.

Still got a couple of niggly aches, I am rollering daily and eating well, too well, I seem to be hungry all the time and getting the fluids in. Tired, so that means I'm off to bed in a moment. 

If you don't push your limits, how do you know where your limits are?

Life is like a butterfly

Less than 6 days now until Ironman UK at Bolton, No taper madness for me! I thought I'd be bouncing off the walls this week with the down turn in training. Last week I only trained for 12 hours instead of the usual 16-18 and this week it will be even less. I just feel tired, heavy legged and have numerous aches and pains, at least that bit is typical taper. 

This week is the last week at work before the summer break too, so I have plenty to keep myself occupied with, and alcohol free end of term celebrations making for a  couple of late nights, I need early nights the rest of the week, with plenty of fluids and good food.

I have to be honest, when I think about Sunday, I get butterflies (nerves, excitement) I don't know which, I worry about forgetting things, being late, getting battered in the swim, a mechanical on the bike and not making cut offs, then I remember how hard I have trained, I've swum open water in varying temperatures since April, I raced 2.4 mile swim a couple of weeks ago. I've cycled hills and flats, long and short, with runs after. The longest being a 90 mile cycle with a 10 mile run and a 105 mile cycle with a 1.7 mile run. I've cycled on sunny, still days but the majority of my training was in wind and rain. And as for running I ran a hilly 23 miles last month and last week I ran a flat 30 miler. So yeah! I've trained hard, I aren't fast but I'm consistent and have endurance.

I can only control the controllables and hope that this year fate and Mother Nature are on my side.

If you don't push your limits, how do you know where your limits are?

Ironman UK - 2 weeks

2 weeks and the big day will arrive, but no real training today for me. Yesterday's Minster2Minster kept me away from my granddaughter all day. Mind you, she did have me running around and around the garden with her, playing football and catch for a couple of hours when I got home. But today I wanted to spend time with her.

We walked the dog 

 and after more playing, a second breakfast and a nap, we went to Fountains Abbey.

We parked at Studley above the lake and walked. She loved the water gardens and wanted to stroke the swans.

As we approached the Abbey, she started to tire and needed a bit of a carry, but as soon as she was in the Abbey she was running and hiding and climbing. 

She even managed most of the walk back to the Cafe where we had lunch before taking her home. 

It was 5 o'clock ish when we got home and decided against going out on our bikes, Billy walked Jed and I went down the lane and back for runstreak. I headed down the lane in sunshine, my leg as were a little tired but it felt ok, I got to the fence, turned, and Oh my goodness the sky was black, a storm was brewing, I picked up the pace as lightening gently flashed, 1elephant, 2 elephant, 3 elephant etc, the storm was ages away, there was no thunder, as I got closer to home the lightning was followed but distant grumbling, it was starting to spit, then the dark skies were lit up with lightning and the thunder was only 10 seconds behind it. I got in the house just as the proper rain started and within minutes, the flashing and crashing of the storm became louder and closer.

Glad I didn't go out on the bike in that.

So a bit of a lazy day really. But fun

If you don't push your limits, how do you know where your limits are?

Minster 2 Minster

04/07/2015 was the 3rd annual Ripon Runner's social run from Ripon Cathedral to York Minster via the river Ure/Ouse. The idea, route and planning is the brain child of Matt and Jill Holt. Originally called the Minster2Minster Marathon, it became apparent on the first event in 2013 that at 30 miles it was actually an Ultra and was instantly renamed.

I have completed all 3 of the events, the first I set off alone Self supported and self navigating before the main group as I can't run as quick as them, they caught up with me at 26 miles. Last year more runners wanted to do it so I led a group of runners, again setting off early and reaching York before the main group. This year, because it is so close to Ironman UK, I was not going to do the M2M, bug as it approached Ai decided to do it! I planned to run with the main group, but when I saw the list of runners, I realised that I could never run that quick and asked to be put in the early group again. The Matt asked If I would lead again, I agreed. I double checked the route as there was a change in route to avoid the Hogweed.

Giant Hogweed, Beautiful but Deadly

It was an early start for me, I had to be in Ripon and ready to run at 6 am, forcast was for rain up til about 11 am. I was awoken about 3:30 by a massive thunder storm, this caused flooded roads on the way to Ripon, I was glad I had packed a waterproof and a change of socks.

We loaded our bags into Jonathan's car. Matt was there to see us off and Martin was there to record the day in pictures. 

 

If you don't push your limits, how do you know where your limits are?

Runstreak rest day

The days are adding up now, 184 days of running at least a mile a day, today it was very pleasant running at 6 am, it was not too warm and was very peaceful. The rest of the day has been as much of a rest day as possible. The temperature rose into the 20 s again and it was nice knowing that I did not have to run in the heat, tomorrow, however will be a different story. It's the annual Ripon Runners social ultra running from Ripon Cathedral to York Minster.

Times change but some things remain the same

To day is our 27 th wedding anniversary. When we met we were always out on the town, late nights burning the candle at both ends, just a pair of kids having fun. When we first got married not much changed. When the kids came along it was irregular sleep patterns and late night tv. Work separated us often but letters and phone calls swept away the miles. As the kids grew up we had nights in with friends and kareoke. And in later years as the boys grew up into young men, it was camping and caravaning. Then came running, I ran, Billy fished, and the kids did there own thing. Then came Triathlon, I started it, Billy joined in, soon we were swim bike running all over the country,

training and racing together. 2 years ago we became grandparents, now life will never be the same with this little lady in our lives. 

We both became Outlaws and celebrated our Silver Wedding Aniversary by renewing our vows at the finish line ( Billy totally surprised me)

last year we were working towards Ironman, neither of us made it, I failed in the swim and spent the day supporting Billy, It was awesome seeing him complete it, 

but devastating when he was disqualified for not taking a drafting penalty that he never knew he had received. 

This year we are still chasing our dream to become Ironmen and have spent another winter, spring and summer, swimming, cycling and running around the country training which has been tough balancing family and a new home too. 

The constant throughout the majority of my life is Billy.

19 days to Ironman Uk

Tired this morning, the heat is taking it out of me but Im doing my best to acclimatise. I decided not to bike to work because I was tired instead I decided to cycle and run after tea.

Even after tea my motivation was not for cycling, but Billy came too and it made it easier. We had a short loop in mind, 27 miles, up to Leyburn and back, immediately I pushed hard to stay with Billy, I tried to stay out of the draft zone but kept finding myself in it. It was nice riding because it created breeze, but when we stopped at the lights you could feel the oppressiveness of the heat hit us. The good bit about this loop is you work hard for half the course and roll home, it also gave me practise at downhills, not really steep ones though. When we got home we went for a 3 mile steady run.

Glad we went out now, the bike ride was the fastest I've done in ages and I got 2 Strava QOMs.

This time 4 years ago I was competing in Outlaw for the first time. I loved it and did it twice more, Outlaw is an IronDistance triathlon. But apparently you can't count yourself an Ironman until you have completed an Ironman Corporation event. I attempted to do this at Ironman Wales last September but was beaten back by a rough sea and pulled out after one lap of the 2 lap swim.

So the journey to become an Ironman continues but the end is getting closer.