Swim Bike Run

The results are in

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:01:00 -0700

All the training and all the hard work comes down to a two row table in a ugly shade of blue

Race No	Firstname	Lastname	Time	Pos	Swim Time	T1 Time	Bike Time	T2 Time	Run Time
873	David	McGeorge	01:56:41	366	00:21:22	00:03:39	00:52:01	00:01:33	00:38:09

A big thanks to all the people who sponsored me, wished me good luck, called, texted, emailed me and the people who came down on the day. Couldn't have done it without you.

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Holy shit!

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:43:00 -0700

So, it’s the Thursday before the Sunday of my Triathlon. To say I’m a little nervous is an understatement. I’ve dropped my training right down this week to just a few gentle activities, noting too strenuous and thrown in a couple of rest days for good measure. If I’m not ready now it’s too late.

Pasta pasta and a bit more pasta

In the 2 days prior to the race I need to carbo-load. Its recommended that I eat 10g of carbohydrates for every Kilogram you weigh. I’m 11.9 Stone which is about 75kg. That means I have to eat 750g of pasta/noodles/rice/potatoes etc. I don’t know about you but that seems an awful lot. Especially when you think a regular bag of pasta is only 300g and that normally lasts me a few weeks. Pasta Party!

PMA Positive Mental Attitude

At last weeks open water practise session the trainers gave a few tips and went through what to expect on race day.

“You should all mentally prepare for race day”

Err ok, not really sure how one would mentally prepare. Does that mean think about it a bit? In my attempt to mentally prepare for the day I just though I would write down what I was going to do. Here goes...

THE DAY

Get up well early and have some breakfast
Aim to be at the event about 2 hours before my start time (8:30)
Get signed up and get my number
Setup my bike in the transition area and make sure everything is in place and in the right order
Suncream on
Wetsuit on
Start shitting myself (optional)
Get in the water and float over to the start line
Try and chill out a bit and relax

GO!

Do my swim length 1 lap of the dock
Start kicking my legs a bit more before exiting the water ready for the bike section
Probably not going to run the 100m from the waters edge to the transition as its over tarmac and I’ll have bare feet.
Fast walk to my bike
Goggles on my head
Wetsuit to my waist
Swimming hat and goggles off
Wetsuit off
Quick dry of my face and legs
Running shorts on
T-shirt on
Helmet on
Push the bike out of transition (penalties if you ride before they say you can)

BIKE

Two laps of the bike course
Take in a gel pack (like an energy drink but in gel form, very weird but seem to help)
Drink all the water in my bottle
Hop off the bike at the line
Push my bike back to the transition
Helmet off
Straight back out for the run

RUN

Take the run slow
Do 1 lap of the running course
Look for the water points along the course
Keep head up and try and take long strides
Cross the finish line
Do a backflip (optional)
Collapse in a heap on the floor (more likely)
Brag to people saying that it was easy
Watch the England match

END

Even writing that has put a little bit of fear into me. Triathlons are won and lost in the transition so people keep telling me. I think this is where I can pull it back :) I’m really not aiming for a “good time” or anything like that. I just want to be able to swim all of the swim, bike all of the bike section and run all of the running section without stopping. If I can do that I’ll be a very happy man.

Nothing left to do now apart from eat shed loads of pasta and get ready for the day.

See you on the other side

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Race Numbers and Start Times

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:51:26 -0700

To quote Will Smith

"This shit just got real!"

I have just received my race number and start time for the big day. I will be starting the triathlon at 10:30 on Sunday 27th.

THATS ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY!

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donate-a-tron

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:50:00 -0700

Hi Everyone

It's a bit late in the game as my triathlon is at the end of this month but finally I have setup my JustGiving page. Everyone can easily donate and can help me raise some money for the British Red Cross. This makes it all the more worth while and putting that little bit of extra pressure on me to finish :)

The Red Cross helps people all around the world and in Britain so get out your chequebook and give what you can.

Donating is easy. Go to justgiving.com/davymacca and click 'Donate Now'

Thanks for all your help.

David

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I touched a jellyfish

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:03:00 -0700

One of the most difficult things for me to train for is the open water swimming section of the triathlon. Being 'always prepared' I booked myself on 3 open water swimming sessions.

The Wetsuit

A wetsuit is mandatory for entering the competition. I picked mine up last week and oh boy is it tight. I now know the meaning of skin tight. It pushes everything down and in. It gives me acute skin claustrophobia but then there is also nothing more liberating than taking off this rubber prison.

And we're in...

As I've never swam in anything other than a swimming pool the idea of doing some proper open water swimming in a part of the Mersey where I couldn't touch the floor and was filled with Jelly fish was a little disconcertion to say the least.

After some flexing and stretching on the dock side I finally squeezed into my wetsuit. A quick safety briefing and it was time to go in. The session was quite free form, "just get in a have a bit of a swim see if you freak out or not".

View Larger Map

I jumped... and everything went pitch black. It didn't occur to me that I wouldn't be able to see anything whilst underwater. This massively freaked my out. After surfacing and calming down and I could see where I was going things felt that little bit more relaxed. Until.... I touched a Jellyfish! Well I think it was a Jellyfish, it felt a bit weird. It could have been a plastic bag or a condom. Sometimes you get lucky!

Breaststroke?

After a lot of training in the pool I had decided that even though I would look like a nana I was going to do the entire swimming section breaststroke as oppose to front-crawl like the real athletes. I just can't swim for a sustained amount of time in that style. Until now!

After donning my Vader esk suit and swimming a few strokes I suddenly realised that it was quite easy. Like Jackie Chan in The Tuxedo I too was moving with the power of ten men, well maybe not but a lot better than I did previously. My suit gives me a fair amount of buoyancy in the water so much so that I was only using my legs for balance.

After a fairly trying hour in the dock I emerged feeling good about it all. The swim section: Not so unsettling after all!

And for all you perverts out there

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I'm a heel striker

Fri, 21 May 2010 02:31:00 -0700

This is not a lifestyle choice. It's a style of running and it's not very good for you.

When running your foot should come into contact with the floor in an equal and flat manor. Most people (myself included) who haven't had any formal running training end up developing unorthodox techniques such as heel striking (see the video above). This means that each stride I take the heel of my foot takes the full impact of the floor which can lead to a multitude of "bad shit" happening to your legs, calves and shins.

I'm slowly but surly improving my running gate. Although the actual act of running doesn't seem to be getting any easier. Shins sill kill, legs wobble and my calves still ache. On a positive note my overall fitness does seem to be going in the right direction.

Now to look forward to my first open water swimming session - first time swimming outside!

*shivers*

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DRINK! FECK! BIKE!

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:09:00 -0700

Training has been on going for a few weeks, nothing really to write home about apart from the last 7 days. I'm not sure if I was overdoing it a bit or just a little run down but I have missed a full weeks worth of training. Shock horror!

After a few innocent drinks (not the smoothie) one evening, I awoke the next day feeling like death. I'm not a big drinker but this felt more than a light hangover. One day off work and the whole weekend later I still felt like crap! I'm not sure what this is telling me... Should I not train as much? Never? Not drink as much? Probability? Or not be sick? Maybe?

Alcohol is a Poison... fact!

On reflection I think it was a mix of doing a little too much exercise, having a bit of a cold and drinking on an empty stomach. All lessons to be learnt at the school of novice triathlon training.

The time spent recovering wasn't totally futile, I was on the internet researching for food tips for exercise and training. I really am a super fun guy! I have worked out that I need to eat more and take in more calories. A situation I have never been in before. I have to watch what I eat to stay the same weight so loosing weight was new to me and a little disconcerting.

It's all carbohydrate boosting and creatine loading from now on. Pasta party!

ps. After, what feels like endless weeks of bidding on ebay I have finally got my bike. Woo Hoo! I can now take to the streets on this wheeled beast

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Testing the water... bike and road

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:28:41 -0700

As well as my normal training this week I have attempted to swim, bike and run the full distances of the triathlon. Not at the same time, one activity per day.

The results are in: I'm a bit crap!

The only way is up?

I added an extra five lengths to the swim as I won't have the luxury of being able to kick off each end of the pool when swimming in open water. After a measly four lengths of front crawl I changed to the more sustainable breast stroke, I could be the only nanna stroke swimming triathlete on the day but I don't care.

The bike test went surprisingly well, it took a bit longer than I would have liked but overall not too shabby.

Run forest run! I think I've found my weakest discipline. This was hard. Very hard. Probably the longest length I've ever run and it felt like it. Legs were like jelly when I stepped off the treadmill.

This week has been a positive one. Little steps n'all that. I can't help think that, although I completed each distance, I was in no fit state to do anything afterwards never mind more intense exercise.

Another err... minor issue is that I did all of this training in the comfort of my gym. Not outside in the cold with hills, wind and other competitors. You never know the triathlon could have random tv's dotted around with MTV playing and a juice bar?

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No Turning Back

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:32:00 -0700

Oh My God! No turning back now. It is official.

I'm 100% no going back doing a Triathlon!?!?!

Panic, apprehension and slight feeling of nausea is filing my body.

I've signed up for the Sprint distance Triathlon today (don't let the name fool you I will be doing very little sprinting, maybe 'All fours crawl/drag' would be a more apt name) I've also booked onto 3 practice open water swimming sessions. This is something that I can't easily practice so I need as much time doing it as possible. Unless I take a walk down to the Huddersfield Broad Canal.

Facts and Figures

Swim 750M > Bike 20K > Run 5K

Average times

Swim: 17:20

Transition 1: 2:30

Bike: 45:50

Transition 2: 2:30

Run: 27:31

Which makes a total of 1:35:41. Eeek! These must be the times of "athletes" not web designers?

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Designed by Stevie Wonder

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:21:00 -0800

Who the hell designs running shoes? Why are they all modelled on rejected space ship designs from 80's sci fi films?

These are my new running shoes

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Kit and loads of it

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:06:00 -0800

One thing I realised after the training day is that I am really not very prepared at all.

I don't swim front crawl
I don't have a bike
I've never entered any kind of race before
and I've done nothing but weights for the last 6 months

I also have no kit. I will need:

A bike
Spare inner tube and puncture repair kit
Cycling helmet
Sunglasses, I don't think my aviators will cut it
Sexy cycling shorts and top
Swimming goggles
Wet-suit (a neoprene swimming wet-suit no less)
Wet-suit body butter?
Running shoes

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My first taste

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:59:00 -0800

Only realising the night before that my training day started at 8:30 and finshed at 17:00 WTF have I let myself in for?
-----
It was a very successful day. It wasn't the 8 hour training marathon I expected and nobody called me girls names or made me do press-ups with socks in my mouth. That's what normally happens at these things right?

That bloke from Hollyoaks (you know Tony's brother, used to be in 2.4 children) is doing the triathlon too. Ha!

Over the day we learnt techniques for open water swimming, conserving energy, good transitions, bike maintenance, how to run, the lot. I came away feeling a lot more confident about wanting to do the event.

I stopped a coach before I left and asked which distance he thought I should do. After a quick discussion about how often I train he made me feel pathetic for suggesting the Super Sprint. I'll have to work out more to do the Sprint and shouldn't even think about the Olympic.

hmmm I am still not sure you know?

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Weak, pathetic and unfit

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:00:00 -0800

After all this talk of distances and times I thought I better get on and do some training. I have recently moved from my the gym that I have been going to in favour of a new one slightly further away from but opens earlier/later and also has a pool.

With the new membership I get a personal training session once a month. Awesome! Booked in with my trainer Jodi and began to tell her about my goals etc etc and also that I am thinking training for a triathlon.

Her eyes lit and she jumped into action, loving the fact that I didn't just want to "tone up a bit", "loose a bit of weight" or "be thin for my birthday". I had a real goal.

SHE WENT MENTAL!

Needless to say 40 minutes into my session I was unable to move my legs. I hit the wall. Felt the burn. Was about to be sick. I stopped what I was doing laid my head on the exercise bike and whimpered "I can't do anymore".... I had to leave via the fire exit and sit on the floor outside in the fresh air. Not a great moment for me.

I had to look into her eyes and say,"I think that's enough for the day"

I'm feeling quite disheartened about my general level of fitness and wondering if any kind energetic activity is for me.

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Novice Training Day

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:00 -0800

I've booked onto the novice training day that is put on by the Liverpool triathlon team.

I still haven't chosen which length to do but I am hoping that they can point me in the right direction and give me an idea. I want it to be a challenge but I also want to be able to actually do it. I also value my legs/life and don't wish for either to be broken.

I've pretty much ruled out the Olympic length.

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Davy tries an athalon

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:37:00 -0800

I've found it, I'm going to do a triathlon. Yes... a triathlon. But only a small one. Nothing too massive, I want to do it for fun and not kill myself.

The one I have chosen is the Liverpool Triathlon in June 2010.

http://www.liverpooltriathlon.co.uk

They have a nice array of different levels. Olympic, Sprint, Super Spring and one for kids. The kids one is tempting.

So here are my choices:

Individual	Swim	Bike	Run	Cost
Olympic	1.5km	40km	10km	£66 inc. £3 booking fee
Sprint	750m	20km	5km	£60 inc. £3 booking fee
Super Sprint	400m	10km	2.5km	£57 inc. £3 booking fee
Junior Sprint (15-18 years)	750m	20km	5km	£39 inc. £3 boo king fee
Youth SSprint (14-16 years)	400m	10km	2.5km	£39 inc. £3 booking fee

not sure which one to do?

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Do It, Doug!!

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:30:00 -0800

I feel like a sane person but lately I have been thinking of doing some kind of physical activity. Maybe a 10K run or something a little bit harder like the great north run.

I feel fitter than I have ever been before, I eat healthy enough and do quite regular excersise so maybe setting my focuus and training for a goal is going to be fun.

And like Jay once said

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