Category: Races

It was hard to stop after Bolton. I was so used to having a training programme to follow it felt really strange to have no plan, no structure and no goal to aim at. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to have a break but going cold turkey wasn’t really an option.

We went for a week’s holiday in Crete at the end of July. Timing was perfect. Sitting by a pool was definitely in order. It was also right next to the beach so I managed to get plenty of sea swims in as well as chilling out. I managed to burn to a crisp as normal even with Factor 50 being slapped on every day. I’m clearly not made for sunbathing.

After the holiday the next Tri challenge was the National relays at Nottingham Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont. I’d done this a couple of times before with the Lichfield Tri lads, but I was competing with Leicester this time. It was nice to have something different to aim for. I hadn’t done any sprint events for some time, so getting stuck in to some speed work made a nice change.

Training was fairly disorganised but I decided to follow a similar pattern I had in build up to Ironman. I included some tempo efforts to try and get my 5k run time down and interval work on the bike. It’s not so hard to build this in to my daily routine as opposed to 6 hours on the bike and 20 mile runs. No 3am starts this time round.

For the race itself, I was in a team of people I’d never met before. I quite liked that. It was an opportunity to get to know some other club members and mix it up a bit. There was some good banter beforehand from the group about the order. I was down to go third which was fine by me. I wasn’t really fussed to be honest, I was happy to be racing.

The format is teams of four with each person swimming 500m in the rowing lake, followed by cycling 15k (3 laps of the lake) and running 5k (1 lap of the lake). It’s a good sprint distance meaning you can go all out on each leg. It’s a challenge with the swim transition trying to spot your teammate in a sea of similar wetsuits, hats and goggles. Particularly when you’ve only just met them. It basically descends in to shouting a lot and gesturing wildly to attract the attention of the other person. Good fun though.

We got off to a great start. Our strongest swimmer, Patrick, went first and he smashed it. He was leading at one point but got ducked by a competitor behind him. I took over from Rob before passing on to Josh on the last leg.

I was really pleased with how it went, particularly the run. I was hoping for a 20 minute 5k and managed 20.37. It was nice to overtake people for a change. I’m used to getting reeled in on the bike after a good swim, but I was picking people off myself this time. Good for the ego! Rob was the fastest on the bike, he was clearly a good time triallist.

We came 2nd out of the Leicester teams, and 9th in our category. None of us were really bothered about that though, it was just a good club day out.

It’s a strange feeling now it’s over. It’s a combination of relief and pride I think. It was such an amazing day, and crossing that line was completely overwhelming. After nine months of training and thinking of very little else for the final few weeks, it’s like a huge weight has been lifted.

I had all of these grand thoughts whilst I was racing about what I was going to do afterwards. I had visions of piling in to every fast food possible and sinking a load of beers. Didn’t really happen. I ended having a pizza and some wine back at the hotel after collecting all of my gear and having a bath. Not exactly rock and roll, but I don’t think my stomach could have coped with much else after my bananathon.

I slept well that night. It was probably the first proper lie in I’d had in months. It felt good to just feel lazy. I did have one last bit of training to do though. One last recovery ride to stop my legs from seizing up. It was only a 30 minute easy spin, but my legs and backside were not happy. I’m glad I did it though. I’m sure the stiffness and soreness in my legs over the next few days would have been far worse if I hadn’t. Stairs became my nemesis on Tuesday as it was.

I guess I’m still in the afterglow now four days on. It’s been nice telling everyone how it went and sharing my experience. It might even have inspired other people to do it or do something similar, who knows. I’d like to think so.

There have been two main questions since I’ve done it. The first one is whether I’m going to get the Ironman tattoo. I’ve thought about this quite a lot. I’m not really a ‘tattoo’ person, but I get the concept of having one for this. I know some people think it’s just a commercial brand, so it would be like having an Audi symbol or Nike brand permanently stuck on your skin. I don’t follow that logic. For me it’s an event brand, like the Olympics. No event, no brand. I guess it’s just a personal choice. So, maybe.

The second question is ‘what’s next?’. That one’s a bit harder to answer. Quite honestly I don’t know. I’m pretty sure I won’t do another Ironman. For me it’s a one time thing. I could never replicate that feeling I got on Sunday. Although I did all the training and did all the preparation I could, I didn’t know I would complete it. It was a step in to the Unknown. The only reason to do it again would be to get a better time, and I’m not bothered about that. It’s the feeling I wanted. Box ticked.

So I don’t know what’s next. I know I need a break and a holiday. I’m going to enjoy the afterglow as long as I can, put some weight back on and then come up with something else. I think that’s good enough for now.

What a day! Physical and emotional roller coaster don’t even begin to cover it.

We’d travelled up on Saturday to register and sort all the transition gear out. It didn’t take too long. The longest bit was wandering around the merchandise area and spending our life savings on branded gear. Well, it’s a once in a lifetime thing. After sorting everything out we went to our hotel, which was a short car journey from the swim venue at Pennington Flash.

The afternoon was pretty lazy. We got some food and then headed off for an early night. Lily was exhausted anyway from the long day, so it suited all of us.

My alarm was set to go off at 3.20am but Lily woke up just before. She clearly wasn’t well, but it was a good back up alarm clock. I always get paranoid I’m going to sleep through, so it wasn’t such a bad thing.

I went down to reception for the ‘athletes breakfast’. This consisted of an amazing array of completely unsuitable food, including croissants, muffins and apples. I was hoping for toast and eggs but this clearly wasn’t an option. I settled for a bottle of water and food I’d brought with me. I got chatting to a guy who had attempted to do the event before. He’d got pulled out by the race marshals as he didn’t make the bike cut off time. Not exactly what I wanted to hear on the morning of the race. I wished him better luck this time and headed off.

It was raining heavily when I got in the car. This was not in the plan for the day. The forecast said it would clear up by 9am so I was hoping that was the case.

I got to the swim venue at about 4.45am, well in advance of the 6am start time. I decided to check my bike was ok and then killed time by going to the toilet umpteen times and faffing about with my goggles. I eventually dropped my clothes off at the transition lorry in my white kit bag and lined up in the queue for the swim start around 5.30 am. The queue was split in to expected finish times, I felt confident I’d do it an about an hour so lined up in the appropriate spot. By chance I stood next to the only other competitor I knew doing it, Rachel. She’s a very good triathlete although she was playing it down a lot (turned out she won her age group, not surprised).

It wasn’t long before we were making our way to the water and the start of the race. It was a rolling start which meant you got in and started swimming rather than waiting in a mass of people. It was a two lap circuit to complete 3.8km. The first lap went really well, I got in to a good rhythm and apart from the odd clash with a couple of other swimmers it felt good. At the end of the first lap you got out, ran through to the entry point and then went back in to the water.

After about 300 metres I felt a twinge in my left calf. This wasn’t good. I tried to relax my legs so that it wouldn’t develop in to cramp. I could feel it there for the rest of the lap. With about 400 metres to go I kept on getting my feet tapped by a swimmer behind me. He was obviously drafting me, which was fine but having my feet tapped repeatedly was pretty annoying. I’m not sure if that’s what caused it but both my calves suddenly knotted up. I had a bit of a panic but kept swimming. After about a minute it went away but it got me worried. I made it to the finish and climbed off the ramp to head to T1.

I walked to the transition area trying to stop the cramp from setting in. I’ve no idea why it happened, maybe I kicked too much in the first lap or I was a bit dehydrated. Either way I made sure I took my time and had something to eat before getting on my bike. It was drizzling with rain at this point but it wasn’t cold. I left transition and set off on the bike course.

The first section was around 10 miles to get you to the start of the two large loops. This was ok. The real fun started when we came out of Adlington and went up Babylon Lane. This was where a lot of spectators were because it’s a sharp uphill of about 1km. I guess it’s the closest thing to a stage on the Tour de France. Lots of people with cow bells and banners roaring you on. It’s a great atmosphere.

The next hill section was up Sheep House Lane, 3.3km of climbing. This was quite tough, particularly second time round. However, the highlight was seeing the ‘Wrestlers’ at the top of the hill. These are a bunch of nutters dressing in wrestling gear playing music and cheering like mad. It’s exactly what you need at the top of the climb and made me smile a lot.

After that there was another nasty hill called Hunters at around 45 miles, that is 8.6% gradient. This was a leg burner and the one that I was dreading on the second loop. Good support again but by the time I’d done it the second time I was ready to get off the bike.

The whole ride was hilly. There were a few downhill sections, but most of them had sharp turns that were immediately followed by another climb. I’m glad I chose to use my TT bike as I could get down on the aero bars on the flattish sections, but it wasn’t a time trial course.

The highlight was undoubtedly seeing V, Helen and Nick going through Rivington. The first time I saw them was about 60 miles and it was quite overwhelming. By that time I’d been going for around four hours in total, so it was great to see them. It definitely picked me up for the rest of the 112 mile course.

When I finally got to the Macron Stadium in Bolton for T2 and the marathon (gulp) I had seriously had enough of the bike. I’d been eating solidly for 7 hours. This was a combination of my superfood cake, bananas, gels and protein bars. That got fairly monotonous after a while. I’d also gone through four drinks bottles. It was definitely an eating marathon as well as a physical endurance test.

I took my time again in transition. I was worried that my legs would start to knot but they felt good as I put my running gear on. It was also getting hot so I put suntan cream on and my visor before heading out on to the run.

My legs felt good, which was a huge relief. I made sure I went very slow for the first mile. My coach Kirsty had drummed it in to me to not go too quick straight off the bike. It’s a weird sensation when you start, you go quicker than you think you are because your legs are turning over quicker. I purposely went very steady then got into a rhythm. The first 8 miles get you from the stadium in to town before you start 3 loops. I felt really good for the first 13 miles. I was off my normal average of 8 minute miles, but I wasn’t worried about that. As long as I could run and my legs felt OK I was fine. V and the rest of the family were in the centre of Bolton which made sense as they got to see me six times. It was so good to see them again. The only frustrating thing in the centre was the fact that you ran past the finish line 3 times before you finally got there. But ten crowds were fantastic. As everyone’s name was on their race number people cheered you on as you ran past. It was a great pick-me-up, as well as all the high fives you get.

The strategy was to walk through the feed stations to get some water, and then start running again. This seemed to be working well. After 13 miles I started getting the twinges again in my calves. This didn’t bode well. I had visions of my 2001 London Marathon (or crampathon as I like to call it) experience repeating itself. That day I got cramp everywhere. That whole experience had convinced me for years that I couldn’t physically do an Ironman. However, I now had my fail safe anti cramp strategy to avoid leg pain Armageddon. This consisted of eating as many bananas as I could as often as I could. Between miles 13 and 17 I had to walk on and off while my legs sorted themselves out. Eventually the banana overdose worked its magic and the cramp subsided enough to keep running.

This gave me a second wind. I felt great again for the final lap and picked up the pace. It felt good to finish strong. By the time I made it back to the city centre I was buzzing. I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s a strange feeling coming to the end. I’d been looking forward to getting there for so long. I wanted to finish, but I didn’t want it to be over. Coming down the finishing straight on the red carpet was just incredible. Hearing the crowd shouting at you and hearing the announcer say that ‘you are an Ironman’ made everything worthwhile.

I finished in 13 hours and 1 second, but I don’t care about the time. I’m just overwhelmed to have done it. It’s the hardest sporting event I’ve ever done no question. I can’t see me topping it. Not sure I even want to.

I’m extremely thankful to everyone for their support, particularly V. Everyone has been very tolerant of my obsession. I’ve also managed to raise £1000 for the Alzheimer’s Society which is just fantastic. That has made it extra special. The icing on a very memorable cake. Thank you to everyone that has sponsored me, and for those that would like to please feel free www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Stonehouse

Nothing is Impossible.

After Staffs 70.3 in 2015 I entered The Full Boar event in Market Bosworth later that year. My brother-in-law Sam was doing it so I decided to enter it too. It was something else to aim at, and I had enjoyed ten challenge of the half distance.

I didn’t do much training, but I figured that I wouldn’t have lost much fitness after the Staffs event. I did a few runs over the summer and my usual sea swims whilst on holiday but nothing much more than that. To be honest it was nice to take it easier. Having done the distance once I was confident I could do it again.

The event was a much smaller affair, there were just over a hundred competitors. It was really well organised though. The swim was 2 laps of the lake in Market Bosworth Water Trust. This went to plan, and I came out in 5th place which was a bit of a surprise. The bike section was four laps through the surrounding villages. It was pretty fast with some hilly sections half way round, but I was getting overtaken quite a bit. It was rounded off by a 4 lap run through country lanes.

I finished in 5 hours and 33 minutes, slightly quicker than at Staffs. I was pretty pleased with that, particularly as it was a pretty warm day. My legs were getting tired towards the end so I was pleased to get to the finish without locking up. That happened afterwards. I cramped up big time when I tried to sit down. I got some strange looks from those around me when I started whimpering. It took a good half an hour for my legs to return to anything like normal. Can’t beat a good post race hobble.

The next event I entered was Birmingham Triathlon, held at Sutton Coldfield park, opting for the Olympic distance this time. Knowing a little bit more about what was involved I scoured the triathlon magazines for handy hints on the right kind of equipment. I read some of the recommendations and invested in some new bike shoes with Velcro straps and some elastic laces for my trainers. My primary goal was to avoid the messy transition I’d had last time but also to try and stave off cramp.

I started to read around nutrition as well. I can’t say I intensively researched it but I got some basic ideas around what to eat and drink during training and races themselves. I was clearly losing a lot of essential energy through sweat, so I started to play around with different types of food. I knew bananas always gave me an energy boost, but I needed more sustainable energy reserves. Through trial and error I found that upping my sodium content in drinks was a winner as well as refuelling regularly on cereal based energy bars seemed to work. Controlling my food and fluid intake was clearly important for me in keeping cramp at bay.

I saw Birmingham triathlon as a trial run for London. I knew the area well as my cousins lived just on the outskirts of the park, so I felt that would work in my favour. The swim was two laps of one of the park’s pools, the bike was eight laps within the park, and it finished with a two lap run. Things went a little smoother this time in spite of a threat prior to the event of blue algae in the swimming lake (no idea what that meant, but I assumed it was bad). I didn’t have the same cramp issues but my legs felt very heavy off the bike. Similar to the BRAT triathlon I found it difficult to get in to my usual running rhythm so was quite a way off my normal 10k time, but managed to clock 2 hours and thirty seven minutes to place 27th overall. However, it was another experience to build off and gave me the confidence I needed going in to London.

I concentrated a lot on cycling prior to London, trying to improve my bike handling skills and improve on my time from Birmingham. All of this was still done solo. I did a few group rides but trying to fit in long outings with the club was proving difficult with two young children. I was ok with that though, I knew I was never going to trouble the top triathletes. I just wanted to improve and feel as though I was actually competing as well as I could.

The weather on the day of the race was terrible. I drove down with a friend from the rowing club and the rain got steadily worse as we got closer to the O2 in Greenwich Park. By the time we parked up the rain was coming down in sheets.

The event itself is pretty impressive. It attracts over 4000 competitors every year so there is a lot of commercial interest. The event exhibition was situated right next to the transition area and it was full of companies displaying a whole variety of sporting merchandise. We had a good look round after I’d set all my gear up but I resisted the temptation to spend a fortune on a new bike.

I attended the race briefing before starting to get ready for the swim. It was a wave start due to the amount of competitors. My wave was announced and I assembled with the others in the hall listening to the pre-race motivator go through his warm up routine. He was pretty funny to be fair, he clearly had a well-practiced set of jokes to lighten the tension and it was a good distraction before we got ushered out in to the dockland swim start. It was still pouring with rain as we shuffled along the pontoon to the water’s edge, but to be honest, how much wetter can you get?

The swim section was a straight up and down loop clearly marked by huge buoys, so it wasn’t a difficult one to get your head around. Once in the water I made my way to the outside of the pack. Although I’m a strong swimmer I didn’t really want to be stuck in the washing machine of the main group. Taking the slightly longer way round was preferable to trying to get around flailing arms and legs. I wanted to avoid being knocked about as much as possible.

Once the klaxon went I made my way to clear water as quickly as I could. I got the usual bop on the head but nothing too off-putting. After a few minutes I got in to a rhythm and started to enjoy it. Every now and then I would swallow some of the water, it was a really grim taste. I daren’t think what was in there, probably best not to think about it but I’m sure it’s not good.

I was only a couple of buoys out from the exit when I started to cramp in my left calf. How come this never happens in training? It was knotting up a lot so I limited my leg movement as much as I could. It was hard to shake, but by the time I got to the exit ramp it had subsided enough to hobble in to transition and pick up my bike.

The bike leg was two laps on the roads outside the venue. The rain had not eased off at all, in fact it had got even worse with the wind picking up too. The only respite from the conditions was in a tunnel half way along each lap. For half a mile I was able to warm up a bit and enjoy cycling before heading out in to the awful weather at the other end of the tunnel. Everyone else competing was in the same boat though. It just wasn’t what you’d expect in the middle of July. I had a couple of cathartic swearing exchanges with some other competitors, it somehow helps to have a shared whinge and know that you’re not the only one having a tough time.

By the time I got off the bike I was more than happy to put my trainers on and get out on to the 10k run. This involved 4 laps that ended and finished in the exhibition hall. Most of the time was spent dodging puddles to try and prevent my feet getting any more drenched than they were already. It was a relief to come in to the hall for the final time and cross the finishing line.

My time was 2 hours and 33 minutes, including a 48 minute 10k. I was quite pleased with that in the conditions, and it was an improvement on Birmingham. After completing the event I finally felt that I could maybe call myself a triathlete. It may not have been elite standard, but I liked the multi-discipline nature of the sport. It made training more varied and the events themselves were enjoyable, in that masochistic way that I like.

What an amazing day. For one, the sun came out. It had been raining solidly all day yesterday so I was fully expecting to get drenched during the race. It couldn’t have been better. No wind and conditions were dry. That was a relief as I don’t think the bike section would have been much fun in the rain.

I got to the National Water Sports centre at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham around 5am and made my way to the transition area with my bike and all my gear (far too much gear as it turned out. Not sure an extra pair of trainers; just in case, was really necessary). I faffed about for an eternity before putting my wetsuit on and making my way to the swim start. I was in Wave 2 at 6.30am, so we lined up around 6.20 on the rowing pontoon trying to avoid stepping in goose poo. I dangled my legs in for a few minutes before making the plunge. It actually wasn’t that cold, I guess the lake swim on Monday helped prepare me for it.

We all were treading water waiting for the starting klaxon. I was fully expecting it to be a mad scrum, but when the starter set us off I had clear water in front of me. It’s a straight out and back swim up the rowing lake, so it wasn’t difficult to sight the buoys. I got in to a good rhythm and apart from swallowing a few grim gulps of the lake water it went really well. Before I knew it I was on the home straight and heading up the ramp to transition.

The bike leg started off with a lap around the lake before heading out on to the roads. It was a quick course. There weren’t many hilly sections, so it was down on the tri bars for most of the time. I got overtaken by a few of the rapid aero guys, but I also overtook my fair share of people too. There were a few potholes down some of the lanes but apart from that it was a course designed for time triallers. I felt pretty good throughout, making sure I was keeping fuelled up. My trusty superfood cake was less and less appealing with every bite. I was carrying it in my cycling vest pocket so it was rapidly turning in to brown mush. Taking on bananas at every feed station was far more appealing. By the time I got back to transition I felt confident I’d taken on enough food to keep me going on the run.

Transition went smoothly, and I was off on the run. With my coaches advice ringing in my ears I made sure I took it easy for the first two miles. My main objective was to be able to run properly off the bike. I’d struggled with this in the past so I was trying as hard as I could to avoid the dreaded cramp. I felt a twinge at 3 miles, but it soon wore off. The plan seemed to be working. I also continued my banana strategy by taking on one at every feed station. I must have had at least twelve in total during the course of the run. I don’t know if you can overdose on potassium but I must have come close.

My family was there to watch the run. It was so good to hear their support. Knowing they were there watching was a huge boost and spurred me on. They’ve been on this journey with me, especially my fiancé so having them there was perfect. When I finally got to the finishing area, my two eldest daughters were there to run over the line with me. It was an amazing feeling to have them there with me.

I have to say that the race organisation was first class. Everything was so well thought through and the support around the course was fantastic. I can understand why people keep going back.

I finished in 5 hours and 20 minutes, a huge personal best for me. I’d finally managed to run the way I wanted to, so I was delighted to get a result I was finally happy with. I also managed to get another result I wasn’t expecting. I’d put the race number transfers on my arms in the morning, the ones you have to wet to get them to stick. Not expecting the weather to be any good I didn’t bother with any sun block, but by the time I got on to the run the sun was beating down. I’ve now got my race number 702 outlined on my skin by sunburn. Proper numpty tan.