Enduroman 1st - 10th June 2012

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  • <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Off into the transition tent. Bit of food, bit to drink and change into bike gear. It was a cool morning with rain in the air so I decided on a thin under vest, 2 cycling tops, bib shorts and arm and leg warmers on. These stayed on for the whole bike section of the race. 10 to 15 minutes in transition and I was on the way on the 1<sup>st</sup> of 10 loops around the 11.6 miles of New Forest road. Out of the rat run which is a private road leading into the estate that is covered in pot holes, and onto the open road. Soon after a quick downhill, up to 35 mph, flying. Not for long though as you hit the flat open area prior to Burley village and realise that the non existent cross head wind wasn’t quite non existent and only got up as the day and laps counted on, Two smaller climbs which had you changing the gears down and you were into Burley village. A small hamlet in the forest but unfortunately full of wild horses that seemed to take no notice of life going on around them, Watch out for the day trippers walking in the road, again no idea of life around them!

    <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Through Burley and a tight left hand corner brings you to just about the highest part of the course now. That cross wind now became a tail wind across the open plain of deforested scrub land. Definitely the fastest part of the course, a few undulations but not much to worry about and then the fast downhill section of Crow Hill. Halfway around the route now and the steady 4 mile section back towards the left turn and the climb up Braggers Lane. I had climbed it on the Saturday evening and was happy with my gearing and I left the 13-23 cassette on the rear wheel. Laps 1-7 no problems however by laps 8-10 I almost wished I had the 25 sprocket on the back wheel, it would have made it that bit easier. The course was challenging with not many stretches where you could get into a good rhythm before you had to change gears again. I stopped properly at the end of laps 4 and 7 to eat and get my Bento type bag filled up with food but had very quick stops on other laps purely to get full drinking bottles on board.

    <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Anyway, first 6 laps steady away and at the start of the 7<sup>th</sup> lap just after the rat run I had my first sighting of Ali and my 2 kids. They had been staying off site at a hotel. It was great to see them as they cheered me on. Ali drove the car around the circuit stopping every few miles and it was a great lift. They then made their way to Avon Tyrell where they set up helping my brother in support crew mode. Lap 8, 9 and 10 were hard as a bit of tiredness set in. I was now onto my longest bike ride for many a year after not doing more than 70 in training prior to the day. They were made harder by the fact that there was mizzle in the air making me wet and the wind had got up a lot more whipping through the exposed parts of the course. I was more than happy to finish the bike but still felt ok, not many aches and pains and no sign of cramps. 117 miles showing on my computer and a bike time of 7 hrs 38 mins. Happy with that!

  •  An Enduroman team member took my bike away and I was into the transition tent to be met by my brother with food and drink as I changed into my running gear for the start of the marathon. With never having done a stand alone marathon before and my longest training run being 20 miles, I was well and truly going into a dark unknown hole. I was reassured though as I knew I had done 6 months of training to help me on my way and it wasn’t going to beat me, no way! The run route had been recced the day before with it being 24 loops of a 1.1mile circuit. Prior to the day someone had told me to imagine a football with a disc around its centre. If you push the disc at one side to the floor and imagine running around the disc whilst it touches the floor that is just about the run route in a nutshell. I went off at a steady pace looking for sub 15 minutes laps and feed every 4 laps. The policy worked well and I was under an hour per four laps with a few minute stop for food every hour. This was what I had done in all my longer training runs which undoubtedly helped on the day.

     

    Not long into the run I made a decision that there was 2 places I would walk every lap up the 2 steepest parts of the course, which I think most people were doing. The run course is all off road apart from a small section of no more than 100 metres. The weather did turn though on about lap 5 and soon some of the areas at the bottom of the course near the swim lake became, squidgy, muddy, swamp like areas as the rain got heavier. You had to be cautious around here, one bad slip and race over. It pretty much carried on raining until the end of the day from there on in. I kept on banging the laps out at the same pace and before you knew it I only had 2 to go. On this lap I had my worst scare of the race. I was at the start of the lap on a downhill section and suddenly I felt the inside muscle just above the knee of my right leg go into a cramp like spasm. I looked down and could see the muscle twitching into about 5 or 6 strands! Weird sight for sure and I just kept thinking “Don’t go now with less than 2 miles to go!!” Fortunately got through it and at the end of lap 23 and in Enduroman tradition I was turned around and I ran my last lap around the course in the opposite direction. What a feeling that was, just 1.1 miles to go. I was met at the last 200 metres by Ali and the kids and I ran it with the kids, around the turning circle for the last time and under the Enduroman finish line banner!! 14 hours 53 minutes and 18 seconds after starting swimming in a slightly murky lake I was now at the end of a 6 month dream of completing an Ironman distance event and becoming an Enduroman!!

    Thanks to all the Pirates, the cheers you gave me every lap of the bike and run were so uplifting. I didn't get to meet loads of people with being wrapped up in the day, but Barley, Shmunkee and Supercaz were the loudest and it was great to see you thereimage

    Big congrats to Seren and others who finished their races and to others commiserations and come back stronger next time and kill the course!!image

     

  • great report Chilli..you brought the bike route back to me....image........you will have to rmemebr to edit each post next time you transfer it from word to get rid of the crap image

  • I've just rid of it on 1, how do I edit the others?

  • unfortunately i think that at the moment you can only edit a post before anyone else posts so too late............but its ok i still managed to read it all fine............

    That was a great time on that course especially as it was your first............hope you are recovering well.........and whats your next planimage

  • Cycling was always going to be my stronger point, it is my background. I was hoping for a bit quicker on the bike however the course was harder than I had anticipated. I think, like others I would have been quicker on a flatter course where you can get the bike rolling well but with so many small undulations and the few climbs it was hard. I was most pleased with my swim time. When I asked the question months ago about swim times with wetsuits most people suggested that they were 10 -15 mins quicker with it than without. Assuming the swim course and distance was relatively accurate I was in the zone as well.

    Future plans? Not sure at the moment. Don't think I'll be at AT next year but not ruling out a return in the futureimage I think I'll stay local next year. Holgs has always given the Cleveland Steelman a big thumbs up. I may give that a go and try and concerntrate on getting a bit more speed than endurance in the legs for the bike I know that the run isn't my strong point so work on that and try and get a half ironman run time close to my half marathon time after doing the swim and bike.

    Where do you go from here though? Lands End to Dover challenge? 

  • decadavedecadave ✭✭✭

    Nice report chilli

     

    Well done on your finish.

     

  • David Miles 4 wrote (see)

    Nice report chilli

     

    Well done on your finish.

     

    Seconded!

  • come on symes...............there might be people on here contemplating a quin who need to read your report on the raceimage

  • Holgs in the double, Seren in the Quin and I'm lurkingimage

  • Nice one Chilli, and congratulations again on a great accomplishment.

    Can't sing the praises of the Cleveland Steelman enough, great race.

  • Thanks Dave M, I only did 10% of yourself though! How all of you survived the worst weather early in the week is beyond me. For others information you should have seen these guys on the last day. I did have 2 cycling tops and leg warmers on and got slightly wet on the bike but these people were riding bikes in full waterproof legs and tops, little hats under helmets, buffs over necks and faces just to keep warm and keep energy loss to a minimum and stil banging out 15mph average speeds! Great stuff!

    Words that you wrote to me in an e-mail on 24th Nov last year stuck with me all the way around the course, bike included and I quote:

    "Having a good bike background is much better than a run one - once off the bike you WILL finish, so long as you keep moving forward."

    I had every intention of keeping moving forwards with this in my mind. One thing that has got in my head and I'm struggling to shift it and it's actually doing my head in is the kids song " One finger , one thumb keep moving". It was a source of inspiration at first but now it's like torture!!

    Thanksimage

  • congrats Chili, you can call yourself an EnduroMan image image

    beats a mere IronMan any day of the week image

  • Holgs - I suggest you tell "your friend" to check out the run course, its brutal and worth knowing what is like for training purposes.

    Chilli - greate report

     

  • I'll let her know Purple.

    Does this do it justice?

    http://youtu.be/ZRpo6_1pTwY

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    its good, doesn't quite show the hills but gives a good idea image

  • Thing is it doesn't look particularly hilly, though i'm sure it is?  I bet the fact you're dotting left and right and all over the place makes it hard to find a pace and stick to it?

     

  • That looks at longer than 1.1 mile

    Holgs, if she wants to go down and check the bike couse and run course out at some point, then I might know some one else who might know someone else who has a friend that might also want to visit and have a look

     

    Great report Chilli

     

  • It's looks a LOT bloody hillier on the real time version, especially "Tennis Court Hill"

    <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aDC3imwMg7w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

  • sorry - embedding didn't work.

  • Arent we also missing reports from Ditchy and HH?

     

  • Holgs/SA

    I would be happy to meet up with your friends image

  • Ah it does look worse on the real time.  It also looks longer than a mile.  I can't imagine doing that 100 times image.  I could manage say, oh, I don't know, 2 laps?! Hehehe.  Such a lovely place though image

  • Tennis court hill was real fun let me tell you! Pretty much everyone walked it from day 1 apart from Sergio the Brazilian chap who insisted on running it every lap, even when two of us overtook him walking it once image

  • Symes..........sergio amazed my son...it was getting really late and the banking before the lawn had got a bit muddy .( and steeper)..........sergio ran up to it and then turned around and ran up the banking backwards before going cheerfully on his way imageimage

     

    i would once again warn those who do a recce.the first few laps of bike and run courses don't feel too bad.............but somewhere along the race they change..........

    on the downhills they become really steep and the uphills harder...........the run course is much easier than last years but is still challenging as you can't get into a rhythm............

    but the short laps are brilliant in this situation.the support and pick up you get from the turning circle is amazing.........and the course is very pretty

     

  • KhanivoreKhanivore ✭✭✭
    The ones in the lake? image
  • KhanivoreKhanivore ✭✭✭

    Soooo cute.. they simply MUST be stroked lol image

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