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Pirate DIY Half IM 2014 - A hat tirck production
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We will Mrs D, We will.
Enjoy team!!
i will be down later in the afternoon if anyones still about - got a bit of a recce to do around Buxton first. if anyone is still one the course by the time i get down Q has employed me as a sweeper and im going to grind behind you untill you finish
everyone in from today, great day supporting.
I think Pudge has set the second best we have every seen, only bettered by marshallani, he may have been quicker if he hadn't gone the wrong way
Great day, superb hosting from SA and Mrs SA. Brilliant support and organisation as usual. Currently refuelling on Stella and curry
Race report will follow Soon...
Can we do it again next year? Please? Big please?
Sorry I didn't make it over. Bust a rib falling off some scaffolding so decided against cycling.
Back home now after an ace time at chez Mr & Mrs SA.
Thanks to all involved for a great weekend.
Race report will follow tomorrow once I'm at a proper keyboard.
For now though, it's pub time with wifey whilst the children are having a sleepover at their aunt's.
Good work yesterday Pudge, think you'll do well in Lanza mate
Another great event hosted by the S.A. Family! Thanks peeps
Also, Al has requested I add his thanks too, he had a smashing day, loved meeting all the lovely piratey folk, and the piratey parents with motorbike and chip butties
Wow, what a weekend
I got a shiny new Half IM PB, I have taken a amazing 33 minutes of my time
Will do a race report soon but just want to say thanks to every one that came to either compete or just support/marshal, you lot are amazing
a brilliant weekend as was expected form such wonderful hosts..........
along drive home and washing in the machine so ready for bed now........will do my report in teh morning
I had a great day yesterday. Thanks to everyone for being so welcoming and congratulations to everyone who competed, fantastic efforts all around.
Ok, here's my race report. First time writing one of these, and feels a bit self-indulgent writing about myself. However, if it's the done thing, then so be it...
Pre-amble
I didn’t feel particularly nervous about doing the DIY HIM, which did concern me as I reckoned I should have been. I was just anxious to get going to see how I fared.
I was using this as a dress rehearsal for Lanzarote, so all my clothes, equipment and nutrition was pretty much how I intend things to be for Lanza.
I finish work early on Fridays, so much of Friday afternoon/evening was spent tinkering, tweaking and generally faffing about getting stuff ready.
I set off early Saturday morning to arrive at DIY HIM HQ, aka the SA’s house, getting there for around 8:15am. There was already a bit of activity with folks getting their breakfast etc. I finally got to meet my lovely mentor, Seren, in person and I gave her a big hug as she wolfed down some crumpets.
Pretty soon, plenty more pirates started showing up. It was great to see some familiar faces again and meet some new friends too.
Once SA had donned his Race Director hat for a brief time to hand out marshaling duties, we rode down to the leisure centre, about a mile or so away, to set up in T1 (the car park round the back of the leisure centre), before heading in to the pool to get started.
At this juncture, it is worth pointing out that we did stop for a moment on the way to the leisure centre so that SA could carefully explain to us the route to take once we left the leisure centre and got going on the bike. My ears mustn’t have been working at this point.
Swim
After a short amount of hanging around inside the leisure centre, we eventually headed poolside and self-seeded ourselves into the two lanes that the leisure centre had provided us with.
The swim was pretty uneventful really. It is my worst and least enjoyable discipline. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I dislike it, I’m just not very good at it.
I was a lane with Seren, Blue Peter and Russ. Within 5 minutes Seren and I had collided with our hands as we swam in opposing directions. I think I hit her lap counter as a bruise appeared on my thumb knuckle later in the day. I also hit the lane rope with my other hand at some point as I had a bruise on my other hand too.
Generally, the swim felt quite comfortable and I was out of the water in 38:02, which I was pretty pleased with.
I shuffled out of the back door, headed down to T1, wolfed down a bit of banana malt loaf and got going on the bike.
Bike
Being the smart arse that I am, I had loaded the bike route onto my Garmin and intended to follow this as well as the signs that SA had painstakingly put up. The Garmin had gone to sleep whilst I was swimming, so I powered it back up and started riding whilst it came to life.
I was in tri shorts, Monaco and armwarmers, so for April up North I might have been underdressed. It was slightly chilly, mainly because I was still wet, but I quickly dried out and warmed up.
M&M and his partner Helen were on hand marshaling at the exit of the leisure centre to send us in the right direction onto the bike course, so I got the first bit of the route right at least. As I approached the first roundabout I spotted one of SA’s signs and hung a right. As I started to approach the next roundabout I was dithering between keeping an eye on traffic, looking out for the next sign and checking on my Garmin to see if it had started routing. By the time I reached the roundabout I hadn’t spotted a sign and Garmin was playing silly beggars, so I had to make a decision and hung a right again. Bad move; I should gone straight on.
100 yards down the road, the Garmin suddenly springs to life to tell me I’m going the wrong way. Of course it did, because to have started working 30 seconds earlier (when I needed it) would have been too much to friggin’ ask! Anyway, it started to recalculate a route to get me back on track. Gawd knows where it took me, but I stupidly put my faith in it to lead me safely back onto the course.
I continued to follow the directions on the Garmin but I wasn’t seeing any signs. After 10 minutes or so, I spotted someone standing in the distance wearing bright yellow – it was Soupy on one of the marshal points – thank goodness I seemed to be back on track! As I got nearer, Garmin beeped to tell me to turn right at the junction, so I did. As I did so, Soupy waved at me and yelled something. I thought she was cheering – but it turned out she was telling me I was going the wrong way round the course!
I continued on my merry way thinking I was back on track and all was well, but then I saw Seren whizzing towards me in the opposite direction....and then Blue Peter, his wife and Russ.....and then Mrs SA and Little Clown. Each time, I heard them say something, which I heard as “go Pirate” or something, but was in actual fact “you bloody tool, you’re going the wrong way!” (ok, I’m paraphrasing, but that’s probably the jist).
Eventually I got to a junction where Lee the Pea was marshaling, and she explained what a doofus I was and sent me in the right direction, right back along the road I had just ridden down. Great – four and a half miles done so far, but actually zero progress made!
I set off on the course – in the right direction – nestled down on the tri bars, and got going.
The course itself was really nice. It was mainly traffic-free, country roads, with a brief stretch on a main road. It was undulating with a couple of short sharp climbs and one dodgy corner which was a bit gravelly, which meant a bit of time taking it easy and slowly or grinding up a hill out of the saddle. However, other than that, most of my time was spent tucked down on the bars, and was nice to get some decent miles done in that position.
I was pretty annoyed with myself for getting lost and so probably went harder than I’d originally intended to, in order to make up time. I eventually started to catch up with everyone and on passing the feed station for the first time (after almost the wrong way – AGAIN!
...cont
got a massive boost when all the supporters cheered as I went by. This happened on each and every lap and it was absolutely brilliant. It was at this point that I realized how great it is going to be having pirate support in Lanzarote - I am so looking forward to hearing Jordy’s cowbell again!
The bike course was 12 laps, and they seemed to tick by quite nicely. After the first couple of laps, I had pretty much memorized the course and knew when the various lumps were coming and was able to plan gearing in advance etc.
I had decided prior to the event that I wouldn’t be stopping at the feed station unless I had a mechanical or something, as I was carrying all the nutrition and liquid that I needed. This worked out pretty well. As well as the malt loaf I’d had post-swim, I had two 9-bars and one and a half packets of shot bloks on the bike. Liquid-wise I had plain water in the bottle between my bars which I then topped up with Zero that I had stored in the two bottles on my frame. The food and drink that I had turned out to be just about the right amount. Good job really, as my bento box wouldn’t fit anything else in, so for a full IM I’m going to have to get a bigger box.
I passed folks here and there whilst going round the bike course which satisfied the race-devil that seems to appear on my shoulder whenever I’m running or riding. I do resent myself sometimes for being so competitive, but it’s a side of my personality that I can’t seem to shake. It doesn’t exist in other areas of my life, only in sport, which is laughable really as I’ve only ever been mediocre at sport.
After the 12th lap I turned off the bike loop to head for T2 (SA’s house) where SA was waiting to take my bike off me and generally be a massive help whilst I changed my shoes, de-helmeted and got out on the run course.
Bike course done in 3:04:48 (for a grand total of 60 miles, which includes my little detour)
Run
The run was a four-lap affair which passed the bike feed station (SA’s parent’s house) and the run feed station on each lap.
As I wasn’t relying on technology to get me round the course, and was only relying on SA’s lovingly handcrafted route signs, I made it round without getting lost a single time – yay, go me!
As I set off from T2, my legs felt a little bit jellified, but otherwise ok. At this point, I would like to say that whether the actual benefit it psychological or otherwise, compression gear is brilliant. I wore compressport tri shorts, which really compress the thighs, and compressport calf guards, and my legs didn’t really grumble at all, other than the initial jelliness.
I quite enjoyed the run I have to say. Although I’ve not done too many triathlons or brick sessions (should probably do more brick sessions now that I’m thinking about it) I am used to running on tired legs as running is definitely what I have done most of over the past couple of years.
After a mile or so, I got going and found a steady rhythm. I have learnt not to run with arm warmers on in the future, as they really started to chafe my arms quite early on. Again, passing the feed stations each time was a highlight. Jordy, the main man, always on hand with fresh water at T2 feed station, and M&M always running over the road to see if anything was needed when I passed the bike feed station – thank you for that, it was really appreciated.
I passed Blue Peter and his wife on the run, they were looking really good and strong. I don’t think I passed anyone else, although even the locals gave the odd cheer (sarcastic or otherwise) as I trotted by, which was nice.
I did mention to SA that he did well by designing a looped run course which is ALL uphill – now known as the impossible triangle I believe. Although, funnily enough, Seren thought it was all downhill – but then she is superhuman I suppose!
For nutrition, I had a couple of shot bloks every lap or so, and sipped water throughout, which seemed to work ok.
Completed the run in 1:41:57 which I am pleased with.
Summary
As I mentioned, my primary goal was to treat this as a dress rehearsal for Lanza and it was a success in that respect as I learnt what works (e.g. nutrition, pace) and what doesn’t work (e.g. arm warmers on the run, relying on GPS).
I didn’t really have a time in mind that I was aiming for before the event, as it wasn’t really about racing as such (despite the devil on my shoulder), but I’m chuffed to bits with how I did.
I didn’t keep a track of transition times, so I don’t know my precise finish time, but it is in the ballpark of 5:30 – 5:45 I think.
My secondary goal was to have fun, and that was also nailed thanks to everyone involved in making it such a great weekend. We had a nice meal in the pub on Saturday night. The SA’s put me up for the night (although I sadly missed out on the Top Gear duvet!), and then we did it all again on the Sunday, where I helped marshal and met even more pirates.
That people came from so far to take part, and better yet that people came from so far just to support and marshal, is just fantastic.
So thank you to everyone for a great weekend, and hopefully see you all again, same time same place, next year, right Mr & Mrs SA?
Pudge .... great race report
And yes, same time, same place next year! Top Gear duvet or Shrek? 
If that's your first race report then it really is a great report, written with a bit of humour which is what the DIYhalf is all about, glad you enjoyed it.
Your time was really great and I think the second best we have seen, IF we put it on next year we must try and get BBT and Tired Badger there for you to have a bit of a smack down with
briliant report Pudge......you were flying on the bike everytime you lapped me ...
Smashing report Pudge, really well done fella.
Fantastic report Pudge and you were really flying, even if it was the WRONG WAY at times!!!
My race report is to follow, just waiting for the lobster glow to cool down
Really sorry I missed this years, glad to hear you all had a good day, and really pleased to hear you will be holding this again next year. Congrats on the course PB SA.