It has been a pleasure to be part of this man’s journey.
A year ago, I think the thought of a 56 mile cycle would have sent him back to the bar!
Now, I find him texting, emailing and calling me most days discussing the plan and future events.
His enthusiasm is incredible to be around and when you are used to being the “motivator” so to speak, its really nice to have these kind of people around you.
Check out Dan’s race review and journey……
If you had asked me 10 months ago if I was going to undertaken an Ironman 70.3 I would have categorically said No that would be insane! Im happy sticking to cycling and cycling alone!
28th June 2015 – I cross the finish line at Ironman 70.3 UK Exmoor in just over 6 hours!
What changed?
Having flown out and supported Matt through Ironman Barcelona I was well and truly bitten by the Ironman bug! Seeing all the guys cross that finish line really got me going. I want that feeling!
One week later I was signing up Ironman 70.3 UK.
At this point I hadn’t done any type of ‘proper’ swimming since primary school and had never really done any running. (running to catch the bus doesn’t really count) The lack of swimming did lead to a few restless nights wondering how on earth I was going to get through the swim, let alone the rest of the course!
I spent the next couple months building some firm foundations in regards to swimming and running ready for the new year when the training would really get started, I undertook some swimming lessons to get pointers on my technique and would go out twice a week for a short (sub 3 mile) run.
Matts completed Exmoor 70.3 twice, so he knew exactly what I needed to do achieve my goal and knew exactly how I was feeling gearing up for my first half ironman.
January we started a training plan that took as all the way up to Race Day. It started with the short sessions (under an hour) throughout the week and 2 hour sessions at the weekend.. By the time April came we had increased that to an hour/90 minutes and 3 or 4 hour rides at the weekend. The key to the plan was intervals, which helped build up endurance.
On average we were doing between 7 – 12 hours a week training, which I would fit around my job and commute to Exeter everyday. There were some days I would leave the house at 7.30am, get back in the door at 6.30pm and just want to chill out on the sofa. But I knew that in order to complete my goal I I needed to train, weather it was in the pool, on the turbo in the garage or off doing some running hill reps.
For anyone thinking about undertaking something like this I would 100% recommend training partners! I can hands down say if it wasn’t for mine I wouldn’t have crossed that finish line on Sunday, I reckon I would have given up after my first open water event t the end of May, where I didn’t perform well and made a few mistakes that cost me a lot of time. If it hadn’t been for their support and belief I could have easily given up.
They also work as great motivation, sometimes when you see a tough swim session planned or you fancy sacking off the cycle on the Sunday, you know they will still be training, they will be getting better while you lie in bed watching the Hollyoaks Omnibus so that competitive gene kicks in!
Training for 20 weeks for an event can become quiet stale if things arent mixed up. Matt was great at mixing the sessions up to keep things fresh. He also recommended entering some small races in the lead up to get race practice.
My first race was April 5th – Penance Triathlon, luckily it was a pool swim which at the time I was use to so it was a good starting event. I didn’t really have any expectations, I was purely doing it to practice transitions and get a feel for triathlons. So finishing 13th (out of 120) and 3rd in my Age Group was a complete shock. However it did give me a big confidence boost and showed me that by training hard I can achieve great results!
That was a standout moment in the training for me. Getting a trophy in my first race was great, and the fact that out of 32 first timers I was 2nd was incredible!
Once May came we started Open Water swimming. That was a shock to the system! No lines on the ground, no walls to turn and rest on and its was pretty cold at 7am n the morning! However after the initial shock it soon became the norm and now I actually prefer it to the pool.
Then before I knew it race day was only a week away and my thoughts turned to the massive challenge of having to put all the last 8 months of training into use and make sure I get to the finish line! Wimbleball is known as the toughest 70.3 in Europe with is 6000ft of climbing on the bike and 1200ft in the run its far from a walk in the park. Matt would remind out regularly that its the toughest physical challenges he has done. He wasn’t wrong. For the first half of the run I suffered from cramp and tight gluts, every bit of climbing was indescribable, at one point I was pretty much in tears and ready to give up. Then I remembered all those 6am swims, the sweaty turbo sessions (I’m not a fan of turbo training, I prefer the open road!) and the sacrifices I made to fit training in. It was those thoughts that got me through and by mile 8 I was out the other side and on the home straight!
I could smell the finish line that was all I was focused on as I ran the final lap and the final climb. Seeing the crowd cheer you down the red carpet and your name being announced as you cross the finish line was the best feeling every and bearing in mind an hour previous I was ready to give up and never run again, the first thing on my mind after crossing the line was “Lets do it again!”
Dan just after finishing his race at Ironman 70.3 UK on June 28th 2015.
