Monday 31st August

Very bad news - my back has now gone totally. Can't walk, stand, sit or lie down properly. I don't know if this is temporary or permanent. I am in a lot of pain and very worried....

Saturday 29th August

10 mile run along the North Foreshore this morning on my own. Roadworks in Belfast meant that I hadn't a mission of getting to Cutters to meet the others. My back and hamstrings are very sore and tight - maybe I am getting too old for all this...

Saw a man today with one of the worst jobs imaginable - the dog poo warden. His job description seems to include emptying the doggy loos and his tools consisted of a plastic bag and a plastic shovel... He gave me a big smile though - nice man :-)

Friday 28th August

I have been struggling with a virus this week and spent Wednesday in bed to try to shake it off. Rested yesterday and did a steady half hour on the turbo this morning. Hopefully I will be ok for running tomorrow.

Tuesday 25th August

Enough of the recovery - back into training again now. Half an hour full on blast on the turbo this morning. Thinking about buying myself some training gadgets for the turbo for my birthday, hmm...

1600m swim sets with the club tonight - good session

Saturday 22nd August

8 mile very nice mixed terrain run along the Co Down coast today (aka Kneebreakers ). Good company, reasonable pace, perfect sunny running weather - all good :-)

Thursday 20th August

Half an hour flat out on the turbo this morning.

Wednesday 19th August

5.25 mile very wet and mucky hill run tonight. I took it fairly easy as I am on a recovery week - legs still very tired.

Sunday 16th August

Active recovery today with an hour and a half of hill walking to watch the Tall Ships leave Belfast. Very spectacular as is the tiredness now in my legs, LOL!!

Saturday 15th August

Lough Neagh olympic distance triathlon today.

Swim
The swim start was a deep water mass start which made for a bit of a battle with 300 people trying to get through the mouth of the marina at the one time before heading out into Lough Neagh itself. I kicked my way into open water and had a steady swim until nearing the last buoy. Looking up I thought, that buoy is moving, and then said to myself no don't be stupid it must just be the waves as it was quite choppy in the water. But I looked again and yes, the buoy was being moved mid race! Apparently this completely confused the lead swimmers! Anyhow back into shore and then a bid of a wade through the water to get out and a run to transition.

Bike
I had a reasonable T1 and out onto the bike - undulating for the first bit but into a 20mph head wind with 30mph gusts which made it very tough. About 4 miles of this per lap and then a quick couple of miles with a tail wind to the end of the lap. My first lap was quite fast and then I ran into problems with fatigue in the second lap. By the third lap my legs had gone and I had nothing left to push with. By the fourth lap my speed was well down. I ate an energy bar and drank plenty of Nuun to see if that would help. A very slow and disappointing 26.5 miles of cycling and then I was into T2 - this was a bit muddled as I was knackered. But I managed to get going onto the four lap run.

Run
I desperately struggled on the run with a mix of running and walking and sheer mental determination. It was the longest 6.5 miles I have ever done. I was so glad to get onto the fourth lap and to finish. The tri club members were all waiting for me at the end which was very nice. I haven't got an official time yet but I think it was about 3hrs 18 - about half an hour slower than Tri Athy - albeit with a longer course.

I thought I had recovered from Antwerp but obviously 13 days with a weeks training as well is not enough time to recover. Lesson learnt for next season. I am going to scale things down again for a week or so before Newtownabbey Tri in 3 weeks time. Just under 10 hours racing in 2 weeks was a little bit optimistic!

Thursday 13th August

Half an hour flat out on the turbo this morning. Wili's gears are still playing up - hoping someone can sort them out for me before the triathlon on Saturday.

Approx 1400m sea swim tonight with the club followed by a short run. My body is TIRED!!!

Tuesday 12th August

Tough swimming session with the tri club tonight. Approx 1800m of swimming with a lot of sprints in the drills - very good though.

Monday 10th August

1000m easy early morning swim in 19 minutes. My back is not good at the moment - I need to think about going to pilates again.

Running speed drills with the club tonight. Very good session - we covered about 5 miles in total with about 3 miles of that doing sprints and recovery. I wish we had started these sessions a few months ago. I just hope my back enjoyed it too....

Sunday 9th August

Active recovery all last week with walking around, a sports massage and a bit of stretching.

Great to get out for a 30 mile recovery/training cycle today to test if my body is still working after last Sunday - nice cycle in the sunshine with a few hills thrown in in preparation for next weekend's race. Glad to report that my legs have recovered but Wili the bike has decided he is an automatic and is changing gears by himself when I am in the small ring. I will need to get him sorted out...

I also wore my lovely new Ironman cycle outfit that I got at a bargain price in Antwerp last weekend. It was nice to look like a cyclist today instead of War on Want on wheels like I did before!!

Sunday 2nd August

Just a short up date for now to say that I DID IT and completed my first Half Ironman!!!! Somehow I managed to keep my body and mind together to get over the finish line. Full report to follow later.