Back on it!!

I'd had a week a moping around feeling sorry for myself, getting over the disappointment of Austria, eating rubbish and not alot of training! But now its time to get back into the routine of train, eat, sleep, train, eat, sleep and mixed in there work and seeing Marija!
My goals for the season have had to be changed due to my mess up at Ironman and I'm really motivated again!
My big goal now is going to be Challenge Barcelona Ironman on October 4Th (Austria didn't put me off the distance, just made me want to do it more!) and before that I'll try and do a 70.3 Half Ironman, possibly Monaco on September 6Th.
So along with some UK based events hopefully I can turn my season around.
I've even started to look at next year already! Its funny what you do when your motivated and not training that much! My good friend "Oakley Tim" is getting married next year and I think he wants to go and do 70.3 New Orleans Half Ironman for his stag do!! Then after that I'm going to plan to do Ironman South Africa in April, another good friend of mine Nino Baglioni is going over to do it so that should be good fun. Then it will be back to Austria in July to lay a few demons to rest.
Before I go I'd just like to say congratulations to my friends Ady "Sweat" and Bekki on the birth of their second child together, Mason. I went to see the little fella and he was only 17hrs old! I think he smiled at me!
I'd also like to wish good luck to Mesh and Keis on their wedding on Saturday!
Best go get some training in.... see ya!

Well my first Ironman experience is over and it wasn't the happy ending that I was hoping for. To cut a long story short my total inexperience showed and I completely messed up my nutrition plan which ultimately caused me to collapse 5km into the run and put me in hospital!

The week leading up to the race was spot on in terms of training and resting and my pre race nutrition was fantastic. The whole build up to the race and atmosphere was buzzing and I don't think I'd ever been so excited to do a race before........ I was absolutely loving the whole Ironman experience!

In the race I had a decent swim exciting in 15Th place with a time of 51min. I found the swim comfortable and was looking forward to ripping the bike. I started the bike strong and then somewhat unexpectedly a pack formed. You sort of expect it in shorter races but I never expected it during an Ironman, I thought I'd be on my own during the ride. The pack was riding with the legal drafting rules but I found it so much easier at the back of the pack than at the front, so decided that's where I'd ride, saving my legs for the run!

This is where the problems sort of started, it wasn't until I was packing my bike up to come home that I realised that I'd only eaten half of what I'd planned to eat! Big mistake! I guess I got taken in to the race too much and wasn't concentrating on what I was doing. I really showed my inexperience here. It's good to race but I also need to pay attention to what I'm doing nutrition wise.

So anyway I got round the bike in 4.40:52 and started the run in 14Th place. I felt comfortable and did as I'd planned by starting slowly so that I could build my pace as my legs loosened off. Then it just all went wrong and I collapsed and was carted off to hospital!

5hrs and about 10 magnesium drips later I was released. Physically I was OK but mentally I was distraught, all that work that I had put in and all for nothing! It was time to pick myself up and re-focus.

So at this time I'm possibly thinking of doing Monaco 70.3 on the 6Th September and then on the 4Th October Challenge Barcelona Ironman.

This year has been a bit of a disaster to say the least, but I'm still focused and am as motivated as ever, so hopefully I can turn my season around and really show what I'm capable of.

Big thanks to my sponsors, Elagen sport, Energicer, Saltstick and Extreme Endurance. Your product are fantastic!

Until next time,

Twiggstar!