A recent email reminder from WordPress about an upcoming renewal charge had me logging into the settings to check my status. On looking at my stats, I was somewhat surprised (although in all honesty maybe not so much), to see it’s been 6 months since I last posted, having only uploaded one post in the past 12 months. With that being the case, I decided its high time to unholster the fountain pen, pull out my finest writing paper and get back into the wonderful world of blogging.

Rather than try and write a bunch of long forgotten updates and race reports, let me summarize what’s happened since my last post. This is more for my benefit than anyone else, so feel free to skip to the end 😊

 

1. Cebu Ironman 70.3 2024. In April I did my first race of the year in the very hot and humid Lapu Lapu resort. Was my first time to the Philippines and I must say I found the people and the whole culture warm, friendly, and relaxed, and an absolutely stunning location. Had a few of us from my tri club racing and was a definite fun vibe, everything close to the hotel and easy to get around. Race day however was a bit different, with the fun aspect being tested on the return leg of the swim by a sudden uptick in the speed of the current flowing against, which resulted in big increases to splits on the way back. The bike was fantastic, if a little boring (up and over a bridge several times) with my increased focus on bike training showing some good results, but the run.. oh boy, did I suffer. The heat and humidity were through the roof, and despite the massive and very vocal support from the locals that cheered and high fived the whole route, after a couple of km jogging, I was unable to ingest anything more than a few sips of water, quickly becoming dehydrated and bonking. I had no choice but to settle into a run/walk strategy, which then rapidly degenerated into a shuffle/walk, leading to an almost 4hr final leg, and my worst ever time in a 70.3! However, I did get it finished inside the cut off, and with the positive of an improved performance on the bike and a much better understanding of my weaknesses, it was worth the effort.

2. 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama. In May I did my first ever short course Olympic distance tri, with a 30-minute trip down the road to the port of Yokohama, where the pros raced on Saturday (with some looking for Olympic qualifying), and us mere mortals doing our thing on Sunday. I had been nervous to do shorter distances as my only athletic strength has been my in-built endurance, which doesn’t really come into play in “standard distance” races and my pathetic lack of speed becomes even more prominent than usual, however I was surprised to find out how much fun the shorter distances can be. The swim was a bit grotty, but over and done with quicker which is never a bad thing (although some monumental struggles to pull off a new wetsuit certainly slowed me down). The bike was a fantastic experience on a very technical course, with me simply going full throttle for the 4 laps, not bothering to worry about whether my energy would last. Same from about halfway point on the run, was such a fun feeling to just put the foot down and go all out. Will definitely try again (that thought was further endorsed by waking up the day after and not feeling like I’d been run over by a bus).

 

3. Hokkaido Triathlon 2024. This now brings me to my last race this past weekend, where I came up to the northern island of Hokkaido for my third attempt at the local “mongrel distance” tri, centred around Toyako. Having only been training for around 4 weeks after completely losing my mojo and doing nothing more than eat, drink (and embarrassed to admit my worst vice, smoking) during June and most of July, I was hoping that my early season training and racing would be enough base to get me through. As always, we had a great crew of locals from Toya and Hirafu as well as a bunch up from Tokyo, which always adds to the enjoyment. The race is pretty low key with maximum 300 people, beautiful scenery and a challenging course. I did the A race which consists of a 2km volcanic lake swim (seemed actual distance on the day was over 2200m according to everyone’s Strava), 137km ride with some wicked climbs (and with un-closed roads adding an interesting touch, as we were forced to stop at all junctions and traffic lights), and a 23k shady run with happy high schoolers manning the aid stations and keeping things positive. My swim was not so good, my worst effort in 3 attempts, maybe due to the chop the waves caused across the lake or more likely by the dire lack of swimming I had managed since May. However, I was pretty pleased with my bike, climbing/descending well and keeping good cadence and power on the flats, allowing me to catch and pass at least 25% of the field in front of me. This was followed by me making a semi decent effort on the run, pushing through enough on what has become my weakest discipline, to manage around 18k before the insufficient training forced me to start run/walking again.

 What was new for me was that after having increasing issues with gut distress the last few years I went with an all-liquid nutrition strategy this time, using tailwind powder mix which I topped up with a couple of gels and bananas from the aid stations on course. While I did suffer after the race, I had sufficient nutrition to power me around for the majority of the distance. I will practise and play with the amounts, density and flavours etc to try dial it in enough that I can get the whole way around without bonking. Another first for me was that I raced in a form fitting one piece tri sui, and even though it did seem a tad tight (more about me being bigger than I should than the suit being small), it did a great job, felt extremely comfortable and I will definitely be using again next time.

So, there we have it, a rather boring recap of the last 6 months. There is a lot that I could add, and I actually have a few half-finished race reports in my draft file which I may try to revive and get posted, at least they may have some useful info for people looking for updates on those races.

The Rash Decision As has often happened in the past, I have a habit of making somewhat impetuous and what some may call “stupid” choices. Therefore no-one will be surprised that for my next challenge, other than trying to keep my blog updated, I just signed up for an impromptu trip to Korea to participate in IM Gurye on 29th September, basically meaning I have given myself only 6 weeks to prepare for a full Ironman, and three weeks before my planned Cascais Ironman. It would seem the race was badly undersubscribed, and I got notified last week about a very limited chance to get 40% discount on fees, which along with the fact they were offering spots for Nice WC 2025 had me rather excited. This is a race that I have done twice before and it kind of suits me (its where I got my longstanding PB back in 2017), so without thinking or really discussing much with anyone else, I just booked it.

Gurye Ironman Race Report 2017

Gurye ironman Race Report 2018

Gurye Ironman (non) Race Report 2019

That little piece of crazy now gives me 6 weeks to get fully “Ironman” fit and ready to race. I hope/need/plan to make a good enough fist of it for me to get a roll down spot to the Ironman World Championships in Nice next year, so I can celebrate my 60^th birthday by going back to France to finish the only race to have beaten me into a DNF.

 Few other plans in the air, including the aforementioned pre-planned IM in Portugal just 3 weeks after Korea – that’ll be messy, but I am very happy to be back positive and (reasonably) strong. Let’s see what the next few months will bring