End of year round up...sort of

Another year of sport and another year older and what was potentially going to be a great year and an excellent winter training ended (nearly) with some mixed results and ups and downs.
February started with a crash caused by an idiotic car driver slamming on his brakes and reversing towards us resulting in evasive action and a fall on my shoulder. Innocuous at the time but the shoulder stiffened over the weeks and months and needed a steroid injection to free it up, and just in time for my first race at Wilmslow sprint tri in May where I finished 2nd overall. Great result in my eyes.
Onto Bala middle distance on a tough course but my form was good and despite leading the swim and onto the bike the course was abandoned to a fatality. A very sad situation.
Next up was Ironman UK and again the form was there running a PB the week before and swimming and biking was great. Again lead the age group for much of the bike course and a short distance at the start of the run before I started coughing up blood and struggled with breathing for still an unknown reason. Multiple chest X-rays and MRI's and scopes in my throat and nose have detected zilch. Race finish in 15th AG is a result but not the win I wanted and trained for.
Medical tests and rest then back to training just in time for Xterra UK to try something different. A great swim, but lost a few places on the tough muddy slippery bike course and ended up 4th in what was also the European Champs. I did get offered a roll down slot for the World Champs in Maui but expense could not allow this year. Maybe next year ;-)
A last minute entry to the Tameside XL off road tri a couple of weekend ago yielded another 4th place and this was disappointing. A good swim again, and a good run, but my inexperience on a MTB and lack of course knowledge probably cost me a podium postion. 2nd to 4th were within 50sec and the technical hilly bike cost me this I'm sure. The winner overtook me about 3miles into the bike and left me for dead downhill on the loose rocks. Another learning experience.Following the Rules n+1 was invoked and a new (2nd hand) addition was added to help on the MTB front.

So winter training is starting and the local pool is a couple of minutes walk away with coached sessions two nights per week and one early morning. Absolutely ideal and I am loving the structure so far.
Running speed is coming back again and next weekend I am doing the Worksop Half Marathon with my old training partner and superfit mate Daz Sharpe. I am sure we are both laughing at the prospect of a race off. Cant wait but a 1:20 will do and coincides that Sunday is my long run day. Happy all round.
Biking is mainly commutes with longer rides planned for Tuesday and Thursday evening and a long club ride on Saturday.

So the form was there but bad luck conspired against me but remaining positive that it can be repeated and bettered in 2016. With luck also Xterra Wetsuits UK will sponsor me again and hopefully my bio will be there (to be updated soon) if you want a look at my past results and achievements.


So, onto 2016......there was a time when you could enter races a week before but popularity means having cash (or a credit card) to enter a year in advance when the entry goes live. Luckily Ali and got entries to both the half and full Outlaw next year. My brother and mate Paul Breeze are also entered for the Outlaw.

Good luck and safe training everyone and see you on the start line

So races for 2016 are go

April                   Xterra Malta
                           Manchester Marathon

May                   Wilmslow Sprint Tri
                           Half Outlaw

June                   Peninsula Sea Sprint Triathlon

July                    Outlaw

August               Xterra UK

September         Tameside XL

November         Maui??

Something new....Xterra European Championships

Ive been doing triathlon for about 24 years now and whilst I have taken part in off road quadrathlon (triathlon with kayak as the 4th discipline), I have never done a mountain bike triathlon with a cross country run. Having been to Hawaii (Ironman) twice and raced on Oahu too (ITU Worlds 2005) I had heard about Xterrra on the island of Maui and quite fancy going there one day so I thought I'd give Xterra England a shot just to see how I compare and what I need to do.
My brother Philip is a keen MTB'er and racks up more miles than some roadies but his swimming is negligible and lets face it, most people can put one foot in front of the other twice repeatedly so running he can do, and with that he decided to enter with me to race at the Vachery Estate in Surrey on August bank holiday weekend.
We drove down Saturday morning after Philip had driven most of the night to get here from Larne, and had planned to recce the course by bike and foot. We put the tents up on arrival, registered, and set out on the bike course leaving our chief supporter Ali to read her book in peace. The course was fairly dry and with a few little hills that required concentration to progress without coming to a complete standstill. There was quite a bit of technical focus with tight turns and lumps and bumps that meant speed was nigh on impossible to maintain but it was dryish and within my capabilities. Back at the tent Philip went for a kip while I headed out for the run lap recce. The course was good with one steep hill, a ditch to jump or traverse twice and a huge tree trunk to leap/clamber over and a bog to negotiate each lap. Simple really.
We had the race brief then a bit of a Q&A with the legendary Conrad "The Caveman" Stoltz, Ben Allen and Jacqui Slack then had dinner at the venue and headed off to bed for an early night, typical camping evening. Also typical camping is the rain, and it fell in buckets.
Race morning was more of a race afternoon so a lie in was on the cards then bike racking at 1030hrs ready for a 1210hrs start. The pro's went off at midday then all the 40-44 and below age groups 5 mins after, then us 45-49 upwards with the relays.
There seemed to be a bit of a jump start on the swim but I worked my through the group and seemed to be at the sharp end. I could only see one swimmer ahead who I guessed was Damo Littlewood of Tri-1st Birmingham. I didn't see the relay swimmer or another athlete in front but the results show I was out of the water 4th from my wave in 21:54. It felt easy and comfortable in my Xterra Vector Pro but Philip was working hard to finish the swim 5 minutes quicker than his anticipated time in 35mins and it was his first open water swim in his Xterra Vortex.

X(terra)-men

Out on the bike the course was completely different following the deluge we had overnight. Firm dry tracks were now muddy and slippery and despite lowering my tyre pressures i still struggled. Every 180 degree turn was a front end slide and there were a few crashes but still I was overtaking the age groups ahead at every overtaking opportunity on the narrow tracks. I really wanted to capitalise on my swim and go for the medals and a potential Maui slot. There was a bit of hill running when traction just wasn't there. I realised I need to run tubeless wheels with lower pressures and get proper tyres to suit the course. Its all a learning experience. Maybe I need a carbon bike too and not a 'cycle to work scheme' bike, hmm....there's a thought....

Philip focussing

Upright for a change

One thing I am fast at is transitions and I headed out for the 10km cross country course feeling good and confident I could run some folk down. The first lap was fairly swift and I overtook loads of people and managed a great leap over the ditch and tree and even managed to catch a few of the pro's.

Huge tree to leap over

Philip clambering

The second lap was slower as I caught a few people through the muddier sections and I have to admit to feeling tired going up the hill. I managed to catch Damo (last years 40-44 winner) on the run which lifted me a little but I knew he was suffering from an Achilles tendon issue. 

I had no idea where I finished and Ali went to get me a print out from the timing tent whilst I ate my body weight in chocolate brownie and flapjack. The look on her face said it all as she walked back. I was 4th....probably the worst position to be in. No medals at the Xterra European champs boohoo...gutted!  But this was all about testing myself and trying to determine what I needed to do to get to Maui.
Meanwhile, Philip was out running the course and managed to do fairly equal splits. He has decided that he likes Xterra triathlon and is going to be training for next year. Ive also decided I like Xterra too and quite fancy racing abroad but I need to improve on my technical riding skills and maybe need a new bike, N+1 springs to mind.
Time to start training again and look at bike bling.

A year of training and hospital appointments

This year was supposed to be full of racing and doing well and maybe the odd win and my training and form had been on track but for a few hiccups....or maybe coughs of blood.

The winter training had gone well, biking was going good and the local timetrials were proving that I was getting faster and in better shape than last year and this was in spite of a shoulder injury that required a steroid injection when some volvo driving ass decided he didn't like being behind cyclists in the ASL (advanced stop line) at traffic lights and raced ahead of us then stopped and reversed in towards us resulting in my going over the bars. Weeks were lost from swimming and almost the season but thankfully an injection a few weeks before the first race seemed to have cured the problem without the need for any surgery.
The first race of the season was Wilmslow triathlon and I must admit that I was expecting to race for the Vets prize so I was surprised that when I checked in I was given Number 2 meaning I was one of the fastest swimmers. I had ridden and run the course the night before as a familiarisation recce and I knew I could bike well and my running was starting to get better and stronger so I thought I might stand a chance of top 3. I wore my Xterra Velocity swimsuit (and nearly forgot to take it off in T1) for added slipstreaming in the 400m pool swim and headed out on the bike thinking I was in 2nd place. I quickly overtook the supposed lead swimmer, a paralympian swimmer Daniel Pepper. I never get complacent and kept pushing hard and with 3 miles to go I caught another cyclist, Simon Parker. I led out of T2 but was overtaken within 500m and Simon pushed on to win by 23s over the 6.3km run. To come 2nd overall was a surprise but also a big confidence boost given that I hadn't done any brick work and I could look forward to more training and the national Middle Distance championships to be held at Bala.
I have never really liked the middle distance race at Bala. Its always cold and its a hard race but this is the national champs and its also prep for my A race, Ironman UK (Bolton). The swim was shortened to 1km due to the water temperature and by god it was cold. My face was freezing but the racehead takes over and I came out 1st in my age group in the Xterra Vector Pro first race outing. At least the sun was out for the ride over the mountain but it was still cold. I was having a bit of a localised race with Mark White and tried to get away with an effort on the last big climb but as I crested the top the road had been closed and the race had been cancelled due to a competitor fatality. Not the race everyone was hoping for and I certainly felt like a medal was on the cards, if not the win, but someone had died and it puts everything in perspective and makes you grateful to be alive.

RIP Daniel Cavanagh, aged 40.


Getting older is getting harder to accept and injuries are always in the back of my mind. A simple muscle pull or a trip and fall can set you back for seemingly ages and negative thoughts can set in but
keeping an eye on the future is a reminder of why you train. Ironman Bolton was looming up fast, it seemed only like yesterday that Ali and I entered it whilst sitting in the sun in the garden last year. I had gone through a run/walk program to assist with my achilles injury and had managed a 1:26 half marathon in training with very little effort and had managed to swim the ironman distance twice in under 56 and 57 minutes in the weeks prior, and my timetrialling was still getting faster so I felt in good shape and confident of a win at Bolton. Arrogance maybe? No, Confident and trust in the training. I'm chasing an age group win after coming 2nd in South Africa and 6th in Melbourne.
Race day in Bolton arrived and the weather was typically British.........shit! It poured and poured and at one point on the swim you could barely see the buoys the rain was bouncing so hard off the Pennington Flash.
The first lap of the swim was smooth and the second not so with one or two fellow competitors zigzagging across my front repeatedly. A glance at the timer on the first lap was a disappointing 29 something minutes but I thought, hey it must be long, same for everyone. I took the furthest buoy wide to take my own line and was enjoying the swim but again at the end I could hear the commentator say 'here comes the 1:01 swimmers'. Again disappointment as I was hoping to be heading to my bike in 57 minutes. But I was good enough for 7th in my age group.


One lap done and still enjoying it

A quick T1 and I was out into the rain flooded roads of Lancashire with more than a fair share of taking it easy on the multiple turns and roundabouts that makes the Bolton course so slow in comparison to other courses only compounded with the weather. To say I shivered and my teeth were chattering is an understatement. I was dropping bottles in the feed stations, A because it was cold and B because they weren't long enough to get all the nutrition needed without slowing to a stop.Nevertheless I did manage to get my nutrition bang on. Half a Powerbar and a gel during every hour along with a Powerbar drink. The bike course is awful. I detest it. Its not hard but for a timetrialist its crap with barely more than a few miles at a time to  stay aero....but, its the same for everyone. Sheephouse Lane hill is nothing special but Hunters Hill second time round is more than a little cheeky and I was dreading it as I started getting cramps about 70 miles. I just took it easy up the hill and saw Ali just getting back on her bike after a puncture, which took too long to change and subsequently cost her time and forced her to miss the cut off time by one minute. Gutted.

As I headed towards the macron Stadium T2 I was emptying my bladder when I got overtaken by Mark Richardson. Little did we know that we were leading our age group and I followed him into T2. I changed into run kit and hoped to get warm running and after a few hundred metres I caught and went past Mark. This is when it starts to go wrong...........
I was struggling to catch my breath and was forced to walk up the first small hill. I recovered over the top and caught mark again and sat in trying to get a big breath that might help relax my breathing. I was struggling for oxygen it seemed. When I managed to get the big breath it made me cough and the cough brought up blood. At first I thought it might be Powerbar dyed spittle but it was bright red.. I was able to walk so I kept going hoping to recover and even managed to run the downhill part to the brook and along to the next hill. more of a jog really. This basically set the scene for the 4hrs 33min of marathon interspersed with numerous toilet breaks. never have I pee'd so much. A good thing maybe being hydrated? The run course is actually quite nice and I would liked to have been able to do it justice.

Swim   1:01:42
T1            2:50
Bike     5:38:09
T2            4:33
Run       4:33:43


All I trained for and wanted for a year was to win an Ironman race and I end up completing my 8th Ironman in my slowest time yet and put my health at risk to finish in 15th place in my age group At the finish I picked up my medal and was escorted to the medical tent and after some questions and basic observations they suspected I may have a spontaneous pneumothorax then after an ambulance trip to Royal Bolton Hospital for a chest xray, ECG and blood tests it was a suspected pulmonary embolism. The A and E doc gave me , Ali and my dad, a little scare when he tried to explain there was bad news and I thought he was trying to tell me  had lung cancer. Just great communication skills. So I got released after an echogram of my heart and the cardiologist diagnosed viral pericarditis. This is supposed to have started from a sore throat i was getting whilst riding and must have been exacerbated by extreme sport. My blood results were also pretty extreme with CK levels at over 2000 (normal is 125).
I must also say a big thanks to Andrew Rudder for getting me my finisher tee-shirt as I had bypassed this on the way to the med tent and hospital. Cheers mate.

Over the past few weeks I've had to take it easy and had a few more blood test with two further A and E trips, a visit to the chest clinic specialist and today I had a CT of my chest and abdomen. I have a follow up in a few weeks but at least I am able to exercise now. Mainly just commuting so far and two trial runs of 20 and 30 minutes that went OK.

A few weeks ago I was all for giving up ironman and potentially the decision was being made for me but never say never  and Ali and I have pre-registered for a a half and a full distance next year. I also have Xterra UK to do in a couple of weeks with my brother also racing. Should be good fun and I have had enough of hospitals for this year. The good thing is I am raring to go again if a little steady at first.

Have fun folks and enjoy life.