Rookie goes for 5 in a row @ Ironman UK Week 24/26
Areet?
I swear to god i’m going back on the piss for 2 weeks…..
2nd attempt at 3 laps back to back after a 10 mile warm up and I got the absolute kicking I was expecting last week….
It went like this…..
10 mile warm up… 55 mins…..
Lap 1 of the IMUK Bike circuit…….2:12……..ok
Lap 2 of the IMUK Bike circuit…….2:20………Starting to come unstuck
Lap 3 of the IMUK Bike Circuit…..2:44 and I went under massively
After I had finished my 2nd lap, I realised I had nearly 3 hours to complete the third and decided I would ‘take it easy’ for the rest of the day…..
I stopped off at a garage for some fuel and a piss and took a good ten minutes to recharge as I had ‘earnt it’…..
The problem was, I couldn’t get going again, even on Chorley New Road at the very start of the loop…..
The only way I can describe it was like ‘Hitting the wall’ in a marathon…..
On this course, you will ‘hit the wall’ on the bike…..
You have got absolutely nothing left and still have over 40 miles in front of you…..
Wouldn’t be so bad if it was 40 miles of ‘gliding along’ on the bike but it isn’t…..
It’s 40 miles of grinding, mainly uphill on a dogshit road surface…..
By the time I got to Breightmet I was already 15 minutes down so only had another 15 minutes left in the bank and it took all my effort to limp round in 2:44 a broken man……
This was the kicking I was expecting last week…..
It was waiting for me the bastard…..
A couple of lessons to take from it…..
My original plan was to ride lap 1 like Joe Skipper, bank loads of time and then take the rest of the day off……
I’m not convinced this is the best strategy, I might be better ‘chillin me beans’ and riding ‘within myself’ lap 1 as it’s a very long day and you run the risk of ‘blowing up’ on lap 3 as I found out to my peril today…
I’m also not convinced that taking a break after 2 laps is such a good idea as when I tried to start lap 3 today it felt like trying to cycle after suffering a stroke…
It’s not all bad…
There is one positive….
That effort would still scrape the cut-offs……
Just…..
But this week’s outing made me realise that this new course ain’t all ‘milk and honey’…..
It’s going to go to the wire for me once again this year…..
Bloody marvellous..
www.strava.com/activities/5496906459
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