THE SLAYER RULES-FULL Up (Page 39)

It's been nearly a week since the london marathon so time to put down a bit of a race report.

Training had gone well for the marathon i had planned to stick to a run/walk approach and had stuck to this through all my long runs. My last few runs had indicated that i was looking at a time of around 4hrs 30 min,which would have given me a pb of around 20 minutes. All week the weather forecast was for a cold day with showers.Again i was happy with that as being over 200lbs i suffer when its hot.

Arrived at the start area with plenty of time to spare and got myself into my starting pen ready for the off. The sun was shining and the temp was rising. At 9.45 am the horn sounded and we were off. well at least those further down the front were i was in pen 6 of 9 so had a bit of a walk to start. After about 7 min i crossed the start line and i was away, my plan was to run to the water station and walk through the stations taking on anything i needed. the first 10 mile went by in a flash. The crowds were fantastic 4/5 people deep all the way round live music playing,people shouting names. Turned on to tower bridge at 12 mile and the noise was immense but this was the 1st indication i got that all was not well. i was starting to feel my right ankle but tried to put it to the back of my mind. got to half way looked at the clock which read 2hr 20. this was down on what i wanted but taking into account the numbers running i wasn't to down.

I was feeling strong in myself  as i approached 14 mile then my ankle went. i got a strong shooting pain all round the back of my leg. I made my way to the side to try and stretch it and tried to plod on. I knew i had to get to 17 mile as this is where my partner julie  would be waiting. I told her about my ankle and she said to forget about getting a time if i could still walk i could finish. The next 9 mile was a case of running till the pain got to much then walking. i crossed the finish line in 5hr 15min 21s. not a pb but my fastest out of 3 london marathons. i know i've got a good marathon in me i just need to find it. Happy with the way i stuck to my plan as long as i could and the fact i carried on when it would have been easier to throw the towel in.

As i was laid feeling sorry for myself on sunday evening with legs of concrete and a throbbing ankle news started to filter through about a 30 year old lady that had collapsed and died at mile 25. No cause of death has been released yet. She had been running for a charity and had an on line donation page which on sunday had £500 in it, since the news of her death in the last week it has gone over £1,000,000.

Thank you for taking time to read this

Good job Silverback, this group is proud of you... I know I am! It's not easy to deal with the pain, it takes brain to choose a smart decision.

Take it easy, you probably still feel your legs.

Definitely proud of you Silverback. Way to go! I know it's hard to go so far and then face the tough decisions, but you did it and kudo's to your partner for being there for you and supporting you the whole way. We couldn't do this without our partner support along the whole journey.

As per Slayer, still can't see the bike pron.

sorry cant figure out how to rotate this picture on the hotel computer.

Wow, well done, one of my friends did it last year and they had a blast, apparently the bridges are deceptive though. Enjoy!

Well done on the Mara silverback - you got there in the end. 

I've had a poor couple of weeks, I spent a week in Spain at a training camp but came straight back to work travelling across Europe, a couple of days at home then back for a internal 4 day off site meeting. The training has been sparse, the dietary control even worse so I'm now determined to make amends and get myself in order before my first tri on the 13th May. Really need to get myself back into the routine. On the upside, I've been measured for a new bike set up and get it back tomorrow so hopefully it'll be more comfortable to ride for long periods and more aero. Time will tell.  

Awesome Gladiador!! I hope you have a great time. Wow Silverback, way to HTFU!

I got in a couple of decent rides over the weekend. A 30 miler yesterday followed by a 40+ miler today with over 2100ft of climbing. The wind was blowin' like a SOB. It seemed like it was directly in my face the whole ride. 

My saddle is just killing me though. I just ordered an Adamo Prologue from ebay. Do any of you have any experience with this saddle?  My seat is fine unless I'm in the aero position.  It's not a triathlon specific saddle. I just can't see me doing anymore than a 2 hour ride with the saddle I have now without major discomfort.

Great work littlewj and Kate will get back on it. She's not one to stay off track very long. Still no bike porn so see if you can try again. How's the Sliverback coming along? Anyone else have anything coming up or done this weekend? Lets touch base early this week so we all have a sense where your training and racing is.

American TTT-Ohio 5/18-20 for me and Shanks is starting to go to race specific training. Easy early week to prepare me for a b#stard weekend.

edit to add: I am on the Adamo ISM Podium version. Was on the racing version until the new bike. Really like it so far. Less taintcomplaint!

End of week - Sunday - another Half-Marathon race. I don't plan to go very fast. Next 5 weeks in a row I'm packed with races:

06.05. - half marathon

13.05 - sprint duathlon

20.05. - classic duathlon

26.05. - triathlon (super sprint)

02.06 - triathlon (sprint/super sprint - we'll see)

We'll see what happens.

silverback, sorry to hear about the tough race, but it sounds like you have the right perspective, so youll be stronger for it.  My own personal "worst" race left me miserable, but a couple years later, I still use it as motivation in my training.  No matter how lousy a day Im having, I can say to myself "its not as bad as  Savageman".  And Im guessing your "redemption" race will be a great one.

A pretty busy few weeks Gladiator. Good for you.

For me, I have a 1/2 Mara on Sunday, 10K on the following Sunday. Continued training for 1/2IM at end of June and then on to training for the Full IM in November.

Training is going well, Achilles is better, but still stiff after long run, and sometimes after a long ride here hills are a predominant feature of the route.

Swimming is coming alond, still getting more comfortable in the water, speed needs to be improved though.

Nice job, everyone!  

Big weekends coming up for Gladiador.  Can't wait to hear how you do!

Back on the horse after hosting a bachelorette party last weekend.  Can't party like I used to!  Looking to hit my first 100 mile ride of the season this weekend and 15 mile run on Sunday.  Managed to get back in the pool yesterday, so I need to continue that.

I went to Slayer's page today for my daily humbling and your training log is private now.  Sad Nerdjock.

Kate- a half mary takes me a good 3-4days sometimes a bit more depending how hard I go. Well done on the weight loss! Glad to see you getting back on track.

Ash-Got some weird hits on my logs so I am goin DL for a bit. No strength for me anymore. Keeps me too tight for swimming and too sore for bike or run.

Actually...Surprisingly this is my first Olympic race...I just skipped over them and went to the longer stuff. Thoughts on nutrition? Slayer I know you are working on minimal calories but I don't think that I am there yet. I would like to be, but that is probably something for the "off" season.

So. What does everyone do for Oly nutrition? Slayer what would you have done before? I am thinking normal breakfast before. Then on the bike either a gel early and one late, or just 300 or less calories in a bottle and have another bottle with just water. Two gels would only require one bottle between the aerobars so a pretty fast setup. Then just water on the run in aid stations. Maybe some gatorade...

Thoughts?