Marlow Half Ironman = A-MAZING!!

I can now look back after 4 days of doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and try and put down in words (and pictures), how awesome that day was!!

Firstly, a reminder as to why I am doing this.  In September 2011, when I found out my Mum had Breast Cancer, my world crumbled. Seeing her battle through Chemotherapy, lose her hair and generally just be forced to endure months of discomfort, I knew I wanted to do something to raise awareness about Breast Cancer. Mum has been lucky to have the support of The Pink Place and that has been my chosen charity for all these events.  Even though the Chemotherapy has finished, Mum still continues with more treatments to ensure that all precautions are taken.  She is fighting on strong and if I ever needed a "motivator" for the Half Ironman, I decided to take this picture of us with our matching "hair do's" and showing our support to Basingstoke Tri Squad and The Pink Place.

Now, the final week preparations were not ideal - 8 days before my big event, I woke up not being able to lift my head off the pillow, due to some weird muscle spasm in my back, that started off the night before, when I got out of the shower and then put my suit on for the School Prom (I'm a School Teacher by the way!!!).....I thought nothing of it initially, but agony is an understatement the next day!!  Emergency Chiropractor appointment on the Saturday, one more Monday and the Friday before the event, with a "tester" bike/run session on the Thursday and I was as ready as I could be for it......

I awoke on race day at 4.30am, shoved some porridge/banana etc down me and set off about 5.30am to head to the venue. In true "British Summer" style, it rained ALL through the night, making the car parks like a festival car park and raised queries over whether the swim would be going ahead. Windsor Triathlon had the swim cancelled the week before and Henley Swim was cancelled the day before our event, but SOMEHOW they managed to get the all-clear to swim, under the provision that it was reduced from 1.9km to 1.5km, to ensure we were visible at all times, along that particular part of the bank.

After a final sort in transition and changing into wetsuits (where numerous people seemed to split theirs), we headed down to the water for swim briefing.  We were advised about the current, which looked like it was going to make going upstream quite interesting and made our way into the water.  The fact that we all floated about 5m downstream fairly quickly after we got in, told us that this was going to be a battle for the first 750m.  The signal went and we thrashed around, trying to hug as close to the bank as possible, taking what seemed to be an age to get to the turnaround buoy.  Once there, you had to make your way to centre of river and get round the actual buoy, ready for a lovely cruise home with the current. 

Swim time: 23 mins 34s

Transition was pretty straightforward, but due to the weather and the fact that I was facing 50+ miles on my bike in the rain, I opted to chuck some bib-shorts and jersey over my tri-suit as there is limited padding and I did have a half-marathon to endure after, so I went for comfort over cool transition times.

T1: 4 mins 06s

The bike was a course I had ridden in full and I knew that the main hills were fairly spread out, but you were greeted with a little climb, right at the beginning of the ride to get you going.  It was 2.5 laps with a fairly fast and flat course in between any inclines, taking in Hambledon, onto Henley and then the gruelling 2.5 miles up to Nettlebed that is just one loooooooong drag, with a particularly horrible climb on a dual-carriageway section.  The bonus is, that it is a crazy descent back down, once round the turn-point at the roundabout.  I was averaging about 18mph until the hilly section and it was slow going, but I could make up some time on my descent back towards the first lap turn-point.  I'd come out just in front of my mate and kept him at bay until about 14 miles in on the bike, but from then on, it was a great game of "cat-and-mouse".  I was actually overtaking people on the climb back to the first lap turn-point and went through the feed station to replenish my drinks, ready for more of the same, after another nice descent back onto the course again.  The second climb up to Nettlebed was arduous, but on the way back down, Matt and I were charging and I got past him pushing out 41.5MPH (see pic below)!!!  We had another return to turn-point and then one half-lap to go.  I must have counted about 20 people who had punctures and I was greatful for my (slightly heavier) but puncture protected tyres!! I was hoping for sub 3hrs on the bike, but was happy with my efforts and felt good as I got off the bike and about to embark on the run.... 

Bike: 3hrs 03mins 06s

T2: 3 mins 06s

The run course was 4 x 5km loops and I had managed to walk the route previously (in my injured state) and I took on some water at the first water station about 500m into the start of each lap. 

There was QUITE the surprise awaiting us, once we started the laps and as you may tell from the pics above, my legs were a little dirty.  This is because of THIS:

The first lap was interesting, as I just tried to plough through, but it was just relentless and I very nearly hit the deck on a few occasions. I was feeling fresh still and running good once out of the "bog" section.  I was keeping to a 9-min-mile pace roughly, though on the 3rd and 4th time through the above, I was walking sections of it, as it had got so slippy.  On the 4th lap I was buzzing and a little suprised about how good I felt. I had paced the day well, eaten all my nutrition as planned on bike/run and was WELL ahead of my target for the race!

As I turned into the park on my last stretch, I opened it up a bit to head home to the finish line.  My name was called across the tannoy as I approached and I crossed the line, achieving yet another thing I thought I would never be able to do.  I even felt quite good at the end.  I went over to my parents and Bryony and I was a little lost for words and felt quite emotional, but I was just relieved.  I was home safe and I can honestly say, it felt bloody amazing!!!

Run: 1hr 57mins 41s

Total: 5hrs 32mins 06s

I must also add, that for a post-race "spread", this has to go down as one of the greatest:
 

It was an amazing event and I cannot thank my folks, Bryony, Matt and everyone else who pushed me on through this and those that have already donated and supported my crazy adventures over the last year. If you have managed to stick through reading all that and think my efforts deserve a few quid, I would be VERY appreciative.

Donations can be made here: http://www.thepinkplace.org.uk/donate.html

(put "John Houston Half Ironman" in description)

I leave you with two lasting memories:

1) The t-shirt misprint (can you spot it?);         
2) The Mud Man - this is how some people ended up (I told you it was muddy)!!

Building up to the "Big One".....

So, my last post was after the adrenaline high of the Marathon and the few weeks following were lacking in much movement to aid recovery from that effort.  May was mostly about getting out on the bike more and I took to cycling to work and being "beasted" on the bike by the Head of English after work on Wednesdays.

I did hit the lake too to get some swim training in, ready for Great London Swim that was creeping up in May and even convinced Bryony that it would be wise to join me.  Little did I know (or her at the time), but she was actually entered into the Bupa London 10km the next day.  This was now her chance to do a relatively restful "aquathlon".  The swim was okay, but VERY windy and choppy, looking more like a sea swim. Despite a few issues with my "chip timing" not working at the start or end and subsequently giving me a dubious time, I do have some proof of finishing it here: 

My final event before the Half Ironman, was a last minute "race preparation" race, down in South Cerney.  This was an Olympic Distance event and my first triathlon of the year, so a chance to test out some transitions and put all my training together. 

It was a lot tougher than I wanted it to be, not helped by gale-force winds that weekend and a tricky bike course and run section.  The swim felt fantastic and I managed to stay tight to someone to draft a little, but the bike took all that good feeling out of me, as I got passed by plenty of people. It was into a headwind for a majority of the course it seems and when I got off the bike onto the run, my feet were pretty numb from the cold.  It was an off-road 10km, round the lake, with some pretty rubbish terrain.  It felt hard and I was a little worried that this was not a good sign, but I finished with a decent sprint to try and catch the guy in front, but he just got me.  Highlights are here:

 

 

 Next stop......Marlow Half Ironman!!

Virgin London Marathon 2012

I cannot believe that I am actually writing about this and can actually say the following - "I have run the London Marathon and I bloody loved it!"

Okay, so 4 days have passed since the event, but I am still positively buzzing about it.

So the morning started off at "stupid o'clock", getting ourselves up to try and force feed some porridge, toast, bananas etc before we got our kit together and made our way (nervously) out of the hotel.  The walk across London Bridge towards the tube to head across to Blackheath was beautiful and the weather was looking promising.  The next time we would see London Bridge would mean that we are almost halfway (20km mark).

After some friendly banter on the crammed tube, we jumped off to make our way towards the start line/bag drop areas.  Nerves were properly setting in for me now and it was pretty insane to think that I was about to embark on the longest run of my life.

  

After making our way to the pen (we were the last pen - with all the fancy dress rabble), we decided to see if we can escape a little bit closer to front of pen and nearer next pen.  At 9.45am, the race started and several minutes later, we passed through here with the tens of thousands of others.....

The atmosphere was out of this world and the first 8-9 miles just passed by so quickly, with the carnival feel that greeted you every mile.  People cheering your name, passing all the fancy-dress runners and getting "high 5's" from strangers were just part of the many highlights in the first third of the run.

 







One of my absolute highlights, was passing past the Cutty Sark.  Actually seeing it in all it's glory, after a massive restoration process, I didn't care about the "bottleneck" that we were warned about round here, as it was truly magnificent.

Much of the run was just about absorbing your surroundings and I was truly amazed by all the crazy fancy dress outfits.  There was someone even running whilst carrying a replica of the Blackpool tower!!  I did look out for some "celebrities" (I use this very loosely) and someone even told me "Arg" from the Only Way is Essex was running.....now, someone who has to run with a sign pointing at himself, says it all?!?!?  Some of the people we did spot (not Arg - though how did we miss him?) are below and DAVE (the near naked man in a wig), provided much hilarity for many miles.  Every time we tried to pass him to avoid staring at his bum, he'd bound on ahead.  He was truly a crowd favourite and it was amusing to see the faces of people, as they spotted him coming by.

Crossing London Bridge, to see the 20km sign pass, was a great feeling.  I felt strong at halfway and the pace was comfortable.  Miles 14 - 19 passed without any major issue and when I knew that we'd reached 20 miles, I knew I was now in unknown territory past that point.

Seeing some mates around mile 18-20 (I have no idea really) spurred me on, as we both couldn't spot either of our parents, who were given detailed maps and checkpoints to hunt down, but we did not spot them once?!  We had a stretch around this point and carried on, refusing to walk and with two further "stretch stops" to help Bryony release the tension in her hip, we ploughed on.  It hurt no more to try and keep the pace up, so we figured we just needed to go for it.  Seeing the 25 mile marker was immense, but seeing the 800m, 600m countdown made it all seem so real.  I was actually going to survive a marathon and that was truly something I NEVER thought I would be able to do.

When we turned the corner at Birdcage Walk and saw the finish line, I will never forget the feeling that rushed through my body. I will also not forget the guy who sprinted past me at this point and there is a comedy photo which I will download and add later, showing my disgust at such energy!! We avoided any such sprint finishes, instead crossing the line together and achieving something that I still find hard to put into words.  Every drop of sweat, twinge of pain and step that day was worth every single minute of our 4 hours 11 min 47s that was truly a rollercoaster of emotion. 

It was all for this.....

 

Thank you all for reading and all the support that you offered, before, during and after the event. 

If you think that all of this might even deserve a few quid, to a very worthy cause, then I would be truly grateful for anything anyone can spare.  Please donate here at: The Pink Place

Rest and recuperation, ready for VLM....

Yes, you read that right, I managed to acquire myself a spot for Virgin London Marathon, after Bryony's brother-in-law's cousin (?!) was unable to run due to injury.

After our last long run (20 miles) at the end of March, I had the hair-brained idea to actively search for a Marathon spot, as I figured I'd never train that hard ever again and with it being Olympic year, it had to be done really!

So spot secured, it was time for a little break and the "tapering" to begin.  I actually had a 2-week holiday in Australia booked, so I couldn't think of a nicer spot to relax and bring the mileage down.

A few shorter runs and the opportunity to have a nice dip in the sea after, followed by some amazing sunsets like below, was just what the physio ordered....



Paris Half Marathon - 4th March 2012

So, after a little jaunt on the Eurostar to Paris, we arrived ready for the Paris Half Marathon that lay ahead of us.  Saturday involved lots of sightseeing and walking, which in hindsight wasn't so wise, as my feet killed by the end of the day.  The "carb loading" was good fun though.  Bryony managed to swing an entry at the last minute, as someone from her running club could not run.  So after a bit of a mystery "rendezvous", with a man that neither of us had met, in the middle of Paris, running numbers were exchanged and for one day only, Bryony was now "Mike".......

The run was around most of the areas that were SE of the centre of Paris and its famous landmarks, but with over 25,000 people participating and some slow miles at the beginning, it was hard work.  It was clear to see that no PB was going to happen, so we did our best to lap up the experience and the "Allez, Allez....." spurred us on, as we were feeling the effects of some tough running over the month.

With the run complete and a body that was aching, it was only really then that I could look back and say how pleased I was of the achievement.  This was more than trying to get a PB, or getting mileage.....my knee hurt, my feet hurt, but it was all worth it for these two pictures here.....

My Mum and Dad had never been to Paris in their life and to share this weekend with them and Bryony, knowing that I was also raising money for a great cause, made this trip all the more special. 

The training is really going to be kicking in over the next few months and all the support that anyone can offer me will be just what I need to spur me on when the going gets tough. So, if you haven't donated yet, what are you waiting for...........?

Donate Here: http://www.thepinkplace.org.uk/donate.html

Many thanks for reading.

John

Pink Place vest gets a "makeover" for Paris!

So, I couldn't go to Paris and not make a real effort, could I?

Thanks to the amazing work of one of our art teachers (http://www.sianstorey.com/), I was now "dressed to impress", ready for Paris Half Marathon.....