Tri On The Cheap

Mountain Biking

2013-06-11T20:14:00.002+01:00

This post is a bit of a retrospective one as with the Deva triathlon taking the forefront of the blog recently I didn't have time to write this one up. Here's an insight into how I like to cause my own downfall with regards to training. Usually if there isn't an injury/illness preventing me from training I find some way to hurt myself just before an event. Here's activities 1 and 2 in nonsensical training prior to an event...

The start of this post might have sounded like it was going to be a moan about things going wrong, but actually I wanted to talk about something I really enjoyed doing, mountain biking. I went to Delamere forest with Casey, a friend from uni, the Thursday before last. He works in a local bike shop and he lent me one of the shops test bikes (thanks to the Bike Factory). This was probably one of the reasons I enjoyed myself so much. I think the bike was worth about £2500 and it was the smoothest bike I've ever ridden. Everything changed when it was supposed to and it was half the weight of my mountain bike (one I got in primary school that currently doesn't have a chain). If I was lucky enough to have £2500 lying round to spend on a mountain bike, I would have gone for it. But it was this realisation that I didn't have that money that gave me a twitchy bum at the thought of coming off and damaging the bike.

We struggled to walk down

In the end I didn't have to worry about the bike, it was fine. It was my body that I should've worried about. Once we'd navigated our way out of a bog, we found some tracks for me to fall off on. I didn't hurt myself badly but did manage to receive an uncountable amount of nettle stings and bruises. There was a few worrying bits where I seemed to be going sideways and I only came off a couple of times (never badly). In the most painful incident I got thrown forwards when I tried to get on my bike halfway down a steep hill (pictured) then brake making the bike almost go arse over tit only to fall back down as I fell off and smash me in the calf. After a while I got the hang of it and it was really fun. I started to get braver and the whole thing was really enjoyable.

If anyone is considering mountain biking, try it. I can't believe I hadn't tried it before and I'll definitely go again whenever I can. The whole thing is a buzz and the adrenaline from flying down trails stops the pain of any bruises. Only thing is, it's probably not the best idea a few days before a race (I blame Casey, when I said “fancy a bike ride” I hadn't expected an expedition through a forest). It's probably an even worse idea to engage in nonsensical activity number two, playing football the next day and receiving even more bruises (again mostly Casey's fault). All in all the battering I took probably undid some of the hard work I'd put in in training but it was worth it to find a new hobby. I'm definitely gonna have to go mountain biking again.

Deva Triathlon Time

2013-06-04T11:27:00.000+01:00

Slow and steady did not win the race.

I've just received an email confirming my time for the Deva Triathlon. I'm very pleased to have got round my first Olympic distance tri but I got round in a snail like time of 3 hours 18 minutes and 26 seconds. I pretty much feel like I could cut around 10 minutes off each section. The swim would have been a couple of minutes faster if I was just at the start line in time and I feel I would have swam faster if I was with the main group. The bike was slow and I know I need to work on this area but there's definitely margin for a large improvement there. The run was very slow and I definitely could have cut some time off if I'd pushed myself at the start of the run and loosened up a bit. Transitions would have been quicker if I'd have set stuff out properly before the race and if I knew how to get a wetsuit off! So sub 2 hours 50 minutes is my goal for the next Olympic tri I do. If you want to see a breakdown of my race it's on the results page.

Deva Triathlon

2013-06-02T23:40:00.001+01:00

Today I completed my first standard distance triathlon, Chester's Deva Triathlon. Here's my views on how it all went.

I woke up at stupid o'clock still feeling exhausted. It's never good when you can hear people coming in from a night out as your getting up. I tried to get some food down me but, as usual, stomach ache kicked in and I struggled to eat much. Somehow I managed to be late leaving which resulted in me panicking a bit when I was there. I won't bore you with the details but the result was that I was late for my wave start and I was jumping into the river as the rest of my wave started a way ahead of me.

Whilst the swim was spent playing catch up (not well I only overtook 4 people), I think this was one of the most important parts of the race for me. Not because of how I did but because it was my first open water swim. Trying out a wetsuit for the first time was strange, it seemed to make things easier though as it definitely helped me with my position in the water. My main issue was sighting as on the way upstream the sun reflecting off the river was blinding. The swim went alright though, bar receiving a couple of punches from a guy that decided the river wasn't wide enough for two of us. My only other issue was the amount of the river Dee I swallowed, put it this way, it's not the cleanest river!

After finishing the swim I was lifted bodily out on to dry land by a guy helping everyone out. Just one of the many helpful and enthusiastic volunteers on the day. I later found out he tried to lift up someone who suddenly got cramp and got dragged in by him! I expected the old jelly legs when I got onto land but I wasn't too bad. This might have been because I was so focused on how to get my wetsuit off. I'd practised the night before and it'd taken 4 minutes before I gave up and got Alice to help me take it off. My transition wasn't quite that bad but I do wonder how the pros do it so fast?! It took me a little while but I got the wetsuit off and on the bike in the end.

I was by no means fast on the bike and this is where a lot of people started to overtake me. I've known ever since my first triathlon that the bike is where I need to make up time but I just haven't managed to put the training in yet (this is my current goal and I'm sure more will come about this soon). I enjoyed the bike but looking back I definitely could of pushed myself a bit harder. I did have one nice spell though where everything felt smooth and I kept the speed high. My next problem came during the run. I hopped off the bike feeling stiff as expected. The only problem was the stiffness didn’t go and only seemed to get worse. I could feel my run time getting worse and worse and I was constantly being overtaken. The run is usually my strongest leg so it wasn't nice to feel so crap. I eventually loosened up a little but this was after about 8km of running! I finished the last 2km strongly but it was way to late to save any hope of a decent time.

In the end I wasn't bothered about my time. I'm a little disappointed as I assumed I'd go under 3 hours with ease but then again I don't feel like I truly pushed myself. It's strange, I'd usually be angry for not pushing myself but I quite enjoyed the way I raced. It was all about getting round and enjoying the event. I soaked up the scenery and enjoyed what was going on around me. After all it was a world qualifying event, I was never getting near the podium. In the end I enjoyed the race and the Deva Triathlon was another well run event that I'd definitely recommend, just don't swallow the river water!

The Joys of Cycling

2013-05-28T17:13:00.002+01:00

There's 5 days left till I take on my first full olympic distance triathlon, the Deva Triathlon, and I've just kickstarted my cycling training. Proabably about time then.

My picnic spot

For some reason whenever my training slips the first thing to go is cycling. I'm not sure why but I think it may have something to do with weather. In my mind bad weather = bad day to cycle, but I'm not so sure this is the case. I love running in the rain and when you're going for it the colds usually irrelevant, if not something to be greatful of. So why then don't I like cycling in the rain? Turns out I do. The last couple of days I've been out in the rain and absolutley loved it. Especially on yesterday when I cycled to Delamere forest, I found an enjoyable route and enjoyed some time cycling and trying not to think about Uni exams. There was some beautiful scenary despite the rain and I found a nice dry spot to stop.

I think in the past I've been a little worried about cycling in bad weather because of some of the crashes my dad's had. It turns out hurtling downhill and skidding in to corners at 30mph is actually really fun. If anything I think this realisation has helped. I'm not stupid enough to purposefully put myself or anyone else in danger because of my cycling but I've realised I've been missing out and I should be doing more cycling before summer comes round.

So my cycling isn't where it should be but it's getting there at least. I think I've got a pretty solid base on the running side because of my last couple of events. Although I found out today I could do with more practice at running off the bike. Finally my swimming hasn't been the best but I think I'm still seeing excrutiatingly slow improvements in my swim so I can't moan. On a brighter swimming note, I hired a wetsuit today. My first open water swim and first crack at olympic distance triathlon could be interesting...

Ed Brindley Award for Random Athletic Achievement #1

2013-05-23T13:45:00.000+01:00

To get a few more interesting posts going I thought I'd start handing out my own awards. They mean absolutley nothing and the prize is nonexistent but I'm sure they'll be a coveted award soon and will overtake the sports personality of the year any day now. So the inaugral Ed Brindley Award for Random Athletic Achievement goes to...

Well done Greg

Greg Batley-Moss

My cousin Greg, recently put down his drumsticks and carried his dreadlocks 13.1 miles around the Chester Half Marathon. It was his first event of this kind and I'm damn impressed he did it. He also managed to complete his target of getting round in under 3 hours. In a world of athletes with shaven legs, I didn't see many people bigger and hairier than me running the half marathon. Well done Greg, it's not every day you see a huge bearded man with dreadlocks running round the streets of Chester... unless you're near subway and he's late for work.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2013-05-22T21:06:00.000+01:00

My last post was about how I was gonna start up the blog and post regularly but I haven't. I've been really busy over the last few weeks and it's been a bit of a difficult time as I've come to the end of my life at uni. I'd say sorry but fortunately no one reads these posts anyway! Luckily I have managed to fit in a couple of races so here's how they've gone...

The Good

I was training for the Chester Half marathon at the time of my last post and this was my first race. I'd not done a half marathon before and I wasn't sure how it'd go and I was a bit apprehensive before the race. Whilst I'd enjoyed the marathon in some ways, in others it was complete torture and at the time hurt me physically and mentally. It was worth it to know that I'd done a marathon and could push my body that far. In my head the half marathon was just that, only half a marathon, so how could I justify the pain if it meant nothing?

Turns out I was being stupid as usual and it all went fine. One thing I didn't have a clue about was my time. Seeing as I knew I could complete the distance I wanted to do it in what seemed a good time for me (I'm weird and have to push myself in strange ways). To help with fundraising (for Alzheimers Society- thank you everyone that sponsored me!) I made a guess the time competition. This got me guessing my own time and I decided I'd be happy with anything under 1:50.

I could bore you with details of the run but to be honest I can't remember that many. I know I started slowly, zig-zagging round the course to get round slower runners in front of me. Despite the race organisers best efforts (it was very well organised), people clearly ignored the sections for estimated finishing times at the start and decided to cram in as near to the elite runners as possible. This meant it took me a while to get going but when I realised I was overtaking people I was buzzing and felt really up for it. I saw quite a few people I knew in the run and overtaking them definitely motivated me (I also bizarrely recognised a paralympic cyclist taking photos at the side of the road, so somewhere out there Rik Whaddon has a picture of me running!). From then on the race was a blur till I crossed the line. My final time was 1:41:47. I was over the moon with the time and it was a good way to cap off a nice weekend seeing family that came to visit Chester.

The Bad

After the high of the Chester half marathon I decided to enter the Port Sunlight 10k. I'd surprised myself with how fit I was so I decided to have a crack at one of my goals for the season, a sub 40min 10k. This felt like it should have been within my limits and an easier target than running another 1:41 half marathon. Turns out I was wrong yet again. I felt crap and had a bit of stomach pain that got worse as I went on. I was just ahead of target at 1km and bang on target at 2km, the rest went dreadfully. I slowed down, it wasn't enjoyable and in the end I did 45:05, slower than the 10ks I've done in training. Although I've said all that, the race was actually a beautiful race round the nicest village I've ever been to and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about trying it.

The Ugly

As always, I look shattered and as beautiful as ever in race photos. Have a look...

I might look sad but I'm just nakerd

Whereas this is the happiest I looked all day

Getting Back On Track... Well The Road

2013-04-04T12:34:00.003+01:00

It's been a long time since I've written one of these but it's about time I did. One of the reasons I started this blog was to motivate myself into regular training, something that's been non existent in recent months. So I'm starting up the old blog to get my training back on track and get me out on the road running as it's only just over a month away till my first event of the year, the Chester half marathon.

Looks like sound breaststroke to me

I'll start with an update of where I am now compared to last year. First things first, the swim. My technique has improved and my front crawl is now mildly faster, problem is I'm still the swimming equivalent of Bambi on ice. I also found out that I've been doing breaststroke wrong all my life and that there's more to backstroke than doing front crawl upside down. I recently went to a training sessions with the Uni swimming team, at one point medley was involved which resulted in one of the swimmers bent over with laughter at my attempts to swim butterfly. Lets just say I won't be winning any medley races any time soon unless I race a hydrophobic quadriplegic and even then it'll be tight. That said, I'm going swimming today so hopefully the excruciatingly slow but steady improvements to my swimming will continue.

The bike. Here's my main triathlon issue at the minute, I'm just not cycling. I've got a bit of a problem with the gears that needs fixing but I keep putting it off. The clocks have gone back and days are longer and slowly getting nicer (the snow has been a big deterrent) so when I'm back in Chester the gears will be fixed and I'll get back out on the bike again. Promise. I've been putting this down to focusing on the next event the Chester half marathon, which I'm running to raise money for Alzheimer's Society so anybody that wants to help out a good cause donate at https://www.justgiving.com/edbrindleyalzheimers or join my guess the time competition (ask me for more details).

Run + Zombies = Fun

So the run. All my focus is going in to the run at the moment seeing as I've never ran a half marathon before. Stupidly enough I've only ever run the entire distance of a half marathon once and that was during the full marathon I ran last October (a clue as to how ill prepared I was). I've had a bit of a problem with pain in my left knee at the minute but I'm taking it steady and having a rest day between each run and early signs suggest the knee is getting better. To be honest resting has been hard lately because I've been dying to go out and combine two of my favourite things: running and zombie apocalypses. This might sound like someone has eaten my brain (get the joke?) but it's because I've got an app called Zombies run! It's basically a story that gets you going and keeps you entertained during runs. Plus turn the GPS on and say yes to zombie hordes who sporadically chase you and suddenly you've incorporated a nice bit of interval training into your run. It's £1.49 well spent so I'd advise you to give it a go if it's your sort of thing.

So other than swimming badly, avoiding my bike and running my way to saving the world from zombies I've just been trying to stop myself eating too much chocolate and failing badly. Oh and I've got a pretty good excuse for not blogging for a while. I've completed my dissertation and all but 4 assignments of my undergraduate studies. I was also chosen by the Uni to present at the BASES student conference which was pretty cool and showed me that it was perfectly acceptable for sport scientists to conduct ECGs on apes. I also have a new, more “professional” twitter so if anyone's on it add me... @edbrindley1

Hopefully now training will become more consistent so watch out Brownlees!

End of Season

2012-11-27T22:25:00.000+00:00

Nights come early, the weathers cold and winters here. It's the end of the triathlon season. At the end of the year I'll probably reflect on how it all went. But for now, here's a quick summary of how I think my first season in triathlon has gone.

I've fallen for triathlon. I loved competing, I loved the challenge and I love that I can't wait to do another.

I've got fitter. So I'm probably shocking at football now but at least I know I can run for 90 minutes.

I've got quicker. I improved times between races, something I'm very happy about.

I've completed a marathon. The hardest thing I've ever done.

I've pushed myself. I don't know if it's self-hatred but I'm unhappy when I dont push myself. Now I'm happy.

I've really pushed myself. Even in the marathon I managed a sprint finish. That's why I look like this every time...

As the days grow shorter, the days grow shorter. I never have any time to do anything at the minute, including training. Uni work and my dissertation (if you want to be a participant let me know) takes up all my time! But I have plans for winter training, so, more on this to come...

Bluebell Duathlon Relay

2012-11-12T11:25:00.001+00:00

Crossing the finish line

On Saturday my dad and I completed our first duathlon. It was a small charity event at the Bluebell Inn in Farnah Green, Derbyshire. Dad, despite being a keen cyclist, hasn't entered many competitions in the past, so I'm glad he agreed to do it. All his falls and metal hip/elbow has made him cautious of pushing himself too much in case he comes off again (as he should be). So Saturday morning and I'm up before 7 for the first time in a while getting ready for the 9am start. Dad being Dad decided to cycle to the event saying it'd be a good warm up. I passed on running there and got a lift off my step-sis Mel, cheers Mel.

It was a pretty low key event. When we turned up there was only 1 car in the car park and no one to be seen, had we got the right place? But shortly after more and more people turned up, most of them bringing fancy bikes just to tease me and spark off some bike envy. Dad arrived shortly after and noted that he was by far the oldest participant there and I was the youngest. Most people round at the time were male and in their 30s. This all changed and by the time we'd completed registration and were ready to line up, the field had 23 teams (plus some random people that seemed to be there just to do the bike leg and 1 psycho woman that stormed through the whole thing and smashed the majority of the teams) with a mix of ages from a lopsided pensioner to a boy that hadn't long walked out of his pampers.

Unprepared as ever at the start

To demonstrate how low key the event was here's my account of the start. The guy giving some basic instructions about the route, I'd picked up my bit and was only half paying attention. The roads were quiet but not closed and I'd noticed a van coming up behind us. Just as I was wondering if I should say something about the van, I realised the guy had just calmly said start and everyone was off. I spun round and got going as quickly as possible. I enjoyed the race. It wasn't too long but it was a challenge. There was never a flat bit and the hills were steep, just as difficult to descend as ascend. I tried to pace myself with the first run and I felt I did pretty well coming in around half way and off Dad went.

From my view and what Dad's told me I'll explain the bike leg. The first rider to come in was very fast and very muddy. He skidded over the line, covered in mud like Arny hiding from the predator. His runner was off and frustratingly he was the guy that won the run leg, guess who won the race. A steady trickle of cyclists came in, each as caked in mud as the last. The steady arrival of cyclists stopped. 4 of us were left. This was when I started to worry Dad might be dead. Time passed and still nothing. Then Dad arrived. Luckily he wasn't dead, unluckily for him his calves were. He'd been pacing himself, noticing that others around him were killing themselves up hills and looked shattered early on. He said he'd tried not to corner too fast as the mud had made the road slick. But then his chain came off. He got off to fix it, but then both his calves started cramping. He stretched out, carried on, stopped at a junction, cramped up again, got off stretched out, carried on and still managed to come in ahead of 2 others. He didn't have as much trouble as the guy who came in last, it sounds like he managed to get a flat tyre then get lost and cycled all the way to duffield!

I set off for the final leg with the majority of people about to finish. But that didn't matter, I was determined to at least take 1 place. A guy left not too long before and I thought I might be able to catch him. I paced myself and decided when he was in my sights I'd burst ahead and take my own little victory, sadly this didn't happen and I never caught him, but I did gain 1 extra place before the finish. We were nowhere near winning but we weren't last and I enjoyed myself. It was great to be able to do it with my dad too. I'd recommend the race to anyone. The profits go to a charity that the guy running the duathlon runs in India. It was a challenging and a good way to spend a Saturday morning if you ask me. If anyone wants to check out Team Brindley's time or other events, here's the site...

http://www.runningwithdavid.com/

Being a final year student is time consuming but here's 4 sport related things I've been doing this week

2012-10-27T23:56:00.004+01:00

The last couple of weeks have been busy but pretty uneventful in triathlon terms. So I've tried to sieve out the boring stuff to update you on what I've been doing. If anyone has anything to say about my training leave some comments here. I'm hoping a bit of feedback from the blog might be able to jump-start my training.

Things I've been doing:

#1 - Resistance training

There's loads of stuff out there telling you about how training other than swim, bike and run can help you. Seeing as I'm about as flexible as a corpse with rigamortis and I don't enjoy stretching, I decided to skip that for now and go for resistance training. It's also appropriate as pretty much the first line of my dissertation is... Research has shown that plyometric and resistance training improves endurance performance. But despite all the advantages of evening out muscular imbalances and developing power, you always ache after your first work out in a while. This time was no different and my legs and chest were agony. Luckily the aching goes quickly and the benefits will outweigh the costs.

#2 - Sport on the CV

On a similar note, I'm volunteering as strength and conditioning coach for the Uni rowing team so it's probably a good thing I've started training myself. This combined with the first aid training I've just done is helping me feel like I'm being productive towards getting a career in sport. I'm also supposed to be doing a similar thing with the waterpolo team which leads me on to my next point...

#3 - Waterpolo

I've been getting fit for the first friendly of the season for the uni team. Waterpolo training 3 times a week on top of additional swim sessions now and then has been a big boost to my swimming fitness. Although I'm still not the fastest my stamina is fairly decent so roll on some longer distance events next year.

#4 - General Training

The focus at the minute (other than waterpolo and strength training) is the duathlon relay I'm doing with my dad next month. Seeing as I'm doing the run leg, running has been my focus lately. The endurance side is going well I just need to do a bit more work on speed and hopefully I'll be able to put in a good performance. This does mean my cyclings been lacking a bit lately and I haven’t been putting the miles in. I have been doing some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) stuff on the turbo though so at least that's something right?

With a week off for 'personal development' I'm looking to have a really solid block of training next week and I might even stumble across something interesting to blog about so keep checking in for updates!

Cheap Gear

2012-10-16T22:42:00.004+01:00

Don't get excited this is not a blog about cheap drugs! It's just a quick blog to let you know about a site I've found on tinternet. It's called Sport Pursuit and you may see some budget buys pieces coming soon about stuff I've got from them. It's a site that finds sales and puts them in one place (it's on the website how it actually works). I'm putting this up now because there's some tri stuff on there some of you might be interested in. This includes a Pearl Izumi trisuit that I've just invested in for £39. There's also a slightly more selfish reason for advertising this site. Everytime a new person clicks my link to join up then buys something I get £5 to my account. So click on the link, join up and get buying some bargains... https://www.sportpursuit.com

Lessons Learnt The Hard Way

2012-10-14T13:36:00.004+01:00

This time last Sunday I was sprinting over the finish line of the Chester marathon (I genuinely managed to sprint!). A week on I'm sat in bed contemplating a bike ride. To procrastinate a little first I thought I'd write a quick blog about some thing I think could have been changed to improve my run. So if you ever run a marathon try not to make these mistakes:

1- Train, no matter how good your base fitness is you need to prepare your body for the way it'll feel after running 20 miles. I thought it'd just be painful and that I'd be mentally strong enough to get through it. I didn't realise how stiff I'd get and how much I'd have to change the way I ran.

2- Mentality, don't even bother trying if you can't push yourself. Be confident you can do it and don't doubt yourself. When I started to doubt myself it became a lot harder.

3- Don't stop, it'll only get worse. You'll seize up and it's tough to get going again. Just be brave and plough on through.

4- Go to the toilet before you start. Running while you need a poo is painful. Stopping for one wastes time. Just go before you set off.

5- Live in a bungalow. Walking up and down stairs after (and the days after) a marathon is painful. Very, very, very painful.

There was probably plenty more mistakes but these were the ones that stuck in my mind. Things might not have gone perfect but if your thinking of doing a marathon don't be put off. It left me with a huge sense of achievement and it was great when people asked what I'd done at the weekend and I could casually tell them I ran a marathon. For anyone that'd like a look here's a link to the pictures of me including video evidence of my sprint finish despite feeling like death... http://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?event=Sports/CPUK/2012/Chester%20Marathon&match=203&name=Ed

Post Marathon Thoughts

2012-10-08T21:57:00.004+01:00

It was good, it was great, it was painful, it was horrible, it was exciting, it was boring, it was inspiring, it made me question myself about almost everything and it nearly made me cry. I did it. Somehow I managed to drag myself round the Chester Marathon in 4 hours 12 minutes and 52 seconds. It might not be under 4 hours as I hoped but I did it! I managed to muster up the willpower to keep running through the pain and can now call myself a marathon runner. I'm not going to give you a step by step account of the race (It took over 4 hours that'd just be boring!) but here's a little post match analysis.

I'll start at the start. I was cold and nervous, I had no idea what to expect and I couldn't stop thinking how stupid I was. We shuffled forward, the gun went off, we shuffled some more and eventually I got to the start line and began running. I just followed the crowd and it was as easy as that, for the next 4 hours and a little bit more I just followed the crowd and kept on running. Simple as that. Well not quite.

There was lots of tough patches through the day. At first I felt comfortable and kept a pretty good pace, hitting well under 9 minute miles. The first discomfort came about 6 miles in when desperation for the toilet kicked in, but I'm under orders from Alice not to talk about the beige poo I had. I carried on pretty comfortably, enjoying the route and the weather as all went well. I got to the half way point easily enough but then the doubts kicked in. I'd never run further than a half marathon before. Never had my training took me passed the 13 mile point so from then on every step I took became a step further than I'd ran before. The problem was each step became more painful.

A couple of little stops to stretch helped ease the pain and it stayed off till 16 miles at which point an evil little hill started to get the better of me. Luckily for me near the top of the hill there was an extremely loud crowd which included one woman I'd never seen in my life who screamed my name so loud she's jumped straight to the top of my number 1 fan list (it's a short list). I managed to keep plodding on but I was noticeably slowing. I finally hit the 20 mile marker but it didn't turn out to be the great achievement and signal of the home stretch I thought it'd be.

Near the start of the race I was chatting to a bloke who told me the 18 mile point was where it got hard. He was wrong, but only by 2 miles. At 20 miles every bit of my body started to hurt. Not just my legs but my back, my arms and I had the weirdest sensation in my bum. This started to spread till my head felt funny. I remember thinking I didn't feel solid, my body felt like it was made of liquid. I started to rub my head and I could feel someone else’s hand on my head grabbing it. These weird feelings got the better of me and as I realised there wasn't someone on my head but I was getting dehydrated I started to worry about not being able to finish. I couldn't come so far and not finish. I started to walk and luckily I reached a drinks station round the 21 mile mark. I carried on walking whilst drinking then tried to run again.

It was at this point I found out that I should of just ran through the feeling no matter what. Every muslce in my lower half was so stiff that it felt impossible to lift my legs. I got going eventually but it was difficult and I couldn't sustain any real pace. It was at this point that I realised my goal of a sub 4 hours marathon had slipped away. From now on it was just about finishing. And that is just what I did. I wanted to stop, I wanted to sit down, I kept thinking I could just walk the rest, I'm not going to finish under 4 hours now so it's just about finishing, what's the point in running? But I couldn't imagine myself walking over the finish line. I had to run and I ran all the way to the finish despite the pain. I was helped at 23 miles by seeing Alice, Mum, Steve and Ted the dog. From then on the streets were lined with people cheering us on and they helped no end. I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes for much of it and despite the longest mile of my life (I checked afterwards, between 25 and 26 was actually 1.5 according to mapmyrun) I got to the end.

I crossed the finish line and I'd done it. I was in agony, I wanted to cry, I was confused and I couldn't find anyone. Eventually everyone found me. The first thing I did was hug Alice and told her never to let me put myself through that again. I was just happy that I could tick run a marathon off my bucket list and when I grow up I can tell my grandkids that I did a marathon once. But there's the problem, is it only going to be once? At the time it was definitely never again.

Now it's the day after the marathon and I keep thinking I could of done it under 4 hours. But I'm in no rush to do another now. Mostly because I've realised I feel very similar to the day after being mugged, my whole body aches, every time I go up stairs I wince and I'm £40 poorer! So for now I'm not doing another, but who knows, maybe one day. Whether I run another marathon or not, I know one thing. If there's ever a marathon nearby and I'm free, I'm going down to support. Those random people you've never seen before shouting your name is brilliant motivation and keeps you going. It's just what I needed. So thank you. Thank you to everyone that supported me. Whether you came with me, left me a message or you were one of the thousands of people along the route cheering everyone on cheers.

Pre Marathon Thoughts

2012-10-06T22:53:00.001+01:00

It's the evening before the Chester Marathon. The night before my last triathlon I was nervous that I wasn't prepared, so after only 3 weeks of training to get round a 26.2 mile run here's what I'm thinking ahead of the big day.

Have I trained enough? Well... no, probably not. Not to get round in under 4 hours which is my overall goal. But I reckon I can get round. I'm trying to focus on the thought that If I push myself I can get round. At the minute I'm feeling pretty happy. The only problem is I'm developing a type of hypochondria. I've never been the kind of person to worry about having an illness, if I'm ill, I'm ill. But today every time I felt a tiny niggle as I walked along I worried It could be an injury. This ended in me smothering my legs in deep heat. I haven’t stopped there. The last couple of nights I've covered myself in Vickes before bed and today I cooked the chicken in my tea an extra couple of minutes just so I don't wake up with salmonella tomorrow!

Other than this weird onset of hypochondria I've been focusing on nutrition (I like the word nutrition, it makes eating sound scientific). The night before my first triathlon I stuffed my face at pizza hut, an utterly stupid mistake. Being sick whilst racing is not fun. So with my last triathlon I made sure I ate better pre-race. Having learnt my lessons I've been careful with my food and splashed out on carbs from less stodgey foods. I'll be honest, I love food and my digestive system isn't the best. I'm actually wondering how I'm going to go 4+ hours without eating a decent meal or going to the toilet. But I'm sure when the race gets going I'll have plenty of other things on my mind. Or maybe not, I enjoy getting lost in my thoughts while I'm out running but, never having run that far before, I might just run out of thoughts before I get to the end.

Who knows what will happen? All I know is that this time tomorrow, if I can get round and be able to say that I've completed a marathon, I'll be happy. Very happy.

Marathon Moronity

2012-10-02T23:54:00.000+01:00

With half a week to go till the Chester marathon I'm not feeling confident at all. Training hasn't gone well and I haven't stuck to my plan. I'm realising just how stupid it was to think 3 weeks would be long enough to train.

Training runs haven't been bad, they've just not been good. I've felt fine out on runs and my fitness is definitely improving, just not quickly enough. I can happily run 8 and a half minute miles for 10 miles or so and still feel fine. The problem is I've got nowhere near the full 26.2 miles. The longest run I've done is just shy of 2 hours. My goal is to finish in under 4 hours but, seeing as I've only trained for half that, it's looking less and less likely. I'm having to shift my hopes from a sub 4 hour marathon to just getting round the thing. One thing I know is that I'm going to complete it even if I have to walk (barring serious injury or death)!

So what have I been doing with all the time I'd planned to be training? Well, I've started back at uni determined to finish my final year with a good degree. I've been drinking through freshers, completely unhelpful when it comes to training. I've got lost in FIFA 13 and I've logged into my twitter account for the first time since I created it. I thought I'd use twitter in a similar way to my blog and upload smaller posts on there to keep me motivated 24-7. So if any of you are on twitter add me cause I currently have a grand total of 0 followers. Search for me... Ed Brindley @TriOnTheCheap

A Grand Day Out

2012-09-30T23:16:00.001+01:00

Between my laptop charger breaking and moving house I've not had chance to write a blog for a few days but here's my latest update on what I've been up to. On Thursday I went to Manchester with Alice to watch the National Track Cycling Championships. I've always enjoyed watching the track cycling on TV but I'd never even seen a velodrome before. Seeing as I'm back in Chester and Manchester isn't too far away, we made the most of free entry and went to watch some cycling.

For anyone that hasn't been before the velodrome is nice and easy to find if your walking from the centre of Manchester (we got the train to Piccadilly, either google map it, take the canal or follow the signs for Sportcity. All 3 ways are simple). The only problem is it feels like a fairly long walk when it's raining. But that aside we got down to the velodrome just before the afternoon session started (for anyone that knows me and/or Alice you'll know how much of a miracle it is that we actually got somewhere on time!). There wasn't many people about which I don't get. If you like sport, you live in Manchester and your not working on a Thursday afternoon why wouldn't you go down? No matter how mediocre some of the riders may have been it was still great entertainment for free! Although it is kind of funny when the cyclists that have just finished on the track come and sit in the stand by you. It wasn't quite the same as post race in the Tour of Britain when hundreds of people crowded round just to get a glimpse of Wiggins or Cavendish.

This year the Wednesday and Thursday of the championships were free but the next 3 days cost just over a tenner. From my experience that's still a bargain for the entertainment when compared to my regular sporting outing, the footy. I love a good footy match but upwards of £20 for 90 minutes when you could pay £10 for all day of something a bit different? I know which one makes more sense to me. I tactically chose to go on the Thursday. I was obviously going to go when it was free but Thursday had more events and included the points race. I've loved the points race for some unknown reason since it first baffled me whilst I watched it on TV. We saw the points race and the women’s individual pursuit in the afternoon, both great events, but sadly we decided to go home as neither of us were feeling great.

I was a bit gutted that we didn't go back for the evening session but it was for the best and I'll definitely go next year to see a full day if I can get there. By the time I'd got onto the train home I was dying to go out on my bike. I love watching sport and seeing it live is possibly the best motivation for me to get out there myself. The velodrome looked amazing and I would love to go when there's a full crowd. Seeing it really made me want to have a go myself and I might have to look into the taster sessions they offer. Construction is supposed to begin on the new Derby velodrome next year so who knows I might be able to go down and train on that? Maybe it could be me competing at the national championships in a few years time, inspiring some random sports enthusiast in the crowd to have a go at track cycling!

Budget Buys - Speedo LZR Tri Comp Shorts

2012-09-20T20:13:00.000+01:00

Does my bum look big in this?

My latest budget buys piece is a review of my brand spanking new Speedo LZR Tri comp shorts.

It's not every day I go into a tri shop and pick out a bit of proper tri gear (in fact this was the first time) but I was desperate. I picked them up as a last minute panic buy the day before the Derby triathlon because I had nothing to swim in. Luckily it was my birthday recently and I had a little bit of birthday money left over. Seeing as I had to dish out on new swimming shorts anyway, I decided to upgrade my kit to tri shorts. A quick look online found end of season sales meaning the budget buy was on. But was the upgrade worth it?

Well first things first. My first thought was one of surprise. I was surprised at how comfy they were when I tried them on in the shop. My first time out in them, a short bike ride from Dads to Mums the day before the Derby triathlon, I was even more shocked how comfy they were. My first time racing in them they were just as comfy and they dried out so quickly it would have been hard to tell I'd swam in them if I hadn't been doing the swimming myself.

Comfort through the race was a major plus. Last time I went for the budget option of wearing trunks I already owned for the swim then just putting a pair of shorts over the top for the bike and run. This was fine but it wasn't exactly comfortable and, delightfully, as I neared the end of the run I started to suffer from a chaffing feeling in my inner thigh and testicles. While it was only short lived because I soon crossed the finish line, it would have been an absolute nightmare if the race had been longer. But the less said about my testis the better.

I bought my tri shorts from Total Fitness Nottingham. Proudly being from Derby, Nottingham is not a place I particularly like going to and I definitely wouldn't recommend going there. But if your unfortunate enough to be in the area (and lucky enough not to have been shot) I'd recommend going in. There's some great stuff in there but to me the prices were so steep I tried not to look. The girl in there was helpful, I told her it was my first pair of tri shorts and I just wanted the cheapest they had. She picked out the cheapest and recommended I tried them on. I did, they fitted great, surely job done? Well they had a £40 price tag and when I checked online the night before most of their shorts were reduced cheaper than that. She checked online, I was right, down to £33. One mention of student discount later and 10% off, down to £30, deal done. My top tip, check the online prices first and always try for some discount, there's no harm in asking.

So the final bit of the review, my verdict...

Rating: 4/5

Cost: £30

ETS: 30s

Value: £1/s

Would I recommend getting tri shorts? If you have the money, yes. Would I recommend the pair I got? Definitely, they felt just like trunks in the swim, they had enough padding to be comfortable on the bike and they were just as good in the run. But I would say if your looking to save money, tight fitting swimming trunks can be as cheap as a fiver. If your racing no longer than a sprint, keeping your swimming trunks on for the whole race will get you round without having to splash out on tri shorts.

An Upcoming Marathon, An Unlikely Time Machine and a Random Memory of Stingray

2012-09-18T14:05:00.000+01:00

So with 19 days to go till the Chester Marathon I'm going to start training. It's only just dawning on me that I may have left it too late.

My previous thought that all my triathlon training would give me such a strong endurance base that I could just push on, replace all swimming and cycling with running for a few weeks and hit somewhere near a full marathon now seems to be a ridiculous idea. In all my cleverness I thought I had 4 weeks to go till I checked a calender today and found it was less than 3. OK so 4 weeks might not have been long enough but it would have been better than 3. If only I had a time machine! O well... there's nothing like a challenge.

To make this challenge achievable I decided to plan my training. The only problem is I never stick to my plans. But this time I'm going to have to. All the swimming and cycling has gone and has been replaced with endless kilometres of running. The plan looks really hard but I reckon I can get through it. It culminates in ramping up my training till I reach my ultimate long run of 30km. Will this be far enough to get me round the 42.2km of a marathon? I've even managed to squeeze in some tapering in the final week and a rest day before the big event. The only problem is this rest day is one of only 3 in my plan. The total distance I've planned to train is 264.86km which is about the same as 164.5 miles. I got some directions from google, that's the same as running from Derby to Portsmouth, from Chester to Newcastle. Further than running from London to Macclesfield or Rotherham or even (if I could run on water) Brugge.

So now the doubt has set in. Have I left myself enough time to train? Will my body cope with the amount of running? Is 3 rest days enough? Who knows...? But, to misquote Stingray, anything could happen in the next half month.

Budget Buys - Claud Butler Criterium

2012-09-17T18:21:00.000+01:00

A review of my bike which will hopefully explain my new system of scoring budget buys.

I bought my bike earlier this year when I decided it was about time to upgrade from the mountain bike I got one birthday when I was in primary school. I started off looking on ebay for a decent second hand road bike but I couldn't find any round the £200 mark. In the end I opted to buy new. The Claud Butler Criterium 2011 (my top tip: go for the previous years model it will be a lot cheaper than the current model) was about the only bike round my budget that wasn't absolutley slated in every review I read. I found a decent deal and for a little less than £250 online from Evans Cycles and they kindly threw in a few goodies (bottle,cage, lights, lock). For anyone that doesn't know, the difference between riding a road bike and a mountain bike is huge! It makes riding on the roads fast and fun. I absolutley love my bike and it makes the prospect of cycling to places something to look forward to.

So I love it but there are some downfalls. I'd read in reviews that the reflectors in the pedals would fall out easily. They did almost instantly. The handle bar tape looked really cool in white... for about a week till it got grubby and turned grey. I replaced the tape but luckily (barring punctured innertubes) this is the only thing I've had to replace. There have, however, been a few problems ranging from gearing to an odd white powder preventing me from being able to pump up my tyres. Luckily these are all problems my mechanic (my dad) have been able to fix. Now that it's been tweeked with it's great. It looks good with the new black tape, I find the saddle and ride quite comfy, the gears shift farely smoothly and it's lightweight. To say it cost half the price of many bikes described as "entry level" it's a decent little machine. The only final problem is that virtually every time I see a road bike I think to myself If only I could afford that. In the end, while I absolutley love my bike it's lost a few marks for the initial problems and because it's just not my dream bike.

So, the final verdict...

Rating: 3/5

Cost: £250

ETS: 10mins (600s)

Value: £0.42/s

(ETS stands for Estimated Time Saving)

Ok so maybe this was a bad example for my new system as I completley guessed the time saving as I've never done a triathlon without my bike but I went for how much longer I reckon it would of taken me to do my first triathlon on my old mountain bike. But there'll be another budget buy peice coming soon and hopefully that will make the system clearer.

My Latest Brain Wave

2012-09-17T17:33:00.000+01:00

So I've used the few braincells in my head that seem to be working today and I've come up with an idea. So here goes...

I've decided to use a new system for rating items I include in budget buys. Each time I do a piece about a budget buy that I've made I'll give the item a personal rating out of 5, 1 being a poor buy and 5 being a great buy. Now comes the original part (as far as I'm aware), I'll estimate the time I reckon the item saved me during a race and divide the amount the item cost by the time it saved giving a pounds per second (£/s) rating on the item. O yes I'm getting all scientific and adding objective and subjective rating to all budget buys. If this concept makes no sense to you at all and my poor attempt at describing it has confused you, just check out my next post to see it put into practice and hopefully all will become clear.

Post Race Thoughts

2012-09-16T22:22:00.002+01:00

Well... in the end all the stressing was unecessary. I went out and bought some tri shorts (more on this to come), my knee didn't hurt when I woke up and all went smoothly. In the end I swam, cycled and ran round the Derby triathlon in 1:16:39, not the fastest time but a good 8:37 quicker than last time, therefore my new PB.

This triathlon lark is easy... erm

So yeah I'm pleased. My swim was slower than last time but seeing as I've not swam for two weeks I'm pretty happy. T1 still took forever but the bike was quicker (the route being 2km shorter than last time helped), T2 was okay and my run was slightly quicker. I even cracked out a sprint finish which absolutley destroyed me (see picture). I practiced transition but my times are still really slow. A lot more practice is needed but if anyone has any suggestions all comments would be appreciated! I'm considering buying some quick tie laces. I reckon transition could be the place where budget buys could help make the same kind of time difference expensive aerodynamic bike stuff would. But all in all a good day with some great support from my Mum, Steve, Dad, Mel, Jo, Alistair, Max, George and even Ted the dog to cheer me on. Cheers guys.


Taking a day in transition

Pre Race Thoughts

2012-09-15T11:03:00.000+01:00

It's the day before the Derby triathlon and all is not going to plan. For starters I've left my swimming trunks in Southport and have no way of getting them before the race.

How I feel right now. If only I'd painted
this I could afford some decent tri gear.

This means today I'm going to have to get some new ones. Because I can't afford much equipment I was planning to race in my speedos then slip some shorts over the top for the bike/run. This worked fine last time, but with the prospect of buying new trunks I'm wondering if I should upgrade and get some tri shorts? The only problem is there's not enough time to order online and Derby, in all its glory, doesn't have a triathlon shop (potential business idea for any of you Derbians). I've also not had chance yet to get all my stuff together and practice transition as planned, this is definitely needed because it took me about 4 rotations of the sun to get out of T1 last time. So what else has gone wrong apart from equipment? Well my body. My knee's been hurting for the last few days since it gave in on me during a training run. I've attempted to taper this week but it's gone very badly thanks to not feeling well/knee/weather. While I'd never normally accept the weather as an excuse the rain and wind were so extreme that it hurt as it struck my face and with my head facing straight down I nearly cycled into a bollard. So overall I've got a bad knee, I felt much fitter a week ago than I do now, I don't know what I'm taking with me and I've got nothing to swim in. I don't reckon they'd be too impressed if I swam naked so I have to spend some non existent money. Lets just hope this is pre race nerves or something and a solution drops into my lap about swimwear. I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully I'll be much more optimistic come race day and, more importantly, when I cross the finish line.

The View From The Afternoon

2012-09-13T20:37:00.002+01:00

I've just been out on a run and it was made much easier by these sights. Running by a beach at sunset completely distracted me from how difficult the run was. So a quip tip on how to make training easier for free... find a nice route and get lost in the scenery.

Scenery to make a run fly by

The sunset over Southport beach

P.S. I was struggling to think of a title so I shamelessly stole one from one of my favourite bands. Well done to anyone that guesses who the band is.

My Mechanic: Part Man Part Bike

2012-09-11T23:17:00.000+01:00

My Dad out on one of our rides

I've read a lot of cliche stories about everyone from pro athletes to everyday guys that say they couldn't achieve what they have without the support of friends and family. I suppose thats true. When it comes to tinkering with bikes my knowledge is fairly limited. Luckily my dad can spend hours on end fixing any kind of problem. This is why he's become my mechanic. Whenever I'm home he finds something to fiddle with and improve on my bike that I wouldn't have the patience or know how to fix. He's been a keen cyclist for years and I was recently describing his multiple cycling injuries to my girlfriend and her brother which resulted in them describing him as part man part bike. Despite his crashes resulting in him having a partially metal elbow and hip he's still a better cyclist than me and always willing to go out on rides. The odd endurance ride has helped no end with my training and its always helpful to have someone who knows loads of local routes. My dad has possibly been the most helpful thing when it's come to money saving. While free bike repairs are pretty helpful the hand me downs are even more money saving. Recently he bought me gloves and a jersey for my birthday as well as giving me an old jersey, a pair of shorts, gloves and even a turbo trainer (the list goes on). These things have been really helpful for training and freebies are the grail for a budget triathlete like me. So I suppose really I'm just saying cheers Dad.

Cavendish, Constipation and Crashes

2012-09-11T01:57:00.000+01:00

Not a bad way to spend a Monday, I went with my girlfriend and her brother to see stage 2 of the Tour of Britain. We couldn't get to the finish line due to logistical problems (i.e. not having a clue where we were going and a police man telling us we couldn't walk down the dual carriageway to the finish) but we got a decent view of the peloton flying by with 2km to go. Watching the pros fly past was pretty inspiring but it wasn't till I looked at the pictures afterwards that I realised just how funny the faces were. Half of the peloton pulled faces that looked somewhere between determination and constipation. After they passed us we found a way to the finish to look round as the crowds poured out. I tried to get into the background of Ned Boulting's interviews (it didn't work but I did see myself on the highlights at 2km to go), saw Wiggins signing autographs (sadly not for me) and tried to catch a bottle thrown by Cavendish (Yeah I didn't get that either). Alright, I know I was like a big kid but I was having fun and a got a freebie in the end anyway some driver chucked me a free hat! And the funniest part of the day? As we were leaving an expensive looking jag bumps into the back of another car. To a big cheer Dave Brailsford gets out the car and appologies to the driver infront ooooops not the usual kind of crash you see in cycling. O well don't worry mate, everything Dave Brailsford touches seems to turn to gold so your car will be winning the F1 soon. In the end it was a good day and great to see some of the heroes of cycling in the flesh. Who knows, maybe one day it'll be these guys turning out to see me race!

Wiggins and Cavendish in the peloton

Cavendish behind the race leader

Me and Alice at the finish line

Thanks to Thomas McCoy for the pictures.