# In praise of Triathlon



## Chris Hobson

After being diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic, at the age of 54, in May 2013, I realised that I needed to get myself fit. I used to cycle to work in the past, so I dusted off my old bike and started doing short rides. I signed up for my local Parkrun and started running every Saturday. I used to swim so I dug out a pair of faded and slightly inappropriate speedos and got back in the pool. Once I became fit enough, I started cycle commuting again. It was an obvious next step for me to become a triathlete, you never know, one day I might even do an ironman.



My first multisport event was the Evil Sheriff Duathlon, (Run 5k / Cycle 20k/ Run 3k), in November 2014. By now I was doing the Parkrun every Saturday, my regular cycle commute was 11 miles, so this should be a doddle. As it turned out I was hopelessly unprepared for a pretty serious Cyclo-Cross course, and it rained continuously. My legs had completely turned to jelly by the time I reached the 3k run and, as I was desperately trying to force them to keep moving, I heard a sarcastic voice in my head say, “How's it going ironman?”



Regarding my diabetes, it seems that I was mis-diagnosed and I am actually a type 2. My condition is now very mild and so I am able to cope with endurance events fairly well. I would be interested to hear from anyone with who does endurance events with a more serious diabetic condition and how well you cope.



My first triathlon was the City of York Sprint in April 2015. (Swim 400m / Cycle 20k / Run 5k). The swim involved 16 lengths of a swimming pool, the bike course and run were very flat so it was a good entry level event. Anyone feeling daunted about doing their first triathlon should know that, at this level, you may well be up against ladies on shopping bikes with baskets on the front. Since then I have advanced, first to Olympic distance (Swim 1.5k / Cycle 40k / Run 10k) and then to half iron distance (Swim 1.9k / Cycle 96k / Run 21k). I'm hoping to do the full iron distance next year. The longer distances do involve wet suits and open water swimming which can be a little daunting at first.



Sprint triathlons are excellent for overall fitness. Although they require only a moderate amount of preparation, because you have to do cycling, running and swimming, you end up doing an impressive amount of fitness work before you know it. Anyone can do a sprint distance with a bit of preparation. Weekly park runs, cycle rides and swims just give you great overall fitness and the events themselves are such great fun that once you do one you are hooked.


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## Copepod

Well done and well said, Chris. I've worked on triathlons in and around Northamptonshire, Henley on Thames and Weymouth for several years. No intention of competing, though - I prefer parkruns when not working on Saturday mornings - orienteering (competing and providing introductory sessions in West Yorkshire parks), trail runs, mountain runs with navigation, cycle commuting & leisure rides, occasional swiming in pools, open water, sea etc. Spent a great weekend in Roundhay Park, Leeds recently - working one day, volunteering another, watching friends compete etc. Missed the elite race, due to providing orienteering that afternoon.


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## Matt Cycle

Well done Chris, excellent stuff.   I have thought about triathlon and if I were to try it then the swimming would be my weakest bit.  I haven't done any running for years either although I was pretty good in my younger years - however I don't find either particularly 'interesting'.  I go on the bike though because I simply love riding.


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## Northerner

Haven't been swimming for 25 years and can't ride a bike - apart from that...!   Well done Chris, that's a terrific effort   We're the same age and I have been a runner for 30+ years, but find it hard to keep up with the training for the longer events these days without something breaking/giving, so a special well done for remaining injury-free


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## Martin Canty

Congratulations Chris, inspirational!


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## Chris Hobson

"...if I were to try it then the swimming would be my weakest bit."

Swimming is my worst discipline as well. When I used to swim regularly I used to swim breast stroke most of the time. The reason for this was that, in those days, the pools were permanently rammed, you couldn't do the crawl without constantly crashing into people. Once I became serious about triathlon, I joined the master's class at my local pool and got some coaching on how to do the crawl properly. With swimming, good technique makes a huge difference, enabling you to make much better progress with far less effort. In most triathlon events the swim is the shortest part, when I do sprints my swim time is about nine minutes. This is something that pisses off the really good swimmers. There is now an iron distance event called the Isoman which is designed to make all three disciplines the same length time wise, good swimmers tend to like these.


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## HOBIE

Northerner said:


> Haven't been swimming for 25 years and can't ride a bike - apart from that...!   Well done Chris, that's a terrific effort   We're the same age and I have been a runner for 30+ years, but find it hard to keep up with the training for the longer events these days without something breaking/giving, so a special well done for remaining injury-free


Don't go near the water Northy .


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## Northerner

HOBIE said:


> Don't go near the water Northy .


I can float, I just can't move very far!


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## Chris Hobson

Ever since I mentioned the Isoman triathlon I have been meaning to look up the distances involved and I've finally got around to it. The distances are designed to make the times roughly equal for the swim, the bike ride and the run. The swim is seven miles, the cycle ride 61 miles and the run the same as an ironman at 26.2 miles. I don't think that I am anything like a good enough swimmer to do seven miles without pegging out. There is also usually a cut off time for each section, I think that this varies from event to event but I expect that I would probably struggle to make the time limit.


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## Northerner

Seven mile swim?  Blimey! I can't even imagine that - do you have to coat yourself in lard before setting off?


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## grovesy

Think these days if it below a certain temperature they wear wetsuits!
Back in the late 60's early 70's I went to school with a girl who did sea swimming , this was in the North East, she aimed to swim the channel , back then I think they used goose fat!


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## Chris Hobson

Yes Grovesy, you are correct, wet suits are normally used for open water swimming. If the water is a little warmer they become optional and if the water is properly warm you aren't allowed to use them. The last one I did was wet suit optional but I was too chicken to go without mine. Sprint triathlons are often held at swimming pools and the competitors are started either individually every thirty seconds, or in small groups every few minutes. The organisational skills of the people who run triathlons are truly amazing.


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## Copepod

It's fun, but challenging working / volunteering on triathlons. I've worked on kids' and adults' pool and open water tris, mainly in Northants, Cambs, Oxfordshire, plus Challenge (Ironman distance) at Henley on Thames and Weymouth. Also ITU weekend of triathlons and duathlons in Leeds a few weekends ago. Next working on Roade kids' and adults' triathlons in September.


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## Matt Cycle

I'm sure I'd be able to 'manage' much better with a duathlon as my swimming would be the one to let me down in a tri.

Some time ago I was thinking about the 'athlons' and what about a quadrathlon.  Obviously in a tri there is one water based and two land based.  So I thought - another water based and has to be an athletic type activity - aha, canoeing!  Anyway my joy in thinking I'd come up with a new sporting event was very shortlived when I looked it up to find it already exists as an event including the canoeing.  I think there are some described as quintathlons that include shooting - US based not suprisingly and not really an equivalent suitable part in my opinion.  So I'm trying to think of a suitable activity for a quintathlon now.


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## Copepod

Once you combine running, biking and navigation, with other activities such as kayaking, canoeing, coasteering, caving, climbing, abseiling etc, continuously over hours to days, you've got adventure racing eg ITERA race in Republic Ireland, part of Adventure Racing World Series has just finished.


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## Matt Cycle

Oh deer! (sorry ) what about this one.   Fair play to him as he got up and carried on. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37213884


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## Chris Hobson

Part of my cycle commute takes me along a disused railway line and I often encounter deer on the path. So far they have always headed off across the fields when they see me coming. Once one ran across the road in front of my car, with much braking and swerving I managed to all but miss it, I just clipped it on the behind. It ran away apparently unharmed and there was no visible damage to the car.

Regarding this particular deer, in triathlons, when you progress to the longer distances there are just so many things that can go wrong and prevent you from finishing without the local wildlife crossing your path.


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## Copepod

Matt Cycle said:


> Oh deer! (sorry ) what about this one.   Fair play to him as he got up and carried on.
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37213884


Never thought of importance of cycle helmets in case of contact with a deer!


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## Chris Hobson

Once when cycling to work a guy in a Ford Fiesta turned right straight across my path. I wrote his car off with my head. Had I not been wearing a helmet I am pretty sure that I would have ended up with a fractured skull at best.


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## Chris Hobson

Update, I have now entered the Outlaw 140.6 triathlon that is to be held near Nottingham on July 23rd 2017. This event is an unofficial Ironman, meaning that it is the same distance as an Ironman, 140.6 miles, but not part of the official Ironman franchise.



It was a man called John Collins who gave the name Ironman to long distance triathlons. The first one took place in Hawaii on February 18th 1978 to resolve a bar-room argument about who were the toughest endurance athletes, swimmers, cyclists or runners. Collins proposed to resolve the dispute by combining three local races into one. These were the 2.4 mile Waikiki Rough Water Swim, the 112 mile Round the Island Bike Race, and the Honolulu Marathon, 26.2 miles. Collins declared that the one who won it should be called the Ironman. It nearly didn't happen as Collins cooled on the idea once he had sobered up. But other keen endurance athletes badgered him to go through with it and so the event went ahead. Only twelve competitors entered that first Ironman. It was won by Gordon Haller in eleven hours and forty seven minutes. The Ironman World Championships are now held at Kona in Hawaii every year.

Edit:
I got that slightly wrong, there were fifteen entrants and twelve finishers. Bear in mind that there were no feed stations at that time, you had to provide your own support crew.



From this incredibly humble beginning, Ironman has now grown into an international franchise with official Ironman events taking place all over the world. Its nearest rival is the Challenge series which also runs 140.6 distance triathlons around the world. To date, the world record for this distance is held by Jan Frodeno. On 17th July 2016 he completed Challenge Roth in 7:35:39.



In addition to these two big players there are numerous independent 140.6 distance triathlons, the Outlaw is one of these. I now have an incredible amount of work to do if I'm going to be in with a chance of finishing. The cut off time is seventeen hours. As I have completed a 70.3 in just over seven hours on a difficult and hilly course, I'm hoping that I will be OK as the Outlaw is a fairly flat course. The catch is that the organisers warn that the course is very tough if it happens to be windy on the day. With any long distance race, nutrition is very important to get right. Being diabetic makes it even more so. Lots of cereal bars, High Five gels and energy drinks will hopefully keep me going.



Fun fact. I live in New Ellerby, a little village about halfway between Hull and Hornsea. My daughter Hannah is at Keele University. When I went to visit, I set the trip meter on the car and the distance from my front drive to the parking space in front of the halls of residence is 140.6 miles. I have to say that it's a bloody long way.


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## Matt Cycle

Wow.  Good luck with it and I hope the training goes well.   Keep us updated on how things are going.

As you say nutrition is very important.  I find it hard work balancing everything to do with my diabetes and look on enviously when on the bike at a cafe as other cyclists eat what they want without a second thought or have a gel when they need a boost.  Whereas I have to check my blood all the time, may feel hungry, do I want to risk any insulin if I eat something?, can I have a gel, do I need a gel, what's my blood sugar doing etc, etc.  I sometimes think it isn't fair and woe is me - however I soon get over that and on my way - makes me push myself that bit harder.


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## Northerner

Good luck Chris, that is an amazing challenge you have set yourself!   I think it becomes a whole different territory regarding nutrition for such a demanding event - hard to anticipate and probably impossible to duplicate in training. Stay fit and healthy, and don't forget the rest days!


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## Chris Hobson

I'm very lucky in that my condition is now so mild that I'm almost normal. I only check my glucose levels about once a week now and it is always between 4.5 and 8. This is true even when I test after a major event. I'm hoping this holds true for the 140.6 distance, I would hate to get a DNF* after doing all that work, although in a sense the preparation is the actual point because it means that I have to stay so fit. At the moment, my more immediate challenge is the Hull marathon which is now two weeks away. 

*Did not finish.


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## Northerner

Chris Hobson said:


> I'm very lucky in that my condition is now so mild that I'm almost normal. I only check my glucose levels about once a week now and it is always between 4.5 and 8. This is true even when I test after a major event. I'm hoping this holds true for the 140.6 distance, I would hate to get a DNF* after doing all that work, although in a sense the preparation is the actual point because it means that I have to stay so fit. At the moment, my more immediate challenge is the Hull marathon which is now two weeks away.
> 
> *Did not finish.


Good luck in Hull!  Bit of a training run, really...


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## Chris Hobson

Update. I've just completed the Hull Marathon in 4:33. My legs are really hurty and stiff and I would say that the marathon was tougher than the Half Ironman. I've just checked my blood glucose level and it was 8.5. After so many energy drinks and gels I think that this is OK because it means that I am metabolising my carbs reasonably well and it also means that I got the required energy doses about right.


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## Northerner

Chris Hobson said:


> Update. I've just completed the Hull Marathon in 4:33. My legs are really hurty and stiff and I would say that the marathon was tougher than the Half Ironman. I've just checked my blood glucose level and it was 8.5. After so many energy drinks and gels I think that this is OK because it means that I am metabolising my carbs reasonable well and it also means that I got the required energy doses about right.


Well done Chris!  Terrific job, and that's a great BG to finish with  Hope the legs recover well, I'd suggest a short jog on Tuesday to help recovery. Good luck getting up, and particularly down, any stairs for the next few days!


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## Marsbar63

Anyone who runs for that amount of time gets my utmost respect. Well done.


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## Chris Hobson

I've just taken delivery of a turbo trainer and a Charge single speed road bike so that I can keep up the cycle training in the gym. I ordered both from Wiggle on Sunday evening, the trainer arrived on Monday and the bike arrived on Wednesday. My old spin bike was offered 'free to a good home' on the Facebook page of my wife's running club and was snapped up within seconds. There are one or two technical problems to sort out in setting it up which will have to wait until weekend. The Charge bike is really cool. It has an old school steel frame but it weighs sod all due to its simplicity. I will probably ride it on the road as well as using it indoors. It will be really good for hill training because the area where I live is fairly flat, so climbing hills on a single speed bike gives an additional challenge. I've also joined a private health club so that I can go swimming before work. My plan is to swim every weekday morning during the winter as my swimming desperately needs improvement.


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## Matt Cycle

Chris Hobson said:


> I've just taken delivery of a turbo trainer and a Charge single speed road bike so that I can keep up the cycle training in the gym. I ordered both from Wiggle on Sunday evening, the trainer arrived on Monday and the bike arrived on Wednesday. My old spin bike was offered 'free to a good home' on the Facebook page of my wife's running club and was snapped up within seconds. There are one or two technical problems to sort out in setting it up which will have to wait until weekend. The Charge bike is really cool. It has an old school steel frame but it weighs sod all due to its simplicity. I will probably ride it on the road as well as using it indoors. It will be really good for hill training because the area where I live is fairly flat, so climbing hills on a single speed bike gives an additional challenge. I've also joined a private health club so that I can go swimming before work. My plan is to swim every weekday morning during the winter as my swimming desperately needs improvement.



Good luck with the training Chris.  Wiggle delivery is pretty good.  With the coming cooler season I've just ordered myself some DHB thermal bibtights.  The Wiggle DHB stuff is great quality for the price.


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## Copepod

Well done, Chris. I've always found Wiggle delivery good. I worked on my last triathlon of the season, Roade kids and adults, last weekend,


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## Chris Hobson

My turbo trainer requires quick release wheels to mount it, the Charge bike, being a stripped down to basics design, doesn't have them. Left work at 15:30 and went straight to the bike shop and shelled out on some clip-less pedals, and hollow wheel spindles with quick release skewers. Installing these was really straightforward and I managed to get in a quick spin on the road before it got dark. Mounted the bike in the turbo trainer and found that the hardest setting is like riding up the side of a house. The medium setting is much better. All that is needed now is to fit a cycle computer to the rear wheel so that I can tell how many imaginary miles I'm doing.

Matt, don't you know that you should be buying your summer gear now? I've got some really cosy winter leggings that I bought in spring. I find DHB to be excellent value too, Muddy Fox gear is also good value but I think that DHB is better.


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## Matt Cycle

I always look out for the out of season reductions but they seem to go really quick.  It's always the odd sizes left - XS and XXXL, alright if you're a dwarf or the size of a house side. 

Weather still okay with shorts at the moment.  I can cope if it's a bit cold but last year on one of the first really cold days we had - hard frost on the ground etc.,  I was on my bike and I'd got full winter gear on and I saw one bloke on his bike coming the other way in shorts and short sleeved summer top, no gloves.  Must have been mad.


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## Chris Hobson

My wife and I did the Goole sprint triathlon today. Both of us posted slightly worse times than we did last year. I am still pretty happy that these days I can complete a triathlon, OK a short one, without doing any actual training at all. Still recovering from the Hull Marathon, over the last two weeks I have done a couple of very gentle swims and ridden my bike to work (11 miles each way) three times, that's it. Oh yes, almost forgot, yesterday I did a ten mile ride on the single speed bike. Last year's time was about 1:15, this year's time was about 1:19.

We now have a 10k run booked later this month and then we are done for this year. Well I think we are, my wife has a habit of spotting runs that she fancies doing, booking us both in and then telling me about it.

Regarding the single speed bike, I found it great fun to ride. The gearing demands that you ride it at a really brisk pace and, being so light it really flies. At first I thought that I must have set the computer up in kilometers rather than miles per hour. Just once, on a straight bit and into a slight head wind, I reached for an imaginary gear shift to move down a gear. What you actually have to do on this bike is get out of the saddle and adjust your speed to match the gearing. The little hillocks that you encounter around our way require a rapid run up and, once again, standing on the pedals to get over the top. The process leaves you breathless in a way that simply downshifting and spinning fails to do. I'm really glad that I bought it and would recommend any keen cyclist to add a single speed bike to their stable.


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## Marsbartoastie

Wow...I can't tell you how impressed I am with your athletic achievements.  Inspired by @MattCycle I rode 25 miles this morning and felt really pleased with myself.  

Note to self...must work harder!


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## Copepod

Always better to do a triathlon, run, bike ride or anything than stay at home one sofa! Well done Chris and your wife


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## Chris Hobson

Thank you all for your support and encouragement, it is very much appreciated. Any aspiring triathletes from the North who want to do an entry level event could do worse than entering the sprint tri at Goole. It is really good value, well organised, and finishers get a T shirt and a medal.


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## Chris Hobson

'Cause nothin' lasts forever,
And we both know hearts can change,
I wimped out of doing a Parkrun,
In the cold November rain.

Time for an update because I have just been for my six monthly check up which included tests on my blood and widdle. I have now been off medication for about a year. After the first six months my HA1c reading did go up but the specialist nurse decided that it was worth giving it another six months in the hope that my better fitness levels during the summer would keep it down. This summer I have done a Half Ironman, two half marathons a full marathon and I have lost count of all the five mile, ten mile and ten K runs that I've done. All these events are like the tip of the iceberg when you take into account all the training that goes into preparing for them. Has it all been worth it? I went to my consultation fully expecting to be put back on the pills. As it turned out there has been a significant drop in my readings and I am free of collecting repeat prescriptions for another half a year.

Now, about the Guns 'N' Roses paraphrase. I don't think that the human body is really designed to maintain such high levels of fitness continuously. Younger athletes can probably get pretty close but I am 58 years old now, so I think that a certain amount of easing off during winter is probably desirable. Fortunately this need to ease off coincides with a time of year when it is pretty difficult to get yourself motivated anyway. The problem that I have is the difference in HA1c readings for my winter and summer training levels. As a result of this line of thought, I have decided to do my best to keep training as well as I can during the short days and crappy weather. The Brownlees say that, though they hate having to train in the cold and wet, they prefer this to the crushing boredom of training indoors. Speaking for myself I'll take the boredom every time. Maybe this is why I will never be an Olympic champion. My cosy and compact gym is set up with fan heater, flat screen TV with built in DVD player, i pod dock and digital radio, usually tuned to Planet Rock. Despite all this, it does seem as though time slows down to a crawl while I'm pedaling away on the turbo trainer or running on the treadmill. Anyway, I'm off to a good start today, having done a 2.4 mile swim (in an indoor heated pool rather than a disused quarry), A virtual 20 mile bike ride, and a virtual 3 mile run to make up for my failure to make the Parkrun.


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## Matt Cycle

Chris Hobson said:


> 'Cause nothin' lasts forever,
> And we both know hearts can change,
> I wimped out of doing a Parkrun,
> In the cold November rain.
> 
> Time for an update because I have just been for my six monthly check up which included tests on my blood and widdle. I have now been off medication for about a year. After the first six months my HA1c reading did go up but the specialist nurse decided that it was worth giving it another six months in the hope that my better fitness levels during the summer would keep it down. This summer I have done a Half Ironman, two half marathons a full marathon and I have lost count of all the five mile, ten mile and ten K runs that I've done. All these events are like the tip of the iceberg when you take into account all the training that goes into preparing for them. Has it all been worth it? I went to my consultation fully expecting to be put back on the pills. As it turned out there has been a significant drop in my readings and I am free of collecting repeat prescriptions for another half a year.
> 
> Now, about the Guns 'N' Roses paraphrase. I don't think that the human body is really designed to maintain such high levels of fitness continuously. Younger athletes can probably get pretty close but I am 58 years old now, so I think that a certain amount of easing off during winter is probably desirable. Fortunately this need to ease off coincides with a time of year when it is pretty difficult to get yourself motivated anyway. The problem that I have is the difference in HA1c readings for my winter and summer training levels. As a result of this line of thought, I have decided to do my best to keep training as well as I can during the short days and crappy weather. The Brownlees say that, though they hate having to train in the cold and wet, they prefer this to the crushing boredom of training indoors. Speaking for myself I'll take the boredom every time. Maybe this is why I will never be an Olympic champion. My cosy and compact gym is set up with fan heater, flat screen TV with built in DVD player, i pod dock and digital radio, usually tuned to Planet Rock. Despite all this, it does seem as though time slows down to a crawl while I'm pedaling away on the turbo trainer or running on the treadmill. Anyway, I'm off to a good start today, having done a 2.4 mile swim (in an indoor heated pool rather than a disused quarry), A virtual 20 mile bike ride, and a virtual 3 mile run to make up for my failure to make the Parkrun.



Good stuff Chris.  Your gym sounds great.   I need to get myself a turbo trainer.  However, weather's looking okay for tomorrow (better than today anyway) - cold but dry.


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## Marsbartoastie

Really interesting post Chris.  Now that I'm no longer on the diabetic register I don't go for a 6 monthly HbA1c test.  Consequently, I self test regularly in order to maintain good levels.  This year I found that as soon as cold weather descended there was a slight but noticeable increase in my readings...which seemed completely independent of my pretty constant rate of  physical activity.  I wonder if the same is true of you.  Regardless, your home gym sounds like an excellent setup and I look forward to hearing about your achievements during 2017.


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## Northerner

Well done Chris  You've certainly crammed more into the past 12 months exercise-wise than I have!   I'm 58 too, and though I have been a runner for 33 years now (first marathon 1984 ) these days I find that quality counts more than quantity. I aim for two or three runs a week, with a longer one on Sundays. I do this chiefly to avoid injury, so am including more rest days, and have managed to remain injury-free for the past four months (touch wood!). I also find I'm running faster times with  more rest in between. November's not too bad, but it's from late-December to late February that see a massive decline in motivation for me, almost purely down to the dark mornings - I like to run very early, before my brain realises what I'm asking my body to do! 

Earlier this year I bought a Concept II rowing machine, so that is now going to replace some of my running - good, all-round cardio and strength, and I don't last long enough for it to become too boring!  

Hope you have a good winter, and some good Spring events to look forward to - you'll be raring to go!  Well done on all your efforts, I'm sure many people will find them inspirational, and I for one do not underestimate the pure hard work you have put in to achieve all this!


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## Chris Hobson

The gym was a result of me learning that muscle to fat ratio was an issue with diabetes. It is basically a ten foot by fourteen foot shed that came as a huge flat pack. I fitted better windows and doors to it, lined it with mdf and painted it inside with white emulsion. Fitted carpets, lighting and electrical sockets went in and then we bought the weights, weight bench etc, second hand via one of the internet selling sites. I bought the treadmill from one of the girls at work who had stopped using it. Gradually we added the spin bikes, a full wall mirror, a cheap lateral exerciser and a few more weights. We've decorated it with a few posters and we hang our finisher's medals in there. It was completed in August 2013 and both myself and wife Liz have been using it regularly ever since.

"... some good Spring events to look forward to..."
Last year we did a 10K at Cleethorpes on New Years Day. I was slightly caught out after having a lazy Crimbo and then suddenly realising that the run was less than a week away. Still, I was off work so I hit the old disused railway path every day until the run. Otherwise the big opener is in February, the ten miler at Pocklington called Snake Lane. It is a flat course but I always find it tough going due to my being less fit after winter. I'm also slightly amazed by those proper runners that do the run with next to nothing on. I'm layered up like Scott of the Antarctic when I do it.


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## Chris Hobson

Sunday 13th Nov and the weather couldn't be more different than yesterday. I did a leisurely 1.5K swim and a short relax in the bubbly spa thing, followed by a proper bike ride with bends, sun and hedges. Due to the wet and muddy roads I used my commuter bike because (a) it is my only bike that has mudguards on and, (b) it is already filthy. Checking the tyres before I set off I noticed that the rear tyre needed quite a bit of air. A mile from home I noticed that the rear tyre was half flat. I pumped it back up and made it home before it went down again. Mending the puncture is now on my to-do list. I am now glad that I shelled out on a slightly more expensive bike pump. The muddy fox ones are so cheap that they are almost giving them away. They tend to be not too brilliant at putting air into bike tyres though, which can be a bit of an issue.

I have now signed up for the adult improver swimming classes at the gym. I am looking forward to doing them with the appropriate amount of dread. My swimming does need work though, proper triathletes do the 3.8K swim in about an hour, yesterday my time was one hour and forty six minutes.


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## Chris Hobson

I've now done my first adult swim class and it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Unfortunately I mentioned this to the coach at the end of the session which, with hindsight, might have been an error. Some faults in my crawl technique have been identified and I have been set some drills to try to sort them out.  Anyway, I've signed up to do it all again next week.


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## Chris Hobson

I forgot to mention an entertaining moment that occurred at the end of my swimming lesson when one of the ladies in the class burst out laughing when I took off my swimming cap. Some explanation, at this gym, swim caps are compulsory for all users of the pools. I have been shaving my head for a very long time now, since I have had male pattern baldness basically. So when I took off my swim cap and revealed that I had a head as smooth as the cap was, this was apparently very funny.


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## Chris Hobson

As I am trying to keep my exercise levels up during the winter, I became curious to know how I am doing compared with this time last year. The records created by my GPS watch have allowed me to make a comparison between November 2016 and November 2015. I was surprised to find that at this time last year I was still cycling to work. Anyway, Nov 2016 scores 16 swims, 1 bike ride and 5 runs. this compares with Nov 2015 which scores 5 swims, 10 bike rides and 2 runs. So last year's total is 17 and this year's total is 22. There are also a couple of indoor bike rides that don't show up on the records. I have also manged to score a new PB of 24 minutes at the Humber Bridge Parkrun. On balance I would say that I am doing slightly better than last year but I still need to work harder if I want to stay off the pills.


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## Northerner

24 minutes for 5k is pretty good going Chris!


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## Chris Hobson

@Northerner 
My best time for 5k is a couple of seconds over 22 minutes. This was set at a different course a couple of years ago, when I was a couple of years younger.

Mentioning to my swim coach that my swim class was less testing than I expected did indeed turn out to be a mistake. Having identified and corrected the flaws in my front crawl technique, and having assessed that I am not as bad a swimmer as I claim to be, he set me three sets of twelve lengths with 45 seconds in between. The following day there wasn't a single bit of my body that didn't hurt. I am also taking the first steps towards learning how to do butterfly stroke.


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## Chris Hobson

Eleven weeks to go to my big 140.6 event and my training seems to be going quite well. The daily swims during the winter seem to have improved my stamina and technique, open water swimming starts today and I'll be putting myself to the test. I'm taking my new road bike out on 30 mile rides on the weekend and setting new PBs for the course. The running is coming along, I've set a new PB for both parkrun courses that I do and for every organised run that I've done so far this year and I'm hoping to continue this trend at the North Lincs Half Marathon next Sunday. I'm managing to avoid injuries mostly, the ocasional twinges from the hinges but nothing serious, so I'm reasonably happy.

Then I take a look at this month's 220 Triathlon magazine and see that it has a twelve week ironman training programme in it. Of course one look at it and I see that I'm obviously not doing anywhere near enough training to have the remotest chance of finishing. I should already be doing 3.8K open water swims 60 mile bike rides and 20 mile runs on a regular basis by now. A little sober reflection is needed I feel. I'm 58, I'm not 26 and preparing to take a stab at Jan Frodeno's world record. My plan to build up distance and intensity over the next ten weeks is a sound one and has a much better chance of getting me there without turning me into a cripple. A big part of dealing with these kinds of events is about building up self confidence so maybe I should refrain from looking at magazines for the next eleven weeks. I'm also really looking forward to having a couple of beers on July 24th, I really love beer but I've obviously had to be on the water wagon since December.


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## Northerner

You have to do these things at your own pace Chris - I'd be constantly injured if I followed some of the running training programs. Like you I'm 58, although in my head I'm about 35 

Good luck!


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## Matt Cycle

Good luck with the training Chris.  I've had a look at the cut off times for the different stages.  I think the swimming would do for me but even if I made that one I'd then be panicking to make sure I made the cut offs for the bike and run.


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## Chris Hobson

On some events they are a little bit flexible when it comes to cut off times. I think that they take a good look at you and as long as you don't look as though you are dying on your feet they let you carry on. The seventeen hour finish time is very strictly enforced however. Martyn Brunt tells of one his club mates who only had five hundred yards to go, they put a barrier across the finish and he got no medal or tee shirt.


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## Chris Hobson

Went open water swimming last Monday, didn't stay in the water for too long 'cause it was effing freezing. Thirteen degrees apparently. There was still one nutter who went in with just his speedos on. I'm not too worried about only doing a short swim at this stage, the water gradually warms up as the year progresses so this is about as bad as it gets.

I've also just completed the North Lincs Half Marathon in about 1:48:40, a new PB by about eight minutes so I'm well pleased.


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## Copepod

Great result in North Lincs, @Chris Hobson.

I marshal at several triathlons each year, and have decided that the illegality of wetsuit boots means I'll never do an open water triathlon, although I do swim in open water when I get the chance, in wetsuit & boots when cold, shortie wetsuit when warmer and just swimsuit when really warm. Wearing hard gas permeable contact lenses, which can't be warn when swimming, due to risk of losing (googles can be kicked off by other swimmers, so that's not the solution, and at about £90 each, too expensive to lose) and not owning a road racing bike are other issues. However, I'm pleasedto be able to report that yesterday I completed my second Keswick to Barrow walk, 42.75 miles.


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## Chris Hobson

You can get prescription swimming goggles, would that be a solution?

A long while ago I did the hike across the North Yorkshire Moors that is known as the Lyke Wake Walk a couple of times. It is about forty miles and is said to follow the path used by Viking settlers who used to honour their dead by lighting a pyre on a boat and pushing it out to sea. I always imagine that the eighty mile round trip would finish one of them off and they would immediately have to set off again.


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## Copepod

Then I'd have to put CL into my eyes in transition - and I've been far too close to that fast moving chaos to risk it. 
Lyke Wake Walk is one of the classic long distance walks. LDWA Long Distance Walking Association, plus other organisations, notably Scouts, put on some excellent walks. It's often said that the cakes at support points are often so good that people actually put on weight during their walk. I did Six Shropshire Summits with my Ranger & Venture Unit in 1983. First summit is in Wales. We started about 6pm, so walked through the night. Covered about 10 extra miles, as we followed the navigation of 2 people who had done it before, one of whom was studying Geology and Geography at university at the time. Perhaps the fact that she changed to triathlon soon after and never again did a navigation event is not entirely unconnected...


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## grovesy

Mention of the Lyke wkye walk is making me feel homesick again.


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## Chris Hobson

Latest! I've just lost a week of training due to being zapped by a really evil snot monster. I'm pretty lucky in that I hardly ever get colds, I can't remember the last time I had one, but this one got me. It was just starting to show itself last Sunday as I was preparing to run the Beverley 10K and I was wondering whether it would be best to pull out. I decided to run it and just see how I felt, I could slow down and forget about target times if I didn't feel good, or possibly pull up halfway through. As it turned out everything went well and I posted a new PB of 47:20. After having a week off sniffling I got back into it by doing my regular 30 mile cycle loop on Saturday. Despite a stiff breeze, dawdling car drivers and a heavy shower hitting me a mile from home, I managed to do it in a few seconds outside two hours, a new record for the course. Thinking about it, the shower might have actually helped. The next stage is doing this route twice which I will hopefully fit in this coming bank holiday weekend.

Update:
Over the bank holiday weekend I did my thirty mile loop twice, with a few variations in the course. It was pretty breezy and my pace was slower than I had intended. I will have to work on improving it otherwise I will have to seriously revise my target time for the Outlaw.


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## Chris Hobson

I've just completed the sprint triathlon at Allerthorpe near York. Overall time was just under 1:28 and I finished 151st out of 230 finishers and three DNFs. In every event that I have revisited this year I have managed to score a new PB. This is the first time that I have done a sprint at Allerthorpe so I didn't have a previous time to beat. However my GPS watch has awarded me a PB for the 20k bike leg which I did in a time of 41:01, a good time for me but I was being constantly passed by faster cyclists. I did pass a couple of people who were slower cyclists than me but better swimmers. I passed quite a few people on the run and nobody overtook me, running seems to be the part that I am best at.


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## Northerner

Chris Hobson said:


> I've just completed the sprint triathlon at Allerthorpe near York. Overall time was just under 1:28 and I finished 151st out of 230 finishers and three DNFs. In every event that I have revisited this year I have managed to score a new PB. This is the first time that I have done a sprint at Allerthorpe so I didn't have a previous time to beat. However my GPS watch has awarded me a PB for the 20k bike leg which I did in a time of 41:01, a good time for me but I was being constantly passed by faster cyclists. I did pass a couple of people who were slower cyclists than me but better swimmers. I passed quite a few people on the run and nobody overtook me, running seems to be the part that I am best at.


Hugely impressed Chris! Well done!


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## Copepod

One of my friends was an official at Allerthorpe. Really strict on safety everywhere, including lack of excess mess in transition. Hope you didn't cross paths @Chris Hobson.


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## Chris Hobson

"Hope you didn't cross paths..."
I was a good little triathlete and moved my bag to the edge as soon as I was asked.

I have a bright green bike, a shaved head and wore a light blue cycling top with the words 'Never Stop Pushing' written on the front, so your friend might remember me.


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## Bill Stewardson

Outstanding stuff.


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## Copepod

Chris Hobson said:


> "Hope you didn't cross paths..."
> I was a good little triathlete and moved my bag to the edge as soon as I was asked.
> 
> I have a bright green bike, a shaved head and wore a light blue cycling top with the words 'Never Stop Pushing' written on the front, so your friend might remember me.


I'll ask her. She did comment on a helmet that looked like a knitted tea cosy


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## Chris Hobson

I'm now just five weeks away from my attempt at completing The Outlaw, Just four weeks of intensive training to go. My lawn keeps getting long. I'm getting panda eyes from the amount of time I spend wearing swimming Goggles. I'm constantly hungry. I'm sleeping incredibly well, I go out like a light as soon as I lie down.

I'm really loving being out cycling really early in the morning. Hardly any traffic, just me, my bike, the wild life and the rising sun. The cycling seems to be going very well, I've just posted a new PB for the ride home from work, 41 minutes for just under twelve miles of urban riding and country lanes. I'm currently doing these short rides more or less flat out without any need for pacing. The longer rides are now up to seventy miles and I seem to be able to maintain an average of fifteen miles per hour at this distance without any trouble. This suggests that I should be able to do 112 miles in under eight hours all being well.

Tomorrow is Saturday, I'll be up early for a ten mile run and then off to Allerthorpe for some open water swimming. Sunday is penned in to be a rest and recovery day, I will be trying to stay as stationary as possible and hoping not to die of boredom.


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## Northerner

Chris Hobson said:


> I'm really loving being out cycling really early in the morning. Hardly any traffic, just me, my bike, the wild life and the rising sun.


Good to hear things are going well Chris, I hope you have a good day today  Don't overdo things though, good that you are putting in rest days  You've quoted the precise reasons I like to run early in the morning (although obviously no bike, in my case )


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## Chris Hobson

Rest days are a really important part of your training programme once you get to a certain level of intensity. If you don't factor them in you over-train and become fatigued, your performance plateaus and you can mess up your immune system. For a triathlete this all has to be considered when you are trying to fit all the swimming, cycling and running in, it is very tempting to skip the rest days. I also do the 'listening to your body' thing, today's ten mile run was a bit of a slog and took me about an hour fifty, that is about half a hour slower than my best time. This indicates that I'm getting a bit knackered.


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## Wirrallass

I've been reading this thread with interest Chris and have to say I hold nothing but admiration for your motivation energy & determination to achieve. 
Good luck with your Outlaw slog next month! Take care x
WL


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## Chris Hobson

Thank you for that, it is always good to know that my efforts are appreciated by onlookers. Some have said that my exploits are inspirational which surprises me a little. Having followed other threads here, I see that many people really struggle to do much exercise at all, I can't really think that attempting an ironman is going to inspire them very much. I did write a piece called Tiny Steps in which I tried to emphasise my very slow and gradual build up to where I am now. I have also tried to convince readers that sprint triathlons are not too difficult. The thing about sprints is that they attract serious triathletes, the ones like me who are a bit serious but also a bit over the hill, and people who are really doing it as a fun challenge. The latter are really about finishing and often use mountain bikes or shopping bikes, it really doesn't matter as long as it's a bike.

My 'Go hard or go home' approach to everything that I do seems to be an odd aspect of my personality. I have discussed it with friends, family and colleagues and have been surprised to discover that I am somewhat strange and that most other people just aren't like that. This behaviour could have something to do with my atheism and the realisation that we only get one crack at life and we really are not going to get another go. I have also been influenced by the Pink Floyd song 'Time' ever since I first heard  it back in the seventies and this might have something to do with it.


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## Chris Hobson

Time
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day.
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town.
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking.
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older.
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to nought or half a page of scribbled lines.
hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.
The time is gone the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.


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## Chris Hobson

No likes for Pink Floyd I notice, the song is a bit morbid I suppose. The thing that I took from it, all those years ago, was don't be that guy. He gets to the end of his life and looks back to see that he has done nothing and just wasted it.

Anyway, on to more cheerful matters. I set a new PB of about 2:40 on my 42 mile training ride before work this morning. This was in spite of a light head wind for most of the way. At one point I was almost taken out by a deer that shot through a hole in the hedge about four feet in front of me. Of course the wind was behind me coming the other way and I set a new PB of 39 minutes for the ride home. The fact that I am constantly setting a better and better pace is really encouraging, I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep it up for three more weeks but we will have to see.


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## Copepod

Not a great Pink Floyd fan, sorry. But cycled past the end of the road where Syd Barrett lived when I was in Cambridge earlier this week. Ran on Devil's Dyke. Decided not to wait in long queue to swim in Jesus Green pool (100 yds long!).


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## Chris Hobson

Update. Training had seemed to be going very well. Saturday I cycled to my open water swim session and back, a round trip of around sixty miles with some long hills. I had been running from New Ellerby, along the disused railway line to the outskirts of Hornsea and back, this being just ten miles. Last Sunday I diverted from the railway path at Great Hatfield and ran to Mappleton, a coastal village a mile or so south of Hornsea. Running back to Hornsea and back onto the railway path and home to Ellerby brings it up to just over thirteen miles. I was a bit slow, doing it in about two hours and twenty minutes but more important at this stage is that I can now do runs of this distance with very little discomfort at all. Near Mappleton I spotted a farm track that led to the cliff top. I followed it to see if it was possible to get down onto the beach so that I could run along the beach to Hornsea. After peering over the edge I canned that idea and went back to the road. There was very little traffic as it was very early in the morning. I then took a slightly more leisurely ride to Withernsea along with wife Liz and her sister Jill. This was because the Withernsea five mile dash was going on and quite a few of the girls from the WHL running club were taking part and Liz wanted to take some pictures to post on Facebook.

On  Monday morning I drove to the gym and did a 1500m swim. Tuesday did a 42 mile bike ride before work and set another PB, finishing in about 2:41. This is an average speed of just under 16mph, OK I'm not Bradley Wiggins but I'm happy that I can maintain this kind of pace over the medium distance. Again I'm not feeling at all tired by the end of the ride, still able to accelerate strongly when dealing with traffic. Leaving work at 16:30 for the 12 mile dash home it started to rain with infuriating punctuality. It then proceeded to hose it down for about an hour so I arrived home drenched. I did another 1500m swim on Wednesday morning. Then during the day my eyes started feeling a little sore and were watering slightly. By evening I was losing my voice and Thursday morning I woke with a sore throat. As a consequence training is on hold until it gets better. This is slightly worrying with less than three weeks to go but I'm not panicking yet. I'm planning to do the standard distance triathlon at Lincoln Edge on Sunday, Liz will be doing the sprint. She had been planning to do her first standard tri but she sustained a slight calf injury at the North Lincs Half Marathon and this has messed up her training a little. I had planned to do this one as a warm up for the Outlaw but if I'm not sufficiently recovered I will have to withdraw and take photographs instead.


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## Wirrallass

Crikey Chris - I'm exhausted just reading this and have to applaud you for your progress to date. Sorry to read you're not well - rest up and drink plenty of liquids - hoping you're back on form for the standard tri at Lincon Edge on Sunday - good luck with this. Looking forward to your next bulletin. Best wishes.
WL


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## Northerner

Hope you recover quickly Chris


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## Chris Hobson

My voice is still a little croaky but I have now done the standard distance triathlon at Lincoln Edge near Brigg. My only other effort at this distance was a couple of years ago at Allerthorpe. Despite this one being a tougher course, Allerthorpe is very flat whereas this one is described as "undulating", I had been hoping to get a better time due to being more highly trained and fitter overall. As it turned out, my Allerthorpe time of 2:58 still stands, this one took me 3:12. There was a standard distance and a sprint happening at the same time, Liz did the sprint, I did the standard. The swim was in Cadney reservoir and, not being a pool based swim, there weren't any people just out to give it a bash on mountain bikes and shopping bikes, I only spotted one bike that wasn't carbon fibre, a heavily modified Specialized Allez.

If triathletes are looking for an event to enter I think that I can give this one a thumbs up. The swim is a very pleasant one or two laps around the reservoir and the water is relatively clean. The cycle ride is also one or two laps and I would have described it as fairly hilly although nowhere near as hilly as the Castle Howard course. The 10k run lets it down a little, it felt like the longest 10k I've ever done. The course goes three quarters of the way around the reservoir and then you have to turn around and retrace your steps back to the transition area. you then go onto a very straight country road and you have to run out and back twice which is somewhat tedious. My run time was 55:30. At some events you get either a tee shirt or a medal so I give an extra brownie point to this event for providing both, plus a goody bag with an energy drink, a flapjack and some Haribo sweets. The swim cap is a plain one though, usually these have the name of the event printed on them. The event also provides a little trophy for the winner of each age group. Due to it being a fairly small event numbers wise, there is a chance that you can get a trophy for being the only entrant in your group. Just my luck, the guy who won the 55-59 age group did the course in about 2:20 and came fourth overall. I have to say that is pretty impressive for a guy in his late fifties.

Anyway, one more week of training and then I have to ease off for a week before the Outlaw.


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## Northerner

Well done Chris - and Liz!  Personally, I think that's a pretty good 10k time, on top of a swim/bike - it's close to my PB for just a run!  I understand what you mean about it being boring running over the same ground - I don't know how people coped this year in the Southampton Marathon, as that was basically a two-lap course


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## Chris Hobson

I can cope with a couple of laps of a circular route, the second time round you have a reasonable idea where you are regarding how far there is to go. In this case the last 8k consisted of four 2k lengths of a fairly uninteresting road. Still I'm nit picking really, overall it was a good and well organised event.


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## Chris Hobson

I downloaded the results of the Lincolnshire Edge Triathlon and it has an interesting breakdown of the various disciplines that gives my position in the pecking order for each separate one. I wish to emphasise before entering into these that I am approaching 59 years old and that the field was made up of competitors of various different ages and, unlike other events that I have done, pretty much all of the competitors were quite serious triathletes. As you can see I'm getting my excuses in first. Overall I finished 51st out of 63 competitors, this includes one DNF. In the swim I finished number 56, I did breast stroke for most of it and I was surprised that there were seven swimmers slower than me. I managed to do my T1 without screwing it up for once but was still placed dead last, 63 of 63. My insistence on wearing socks doesn't help I suppose. For the bike leg I was number 55. For T2 I was number 47. Onto the run and I'm number 36, so it would appear that running definitely the bit that I am best at.

I think that these numbers are very useful for analysing my performance and working out where I could improve. There was only one male competitor after me and he beat my time on the swim, T1 and bike but I beat him on T2 and passed him on the run. I think that swimming is the part that I could benefit the most by improving. I now have a fairly good crawl technique but I have far more work to do on building up stamina. My crawl is much faster than my breast stroke but at present I can't sustain it for the whole distance, it should improve my times considerably if I can get to the point when I can do so. Cycling wise I think that I am on really good form at present but I'm still getting hammered by the other cyclists so I think that I'm going to have to live with that. Running is already the part that I'm best at and I seem to be still improving anyway. Transitions are less significant on the longer distances, I am getting them more or less right nowadays. Transitions tend to become really important when you find that you missed your target time by something like fifteen seconds, suddenly it matters that you got entangled in your wet suit and fell over or started out trying to put your running shoes on the wrong feet.

Lastly, as I've already mentioned, the guy who won my age group also came fourth overall with a time of 2:17:45. I think that this is an amazing performance for a guy in his mid to late fifties, he gets loads of respect from me.


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## Chris Hobson

Update. I am having a day off work in order to gather my stuff together and to clean and check over my bike. The Outlaw is almost upon me, I am looking forward to it with an odd mixture of excitement and trepidation. Last night I downloaded and printed off the briefing notes. Reading through them suddenly makes the coming event seem very very real. Liz and I will be leaving tomorrow morning to head for Nottingham, I won't be taking my laptop, so there won't be any more updates until I arrive home on Monday. I shall then report whether I have succeeded or failed, providing that I can actually move. The swim starts at 6:00 on Sunday morning and I am hoping to finish in between fourteen and fifteen hours. So if you could all spare me a thought sometime in between 6am and 9pm that would be nice.


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## mikeyB

I will certainly spare you a thought, Chris, for sure if I have any nightmares about joining you in the enterprise

Best of luck


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## Wirrallass

Will most certainly do that Chris and good luck x


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## Wirrallass

As promised been thinking of you today Chris & have been willing you on to the finish - looking forward to your update bulletin. 
WL


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## Chris Hobson

Yesterday I completed the 2017 Outlaw, my first 140.6 triathlon, inside my target time of between fourteen and fifteen hours. nearer to fifteen than I would have preferred but I am pretty happy.  I will shortly be describing the experience in a separate post. In the meantime here is a link to my results page:

https://resultsbase.net/results/2069689


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## Wirrallass

Power to you! Very well done Chris  x


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## Chris Hobson

Update. Yesterday I went along with wife Liz and her sister Jill to do some open water swimming at Allerthorpe near York. It was nice to enjoy a relaxing swim with the sunshine sparkling on the lake without being under any pressure to train. Today Liz and myself went back to Allerthorpe to support Jill doing the super sprint triathlon. This is an entry level event and Jill's first tri to involve an open water swim. She completed the 400M swim, 10K bike ride and 2.5K run in about 52 minutes. We then went off to York and bought a cathedral sized airbeam tent which we are going to need for the Endure 24 next year. Liz and I are entered as a two person team called 'Little Short Legs and Chrome Dome'. I'm considering doing a Half Iron distance triathlon next year, possibly the Lakesman near Keswick or maybe the Castle Series event at Blenheim Palace. The latter also has a classic distance event that Liz could do, so that is probably the one that we will go with.

In the meantime, our up and coming events are the APB half marathon at the beginning of September followed by the Hull Marathon for me and the Yorkshire Marathon for Liz a few weeks later.


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## Chris Hobson

Update.
I have now entered the Lakesman 140.6 triathlon for next year. I had contemplated stepping down to the 70.3 but realised that I would find this rather unfulfilling after having done the Outlaw. I have had to commit prior to having my review in September because these events fill up really quickly and if you hang about too long you don't get a place. It will be interesting to see how such intense training has affected my glucose levels. The problem is that, in the six weeks prior to my blood test I have eased off a little in order to recover.

Meanwhile Liz has entered us both in the Gilberdyke 10 mile run which is in two weeks time so I am trying to get some running done in preparation. So far this year, every time that I have taken part in an event that I have done before I have managed to score a new PB. I'm not sure that I can keep this up for these coming events but we will have to wait and see.


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## Chris Hobson

Regarding my record of achieving a PB on every single event this year, I have fallen at the final hurdle. I scored a new PB both for the course and the distance at the Gilberdyke 10. Then came the ABP Half Marathon at Cleethorpes, new event so I haven't done the course before, new PB for the distance. Hull marathon next, the course was different to last year but still a new PB for the distance. My last event of the season, the Goole Sprint Triathlon, beat last years time but failed to better the time that I set in 2015. Time now for rest and recovery, while planning new acts of masochism for 2018.


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## Copepod

Very impressive @Chris Hobson. Keep running, cycling and swimming - in any combination!


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## Chris Hobson

The tail end of 2017 hasn't worked out too well for me as far as staying fit goes. I've not done any swimming due to the pool being closed at the gym. They opened it just in time for me to succumb to a chesty cough and cold. I've managed a little indoor cycling and a little bit of running but found that running before being completely over the cough has had me having attacks of feeling faint. I felt totally fine but apparently wasn't totally better. I've been to the doctor and had an ECG which has proved normal and I seem to be over the problem now. I've also developed a pain in my left elbow which I suspect that I might be stuck with for good now. I'm starting to feel my age a bit, I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually, I'm sixty this year after all.

With my 'A' race penciled in for June 17th I now have to get moving again. Liz and I did the Cleethorpes New Year's Day 10k, I felt quite rough over the first 5k and started to think that I needed to pull up. What I actually did was pull over to the side and have a coughing fit followed by a fairly revolting clear out of the chest. After that I felt fine and legged it to the finish, obviously posting a negative split. I did the same course two years ago in 2016 and was encouraged to see that I beat my previous time by about thirty seconds despite the problems. So, this weekend I've done a park run, a 1500m swim and a 12 mile bike ride. It was a lovely sunny afternoon for the bike ride but I had to watch out for icy patches. Now I can look forward to my alarm being almost permanently set to a time that starts with a four. Why am I doing this again? Well most of the time I feel great, Slowing the progress of my diabetes is important, and triathlons are great fun, even the really long ones.


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## Chris Hobson

I feel the need to update this thread as I had to withdraw from the Lakesman due to some health problems. I detailed these in a general post entitled 'Slightly troubling news'. The actual problem, sometimes feeling faint while exercising, is yet to be properly diagnosed as I am currently waiting to have a CT scan. The cardiologist said it was probably a virus and that, if that turned out to be the case, there was no treatment and I would just have to wait for it to clear up on its own. It does seem to be gradually improving so hopefully he was correct. I am still able to do sprint triathlons but my times are a bit slower.


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