Post Etape...

Recovery from l’etape was pretty quick, which just goes to show I did not go hard enough! Work and home have been very busy since France with the school hols and lots of business trips. This belated update is being written on the Narita Express train from Narita Airport to Tokyo where I shall be for the next few days. Another week and another hotel will surprise with grand descriptions of their gym facilities. This one is described as a “fitness corner” I have absolutely no idea what that means but I expect to be running through the streets of Tokyo as opposed to working out in a salubrious fitness centre.

The London Triathlon was last weekend, apparently the largest in the world with waves spread over two days. Having won an entry to the event last year and postponing it I eventually decided to participate with two mates as a relay. Unfortunately we were entered in the sprint event which meant that there was a lot of effort to get to London and sort out the logistics for a short race but we all treated it more as a bit of fun. We finished 8th overall (out of 324) so that was not too bad but reflects more on the lack of decent competition more than our team performance. The wave had around 200 people in it and I really didn’t envy Tony who had manfully agreed to do the swim section. He never managed to escape the washing machine during the 750m and spent more time fighting off people and trying to navigate a clear route through the melee before finishing in a credible 16mins. T1 was mayhem with a lot of swimmers coming in together and the three people per team all getting in the way of each other crammed into three small bike rack rows. Tony did really well getting out of the wetsuit and running upstairs and into the transition area which was an exhibition hall, we had the 4th fastest T1 overall which was cool but even that was over 3 minutes. I was nursing a “right and proper” hangover from a unexpectedly late night out the night before but managed to overtake over 100 people on the bike to get back into T2 in 6th place leaving Rob to run his first ever 5Km race. He had been “sandbagging” about being a slow runner but I knew differently, I have seen him running around the village and knew he had a handy 10mile time in a recent village fun run. He was hoping to not let the side down with a targeted 24 minute run but eventually he smacked a sub 20 minute 5.1Km which was great. With all the hassle of getting there it was a shame that we had to leave pretty quickly and I tried to see a few friends finish their Olympic relay but unfortunately I couldn’t find them and with the venue being huge it was nigh on impossible to bump into anyone unless pre-planned.

So I have update my Event list below and only have one event left.




I am now suffering my familiar high summer lethargy spell and lack of motivation for any training. This was the exact reason I picked a September Triathlon to ensure I have something to keep me going till later in the season. So duly motivated I am back in the swing of things for September 20th and the New Forest Middle. I went out for a long run for the first time in months on Sunday and after daydreaming for a while realised I had accidently ran 20Km in 1:34 which was supposed to be an easy pace. Cracking! Actually that would be close to the pace I am hoping to achieve in the New Forest. I am not sure how realistic this is as I have a half marathon PB of 1:30 I need to do some research and find out what I can expect for my half marathon time at the end of a Tri. Updates as soon as I can get the answer.