Tour of Wessex 2009

l'm half way through, well two thirds of the way through the Tour. The last two days haven't been easy and to be honest I was pretty ready to throw the towel in this evening after I finished, I was hanging. Still I had a great day with Paul and Dave and it was great to catch up with other friends yesterday and today, who were also riding. 

The weather has been super and forecast is for tomorrow. Yesterday we went to Cheddar and all over, then today we went down to the coast - Lulworth. I also had the pleasure meeting the Tour organizer Nick Bourne, he seems a nice guy and I really happy for him to have some weather,as the years gone by have been pretty pants. I was introduced to him by my mate Paul, who I was riding with all day. Paul's a real warrior when on the bike and he always pushes me to ride hard if it's by the way he rides or the things he says, positive and negative. 

Tomorrow we are riding out to Exmoor and doing some of the Ironman UK 70.3 coarse , it's a long to finish with on the last day, but it should be a good day again.

Ride safe, as always.

Ed

Handing out the prizes!!!

Well today was a funny one. It was half term for the school I work in, but more than that I was asked by my best mate to give out the prizes at his school sports day - Salisbury Cathedal School. It was great, it always amazes me how much effort the children put into performing during such events. If I remember back to when I was a kid I loved those days, the competition, the racing everything about it was tops. I love the ones who really aren't going to win anything yet they still turn up and try their hardest, it's really inspiring, I love it. 

However the best news was that during the day I was approached about a possible sponsorship with a large international company and also some of my Blue Seventy stuff arrived, Tees, Hoodies and loads of goggles, I mean loads of them - ah, it was like Christmas, thank you!

So I'm now on half term holiday and I've got the Tour of Wessex starting tomorrow morning. I'm really looking forward to it. 320 miles and it's great training ready for Ironman UK 70.3 and the European Long Distance Championships in Prague this summer. I'm going to ride there and get in either a run or a swim each evening afterwards. What's also cool about the weekend is that during the course of it, I'm going to get some riding in with friends who are doing the odd day throughout. I'll take some photos and post them over the weekend.

Train safe.

Ed    

Back to the boring stuff

Well, it's the Wednesday after the Sunday and life goes on as normal. A couple of the guys from work asked and were made up for me and I've had a couple of people contact me via facebook etc. I've got straight back into training with a couple of big run, bike and swim sessions, but I've managed to tear the material on my Newtons, so I think I'll give them a bell tomorrow as I've only had them a month or so, well running on them for a month.

On Friday I'm off to be a guest of honour at Salisbury Catherdal School Sports Day! Well my best mate, Gil is the Director of Sport there and they needed someone to 'do' their thing so he asked me! Ha Ha, I'm not overly sure about it to be honest, but if it gives my sponsors a little coverage then that's great.

Talking of sponsors, I've had Blue Seventy on the phone/email a couple times sorting out some stuff for me which will be cool (some cool new goggles and a transition bag, wetsuit/speedsuit to follow when it arrives in this country) and I've got the Tour of Wessex this weekend - 320miles on the bike over three days, nice I'm looking forward to it, even if my arse isn't. I write a little more about it before and maybe put a map up etc, but I'll defo post some photos next week.

Train safe

Ed

A win's a win!

Taunton Deane Sprint Tri - 400m Swim, 22km Bike & a 5km Run

Well, what can I say, the conditions today were pretty poor to tell the truth, windy and very, very rainy. Still Sarah, Jack and I got to Wellington for the Taunton Deane Sprint Triathlon a little late due to my poor directions on the way there - sorry! After getting my race number sorted etc I then popped my bike into transition and made my way to the pool after after a wet warm up in the gym, while watching all the big guns get themselves sorted in the leisure centre gym (why didn't I get to go in there?). The swim was pretty chilled to be honest, the water was really salty and I took it steady coming out of the pool around 5 minuntes 50. I know I can go faster, but I just wanted it in the bag at this stage. 

Out onto the bike after a quickish T1 (i could be so much faster in all transitions, but I do seem to relax - why?). It was wet and windy. I didn't really like the corners and had to slow on many of them due to it being quite a techy course, however I finished around 35 minutes(ish) and then went straight out onto the run. 

The run was great and while I felt like I pushed it, I still felt that I held something back just in case, my overall time was around 18 minutes, so there's defo something more to give.

I ended up with a finishing time of 1hour 1minute and 53seconds, bagging the win by around 2 minutes I believe!!!!

Unbelievable, but I am now the Taunton Deane Sprint Triathlon Champion 2009, bonkers  - it sits quite nicely thank you on my shoulders. Enough celebrating and back to training now, however I might just spend my winnings on a Blue Seventy Zero +3 Speed Speed Suit - nice.

Be Safe and well done to all took part today esp the guys from Wessex Wizards, you rock!

Ed   

Taunton Sprint Triathlon 2009

Tomorrow is my second triathlon race of 2009. I raced earlier in the year in the Mad March Sprint Tri (250m swim, 10mile bike and a 3mile run) which I won. I have also taken part in a half marathon (1hour 22minutes) and a 10km (37minutes), so I'm looking forward to getting out and going as hard as I can.

The weather forecast is pretty poor to be honest - 70% chance of rain and winds of up to 25mph, so it might work into may hands, but the proof will be in the pudding come tomorrow afternoon around 1.40pmish. My start time is 12.40pm which is one of the quicker starts. In my wave are Alan Ward from North Devon Tri (he's pretty handy) and the 'world famous' Joe Beer of www.jbst.co.uk (he's won a couple of years ago), along with other strong racers from the South West. 

I'm hoping for a top 5 finish after finish 8th last year, hopefully there'll just be improvement to show I'm moving in the right direction. There's also there's loads of guys from my club racing, so it should be a great laugh - go Wizards!

The bike's packed and as is all my race gear with my sponsors kit etc, so it's game on tampon! It's a great race, super atmosphere and very slick, fingers crossed I can a good race.  

Every great journey starts with one step.........

Kona - my dream.

Welcome to my blog. I'm going document my journey to qualify for Kona, the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. It may take me a year, it may take me a life time, but it's something I truly believe that I can achieve, so jump on and enjoy the ride.

Happy training, 

Ed