The price

I fancied wine tonight. Red wine. Lots of it. A little voice in my head reminded me that i have a five oclock alarm followed by 15+ mile run to get to work and a ride home tomorrow. Most of my weekend is booked for beasting. I love the feeling of seeing the world wake up around ne as i drop into Windsor from the great park in knowledge I've put in a good run. I love the feeling of having something left in my legs after a hill to attack the summit before descent on a bike and i love open water swimming on a sunny morning.  What a tough course I've set myself on and IM athletes live though. Crossing that finishing line is not about however many hours on the day its about many many more hours of lost sleep, missed family time and times where that red wine had to stay on the shop shelf. I guess that's recognised in someone who has completed the event which is why others may hold their manhood cheap that they could not say they were there. The more you sweat in practice the less you bleed in battle. When I'm on that start line I'll know every time I shirked effort or opportunity for training and will regret my poor diet. I'll be glad of every 0500 start and every day I've spent in crumpled clothes in the office as I've carried them in rucksack. I'm actually looking forward to my run tomorrow now, better get some kip.


































      





















































































































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Yoga

My weekend i spent more devoted to volunteering than i did to beasting though it was fairly active. Yesterday eve was then all about ATC so tonight was catching up on weekend jobs. I've been really and unusually tired and grumpy and mouth still feels like I've been punched after the wisdom teeth extraction. After mowing lawns, cutting wysteria and finding some cool frogs Nicky and I took the rather formidable decision of attacking some yoga. Not knowing the sequence is a bit of a challenge and the simplest routine quickly escalates into a contortion of confusion whilst trying to watch and obey even where those are mutually exclusive. "Now if you can't get your head to the floor, don't worry." he calmly tells me as my hamstrings scream that if i want even my hands to touch the floor i should start stretching more before and after cycling. Lying on the floor having fallen from a position in laughter whilst watching someone else effortlessly adopt it is good training right? If so I'm a pro now and will skip to advance bit immediately next time around.
I forgot to mention that I had a bit of a sad on at the weekend. Having been allocated some time in which to get a fairly good cycle in I suddenly noticed just how much punishment my bike has received in the last couple of months. A broken spoke drew my attention to many other wobbly ones, i noticed break pads are dead (i think they are original ones i got with bike) wheels were offset for some reason, gears weren't indexed... The list goes on. I got it to a state on which i could at least do a few miles and my pump broke. That made me really angry as i knew i shouldnt have bought a cheapy one.My ever generous hero has stepped up and offered my a full bike service so i drop it off with him tomorrow and he will even lend me his bike so i have no excuse but to keep training.

Back Wax

Wow. So legs being waxed isn't so bad it seems... to clarify, I did have both done yesterday.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed to run to work so got a good 15 miles in AM. It was a steady run and I just wish my timing watch had been working as other than the occasional stop for traffic and water I ploughed on and I'd like to compare back in future. Steady until near end of long walk at which point I realised just how hungry and thirsty I was so strolled in. Jaw not working and with some pain still means I'm not really eating as much as I need to support my mortal form on that sort of endeavour. I need to fuel properly and alter route slightly due to bad road section but now I've done it once without really feeling it in legs it'll become more frequent (And hopefully I can faff less before leaving now I know what I'm up to). A bike ride home during which I managed to keep up over 10mph up Priest Hill without going to granny ring or max effort was a nice way to end the beasting day.

Please see below the video of me getting an Ironman symbol waxed onto my once luscious back fur.

Leg Wax

Thanks to all those that donated. My legs are now waxed, we didn't have enough time to do my back today so thats something else to look forward to. N said she'd allow video if £600 was reached so here you go:

Agony

Well that was an exciting weekend. I tried to blog about it but some WW1 sensors came round and blacked it all out so if your a close friend I'll tell you all about my reaching new lows of indignity. To clarify, that is before I have been waxed. Life got put on hold a bit whilst I was ill.

Worst bit of it all was that I couldn't go and support Dan who completed Ironman UK this weekend. I can't fault his guts, ability to stick to a pace\gameplan and dedication to a season of many short distance and one long distance races, thoroughly deserving. My turn through the grinder next. I had hoped to use it as an opportunity (whilst waiting for Dan) to snoop around the stands at the trade show and get a feel for the atmosphere and as many tips as I could, particularly around fuelling. On the night I was due to go up I just had to sleep but set my alarm (much to N's dismay) every hour to see if I was in a state to depart. I once made an aborted messy attempt at about 0400 by which time Dan was getting up anyway. Good job old boy so sorry I couldn't be there to cheer.

Evans Cycles

Good customer care. Got a light for helmet with new head piece which completely failed light up despite my best efforts. One quick email to Evans and a new one was dispatched which just arrived and works. I do like good customer service. The hat is amazing too, keeps my head cool and feels light. Ideal. To make my head even lighter I had my Wisdom teeth out yesterday. Today I feel like I'm hungover and got punched in the moouth and nose yesterday. KNackered. More posts and waxing and blogging etc soon I promise.

Well that escalated quickly

It was your donations that again drove me out of bed and into the beast this morning. I must admit to having attacked a bottle of champagne last night so I wasn't feeling brilliant at 0500. Nor at 0530 when I pushed off on my bike as the heavens opened and instead of the usual beam of brilliant sunlight that descends upon me I was visited by my own personal douse of what Bill Bailey would call the water based punishment of the Lord. I waddled off on a slightly circuitous route to Heron Lake where I completed a couple of km before heading home. It was all steady work 20min kms on the swim 18mph on the bike (I dont know why I switch units, sorry), 'fat burning' one could call it, others might call it a gentle increase in brick training, the more astute might call it hungover and not well fuelled. Potatoe Pothole.

The weekend has been good for donations, thank you. It seems I should have made the waxing bar a little higher. Chums, colleagues, family and acquaintences have stepped up though and Andy Mac had the honour of making the coup de grâce in tipping me up to £500.01. Trust an engineer. http://www.dilbert.com/2014-07-12/

My sincerest thanks to

Olivia Hurst

D to the an

Andy Mac

Charlotte

Fletch

Ujo Janko

The Elds I will think of you all individually and consider your generocity when on the Ironman. Truly I will. It is tough, and long and also a bit boring so when I run out of poetry to recite (or sing songs like Jerusalem out loud) you will all be considered. I'll need to think up some other escapade to drum up the remainder of my fundraising... Stop press! Almost forgot my new helmet selfie!

Donations

So putting myself throuugh months of pain and sleep deprivation in order to put my body through the mill that is an Ironman didn't invoke much in the way of sponsorship. I threaten to wax myself and suddenly Virgingiving's servers are struggling.

My hearty thanks to those who have donated recently. This morning when the alarm first went off at 0500 I almost jacked the idea of a swim. Instead, knowing of my donor base I gave myself an extra half hour asleep before heading out. I completed 3 kilometers in about 55minutes, possibly a bit less allowing for time in which a nice guy had to come and help dress me because my wetsuit was on wrong. Must be all the muscle. Must be. I finished the swim and would have done another lap as I still felt strong, was overtaking people which is always fun and it was a gorgeous morning to be in the lake. The call of breakfast and an expectant family drove me ashore however and I stuck to the game plan. Towards the end I wondered if I would be happy to get on a bike at that point and cycle 112 miles. To be honest, I think I would. Could I then have run a marathon after that? Hmmm. Maybe. Probably would have stumbled round.

So the moral of the story is that money makes me work harder so keep it coming people. My gratitude has driven me to name and shame today's donors:

Jenna

Chris

Liam

Claire

Iaim Neesom

Jackie

Nic

Lesanne, Nick & Poppy

Kate Also thanks to my wife who is a single parent a lot at the moment and also bought me a very exciting new bike helmet today (Garneau Course, Red). Pictures coming soon. As I write this: RUNNING TOTAL IS  £386. That means £114 by the end of tomorrow if you want to see me waxed. Yes, there will be evidence. Donate here http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GeoffHurst

Wax

My wife has kindly reminded me that just honing my body to greater perfection isn't sufficient and that I really need to push the whole fundraising effort.

I hearby declare that if by Monday 14th July 2014 I have over £500 in donations I will wax my back and legs. http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GeoffHurst 

The last time my back had hair removal it was by a friend Katy who bravely used a year's worth of Veet to disolve the forest that dominates back there. It soon grew back stonger. I cant even remember why I did it.

Prior to that the only significant hair removal was at Rodian's house where it seemed a great idea to have a Superman symbol shaved onto my chest and the hair on my hair shaved off. I'm sure somewhere I have a picture of that but alas not on this PC.

This week I have undertaken a significant amount of exercise to the extent that today my body is kicking off and demanding champagne.

News just in Nicky thinks I should shave the IM symbol on my chest.

Hungry

when I train a lot I get hungry. Zombie, unfulfilled insatiable, hungry. Hungrier than a hippo on hunger strike. A tough (for no apparent reason, not that fast and only 2k) swim first thing this morning and a plodding, legs failing, run at lunchtime made for today's regime. Between those and quite a lot I've done this week after a weekend of excess probably mean my mortal form is demanding sustenance. I've had dinner and now in hungry. Tomorrow i had planned to run at lunch again but I'm not sure how my legs are going to go. Might just warm up then do sit ups etc. Should probably do some stretching too.

Today

Cycle to work gentle pace with occasional push for hills or traffic lights.
lunchtime run, 5mi gentle with occasional faster push for pure joy.
cycle home in thunderstorm and crap traffic.

Hmmm.

arrived sopping wet to find lovely wife had made me some healthy flap jacks to boost me before putting toddler to bed.

Swim with Dan tomorrow morning i hope.

Playing catch up

Ill wife, away in Devon, away with work, away for an amazing wedding (not mine, I already did that and my first wife and I are very happy) and working as well has kept me away from this keyboard.

Behold a picture of me from work this week though. I'm pleased to say that it feels like some normality is returning to my life which has now continued without a break for 30 years... Away from keyboard but I have been putting in the training this week and my legs are aching nicely.

I'll fill in more details soon, I spent time writing to a friend in Afghan over a long post so I hope you'll excuse me and add your thoughts\prayers for her.

Back soon.

Donations welcomed!

Choppy

Post merman I went for a swim when the sea state wasn't quite so calm. It wasn't terrible but was enough to mean that I could only breathe on one side, had trouble sighting when in a trough and occasionally got thrown around a bit. Despite that I ploughed up and down for just over half an hour whilst the family watched or went to the park. That reminds me of a Livy quote: “It is pleasant, when the sea is high and the winds are dashing the waves about, to watch from the shores the struggles of another.”

I was certainly struggling solo in the water without a boat and about the top of my comfort zone for swimming without having someone else in or on the water in case things went wrong. The difference conditions made to my swim was staggering, I had to work hard to fight tide and waves meaning actuall progress was reduced significantly. I can comfort myself with the knowledge that although I found it harder, if it is like that on triathlon day, every other competitor will be feeling the same. 

Have you donated yet? Donate a pound or two now to acknowledge me putting my neck on the line (and potential of incurring mother and wif'e's wrath if I killed myself) for the sake of honing my body to further perfection.