The blogger in update mode

Day 3 update

A hard day today, with much wind and rain for the early part.  The rain, I could do without; it's uncomfortable, but that's all.  The wind on the other hand, sucks at your soul, robbing you of any determination to keep going.  At times I was doing 8 miles an hour (some of my fellow Tri Preston team mates might say that that is not too far off my usual average speed!).  This event really is a case of mind over body.  Any little setback seems to nag away, eating at your resolve and with every pedal stroke the desire to abandon seems to grow.  I did 60 miles at Elswick, then travelled over to Buckshaw, hopefully to get a bit more shelter from the wind.  This circuit is much shorter (2 miles instead of 7.6) so even though it was still windy it wasn't as long and, there were sheltered parts too.  I've started to get to know the Elswick circuit intimately.  I now know every pothole, rut and ripple, and have learned the best line round the course.  It gets really annoying when traffic prevents me from taking my preferred line, and my backside gets another bruising as I batter my way across the latest pothole.  I've also started to name parts of the course - Dad's Corner (just because I seem to think of my father every time I get to that point!), Slowman's Hill (not really a hill at all but seems like Everest when you have done it for the 10th time that day), Rubbish bag straight and finally Cow Crossing Farm (last two fairly self-explanatory!).  I did wonder why I was thinking of my Dad.  I'm not one to believe in fate, but I got in tonight to hear that the last of his four sisters had died.  He had left a message to tell me not to worry and to carry on with my challenge.  When I'm exhausted I find it hard to control my emotions and this news was hard to take.  I love my Dad, and my thoughts are with him at this time.

Early start tomorrow to try and make up some miles.  Currently on 218 miles, so a fair way to go.  Keep following me on Twitter (@enthiostraining #Doingthedeca) for updates, or you can also find me on Facebook.  Cheers all, and thanks for your support!

Day 2

Day 2 started with completing the final 3.5k swim at Total Fitness in Preston then back to base for some porridge and a well earned rest.  The bike started in earnest at Elswick with 7k laps around the local villages.  A warm humid day with a mad downpoor around 3pm where our challenger got completely soaked.  Tri Preston did him proud again today with some shoulder to shoulder riding from various members and a base set up at Jonathan, Emily and Charlie dogs house (the lovely dog with an amazing resemblence to Basil Brush - that's for all you 70's kids - boom boom!!)

Our man has 100 miles in the bag when he decides to hit the sack. 4am start will come round all too early for day 3 - watch this space!

Kate

Ribby Hall - set to swim in the warm!

Day 1

A quick update on Day One's antics.  A start at 12.00 noon at Blackpool Wakepark and 29 hours later, stepped out of the pool at Ribby Hall, having completed 34.5 Km of the 38 Km swim.  I could have gone on  longer, but chose to finish early, get a proper rest and then swim the remaining 3.5 Km tomorrow.  (Not strictly in the rules, but it will do for me!)  Worst parts were the first 500M in open water when I had a mild panic about failing in the first 10 mins of starting, and between 20-25KM, which seemed to go on for ever.  Best parts - the massive amount of support from my Tri Preston club mates - totally unexpected and very much appreciated.  Without them I would have given up in the wee small hours.  

Being photographed during the open water swim while holding the Olympic torch, thanks to my mate Jonathon Evans who carried the flame last weekend.  A humourous and much welcomed distraction. Finally, being interviewed on local radio - totally unexpected and with me barely coherent after 18 hours of swimming, I hope I made some kind of sense!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00tb245/Graham_Liver_27_06_2012/
Many, many thanks go to Garry Thompson of Blackpool Wakepark and Colin Kershaw of Ribby Hall.  Also to the lifeguard Katherine Hoyland who also swam with me, and completed 20K in about half the time it took me!  


I'm now sat in bed, having stuffed myself with pasta, showered and cleaned my equipment.  Feeling rather fatigued, but generally satisfied.  The swim was by far the part of the event that I was most nervous about and it now looks like I will complete it, something that seemed an impossible task, when I first started researching the Deca

Tomorrow's revised plan is to complete the swim, then start the bike.  I'm behind schedule but hopefully I can make it up on the bike.


PS I will never swim that distance ever again, and I think I have had my fill of bananas and malt loaf!

24 hours to go

Well in just under 24 hours I'll be in the water, having started my big adventure.  I say, 'big' but in Friday 22 June edition of The Times there was an article about a 3000 mile foot race in the centre of New York, with competitors going round the same block repeatedly.  Apparently they are due to finish sometime in August!  It just shows what you can achieve when you put your mind to it.

Final preparations have been completed and I'm now surrounded by lots of plastic boxes, packed with kit, food and additional equipment.  It's a bit of a logistical challenge and as I'm organising all of this myself with on a shoestring budget and the help of family and friends, it's been tough.  A big thanks goes out to all the people who have helped get me to this point and those who are about to help me during the event itself.  You are all amazing and I will try not to let you down.

Thanks also to everyone who sponsored me - very generous and the money is going to a good cause.  A special thanks goes to Ian and Alison Short who had a whip round during their 25th wedding anniversary celebrations last Saturday.

The plan, should you want to come out and cheer me on is:

Day 1 swim - starting at Blackpool Wakepark then overnight at Ribby Hall (from 9pm)
Day2 - 7 - finish swim then cycle.  The day route will be around Elswick, the night route at Buckshaw.
Day8-14 - run/walk/crawl around Preston Docks.

Obviously all of the above is subject to change!  The weather isn't looking too good for the cycle so I may have to alter my plans as I go along.

if you want to follow me, keep checking in on this blog and you can also find me on Twitter @enthiostraining (#Doingthedeca).  And if you would like to sponsor me you can find me at:

www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock

A huge thank you for all your messages of support.  I promise to give it my best shot.  I'm only going to have one go at this so if I fail it won't be for want of trying.

The final countdown

One week to go - it's all feeling a bit urgent now, as I start to put all my gear together and do my final preparations.  I got inspired over the weekend, watching the live feed of the Regensberg Ironman as five of my friends from Tri Preston competed in their first long distance tri.  It's very exciting watching their split times come up and then to hear their comments of the race as they put posts up on Facebook once they've finished.  There is something very inspiring about setting a challenging goal and then finally achieving it.  Here's hoping I can do the same.

A bit of promotional wear!

T shirts arrived back from the printers today.

A quick update

With only around 6 weeks to go, I thought I'd just give you all a quick update on the organisation of the event.  I've decided that I'm going to start a little earlier on 26th June and that means I will be doing part of the swim in open water.  Thanks to Garry and family at Blackpool Wakepark for helping out http://www.blackpoolwakepark.co.uk/.  It's a great place to go swimming and it is where the local tri clubs, including Tri Preston, do much of their practice sessions.  I'm now in the process of getting some promotional T Shirts printed, which I will be wearing on the event, and I've started to put together my 'Operations File' - ie my daily checklist of things I need to do, nutrition plans, equipment required, goals for the day etc.  When you put it all down on paper it looks like you are planning a trip to the moon!  I've just finished two very interesting books 'Nutrition Timing' by John Ivy and 'Ten Minute Toughness' by Jason Selk.  I'm now reading around the topics of sleep deprivation, blister management and nutritional strategies.  My oversize trainers are now well and truly broken in, although I'm still toying with the idea of some lightweight walking boots for greater ankle support.  I've checked out a variety of bike courses and settled on two - one a seven mile circuit, for use in the day time and the second a shorter circuit of two miles, which will be more suitable when it is dark.  So, it's all systems go at the moment.  Four more weeks of hard training, then a bit of a taper as the event approaches.  I'm still flip-flopping between thinking 'maybe this is possible' and 'this is totally crazy'.  When I used to go do a lot of rock-climbing there is a point at which you are so far above your last bit of gear that if you fall, it won't save you.  You are past the point of commitment.  Before you reach that point, there is an over-riding fear that can be hard to break through, but after that point somehow it feels quite liberating.  With regards to the Deca, although I still feel fearful, I also think that I've past my point of commitment.  I've already started, so it's now a case of doing the best I can.  That challenge will be as much mental as it is physical.

You can sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock

Countdown

It's all getting a bit close now.  I was interviewed by the local paper, 'The Lancashire Evening Post' last week.  While I wanted to publicise the event so that I could hopefully influence a few more people to donate, it also adds to the pressure.  Underneath it all is a fear of failure - what if it all goes disastrously wrong?  Anyway, I'm well past the point of commitment, so it's now down to me to give it my best shot.  Just over two weeks to go, and final preparations are underway.  I've got my diet plan from Helen Walker, my bikes are being serviced and I've tested all the the equipment I intend to use.  I'm still learning though.  A 15 mile Nordic walk in very wet conditions on Saturday showed me that my blister protection needs a bit more work!  (A simple wrinkle in my sock, coupled with soaking wet shoes caused a blister on my heel, which I didn't attend to quickly enough).  I've done a couple of small events recently, (The Coniston 3.8km swim and a 52 mile sportive on closed roads in Manchester).  I've felt fine on these, with a feeling that there is more in the tank, but I'm still daunted by the distances that I'm going to have to cover each day for two weeks.  The only way to find out is to do it, I guess!