The full 360....and 3.8 too

Wow, if you need any form of inspiration two words...Mark Turner. As I write this week's blog, he is currently on his third leg of his 3 Ironmen in 3 days. I had the pleasure of joining him for the swims and rides on the first two days. A little long, but enjoy.

Thursday night Colleen and the kids dropped me off to join some of the squad members as we headed down to Palm Beach, just north of the NSW border. Some were volunteers for the weekend, some were crazy fools like me helping raise money and helping Mark. A short sleep (or so it seemed) and we were out the door at 5am to setup and get ready for the 6am swim. My task for the day was a 1900m swim and the full 180km ride. As you see from the photo above, there was some good surf we had to get through before starting our swim. The route had been changed from a "M" style course to one paralleling the shore. Apparently there were some good rips out there and supposedly sharks (this comment may have been just to welcome the Canuck but taken all in stride). This was my longest ocean swim so I was cautious and took it easy, trying to figure out a good rythum. It took a while but I did find one. The group passed me but all good. I finished my 1900m swim and body surfed in on a good wave. A hot shower and change of clothes, and we were soon off on our ride.
The group before our swim on day 1.












Heading out on the bike, it was going to be a bit of work as there were only 12 people cycling for the day. Our goal was to keep Mark in the 3rd/4th or 5th group so he could draft and conserve some of his energy. Drafting properly can save a good 30% of your effort. I wanted to help out so being the good "domestic" I took a number of turns up front.





















Rolling south we made a quick jump over the NSW border and headed north towards Brisbane, right into a good headwind.

A number of little rollers made the first leg fun and we pulled into the Aussie Outback experience parking lot (ride beside Wet and Wild waterpark). A restock on supplies, and eating a bunch of food, we were off after a good 20 minute break.


For the second half we dropped off two of our riders and picked up one more. Our peloton was now 11. Lots of wind, but we did get to enjoy a nice tail wind for about an hour as we headed east towards Redcliffe. Easy effort and we were hitting the high 30's low 40's. All good.

A quick toilet break around the 150km mark and off again towards the City were a police escort would bring us through the CBD (central business district) to the end of the bike leg.

A ride of just over 7 hours including stops, not too bad (28km/hr average).

Remember I said inspiration, Mark after all this knocked off a sub 4 hour marathon on day one.









Day to was much of the same, but for me two things happened. The first, I was able to swim better with a few tricks I learned the day before. The second was nutrition, I missed my routine and really felt it during the last portion of the first leg. I had to eat like a man possessed. I was able to recover and that with my redbull at 140km's helped too. Another 7 hours on the bike with stops, not too bad.

Here's some pictures from day two. Colleen likes the one of me coming out of the water. A little James Bondish without the chiseled body.















What did I get out of this weekend?

1. The human body has limits yet to be discovered as Mark is proving.
2. I can ride 180km and feel somewhat good for a run, even considering it will have to be a marathon.
3. My swimming is coming along as I was under 45 minutes on both days in the water.
   
4. Nutrition is key to long distance events.
5. I can swim in the ocean with confidence.
6. There are a number of people who are not selfish and can work long hard hours because they believe in something. Thanks to all who put this on.

Now a recovery week is in order after my week of

360km biking 14hours
5.8km of swimming for 2.5 hours
15.5 km of running for 1.3 hours
core workout for 20 minutes.

A good week.

Until next week.
Richard