The Journey So Far...

Time to recap and find some perspective. The Outlaw is just under 6 weeks away, when people ask how much training I'm doing and what I'm doing they all seem confident I'll do it and be fine. My personal opinion varies, not even day to day, but minute to minute at times. After work last Saturday I did and hour on the bike followed by a 16 mile run, 2 hours 15 mins. It was a real mental battle. Why am I even doing this? My friends all think I'm pretty much mental, and I can't disagree, all I know is, that when I start something, I see it through. Life feels like it's on hold at the minute, everything I'm planning etc is "after July 1st", it's kind of a catchphrase now. The last few weeks have really hit home, 16 hours a week training was just about manageable, but there isn't enough time in the week to do 19/20. I survive, go to work, eat, shower and sleep, otherwise I train. 3 more weeks before the taper, and honestly, it can't come soon enough.

I read a great article about why people do Ironman, it asked people anonymously to comment and say why they did it. There was all the usual stuff like to be fit and healthy, and to be able to eat what you want. But why go to extremes? For me it's simple, everyone wants to be noticed. I generally don't talk about myself, but it's really great for people to ask you about what you're doing and why, people seem generally interest, they may be just assessing the crazy guy, but hey I'll take it. It all means nothing though, unless you see it through.

So I've come along way... I can ride my bike without falling over, this definitely took longer than expected. I can swim 400 metres without stopping, which I couldn't when I joined absolute. I've been over 80 miles on the bike, swam a couple of km and can run 5km (ish) in 17:15. I done a couple of Triathlons, all be it sprints, I've been half iron distance 70.3. And I put a tick in the box for open water swimming last Friday. There's still so much to do, but I'm going to do it, 3 more heavy weeks, then bring on the taper. I keep reminding myself this journey is Rookie to Iron-distance. I met up with some of the guys on Sunday to do the cycle leg, well I did and hour and they did the route, which was just as well 'cause at that pace my legs may well have fallen off.

In all seriousness, I've got an opportunity to raise money for a great charity, where some great people are involved. I've already been blown away by peoples generosity, so please keep giving if you can. My target was £1000, but I'm hoping to raise more so every little helps. You can get more details about the Karen Green Foundation by clicking on the logo to the right, you can also go straight to my Just Giving Page by hitting their logo too.

It's now about 8.30pm, the training starts again tomorrow so I'm settling down for the night. Early nights are a regular occurrence, including weekends, one of the many sacrifices along the way. I just want to say thanks to my Mum and Dad, they have come to both my races so far and despite the fact I'm age group 30-34, it's really good to have them there. They will be there on July 1st hopefully with a lot of other people willing me to the finish. 6 weeks to go, put it in your diary and I'll hopefully see you there.

Matto_out xx

PS Another old Biffy song today, tbh I always thought the lyrics were "the message is... to see this through", they're not but they should be :-)

The Tri, The Gig and The Baby.

Today I completed my 2nd ever Triathlon, and my last race before the big event. One Step Beyonds sprint Tri at Southwell, 400m Swim, 17.6km Bike and 5km Run.
Swim: 08:34
T1: 01:19
Bike: 34:44
T2: 01:10
Run: 17:13
TOTAL: 01:03:00
A well run event and great conditions, plenty of work to do if I want to be fast but enjoyed it. I've just received the text confirming I came 121st out of 600 and 22nd in my age group (Male 30-34). Great turn out and great to see so many Absolute Tri Club mates.

My band are playing the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham on Tuesday, check out our latest song on the YouTube player and follow the link for detail http://www.rescuerooms.com/gig-guide/186/love-ends-disaster--foreign-office.

I also just want to say congratulations to Helen and Howy on the birth of their daughter, good work guys, look forward to seeing you soon :-).

Thanks to everyone so far for sponsoring me, your generosity has been amazing, but still along way to go to reach my target. Check out the Karen Green Foundation link to the right to find out who I'm raising money for, and follow the Just Giving logo to sponsor me online.

Short and sweet but time is limited! :-)

7 weeks to go :-/

And out.

It's been a while!

Hey all, so I've been pretty busy, and I've really struggled to find time to even sit down and write a blog. The good news is I haven't missed a training session in the last 6 weeks... approximately the same time since I wrote my last blog.

A quick overview then, otherwise I'll bore you senseless :-). As I said, training is going well and I've remained committed, work is ok, but the old social life has suffered, and my house looks like a bomb-site with kit everywhere. Importantly I did my first triathlon, I started training in October so it seemed strange that I was no longer a newbie at Absolute Triathlon Club, but I had no race experience. And what an experience it was... wet, windy and cold... therefore slow... but as I said afterwards, if that didn't put my off nothing will, as soon as the shivering had stopped and I was able to make sentences I was looking forward to my next event. It feels like I've hardly stayed dry in the last few weeks of training, hopefully some better weather is on the way.

Yesterday I did Half Iron-distance:

Swim 1.2miles - 00:40:04 (target 00:45:00)
Bike 56miles - 03:18:03 (target 03:30:00)
Run Half Marathon (13.1miles) - 01:44:34 (target 02:00:00) 

Needless to say I was pretty happy, the thought process change from feeling confident to the realisation I have to go twice as far in just 8 weeks. The last couple of miles on the run were pretty tough. I was pleased though with my race strategy and fuelling.

I'm looking forward now to next Sunday when I'm doing a Sprint Distance Tri in Southwell. It should be a good event with lots of club mates there, and the weather can't be any worse than my first one. After that it's just time to focus on the main event.

I'm pleased to say I also have managed to set up an online donations page... any sponsor is greatly appreciated for a great cause and helps give me more motivation to succeed:
http://www.justgiving.com/Matto-W

Find out more about this great charity at:
http://www.karengreenfoundation.com/

Finally just a quick few thank you's... Steve and all the team at Absolute Triathlon Club, volunteers and friends alike, the club really helps me keep going and I wouldn't be where I am without you all... really looking forward to the open water as soon as it warms up.
Friends and family, thanks for your support, interest and sponsorship, looking forward to some good catching up already after July 1st.
And finally a special thanks to Sam for your support, understanding and tolerance. Not long now.

Matto_out xx

PS Some old school Biffy Clyro has been helping me out music wise, check out the you tube video...

Iron man, I return to you, to be the way you wanted
But I have no strength or the decency in me to be a hero
But we still fall down, yeah you'll still fall down 

Iron man, I refuse to be the way that you would want me
Still I've got no strength but the sense in me to see I'm not a hero
But we still fall down, still fall down
And we'll still fall down, and we still fall