Just to let you guys know that Steve Haywood (organiser of UK Double Iron) will be attempting next years Deca Iron UK course on his own starting with the 24 mile swim in Bodmin 25 Metre pool on Friday 15 May 09. I will be crewing for him for a couple of days after the Brize sprint. By then he will be close to completing the bike (brutal course) and hopefully still rolling. If you want to check out what it involves have a look at the link below. Oh yeah, bear in mind that Russ Watson has already pre-registered for this race next year....barking!

http://www.enduroman.com/decaironuk.html

"Oh yeah, bear in mind that Russ Watson has already pre-registered for this race next year....barking!"

Pot and kettle Phil!

Phil,

I read your article in the Triangles about the double and I did see that the event is strangely appealling. However, I couldn't see how I'd ever have the time to train until I (hopefully) retire at 55. I even thought about entering and telling my wife it was "only" a single IM.

Last Friday my wife came home and told me about a discussion the guys in the office were having about crazy endurance sports - knowing that I have done a couple of IM. She told them about the Deca and stated that she thought I would attempt a deca one day.(Her longest race is a 10K run). I told her about the double next year and she gave me permission to enter. It's 3 weeks after my 40th birthday and I've got some very scary thoughts bouncing round my head at the moment.


I read the format for the Deca on their website. How can anyone do 24 miles in a 25m pool?

Simon,
You are probably in the same mental place as I was a couple of years ago when Russ first suggested the Double to me. Both scared and excited by the prospect. The kudos is immense, but you do have to be mentally strong, more so than physically I feel. As far as training time goes, big sessions with plenty of rest in between seemed to work for me last year and I am following the same format this year. That way your family do get to see you regularly. This weekend I will be doing a 95 mile bike (to Coventry) on Saturday followed by a 13 mile run and the afternoon in the pub. Sunday will be the same ride back to camp and a couple of hours spinning in the gym to warm down. I tend to follow a 14 day training cycle giving me every other weekend off to travel home and not worry about any training while I am there. Being a mess orphan during the week does give me the time admittedly but with a bit of creative planning I am sure you would be able to work out your own plan just as well.

Go for it, and good luck I say. Regrets are horrible things........

Oh yeah, 24 miles in a pool.

Simon

Have you been drinking too much Vino Tinto down there in Madrid???

Good on ya for entering...It is all in the mind like Phil says. If you need some help with the mental skills then give me a call and I can guide you from a Sports Psychological perspective

Hope all is well and you are staying injury free!!

Cheers
Pete

Training time's no problem, I recall Russ doing his long rides from 10 in the evening till 4 in the morning, nice traffic free environment ... just so long as you don't actually require any sleep!

Seriously though, training early morning does give you a few uninterrupted hours when the family are asleep and therefore not actually missing you! I've been known to turbo from 5 - 9 am then the rest of the day can be free time, I guess it just depends how much you want to do the event, and to be honest hauling yourself out of bed early is good mental training and as Phil says anything beyond IM is definitely all in the mind

Just to be completely clear - I HAVE NOT ENTERED (YET). I'm not looking much further than Barcelona in October. I'll capture the feeling as I cross the finish line and make decision based on that.

Pete, BTW I've bought a new bike at last - a Felt B12. Its in the UK at the moment with only 30 miles on the clock.

I think you will be needing the B12 for Deca when you enter!! Good on ya, it will make a big difference no doubt. If yoiu need anyone to test it for you.. :)

Hope you are managing to dodge the mad Spanish drivers out there.

You getting back for the Dambuster?

Just a quick update on Steve Haywoods Deca attempt. He finished the 24 mile swim in 12hrs 12 minutes on Friday, an awesome achievement on its own. The weekend weather in Cornwall has been hideous with constant 40mph winds, gusting to 60mph and almost incessant rain. Steve was blown off his bike twice on saturday but has come through both weekend rides undeterred. 160 miles a day on that terrain is bad enough, but to have to take on the weather as well is almost soul destroying. Hoping the weather will be better by thursday when I go down to take my turn at crewing for him. It's inspiring stuff but it is a really nails course to throw at anyone in Deca format.

Final say on the UK Deca recce. After 3 and a half days of riding over the difficult course in extreme conditions Steve had to give up the bike ride at Lands End on Tuesday. At this point on his live feed it was all over and Steves injured achilles and knee had given up the ghost. The terrain and constant winds had taken their toll on his body and it looked like he had to sack it. However just after I had finished at Brize sprint he phoned me to tell me that he had started the run and was going to attempt to complete 131 miles around the coast. That way he would have done the distance for the half deca (5 x Iron) as long as he finished by 06.45 friday morning. Bearing in mind he had already done the 24 mile swim.

Anyway as his support crew for thursday, I rolled up at 06.40 at the campsite and accompanied him out to start his second days running. He had finished the first 65.5 miles in the early hours of thursday morning and had only had a couple of hours sleep. I had only intended to support from the van and hand food out of the window, however when he asked me to walk/run with him while he warmed his legs up, I couldn't really say no could I? Anyway after 20 miles of running in my jeans and casual trainers I had to go back home to put some proper gear on as my feet were suffering a little.

When I got back and met up with him on the course he was running quite well (good old brufen) and looking for a midnight finish. However as the night rolled on, the fatigue kicked in, the painkillers lost their effect and Steve and I finished at 02.41 on friday morning with him completing the 131 mile run in just over 37 hours and me knocking up a paltry 52 miles accompanying him.

The upshot is that Steve went out to prove the course for the Deca and he has proved that it is probably unachievable for a Deca on that course, but that a half deca is, although you need to be serious head job to take it on.

Phil you are completely barking mad, I definitely want you to do my Coast to Coast with me next year! Have a serious think and let me know when you might be able to schedule it in!

Ant's taking swimming lessons with me and is feeling more confident about the getting out within the time bit, his biking is legendary (he cycled across America) so it's just down to whether he can get running again, currently recovering from the mental challenge they did up here (24 hour continuous run in teams of two) he covered 80 plus miles I think on some seriously wicked hills (up over the Lecht, Tomintoul etc, etc).

K

Sounds like the Double should be a walk in the park for him then. To be honest I was out of the water in less than 3 hours and you've seen how poor my swimming is.

Yeah, I keep telling him that seriously though it all depends on the running rehab.

Hello Phil,
I don't think we've met but as you've heard from Kelda I've entered the Double. It's your fault. I did IM W.Oz in Dec and in the hostel afterwards I read your article on the Double...so I entered in a fit of post-race euphoria.
Anyway, Kelda's been teaching me to swim and I've finally started running again (15 mins on the treadmill yesterday!) so I think I'm going to start it at least.
Any other tips?!?!?! Would appreciate any other advice. I tried to find you on the work email but couldn't. I'm on ant_downing@hotmail.com if easier.
Hope your training's going well,
Cheers,
Ant

Hi Ant,
Glad to see you are back running again. As far as advice goes for the big day, 2 things are going to be my backbone. Effort and eating. Keep the first one low and the second one high. Seriously, unless you are genetically gifted you are not going to win the race. So don't bother trying, race well within yourself and just look at achieving sensible target times. You will be out there all day and night, so eat like you would in a normal day but bolt all the fluids, gels and bars on too. There were guys having really good bike legs last year who then got off and sacked it, they pushed too hard and did not feed properly. I don't care how fast your swim/bike/run split is. No finish, no medal, end of. I stopped for a couple of minutes each bike loop, for a sausage roll or scotch egg, etc quick chat with my crew and marshalls, change the bottles and roll back out. My mindset was 'long training day' and you would be surprised how much pressure that takes off yourself and how much more you enjoy it. (we'll not go into the last 10 miles of the run though )

For some good reading, training tips and just keeping up with the other fools try this link to tritalk. I met a lot of these guys last year and like RAFTri it is an eclectic bunch of elites, die hards and like myself, social triathletes.
http://www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47120&sid=703814ed9632c1d0c7163daa3e7ad33e

By the way my work e-mail is mcneilp950@coningsby.raf.mod.uk

Happy Training!