Review of 2011 as a Novice Ironman

I thought I would do a bit of a review of the year and see what I actually did in terms of training, events and some highlights.

Right, the stats!
Overall 271 activities – for 1919 miles and 128,000 Calories burned (excluding swimming)
Running – 101 activities – 591 miles - average distance 5.85 miles – average speed 9.22 per mile – 75693 calories burned
Cycling – 72 activities – 1252 miles – average distance 17.4 miles – average speed 14.7 mph – average cadence 82rpm – 52620 calories burned.
Swimming – 98 activities – 76 miles – average distance 1250M – average speed 1.3mph               

Events

I did quite few events this year and a number of them were a bit different for me and probably the biggest point of note was that I only did 1 marathon this year.  This is the first year in a few that I have not done 3 Marathons.  This was a conscious decision on my part and I am happy enough with the choice.

I did 1 Marathon (Belfast City Marathon), 1 Half Marathon (Lisburn), 1 10K (Craigavon), 6 Triathlons (Roe Valley, Glenarm, Belfast, Lough Neagh, Stena, Strangford 888).  I also did the Brownlee Challenge Duathlon and Lap the Lough and North Down Coastal Challenge cycling events.

It is hard to pick out a specific favourite or highlight as each of the triathlons brought a new challenge and fortunately quite a few PBs on the Triathlon front and also for the 10K.

I was delighted with the whole Triathlon season and the effort that I put in to working on my swim from last January really paid off.  I started out being unable to get more than 250M without stopping and being completely knackered, to where I am now comfortably knocking out 3000M in training.

This improvement in the swimming gave me the confidence to tackle the Triathlons this year and to take the plunge and go for Open Water events.  These are a real experience and scary as hell to start with.

Highlights
It was great to complete an Olympic Distance event in Lough Neagh and smash my expected goal time, coming in at 2:52.

Another Tri highlight was the Strangford 888 and again I surpassed my expectations with a great time and a massive sense of achievement at swimming The Narrows from Strangford to Portaferry.

Lap the Lough and the North Down Coastal Challenge were terrific cycling events and I was pleased at how they went for me.

I think the one thing that really sticks in my head from 2011 was getting to compete in the same event as the Brownlee Brothers at a Duathlon in September.  They are both sporting Heroes of mine and it was great not just to see them but to meet them and get to chat with them for a wee while.  They did not disappoint as they were lovely lads and very down to earth.

Ironman
I can’t talk about 211 without mentioning the madness that was my entry for Ironman Germany in Frankfurt in July 2012.
This is a challenge that I had been thinking about for a while and I decided that it would be a great way to mark my 40^th Birthday next year.  Luckily I have great support from my wife and family and friends that allow me to commit to the mammoth training regime to get me to the start line on 8^th of July.  With 11 weeks of training gone in 2011 I have already racked up over 60 hrs. of training time with 37K of swimming, nearly 600 miles of cycling and 200 miles running.  All within a specific Heart rate zone.  With a further 26 weeks to go, I am expecting things to get progressively tougher now.

I am relishing the prospect of what is to come and the challenges that lie ahead for 2012.  Hope everyone else has the year that they all hope for.