tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78089224532493636382024-03-12T20:06:22.547-07:00Hometown UnicornThoughts, ideas and some things that are in between. Mostly of a technical or sporty nature, and mostly harmless.peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-50691374178732672562017-05-04T06:18:00.000-07:002017-05-04T06:18:19.929-07:00Back on the roadLet's get this blog back on the road. Since I last posted (sounds confessional...don't worry), a bunch of stuff has happened, and continues to.... Two more Ironman distance races (<a href="http://www.osbevents.com/events/triathlon/outlaw-triathlon/">Outlaw</a> 2014 and 2016), a job change or two and some great football experiences. People always say this, but expect more regularity in the future :)<br />
<br />
A word about work, which sucks most of the time out of my life, so needs a mention. I am now working for a hybris System integrator <a href="https://portaltech.reply.com/portaltech/en/">PortalTech Reply</a>. We have a large project with an orange-coloured UK airline, developing a commercial system for the airline that involves a lot of integration with proprietary and COTS software they have. It's a fascinating problem domain for an IT architect, plus I am getting my hands dirty with the technology as well. Also I am working in central London (Victoria) most days a week, which is interesting in a way, although it's a bit of a building site at the moment.<br />
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Sports and fitness events also need some coverage. Still into my running, solo and now and then with <a href="https://www.strava.com/clubs/146759?hl=en-GB">this local running group</a> - aiming for what I think will be my fifth Vitruvian half-ironman distance in September. But first a little matter of an Alps mountains trip in a couple of weeks time. Training for that on my Look bike has been a great way to get back to some fitness. Also, I am now playing 5-a-side football once a week. Really enjoying that!<br />
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Lastly, my fabulous family : Freddie is a full-on gym junky, amazing everyone and smashing the weights like a warrior at <a href="http://www.fatalsgym.co.uk/">this</a> gym in Shepperton. Olly is 14 (un-be-lievable) in a couple of weeks...he's really growing unto a handsome, smart and funny lad. Very proud of him. He still plays for his team at Abbey Rangers (Come on,you Diamonds!).<br />
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So - now you are all caught up....more regular updates promised....<br />
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<br />peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-46177290608729578922013-04-14T12:25:00.000-07:002013-04-14T12:29:37.829-07:00Brighton Marathon 2013...a blastI was lucky enough to be able to run the Brighton Marathon today : I did this in memory of my father-in-law (full story <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/peter-g%20-">here</a>). I;ve not run a marathon since London in (I think) 1992 : the ADT era, when the finish was on Lambeth Bridge, not the Mall, and we all ran in plus-fours. Joking about the last bit. I ran about 3:30 on that day in 1992, at the age of 29, and with a lot more single-sport dedication to running. Now I am 50, I was thinking it would be interesting to see how I could run a single event marathon.<br />
<br />
Brighton is a young (4 runnings) but big race : 9000 competitors. The route starts from Preston Park, does a shimmy or two around the town centre, then sends you first east, then west along the sea front. Finish is just past the pier.<br />
<br />
Conditions were good : the overnight rain cleared up, there as a bit of light white cloud to keep the sun away, and some breeze but not a wind. I had a few 20 mile/3 hour runs in my recent training past, but two weeks ago picked up a kink in my right soleus that only some rest and a bit of gait analysis is likely to cure. But that wasn't a good enough reason not to race ; just one to be cautious about expectations. So my race strategy was to nurse this right leg injury carefully round the course at about 4:15 pace. In fact, that was the pace of the pacemaker group I ran with for the first 7 miles. But I found that I kept edging ahead, not suffering much, at at less that 140 HR I gave it some beans from 30KM onwards, coming home in a stormin' 3:58. Last 12KM at 53 min for 10 K pace.<br />
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If you are thinking of a spring marathon, give Brighton some thought. The race has a great atmosphere : well supported by a fantastic crowd, and great camaraderie among the runners. The feed and water stations were just right - good placement and the right stuff at the right time. And it's not hilly, so PBs should be in reach.<br />
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<br />peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-68446923082750333702013-03-16T04:35:00.001-07:002013-03-16T04:40:03.041-07:00The new swimming me...the journey begins<p dir=ltr>Last weekend I attended a <a href="http://www.totalimmersion.co.uk/">Total Immersion</a> swimming course at a school in Hampton. I had a brilliant experience (the only way to describe it) and it has transformed my way of thinking about the sport, to the extent that l now want to completely re-engineer my stroke. This morning I started out on this journey, by spending an hour just doing basic drills - glides with focus on head and arm position, and a few attempts at the two initial drills, swimming on my back and "Sweet Spot", as it is called. Relearning all this stuff isnt going to be easy, but l AM going to be patient. The prize (being able to swim effortlessly in a fish-like way) is definitely worth it!</p>
peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-25329477976339218382012-12-22T13:57:00.002-08:002012-12-22T13:58:47.262-08:00Code quality - in defence of developersOk I think it's time to step in for developers. In <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/21/financial_software_disasters/">http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/21/financial_software_disasters/</a>, Dave Mandi amuses us and points out that much code quality is low. And he - largely - beats up on the quality of developers for it. I have some sympathy for some of his arguments : in my experience, most developers have programming-language knowledge, but few know how to write applications using that language. I know many who have Development certifications but I would not "trust" to develop re-usable software components - too often, they just aren't interested enough in software design to go from programmers who can drive languages and APIs to developers who can implement software of real and lasting value. But, in my experience, many good developers don't write bad software out of ignorance : they do it because, as the author (later) acknowledges:<br />
<br />
<b>"In the real world, tight budgets, shortsighted managers, and unreasonable expectations from non-techies almost always conspire to make developers do things too quickly. </b>"<br />
<br />
Yes, that's probably the nub of it - the point when good code goes bad...when the project demands quality compromises from the design/analysis and implementation parts of the project, which mean that you just end up with stuff that is initially executable but (usually) hard to maintain, fragile, and downright nasty to work with. Nobody wants this as an outcome : but what is the reason this mostly might happen? Because the project team has over-ridden the primary rule : the customer gets to vary schedule, scope, price and resources to do a "thing", but the project team protects the implementation quality within those other variable parameters. It simply is not in the customer's interests to allow quality of implementation to be under their control. Here's an example of how this might work in a discussion:<br />
<br />
Customer : <i>how long will the system take to develop?</i>Project Manager<i> : according to my estimates, three months for an initial release with the primary use cases you have identified</i>Customer <i>: that's too long. What can you take out?</i>Project Manager<i> : well, I see that each use case has a 20% loading for use cases. How about we drop those out? That'll get you into test on time.</i>Customer <i>: Fantastic!</i><br />
<br />
Bad smell there? Feeling uneasy? Right...what happened there was, when you read...<br />
<br />
Project Manager<i> : Well, I see that each use case has a 20% loading for unit testing. How about we drop those out? That'll get you into test on time.</i><br />
<br />
The meaning actually was:<br />
<br />
Project Manager<i> : Well, I see that each use case has a 20% loading for unit testing. I can ask the development team to write perfect code first time, with no need to verify results or worry about future changes. How about that? That'll get you into test on time.</i><br />
<br />
That is an example of why project managers should not expose critical aspects of quality in development codebases to customers. No one (not me, not YOU) can write software that is perfect first time, given the poverty of requirements and analysis/design that is undertaken. And no code base should emerge into the light of day that is not supported by unit and coverage tests which support our beliefs about the abstract world we have created in our software. So project managers : train your customers to vary schedule, scope and cost, and leave the quality to the development teams.<br />
<br />
But what, I hear you cry, about the fact that (anecdoteally) developers won't release anything till it is perfect? I am not sure <i>any </i>developer wants to write code that never sees the light of day or a slice of processor time! My mantra for developers is : the best is the enemy of the good, but make sure the good is, from a quality as well as functional perspective, complete. peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-73564213561026854242012-11-06T14:56:00.001-08:002012-11-06T14:56:32.360-08:00Next event : Ballbuster!My next event is the <a href="http://www.humanrace.co.uk/events/duathlon/spring-ballbuster">February Ballbuster Duathlon</a>. I've never done a duathlon before, but I like a challenge and this is a biggie. An 8 mile run, 24 mile bike, and then another 8 miles of running to close it out. The key thing about this very popular race is that each of the 5 8-mile laps includes a climb of <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/box-hill/">Box Hill</a> in Surrey.<br />
<br />
Box Hill has a bit of an iconic status as a "challenge" but it's basically a pussycat in road cycling hill terms. There are far more aggressive, far longer climbs in the North Downs (looking at you, Ranmore), and even I've been able to climb it out of the saddle, in 42x16 on my single speed - and I'm no monsta. The stats don't lie : the road is a steady climb of 120 metres (390 ft) over 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) but won't have you hallucinating. What it does have is fabulous views on the way up, a couple of "pretend we're on Alp d'Huez for a moment" hairpins, and a decent tea and cake stop at the top.<br />
<br />
My training for this event will be pretty standard : three/four runs a week (hilly where I can get them), with a Sunday brick, and as many weekday commutes as I can manage to top up the bike. Looking forward to it already!peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-88706070296762245642012-10-18T03:51:00.000-07:002012-10-18T03:51:00.881-07:00Keep people on the wagon to make social software stickAside from the buzz and enthusiasm of social software deployments, there's sometimes a back-story. I've been wondering about how well organsations deploying social software plan catch to on-boarded users before they fall back to old habits. Here's the scenario that I am thinking of.<br />
<br />When we deploy business change technologies, we tend to measure on-boarding as a one-off activity (we measure stuff like that partly because it's easy to measure, which is a bit of an anti-pattern in itself). So, once a user has been trained, posted, edited a profile, added people to a network, we cross them off a list. However, this fails to recognise what, from my experience, is the strong influence of learned-behaviour of the non-social user, and how these users' inertia can reset interactions to levels of lower social value.<br />
<br />
The reasons we fall back to old ways and habits are many:<br />
<br />
<i>The derived social value of an interaction obeys the "Convoy" principle</i><br />
<br />
The answer to the question "How fast does a convoy of ships move?" is "The maximum cruising speed of the slowest ship". In the same way, the derived social value of an interaction is level-set by the least collaborative participant. If one participant is (still) using mail, then expect the conversation to take place in mail, as opposed to a forum. In my experience, in that situation, interactions will sink to the lowest social value, just to get the job done. You need to aim, in your business adoption selection of participants, for those who have *roughly* equivalent social ways of working, and work hard to move business to social tools when they drop out. That's a key role of business change agents - to gently but firmly change behaviour by moderating interactions to keep the social value high. <br />
<br />
<i>Humans find habits are hard to break, easy to fall back to</i><br /><br />
We've probably all been lured back to sharing files by mail, using mail as a discussion thread for public conversations that belong in a community context, or working out of a mail on shared tasks as a project planning tool. It's easy to do, because it's a learned-response from years of having no real alternatives, and from not understanding the impact on the low social value of mail. Let's compare this with another habit : smoking. <a href="http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/health-and-lifestyles/nhs-stop-smoking-services/statistics-on-nhs-stop-smoking-services-england-april-2011-to-september-2011-q2--quarterly-report">Statistics on giving up smoking</a> show that the longer you stay smoke-free, the better your chances of staying that way ; and the converse also applies. <br />
<br />There is a way to catch the "recidivists", and it's going to be part of a successful adoption strategy : measure the <i>in</i>activity of people who had shown some initial involvement in use of the social software. My contention is that it is a good use of business adoption time therefore to:<br />
<ul>
<li>be sure to capture the need to monitor the ongoing involvement of new participants, and </li>
<li>worry about those potential drop outs, and be able to catch them at the time that their level of collaboration starts to drop off, and</li>
<li>make sure to learn from their stories : they dropped off for reasons that are likely to common, and you might need to address in future iterations of your adoption plan</li>
</ul>
<br />peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-15866306661541103992012-08-28T05:40:00.001-07:002012-08-29T03:44:51.948-07:00Let's keep it personal..IBM Connect and the soul of LotusToday I start a new challenge, working for an IBM Premier Business Partner called <a href="http://www.chooseportal.com/">Portal</a> in Bracknell, Berkshire. I'll be helping their customers make, and get value from, their investments in IBM Collaboration software of all types : from transactional portal application dressed with user managed web content, through Social Software for organisations on the road to becoming a social business, and not forgetting along the way our Notes/Domino customers who've been getting value from Notes, Sametime and other Lotus products for over 20 years. Today's the day to meet the Portal people and get connected - many of these people I have known from project work over the years and it's a great pleasure to be linking up with and working with them again.<br />
<br />
The main thing on my mind today : the decision to <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/events/conference/">embed Lotusphere 2013 inside the IBM Connect event</a>. I have two contradictory thoughts on this : <br />
<ol>
<li>"It's not a moment too soon" : customers are confused about the term "Lotus" which has been carved out of all except the traditional Notes/Domino product nomenclature such as Lotus (now IBM) Connections. It's not about a brand name or label, but about customer value and customers' objectives to facilitate improved productivity through better connected-ness. We should clear away legacy brand-based approaches to realise this bigger vision.</li>
<li>"Lotus is the philosophical heart of collaboration software" : emotionally speaking, "Lotus" represents, overwhelmingly to existing customers, the people-entry point to the enterprise at its most focused. Lotus has never been as much a technology stack as a symbol of an approach or paradigm which is at its heart more about people than places or things. Losing the term means more than just relabelling : it's indicative of a less "human" guiding spirit behind software and its application.</li>
</ol>
To be honest, when I examine it, I find the latter sentiment to be, er, sentimental, and over-subjective. We all perceive the value of a "brand" but we should be realistic about its longevity, and the potential for time to dilute its meaning. But I can fully understand how, given the history of Lotus and its fantastic customers, how that loyalty comes about and persists, especially at a time of great change and challenge. And I also recognise that maintaining customer loyalty requires a recognition of the emotional content of that loyalty, gained along a mutual journey. If we recognise this, and factor this into our conversations with customers, we will do fine. If we forget it, and treat social business as an IT challenge to be solved "just" with middleware and databases, we'll fail. How will <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/collaboration/events/connect/">IBM Connect</a> announce IBM's intentions, I wonder? I think it promises to be a great event, where IBM's technology and social business thought leadership come together, and I hope it brings to the stage both the head <i>and</i> the heart of collaboration.peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-82085593174146749332012-08-01T12:02:00.001-07:002012-08-01T12:10:19.800-07:00My training logging for IMUKLike all triathletes and semi-serious fitness types, I like to record my sessions and for my recent IMUK I made a big effort to plan and record my sessions against my plan. This is for me was doubly motivational<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>on a rainy morning, the fact that there's a big fat zero in the "actual" column might - just - get you out for the session</li>
<li>on the start line, you can only remember all the work you've done that got you to that point if you bothered to write it down</li>
</ul>
<br />
I am going to blog separately my overall approach to Ironman training (it's not going to cause a revolution in methods), but I wanted to document here how I recorded it, in case others find the level of detail and overall approach useful.<br />
<br />
For planning and retrospective analysis, I created a spreadsheet with<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>a main sheet for the whole training time (1 row per week, with single columns for targets for swim, bike and run for the week</li>
<li>separate sheets for each 4 week "iteration" (next post will explain how these work) with daily targets and actuals. You can pin these up on your kitchen noticeboard to keep your loved ones aware of the madness that awaits</li>
</ol>
<br />
The spreadsheet is great : flexible, easy to crunch the numbers etc : but what I worked out in advance was that unless I had an easy way to record each session, I'd probably forget. And I wasn't going to take my laptop to the pool.<br />
<br />
So, of course, the answer was an app which took very little time to update and was always available : so that's the phone. I am an Android user, and after a bit of research the application I chose was <a href="http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/sports/triathletes-training-diary_biwce.html">Tri Hard</a> from foofvalve. As they say:<br />
<br />
<i>Key Features:<br />* Track your training progress<br />* Add/Edit training sessions via dashboard interface<br />* Graph training volume/distance over time<br />* Widget - set a countdown timer for your next event. View your weekly summary<br />* Swipe through your weekly training entries<br />* Export training data into CSV format<br />* View Grand Totals from all of your training sessions</i><br />
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It's a very simple application, allowing you to record basic details (time, distances, average HR) of sessions for Swim, Bike or Run, and of course allowing multi-sport days. I never used the CSV export, but as I was easily able to update the spreadsheet from the app once or twice a week, that didn't really matter. Weekly totals on each week page are a great way to see how your efforts are building up, but on the negative side, I did find the graphical reporting less than useful, and the application didn't seem to handle cross-year boundaries very well. But, in summary, it's a very simple app, which did all I needed it to do.peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-18423938009844796612012-07-29T06:33:00.000-07:002012-07-29T06:34:09.413-07:00Ironman UK 2012, one week on..<style type="text/css">
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Driving back to Shepperton - mid
Monday, school holidays - was pretty uneventful, except for a stop
for food at Warwick services, where me and Olly met up with a few
IMUK competitors “refuelling” in Burger King. Nice to bump into
the couple who crossed the line together the previous evening, and a
guy in a woolly hat who I'd chatted to in the hotel car park. We
got back mid afternoon, and being the sort of guy who likes to get
things squared away, I spent a relaxing our getting kit put away,
my foul-smelling wetsuit rinsed, and over-ripe bananas consigned to
recycling. Then a relaxing evening, before back to work Tuesday.</div>
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My physical state over the next few
days was quite interesting. I'd got some sunburn on my right
shoulder (missed that bit in T2), and my quads were sore off and on
over the next few days, but to my surprise, my feet were in excellent
shape : no blistered or chaffing. Coming downstairs Tuesday morning
was harder than it had been Monday, and I remember now that was how I
felt after the 1992 London Marathon : fine on the Monday,
“ow-ouch-no-wait” on Tuesday.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I took a look at Friel's advice and did
nothing during the working week, then had an easy 8km run Friday
evening - I could feel some lactic acid still in my legs, and 45
minutes was definitely enough, but I really enjoyed the run. Today
(the Sunday, exactly a week after the event) I did an easy two hour
ride...no ill effects, and felt strong. My psychological state over
the week has been excellent : a mixture of mild but persistent
elation, and milder dis-belief - I still can't believe I've achieved
this feat. I really do think it's changed me a bit for the
better, but I am not sure how..perhaps I am in the worst position to
judge. </div>
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<br /></div>
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As for getting back to some training : I've entered an event as a bit of a
kicker to get back into some training : the 16 mile version of the
<a href="http://www.humanrace.co.uk/events/run/kingston-run-challenge">Kingston
run</a> on 14<sup>th</sup> October. I am sure that the training for
this will hit the blog at some point in the future.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But in the Ironman track, next post
will be body-art related....heh heh heh.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>* Fans of literary style will be
relieved to notice that the highly-affected 1<sup>st</sup> person
present-continuous style of the previous posts has been discontinued.</i></span></div>peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-65165185680735774652012-07-27T14:27:00.004-07:002012-07-29T06:19:17.491-07:00Ironman UK 2012...the aftermath<style type="text/css">
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I am sure this is a common feeling but
immediately after the race - by immediately, I mean for a few seconds
- I don't actually feel that my race and day was over. Medal and
official race photo, then a sort of limbo – my brain is still
going, but my body isn't. Massive hugs with my wife and son in the
sort of U-bend, then into the tent to be subtly eyeballed by
some medical staff , collect my Finisher t-shirt (oh YEAH), and grab two
slices of pizza and a slice of orange. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I sit down on a white plastic
chair in the finisher's area, feeling a bit like a lab rat, being
peered at in a friendly way by spectators through the fencing.
Perhaps they think I am going to die, but actually all I do is sit
there and for about 2 minutes silently chomp my pizza, swig from a
bottle of water and (this sound self-indulgent but, give me a
break...) marvel at what I have achieved over the past day, weeks and
months. I look around and there are four or five other newly-minted
Ironmen in the same mental state – we aren't exhausted, (well, we
also might be exhausted) we're just … calm, and finding a quiet
place.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Pizza scoffed, I get to my feet...what next? I look at the
queue for massage and decide against it : want to get out and share
the moment with my family. Ah yes, get my bags. These are in an
annexe of the Town Hall, and are pretty efficiently handed over by
the ever-so-helpful IM people. I squeeze through a manned gap in
the fencing and after a bit of shuffling about, hook up with Olly and
Freddie. We get back to the finish to cheer a few more people in,
including a husband and wife who hold hands across the line, and a
(Spanish?) guy who is sent back to re-cross the line because he ran
across the first time with his baby on his shoulder.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's a lovely
warm evening and we walk back to the hotel together, past others
coming up the main drag and cheering finishers, and, for some with a
way to go yet, those on their way to complete the final laps. The
hotel's only about 500 metres away (a nice change from the morning's
complex logistics) and it's nice to cool down with a chatty walk
back. What I really want is a cold Coke, so we sit in the busy bar,
and that's what I have. I am still feeling a bit psychically
overloaded by the whole event, a little unable to take it all in, so
it's really good to sit in and chat with my family about the day. I
spot the Danish guy from breakfast, relaxing with his dad, and walk
over to chat to him...he's had a good day. Doesn't actually look
like he'd been anywhere – impressive. Despite promptings, I am not
really hungry....feel a little nauseous, and not really in the mood
to eat, but still incredibly euphoric. We are getting north of 10:30,
it's been a long day for all of us, so we head up to the hotel room, I grab a quick
bath to get the (considerable) dirt of the day off, and into bed. I am last to get to
sleep, around 1 am I think, but I'm not anxious about it, and just enjoy a
feeling of rest and creeping exhaustion. It's quiet, dark, my lovely
family are around me and I am expecting to sleep till midday.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So, it's 05:30 and I am wide awake, and feeling
incredibly full of energy. I want to get up, think about going down
to reception to read (“A House for Mr Biswas”, by VS Naipaul),
but realise I'll wake up everyone up. So I quietly have a shave, and
try to get back to sleep, but I am too full of the energies of the
previous 72 hours to relax much. After a while my fidgetting wakes
the family and we get up and head down to a breakfast room mostly
occupied by IM competitors, and have a nice family breakfast. My
wife has to get back to London to work, so we check out and Olly and
I get set for the final act : getting to T2 to get the bike, and then
back to London. Freddie drops us at the Reebok, and we get the estate
car up to Rivington. Olly's let into T2 to help me find my bike and
bring it out:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDD5RTwQR8yR_LAdlYDXCcAncmRtqKSFYb0CAaKawGLKQ2JJM534rz6pGOJWsrfjb-X247dm07AOP-3pq9rJtv3LlQCwrhWSOCBwVCY-B3rJS4Dqy-GjxBQzGRFUsyV4khHb1_AIJTyM/s1600/2012-07-23+08.23.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDD5RTwQR8yR_LAdlYDXCcAncmRtqKSFYb0CAaKawGLKQ2JJM534rz6pGOJWsrfjb-X247dm07AOP-3pq9rJtv3LlQCwrhWSOCBwVCY-B3rJS4Dqy-GjxBQzGRFUsyV4khHb1_AIJTyM/s320/2012-07-23+08.23.24.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
a bit of mild panic, because they aren't racked in
race number order - an IM guy says “Never too early to get them
(the kids) into it”, and gives us a big smile. Then we're in the
car, packed up, and ready to roll for home.</div>peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-14559796299419807582012-07-25T15:20:00.002-07:002012-07-30T00:44:34.588-07:00Ironman UK 2012 - the race day!<style type="text/css">
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<b>The big day begins</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So. It's 02:45. I get out of bed,
jump into my tri suit and calf guards, and head off to the bathroom
to stare at my bleary face and apply my tattoo. Hold on, is it left
arm or right? It's right. After a minute or so I have “1234”
going down my right arm. I pop on a T and some Ron Hill legs, grab
my car key, and white swim bag with wetsuit, bodyglide, and goggles,
and head off to breakfast. The only people eating at this time are,
of course, IM athletes, so I sit and chat to a nice guy called
Michael (all the way from Copenhagen) about the day to come and stick
a plate of porridge down my throat. He's got previous experience :
Challenge Copenhagen. That looks like a franchise to watch. Sitting
in the restaurant, looking out of the window into a still-very-dark
Bolton night, finishing the race seems a long way away. We wish
each other luck, and I go down to the car park, find my car and drive
the 15 minutes to the Reebock Stadium where the buses are lined up to
take us to the swim. I quickly fill my two bike bottles with water
(on top of the SIS powder already in the bottles), lock the car, and
head off in what feels like the dark of Mordor to join a short queue
of, to be honest, not very happy-looking people lining up to be
marshalled onto a blue double decker. Five minutes later and we're
off, mostly in silence, bumping our way thru the Lancashire night to
the Swim start. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Twenty minutes or so, later, we all
troop off the bus, and head off in completely the wrong direction.
Great start to the day. A shout from a marshall and we are then
walking along a wooded path to the swim start. Sound of generators,
shadows from arc lights start to appear, and then T1 becomes
familiar. A grey dawn gently drops down from the sky, and my first
stop is T1 to get my bottles on my bike, check that I can remember
where it is. Those nice people at IM have covered the bikes with
plastic sheets, and finding the bike's initially a challenge. The
bike is fine, and I walk back out to look out at the water, and
sample the atmosphere. I suddenly realise that my nervousness has
mostly disappeared. I sit down by the water on a bench and watch
people and their partners arrive, and go thru preparations. I am
just wondering when to start putting on my wetsuit when I see other
competitors doing just that, and also realise I am not completely
sure where the start is, so a marshall helps me out. I get my legs
into my suit, apply Body glide as liberally as I can, get swim hat
and goggles out of the bag, and give the bag in at the truck, which
will take it to the finish. It's 5:50, 30 mins to go ,and the
announcements and motivational music are starting. A line of white
hatted, wetsuited IM competitors starts to build up at the water
entry point : this is a mass start, in the water, and most people
don't want to be at the back. I find someone to help me zip up my
suit, and we chat about the day ahead. General laughs as a few spots
of light rain fall, cheers when it stops. Then we start to filter in
towards the start, professionals at the front, and a big cheer goes
up for the injured vets competing for Team True Spirit and their
companion athletes. At 5 to 6 we are mostly not in the water; I
idly wonder how we can get in in five minutes, and realise it will be
a late start. Getting in the line in the last 200 or so, we troop
under the start banner, and slide off a red carpetted platform into
about 4 feet of pleasant water (16 degrees). Under keen urging from
the marshalls, we swim out about 20 metres, about 30 metres behind
the official start where the professionals are churning it up in
their warm up. I do a few strokes get accustomed to the warm temp,
and stretch out arms, and then roll onto my back to look back at the
start; swimmers still sliding in and then suddenly everyone is off
the start platform. What seems only seconds later, the start is
sounded. I am not sure now if it was a klaxon, gun or both, but
suddenly we're off, and its 06:10. The washing machine starts off
ahead of me, but, as a weak swimmer, that's not my concern : I am
looking to get into a good rhythm, treat the swim as a chance to
relax into the event, and see if I can catch a draft.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The swim</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Even at the back of the group, it's
pretty crazy, but I stay out of trouble, and my technique for the
first 750m to the first buoy stayed good. And – good news – at
that buoy I manage to catch a few tens of metres of draft from
another swimmer, and then another at the second turn around. By this
time we are turning back to the shore for lap one, and one mental
milestone passed, but my luck runs out when a breast-stroker
accidentally hoofs me in the ribs at a bad part of my stroke, causing
me to take in a lot of water – as it was swallow or choke, I went
for swallow. At this point I really have to focus, and look for
clear water, and concentrate on good technique. Fifteen minutes
later, I have recovered well, and am being helped out of the water at
the end of lap one, before trotting back along the 30 or so metres to
the start platform to begin lap two.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Lap two is a lonelier experience. All
the half-way decent swimmers are well out of my draftable range by
now, so I settle into a rhythm and start to think about how the day
is going so far. In fact I start to relax and swim more easily.
Rolling, I can see a bit of blue sky breaking through the grey, and
the turnaround buoy seems to come reasonably quickly. By the time I
am half-way back to the shore, fatigue is setting in a bit, and my
stroke is starting to break down a little, but I get out in
reasonable shape in what turned out to be the expectedly poor time of
1:42. Wetsuit down to waist, hat rolled off : next stop, T1.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Transition 1</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Good marshalling gets me into the
transition tent in no time at all. I grab my blue bag and head over
to the seating area; I am actually reasonably pleased to see that
there were other bags uncollected – so I am not last. In the bag
I had placed a detailed list of things to do - I really didn't want
to head off without nutrition, or getting all the comfort factors
sorted out : I put on cycling shorts and my gilet over my tri suit,
load the gilet up with enery bars and other items to munch, and spend
a good 30 seconds drying my feet, and getting some comfy socks on
before my cycling shoes, and lastly slapping on some sun stuff, which
seemed an odd thing to do in the dark and glooming tent. Seems like
a long time (11 minutes so it was) but in the light of the whole day,
a bit of decent care and feeding in transition goes a long way. Then
I get my helmet and gloves on, stuf swimming stuff into the blue bag,
and shuffle out to the bike racking area. I find the Look pretty
easily(well, there aren't many bikes left by this stage). Rules
state no riding till the official mount zone so I trot out, swing a
leg over in the mount area, and head off out to the roads of
Lancashire.</div>
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<b><br /></b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The bike </b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
By now it is about 7:50 on a lovely
bright morning and – joy of joys – closed roads. So straight
over roundabouts, left turns, through junctions, with the police
holding up traffic so we can keep going! Amazing, all the day long.
The first part of the ride is to get north-east, up to the start of
three hilly laps, each starting with the infamous Sheep House Lane
(SHL) climb. And the first 30 km or so turn out to be basically a
lovely spin up thru quiet roads, saying hi to other riders and
thankin people who had turned out to support (and there were
thousands, over the day, of those!) My bike plan was : 25 km per
hour, no red zoning, high cadence – just as I had trained. After
about an hour however, it becomes clear that the terrain will not be
letting me maintain that average speed without significantly more
effort – or “beans” as we call them – than I have trained
for. Worse still, I have some concern, with my “leisurely” swim
performance, that I won't make the cut off time at the pace I was
riding. So : nothing for it, but to burn. On the three hilly laps, I
go pretty hard, using my cyclometer to report average speed; on the
hilly start of each lap, my average speed drops, and I plan to use
the back part of the lap, with some lovely country/moorland
downhills, to make time back. But other factors affecting this were
the wind and sun; it's a hot and sunny day, and a headwind that makes
riding on the flat pretty draining. So the bike, lovely though it
was, becomes the most tiring part of the day. It is a beautiful
ride; SHL is an epic climb. The start is fantastically
supported, a series of curves covered by trees, lots of people
cheering, ringing bells, pots and pans; then it straightens, climbs
goes through a gate, and rears to the top of the moor at its
steepest, then bears left and goes AGAIN before a fine decent into a
village. First time up ; no problem, relatively easy spinning,
although I was in 34/25. Second time ; feeling it, but still under
control. Third and last time : a total grind, but I am determined
not to walk it like others were by this time. Pre-riding the course
is something I really should have done...but you can't be everywhere.
Bike time 7:42 – under the circumstances, a good effort, and I
roll into T2 at ten to four in the afternoon.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Transition 2</b> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sitting in T2, changing into my run
gear, I am feeling pretty good, considering. I know I have been on a
loooong ride, but my mood is perky, people around are in good spirits
(all VERY pleased to be off the bike...the last link up to T2 seemed
to take an age), and I know I was going to make it...at some time.
Once again, a ten minute transition : got to look after those feet,
so new socks, plenty of Vaseline in all those chafing “hotspots”,
some more sunblock, on with the shoes and hat, and off we go. The
main question in my mind was : how long will the run take?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>On the run</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Running out of T2, on the slight
downhill to the road into Bolton, my legs are definitely a bit shaky,
but a bit of support from the lovely local folk, and the thought that
the day was nearer the finish than the start really picks me up. My
run strategy was basically shot : I knew I'd been too into the red on
the bike to run anything close to 4:15, so I was settling for a
consistent performance, and let's see where we are after an hour.
The sun is still beating down, and I was starting to feel a raw patch
on my right shoulder where I had clearly missed with sunblock. I
like to run with others and in about a kilometer, I jog up alongside
a guy called Peter, who has a similar run pace and overall race
aspirations in mind – plus, he'd done the race last year so could
offer some good tips. We run and chat for an hour as we ran the
first 6 miles down to the start of the laps into and out of Bolton
city centre that constitute the marathon. I feel pretty good on this
six miles, but there's a feeling that a run/walk strategy was looming
is starting to emerge. We turn off the canal, up a steep track and
at last arrive (another mental milestone) on the laps section. So
just 3 of these laps, collecting a different coloured band each lap
as evidence (though there are timing mats for your leg-attached chip
all over the course), and then a final run back into Bolton. After
another hour, and by this time, we had worked out a walk the
feed-stations/run the gaps approach, we had our first band, and the
sun was starting to set, providing some relief and deeper shade. A
woman in a house along the road has a hosepipe turned on over the
runners which is really refreshing. I wasn't feeling too good as
this point : digestion problems mean that each time I have a drink
(was drinking flat coke/water in a 1:3 ratio), I have to walk for a
few minutes to keep it down. Peter is suffering too, in his case
with calves. As with the bike, hundreds of people are out and
supporting, and cheering friends and complete strangers with equal
vigour.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On we continue, through lap two and
then lap three at about 8 pm. I get a big buzz from seeing my wife
and son each time we pass through central Bolton, and my mood never
really deteriorates, even at the the end of each lap when, instead of
heading off down the finish funnel to the nirvana of Ironman-ness, we
have to go right, along Le Mans Crescent and out for another lap.
Starting lap three our pace is reasonable and some quick calculations
tell me we'll make finish by 9 pm : giving me a sub 15 hr finish.
But as we proceed through the lap, our pace drops, and eventually I
run on from the end turn, and (very pleased with myself) put in a 30
minute final 5 km, with good pace and control and some pride in my
running style. The support all the way back into Bolton is amazing,
and for the first time in the run I feel strong, passing other
finishers on the way. Coming down the final hill, though the last
feed station, right into the main street, and then into the finish
area in front of the Town Hall : a quick look up and YES....14:55!!
“Peter Greaves, you are an Ironman!”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hometown-unicorn.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/ironman-uk-2012the-aftermath.html">Next ...</a> </div>peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-13605972022813024762012-07-24T15:21:00.001-07:002012-07-30T00:43:36.389-07:00Ironman UK 2012 - Friday evening and Saturday<style type="text/css">
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During Friday afternoon I laid out all
my kit in the hotel room, and bagged. Sad to say I even rehearsed
the changes, just to make sure I had the right stuff in the right
bags. Then I bagged up Red and Blue bags and put them to one site.
Friday night was pretty grim – a tip to others : if you are
planning to stay in the Holiday Inn, book very early and demand a
room on the third / fourth floor or higher, because otherwise you'll
lose even more sleep from the wedding parties (they can run two at a
time) which occur, noisily, on the ground floor till 1 am. I managed
a few dozes till the partying stopped around 1 am and then</div>
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<br /></div>
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Saturday was set-up day : a first look
at the lake, and T1 and T2. But first I went down to check out the
Ironkids event in the town centre<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02jGIdLzuVrs_8TfHxai7uov4YKxV7w02xiT5NLjDxFA427ONtUu_l-fUfdIwYaPD75WUZIytw4q4GAeTrgXfaaIiRpuGPDbpK0Cx18Spj_T_didE2W5b0EG8fnWPhY-iWfKBY-Zn0R8/s1600/2012-07-21+09.22.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02jGIdLzuVrs_8TfHxai7uov4YKxV7w02xiT5NLjDxFA427ONtUu_l-fUfdIwYaPD75WUZIytw4q4GAeTrgXfaaIiRpuGPDbpK0Cx18Spj_T_didE2W5b0EG8fnWPhY-iWfKBY-Zn0R8/s320/2012-07-21+09.22.49.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This was basically a run event
for 6 yro and up kids who had a blast running around the last km of
the run route and under the Ironman Finish banner. Fun to see them
and hear the parents and friends cheering as they went around.
Then I decided to hit T2 and drop my red run bag. T2 was a cute
school in Rivington, a town midway up the slopes to the hills, closed
for the summer holidays, and the transition areas made use of two
areas : a concreted, fenced area (probably tennis courts or similar)
where the traditional rails for the bikes were stationed, and a gym
in which we dropped our red bags with running gear in, in neat ranks
of 100 or so per line. The plan was : drop the bike and then run
thru up to the gym, quick change into run gear, and then out the
other end of the gym. From T2 time for the sat nav again : to T1.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
T1, and the swim start was very
impressive : a fantastic site with the open water and large orange
buoys ahead:<br />
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<br />
and a grassed area for bike racks. Interestingly, as
soon as I entered transition there was a photo shoot : for my bike,
not for me. Not quite sure what that was about. First job was to
find my Look's slot (next to a fine looking Cervelo):<br />
<br />
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<br />
and racked it up
in the approved manner. A quick pinch of the tyres and then to drop my
blue bike bag. Behind the bike racks, there was a tent in which we
hung our bags with bike shoes, helmets, nutrition etc on numbered
racks:<br />
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Alongside the racks was a changing area with some seating. I
checked out my bag position carefully, checked the contents a final
time, and headed out.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
My big plan next was to drive a lap of
the bike course (an idea I got from chatting to another IM competitor
who I met in the hotel). Problem with that was that I was trying to
follow the IM bike course arrows, but not all of them I think were in
place, and, what was worse, road works and other traffic issues
stopped it : I just couldn't get up the road, and was wary of
spending hours in the car where really resting up was what I needed.
So, a bit disappointed, I turned back to the event centre at the
Reebok, to check up on the next day's coach times, eat, and check out
the Expo. After finding out that basically the coaches ran every 10
minutes up to 4:40, I crammed some pasta down at Ask in the retail
park next to the Reebok, and set off back to the hotel.</div>
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The next few hours were, basically,
very stressful. Knowing that the big day was here, but annoying, a
very fitful night away didn't help my mood, and I certainly couldn't
relax. Reception had told me that there were two weddings in the
hotel that night, so I crammed my industrial earplugs in and tried,
without much expectation, to get some sleep from about 7 pm: watch
alarm and phone alarm (backup) both set for 02:50. Plan was : up,
apply race number and age group tattoos, get into tri-suit and down
to breakfast. In the event, I must have drifted off, and work up
about 5 minutes before the alarm. This was it – <a href="http://hometown-unicorn.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/ironman-uk-2012-race-day.html">the day to become an Ironman</a>....</div>peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808922453249363638.post-11793804491967168152012-07-20T09:35:00.000-07:002012-07-30T00:42:11.357-07:00Ironman UK 2012 - FridayI thought I'd blog the experience of doing an Ironman event, as it has commanded a lot of my time and attention in the last few months, and I really wanted to capture my thoughts and feelings as the big day approaches. For those not in the know, <a href="http://www.ironmanuk.com/ironman-uk">Ironman UK</a> is a long distance triathlon - 3.8km swim, 180 km bike, an then a marathon run, which is held yearly in Bolton, NW England.<br />
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I travelled up today, a long but uneventful drive in the faithful Peugeot 308, and I've managed to get all the logistics sorted : register for the event, find and check in at the hotel, and attend the mandatory race briefing. The briefing was basically a talk thru of the rules, course and overall event plan, and the audience was about 600 wasted-looking athletes. I guess we've been doing some training! I was chatting to a nice guy from just down the road (Altrincham) who, like me, just wants to hear those words "You are an Ironman!"<br />
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Looks like we'll be getting dry weather on race day (Sunday), with a bit of a breeze. Definitely going to be a day for the considered and generous application of sunblock in both T1 and T2, so I am glad I have two sets of the stuff - T1 and T2 are in two different places!<br />
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I am planning to hit the pasta party in about 30 minutes, cram a lot of food down my face, chat to a few other competitors. Will blog a bit more later!<br />
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<a href="http://hometown-unicorn.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/ironman-uk-2012-friday-evening-and.html">The Next day ...</a>peter greaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12317723383192299883noreply@blogger.com0