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Ironman UK 2012, one week on..


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.

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.

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. 

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 Kingston run on 14th October. I am sure that the training for this will hit the blog at some point in the future.

But in the Ironman track, next post will be body-art related....heh heh heh.

* Fans of literary style will be relieved to notice that the highly-affected 1st person present-continuous style of the previous posts has been discontinued.
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