12th October 2013
Well breaking through barriers is a bit of a generalisation. I guess I need to start by defining barriers. In the context of Ironman training it is really quite simple. There are 2 types of barriers, firstly those that we have no control over and those that we do.
Sounds straightforward but interestingly it is the latter which I would like to focus on. I recently started a new job and the hours and the nature of the work has blown my training regime apart. So my new job is a barrier to my training goals, OK so the answer is to re evaluate my plan. It might be that I have no choice but to reduce my training hours and plan ahead with greater precision.
Worse case scenario may require me to re evaluate my targets and make them less ambitious, However, I am not going to do this just yet. Planning and preparation are vital and no more important than when you have seemingly every obstacle being thrown at you.
There is nothing worse than the unknown, we are innately fearful of the unknown, but why? We can walk away from a challenge very easily and say: "you know what, I might just give this a miss, I don't think I can do it, and if I do I will be rubbish" We live our lives according to comfort zones, for me personally I find those comfort zones become greater as you get older, maybe because you lose that natural desire to explore and you are governed mentally by bad previous experiences.
If you walk over to the cliff edge and you are unsure of the water below you would probably and wisely not jump. If it can't hurt you then go for it, don't hold back, embrace the challenge and the unknown, feel alive and try it and aim high. You can do it, let negative thoughts in by all means but acknowledge them and move forward, never stop moving forward and thinking one step ahead.
My Dad used to say to us: 'You can be anything you want to in life, if you want to be a brain surgeon you can be a brain surgeon' Well why not apply that logic in all that you do: One thing for sure, I will keep going, I am off now for a bike ride, its windy and gloomy and today I am just going to ride and see where it takes me.
David Ed Smith
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Friday, 4 October 2013
Ironman Crusade: The best Ironman event ever!
4th October 2013
Now there is a thought, the best ever Ironman? Challenge Roth perhaps, or Ironman Hawaii? How about Ironman Nice or Ironman Frankfurt. Well as I have only ever done Ironman UK I have to say that is my favourite.
On a previous post (if I recall correctly Monday 30th September) I concluded by saying I had an idea which I will share with you. Well now is a good a time as any:
I am probably not the first person to suggest this and some have no doubt done it, but why not create your own Ironman event.. Let me expand, I have an older son who lives with his Mum, the distance from my house is around 85km or so. Well I have made that drive many times and it dawned on me why not cycle it, and then I thought, why not do a 3.8km swim first, jump on the bike and map out a scenic route to his house measuring 90km, pop in a say hi to my son before cycling back home jumping off the bike and running a marathon.
There are many things to consider of course, first and foremost could this be done without support crew, answer I believe is yes, but that would mean the swim would need to be done in a pool. Potentially I could leave my car at the pool car park do the swim, run out to the car, extract bike from car and off I go. So pool car park is T1. I could then plot out a route which ensures I pass garages and other places where I could use toilets and purchase supplies if required. I would leave some supplies at my son's house with things like spare tubes, so this would be no different to picking up a bag on the cycle part of an Ironman event. T2 would be my own house where I would simply drop my bike get my trainers on and again off I go for the marathon.
Let's look at the positives, Ironman events don't come cheap this would cost nothing more than the supplies and bits you would take out on a long training ride. Secondly and perhaps most appealing is that you choose your own route. I would pick the most scenic route imaginable, I even had the idea of taking a camera so I could capture the beautiful countryside of southern England. You can also choose when to go, looks a bit cold and wet on the Saturday but the Sunday looks good, then you can easily delay 24 hours. You can run where you want, one big loop, an out and back, cross country and so on.
What about the downside, well this would be solitary just you and the great outdoors, no crowds to cheer you on, no other competitors to race against and to share in the misery and glory and no medal waiting for you at the end. Yes this is private suffering and perhaps satisfaction, who knows how you might feel. Why not download the route for others to try, may even catch on and you can exchange routes with others home and abroad and try out their events. I guess its a bit like an underground movement for endurance seekers.
So instead of waking up one morning and saying '"Honey just off for a run be about an hour"you might say: "honey just popping out to do an Ironman, in about 11 hours would you mind running me a nice bath!'
Will give this some thought and keep you all updated
Bye for now David Ed Smith
Now there is a thought, the best ever Ironman? Challenge Roth perhaps, or Ironman Hawaii? How about Ironman Nice or Ironman Frankfurt. Well as I have only ever done Ironman UK I have to say that is my favourite.
On a previous post (if I recall correctly Monday 30th September) I concluded by saying I had an idea which I will share with you. Well now is a good a time as any:
I am probably not the first person to suggest this and some have no doubt done it, but why not create your own Ironman event.. Let me expand, I have an older son who lives with his Mum, the distance from my house is around 85km or so. Well I have made that drive many times and it dawned on me why not cycle it, and then I thought, why not do a 3.8km swim first, jump on the bike and map out a scenic route to his house measuring 90km, pop in a say hi to my son before cycling back home jumping off the bike and running a marathon.
There are many things to consider of course, first and foremost could this be done without support crew, answer I believe is yes, but that would mean the swim would need to be done in a pool. Potentially I could leave my car at the pool car park do the swim, run out to the car, extract bike from car and off I go. So pool car park is T1. I could then plot out a route which ensures I pass garages and other places where I could use toilets and purchase supplies if required. I would leave some supplies at my son's house with things like spare tubes, so this would be no different to picking up a bag on the cycle part of an Ironman event. T2 would be my own house where I would simply drop my bike get my trainers on and again off I go for the marathon.
Let's look at the positives, Ironman events don't come cheap this would cost nothing more than the supplies and bits you would take out on a long training ride. Secondly and perhaps most appealing is that you choose your own route. I would pick the most scenic route imaginable, I even had the idea of taking a camera so I could capture the beautiful countryside of southern England. You can also choose when to go, looks a bit cold and wet on the Saturday but the Sunday looks good, then you can easily delay 24 hours. You can run where you want, one big loop, an out and back, cross country and so on.
What about the downside, well this would be solitary just you and the great outdoors, no crowds to cheer you on, no other competitors to race against and to share in the misery and glory and no medal waiting for you at the end. Yes this is private suffering and perhaps satisfaction, who knows how you might feel. Why not download the route for others to try, may even catch on and you can exchange routes with others home and abroad and try out their events. I guess its a bit like an underground movement for endurance seekers.
So instead of waking up one morning and saying '"Honey just off for a run be about an hour"you might say: "honey just popping out to do an Ironman, in about 11 hours would you mind running me a nice bath!'
Will give this some thought and keep you all updated
Bye for now David Ed Smith
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Ironman Crusade: You are what you eat
2nd October 2013
Got thinking the other day about nutrition. Let's face it the modern diet is generally pretty horrendous, and the temptation to grab a burger or a chocolate bar is never far away. So I was thinking how important is it? Well the truth is I have no idea.
I was looking at You Tube the other day and there is this American endurance man who runs Marathons, writes books, never seems to sleep and eats a ridiculously healthy diet. He also never seems to get injured and recovers really quickly after running. I think he did 50 consecutive marathons in 50 US states.
While on the subject of all things American, I think they have a lot to answer for, let me explain. For years we English were a happy island race eating essentially what we grew in our gardens, yes our diet lacked flavour and imagination but it was wholesome and hearty. However, in our culture now of instant gratification we are littered with fast food outlets and coffee shops. Whatever happened to the quaint old English afternoon tea?
The irony of all this is every time we talk about 'getting into shape' (incidentally an Americanism) it is they who have the audacity to sell us the DVD, I am of course talking about 'Insanity'. Some of you may have heard of this? It's basically an extreme fitness DVD you can follow in the comfort of your own home. So they fatten us up and then tell us we need to drastically change the way we eat.
Apologies for going of tangent but this American endurance guy really is quite extraordinary, and he mentions another guy who apparently is a 'Fruitarian' Yes this man only eats fruit and can happily knock back 40 bananas and 50 oranges per day, and can run a 2 hour 30 minutes marathon. Maye I'm doing something wrong? One thing I do agree with however is that eating as natural as possible can only be a good thing, avoid processed foods where possible.
Just some food for thought, anyway just off to peel some oranges...speak soon
David Ed Smith
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| Ironman UK 2008 The Agony and the Ecstasy |
Got thinking the other day about nutrition. Let's face it the modern diet is generally pretty horrendous, and the temptation to grab a burger or a chocolate bar is never far away. So I was thinking how important is it? Well the truth is I have no idea.
I was looking at You Tube the other day and there is this American endurance man who runs Marathons, writes books, never seems to sleep and eats a ridiculously healthy diet. He also never seems to get injured and recovers really quickly after running. I think he did 50 consecutive marathons in 50 US states.
While on the subject of all things American, I think they have a lot to answer for, let me explain. For years we English were a happy island race eating essentially what we grew in our gardens, yes our diet lacked flavour and imagination but it was wholesome and hearty. However, in our culture now of instant gratification we are littered with fast food outlets and coffee shops. Whatever happened to the quaint old English afternoon tea?
The irony of all this is every time we talk about 'getting into shape' (incidentally an Americanism) it is they who have the audacity to sell us the DVD, I am of course talking about 'Insanity'. Some of you may have heard of this? It's basically an extreme fitness DVD you can follow in the comfort of your own home. So they fatten us up and then tell us we need to drastically change the way we eat.
Apologies for going of tangent but this American endurance guy really is quite extraordinary, and he mentions another guy who apparently is a 'Fruitarian' Yes this man only eats fruit and can happily knock back 40 bananas and 50 oranges per day, and can run a 2 hour 30 minutes marathon. Maye I'm doing something wrong? One thing I do agree with however is that eating as natural as possible can only be a good thing, avoid processed foods where possible.
Just some food for thought, anyway just off to peel some oranges...speak soon
David Ed Smith
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