NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Jan 17, 2010 13:54:59Well we are into the new year now and the first bit of Ironman UK news is that the swimming venue has changed from Rivington Reservoir to Pennington Flash in Leigh.
The new venue is much more suited to holding the registration and transition on a hard concrete surface which will get rid of all that glorious mud that has plagued IMUK over the recent years.
I have placed some pictures and a brief description on the homepage for anyone to look at.
My training is going well, with the turbo and treadmill getting used a fair bit since we had all the glorious snow and ice....gonna step the running up a bit more now with a half and full marathon planned for the first half of the year.
More to follow soon !!!
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Dec 06, 2009 12:06:02Ok, to run alongside my "Winter Experiments" TM, I am going to try and test out some different products that dont involve too much outlay (obviously).
I came across this whilst surfing around one day and thought that it might be a good idea to try it out as my first product review. So that is what I have done.
http://www.orbana.com/
I am not associated, connected or involved with them in any way - lets get that part out the way first up.
I ordered my trial pack of 4 x 40g bottles and first off the price of £8 does appear on the expensive side, but it includes free delivery so I cant be too critical on that aspect and you would get more discount for bulk.
The package arrived and was a square box with the four bottles each with the energy powder ready to add water to. The blurb that goes with the product advises that the effects are wakened if left diluted and hence they provide the powder to mix when you are ready to use it. I have no science knowledge to say if that is accurate and no doubt the boffins will be ready to chip in.
So bottle number one - opened and water added - a few shakes and it mixed really well so no issues there - I remember sometimes that Gatorade has a tendency to clump, but nothing like that with this.
Now for the taste - this is always personal to the individual, but I really liked it - the orange definitely tastes different and less "sugary" compared to other drinks....and there is a hint of ginger or something that does make it "different".
Performance - well, its hard to say that it made a really big difference to my efforts and I suppose you could only test that over time or a race or two, but one thing I did notice, is that it definitely cleared my "dry throat" that I get when running. I am not sure if anyone else suffers from this, but I really have a dry back of my mouth when I run, not one that makes you thirsty but you notice it when you swallow. I didnt have this after drinking Obana......that was very positive for me.
I also like the fact that it is a much smaller bottle - and hence much smaller volume than normal sports drinks...I am not a big drinker of liquids during training/racing at the best of times so that works really well for me. I suppose it would work best on the shorter races, and I am not sure how it would work for HIM or IM racing ?
So overall and the first product review of the 2009-2010 winter is
ORBANA HEALTH DRINK - 8 out of 10
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Nov 25, 2009 17:20:34Well, I have now recovered nicely from the cramps that followed the months running and I have managed to hit two running pb's since, so it looks like all the pain and agony was worth while.
Ironman UK is about to open its doors again for 2010 and the course looks like it will be pretty much the same as last year.....
Keep your eyes peeled on this site for the Ironman UK Swim, Bike and Run Courses.
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Nov 15, 2009 13:12:27I am suffering at the moment......
I have found that the side-effect of running every day for a month is that when I have stopped, the calf muscles in both legs have now started to cramp up and be extremely painful. Its no fun I can tell you.
It appears to be a neural reaction to the huge volume of the past month, and it has taught me that I wont be doing that again any time soon.
I can walk about 150-200m at the moment before the pain starts to make it hard to walk, so I need to work on massage and lots of heat to them to free it up. At the moment, I can't see when I might be back training, but might try a couple of swims this week.
After the euphoria of last week, this has been a right downer !!!!
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Nov 11, 2009 13:04:25Well the running experiment is over !!!!
I completed 240.19km in the 30 days that I did the challenge for, and managed to run every single one of those days.
Since stopping and resting, I have now started to suffer from cramping calf muscles which are really hindering me, although it appears to be down to dehydration more than anything else at this stage.
The Ironman UK 2010 Race will now open its doors to entry very soon and is expected to fill up very quickly indeed. As soon as the race is open, I will update more information to the main site....
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Nov 05, 2009 08:56:02Well, I am still running well on my challenge and can now see the end in 4 days time, by which time I will have completed 240km and run every single day for a month. Very pleased to have nearly finished my challenge and delighted with what I have learned.
Planning for the 2010 races is now well and truly underway, with the pencil and calendar being put to good use.
At the moment, my season is lined up something like this:
PARBOLD DUATHLON "CHALLENGE OF THE HILL"
HORWICH TRIATHLON "THE RACE TO THE PIKE"
KESWICK MOUNTAIN TRIATHLON LONG COURSE
ROSSENDALE SPRINT
DAY IN THE LAKES HALF IRONMAN
ALPE D'HUEZ LONG COURSE
There seems to be rather too many hills in that little lot, but for toughness and value for money you wont find a better line up !!!
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Nov 02, 2009 08:31:29Well, I am still rattling along on the "Run Every Day for a Month" challenge, with a good week completed yesterday with DAY 23 - which was a tough one to do, as I had spent most of the previous day catching up with some old pals at the rugby club whilst watching Eng v Aus...needless to say, that also involved a lot of Guiness.
I have now completed 171km since the challenge began, not huge or even big volumes, but lots of consistency which is what I was looking for at the start.
Started to flesh-out my races for 2010 with Alpe D'Huez Tri being the highlight, but also Keswick Mountain Tri and A Day in the Lakes being high up there too.
It promises to be a good year.......
IMUK 2010 will open soon too !!!
NEWSPosted by Martin Holden Oct 28, 2009 07:49:37Just a quick update to the blog really.........
the running is now into its third week and last night I completed DAY 18 with a recovery type run of 6.05km last night. I had run the last few days quite hard and the joints were quite sore, so a nice easy paced run with some heat and massage afterwards did wonders.
Since the challenge started I have covered 136km and am feeling good for it.
This would be good Ironman UK base training I am sure !!!!
