Month: August 2016

Well, I couldn’t do a year of Events and not include an obstacle race and Tough Mudder seems to be the most well known.As it happens I nearly did one last year but two of my team members had to pull out and it’s not really something you can do on your own.

Then earlier this year an opportunity to join another team came up.  Remember that “Channel” swim in the pool back in April well… I made a new friend that week, Cally.  She was one of only three people who put some money in my charity bucket by the side of the pool, the other two people knew me.   But Cally didn’t and I was really touched by her kindness especially as it involved going back into the changing room wet,  at the end of her swim and coming back out to put some money in.    I should say that I got plenty of donations that week – but the bucket by the pool just didn’t really work – no one has money when they swim lol!

Fortunately I bumped into Cally a few days later and was able to thank her.  Turns out she was training for her first triathlon and long story short we ended up meeting for a few coffees and an offer from her to join her Tough Mudder team 🙂   Cally was doing a few events herself this year for her own charity.

Roll on a few months and the event was getting closer.  It kind of crept up on me as most of my energy and thoughts this year have been for my Ironman.  I didn’t train for the Tough Mudder just hoped that my general fitness and strength would get me through.

…then Cally got sick, really sick and ended up in hospital – Oh No!  Despite this she messaged me and told I could still meet up with her team and do the event.  Cally wouldn’t be able to take part herself – she needs to rest for at least six weeks but she offered to come and support and in the end even drove me – what a lovely girl.

So, on Saturday 20th August I rolled up at Cally’s house and we drove to Cirencester.  Her friends Darren and Mark came along too.  Mark would be on my team.   We had a jolly drive there chatting about the up coming obstacles.  I was quite nervous as apart from a few Youtube clips I didn’t really know what to expect.  Cally has done a few and Mark has spectated, so by the time we arrived I had a better idea of the day ahead.  I was still nervous!

At Cirencester Country Park we met up with the rest of our team – Chris and Sean.  In the end there were only four of us, other members withdrawing due to injury and trust me you wouldn’t want to do this injured.  But we had lots of support from them which was lovely. It’s a big event with around 5000 people taking part over the two day weekend – and very different from Ironman.  It’s all about team work and this is drummed into you from the beginning in the warm up pen.

We had about 15 minutes in the pen with lots of chanting and Hoo- Raaas!   We were encouraged to hug  a few people we didn’t know and even give their bum a squeeze!  Might as well get friendly now as the next few hours would involve being manhandled quite a bit 🙂  A good time to point out that the average age did seem to be quite a bit younger than me and most people looked pretty fit.  Lots of people were also wearing their headbands from previous events.  You get a different colour depending on how many you had done and apart from the first timers most people seemed to have done quite few.

After a bit more jumping around, shouting and a safety briefing we were off.  I was a little concerned about the running sections.  My team looked pretty fit, but we ran along nicely together and  over hilly grass to the first obstacle about a km away – The Kiss of Mud.  This involved crawling on your stomach through …..mud, and just to make sure you got completely muddy there was barbed wire about 2ft above you – no choice but to stay low.

The course was 10.5 miles long with 26 obstacles, most involved mud or water or both.  The weather was back to normal, after a week of glorious sunshine it was now around 17C with wind and rain.  The odd moment of sunshine but mostly grey skies.  It was perfect for the running sections but after the water obstacles it meant you got cold very quickly unless you kept moving.

I loved the running sections.  My trail shoes which Cally had recommended were awesome and as I watched most people slipping and sliding on the muddy trails in their trainers I was very grateful to be wearing them.  Poor Chris fell many times but always with good humour.  In fact everyone looked like they were having the best time – me included, I loved it.

Some of the obstacles involved climbing….usually quite high and this was where having a good team helped.   Mark was often able to get to the top on his own and then Chris and Sean would lift me up so that Mark could grab my hands and pull me over.  It was definitely an advantage being female – lots of help from everyone and light enough to be lifted easily.  But is was still hard at times hanging and holding on and I have many bruises and aches and pains to show for it.

One obstacle was just too high and although I got up to the top I wasn’t prepared for the ten foot drop the other side – falling badly was a guaranteed injury – I came back down the same way, helped by my team.  The great thing about this event (not a race as we were told many times) was that you only had to do what you could.  I attempted all the obstacles but some like this one were too much.

Actually I did miss one out – the Electric Eel – crawling through water with live wires hanging down above you.  Hmmm…. no!  I saw other people do it and decided it was not for me.  Mark whizzed through and didn’t get shocked but Chris who had done it a previous year had had a very nasty experience. Chris and I walked round.

The best obstacles were the water ones – although maybe not Arctic Enema which  involved  sliding into freezing water – literally freezing water.  Cally was by the side watching this one and told me to take my long sleeve top off before going in. Great advice – I had a dry top to put on the other side.  Our supporters also offered us towels at this point – very welcome.  The event was well set up for spectators and we saw ours many times.  Cally took lots of photos too which I’m very grateful for, not really kind of place you can carry a phone.

The obstacles continued – crawling, falling, jumping and climbing.  All very muddy and often wet.  In fact I heard many people say how much harder it was than the previous year when it had been hot and dry.  Obstacles that would have been doable in dry conditions like the monkey bars were just too slippery.  But I guess that added to the fun.

My team were amazing.  Mark checking on me all the time.  Chris with his strength so helpful on the obstacles and Sean ran with me giving me a heads up on what was just ahead.   I helped when I could but mainly tried to just keep positive and happy and be a good team member.

On one of the obstacles I didn’t have to do anything.  “Hero Carry” where you took turns piggy backing a team member.  Mark just carried me for the whole thing – even breaking into a jog which was the best fun.  Not sure his knees were quite the same afterwards but he didn’t complain.

My favourite was “The Block Ness Monster” – not sure quite how to describe this but it involved a long cuboid shaped log that needed to be pushed over by up to twenty people then you would jump on and roll over the top into the water.  The water on this one was quite warm which was nice although a disgusting colour due to all the mud.  It was fun.

My least favourite was the high wall which I mentioned earlier and I was just too scared to go over the top.

The Mud Mile was really muddy – waist deep mud to wade through and muddy banks to climb over.  Although not actually a mile it seemed to go on forever and then out the other side was along walk/run through even more mud.  Just to make it interesting it also started going up steep hills – my trail shoes did their stuff though and I faired better than most.

The penultimate obstacle was “Everest”  a very high curved slope which needed to be attacked at great speed and then hopefully find a hand to grab onto to pull you up.  I made one attempt and as I don’t possess great speed even when I haven’t completed ten miles I didn’t make it.  Most people tried again and again, it was very hard.  I chose to watch my team mates.  Mark almost made it but his hand slipped and unfortunately he came down hard on his chin.  Despite an hour of telling us he was just fine he ended up in the medical tent and needed four stitches – ouch!

Chris and Sean continued trying “Everest” but by now I was just too cold to stand around and made my way to the final obstacle – the “Electroshock Therapy”  I managed this one – head down and running.  I got shocked once, it wasn’t too bad.  Finally the end.  The finish line and my orange headband.  I was a Tough Mudder.

The day wasn’t quite over – cold and covered in mud the bonus obstacle was trying to get wet, muddy shoes and clothes off.  There was a rinsing station station but I was too cold to go under more cold water.  I found a spot in the ladies changing area – a bit of grass behind a screen and tried to strip off.  It took forever to get my shoes off and all the strength I had left.    With the help of a bottle of water and a towel I managed to get fairly clean and dressed in dry clothes.  Mark couldn’t even get his shoes off – we had to help him.  Most people donate their shoes at the end – too muddy to take home.  But I kept mine just in case I do another one – which I might – but having spent an hour in the medics tent waiting for Mark and hearing about all the injures – broken bones, dislocated shoulders and fingers, cuts etc …maybe not!

I can’t thank my team enough for such an awesome day.  Their support and shared experience made it fun to take part.  Thanks too to Cally for being there all day, taking photos and encouraging us on.

Event 37 done.

 

Last week sitting in the Eurostar terminal on my way back from Maastricht my brother-in-law Antony asked me when my next event was.  Er…. “on Sunday”!  What was I thinking?  Well, I guess I thought I could give it a miss if I was too tired.  But when Antony found out it was bike ride, which he likes, and I was doing it on my own, he offered to come along for the ride 🙂

Yay!!  Guess I’m doing it then 🙂

When we got back from Maastricht I decided I should check the course that I had booked.  Turned out it was a 5/5 on the Evans difficulty scale – oh dear!  Technical course with steep hills…hmmm.   It was actually a totally different event from the one I thought I’d booked lol! Oh well, we could take it easy and enjoy the day.

August.  British summer time.  Fog and rain of course.   We arrived at the top of Cheddar Gorge where the event started, parked in a wet muddy field and then stayed in the car not wanting to get out and get wet.

It was a very small event, just a couple of hundred people – possibly due to the steep hills description and therefore a very relaxed start time, from 8am – 10am.  So we stayed in the car for a bit and tried to get into our cycle gear – car yoga at it’s best.

Eventually we ventured out of the car and with a small group of about ten people listened to the race briefing before setting off.  We were also warned that at the 30 mile point, the signs may be missing – some locals not liking cyclists had already taken down two sets, and that indeed is what happened, more on that later.

First we had some hills to climb and descend.  As we had started  at the top of the Gorge the first scary bit was a steep descent down toward Bristol.  It’s a descent I have done before and really dislike.  Very steep with twists and turns and some bad road surface.  Today, being wet didn’t help.  Antony nearly lost his computer as it jumped off his bike – he somehow managed to catch it!

We cycled through some pretty country lanes, up and down, up and down and the odd nice view ….and then came a very big uphill.  I’ve done many sportives in the area but had not climbed this hill before.   It just went up and up and was very steep, over 14% in parts and an average gradient of 9%.  It also involved a right turn which if a car had come would have meant stopping and possibly not starting again.  Fortunately I had a clear road.   I left Antony and just put my head down and climbed for over 3km passing quite a few people.  My bike felt great and I was definitely helped by my good gear ratio, meaning I could spin my legs easily.

Antony has not been cycling much recently due to injury but he got up without stopping, I think it was the hardest climb he had ever done.

A lovely descent the other side took us back to the bottom of the Gorge and to the first feed station, where we stopped for a snack and a catch up with other riders. I don’t usually stop at feed stations to save time, but today was about having fun and I didn’t want to over do it.

We set off from the feed station and not for the first time that day I was on the wrong side of the road – too much cycling in Europe recently!

With the first big hill out of the way we headed for flatter ground and out towards the coast.  We had a few stops for more food and to check where we were on the map.  We were  worried about the possible “missing” signs or even signs being turned to a different direction, which happens.  But so far so good, until we got to a big roundabout in a built up area….no signs.  Up until now the signs had been plentiful with every junction having one leading up to it, one indicating direction and another confirming the direction.  Here..NOTHING.

We had been told to turn left if unsure and we did but still no signs and the area was busier than ever.  Major roundabouts and busy roads.  The wrong direction and we would be on the M5!  We got off and checked the map and our phones ….ok I was actually looking for Pokémon lol!!!

We walked for a bit crossing roads when we could, when traffic let us, and eventually found the road heading to Weston-Super-Mare which is where we needed to end up.  Although we took the wrong road to get there, there was a cycle lane and apart from the crazy strong head wind it was fairly straightforward.

When we got to the coast three miles later we finally saw the pink signs again, we were back on the route.  Weston was crazy busy with people and cars.  By now the weather was quite hot and it was British seaside at it’s best/worst.  I was glad to get away from the sea front and back to the quieter hills.

Another big hill and then the second feed station.  We stopped for another snack and chatted to other riders who had also gone wrong.  Some had called the organisers and found the route again, others just mucked through and headed towards the coast like we did.

More lumps and bumps, tiny lanes and pretty villages and we got to the final climb of the day – Cheddar Gorge.  A stunning climb and one of my favourites.  It is pretty steep at the bottom with hair pin bends, some at 18% but it gets better as you go up.  It was very busy with tourists and cars and big buses but I managed to keep moving and after the steep bit really enjoyed it.  Lots to look at including little goats and mountain climbers on the rock face.

Antony loved the climb too and when I stopped at the top he was just behind me. We rode along the top in beautiful sunshine taking in the views before reaching the car park and the finish.  Just over 100k.  A tough ride but great fun.

Thanks for coming along for Event 36 Antony xx

 

 

The Swim – 3.9km (2.4 miles)

The great thing about staying so close to the Expo was I didn’t have get up too early on race day.  With my bike and transition bags  racked the day before all I needed to do was eat my porridge. The alarm went off at 5am which is  just about reasonable, although not sure my sister thought so and she was my designated hand holder to walk me to the start, a job she has done many times and is very good at.  Ian and the rest of the family would come along a bit later before I got in the water.

Adi and I walked up to the expo area with Declan and quite a few other people staying in our hotel.  As we walked along the river we could see that the river was much calmer than previous days.  We were told in the race briefing that some locks would be shut for us which would slow the current down.  I wondered if this was a joke but my Dutch friend Tessa assured me they than can actually do this 🙂  The big barges we had  seen sailing down the river were thankfully nowhere to seen either.

I popped into transition to check my bike.  I had racked it very early on the previous day and it was easy to find.  Now it was surrounded by 1800 other bikes – looked again for a landmark so I could spot it easily in T1.  Second lamp from the end, second row in – that should do it.  I also put my bike computer on the bike.  Well, actually I forgot to do this but fortunately found it in my swim cap ten minutes later and had enough time to rush back and put it on the bike.  Ok, drama over.  Let’s swim.

The swim was a rolling start, unlike my last Ironman in Zurich which was a mass start of two waves with 1000 people in each –  like a washing machine for 90 minutes.  This time should be calmer.  The line to get in the water started off at 7.15 and took longer than anticipated, around half an hour.  But it gave me plenty of time to check my wetsuit was comfortable and to chat to other athletes – I love this bit.  Two girls I chatted to were in the military and were doing an all female crossing of Antarctica next winter.  One of them was doing her first triathlon – but they were young and fit and would be fine.  They also cross country skied 🙂 – Hey I do that…..lol!

Just before entering the water, a man tapped me on the shoulder  “Did you do the New Forest Half?”  Yep – it really is a small world.  In fact Declan kept bumping into people from other Ironman races he had done.  It seemed to me that he had camped next to half the field at one time or another 🙂

I loved the swim.  Enough space to swim properly, a straight up and down course, easy sighting and bridges to go under so I had an idea of distance travelled.  I could also see my family (and hear them!) on the river bank, and they could see me because of the pink flash on my wetsuit.  Also my yellow hat.  Only the woman wore yellow hats and out of a field of 1800 there were only 160 of us!

At the half way/turn around point is the Australian Exit – where you leave the water briefly run across some ground and get back in.  Not quite sure why it’s called this and google has come up with many answers.  Anyhoo, our exit was underneath the Government Building and pretty cool.  I felt great when I got out of the water and skipped across the mat before  diving (falling) back in.  We had swum up river with a gentle current against us and would now swim back down with a little assistance.

I got out of the water after 1hour 16 minutes (Adi and Ian timed me) and ran up the ramp and along the mat to T1, on the way I saw my friend Tessa cheering loudly.

I’m very fortunate to have the best support of any athlete.  Not only my wonderful family and local friends but a whole online running community, who follow and cheer my every move.  Occasionally (actually quite a lot) the online girls come in person and for this race weekend I had Tessa, from the Netherlands, Celia from Brussles and Andrea from Germany all come along.  They even brought their lovely husbands and Andrea brought her baby too – who had to get his first passport for the occasion!  Saturday we hung out all afternoon  in a cafe at my hotel chatting about the race and catching up with life.  On race day Tessa and Cels were there cheering me on.  Baby Jan went back to Germany with Andrea and Rene and followed online.

Tessa and Cels did an ongoing race report with pictures on my running forum and it was wonderful afterwards to look through and read all the comments.  I also knew that throughout the race my friends at home would be following (or stalking – looking at you Tara!)  online every time I went over a timing mat.  It’s very encouraging and keeps me going during low moments.

So into T1 for my first change.  I had worn my cycle shorts under my wetsuit and swim bra so just needed to put my cycle top on with my nutrition in my pockets and my shoes.

I found my bike ok – mainly because due to the rolling start pretty much everyone else had gone… and out onto the bike course.

The Bike – 180km (112 miles)

The bike course had changed from the previous year’s race to incorporate going across the border into Belgium, the only information I had leading up to the race was the basic map on the IM website.  So Ian cycled the bike course for me on the Friday – this meant I could see his Garmin files and he could report back on what it was really like.  He declared it a slow course.  Uneven road surface, hills, false flats and many many twists and turns.  Ian didn’t have much weather but I did!

It was a lovely course for an afternoon social ride with friends but it was a hard course to race.   My bike skills weren’t really up to fast sharp turns, so I lost a lot of time slowing down at each one and there we so many.  Turns out I’m much better at turning left than right… every right turn I groaned and had to try and remember where my leg position was supposed to be and where to transfer my weight ( I could almost see Ian rolling his eyes at each turn – he’s trying to help me with this skill and I’m a slow learner).

I wasn’t the only one having trouble, I saw at least five people who had come off their bikes and were being attended to by medics or helpful local residents and many riders also suffered punctures.

The hills were fine, but the false flats were draining.  There were two laps and each lap brought with it some weather, heavy rain for a while on the first lap and squally winds on the second.  Plus, just in case it wasn’t hard enough there were 500m of cobbles to negotiate as we passed through the town on each lap.  I was pleased to finish with all my teeth and my arms still hurt at the end of the day from the juddering.

But there were many great things about the bike course.  My new bike was awesome, there was a 10km flat well paved section along the river that was very fast, I saw Declan on the second lap when I stopped for a snack – he stopped for a quick chat and to check I was ok, even offering me his arm warmers.  There were some really cute goats that I thought were statues the first lap and had moved by the second lap lol!  The scenery was very pretty, we got to go over the boarder into Belgium and the support and marshalling was great.

Each time I came through the town I saw Tessa and Cels cheering and holding up a Go Paula Green banner, shortly followed by the family with another banner and I saw Annemarie and the boys out at Eijden out on the course which was a lovely surprise.

I was also pleased with my nutrition plan – stopping every hour for one minute to chow something down.  Two marmite pittas, a chia bar, a wafer bar and a few salted nuts with sweeties mixed in.  I also grabbed a couple of banana pieces from the aid stations as I rode by and some coke – coke really tastes good in a long distance event – really hits the spot.

112 miles is a long way and by the time I had completed it in a pretty slow 7 hours 50 minutes I was very happy to get off my bike, now I just had to complete a marathon…

The Run – 42.2km (26.2 miles)

Geting to the run is a bitter sweet moment.  As a back of the pack athlete I’m pretty relieved to have made the bike cut off, so feeling happy, but as a not so good runner I have to get my head around the whole running a marathon a thing.

I set off feeling tired already.  My legs didn’t hurt which was a good sign, in fact I had no aches or pains at all.  But the fatigue affected my breathing and before long I felt quite uncomfortable in my chest.  Not enough to stop but it certainly stopped me running for too long.  I knew I had enough time to run/walk it was just going to take a while.

But this gave me even more time to enjoy the amazing support on the run course.  It was almost as good as the London Marathon.  The streets were lined with people cheering, live bands played, drums were drummed and so many people held parties outside of their houses.  It was amazing.

On each lap I saw Tessa, Aldo, Cels and Mark jumping up from their table at the cafe when they saw me, high fiving and waving the banner.  I saw Annemarie in lots in a few places around the course and my family who were hanging out on a pretty little green with Declan’s boys – Adi waving pompoms and Zoe and Heidi ringing cow bells.  My Mum and Dad, Ian and Antony checking I was feeling ok. On the second lap I asked Zoe if she had her inhaler which she didn’t but by the third she had run back to hotel (good job she’s a runner now) and got one for me.  Two puffs and I felt so much better – not faster, or even able to run more, but way more comfortable in my chest.  It was a relief.

My run took six hours but I was fairly consistent around the laps and  as I knew I was going to be slow anyway I took the time to high five little kids, dance as I went past the band and hug some of the athletes that I had met throughout the last few days and of course have the odd chat with Declan who always stopped to check I was ok.  I quite enjoyed it.

Each lap you get a different coloured band for your wrist to mark another lap done.  The first lap is spent with serious band envy as you see faster athletes with an arm full of bands.  But by my the fourth lap I knew it was nearly over.  I thanked as many groups as of people as I could – many of whom recognised me each lap, like the lovely lady who took my hand each lap and ran me over a tiny bridge, and I smiled a lot which always gets an extra cheer 🙂

Each lap you run right past the finish shoot and have to keep going, until the last lap when I could turn right and run through the cheer leaders with their pompoms.  I could hear my family and friends cheering like crazy and I could hear….

PAULA GREEN, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!

Event 35 – The Big One!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been a couple of weekends since my last event.  One was cancelled (the Dart Duo) and the other weekend I was in France watching the Tour de France – they wouldn’t let me join in so I couldn’t call it an event 🙂 …and of course I was supposed to be tapering for The Big One – Ironman Maastricht.

The great thing about Ironman is they often hold side events on the same weekend, so that family members get a chance to join in the IM experience.  This time it was a 5km night run, held on the Friday evening.  As I hadn’t run for a while I thought I would give it a go,  a chance to  stretch my legs, make sure I could still actually run and hang out with my family and friends who were all taking part.  It would also be daughter Zoe’s first EVER 5km !!!

My whole family had come to Maastricht with me, my Mum and Dad, hubby Ian, daughters Zoe and Heidi, sister Adi and brother- in- law Antony.  Why Maastricht? …a place I had only heard of from the signing of the Maastricht Treaty back in the early 90’s by John Major.  Well I blame my good friend Declan who has friends there.  He wanted to do the Ironman (his 10th) and thought it would be great city to do it in.     I was keen to do my next IM in Copenhagen but in the end it seemed like it would be much more fun to do it with Declan and our families could hang out together.  It was a great choice.  Maastricht is a wonderful city.

It took us a while to get there.  A long drive to Kent, an overnight stay, Eurostar from Ebsfleet to Brussels and then a 90 minute car journey to Maastricht.  But once we were settled in our hotel just 500m from the expo everything was very straightforward.

So Friday night at 21.30, nine of us (me, Adi, Antony, Zoe, Heidi, AnneMarie, Jack, Dan and Joey) set off with around 750 other people into the night to run 5k.  We were all given torches at registration so it all looked very pretty as we snaked through the city.

Maastricht is laid out on both sides of the River Maas and the first km was on the same side as the expo and hotel before crossing the river to the busier area with the market square and shops.  Heidi ran with Adi and Ant and scooted off, Zoe held back with me and Dan.  We wanted to keep a gentle even pace to give Zoe the best chance of having a nice race.  I could see she was doing well from the beginning and after one km she had already run further without walking than ever before ….and she just kept going.

Across the bridge the cobbled streets were all lined with bars and cafes and people cheering.  I had a little twinge in my knee – not sure it liked the cobbles, but it didn’t get any worse and as soon as I was on tarmac again it went, phew.  Zoe was still going well and even able to chat a little.  I chatted all the way (no surprise there) and offered encouragement and Dan stayed with us helping keep the pace steady.  After 3km Zoe needed to walk a little, but just enough to get her breath and get her heart rate down.  Like me she suffers from asthma and although it’s totally possible to run with asthma is does mean being mindful about breathing rate and not get overstressed which can quickly lead to a more serious situation.

We were running again and apart from two other very short breaks Zoe was storming through her first 5km.  Dan was very lovely and hung back while we walked so we could all run together. On the bridge back over the river we caught up with AnneMarie and Jack – this was also a very special race for AM – her come back race after a year of surgery and chemo – and she was rocking it too 🙂  Jack who is usually super speedy had run with his Mum encouraging her all the way.

The finish line was in sight.  We could see Mum and Dad, Ian and Declan cheering for us.  Zoe found a spurt of energy and a speed which I don’t possess and sprinted to the finish line.  Hurrah!!

The others had already finished…Adi and Heidi benefiting from their recent 10k training. Antony also completed his first “bibbed” 5km on fine form and I didn’t see Joey for the whole race so I think he was well ahead, although I believe he might have a blister or two to show for it lol!  I figured Joey must have benefited from spending the last two weeks in France with Declan where he did loads of cycling including an epic climb of Col du Joux Plane, which I can tell you was a tough climb.

A very special run with my family and friends.  So proud of Zoe on her first 5km…I know from my own experience how much of a barrier that first 5km is, but once you break through, well, to quote Ironman….

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

Event 34 – very special.