"The greatest wealth is Health." Anon

Welcome to 2022, this is the IronMan training Blog, which I'll update each month. 

I'm hoping that this Blog is helpful for anyone contemplating IronMan, but also anyone considering general fitness, health, wellness and wellbeing. 

If I can remain injury-free, I've got new things to try this year. Already this year we are in full flow with new speed yoga (helping avoid injury, increase strength, and flexibility for the IronMan 180km cycle), I've got a brand new swim metronomic tempo trainer which I am hoping to slowly and incrementally accelerate swim times, and diet is being enhanced with Bio-fermented Turmeric shots! 

Let's start with copy straight from personal Facebook post:

JANUARY 2022

3rd July 2022 ... 2.4 mile swim, then 112 miles on the bike. If you are fast enough on the clock, they let you continue and run the marathon. Over the last two years 25% of entrants did not make the finish line.

At stake in 2022. First member of Glenrothes Triathlon Club (GTC) to try for a three-years-in-a-row Ironman hat-trick in Austria. First member of GTC to try for three successful Ironman results whilst in the fifties. And first member of GTC to try and deliver a successful finish line in the category, Male age group 55 to 59.
Mindset of the warrior. Heart of the lion. Is what it will take.

Blog photo below, crossing the 2021 finish line. For months in the lead-up last year, due to damaged left knee, all I could train was 5k running on soft grass. Then had to 'man it up' for the 42k on the day. Fingers (and toes!) crossed I am injury free today, and hoping so very much that I can stay that way for the next 6 months.

Joining GTC back in 2014 completely changed my life.
It's a truly amazing, friendly, local and inclusive across the span of all abilities club. Membership is £20 per year. Open now for 2022: https://www.entrycentral.com/glenrothestriathlonclub

Additionally, with registration open until the end of January, and start level equating to walking 10 miles per week, annual Virtual Reality Challenge via Nicola Philp Race Director of the annual Balbirnie Duathlon. It's £30 for the year, and you'll need the (free) Strava App: https://www.entrycentral.com/event/118226
Very much looking forward to taking part for the third year in a row, and doing so in 2022, amongst many others with Gaynor Russell Angela Ferguson Gary Breckenridge Neil Clark Sue Clark 

All best wishes, Nicholas
IronMan class of 2022

And to conclude this month, a suggestion below from Aaron Krzyzanowski. As things stand today, I would firstly need to cross the Austria 2022 finish line, and then (at the very least) I would need two further full distance finishes to deliver the most Ironman finishes in history for our local club. Is that even possible at my age? There's no doubt that IronMan has entrants older than myself, but I'd reckon that most of these have been conditioned for fitness for all or most of their adult lives, unlike myself who only started by accidental and fortuitous circumstance at the age of 46! Time will tell, #AnythingIsPossible 

FEBRUARY 2022
Publishing 02.02.2022 

IRONMAN COPENHAGEN CONFIRMED! 

TRYING FOR SUMMER 2022 IRONMAN DOUBLE!

Through January 2022: 

7 swims 8km, all I had time for this month. 

17 cycles 670km

16 runs 95km

To this, and new for 2022 I add 4 or 5 (45 minute) sessions of yoga per week. 

Injury-free, monthly weight loss 8 pounds. 

Yoga by the way, before starting this fitness caper back in 2014, my very lovely wife Gaynor used to refer to me as 'the mechanical man!' 😂 We took yoga classes together a few years ago, so what I'm doing now is working through routines I design myself from online yoga tutorials, at home and with The Foo Fighters on the sound system. Time is too short for introductory meditation and breathing techniques, and I also dispense with the lying flat on the floor, eyes shut, relaxing Shavasana capers, all I'm trying to do is keep suppleness to keep muscles and ligaments stretched, and a lot of work conditioning lower back and neck etc, so we can eventually handle The Black Knife for six hours!

Swimming is going great, following more acceleration tutorial from Shinji Takeuchi, with better focus on hand and arm positioning, as well as the rearwards tracking movements of the arms and hands. 

Back in the winter of 2018/ 19 approaching summer 2019 IronMan Austria, the only thing that would keep me from riding my bike outside was the possibility of black ice. Two degrees and sideways rain, I was out there.

Back then I didn't have an indoor bike. This year I am thus far 100% indoor, it's just so safe, convenient, and easy! Especially so with the might of the incredible Wattbike Atom X, it really is an absolute beast of a piece of kit. The big difference with this, is that there's no downtime, there's no stops, it's just full-on all the way. I'm now able to hold 33 kilometres per hour for an hour, and crucially, this is also conditioning in the aero tuck position. 

After what happened with it nearly being the end of me half way through the IronMan cycle 180km last year, The Black Knife and I have had some chat! We're now making changes. It has been a very tricky thing to do, but with the assistance of Trek dealership Fife Cycles (Leuchars) we have sourced a new piece of kit, which will raise the handlebars by a completely crucial few centimetres. This will hopefully enable me to maintain the aero tuck for most of the entire cycle stage. Additionally, we're switching the tiny cassette rear gearing, for something larger, which will enable me to get a much easier gearing spin up and over the IronMan climbs. The combined difference in this could be as significant on the day, as a full 30 minutes. More importantly, ability to truly keep a smile on all the way. 

Had a laugh yesterday when dropping the bike off at the dealership. Gent behind the counter looking at The Black Knife, saying 'Never seen one of these before, how on earth could you even begin to ride it with the forearms so much lower that the seat?' The issue in 2021 was that I could fully hold that position for two hours in training at Fife Cycle Park, but I found out to my surprise in Austria that I couldn't hold it for three hours, let alone six! Yep, it was the most character-building three hours I've ever had on a bike! 

When I get the bike back next week, I'm going to hook it up to my turbo trainer (these need a specialised rear tyre that can cope with excessive friction), and then I'm going to work and work on the minute details of bike fitting. It is such a precise thing, a coupe of mm here and there makes a massive difference. 

With running we are off to a really great start this year, long term problems with left knee pretty much gone. Our focus is being maintained relentlessly. 

A really lovely run last night, it's so mild for this time of year. 

Stats as always racking up over on Strava.

Is it a miracle cure for my knee? Well I don't know but thus far this situation is what it is. A daily shot of bio-fermented Turmeric! If you have been following this blog for a long time, you may recall that I've previously integrated a daily infusion of hot water, honey, fresh ginger and turmeric. The new main logic is that due to its composition, it's seemingly much more ingested into the body. Time will tell. 

Short of eventual surgery perhaps, I'll do anything to keep the knee going in 2022. 

In passing Glenrothes Triathlon Club (GTC) annual membership is £20, I attended the club AGM via Zoom a few days ago, it's amazing to see that the club has now successfully grown to 146 members and 14 voluntary coaches.

One of the cool things about IronMan is how they apply age groups. I've been thinking a lot about this, because I reckon that most of the folk who are competing over the age of 50, have been in and around sport all of their adult lives. Unlike myself starting with running and cycling at the age of 46, then swimming at 48.

How much time, realistically, have I got left? That's anyone's guess, all I can do is count my many blessings and keep on going, but I fully acknowledge that I'm on the clock and now in my 9th year of fitness, years can certainly pass quickly.

The oldest competitor for IronMan Austria 2021 was 72. I still can't get my mind around that. Instead of considering age, maybe we should ditch that concept, and instead of referring to my age 54, we simply call it level 54 instead! 😂

So with that in mind, and knowing how quickly my legs recovered in 2021 (I was running again within a week instead of 2019's 6 week recovery!) - I think due without doubt to wearing compression socks for 3 days after the 2021 event, ... so I've now gone ahead and following Austria 3.7.2022 I have now entered also, for IronMan Copenhagen 21.8.2022 All to plan I'll be so very honoured indeed to be representing our amazing local club GTC, twice in summer 2020.

Have at it folks, because it's all there to be done!

More chat next month!

MARCH 2022 AND CARVING THE PISTES!

TRIATHLON CONDITIONING DELIVERS A MID-FIFTIES RETURN TO SKIING! 

From Facebook: 

That apart, the 2022 IronMan conditioning continues as always! 

April through June 2022, 3 months condensed. 

So, like nearly everyone I know, I got the Covid, this took place back in late spring 2022! I am not at all sure if this, when taken in conjunction with two vaccinations plus a booster, but my previous absolutely superb resting heart rate of 52 has now risen to 64. That's still very good, but onwards we go. 

More worrying, when I have gone for my routine heart check prior to departing for Austria 2022, I've had two visits to Markinch surgery, both confirming that I now have high blood pressure. Nurse described it as 'high, but not alarmingly so'. I am nevertheless advised to cut down on salt intake, booze, caffeine, and to forge more time for relaxation. Very interestingly into this mix, I have suggested myself that I may have an electrolyte imbalance which is also boosting blood pressure. This is due to the amount of ongoing training/ conditioning, and not taking the opportunity to use diet to replace electrolytes. More sardines required! 

Sweat is primarily made up of water, but it also contains electrolytes that have essential roles in the body. Sodium and Chloride are the most abundant electrolytes in sweat with potassium, magnesium, and calcium present in lower amounts. Therefore, we can seek to remedy this by taking a daily electrolyte pill, the same pill as I have taken during Ironman, on the hour after the first 6 hours. On the day, it's this fundamental that stops cramp. 

In addition to these challenges, I have also found over recent months, that despite the daily shot of Turmeric, that I am experiencing knee pain when indoor cycling, after the first hour of pedalling. That started left knee, then added right knee, telling me therefore that it's simply age. 

Strangely however, my previous left knee running injury is no more, at the moment anyway. This bodes well for this year's phase 3 of Ironman. 

These last 3 months I've needed to ratchet conditioning to what my 54 year old body is able to do. Very specifically, I've had both calf muscles consistently twitching away involuntarily on their own. That's repairs underway! When like this, there's not much point in doing more running or fast walking (or cycling) until it has subsided. That's just the way it is. 

When defined with the level of blood pressure I have, it's best advised 'keep on with exercise such as swimming, walking, running, cycling etc, but avoid anything that causes a sudden and massive spike in heart rate. Therefore, don't sprint, don't do sudden weight-lifting etc'. So again, onwards we go. 

I would have ZERO intention of ever attempting anything during Ironman 2022, which would give a sudden and massive spike in heart rate anyway. Same as (pre final sprint) Tour de France cyclists, a consistent maintained effort of 65%. 

Drilling into this even more, I have been carrying out my own heart rate assessments with running. When I run at 6mins 30secs per 1km, my heart rate at the end of 5kms is 140 beats per minute. If I slow the pace marginally to 7mins per 1km, it feels so much easier, and the rate reduces very significantly to 120 beats per minute. 

On Ironman day, during the final marathon section, I will categorically be intending as before, blending running and turbo walking. Stating the obvious, the more you can run at 7mins per 1km, the faster you'll be compared to turbo walking at 9mins per 1km. 

Over recent months I've made further significant advancements with Total Immersion swimming, and am now even more relaxed in the water. The body is the canoe, the arms are the paddles ... LOL 

Cycling, the Trek dealer at Leuchars successfully sourced and fitted a handlebar raiser for The Black Knife, it's up by about an inch and a half. What a difference to comfort on the bike. I've had multiple sessions at Fife Cycle Park, and can hold over 31kms per hour. But it remains to be seen how long I can maintain the requisite aero tuck this year. Additionally, we also switched to a larger gearing cassette on the rear wheel, what a difference now when going uphill. I can only hope that these new additions will mean I am not in for a repeat of the character- building 3 hour 45 minutes of the second half of the cycle last year. 

So many blessings counted in heading once again to Austria, and the most legendary race in Europe. Issues encountered above mean that my mindset is even more focussed than before, on being relaxed and comfortable, totally staying well within all limits and capabilities, and looking to grind it out on the day 10kms after 10kms at a time, with one key thing always in mind, tempo. 

Taking part in a full Ironman is a school day, and I can certainly say I learnt a lot on the previous two occasions. I very much hope to remedy previous errors, and have a truly lovely day out this year. That's what I'm trying to plan for, smile all the way around, and simply marvel at being there, in taking part, and taking in the stunning nature of all around. 

Tempo of course also ratchets to temperature. Long range for next Sunday in Austria is 33 degrees and sunny! Scorchio, so I've got the factor 50 packed! 

As I am also on the Ironman Copenhagen start list (21.8.2022) this summer is aligned as a two race strategy. Because of greatly-applied Tempo on race one, I hope to finish, then wear compression socks on calves for a few days to speed recovery, then take a few more days off, and then get straight back into it preparing for Denmark.  

It is such an honour to once again take the Austria start line representing our amazing local, friendly and inclusive Glenrothes Triathlon Club. Congratulations to all at the club on 2022, the club's 10th Anniversary, and congratulations to everyone this week on yet another absolutely superb annual Balbirnie Duathlon, the weather was thankfully as kind on the night as it always has been. 

Cheers for now, 

Nicholas 

(Ironman Class of 2022)

Published! BALBIRNIE'S NEW 2022 WEDDING LITERATURE

 Dear wedding clients,

We are absolutely delighted to send you our brand new 2022 wedding literature, please find the link below.

https://anyflip.com/yipog/ekpy/

Since the first Lockdown in March 2020 our Special Events wedding planning team have managed all ongoing circumstances via what is now a quite incredible 31 evolved phases of Policy, doing our absolute best for every single wedding client. As we are sure you can appreciate, couples with intended wedding dates have found themselves unexpectedly immersed in very significant and emotional challenges. In some circumstances we have seen clients change dates five times, but in nearly every single circumstance, dates have remained booked at Balbirnie House. Ongoing Policy updates are available via our website. 

In repeating what I said with this letter last year, I can certainly say that the ongoing work from those in our wedding planning department, has been the single most profound effort in Hospitality, that I have ever seen at Balbirnie House, since I started here back in 1992.

On behalf of our entire brigade, our heartfelt thanks to every single client who has postponed bookings, and continued to hold dates. Due to so many of our clients postponing and holding dates, the 2022 calendar year now looks like it will be our busiest year in history for weddings.

As part of the ongoing Brexit challenges for hospitality, many of our industry colleagues are truly struggling to find staff, some by remote location even to the point where they have needed to close. Thankfully, we were able to promote from within, and Rebecca Harper took on the role as Balbirnie’s Talent and Culture Manager. We are surrounded by a significant local population, and throughout 2021 we have completely re-built our hotel brigade, to the position whereby we are completely fully staffed.

We have also made considerable investments into improving, streamlining and digitalising our entire recruitment, on-boarding and training systems. As I am always keen to point out to all prospective new wedding clients who I can personally have the pleasure of welcoming to Balbirnie, the past is the past, accumulated awards are historic, and we can only ever be judged on how well we can deliver today. That’s why these new investments are made, it’s simply our desire to be able to collectively deliver our absolute best warmth of welcome of Scotland hospitality for you and your guests.

And talking of awards, history in the making, we’re incredibly honoured, and so very humbled to have been asked to represent Scotland once again within Haute Grandeur global awards, new accolade received in 2021, ‘Best Wedding Hotel’, and that’s in the category best-in-world at global level. This is now Balbirnie’s fifth global hospitality award.

This Scottish hotel has been named the best in the world | The Scotsman

Due to recent works completed with multiple bedroom and bathroom refurbishments, it’s fair to say that the house itself is currently presented to its best level in history. Additionally, earlier this year we invested circa £250,000 across the span of our four kitchens. Fire Suppression systems have been installed in all kitchens, very obviously increasing the safeguarding of Balbirnie House itself, as a Category A Listed 1777 national treasure.

As is always the case each year, and as per all previous literature and all client contracts, our company directors require to consider the generalities of pricing each year, across our span of national inflation, rises in national wage levels, and increases across our entire network of 45 suppliers. This year the entire hospitality sector is also contending with many unprecedented financial challenges arising specifically from the combination of Brexit and the global pandemic. For further reference, see links to articles below.

The entire hospitality sector is certainly experiencing supply chain issues, and pricing increases which are significantly beyond normality. Utility energy costs are also increasing. And fundamentally, national minimum / national living wage levels are set to increase in April 2022, in a band broadly speaking applicable to Balbirnie House mostly at between 6.6% and 9.8%, meaning therefore that hospitality supervisory roles pro rata will also increase as well.

With complete focus from our management team, and despite facing all these ongoing truly remarkable price increases, we are still nevertheless creatively able to deliver pricing beneath the inflation levels which are now being defined across the span of hospitality.

Some of the stepped pricing increases we have experienced over the last 18 months have been quite staggering. Whilst we do reserve the right to need to increase pricing for any menu item at any time, this is something which we have never ever needed to do. We very much hope that as we progress into the next new financial year on 1^st May 2022, that we will be able to similarly maintain all pricing for the following 12 months for which all new wedding literature is applicable.

Please also note, given the success of the 2020 summer May to September Evening Buffet BBQ season, we have maintained that pricing further, to endeavour to make this aspect even more popular in 2022. 

In 2021 Balbirnie became the first hotel to deliver a complete professionally-photographed online banqueting compendium. https://anyflip.com/dpgfn/rsvm/

Please bear with us, we are now scheduling to update this with all of our brand new menus. We will of course let you know when this goes live. 

Our wedding literature has now grown to circa 25,000 words, noted this is before we even embark on our client-specific journey. 

Well, bring on the celebrations, and we cannot wait to welcome you to Balbirnie House for your wedding day.

With our kindest regards, and all best wishes for the future,

Nicholas Russell 

MD / owner – Balbirnie House

UK hospitality sector struggling under 18% inflation rate | Scottish Financial News

Highland hotels forced to shut due to lack of staff post-Brexit | The National

https://www.thecaterer.com/news/hospitality-price-rises-inflation-kate-nicholls-ukhospitality

A TOUGH 38 MINUTES. NEW GLENROTHES TRIATHLON CLUB, IRONMAN AGE GROUP RECORD!

In the near comatose state I found myself in two hours after successfully completing Ironman Austria 2021, I went to bed and was very vaguely aware through the night that my very lovely wife Gaynor was regularly and affectionately stroking my shoulder. The next morning I found out that it was actually intended as a consistent way of checking that I was still alive. 

Beyond the physical challenge of Ironman, there are the additional aspects of equipment, nutrition, and strategy. This year I made an error, which then created a domino effect! 

I had purchased this bike saddle bag: 

Within it, I would have a very clever wee piece of kit, a mini air compressor, which weighs about a pound. Get a flat tyre, change the tyre, then plug in the compressor to very quickly bring the tyre back to race pressure, it's literally a few seconds. (Tour de France teams etc all use compressors these days, instead of pumps.) 

More importantly, the bike bag also had space for water bottle number two. My plan was water in one bottle out front, and water with a caffeine tablet in the other out the back, then keep re-filling. All of my training and strategy was based on this plan. 

However, upon checking the bike in for Ironman transition, before I am allowed to enter I need to fix my race number on the seat post, and it needs to be visible from both sides. How could I forget that? So, I discarded the entire bike bag and bottle (down goes domino number one), and purchase a handheld pump. Starting the race with only one bottle therefore. That wasn't my plan, so I need a new plan. And that's not good. 

Say if fully prepared your body has 3,000 calories of energy, at 14 stones you will burn somewhere in the region of 10,000 calories on race day. The additional 7,000 calories have to come from somewhere. Drinks, bananas, sports nutrition energy bars, and so so ... 

Unable to do any big run training in recent months, beyond 5km on soft grass, I had also been keeping my weight up in expectation of then doing lots of running in the weeks leading to race day. That wasn't possible, and what I mean by very purposefully keeping weight up, was making sure I had two cans of beer each night, circa 300 calories. In anticipation of then quickly dropping weight. I was therefore on the start line at a full stone and more than I was in 2019. And believe me, it makes a massive difference to running and cycling (especially up hills), if you are carrying an additional 18 pound salmon on your back! 

You would surely never approach a half marathon (or even a 5k or 10k) without proper preparation, let alone the challenge of a full Ironman of 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles cycle, and then a full marathon! I had been fully prepared, or so I thought. 

75 kms in the pool in 2021 ... 5,000 kms of cycling training, and 500 kms running, the absolute max I could manage, given a recurring left knee injury. 

In advance of arriving in Austria, I had however undertaken a full month of plant-based diet; there are many who swear by it. This decision was driven by watching The Game Changers. 

On race day morning I of course had a Scottish porridge breakfast, arrived in very good time, checked the bike tyres, filled my single water bottle and headed for the swim start. I had a coffee, then 15 minutes in the water swim warmup zone. Totally set and ready for the off. 

Knowing I was pool training this year at circa 1hr 30mins for the 3.8km swim, then factoring a 10% speedup for wearing a wetsuit as it adds buoyancy and hydroponic streamlining, I opted to join the group who reckoned they could maybe nail the swim in 1 hr 15 mins, but this was an error of judgement. Two kicks to the head in the first five minutes, and multiple other participants swimming all over me. Any notion of the effortless Total Immersion swimming for which I had trained and trained, out the window. No elegant bilateral breathing, it was simply a case of survival, breathing only on the right, and watching what other folk close to me were doing. 

A great wee tip! Jaws anti-fog spray! Worked an absolute treat! 

I finished the swim in good time, took the long run to transition to pick up the bike, then headed out for the cycle. Bring it on! 

Ironman training sustains through the year, week after week. As you approach the big day you will very considerably start cranking the training say 7 weeks out, hold at that level for 3 weeks, then start tapering down at 75% per week, then 50%, then 25%, then zero with a full week of rest before the big day. In that rest week, plenty of quinine (tonic water, as it helps remove cramps), loads of salt, and heaps and heaps of carbs, especially pasta. All that I had certainly done. Totally prepared. 

On race day the cycle started well, straight into aero tuck. 

However I then soon reached the first gentle uphill cycle section, right of Krumpendorf, up I went ... time to start cranking the power … but oh no what’s this, where is the power in the legs? The power you always have? The power you are used to? It had vanished. Gone. So I pressed on regardless. But what the heckers? Gone! Is it simply now your age, or what on earth have you done? 

I am certainly not going to dispute that a plant-based diet can work, but I can certainly say it didn't work for me. If indeed that was the cause? 

I reached an aid station, and in trying to 'miracle some more power' I grabbed a bottle of orange Gatorade drink on the way past. Domino two! Nutritional plan out the window, as I was meant to be water all the way for the cycle. Nowhere to put the big bottle of Gatorade, so I rammed it down my top. Domino three!

Hold the aero tuck position, but the Gatoraid was making an open gap between by chest and my triathlon suit, in effect creating a forward moving parachute brake. I pressed on regardless. 

What actually is Gatorade, because at that point I had no idea! 

My hydration plan, was straightforward. Drink loads of water! When you pee and it's clear, you are hydrated. When you pee and it's dark yellow, you are not. If it's dark yellow you are potentially well on your way to a DNF Did Not Finish! 

During Ironman 2021, I would go on to consume over 12 pints of fluids, but only have one tiny wee pee. 

During the first 60 kilometres cycle I needed to apply much more effort to hit target time. I was doing well, and overtook 60 other participants in that section. Then extreme fatigue hit me very quickly. Press on lad, you need to break through. I do not have a DNF to my name in history! 

At 115 kilometres I stopped at an aid station, and stepped off the bike. Two Ironman station assistants were straight to me, ‘Do you feel okay, you look dizzy, do you need to sit down?’ I popped two electrolyte pills, filled my water bottle, gulped a further Gatorade and continued onwards.

To explain. Part of my race day strategy is to take a single electrolyte pill half way through the second half of the cycle. And then to take a further pill on every hour for the next five hours. That’s the absolute maximum recommended intake. 

Each pill contains a powerful blend of essential electrolytes - calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, thereby replacing what the body loses through sweat. Fundamentally, the pills can assist with the removal of race-ending cramps. However, instructions are crystal clear, you shouldn’t take more than one pill an hour. 

By circumstances by the point just after the halfway mark on the cycle, I’ve already taken two pills, PLUS I have no idea how much electrolyte equivalent is also in the couple of pints of Gatorade which I’ve already tanned! Vaguely, I recall reading that taking too much electrolyte can create problems, such as dizziness, vomiting, irregular pulse, fatigue, confusion and muscle pain. 

By this point any notion of holding the aero tuck position and flying down the road at 32 km per hour was gone, rendered totally impossible by agony across upper shoulders and back of neck, so I was sat upright and rolling at about 27 km per hour. It’s all I could do. One domino then after another going down. 

The steeper climbs began. Oh dear. Gradients which presented no problem at all in training started becoming near impossible. The clock was ticking, and the combination of fatigue and pain was providing a quite unprecedented new level of suffering. 

For sure, there's no such thing as pain, it's just weakness leaving the body! LOL! 

Yep, I was in a bad place at circa 150 kms. But sometimes in adversity it's human encouragement that makes all the difference, and that's what was about to happen. 

There was a photographer sat up on one of the climbs, and he watched me from hundreds of yards away, labouring up the hill towards him. As I arrived, out of sheer frustration I clenched my fist out to the side and proclaimed, ‘Onwards!’ 

That very moment:

To which he gave me a huge smile and replied, ‘Go on, all the way, and good luck with the marathon!’ This very brief exchange grounded me. Eyes stinging with sweat and salt, and I confess, big frustration at my lack of power and speed capability, I focussed again on Rules 5 and 6 of the Vellominati. 

My hoped for target time for the 180km cycle was 5 hrs 45mins, but it ended up an hour more than that. But I finished it! Boosted so very much by seeing my wife Gaynor and daughters Isobel and Ruby again when the cycle ended at 4pm, I headed into transition, sat on the ground to change shoes, some water over the head, a glug of Lucozade and started running. 

As one of Scotland's most accomplished Ironmen had noted: 

So man it up lad for the running, we’re this far in, and looking exactly at the times, ‘all’ you need to do to actually still nail a new Glenrothes Triathlon Club age group record by half an hour, is cover the 42.2 kilometres on foot, in under 6 hours. It's only Markinch to Dundee, have at it! 

4 kilometres running and it hits me, the heat! Dizzy, nauseous, I know the feeling because I’ve always made sure of training whenever it’s hottest in Scotland. It's heat exhaustion now, and the only things you can do to stop it once it starts, is either sit down (not an option), or cool yourself down. 

As I'd find out later in the day, despite water-resistant factor 50 sun cream, I'd still been cooked medium rare during the cycle! 

Arrive at a nutrition station. ‘Where’s the ice?’ (I’ve got a lightweight cap this year! Ready to be filled with ice!) ‘There is no ice! Okay! One cup of water over the head, one cup down the suit, and one cup in the hat, continue and repeat at each aid station.

Run the calculations in my head. 38 kilometres left, at 8 minutes per kilometre you will indeed need to run half, fast turbo walk the other half. So I start picking points, I’ll run to that tree 200 metres away, then turbo walk the next 200, repeat, repeat, repeat! 

An electrolyte pill each hour to stop cramp. Do not stop. Watch what you are doing, don’t trip! Focus. Spin the feet. Keep the momentum. 

The crowds and encouragement were amazing. HOP HOP HOP! They shout and shout! And many encourage me by name, easy as it’s purposefully on the front of every competitor bib! 

Then the heavens opened, I’m 18km from the finish, and it starts getting dark. Then it truly descends into total darkness. We are running and fast walking around Krumpendorf, there are no lights on the trails, the only light is from those participants who have been handed a head torch, and I’m not one of them! 

Half an hour earlier, ‘Would you like an Ironman cagoule for the rain?’, to which I replied ‘I am from Scotland, this weather is normal!’ 

I become totally disorientated, in pitch darkness at a junction in a housing estate I ask someone running with a torch 100 metres behind me, ‘You sure we’re still on the right route?’ We eventually make our way back to streetlights and I then have 12 kms left, down through Klagenfurt city centre on a second loop, and back. Sections are in near pitch darkness through parks, pavement cracks, grass verges, tree roots under park tarmac, keep the focus! The rain was relentless, it was like standing in a power shower, very refreshing! If you miss getting your timing chip across a single timing mat, then you are going down as a DNF! 

Manage the circumstances. It wasn’t pretty but I did what was needed to finish, and create the new GTC age group record by 38 minutes. 

Was it the plant-based diet that screwed my cycle energy? Am I too old in life to make such a dramatic and quick one month adjustment? I don't have an answer to that. 

A cycling plan based on what you can sustain at 32.5km per hour at Fife Cycle Park is fairly meaningless when we are talking 3 times that distance, with all the climbs involved as well. 

Can we get something machined to raise the bike’s handlebars by 3 inches, as that more elongated less tucked position is what seemed to be the best position I could learn from those who were effortlessly overtaking me one after another in the second 90km loop. And what about gearing, hills that were causing problems would not be problems at all if we can re-calibrate the gearing to easier normality. As in normal road bike normality. We can add a Mountain Bike triple chainring on the front, it it means we can better handle the hills! 

It’s not difficult to explain how I felt the next morning. You want sore legs for a couple of weeks, or a sore mind for the rest of your life? - That doesn't even begin to explain. 

Your internal organs have all been taken out, then put back in. The unexpected and unrehearsed blending of how you unexpectedly fuelled yourself leaves you feeling sick. Tiny muscles you never even knew you had behind your ears, in agony. Ribcage agony to the touch. Pass the Nurofen! You cannot walk, you cannot stand up from a chair without leveraging yourself. Every movement is like that of a slow robot! And that's when my very lovely wife called me 'The Mechanical Man' ... 😂 🤣 😂 

The pain will go away. But the lasting memories will stay forever.

Such was that pain, I actually ended up after the race saying to my wife, 'I cannot see how I could ever think of trying that ever again!' But writing this blog through the aftershock four days later I have a list: 

1. On the day, join your most relevant swim time group, not a faster group.

2. Attach a new single bottle cage directly to the back of the bike seat! Enables you to:

3. Stick totally to pre-conceived strategic and nutrition plan! 

4. Add a triple chainring, for much easier climbing. 

5. Raise bike handlebars 3 inches, for permanent elongated missile instead of temporary aero tuck.

6. Increase your yoga, so you can handle 5.

7. Stick to Hoka One One running shoes. Stay injury free, and increase run training. 

8. Lose one stone. Revert to 2019 weight. 

9. Invest in a triathlon suit which completely covers the back, so you don't get roasted. 

Will I go back again in 2022 for another race? Maybe take the chance to be the first ever Glenrothes Triathlon Club member to deliver a finish line in Austria, in the Male 55 - 59 age group? Time will tell ... The problem is, that as soon as the race entry opens (as is now imminent once again), it normally sells out virtually immediately! 

This photo, I was about to run down the red carpet finish line. I can certainly say at that point that nothing had been left out there on the course. 2021 took everything I had, and the rest. 

If you want to find out who you are, it's a great place to go looking. 

Phewee! And we somehow did it, excluding the final few tougher weeks of training, from a base level of fitness, and 9 hours commitment a week. That's surely a great investment in your life! It equates to 5% of your time, into looking after yourself. 

On that basis, if you combine the 9 hours a week with well considered nutrition and a healthy diet, what you are then embracing is a philosophy of 'an Ironman way of life'. And there's surely no reason why this ongoing approach to maintaining health cannot also be sustained into older age. 

We were informed via tannoy at the start line this year, the oldest Ironman entrant was 73 years old. Quite staggering, I have to say. 

Ironman Austria normally has circa 3,500 entrants. 

In 2021, and with severe travel restrictions in place due to the global pandemic, there were 1,379 entrants. 1,030 crossed the finish line, 25% of entrants did not finish. 

I can only count my many blessings that I've been able to keep training this year, and that I had the sheer willpower and inner strength not to give in to such adversity on race day. 

So very honoured beyond belief, to have been able to represent Glenrothes Triathlon Club in 2021. 

And so many messages received, thank you to everyone. 

If you asked me in early 2014 if I would ever in my life receive a message from the Chair of Scottish Athletics? 

Well I guess that Anything is Possible! 🏊🏼‍♂️ 🚴🏻‍♂️ 🏃🏼‍♂️ ❤️

Memories are Made of This: 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas 

Ironman Class of 2021 

GROWING FASTER WITH AGE? IRONMAN CLASS OF 2021

Do you remember that time the guy who couldn't run 100 metres in 2014 made the entire back page of The Gazette in 2019? Yep, I was as surprised as you! But LOL, anything is possible! 😂

How time flies, it literally feels like yesterday, standing at the start line for Europe's most legendary race back in July 2019. So many sensory memories retained, of everything about that day. The experiences of becoming Scotland's first (and only!) Ironman hotelier, and subsequently then receiving congratulations from Scotland's Parliament only made me want to return again and have another go! 

So, I signed in again for July 2020, then then got deferred due to the global pandemic to September 2020, then July 2021, and then yet again to September 19th 2021. All to plan, the start line now beckons once again. 

Amongst the sheer and epic brutality of the race challenge itself, there's also the additional elements of finesse, collective kindness, the spirit of Ohana, strategic planning, nutritional planning, and equipment. It's all great fun but certainly potentially disastrous if anything isn't fully tested, and planned to succeed. 

Back in 2019 the only things I had on my mind that day? Firstly the most profound happiness that my very lovely wife Gaynor and our daughters Isobel and Ruby were there to support me, seeing them every couple of hours or so literally made the entire world of difference. Secondly, to look after myself and not make any catastrophic errors, safety all the way. Thirdly, the only objective, and I mean THE ONLY END OBJECTIVE was to safely get the timing chip across the finish line, for our amazing, local, friendly and inclusive across the span of all ages and abilities, Glenrothes Triathlon Club. 

To explain 2019 exactly, after I had finished the 2.4 mile swim, and then the 112 mile cycle, I went through T2 (transition 2, where you quickly change from cycle gear to running gear), then started running with thighs feeling like lead on the 26.2 mile marathon. I looked down at my watch after the first kilometre of the run, and saw I was at 6 minutes 20 seconds, superb, but at that point I made a very conscious decision, 'You have got this far, it's a very long way to the finish, you have time on side, so do the clever thing to give the absolute best chance of actually finishing, and to hopefully avoid potentially ruinous cramp or any other injury, back everything right off and head through the entire marathon blending running, with fast walking, albeit fast walking as fast as you can walk'. So that's what I did! I very purposefully slowed down, to give the very best chance of finishing. And in the process certainly finished an hour or so slower than I would have been if I'd kept running all the way. If there hadn't been any stop for the storm, and I had kept running for the entire marathon, I could theoretically have finished circa 13 and a half hours, therefore with a full 3 and a half hours spare before the 17 hour cutoff deadline. 

So, it's all there to perhaps be achieved or otherwise for 2021. To be honest, I am so grateful beyond belief to even be able to be able to take the start line. Since beginning with conditioning and fitness from personal Ground Zero at the age of 46 back in 2014, my journey as recorded on Strava has now extended over 28,000 kilometres. There hasn't been 100 metres that I have not enjoyed and appreciated, not ever. 

Joining GTC back in 2014 literally changed my life. I came last in the Balbirnie Duathlon in 2014 (5km run, 20km cycle, 2.5k run), but it was the encouragement and support that night out on the course from GTC members / race Marshalls and GTC Founder Steven McEwan afterwards, that all combined and got me started on the way to Ironman. At the beginning of 2014 I literally could not run 100 metres, so in the context of achieving Ironman in 2019, it has been a profound learning experience all the way.  

I didn't know it on the day or immediately afterwards, but my eventual 2019 finish time, even despite having been halted for a good half hour by police earlier in the cycle during the most incredible thunder and lighting storm I have ever seen, was going to define as an M 50 -54 Age Group record for (GTC) Glenrothes Triathlon Club! 

It is of course one of the loveliest aspects of Triathlon and Ironman, that the sport doesn't end when athletes usually hit their best ever performances in their 20s and early 30s, to the contrary these are the triathlon age groups: 

And I can certainly say today, that I would now absolutely love to be able to keep on going for years to come. It's all there to be done. Maintain base level fitness, step it up for race day, and in effect use an annual Ironman as an annual fitness assessment! 

Swimming can continue to improve with age and technique. Cycling can massively improve with indoor training technology, and by shifting from a normal bike to an aero hyper bike. As for the running, very simply put, you can make wee improvements the lighter you get! 

My 2019 finish time of 15 hours 3 minutes 23 seconds was achieved (a) without a wetsuit (banned as the water was too hot at 25 degrees) - wetsuits can be near 10% faster as they add buoyancy and streamlining (b) all cycle training outside (c) on the day itself cycled on a normal hired road bike (d) half an hour delay due to thunder and lightning (d) the marathon got backed off and I blended running with fast walking. 

Fast forward to 2021 and what could be possible, given the massive learning experience of having crossed the finish line before? Additionally (a) wetsuits will be used as the Lake's water temperature is currently 17 degrees (b) I've supplemented conventional outdoor cycling over the last 20 months with use of the world's most advanced indoor training bike, the incredible Wattbike Atom X (c) I now have my own aero Trek Speed concept bike which has been nicknamed 'The Black Knife', as it's designed literally to cut through the air, and perhaps even as importantly we're rolling with a set of aero wheels, these are Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6's, Aeolus being the Greek God of wind (d) let's hope for no delay with thunder and lightning this year! (e) it remains to be seen how far I can run! 

Sincere thanks to Chris Maule of Wattbike, for providing an Atom X on loan for 2021 indoor training: 

The Atom X is the commercial version of Wattbike's domestic bike, the Atom - which I trained on through 2020. The technology on both is absolutely superb. It's said that conditioning on one of these is maybe three times more beneficial than riding on the roads, simply put there's no downtime, no coasting down a hill, no catching a breather waiting on traffic to pass. When you are on, you are ON! 

Safer as well, incredibly convenient, less wear and tear on road bike, can be used by an entire family. 

And, if you wish to do so you can watch a movie at the same time as cycling! 

Nothing on an indoor bike however, is going to fully prepare you for real life road conditions, and what it feels like out there in the wind, together with all the ensuing conditions and sensations from the road. 

Say hello to The Black Knife:

So theoretically this year, it may well be the case that I can break the same GTC M50 - 54 Age Group record which I established back in 2019, but there's one massive caveat for 2021, and that's my left knee! 

Earlier this year I switched from my usual Hoka One One running shoes to another brand, and immediately picked up the knee injury. Back to Hoka but I've not been able to do anything like the amount of running conditioning I would have liked to do, and over recent weeks the only conditioning I have been able to do has been 5km easy on near soft sand, or soft grass, all with a view to getting to start the race, and if I make it to the run section what will be will be! This is a long way from 2019's run preparations, when I was running three 10kms each in under an hour, per week. 

My swimming has improved this year. I have taken a full 20 seconds off per 100 metres, and am still the only swimmer I have seen in any pool in Scotland using the Total Immersion technique.

Here's my swim coach Shinji Takeuchi with a quick clip, video ranked 1 worldwide for famous swimmers.   The Most Graceful Freestyle Swimming.

During August 2021's 100 training sessions alone, I achieved 46 new Personal Records, most of these cycling on The Black Knife. It's one thing having a fast aero bike, it's another matter entirely in being able to ride it! 

Back in July I started proper familiarisation with the bike by riding on the flat back and forth between Freuchie and Dunshalt. OMG, so dangerous, difficult to look over your shoulder for safety checks, zero suspension so you feel every tiny jolt, 'plan to stop' brakes (and out of quick reach), clunky gears, and steering so hugely sensitive to the tiniest of movements, dangerous, skittish ... That said, it's a combination which over the course of time can be studied, learnt, and gradually understood. And when you do understand it all, that's when it then starts making total sense, all of it! 

Lots of yoga has helped condition for the bike as well. Child's pose, extending to elbow-supported plank! 

There must be folk who train for an Ironman, then think to themselves 'to save cash and hassle transporting my road bike, I'll just hire an aero bike!' (there are numerous rental companies) - Only to arrive for race weekend, pick up the bike, have 20 minutes and 10 kilometres warmup around the block thinking 'this is brilliant', only to then realise an hour into it on race day, that they are in actual fact sitting without preparation on the most incredible instrument of personal torture, and there's still maybe 5 hours to go! They then need to come out of the aero tuck, and hold the lower base bars, but after 30 minutes of that, the wrists are screwed with pain because they are using muscles and tendons that aren't used to it. 

As I say, it's something that needs to be learnt, and it's patiently, over hours, days, weeks, and hundreds of kilometres. 

On 26th July I had a one hour session on Dundee's Velodrome, averaging 34.5km per hour. Sweet Jiminy Cricket the pain! But never mind being uncomfortable sitting on a bike, I could hardly sit on the front seat of a Tesla afterwards! I was so close to selling the bike and heading back to my trusty and safe, comfortable Trek Domane road bike with a pair of add-on aero bars, but no, I made the very clear decision, 'However it happens, The Black Knife and I are going to become friends!' 

And so began a vast and rapid learning experience the next day, equipped with a more comfortable saddle and heading to the amazing Fife Cycle Park, with the mentality of '60% in the ultra fast tough-to-hold aero tuck position, 40% sitting up holding the easier base bars', since then we've gradually become friends! 

On a normal road bike, the better your position into the wind and the more power you put through the pedals, the faster you will go incrementally. The Black Knife is different, if you take it to 30 kilometres per hour, and then start putting good power (eg 250 watts) through the pedals, it's as if turbochargers kick in, and whoosh ... off it goes, incredible! I've trained Fife Cycle Park alone, more than 300 kilometres over recent weeks, and can hold the continual pace steady at 33 kilometres per hour. On occasional 100% effort flying laps (always build the pace on kilometre 22 as that's the power-building number), I've been able to go over 40 kilometres per hour, and that's without pedalling on the corners, because at that speed the bike is leaning over and going so fast that the pedals were hitting the ground! 

Lots of looking at bike fit detailing online, and so many tiny wee adjustments, a millimetre here, a millimetre there, until eventually ... we reached the main priority of sustained comfort. Sustained speed is only made possible as the result of the comfort. 

Sincere thanks to my cycling mentor David Macmillan, for installing new wheels, brakes and full service preparation of the bike for Austria. David has recently opened the new Singletrack Bike Shop in Kirkcaldy. 

Of the swim / cycle / run, the cycle is certainly my best of the three, and if I make it to the end of the swim I hope to be able once again to experience Austria's truly epic and beautiful route. The views are staggering, the road surfaces 99%+ as smooth as Fife Cycle Park. 

A massive congratulations with everyone who has been involved with the re-instatement of Pittenweem's Tidal Swimming pool. What a wonderful addition for Fife. With water temperature forecasted for Austria now at 16 degrees, I've had confidence-building sessions re-familiarising with wetsuit gear and Fife's current sea temperature at 14.5 degrees. 

Another truly great thing to have learnt this year, is how to actually prepare and warm up for a cool water swim. Basically, in and out the water, you need to gradually let sections of cold water into your wetsuit, then warm up out the water gradually so that the water inside the suit reaches the same temperature as you! 9 time Kona finisher Wendy Mader talks through exactly how to do that. 

In the first of those Pittenweem sea sessions (photo above), I acknowledged that I have (and always have had) a big problem with extreme dizziness when standing up after swimming, but only caused by prolonged time in cold water. In fact, I cannot even stand up! After further 2021 research, I've discovered this is fixed by inserting tiny Speedo ear plugs so cold water cannot access the inner ear. In conjunction with a chinstrap thermal cap. Next session 100% sorted and I was smiling! Every day is a school day! 

2021 - 2.4 mile swim then no dizziness, and able to stand up and then cycle 112 miles on The Black Knife. Then run a marathon on a bad knee? Sounds like a plan! 

In 2020 it transpired that there wasn't any Ironman, thankfully I had opted in for the only other challenge of the year, a fairly extreme Swim/ Cycle/ Run Virtual Reality challenge delivered and administered weekly by GTC's Nicola Philp, Race Director for the Balbirnie Duathlon. That 2020 challenge took significant time, usually averaging 14 to 15 hours per week, every week. All of that got me thinking, 'What would be the optimum annual weekly training and conditioning that would be required, to maintain base fitness, and capability to complete an Ironman 140.6, in the mid fifties, and without spending time on junk miles, just for the sake of it. Every hour therefore focussed, every session put to as much good use as possible. I am repeating a similar Virtual Reality challenge in 2021, but the average is around 9 hours per week, albeit more in the weeks building towards the apex 3 weeks out from Ironman race day. If it's possible to keep the required levels with 9 hours per week average, count me in! 

All aspects combined, could it be possible in 2021 to take a full hour off 2019's IronMan time? Well that I don't know ... 

All I do know is that ⬇️

If you'd like a quick snapshot of Austria 2019 and what it's actually like: 

From Balbirnie's Facebook: mindset and what was involved Triathlon: 'The IronMen of Fife' 

6 months in Preparation, a very comprehensive Case Study 

IronMan - concluding the 5 Year Fitness Case Study. 

It's the biggest finishing line in Ironman events: 

2021 official video

All best wishes, 

Nicholas 

MD Balbirnie House