30/30 - What Juneathon did for me ...........

Todays exercise - Swimming 2000m in 51 mins.

This is my last addition to Juneathon and in all means that my totals were :

Running 72.58 km

Cycling 435.34 km

Swimming 16.4 km

When I look at those, I think shit, was that really me, and I don't think I could have kept that up if I didn't have to blog everyday, so that has really helped.

During juneathon I have :

Fought off a tropical infection !

Completed an Olympic distance triathlon !

Caused an accident !

Been attacked by toads and cats !

Astounded training partners with futuristic nutrition !

Lost 3 kgs !

Trained hard for 25 days, did some exercise the other 5 !

Blogged everyday !

............and farted in a wetsuit !

I also got to read some great blogs along the way ! Roll on next year......

29/30 Did I cause that accident with my odd shaped legs ?????

Todays exercise - Running 8.03 miles in 1.23.48

Boy, was it warm tonight, but I had no fear because I remembered to wear my water belt !!!! Hoorah !!!

Not only that, but I made sure that I had some powerbar gels with me and 40p in change so that if the going got too bad, I could make a phone call for Heidi to come and pick me up - all in all, I think I had all bases covered tonight.

The run itself was the same as usual,starting with the usual uncomfortable first 10 minutes. I soon realised that I had something in my shoe rattling around as well, so it was stop to empty that, then I had to stop at the crossings for a minute or so, and had to jog on the spot a bit ( must have looked like a was busting for a pee !)

Eventually though I got going properly and as I got to the halfway point I heard some brakes screeching and then there was a bang as a Golf smacked another car right up the arse. As it was a long straight road, I can only think that they must have been distracted .........lol ( I have been told that my calves are wierd, one side looks athletic enough, whilst the other looks like it lives in the pub!) - maybe it was the sight of these and the disbelief that distracted the driver !!!!

That aside, the four miles back were not overly tough, and I think that was down to both the fluid and the gels helping replace those lost salts.

So that was the penultimate day of Juneathon. Tomorrow I will add it all up and see how I've done, I'm certainly a lot fitter !

28/30 Back in the gimp suit... I mean wetsuit !

Todays exercise - Open water swimming - 1500 metres

It was time to return to the lake at South Hykeham tonight to do a couple of laps of the lake. the wetsuit seemed tighter which means I've been troughing a bit since Dambuster, so I need to knuckle down a bit the the old calorie counter.

The water was was lovely and even though I was in a sweaty sticky wetsuit the cool water made it all worthwhile ! When I had tootled round a couple of times I got back to the jetty to see other swimmers having a go without their wetties on.

Balls to that I'm not that brave....

27/30 and the peleton rides again !

Todays exercise - Cycling 16.25 miles in 1.04

Todays get out and go was a very easy circuit which we used to try and get me used to the tt bike as its still all a bit ' bambi on ice' at the moment.

There is now less than a calendar month to go to Antwerp and I will need to be comfortable getting down in the aero bars and be ok with getting up quickly, and generally swapping my position around on the bike.

Due to a problem with training partners back wheel which had begun to wobble noticeably, we cut short todays ride, but know that over then next four weeks that there will be lots of hard work put in to bring me up to scratch !

So here it is.... Juneathon is winding down and the countdown to Ironman is hotting up...

26/30 Splish Splosh ! I was trying to save dosh......

Todays exercise - Cycling 8.32 miles

This was supposed to be a rest day and for most part I suppose it was. I had a couple of things to do and one of those things was to try and fix the dripping kitchen tap. Rather than ask a plumber to come round and scratch their heads and tell me sincerely that this was gonna cost me, I thought I'd have a go myself.

I took the tap apart and then thought I'd ride down to the local hardwear store to get new seals etc. Turns out its not the seal , you have to replace the whole inner working unit, and theres 130 odd different types of these. I then rode around different parts of town to try and get one without any luck, hence the 8 miles or so.

I ended up back at the start, the tap is still dripping, and I will need a head scratcher to sort it out....

Ummmpph !!

25/30 and in my mind I'm Haile Gebrselassie !

Todays exercise - Running 8.03 miles in 1.22.31

Tonight I decided to go out for a long slow run and to see how far I could get. To help me, I planned to wear my water bottle get up again so that I could replace my salts on what was and still is one of those very muggy evenings.

It all started very sedately, at a nice steady pace and then two miles in....shit...I realised that I was not wearing the water belt !!!!!!

Right, carry on, try not to think about it, try not to sweat etc etc, and to be fair that was going nicely, but my legs started to tighten up very quickly and I found myself going slightly slower then slightly slower still.

I'm still feeling pretty hardcore to be honest cos that was my first eight miler of the year, and in my own mind, I feel like a professional runner, its a shame I don't run like one !

Massive step towards my half marathon goal and I think I am deserving of tonights pint.

24/30 A greasy fast time trial !

Todays exercise - Cycling 17.23 miles in 53.15

From the depths of my bike store (conservatory) , and from behind my normal road bike came my Focus Culebro TT bike for only its second airing of the year.

Now the problem with these types of bikes are that they are only bloody fast in a straight line, they corner like battleships, and to get the very best out of them you have to ride them in a crouched position which is difficult to maintain.

So, with all of my excuses safely out of the way, I decided to have a crack at what I know as the 1 hour route. In fact, the fastest that we had ridden this course was 59 mins 10 secs, and Kev pulled me around on that occasion.

I decided not to wear my ipod as well because I'm still pretty wobbly on it, and wanted to be able to hear the traffic coming from behind.

Apart from some wobbly handling early on, I soon had a go at settling down into the aero position and held that for a good mile or so, it felt a little easier than last time and it is true that you expend less energy in that tuck position. Still, it felt a little unnatural and I alternated between sat up and tuck. I knew the time was a fast one at the end of Brant Road where over a minute had already been saved, and with that in mind I found myself more willing to spend longer down in the bars.

The whole route seemed to be over before it really began and at a cracking time of 53.15 which is a whisker off being six whole minutes faster than that course had been done before.

Now thats greasy fast !