Saturday 2 January 2010

The Last Decade; Part 3

2007
Ben had been completing Ironman Triathlons on and off since 2000, and I enjoyed following his training and races and took huge inspiration from his performances. The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.5mile swim, 112 mile cycle and 26.2 mile run it was a race that he had mastered with a couple of performances at the World Championships in Hawaii, but I hadn’t even entertained it. Why I found myself in front of the computer early in the year entering Ironman UK set for mid August I am not sure, but it became a huge focus for the coming year. Training during April, May, June and July was really ramped up to consistently 50 plus hours each month and come August I had ridden in excess of 4000 miles, I was ready......but first.


On June 6th a couple of weeks late Sarah gave birth to Evie Mae Garrard (less than a day old in the photo). She was in a gruelling labour for 24 hours, but eventually Evie came out, she weighed 6lb 10oz. Once again my beautiful wife had given me another beautiful little girl. The next day I took Ellie to the hospital, and I remember some fantastic moments as Ellie watched over and cuddled her brand new little sister. I took all my girls home and although I was seriously outnumbered I was loving every minute of it.


Mum, Dad, Sarah, Ellie and 6 week old baby Evie all made the journey down to Sherbourne in Dorset for the race. We have rented some fabulous accommodation and after a couple of chilled out days race day arrived. I finished the race in 11:08:43 and was elated with my performance. Apart from a puncture in mile 1 of the bike the day went pretty much to plan. Many emotions went through my mind during the race, but the feelings as I ran down the finishing shoot to cross the line were a mix of relief, excitement and joy. It was an amazing experience and especially great that my Mum and Dad and family were there to share the day with me. I think my Dad was as emotionally drained as me as for the duration of the day he had followed me all over the course, he was number one supporter and I was an Ironman.



Just prior to IMUK I hooked up for a ride with Tom Williams. Tom was a member of the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club and I happened to make contact with him. On the phone there was an instant ease of conversation, similarities in our lives, both having done Sports Science Degrees, and Tom now teaching as a lecturer at University Leeds and I knew we would get along great. I am pleased I phoned Tom, apart from sharing a great 75 mile ride we started what has turned out to be a strong friendship.


I was keen to retain my 10 mile TT title, unfortunately Tom took me down by 4 seconds, but we were both destroyed by a very strong, experienced cyclist who put 53 seconds into me, I took bronze.

2008

We started the year celebrating my Dad’s 60th Birthday. A great weekend was had at Center Parcs with Dad's sister Jan and Uncle Gary, Mum and Dad and Max and Rachael. Dad and I went close to winning the Badminton Doubles Tournament, we walked, cycled and ran and had a nice relaxing time. Dad is a real inspiration to me especially when it comes to Sport. Later this year he was to do his first ever 12 hour time trial covering 206 miles. He still cycles, races, runs, lifts weights and coaches football, all in addition to coaching the sport at Swanbourne House Prep School.


I had decided I wanted some more Ironman action, so I entered Ironman Switzerland, based in Zurich in early July. I trained consistently through the first few months of the year and with 3850 cycle miles in my legs before July I felt pretty good. I had tried to be a little more consistent with my long 2 hour runs and felt good. During May Tom and I set ourselves a challenge to complete a total of 1000 miles in the pool, on foot or on the bike, I succeeded with 981 cycle miles and 104 running miles, so knew I was in good shape. On race day I was caught out by cold wet conditions, I shivered my way round the first lap of the bike and was relieved when the sun came out. I ran hard in the final couple of km’s to cross the line absolutely smashed in a time of 11:03:16. At first I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to bike a little quicker and run a bit faster to get a 10 hour time, but with a very solid race and a new PB it didn’t take long before I was overjoyed.



We travelled to Interlaken for a couple of weeks camping on a Canvas Campsite. This was a really enjoyable holiday and the perfect way to relax after the race and spend some quality time as a family.



Inspired by Dad’s forthcoming 12 hour time trial, I set of to ride all day during the summer holidays. I covered 153.5 miles in 8hours 45 minutes; my longest ever ride in a day. I also got back the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club 10 mile Time Trial Championships.



Another highlight of the year was going up to Scotland with Max and Dad. This was a Birthday present from me and Max to Dad. We travelled up on the train to Corrour Station and spent 5 days walking to Fort William, camping and trying to avoid the mosquito’s as we went. Once in Fort William we walked up Ben Nevis before getting the train home again. This was a really enjoyable trip and we hope to plan something similar in the future.



Evie Celebrated her 1st Birthday and Ellie celebrated her 4th, my girls were growing up. They were great fun to be around and Ellie was taking a real interest in drawing, writing, reading and of course playing with dolls.



Sarah continued to expand her ‘Musical Success’ business by learning how to repair and service Clarinets, Flutes and Saxophones. We set up a workshop for her in the loft and repairing and servicing instruments proved to be an excellent additional service to be able to offer.


Work for me was going very well, the sport at the school was in a good place, my GCSE and A Level Students were experiencing success and I was enjoying the daily job of teaching PE. Work has always been important to me but I would be lying if I didn’t place it third in my list of priorities firmly behind my family and my sporting interests. I feel I am committed to the job, I am good at what I do, yet I have always maintained a strong view that it would not become the primary focus for my week. I made a choice to teach partly because it allows me much more time throughout the year to spend with my family and to do all the things I love doing. At Read School I get 16 weeks holiday a year, I have never not had long holidays, as a kid at school, as a student at University and then as a teacher, I don’t know anything different and know I don’t want that to change.



2009

Unfortunately the start to the year was filled with illness and medical problems. My Dad had experienced a severe case of Labyrinthitis.Evie spent a night in hospital with a particularly aggressive vomiting/ stomach bug. I picked up my first ever ear infection, which turned nasty and required three nights in hospital. I needed an operation to further perforate the ear drum so as to remove an infected area in the middle ear. I spent a total of 18 days (and required 2 weeks off work) unable to do any physical activity. I also missed out on a planned trip to Arizona to catch up with Ben for a week’s Triathlon Training on one of his camps, I was devastated. The arrival of Spring seemed to lift everybody’s health and we were all soon back to full fitness.


Lanzarote Ironman was the race for 2009, race day 23rd May, Tom and his wife Helen were also due to race so we pushed each other through the winter into a gruelling training session we like to do in the Spring. Located on the A168, there is a great 7.5 mile stretch of slightly undulating road between 2 roundabouts near Wetherby. The session consists of 7 laps followed this year by a 10 mile run. Tom and I took it in turns to ride on the front with the rider behind maintaining the 10m drafting distance (so not tucked in behind the wheel) I was riding super strongly, but staying in control, we went through 100 miles in 4:21:45 and finished with a great 10 mile run in 1hour 25 minutes. It was an awesome session and left me feeling confident going into the final weeks of training before Lanzarote.



Lanzarote Ironman is considered one of, if not the toughest Ironman race due to the heat, winds and tough bike course which has over 2000m of climbing. I crossed the finish line in 11 hours 53 minutes and 43 seconds hand in hand with Ellie. I was absolutely beaten up, the heat had taken its toll, I was severely sunburned and would struggle to walk normally for a couple of days. I had missed my target time of sub 11 hours by quite a bit but sometimes the outcome is less important than the process, and 23rd May was definitely one of those days. The process of the training, the build up to the race and the race itself, the highs, the lows and sharing the day with great friends and my fabulous family made the outcome unimportant. We spent the rest of a fabulous week in a lovely apartment enjoying the sun, chilling by the pool and visiting parts of the Island that the bike course had passed.



I enjoyed plenty more cycle races getting back into time trialling. I finished the summer riding well and maintained my grasp on the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club 10 mile Time Trial title.
We had a nice two week summer holiday in Majorca, the girls had a brilliant time. Although the resort wasn’t mine or Sarah’s cup of tea we enjoyed 14 days of blue skies and temperatures in the high 20’s and loved seeing the girls excited faces from day to day.



In September Ellie started school. Looking sweet in her new school uniform she just couldn’t wait. A term has passed and she is loving it. She has played her recorder with her friend in front of her class, she loves writing, drawing and is getting a real grip for numbers, she was a beautiful Angel in the Wiggly Nativity Play and above all she goes to school each morning with a big smile on her face.



The year ended with a fabulous Christmas spent with my Mum and Dad and two very excited little girls. Evie is a bundle of energy, with a really bright, cheeky personality and Ellie is becoming a really caring, thoughtful little girl. As the year ends I couldn’t imagine a house without the noise, energy and vibrancy that Ellie, Evie and of course Sarah give it.

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