OK so this is not the sort of thing I normally blog about, but this got me REALLY annoyed…

On Saturday my wife and I were issued a “parking ticket” by a private security company named Armtrac Security Services… WHILE I WAS SAT IN THE CAR!!!

We had stopped in a parking bay adjacent to a shop in a local town. There were plenty of empty bays, including the one next to ours, and I stayed in the car with the keys in the ignition while my wife popped inside quickly, and within a minute or so an unmarked van had pulled up close behind our back bumper blocking our car in.

The driver who was not in any sort of uniform jumped out and took a photo of the car, and when I asked what the hell was going on he said I was getting a parking ticket. I said no worries, that I would move my car, and asked him to move his van which he refused to do. No matter what I said he refused to move his van while he wrote out the ticket, then he handed me a “Charge ticket” for £60 and then left.

The parking bays to my left and right were empty, and by delibarately parking on the road so as to block me in he was the one causing an obstruction, double parking a silver mini-van opposite and preventing any other vehicle from passing.

The ticket states that we have 7 days to pay, otherwise the price increases, and that “If you have reason to appeal a £5.00 administration fee will be charged.”

What a joke. So as soon as I got home I went online to find Armtrac’s website, and it turns out not only do they not have a site, but the address they give is a mail forward, and the phone number is an 0871 redirect… basically they are hiding!

Well not any more. I’ve created a page all about Armtrac and their dodgy business in the hope of exposing them. I’ve also been interviewed and photographed by our local newspaper, and I’m waiting to hear back from a researcher at the local radio station who says they are looking into it.

These guys are scammers, their entire business model involves “pouncing” on people to issue these tickets and I’m sure it’s illegal. I’m taking legal advice and will fight them all the way, but in the meantime hopefully anyone searching “Armtrac Security Services” after getting one of these tickets will find this page and the Squidoo lens and realise that they are not alone, they they should NOT pay the ticket, and that Armtrac need to be stopped!

[rant over]

Yesterday I was forwarded a YouTube video of a guy named James Lawrence, a triathlete doing an amazing challenge for charity whose bike was trashed by Delta airlines, who refused even to give him a refund on the air freight for the bike! Here’s the video:

James is trying to raise $5 million for drought relief in Africa by competing in 20 half Ironman triathlons in just 30 weeks. He’s already completed 4 of the races, and he’s already registered for the other 16.

Anyway, after watching the vid I checked out his site at Tri To Give A Dam and the project is amazing. Incredible pictures of the project’s work in Africa, and some a truly inspirational challenge so I just wanted to share it and maybe help send a few more people to the site and raise a few more dollars for a great cause. Talking of which, this will give you an idea of what the charity does and why it’s so important:

So, go check out James’ site and blog, follow his progress in the challenge on Twitter, and if you don’t agree with Delta’s treatment make sure you forward that video on!

No matter how good your intentions, or how important a project is sometimes things happen and life gets in the way!  For the past week I’ve not managed to run at all due to a twisted ankle, and I’ve not had time to blog due to a crazy work schedule.  These last 2 days both of those 2 things have been stressing my out, and I’ve been worried that I’ll not achieve the goals I’ve set for myself but this morning I decided not to let it get to me, and just deal with it!

While I’ve not be able to run I did swim last week, and I went cycling on a very nice Cannondale tandem on Friday.  As I mentioned in a post last month, my father in law is going to be cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End for charity in the summer, and since he is blind he is riding a tandem.  His partner for the trip is away on a climbing trip so I offered to cycle with him so he could keep up with his training.

It had been a long time since I rode a tandem, and since his new Cannondale had double sided pedals (flat one side, SPD on the other) I decided to wear flat shoes.  That was a good decision, since finding your balance when pushing off on a tandem takes practice, but after a couple of hours I got the hand of it again so next time I’ll wear clipless shoes.

I also made time to get out and about on Saturday.  It was our wedding anniversary so Cress and I went hiking on the south coast.  I was a little worried about my ankle, but in fact it wasn’t a problem and we did a new route starting at Rinsey and explored the cliff paths around there.  We climbed down to an isolated little beach for a picnic lunch, and generally saw several groups of climbers out on some great looking granite faces… Definitely a cool spot to explore any time you’re in Cornwall!

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Climbers and a kayaker near Rinsey

As for blogging, the reason for not having time to get on here is mostly due to launching a new product/service for my business – Speedy Websites.  I’ve been developing the duplicateable sites over the past month or so, and last week we did all the promotions and launched the site.  I think it will still be busy for a little while longer, but it’s not as crazy as it has been so hopefully I can find more time to blog from now on… but when I don’t have time, I’m going to try not to stress about it!

Wow this triathlon thing can get expensive!  I’ve been going over my “shopping list” the last couple of days and it’s really starting to add up.   Apart from the actual race entry fees (the Perranporth Triathlon in a few weeks is £40 which isn’t too bad, but the Ironman is £345!) and swimming coaching (£60 per hour) and travel/accommodation expenses, there’s a whole bunch of equipment needed both for training and racing.  It kinda got me thinking – what is the minimum equipment needed, or put another way – how cheaply can someone get into triathlon?

Minimum equipment for triathlon

Now a bunch of this is going to be stuff that a lot of people already have, but quite a bit is fairly triathlon specific and will involve an expense for anyone wanting to get started with the sport, so let’s take a look at each stage in turn:

Equipment for the swim

Well the biggest expense here is going to be the wetsuit, unless you’re lucky enough to live somewhere warm enough that one isn’t needed.  While a lot of active people may well already own a wetsuit it almost certainly won’t be suitable.  Wetsuits for surfing, kayaking or diving for example are too bulky and restrictive for swimming efficiently, so at the very least you’ll probably want to “splash out” on a budget triathlon specific suit.  From doing a little research the budget suits made by Orca look like a good deal for beginners.

After the wetsuit the swim stage isn’t too costly – a decent pair of goggles is essential, but anyone who already swims probably has a pair.  Other than that, you just need a swim suit of some description – while a triathlon specific suit might be ideal for shorter races especially, I see no reason why beginners can’t get away with a normal swim suite or pair of shorts under their wetsuit.

Equipment for the bike

OK, here’s where it gets expensive!  If you’re lucky then you already have a road bike you can use, if not then this is where you’ll need to be spending some real money.  Triathlon bikes can be very expensive, but beginners are recommended normally to start on a normal road bike anyway.  I come from a mountain biking background and have been riding Specialized mountain bikes for years, so I’m intending to get a Specialized Allez.  There also appear to be good budget offerings from Scott, Trek and a few other brands.  I think this is the one piece of equipment that it might be worth checking the second hand market for.  I’ve seen some amazing deals on second hand bikes in the past, so shop around and check places like eBay and the classifieds ads in your local paper.  There are a LOT of options when it comes to the bike though, so I suggest either grabbing the abslute cheapest second hand bike you can find, doing a couple of races, then selling it again and upgrading now you know what you want… or doing some real research before making the investment in a bike that will last.  Apart from the make and model, you need to decide on frame size (get fitted at a local bike shop!), gearing (double, triple or compact chainset, size of cassette etc>) and a whole load of options like brakes etc.  If you’re using clipless pedals then you’ll also need compatible cleated shoes.  Note – when you’re budgeting, remember that most decent bikes won’t come with pedals so you need to include the price of whatever pedals you want in your budget (but many bike shops will give you a deal on the pedals if you ask!)

Apart from the bike itself you’ll need a few extras.  First and most important is a helmet which is compulsory in all races, and essential for all training.  If you already ride a mountain bike you’ll already have one, otherwise head to a local bike shop and try a few on for comfort, but luckily they are relatively low cost these days.

You’ll also need one or more bottles and cages for carrying drink, a pump, and preferably puncture kit and/or spare tube (and know how to use them!)

For clothing on the bike, you can either keep a tri suit on (if you wore one for the swim) or wear cycle shorts and a jersey.  You’ll also want some gloves/mitts and last but not least some sunglasses to protect your eyes, believe me you don’t want to be flying down a hill and have a bee or a piece of grit from the road hit you in the eye!

Equipment for the run

OK so the major expenses were dealt with for the bike stage, and if you already run you may well have everything you need here.  The most important thing of course is running shoes, and this is one area not to skimp.  If possible visit a specialist shop and get fitted.  Find a pair which are suitable for your foot type, and are comfortable – you’re going to be doing a lot of miles in them and a decent pair of shoes can make the difference between trouble free running and knee/ankle injuries.

Other than the shoes, you can probably get away with whatever you have available – shorts, vest/jersey and keep your sunnies on from the bike stage.  You might also want a hat/visor if you’re running in a sunny climate, and as an optional extra you can go for lace locks which will help you transition faster, rather than wasting time tying shoe laces.  Finally, a race belt might be a useful addition, allowing you to attach your race number and simply clip on rather than messing about with safety pins in transition (and some can attach energy gels too)

Wow  that’s a lot of stuff, and potentially a lot of expense.  Add to this items like energy bars/gels/drinks, magazines and books about the sport, and all manner of extras like heart rate monitors, cycle computers, bike tools and spares, wetsuit lube, muscle rubs, hydration systems and all manner of race and training aids you’ll see for sale in shops and online and you’ll quickly see that this is not the cheapest sport, but I believe it can be done on a budget if you’re careful about what you buy and stick to the basics.

Personally I’m currently looking around for a suitable bike (probably Specialized Allez if I can find one at the right price) and will need to invest in a wetsuit in a few weeks, but other than that I’m just going to use what equipment I already have, and focus on the training (while my wife is helping to satisfy my geeky gadget addiction by buying me a heart rate monitor for my birthday!)

2010 will see the Perranporth “extreme” surf triathlon in its 23rd year.  I’ll be honest, when I was searching for the “ideal first triathlon” I was looking at the dates and the distances and not much else.  I wanted to find an event of around sprint distance in late summer, and the 2 events which would have been ideal (The St.Agnes Triathlon and the West Cornwall Sprint distance at Hayle) both happen to be on weekend when I have to attend friend’s weddings!

So, scouring through lists of triathlon events I came across the Perranporth Triathlon, hosted by the Perranporth Surf Lifesaving Club.  The date looked fairly ideal – 12th September which gives me a few months to train (and learn to swim properly!!!) and the distances look acheivable – 800 – 1000m swim (depending on conditions), 35km bike and then 7.5km run – easy!  Well, that’s what I figured when I committed to the event here on the blog yesterday.  Now I know that the north coast can be very unpredicatable, and and there’s a good change it will be a rough swim, but there’s also a chance it will be flat calm so I decided not to worry about that – and I know I can manage the 35km bike OK, and hell it’s not even a 10k run!

“The toughest triathlon in the Southwest”

Well, that was yesterday, and since then I’ve been doing a little research on the race, and I have a little more respect for it now!  Adventure Cornwall called it “the toughest triathlon in the Southwest” which sounded ominous, but then I figured maybe that’s because there aren’t too many tough triathlons down this way!

Then I found an article on the BBC website calling it a “gruelling test of stamina” while the Independant had an article stating it was “one of the toughest UK events” and the author wrote after entering the event in 2007 that he and the other competitors were “so weary that we could barely speak, we all wore a look of dazed, strung-out joy, the kind more regularly associated with hallucinogenic drugs”

Oh!  Well look on the bright side, he did use the word “joy” in there!

Finally I stumbled up on this list of the ten toughest triathlons in the UK (according to Scott Bikes and Look) and low and behold there’s the Perranporth Surf Challenge at number 7!

So why does the event have such a fearsome reputation?  Well, as I already mentioned the swim has a lot to do with it.  The Atlantic coast can get pretty rough, even in summer and I’ve lived in the area all my life so I know what the sea can be like.  But it’s not just the swim!

The bike route is 2 laps of a 19 km loop, and being Cornwall it’s fairly hilly.  In particular the first mile or so is a really nasty climb, and you have to do that twice!  One reporter wrote “The 2 lap 40k bike course starts immediately with a 20% climb, has no real flat sections and can be tough in the wind” – nice!

Then if that wasn’t enough, a run of 7.5km might not sound like much, but it’s on sand which means it saps your energy – just want you need at the end of an event like this!

So, I have 16 weeks to prepare myself for this.  It was supposed to be a gentle “dipping my toes” into the sport of Triathlon, but it looks likely to be quite a challenge, and a good taster of what the Ironman might be like next year!  I’ll just keep my fingers crossed for calm water like in this video of the 2006 race:

The weeks are really flying by – I can’t believe it’s almost June already!  I really feel like it won’t be long before I’ll realise that there will be less than 12 months to the Ironman 2011, and I’ve not yet done a triathlon of any length.  I’ve been searching for a suitable events to “get my feet wet” but due to bad luck (2 separate weddings we need to attend which both happen to be the same weekend as the 2 most suitable triathons of the summer) I’ve decided to enter the Perranporth Surf Triathlon on 12th September.

The race is a little longer than I wanted for my first event, with a 800 – 1000m swim (rather unspecific!) a 35km bike and then a 7.5km run which puts it somewhere between a sprint and Olympic distance.  The bike and run distances are fine, but the swim is rather daunting, both due to the distance but also that it’s on the north shore and the sea can be pretty rough with sizable waves (precisely why it’s just a popular surf spot!) but with a bit of luck it will be relatively calm that day, and with 16 weeks to train, and some swim coaching booked I’m fairly confident I can enter and complete the course!

So – Perranporth Surf Triathlon 2010 added to my goals list, and I’d better head to the pool and get training!

Some mornings I jump out of bed, pull on my running shoes and I’m out of the door like a rocket. Other days, like today, I look out of the window to see the grey skies and mist and procrastinate.  I missed yesterday’s run due to a head cold, so today is a catch up, and even though I’m feeling much better it was still hard to get out the door.

For me, actually getting out of the door and taking the first step is the hardest part of training – once I’m going I’m usually fine, but I guess it’s just human nature to put things off.  I catch myself checking Wired or LifeHacker for the 3rd time, or logging onto Twitter or Facebook when I know what I should be doing is starting my run.

So it got me thinking – I can’t be the only one like this, so what tricks do other people use to get that spark of motivation and kickstart their day’s training?

Well, a quick Google search showed me I’m certainly NOT the only one!  In fact, if you search for “hardest part of running” you’ll soon find that most people do seem to find “getting out the door” by far the hardest thing.  I found loads of blogs and articles on the subject (and before you ask – I did do this after my run!) and here are some of the best tips I could find:

Tips to get you “out of the door” for your morning run

• Learn to recognise the difference between apathy and real tiredness.  There’s no shame in taking a rest day if you really are overly tired but don’t confuse that with just wanting to stay in the warm rather than getting your training done.
• Tell yourself that you’ll only do half the scheduled run. If you really are tired, then you’ll be able to tell in the first few minutes, after which you should go home. If you stay apathetic, maybe you’ll do the half run, which is better than no run. Most likely you’ll end up doing your scheduled run.
• Mix up your routes.  Running the same 5 mile loop every morning gets tedious, so plan some more interesting routes that will inspire you and you’ll want to get out and enjoy the scenery.  A 5 minute drive to a local beach or woods might take up a little more of your day, but the run will be much nicer!
• Pump up the volume!  Load your iPod up with your favourite running songs, and listen to a couple of tunes while you’re getting your running gear on – that should give you a little motivation and get you “in the mood”.
• Have a goal.  This is the big one for me, if I don’t have a goal I can’t seem to get the miles in, but if I’m working towards something specific that I want to achieve then it’s much easier.  It doesn’t matter if it’s entering your first 10, doing the Ironman, or losing a few pounds, just make sure that it’s specific and has a time element (i.e. don’t just say “I want to run a marathon”, say “I want to run the London Marathon 2011 in 3:15″ – that’s specific and timely, and should help to get you out of the door in the mornings!

Any suggestions?  If you have a tip for getting motivated and taking that first step then leave a comment!

I read an article on BBC news today about “The Worlds Most Dangerous Road” in Bolivia, and instantly had to add mountain biking it to my list!

The Yungas Road (known as Death Road, Grove’s Road, or Camino de las Yungas) is a stretch of road in Bolivia which is known as the worlds most dangerous road. It was built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisinors during the Chaco war. The road is a dirt track in the mountains, a huge portion of which is downhill, and had vertical cliffs and severe drops along both sides in many places. Combine that with hairpin bends, and breathtaking scenery and it’s easy to see why it has become a mecca for mountain bikers.

The main downhill section drops 11,800 feet over 40 miles making for what looks like a truly awesome days mountain biking. Wikipedia reports that at least 18 cyclists have died on the road in recent years, but before the La Paz-Coroico highroad, when the Yungas road was the only route, there were reportedly 200 – 300 deaths on the road annually.

The picture above is taken from Wikipedia and shows an example of the vertical cliffs and no crash barriers, but a quick search on Google Images shows just how scary the road can be, and how awesome it would be to ride!

I can across a cool little site HundredPushups.com and thought it was a nice little challenge to try.  Basically the site is about a simple challenge of being able to do one hundred pushups (or “press ups” as we call them here in the UK!) by training for 6 weeks, for just a few minutes a day.

Now I used to do quite a lot of press ups when I was doing martial arts, but I’ve not really done a lot for many years and had no idea how many I could do, though I know it wouldn’t be 100!  So, I thought I’d test myself, see how many I could do now, and then see how many I could do in 6 weeks if I train for it – I figure it can only help my swimming and training, and sounds like fun.

What is a press up?

I figure most people know what a push up is, but just in case you’re unsure, here’s the Wikipedia definition:

“A push-up (USA English), or a press-up (UK English), is “a common strength training exercise performed in a prone position, lying horizontal and face down, raising and lowering the body using the arms.”

Essentially you place the hands flat on the floor, shoulder width apart with the arms straight.  The body is held rigid with the shoulders, hips and ankles in line and your feet together, balls of the foot on the floor, what is known in yoga as the “plank” position.  The body is then lowered and raised using the arms, keeping the body in a straight line.  See the image on the right for the up and down positions (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

A “good form” push up lowers the body so that the nose almost touches the floor, and then raises again until the arms are straight without allowing the body position to change (i.e. the hips don’t dip and the butt doesn’t stick up!) so the challenge is to see how many “good form” push ups can be done. I guessed I could probably do around 20 – 25, but that was really only a guess.  So I did a few stretches, took a deep breath, assumed the plank position and managed…

24

Not great, I can certainly improve on that!  So, the challenge will be to see how many I can manage 6 weeks from now which will be 23rd June.  Now, that happens to be the first day of the Glastonbury Festival and so the start of several days break from training and blogging (and the start of several days eating festival food, drinking cider and partying hard!) so it seems like suitable timing!

I’ve been mentioning Ironman Triathlon, and sprint Triathlon recently, but just how far is a “normal” triathlon and what does it involve?

Well, a triathlon is typically a swim, followed by a cycle and then a run, and there are a number of standard distances.  A sprint triathlon consists of a 0.75km swim, 20km cycle and then 5km run.  One step up from that is what’s known as Olympic distance.  Olympic triathlon is 1.5km swim, 20km cycle and then a 10k run.  Next up is the ITU (International Triathlon Union) Long Distance, otherwise known as Double Olympic Distance so you can probably guess that each of the three disciplines is doubled – 3km swim, 80km cycle, 20km run.  There is also an ITU triple distance, where the Olympic distance is tripled.

Next we get to the half Ironman (known as Ironman 70.3, or middle distance) which is 1.93km (1.2 miles) swim, 90km (56 mile) cycle and then 21.09km (13.1 miles – a half marathon) run, and the full Ironman which is 3.86km (2.4 mile) swim, 180km (112 miles) cycle and then a full marathon of 42.2km (26.2 miles) running to finish!

There are also some shorter distances such as a super sprint which is 0.4km swim, 10km cycle and 2km run and the “Ironkids” event for children which varies in distance but tends to be about half of the super sprint distance.

Here’s a table to compare the various triathlon distances:

So next time someone asks you have far a half Ironman is, or read a blog post mentioning an ITU triple length triathlon you’ll know what it means!