Jao Jao

That’s Chinese for ‘Go! Go!’

I heard that a lot at Ironman China.

What an expierience and what a race. I left feeling a little dissapointed but for the most part I was stoked to finish. At 7am it was 90% humidity and by mid day the temperature had made it all the way into the 40s. So an incredibly tough day. I wrote a race report which you can find here…

http://www.triathlonscotland.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1738&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I also spent Sunday evening doing a photoshoot! I was getting some pictures taken on Loch Lomondside by Iain MacIntosh of iMac Images. You can see these images here…

http://www.imacimages.co.uk/cart/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1654

It was great fun and I would definately reccomend anyone else who gets the chance to do it to jump at the opportunity! Some very cool shots even if I do say so myself!

So I have been at home the last few days. On Thursday I head to Manchester before heading off to France. I will be there for altitude training before I participate in Ironman Switzerland 70.3 at the start of June and then staying post race until mid August when the girls will head to Beijing and I will head back home.

It’s been good to have a week off, relax, sleep in and eat more than my fair share of McDonalds! I also got a night out with my pals for (the infamous) Chris Black’s birthday. A meal in Tiger Tiger followed by too many drinks in various pubs and eventually Kushion.

Tommorow I will head to Stirling early doors for a swim with the squad and catch up with a few pals then buy some winter cycling gear. I have a funny feeling that the shorts and tshirts I have been utilising for 7+ months will be of little use in the Pyrenees!

So everything is good. ‘As sound as a pound’ as they say. Im also getting my glesga accent back a bit which is good. For a laugh yesterday we went through to Edinburgh (Two fingers to the petrol crisis I say!) and, of all things, went on the bus tour.

Stupid idea.

We then headed back to Glasgow and went to The Transport Museum.

Stupid idea.

That night we went for T and some crazy golf and bowling at Xscape.

Good idea!

That’s me rested and ready to go. The only thing I need now to make my life complete is a TT bike! Offers?

That’s all for now. I’m not going to go all philosophical on your ass about how lucky I am to be in this position. When Im getting the smack layed down on me by the girls in them there hills that is the last thing I will be thinking.

Bring it on!

Stu

HTFU!

Backtracking

So I said I wasn’t going to post again until after China… I lied!

Nothing like taking people by surprise eh?

The last few days I have been as sick as a parrot. I’ve picked up a case of The Black Plague otherwise known as Man Flu. So for the last two days I have been lying in bed feeling sorry for myself although to be honest it’s good to be ill now rather than a few days before China.

So first thing’s first, CONGRATULATIONS LISA NORDEN! My flatmate Lisa today finished 3rd in the Maloolaba World Cup race behind Emma Snowsill and Vanessa Fernandes beating many a seasoned competitor including Laura Bennett who finished 4th. Swiss Miss (Daniella Ryf) had an excellent race too finishing 11th! So all round a great day. That is with the exception of Canada (Carolyn Murray.) My other buddy had a pretty tough day at the office and despite a great swim and having battled her way to the lead group, she had a bit of a wobbler on a roundabout and went down like a sack of spuds. But those girls better watch out as there is still a race in New Plymouth to be decided.

Some sources have claimed that I was watching Oprah the other day, ’some sources’ being Eanna McGrath and Scott Neyedli who weren’t complaining about the channel choice last time I checked! It was a show about Billy Ray Sirus (Achy breaky heart) and his daughter. You are probably wondering where I am going with this but bare with me. He was talking about persistence and it went something like this…

“Babe Ruth has the most home runs of any baseball player in history. But he also has the most strikeouts. The thing to remember is that you just have to keep stepping up to that plate, and eventually you’ll knock it out the park.”

So he might write cheesy songs, but the guys a poet when it comes to inspirational quotes!

So the next 3 weeks are all race prep. All focused on Ironman China. I am swimming better now than I have ever been, biking stronger than I thought I was capable of and my running has been totally transformed. And believe me I have the dry skin, saddle sores and blisters to prove it! I’m ready to rock and roll. To help me on my quest for Ironman greatness I have some presents arriving this week. I have a new aero helmet zooming in from the US but more importantly I have my new Sailfish One wetsuit which I am really stoked about trying. There is also a Sailfish Furious winging its way here which will be useful when there’s a non-wetsuit swim to be had! And finally, as if that wasn’t enough, I have a pair of CEP Compression Socks arriving from my good pal Marc in Germany. I will also need to go to the running store and pick up my new lightning fast sneakers which I will be racing in. It will make a huge difference to the heavy training shoes I used in Challenge Wanaka.

So what are the goals for my race? I am going to put together as strong a race as I can. Swim at a pace that isn’t going to trash me for the bike, cycle hard without blowing then run it home. I am looking forward to what will be my first long distance finish and more importantly first Ironman finish.

A big thank you to everyone at Stirling Triathlon Club for all their help over the past year or so with their superb GSB scheme. No other club in Scotland comes close to Stirling in terms of the atmosphere and the way they support the club members.

And I would also like to send my condolences to the family of Rod Curtis who passed away recently. Rod was a stalwart of Stirling Triathlon Club and was actually one of the first people I met at the club. You couldn’t have met a nicer, more welcoming guy. He will be missed.

That’s all for now. This is the last post until after the race I promise!

You can track me on Ironmanlive.com, not sure what my race number is yet but I’m sure you’ll find me. I have also chucked some photos up on the photos page so make sure you check those out.

All the best.

Stu

3 weeks and counting.

6 months I have been in the land down under. Hasn’t time flown!

I was thinking last night about stepping off the plane in September. The great feeling of turning over a new leaf and a fresh start, coupled with the fear of what lay ahead. And believe me it was a deep dark fear. The lead up to me leaving was filled with people telling me I was going to get killed and I tell you what, I believed them!

But guess what… I have managed to hang on in there. A bit of help… No… A LOT of help from my mum and dad in every way you could imagine and several emails of ‘are you still alive?’ and ‘had enough yet?’ kept me going through the tougher times. I have improved more than I thought I was capable of and I am now confident I have a long ways to go yet.

I will leave for China on April 11th with double the amount of training under my belt as I had for New Zealand. I am REALLY looking forward to it now. Actually counting the days on my calendar! I have also found out that Craig Walton is making his Ironman debut there so I will be in good company on the start line.

It’s been a great expierience coming down here and working with a great coach and some great athletes. The girls and Dave leave for Maloolaba this week and it will be us long coursers left to man the fort. Couple more weeks hard graft then I’m offski. I will miss the place but it will be good to get a change of scene and also to see my pals and the parents post Ironman China!

So I am going to leave it at that until after the race. Thanks again for everyone’s comments and emails, it has really spurred me on and I’m sure I will do you proud when the race rolls round.

Also before I go a big congratulations to my best pal Mr Chris Black. He quit college again! (Thats his third droupout… not many can say that) But for a good reason! He just landed a job at The Wishaw Press so thats another paper for me to buy out of solidarity

Anyway I will let you know how China goes. 3 weeks of hard graft then its on like Donkey Kong. Incidentally Gav Noble has a race the day I leave… Check out a link to his site on the links page.

Log out.

Shut down.

Go run.

Stu.

The land of the rising sun.

 

Booked it, not packed it, not f****ed off.

There are still a few weeks to go until my next race. It will be Ironman China which is held in Haikou on Hainan Island in China. I am really looking forward to this one. Not that I didn’t relish the challenge at Wanaka but there is a lot less fear of the unknown! I will have another 3 months training under my belt by the time the race rolls round which is almost double what I had on the plane to New Zealand. As Daft Punk say; harder, faster, fitter, stronger.

I have a couple more races lined up for later in the year but I will tell you about them nearer the time. Right now everything is geared towards China. I am taking a side trip on my return home to compete which will mean I dont have to put up with the full 24 hour flight and can split it up a bit. This means I will be able to handle the annoyance of sitting next to a hairy, fat man in two doses.

Im bit sure about the whole coming home thing. Don’t get me wrong it will be great to see my pals and family not to mention catching up with the Stirling Tri guys, but I am not sure I am ready for the climate or the sense of misery you get waking up to a cold rainy morning.

As you can tell I am slowly but surely turning into an athlete. I now talk in an even more monotone voice similar to that of Andy Murray and Steven Gerrard. I also struggle to talk about anything apart from training and the weather which I am sure you have been noticing! So lets mix it up and I will give you an insight on what I am up to this week. On Wednesday I will embark on a voyage north to the bike shop where I will seek out one of the fabled “Mavic Aksium spokes” which are matched only in rareity by French Dubloons. Today, I am going where no triathlete has gone before and venturing into the abyss known as the hardware store where I will pick up some super glue. I will then traverse the dreaded “spruker alley” in the mall where I will skillfully dodge their traps and avoid buying any cut price jewellry and hopefully make it in one piece to Coles supermarket where I hope to barter my way into the posession of some wild boar (ham), some truffles (mushrooms), fine ale (dilluting juice) and hopefully stumble across some priceless ancient parchment (a half decent magazine).

Hopefully I will come out the other side unscathed and live to tell the tale.

Keep training hard.

Stu

Autumn!

First of all a big thankyou to Jan at Sailfish.com for hooking me up with a wetsuit. I have been so busy this week I barely found time to check my emal and find out that Sailfish had got back to me and will be supplying me with a brand spanking new Sailfish One wetsuit for the coming year. As Alan Partridge would say, “Back of the net!”

You can check out the 2008 collection at the Sailfish website.

I think I can safely say I have acclimatised to the Australian climate. Now that summer is behind us and we are moving into autumn I have started to feel it a bit especially at night and in the mornings. Its daft when I think of back home and how 17/18 degrees is the time to get the shorts and tshirt out and work on those tan lines! So the last couple of days it has been hovering about 24/25 degrees and today I could feel myself reaching for a jumper… What an idiot I thought. 25 is scorchio! Scotland will be a shock to the system let me tell you!

So the last couple of weeks has been spent looking at some races for the 2008 season, sorting out my heart troubles and also getting some more great training in!

I was also thinking I would share with you some of the books I have read whilst here! I am not a big reader for the most part HOWEVER I have been doing a fair bit since my arrival so here goes. I have been lucky enough that pretty much every book I have read has been class so here is a list if you are ever stuck;

Losing My Virginity - Richard Branson
The Adventure Capitalist - Jim Rogers
The Flying Scotsman - Graeme Obree
The Gospel According To Chris Moyles - Chris Moyles
Touching The Void - Joe Simpson
Chariots Of The Gods - Erich von Daniken (My Dad’s favourite book)

So there you go. I even chucked links in there to Amazon.com should you feel particularly inspired to get one for yourself. Triathlon aside Australia has been a big eye opener for me even just experiencing new cultures. We now have a Swiss girl and an Irish boy to add to the stable of athletes which includes people from all over the place! I have relatives who live in Sweden but I have never really taken the time to learn the language. Lisa, however, has taken the time to enlighten me with some phrases so if you are ever in Sweden;

Tak - Thanks
Tak Vermatten - Thanks For The Food
Vackra Svenska Flicka - Beautiful Swedish Girl (She made me learn that one!)
Noken Skotte - Naked Scotsman (Neyedli likes to show some leg now and again)
Or alternatively,
Noken Skotisk Pojke - Naked Scottish Man

On the subject of Mr Neyedli a big well done to him at Ironman New Zealand. He finished a creditable 10th after a week of sickness which is a great result. He also managed to qualify for Hawaii which is superb so early on in the season.

This weekend I am participating in The $plash and Da$h for Ca$h which is held just up the coast. Hopefully I will finish with some money although it will be a difficult win as I am up against Courtney Atkinson! But you never know!

And thanks to everyone who has emailed me or commented with news from the outside world! Much appreciated. Keith Wilkinson says Scotland are gettting destroyed in The 6 Nations so no more news about that please…

Thanks for reading, leave a comment.

Cheers

Stu

‘Sup?

Hi guys, long time no speak.

I know how annoying that extra scroll bar thing was so I thought I would do a clear out. I have chucked all the posts so far under ‘archive’ so you can be annoyed by the scrollbar there instead of on the main page.

Id just like to thank everyone for their comments and messages of support over the past month or so. I have put in some great training to make sure that this race season goes as well as possible for me. I have also been to the doctors regarding my heart and I have a condition called SVT which means basically that there’s an extra nerve on my heart that wants to beat at the same time as the main one. Not to be outdone when his competitor kicks in the main nerve still ticks away which is what makes my heart rate go so nuts. Not life threatening by any means it’s just something I would rather not have! So I am off to get some tests done this Friday so they can document it and I can wait 5 years to have my operation on the NHS!

You will be pleased to know that the weather here over the last couple of weeks hasn’t been outstanding. A bit of cloud and a bit of drizzle. On saying that there was a couple of days when the mercury rose to 35… Followed by a day where it leapt to 39. I have never expierienced a warmth like it. New Zealand was 35 but not nearly as humid!

So I am currently the only Scotsman in the flat. Scott Neyedli is off to participate in Ironman New Zealand. Best of luck to him. So I am left with the crazy Swede. I’m not sure how I will cope! We have also been joined by another couple of Ozzies and a Swiss chick, who will be followed by an Irishman. Hopefully we will get some motr good banter going as its been a great laugh so far.

I guess that’s all for now. Sorry the posts arent exactly the most exciting things you have ever read… I have been pretty tired of late and cant seem to find the effort to inject some comedy into them. Training is where my energy needs to go right now believe me. My next race is being organised (by me) as we speak so watch this space. Hopefully the good people at BA (I know they read this regularly) will let me change my ticket about without charging me an absolute fortune (please!).

So thats all for now. If anyone wants to update me with the Scottish Premier League table, the 6 nations results or any news which may be of interest that would be great. The international news here isnt the best!

‘Mon the Scots!

Stu