Triple Challenge 2008
My Name is Kevin O'Rourke, I like to see how far I can push myself and how much I can actually achieve. This is my metaphor for life and this site is my way of detailing the journey.
My challenge for 2008 are to complete the London Marathon in April in less than 4 hours. I will run in aid of Children with Leukaemia. Update....completed but not in target time, see below for further details. Amount raised so far is £2150.00 thank you to everyone who has been part of Team Wineman to Ironman
To complete the Milton Keynes Half Ironman distance Triathlon in July (1900mtr swim, 92K bike and a 21K run) known as the Cowman. I am raising money for Willen Hospice.
Finally to complete the UK Ironman distance Triathlon in September (2.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike followed by a 26.2 mile run). The Charity chosen for this massive final challenge is Macmillan Cancer. I will attempt to complete this challenge in honor of Dee Heymerdinger. Dee was a major fundraisor for Macmillan and ironically died recently of cancer. I hope to continue her work by raising as much money as possible for the three selected charities.
Please check this website for updates on training and the torment I will be putting myself through this year, just scroll down to the bottom of this page for the latest updates. You can get regular updates from Monika Akabusi, my personal trainer, special offers from my supporters, you can donate to my charities or become one of my support team. So make sure to check out the favourite links page as there are 4 extra pages there as well as some links to important peoples websites such as mine!
There will be many updates to this website over the coming months so please check back regularly to see all the news on the events and the JOURNEY.
Recent updates on my progress.
Update March 15th
I am looking forward to running tomorrow in the Oakley 20 mile warm up race for the marathon. The Oakley 20 miler is set in lovely countryside in Bedfordshire but there are some massive hills, actually they are mountains. It is said that if you can conquor this race then the marathon is easy! I'm not so sure about easy but I am looking forward to it anyway, although it looks like rain all day tomorrow.
In the last 2 weeks I have completed the Nike Half Marathon in 2 hours 1 minute and then the Silverstone half marathon in 1 hour 58 minutes. I am pleased with these results because that is a 15 minute improvement over last years half marathon times. However finishing the marathon in under 4 hours is looking like a tough task. I know I can run hard for 13 miles but can I do the same over 26 miles?
The training for the Ironman has been hampered with me throwing in the marathon. However having the three goals one after the other gives me different things to focus on instead of just having the Ironman months away and the possibility of getting bored and stale.
Update April 19th
Ok so I finished the London marathon but no where near the time I wanted. I did it in 4.45 which was an improvement of 15 minutes over last year so I should be pleased but on reflection I am not so happy really. I could have blamed the rain, which was freezing at times, the chafing, the pain in my periformus muscle and the cramps I experienced after mile 18, but the truth is I had not prepared enough for this race. I was focusing on the Ironman and the three disciplines. So I was fit enough there was no doubting that but my legs were not hardened enough to take on the extra miles. I made a great mistake of tapering too much.
The taper is important, this is where you cut back on training so you go to the start line fresh and ready to rock. I have the habit of taking this too literally and really cutting back on the training. Last year I ran a poor race and this year was no different but with different mistakes. I learnt some hard lessons when the rain was teaming down and I was struggling not to sob and feel sorry for myself. I kept telling myself that this is what the Ironman is all about and my mental strength dragged me over the line in a not too pretty state. So its back to training from today. I have had 6 days off and that is enough to recover and so its on to the half ironman at Emberton Lake in July.
Update 1st July
Ok so it's less than a week until the second challenge, the Half Ironman at Emberton lake (6th July). I have prepared hard and feel ready to complete this challenge. I guess I should finish in around 6.30 hours but we will see. I all comes down to the day and the weather, how I feel on the bike etc etc. I did a personal best this weekend when I ran a 1hr 53m half marathon and although my legs are sore today still it shows my training is helping, especially as I had done a 4.45 bike the day before!
I have also enlisted the additional help of Mark Kleanthous www.ironmate.co.uk he has completed over 400 triathlons and 29 Ironman to date! So I think I am in safe hands there. Already he has taken my bike positioning apart and got me thinking about nutrition and the plan for the race so I guess I will be turning up ready to rock on Sunday. Please don't forget that this event is for Willen Hospice and you can sponsor me by clicking on the link in the charity page.
I have also been doing lots of training with the Team MK guys and girls who are a great group and they have some real stars of Triathlon, it's a real privilege to train with them. Go to www.teammk.com to read more about these great sportspeople. Keep your eyes peeled for next weeks update to see how I got on and some photo's of me in my trisuit!
Update July 7th
Challenge No.2 started yesterday at 3.50am. The weather was as predicted and horrible, the rain was lashing it down and did not look like it would stop. I made my way to Emberton lake to take on the Half Ironman distance race 1900mtr swim, 56 mile bike and then 13.1 mile run.
The swim started at 7am and it was the usual thrashing of arms and legs, a real water fight as each Triathlete tries to jockey for position in the water. I felt good as I had swopped my usual wetsuit for a hired top of the range one from 2XU. I had promised a friend that he could use my wetsuit for the Sprint Triathlon which was also being staged that day but he did not show as he felt a little poorly, aaahhh bless poor Mark. The wetsuit really helped and I stormed off to the front of the pack and finished in 35 minutes. This was a great time for me and it made the extra time I would spend in transition a little easier.
I raced to transition 1 to commence the fight with the wetsuit, the battle was surpisingly easy this time probably due to the superior suit. Then it was on with the cycling bib shorts, inside out at first and then back to front and finally correct I needed these to ease the pain in sensitive areas over the 56 mile ride. On came the cycle jersey to keep me a little warmer in the rain and off we went. Lap 1 stared well and the battle with Chicheley Hill was not as bad as I had anticipated. Lap 2 was simliar but this time the hill was even harder and a right slog to conquor it. Then I lost my final water bottle and watched it shatter all over Weston Underwood village roads. I was under pressure now as I would not get any hydration for another 40 minutes. You have to keep hydrated in an event of this size and things like this are not in any race plan. Suddenly Chicheley Hill was upon me for the last time, I halucinated that I had enough in the tank to take me over in style but that was not the case, I pushed and pushed and gradually wobbled my way to the top uttering a multitude of expletives that would make Gordon Ramsey proud and then it was a short ride to transition 2 to start the run section of the race.
Now running a half marathon is generally quite achieveable for me at this point in my training but doing it after you have swam and cycled for that distance is a very different matter. My legs were like jelly and thankfully I had kept a bottle of electrolyte in my transition pack so began to rehydrate. After a couple of miles I began to feel better and then started to enjoy the run. The run was a 4 lap course taking in the very pretty Emberton lake settings and some off road antics through the fields surrounding the village.
One of the odd things about racing that affects me is the way the gels and energy bars give me terrible flatulance, this is not pleasant for me with a constant rumbling in my stomach and even worse for those people behind me!
It is in this part of most triathlon races that the competitors generally chat and offer encouragement to each other, especially those who may be struggling. I ran alongside a guy who I will call Mr Black as that was his outfit and his manner. I'm not sure if he heard me coming up behind him with my wind assisted behind but he did not respond to me at all when I tried to chat to him, Ok, I thought, if you want to be horrible that's your problem and let him run ahead.
The run proceeded well with lots of encouragement from the crowds and my lovely wife who has had to put up with the endless triathlon tales, early morning alarms, long training days, me being tired and irritable and my smelly training gear and the journey is not over yet!
I started the last lap feeling strong and the reality that soon I would be a Half Ironman began to feel good, nothing was going to stop me now! With 300 mtrs to go I rounded the last corner to see Mr Black and it was then in decided that I would beat him no matter what, I started to run faster and faster and caught him. He saw me and tried to respond, I could hear his race number flapping as his legs pushed but I was not going to lose this little race. I sprinted for the line and finished in 6 hours 17 minutes and was elated and exhausted.
Dont forget you can donate to Willen Hospice for this race by following the link in the charities page.
So its on to Sherbourne for the final challenge the UK Ironman, bring it on!
Update 22nd August
So its only 16 days to go until the big one. The UK Ironman in Sherbourne, in the tradition of the Olympics I have been setting some fantastic personal bests recently. In the MK Olympic distance Triathlon (1500mtr swim, 40k bike and 10k run) I beat my best time by a massive 26 minutes and finished in 2 hrs 37 mins which is just short of Elite pace in the Triathlon world. Last Sunday I was on a 3 hour training run with some of the other guys from Team MK and finished up doing 20 miles in 3 hrs 1 Min which was a PB of 25 minutes! I have also lost nearly 2 stone in weight and am probably in the bst fitness shape of my life. To say I am seeing the benefits of all this training would be an understatement.
For the next 2 weeks I am tapering down to the big event. Taper is when you give your body a little rest from all the hard training to ensure you arrive at the start line in peak shape and feeling fresh and not exhausted like I have been recently. For the last 6 weeks or so I have averaged a 15 hour workout week, generally with a 5 hour bike on the Saturday and a 2 hour run on the Sunday. But this week I get to only do 13 hours, yipeee....And next week I go down to only 10 hours.......then on the Ironman week I will just laze around for a gentle 5 hour work week, but with the race at the end of that week.
Donations are slow at the moment for the charity Macmillan so I hope you lovely people will dig deep and donate any amount you can. At the beginning of this crazy idea I wanted to raise £10,000 in total for the 3 charities, currently I am at about £4500 so quite a long way to go yet! This is the way you can help me to reach my final goal and be a part of Team Wineman. keep an eye on the site to catch updates over the next few weeks. Thanks for reading.
Update 5th September
This is the last update before the event on Sunday. I now have a cold, not the man flu but a stinking cold, apparently this is normal as athletes taper down for a race their bodies begin to change and things like colds comeput which have been kept at bay for a while. I am a little bored too....all the training has taken over my life so much and I am now doing what seems like a tiny portion of what I used to do. However I am off work now and can concentrate on packing today and we go to Dorset tomorrow when the nerves will start to kick in.
The weather looks appalling, lots of rain and cold. I had to go and buy a Gillet yesterday and now am thinking I will need a neoprene hat for the swim and arm warmers for the bike section. I really did not want to spend any more money but needs must and all that. As far as nutrition goes I have been carb loading for 10 days now and pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner is getting boring, so today I am going to have risotto, yee har. On the day of the race I will be getting up at 3am in order to have eaten sufficient food to take me throught the swim and have it digested in time, the race starts at 6am, nice and early.
So what's next....well you will have to wait until I have finished but there is plans for another mad race or two and I am also going to do a business goal as opposed to a fitness goal after the Ironman. more details to come.
I just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who has supported me and sent me e-mails texts etc. It makes it all worth while when you know people are behind you. More thanks after the race.
