Familiarisation Camp at Ironman UK

I had a weekend away at Ironman UK’s familiarisation camp which was held at Sherborne, using the race days area that is normally restricted access.

On Saturday at 7:15am we already at the lakeside to start the weekends sessions. After an overview and a safety briefing we where split it to small group of one experienced Ironman or Lake Swim to one or two relative novice people, I was in this category and had a very fetching yellow swimming cap. Then at 8am we got in to the lake, trying to avoid slipping of the bank edge. Once in it took me a few minutes to catch my breathe as it was COLD, my hands and feet felt the worst as they where the only non-covered areas apart from my face. I did have a trisuit with wet suit on top of that and two swimming caps. After I was able to get my breathe I was able to swim a few strokes and then put my face in the water to get used to that and the coldness on my face. I was also trying out a new pair of eyewear (swim mask instead of goggles) which had to be adjusted a couple of times during the swim.

The lake was relatively good, there was no weeds that I saw and you could stand in most places on rock as it was generally less than 6ft (1.8m) deep. It was just cold and green and murky water.

This was not a race but just get used to surroundings, so we stopped at the start area which is also the turning point for the second lap. We then continued along stopping a few times on the way to a turn in the lake and then to turn around point. On the way back their was some head wind which produced some small waves in the lake which was good to get used to. Once we reached the turnaround point we instead turned left to simulate the finish section of the swim. This was a good practice as we then found out how difficult it would be to get out to the slippery and step exit point however their should be people their on the day to help with that. This was my first open water swim of the year and also was my furthest ever open water swim of at least 1.3 miles.

We then had a few Q+A session on various topics which was useful to be aware of before the day.

In the afternoon we then did an 8 mile run through the grounds of the castle estate which covered the first half of the run (2 laps) and then through the town to where the second half of the run would be. This will be two laps of a section of undulating dual carriage way.

On the Sunday morning their was another opportunity to swim in the lake but as I was relatively happy with the lake swim the day before I decided against doing two long open water swims on consecutive days plus it was raining!!

However later in the morning we did 1 lap of the cycle which was 38 miles which includes about 3 miles from the start/finish to the cycle loop. This was an undulating route with a few fast bits, including a fast downhill which with brakes on I was doing over 30 mph (48 kmph) and plenty of undulating/hills to cycle up. There was also torrential rain all time we where cycling, this was about 3 hours since we left which included a couple of stops along the way to describe sections the route and to regroup.

Once we got back and in to some dry clothes we headed to the onsite café to get something warm to eat and drink.

That was the last of the sessions for the weekend apart from the trip the Tri shop to buy some essential new kit, which included the same swim mask style but instead of clear the lens are tinted blue to help reduce glare.

I found the weekend really useful preparation for the event, now I jest need to get on with the training as there is less than 14 weeks to go.

There was also a television crew their for the weekend, I believe it was BBC South West, who where there for doing a piece about events in the town. So you may even see me on the TV.