Hi Blog Followers
Welcome to Blog # 16, as we draw closer to start of my journey of 3+2+1= Charity.
In fact: the 3 stands for 3 Half Ironman Events over 3 consecutive weekends in December, are pretty much just a month away with it now rolling over between the end of October and the start of November (where has the year gone)!
The first event is IronMaori in Napier on 3 December 2016, followed by Ironman New Zealand 70.3 in Taupo on 10 December 2016, followed by the Rotorua Half Ironman on 17 December 2016.
Following on from that will be the two Iron-distance events in New Zealand over 2 weeks, then Ultraman in Australia.
This weeks training has gone relatively well, although due to commitments over Labour weekend I had to swap around various activities that Coach Ray had planned.
One of these, as previously mentioned, was a fundraising event in Rotorua for a Police Officer with terminal cancer. Former All Black Michael Jones was the MC. In excess of $80K was raised. It was great to be part of the activities.
Coach Ray has had me do some high intensity workouts on both the bike and the run this week. I was pleased with how they went. The run feels easier as you chase your stopwatch for a pace, however on the bike you chase your Heart Rate which can be quite unforgiving and you find yourself cursing “climb ya bugger” as your legs are going like a ‘Bat Out of Hell’ to lift your game. In saying that though, the longer run along the Wellington foreshore on Friday was pretty unforgiving, with the wind gusts almost having me running on the spot. At the same time I’ve been wondering if a couple of my toenails are still deciding to leave my body after I ran the 50 Km Ultra-Trail Run in Taupo the weekend before in non-trail shoes (so much for the road run I thought I had signed up for… bugger)!
This weeks photos are of the Award Ceremony for Ultraman Australia 2016. They are photos I am proud of. The first one is of myself on centre stage. The second photo is with the Awards I received including the Finishers Medal presented the day before, and the Finishers Trophy (metal), and the pride of being on the Podium with winning the Military / Emergency Services Division of Ultraman Australia which is the wooden Trophy. The third photo is with Dave Carroll the Australian Defence Force (ADF) member who persuaded Ultraman Australia to come up with this Award, along with Race Director for Ultraman Australia Tony Horton who also presented the athletes with their Finishers Jacket as seen in this photo.
Photo’s courtesy of Barry Alsop of Eyes Wide Open Images, Official Photographer for Ultraman Australia 2016.
Take care Blog Followers
Regards John Humphries (Aka UltraHumps, Aka Humps)!