BFIT Challenge, Donation Request, Races

Wow, thank you to everyone who voted for me on the BFIT challenge. I won, and this week recieved my lovely new Rudy TT Helmet.

So far its had one outing and that was on the trainer :-), not sure it made me any faster on the trainer, but I sure felt faster! (Note the serious look :-)

Looking forward to being able to use it in a race and see if it has any effect.

If anyone has a few spare dollars Gemma has entered the Susan G. Komen - Race for the cure. When she completed this last year in a time of 37mins for the 5K it was the first race she had ever completed (this time last year she did not believe that she could run 5k!). This year she hopes to improve upon that time. (even though she has just recovered from twin birth and c-section). If you can sponsor her it would be much appreciated.

This weekend is a postponed 2 mile swim race on Saturday and Muddy Buddy on Sunday. Training as expected has been a bit hit and miss, but did get 5 hours of cycling done over the weekend and 2 hours of running.

Lake in the Hills Tri Race, Running In California

Last weekend I had another sprint tri race, to say it rained would not be doing it justice, it absolutely hammered it down. You know that feeling its 5am, you've had 2 hours sleep and when you step out of the car, you are soaked in seconds and you really wonder what the hell am I doing here" Well I totally had that feeling before the race. There was still thunder and lightning in the air when I arrived so it looked like the swim would be cancelled, however that passed and the swim start was only delayed 15mins.

Lake in the hills sprint tri is a point to point race, so dropped off my running shoes (wrapped in multiple plastic bags) in T2 and cycled the mile to T1, getting wetter and wetter in the process. Setup T2, again putting everything in multiple plastic bags. This season I have started wearing my cycle kit under my wetsuit (they couldn't get any wetter) so only my cycle shoes in T1.

I was off in wave 2 as I predicted 15-17 mins for the half mile swim, started nicely and now I am alot more confident in my swim I pushed myself harder and stayed with the leaders. As in my last race why do people seem so incapable of estimating their swim times? To go in wave one you would of estimated a swim time of faster than 15mins. With each wave going off at 3 min intervals I couldn't believe it when I caught people doing breastroke in the first half of the swim. Swim went well despite getting weed caught in my braces (very off putting!).

Finished without expending much energy in a time of 15.55, 3rd in my age group.
Into T2 and it was still raining heavily, and quickly headed out (well it felt like quickly but 2.36 T1 is not that quick!)

It was a 16 mile rolling bike course, and seemed to suit me, I really enjoyed it, maybe it was because I was actually having to fight the conditions as well. For the first time I felt like I was actually racing rather than just surviving. Throughout the cycle I was pushing myself, trying to catch each person in front of me, and not letting people catch me. Few hairy moments on the standing water but overall a great ride. Finished with a time of 48.31 (again 3rd overall in my age group and at this point 3rd overall in my age group in the race).

A fairly quick change over in T2 and out on the run, finally it had stopped raining and was brightning up. Felt really good out of T2 and got quickly into what felt like a nice stride. The 3.5 miles came and went pretty quickly and I finished the run with a 34.18. This slow run dropped me in the overall standings from a 3rd place overall to a 5th. This was way better than I ever expected anyway so was really happy.

overall place:	70 out of 272
division place:	5 out of 19
gender place:	62 out of 167
time:	1:42:58
swim:	15:55
trans 1:	2:36
bike:	48:31
trans 2:	1:40
run:	34:18

This week I am in Sunnyvale california, and went running at the Sunnyvale Baylands Salt Planes. It was really beautiful, lovely scenary and perfect temperatures. Ended up running 7.5 miles and really enjoyed it. This is a real change to most business trips of mine where I take sports kit to run etc while I am away but end up, just going out for dinner and not getting back until late.

Gemma has a friend helping us with baby duty while I am away, and I am making the most of catching up on some sleep.

This was my view on the run. (Picture on the left not the right! :-) )

Not much of an update on the babies this week, since I have gone away I am told they are sleeping longer, see when I get a good nights sleep they get a good nights sleep. I will be suggesting I go away more!

First Tri of the Season, Baby Update and BFIT Contest

Last week was my first triathlon - Twin Lakes Sprint Tri.
I completed this race last year so wanted to gauge myself compared to last year, and as its my local race I wanted to give it my support.

I didn't really have any goals for this race, it was a just see how I am doing. Due to babies and far less training in the first half of the year compared to last year, I wanted to see how my fitness was holding up.

My time from last year..
Swim (0.5 miles) 11:29 , Bike (16 miles) 47:23 , Run (5 miles) 43:26
Overall time - 1:42:18

The night before the sky opened up and dumped a ton of rain down, so I was half expecting the event to get cancelled, but infact the morning ended up being fantastic.

Swim went well (wetsuit still fit, last time it got an outing was IM FL), felt like I was gliding through the water, also I was in a slower wave of swimmers so it was really nice to be able to lead everyone. (Rarely happens with me!, yep thats me at front!)

Finished nicely in a time of 11.42 (just a few seconds slower than last year, and with far less swim training this year).

Also had an enjoyable bike, didn't push too hard just stayed within a comfortable range. Fell off as I dismounted on the wet road, but no injuries. Bike time of 48.19 (1 min slower than last year)

The run as well was enjoyable, little cramp towards the end but that was my own fault for not taking enough GUs. Run time was 47.36 (4 mins slower)

Finished in an overall time of 1hr 47. 5 mins slower than last year. I was really happy with this. Having not trained anywhere near as much as last year I expected this to be far slower.

By the way if you get a chance please vote for me in the B-FIT-BDay Contest . I am Tim Davies. I completed this in honour of my twin babies birthday completing 3 miles swim, 30 mile ride, and a 10 mile run all in 4 days around their birth. My story is here..
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Babies are doing well, if there goal is to keep mummy and daddy up at all hours of night! J/K we are all having some really wonderful times. I am managing to keep up about 70% of my training. If it wasn't for the fact I got very sweaty on the bike trainer I am sure I would have fed them while cycling.


This weekend I have a 2 mile open water swim race, and the girls might get to attend their first event.

My day of sherpa'ing

As you can see my day of being an IM CdA sherpa was slightly different than most sherpa's.

As I am typing this Bigun and Tac are off the bike, as are almost all of the tri-bloggers (Bigun with a really powerful ride), and onto the run. The end is in sight.

For me my day has been spent, fighting off sleep depravation, changing nappies, feeding and loving my twins even though they have kept me up all day and night, my own IM challenge! Did manage to squeeze in a 2 hour 35mile ride today and an 8 mile run yesterday so not a total loss.

Babies are home

IMG_3785
Originally uploaded by tim1_davies

Babies are home, and we are trying to get into a routine. Mum is getting better and more mobile.

Very little time for anything except eat sleep and poop (and thats just me!).

Today is Day 1 of my 16 weeks training plan to IM, and I managed to get up early and do my 1 hour swim.

For those interested, updated my flickr account with all the photos and video from the birth and first few days.
ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/29148514@N00/

BFIT Challenge Part 3 & Babies Update

Thankyou everyone for your kind comments in the last post. I passed all the comments onto Gemma in hospital and it really lifted her spirits.

As you can see from the previous post Friday was a busy day. No BFIT challenge was planned for Friday but I hoped to get my final swim and bike completed on the saturday.

However Friday PM the opportunity arose for me to get an hour break to go and burn of some energy and have a quiet 5 mins to myself, and I got my second swim in. I had a really enjoyable swim, every time I stroked I could see the baby ID bands on my wrist. Really strange feeling knowing Thursday I swam as just Tim, however Friday I swam as Tim, dad of Caitlyn and Emma.

Total Swim Time - 1hr 48mins (3 miles)

Both girls were doing well Friday however on Saturday Caitlyn started to show signs of jaundice. By late Saturday they had her on a UV lamp to try and reduce the jaundice levels. It was heart breaking (sure it won't be the first time they break my heart) to not be able to do anything to help. Therefore the bike ride was cancelled. Getting babies healthy was far more important than my BFIT challenge (sorry Roman, sure you understand).

However Sunday afternoon while Mummy and babies were sleeping I took a gentle ride with my father in law and covered the 30 miles in 1hr 52mins.

Total Bike Time - 1hr 52mins (30 miles)

Therefore my overall BFIT challenge details were as follows
Total Swim Time - 1hr 48mins (3 miles)
Total Bike Time - 1hr 52mins (30 miles)
Total Bike Time - 1hr 35mins (10 miles)

Total - 5hrs 15mins (completed in 4 days therefore Bronze)

An update on Caitlyn and Emma...
After 24 hours of UV lamp, as well as taking on formula and breast milk she is doing a lot better. Emma who was also showing signs of jaundice has been taking additional formula and is also doing alot better this morning.

The pediatrician has given approval for the babies to come home today and we are waiting for OB approval for Gemma to come home. So with any luck I can bring all my girls home today.

So excited!

Today I became a daddy

Just popped home for 5 mins. Please let me introduce Emma Georgina Davies, and Caitlyn Toma Davies.

Emma came out 6lbs 13 at 10.41am, and Caitlyn came out at 6lbs 4 at 10.43am.

I am lost for words and will type a longer blog later. (I am over the moon). Mum is doing great.

(And yes that is my IM finishers t-shirt, another momentous day deserved a wear of the shirt!)

BFIT Challenge Part 2

Run completed, just! No tornados, though a bit of rain would have been nice. I had a personal worst. It started so well, I felt really fresh and no after effects from this mornings swim.

First few miles flew by, however the heat, wind and humidity were starting to get to me. Stupidly I had gone out with only 1 bottle of Nuun and 2 gels. (this was fine when I ran this loop a couple of weeks ago.) This time however the temps were in the 90's and boy did I suffer for it. Cramps and dehydration, not the makings of a good time. I kept going though and ground it out in a personal worst of 1hr 35min. I won't be making the same mistake again!

As you can see not so happy anymore!

So thats half the swim and the run completed. Gemma is just finishing packing for the hospital, I need to get my few things sorted and then its our last night of freedom. Tomorrow I become a Daddy, sounds strange I know. Oh and before I forget congratulations LBTEPA for becoming an Auntie.

BFIT Challenge Part 1

BFIT Challenge Part 1

As detailed in my earlier post I am doing my BFIT challenge this year for the birth of my twin baby girls. Their delivery date via C section is due for this Friday at 10am.

So my BFIT challenge is as follows for my 30th..

3 mile swim

30 mile bike

10 mile run

I am going for silver, so have 72 hours to complete. I would have gone for gold, but trying to complete all of that on the same day as the twins are born would have been impossible.

So the plan is as follows, starting at 8am Thursday (this morning) and completing Saturday

1.6 miles swim Thurs morning (6am)

10 miles run Thurs Eve

Babies are born Fri morning (even the babies are scheduled in... yep I'm a Project Manager by job)

30 miles bike early Sat morning

1.4 miles swim either sat morning or afternoon, completing before the 72 hours.

This morning was the first part of this plan with a 5.30am wake up and heading to the pool. Went well and knocked out 1.65 miles in an hour. The pool is called the Olympic Indoor Swim Center, its false advertising the pool is only 25m's!

Not feeling tired so plan on running the 10miles at the local park district tonight. (hopefully the weather and tornado warnings will pass).
Here is the photo of me after finishing and getting back to the car (no cameras in the swim centre).

Chicago Chase Corporate Challenge

Chase Corporate Challenge

Ran the chase corporate challenge last week, no photos or garmin track for this post as the computer that has the garmin software on it is currently dead (needs a new graphics card).

The good..

Had a great time ran a 26.15 for the 3.5miles (7.5 ish min miles). This by far was a PB for me across that distance. 2 years ago it was my first race in my new healthy lifestyle and ran it in 35 mins. So it was great to come back and see how much I had achieved.

Newtons felt great, performed really well and with the new shoes I continue to not have blisters.

The bad.. (my rant)

23600 people complete this race, so as you can guess it can be quite congested as its only 3.5 miles. However the organisers try to take this into account by trying to set minutes per mile banners at the start to give people an idea of where they should be lining up. However... not everyone seems to understand how fast 7 minute miles really are.

Walking is not 7 minutes per mile! 2 years ago when I ran this I started in the 10 minute section and ending up walking almost the first half mile, so this year I lined up at the 7min mile knowing I would run between that and 8 min mile. However there were a large number of idiots walking and running very slowly who did not seem to understand why they should line up correctly.

Also these walkers/runners tend to run in pairs meaning all of a sudden the path is blocked in front of you. Afraid after the 4th or 5th last second dodge around people, I lost my patience and barged between the next pair. (hangs head in shame, I know very rude). I did notice all the dodging did tweak my hamstrings a bit while they were cold and it took a while to warm up properly.

After the first mile it was easier to move through the crowd as everyone is running roughly the same pace.

Baby update..

Babies are still not here, Gemma has her c-section planned for 6th June, so only a few more weeks of just the two of us.