Team Banks are in the Building......

After a long trip from England (including an unexpected night in Newark Airport), Team Banks has finally arrived in Bowie. Yep, my parents are in town for the next three weeks and will be able to serve as Team Banks sherpa's as I prepare for Eagleman in 10 days time.

So what does being a Team Banks sherpa entail for the next week or so :-)

Prior to race day.....

1) Keep on top of the grass cutting and other Iain related yard work.
2) Do plenty of shopping....(aren't the prices so much cheaper than the UK!).
3) Visit Gettysburg!
4) Relay various stories about the UK....such as $9 for a gallon of gas (and you think we have it bad!).
5) Watch a baseball game at the Bowie Baysox.
6) See what new donuts are available at Dunkin Donuts :-)
7) Try and convince me that I am too skinny and need to eat some donuts.....
8) Go running (Dad) and go to the gym (Mum) to work off the donuts eaten.
9) Escape the grey English weather and bask in the sunshine of Maryland!

In all seriousness it is great to have them here as it was way back at Thanksgiving that we last saw them! They love just being with us in America and enjoy spending our day-today lives with us (well mainly Sarah as I'm not sure they would enjoy coming to work with me or the triathlon training).

And besides we need to have here Dad to get the professional video of the race. Not that Sarah's isn't professional....(it's a big hole I'm digging myself into so I'll just stop!).

Team Banks pictures to come, if they allow me to post them.

Memorial Day Ride......

Yesterday was a great day for riding, the sun was shining, temperatures in the low 80's and a massive amount of people (probably over 100) turned out for the annual Memorial Day ride held by the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club. Many of our club turns up for this ride which invariably turns into a normal club ride and bit of a hammer fest.....Thanks to Doug M. for bringing his camera along (I was going to bring mine and then promptly left it sitting on the kitchen table!)

Rolling out.....

Rick and I along Patuxent River Road

Front of the group.....

Me...just fixed the loose shifter at the water stop!

In the end I did 75miles and managed not to make the farmer tan lines any worse....still trying to get rid of them from the Devilman race!

And the wait goes on.......

As if you couldn't have guessed it from the posts of the past 5-6 months, the sole goal of the first half of the season is the Eagleman 70.3M race on June 8th. This is where you can qualify for the coveted Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Obviously these slots are very competitive and there are only 1 or 2 slots per age group....and that's what I am waiting for!

We are two weeks out from Eagleman and as of yet there are no inklings about the slot distributions...last year the 30-34 AG had 2 slots, in 2006 there were 2 but in 2005 and 2004 the age group had 3! The slot distribution all goes on the amount of people in your age group as a percentage of the overall field.....the higher the percentage the higher the number of slots! At Eagleman there are 30 slots to be awarded.....

I guess the only way to be assured of one is to win the age-group.....;-)

No Ultras as of yet.....

Last year was my first foray into Ultra Running and I completed two 50km trail races. Although they were huge amounts of fun, they are very demanding and take a long time to recover from. As a result I have not scheduled any Ultra's until the Fall for this year leaving me to concentrate on triathlon races. Hopefully I will be able to schedule the JFK 50miler in late November.

I found last year that not only do Ultra's take a while to recover from, they also detracted from my triathlon racing. The training for Ultra's meant that I was doing more long distance slow runs and also cycling less. I was running strong but not with the pace needed for triathlon.

Without the Ultra training during this spring I was able to keep the cycling hours and concentrate more on tempo running which produced a fast marathon and PR's in the triathlon races so far. However, with the weather getting better and the nights longer I will gradually get back out onto the trails to make a change from the pavement....and besides running on trails is so much more peaceful and fun!