The D-Day

This is it, the D-Day everyone was waiting for: Ondra's attempt for the Iron Man.

The plan was: to wake up at 5 AM, eat some pasta and go to the swimming pool to swim 3.8kms at 7 AM. Everything seems to go according to the plan, since the dining table is a mess with ketchup everywhere (but at least we know he woke up, right?).

While the bike support team is slowly getting ready, I got a phone call from our father at 7:25, that Ondra has finished his first kilometer in 22minutes and 55seconds. At 7:48 I got a second phone call announcing the 2nd kilometer in 24mins 35secs.

The swimming part:

Km	Time
1.	22:55
2.	24:35
3.	26:56
3.8	21:36
Total	1h 36min

Ondra arrived to Obrany and started the bike part at 8:51 (I did not see him so I don't know how he feels).

The bike part: (note: the timer is running even when he stops to take his drinks and snacks)
17 25

Km	Time
13.	35min
21.	1h 05min
38.	1h 43min
65.	2h 51min
74.	3h 11min
88.	3h 54min
115.	5h 04min
124.	5h 31min
138.	6h 27min
147.	6h 51min
160.	7h 09min
180.	8h 34min

The average speed is: 21.01 km/h


The bike support team is now settled in Café&Wine in Adamov - everyone is welcome to come:)!
The IronMan, looking motivated more than ever, passed by just in a flash - everything is all right, we even had an opportunity to conduct a very small interview, so here it is:
(I asked him if he wanted to tell something to his fans :)) )

 

(even thought you can't see his smile on the vid I assure you that he was smiling)

After his 2nd stop in Adamov he still had a smile on his face! Saying everything was fine, should M be afraid?

Third stop, first iont drink and first snack (the bike support team wanted to work on his bachelors thesis while waiting - but couldn't because Ondra is too fast  :( )

The bike support team is happy to welcome SIkachnak! Also our parents took some pics, have a look:

 The face says it all "let the pain speak to me"

 

The support team in all its beauty:

 The interview:

This is how the interview went:
Interviewer: How do you feel after finishing your 60. km?
The IronMan: Fine, I never thought I would say this, but I'm really looking forward to the marathon!
Interviewer: Do you feel any pain?
The IronMan: No, just my butt a little bit.

So here he is, still smiling and even has the energy to fool around (or maybe he is just playing it? :P).

Zuzka has just arrived to join the bike support team!
Few minutes later SImikin & family arrived too!
Of course we had to take a picture together, so this is the current mood of the bike support team:

But the support team is also composed of SImikin's sons - SIjonáš and SISImon - here they are cheering for uncle Ondra!

After his 7th stop he still looked like he had a lot of energy. When we asked how he feels, he seemed really happy:

Ondra: I just have to go there, then back, then once again, then back again, then I'll stop here and then just go to Obrany..!

Some more pictures..:
 

During last stage (9th), Ondra fell off his bike and then fearlessly got up and kept on going! Next expected fall in about 30mins.

Ondra surprisingly finished his bike part at 17h25 (we did not expect this). He even seemed very confident about his running part, even after 180kms of biking he still has a smile on his face! Maybe it was because he was not biking alone - Nikola Bartosek came to his aid and provided him with great moral support for more than 40 kms and so did our parents for more than 50 kms!


Let's see how he will manage to run a marathon after such an exhausting biking trip.
The running support team has moved to a diferent place now - we're in Obrany. The team is composed of the Def' clan, Kruml clan, SIaudun, SIkachnak and Zuzka.

He started running at 17h38.

The running part:

Km	Time
9.	54min
18.	1h 55min
27.	3h 08min

Last stop: 20h50
Second round is finished at 19:42; 18 km done, 24km to go. Now Jirka follows Ondra on the bike so the table will be updated when he comes back, hopefully in about one hour. However, the temperature is going down fast and Ondra starts to visibly suffer.

SIeracle: After being with Ondra for one trip, I'm starting to be a little bit worried - his will is really strong, but his body seems to have some problems (he's cold, his head was spinning for a while,...). But even in this state he was full of humour - he even asked if we're going to Hostimil after he finishes :)) (a PUB in Brno)... He also asked if he can sleep in my bed tonight - haha, no way bro' :D
 

 

 But the support team is still here even in a bigger number - there are 12 of us!

 Some pics..:

The moment when he finished his 180kms on bike:

 

Even this tired he stills finds a moment to look at a go board...

The start of the running part

After 16h05min - at 23h05 Ondra successfully finished the IronMan challenge!

it's a go!

The weather tomorrow should be a bit cold, but it isn't supposed to rain, so the timing looks good.

The plan:

I think the plan is quite clear, so no need for further comments.

If you want to show up, please contact my brother via facebook or via phone if you have his number. Especially if you'd like to come after lunch during the bike part. If you want to come for the running part then you can just show up in the pub "na konecne", hopefully someone will be there.

Tomorrow the blog is going to be updated hourly, so you can follow my suffering from your comfy couch. :-D

While at the hospital, in what were going to be his last hours, Fujisawa Shuko, one of the biggest go masters to ever live, asks for a canvas, ink and a brush. Despite being in pain he succeeds in his last fight leaving a message for his students and us: "Make Herculian effort"

This Sunday, huh

M. agrees to do the ironman this Sunday and its supposed not to rain, so we will go for it.

My brother will update this blog hourly during the day D., so you guys can follow my progress and cheer :-D.

My family agreed to support me during the race, so I don't "need" anyone to help me. Nevertheless if you want to come to cheer and hang out then there are two scenarios:

1) You want to come already during the bike part (9:30-18:00): contact my brother, he will tell you where he will be and I am sure he'll be glad if someone hangs out with him while I bike. I don't want to post his phone number here, so contact me somehow, so that I can give it to you. He will have his notebook with him and has the game "fish fillets"(1), so you'll have something to do :-P.

2) You want to come during the running part:(17:00-23:59) meet the others in "hospoda na konecne" in Obrany. I will have to "walk/run" to Bilovice and back around 5 times and will have a bike at disposal for the possible fans, so they can keep me company during the run. Bring some cool music on your phone, I don't think I'll be much into discussions! :-D


I would like to thank everyone for their encouragements was it when met, via facebook, this blog or in any other way. We had several good laughs about this challenge and it did really force me to train a lot. I think my set of mind got better and my physical condition of course too.

Thank you for your donations, I really appreciate it. I felt a bit humiliated when asking about the donations, but it was a good decision. Not only did it help me financially, but it also motivated me when I had a weak set of mind and didn't feel like training.

Let's hope I sleep well on Satturday,

yours faithfully,

SIscurge

Almost there ...

This week has been pretty nice. As the Ironman date is approaching, I have to make sure not to overtrain. I really respect the saying "It's worst to go for the ironman 1% overtrained than 10% undertrained" :-). Nevertheless I made physical activities almost everyday. I ran, biked, did musculatory exercices, played football and badminton.
I must say, I really do feel changes in my condition. I don't get exhausted that fast and don't have to sleep after longer training sessions anymore.

Now its time to decide when to do the ironman challenge and I start to feel that this Sunday should be the best. I haven't drunken any alcohol for two weeks (not even after football and at a go tournament!!), and I feel thats enough :-D. My brother said he has time for support, so now it depends on the weather and how M. sees it.

How do I see my chances? Mhmm... I think 25% should be about accurate.

I will for sure post again, once it's decided and someone will update this blog hourly during the day D.

Sexual desires

I changed the setting for posting comments on the blog based on the advice of L - thanks. Now it is no longer necessary to have an account to post comments.

This week my fighting spirit has been quite low. I did rest during my holiday in Italy but it also broke my training rythm. I had problems finding motivation not only to train but also to work for school, so it kinda sucked. Nevertheless I biked almost everyday, but only between 1-2 hours - that is until today. Today I biked for ~90kms.

I couldn't have chosen a better day for this long(ish) ride. The weather was simply perfect. Had I taken some water with me, I may have enjoyed it even more. I planned to go to Dolni Vestonice a small village at about ~ 40 kms from Brno. and I managed. I got lost several times in the process, so that's why the final length was around 90kms. It took me 5 hours, which is kinda slow but it was on my mountain bike, so it's acceptable I'd say.
The first 60 kms were without any problems, but I started to feel my legs ~  km 65. So it looks like I don't have enough strength despite all the training. Somehow after around 15 kms and some sugar the pain started to dissipate, so I could finish the ride honorably.

Since I do get bored quite fast, I started to listen to music while I ride. I put my phone in my backpack and put it very loud so that I can hear it. It's kind of cool, some motivational music really helps. When I had my crisis at km 65, the phone randomly chose the full album Sempiternal from Bring me the horizon, which I am very fond of. As my bike doesn't have any way to inform the other participants of the road traffic that I am behind them. I was hoping that people would react to the fast approaching music, but somehow it seems that it "doesn't ring a bell".

At the end of the journey I suddenly started thiking about beer. That wouldn't really be anything worth mentioning, as Czech guys do that quite often, but this time the thoughts brought by exhaustion and thirst were almost sexual. I mean, the beer looked so appealing. Old fashioned glass - very thin so that you can feel the cold liquid inside, not too much of foam so that you can reach the liquid immediatly and the top of the glass a bit dewy - as it should be. What a nice thought - pity that till the race I have an absolutely no alcohol policy.

Keep in touch

Relativity

As the gravitational waves have been recently confirmed, everybody seems to be relieved that what Einstein described was right.  Personaly I am not quite convinced yet. Let's take time for example: its behaviour should vary only around heavy and dense objects or when travelling very fast. I know for a fact that I don't travel at light speed, so why does it seem that time stops when I bike?

From now on I will try to bike as often as possible, even if I don't have much time, I'll try to go out even if just for an hour. I am getting accomodated to "the sitting", so that's one thing going for me. I also received new sport pants (black), so there is nothing stopping me now, mu ha ha. It would be nice if it stopped raining though.

Thanks for cheering ~

An Iron tale of an Iron fail...

It must have been the first time in the history of my new flat that I woke up before everybody else, perhaps it was even the first time that I didn't wake up last. As I wanted to eat some pasta at least an hour before swimming I set up my alarm clock at 5:30. The morning preparations went well and I jumped into the water at 7:03 - almost on time. The weather was not looking promising but it was supposed to rain only in the afternoon, so I didn't worry much.

When I left the swimming pool around 8 o'clock, I checked my phone and discovered several sms' and miss calls from my support team (l.b.J.). Apparently due to the starting rain it was a bad idea to make the attempt today: the road will be slippery, it is very cold and the support team didn't feel like standing for hours in the rain. As J. was supposed to bring me the road bike I was a bit disappointed, but I still released him from his duties - I was going to fight the rain with my mountain bike. I was quite surprised when I met J. at the meeting point with the road bike. It was not raining that much, so we decided to try it out.

Well, it was a bad idea... the rain became heavier and heavier every minute that went by and I got soaking wet in no time. After about 30kms we decided to call it quits.

I learned a few things today:
1) The road bike rocks. I was able to keep an average of 23km/h without any effort.
2) I am getting used to sitting on the bike,
3) Don't ever take white pants when you go cycling.

J.'s commentary: "where will you be when diarrhea strikes" :-)

This Sunday we are leaving for skiing with the whole family, so no serious training for a week ~(^^~)