Andy Holgate’s Blog: From Common Man To Ironman (13/04)

Andy Holgate is 37 years old and lives in Lancaster, England. After less than 11 months training, in 2007 he completed his first Ironman distance race, The Big Woody. He walked down the aisle a week later and married Emma, who continues to be an Ironwidow. Andy is the author of the forthcoming book “Can’t Swim, Can’t Ride, Can’t Run : My Triathlon Journey from Common Man to Ironman. Published on 22nd June by Know The Score Books. The book tells the amusing, inspirational and sometimes scary story of Andys transition from an overweight librarian to a super fit triathlete. Andy will be blogging for us as he prepares to race in the Outlaw in August.

Hi everyone, good to be blogging here with Triathlete Europe. Let me introduce myself, as I’m not a typical triathlete I guess.

I completed my first sprint triathlon at the end of August 2006, and I became hooked. It was an open water swim which I did in stormy conditions without a wetsuit. I almost froze to death. My fifteen year old mountain bike that was held together by rust got me round the bike course and to add injury to insult I twisted my ankle on the cross country run. So why then did I fall in love with this new sport? That’s easy: It was fun. I completed the whole race with a grin on my race, something that I’d never done at a straight forward running race.

That night I went home and scoured the internet for another race to do. I found one, The Big Woody. The Ironman distance race was a million miles away from the sprint I’d just completed but I decided it was what I wanted to do. I entered and then persuaded three of my friends who’d never done a triathlon before to come along and race as part of my stag weekend, after all I would be getting married seven days later. I didn’t own a road bike, so I bought a second hand one. I couldn’t swim, so I took lessons. I joined the Pirate Ship of Fools, an online traithlon club, and started racing in the infamous yellow and black that so many of you will have seen at races around the world.

All of this seemed a lifetime away from where I’d been just a couple of years earlier. I weighed over 252 lbs and had been put on special prescription diet drugs by my doctor. I’d been a runner in my younger days, but an underactive thyroid and a lethargic lifestyle in my twenties and early thirties had taken its toll on my waistline. I started running again, mostly in the dark so people wouldn’t point and laugh. I couldn’t even run round the block when I first started without doubling over, winded. I was on the fast track to an early grave. This all changed with a new relationship, and a focus in life, I wanted to be around long enough to actually have kids and see them grow up. My running increased and a work colleague goaded me into doing a triathlon as a one time gig, four years and countless races later I’m still working on the kids part, but triathlon is a major focus in my life.

In 2009 I began competing for my newly formed local Triathlon Club : COLT – City of Lancaster Triathlon. A great club that caters for all ages and abilities. I had thought I was the only ‘nutter’ in my area that competed in Ironman, I was wrong. I got loads of valuable advice and encouragement on long training rides and during open water swimming sessions that went a long way towards helping me complete Ironman Germany in 12hrs 57mins and 21 seconds.

I work full time as a librarian so I have to fit my training in around my job. This usually means the long training is done at the weekends, although once summer time arrives I try to get in a couple of hours both before and after work. At the moment most of my training has been run based as I’m competing in the London Marathon. I’m hoping to get round in under four hours. The preparation hasn’t been good as I missed most of January with a broken wrist after slipping in the snow whilst running.

After London, my intentions are to spend the weekends on long bike rides building up my base, as the key to a solid Ironman performance is the bike. I’ll probably try and fit an Olympic Triathlon in around June, but it could be busy with the book launch. Other than that I’ll try and race a couple of sprints just to keep sharp, probably at Nantwich and Capernwray. I want to try and finish the Outlaw in around 12:30 which would be a significant improvement for me, so I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts and feelings in this blog as August gets closer.

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