This weekend is Iron Man France.
One of the lesser known British competitors making the trip across the Manche, is the Bath based triathlete James Donald.
This will be Donald's second time of competing the Iron distance that includes a 2.4mile swim, 112miles on the bike and a marathon run of 26.2 miles. His aim is for a finishing time of sub 11hours which would put him amongst the top 20% of the 2014 finishers.
The 32 year old runner - known for his electric range of headbands, his constrictive clothing collection and his "recovery food" Christmas Cake stash that lasts him through 'til June each year - has had an incredible run of form leading up to the event.
Inside the magic training window (10-6 weeks) before the race, James clocked no less than four marathon or greater distances over each of the consecutive weekends. The first three of which included a 2:39min PB at the London Marathon, 2nd place at the Marlborough Downs 33mile ultra-marathon and a 40 mile off-road training run through the night along the Costwold Way.
A runner by nature, Donald looks these days to the Ironman distance however, because his overriding penchant for pain demanded that he pushed himself for longer. "It used to be that long marathon training runs did the job" he said "but unfortunately I'm finding the better I get, the more I need to do to feel the same type of exhaustion."
Despite not adhering to any normal standards for enjoyment, the pain Donald experiences, however, is clearly distinct for him from suffering. His training is time for himself and he described that finding the time to "zone out" and think about "nothing is pretty much the aim of long solo sessions."
Nor is James one of those robot athletes who finds all things equal, admitting he finds it difficult to commit even handedly to all three triathlon disciplines. Of his pool sessions he stated, "I never really enjoy them;" his Twitter account reflecting this, in his terse and typically modest profile: "Cycle a bit, run a bit, swim as little as I can get away with."
This partiality for the two dry events of the triathlon, was reflected at the Arun River Marathon in mid May: The final consecutive weekend of his intensive Iron Man preparation.
Despite the accumulated exhaustion in his legs, he cycled the 112mile distance to the event's start through the Costwolds Hill and the South Downs on his favoured steed "Jake II." After a brief night's sleep, he then went on to complete the undulating run in a time of 3hr16min - taking 1st place. Donald stopped to comment that the win had been "a real psychological boost ” - before quietly slipping away for the Iron distance cycle back home to Bath - The trophy stuffed neatly up his cycling vest.
These four intensive weeks of preparation in May would leave many athletes exhausted. Donald however seemed unfazed: “Overall I'm not feeling too bad, but I’m definitely ready for a few light weeks now! That, and eating a lot!' he quipped.
By any normal persons' standards, his Strava training log, with its stark absence of rest days following this intensive training block - would be the tell-tale sign of an athlete on the road to burnout, injury or even chronic fatigue. Donald seems to be made of something else however. His Twitter feed still burbles along this week with positive reports in the final build up to the race:
"Rather enjoying my @Ironman_France taper; I've only just left home for the pool and don't get knackered going up stairs!"
And when it's finished...You can be sure he will be thinking about his next adventure - The Costwold 100mile foot race this September...well, that and the cornucopia of of croissants he will undoubtedly be working his way through, on the Eurostar home.
