When started my ironman journey back in 2011 I remember my brother telling me that there was an Ironman event called the Deca which consisted of 10 ironman distance triathlons in 10 days.

At the time I honestly thought that it was completely impossible especially after finishing just the one of them. I was in bits after finishing just one, the thought of even 10 just seemed crazy but then only a few years after completing Ironman Bolton I was looking up the double and triple events. Its crazy how the mind works sometimes.

After ticking off the double and triple on my buckets list of challenges the deca now seemed a little possible but of course it was still a big call.

I heard from a few people in the triathlon world that Claire who owns Brutal events was putting on a brutal deca event in the UK (deca events are really rare worldwide due to the amount of work that has to be put in to them I’m guessing, that and there’s not many sane people world-wide who want to do 10 iron distance triathlons in a row) and I was interested. There were two formats of the deca, the continuous 24 mile swim, 1,120 mile bike and a 262 mile run. You had to do all the swim in one hit followed by all the bike in one hit and then finish with the run. The other format was one full iron distance triathlon a day every day for 10 days. I chose the continuous.

It was held up north in York at a holiday park. My 24 mile swim was held in a 25 meter pool a few miles away, once finished in the pool my support crew would then drive me to base which was at the holiday park (this is where my camper van and home for the 10 days was based also) and I’d get changed into my bike stuff ready for the bike leg of the triathlon. I can’t remember how long the swim took me but it was around the 12 hour mark. The bike course consisted of a 7 mile loop until i finished the 1,120 miles of them that was expected of me. Yep, it was the most gruelling bike rides I’ve ever done, I was on that bike for 21 hours a day and slept the other 3 ready to get back on the saddle again for more of the same. It took me 5 days to finish the bike and each day it was harder to get on the saddle due to the sores on my gooch (charming) which I also had to look after to stop infection.

Off the bike and into my trainers ready for 262 miles of running 1 mile loops around the lake at the holiday park and then I could call myself a Brutal deca finisher.

I started filming with the BBC for a new vegan cooking show that was to air January 2019 called Dirty Vegan with a production company called One Tribe. There was a challenge that I always wanted to do (not going to name it as it’s still on my list to do and will be happening at some point in the next year or so) but it was going to be a bit too much for the budget so we tried to keep it closer to home and came up with the idea of doing a triathlon of Wales.

I knew no one had done this before so was excited to get training ready for the off. I had so much on my plate at the time, long days filming Dirty Vegan so i barely had time to train as I was on shoot for about 14 hours a day but I got in what I could and that would have to be enough. I guessed I’d just have to use my mental strength to push me though the miles.

I jumped into the sea at Penarth seafront at about 6am just as it was getting a little light. The cameras were ready along with support boats (my coach Mark Whittle was on the boat and was gonna be with me for the duration of the triathlon. I gave my mother and father a hug and jumped into the sea to start my 20+ miles of swimming with the tide heading west towards Porthcawl. I knew I had 6 hours in the water swimming before the tide turned and I would literally wouldn’t be going anywhere, if anything the tide would be pushing me backwards. After 6 hours I jumped back into the support boat, we marked the spot where I stopped ready for us to come back in 6 hours time to start agin until I reached Porthcawl. I arrived at Newton beach Porthcawl the following morning, I then had to get dressed in my bike gear and head off on my mission to hug the whole coast of Wales also taking in Anglesea until I arrived at the start point of Offas Dyke in Prestatyn.

The bike ride was a mission but highly enjoyable taking in the amazing views and sights of our beautiful country Wales.

Literally 2 months after I’d completed the 30 half irons in 30 days I’d signed up for the triple Enduroman which is basically a triple ironman distance triathlon consisting of a 7.5 mile swim, 336 mile bike and a 78 mile run.

Normally after finishing a month of non stop exercise you’d rest up and let you body heal but I was looking forward to this triple as I felt fit and in good shape due to the sheer amount of training in did in march. It’s the first time I’ve ever gone into a race massively race fit. My body was used to the constant movement and it was about to get a good battering for at least 3 days non stop until I crossed the finish line of the triple.

The swim is in a little lake with a circle of buoys marked out that we’d swim in circles and every time we past the jetty we’d have to shout our race bib number to the organiser ticking off our laps until you heard him say “last lap”. It’s those words you so long wait to hear after so many repetitive circles of the same circles lap in lap out but I got there and it was then time to fuel up ad get ready for the bike section of the course.

Fueled and dressed ready for the bike which is made up of 11 mile loops so if you work it out that’s quite a lot of laps until you finish the 336 miles. I felt good and really strong and I was really ticking off the miles pretty quickly. I remember getting a message of my coach Mark Whittle telling me to slow down (he was following me on the live tracker via the enduro man website) but typical me I thought I was batman and just kept putting my foot down. During the dark early hours I fell asleep in the aero position on my bike and woke up just before ploughing into a bush. It was time to get some rest when I got back to base, in these races rest means 15 min sleep max then it’s back on the bike.

I came up with this idea whilst having a run around one of my favourite spots in Cardiff – Roath park lake. I kew James Lawrence aka Iron Cowboy held the world record of 22 consecutive half Irons so I thought to myself if I do 30 in 30 days starting in March and ending on March 30th for my birthday that should work out a treat.

I get to unofficially (didn’t do it through Guinness due to high costs) beat the world record and if when I finish I get to celebrate my birthday and the record all in one with a load of my friends and family.

Thanks to Jeff from Big Mouse he’d sorted out sponsorship from Peter Alan estate agents, Agile Therapy and Anna Loka vegan restaurant who agreed to feed me everyday when I finished my sports maassage at Anna Loka. After my feed, I’d make my way home and relax and sleep early ready for an early call at 4am ready to do it all over again.

I absolutely loved it, waking up early and getting stuck in all day then filling my face ready to go again.

The Bolton ironman got me, I had the ironman bug. This time though I wanted to research what other ironman races were out there. There was a double ironman distance race called the double brutal (4.8 mile swim, 224 mile bike, 52 mile run) called the double brutal up in Snowdon national park.

The swim started in Llyn Padarn in Llanberis and then the bike was made up of 33 mile loops (with crazy elevation due to the mountainous area we were in) until you completed the whole 224 miles then the 52 mile run started with climbing Snowdon first then making up the rest of the miles looping the 5 miles circumference of Llyn Padarn.

I signed up and started training. This time I got myself a coach Mark Whittle from Whittlefit and he wrote me up a training plan for the event. After months of training I was good to go. The 4.8 mile swim in the lake was brutal to say the least, even with a wetsuit on it was really cold and the more tired I got the colder it got but you get your head down and keep trucking.

I finished the swim then got ready for the 224 mile bike with something like 20,000 plus of climbing elevation. My aim was to do the whole event without sleeping but as the night wore in all I wanted to do was sleep. From 2am until at least 6am my head was scrambled and so was my body but I refused to go to sleep and keep my legs moving which I did apart from my feed stops that is.

Once the sun comes up that makes a massive difference to your moral and gives you a huge boost. I was so glad to finish the bike section but knew I still had Snowdon to climb and then the lake loops before I finished. I was in bits and wasn’t in the mood to eat but had to feed myself or I wouldn’t be going anywhere. Thanks once again to my support team who kept me going the whole time. You have to remember these multi day endurance challenges are not possible without the help of your support team, they play a massive roll in your success and getting over that line. You also have to remember that as much as it’s a race its also an eating competition. without food you won’t have the energy to move just like a car without fuel. It was half way up Snowdon that I realised just that.