Ironman Graeme Shows His Mettle

14 August 2008

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As a child, Graeme Hastings was a swimmer, but as he got older, he sought out something more challenging. "Once you get to university, you start looking for something a bit different. You always need some kind of goal other than work and study."

So he took up running, which led him to compete in marathons.

The business development manager for Text Internet Marketing in Manchester has done six now, including the London Marathon. His best time in a marathon is 2:57.

But now he's upped the ante by quite a bit — he will be competing on September 7 in an Ironman triathlon in Sherbourne, Dorset. That means he'll be swimming 2.5 miles, riding his bike for 114 miles and then running a marathon. An Olympic triathlon is a swim of 1 mile, a bike race of 25 miles and a run of 6 miles.

Seven-day regime

After accomplishing that, Hastings, 28, (pictured right) said he's going to work on bringing time down on marathons to "compete more seriously" as well as doing more triathlons — regular and ironman.

His current regime spans all seven days of the week. On Monday, he runs 10k in the morning and swims 5k in the evening; on Tuesday, he works out in the gym, rides 60k on his bike and runs for 10k; on Wednesday, he runs 15k; on Thursday, he swims 5k; on Friday, he runs 15k; on Saturday, he rides for 150k and does a 5k run; and on Sunday, he rides 40k and runs 25k.

And then there's his dream: swimming the English Channel. "It will take at least two years to train for that".

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