Great Britain's Andy Mouncey accomplished a feat only one other person
can claim--this fall he traveled from Arch to Arc--from London to
Paris, roughly--under his own power. In September he set out on an
87-mile run from London to Dover, then crossed the English Channel
(that's 22 miles) then rode the 180 miles from Calais to Paris. Along
the way, he set new fastest times in each stage of the journey.
Mouncey came to triathlon in 1986 and has been racing multisport in one form or another since then. In 1992 he was part of the UK age group team that traveled to the World Championships, he did his first Ironman in 1994 and has logged five more finishes at the ultra-distance since then.
Since going from the Marble Arch in London to the Arc d'Triomphe in Paris under your own power is "Big & Scary" in its own right, we thought it only fitting that we catch up with Mouncey to hear more about the adventure.
TRIATHLON INFORMER: What gave you the idea to attempt this epic? When did you start training for it, and what kind of long training did you put in to prepare yourself?
ANDY MOUNCEY: I met Eddie Ette (who made the first Arch to Arc solo crossing in 2001) last year at an event he organised off the south coast of England. I was looking for a new challenge at the time, and London to Paris gave me food for thought over the winter. The English Channel swim scared the pants off me at that point, but I figured if I committed to the preparation I would get to a point where I believed it was doable!
Eddie and I also agreed to help each other: Eddie wanted a
way to raise the profile of the Challenge so other athletes would be
inspired to have a go. His organization ENDUROMAN owns the Challenge
and he wanted to develop a package to help athletes prepare and
complete it. He offered to help me--specifically for the swim element
and to lead my support crew--as clearly a successful repeat crossing
would help his business. This it has definitely done!
I also figured it would be a great test for me as a coach: If I'm any good, I should be able to use many of the skills and techniques I use with my clients to help me do this thing. Do I just talk it or can I walk it as well?
I started specific training for it all in late May, though 17 years of endurance multisport gave me the necessary foundation to build from.
The key was the swim: building the skills and tolerance to complete an all-day swim. I started with an hour swim--bloody cold at the end of May despite a full wetsuit!--and built to completing a 10-hour training swim mid-August.
The longest training runs I completed were a couple of four-hour ones. I didn't have time or energy to spend on bike volume--being self-employed I still had to work for a living!--so I shortcut it by weights work. I figured if I was strong and HEALTHY I could get through it. The longest I ever rode in training was about 2.5 hours.
The balance was getting the fitness AND the health...
TI: What kind of things did you find yourself thinking about on the day(s) as the miles rolled by? And did you feel like you had a different sense of the landscape as you ate up the miles on your own power, as opposed to on a train or a boat?
AM: The mental state was the key--once again especially in the water. I worked hard on developing a mindset where I was relaxed and flowing: 'in the zone,' I guess. I was barely aware of time and the mechanics of what I was doing, just enjoying the uniqueness of it all. Am I likely to run through the capitol city in the early hours again? Probably not, and that made it very special.
There were low points to be sure, and times when I very definitely had to focus on what I was doing, but again the key is to balance these...
TI: I hesitate to ask this one, but do you have any other epics on your mind?
AM: Nothing specific yet--I'm enjoying this one! --but I'm sure there will be, the only question is what!
TI: What advice do you have for triathletes who may be attempting other long training? (I imagine that for athletes who may be training all day, you have some good tips.)
AM: A main tip: training is physical: racing is emotional, so a key for long stuff is STATE OF MIND. A key for this is that ability to harness the good stuff and pick yourself up quickly when things are not going well, and to do it again, and again, and again: I had to keep this up for 115 hours in a VERY CHALLENGING mental and physical environment.
A best way of learning this: ROLE MODELING. Find someone who has this skill and go and spend time with them: how do they think, behave, believe, feel, see etc. Go and LEARN from them and then try stuff for yourself: be prepared to experiment!
TI: In any endurance event there are of course highs and lows. So please tell us about your highs and lows...when was your lowest moment, and what was your greatest moment?
AM: Lowest moment: waiting for the swim start. We had been delayed in Dover for 2.5 days already and were on the quay waiting for our 6:30 a.m. start. Our pilot, Chris, came up with the news that the forecast for the day was bad--it was expected to deteriorate later to a level that if I was swimming there was a real chance that I would not be able to complete. Or I could choose to wait again for the weather to settle--and no guarantees here either. I did not want to make the call: It was a VERY tough emotional time. In the end I decided to swim--and the weather decided to ignore the forecast--and we had a beautiful day for the crossing!
Greatest moment? Crossing the English Channel!
TI: What was the key to your success? How did you fuel yourself over this long event?
AM: My support team, from all at Enduronman; wife, Charlotte; support crew for the Challenge itself; family; friends. Those who believed and those who did not: I needed them all!
TI: And please tell us about your fueling.
AM: Anything that gives me energy, stays down and tastes good: favorites included pizza during the run, honey sandwiches on the swim, and malt loaf and jam slices on the bike.