Iceman Offroad Duathlon

The The next stage in my "race tired" winter regime (and the last race of the year) was the Human Race Iceman Duathlon in Deepcut, it’s the second in a series of three gruelling off-road duathlon's following on from last months Wildman, and followed on by the Mudman in March.

After a really tough week of training (thanks DrJ!), and a bit of a late night out with some mates for our monthly outing for a few steaks I got up and headed down to Deepcut for the race. I’d learnt a lot about kit in the previous race so I felt well prepared but unexpectedly nervous,  I guess after my rather pleasing result at the Wildman meant  I had a greater level of expectation on myself.

I lined up on the start line, conveniently next to my Berkshire Tri Squad clubmate Andy Sole, and said a brief hello but didn't allow myself to get swamped this time and off we went! The first 2km of the run were a nice warm up, largely downhill on fire road, before a sharp right and a nice hurdle the organisers had set up (which I’m sure grew over the course of the race) we then headed into a section that I can only describe of 2km of hill reps - brutal! (see profile below!!)



I kept a steady rhythm up the hills and picked my way through the field and eventually back to the start line and onto the second lap, I was keeping a good pace, and in line with the plan* my heart rate was nicely above 170bpm throughout.
*i.e. save nothing for the rest of the race!!

Coming into T1 I got ready for the bike by putting my gloves back on, and in an effort not to overheat took my arm warmers off and buff in hand as it was a fair bit warmer than the last race. Into T1 I got my shoes on as fast a possible, helmet on and off I went.

The bike course was a different loop to the run course, and apart from a couple of small issues (i.e. falling off going uphill while adjusting my Garmin, taking a dodgy line on a long descent the first lap and having to stop to put my bottle back in the cage) I was overtaken by a less people than last time, and got more comfortable throughout the bike and went about a minute faster each lap even having the confidence to catch a bit of air on some of the downhills on the final lap.

Coming into T2 I’d (re)overtaken a couple of people in the last few hundred meters on the bike so I knew time was off the essence, I figured I must be in the top 15 but was a bit shocked by how empty transition looked!

I’d kept well hydrated on the bike so skipped the aid station and headed off with pretty wooden legs in run 2, I had a bit of a stumble where there was a sharp downhill and I went over on my ankle but it wasn't too bad and I quickly forgot about it. I could hear someone behind me, but focussed on my form and had my caffeine gel, I got to the hurdle which by now required a giant leap rather than a small step and at the start of the first climb my pursuer drew along side, I was half thinking that it would be ok if I lost a place as I’d probably gain another one back from the person I could see ahead but that I’d rather beat them both! As we went up and down the hills I could see the effect of all the hill training I do as I pulled away from my pursuer and closed and eventually overtook my quarry. At the sign saying 1km to go I could still hear my pursuer behind me so kept a hard pace, not wanting to go too far into the red just in case I’d forgotten a tricky last bit, and once I was onto the last bit of uphill I threw caution to the wind and gave it everything up the hill and down the finishing straight and across the finish line. 

I finished 8th overall, 12.5 minutes down on the winner, which I’m very pleased with, there’s less I can put my finger on to go faster this time, but I guess more training is the key!

I’ll definitely do the final race in the series, they’ve been great fun so far, and I’d like to see if I can get into the top 10 for the series.

 

Wildman Duathlon

I decided to do the off-road series as a way of avoiding boredom over the winter, I'd won vouchers (at Windsor, Bananaman and the Diamond Tri - thanks Human Race!) that would pay for free entry to the first 2 races in the series, and I'd been encouraged by my coach Dr. J about doing some races tired, the thinking is that it is good for mental strength particularly for the later stages of Ironman when everything screams at you that slowing down would be the smart option. I was a bit nervous in the lead up to the race both because I’m not a very experienced mountain biker and because Paul Fitz was racing, he’s a strong athlete who works very hard, and while he’s been close in all the races we’ve done together this year I’ve managed to have an unbeaten record this year, which I’m keen to maintain!

At the start I’d got a bit distracted chatting to Paul and we found ourselves squarely mid pack when the gun went, so the first KM was spent squeezing through gaps trying not to get too delayed,  after this my focus was pushing hard and keeping my hr around the 170 mark and keeping any eye out for any tricky bits that might catch me out on the bike. I stopped for a brief drink at the aid station and began to start thinking about the end of the run, it certainly didn’t come quite as quickly as I hoped as according to my Garmin the course was more like 10.5k!  I Finished the first run in 44:53 about 2 minutes behind the overall winner in 18^th place.

T1 was a bit of a faff, mountain bike shoes are never going to be as quick to change as tri shoes, as well as not wanting to stand directly on the grass, and trying to get my helmet on over the buff I had on made for quite a lot of faffing, as well as grabbing a gel as I wasn’t sure I'd be able to do it on the go, I lost about 30 second to the leaders here so need to sort this out for next time.

Bike -  I was in a fairly clear space of the first few hundred meters of the bike so settled into a bit of a rhythm, I’m not that confident of the grip levels going round corners but it probably wasn’t until 2km in that I got overtaken by anyone, and there weren’t exactly hundreds going past, in general the bike was a hoot, with some fast straight descents, and climbs that tested both my resolve to stay seated and leg strength to the limit, I stopped on both laps to grab a quick drink as I hadn’t put a water bottle on the bike, but I got through without too much challenge and lost about 4 places overall here, much better than planned, I'd managed to eat a gel while on the bike as well to keep energy levels topped up, which avoided eating while running which usually leads to stomach cramps for me. I’d lost about 10 minutes to the eventual winner here which is a pretty good result given my lack of MTB experience.

T2 was much better as there was less faffing: shoe change, gloves and helmet off and visor on. Only about 9 seconds lost to the winner here.

Run 2 was on a completely different course and after 300m of flat running on tarmac with wooden legs and numb feet there was a sign pointing at a couple of rickety old steps and a huge sand bank beyond, which there were a few people scrambling up ahead of me! This was a bit of a shock but quite fun, the character of r2 was set then, much more technical, challenging and genuinely off road, as the race avoided all paths and even went through a freezing cold water ditch that was about a foot deep (well maybe not a foot from this pic, but still...)!
By this stage my focus was on going as fast as possible on tired legs and felt I put in a good effort, but as is often the way at the end of triathlon I felt ok and able to push but this just wasn’t represented in actual speed, something to think about for the future.

In summary then, 17^th overall (including one relay team that I don’t usually count in results) and 3^rd in age group, I was very pleased with my effort and performance throughout, there are a few areas that I can make quick wins in time for round two on the 5^th and I want to look into why I didn’t have the speed I wanted in r2 as a longer term  improvement.

Overall a great race, and I’m looking forward to the next one in the series, I’d rather have distances that were closer to advertised, but only for pacing purposes, as I’m sure the extra distance was all good training!

5 Things to focus on for next time

1. Race head wear – probably a thinner buff that will not make me too hot on r1 and will fit under the helmet neatly will save time.
2. Don’t faff in t1 - be organised, and practise putting on MTB shoes
3. Get to the front at the start to save having to do a load of work in the first km just to get ahead of the crowd.
4. Be a bit braver on the mountain bike, they have huge amounts of grip!
5. Take lots of confidence from this, top20 is a great result for a first outing at a distance, top 10 is definitely achievable with a these small tweaks

 

(thanks to Human Race for the pictures!)

Ballbuster 2015

I did this race last year, after 4 weeks of very little training, having taken up beer post ironman and not having actually looked at the course or ever having been up box hil before, it was a nightmare, it was cold wet, the trail shoes I bought were not right for 16 miles of road running and I was too heavy.

I had been a bit tardy about entering the race and when I saw a competition to win free entry and a free pair of CEP Compression socks I jumped at the chance and couldn’t believe my luck when I won – I’ve been a fan of CEP compression wear for a couple of years and never race without their quad and calf sleeves on so a pair of socks to race in was a real bonus!

This year would be different, I’d be as prepared as I possibly could be, I don’t mean treating it like an a race, but in terms of fitness, tactics and kit I’d have everything nailed down a week to go and even have a bit of a practice in terms of kit to make sure it was just right!

Training wise things have been going well, I’m about 5 weeks into the training season, and one of those weeks was spend in Lanzarote climbing, then riding into strong cross/Tail/head winds then descending and then repeating, it even pissed it down with rain one day to partially simulate race conditions, my weight has dropped from the 74kg I hit post season down to below 72kg, which for the last few years has been race weight, the Tuesday night run sessions I coach have been focussed on building power and endurance by repeatedly running up and down steep hills, and on Tuesday I gave my planned kit a run out and was comfortable, able to regulate temperature nicely and felt fairly aero. I’d even looked through last years files to try to plan a tactic that would extract maximum performance out of myself, id worked out a power plan to mean I didn’t go too much into the red on the climb and didn’t take it too easy on the descents, and had planned to not let my heart rate go over 165 on the first climb.

The only thing separating this from an “a race” treatment is that I did a hard weeks training the week before, in an attempt to start to get myself to treat race as races and supported training as exactly that rather than skipping training sessions to help me be as fresh as possible for ridiculous things like a mid week club TT!

I had decided I would ride the TT bike as the winner and separately fastest split last year were done on one, and despite worsening weather conditions I stuck with this plan.

My final bit of prep had been to have a bit of a guesstimate of my club mates times as well as mine, and had figured id probably have a comfortable buffer over both them and the club record of 3:16:32 set last year by Gope Walker.

Anyway I was feeling confident of a decent PB and thought 3:10 was a good goal to aim for, I picked up Andrea’s bike on Friday, packed the car and was in bed by 10pm ahead of the 4:30 alarm clock!

We got to the start a little early, but in reality this meant we had plenty of faff time, and a good parking spot, after a couple of hours kicking about it was finally time to start, we gathered as a BTS group and then went our separate ways to adhere to the organisers request to self seed ahead of a “pulsed*” start system. Andrea and I had agreed to run together, targeting a 56 minute first lap, we set of a little slow due to the mud and the climb in the first KM that we’d forgotten about but were soon ticking along well ahead of target pace, trying to keep calm and slow a little but both feeling strong, we got to the first hill and I switched screens on my Garmin to be able to see heart rate, and alarmingly Andrea was pulling away from me despite going over my target HR, I realised id basically have to walk to maintain below 165 so upped it to 170 (I think this was a function of fatigue as usually 170 is going pretty hard – and this felt easy) I decided to let Andrea go, it’s testament to the progress he’s made this year in running, but my ego got slightly the better of me and I forgot about HR for a minute when he got a little too far in front.

Andrea entered transition 10 seconds ahead of me and jokingly told me he’d “smashed me on the run”, I quickly got bike shoes and helmet on and off I went, Andrea sneaked out slightly in front of me (again awesome progress from Mr tea set himself) but gave me space to get past, a true gent, I then got hit by the wind in transition and nearly landed on my arse, but  had to pick my bike up and hold it at angle not to get blown over – uh oh….

Onto the bike the first couple of KMs I was nicely tucked into aero and flying past people, at which point I started the first descent, and my visor fogged up, so had to ride quite cautiously as I couldn’t really see anything, so between putting the hammer down on the flatter bits and riding cautiously I got to the bottom of box hill for the first time, I was ahead of my power target at this point but stuck to the plan and held 300 watts up the ascent, thankful that I could see again, I got a couple of sarky comments about bike choice from people as I went past and one from someone who was overtaking me, but I knew I was riding well and just had to stick to the plan as best I could. Half way round the second lap with a growing confidence I realised I was fast approaching Martyn (going pretty much dead on the plan id imagined for him) and knew I had about 1.5 laps to put enough time on him just in case he was going well, then the heavier traffic began and annoyingly at the bottom of box hill Martyn was still quite close, but I stuck to plan, hoping that things would clear up, the final lap was all good, there’re were a couple of hold ups with traffic, as cars get stuck behind some of the slower riders, but for the most part nothing eventful, the final climb I really started catching people, particularly some of the kits that I’d noticed overtaking me the first time round – reminding me of the importance of pacing in events of this length.

T2 was uneventful apart from a marshal coming over to me asking me about how it was on my bike, I thought he might be asking on safety grounds so didn’t get annoyed, I grabbed a gel, thinking id now have two with me and off I went, I was really struggling for grip for the until I hit the road and wasted a fair amount of time here, I’m not sure there is much that can be done here, but something to note for next years thinking.

Immediately out onto run two I was still passing more than I was being passed, id noticed early on that people in the relay were wearing Velcro chips while everyone else had plastic ones, so when a girl came steaming past me I clocked the chip and made my excuses! I took my first gel fairly early knowing I had another one in my pocket for later on as I was feeling tired and realised my form was slipping but I was determined that my form would improve if I focused on it, and so made sure I had relaxed shoulders, was nice and upright and was swinging my arms from my shoulders hoping my legs would listen and the speed and fluidity would follow. It largely did, and there was a group of about 5 people who I kept roughly 20 meters in front of me, coming out of Headley village I became aware of someone catching me, and thoughts that it might be Martyn entered my head, I expressed my relief when it wasn’t, it was at this point I thought it would be a good idea to have another gel, with about 25 minutes more running, it wouldn’t make much physiological difference but a bit of a boost when I first had it, combined with the caffeine and hopefully a little extra in the last 5 minutes once the sugar hit the system might just make the difference, unfortunately the cupboard was bare, so I soldiered on, with about 4k to go I heard another set of footsteps and looked round to my horror to discover the ever smiling Martyn Parrish sneaking up on me, I had to let him go but once he was about 50m ahead I steeled myself for another effort, I knew he’d gone in a wave before me, so all id have to do was finish somewhere less than about 20 seconds behind him on the road to beat him on the clock. I cruised past the group that had been sitting about 20 meters in front of me, and by 2.5km to go and the start of the climbing I was less that 5m behind Martyn, it had taken a big effort to real him back in, but I figured if I could stay in touch up the hill it would be enough, onto the proper climb and my legs felt like lead, I focused on taking the shortest line but my heart rate was about 175 and there wasn’t any more in the tank, I was pulling away from the people behind me and tried a couple of 20 step power walks to see if that might give me a little speed, all the while watching Martyn edging away, he was probably close to 75m by this stage and although the power walks helped they weren’t enough, it was only once the course flattened out that I was able to pick up the pace, but Martyn was out of site by now, so it was just for me to know I’d put everything out.

I got over the line to find Martyn sitting pretty in a convenient chair, and heartily congratulated him, I quickly felt quite cold so headed to transition pretty quickly to get some layers on, and get my car keys, chucked the bike in the car and went to find Andrea.

It was only when we got to the post race restaurant that I discovered quite how close it had been between Martyn and I (5 seconds) which makes me wonder whether some of the small little errors could be to blame, but in reality the better man won on the day, and that’s good fire in the belly for training over the next few months.

So, the good

I ran well, and kept a lid on it to the final lap.

I got an 11 minute PB

I enjoyed the course

I got beaten by a clubmate, so there's that to help me get out of bed on the cold winter mornings!

The bad

Wrong bike

Wrong helmet

A small nutrition error

Never underestimate Martyn Parrish – he’s a competitive monster!

*setting people off in groups of 6 every 5 seconds to try to avoid congestion on the roads

The Vitruvian

Since the club champs I've managed to get some decent running in, nothing much over an hour but along a really tough stretch of Cornish coastal path, giving me my confidence back!




Pre race I treated myself to a new chain and a really good cleaning of the bike as well as adjusting and charging the Di2 for the first time since Rimini!




Preparation for the race was excellent and as a bonus our accommodation was about 3 miles from the start line, a quick spin of the bike revealed no issues on the bike so I racked on Friday night and headed home for some food and an early night.




We set alarms for 4am, and went to bed, I had a decent nights sleep and when I woke up had an email about some ironman highlights on my phone so watched the video over my slightly burnt breakfast (how did I manage to burn porridge?!?)




In transition I got my bike ready, checking bolts and making everything ready, had a catch up with Judith and then sneaked to the loo while the race briefing was happening.




Swim
I stayed back here and aimed to catch some steady feet, after my experience at the Dambuster where I just go swum over. It was a really nice clear swim and I was into my rhythm quickly, the first lap was pretty good and I was in the feet for about a 3rd of the lap, at the Australian exit I had done the first lap in 16 minutes, not lightening but its a long day and I figured 2 minutes wasn't the end of the world. the second lap was a little more tricky as I ran into the back of the wave after us, and lost a fair bit of rhythm, but was steady and didn't burn any matches.




T1
A mess, I was ready to jump on the bike as I arrived at  it but after drying my feet, and then realising my visor was fogged up (I'd put the helmet the right way up on the bars and as the sun rose and the dew lifted I think it all went inside my helmet) drying that and then drying the rest of myself I wasted an eternity.




Bike
I was still well towards the front of the field and having learnt how tricky the first few 100m were at Dambuster I had good start to the bike, my targeted 240w felt easy, and off I went. I hit a bit of car  traffic through the ripples with a lorry stuck behind one of the earlier starting waves, which was frustrating but gave me a change to eat a gel and then off I went, there were a few more people than usual overtaking me but I put this down to the higher quality field rather than anything else, but I had noticed my chain was noisy, and that my speed for my power output seemed quite low, I planed to stop at halfway to check but in the hurry of re-filling my water bottle I forgot all about it and carried on. My power was good at just under 240w, my average speed seemed quite low at just over 33kph. I'd got nutrition pretty right although I wasn't enjoying the orange Torq drink I'd put in my bottle, despite really liking it in training!




T2
A lack of talc at this stage made getting compression socks on a tricky task and I pissed away more time here. I really need to practice long distance transitions for next year, as they are a different beast to shorter races!




Run
As I exited T2 I worked out I needed 1 1:28 half marathon to go below 4:30, which wasn't going to happen, but I thought a 1:38 might be possible to go sub 4:40, I started well will a couple of people flying past me but after the first incline I was struck by the dreaded cramp, I nailed a get and a saltstick and it subsided and I was off again, ticking along at a comfortable 4:35 pace which was all that was needed to go sub 4:40, at the half way stage I'd averaged 4:40 min km which given that I'd walked for about 500m I wasn't too worried about, feeling pretty good, getting gels in but by this stage I'd run out my own Torq gels and was a little nervous about using the on course nutrition, and held off for a bit too long between gels,  something I didn't pay for until the final turn when a combo of a bit of poor maths (I worked out that I'd completely blown it, but actually hadn't) and running out of sugar meant I had a bit of a tantrum and walked for a bit throwing away my chances of a sub 4:40 in the process.




At the end I was pretty happy with my swim, my transitions need some work and my run wasn't bad, but at the start of the season my aim was to go sub 4:45 so I had ticked that off and I enjoyed a pint of Erdinger Alkoholfrei and waited for Andrea.




It was only once I was back at the bike that I took a look at it and discovered the rear brake had been dragging all the way round, which was a bit frustrating as it was incredibly easy to fix, and goes some way to explaining why I was so slow on the bike [I've since discovered that I'd installed the new chain outside for the rear derailleur cage - so rather than a mechanically efficient jockey wheel the wheel hade been running on bare metal - IDIOT!]

Windsor to the Club Champs

The last post picked up just before Windsor tri, a good race with a much changed course since last year.

Windsor
Swim
New course really suited, coming 3rd in my wave.
Bike
all was going well and was well on course for beng very close to 1hour, but unfortunately my aero bar became lose on the drift road and completely came off at the top of the great park, a little stressful and cramp as I tried to get off the bike meant I finished in 1:03.
Run
having experienced cramp at Rimini I was confident that given a gel I would be fine, I eased into my run and was soon off, a super busy course made things difficult, but manageable.
Result 2:16 ish
a bit of an improvement overall on last year, a lot of this was on the bike, but I lost a fair bit as the transition was so long and complex, no major damage done to the bike other than a couple of lost bolts!


Dambuster
Swim
I really paid for my overconfidence here, as I set off right at the front and was quickly out of puff and tried to slow down resulting in getting swamped! A bit of a move to the side and I started again, and gradually got back on track but struggled to find any feet.
Bike
I LOVE this bike course, it starts with a steep exit onto the main road, and then a nice section of false flat to help get into a rhythm then the lap really flows with a couple of climbs, but some really fast single carriageway as well.
Run
I noticed Hamish Wilson who id met on holiday last year just in front as I exited T2, and tried to keep pace, I struggled with this but soon go picked up by Tim George and kept pace with him until half way, I eased off the pace at this point as I felt a lot slushing about in my stomach, but when I realised Christophe was less than 10 minutes behind me I tried to pick up the pace again, picking off Tim and Hamish, finishing in 2:11:57.




Injury 29/06
I had a small disaster on a Monday morning brick session as I fell down a rabbit hole and felt a massive pop in my ankle, I was coming into some awesome form at this stage but  a sprained ankle and a recommended 8 weeks of running was a nightmare, I was pretty good about rehab, and resting with the exception of the Bananaman.




Bananaman Team Time Trial (with Christophe and Dwight)
The last few years have been really frustrating with being in teams who weren't that well matched (this is impossibly difficult to do!) this year I finally made the BTS a team but we struggled to find a third after Rob Bayliss had to pull out through injury, so we had to rope in a ringer!
Swim
S[oo we weren't that well matched here, Dwight is a fish, and Christophe isn't far off, we tried setting up a draft, but I couldn't keep up with him so just had to do my own thing, I pushed as hard as I could and was out of the water in 12 minutes - not bad for 800m!
Bike
here's where all my work came into its own, Dwight was doing IM Switzerland the week later so wasn't pushing hard on the bike but is fast enough to hold a wheel and as the wind picked up did a few turns at the front, but basically it was 'Stoff and I monstering it on the bike, I knew the Muir/Poulter team would have a bit of a lead after the swim so we worked hard to reel them in catching them around lap 4 of 6, we lost Christophe a couple of times on the bike where he went a bit deep on his turn on the front and we didn't notice.
Run
we set off just under 4 min kms, and basically held this throughout, the other two had capability to push on but after killing myself on the swim and bike and my sprained ankle I didn't have much left in the tank, it quickly became apparent we had a >4 min lead so we cruised round at this pace.


Major aim of the season completed with a race victory!




My first ever 25mile TT (13/07 55:02 P885)


Kate had been told she should do this race as it was a fat course and a good intro into 25 mile TT'ing, I signed up as well but despite it being a middle marker event (no racing unless your PB was over 56 minutes) I didn't get a ride, but I had decided that I'd take a risk and register as a reserve.
it was a bit nerve wracking, waiting in the run up for 6 other people to drop out, but at about lunchtime on Monday I got an email from the organiser saying I was in.
The warm up wasn't ideal as I rode up the fairly steep hill with my wheel wonky pushing out huge watts and having the entire field flying past me, thankfully the problem was easily fixed and I rolled towards the start.
the course starts with a Gift Hill (a bill you go down but don't have to go back up) and kept a lid on the power, I was trying to negative split the race, annoyingly my 30 second man caught me after about 2 miles, although he was the eventual winner so not the end of the world.
it wasn't ideal conditions but riding along a dual carriageway with a decent tail wind was a hoot, Kate and I had recced the course before the race but we weren't sure on the finish, and with 2 miles to go my garmin said turn left and the route marking was a bit confusing but seemed to indicate a right turn, I went right but had a massive loss of confidence, and went mental at myself as I was clearly having a good ride, but after a mile of trying to work out whether to turn round, or climb up the bank I saw a sign say 1 mile to the finish, instantly re-focussed and gave it everything.
I stopped just past the finish line and waited for Kate to see if she'd beaten me - thankfully not, and once we got back to the HQ I discovered I was 7th overall and fastest reserve and Kate was fastest lady by about 3 minutes. we headed to M&S for some winners sandwiches funded by our newly won wealth!




Marlow Middle (DNS)
due to my ankle injury I pulled out of the Marlow middle which was a bit upsetting but I ended up in a relay team doing the swim, I had a bit of a repeat of the Dambuster but after about 500m I was picking my way through the field and ended up with a 33 minute swim.
I then had a bit of a chill and headed out to do 2/3 of the bike before heading back to the start to make sure the handover to Andrea to do the run went ok. watching the runners was really painful, especially as people from BTS went faster than my time last year, and I knew that based on form I should be flying around possibly edging close to 4:30 (the bike and run are both quite short)




Second ever 25 Mile TT (25/07 56:10 H25/8)
tough conditions, and a faulty power meter, but my two minute man was someone I thought would probably do a 50, so my aim was to hold him off until 15 miles, which would give a good chance of a 54, I achieved this, but unfortunately my prediction was wrong and I ran out of puff, and slowed massively over the final 10 miles, bit of a disappointing result, but good to know I can go sub 1hour on a slower course as well!




Club Champs
leading into this race I'd rested and rehabbed my ankle as much as possible and upped my swimming and cycling training to try to compensate, I started with a couple of easy runs the week before and the ankle felt ok, so decided to enter the race, and while I was confident of my bike and swim I didn't think they were strong enough to compensate for my lack of run speed vs. Paul Fitzpatrick and Christophe who would surely gain a big advantage on the swim.
Swim
My plan was to try to find some fast feet, and I worked out that Louise or Jason would be ideal, I quickly found myself in the second group behind what looked like some ladies feet, thinking I was behind Louis I was pretty happy, thinking I'd likely lose less than a minute to the fastest guys and save a bucket load of energy for the bike and run, I stayed on the feet throughout, although I realised towards the end as I overtook my fast feet that it was Phillipa who is a great swimmer but not quite as quick as my targets!


T1
I fell out of the water, thinking perhaps I'd blown my chance, but a word from Kate that the others were less than 2 minutes ahead and a super fast transitions  (17 seconds!!!!) I was out on the road.


Bike
although it was a bit wet, conditions were ideal, with really low wind and blowing from the east meaning you get a benfit on the exposed bit of the course, with more shelter into the wind, I concentrated on trying to hold 260ish watts and being as aero as I could (keeping shoulders hunched, head down, etc) I was flying past everyone and seeing a few people with punctures, but no sign of Christophe or Paul, unfortunately on the 3rd lap I saw the forlorn figure of Christophe walking back to transition, I had mixed feelings about this, in that it obviously increased my chances of being the club champ but any victory gained through the misfortune of others is in its nature less satisfying. still no sign of Paul but I eventually saw him on the 4th and final lap, just when I'd nearly given up hope. I absolutely buried myself in the last 1km both to stop him latching onto my back wheel, and also to build as much of a buffer as possible


T2
It nearly all ended early when in my desperateness for a fast transition I forgot the grass would be slippery and overshot my spot, thankfully grabbing the bar, and staying upright. I knew Paul was close and was a lot more run fit than I was, but I also knew he was hoping to be ahead of me in t2, I tried to pile the pressure on him as much as possible by setting off as fast as I could clocking 3:40 for the first KM, my ankle felt horrible, and I was mentally preparing myself for what I would do if  Paul overtook me, and if I'm honest I would have probably stopped at that point as I was running at 5 weeks after being told not to for 8 weeks and risking long term damage for second place didn't seem worth it, thankfully at the first turn I'd pulled out about a 30 seconds lead on Paul and I think probably got into his head a little, I eased off a bit here and worked on maintaining form and holding the gap, the next turn Paul had clawed back 5 seconds or so, but I knew I had a bit more in the legs and I started thinking about trying for a sub 1hour time, and used that as motivation to pick up the pace on the final lap, a check at the final turn ad I was comfortable that no-one would catch me so it turned into a time trial.


The end result was a very close 1:00:07, but a KOM on the strava segment for the race, and a sprint tri run PB together with some impossibly fast transitions and I cant be disappointed, in reality I think the swim course was a bit longer than when I raced earlier in the year and did an 11:30!




The Big Swim
this is a race I'd seen advertised a few times, in Port Isaac where my parents have a holiday cottage, and this year decided to complete it. I knew the distance was 5k but in my mind it was from port Gaverne to Port Isaac, not so I realised in the week leading up to the race, which made it seem like a tougher task but id put plenty of swim training in the run up and was feeling confident of my ability. unfortunately leaving for Cornwall at 5am was a bit of a rush and I managed to leave both of my wetsuits at home, realising this as soon as we arrived I went on a mission of contacting everywhere I could think off to get a wetsuit and eventually was offered the loan of a one by a local not racing. it was a well used and far too long in the body for me but vs the idea of swimming 5k in skins it was a no brainer.
Not much to say about the swim as I wasn't treating it as a race but it was stunning conditions, with super clear water, and a lovely event which I will definitely do again if possible!

Close but no cigar

Since Italy I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the idea of a DNF, something deep down and primal in me meant I made the decision in Italy that I would not DNF despite having thrown away any chance of a decent AG position by wasting 2 minutes returning for my chip in transition and another 4 through cramp and standing still on the run course hoping the handful of gels I’d just consumed had something of whatever my muscles needed to continue, I eventually got going and despite a slow run I was pleased to have finished.

 

Hopefully, I will continue to enjoy doing this sport for the sake of swimming, biking and running for a long time, because I’d hate to get to the stage where it was all about posting a PB, or beating someone and lose sight of what most people take part in triathlon for…

 

This brings me onto my next thought, this season has seen a  deliberate change for me, last season (my second triathlon season) I moved up to the vaguely competitive end of the pack, and decided to employ a coach to help me manage my training more effectively, this was for two reasons firstly I want to spend more time with my wife and dog, and secondly because training for 20 hours a week was obviously not the way for me to be my best.

 

So bring on my second triathlon of the year, a slight change in race format, and location to a  votwo sprint tri at Dorney, which was ostensibly my work championships, which was racing against an aspiring ironman racing with a broken wrist (hard core) and a group of first timers, the weekend  before’s workouts had shown I still had a lot of fatigue in the legs from Rimini, but I was confident of a good performance and aiming at a sub 1:01 time, based on last years time this would get me in the top 10.

 

I started on the far right for the swim, but on the front row, after 200m I could see there was someone making a break on the right hand side so went to cover this, but soon realised holding that kind of pace was going to be suicidal so settled down in second, at the first  buoy I got overtaken by two people but was frankly startled I was so close to the front, at 5ft 7 I’m not exactly of fish build! Still I stayed close all the way home.

 

I fell over as I got out of the water on a slippery mat, and this threw me off, by the time I got to my bike I’d just got my head together, and then got started actually getting my wetsuit off, which took a bit longer than it should but i only saw one person head out of t1 before I was on my way myself, it was the first time id got the bike mount practically perfect as well!

 

The bike was an experiment, I’d made quite a big change to the bar position on my bike and added a new hydration system to the front end. I could only put out 240w consistently, which is lower than I sustained for 2 hours in my 50 mile TT, and while the hydration system was good, it pissed Lucozade all over my bike! But I quickly caught the guy in front and I set about holding a consistent if not fast power output as I was in first place by this stage and wanted to make sure I had some gas for the run!

 

T2 was super slick, although apparently my skin suit is rather revealing at the back end when bent over :O

 

It was very satisfying to surprise the marshals on the course who rushed to get some water in a cup for me, and point me in the right direction, it’s the 4^th time I’ve raced this course and I train at Dorney every week so I wasn’t going to get lost, I set about holding a pace consistently below 4min kms, still holding back something to be able to duel with any challengers by the first turn I realised I was comfortably in the lead, and for some reason started to think about leaving a little on the table for another PB next time – the BTS club champs – the run was fairly eventless – I enjoyed singing at the Hough, and hi fiving club and work mates.

 

I crossed the line about 1min 50 in front of second place, and really enjoyed being the first across a line in the race, not really thinking about later races (not sure if this was over confidence or under confidence) hung about to congratulate 2-5^th place and then back to the side of the course to cheer on everyone else.

 

Overall I wasn’t disappointed as one person in the second wave posted a frankly outrageous swim and run split to blitz my time but I was a bit annoyed by two people in the third wave posting a time that was at least achievable for me. On reflection though (and I came up with some pretty wild excuses) I could maybe have pushed myself harder on the bike and the run, but I’m still learning, and still have that slight fear of blowing up, that if I’m going to be really fast.

 

The point here is that in all my musings about missing a podium, I completely missed celebrating that I’d got a pb of nearly a minute despite a poor t1 and an uncomfortable bike.

 

This Sunday will see Windsor triathlon, a very local – usually high quality race. It’s the second time I’ve done the race, the swim and run course should yield slightly faster times this year weather permitting and I’m hopeful of a significant improvement on my time last year of 2:18:52. I’ve backed off my bike position a little, and hopefully sort out my hydration needs with some DIY ahead of a test run of the bike on Wednesday night.

 

Challenge Rimini - Every Day is a School Day

Pre Race

Heading into this race all my focus has been on whether my race wheels would turn up on time - when I eventually managed to collect them from parcel force I think I relaxed to my detriment... Arriving at the airport I realised I'd forgotten items for my pre race meal - and this would not be the last think I was missing this weekend...

 

Still we arrived on Thursday and rather than the forecast rain there were beautiful blue skies in Bologna, my wheels arrived safely and were transferred while on the bus to the train station into my wheel bag and off we went on the train. We arrived in Rimini and got a taxi to the house where we were given a thorough tour and I was sat down to sign a contract - random. The house was huge and comfortable - lacking wifi and a TV though!

 

The weather decided to live up to the forecast at this point and while at dinner it started to rain and thunder, and basically didn't stop for the next 36 hours!

 

We managed a good strides session in the morning on Friday, went and registered and then went for a swim, the storm had produced a pretty fantastic sea but it was actually great fun.


On Saturday we had another swim in much calmer conditions, went to the briefing, and then headed out for a pre race bike set. Once we reached the promenade the weather brightened and we realised the course was closed ahead of the afternoons race so we had a 3km strip of pancake flat road to blast up and down!


The others headed out for a course recce - but the idea of being cramped up in a car filled with 4 other nervous people filled me with dread so I decided to stay at home and watch a movie.

 

Saturday night another storm rolled in and thankfully rolled out by the next morning, but as it was still raining we decided to check our bikes in in the way to the start to limit the amount of time they say in the rain. By the time we headed down it had stopped raining and despite a bit of abuse from umpires I think our decision was a good one. I racked my bike put my shoes in place and headed down to the sea, at which point I realised I'd put my goggle, hat and body glide in my post race bag - queue a mad sprint the 500m bag to the finish area to retrieve. I had also discovered my Garmin was dead as we were leaving the house so Katie was holding it with a battery pack trying to get it to 80% before I needed it!


I eventually got to the t1 bag drop area took my now 90% charged Garmin from Katie and jumped in the sea for a quick warm up - and realised I still had my wedding ring on! So out I got and went to see if I could find Katie but couldn't so put it in my t1 bag and planned to recover it for the bike. Finally ready, I set up my watch, and found a nice quiet spot to sit down in rather than amongst the crowd of posturing athletes!

 

Swim (33:33 – 7th)

My plan for this race was to swim as relaxed as possible, I've done a tonne of swimming over the winter  and taken over a minute off my 400m swim speed, but in the past I've swum far too hard and then spent a good portion of the bike trying to recover. I still positioned myself aggressively in the group and had a fast start and was with the front pack to the second buoy but as I settled into my rhythm they eased ahead. I stayed calm and just focussed on nice smooth strokes and kept kicking to a minimum, my navigation was generally ok, although not perfect. After what didn't feel like a long time I could see people standing up in front of me, I stood up and concentrated on staying calm as I bounced/waded through the water saw Katie and my parents by the exit going crazy and hit the lap button on my Garmin, 33 minutes odd - a bit slower than hoped but definitely no matches burned on the swim - and it looks like the course as a little long so not disappointed with the result.

T1 (3:16)

I grabbed my bag and went into the tent, stripped my wetsuit grabbed a cheeky little can of coke, my number belt and wedding ring - I left my arm warmers in the bag as it seemed to be brightening up stuffed my wetsuit into the bag and headed off down the 300m to my bike drinking my coke!

 

Bike (2:51:15 – 7th)

 

Over the mounting line I went and rather than my usual feet on the shoes I tried putting my feet straight in, it didn't work so I had to pause put on foot in and get going again - doofus! Off I went ticking along at about 240 watts catching 4-5 people in the first 3k and turning right into the unknown of the bike course. While the roads were closed the surface was still slippery and it began to drizzle again. The first 15k was made up of what felt like 500m sections broken up with roundabouts or hard corners - not the fastest. After 15km we hit the first proper climb with a mountain biker meandering across the whole road shouting his support at people as they went past, I knew the first aid station was coming up so I stuck to about 250w and drank my first bottle and let a few people do their thing and blast past me. I got through the aid station with a new bottle and continued up the fairly steady climb, slightly under my target of 280watts on the way up. It was drizzling again by this point, but it was warm, and there didn't seem to be much wind. 


At the second village it was raining pretty hard and I new there was a down hill section with some hairpins so I eased my way down, I heard a female pro I'd just overtaken go down hard behind me and saw someone else already down receiving medical treatment.  As a measure of how careful I was being my average power dropped 30 watts in that short section but I knew we were heading out onto the main road and while it was uphill it was wide and fairly good condition.


Once on the main road I tapped out a nice tempo up here noting that it was pretty favourable for a fast descent although there were a few roundabouts which allowed you to go straight on on the way up but make a pretty significant turn on the way down, just before the next turn off I was the leading men coming back down the hill, and by now the rain had stopped and it was definitely beginning to warm up. Along this section I was a little lazy power wise but after I got overtaken by a 45-49 year old I pushed on a bit.


Then I was on to the next big climb, I kept steady up here but it was requiring 300w just to keep moving - I was fairly happy with this as my average power was climbing nicely back towards target and it was the first time I began to feel warm. I unfortunately failed to respond to this change in conditions, partially as I didn't feel thirsty and partially because it was a bit of a pain to drink and climb. I went through another aid station and swapped my half empty bottle for another half empty bottle  and then headed down the first bit of decent downhill with dry roads and onto the final section of climbing. This was an unknown distance so I once again settled in and eventually reached the top, I still didn't drink at all in this section so still had a full bottle by the next aid station. I tried to grab a spare gel at this point as it was clear the bike was going to take a bit longer than expected it was about 48km and 1hr45 - unfortunately grabbing some kind of cereal bar at the aid station rather than the gel that I wanted.

 

At the turn it really started to rain - but I had a good feel for the bike by this stage and I was fairly confident that the rain was coming from the hill down the course so decided to be a bit brave and outrun the rain, this worked and I continued to lay down 240w-ish all the way down but still failed to drink mainly as I was nervous to take my hands off the bars at 60kph! I got to the bottom of the hair pin climbs and stuck to my power numbers it was fairly obvious that a number of people had drafted me down the hill as they blitzed me on the climb only for me to overtake them again on the next down hill.


I finally got back to the flat land and decided that I needed to try to make up my power target (still not drinking) and the course on the way back was rather more suitable for settling into a good tempo,  tapping along at around 260w with a group of other riders, making sure I wasn't drafting but forming more of a paceline.





On the final straight along the seafront my legs started to cramp but I didn't let up really to see what would happen once I got into the run. I saw my family again here all going crazy which was a nice little lift!

 

T2 (4:29)

I didn't realise I was so close to t2 so I didn't have any choice but to unclip and run in my bike shoes, racked my bike sat down and took my bike shoes and timing chip off, put on my socks and shoes, put my helmet on my bike and put my bike shoes away grabbed my visor, gels and sweat band and was away, I got to the timing mat and looked down and realised my chip was still where I had taken it off. So I turned round and went to recover it, running the 150m back to my bike grabbing the chip, and back out of t2 at pace.

 

Run (1:45:44 – 18th)

So after this frustration I cleared my head I was feeling good, through the aid station water, water, water on head and CRAMP, both my hamstring and vastus medialis cramped hard and completely locked my legs up, walking made it cramp harder, and I couldn't stretch it out either, so I figured I was on for my first ever DNF, but I nailed 2 of my planned 3 gels, Brent the GB team manager was standing near by and was calling out suggestions but all I could really do was to wait for what seemed like an eternity (in reality about 3 minutes according to my Garmin) and finally it released, but it felt like a lot of damage had been done but I started walking and then trotting 5 min kms, way behind plan, but better than nothing.


I got to half way on the first outwards leg and saw Katie and my parents. I said I needed salt as I was cramping but didn't stop, hoping tat they would find a friendly restaurant with some salt packets, I decided I wasn't going to stop and give up till the turn, got there, and after a few encouraging words from Mark the GB mechanic, decided that I'd make it back to transition and stop there.

On the way back Katie handed me a bottle of water with an electrolyte tablet in it and I slowly sipped it down - even sharing a bit with an Italian male pro who looked to be struggling more than me. I got back to transition and still felt horrible and drained at having to talk myself into just finishing the lap, but I went round the roundabout again still drinking water and my electrolyte drink, spotting some nice big puddles I decided to cool my feet down by running through them.


When I got back to my family I still felt horrible and on top of the cramping I was throwing up every 20 minutes or so -probably as a result of trying to eat too many gels at once - and then I got overtaken by a slightly chunky lady which was pretty depressing, but by this stage I could feel that I could make it through and finish the race but I thought I'd probably be last in the ETU race but I didn't want to pull out especially as we had travelled so far - not wanting to get a Debra Schweighofer style talking to!


At half way I did a time split vs Kate here and she was only 7 minutes behind me but looked to be first lady, so I tried to encourage her to try to catch me and slowly began to feel a little better myself. Despite my main aims (top 10 and 4:45) being out of the window I remembered that when Kate and I raced at Marlow half iron she blew past me on he bike and despite blowing up on the run beat me by over 10 minutes - so by way of motivation I set myself the goal of trying to get the gap back up to 10 minutes (Kate set off 10 minutes after me) and this helped mentally.  So I set about my new task -  despite feeling like I had then energy to pick the pace up every time I did my legs started to twinge or I was sick again, so I had to pick the pace up steadily, but I was able to hold 4:45 kms without much issue and by the time I past my parents on the way out the final time I was feeling pretty good, running tall and counting down the kms, I was catching people at a rate of knots and loving it, unfortunately with only another 3km to go it was a bit late - another 10k on the right would have been alright at this stage!


Lots of British supporters who had seen that I was struggling earlier noticed my improved condition and I could hear my name ringing out. Eventually I could see the roundabout and finishing straight.  With another 4 people just in front of me, I went for it and passed 2 of them before crossing the finish line pretty well spent.


Crossing the line, taking my medal and then I collapsed on the floor, more from emotional tiredness than physical. I then went to grab my bag to be able to contact Katie and my parents, while I waited for them I grabbed a finishing snap of Kate, not sure if I'd managed to eek out a 10 minute gap or not, but frankly not bothered by that stage - just happy to have managed to finish, and then went to meet up with my family who had managed to walk back to the finish area! We hung out here for a while waiting for Andrea who had started 30 minutes after us, drinking a lovely cold beer and eating a prosciutto piadina (a local delicacy of what is essentially a toasted wrap - protein, salt and carbs together - lush!).





Once about 30 minutes was up, I headed down to the finish line to grab a picture of Tabs, and about 2 minutes later he crossed the line, and over we went to have another beer before heading to get our bikes and finishers t-shirts.

 

Thoughts

So, lots of lessons learnt, the first of which was that I need to be better at on bike nutrition/hydration, the second is I shouldn't ever take my chip off in a race and the third slightly more positive one was never ever give up because just keep going and you will feel better eventually - even if it's once you've crossed the finish line.