First off its a good time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (not a Happy Christmas as seems to be the trend these days)
I've been plugging away at mud in Delamere Forest for a good few weeks now and thoroughly enjoying getting down and dirty on a Saturday morning.
Since passing my Level 1 coaching I have been taking on some of the swim sessions for Warrington Tri club, the feedback so far seems to be positive.
And for additional punishment I have signed up to the Level 2 course starting in Jan.
The year will end for me with a race on Boxing Day. The Chester Round the Wall 5 miler, a great way to see out the year I think.
So, thank you for reading the blog if you have been following me this year, it's been eventful and I hope that 2015 is successful for us all.
See you out there.
Chris.
Tuesday 23 December 2014
Friday 14 November 2014
End of season ramblings and musings
I finished off the tri season with two events, the Sandman Triathlon on Angelsey in September and the 1485 No Frills Sprint Duathlon in October.
Both were good events for their own different reasons. Sandman, is a cracking location and we were blessed with good weather, flat calm sea and lumpy but scenic bike course and a lovely off road run to finish (well, lovely apart from that sand dune).
The duathlon by contrast was a typical autumn morning, with fog covering the course. I had a very good and amazing bike ride (6th fastest) and only lost a couple of places on the second run, probably one of my better performances all year.
So how to sum up 2014.
It was my first year under full coaching and overall I believe a great success thanks to the work of Lady Laura Grady and her ever watchful eye keeping me in check and stopping me from doing to much. I felt I could have performed better at the Rubicon Middle, more work to do on making me run quicker off the bike.
I started in the world of coaching myself and on the 8th November passed my Level 1 coaching badge with Triathlon England.
Circuit classes have started with Warrington Tri, with Carl Loftus giving us a weekly beasting with various strength exercises designed to make us stronger but make us cry at the same time.
There is plenty left to do this year, with a few cross country races to do and and race around Chester's walls on Boxing Day.
Planning for 2015 is under way (well it has been for a while to be honest and much to Laura's amusement I have events for 2016 in mind already as well). But for now, 2015 will include the Four Villages Half Marathon in Jan, Slateman in May, Outlaw Half in June, a/another middle distance tri in August, Sandman in September and finally Challenge Paguera Mallorca in October.
Yes, that is three middle distance tris next year, this could be a disaster, but whatever happens it will be an adventure and one worth being part of. Bring it on.
Both were good events for their own different reasons. Sandman, is a cracking location and we were blessed with good weather, flat calm sea and lumpy but scenic bike course and a lovely off road run to finish (well, lovely apart from that sand dune).
The duathlon by contrast was a typical autumn morning, with fog covering the course. I had a very good and amazing bike ride (6th fastest) and only lost a couple of places on the second run, probably one of my better performances all year.
So how to sum up 2014.
It was my first year under full coaching and overall I believe a great success thanks to the work of Lady Laura Grady and her ever watchful eye keeping me in check and stopping me from doing to much. I felt I could have performed better at the Rubicon Middle, more work to do on making me run quicker off the bike.
I started in the world of coaching myself and on the 8th November passed my Level 1 coaching badge with Triathlon England.
Circuit classes have started with Warrington Tri, with Carl Loftus giving us a weekly beasting with various strength exercises designed to make us stronger but make us cry at the same time.
There is plenty left to do this year, with a few cross country races to do and and race around Chester's walls on Boxing Day.
Planning for 2015 is under way (well it has been for a while to be honest and much to Laura's amusement I have events for 2016 in mind already as well). But for now, 2015 will include the Four Villages Half Marathon in Jan, Slateman in May, Outlaw Half in June, a/another middle distance tri in August, Sandman in September and finally Challenge Paguera Mallorca in October.
Yes, that is three middle distance tris next year, this could be a disaster, but whatever happens it will be an adventure and one worth being part of. Bring it on.
Tuesday 7 October 2014
Rubicon Middle Distance 31st August - hard day at the office
The second of my middle distance races this year and my last A race.
I travelled up on Saturday afternoon, about hour 3/4 but thankfully no dramas on the roads for a change. I was on my own for this one as Gail has not been well. This also meant I was more relaxed as I didn't have Jasper to contend with either.
Registration was a simple affair so I was able to pitch up the tent and my new folding bed and then have a good look around the transition area and also the run up from the swim exit to T1 (quite a long one as it happened). A dip of the hand in the water and the temperature wasn't too bad, certainly no colder than Pennington has been the last few weeks. I also took a drive through to the village nearby where the 3 bike laps would split so I could get an idea of that part of the course that the organiser was keen to make sure we all understood to save any confusion on race day.There was a catering van on site so dinner was tuna pasta bake whilst I sat and watched a film on the tablet, it was then off to bed. Alarm was set for 5 and I slept through till about 4ish before stirring, but felt like I had slept well.
Next stop was the catering van for porridge and a coffee and then had to go and collect the timing chip from registration. I prepared drinks and loaded the transition bag and wandered down to rack the bike. Bike on the rack I then went and checked the swim in/bike out/bike in/run out so I was clear where I was. It was at one end of the racking so easy to find. The racking was very tight on space and it was a common comment I could hear all around from many competitors, but fortunately I don't have a lot of gear. Bike was popped into a high gear and shoes and lacky bands readied for flying bike mount. We had a briefing with all the usual standard stuff, then we had a 15 minute walk down to the swim start further up the river.
I got in the water quickly and kept moving, it was ok temperature wise, but it did take a long time for all athletes to get in the water which was a pain, and due to the flow those of us at the front kept drifting. I seeded myself slap bang in the middle of the river for best flow and on the front line. Eventually we got set off and it was into the 10 hard strokes before breathing, a few more hard strokes and then settled into a steady pace. I tried to draft as much as possible, but found it hard to drop on a pair of feet that didn't then disappear due to questionable navigational skills. Probably about half way through the swim I took a kick to the goggles by one of the drifting swimmers, but aside from me turning the air blue with some inappropriate language the goggles stayed on and I settled back in with only a small amount of water in the left lens. You actually pass the finish on this swim and continue downstream before turning and heading back up 200m against the flow. Turn at the buoy was fine and I stayed towards the bank as much as possible to mitigate the flow. It was a deep water exit onto a wooden platform, though there were helpers and I was out with no issues. It was then a ~400m run to T1, it was sligtly uphill and towards Newby Hall itself through the gardens before turning off through the bushes. I could see a girl in front of me struggling to find her wetsuit cord, so caught up with her and pulled it down (she was grateful). Thankfully they have carpeted the route as one of the paths we ran on was pea gravel.
Into T1 and wetsuit off, helmet on and then ran out with the bike to the mount line. Flying mount went a little wayward and nearly drifted into a guy next to me, but got it back under control and then I was off, eventually getting feet into shoes with no problems once I was rolling. I was carrying 4 gels (one in reserve) and the bottle mounted in between the tri bars. The course was a 2 big loops of 40k and 1 small loop of 7k.
Initially it was through country lanes before a small climb through Kirby Hill and then out onto the A roads. These were fast flowing wide A roads with good surface and it was easy to get down on the bars. The first loop went without incident and I was passed but also passed plenty of people myself, keeping it in zone 3 and sipping from the bottle (Hi 5 energy). The bike course loops back through Newby Hall and it is there they have the bike aid station. I grabbed a bottle of energy drink and as I road back out of the Hall ground I topped up my main bottle. Somewhere along the way into Lap 2 for some unknown reason the arm rest of the clip on tri-bars sheared off (too much power being applied I guess (lol)). As such all I had to balance my arm on was the two bolts that hold the arm rest in place.
.jpg)
This was extremely uncomfortable for the remainder of the bike and in the end I was balancing my left elbow on the pad and crossing my hand over to rest on top of my other hand. Lap 2 also saw an increase in the wind speed and the once fast flowing sections became in some cases a bit of a battle of wills against the headwinds. Once back into the lanes it was a little more sheltered and it was then through the Hall for the end of Lap 2. I ignored the feed station as there was only a 7k lap to do and this was quickly despatched. My flying dismount on the other hand was less than successful, and couldn't lever my leg round for some reason, so just came to a halt and stepped off the bike. The run into T2 felt fine, no obvious issues. Bike racked, helmet off and I sat down to don socks and shoes, grabbed my cap and away I went.
This was extremely uncomfortable for the remainder of the bike and in the end I was balancing my left elbow on the pad and crossing my hand over to rest on top of my other hand. Lap 2 also saw an increase in the wind speed and the once fast flowing sections became in some cases a bit of a battle of wills against the headwinds. Once back into the lanes it was a little more sheltered and it was then through the Hall for the end of Lap 2. I ignored the feed station as there was only a 7k lap to do and this was quickly despatched. My flying dismount on the other hand was less than successful, and couldn't lever my leg round for some reason, so just came to a halt and stepped off the bike. The run into T2 felt fine, no obvious issues. Bike racked, helmet off and I sat down to don socks and shoes, grabbed my cap and away I went.
There was some water on the way out which I grabbed a cup for cooling me off rather than drinking and settled into zone 2 as instructed. The run is 4 loops all passing through Newby Hall and of 5k in length. the run starts flat and then there is a small dip and rise up to the first kilometre marker. It was as I approached the top of the rise and the 1k board that I started to feel a cramping sensation in my left quad. This was odd and not something I had experienced in racing before. I stopped briefly, crouched down with my feet under me to stretch it out. I stood and started off again and this seemed to have worked. There was a slight twinge as I neared km2 but it didn't flair up as it had before and was fine for the remainder of the run. What did become apparent during the 1st lap was that increasing the pace was almost going to be a non starter. Even level 2 felt like a hard slog and I began to wonder if I would even be capable of finishing the event. Eventually I reached the aid station back at Newby Hall and took a bottle of water for cooling purposes along with a gel. I walked through the aid station and out the other side I drifted into a run, but the required lift to level 3 just wasn't happening, I just didn't feel that there was anything there to give beyond where I was at.
I think this pic sums up my run quite well
The km's ticked by slowly and I occasionally took a short walking break and slowly I at least started to feel a little more alive, but the pace remained the same. At the aid station for the second time I took on some coke, gel and water for cooling and proceeded to lap 3. The heat on the run had been quite hard and the car temperature gauge later had shown 25 degrees. Around 3k into lap 3 I started to get some camps in the stomach, nothing severe and certainly manageable. I guessed at either the gel or coke causing this. Reaching the aid station at the end of Lap 3 I knew it was 1 lap of 5k left and no matter what I was finishing this. I took on 2 cups of coke and again some water for cooling and then set about the last lap, also determined that I would not walk any of the last lap. I was ever hopeful that I would feel like I had enough to up the pace, but it just never came and whilst the last 400m might have been a bit more energetic as far as I can tell, the whole run was done in level 2.
I think this pic sums up my run quite well
The km's ticked by slowly and I occasionally took a short walking break and slowly I at least started to feel a little more alive, but the pace remained the same. At the aid station for the second time I took on some coke, gel and water for cooling and proceeded to lap 3. The heat on the run had been quite hard and the car temperature gauge later had shown 25 degrees. Around 3k into lap 3 I started to get some camps in the stomach, nothing severe and certainly manageable. I guessed at either the gel or coke causing this. Reaching the aid station at the end of Lap 3 I knew it was 1 lap of 5k left and no matter what I was finishing this. I took on 2 cups of coke and again some water for cooling and then set about the last lap, also determined that I would not walk any of the last lap. I was ever hopeful that I would feel like I had enough to up the pace, but it just never came and whilst the last 400m might have been a bit more energetic as far as I can tell, the whole run was done in level 2.
I was a bit of a mess across the line and it took a good hour and half before I started to feel normal again.
Tuesday 26 August 2014
Oooops that wasn't on the plan
Fortunately I was most of the way through the fourth and last interval when then was a sudden bang and the back of the bike began wobbling rather precariously.
The bang indicated a sudden blow out, the cause was somewhat surprising, a long strip of the rim had broken away completely.
With the bead of the tyre now free there was not point changing the tube so I had to ride the remaining 7k back to the car on a totally flat tyre. Quite how I managed to do this without falling off was most surprising
23rd August - Withington Wheelers 10M TT
Saturday afternoon was my second and final time trial of the year om the J2/1 course near Macclesfield. It's a simple course with a couple of roundabouts to negotiate, but not necessarily the quickest either. I did plenty of warm up and then lined up ready. It was basically a hard effort for the whole thing, though the head wind on the way out didn't make it the easiest of rides either.
By the time if crossed the finish line, my lungs were ready to burst through my chest and the quads were burning, so I was certainly glad it was over.
Finishing time was 25:49, so whilst not the slowest there is definitely room for improvement and I will be looking to do a few more TT's next year as part of the build up for my events.
This coming weekend on the 31st will be my second middle distance race of the year and since my comeback. I think I am ready, I'm not putting any expectations on myself other than to finish as well as I can. It will also represent 2 years since I started back in triathlon so keep an eye on the blog for my race report and review of the last 2 years.
Monday 25 August 2014
August 9th - Eirias Standard + Triathlon
I'll start by saying that this is a good, well run event and sadly was impacted in numbers due to the Championship race at Liverpool that was on the day after.
My weekend started with a ridiculous 4 hour drive to get to our caravan in Prestatyn. A lorry had downed some power cables across a dual carriageway just off the M56 and the subsequent diversion was a bloody nightmare. I had intended to register the night before and go for a bus tour of the bike route, but was that tired and stressed from the drive I knocked that on the head and just relaxed.
So it was an early start on Saturday morning, but there was little stress on arrival as registration was quick and easy housed in the Eiris watersports centre. I should state that in the Standard + (the + being a longer than normal bike course) had only 30 entrants and by the end several had dropped out so it was a small field. The Middle Distance had about 85 entries.
The swim was a simple out and back 2 lap affair following a line of bouys out into the bay and an angle from the beach. It was choppy, but not to severe and generally I enjoyed the swim, mind you there were a couple of occasions that I nearly hit the bouys I was holding such a tight line. I managed to find a pair of feet to draft and it worked well for a change. Time to the timing mat was 28:50 so pretty happy and subsequent
check of data I had the swim as 1800m on the Garmin so there is a good chance that it was long.
Through to T1 and I was moving quickly, sadly I made an error that even now I am somewhat dumbfounded by. It wasn't a case of not doing the helmet up before I removed the bike. I didn't actually put the helmet at all!!!! Being stopped at the exit of transition it didn't even register at first that I hadn't got a helmet on. I can only surmise that because it had been knocked off my handlebars and was on the floor along with other peoples gear that I hadn't seen it. So it was that I had to run back to get it and then set off properly. Over the mount line I was doing the flying start again and it went well. I exited the car park before thinking about putting my feet in the shoes properly.
The first 10k of the course basically climbs it's way up and whilst not steep is a good slog.
I'd passed a couple of guys early on and then sat in and span my way as best I could up the climb.
Once to the top of the ridge the course evened out and it was a nice ride across the ridge line before dropping nicely down into the valley below for a nice fast section of riding.
There were a couple more climbs on the course though nothing to serious, the major issue on the back end of the course was the headwinds that were whipping in from the Irish Sea. The only annoying aspect to the ride was coming back into the centre for transition to find several cars trying to park that were effectively blocking the route to the dismount line. Safely negotiated it was a good flying exit from the bike and I surprisingly felt good running into T2. Bike time 1:51:14
Again a nice quick transition and a sprightly jump off a set of steps onto the promenade and the run course I was feeling bouyant. It's fair to say that at this stage I had no idea where I was with regard to the others in the race so as I trundled down the run course it was around 2.5k in that the 1st place triathlete passed me on his way to the finish, I clapped him past in recognition of his efforts. The heat of the day was building but I kept slogging away, becoming more bemused why no one else was in sight behind 1st place. It was some time before 2nd and 3rd appeared and it also at this point became apparent to me that I was actually a reasonable way up the field. It was inevitable that I would be passed on the run at some point and indeed not far out from the turnaround point I was passed by a guy I had taken on the bike. What I subsequently worked out was that as he came passed following the turnaround was that I was in 6th place!!!
Could I possibly hold onto my place? It was 5k back the heat was up, there was a head wind and a couple of small climbs to negotiate. The heart rate was gradually climbing as the average pace went down and the last 1k was a hard effort.
I think the pic shows how hard I had been working and I was across the line in 53:08 and a final time of 3:15:20.
It was a great event and I will highly recommend it to anyone.
Next year they intend to move the date to September to try and boost numbers and all being well there is a good chance I will be back.
The most disappointing thing....................I won my age group and wasn't there to claim my prize. It never occurred to me that I would have won a prize. What a doughnut.
Results can be found here :- http://www.xtramileevents.com/files/9414/0774/9560/Eirias_Triathlon_Results_2014_Provisional.xls
Next up is a 10M TT and then the Rubicon Middle Distance at the end of August (in what will be 2 years since I started back on my triathlon journey).
My weekend started with a ridiculous 4 hour drive to get to our caravan in Prestatyn. A lorry had downed some power cables across a dual carriageway just off the M56 and the subsequent diversion was a bloody nightmare. I had intended to register the night before and go for a bus tour of the bike route, but was that tired and stressed from the drive I knocked that on the head and just relaxed.
So it was an early start on Saturday morning, but there was little stress on arrival as registration was quick and easy housed in the Eiris watersports centre. I should state that in the Standard + (the + being a longer than normal bike course) had only 30 entrants and by the end several had dropped out so it was a small field. The Middle Distance had about 85 entries.
The swim was a simple out and back 2 lap affair following a line of bouys out into the bay and an angle from the beach. It was choppy, but not to severe and generally I enjoyed the swim, mind you there were a couple of occasions that I nearly hit the bouys I was holding such a tight line. I managed to find a pair of feet to draft and it worked well for a change. Time to the timing mat was 28:50 so pretty happy and subsequent
Through to T1 and I was moving quickly, sadly I made an error that even now I am somewhat dumbfounded by. It wasn't a case of not doing the helmet up before I removed the bike. I didn't actually put the helmet at all!!!! Being stopped at the exit of transition it didn't even register at first that I hadn't got a helmet on. I can only surmise that because it had been knocked off my handlebars and was on the floor along with other peoples gear that I hadn't seen it. So it was that I had to run back to get it and then set off properly. Over the mount line I was doing the flying start again and it went well. I exited the car park before thinking about putting my feet in the shoes properly.
The first 10k of the course basically climbs it's way up and whilst not steep is a good slog.
I'd passed a couple of guys early on and then sat in and span my way as best I could up the climb.
There were a couple more climbs on the course though nothing to serious, the major issue on the back end of the course was the headwinds that were whipping in from the Irish Sea. The only annoying aspect to the ride was coming back into the centre for transition to find several cars trying to park that were effectively blocking the route to the dismount line. Safely negotiated it was a good flying exit from the bike and I surprisingly felt good running into T2. Bike time 1:51:14
Again a nice quick transition and a sprightly jump off a set of steps onto the promenade and the run course I was feeling bouyant. It's fair to say that at this stage I had no idea where I was with regard to the others in the race so as I trundled down the run course it was around 2.5k in that the 1st place triathlete passed me on his way to the finish, I clapped him past in recognition of his efforts. The heat of the day was building but I kept slogging away, becoming more bemused why no one else was in sight behind 1st place. It was some time before 2nd and 3rd appeared and it also at this point became apparent to me that I was actually a reasonable way up the field. It was inevitable that I would be passed on the run at some point and indeed not far out from the turnaround point I was passed by a guy I had taken on the bike. What I subsequently worked out was that as he came passed following the turnaround was that I was in 6th place!!!
I think the pic shows how hard I had been working and I was across the line in 53:08 and a final time of 3:15:20.
It was a great event and I will highly recommend it to anyone.
Next year they intend to move the date to September to try and boost numbers and all being well there is a good chance I will be back.
The most disappointing thing....................I won my age group and wasn't there to claim my prize. It never occurred to me that I would have won a prize. What a doughnut.
Results can be found here :- http://www.xtramileevents.com/files/9414/0774/9560/Eirias_Triathlon_Results_2014_Provisional.xls
Next up is a 10M TT and then the Rubicon Middle Distance at the end of August (in what will be 2 years since I started back on my triathlon journey).
Sunday 10 August 2014
April 21st - August 8th about time I updated this blog
I have been extremely remiss in not updating the blog this year, and at this rate the season will be over so time to get things up to date. Rather than go into full detail, I'll give just a small breakdown of what I have been up to.
.jpg)
Slateman Tri and has an reputation for being a tough event.The 1k swim went without incident, it was a little choppy on the return leg but nothing that wasn't un-managable. Swim to T1 entry was 20:47 a very satisfactory result indeed, especially as it was my first open water race since 2002.
The bike course has one major climb early on up he Llanberis Pass, but other than than it was a fairly fast affair 1:39:12.
Its the run that everyone talks about at the Slateman and with good reason, it's an 11k effort with a nasty section through an old slate quarry and some more nasty climbs in the Padarn country Park. The final climb in the park and my legs had gone completely, thankfully it was downhill to the finish from there. Run times was 1:04:36 and a total time of 3:08:07 for my first tri of the year.
The swim went well, navigation was easy, drafting less so as the only set of feet in front of me were possessed by someone who couldn't swim in a straight line. Really pleased to be out of the water and into T1 in 31:34.
The bike is a predominantly fast course, some undulations and one small climb but generally fast and this was reflected in my bike time of 2:34:35 - I was blown away by that performance. Onto the run and initially I felt good, but whilst the wheels didn't fall off, in the heat of the day I found it a real slog. Walking the aid stations it was a slow procession to a 2:03:08 half marathon, but...................my overall time was an astounding 5h13m14s. I never imagined I was going to go that quick so my overall result for the day was a true surprise. I would be lying if I said I didn't get emotional on a couple of occasions after I had crossed the line, especially when I thought about where I had been physically in 2012.
A few weeks later on the 21st June it was the Dee Mile mile swim in Chester, my first ever swim only race. Although it is called the Dee Mile it is in fact 2k long so more like 1.25 miles. This race has been going for over 90 years now, and is currently organised by Chester Tri Club. Year on year times vary according to the flow on the river, this year there wasn't much flow at all, so it was a solid effort with no assistance and a time of 32:22.
A few weeks break until the next event on 13th July - Boundary Breeze Sprint Triathlon. A local event and the Warrington Tri Club fielded a large number of 23 athletes on the day with some great performances all round. Especially the ladies who recorded the team win.
The main concern of the day was the amount of weed in the lake which had steadily been increasing each week (this is my normal open water training venue). In the end it wasn't really an issue at all except for a small section at the start.It was also the first time that I attempted to do a flying start on the bike with the shoes already attached. I'd been practising with Laura earlier in the week and it went without a hitch. Good ride no dramas and it was a good exit from the bike. T2 was a bit of a drama as despite efforts to make sure I knew where my shoes were, I went straight past them and lost at least 30 seconds in T2
Onto the run and I actually felt pretty good and kept the pace up right through to the end and recorded a 5k pb of 23:25. Overall race time of 1:17:18.
A week later and I was entered in my first time trial of the year and I think the first one since about 2001. Organised by the Warrington Road Club and round 13 of the Cheshire Points Series. The course was J2/9, starting near Goosetry and Jodrell Bank. The route is a one and half laps, it's not a pancake flat course and the headwinds were fun at times. I had a bit of a disaster at the start when I took my jacket off and managed to pull all bar one of the pins holding my number on, off. So there I was with the number flapping around behind me like Supermans cape. It was a hard effort but thoroughly enjoyable to push on the bike with no run to follow. Final time was 1:04:01.
So that's what I have been up to this year so far, in between times I have of course been putting in the hours training. Loving the running at Delamere Forest and especially enjoying a latte at Costa afterwards in Frodsham. Other news is that I have signed up with a nutritionist to try and achieve some further weight loss and get back down to my old race weight.
http://www.fitnaturally.co.uk/
Monday 21 April 2014
Dec 23rd - Apr 20th I'm still alive and I'm still training
Where does the time go. Can't believe it was December when I last posted something on this blog. So I guess as the tri season approaches I ought to give an update on what I have been doing and where things are. This does mean that rather than the detailed breakdown of a weeks training I will focus on the highlights to bring us all up to speed (no pun intended).
I'm still being coached by Laura, and things are going really well on that front. I can feel myself getting stronger and faster in all areas, so whatever she is doing it's working.
I've done a number of races since the start of the year.
Essar Four Villages Half Marathon - 19/01/14
This would be my first half marathon in about 10 years so I was a little nervous to say the least, but the only aim was to try an do under 2:00 hours. Conditions on the day were as good as you could have asked for. Laura had given me a race plan to start me out steady and then build through the latter stages. Tracy Hampson ran with me for the first 5.5 miles to keep me under control and on HR pace and she did a great job before leaving me to run the rest of the race at her own level for a well deserved 1:44:45. I had a hard patch around 7-8 miles but when the last gel kicked in I felt strong and the climb that everyone had gone on about turned out to be a bit of an anti climax and no where near as difficult as expected. The final push gave me a very surprising time of 1:52:31
Fearless MTB Duathlon - 23/2/14.
This was a tough event held in Llandegla Forest near Wrexham. Weather conditions were pretty poor all day with a constant drizzle, but the main issue was gusting and strong winds. The first run started with a steady 2 mile climb on hard packed service track, but once we had cleared the trees into the exposed areas the wind was awful, almost bringing you to a standstill. It was great to finally turn back into the trees and head downhill for some shelter. The evil organisers stuck in a nasty bank to climb part way through the run as well, the worst part being you knew you would have to dot it again later.
Onto the bike and it was a 19km route that wound its way across a mix of the MTB centres trails, most of it on Red Routes.
I maintained a steady pace, and whilst losing a few places on the more technical stages, I was able to make this up on some of the steady long climbs spinning past people. I'm also pleased to say that I managed to stay on the bike throughout and no injuries were sustained (though there were a couple of hairy moments).
Onto the final run and it was a shortened version of the first, but I was quite surprised to find myself catching and passing people throughout. It took a while for the legs to get going but once into my stride I was pushing all the way. I even managed to pip someone on the line who stopped about 5 metres before the actual finish line. Final time was 2:25:13 http://www.uberfitevents.com/assets/results_fearless_2014.pdf Overall it was a good starter event for the year and will hopefully be back to do it again.
Oulton Park Duathlon - 16/03/14
A few weeks later and it was a return to Oulton Park for the duathlon, only this time it was for the standard distance event, comprising of multiple laps of the racing circuit, 2 run laps, 9 on the bike and a final run lap. The sprint event went early in the morning and gave me chance to cheer on a few of the Warrington Tri Club members.
It had been blowing all morning and it didn't let up later in the day either and it remained a fairly chilly day so I had opted to go with a long sleeve compression top under the tri suit.
The race plan was to work hard throughout, but the first 2 lap run was held to top level 3 to ensure that I had enough left for the rest of the event. The run felt good and it was sometimes hard not to push harder. I even went through 5k in a pb time so I knew it was going to be a good day.
With the final run lap complete it was into transition and out for 9 laps on the bike.
As you would expect with a race circuit the surface is pretty good so no pot hole dodging required at all. You exit the pit lane before hopping on the bike and then its straight into the first right hand bend that seeps downhill into a left hander. The wind was quite noticeable at this point and on several of the laps you could feel it make the front wheel twitch; I was only on 50mm rims so anyone running deep sections would need all their wits about them. After the left hand it was a long straight to the hairpin and a wind the wind behind the fastest section of the course. Exiting the hairpin however brought you straight into the headwind and a small climb, normally not to bad to tackle, but that wind was really slowing us down. Dropping it into the 39 I was able to spin nicely up the climb and in doing so passing a lot of folks trying to grind it out. A nice straight downhill section follows into a right hander and the sharpest climb on the course. Decide your gearing before you hit the bottom and then go for it. Most of the laps I stuck with the 39, but did try the big ring as well. In all cases I was passing people strongly up the climb, but found spinning the better option. Once at the top it was flat then back round to the pit lane. I had no dramas on any of the laps and the constant lap nature of the event meant you were always passing people so felt like you were going a lot quicker than you were.
I had a nice quick transition, but can't say that my legs felt fantastic running off the bike. I grabbed to some water for a mouthful and a splash over the head then it was time to work hard on that final run. I knew somewhere behind me Warrington Tri member Tracy Hampson, would be hunting me down as she was a quick runner, I just didn't know how much of a gap I had after the bike. By the time we had reached the hairpin the legs felt more normal again and I was holding level 4 HR comfortably, exiting the hairpin I caught a glimpse of Tracy and knew she was closing in.
On reaching the steep climb shouts from Gail, Andy other club members spurred me on and I pressed hard up the climb and maintained the effort once I got to the top moving into zone 5.
With about 300m to go Tracy caught up with me and a gentle tap on the elbow to let me know she was there as she came past, looking strong as always.
I tried to push a bit harder but was already at max level so there wasn't anything left to offer and crossed the line happy that I had given everything to that race. Link to my Training Peaks log for the event http://tpks.ws/UlAl
The even better news at the finish was that Tracy had picked up 3rd female overall.
Results - http://www.xtramileevents.com/files/3113/9532/6013/OP_Spring_2014_results_final.xls
Bolesworth Beast MTB Duathlon - 30/03/14
Organised by Chester Tri Club, this was a small event held in what can only be described as the "hilly" bit of Cheshire. The weather was very pleasant, if anything erring on a bit to warm at times.
The event was based at a mountain boarding centre (basically off road snowboarding with wheels) a sport that requires gravity to help you along. As such the first run began at the top of a steep bank about 250m long. We proceeded downhill round a tree and then started the steep climb back up to the start point, this wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that we got send back down and up again. After the second ascent it was into the woods and following a path out into some fields and then into more woods that climbed up to the top of a sandstone ridge. Once up top we followed the ridge for a while before dropping down a steep descent (playing into my hands as a descender and allowing me to pass a few people. Onto fire tracks we then dropped onto tarmac road that led us back into the village and transition.
Out onto the bike it was a very mixed course, with tarmac roads, fields, bridleways and some sections through private woodland of the Bolesworth estate. I had a steady ride overall, not pushing the pace to hard, but certainly making good time as I was passing people who were doing the shorter sprint event and had done a much shorter run course that didn't include the climbs at the start.
Once back in transition it was a repeat of the first run, so back up and down that bloody hill again, up to the ridge and back down. I found the climbs hard going and did have to resort to walking sections, but surprisingly only came in 1 minute slower than the first run. I also found that I was able to press on quite hard once all the climbing was dealt with.
Overall a really pleasant event, nice little goodie bag and a nice challenging course, certainly one I would recommend to others as the bike isn't to challenging or tricky.
There have been some good weeks of training along the way.
The work at the track continues each Monday and there have been several occasions where I have been the most consistent runner of the week. We have also done a couple of time trials, the most recent being 3000m (13:34).
I've also done a 400m TT in the pool, but despite all the improvements in my technique I was dissapointed to record exactly the same as when I did my first one in December (7:12); I put this down to fatigue from racing at the weekend before and also having done a hard swim session the night before. I certainly hope to be under 7:00 very soon.
March also saw a group of us head up to the Lake District for a training weekend. One thing that didn't disappoint was the reliability of the weather, it basically pee'd it down the whole weekend. That didn't stop us enjoying this great place though. Saturday the group headed up Helvellyn, though conditions were poor and when we got to the point of Striding Edge the decision was made to head back down, this for me was the fun part, engaged in fell running at it's best. Though we did stop for a photo call.
On Sunday after being joined by a few more hardy athletes we headed off on the bikes in yet more rain. It was a lovely ride however and whilst challenging in the conditions all had a good time. It was actually surprisingly warm (a good job as I had forgotten my leggings).
The only bad point for me was the right hand STI working loose and therefore leaving me with no brakes on a fast wet descent. I thankfully managed to bring it to a stop using the back and with shaking hands re-tightened the the STI and carried on. It was a brown stain moment to say the least, but I survived.
So there we have it, an update on where I am at the moment and hopefully I will be a bit more concientious in keeping it up to date as we come to the start of the tri season
I'm still being coached by Laura, and things are going really well on that front. I can feel myself getting stronger and faster in all areas, so whatever she is doing it's working.
I've done a number of races since the start of the year.
Essar Four Villages Half Marathon - 19/01/14
This would be my first half marathon in about 10 years so I was a little nervous to say the least, but the only aim was to try an do under 2:00 hours. Conditions on the day were as good as you could have asked for. Laura had given me a race plan to start me out steady and then build through the latter stages. Tracy Hampson ran with me for the first 5.5 miles to keep me under control and on HR pace and she did a great job before leaving me to run the rest of the race at her own level for a well deserved 1:44:45. I had a hard patch around 7-8 miles but when the last gel kicked in I felt strong and the climb that everyone had gone on about turned out to be a bit of an anti climax and no where near as difficult as expected. The final push gave me a very surprising time of 1:52:31
This was a tough event held in Llandegla Forest near Wrexham. Weather conditions were pretty poor all day with a constant drizzle, but the main issue was gusting and strong winds. The first run started with a steady 2 mile climb on hard packed service track, but once we had cleared the trees into the exposed areas the wind was awful, almost bringing you to a standstill. It was great to finally turn back into the trees and head downhill for some shelter. The evil organisers stuck in a nasty bank to climb part way through the run as well, the worst part being you knew you would have to dot it again later.
Onto the bike and it was a 19km route that wound its way across a mix of the MTB centres trails, most of it on Red Routes.
I maintained a steady pace, and whilst losing a few places on the more technical stages, I was able to make this up on some of the steady long climbs spinning past people. I'm also pleased to say that I managed to stay on the bike throughout and no injuries were sustained (though there were a couple of hairy moments).
Onto the final run and it was a shortened version of the first, but I was quite surprised to find myself catching and passing people throughout. It took a while for the legs to get going but once into my stride I was pushing all the way. I even managed to pip someone on the line who stopped about 5 metres before the actual finish line. Final time was 2:25:13 http://www.uberfitevents.com/assets/results_fearless_2014.pdf Overall it was a good starter event for the year and will hopefully be back to do it again.
Oulton Park Duathlon - 16/03/14
A few weeks later and it was a return to Oulton Park for the duathlon, only this time it was for the standard distance event, comprising of multiple laps of the racing circuit, 2 run laps, 9 on the bike and a final run lap. The sprint event went early in the morning and gave me chance to cheer on a few of the Warrington Tri Club members.
It had been blowing all morning and it didn't let up later in the day either and it remained a fairly chilly day so I had opted to go with a long sleeve compression top under the tri suit.
The race plan was to work hard throughout, but the first 2 lap run was held to top level 3 to ensure that I had enough left for the rest of the event. The run felt good and it was sometimes hard not to push harder. I even went through 5k in a pb time so I knew it was going to be a good day.
As you would expect with a race circuit the surface is pretty good so no pot hole dodging required at all. You exit the pit lane before hopping on the bike and then its straight into the first right hand bend that seeps downhill into a left hander. The wind was quite noticeable at this point and on several of the laps you could feel it make the front wheel twitch; I was only on 50mm rims so anyone running deep sections would need all their wits about them. After the left hand it was a long straight to the hairpin and a wind the wind behind the fastest section of the course. Exiting the hairpin however brought you straight into the headwind and a small climb, normally not to bad to tackle, but that wind was really slowing us down. Dropping it into the 39 I was able to spin nicely up the climb and in doing so passing a lot of folks trying to grind it out. A nice straight downhill section follows into a right hander and the sharpest climb on the course. Decide your gearing before you hit the bottom and then go for it. Most of the laps I stuck with the 39, but did try the big ring as well. In all cases I was passing people strongly up the climb, but found spinning the better option. Once at the top it was flat then back round to the pit lane. I had no dramas on any of the laps and the constant lap nature of the event meant you were always passing people so felt like you were going a lot quicker than you were.
On reaching the steep climb shouts from Gail, Andy other club members spurred me on and I pressed hard up the climb and maintained the effort once I got to the top moving into zone 5.
With about 300m to go Tracy caught up with me and a gentle tap on the elbow to let me know she was there as she came past, looking strong as always.
I tried to push a bit harder but was already at max level so there wasn't anything left to offer and crossed the line happy that I had given everything to that race. Link to my Training Peaks log for the event http://tpks.ws/UlAl
The even better news at the finish was that Tracy had picked up 3rd female overall.
Results - http://www.xtramileevents.com/files/3113/9532/6013/OP_Spring_2014_results_final.xls
Bolesworth Beast MTB Duathlon - 30/03/14
Organised by Chester Tri Club, this was a small event held in what can only be described as the "hilly" bit of Cheshire. The weather was very pleasant, if anything erring on a bit to warm at times.
The event was based at a mountain boarding centre (basically off road snowboarding with wheels) a sport that requires gravity to help you along. As such the first run began at the top of a steep bank about 250m long. We proceeded downhill round a tree and then started the steep climb back up to the start point, this wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that we got send back down and up again. After the second ascent it was into the woods and following a path out into some fields and then into more woods that climbed up to the top of a sandstone ridge. Once up top we followed the ridge for a while before dropping down a steep descent (playing into my hands as a descender and allowing me to pass a few people. Onto fire tracks we then dropped onto tarmac road that led us back into the village and transition.
Out onto the bike it was a very mixed course, with tarmac roads, fields, bridleways and some sections through private woodland of the Bolesworth estate. I had a steady ride overall, not pushing the pace to hard, but certainly making good time as I was passing people who were doing the shorter sprint event and had done a much shorter run course that didn't include the climbs at the start.
Once back in transition it was a repeat of the first run, so back up and down that bloody hill again, up to the ridge and back down. I found the climbs hard going and did have to resort to walking sections, but surprisingly only came in 1 minute slower than the first run. I also found that I was able to press on quite hard once all the climbing was dealt with.
Overall a really pleasant event, nice little goodie bag and a nice challenging course, certainly one I would recommend to others as the bike isn't to challenging or tricky.
There have been some good weeks of training along the way.
The work at the track continues each Monday and there have been several occasions where I have been the most consistent runner of the week. We have also done a couple of time trials, the most recent being 3000m (13:34).
I've also done a 400m TT in the pool, but despite all the improvements in my technique I was dissapointed to record exactly the same as when I did my first one in December (7:12); I put this down to fatigue from racing at the weekend before and also having done a hard swim session the night before. I certainly hope to be under 7:00 very soon.
March also saw a group of us head up to the Lake District for a training weekend. One thing that didn't disappoint was the reliability of the weather, it basically pee'd it down the whole weekend. That didn't stop us enjoying this great place though. Saturday the group headed up Helvellyn, though conditions were poor and when we got to the point of Striding Edge the decision was made to head back down, this for me was the fun part, engaged in fell running at it's best. Though we did stop for a photo call.
 |
| spot the short arse |
On Sunday after being joined by a few more hardy athletes we headed off on the bikes in yet more rain. It was a lovely ride however and whilst challenging in the conditions all had a good time. It was actually surprisingly warm (a good job as I had forgotten my leggings).
The only bad point for me was the right hand STI working loose and therefore leaving me with no brakes on a fast wet descent. I thankfully managed to bring it to a stop using the back and with shaking hands re-tightened the the STI and carried on. It was a brown stain moment to say the least, but I survived.
So there we have it, an update on where I am at the moment and hopefully I will be a bit more concientious in keeping it up to date as we come to the start of the tri season
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)