Saturday 12 October 2019

Salamon 4Trails, Austria July 2019

(Seefeld to Leutasch - 24.5km, 1600m 3hr 48)
 4Trails, day 1. Bright sunshine, warm. Two massive lumps in 25km ( ok, one massive, the second merely large but impact significant due to the first in legs) meant that it mostly felt like a hike rather than a running race.... my own lack of descending skills partially to blame for that! A bit more technical than the Quantocks. And maybe... I DO need some of those damn walking stick For now I'm just inside top 10, got to stand on a podium for the Fv40+ class, and more importantly, first Carritt.

 (Leutasch to Weildermeiming – 24.2km, 1250m, 3hr35)
 Day 2 on the trail started with a Yelp of pain as I discovered that I have broken all my legs and arse cheeks. The run today started with a lovely gentle climb, a good warm up, for some reason the uphill parts were the least painful...then one helluva hill which we had to scramble over. Lotte and I were pretty close all day (somehow, she'd retained the use of her legs) until the descent off the mountain, which I took at the speed of a geriatric without walking sticks.... Lotte took full advantage on the final descent into the finish, placing 9th in our catagory woman and 6 minutes ahead of me. So its 1 all. Aggregate times place her ahead by 4 minutes still. So its ON tomorrow for day 3.... Can someone please make sure that my legs get the memo...and wheel me to somewhere that serves steak!



 (Weildermeiming to Nassereth – 21.6km, 1270m, 3h14)
 Saloman 4 trails, day 3. 75% done ...and 100% broken!! A slightly shortened course today, due to forecast thunderstorms they decided that less time on a ridge at +2000m would be better, so it was a simple up n down jobbie. The ups, weirdly were not a problem. Any decline however was. (You know that post marathon/ironman can't walk down stairs/ lower yourself onto the toilet seat feeling? Double it and then try to run off the top of a mountain.... ) Yes, my legs may actuallg be broken. Yes, I may be seriously considering the purchase of some special wanking poles. Yes, I might be getting my ass handed to me by my weedy little sister ( and the majority if the rest of the Master Women) and Yes, I've become an Aid Station Lingerer.... ....but its a very interesting type of fun and the scenery is ok and the company not too terrible, I suppose . My comeback is coming tomorrow Lotte Carritt. Be ready.


 (Nassereith to Imst – 25km, 1200m, 3h13)
 Well, that's that done....day 4 and, following a decent sized steak, a decent amount of merlot and a go on Lotte Carritt's quad squeezer... I actully felt almost OK for the start of this one...and ready to make my Big Comback from the back of the pack to, well..so where near the middle. No matter that it was pissing down...much of the route was through forests, with only a relatively small climb, and even in the wet not such a terrifying decent- so, mostly runnable. In fact, on fresh legs this route would have been a blast. As it was, I held a good position to the top if the first pass, then as expected The Field ran through me on the wet n rooty way down. But no sign of The Loat. Maintaining a lead on her motivated me somewhat, and it was just a case of steady progress, run all the hills (knowing that she wont) no stopping for photos, and try to ignore my quad complaints on the down hills. We didn't see each other all day, and lucky for me I crossed the line before she'd had the chance to catch me today. So we are 2 all, and I'm happy enough with thaf. Very proud of Lotte Carritt for making the top 10 in the overall Master Woman competition. I'll accept 13th as it's been a painful but interesting experience, i have learned to pee standing up, accepted that there might be more to this poles thing than unnecessary and annoying accessories, that even if you think you are shit-hot, perhaps you maybe shouldn't run flat out on day 1 of a 4 day event ( even if there is air freshener to be won), drunk a lot of beer and spent 4 days looking at some very nicely toned legs...... holidays are wikid!

Sunday 24 February 2019

Tales From Morrocco - Atlas toAtlantic Bike Tour

Day 1 - 3rd Feb 2019 The first day of our Morroco tour...and quite a warm up ride. Just the most amazing day on the bike....to be in such totally different scenery and culture. Varied roads, with all manner of surprises around each corner, and a big -ass climb up to the ski resort at Oukaimeden ..Local children hold their hands out for High Five as you pass, or run along side the bike ...women crouched around ovens set in the rock in apparently the middke of nowhere at 2000m, on arriving at the top you are immediately offered Very Good Quality quartz rock, necklaces, a bag of lemongrass... A long "technical" descent to end the day, with sunset views of the Atlas still yet to come.
Day 2 - 4th Feb 2019 Our second day of cycling, took us through less touristed roads, a much quieter ride . Gently climbing the valley, roads shaded by almond trees and again into the mountains. Up to Tizi en Tete, the highest road pass in the region..where, having scraped Marc Atkinson off the road, we stopped for a Moroccan feast of a lunch. All descending for the second half of the day, unfortunately not without incident, as Robin suffered a blow out and kissed the asphalt at speed. Really not the kind of thing one ever wants to witness on the bike and a very unnerving day. Fortunately both the guys are pretty much "fine" and after a few stitches were back with us for dinner. The stayed over night in an old palace.... Orange groves, peacocks, four poster beds and the most incredible decorative tile work. Only thing (desperatly) lacking was alcohol!! If ever there was an evening that we wanted it!!!






 Day 3 - 5th Feb 2019 We left the High Atlas region today, with a bus transfer across the plain to start our ride at Imi Mquorn. A 3rd day with again very different landscape and terrain. Hot, rocky and rolling...we were at lower altitudes and the granite landscape much more craggy, black rocks radiating heat ...the theme of the day was "isn't it warm"? A short ride today...we spent ~3 hours ascending, picnic lunch, another hour or so going up - my legs flaked out on this part, so was able to enjoy countering along the empty roads in the sunshine alone - and then a spectacular, cooling (cautious!!) descent for 20km down to Taufarout to finish.





 Day 4 - 6th Feb 2019 Yesterday's ride was a loop from and back to Tafarout... the highlight if which, if you're kinda getting bored of fabulous switch back climbs and long sweeping descents on near deserted roads with a m a z i n g views, was the Ait Mansour valley. Descending off the first big lump of the day, into a rocky gorge...which became progressively greener with palm trees as we reached Ait Mansour Oasis. The road through which didn't seem like a thing that bicycles should pass, and the temperatures plummeting from the 20s in the sun to near freezing in the shade of the trees...but intrepid bicycling enthusiasts that we are, made it through. The scenery turned to dessert, the road weaving between huge mounds of stratified terracotta rock... some "proper" dirt roads, causing our chief guide to lose his sense of humour (winging it much?) And much amusement for us..... the group split after snack stop, 6 of us competed the 135km route as a chain gang, bullied along by the Chairman. Legs down to 6 bars. Should get me through the last couple of big days.



 Day 5- 7th Feb 2019 5th day...and it's been a biggie, but THE BEST (again) riding. You gotta like mountains, I don't think there were any flat bits ... but if was net downhill today, so lots more descending practice. We rode out of Taftout, down into valleys and the landscape for this section much more like I'd imagined Morrocco to be...drier and rolling, red earth dotted with scrubby loking argon and almond trees, cloaked shepherds and their goats. Not dissimilar to Gran Canaria, but on a lot of Califorian Advil ;)... first climb of the day, traffic free but sketchy surface as they'd just laid fresh chipping to the surface made the switch backed ,descent a bit hairy. Snack stop, a lie down on the road for some dates, oranges and trail mix- not a Haribo in sight all week ! Onwards over a couple more big climbs both with brilliant views and long sweeping descents, starting to get the hang of this - and really enjoying it. Big grins all round. Jon Ellis-Smith and I agreed we didn't think a Thursday bimble could possibly be more fun. Picnic lunch in the hills, bit more riding, stopping for pictures, the last little bit dragged on as the day got hotter... retired to a cafe for cold drinks and regroup for a stinky hungry sticky bus transfer into the city of Agadir for the night. Reckon I was down to 3 bars by the end of that! ...luckily it was a buffet dinner.




 Day 6 - 8th Feb Our last day was to include a ride through Paradise Valley, which I was very excited about and therefore rather disappointed by the reality when it turned out to be "under construction" and a ride along a rumble river bed with not a lot to look at, if one were willing to take their eye off the ground infront. Still, negotiating the river bed like surface kept the group together until the start of the big climb of the morning... gaining 1000m over 30km. I think it's fair to say we were all a bit apprensivd about this, and mostly resolved to settle into the least painful rhythm and tap it out gently. I was in no hurry, and operating on about 2bar by now, had no choice. Fortunately there was the usual delightful scenery to distract us...and a surprise come break after 10km to re unite the strung out riders. We were also told that only 12km to go, thus we somehow saved 8km of climbing. Great descent and by now the front pack had long disappeared, I continued to twiddle, yakinbbin the last views of this brilliant countryside. Turns out that I chose the right day to ride in the "groupetto". Not entirely my choice, but for all our chasing myself and Dylan Bogg couldn't see any sign of the legends that had apparently disappeared up the road. When we arrived at the shaded clear g that had been chosen for our lunchdtop at 80km, we were very surprised that no one was there already. It turned out that the lead pack had been lead astray, 10k up another climb.....and were at that time on their way back to the route. Dylan and Charlie Brookes were most sympathetic of course ;) Realising that we'd have an hour or so to wait for them to catch us, we elected yo roll on slowly, as a group, to the finish... hoping that the others might cstchbus before the end of the day. This made for a most pleasant ride to e d the week...an ice cream (of sorts) at the surf town of Imsuoane, and the nice warm feeling of having "won" the Tour of Morrocco by brain rather than brawn




Monday 4 June 2018

Ironman World Championships, Kona Hawaii 2017.

Kona 2017 .... after a summer that included a bit more time working away than originally planned, resulting in less focused training than originally planned, my targets for this race had dropped as the event date came closer.
I had still been pretty consistent with a moderate amount of time on TT bike, in pool and running ... just a long way short of the volume, or specificity that I've maintained through my racing seasons of the previous 7 or 8 years. I knew from a few test sets that my FTP was about 20 watts lower than "good form", I'd done very little hot climate training - though enough on the turbo in Steven's conservatory to observe that things start "going funny" once the temp gets to about 34degrees. To be fair, things probably start going funny a few degrees cooler than that but that was the measured point where, at AeT power,  heart-rate rocketed and head pounded to the point of feeling nauseous...and obviously inability to maintain any kind of reasonable power output followed.   Rule of thumb I'd say over 30 degrees and you need to knock the target race power (for Ironman where you'll be out in it for 5-6 hrs) down by ~10% to keep heart-rate low and core temp under control.
I wasn't especially confident about my running either, having done relatively few long runs - but with my revised race targets I figured I only needed to run a 3:45 to break 11hrs...and all things considered, I'd be satisfied with that.


2010 was the last time I was in Kona, and I hadn't really missed it to be honest.  Friends and some of my athletes had raced there each of those last 7 years, so it was still a significant feature in my year ...but followed from home without that sense of wishing I was part of it. I kinda felt that I was "over it" and was really only doing it this time to seal off my racing career with a big one.....that is, until we got there!!
It was so wonderful to be back - the warmth, the scents, the sounds ...and of course the buzz of the imminent Ironman World Championships! To my surprise, very little had changed in Kona. I bumped into a number of people that I last saw several years ago, in Kona...and didn't really expect to see again outside of the Internet. But there they all were, as before :o) plus a few new acquaintances made, care of the friendly environment that surrounds the event. I can't say that I felt totally relaxed...in fact I was pretty ill for much of the pre race week, and had picked up a mysterious pain in my shoulder ( actually a result of falling over in Heathrow airport on the way out, I'm sure) .... but I didn't really feel that I had too much pressure on me...I was "only" there to have a good race, based on what I knew I was in shape for, and enjoy it.


The swim was lush, the separate women’s start minimised the contact to “fun and quite helpful” ... I'd swum the open water swim 3.8km swim event the weekend before without my race skinsuit (not nude, I mean in a regular cossie) and have done 1hr 08, with a little rest at halfway...so I knew I'd be a little under that ..and indeed I was, exiting in the lower end of my target time range. Transitions slowed a bit by a minor medical issue that required attention, which I had built into my plan. The bike portion was hot (as expected) n windy but again, it was really fun being in a predominantly female race ( aside from a few Legacy males we had caught but they were well behaved!). I was pretty stunned at the number of women in my age group passing me....but I was riding to only about about 70-75% FTP, deliberately conservative as per plan. The latter section on the Queen K was - as ever- kinda tough...all around me women were tipping water on their heads at the aid stations...I didn't feel that hot, so pushed on a little to see if I could redeem a better position in the race. I didn't really know where I was in the field - I knew I wasn't flying but was on off the bike within  my target/predicted time  - albeit right on the limit with a 5:44 split.  Leaving 3hr 50 to finish in target time (11hrs), I felt I’d do this with plenty of time to spare... but my legs very quickly informed me otherwise - like, within mile 1!!! This was a new experience for me - usually the excitement and atmosphere and the crowds and the not having to ride the damn bike anymore will propel me through the first 5km at least ...and usually a bit too quick. I was looking forward to that sensation...but it did not materialise. Hoping I'd warm up into it, I continued, knowing that my mum and sister were just up the road by our condo, would be able to give me an update on my position and that would motivate me to dig deep and keep on digging  for the next 3.5 hours.  When I saw them they looked a bit like they'd been waiting a while haha! Lotte didn't tell me my position (unusual) ...which was because she knew that the answer would be unhelpful. 21st!!! WTF?? in my age group?? HOW?? I knew I wasn't flying, but that was not what I expected. Still, I'm stuck out here now...but running myself up the field was the last thing on my mind, so I was just going to carry on through and have a blast. Which I did. It was a hot painful, hard blast....but you know that it's gonna be that way in Hawaii whether you have a great race or a bad race. I caught a few places, including a few familiar faces who'd stormed the bike sections past me...infact I ran/walked the last 6 km or so switching positions with Shannon, and that even spurred me into running more than walking in order to stay ahed of her (yeah, a bit mean).   My sister had run out to the Queen K to encourage men on, and jogged beside me for a bit, which was lovely.  The 3hr 50 mark ticked by and the sun was setting over the ocean - I'd joked with Roger about my main goal for the race was to avoid being given a glow stick....and here I was going to be finishing in the dark.  There was a fabulous atmosphere out there between us struggling finishers in the 2017 Ironman World Championships, no longer rivals, but comrades in that painful march forwards.  The end was now in sight...20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minuets...counting down and wishing it would come sooner...but knowing that this feeling was also precious, even though their day had not quite gone to plan this might be their only, or last opportunity to be part of this experience.

I got there in the end. The marathon had taken 4hrs 13...a new record (in the wrong direction) but... I still felt like I'd Won Everything as I crossed the line :)
A little while later in the epic queue to exit the massive transition with my bike and gear , talking to a couple of the Freespeed guys, it was still damn hot and I feinted! I had to go lie down for a while ...and caused a bit of a worry for my sister who was trying to find me, help carry my bags back and and give me chips. The fact that she and my mum travelled all the way to support me is the one thing that makes me wish I'd put more work in, and had a better race.  They have followed me around to support at races during my entire Ironman life and I do always try to finish as quickly as possible, cos I guess it must be pretty boring for them ;o) Lucky for me they never let on, and I couldn't ask for a better support crew.





The morale of the story? When it comes to the Kona course, Its Train or Pain!!! Loved every minute of it though :) #kona2017
#ironmanworldchampionships#lookatthesizeofthatmedal

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Outlaw 2017 ...race report




Overall impression of the race: freindly, familiar and well organised. I wont say "low key" as I wouldn't wish to give the impression that the organistaion was anything less than 100% professional or that there was anything lacking in terms of provision for competitors - it's just done in a more heart-felt and way with a more relaxed and personal kind of atmosphere (and on a slightly smaller scale too, to be fair)....With a lot of tri clubs involved on the volunteering aspects of the weekend, and making a bit of a social out of it too,  it reminded me of very happy days coming up here for the Club Sprint Relays champs a looong time ago as a newbie triathlete.

The race organiser gets p1$$ed off when he hears people talk of the race as an "easy version of Ironman", and yes - 226km of racing on any course is as hard as you chosoe to make it! However, the swim condtions are very favourable, the bike course about as flat as it could be, and ditto the run -  I'd estimate that with equivalent fitness it'd take about 50min -1hr (or, say, 10%) less time to get around than a lumpy course like IMUK ....and probably about 30 mins faster than an "average" kind of a course.

My fitness going into the race probably about 15-20% less than i'd like it to be going into "race" ... so I was expecting to get through it in about 10.5hrs, avoiding the front end of the race, and gathering data  to inform my next training block towards Kona.
Arrived later than I'd hoped after a busy week at work and 5 hrs in traffic, in the nick of time to register, put up tent, quick dip in the lake and then eat the lunch that i'd not got around to before the rain started. It rained a lot. All weekend. There was lots of talk about the - ever changing- weather forecast. It kept raining.

The Swim: still a mass start ,which i've not expereeinced for a long time. Has not lost any of the craziness - from the start gun just ridiculous, frantic kicking and punching and pushing and shoving. Kept head down, protected face. Occasionally got a stroke in here or there - it didn't really matter as the thrashing foam of limbs would carry you along anyway.   Managed to weave through by pushing legs aside to clearer water ( clear of limbs - not "clear" clear. it's disticntly goose poo coloured) and then at about the 400m point crash into a wall of slow moving bodies. What?!? these guys must have just put themselves on the front line, smashed that first 400...and then come to almost stationary when they ran out of puff!!  Continued to swim the very lengthy length of the lake, easy pace...occaisonal draft, occasionally alongside someone. Found that with a little more effort at the back of the stroke,  could pull ahead of most people who I found myself awkwardly face to face and sharing air with. On the whole bi-lateral breathing...evereyone and then going for a surge to catch a group of swimmers ahead and then cruising on feet. Nice to have company rather then getting droped by the [ack after 200m! Was pleasantly surprised to notice that my watch read 59min in T1. (=slightly short swim)

The Bike: it's 180km. about 600m ascent. pretty much featureless. Luckily for me i had company from the film crew for a bit of interest every now and then, and feeding me a bit of info about my position.  other than that i was really just fixing my mind of maintaining 34kph average, and doing sums. I wanted a 5:20 bike split.  By midway i'd almost caught the leading female & felt that it' had taken a rather long time. The single hill on the course provded me an oppurtunity to really close the gap, and she came into sight - i put in a 10 minute burst of effort to try and put her off the idea of chasing me (i really didnt want to have to race!) and that seemed to work. I went back to my zone. or a bit below because then i was feeling kinda tired and hungry  (i found that i was eating more than usual in this race) but mostly aching and a bit bored. At about 110km a little rocket in female form belted past me,  ....kinda like i had the last girl to be fair. but fast! I was really only just hanging onto my pace so wasnt in any kind of mood to go chasing. I was getting a bit irritated by the film moto, and it started raining a bit, and then a local cycle club decided to come and join in the race, riding as a group, 2-3 abreast and blocking. dangerous and inconsiderate, given how generous i'd seen the moto refs were being with the drafting cards. Yes, i was grumpy... and glad to turn into the rough section of track that  marks the final 3km or so of the bike course. That was kinda slow, i'd already been driven into a big pot hole which caused my bars to slip by that naughty cycle club, so took it real gingerly along there. I could see that i'd narrowly missed my 5:20 target. but that's ok.
In T2 we heard that I was 10 mins behind the leader - crickey  -she'd put 10 mins into me in the last 70km or so of the bike course - how fast had she gone?!! That was enough of a gap to put any thoughts of runing her down out of my head ( luckily!!)

The Run: i like running - i always feel more relaxed once the bike is over and i'm through it without collision or mechanical trouble. On feet all that can go wrong is....er, well - the feet. and the legs. and the tummy too i suppose. It's not fun, ever, but it's just a case of getting on with it. I'd not really looked at the run course in any deatil - i knew that we'd be going round the lake a lot...but also into Nottingham a bit, which i wanted to be a surprise, at least on the first time through. I was looking forwrad to that part. I managed to hold a decent pace for the first lap (21km), and felt pretty much alright up to that point.  I decided that this would make a really nice half marathon route. I didnt so much fancy going round again, especially now I'd seen what Nottingham had to offer (coke and gels!) and that the narrow and muddy footapth was full of other people, and the mud well churned up. Additionally to the other peopel racing, the path was also filled with a lot of spectators and general walkers. And at one point, three people on ponies.  I guess it helped to keep the mind occupied!! My wheels really fell off at about 25km... things started getting a bit walky and a bit huffy puffy - even at slow speeds. I strated eating things like jaffa cakes and crisps. You know it's all over then, right? Was passed by one (or two ?) women as I stopped to stretch my achilles, remove the chip and have a little faff about. Stopping even between aid stations! It was interseting (you might think not all that surprising!) that 25-26km is about the usual distance i've been covering on my "long runs". ha!  Obvious - you say ...but for the past however many years, this has been the case. But I was also racing a lot more frequently then and I suppose I'd just carried that run endurance from each race into the next. Well, apparently no longer can I get away with that.  But that's relatively easy to fix...and realising things like this was the real point of doing this event ...so i just continued on as best i could manage to keep the pace not too far over 5mins/km whilst i was running, and trying to move steadily through them when walking the aid stations (and other parts).

   The race finishes with a double lap of the lake, which is great because it's flat and you pass a lot of supporters. but it's a long way round! as I started my first of the "last laps" the lead woman was announced as having completing that lap and about to start her final lap.... so, i calculated in my weary brain, by this time she was about 20 mins ahead of me.    At this point I knew I was 3rd - and saw what i thought was 2nd female not too far ahead of me. I focused on reeling her in...and was able to pass her before the end of that 5km lake lap. This focus brought my pace back up a bit too, and I was starting to enjoy myself, despite feeling very tired and having very sore legs. Becx was standing at the start of the final lap, and informed me that "2nd place is about 10 seconds ahead" . What? I AM second place, I said. nope. i'd actually just been chasing someone who was still in their first half marathon ,and a looong way behond me ....so I chased some more. Really chased! It got to about a mile to go... i didn't want to risk making the pass too soon and provoking her to come back at me. I was too tired for that !  So I  waited and waited, behind her. With  1km left I went - as hard as i could, and didnt look behind , just kept running at full pelt to the finish. It was kinda fun, really painful fun, to actually be racing...

Overall finishing in 10:03 was better than I expected. I DID not expect to get trounced by a 53 year old...and to be honest it's not much of a consulation that Gill Fullen is a no ordinatry 53 year old (read her story) ... So, I think I will try to get fit for Kona :o)



Saturday 19 November 2016

ironman weymouth 2016


Having raced the course as it was as a Challenge event in 2012 and 2013, I was very much familiar with the swim and run portions, and the general layout of the race venue. Under the new Ironman banner, significant changes had been made to the bike course though; aligning it more to the typical terrain of the Jurassic coast, and overlapping in part with the original Ironman UK (Sherbourne) course. A big improvement in the aesthetic of the ride, though undeniably increasing it’s difficulty. Since it’s not too far to travel to Weymouth from my home, I’d made 3 trips to the area for the purpose of recce rides prior to the race. The first of which, back in April, was a bit of a shock to my rather out of shape system … I recall having to stop for a breather at least twice around the 90km loop! 

Needless to say, my fitness improved somewhat over the course of the long summer build up, and by race-day I was ready for a shot at my goal of a Kona slot. This is not to say that there weren’t doubts: I’ve training ‘differently’ (i.e less!!) through 2016 for a number of reasons… and it had been a long time since I’d been on the start line of a race where the outcome was of real importance to me. Probably a full year - racing the Challenge version of this race, as the ETU long course champs and my final “hurrah” as a Pro. 

My routine has always been to get a swim, a ride and a run done of the morning of Race Eve prior to racking…but the weather was terrible, and so on this occasion I skipped that routine rather than get drenched. The brake set-up on the Dassi had been a little temperamental for the last of my few rides…but a short test ride down the road during a brief break in the weather indicated that all was fine, no need for more tinkering….and I handed it over to rack. 

Wearing a 4-digit race number was rather unfamiliar, having to rack my bike in the huge corral amongst so many others, and hang my bags somewhere in the middle of 2000 others. All gave me good cause to worry over minute details of the upcoming race day…which is nothing new. I now accept this fretting as part of my pre -race routine, and would be lost without it, In reality, I’ve done this enough times to be quite relaxed about whatever comes up during the actual race, and pretty sure that I’d perfectly ably locate my bike and bags…but, still - that part of my brain enjoys dissecting the possibilities of what COULD go wrong. 

As usual I had the great fortune to be staying at my friends cottage in the nearby village of Combe Keynes - allowing me very relaxed couple of days before the race. I prefer to be a little out of town and able to measure out the dosage of The Hype that i’ m exposed to pre race-  i.e other people’s anxieties. It’s great to catch up with the many acquaintances and familiar faces that I always see at events, but important for me that i’m able to retreat and escape it - to organise my kit, my thoughts and then turn on a  mindless TV show or distract myself with some work. 


Ellie had travelled down to support Suzie ( Big Suz) in the pro race, and her friend Andy, racing for a Kona slot in the full. This meant I was also to benefit from her superb support all day too :o) 
We watched the pros off, and then got ready for our start. This was my first experience of the Rolling race start….and I found it confusing - there was no distant starters order…but it just became apparent that people were already swimming …with chip timing there was no rush to get in the water, in theory…but from a “tactical” point of view I didn’t want to be too far behind the better swimmers, if indeed they had chosen to position themselves in front.  
It did however make for a pretty pleasant swimming experience - no panic, time to get into my swimming, and find  similar paced swimmers to group up with. The conditions were absolutely beautiful - in stark contrast to both of my previous experiences swims at this location! My swim time was pretty good, considering it was mostly at a pleasant pace, and I lead my age group out of the water. It was nice that there were plenty of kit bags surrounding mine in T1 for a change!

Unusually, race day was combined with the 70.3 distance event, which actually had about twice he number of competitors than the full Ironman. Only this 70.3 race had  Pros racing ( the Ironman being AG only) and this is the only reason that I can think of for starting both distances at the same time the full - to enable the professionals a clear run at the courses rather than having to negotiate through the slower field of Ironman racers. I’d certainly support that decision - to give the pros a fair race - but seriously question whether sending the amateur 70.3 athletes out on the same gun as the Ironman starters. The very predictable result of this is that the fast Ironman athletes  - those actually “racing” the event for age group wins and Kona slots - quickly caught up with the very back markers of the half distance. 

I felt really strong on the bike, and able to ride relatively hard. There was, as predicted by the logistics, a constant line of 70.3 athletes out on the road to get past.  Keeping in mind that these people were starting their ride at the same time as us, having swum only half the distance, you can imagine that their pace on the bike was not especially urgent either. They were riding two or more abreast at times, having conversations along the way! It was necessary therefor to remain super alert, and constantly shouting warnings and reminders to “please ride on the left”. I heard one or two more amped up Ironman athletes being pretty aggressive about this - a little unkind perhaps, but perfectly understandable. It was a frustrating situation. I had to laugh when one 70.3 athlete responded to my request that he move over to allow me to pass with the comment “oh, to save yourself two seconds? chill out!!”   … I’d have like to point out that if each of the 1200 competitors in the 70.3 race all cost me 2 seconds, that would be 40 minutes, which I would like to save  …..but of course it took me far too long to do that mental arithmetic with my “race brain” on!!   And, on reflection, that first lap spent passing a constant stream of 2-3 riders abreast surely provided a good slip-stream to ride in, as well as the psychological effect of constantly passing people, which on the whole provided quiet pleasant exchange of encouragement that my pro racing ( mostly very solitary rides) had lacked. 

I was only about 20km into the first lap when I failed to notice and rode directly into a pot-hole, loosing my gel flask before I’d even touched a drop of my nutrition. A draw back of this system, which to be fair has worked well for me to date as it saves the need of storing, opening and discarding the packets of 8-10 Powerbar Gels, but it does pretty much put all my eggs (aside from 2 caffeinated gels, and a mars bar that I carry separately) in the one basket. So I had to make a stop at the next aid station, and pick up a supply of bars (they didn’t have gels) - which are not my preferred type of race food, but would have to do today. I was pleased that I’d made the decision to put on my Reko cycle jersey in T1, and therefor had pockets which I could fill up. 

As I rode I was also aware of the rubbing of brakes - the ones that i  thought i’d adjusted pretty well prior to race day. In retrospect it’s likley that hitting the pot hole knocked my wheel a bit, and with very little tolerance in the very aero design on my Dassi TT bike, the rim was now rubbing against the brakes on each revolution. I did my best to put this out of my mind,…but of course in race situations, these things are had to ignore, and actually become a bit of an obsession! I knew I wasn’t carrying the correct tool (inexplicably these brake require a T10 to loosen the cable, and I’d decided against the minute extra weight of carrying one with me) to fix it. I considered stopping a the mobile mechanics…but reckoned that it’d be unlikely even that they had one. or it would take too long to find it. Instead I just rode on. My friend Naomi who’s also living out at Combe Keynes, a fine ultra athlete herself and hardened Iron-supporter was waiting about 40km in, told me that I was in 5th position and had a big lead on my age group. I wasn’t keen to stop again. 

As we turned for our second lap, and the 70.3 competitors had all returned to T2, the roads were suddenly rather lonely! After several km of riding on my own, I decided to stop and see if i could resolve the rubbing brakes at the side of the road. There wasn’t much I could do other than attempt to re-align the wheel…as I was doing so at the side of the road, a girl, apparently attached to the rear wheel of a guy passed. That looked a bit closer than necessary to me, so back on my bike I rode behind a while before pulling up alongside and suggesting that she created a little gap as i passed them. I’m not sure that she understood me, as her response was quite a big grin!!  We passed on another a couple more times, depending on terrain, and I made a further stop to adjust my brakes ) which to my frustration, i’d managed to make a lot worse in my first attempt to fix… she seemed pretty determined to stick with her man, who was a British guy and so I assume not know to her. I just put it out of my mind - there wasn’t anything I could do about it, and at the end of the day, she was not in my age group. She didn’t look likely to be a fantastic runner. Elle’s fried Andy caught up with me near the end of the second lap, I guess he’d not been having a great day so far. To be honest by that time I was “feeling’ it - the 180km course has a total of over 2000m ascent, delivered in a unrelenting series of smaller climbs - and fed up listening to my damn brakes stealing the pithy watts I was putting out!  Thankfully, the last 10km of the course was a nice long descent back to town on the coast. 

I was unsure of what position I was in hitting the run, I think still in 5th. I was also unsure of what sort of pace I’d be able to sustain for the marathon on the very little running I’d been able to do over the summer. But still, I set off at an optimistic pace glad for the support of the crowds there, in pursuit of the women ahead of me. I knew for sure that there were none in my age group, but had no idea how close behind my competition might be.  I had my super supporters Ellie and Naomi out there to feed me the info I wanted as well as my drinks. Naomi was confident that I had a gap, but wisely kept quiet about how big it was at that point! Over the first half of the run I passed a couple of women and was holding 3rd place into the 3rd lap, That’s when I decide to take a loo stop….and at that point was passed by another girl (AG35-39) . I caught up to her and we ran together for a half lap, back from the far point of the beach towards the town, it was good to have something t focus on other than the discomfort in my legs, and good for my pace. We pushed each other along a bit, until we passed her husband, who with a very loud voice encouraged her “ if  you’re going to go - go now”   she was chasing two in her AG group up ahead, and only had about 10 km left to do it in. I also encouraged her to push on…and she did. Feeling pretty secure of my own position in AG by that point, and was holding a tough pace without the “need” to do so, I watched her slowly pull away. I suppose after that, I slowed down. She went on to catch and pass one of the girls ahead of her, and placed second overall.  

The “apparent” drafter was 3rd, and in retrospect I’m annoyed that I’d not fought a bit more to beat her on the run… my marathon time was 3:30 dead, and although that effort felt just as hard at the time as my best runs ever have, iIm sure that with one less loo stop and a bit more motivation to suffer the podium was attainable. 
But…Overall I was pleased with my performance, enjoyed it too and successfully earned a Kona slot, These were my 3 intended outcomes, and to be honest the fact that I hadn’t really prepared myself, mentally or physically, for more is what prevented me from “fighting” harder for that podium spot. 

A very nice way to end the season, picking up a lai and an entry to the Dream Race with over year to get myself in the best shape for it. 



Saturday 29 October 2016

week 52


Yes, it's week 52 in the training diary and  officially the end of my 2016 season. As usual i’m reviewing the data in my training log, and my thoughts on the races and events this season. 

Blogging has been intermittent, mainly due to the increase in coaching work over the last 2 years.  I’ll make an attempt at an update for the second half of my racing season, which actually has been the most interesting in terms of my own increased level of focus (towards the goal of Kona slot at Weymouth) and the variety of races and activities I managed to take on around this. I'll do this over a few seperate posts. 


As seems to be a theme this year, I felt that I only “just” came into shape to race in time…and spent my “taper” period wishing that i’d advanced the process because the training was just starting to become fun!!  In retrospect this has probably “always” been the case ….and is probably the best case scenario. When you enjoy 8 hour training days, and have the ability to arrange your working schedule to allow 3-4 of those a week, is when you’re most likely to get yourself overtrained - so that “sweet spot” is best kept short, and fresh for race day. 

Unfortunately, the other way to put this is that it’s best that training feels difficult, the routine very tiring and the whole process a lot of hard work not  a lot of fun, for *most* of the preparation period before for your key race! 

This year’s antidote to this, which due to a generally more relaxed approach to my race performances, was a continued development of my off road riding ….not nearly as much as I’d have liked, but I was able to take part in the Aggregate 100km Gravel race (and flukily “win” it) and then The 3Peaks cyclocross race - a unique, gruelling, fantastic experience which I’d like to write about separately sometime. Actually, this took place after Ironman Weymouth…now that I think about it. 

So…going back to talking about triathlon races, and chronological order ….Xman XXX really was the kick start to my training campaign for Ironman Weymouth. The event that I had forked out a lot of quid to do, and was the key event of my season. The goal being to win my age group, and pick up a slot for the Ironman World Championships. There was certainly a period in my preparation for that ( read back two paragraphs!) when I decided that I didn’t want to go to Kona, or specifically didn’t want to have to get in shape to do another Ironman. And then a period where I didn’t really expect p qualify anyway. Training, compared to the previous 7 years, was not going well…. very few long rides and nothing specific, a persistent niggle in my foot that limited my running to only every few days and 16-18km at a time. Although there was a joyous period when my swim pace did improve …


Through the association of Team Reko with Freak Events, I’ve had many opportunities to get out and race this year. I have to admit that I took a rather relaxed approach to these races - even so, each event provided a great boost of invigoration, and somewhat reassured me that I wasn’t quite so unfit, or slow….and I’d just have to be prepared to push it a little more on the one day of the year. Race day. 

There will be full a report of Ironman Weymouth to follow.... but the outcome was good. I enjoyed the race, from start to finish ( aside from a few moments/hours of frutsration with my bike) and although did not push for podium, won my age group and the privilege of handing over my credit card to Ironman once again the following day ...to accpet my age group slot for Kona 2017. 

2016, my first year as a 40 year old, my return to amatuer racing in a nutshell? I got through it on the minimum effective dose ... which still gives me a small feeling of guilt. This is my problem though..."minimum efective dose" is actaully the optimum!  I was able to get the outcome I was aiming for without having to do too much of what I didnt want to do, and fit it around a lot of stuff that I DID want to do. Essentially, it's been a year off. 

Next year, the outcome goal is a bit more ambitious...Iand the "minimum effective dose" to achive that will be significantly more arduous. So if 2016 has been a bit of a break, I feel it's been a break that was needed....and has had the secondary benefit of demonstrating what really is necessary, and what is not in terms of getting in shape - potential areas where I will improve on " good enough"  with a return to my previous focus in training, and the bits that really didnt seem to make a great deal of difference!! 



week 52


Yes, it's week 52 in the training diary and  officially the end of my 2016 season. As usual i’m reviewing the data in my training log, and my thoughts on the races and events this season. 

Blogging has been intermittent, mainly due to the increase in coaching work over the last 2 years.  I’ll make an attempt at an update for the second half of my racing season, which actually has been the most interesting in terms of my own increased level of focus (towards the goal of Kona slot at Weymouth) and the variety of races and activities I managed to take on around this. I'll do this over a few seperate posts. 


As seems to be a theme this year, I felt that I only “just” came into shape to race in time…and spent my “taper” period wishing that i’d advanced the process because the training was just starting to become fun!!  In retrospect this has probably “always” been the case ….and is probably the best case scenario. When you enjoy 8 hour training days, and have the ability to arrange your working schedule to allow 3-4 of those a week, is when you’re most likely to get yourself overtrained - so that “sweet spot” is best kept short, and fresh for race day. 

Unfortunately, the other way to put this is that it’s best that training feels difficult, the routine very tiring and the whole process a lot of hard work not  a lot of fun, for *most* of the preparation period before for your key race! 

This year’s antidote to this, which due to a generally more relaxed approach to my race performances, was a continued development of my off road riding ….not nearly as much as I’d have liked, but I was able to take part in the Aggregate 100km Gravel race (and flukily “win” it) and then The 3Peaks cyclocross race - a unique, gruelling, fantastic experience which I’d like to write about separately sometime. Actually, this took place after Ironman Weymouth…now that I think about it. 

So…going back to talking about triathlon races, and chronological order ….Xman XXX really was the kick start to my training campaign for Ironman Weymouth. The event that I had forked out a lot of quid to do, and was the key event of my season. The goal being to win my age group, and pick up a slot for the Ironman World Championships. There was certainly a period in my preparation for that ( read back two paragraphs!) when I decided that I didn’t want to go to Kona, or specifically didn’t want to have to get in shape to do another Ironman. And then a period where I didn’t really expect p qualify anyway. Training, compared to the previous 7 years, was not going well…. very few long rides and nothing specific, a persistent niggle in my foot that limited my running to only every few days and 16-18km at a time. Although there was a joyous period when my swim pace did improve …


Through the association of Team Reko with Freak Events, I’ve had many opportunities to get out and race this year. I have to admit that I took a rather relaxed approach to these races - even so, each event provided a great boost of invigoration, and somewhat reassured me that I wasn’t quite so unfit, or slow….and I’d just have to be prepared to push it a little more on the one day of the year. Race day. 

There will be full a report of Ironman Weymouth to follow.... but the outcome was good. I enjoyed the race, from start to finish ( aside from a few moments/hours of frutsration with my bike) and although did not push for podium, won my age group and the privilege of handing over my credit card to Ironman once again the following day ...to accpet my age group slot for Kona 2017. 

2016, my first year as a 40 year old, my return to amatuer racing in a nutshell? I got through it on the minimum effective dose ... which still gives me a small feeling of guilt. This is my problem though..."minimum efective dose" is actaully the optimum!  I was able to get the outcome I was aiming for without having to do too much of what I didnt want to do, and fit it around a lot of stuff that I DID want to do. Essentially, it's been a year off. 

Next year, the outcome goal is a bit more ambitious...Iand the "minimum effective dose" to achive that will be significantly more arduous. So if 2016 has been a bit of a break, I feel it's been a break that was needed....and has had the secondary benefit of demonstrating what really is necessary, and what is not in terms of getting in shape - potential areas where I will improve on " good enough"  with a return to my previous focus in training, and the bits that really didnt seem to make a great deal of difference!! 



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