Every year as athletes we seem to go through the same process, that time where we down tools and either ease back or cut out completely the training and have a bit of R&R. What this also does is cause us to worry about the missed training, the loss of fitness, the resultant weight gain etc. What we don't realise at the time is what the body actually needs is this change of pace to recover from that deep down fatigue we have built up over the last 10-12 months.
This year I have embarked upon my longest period of not training since I took up riding a bike back in 2008, now I did go swimming, running and biking during this time, but only as I wanted to and none of it was done particularly hard.
After Challenge Weymouth I took 2 weeks of doing nothing, absolutely nothing, and then the next 5 weeks I did a few rides, runs and swims. As I use training software I could see my fitness ebbing away and yes those demons did start rearing their ugly heads, I should get back to training, IM South Africa is only 5 months away, what about if I can't regain the required fitness, how difficult will getting back into training be. I kept my word (I had said to Ruth I would start back formal training in November) and didn't panic, 4 and half months of dedicated training is more than enough to get my fitness greater than I did at Weymouth.
A few sessions I did do help with that confidence, a 145 mile bike ride, 10 mile runs were done without too much bother so I felt relaxed enough to commit to the extended break. What was a bigger bonus was a renewed enthusiasm for training, last year I had gone through a tough time mentally (though in hindsight this worked out to be a blessing in disguise), and I didn't want to go through that again. It really was a pleasure telling my little lad that I didn't have to go training and we could spend the day chilling out and saying to my wife did we want to go out for the day as a family.
There was a bit of a downside, and that was an injury I got whilst running, with not running much perhaps going for long extended runs wasn't the wisest choice, I should have stuck to shorter runs I think. Now this has caused a few other demons to rise from the flames. I have now started back training, but running is on hold for a few weeks. This has me worried in 2 ways, just when I should be starting to build up for South Africa I can't and even when I do start running again, is the issue going to flare up again. I have no idea what really caused the issue so this will now play on my mind for a few months I expect. Even when back training there is the wrestling with demons going on all the time.
Some good news however, the swimming seems to be going in the right direction again, and whilst my bike fitness on a graph has plummeted this doesn't appear to show the same in real life, that's a couple of demons shot down pretty quickly, so perhaps I have little to worry about and it will all come together fine.
Would I take the same amount of time off again, I am not sure but one thing is for sure I will make sure I take some complete downtime every year, the fitness losses are minimal and the mental and physical refreshment is fantastic. I feel in a whole different mindset to this time last year where I raced for far too long and trained far too long with that. Roll on 2015, I think this is one winter I really will begin to enjoy ;)
Bastion
Wednesday 5 November 2014
Friday 3 October 2014
1st Year Triathlete Overview
After a few weeks of letting the season sink in, I thought I would write an overview of my 2014 season. One thing is for sure I have come out of it in a far better state of mind than I did at the end of 2013, I think the change of sport has been a massive breath of fresh air.
I started the year with a goal of trying to enjoy the change of sport and just see how I got on, the idea was to build up with some short local events before moving on to middle distance events. Now things started off as planned with some early season success, but early season things also changed quite dramatically when I "won" entries into 2 long distance events. Instead of just dipping my toe in and see how things went, it was a wholesale change in focus, TT-ing would have to take a backseat and I would have to go into triathlon in a more full on way.
Now I already had an early season goal of trying to defend my Cycling Time Trials TT Series title, so this made things a little difficult, especially as I was mixing this up with the early season triathlons. Talk about making life difficult for myself and Ruth. In reality this meant that running was done very ad hoc, and although my run fitness did improve from Jan to May, I never really did enough to improve at the rate I needed to, I guess it did keep me injury free. Now trying to defend my title wasn't going to be easy even if I was just cycle training, but add in the running and I found it a little more challenging to keep the bike fitness where I needed it to be. Ultimately the bike fitness did dip slightly, I never really felt as though I was fully on it, and at times struggled to put in the performances I had done in earlier years. By the time I had finished with the TT Series in May, I had done enough to retain my title, but only just.
Now with the TT Series out of the way, it was time to knuckle down and train for my first real event of the year, and that was going to be the Castle Triathlon Bastion at Hever Castle. Now 8 weeks training for an ironman triathlon was never going to be enough really, but I had made my bed and now I had to lie in it. The weeks went by, and I even had a bash at a middle distance triathlon to bridge the step up from the early season sprint distance events. Running was still an issue as I found out in the middle distance race, and I did think I had probably taken on a bit too much.
I came into the Bastion feeling good however, bike fitness was good, and the run fitness was getting better all of the time. Swimming was still an issue, but I guess being middle of the pack in swimming in your first season isn't too bad. The race went incredibly well and to finish on the podium as 3rd overall was a great feeling, though I realised it was mainly due to the bike leg where I knew I would be strong. I was a case of ride as well as I can and just hold on for the run, it worked but I knew there was room for improvement in the running.
One great thing to happen between the Bastion and Challenge Weymouth was to be voted as a SUNDRiED ambassador, very proud to represent a company that makes great apparel that is ethical and sustainable. The clothing looks cool as well, double bonus.
It would have been tempting to go on and do some smaller events, but I had decided that I wanted to try for a second peak at Challenge Weymouth, so with only 9 weeks between the 2 events it was a case of trying to get recovered from the Bastion before training again for 6 weeks. The recovery took longer than I would have liked, but being a novice runner I guess this was only to be expected. Once I felt better again the training went well, and I found running fitness making big gains, my bike fitness did seem to dip though, but I was still getting in some decent long rides at around IM effort, so I knew it hadn't gone completely.
In my taper for Challenge Weymouth things didn't go as well as before the Bastion, I think a very big week 3 weeks out probably made me more tired that I was before the Bastion, and in the week leading up to Weymouth I was bitten by a bug and I had a pretty badly swollen leg a few days before the event. Luckily it had gone before the day, but I did feel a little flat in comparison to the Bastion.
Challenge Weymouth ended up being a very pleasing performance from myself, I had set myself a decent target of sub 10 hours based on my training times, and even if the swim hadn't been shortened and the run was full distance I am very confident I would have beaten this. It was my run that really made me happy though, I actually felt like a proper triathlete for once with doing a half decent run and not feeling like I was just holding on after a strong bike. I had ridden and strong disciplined bike and then had a very good run off it, just shows what training can actually achieve :).
So overall the season was a great one, the change of focus has done wonders for my mental state, the variety of training is so refreshing and even though I seem to be mediocre at it, swimming open water is so nice. Not so sure about pool swimming though, suppose that is like riding on the turbo or running on the treadmill, not that enjoyable but a necessity.
I must say the best event of the year for me was the Bastion, a great first event for the Castle Triathlon team in a stunning location and in a wonderful part of the South East of England, highly recommended event. It certainly is a challenging event, or according to others a "brutal" event. I will be back in 2015 that is for sure.
I look forward to 2015, I have set myself some very tough targets, but I feel if I can train as well over the winter then they are very achievable, though when racing ironman races they are never straight forward and a lot can happen in the build up and the race itself.
So is triathlon my new sport of choice, well that is a definite YES, I will still do TTs, but for the near future the focus is fully on long distance triathlon, it really is a bloody good laugh.
I must say a big thanks to all those that have helped me this year, especially to Ruth (@REylesCoaching ) my coach for turning me into a triathlete and having faith in me.
To Liz and Ali (and all the team ;) ) at the Tri Spirit Team, I made the right choice in joining you, you have been so supportive and encouraging it never ceases to amaze me, roll on 2015. The girls also organise and run some of the best events in Kent, check out the website for the full events programme, highly recommended.
To Matt Molloy (@AhoySavaloy ) thanks very much for all you advice and that winning entry, it has changed me for the better ;).
To Erdinger Alkoholfrei (@ErdingerAF_UK ) thanks for your newsletter competition, Challenge Weymouth was a ball, and your beer is ace. See you around in 2015.
Thanks to the Castle Triathlon Series team (@CastleTriathlon ) for all your support on the Bastion, it was like being part of a family, I really would recommend any of the events the team put on, they are all superb and in stunning locations.
Thanks for all the support Fisher Outdoor have given me this year with quality kit. Big thanks again go to SUNDRiED for your support it has been fantastic.
Also must not forget the 2 people that really make all this possible, Heather and Killian, thank you ever so much for your support, not just this year, but for the last 5+ years. I owe you a nice holiday Hev ;)
I started the year with a goal of trying to enjoy the change of sport and just see how I got on, the idea was to build up with some short local events before moving on to middle distance events. Now things started off as planned with some early season success, but early season things also changed quite dramatically when I "won" entries into 2 long distance events. Instead of just dipping my toe in and see how things went, it was a wholesale change in focus, TT-ing would have to take a backseat and I would have to go into triathlon in a more full on way.
Now I already had an early season goal of trying to defend my Cycling Time Trials TT Series title, so this made things a little difficult, especially as I was mixing this up with the early season triathlons. Talk about making life difficult for myself and Ruth. In reality this meant that running was done very ad hoc, and although my run fitness did improve from Jan to May, I never really did enough to improve at the rate I needed to, I guess it did keep me injury free. Now trying to defend my title wasn't going to be easy even if I was just cycle training, but add in the running and I found it a little more challenging to keep the bike fitness where I needed it to be. Ultimately the bike fitness did dip slightly, I never really felt as though I was fully on it, and at times struggled to put in the performances I had done in earlier years. By the time I had finished with the TT Series in May, I had done enough to retain my title, but only just.
Now with the TT Series out of the way, it was time to knuckle down and train for my first real event of the year, and that was going to be the Castle Triathlon Bastion at Hever Castle. Now 8 weeks training for an ironman triathlon was never going to be enough really, but I had made my bed and now I had to lie in it. The weeks went by, and I even had a bash at a middle distance triathlon to bridge the step up from the early season sprint distance events. Running was still an issue as I found out in the middle distance race, and I did think I had probably taken on a bit too much.
I came into the Bastion feeling good however, bike fitness was good, and the run fitness was getting better all of the time. Swimming was still an issue, but I guess being middle of the pack in swimming in your first season isn't too bad. The race went incredibly well and to finish on the podium as 3rd overall was a great feeling, though I realised it was mainly due to the bike leg where I knew I would be strong. I was a case of ride as well as I can and just hold on for the run, it worked but I knew there was room for improvement in the running.
One great thing to happen between the Bastion and Challenge Weymouth was to be voted as a SUNDRiED ambassador, very proud to represent a company that makes great apparel that is ethical and sustainable. The clothing looks cool as well, double bonus.
It would have been tempting to go on and do some smaller events, but I had decided that I wanted to try for a second peak at Challenge Weymouth, so with only 9 weeks between the 2 events it was a case of trying to get recovered from the Bastion before training again for 6 weeks. The recovery took longer than I would have liked, but being a novice runner I guess this was only to be expected. Once I felt better again the training went well, and I found running fitness making big gains, my bike fitness did seem to dip though, but I was still getting in some decent long rides at around IM effort, so I knew it hadn't gone completely.
In my taper for Challenge Weymouth things didn't go as well as before the Bastion, I think a very big week 3 weeks out probably made me more tired that I was before the Bastion, and in the week leading up to Weymouth I was bitten by a bug and I had a pretty badly swollen leg a few days before the event. Luckily it had gone before the day, but I did feel a little flat in comparison to the Bastion.
Challenge Weymouth ended up being a very pleasing performance from myself, I had set myself a decent target of sub 10 hours based on my training times, and even if the swim hadn't been shortened and the run was full distance I am very confident I would have beaten this. It was my run that really made me happy though, I actually felt like a proper triathlete for once with doing a half decent run and not feeling like I was just holding on after a strong bike. I had ridden and strong disciplined bike and then had a very good run off it, just shows what training can actually achieve :).
So overall the season was a great one, the change of focus has done wonders for my mental state, the variety of training is so refreshing and even though I seem to be mediocre at it, swimming open water is so nice. Not so sure about pool swimming though, suppose that is like riding on the turbo or running on the treadmill, not that enjoyable but a necessity.
I must say the best event of the year for me was the Bastion, a great first event for the Castle Triathlon team in a stunning location and in a wonderful part of the South East of England, highly recommended event. It certainly is a challenging event, or according to others a "brutal" event. I will be back in 2015 that is for sure.
I look forward to 2015, I have set myself some very tough targets, but I feel if I can train as well over the winter then they are very achievable, though when racing ironman races they are never straight forward and a lot can happen in the build up and the race itself.
So is triathlon my new sport of choice, well that is a definite YES, I will still do TTs, but for the near future the focus is fully on long distance triathlon, it really is a bloody good laugh.
I must say a big thanks to all those that have helped me this year, especially to Ruth (
To Liz and Ali (and all the team ;) ) at the Tri Spirit Team, I made the right choice in joining you, you have been so supportive and encouraging it never ceases to amaze me, roll on 2015. The girls also organise and run some of the best events in Kent, check out the website for the full events programme, highly recommended.
To Matt Molloy (
To Erdinger Alkoholfrei (
Thanks to the Castle Triathlon Series team (
Thanks for all the support Fisher Outdoor have given me this year with quality kit. Big thanks again go to SUNDRiED for your support it has been fantastic.
Also must not forget the 2 people that really make all this possible, Heather and Killian, thank you ever so much for your support, not just this year, but for the last 5+ years. I owe you a nice holiday Hev ;)
Thursday 18 September 2014
Challenge Weymouth
This was the big one for me, thanks to ERDINGER Alkoholfrei I had won the entry into Challenge Weymouth back in March, so after finishing the CTT TT Series, it was all about getting the best out of myself in this race.
After the Bastion, I knew completing an long distance triathlon was possible, so this was going to be to target a challenging finishing time and hopefully with that a good AG position, little did I know how well the day would go. Stepping back a few days though and the week leading up hadn't been without issues. On the Wednesday I took part in the Tri Spirit Events Go Tri Ashford, basically a 300m swim followed by a 2.5km run. Nothing happened on the event, I did a decent swim and run to come in 3rd, but I was also bitten at some point by some creature on the back of my leg. What started off as an annoying itch turned into a massive inflammation on the Thursday morning, "Oh great" I thought, just what I need before Weymouth. I just put lots of bite and sting cream on and just hoped it would die down. It did luckily by race day, but not something I needed to be honest.
I got to Weymouth on the Friday, and I was determined to enjoy the whole big event atmosphere and just relax for a few days. I got registration all done and dusted as early as possible, said hi to the guys from ERDINGER Alkoholfrei whilst they were setting up. I even bumped into Kate from SUNDRiED and had a great chat, conveniently wearing my SUNDRiED Tee and Sunnies. I also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with fellow SUNDRiED ambassador Nikki Bartlett on Saturday.
Saturday morning I decided to see what an early morning choppy sea swim was going to be like, the temperature was good, but it was a hard swim and with the waves crashing to shore fairly hard I knew with the weather being forecast for Sunday being similar, it was probably going to be a tough swim, not great for my targets. After a quick spin on the bike in full race setup, to check all was working fine, it was a day that was spent relaxing with Heather and my parents before getting the bike racked in the evening.
Sunday dawned after a surprisingly good sleep, what wasn't so good for a weaker swimmer was the sight of waves crashing to shore with a big swell, this certainly wasn't going to be pleasant. I got the bike and bags all sorted, and went back to my hotel room to get my Blue Seventy Reaction wetsuit on. Back in transition it was soon announced that swim course was being changed to an out and back course and shortened as a result. Bit of a bonus for me, but it did mean one of the targets of a sub 10 hour ironman had gone out of the window, hey ho never mind, lets just focus on the other goals.
As we lined up for the swim, I will admit I wasn't looking forward to it, and the first swim to the far buoy was a mixture of fear and sheer willpower just to get the swim over and done with. Actually once we reached the first buoy I settled down and swam pretty comfortably for the rest of the swim. I guess once I knew I wasn't going to drown there was no fear. At least I know for the next sea swim just to get on and enjoy it.
Now the best bit was to come, coming out of T1 in 160th position wasn't the great, but I knew the pace I could go and just got down to riding the bike how I know I can. It wasn't long before I started passing the faster swimmers, but I did notice that I was feeling that great stomach wise, I just felt as though I had bad stomach cramp. I just rode on hoping it would settle down and it was probably due to a lot of ingestion of salt water. I had made the decision to use my own nutrition and just take water from the aid stations, this made dealing with the aid stations nice and easy as well. I did struggle to take in gels however, and stuck to mainly Powerbar Isoactive in a strong solution and my Powerbar Powergel Shots, this seemed to work though I was conscious that this might be a tad on the low side.
It wasn't long before I overtook one of the top guys in my AG and then some of the Pro ladies, there were very few moments where I wasn't overtaking someone which was pleasing I must admit after the terrible swim. Near the end of the 1st lap I had even overtaking one of the pro men, bloody hell I must be going pretty well. I started the second lap feeling much better with my stomach, though I was bursting for a pee, now do I stop on the bike or can I wait until T2, I tried to hold on. It wasn't long before I saw one of the pros fixing a puncture, a quick check to make sure he was OK and it was back on it, but I was getting real desperate for a pee now, there was no option I had to go. I was only stopped for a minute or so, but the pro, Keegan Williams had caught me up, no bother I thought. Up the hills he would power away, but as soon as we went downhill or along the flat I was right back with him and with me not wanting to compromise my race I went by, the next hill he came back past again, and so it went on. After a while we started working together and it was here I experienced what the pros do when they are in a pace line, periods of soft tapping followed by solid effort when on the front. The 10 metre rule might seem as you don't get much help, but it gives you enough to ease off the legs a little.
After working together for a while I went to the front at the 100 mile mark and only saw Keegan again on the run. Nearing the end of the 2nd lap I went past a suffering Tom Vickery who seemed to be having a tough day on the bike, the final downhill section into Weymouth should have been fun, but with lots of traffic and slower bike riders it meant quite a bit of freewheeling and braking. Even worse was the queue to one of the roundabouts, cars were queued back some 1/2 to 3/4 mile, not ideal in all honesty and with no separated cycle lane it meant going down the outside. Once around the roundabout it was a quick tailwind blast back to transition.
T2 went well and now out on the run in 9th position (I didn't know that on the day though), Keegan and Tom flew past me quite quickly, this was not surprising, I am not even in their league when it comes to running. My run legs seemed pretty good, hamstrings a bit tight, but on the whole I felt good. I settled into the pace I was confident I could hold until at least halfway. Mentally this was a little tough at first as I was being passed by faster runners doing the Challenge Weymouth Half, but I soon sorted my head and it wasn't long before I was passing the slower runners. I was feeling good in general, and taking on water and coke from every aid station. The crowds in Weymouth were fantastic and the encouragement was much needed. With the run being up and down the promenade in the main with a small section through the town, you were never far away from anyone, but the section along Preston beach was a bit different, not that many people and with a stiff headwind in one direction made it a little bit more challenging.
As we passed by the finish each lap I just count down the times I needed to go to the far end, but about 25km my legs were starting to feel the effort more, but I was still doing a good pace, with the exception of the bit into the wind, I almost fell into the trap of going too easy but I knew others would be chasing me down. It was around this point where the pro ladies started going past me, but I worked out I was still in a fairly decent position as only one other Age Group athlete on the same lap as me had passed me, though I didn't have a clue how many were in front.
Onto the last lap and mentally I knew I would do it in a good time even if I hit the wall, but I just tried to make sure the pace didn't drop much, now my legs were hurting though I had obviously done enough feeding as I wasn't getting cramp. I managed to up the pace over the last few km's to finish the race in 9:04:35. Now I know the swim was short, and the run ended up being slightly short as well, but I would have beaten my 10 hour target by a fair margin.
Now it was time to meet up with family and recover, I hadn't a clue of my final position, and to be honest I wasn't really bothered at first, I just hurt too much and was feeling just a little bit sick. Once I had recovered I looked at the results, and that is when I could really enjoy the moment. Being able to share my enjoyment with my wife and my Mum and Dad was special, but the one I missed was my little lad, who said he would rather not miss a day off school.
RESULTS
16th Overall
13th Male
3rd Age Grouper
1st in the 45-49 AG
I was also down as the 4th fastest bike split (though I think the timings are out slightly, as I didn't spend 9 mins in T1), and I had a run time of 3:18 (the run was short, but even so I would have probably beaten my 3:30 target). The pleasing part of the run was I was the 4th fastest in my AG so the run was a very solid run for me.
The main competition I knew anything about really was the guy who finished 3rd in my AG, 24 mins behind me, back in June at the Grafman Middle Distance race, he had beaten me by 20 mins. To turn that around and run with a faster run split at Challenge Weymouth shows the progress my coach, Ruth Eyles and I have made now I have given triathlon my full attention.
The result is somewhat shocking to me, I knew I had made progress with my running and I knew my biking, though not at it's best, was still strong, but I never expected to finish one of the big iron distance events so high up the order and in such a strong way. Whereas the Bastion I felt I did a great ride and held on with the run, I felt here I was more rounded a triathlete, though still crap at swimming. Let's hope the progress continues over the winter.
I have many people to thank, but not least ERDINGER Alkoholfrei for the entry, thank you very much guys. Also big thanks to Zipp Wheels, Quarq Powermeters, Powerbar, Blue Seventy, SRAM, Vittoria Tyres and Skechers for supplying quality kit. to Liz and Ali at the Tri Spirit Team, thank you for your never ending support and advice. Also thanks to SUNDRiED and your support. Biggest goes to my wife, Heather is amazing in many ways, but thank you for your support of my stupidity ;)
After the Bastion, I knew completing an long distance triathlon was possible, so this was going to be to target a challenging finishing time and hopefully with that a good AG position, little did I know how well the day would go. Stepping back a few days though and the week leading up hadn't been without issues. On the Wednesday I took part in the Tri Spirit Events Go Tri Ashford, basically a 300m swim followed by a 2.5km run. Nothing happened on the event, I did a decent swim and run to come in 3rd, but I was also bitten at some point by some creature on the back of my leg. What started off as an annoying itch turned into a massive inflammation on the Thursday morning, "Oh great" I thought, just what I need before Weymouth. I just put lots of bite and sting cream on and just hoped it would die down. It did luckily by race day, but not something I needed to be honest.
I got to Weymouth on the Friday, and I was determined to enjoy the whole big event atmosphere and just relax for a few days. I got registration all done and dusted as early as possible, said hi to the guys from ERDINGER Alkoholfrei whilst they were setting up. I even bumped into Kate from SUNDRiED and had a great chat, conveniently wearing my SUNDRiED Tee and Sunnies. I also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with fellow SUNDRiED ambassador Nikki Bartlett on Saturday.
Nikki and I after our races
Saturday morning I decided to see what an early morning choppy sea swim was going to be like, the temperature was good, but it was a hard swim and with the waves crashing to shore fairly hard I knew with the weather being forecast for Sunday being similar, it was probably going to be a tough swim, not great for my targets. After a quick spin on the bike in full race setup, to check all was working fine, it was a day that was spent relaxing with Heather and my parents before getting the bike racked in the evening.
Sunday dawned after a surprisingly good sleep, what wasn't so good for a weaker swimmer was the sight of waves crashing to shore with a big swell, this certainly wasn't going to be pleasant. I got the bike and bags all sorted, and went back to my hotel room to get my Blue Seventy Reaction wetsuit on. Back in transition it was soon announced that swim course was being changed to an out and back course and shortened as a result. Bit of a bonus for me, but it did mean one of the targets of a sub 10 hour ironman had gone out of the window, hey ho never mind, lets just focus on the other goals.
As we lined up for the swim, I will admit I wasn't looking forward to it, and the first swim to the far buoy was a mixture of fear and sheer willpower just to get the swim over and done with. Actually once we reached the first buoy I settled down and swam pretty comfortably for the rest of the swim. I guess once I knew I wasn't going to drown there was no fear. At least I know for the next sea swim just to get on and enjoy it.
I am in there somewhere, to the left
Now the best bit was to come, coming out of T1 in 160th position wasn't the great, but I knew the pace I could go and just got down to riding the bike how I know I can. It wasn't long before I started passing the faster swimmers, but I did notice that I was feeling that great stomach wise, I just felt as though I had bad stomach cramp. I just rode on hoping it would settle down and it was probably due to a lot of ingestion of salt water. I had made the decision to use my own nutrition and just take water from the aid stations, this made dealing with the aid stations nice and easy as well. I did struggle to take in gels however, and stuck to mainly Powerbar Isoactive in a strong solution and my Powerbar Powergel Shots, this seemed to work though I was conscious that this might be a tad on the low side.
It wasn't long before I overtook one of the top guys in my AG and then some of the Pro ladies, there were very few moments where I wasn't overtaking someone which was pleasing I must admit after the terrible swim. Near the end of the 1st lap I had even overtaking one of the pro men, bloody hell I must be going pretty well. I started the second lap feeling much better with my stomach, though I was bursting for a pee, now do I stop on the bike or can I wait until T2, I tried to hold on. It wasn't long before I saw one of the pros fixing a puncture, a quick check to make sure he was OK and it was back on it, but I was getting real desperate for a pee now, there was no option I had to go. I was only stopped for a minute or so, but the pro, Keegan Williams had caught me up, no bother I thought. Up the hills he would power away, but as soon as we went downhill or along the flat I was right back with him and with me not wanting to compromise my race I went by, the next hill he came back past again, and so it went on. After a while we started working together and it was here I experienced what the pros do when they are in a pace line, periods of soft tapping followed by solid effort when on the front. The 10 metre rule might seem as you don't get much help, but it gives you enough to ease off the legs a little.
After working together for a while I went to the front at the 100 mile mark and only saw Keegan again on the run. Nearing the end of the 2nd lap I went past a suffering Tom Vickery who seemed to be having a tough day on the bike, the final downhill section into Weymouth should have been fun, but with lots of traffic and slower bike riders it meant quite a bit of freewheeling and braking. Even worse was the queue to one of the roundabouts, cars were queued back some 1/2 to 3/4 mile, not ideal in all honesty and with no separated cycle lane it meant going down the outside. Once around the roundabout it was a quick tailwind blast back to transition.
T2 went well and now out on the run in 9th position (I didn't know that on the day though), Keegan and Tom flew past me quite quickly, this was not surprising, I am not even in their league when it comes to running. My run legs seemed pretty good, hamstrings a bit tight, but on the whole I felt good. I settled into the pace I was confident I could hold until at least halfway. Mentally this was a little tough at first as I was being passed by faster runners doing the Challenge Weymouth Half, but I soon sorted my head and it wasn't long before I was passing the slower runners. I was feeling good in general, and taking on water and coke from every aid station. The crowds in Weymouth were fantastic and the encouragement was much needed. With the run being up and down the promenade in the main with a small section through the town, you were never far away from anyone, but the section along Preston beach was a bit different, not that many people and with a stiff headwind in one direction made it a little bit more challenging.
As we passed by the finish each lap I just count down the times I needed to go to the far end, but about 25km my legs were starting to feel the effort more, but I was still doing a good pace, with the exception of the bit into the wind, I almost fell into the trap of going too easy but I knew others would be chasing me down. It was around this point where the pro ladies started going past me, but I worked out I was still in a fairly decent position as only one other Age Group athlete on the same lap as me had passed me, though I didn't have a clue how many were in front.
Onto the last lap and mentally I knew I would do it in a good time even if I hit the wall, but I just tried to make sure the pace didn't drop much, now my legs were hurting though I had obviously done enough feeding as I wasn't getting cramp. I managed to up the pace over the last few km's to finish the race in 9:04:35. Now I know the swim was short, and the run ended up being slightly short as well, but I would have beaten my 10 hour target by a fair margin.
Now it was time to meet up with family and recover, I hadn't a clue of my final position, and to be honest I wasn't really bothered at first, I just hurt too much and was feeling just a little bit sick. Once I had recovered I looked at the results, and that is when I could really enjoy the moment. Being able to share my enjoyment with my wife and my Mum and Dad was special, but the one I missed was my little lad, who said he would rather not miss a day off school.
RESULTS
16th Overall
13th Male
3rd Age Grouper
1st in the 45-49 AG
I was also down as the 4th fastest bike split (though I think the timings are out slightly, as I didn't spend 9 mins in T1), and I had a run time of 3:18 (the run was short, but even so I would have probably beaten my 3:30 target). The pleasing part of the run was I was the 4th fastest in my AG so the run was a very solid run for me.
The main competition I knew anything about really was the guy who finished 3rd in my AG, 24 mins behind me, back in June at the Grafman Middle Distance race, he had beaten me by 20 mins. To turn that around and run with a faster run split at Challenge Weymouth shows the progress my coach, Ruth Eyles and I have made now I have given triathlon my full attention.
The result is somewhat shocking to me, I knew I had made progress with my running and I knew my biking, though not at it's best, was still strong, but I never expected to finish one of the big iron distance events so high up the order and in such a strong way. Whereas the Bastion I felt I did a great ride and held on with the run, I felt here I was more rounded a triathlete, though still crap at swimming. Let's hope the progress continues over the winter.
I have many people to thank, but not least ERDINGER Alkoholfrei for the entry, thank you very much guys. Also big thanks to Zipp Wheels, Quarq Powermeters, Powerbar, Blue Seventy, SRAM, Vittoria Tyres and Skechers for supplying quality kit. to Liz and Ali at the Tri Spirit Team, thank you for your never ending support and advice. Also thanks to SUNDRiED and your support. Biggest goes to my wife, Heather is amazing in many ways, but thank you for your support of my stupidity ;)
Monday 1 September 2014
Training, Training and Yet More Training
Well it's been 7 weeks since the Bastion and no update, shame on me. Well to be honest I haven't raced much, in fact just once and that ended early with a sliced tubular. After the Bastion I took things easy for a couple of weeks, allowing myself to fully recover before embarking on the process of building again for Challenge Weymouth on the 14th September. Now 9 weeks between the two should be plenty of time, but once you allow for the recovery from the Bastion and then the taper for Weymouth it left around 5 to 6 weeks of quality building.
Now I could have just got straight back into training, but both my coach and I share similar views on recovery, you aren't going to get fitter if you are suffering deep down fatigue, or you might get fitter, just at a very slow pace. Our view was to get recovered from the Bastion and then crack on with the quality sessions that really build fitness. Having those 2 weeks of relatively easy training did mean my CTL dropped a fair amount, could I get this back in the time available. The plan was slightly compromised with me having a holiday with the family, though even then I was pretty sure I could get enough decent training in. The best part of the holiday though was we were in Weymouth so a great chance to recce the course whilst there.
The only race I had planned was the Tri Spirit Events Owler Aquabike, basically the IM swim and bike, with the plan from the coach to attack the bike as hard as possible. That was music to my ears really and although the swim was shocking (just not enough swim training done), the bike was going well to plan, by 50km I had got myself into the lead, and then a sudden deflation on my disc tub. Looking at the tub it was clear it wasn't going to be repairable as a bit of flint had sliced it pretty good. I wasn't carrying a spare tub in this race so that was game over. I wasn't too unhappy, though it would have been nice to finish the event as the Tri Spirit Events crew really do some special gifts for finishers, maybe next year.
Even though I managed to get 10 hours of training done whilst on holiday, most of it while the family slept and before breakfast, I knew I would need to up the hours somewhat to achieve at least the similar training load I achieved pre the Bastion. The next 3 weeks were real solid weeks even with work related time issues etc. I did take another week off work as well to get a big week of training in, it did the job though with a great ramp in CTL, and a ramp in fatigue at the same time obviously. This last week although still a build week wasn't as tough and I managed to ramp up my CTL again to get it to a higher level than I did before the Bastion. Now this should mean I am even fitter, especially the run fitness, the next 2 weeks of tapering will hopefully see me go into Challenge Weymouth in even better shape.
What of my hopes for Challenge Weymouth? Well I have been public with saying I aim to finish in sub 10 hours, is this possible, well I think it should be. The bike course certainly is going to be faster than the Bastion bike course, I can see at least 30 mins being knocked off here alone, if not more. The weather gods may dictate otherwise, but the rolling nature of the course just means keeping your average speed up will be so much easier. As for the run, well it is flat as a flat thing, and all tarmac so with better run fitness (including faster long run speeds in training) and the fact it is flat should mean I can perhaps knock 30 mins off this. Now the swim is the unknown here I suppose, I haven't done much sea swimming, and if the wind blows the wrong way it could end up being quite a slow swim for me. So sub 10 isn't far out of reach in all honesty, but I think it will rely on the bike leg being as fast as I hope, and me being able to run like I have in training. I hope to do well in my age group as well, but without going through every 45-49 athlete there is no real way of knowing how I will fair, I guess I just need to concentrate on me and do the best I can on the day.
I do know something though, it will be great lining up with some of the UK's fastest pros on what should be a great event. I have no doubt that getting the fastest bike split will be beyond me in this event, especially with the likes of Stephen Bayliss, Joe Skipper, Craig Twigg, Karl Alexander and others but even so I am really looking forward to it and no doubt the next 2 weeks will fly by.
P.S Any pointers on knocking 10 mins off my IM swim time in the next two weeks, going to need all the help I can LOL
Now I could have just got straight back into training, but both my coach and I share similar views on recovery, you aren't going to get fitter if you are suffering deep down fatigue, or you might get fitter, just at a very slow pace. Our view was to get recovered from the Bastion and then crack on with the quality sessions that really build fitness. Having those 2 weeks of relatively easy training did mean my CTL dropped a fair amount, could I get this back in the time available. The plan was slightly compromised with me having a holiday with the family, though even then I was pretty sure I could get enough decent training in. The best part of the holiday though was we were in Weymouth so a great chance to recce the course whilst there.
The only race I had planned was the Tri Spirit Events Owler Aquabike, basically the IM swim and bike, with the plan from the coach to attack the bike as hard as possible. That was music to my ears really and although the swim was shocking (just not enough swim training done), the bike was going well to plan, by 50km I had got myself into the lead, and then a sudden deflation on my disc tub. Looking at the tub it was clear it wasn't going to be repairable as a bit of flint had sliced it pretty good. I wasn't carrying a spare tub in this race so that was game over. I wasn't too unhappy, though it would have been nice to finish the event as the Tri Spirit Events crew really do some special gifts for finishers, maybe next year.
Even though I managed to get 10 hours of training done whilst on holiday, most of it while the family slept and before breakfast, I knew I would need to up the hours somewhat to achieve at least the similar training load I achieved pre the Bastion. The next 3 weeks were real solid weeks even with work related time issues etc. I did take another week off work as well to get a big week of training in, it did the job though with a great ramp in CTL, and a ramp in fatigue at the same time obviously. This last week although still a build week wasn't as tough and I managed to ramp up my CTL again to get it to a higher level than I did before the Bastion. Now this should mean I am even fitter, especially the run fitness, the next 2 weeks of tapering will hopefully see me go into Challenge Weymouth in even better shape.
What of my hopes for Challenge Weymouth? Well I have been public with saying I aim to finish in sub 10 hours, is this possible, well I think it should be. The bike course certainly is going to be faster than the Bastion bike course, I can see at least 30 mins being knocked off here alone, if not more. The weather gods may dictate otherwise, but the rolling nature of the course just means keeping your average speed up will be so much easier. As for the run, well it is flat as a flat thing, and all tarmac so with better run fitness (including faster long run speeds in training) and the fact it is flat should mean I can perhaps knock 30 mins off this. Now the swim is the unknown here I suppose, I haven't done much sea swimming, and if the wind blows the wrong way it could end up being quite a slow swim for me. So sub 10 isn't far out of reach in all honesty, but I think it will rely on the bike leg being as fast as I hope, and me being able to run like I have in training. I hope to do well in my age group as well, but without going through every 45-49 athlete there is no real way of knowing how I will fair, I guess I just need to concentrate on me and do the best I can on the day.
I do know something though, it will be great lining up with some of the UK's fastest pros on what should be a great event. I have no doubt that getting the fastest bike split will be beyond me in this event, especially with the likes of Stephen Bayliss, Joe Skipper, Craig Twigg, Karl Alexander and others but even so I am really looking forward to it and no doubt the next 2 weeks will fly by.
P.S Any pointers on knocking 10 mins off my IM swim time in the next two weeks, going to need all the help I can LOL
Wednesday 16 July 2014
The Bastion - Hever's Finest Offering
My first long distance triathlon and one I became to really look forward to. After the Grafman recovery and training had gone very well, even with the added inconvenience of having to go away with work several times, and that meant no bike or swimming. Still I suppose I got some extra run training in and this is always going to be worthwhile.
The prep for the Bastion probably wasn't the best compared to what you would normally do, running was really ad hoc up until the middle of May and even after this there wasn't really enough time to get loads of long runs in, plenty of 1 hour tempo runs, and the odd smattering of 2 hour easy runs, and just the one 2.5 hour run, yes that 17 mile run was the longest run I would be doing before doing a marathon off a nice hilly bike ride.
The Sunday before I had the chance to do a recce of the run course, oh dear it was a bit hillier and more off road than I expected, and very muddy in places, this was going to be a tougher run than expected, but hey ho nothing you can do with a week to go is there.
The few days leading up to the event, my story of being obese and then losing 45kgs to become a fit athlete was gaining a bit of momentum, I was only asked for a brief bit of information for the commentator. This meant I felt a bit of a celebrity, maybe a D class one LOL, but surprisingly it relaxed me more than getting me nervous.
Heather, Killian and I all travelled to Hever Castle on the Saturday to register, set up the tent, and do all the pre race racking, briefings, etc. I met with the wonderful Castle Triathlon Series crew and spent a nice Saturday afternoon exploring some of the castle grounds, it was just a fantastic venue to hold the event.
Sunday morning dawned with a severe lack of sleep from me, pre race nerves finally kicking in and the constant stream of planes in and out of Gatwick saw to that. I didn't feel too tired though, I think a lot of good sleep leading up to the weekend really helped here. After a quick check of bike, tyres and my bags in transition I got myself all suited up for the swim. A final quick briefing on the loggia in front of the lake, then it was into the slightly chilly and murky waters. After a few minutes warming up the countdown to the 1st ever Bastion begins. 3-2-1 klaxon and we all start down the lake and then the river section. Even with a small amount of competitors there are a few bashes and swimming into people, guess we are all aiming for the shortest distance. Once a few hundred metres down the lake, things settle down and it was just a case of trying to find the toes of slightly faster swimmers who were hopefully going the correct way.
After the first lap of 1900m I felt pretty good and thought I would try and up the effort slightly, and if anything the second lap felt better going. I came out the water probably about mid pack, and slightly slower than I would have liked, but according to my Garmin I had swam 4.2km, so probably had a bit of zig zagging in my swim, though my 100m pace was decent at around 1:41.
After a lovely run through the Italian Rose Garden we got to T1 where the crew were so helpful at assisting you with transition and tidying your stuff away for you, felt a bit like a pro :). Off out of T1 and onto the bike, mounting the bike in front of the castle itself was a very nice touch.
On the bike, I knew what sort of pace I could do, but with the roads being wet after a downpour during the swim, the first part was just take it steady, gets some fuel on board and get the legs working well. I soon got into my stride and the first of the hills seemed easy just twiddling up them, it would have been so easy just to ride up them hard, but I knew that would come back to bite later, I was still doing near on threshold power at times so there was no point going any harder. I did have one guy keep coming past on the hills out of the saddle grinding away, only to pass him once over the top of the hill, probably not the best way to treat an ironman I thought. Speed was good though and across the Ashdown Forest and down into Maresfield was the first real opportunity to see where I was placement wise. I worked out I was about 20 mins down on Fraser Cartmell, which wasn't unexpected with him being a cracking swimmer, but was surprised that there didn't seem to be that many others between me and Fraser.
I kept to me plan of riding tempo on the hills, and trying not to go near threshold and then recovering as much as possible on the downhills, the rolling sections were quite easy to pace with power. It certainly was a different way of riding for me especially compared with how I would attack a 100 mile TT, but I knew I would need all available energy for the run. Another thing I struggle with is eating and drinking on the bike, I can easily do a 6 hour ride with just 2 bottles if needs be, but I knew I would have to keep on taking in fluid and gels for the duration of the bike. I think mentally this was the toughest thing for me. I have never drunk so much on the bike before, even in a 12 hour TT.
The 2nd of 3 laps felt a bit slower, the wind was getting up and although the rain had gone and the roads were drying out it just seemed a little harder than expected the 2nd time around. It was by the end of the second lap I passed the 1st lady, pro triathlete Alice Hector and I presumed I was now 2nd behind Fraser, but I knew there was no way of catching him, he was in a class of his own. I started the 3rd lap feeling good, and even joked to photographers on the course about taking pictures on the more difficult parts of the course and liking to watch us suffer.
I decided that I had to make sure I didn't get into T2 with myself feeling too fresh as I didn't want to start the run too fast. After stopping for a toilet break and spending what felt like mins going, I was able to start taking on a lot more fluid and then I started pushing the effort a little bit more on the hills. I came into T2 slightly down on what I though was possible, but still happy it was a decent time on that course.
Again going into T2, the bike was racked for me, and I even had the pleasure of Brian Adcock the Race Organiser helping put sunscreen on, it had actually turned into a cracking day with the sun blazing down. Off out onto the run, I saw Heather and Killian, and I just had to give Heather a kiss, it was now just a case of keep telling myself NOT to go too hard, use the first few km's to settle down and find the run legs. This can be very difficult with all the crowd encouragement, but once out of the castle area it was easier to do. In contrast to the bike, I took on fluid from every aid station with a mixture of coke, water and electrolytes, anything basically to keep me hydrated and fuelled.
The first 2 10.5km laps went pretty well and I was still in 2nd place, but I knew that Alice would be hunting me down, as she is a very accomplished ultra endurance runner. She passed me just over the halfway point and proceeded to pull away very easily. I mentally just thought about getting through lap 3 in as good as shape as possible and then empty the tank on the last lap. My legs were starting to feel the effort after about 28km's and it wasn't long before Fraser lapped me on his way to a great win. Not knowing how far I was ahead of 4th place I just knew I had to grit my teeth and go as hard as my legs would let me. I started the 4th lap in some pain, but thought I am going to finish now and being on the podium would be fantastic, so it really was just a case of digging deep. I had been warned the 30km mark is where it can all fall apart, and as I had never run this far before it really was a big step into the unknown, the other unknown was how far behind is 4th place.
It was on the last lap I had to finally resort to walking up a steep pea shingle path, it was probably quicker than I would have "run" up it anyhow, but really happy to say this was the only time I walked a section. Back running and each uphill section was proving tougher each time as the quads and hamstrings felt on the edge of cramping, these sections just seemed to get slower and slower. I suppose in the back of my mind I knew everyone else would be suffering as well, but I just felt 4th place was bearing down on me fast. As soon as I got to the last 1.5km I knew it was all downhill/flat and was just as case of not slowing down, the last 500m seemed to go on forever but as I neared the finish I started looking for Heather and Killian, as I wanted Killian to run over the finish with me. I then saw him already over the barriers ready to run, so a last look over my shoulder, no-one behind and a unhurried run to the finish tape, with my little lad racing me - he won very easily.
What an amazing day, being the first non pro, 3rd overall and 2nd male in what was my first long distance triathlon. I was also told I had the fastest bike split, I had managed to beat Fraser by 15 secs on the bike which still surprises me, I know I am pretty decent on a bike but Fraser is no slouch either. One of the nicest surprises was seeing Liz from the Tri Spirit Team taking photos at the finish, and then I noticed Ali as well, it is sometimes the simple things that please you the most. So proud to have represented the Tri Spirit Team at such a great event, and do a great race at the same time.
Timings were:
Swim 1:11:42
T1 5:14
Bike 5:36:27
T2 1:44
Run 4:09:55
Overall 11:05:03
Obviously there are lots of people to thank for supporting and encouraging me, without their help things would be a lot tougher. First of all I must say a massive thank you to all the Castle Triathlon Series Crew, marshalls, helpers etc, without your time and effort these events just wouldn't happen. To my equipment suppliers, Zipp Wheels, Quarq, SRAM, Vittoria Tyres, Powerbar, Tacx, Blue Seventy, Skechers, CompressSport thanks for all your help and support with quality products that work. I must say a huge thank you to Ruth Eyles my coach for having the skill to not only turn me into a triathlete, but to do it whilst trying to win a National TT Series as well.
Thank you Heather and Killian, for just being the best supporters one could ask for, you really do make my life so much easier with your support, and it is a real pleasure to enjoy any success I have with you. Being told by my mum that Heather was so excited she had to call someone means the world to be as well, I truly am amazed at the support I get from Heather, and very thankful for it.
The prep for the Bastion probably wasn't the best compared to what you would normally do, running was really ad hoc up until the middle of May and even after this there wasn't really enough time to get loads of long runs in, plenty of 1 hour tempo runs, and the odd smattering of 2 hour easy runs, and just the one 2.5 hour run, yes that 17 mile run was the longest run I would be doing before doing a marathon off a nice hilly bike ride.
The Sunday before I had the chance to do a recce of the run course, oh dear it was a bit hillier and more off road than I expected, and very muddy in places, this was going to be a tougher run than expected, but hey ho nothing you can do with a week to go is there.
The few days leading up to the event, my story of being obese and then losing 45kgs to become a fit athlete was gaining a bit of momentum, I was only asked for a brief bit of information for the commentator. This meant I felt a bit of a celebrity, maybe a D class one LOL, but surprisingly it relaxed me more than getting me nervous.
Heather, Killian and I all travelled to Hever Castle on the Saturday to register, set up the tent, and do all the pre race racking, briefings, etc. I met with the wonderful Castle Triathlon Series crew and spent a nice Saturday afternoon exploring some of the castle grounds, it was just a fantastic venue to hold the event.
Sunday morning dawned with a severe lack of sleep from me, pre race nerves finally kicking in and the constant stream of planes in and out of Gatwick saw to that. I didn't feel too tired though, I think a lot of good sleep leading up to the weekend really helped here. After a quick check of bike, tyres and my bags in transition I got myself all suited up for the swim. A final quick briefing on the loggia in front of the lake, then it was into the slightly chilly and murky waters. After a few minutes warming up the countdown to the 1st ever Bastion begins. 3-2-1 klaxon and we all start down the lake and then the river section. Even with a small amount of competitors there are a few bashes and swimming into people, guess we are all aiming for the shortest distance. Once a few hundred metres down the lake, things settle down and it was just a case of trying to find the toes of slightly faster swimmers who were hopefully going the correct way.
After the first lap of 1900m I felt pretty good and thought I would try and up the effort slightly, and if anything the second lap felt better going. I came out the water probably about mid pack, and slightly slower than I would have liked, but according to my Garmin I had swam 4.2km, so probably had a bit of zig zagging in my swim, though my 100m pace was decent at around 1:41.
After a lovely run through the Italian Rose Garden we got to T1 where the crew were so helpful at assisting you with transition and tidying your stuff away for you, felt a bit like a pro :). Off out of T1 and onto the bike, mounting the bike in front of the castle itself was a very nice touch.
On the bike, I knew what sort of pace I could do, but with the roads being wet after a downpour during the swim, the first part was just take it steady, gets some fuel on board and get the legs working well. I soon got into my stride and the first of the hills seemed easy just twiddling up them, it would have been so easy just to ride up them hard, but I knew that would come back to bite later, I was still doing near on threshold power at times so there was no point going any harder. I did have one guy keep coming past on the hills out of the saddle grinding away, only to pass him once over the top of the hill, probably not the best way to treat an ironman I thought. Speed was good though and across the Ashdown Forest and down into Maresfield was the first real opportunity to see where I was placement wise. I worked out I was about 20 mins down on Fraser Cartmell, which wasn't unexpected with him being a cracking swimmer, but was surprised that there didn't seem to be that many others between me and Fraser.
Photos courtesy of Darren Wheeler
I kept to me plan of riding tempo on the hills, and trying not to go near threshold and then recovering as much as possible on the downhills, the rolling sections were quite easy to pace with power. It certainly was a different way of riding for me especially compared with how I would attack a 100 mile TT, but I knew I would need all available energy for the run. Another thing I struggle with is eating and drinking on the bike, I can easily do a 6 hour ride with just 2 bottles if needs be, but I knew I would have to keep on taking in fluid and gels for the duration of the bike. I think mentally this was the toughest thing for me. I have never drunk so much on the bike before, even in a 12 hour TT.
The 2nd of 3 laps felt a bit slower, the wind was getting up and although the rain had gone and the roads were drying out it just seemed a little harder than expected the 2nd time around. It was by the end of the second lap I passed the 1st lady, pro triathlete Alice Hector and I presumed I was now 2nd behind Fraser, but I knew there was no way of catching him, he was in a class of his own. I started the 3rd lap feeling good, and even joked to photographers on the course about taking pictures on the more difficult parts of the course and liking to watch us suffer.
Smiling to the cameraman
Photo courtesy of Darren Wheeler
I decided that I had to make sure I didn't get into T2 with myself feeling too fresh as I didn't want to start the run too fast. After stopping for a toilet break and spending what felt like mins going, I was able to start taking on a lot more fluid and then I started pushing the effort a little bit more on the hills. I came into T2 slightly down on what I though was possible, but still happy it was a decent time on that course.
Again going into T2, the bike was racked for me, and I even had the pleasure of Brian Adcock the Race Organiser helping put sunscreen on, it had actually turned into a cracking day with the sun blazing down. Off out onto the run, I saw Heather and Killian, and I just had to give Heather a kiss, it was now just a case of keep telling myself NOT to go too hard, use the first few km's to settle down and find the run legs. This can be very difficult with all the crowd encouragement, but once out of the castle area it was easier to do. In contrast to the bike, I took on fluid from every aid station with a mixture of coke, water and electrolytes, anything basically to keep me hydrated and fuelled.
The first 2 10.5km laps went pretty well and I was still in 2nd place, but I knew that Alice would be hunting me down, as she is a very accomplished ultra endurance runner. She passed me just over the halfway point and proceeded to pull away very easily. I mentally just thought about getting through lap 3 in as good as shape as possible and then empty the tank on the last lap. My legs were starting to feel the effort after about 28km's and it wasn't long before Fraser lapped me on his way to a great win. Not knowing how far I was ahead of 4th place I just knew I had to grit my teeth and go as hard as my legs would let me. I started the 4th lap in some pain, but thought I am going to finish now and being on the podium would be fantastic, so it really was just a case of digging deep. I had been warned the 30km mark is where it can all fall apart, and as I had never run this far before it really was a big step into the unknown, the other unknown was how far behind is 4th place. It was on the last lap I had to finally resort to walking up a steep pea shingle path, it was probably quicker than I would have "run" up it anyhow, but really happy to say this was the only time I walked a section. Back running and each uphill section was proving tougher each time as the quads and hamstrings felt on the edge of cramping, these sections just seemed to get slower and slower. I suppose in the back of my mind I knew everyone else would be suffering as well, but I just felt 4th place was bearing down on me fast. As soon as I got to the last 1.5km I knew it was all downhill/flat and was just as case of not slowing down, the last 500m seemed to go on forever but as I neared the finish I started looking for Heather and Killian, as I wanted Killian to run over the finish with me. I then saw him already over the barriers ready to run, so a last look over my shoulder, no-one behind and a unhurried run to the finish tape, with my little lad racing me - he won very easily.What an amazing day, being the first non pro, 3rd overall and 2nd male in what was my first long distance triathlon. I was also told I had the fastest bike split, I had managed to beat Fraser by 15 secs on the bike which still surprises me, I know I am pretty decent on a bike but Fraser is no slouch either. One of the nicest surprises was seeing Liz from the Tri Spirit Team taking photos at the finish, and then I noticed Ali as well, it is sometimes the simple things that please you the most. So proud to have represented the Tri Spirit Team at such a great event, and do a great race at the same time. Timings were:
Swim 1:11:42
T1 5:14
Bike 5:36:27
T2 1:44
Run 4:09:55
Overall 11:05:03
Obviously there are lots of people to thank for supporting and encouraging me, without their help things would be a lot tougher. First of all I must say a massive thank you to all the Castle Triathlon Series Crew, marshalls, helpers etc, without your time and effort these events just wouldn't happen. To my equipment suppliers, Zipp Wheels, Quarq, SRAM, Vittoria Tyres, Powerbar, Tacx, Blue Seventy, Skechers, CompressSport thanks for all your help and support with quality products that work. I must say a huge thank you to Ruth Eyles my coach for having the skill to not only turn me into a triathlete, but to do it whilst trying to win a National TT Series as well.
Thank you Heather and Killian, for just being the best supporters one could ask for, you really do make my life so much easier with your support, and it is a real pleasure to enjoy any success I have with you. Being told by my mum that Heather was so excited she had to call someone means the world to be as well, I truly am amazed at the support I get from Heather, and very thankful for it.
The Bastion will be back in 2015, be a part of what will be another iconic event and if you get in early you can get a discount of 30%, trust me it is worth the price. I will certainly be back next year. If a full long distance triathlon is not your thing they do a whole variety of distances at various castles around the country, you won't find a better crew.
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Grafman Middle Distance Triathlon
For my 3rd triathlon I thought I would up the stakes and start doing longer distance events, I suppose tackling a middle distance race was the next step, and I could have chosen a more local event. Not me however, why not do the Triathlon England National Middle Distance Championship as your first attempt at the distance, stupid idiot I am sometimes.
Now if you have read previous posts, the early season had been built around trying to win the CTT TT Series, this meant that running prep hadn't been that focussed and as such was a bit of an unknown when it came to running a half marathon after a strong 56 mile bike leg. Still this ideally was more about a learning experience in the build up to doing a full iron distance, so whatever the outcome I would still take away a huge amount of knowledge.
We all arrived on Saturday afternoon and camped by the water's edge, it was a lovely setting watching the sun go down over Grafham Water whilst getting the bike all sorted out for the following day. It did help settle the nerves I had thinking about the race on Sunday, in all my TT races I have never felt like this.
A pretty good night's sleep was had and I awoke before my alarm went off at 5am to the sounds of birds singing away on a lovely summers morning. The water was dead still and with hardly any clouds in the sky it looked like it was going to be a hot day. I sorted myself out with breakfast and getting everything ready for the bike and got everything into transition. I then got myself sorted out and ready for the briefing. My nerves hadn't got any better and it was a great pleasure to see both Ali and Liz from the Tri Spirit Team at the briefing, they helped settle my nerves and told me not to worry about the swim. The swim did worry me a little, as I know if I go too hard from the off I really suffer with breathing technique and end up floundering, and being my first mass start swim filled me with a little dread.
With 3 waves at least there wasn't going to be as big a bun fight, so after the 1st wave it was into the water for a quick warm up. About 8 mins after the first wave, the hooter went and off we went. There was a few bits of biffing going on, but too my surprise I didn't seem to be fairing that bad, and I settled into a nice rhythm. Sighting wasn't too bad and with following a few feet it wasn't long before we got to the first turning buoy. I made a slight error here by not turning quite tight enough and I ended up swimming on my own to the side of the main pack, I was happy here though and just aimed to bisect the main pack at the next buoy. The final leg to the shore went well now I was back on some feet, and then it was out of the water around a turn and back into the water for a 2nd lap. This didn't upset my rhythm though and I was soon back into the swimming. The second lap went well and I was passing some slower swimmers now, the course I took was much better and I arrived back at the exit in good shape and not feeling bad at all.
As I ran to T1, I noticed I had taken about 35 mins for the swim, I was hoping for a little quicker, but still no point in worrying about it. I got the wetsuit off quite quickly and into my cycling shoes without too much bother and then I was on the bike. I had ridden some of the course the previous evening, I knew it was going to be quite quick. I settled down pretty quickly and tried to get some food inside me, though as per normal for me, at high tempo I struggle to actually eat anything. I decided to stick to drink and gels for the remainder of the race. The bike went really well, and with being in the 2nd wave and not being the best swimmer it ended up with me overtaking riders for the whole 56 miles. What surprised me though was the sheer amount of blatant drafting going on, there was riders doing 2 or 3 ups and even a pack of 6-8 riders riding in a peleton at one point, so much for a non drafting event. Despite riding at a fast pace, I was keeping well within the power limits I had set myself, and although I had hoped for a 26mph average, I was still able to get my average just over 25mph. I started the bike leg in 161st place and ended it in 11th place with the fastest bike split. I actually felt quite fresh after the bike, power ended up being lower than targeted, I think self preservation helped on that score.
T2 went well and off out onto the run my legs felt good, though my stomach wasn't feeling that great with all the energy drink and gels (next time make sure I have water as well, I should know this by now d'oh). It wasn't long before other athletes started running past me, I didn't worry too much as I was running at a good pace and I knew if I tried to up my pace I would suffer. The first few km's went well, though in hindsight I think 4:30min/km was probably a tad too fast, and although this did drift out slightly I started feeling the run after about 8km with some pain in my quads. I told myself that once I got to 10.5km I could ease off a touch, though the quad pain was only getting worse. Through past the finish after the first lap, things were feeling very tough with the leg pain and the heat, I was able to keep up the effort for a few more km's then it started dropping as fatigue took hold. I kept telling myself just put one foot in front of the other and this did work up until the 17km mark where I had to walk as the pain was so intense. It was now a case of just trying to run as much as I could with short periods of walking. It wasn't only me that was suffering, more seasoned triathletes were reduced to walking at points, and the last few km's were a real tough challenge.
I was able to pick up the effort and ignore the pain for final km however and managed to end my suffering with a steady jog over the line, probably made to look even slower by someone sprinting past me in the finishing chute.
I had set myself a target of a sub 4:30, I did miss this by about 4 mins with a 4:33:49 but I was happy with how things had gone in my first attempt at the distance. I finished 37th OA and 5th in my AG in what was a pretty stacked field, so really happy with that.
Swim 00:35:28
T1 00:01:37
Bike 02:12:45
T2 00:01:01
Run 01:42:55
Could I have done things better, well I know I should be able to swim faster than I did based on my open water training, I think I played it a bit too conservatively here. I know I could have gone faster on the bike, I was there or thereabouts, but I could have perhaps gone a little harder without any determent to the run. The run was the weak point however, I went off too hard in all honesty, but I was comfortable, little did I know how much it would bite towards the end. Lack of a decent amount of run training hasn't helped here either. I suffered a bit in the heat and wished I had had a bottle with some water in rather than rely on the water stations, I think considering the heat they were perhaps a little too far spaced out between transition and the far end of the course. I wouldn't have been able to find the 8 mins plus I would have needed to get a medal in my AG, so nothing was lost in that respect, and as I say I gained a huge amount of knowledge that I can take into my next event. Thanks go out to Nice Tri Events for a great event, well run and thoroughly enjoyable.
So my next event, this is another step up again, on the 13th July I take part in the Hever Castle Bastion which is a full iron distance triathlon, based on this last weekend I expect it to be much of the same and then a lot more pain added on. It is the run that scares me the most I suppose, 5 weeks to go and I know I am unlikely to get much more conditioning run wise, especially if you take 2 weeks out of that to taper down, it could be a very long marathon I think.
Big thanks again to Zipp Wheels, Quarq, Powerbar, Tacx, Blue Seventy, and SRAM for all your help.
Now if you have read previous posts, the early season had been built around trying to win the CTT TT Series, this meant that running prep hadn't been that focussed and as such was a bit of an unknown when it came to running a half marathon after a strong 56 mile bike leg. Still this ideally was more about a learning experience in the build up to doing a full iron distance, so whatever the outcome I would still take away a huge amount of knowledge.
We all arrived on Saturday afternoon and camped by the water's edge, it was a lovely setting watching the sun go down over Grafham Water whilst getting the bike all sorted out for the following day. It did help settle the nerves I had thinking about the race on Sunday, in all my TT races I have never felt like this.
A pretty good night's sleep was had and I awoke before my alarm went off at 5am to the sounds of birds singing away on a lovely summers morning. The water was dead still and with hardly any clouds in the sky it looked like it was going to be a hot day. I sorted myself out with breakfast and getting everything ready for the bike and got everything into transition. I then got myself sorted out and ready for the briefing. My nerves hadn't got any better and it was a great pleasure to see both Ali and Liz from the Tri Spirit Team at the briefing, they helped settle my nerves and told me not to worry about the swim. The swim did worry me a little, as I know if I go too hard from the off I really suffer with breathing technique and end up floundering, and being my first mass start swim filled me with a little dread.
With 3 waves at least there wasn't going to be as big a bun fight, so after the 1st wave it was into the water for a quick warm up. About 8 mins after the first wave, the hooter went and off we went. There was a few bits of biffing going on, but too my surprise I didn't seem to be fairing that bad, and I settled into a nice rhythm. Sighting wasn't too bad and with following a few feet it wasn't long before we got to the first turning buoy. I made a slight error here by not turning quite tight enough and I ended up swimming on my own to the side of the main pack, I was happy here though and just aimed to bisect the main pack at the next buoy. The final leg to the shore went well now I was back on some feet, and then it was out of the water around a turn and back into the water for a 2nd lap. This didn't upset my rhythm though and I was soon back into the swimming. The second lap went well and I was passing some slower swimmers now, the course I took was much better and I arrived back at the exit in good shape and not feeling bad at all.
As I ran to T1, I noticed I had taken about 35 mins for the swim, I was hoping for a little quicker, but still no point in worrying about it. I got the wetsuit off quite quickly and into my cycling shoes without too much bother and then I was on the bike. I had ridden some of the course the previous evening, I knew it was going to be quite quick. I settled down pretty quickly and tried to get some food inside me, though as per normal for me, at high tempo I struggle to actually eat anything. I decided to stick to drink and gels for the remainder of the race. The bike went really well, and with being in the 2nd wave and not being the best swimmer it ended up with me overtaking riders for the whole 56 miles. What surprised me though was the sheer amount of blatant drafting going on, there was riders doing 2 or 3 ups and even a pack of 6-8 riders riding in a peleton at one point, so much for a non drafting event. Despite riding at a fast pace, I was keeping well within the power limits I had set myself, and although I had hoped for a 26mph average, I was still able to get my average just over 25mph. I started the bike leg in 161st place and ended it in 11th place with the fastest bike split. I actually felt quite fresh after the bike, power ended up being lower than targeted, I think self preservation helped on that score.
Coming into T2
T2 went well and off out onto the run my legs felt good, though my stomach wasn't feeling that great with all the energy drink and gels (next time make sure I have water as well, I should know this by now d'oh). It wasn't long before other athletes started running past me, I didn't worry too much as I was running at a good pace and I knew if I tried to up my pace I would suffer. The first few km's went well, though in hindsight I think 4:30min/km was probably a tad too fast, and although this did drift out slightly I started feeling the run after about 8km with some pain in my quads. I told myself that once I got to 10.5km I could ease off a touch, though the quad pain was only getting worse. Through past the finish after the first lap, things were feeling very tough with the leg pain and the heat, I was able to keep up the effort for a few more km's then it started dropping as fatigue took hold. I kept telling myself just put one foot in front of the other and this did work up until the 17km mark where I had to walk as the pain was so intense. It was now a case of just trying to run as much as I could with short periods of walking. It wasn't only me that was suffering, more seasoned triathletes were reduced to walking at points, and the last few km's were a real tough challenge.
I was able to pick up the effort and ignore the pain for final km however and managed to end my suffering with a steady jog over the line, probably made to look even slower by someone sprinting past me in the finishing chute.
Suffering about to end
I had set myself a target of a sub 4:30, I did miss this by about 4 mins with a 4:33:49 but I was happy with how things had gone in my first attempt at the distance. I finished 37th OA and 5th in my AG in what was a pretty stacked field, so really happy with that.
Swim 00:35:28
T1 00:01:37
Bike 02:12:45
T2 00:01:01
Run 01:42:55
Could I have done things better, well I know I should be able to swim faster than I did based on my open water training, I think I played it a bit too conservatively here. I know I could have gone faster on the bike, I was there or thereabouts, but I could have perhaps gone a little harder without any determent to the run. The run was the weak point however, I went off too hard in all honesty, but I was comfortable, little did I know how much it would bite towards the end. Lack of a decent amount of run training hasn't helped here either. I suffered a bit in the heat and wished I had had a bottle with some water in rather than rely on the water stations, I think considering the heat they were perhaps a little too far spaced out between transition and the far end of the course. I wouldn't have been able to find the 8 mins plus I would have needed to get a medal in my AG, so nothing was lost in that respect, and as I say I gained a huge amount of knowledge that I can take into my next event. Thanks go out to Nice Tri Events for a great event, well run and thoroughly enjoyable.
So my next event, this is another step up again, on the 13th July I take part in the Hever Castle Bastion which is a full iron distance triathlon, based on this last weekend I expect it to be much of the same and then a lot more pain added on. It is the run that scares me the most I suppose, 5 weeks to go and I know I am unlikely to get much more conditioning run wise, especially if you take 2 weeks out of that to taper down, it could be a very long marathon I think.
Big thanks again to Zipp Wheels, Quarq, Powerbar, Tacx, Blue Seventy, and SRAM for all your help.
Tuesday 20 May 2014
Target 1 Achieved
Sunday saw me in action again in Round 5 of the CTT TT Series, this was going to be my final round due to Round 6 (the final round) clashing with Challenge Weymouth. With 1 win, 2nd places and a 4th place I needed to win this round to make sure that my points tally could not be beaten, so the pressure was on slightly.
I have noticed that with the reduction in cycling that my fitness on the bike is slowly starting to wear thin and although the short duration TT's don't seem to be affected I wasn't so sure when it came to a 32 mile event. In previous years with a massive amount of cycling behind me I always felt better over the longer duration, this year I haven't felt as good and longer duration power has seemed to suffer. Coupled with this I have had a little niggle on my achilles which hasn't helped with how I am feeling, though to be honest I don't feel it when riding, I just had to put it out of my mind.
This round was on a great little circuit between Newbury and Reading, it was also great for me as my mum and dad live just down the road so I was able to spend the weekend with them and try and be totally relaxed. As it happened my nephew was playing in a football tournament in Thatcham just a few miles away so I was able to combine a day out chilling whilst watching him play and then do a course recce. Although the course is a great circuit, some of the roads are abysmal and if I am honest not really safe for travelling at 30 mph + on tribars, combine it with shadows etc under the trees and if you are not careful the potholes and sub standard patching could easily cause you some issues.
As Sarah Storey tweeted " Checked out the course for Sunday's race. Fair to say no road surface would be better than what's currently there in some places!#roughedup" Sarah wasn't wrong, though I will admit the majority of the course seemed pretty good and certainly a fun and challenging course.
On Sunday I got to the HQ nice and early and when for a recce on my bike, travelling around it at a most leisurely pace it was fairly easy to avoid most of the real bad stuff (generally by going on the other side of the road), now whether this would be possible at racing speeds with other traffic I would just have to see.
I ummed and erred at the HQ, did I go for the fast but more fragile front wheel, or the slower and potentially safer option. My heart said fast and fragile, my head said be safe, in all honesty I needed to finish first and foremost so the slower and safer option was chosen.
The race started well in nice warm and slightly breezy conditions, and I aimed to do the first lap at a steady effort and then ramp it up for the second lap, as mentioned above I wasn't sure of my endurance coming into this race. The first part of the circuit seemed fast and I settled down quite nicely and was feeling good. As it was a multi lap affair for everyone, it wasn't long before I started overtaking riders, again no issues at first. I got through the real bad patch of roads without much hassle, and few smaller holes hit but as they were shallow it didn't cause me any issues. As we started to hit the lumpier stuff the speeds dropped and I tried to make sure I didn't go overboard power wise up the hills. Half way around the circuit you come out of a village and down a windy descent, not steep or anything but a section where you could really ramp the speed up. With some shadows across the road I didn't see one hole and CRACK the front wheel hit it hard, and the bars moved slightly. I was slightly unseated but nothing too bad, I was more concerned about any damage, do I still continue to hammer around the bends at 30mph + or do I stop and check the bike. I did a quick check whilst riding, and everything seemed OK, though I was convinced my bars were loose.
Once happy that everything seemed OK I pushed on, I didn't really have time to mess around, and just took my chances, the bike seemed to slow when braking and steer OK so I was sure it was fine. I just made a mental note to take a different line next lap. First lap completed in around the target time I had set myself and now time to try and up the effort, I had a few slight holdups on the first lap so hopefully the second lap without the pothole incident and the holdups I could get it done faster.
2nd lap started well and I was feeling good still, I started to push on and even felt I was hitting the hills harder, though I think my powermeter told a different story. Again I avoid the worse section without too many issues. Getting to the section that caught me out last time, and I took a different line, but CRACK, I bloody hit it again, this time my bars moved quite a bit and the arm rest was now flapping around. Again it meant a few seconds making sure everything was OK, I couldn't move the bars so they would have to stay as they were, I just hoped I could avoid anymore potholes so they didn't get any worse.
Now was the time to really concentrate and get my head together, how much did I want this win, I didn't have the option of trying again in round 6, this was all or nothing in my mind. I pushed on, the bars were uncomfortable, but I was half way around the last lap, I would just have to make do. Coming out of the last village and I get held up again by cars just faffing around, sod it I have had too many lost seconds so I overtake and just get on with trying to put some distance between me and the car. I did eventually overtake me again a few miles down the road, and then promptly slowed again to turn into another road, sometimes I hate other road users. I tried to not get overly upset about it, it is what it is and it is one of the joys of racing around country lanes I suppose. As I get nearer the finish and the last leg killer of a hill I see my 4 min man (and the winner of the Bath Road CC event a few weeks earlier) ahead, this gave me a little incentive to push that extra bit to catch him. I caught him just after the hill and then powered as hard as I could for the last half mile or so to the finish. I just missed the 1:15 I thought I needed with a 1:16:03 but I was happy with that, I had gone as hard as I could and without the issues it would have been a good solid 1:15.
The only thing now was to wait and see what the other riders, Geoff Platts in particular, had done. I knew the Bath Road CC event had been won in a 1:19 so I was happy to be 3 mins quicker than that, I was even happier when I spoke to Geoff and he said he had done around the 1:17 mark. Back at the HQ I saw my time was missing and all sorts of things were going through my head, did I actually pass the finish, had they missed me entirely. When the timekeeper arrived his times were checked, he had got my time correct and it was because my 4 min man had crossed not long after me that he had got wrong and wasn't quite sure. When my time was confirmed I had won the vets by 1 min, so I had achieved what I set out to do.
It does now mean that with 2 x 1st and 2 x 2nd I can't be beaten, Julian Ramsbottom who can only equal my points if he wins round 6 hasn't got a 5th counting event, so I have retained my TT Series title by the skin of my teeth. Ruth said it wouldn't be easy to win when trying to mix swimming and running into the mix, and I made it even tougher my changing my triathlon events with a half iron and 2 ironman triathlons. If I am honest Julian is the better rider and I would ideally need to be at my very best to beat him in a straight fight, it was great battling him this year and makes the title that little bit more special. Big thanks to the CTT for running the TT Series and the promoting clubs for putting on the races, I really enjoy the courses the series takes in and makes a real nice change to racing on the out and back courses.
Now onto pure triathlon training, and upping the hours and fitness, it is very very scary to think that in less than 3 weeks I am suppose to be doing a half ironman distance tri at the Grafman, and in less than 8 weeks a full ironman distance tri with the Hever Castle Bastion. Preparation for these is no where near ideal and although I am happy I can complete the Grafham with no issues, the Bastion is a lot more worrying and at the moment I am totally cacking myself and wondering what I have let myself in for. I guess the experience alone will be a massive help and I hope to build on the Bastion in my proper preparations for Challenge Weymouth.
I have noticed that with the reduction in cycling that my fitness on the bike is slowly starting to wear thin and although the short duration TT's don't seem to be affected I wasn't so sure when it came to a 32 mile event. In previous years with a massive amount of cycling behind me I always felt better over the longer duration, this year I haven't felt as good and longer duration power has seemed to suffer. Coupled with this I have had a little niggle on my achilles which hasn't helped with how I am feeling, though to be honest I don't feel it when riding, I just had to put it out of my mind.
This round was on a great little circuit between Newbury and Reading, it was also great for me as my mum and dad live just down the road so I was able to spend the weekend with them and try and be totally relaxed. As it happened my nephew was playing in a football tournament in Thatcham just a few miles away so I was able to combine a day out chilling whilst watching him play and then do a course recce. Although the course is a great circuit, some of the roads are abysmal and if I am honest not really safe for travelling at 30 mph + on tribars, combine it with shadows etc under the trees and if you are not careful the potholes and sub standard patching could easily cause you some issues.
As Sarah Storey tweeted " Checked out the course for Sunday's race. Fair to say no road surface would be better than what's currently there in some places!
On Sunday I got to the HQ nice and early and when for a recce on my bike, travelling around it at a most leisurely pace it was fairly easy to avoid most of the real bad stuff (generally by going on the other side of the road), now whether this would be possible at racing speeds with other traffic I would just have to see.
I ummed and erred at the HQ, did I go for the fast but more fragile front wheel, or the slower and potentially safer option. My heart said fast and fragile, my head said be safe, in all honesty I needed to finish first and foremost so the slower and safer option was chosen.
The race started well in nice warm and slightly breezy conditions, and I aimed to do the first lap at a steady effort and then ramp it up for the second lap, as mentioned above I wasn't sure of my endurance coming into this race. The first part of the circuit seemed fast and I settled down quite nicely and was feeling good. As it was a multi lap affair for everyone, it wasn't long before I started overtaking riders, again no issues at first. I got through the real bad patch of roads without much hassle, and few smaller holes hit but as they were shallow it didn't cause me any issues. As we started to hit the lumpier stuff the speeds dropped and I tried to make sure I didn't go overboard power wise up the hills. Half way around the circuit you come out of a village and down a windy descent, not steep or anything but a section where you could really ramp the speed up. With some shadows across the road I didn't see one hole and CRACK the front wheel hit it hard, and the bars moved slightly. I was slightly unseated but nothing too bad, I was more concerned about any damage, do I still continue to hammer around the bends at 30mph + or do I stop and check the bike. I did a quick check whilst riding, and everything seemed OK, though I was convinced my bars were loose.
Once happy that everything seemed OK I pushed on, I didn't really have time to mess around, and just took my chances, the bike seemed to slow when braking and steer OK so I was sure it was fine. I just made a mental note to take a different line next lap. First lap completed in around the target time I had set myself and now time to try and up the effort, I had a few slight holdups on the first lap so hopefully the second lap without the pothole incident and the holdups I could get it done faster.
2nd lap started well and I was feeling good still, I started to push on and even felt I was hitting the hills harder, though I think my powermeter told a different story. Again I avoid the worse section without too many issues. Getting to the section that caught me out last time, and I took a different line, but CRACK, I bloody hit it again, this time my bars moved quite a bit and the arm rest was now flapping around. Again it meant a few seconds making sure everything was OK, I couldn't move the bars so they would have to stay as they were, I just hoped I could avoid anymore potholes so they didn't get any worse.
Now was the time to really concentrate and get my head together, how much did I want this win, I didn't have the option of trying again in round 6, this was all or nothing in my mind. I pushed on, the bars were uncomfortable, but I was half way around the last lap, I would just have to make do. Coming out of the last village and I get held up again by cars just faffing around, sod it I have had too many lost seconds so I overtake and just get on with trying to put some distance between me and the car. I did eventually overtake me again a few miles down the road, and then promptly slowed again to turn into another road, sometimes I hate other road users. I tried to not get overly upset about it, it is what it is and it is one of the joys of racing around country lanes I suppose. As I get nearer the finish and the last leg killer of a hill I see my 4 min man (and the winner of the Bath Road CC event a few weeks earlier) ahead, this gave me a little incentive to push that extra bit to catch him. I caught him just after the hill and then powered as hard as I could for the last half mile or so to the finish. I just missed the 1:15 I thought I needed with a 1:16:03 but I was happy with that, I had gone as hard as I could and without the issues it would have been a good solid 1:15.
The only thing now was to wait and see what the other riders, Geoff Platts in particular, had done. I knew the Bath Road CC event had been won in a 1:19 so I was happy to be 3 mins quicker than that, I was even happier when I spoke to Geoff and he said he had done around the 1:17 mark. Back at the HQ I saw my time was missing and all sorts of things were going through my head, did I actually pass the finish, had they missed me entirely. When the timekeeper arrived his times were checked, he had got my time correct and it was because my 4 min man had crossed not long after me that he had got wrong and wasn't quite sure. When my time was confirmed I had won the vets by 1 min, so I had achieved what I set out to do.
It does now mean that with 2 x 1st and 2 x 2nd I can't be beaten, Julian Ramsbottom who can only equal my points if he wins round 6 hasn't got a 5th counting event, so I have retained my TT Series title by the skin of my teeth. Ruth said it wouldn't be easy to win when trying to mix swimming and running into the mix, and I made it even tougher my changing my triathlon events with a half iron and 2 ironman triathlons. If I am honest Julian is the better rider and I would ideally need to be at my very best to beat him in a straight fight, it was great battling him this year and makes the title that little bit more special. Big thanks to the CTT for running the TT Series and the promoting clubs for putting on the races, I really enjoy the courses the series takes in and makes a real nice change to racing on the out and back courses.
Now onto pure triathlon training, and upping the hours and fitness, it is very very scary to think that in less than 3 weeks I am suppose to be doing a half ironman distance tri at the Grafman, and in less than 8 weeks a full ironman distance tri with the Hever Castle Bastion. Preparation for these is no where near ideal and although I am happy I can complete the Grafham with no issues, the Bastion is a lot more worrying and at the moment I am totally cacking myself and wondering what I have let myself in for. I guess the experience alone will be a massive help and I hope to build on the Bastion in my proper preparations for Challenge Weymouth.
Friday 16 May 2014
Busy Few Weeks
The last few weeks have been busy with races, a lot of travel and also that thing we have to do to pay the bills - work.
The week after the 7Oaks tri was a good week, legs took a few days to actually feel like doing hard training again, I guess recovery from hard running is still not quite there yet. It did mean ending up with a slightly easier week, though this also meant training load going down again which is not ideal when I should be building it up in reality. That is the downside of trying to be fresh enough to do well in the CTT TT Series as well as try and put some training load in so I can be race fit for the longer distance tris.
CTT TT SERIES
Round 4 of the CTT Series was up in the Lake District on one of my favourite courses, the Circuit of Bassenthwaite Lake, near Keswick. As this was also a Bank Holiday weekend it was a nice chance to take the family away for a little bit of camping, we know a great campsite just half a mile from the HQ so it was going to be a nice relaxing morning of the TT for me. It meant a very early start on Saturday to get to the lakes and then once the tent was up I had a little spin around the course, the roads had got worse from last year, but still compared to Kent roads not too bad.
The race went pretty well, though with a stiff headwind for the last exposed 5-6 miles it made for a very tough finish, and slower times from 12 months previous. I put together a solid ride, much better than the Buxton CC MTT, but still not quick enough to beat Julian Ramsbottom. 2nd place wasn't too bad though as the lack of pure cycling training is starting to show when it comes to racing the best TTer's. It means I have 1 win, 2 second places and 4th place, I think if I can win Round 5 it means I would have held onto my Series title, but I do need to make sure I win this weekend coming, and that is no guarantee.
The rest of the weekend was a nice relaxing family time, though no hills this year. I did manage to get a nice 2 hour run around Derwent Water on Monday morning whilst the family slept, it is truly magical running in a lovely place with no traffic and just the sounds of the wildlife. It makes a nice change from my normal running routes around where I live.
EAST GRINSTEAD TRIATHLON
The following weekend saw me do my 2nd tri, I entered the East Grinstead Triathlon as it was the team champs and it was going to be great meeting up with a lot more of the Tri Spirit Team. Ruth had mentioned that perhaps I might not do the race in order to be in tip top shape for Round 5 of the TT Series, but I was confident I could recover in time. I also wanted to see how I would fair against one of the top AG triathletes - Charlie Pennington. It would really give me an idea of what I need to work on, though to be honest I know that already.
The day wasn't forecast to be that great, windy and showery, but as with the 7Oaks Tri the rain held off, and although it was a cold and windy day, it remained a dry day which was good. The East Grinstead Tri was a 500m pool swim, a 26km ride and then 5km run. I had looked at previous times and thought about what was possible from myself. I knew my swim was the weakest link, and hopefully the run being short I could minimise any time loss here. I set a target of 1:10 for the whole event, but it would mean biking very well to achieve that.
The swim actually went better than I expected, though still too slow to really challenge the top guys, but again with only really swimming since October last year a 9:01 wasn't too shabby. The actual swim was a few seconds quicker as that is the time including climbing out of the pool and running across the timing mat. It was then a run to the bike, I got to the bike and couldn't see my helmet or race belt, I looked around and they were on the ground a few metres away, not ideal. I am not sure if they were knocked off, or the wind blew them off the bike, but something to work on. Due to the shoes I have, they are not easy to get on when attached to the bike, so I spent time hopping about getting them on in transition, again something to work on here, and perhaps I need to buy some proper tri specific shoes.
On the bike leg, my legs didn't want to work at first, they were cold and stiff, though once I got going they did get better throughout the bike leg, and power wasn't too bad. I had decided again not to hold back on the bike and just take it as a 26km TT. It is a great course and with a couple of challenging kick ups it certainly keeps you on your toes. I did have a time in mind before the day, but with the wind in your face for the last 6 miles I never managed to get enough time back after the real lumpy bits. I was fairly happy with a 38:38 bike split which was a minute faster than anyone else. Again thank god I am a pretty good cyclists LOL.
Through transition and onto the run, my legs were feeling the bike effort at first, and I tried to take the first km steady and build on that. I was happy with the effort though the pace just didn't seem to be there. I haven't really done any short distance speed work, and again I think I held back a little too much as I am pretty sure I could have pushed harder with a bit more confidence and experience. I ran solidly throughout though and crossed the line with 1:09 showing on my Garmin. I wasn't sure of the seconds, but I was happy that I had beaten my target.
It was now just a wait for the tops guys to start and finish, Charlie did a cracking race to finish in 1:04:48, just 44 secs quicker than 2nd place. I was amazed to actually finish 4th overall ( and won my AG) in 1:09:31, so less than 5 mins behind Charlie. I think that is a very solid performance in only my 2nd triathlon. I did lose far too much time in the swim however, and I think this is where I need to have a bit more focus, it has been getting better and I am happy with 1:48 per 100m splits for the race, but this ideally needs to be nearer the 1:30 mark so I will get some more coaching here I think.
My race splits were as follows
Swim 9:01
T1 1:43
Bike 38:38
T2 1:12
Run 18:52
The focus now is for this weekend which is my last race in the CTT TT Series, it really is a win or nothing scenario for me, but I look forward to getting it done and dusted. My confidence has been boosted by a mid week 10m TT. As it was a nice evening and I couldn't face being stuck on the turbo doing intervals I thought it would be good to get a full on effort in. I did much better than I expected and even with getting held up by a tractor and a queue of cars, I managed to do something I have tried for a few years now, getting a sub 21 min on the Q10/22. I managed this just on Wednesday night with a 20:59 so that has boosted my confidence a little going into the weekend. Lets hope the weekend is just as good.
The week after the 7Oaks tri was a good week, legs took a few days to actually feel like doing hard training again, I guess recovery from hard running is still not quite there yet. It did mean ending up with a slightly easier week, though this also meant training load going down again which is not ideal when I should be building it up in reality. That is the downside of trying to be fresh enough to do well in the CTT TT Series as well as try and put some training load in so I can be race fit for the longer distance tris.
CTT TT SERIES
Round 4 of the CTT Series was up in the Lake District on one of my favourite courses, the Circuit of Bassenthwaite Lake, near Keswick. As this was also a Bank Holiday weekend it was a nice chance to take the family away for a little bit of camping, we know a great campsite just half a mile from the HQ so it was going to be a nice relaxing morning of the TT for me. It meant a very early start on Saturday to get to the lakes and then once the tent was up I had a little spin around the course, the roads had got worse from last year, but still compared to Kent roads not too bad.
The race went pretty well, though with a stiff headwind for the last exposed 5-6 miles it made for a very tough finish, and slower times from 12 months previous. I put together a solid ride, much better than the Buxton CC MTT, but still not quick enough to beat Julian Ramsbottom. 2nd place wasn't too bad though as the lack of pure cycling training is starting to show when it comes to racing the best TTer's. It means I have 1 win, 2 second places and 4th place, I think if I can win Round 5 it means I would have held onto my Series title, but I do need to make sure I win this weekend coming, and that is no guarantee.
The rest of the weekend was a nice relaxing family time, though no hills this year. I did manage to get a nice 2 hour run around Derwent Water on Monday morning whilst the family slept, it is truly magical running in a lovely place with no traffic and just the sounds of the wildlife. It makes a nice change from my normal running routes around where I live.
EAST GRINSTEAD TRIATHLON
The following weekend saw me do my 2nd tri, I entered the East Grinstead Triathlon as it was the team champs and it was going to be great meeting up with a lot more of the Tri Spirit Team. Ruth had mentioned that perhaps I might not do the race in order to be in tip top shape for Round 5 of the TT Series, but I was confident I could recover in time. I also wanted to see how I would fair against one of the top AG triathletes - Charlie Pennington. It would really give me an idea of what I need to work on, though to be honest I know that already.
The day wasn't forecast to be that great, windy and showery, but as with the 7Oaks Tri the rain held off, and although it was a cold and windy day, it remained a dry day which was good. The East Grinstead Tri was a 500m pool swim, a 26km ride and then 5km run. I had looked at previous times and thought about what was possible from myself. I knew my swim was the weakest link, and hopefully the run being short I could minimise any time loss here. I set a target of 1:10 for the whole event, but it would mean biking very well to achieve that.
The swim actually went better than I expected, though still too slow to really challenge the top guys, but again with only really swimming since October last year a 9:01 wasn't too shabby. The actual swim was a few seconds quicker as that is the time including climbing out of the pool and running across the timing mat. It was then a run to the bike, I got to the bike and couldn't see my helmet or race belt, I looked around and they were on the ground a few metres away, not ideal. I am not sure if they were knocked off, or the wind blew them off the bike, but something to work on. Due to the shoes I have, they are not easy to get on when attached to the bike, so I spent time hopping about getting them on in transition, again something to work on here, and perhaps I need to buy some proper tri specific shoes.
On the bike leg, my legs didn't want to work at first, they were cold and stiff, though once I got going they did get better throughout the bike leg, and power wasn't too bad. I had decided again not to hold back on the bike and just take it as a 26km TT. It is a great course and with a couple of challenging kick ups it certainly keeps you on your toes. I did have a time in mind before the day, but with the wind in your face for the last 6 miles I never managed to get enough time back after the real lumpy bits. I was fairly happy with a 38:38 bike split which was a minute faster than anyone else. Again thank god I am a pretty good cyclists LOL.
Through transition and onto the run, my legs were feeling the bike effort at first, and I tried to take the first km steady and build on that. I was happy with the effort though the pace just didn't seem to be there. I haven't really done any short distance speed work, and again I think I held back a little too much as I am pretty sure I could have pushed harder with a bit more confidence and experience. I ran solidly throughout though and crossed the line with 1:09 showing on my Garmin. I wasn't sure of the seconds, but I was happy that I had beaten my target.
It was now just a wait for the tops guys to start and finish, Charlie did a cracking race to finish in 1:04:48, just 44 secs quicker than 2nd place. I was amazed to actually finish 4th overall ( and won my AG) in 1:09:31, so less than 5 mins behind Charlie. I think that is a very solid performance in only my 2nd triathlon. I did lose far too much time in the swim however, and I think this is where I need to have a bit more focus, it has been getting better and I am happy with 1:48 per 100m splits for the race, but this ideally needs to be nearer the 1:30 mark so I will get some more coaching here I think.
My race splits were as follows
Swim 9:01
T1 1:43
Bike 38:38
T2 1:12
Run 18:52
The focus now is for this weekend which is my last race in the CTT TT Series, it really is a win or nothing scenario for me, but I look forward to getting it done and dusted. My confidence has been boosted by a mid week 10m TT. As it was a nice evening and I couldn't face being stuck on the turbo doing intervals I thought it would be good to get a full on effort in. I did much better than I expected and even with getting held up by a tractor and a queue of cars, I managed to do something I have tried for a few years now, getting a sub 21 min on the Q10/22. I managed this just on Wednesday night with a 20:59 so that has boosted my confidence a little going into the weekend. Lets hope the weekend is just as good.
Tuesday 29 April 2014
The New Adventure - 7Oaks Triathlon
The 7Oaks Triathlon came around very fast over the last few months, in fact so fast I had feelings of "I'm not ready for this" and such like. I have raced in some pretty major events over the last couple of years with the RTTC Nationals, but I have never felt as nervous as I did in the run up to my first triathlon. I kept asking myself, why was I nervous, I had no real ambitions, this was really a taster event as to whether I would actually like triathlon or not. I have always set goals though and I suppose this was no different, but what goal to set?
I could just be happy with perhaps the fastest bike leg, after all as a national level TTer I shouldn't really struggle with the bike leg, but that was I suppose a bit of a cop out. I thought OK what about winning your AG (Age Group), that was a more suitable goal, though also a total unknown as I really didn't have a clue who was in my AG. But it would give me a benchmark so I stuck with that.
The weeks leading up to the event was a bit of a mish mash in all honesty, I was doing the Buxton MTT which lead to no running in the build up for this, and with the Easter holidays it meant trying to cram in a fair size volume of biking and running, and swimming got left off the training menu. After the Buxton MTT I struggled a bit with the biking as I had felt I let myself down, well that was until I spoke with my coach, and this picked me up a bit. The big volume weekend did have some consequence as I struggled a little for a few days after with tired and achy legs, it had been a while since I had ramped up the volume so much in one go.
I did get one nice surprise leading up to the 7Oaks Triathlon though, and that was the triathlon team kit arrived so at least I would be able to wear team kit at the triathlon, this was a bit of a bonus as I always prefer to wear team kit when competing. It got a good testing on one of my longer rides so I knew I was going to be comfortable in it.
The night before the race I actually didn't get too bad a night's sleep, and although still feeling very nervous as I ate my breakfast and travelled to Sevenoaks. Watching earlier starters and how everything worked was a bit of a godsend really and as the morning wore on I felt a lot more settled. I picked up my race numbers at registration and proceeded to get all my equipment sorted, watching what others did with transition was good and any nerves I still had left seem to disappear. It was good talking to some friends who were racing as well.
As my start time approached I made my way to the pool, and got my timing chip. It wasn't long before I was in the pool, oh shit this is for real now. Then I hear the "GO" and I'm off. Now I never feel that comfortable swimming until I have done a few lengths, no chance here, it is just swim for 400m as quick as you can from cold. I seemed OK at first and then started to struggle a little, I probably went off too fast (though I would never know as I cocked up starting my Garmin D'oh), at 200m I felt like I was dying, so I tried to calm it down a bit and just swim as quick as I thought I could manage. I finally see the 2 lengths to go board, and I swim this as hard as I dare. Once finished it is out of the pool and a run to the transition area set up in the car park.
No worries here I know where the bike is, and a lovely team issue orange towel makes it very easy to spot the bike, though my number belt had started to depart the area so I have to pick that up first. Number belt on, shoes on, and then remember helmet on first before unracking the bike. Running to the bike mount line was OK on the car park (might not be so good when going over grass however), and I mounted and got on my way. Luckily I had my bike Garmin working so I was able to get power data and the like on the bike. Up through Sevenoaks High Street and luckily not held up at all with the pedestrian crossings. Settled down on the bike, it felt pretty cold coming out of the pool soaking wet and then riding at speed on the bike, but soon there was the hill out of Sevenoaks to warm you up nicely. Once at the top there is a fun descent of Riverhill, now normally I would just blast down this as fast as possible, but with the morning rain and a bit of a headwind I decided not to be too much of a nutter and keep it sensible.
The run down to Hildenborough was fast and I got into a good rhythm passing plenty of riders, on turning left out of Hildenborough the road starts to get a bit more lumpy and again I just settled into a good pace. I had decided before the race just to hammer the bike leg as hard as possible, but I think sub consciously I knew there was a hard run after the bike because although I didn't pace with power, I ended up riding below my optimal pace, though still giving it maximum effort where it was needed. The worst hill felt pretty good on the day, and a good measured effort saw me up it pretty quickly, it was nice to be helped with a tailwind as well.
The run back to Sevenoaks is mainly downhill, but with a few sharp kickups and dodgy bends to destroy and decent rhythm. I took it easy on the bends as with them being wet as well and rough and potholed it was better to keep upright and slightly slower than hit the deck. The last bit into Sevenoaks and back to transition is a nice hill, again I paced this pretty well and when I saw a 400m to go board I just went as hard as I could knowing that I was close to going under 40 mins for the bike. I got to the dismount line and across into transition with a sub 40 min bike split, I was pretty happy with that, but there was still a 8.4km run around Knole Park to complete, no point being happy yet.
Again remembering to rack the bike first before removing helmet, swapping cycling shoes for running shoes. I had a gel ready, now do I take it or not, no, but I'll have a swig of drink though. A little bit of faffing getting the bottle out of the cage, but once done I am on my way. Now for a run I am not looking forward to mainly uphill to the halfway point, I settle down to what I think is a decent pace, again with no Garmin I am completely going by feel, though I am not sure what it should feel like, I have never done this before. It wasn't long before another guy came past me, he looked more of a runner than I did, and I thought why not try pacing off him. I followed until the halfway mark and then he started slowly easing away. Could I run harder, should I run harder, I know it is virtually all downhill, but there is a nice 25%+ hill to run up at the finish, how much do I need to save for that. I ran as hard as I thought was sensible, and I probably did pace it right, the last hill was a slow painful slog, and I thought it was never going to end, but there was the entrance to the leisure centre and the finish line.
Rounding the corner and over the line I was exhausted, much like the end of a TT, it took a little while longer to feel normal again though. Surprisingly my legs didn't really hurt at the finish (they saved that for Monday morning), and after a quick recovery drink I was chatting with friends. I was announced as the current leader when I crossed the line, but with the faster guys starting after me I knew it wouldn't be long before someone went faster, though my total time of 1:24:46 was a pretty good time, and in all honesty about what I was hoping for.
After everyone had finished I saw I was in 4th place overall and winning my AG, job done, I had actually won my AG, a bit in shock, but very pleased. I did see that one of the guys in front of me had a penalty and eventually that put him down to 5th, so I ended up on the podium in my first triathlon. Over moon doesn't really quite cover it, to be able to start from scratch with swimming and running on October last year and not disgrace myself is something I think I will treasure. I got the fastest bike split as well, though the winner Mark Westlake wasn't too far behind.
There are things that need working on, first of all my swimming, especially from cold. With a lot of time away from home in hotels with no pools, this is something that is currently a bit hit and miss. I may need to sort out some more coaching and regular sessions to improve here, though progress since October has been great. Running isn't too bad, this again has taken a bit of a back seat, and I haven't done any speed work at all, so although I need to get better I don't think it is as bad as I once thought. Transition time is OK I suppose for a first time, no doubt this will improve as I get more experience.
I suppose the main question must be "Did I enjoy triathlon?" Well the answer has to be yes, I really enjoyed the big event atmosphere, the encouragement from everyone, those signing you on, the organisor, other competitors, marshalls, spectators etc, it is so much better than what I am used to at a TT and I am really looking forward to my next one in a couple of weeks time. The bug certainly has bitten me. I can now also call myself a "Triathlete". Thanks for a great event 7Oaks Tri Club and to DB Max for the timing.
There are a lot of people to thank for helping turn me from a TT cyclist into a triathlete, and in no particular order they are, my coach Ruth Eyles, Liz and Ali from the TriSpirit Team, Liz Scott from thetrilife.com, Zipp Wheels, SRAM, Quarq, Powerbar, Tacx.
I will make a special mention to Jess from The Running School who has helped massively with my running, it was quite nice for her to present my 3rd place trophy, though looking at some of my run photos she might not be that impressed with my style on occasions LOL
All photos courtesy of Sussex Sports Photography
I could just be happy with perhaps the fastest bike leg, after all as a national level TTer I shouldn't really struggle with the bike leg, but that was I suppose a bit of a cop out. I thought OK what about winning your AG (Age Group), that was a more suitable goal, though also a total unknown as I really didn't have a clue who was in my AG. But it would give me a benchmark so I stuck with that.
The weeks leading up to the event was a bit of a mish mash in all honesty, I was doing the Buxton MTT which lead to no running in the build up for this, and with the Easter holidays it meant trying to cram in a fair size volume of biking and running, and swimming got left off the training menu. After the Buxton MTT I struggled a bit with the biking as I had felt I let myself down, well that was until I spoke with my coach, and this picked me up a bit. The big volume weekend did have some consequence as I struggled a little for a few days after with tired and achy legs, it had been a while since I had ramped up the volume so much in one go.
I did get one nice surprise leading up to the 7Oaks Triathlon though, and that was the triathlon team kit arrived so at least I would be able to wear team kit at the triathlon, this was a bit of a bonus as I always prefer to wear team kit when competing. It got a good testing on one of my longer rides so I knew I was going to be comfortable in it.
The night before the race I actually didn't get too bad a night's sleep, and although still feeling very nervous as I ate my breakfast and travelled to Sevenoaks. Watching earlier starters and how everything worked was a bit of a godsend really and as the morning wore on I felt a lot more settled. I picked up my race numbers at registration and proceeded to get all my equipment sorted, watching what others did with transition was good and any nerves I still had left seem to disappear. It was good talking to some friends who were racing as well.
As my start time approached I made my way to the pool, and got my timing chip. It wasn't long before I was in the pool, oh shit this is for real now. Then I hear the "GO" and I'm off. Now I never feel that comfortable swimming until I have done a few lengths, no chance here, it is just swim for 400m as quick as you can from cold. I seemed OK at first and then started to struggle a little, I probably went off too fast (though I would never know as I cocked up starting my Garmin D'oh), at 200m I felt like I was dying, so I tried to calm it down a bit and just swim as quick as I thought I could manage. I finally see the 2 lengths to go board, and I swim this as hard as I dare. Once finished it is out of the pool and a run to the transition area set up in the car park.
No worries here I know where the bike is, and a lovely team issue orange towel makes it very easy to spot the bike, though my number belt had started to depart the area so I have to pick that up first. Number belt on, shoes on, and then remember helmet on first before unracking the bike. Running to the bike mount line was OK on the car park (might not be so good when going over grass however), and I mounted and got on my way. Luckily I had my bike Garmin working so I was able to get power data and the like on the bike. Up through Sevenoaks High Street and luckily not held up at all with the pedestrian crossings. Settled down on the bike, it felt pretty cold coming out of the pool soaking wet and then riding at speed on the bike, but soon there was the hill out of Sevenoaks to warm you up nicely. Once at the top there is a fun descent of Riverhill, now normally I would just blast down this as fast as possible, but with the morning rain and a bit of a headwind I decided not to be too much of a nutter and keep it sensible.
The run down to Hildenborough was fast and I got into a good rhythm passing plenty of riders, on turning left out of Hildenborough the road starts to get a bit more lumpy and again I just settled into a good pace. I had decided before the race just to hammer the bike leg as hard as possible, but I think sub consciously I knew there was a hard run after the bike because although I didn't pace with power, I ended up riding below my optimal pace, though still giving it maximum effort where it was needed. The worst hill felt pretty good on the day, and a good measured effort saw me up it pretty quickly, it was nice to be helped with a tailwind as well.
The run back to Sevenoaks is mainly downhill, but with a few sharp kickups and dodgy bends to destroy and decent rhythm. I took it easy on the bends as with them being wet as well and rough and potholed it was better to keep upright and slightly slower than hit the deck. The last bit into Sevenoaks and back to transition is a nice hill, again I paced this pretty well and when I saw a 400m to go board I just went as hard as I could knowing that I was close to going under 40 mins for the bike. I got to the dismount line and across into transition with a sub 40 min bike split, I was pretty happy with that, but there was still a 8.4km run around Knole Park to complete, no point being happy yet.
Again remembering to rack the bike first before removing helmet, swapping cycling shoes for running shoes. I had a gel ready, now do I take it or not, no, but I'll have a swig of drink though. A little bit of faffing getting the bottle out of the cage, but once done I am on my way. Now for a run I am not looking forward to mainly uphill to the halfway point, I settle down to what I think is a decent pace, again with no Garmin I am completely going by feel, though I am not sure what it should feel like, I have never done this before. It wasn't long before another guy came past me, he looked more of a runner than I did, and I thought why not try pacing off him. I followed until the halfway mark and then he started slowly easing away. Could I run harder, should I run harder, I know it is virtually all downhill, but there is a nice 25%+ hill to run up at the finish, how much do I need to save for that. I ran as hard as I thought was sensible, and I probably did pace it right, the last hill was a slow painful slog, and I thought it was never going to end, but there was the entrance to the leisure centre and the finish line.
Rounding the corner and over the line I was exhausted, much like the end of a TT, it took a little while longer to feel normal again though. Surprisingly my legs didn't really hurt at the finish (they saved that for Monday morning), and after a quick recovery drink I was chatting with friends. I was announced as the current leader when I crossed the line, but with the faster guys starting after me I knew it wouldn't be long before someone went faster, though my total time of 1:24:46 was a pretty good time, and in all honesty about what I was hoping for.
After everyone had finished I saw I was in 4th place overall and winning my AG, job done, I had actually won my AG, a bit in shock, but very pleased. I did see that one of the guys in front of me had a penalty and eventually that put him down to 5th, so I ended up on the podium in my first triathlon. Over moon doesn't really quite cover it, to be able to start from scratch with swimming and running on October last year and not disgrace myself is something I think I will treasure. I got the fastest bike split as well, though the winner Mark Westlake wasn't too far behind.
There are things that need working on, first of all my swimming, especially from cold. With a lot of time away from home in hotels with no pools, this is something that is currently a bit hit and miss. I may need to sort out some more coaching and regular sessions to improve here, though progress since October has been great. Running isn't too bad, this again has taken a bit of a back seat, and I haven't done any speed work at all, so although I need to get better I don't think it is as bad as I once thought. Transition time is OK I suppose for a first time, no doubt this will improve as I get more experience.
I suppose the main question must be "Did I enjoy triathlon?" Well the answer has to be yes, I really enjoyed the big event atmosphere, the encouragement from everyone, those signing you on, the organisor, other competitors, marshalls, spectators etc, it is so much better than what I am used to at a TT and I am really looking forward to my next one in a couple of weeks time. The bug certainly has bitten me. I can now also call myself a "Triathlete". Thanks for a great event 7Oaks Tri Club and to DB Max for the timing.
There are a lot of people to thank for helping turn me from a TT cyclist into a triathlete, and in no particular order they are, my coach Ruth Eyles, Liz and Ali from the TriSpirit Team, Liz Scott from thetrilife.com, Zipp Wheels, SRAM, Quarq, Powerbar, Tacx.
I will make a special mention to Jess from The Running School who has helped massively with my running, it was quite nice for her to present my 3rd place trophy, though looking at some of my run photos she might not be that impressed with my style on occasions LOL
All photos courtesy of Sussex Sports Photography
Friday 25 April 2014
Buxton CC MTT - Not the Result I Wanted
Round 3 of the RTTC TT Series was the classic Buxton CC MTT (Mountain Time Trial), an event I have always wanted to do, but in previous years it had always clashed with other events. For the TT Series, the vets wouldn't do the full 3 laps however, we were "lucky" enough to get away with just 2 laps.
Now I knew it had a long hill in each lap, around a 12-13 min climb for the faster riders, and I knew that I perhaps would be lacking when it came to the power to weight ratio. With Julian Ramsbottom also enter I deep down knew I was unlikely to win this event as the climb wouldn't play to my strengths.
I drove up on the day, surprisingly only a 3.5 hour drive and arrived nice and early to get a recce lap in. Feeling good I thought the climb although steep in places not too bad, and was feeling good for the race. I spent most of the morning chilling and just slowly getting ready. I also decided that a 23 sprocket wasn't the best option with a 39 ring, so fitted a cassette with a 26 sprocket on it. I felt in race conditions that would be more than sufficient.
Race time came and I still felt good, the first part was a downhill section followed straight by the climb, I managed to pace this pretty well, and over the first part there was a section where I could get aero and try and pick up as much speed as possible, before the road kicked up again, this time a little bit steeper. Up the hill in under 13 mins I was pretty pleased and settled down to ride the roller section along the A53, this was aided by a tailwind and this section was despatched in swift order.
The ride back to Longnor was a fast road with a nice technical descent, but also with a couple of leg sapping kick ups. I was catching slower riders on their second laps and unfortunately a few cars who were caught up behind these riders, this meant I was held up a little on one of the faster downhill sections, but nothing in the grand scheme of things. Once the car was past the rider I was able to power on to complete the first lap, I was pretty happy with the time, and I was hoping that the second one wouldn't be too far off.
As I started the second attempt on the long hill, it was if all energy just sapped right out of me, this time getting the power out seemed so much harder, and I just felt as if no matter how hard I pushed the speed just wasn't there, this was evident on downloading my data of how slow the second time up the hill had been, about a minute slower. When I got to the A53 this time, apart from feeling the effort a lot more I decided to just hammer along it as best I could and try and make up for any lost time. This section went OK, and now on the return leg to Longnor I pushed as hard as I dare on the descent, and although faster this time with no cars holding me up I felt as though this was going to be a good lap. The last few miles felt a real struggle though and it was a massive effort to keep the power up to where I know it should be. I gave it everything up the last hill to the finish and slowly made my way back to the HQ (all of a 100 yards LOL).
Looking at the times I was a bit shocked that Julian Ramsbottom had beaten me by about 2 mins, and that I had also been beaten by a couple of others as well. Finishing 4th on a course that I really didn't suit should be pleasing, but I thought my ride was just shocking. Although getting a power figure from this course is not a true reflection as a lot of it is spent freewheeling, the power was shockingly low for what I know I am capable of. I did spend a lot of time going over things in my head, what happened, what did I do wrong, was I still tired from training, did I got too hard on the first lap, etc etc. I went home a bemused and disappointed man. The event itself is fantastic though and certainly one to go back to and see if I can do better.
Luckily I had a phone call with my coach later in the week, and as ever she looked at the performance slightly differently to me. Although it wasn't the best performance, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was and yes the course was unlikely to suit me. At least I can take some inspiration from the event, I know I have to lose a bit of weight for the Hever Castle Bastion, this has given me the shock I needed really, every cloud and all that.
Now it is onto something new, this weekend sees my first triathlon, the 7Oaks Triathlon. This really is going to be an unknown in all honesty, I know the bike course very well having ridden it lots in the last few weeks. I know I can go very well on the bike, and I know where I will be roughly with the swimming. It is the run afterwards which is really the unknown I suppose, I have decided to ride the bike course as a standalone TT and then just go as fast as my legs will let me on the run, it could be a bad decision, but I know I am not as fast as other guys on the run, and I feel I may as well make up as much time as I can on the bike and see what happens. I will admit to be just a wee bit nervous, though with it being my first event I should have no real expectations, and the real aim is to really enjoy the experience. I look forward to writing a report next week of how it all went.
Now I knew it had a long hill in each lap, around a 12-13 min climb for the faster riders, and I knew that I perhaps would be lacking when it came to the power to weight ratio. With Julian Ramsbottom also enter I deep down knew I was unlikely to win this event as the climb wouldn't play to my strengths.
I drove up on the day, surprisingly only a 3.5 hour drive and arrived nice and early to get a recce lap in. Feeling good I thought the climb although steep in places not too bad, and was feeling good for the race. I spent most of the morning chilling and just slowly getting ready. I also decided that a 23 sprocket wasn't the best option with a 39 ring, so fitted a cassette with a 26 sprocket on it. I felt in race conditions that would be more than sufficient.
Race time came and I still felt good, the first part was a downhill section followed straight by the climb, I managed to pace this pretty well, and over the first part there was a section where I could get aero and try and pick up as much speed as possible, before the road kicked up again, this time a little bit steeper. Up the hill in under 13 mins I was pretty pleased and settled down to ride the roller section along the A53, this was aided by a tailwind and this section was despatched in swift order.
The ride back to Longnor was a fast road with a nice technical descent, but also with a couple of leg sapping kick ups. I was catching slower riders on their second laps and unfortunately a few cars who were caught up behind these riders, this meant I was held up a little on one of the faster downhill sections, but nothing in the grand scheme of things. Once the car was past the rider I was able to power on to complete the first lap, I was pretty happy with the time, and I was hoping that the second one wouldn't be too far off.
As I started the second attempt on the long hill, it was if all energy just sapped right out of me, this time getting the power out seemed so much harder, and I just felt as if no matter how hard I pushed the speed just wasn't there, this was evident on downloading my data of how slow the second time up the hill had been, about a minute slower. When I got to the A53 this time, apart from feeling the effort a lot more I decided to just hammer along it as best I could and try and make up for any lost time. This section went OK, and now on the return leg to Longnor I pushed as hard as I dare on the descent, and although faster this time with no cars holding me up I felt as though this was going to be a good lap. The last few miles felt a real struggle though and it was a massive effort to keep the power up to where I know it should be. I gave it everything up the last hill to the finish and slowly made my way back to the HQ (all of a 100 yards LOL).
Looking at the times I was a bit shocked that Julian Ramsbottom had beaten me by about 2 mins, and that I had also been beaten by a couple of others as well. Finishing 4th on a course that I really didn't suit should be pleasing, but I thought my ride was just shocking. Although getting a power figure from this course is not a true reflection as a lot of it is spent freewheeling, the power was shockingly low for what I know I am capable of. I did spend a lot of time going over things in my head, what happened, what did I do wrong, was I still tired from training, did I got too hard on the first lap, etc etc. I went home a bemused and disappointed man. The event itself is fantastic though and certainly one to go back to and see if I can do better.
Luckily I had a phone call with my coach later in the week, and as ever she looked at the performance slightly differently to me. Although it wasn't the best performance, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was and yes the course was unlikely to suit me. At least I can take some inspiration from the event, I know I have to lose a bit of weight for the Hever Castle Bastion, this has given me the shock I needed really, every cloud and all that.
Now it is onto something new, this weekend sees my first triathlon, the 7Oaks Triathlon. This really is going to be an unknown in all honesty, I know the bike course very well having ridden it lots in the last few weeks. I know I can go very well on the bike, and I know where I will be roughly with the swimming. It is the run afterwards which is really the unknown I suppose, I have decided to ride the bike course as a standalone TT and then just go as fast as my legs will let me on the run, it could be a bad decision, but I know I am not as fast as other guys on the run, and I feel I may as well make up as much time as I can on the bike and see what happens. I will admit to be just a wee bit nervous, though with it being my first event I should have no real expectations, and the real aim is to really enjoy the experience. I look forward to writing a report next week of how it all went.
Friday 11 April 2014
It's Close at the Top
This was always going to be my most difficult TT Series race, the week leading up to it I was away with work. That meant no time on the bike apart from a quick session on Friday and a little bit of running to keep some semblance of training going whilst away.
I say a little bit of running, it ended up being a bit more than my coach had planned and suggested, running a half marathon 5 days before what should be a target race is probably not the best idea. Thing is with time ticking down to my first iron distance triathlon I've got to take every chance possible to get my running fitness where it needs to be. I did do it at a fairly easy pace so didn't seem to suffer too much from doing it, or so I thought at the time. It was quite nice running at 5am with just the sound of the birds chirping away.
The little bike training session on Friday highlighted that perhaps I had hurt the legs a little bit more than I thought, as what should have been an easyish session felt quite hard, no doubt a 15 hour day driving back from Glasgow the day before didn't help either.
Anyhow what was done was done, all I could hope that with a bit of recovery on Saturday my legs would be in a suitable shape for Sunday, it was quite nice having a lateish start time on Sunday as it did mean not having to get up at 4am to drive to Stafford. Once at the HQ I setup the turbo so I could try and do a controlled warm up, this ended up feeling like hard work as well, things were not looking too great it must be said.
Now in my first TT Series race I won it quite comfortably, this was going to be a different matter completely and I didn't really need to be feeling substandard. I had the formidable Julian Ramsbottom and local fast guy Scott Westwood in this event, I really needed to be firing on all cylinders. Once I started riding for the start I felt much happier than I did on the turbo, perhaps it was just being on the turbo that felt horrible.
This was one of the hillier TT Series races I had done, and although hilly I was still hoping to do the 22 miles in under 50 mins (I thought this was the minimum needed really to stand any chance of winning). I got off to a good start and was happy with the power I was putting out, perhaps my legs were better than I thought. The first 5 miles of so were into a bit of a headwind, though the road here was pretty fast and not too hilly. We turned off onto a smaller road and luckily with this being the hilliest part we had a bit of a tailwind, this always makes the hills a little bit more pleasant. It wasn't long before my visor started misting up, a bit surprising really as it has been pretty good once the day has warmed up. Perhaps where it had rained earlier in the day it was still a bit humid, or perhaps I was breathing heavier.
Although this distracted me, I don't think I lost much time, it was just harder to see any problems with the road ahead, luckily there were only a few potholes which had been marked out by the organisor (I am really glad when they go that little extra mile). One unique feature is having to cross a reservoir, this is a bit different, and luckily with the tailwind it wasn't the horror it could have been with a crosswind. At this point I could feel the effort in my legs, but I could also see my 2 min man, this as always gives you that little extra push. I caught him around the 12 mile mark, but now I really was hurting but I had to push on as you never want to get repassed. The last few miles were fairly fast with the tailwind even though it was slightly uphill, but I also knew the last 8 miles or so were going to be in a headwind and the road wasn't flat.
On turning into this road, the strength of the wind surprised me a little, it was gusty and even the smallest of hills here seemed steeper than they actually were, tired legs weren't helping either. Power was still good however and although I couldn't quite manage much above threshold on the hills, I at least took time to recover on the downhill bits. With the headwind though these were not as enjoyable as they should have been, you still needed to pedal to keep the speed up - damn headwinds. I was a bit surprised of the last few miles, what looked like downhill on elevation maps seemed to be a real struggle and it still took a very big final push to keep any decent speed up. It seemed like forever crossing the finish line, but I did so in under 50 mins - just. My time of 49:52 seemed half decent and I felt I had given all I had on the day.
On getting back to the HQ I found out that the first 3 were really close, 11 secs covered us, I knew it was going to be close, but I didn't expect it to be that close. I lost out to local lad Scott Westwood, no doubt his greater course knowledge paying dividends here, and I had managed to beat Julian by 4 secs, talk about cutting it fine. I wasn't too disappointed to lose to Scott, he isn't doing the full series, but Julian is, so the main target was to be in front of Julian, though to be honest I wish it hadn't been as close as it was.
All in all the race went as well as could be expected, power was in the right ballpark, though I was never truly comfortable and I think my legs were still not feeling as good as they could have been. Power in reality should have been higher for the duration, but you can only do what you can on the day. Ruth has done great things with my training plan, and with me trying to extend myself in every training session, it really is testament to her that I can still pull these performances out without the cycling only specific training. Also must say a big thanks to Zipp Wheels, Tacx, SRAM, Quarq, and Torq Fitness for there continued support.
Next race is round 3 of the RTTC TT Series, the iconic Buxton Mountain TT, now this is a hilly event, again I need to be on top form and a little bit lighter than I was last weekend. Eating has gone really well and just a little bit lighter, going to need to be for this event and the Bastion coming up, just got to make sure when I go away with work I don't indulge too much.
RTTC TT Series Round 2 Results
RTTC TT Series Round 2 Report
I say a little bit of running, it ended up being a bit more than my coach had planned and suggested, running a half marathon 5 days before what should be a target race is probably not the best idea. Thing is with time ticking down to my first iron distance triathlon I've got to take every chance possible to get my running fitness where it needs to be. I did do it at a fairly easy pace so didn't seem to suffer too much from doing it, or so I thought at the time. It was quite nice running at 5am with just the sound of the birds chirping away.
The little bike training session on Friday highlighted that perhaps I had hurt the legs a little bit more than I thought, as what should have been an easyish session felt quite hard, no doubt a 15 hour day driving back from Glasgow the day before didn't help either.
Anyhow what was done was done, all I could hope that with a bit of recovery on Saturday my legs would be in a suitable shape for Sunday, it was quite nice having a lateish start time on Sunday as it did mean not having to get up at 4am to drive to Stafford. Once at the HQ I setup the turbo so I could try and do a controlled warm up, this ended up feeling like hard work as well, things were not looking too great it must be said.
Now in my first TT Series race I won it quite comfortably, this was going to be a different matter completely and I didn't really need to be feeling substandard. I had the formidable Julian Ramsbottom and local fast guy Scott Westwood in this event, I really needed to be firing on all cylinders. Once I started riding for the start I felt much happier than I did on the turbo, perhaps it was just being on the turbo that felt horrible.
This was one of the hillier TT Series races I had done, and although hilly I was still hoping to do the 22 miles in under 50 mins (I thought this was the minimum needed really to stand any chance of winning). I got off to a good start and was happy with the power I was putting out, perhaps my legs were better than I thought. The first 5 miles of so were into a bit of a headwind, though the road here was pretty fast and not too hilly. We turned off onto a smaller road and luckily with this being the hilliest part we had a bit of a tailwind, this always makes the hills a little bit more pleasant. It wasn't long before my visor started misting up, a bit surprising really as it has been pretty good once the day has warmed up. Perhaps where it had rained earlier in the day it was still a bit humid, or perhaps I was breathing heavier.
Picture Courtesy of Brian Hall
Although this distracted me, I don't think I lost much time, it was just harder to see any problems with the road ahead, luckily there were only a few potholes which had been marked out by the organisor (I am really glad when they go that little extra mile). One unique feature is having to cross a reservoir, this is a bit different, and luckily with the tailwind it wasn't the horror it could have been with a crosswind. At this point I could feel the effort in my legs, but I could also see my 2 min man, this as always gives you that little extra push. I caught him around the 12 mile mark, but now I really was hurting but I had to push on as you never want to get repassed. The last few miles were fairly fast with the tailwind even though it was slightly uphill, but I also knew the last 8 miles or so were going to be in a headwind and the road wasn't flat.
On turning into this road, the strength of the wind surprised me a little, it was gusty and even the smallest of hills here seemed steeper than they actually were, tired legs weren't helping either. Power was still good however and although I couldn't quite manage much above threshold on the hills, I at least took time to recover on the downhill bits. With the headwind though these were not as enjoyable as they should have been, you still needed to pedal to keep the speed up - damn headwinds. I was a bit surprised of the last few miles, what looked like downhill on elevation maps seemed to be a real struggle and it still took a very big final push to keep any decent speed up. It seemed like forever crossing the finish line, but I did so in under 50 mins - just. My time of 49:52 seemed half decent and I felt I had given all I had on the day.
On getting back to the HQ I found out that the first 3 were really close, 11 secs covered us, I knew it was going to be close, but I didn't expect it to be that close. I lost out to local lad Scott Westwood, no doubt his greater course knowledge paying dividends here, and I had managed to beat Julian by 4 secs, talk about cutting it fine. I wasn't too disappointed to lose to Scott, he isn't doing the full series, but Julian is, so the main target was to be in front of Julian, though to be honest I wish it hadn't been as close as it was.
All in all the race went as well as could be expected, power was in the right ballpark, though I was never truly comfortable and I think my legs were still not feeling as good as they could have been. Power in reality should have been higher for the duration, but you can only do what you can on the day. Ruth has done great things with my training plan, and with me trying to extend myself in every training session, it really is testament to her that I can still pull these performances out without the cycling only specific training. Also must say a big thanks to Zipp Wheels, Tacx, SRAM, Quarq, and Torq Fitness for there continued support.
Next race is round 3 of the RTTC TT Series, the iconic Buxton Mountain TT, now this is a hilly event, again I need to be on top form and a little bit lighter than I was last weekend. Eating has gone really well and just a little bit lighter, going to need to be for this event and the Bastion coming up, just got to make sure when I go away with work I don't indulge too much.
RTTC TT Series Round 2 Results
RTTC TT Series Round 2 Report
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