First Few Races

March is almost been and gone, the months just feel like they are flying by now, suppose that is one of the joys of lighter evenings.

March started off with a different feel as mentioned before, but now it was down to what I suppose is my bread and butter, time trials. The first couple were just about getting me used to racing again and getting the legs used to prolonged high intensity efforts. It is all well and good doing short intervals but then extending that interval to the full duration you should be able to manage can be a whole different thing.

I am not normally a lover of short duration TT's (anything shorter than 50 miles for me is short), but the plan was to do a 10 miler and then a 25 miler in preparation to the first of my "target" races. Neither of these were special in the grand scheme of things and were purely training events, so I was training through them and would ride with whatever fatigue I had. The 10 was a really eye opener in one respect, I didn't have the luxury of training normally as I was up in Edinburgh without a bike for work, so the majority of the week was spent running. Even when I got home it was a nice threshold interval session on the plan, definitely not something I would usually do before a race. The race the following morning was just a go balls out and see what happens sort of effort, to my surprised power was good and I managed to win by 30 seconds, I certainly hadn't expected to win, or to ride as well as I did. It show that winter training had obviously been working well.

 

Just after the start in the VTTA 10 mile TT (photo Courtesy of Bob Burden)



The 25 was slightly different, I originally had intended to ride it solo, but my teammate Tim Bayley suggested we do a 2up, so we entered the 2up instead. Again I wasn't really holding back with the training, and even had a Running School rehab session the day before, and my legs again weren't in the best state. I was (for one the very rare times) quite nervous about holding Tim's wheel and doing my share of the work, I had tried to make sure I was a fresh as I could be, but I did have doubts in the back of my mind. It ended up being a very very good workout and I didn't blow to bits either which was nice, again I was quite surprised at the power I was putting out when on the front, though sometimes I think I might have overdone it as it took a while to recover from. One thing I did notice, Tim starts like a bat out of hell, and goes up hills a fair bit quicker than me. Time for some weightloss I think LOL.

The main reason for doing these events was for the first round of the RTTC TT Series, which I was the defending Vets champion. My aim this year was to always do the first 5 events and hopefully win the series again so this was one of the more important races of the year. The training in the week inbetween the 25 and this race had gone pretty well, though I did notice I was feeling tired in general, and with the family coughing I suspected I was trying to fight a cold as well as recover from training. As the weekend approached I just tried to keep the training load up without overdoing it and although on Sunday my legs didn't feel their best things seemed to go OK.

The race was a very wet and cold windy affair, what had been a bright and breezy day suddenly got very wet about 5 mins before my start time, not the best news I was hoping for. I had only got one set of race tyres, and even these on the roads we were racing on were dodgy let alone when it is very wet. Being a TT Series race the course is a circuit and with this one a very twisty circuit, even better news really when the front tyre is one I don't feel that confident on in the wet. As I started and the wind chill hit, it got very cold indeed, in fact my hands were so cold and numb, it took until halfway (about 12 miles or so) before I started getting any feeling in them, not good when you have to brake for corners.

Even though I didn't feel on top of my game, the power seemed good and although I was tentative in the corners I tried to go as hard as possible where I felt confident. After about 10 miles I kept catching glimpses of my 2 min man in front, this gave me a little incentive to push that little bit harder, I managed to catch and pass around the halfway mark. I thought things must be going pretty well and although I was suffering with the cold and wet at least the rain had stopped. I just tried to keep the power where I thought I could hold it for the full distance, and I also kept an eye on the average speed as I wanted to go under the hour on a course that had only previously seen a handful of people do so. As I got to the 5 miles to go point, nicely marked with a 5 to go sign, things weren't looking too bad, the wind was going to be mainly from behind and I was hoping to pick up some speed.

The last 5 miles were difficult for a couple of reasons, one you are getting tired, there were some flood control works with a nice little chicane, and they were also relaying some of the road (for the Tour de France of all reasons), so we have a section that resembled Paris Roubaix. All in all this section did go well, and with the miles to go boards it kept you focussed on just how much to meter your effort. The Chelmer CC guys also had a prize for the rider who could do the last mile the quickest, this did involve a cheeky little hill about 500 metres from the finish. I knew I was unlikely to ever be the quickest so although I tried a little harder I made sure I had enough for the hill more than anything.

 

A very cold and wet Steve (photo courtesy of Davy Jones)



I didn't quite break the hour which sort of miffed me a bit, it's been a long time since I felt so slow,  even my last 12 Hour TT on lumpy roads was nearly as fast :-o. Overall I should be happy I won the Vets event by nearly 3 mins and the power was good, so the time lost was more about me being sensible around the bends than just being slow. I have no doubt I have become less aero by taking up triathlon, I know I have put on upper body muscle from swimming, I just hope that it isn't too much as I feel the next round will be a little bit more difficult with the likes of Julian Ramsbottom up against me.

RTTC TT Series Round 1 Results

TT Series Round 1 Report


Now I have a couple of weeks of training to fit in and no doubt start building up towards the iron distance triathlons as it isn't long now to the first one, and worries about long duration fitness will no doubt haunt me.

All Change - Again

A few people has asked me recently what I am planning to do this year and to be honest I thought I had got my season all plotted out, well nearly. On Friday last week it did all finally fall into place when I was announced as a winner of a Erdinger Alkoholfrei UK competition to win an entry into Challenge Weymouth. I must say a huge thanks to Erdinger Alkoholfrei, Just Racing and Challenge Weymouth for the prize, it is very greatly appreciated, and I really do aim to enjoy the whole weekend. I wonder if there are any prizes for the fastest bike leg ;)

Now with this ironman distance tri being on the 14th September and the Kent Cycling Association 12 Hour TT being the week before, it does mean I can't do the 12 Hour now. This is a shame, as I have said before it is really close to my heart, but with the Bastion ironman distance event earlier in the year, it will make things easier for my coach to plan my training.

So now my season is pretty much all planned, the first part of the year, well to mid May anyhow is all about defending my CTT TT Series title, with a couple of short distance triathlons mixed in, and then onto training for the Grafman Middle Distance Triathlon, which also happens to be the Triathlon England Middle Distance Championship. This will be a good gauge to how good (or bad) I will be at triathlon, I can't really peak for this I suspect, so it will be done with only a very short taper week beforehand I would guess. I am not expecting that the shorter distance triathlons will suit me as I was mainly a long distance TTer, so prefer the longer distances. It really is the middle and long distance triathlons that I really look forward to at the moment.

So for now training is mainly about getting the power out over shorter distances for the TT Series, but soon I know I will have to start upping the miles, and hilly ones at that I guess in preparation for the Hever Castle Bastion.

I hope not to change anything again, I think my coach has had enough surprises from me this year, I have never changed my plans so frequently and so late before, poor girl must roll her eyes when we speak LOL.

Below is a plan of the major races, I might fit a few other TT's in at the long distances as prep for the triathlons, though the thought of doing a race at a lower intensity than I know I can go, and not being at the sharp end as a result doesn't feel me with joy, I prefer to race at the maximum I can go for the duration of the event. We will see if I can fit anything in, as it is there is not a lot of time between the end of the TT Series and the Bastion, so no doubt a lot of this time will be spent on running to get that endurance built up.

Races Planned

March

23rd - CTT TT Series Round 1

April

6th - CTT TT Series Round 2
20th - CTT TT Series Round 3
27th - Sevenoaks Triathlon

May

4th - CTT TT Series Round 4
11th - East Grinstead Triathlon
18th - CTT TT Series Round 5

June

8th - Grafman Middle Distance Triathlon

July

13th - Hever Castle Bastion Triathlon

September

14th - Challenge Weymouth Long Distance Triathlon

Oh How Running Hurts the Legs

Last weekend saw my first foray into the world of multisports events, with the Maidstone Duathlon. I had been contemplating of how to approach the race and I finally saw sense with how to race it. I had done a training run in the week at the sort of pace I thought I would be able to manage, though this seemed tough and I wondered if I was being too optimistic, well I guess you can always go faster when racing. The bike was just going to be as hard as I could and see what happened.

The morning of the race I felt in good shape, though extremely nervous. I hadn't been as nervous as this at a race for a fair few years now, talking with a few people helped settle the nerves. One thing I hadn't really thought much about was warming up, now I know what to do on the bike, but for running, well normally I start off slow and then ease into the effort. This couldn't really be done in a race, so I just sort of followed others by running gently up and down the road to get loosened up.

8am and the hooter goes, off I go at the front and running at a pace that I knew full well that I couldn't sustain for long, luckily the first couple of km's was downhill. I soon settled in behind another runner at a pace that I thought I might be able to sustain. As the run progressed the faster runners drifted away, but I didn't panic, I knew I was going faster than I had in training, and it was going to be tough finishing the first run at that pace as the last few km's were all uphill.

I got into T1 in about 13th position and about 5 mins down on the first runner, T1 went very well and my transition time was up there with the fastest guys. On the bike I started off at a reasonable effort  whilst being distracted by a rubbing noise, it took a while to realise it was the paper number rubbing on my thighs, another new experience LOL. Once on the main road, I just tried to get into a groove and keep at a reasonable effort. I wasn't expecting to be able to put out my normal 25 mile TT power, but was a little bit surprised at how even a lower effort felt so tough.

I was soon passing the faster runners and I got into the lead around the 10 mile mark, from here it wasn't long before the first run started showing with me getting cramps in both my calves everytime I upped the effort, not a usual experience for me in such a short TT. I pushed on as hard as I could with the aim of just trying to build as big a gap as I could with full knowledge that the final 3.5km run wasn't going to be fast and I needed as much time as possible. I was managing the cramps quite well, and at the final turn I was able to gauge that I was about 2-3 mins in front of the 2nd place rider. The last few miles I tried to go as fast for as little energy expenditure as I could, not a normal scenario for me, where I normally try and get everything out.

I arrived in T2 in a good state, and with another decent transition I was away for the 2nd run. I have done brick sessions in training, but in all honesty the feeling of racing hard and then trying to run hard is not one you experience unless racing. The first km was a real weird feeling with my legs feeling that they didn't want to work, and that along with a real sore quad meant the final run was not going to be a pleasant experience at all. The first 1.5 km was uphill as well, again not the best feeling. I just concentrated on getting up the hilly bits as quick as I could, as I knew a lot of the run was downhill.

As I reached the top of the hilly part, I looked at my pace, all seemed fairly good, and the with the downhill section it increased. The left quad was quite painful now and it was just a case of trying to manage the pain whilst going as fast as I could. I dare not look behind me as I didn't want to see the faster runners bearing down on me. As soon as I turned back towards the HQ and the finish line I knew I was going to cross the line first. It was sort of surreal really, as I am so used to just doing a solo effort and awaiting the finish times, there was no celebrating or anything, just an immense sense of satisfaction that I managed to win my first ever multisport event.

I have done a fair amount of TT's of all different distances, but this is the first time my legs have felt as though they had been hit with a sledgehammer, I guess that is the sort of damage done by running hard. It was a good experience, though I can't say the most pleasant one. It certainly impacted my training for a few days afterwards, again something I am not used to for a relatively short event. Will I be back for more duathlons, well no doubt I will, but for now it is the CTT TT Series to concentrate on followed by triathlons (including 2 ironman distance triathlons), lets hope these go as well. It was great to get racing off to a great start for the Tri Spirit Team, lets hope for many more successes.

Provisonal Results

Big thanks to Mike and the Team at Velocity Events, and to Zipp Wheels, SRAM, Tacx, Quarq and Torq Fitness for all your help, it is much appreciated.