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.

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.