A Bit of a Tough Day

The 2 weeks in between the Bastion and the Castle Triathlon Castle Howard Gauntlet race had been a bit of a mix mentally and physically. I was still annoyed at myself for pulling out of the Bastion with constant thoughts of " I could have got around " swimming around my head. I had a week free of any training the week following, though in all honesty I didn't feel I deserved this, my legs felt OK, and although my back was sore I could have still gone out on my bike. Still I followed Darren's orders and had a week off. After a physio visit and the diagnosis of tight hip flexors I spent the week doing rehab, slowly the back seemed to get better.

The 2nd week was a family holiday up in Yorkshire, plenty of time spent with the family help with the mental side, and a little light training got me back into the training regime, though to be honest when running my left hip flexor and back still weren't right and running felt very hard work.

The weekend of the Castle Howard Triathlon was great, we arrived Friday and after a practise swim I felt pretty relaxed. Saturday was spent helping the Castle Triathlon crew out, and a quick recce of part of the bike course, it certainly wasn't an easy bike course but didn't seem too bad. Saturday evening at the campsite was spent having a few beers and BBQ with the Castle Triathlon crew, and I was in a really relaxed mood going to bed on Saturday night.

The beautiful Castle Howard

Sunday came and after a short ride to transition we were greeted by the news that the lake was 24 degrees, and that wetsuits would be optional though it was highly recommended that we didn't use them. Now not being a fantastic swimmer I was in two minds of what to do, the lake had been 22 degrees on Friday evening and hadn't felt overly warm, but I wasn't swimming at race effort. Others were still donning their wetsuits and after a quick chat with Eleanor Haresign, who just said "if it's optional you have to go with wearing it", I decided that there was no point in putting myself at a disadvantage. and it was on with the wetsuit.

Into the lake and whilst waiting for the start it didn't feel that warm, those that had decided not to wear a suit were shivering, I am sure they soon warmed up though. The swim was a 2 lap affair and went great I got onto some toes and settled in, I managed to start passing people and by the far turn there seemed to be a little line of us. I did try and swim past the swimmer in front, but realised that I just wasn't able to pick up the pace enough to get by, so again I settled in behind and hoped that the pace was good. After the first lap I could see I wasn't too far down the order and decided that I would swim to the far turn again following toes and then try and hit the last 500m fairly hard to try and make up a few places. This went well and I exited the water with a sub 32 min swim, now it was a fairly long run uphill into T1 where the swim time was recorded.

After a pretty quick transition it was out on the bike and feeling pretty good. After a few km's though I could feel my left hip flexor aching, this wasn't a good sign to be honest, but I hoped it would just settle down once I got into the swing of things. I soon started passing the faster swimmers and power seemed OK, just it felt hardish work for the power. After about 10km the flying Matt Bottrill passed me, I was hoping I might hold out for longer LOL. Unfortunately Matt punctured shortly after and I repassed him before the 14km mark, I wouldn't see him again until another 20km later. It wasn't long before I felt it a bit of a struggle to put out normal 70.3 power, and some of the guys I had passed early on were started to gain back time on me. Now normally I would have felt a strong urge just to have a talk with myself and knuckle down, but the various aches were starting to wear me down. The end of the 1st lap ended up being a bit of slog and the seemingly innocuous rollers were certainly challenging to say the least. Power was getting more difficult to maintain and as we were now encountering the standard distance racers I was more mindful than ever to keep the legal draft distance.

One of the Gauntlet competitors that I passed earlier in the race repassed me, now this was a bit of a new experience but I was struggling to ride at the effort I should be able to. I just decided to take a break and get more food and drink inside me. After another short hill one of the standard distance guys came passed, we rode together until the standard distance racer slowly pulled away. I was feeling a bit better by this stage and as I watched the average speed drop I decided to try and make up some lost ground. I eventually got back to the standard distance guy but again the effort needed to go past just wasn't really there. Now I had a decision to make, did I just follow the legal distance back and save my legs for the run ( and yes you still get a hell of a draft being >12m back) or end up playing cat and mouse with the other guy. I didn't really think that was fair for either of our races so I just held back and decided to try and save my legs for the run.

I came in off the bike in around the time I expected, I had told Heather between 2:35 and 2:40, 2:37 seemed pretty decent enough. Out onto the run and my legs didn't feel too bad, though not surprising really giving the lower power ride. The 1st 3km went OK with it being relatively flat and steady under foot. There was a steep hill just before the 3km mark which I walked, my back was still achy from the bike and I didn't want to make it worse this early into the run. After a much needed fuel and toilet stop the harder part of the run course started, and it was tough with niggling hip flexor and achy back. With the rough edge of an uphill field to negotiate I started to struggle even more and the uneven ground really caused me a few issues. Once over this I ran a bit better but the aches and pains were starting to get a bit more than niggling. I did contemplate ending the run after 1 lap, but then thoughts of the Bastion began to haunt me, I would do 2 laps even if it meant a slower pace. The end of the lap meant a stiff climb to a water tower over looking Castle Howard followed by a steep downhill. The cheers from the crowds drove me onto a 2nd lap and again the first 3km of it went pretty well and the pace was decent enough. As I started counting down the kms I actually felt I could run more and although the pace was slower I actually ran more. As soon as I got into the gardens of the castle I tried to run as strong as possible and actually sprinted across the line as there was someone just behind me.

The run was tough and although a 1:45 isn't fast by any stretch, it was great to get across the line without suffering the pain I did at the Bastion. I am certainly not fixed yet, but at least things appear to be going in the right direction. Not my best of races, but a pretty decent one and one that filled me with happiness. To be honest I never expected to be on fire for this race, I guess if I had completed the Bastion it might have been even worse LOL.

My thoughts on Castle Howard, it is a simply stunning race location. I found the lake nice to swim in apart from one or two weeds right on the edge of the course. The bike course is deceptively hard, especially the "rollers" on the estate roads, but it is a lovely course as the roads in the main are in great condition and the traffic was minimal to what I am used to. The run course is tough but a nice mixture of hard and easy bits. A massive thanks to the Castle Triathlon crew for putting on another great weekend of fun and enjoyment, their races are some of the very best out there and I highly recommend any of the races.

Swim : 34:29
Bike : 2:37:04
Run : 1:44:45

Total : 4:58:43

17th Overall and 5th V40

As usual big thanks to those that help me

Darren Jenkins - www.nevagivin.com/Darren_Jenkins.html
Secret Training - www.secret-training.com/
Go Resourcing - www.go-rg.com/
Hart & Co Resourcing - www.h-cr.co.uk/
Sundried - www.sundried.com
Castle Triathlon Series - www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk/

Almost in Tears

There was no anger just pure sadness when I pulled out of the Bastion on Sunday, it truly was a devastating thing to do, but ultimately the wisest thing to do.

I had gone into the race the fittest I had ever been, I was totally chilled out and really looking forward to race with good fitness and knowledge gained in my 2 years of triathlon, for it go wrong when going so well, will take some time to get over I suspect.

One may ask why pull out, why not just get round anyhow? That, to be honest, is a fair question and it is one I talked over with myself for some 30 mins or so before coming the conclusion that I didn't want to get into the state I did after Ironman South Africa last year, as that ultimately scuppered my season.

Yesterday my back was sore as soon as I ran uphill, and on the Bastion run course there is a lot of uphill. I hoped it would ease and ran at a pretty good pace for the first lap, but I was struggling on any uphill section. It got to the point that any slight incline hurt, but the steeper parts I just couldn't run up and had to resort to a walk, it was just getting worse. I tried to make hay on the downhill and rare flattish parts, but soon the downhills were just jarring and it was only the flat parts where I felt remotely comfortable. Even these were slowing down though. I think that settled it for me, to do another 21km in that state was foolish given my race programme and the longer term damage it might have done. It really was a very difficult decision, I have DNF'ed when time trialling and each of those decision I had to wrestle with inner demons, but none more so than this race of any. It is a race that means so much to me and to fail to complete it almost brought me to tears. The fact I was in a very clear 2nd place at the time didn't have any bearing on how I felt.

Looking jolly, but not feeling jolly
Thanks Deanna Pennington for the photo.

I now have to try and find out what caused the issue, I have been fine on the Gauntlets, but over 5.5 hours in the saddle over very tough terrain as well as being cold and wet might have been the straw that broke the camels back. It is easy to blame the bike fit but to be honest I don't really think that is the issue, it was only ever so slightly changed in December to give a more triathlon based fit, and I think it has helped my run for it, at least at half iron distance. This was the first iron distance event at race effort that I have used the position, but I have done plenty of training on the bike and not really noticed much of a problem, but long training rides are not done at the same effort.

Late last year and early this year I did have some glute medius tendinopathy, which was eventually cleared up with rehab, or so I thought. Given the complex structure of the glute muscles however there might have been something else going on. I know there is a link between the piriformis and sciatica, could the issues I encountered be a symptom on a piriformis issue. The physio that massaged my back and glutes on Sunday did say the left felt quite tight, and this is the one I have had issues with. I also have noticed a couple of times in the last few weeks of having a achy lower back before early morning swims that didn't ease during swimming. There may well be a underlying issue that only made it's full impact on Sunday.

I suppose the other cause may have just been due to going too hard on the bike, an IF of 0.77 and 330 TSS is a tough bike ride with a marathon to follow, but with a tough trail marathon it was probably over stepping the mark a bit I suspect. In all honesty I had to get into T2 in the lead as with the 2nd place guy (coming into T2) being a faster runner I was never going to be able to run him down, my only hope was to hopefully make him bike hard as well and just hope to hold him off on the run. The thing is my legs didn't feel too bad it purely was my lower back, sure the legs had some grumbles as they usual do, but nothing to suggest I had gone very silly on the bike. I guess that if I had over done the glute muscles then that may well have been the start of the problem and although they didn't feel sore they might have been causing issues elsewhere to compensate. I suppose I know for IM Wales to be more conservative on the bike at the very least, that is a nice hilly marathon as well.

So now the main thing is to get the back sorted, even today sitting down it is sore, goodness knows what it would have been like if I had carried on. The knowledge I did the right thing doesn't make it any easier and all of the Castle Triathlon team were really wonderful. Speaking with Yvonne afterwards and I was almost in tears, never have I been so upset about pulling out of a race, so glad she got pulled away. Massive thanks to anyone that helped out with marshaling, feed stations, cheering and other support jobs, you all did a fantastic job. Many thanks to SixPhysio for helping ease the pain on Sunday.

So do I do it again next year, I know the Castle Triathlon team want me to do it and Heather is happy for me to do it again but I had said I wouldn't make any 2017 race plans until after September, I guess I really do have demons to crush now. I am pretty certain now where I will be in July 2017 ;). Plus the goody bags given out at this year's Bastion were the best I have ever seen, they really did make some of the bigger IM brands seem pathetic with what you get, thanks again to Castle Triathlon, Kitbrix, dryrobe, Speedo, Vita Coco for your generosity.

Also last but by no means least many thanks for your support and to Darren for the great training, and there was me worried about my biking, still as good as ever ;)

Secret Training
Sundried
Go Resourcing
Hart and Co

Bastion 2016 Thoughts

As I write this there is less than 5 days to go until one of the highlights of my year, the Castle Triathlon Series Bastion. This is the event that got me into long distance triathlon and it still makes me smile. Now smiling about arguably the hardest UK iron distance triathlon is a strange thing to do, but the event truly is one of those special events and I just really enjoy racing around my training roads in what is an iconic event.

There are 5 or 6 of us that are doing it for a 3rd straight year, all of us nutters but it does perhaps show what it has to offer, and 25 athletes returning for a 2nd time. I personally have some demons to crush, as last year was not a great race for me and it ended up being a real bit of a sufferfest on the run, OK actually it ended up being quite an easy run as I walked for a fair bit as I just wasn't run fit.

This year it neatly fits in 2 weeks after Cholmondeley Castle Gauntlet, and 2 weeks before Castle Howard Gauntlet, what could go wrong hey. After my surprising performance at Cholmondeley Castle I have had a real good week training, and even now I sometimes think Darren might have forgotten that there is an ironman on Sunday. The taper is slightly different to what I have done in the past so lets see how it plays out, Darren hasn't been wrong yet with pre race build ups.

I do have a few expectations come Sunday, first of all I really want a great race to the best of my abilities, I owe that to myself after last year. I have been on the podium in all my races so far, albeit my AG rather than overall, it would be great to remedy that on Sunday. It will also give me a chance to see how hard I can push myself on a course that is probably slightly harder than IM Wales, to see if my hopes for sub 10:30 at Wales is even a remote possibility. Going for a sub 10:30 here might be a stretch too far, but it is certainly worth aiming for.

As I have mentioned in other blogs, I am fitter than I have been for any other long distance event I have done so there are no excuses there. The only little bit of doubt I have is the bike as I don't feel I am as fit here, but it isn't a bike race and perhaps being a more rounded triathlete will pay great dividends on the overall result. I still expect to bike well, just not perhaps as good as 2014.

So in short

Aim for the podium
Try and go sub 10:30
Run as well as 2 weeks ago