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

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.

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.

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

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.

So It All Starts Again

Well the start of the race season is upon us, the first part of my season is going to be focussed on trying to retain my RTTC TT Series (Vets on Actual) Title, whilst also mixing in a few sprint triathlons. My first race however, is this weekend and is the Maidstone Duathlon, which is certainly going to be an eye opener I would suspect.

Now luckily I know the bike course very well, being the local 25 mile TT course, the new sensation of trying to bike hard after a 9.5km run is likely to make it seem a whole lot different to what I am used to. I have done some easy running off the bike, but I have yet to do a hard run and then into a hard ride. I guess it is going to do one of two things, hopefully it won’t be the breaking of me and I will “enjoy” it.

It also does mean a slightly different feel for me starting the season, I know where I stand locally when it comes to TT-ing, what I am going to be like in a duathlon is a completely new experience and if I am honest it excites me a little, but also scares the shit out of me.

I am not sure how to approach the race, do I try and keep up with the faster runners, and hope the hell I don’t blow majorly and take the bike leg as it comes, or do I pace the run slightly easier and really hammer the bike leg and then hold on for dear life for the final 3.5km run. It is supposed to be a race where I try and get to grips with transitions between the legs, and not really worry about the result, but unfortunately I know what I am like and I will want to do the best I can. Let’s see what happens on the day, and I am going to try and enjoy it first and foremost.

The winter period has been a bit of a challenge for me this year, I was mentally spent after a long season, and it did take me a while to get going again. This was shown with a slightly lacklustre performance at a New Years Day 10, though to be honest I still think I went better than I should have done given the bike training I had done. Since the New Year things have got better and training has been going really well, power seems to be there still, even with the reduced hours cycling, and my running has been improving.

I have had help with my running, I had a running technique analysis session with the Running School www.runningschool.co.uk, which identified some pretty big issues. I have since started on a course with them to improve my running technique, so far this has helped with not being as sore after runs, and recovery from runs seems pretty good. I also hope when I have to run in anger on Sunday it will prove to be faster as well.

On to what happens later in the year, my big goal for the first part of the year is an ironman distance triathlon, this originally wasn’t planned, but I happened to win an entry for the Castle Triathlon Bastion event at Hever Castle http://www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk/en/bastion-long-distance/. Now with this being local I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, but if I am being honest it is going to prove a huge challenge for me and my coach to get me ready for it in July. My coach even suggested I might look at not doing the RTTC TT Series so I could concentrate on it, but me being stubborn said I think I can do both, only time will tell.

I am split between trying to do very well in triathlon and also competing in my local TT competitions, to be honest I can’t do both, I just need to work out which way I want to go, hopefully this weekend will give me a little pointer. Which way the pointer points will dictate what I do beyond July, I will keep you updated.