Last Sunday I took park in my second ever duathlon (5k run, 20k ride, 5k run) which took place at the Olympic Rowing venue in Dorney. The duathlon is something that has never really appealed to me, not being the best runner and all that. However, I had not raced for a while and had also not been on the time trial bike for a long time, so when I saw this race scheduled for the weekend, I thought I might as well have a go.
The race was a pretty low key affair though, with only about, what seemed 100 or so competitors spread across the two races. Still, the weather was good, apart from a strong wind which meant that the downwind sections of the 5 bike laps were gonna be pretty fast, but the return legs were gonna be pretty grim.
The race finally got underway and I was pleased with my ability to remain in control and hang around in the second pack of runners. There was one chap who had gone out in the lead, but I was quite happy staying the with the 3 chaps close to me, even if just to sit behind them on the headwind sections on the run. On the final section of the run, I did try to break away, but alas the headwind was too strong and they all tucked in behind me. I got into T1 in 3rd place in the end I, but now it was time to get back on the trusty bike.
I quickly passed the second place coming out of the bike and now only had the good runner out in front of me. Thankfully, it was a 5 lap affair on the bike so it was easy to see when you were putting time into people. I quickly realised that I was gonna catch the lead runner in no time at all, but I was more worried about 3rd place as I was struggling to put some time into him and I assumed he would be able to run well on the second leg. I finally caught and passed the lead person on lap 2 and now decided to make a push for it to try and increase the distance between me and third. I did most of this on lap 4 when I really pushed hard into the headwind. This seemed to work and by the time I came in, I had almost two minutes on 3rd place which was hopefully going to be enough for the win.
The second run was more of a controlled effort as I made sure that 3rd place was not catching me too fast. In the end, I probs could have run it 30s quicker, but my 19min run, after my sub 18 on the first and a slow 34 on the bike (I blame the wind and dead turns) was enough for me to clinch the victory in this one.
The funny thing is, I have now done two duathlons in my career and won both of them quite comfortably. Okay, so neither of them were big events, but a win is a win :-)
Race report from Tri247 is HERE
Full results are HERE
Monday, December 03, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
PBPB
Well, the running form has continued for the last couple of weeks as well with two races and two more PB's at different distances.
Last weekend saw the second of the Regent's Park 10k races taking place. I had been running well and so, was really keen to finally break through the 37minute mark which seems to have stuck with me for so long...I suppose that is largely due to the law of diminishing returns though...Anyway, the race got underway in perfect conditions and the first couple of km's felt really fast, a quick look at the watch showed that we had just done two 3:22 km's....not exactly the best way to start out, unless that is, you are aiming for a 32/33 min 10k. I knew I would pay for them later though, so decided to slow down a bit and just try and stay with the right pace of about 3:40km's. In the end I managed to smash pretty much 30s off the previous PB (30s is a lot for me) and came home in 36:43 - finally, I had done it, I had broken 37. This also happened on a run which had not gone totally to plan, I had not felt that good for the whole race, but then again, who cares, I did what I set out to do.
Last weekend saw the second of the Regent's Park 10k races taking place. I had been running well and so, was really keen to finally break through the 37minute mark which seems to have stuck with me for so long...I suppose that is largely due to the law of diminishing returns though...Anyway, the race got underway in perfect conditions and the first couple of km's felt really fast, a quick look at the watch showed that we had just done two 3:22 km's....not exactly the best way to start out, unless that is, you are aiming for a 32/33 min 10k. I knew I would pay for them later though, so decided to slow down a bit and just try and stay with the right pace of about 3:40km's. In the end I managed to smash pretty much 30s off the previous PB (30s is a lot for me) and came home in 36:43 - finally, I had done it, I had broken 37. This also happened on a run which had not gone totally to plan, I had not felt that good for the whole race, but then again, who cares, I did what I set out to do.
Did another 1/2 marathon as well yesterday. Was listed as a XC event as it was going to be taking place along the Grand Union Canal near Watford - was certainly not smooth asphalt anyway! The gun went off and into the first corner and I was lying in second place as we made a small loop of a playing field to obviously just get the distance exactly right. Out on to the tow path and I was able to take the lead for about 1 and a half miles. I could not believe it, I was in a relatively big running race (300 people) and I was in the lead…me…I'm not even a good runner. Anyway, the eventual winner came past at about 3 miles and then just slowly made his way off into the distance. I was struggling though, not really sure why either as I am running fit at the moment. My breathing was all over the place, mainly as a result of constantly making sure that I was not going to stand on some dodgy ground etc as it was really pitted at some points, slippy in others and pretty rough all the way along. My aim was to go under 1:20 but the wheels were coming off a bit after 4 miles and I was slowly slipping off the pace, not by too much though and I still looked set to go under 80. I went through 10k in 36:48, so that means that I am not running my 10's as hard as I should be! Then, just after the 9 mile board, the wheels totally came off….as in, I went over on my ankle and it really hurt. 2nd place had not long passed me at this point, but I was still in 3rd, in a running race and I could not see 4th down the path. So, I decided to start trying to run on the bad foot…it hurt for a bit, but in the end I was able to get going again. I got through the next 3 miles in some discomfort, although, to be honest, I was only really interested in maintaining 3rd place. I finally got into the park where the finish was and was told by some spectator that I had about 100m on 4th. That sounded good to me, but I still started to pick the pace up a little just to be sure. With about 1k to go, I noticed some people with loads of dogs and they decided that it would be a good idea to all cross in front of me. Not sure what happened next, but I ended up kneeing their big dog in the side and almost falling over again…can people not look after their pets? (it was not on a lead). Still, made it round the corner and saw that the clock was saying 1:21 and 50 something, so I dug in and sprinted home to break 82 by 1s and cling on to 3rd. Not a bad result considering the lost time whilst working out if my ankle was still working and then running into a massive dog.
Have since looked at the stats from the watch and it looks like it was all steady climbing all the way as well…only 30m in total, but hey, uphill is uphill. Plus, the wind was blowing downstream as well…hard in places.
Friday, October 19, 2007
The Henley Half - New PB
Last weekend I had a busy weekend of running lined up...on the Saturday I was to start my cross country season with the first event of the season taking place in Ruislip in North London. On it's own, that sounded like a good idea, but I had decided that I was going to do that and then go to Henley the day after for the half marathon. Two hard races in two days is never really what you're supposed to do, but this is the off season, so why not. I have been running a hell of a lot more recently and have even managed to get up to 70k/week so my legs were in good shape.
The cross country turned out to be exactly, if not worse than I remembered from last year. There is something about XC that really does take it out of you. The course just seemed to be a mix between climbing hard hills and then trying your best to get your breath back on any flat or downhill, which there appeared to be very little of compared to the climbing, I appreciate this is odd...especially when you consider that we are doing laps! Anyway, the two laps and 8km took me about 32 mins so not exactly fast, but I was pretty tired. It was probably not an all out affair though as I thought that it would be best to hold a bit back for the bigger race. In the end, I came 113th out of about 300. Not great, but these XC races seem to have a knack of bringing out some really fast people.
Still, on Sunday we had the big race. I had entered the Henley Half Marathon under the impression that a run along the Thames was going to be a pretty fast affair and therefore I would be able to get a new PB. Especially considering my last one should be easy to beat as it was recorded back in early 2006. Still, having eventually looked at the profile for Henley and some of the results from last year, it quickly dawned on me that this was not a flat race. A quick check on Google Maps revealed a massive hill at mile 10...not really the best place to have one. Still, I thought that I would still like to have a go at the old PB, even considering the big hill...I had 1:26 to beat.
The race got underway and I soon found myself moving up through the pack of people. I finally got settled somewhere near the front pack and decided to just try and hold that pace. The new watch was giving me some valuable stats, so I knew how fast I was running and what my HR was. I had done a fair few 21/22k runs in the past few weeks so I know what I am able to sustain for the duration. Funny thing was, I was going pretty fast...finally going through 10k in a quicker time than I had recorded in a 10k race the week before where I came within 7s of my PB for 10k. Things were looking good, but at the back of my mind, I knew that I had "the hill" to deal with. We eventually reached it and I decided to take some smaller steps and increase the cadence. This seemed to work well and I was not losing too much time to the people around me. I hung in there for the mile or so of climbing, but I reckon that the hill put about 2/3mins on to my final time had the course been flat. Over the top and the steep downhill proved to be more of a pain than a relief as it was pretty steep so you cold not just let go and let the hill take you down. Anyway, getting back down to the flat was good as I now knew I only had about 3km to go. Time to put the head down and work on through the pain. The last km really did hurt, but it was worth it in the end. I came home in 1:22:36 and a reputable 16th out of some 1700 athletes, so a whole 4 mins quicker than the PB, and on a course which is a lot harder than Milton Keynes. All in all, a good day out really - especially considering the lung wrenching from the day before..
The cross country turned out to be exactly, if not worse than I remembered from last year. There is something about XC that really does take it out of you. The course just seemed to be a mix between climbing hard hills and then trying your best to get your breath back on any flat or downhill, which there appeared to be very little of compared to the climbing, I appreciate this is odd...especially when you consider that we are doing laps! Anyway, the two laps and 8km took me about 32 mins so not exactly fast, but I was pretty tired. It was probably not an all out affair though as I thought that it would be best to hold a bit back for the bigger race. In the end, I came 113th out of about 300. Not great, but these XC races seem to have a knack of bringing out some really fast people.
Still, on Sunday we had the big race. I had entered the Henley Half Marathon under the impression that a run along the Thames was going to be a pretty fast affair and therefore I would be able to get a new PB. Especially considering my last one should be easy to beat as it was recorded back in early 2006. Still, having eventually looked at the profile for Henley and some of the results from last year, it quickly dawned on me that this was not a flat race. A quick check on Google Maps revealed a massive hill at mile 10...not really the best place to have one. Still, I thought that I would still like to have a go at the old PB, even considering the big hill...I had 1:26 to beat.
The race got underway and I soon found myself moving up through the pack of people. I finally got settled somewhere near the front pack and decided to just try and hold that pace. The new watch was giving me some valuable stats, so I knew how fast I was running and what my HR was. I had done a fair few 21/22k runs in the past few weeks so I know what I am able to sustain for the duration. Funny thing was, I was going pretty fast...finally going through 10k in a quicker time than I had recorded in a 10k race the week before where I came within 7s of my PB for 10k. Things were looking good, but at the back of my mind, I knew that I had "the hill" to deal with. We eventually reached it and I decided to take some smaller steps and increase the cadence. This seemed to work well and I was not losing too much time to the people around me. I hung in there for the mile or so of climbing, but I reckon that the hill put about 2/3mins on to my final time had the course been flat. Over the top and the steep downhill proved to be more of a pain than a relief as it was pretty steep so you cold not just let go and let the hill take you down. Anyway, getting back down to the flat was good as I now knew I only had about 3km to go. Time to put the head down and work on through the pain. The last km really did hurt, but it was worth it in the end. I came home in 1:22:36 and a reputable 16th out of some 1700 athletes, so a whole 4 mins quicker than the PB, and on a course which is a lot harder than Milton Keynes. All in all, a good day out really - especially considering the lung wrenching from the day before..
Monday, September 17, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
The Big One - The World Age Group Champs
Well, for 2007 my season is now pretty much over having just come back from the World Age Group Champs in Hamburg. The World Champs was my "A" race for the whole season so getting there fit, uninjured and ready to perform at the best of my ability has been my goal for the past few months and for pretty much all of this season. At the end of the day though, we can't have it all I suppose...let me explain.
Over the past couple of months there is no doubt that I have been getting fitter and stronger, gaining confidence and speed in each of the three disciplines. On top of this, at the last few races that I have been at, the Relays, London and TT4, I had been pretty pleased with my racing performance so I knew that when I set off on the now famed "Magic Bus" for Hamburg I should be very confident of a very good result - possibly my best ever in a triathlon.
The magic bus was full to the brim with people, bikes and an extremely large number of wheels....well, we all need training and racing wheels don't we?
Anyway, thanks to the wonderful thing that is TomTom, the journey to Hamburg was a total breeze, taking about 11 hours door to door. Was also really nice to not have to drag the bike etc around airports etc as well.
So, in Hamburg and it was time to start getting ready for the race in a few days time...I normally know exactly what I need to do to get myself ready for a race like this, but one of the big problems we had was that it pretty much rained from Thursday afternoon to Saturday night...pretty depressing really. We did manage to get out and do the bike course though so I was pleased with that, especially considering that it looked like it was going to be a pretty fast course. There was only a couple of hills and they did not seem to be too much to worry about. The swim also looked like it was going to be pretty easy as it was almost a simple out and back in the lake.
Come race day, I was feeling pretty upbeat about things, my legs felt strong and I felt like I was going to have a good race. Last year I was quite intimidated by the whole big event thing, but this year things felt a lot more relaxed, especially considering the swim, which I was actually looking forward to.
The 30-34 AG finally got into the water at 8:00am for our 8:10 start...
What followed can only be described as comical. The starting sound that they use in these events is something akin to a horn so when you have a boat nearby who decides that sometime close to 8:10 he will set off his horn, the inevitable will happen and 130 athletes will go sprinting off in the lake. The funny thing was, this happened twice and one the second occasion we did actually get quite far out before being turned around for the "real" start.
Out in the water I felt pretty good and was sure that I was having a pretty decent swim I thought. I went very slightly off course at the top, but was able to sprint back in and not lose to many place. In the end, I was out the water in 23:19, which considering the course was a bit long, was just about where I thought I would be.
Not sure what was going on with the swim hat/tea cosy..
The first transition, as seems to be the norm in World Champs was stupidly long and with my now numb feet from the swim, it hurt quite a lot as I ran the 500m to the bike. Still, I was looking forward to getting out there and really seeing what I could do now. I had already decided that I was not going to totally kill myself on the bike as I was planning on having a much better run.
Out on the bike though and this is where things started to not quite go to plan. I knew that I was going kind of fast, but just felt that I was missing that top end of speed that I normally seem to have. The gears I selected were lower than normal as well, perhaps a good sign that things were not going totally to plan. Still, I tried my hardest to concentrate and just worked on catching people up and overtaking them. I knew one of my mates was about a minute up the road, so he was my main target for the rest of the bike. In any other race, I probably would have been able to catch him in not much time at all, alas today that was just not to be.
Coming back in the from the bike, I knew that I was going to have to do a brilliant run to keep up with my mate who had managed to come in off the bike at the same time as me...albeit, he has beaten me in pretty much every run that we have even done together.
Out on the run though and I was able to keep my mate within sight so figured that if I just kept him there, I would be able to have a pretty decent run. In the end though, I got to about 3k and I just wasn't feeling the love. I think I lost concentration for a bit and then let my friend move away a bit. My legs were not feeling that good either. By the time I was coming up to the finish, I was pretty sure that I had not had the best race in the world.
So, at the end of the day, two out of three ain't that bad I suppose. I had managed to get to the World Champs fit and uninjured...for some reason, I was just not able to put that into practice and race as well as I should have. I suppose it is just one of those things.
The final results show that I was the 10th Brit in my age group and that I was 32nd overall for all countries in my age group. At the end of the day, that is a massive improvement from last year's 60th overall and one of the last Brit finishers in my AG. I
Over the past couple of months there is no doubt that I have been getting fitter and stronger, gaining confidence and speed in each of the three disciplines. On top of this, at the last few races that I have been at, the Relays, London and TT4, I had been pretty pleased with my racing performance so I knew that when I set off on the now famed "Magic Bus" for Hamburg I should be very confident of a very good result - possibly my best ever in a triathlon.
The magic bus was full to the brim with people, bikes and an extremely large number of wheels....well, we all need training and racing wheels don't we?Anyway, thanks to the wonderful thing that is TomTom, the journey to Hamburg was a total breeze, taking about 11 hours door to door. Was also really nice to not have to drag the bike etc around airports etc as well.
So, in Hamburg and it was time to start getting ready for the race in a few days time...I normally know exactly what I need to do to get myself ready for a race like this, but one of the big problems we had was that it pretty much rained from Thursday afternoon to Saturday night...pretty depressing really. We did manage to get out and do the bike course though so I was pleased with that, especially considering that it looked like it was going to be a pretty fast course. There was only a couple of hills and they did not seem to be too much to worry about. The swim also looked like it was going to be pretty easy as it was almost a simple out and back in the lake.
Come race day, I was feeling pretty upbeat about things, my legs felt strong and I felt like I was going to have a good race. Last year I was quite intimidated by the whole big event thing, but this year things felt a lot more relaxed, especially considering the swim, which I was actually looking forward to.
The 30-34 AG finally got into the water at 8:00am for our 8:10 start...
What followed can only be described as comical. The starting sound that they use in these events is something akin to a horn so when you have a boat nearby who decides that sometime close to 8:10 he will set off his horn, the inevitable will happen and 130 athletes will go sprinting off in the lake. The funny thing was, this happened twice and one the second occasion we did actually get quite far out before being turned around for the "real" start.
Out in the water I felt pretty good and was sure that I was having a pretty decent swim I thought. I went very slightly off course at the top, but was able to sprint back in and not lose to many place. In the end, I was out the water in 23:19, which considering the course was a bit long, was just about where I thought I would be.
Not sure what was going on with the swim hat/tea cosy..The first transition, as seems to be the norm in World Champs was stupidly long and with my now numb feet from the swim, it hurt quite a lot as I ran the 500m to the bike. Still, I was looking forward to getting out there and really seeing what I could do now. I had already decided that I was not going to totally kill myself on the bike as I was planning on having a much better run.
Out on the bike though and this is where things started to not quite go to plan. I knew that I was going kind of fast, but just felt that I was missing that top end of speed that I normally seem to have. The gears I selected were lower than normal as well, perhaps a good sign that things were not going totally to plan. Still, I tried my hardest to concentrate and just worked on catching people up and overtaking them. I knew one of my mates was about a minute up the road, so he was my main target for the rest of the bike. In any other race, I probably would have been able to catch him in not much time at all, alas today that was just not to be.
Coming back in the from the bike, I knew that I was going to have to do a brilliant run to keep up with my mate who had managed to come in off the bike at the same time as me...albeit, he has beaten me in pretty much every run that we have even done together.
Out on the run though and I was able to keep my mate within sight so figured that if I just kept him there, I would be able to have a pretty decent run. In the end though, I got to about 3k and I just wasn't feeling the love. I think I lost concentration for a bit and then let my friend move away a bit. My legs were not feeling that good either. By the time I was coming up to the finish, I was pretty sure that I had not had the best race in the world.
So, at the end of the day, two out of three ain't that bad I suppose. I had managed to get to the World Champs fit and uninjured...for some reason, I was just not able to put that into practice and race as well as I should have. I suppose it is just one of those things.The final results show that I was the 10th Brit in my age group and that I was 32nd overall for all countries in my age group. At the end of the day, that is a massive improvement from last year's 60th overall and one of the last Brit finishers in my AG. I
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thames Turbo - Race 4
This Bank Holiday Monday witnessed the last in the series of Thames Turbo sprint races. Last year I managed to race all four of the races and eventually walked away with the first place prize for the my age group for the whole series. This season has been a bit different though....I came off my bike pretty badly before race 2 and then on race 2, I got about 5k into the bike section before I started to feel my carbon rim on not making a good sound on the road thanks to a sudden loss of air.
So, my theory went along the lines that, surely nothing could go wrong at this race...my season has to have had enough bad luck so far that would allow me to race properly for an hour. Things almost started to go wrong on the Sunday though when on a training ride my chain came off and got caught and subsequently I bent one of the links in the chain. Cue an hour of trying to bend this back into shape on Sunday night...there was no way I would be able to buy a new one before race day so I just had to do my best. Finally, after some pretty heavy handed repairs, I had a chain that seemed to run smoothly....I was pretty concerned though as to whether the chain still had the same strength...I decided to not push too hard when I was trying to get my speed back up after cornerning or roundabouts.
My race morning kicked off at 4:45am as I needed to have my breakfast and then I needed to get there to help out getting people registered and body marked in prerperation for the event.
Finally, I started my swim just after 8am and things actually felt pretty good. I was able to maintain a pretty steady speed over the course of the swim and actually felt strong towards the end. To be honest though, this is what I had hoped for...I have been suffereing from the swimming fear for the past few weeks and as a result, I have spent a lot of time in the pool doing hard sets.
Still, out on to the bike and I knew that this was where I was going to be able to make a good stab at setting a new course record for the bike section. I had been biking well recently and felt strong getting on the bike. I was also aware that another competitor was racing today who has had a blistering season, typically beating the competition by a number of minutes, and who was also no slouch on the bike...I knew full well it was gonna take one massive effort to stop him stealing the record.
In the end, I manage to knock 50 seconds off my previous record but when I put my foot down at the end of the ride, I knew straight away that the record had gone. I had done well, but not as well as the other chap. Looking at the results, it looks like I lost the record by 4s...at least that is a record that I know I can have a go at breaking again.
I eventually came back into transition with about 3 other racers, all of whom were probably gonna fill the top slots. Without going into the details, the Thames Turbo races have all the starters starting at different times, so it is not just a case of first across the line. I tried to stay with my mate during the first km of the run but he managed to drop me...however, I knew that I could let him get away a bit as I already had 45s on him from my start position. For the remainder of the run, I tried to keep him within my sight and hence not lose too much time to him. I kept on trying to guess the gap on the corners and I thought I had it.
I eventually managed to post my fastest ever time on that course (57:17 - previous PB of 58:39) and finished in second place behind the new holder of the bike course record. Still, I managed to post PB's in each of the three disciplines on that course so I was pretty pleased with that and it bodes well for the World Championships which I leave for tomorrow...
All larger photos are thanks to David Spencer from us2design
So, my theory went along the lines that, surely nothing could go wrong at this race...my season has to have had enough bad luck so far that would allow me to race properly for an hour. Things almost started to go wrong on the Sunday though when on a training ride my chain came off and got caught and subsequently I bent one of the links in the chain. Cue an hour of trying to bend this back into shape on Sunday night...there was no way I would be able to buy a new one before race day so I just had to do my best. Finally, after some pretty heavy handed repairs, I had a chain that seemed to run smoothly....I was pretty concerned though as to whether the chain still had the same strength...I decided to not push too hard when I was trying to get my speed back up after cornerning or roundabouts.
My race morning kicked off at 4:45am as I needed to have my breakfast and then I needed to get there to help out getting people registered and body marked in prerperation for the event.
Finally, I started my swim just after 8am and things actually felt pretty good. I was able to maintain a pretty steady speed over the course of the swim and actually felt strong towards the end. To be honest though, this is what I had hoped for...I have been suffereing from the swimming fear for the past few weeks and as a result, I have spent a lot of time in the pool doing hard sets.
Still, out on to the bike and I knew that this was where I was going to be able to make a good stab at setting a new course record for the bike section. I had been biking well recently and felt strong getting on the bike. I was also aware that another competitor was racing today who has had a blistering season, typically beating the competition by a number of minutes, and who was also no slouch on the bike...I knew full well it was gonna take one massive effort to stop him stealing the record.
In the end, I manage to knock 50 seconds off my previous record but when I put my foot down at the end of the ride, I knew straight away that the record had gone. I had done well, but not as well as the other chap. Looking at the results, it looks like I lost the record by 4s...at least that is a record that I know I can have a go at breaking again.I eventually came back into transition with about 3 other racers, all of whom were probably gonna fill the top slots. Without going into the details, the Thames Turbo races have all the starters starting at different times, so it is not just a case of first across the line. I tried to stay with my mate during the first km of the run but he managed to drop me...however, I knew that I could let him get away a bit as I already had 45s on him from my start position. For the remainder of the run, I tried to keep him within my sight and hence not lose too much time to him. I kept on trying to guess the gap on the corners and I thought I had it.
I eventually managed to post my fastest ever time on that course (57:17 - previous PB of 58:39) and finished in second place behind the new holder of the bike course record. Still, I managed to post PB's in each of the three disciplines on that course so I was pretty pleased with that and it bodes well for the World Championships which I leave for tomorrow...All larger photos are thanks to David Spencer from us2design
Friday, August 17, 2007
National Club Relay Championships 2007 - Nottingham
Last weekend witnessed one of the biggest ever mass migrations of Thames Turbo (my triathlon club) as we all headed north to Nottingham for the National Relay Championships. As with BananaMan, which you may recall reading about before, the National Relays are another event which don't subscribe to the normal swim, bike and run sequence of events.
The club relays basically allow clubs to enter teams of four people who all race as a team, the format of the race is along the lines of a tag team. The first man swims (400m), then he tags the next man who goes out and does his 400m until all 4 of you have completed the swim. Then the last swimmer tags the first man again who goes out to the bike. Once he has completed the bike, he tags the second man to head out and do his 15k. The last bit is a 5k run in the same format.
These relays have always attracted some of the best athletes in the country and this year was no exception. One of my team mates sent me a list with some of the other teams and it was clear that we were gonna be up against a who's who in the world of speedy triathlons...albeit, it does seem a little unfair when you are racing against sponsored teams which are not exactly clubs...as in, a sponsor will try and bring together a bunch of chaps who are pretty fast. There were a few teams of this sort of calibre on the start sheet, but we still thought that we would at least have a chance of being near the front.
Anyway, the swim finally got underway in the baking sun, never the best weather to be donning a thick piece of black neoprene..the sweat pretty much starts straight away. Anyway, our star swimmer came out really near the front of the pack and handed the baton (theoretical) to me...for some damage limitation. I think I lost about 2 spots in the water and by the time we had all got out, we were down to 18th position...things were not looking good. However, we had our secret weapon up our sleeves now...we are all pretty decent on the bike. After all 4 of us had cruised through our 15k sets of cycling, we had managed to move ourselves back up to 2nd place. To be honest, for Martin, James and myself, this was pretty much tantamount to winning the whole event..we all love the bikes, so this was a pretty impressive performance, especially considering the opposition. If I am honest, I have probably never ridden that hard on the road for about 20 minutes. When I finally came in to tag my team mate, I had snot all over the face and had a strange taste of blood in my mouth, not really sure what it was, but I am pretty sure that I had a fast ride!
My bars obviously slipped downwards somewhere round the course as well..
The other good thing about this format is that you get to wait around between your disciplines, hence, once I was off the bike, I had about an hour to get the legs ready for the run.
We started the run in 2nd place, but it was quite obvious as we looked across the lake to Dion that he was not going to be able to hold off the two competitors behind him. Credit where credit is due though, these chaps were all 15 minute 5k runners, so he was always up against it. By the time that I started my run, we were down to 4th but we were being chased down by some pretty decent teams, including the Army who, I must confess, I do like beating. I somehow managed to not lose any further places on the run and then neither did the two chaps after me.
In the end, we came home in 4th place and claimed a prize that we fabricated in our own minds....we were the first team of people who actually live in the same area and belong to a normal club, hence, we (in our own minds) won the Club Relays. We managed to hold off the Army and a few other top teams, including some semi-pro sponsored teams. It has to be said though, this was all down to some pretty good swimming and running, but our team's riding was quite amazing!
The club relays basically allow clubs to enter teams of four people who all race as a team, the format of the race is along the lines of a tag team. The first man swims (400m), then he tags the next man who goes out and does his 400m until all 4 of you have completed the swim. Then the last swimmer tags the first man again who goes out to the bike. Once he has completed the bike, he tags the second man to head out and do his 15k. The last bit is a 5k run in the same format.
These relays have always attracted some of the best athletes in the country and this year was no exception. One of my team mates sent me a list with some of the other teams and it was clear that we were gonna be up against a who's who in the world of speedy triathlons...albeit, it does seem a little unfair when you are racing against sponsored teams which are not exactly clubs...as in, a sponsor will try and bring together a bunch of chaps who are pretty fast. There were a few teams of this sort of calibre on the start sheet, but we still thought that we would at least have a chance of being near the front.
Anyway, the swim finally got underway in the baking sun, never the best weather to be donning a thick piece of black neoprene..the sweat pretty much starts straight away. Anyway, our star swimmer came out really near the front of the pack and handed the baton (theoretical) to me...for some damage limitation. I think I lost about 2 spots in the water and by the time we had all got out, we were down to 18th position...things were not looking good. However, we had our secret weapon up our sleeves now...we are all pretty decent on the bike. After all 4 of us had cruised through our 15k sets of cycling, we had managed to move ourselves back up to 2nd place. To be honest, for Martin, James and myself, this was pretty much tantamount to winning the whole event..we all love the bikes, so this was a pretty impressive performance, especially considering the opposition. If I am honest, I have probably never ridden that hard on the road for about 20 minutes. When I finally came in to tag my team mate, I had snot all over the face and had a strange taste of blood in my mouth, not really sure what it was, but I am pretty sure that I had a fast ride!
My bars obviously slipped downwards somewhere round the course as well..
The other good thing about this format is that you get to wait around between your disciplines, hence, once I was off the bike, I had about an hour to get the legs ready for the run.
We started the run in 2nd place, but it was quite obvious as we looked across the lake to Dion that he was not going to be able to hold off the two competitors behind him. Credit where credit is due though, these chaps were all 15 minute 5k runners, so he was always up against it. By the time that I started my run, we were down to 4th but we were being chased down by some pretty decent teams, including the Army who, I must confess, I do like beating. I somehow managed to not lose any further places on the run and then neither did the two chaps after me.
In the end, we came home in 4th place and claimed a prize that we fabricated in our own minds....we were the first team of people who actually live in the same area and belong to a normal club, hence, we (in our own minds) won the Club Relays. We managed to hold off the Army and a few other top teams, including some semi-pro sponsored teams. It has to be said though, this was all down to some pretty good swimming and running, but our team's riding was quite amazing!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
London Triathlon 2007
I'll start this little piece off with a little race report and some photos and then I'll move on to the saga that followed. To be honest, I should have known that I was due for some bad luck, I mean, I must have had one good race, so it was time for something to go wrong, at least that seems to have been the format of this season.
The London Triathlon is the biggest mass participation triathlon in the world with some 12,000 competitors taking part this year at the event in the Docklands. The race does get some stick from a lot of triathletes because it is so big, expensive and the number of people on the course can make it quite hard to have a good race. To me though, the London Tri is a unique experience where you get to ride at top speeds along closed roads in the centre of London (the bike route goes all the way to Westminster on closed roads). The finishing area is also always full of crowds and you always get to see a lot of friends while you are there.
After winning my age group in last year's race, I decided that this year I would need to move into the special wave that they have created for athletes who have a proven performance history. To get into the sub 2:30 wave, you need to show evidence of having competed at this sort of level in the past.
Come race day, I was feeling pretty good. I had suffered from the "swimming fear" during the week leading up to the race and had been to the pool about 5 times in a desperate attempt to get my swimming fitness up to scratch. In the end this paid off though and I exited the water in my best ever time of 21:52...the person in the background of this photo is someone who would normally beat me by about 1 min out of the water anyway...I was actually quite surprised that I had been able to swim that fast.
When I got into the massive hall where our bikes were all held, I also noticed that I had beaten Charlie (from our BananaMan team) out of the water and also another chap from my club who would normally beat me...things were looking good.
The problems started pretty soon on the bike though...as a result of that fast swim, I quickly found myself riding very close to a number of athletes who can unfortunately ride just about as fast as me. Along with Martin and Charlie, who can bike very fast, we were also joined by two other chaps who I am pretty sure are not able to put down the same amount of power as we are. So, for most of the race, the 5 of us road in close proximity. There were times when I was aware that I was in positions that could be construed as drafting (basically, taking pace or slipstreaming someone else) I tried my best to move out of these positions as fast as I could, but I was definitely not going to put the brakes on. As you can see from some of the photos below, the chap sat behind me is definitely slipstreaming me...basically, cheating!
Anyway, I managed to finish the bike in what I thought was second place, we had been behind the lead motorbike for the last few km, so it seemed plausible. Unfortunately, out on the run, I realised this was not the case as we saw the lead guy storming round the run course at quite a speed. I had lost another couple of spots going out on to the run so was now in 4th place. I got 2k into the run though and my right foot started to hurt, I had obviously done something jumping off the bike at speed. It got worse and worse and eventually I started to walk for about 20metres. My mate Dion just passed me but I knew that two others were hot on my tail so I started to run again. Funny enough, it cleared up and by about 4k...I was back on the case. I could see Dion ahead of me and I tried to keep him in the same position. At the turns I noticed that Scott and Martin were not going to catch me, so the 5th place was in the bag. In the end, the run (taking into account the stopping) was not too bad with a 38:07.
At the end of the day, I was pretty pleased with the 5th place, I had trained hard, raced hard...I would like to have thought that I could have held out for 4th without the foot problem. I had also managed to finally break the 2hr mark (1:57:55) for the Olympic triathlon, albeit, the bike was 2k short here so not a real result. Still, I was pleased.
It was not until late at night thought when I was having some nice food and wine that the bad news came through. My mum texted to say that I had been disqualified for cheating on the bike. Apparently, one of the British Triathlon officials had decided that I cheated and that was it, I was DQ'd. Normal procedure is to have some warning that this is gonna happen, alas this was not the case. The main problem for me, is that I know full well that I am able to ride my bike at that speed on that course...all my previous results point to that. Thankfully, the person sat on my wheel in the photos above also got DQ'd. Some others in close proximity to me did not get DQ'd though. At the end of day, I was livid though, this was probably my best ever performance in a triathlon and I have been marked as a cheat...from the bike section as well, if there is one place I don't need to cheat, it is on the bike.
There is no comeback on these decisions though so it is left to stand. My only hope is that things finally do come together for an amazing performance in Hamburg in a few weeks time. I know that I am fit at the moment so, if all goes well, it should hopefully be a good one...barring, I don't crash, get a puncture or get DQ'd!
The London Triathlon is the biggest mass participation triathlon in the world with some 12,000 competitors taking part this year at the event in the Docklands. The race does get some stick from a lot of triathletes because it is so big, expensive and the number of people on the course can make it quite hard to have a good race. To me though, the London Tri is a unique experience where you get to ride at top speeds along closed roads in the centre of London (the bike route goes all the way to Westminster on closed roads). The finishing area is also always full of crowds and you always get to see a lot of friends while you are there.
After winning my age group in last year's race, I decided that this year I would need to move into the special wave that they have created for athletes who have a proven performance history. To get into the sub 2:30 wave, you need to show evidence of having competed at this sort of level in the past.
Come race day, I was feeling pretty good. I had suffered from the "swimming fear" during the week leading up to the race and had been to the pool about 5 times in a desperate attempt to get my swimming fitness up to scratch. In the end this paid off though and I exited the water in my best ever time of 21:52...the person in the background of this photo is someone who would normally beat me by about 1 min out of the water anyway...I was actually quite surprised that I had been able to swim that fast.
When I got into the massive hall where our bikes were all held, I also noticed that I had beaten Charlie (from our BananaMan team) out of the water and also another chap from my club who would normally beat me...things were looking good.
The problems started pretty soon on the bike though...as a result of that fast swim, I quickly found myself riding very close to a number of athletes who can unfortunately ride just about as fast as me. Along with Martin and Charlie, who can bike very fast, we were also joined by two other chaps who I am pretty sure are not able to put down the same amount of power as we are. So, for most of the race, the 5 of us road in close proximity. There were times when I was aware that I was in positions that could be construed as drafting (basically, taking pace or slipstreaming someone else) I tried my best to move out of these positions as fast as I could, but I was definitely not going to put the brakes on. As you can see from some of the photos below, the chap sat behind me is definitely slipstreaming me...basically, cheating!
Anyway, I managed to finish the bike in what I thought was second place, we had been behind the lead motorbike for the last few km, so it seemed plausible. Unfortunately, out on the run, I realised this was not the case as we saw the lead guy storming round the run course at quite a speed. I had lost another couple of spots going out on to the run so was now in 4th place. I got 2k into the run though and my right foot started to hurt, I had obviously done something jumping off the bike at speed. It got worse and worse and eventually I started to walk for about 20metres. My mate Dion just passed me but I knew that two others were hot on my tail so I started to run again. Funny enough, it cleared up and by about 4k...I was back on the case. I could see Dion ahead of me and I tried to keep him in the same position. At the turns I noticed that Scott and Martin were not going to catch me, so the 5th place was in the bag. In the end, the run (taking into account the stopping) was not too bad with a 38:07.
At the end of the day, I was pretty pleased with the 5th place, I had trained hard, raced hard...I would like to have thought that I could have held out for 4th without the foot problem. I had also managed to finally break the 2hr mark (1:57:55) for the Olympic triathlon, albeit, the bike was 2k short here so not a real result. Still, I was pleased.
It was not until late at night thought when I was having some nice food and wine that the bad news came through. My mum texted to say that I had been disqualified for cheating on the bike. Apparently, one of the British Triathlon officials had decided that I cheated and that was it, I was DQ'd. Normal procedure is to have some warning that this is gonna happen, alas this was not the case. The main problem for me, is that I know full well that I am able to ride my bike at that speed on that course...all my previous results point to that. Thankfully, the person sat on my wheel in the photos above also got DQ'd. Some others in close proximity to me did not get DQ'd though. At the end of day, I was livid though, this was probably my best ever performance in a triathlon and I have been marked as a cheat...from the bike section as well, if there is one place I don't need to cheat, it is on the bike.
There is no comeback on these decisions though so it is left to stand. My only hope is that things finally do come together for an amazing performance in Hamburg in a few weeks time. I know that I am fit at the moment so, if all goes well, it should hopefully be a good one...barring, I don't crash, get a puncture or get DQ'd!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Bananaman - 2007
Every once in a while in the world of traithlon, we get to do something a bit different to the normal solo effort of swim, bike and run. Bananaman is one such event, the main gist is that this is a team event, so the theory goes that you get a team of 3 similar paced atheletes together and then race as a team of 3.
The main advantage to this comes on the bike where you ride in a line of 3...for those not too familiar with the world of cycling, if you ride directly behind someone you can save a whole lot of of energy as they are creating a slipstream in which you can ride. As for the swim, well that is pretty hard to organise in terms of sticking together...it is just a case of getting out the water as quick as possible. The run is then just a case of trying to get a pace that everyone is comfortable with...for someone like me, comfortable was never going to be the case with my team mates though.
Thames Turbo Sigma Sport have won the Bananaman Team Time Trial a number of years on the trot so our team of Dion Harrison, Charlie Pennington and myself had a bit of pressure on us to make sure that we did not let the record slip.
About 120 (40 teams) eventually lined up at the start for the 800m swim which included getting out after 400m, running round the pontoon and then diving back in.
The swim was quite good, although I can feel that I have simply not been doing enough swimming this season...I got tired quite quickly and my technique was not much to write home about. All I was hoping was that I had not let the other two down too much...in the end, we were the first team of 3 out of the water and on to the bikes.
The bike section is where the fun started for me. All 3 of us quickly got into formation and started to up the pace and get some nice drafting going. By the time we started the 2nd lap, there were loads of other teams on the course, with a lot of them definitely falling into the fun rather than racing category...que a lot of shouting by our team to ensure that we could get past them without any incidents...at times, we must have been passing teams at pretty much twice their speed, so a collision on the narrow course could have been quite nasty.
At the end of the 30k course, we had managed to put about 90s into the next team, something that I was quite worried about as I just did not know how well they could run off the bike, and with me not being the best runner in the team, I had this horrible thought that I might let the Turbo record slip.
Out on the run though, I felt great...I have probably never run that well off the bike and the best thing was, it did not feel uncomfortable at all. We went through 5km in 18:20 and then eventually got round the 7.5km course in 27:15...for me, that is just about as good as it gets! It really did show me that I can run a lot better off the bike and that part of my problem is rooted in my negativity towards the run and also I found that Dion and Charlie were very good at running a well paced race...something which definitely seemed to help.
In the end, we even managed to put some serious extra time into the next best team, eventually finishing over 5 minutes ahead of them. So, all in all, it was a good day in the office.
Needless to say, in this mega wealthy business of triathlon, our prize fund for the three of us did not even cover the cost of our entry fee - what a disgrace!
The main advantage to this comes on the bike where you ride in a line of 3...for those not too familiar with the world of cycling, if you ride directly behind someone you can save a whole lot of of energy as they are creating a slipstream in which you can ride. As for the swim, well that is pretty hard to organise in terms of sticking together...it is just a case of getting out the water as quick as possible. The run is then just a case of trying to get a pace that everyone is comfortable with...for someone like me, comfortable was never going to be the case with my team mates though.
Thames Turbo Sigma Sport have won the Bananaman Team Time Trial a number of years on the trot so our team of Dion Harrison, Charlie Pennington and myself had a bit of pressure on us to make sure that we did not let the record slip.
About 120 (40 teams) eventually lined up at the start for the 800m swim which included getting out after 400m, running round the pontoon and then diving back in.
The swim was quite good, although I can feel that I have simply not been doing enough swimming this season...I got tired quite quickly and my technique was not much to write home about. All I was hoping was that I had not let the other two down too much...in the end, we were the first team of 3 out of the water and on to the bikes.
The bike section is where the fun started for me. All 3 of us quickly got into formation and started to up the pace and get some nice drafting going. By the time we started the 2nd lap, there were loads of other teams on the course, with a lot of them definitely falling into the fun rather than racing category...que a lot of shouting by our team to ensure that we could get past them without any incidents...at times, we must have been passing teams at pretty much twice their speed, so a collision on the narrow course could have been quite nasty.
At the end of the 30k course, we had managed to put about 90s into the next team, something that I was quite worried about as I just did not know how well they could run off the bike, and with me not being the best runner in the team, I had this horrible thought that I might let the Turbo record slip.
Out on the run though, I felt great...I have probably never run that well off the bike and the best thing was, it did not feel uncomfortable at all. We went through 5km in 18:20 and then eventually got round the 7.5km course in 27:15...for me, that is just about as good as it gets! It really did show me that I can run a lot better off the bike and that part of my problem is rooted in my negativity towards the run and also I found that Dion and Charlie were very good at running a well paced race...something which definitely seemed to help.
In the end, we even managed to put some serious extra time into the next best team, eventually finishing over 5 minutes ahead of them. So, all in all, it was a good day in the office.
Needless to say, in this mega wealthy business of triathlon, our prize fund for the three of us did not even cover the cost of our entry fee - what a disgrace!
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