Lisboa International Triathlon

After last year's failed attempt at middle distance with my double blowout on the backroads of Rutland, Lisbon was to be my first attempt at making it round the distance and seeing if this suited me better than Olympic distance racing. On paper, it should as the cycling component takes up a greater percentage of the total time and it also has the added benefit of not needing to be able to run at lightning speed to get anywhere near the front - albeit, that does help of couse. I had actually raced a lot of the course last year whilst competing in the Europeans, so I knew that the course was pretty fast, plus, the closed freeway on the bike is a rare treat in the triathlon arena.

Before I started, I had all these big ideas about how I should be in with a shout for the bike prime of €250 but in reality, I had no idea how I would feel in the race - a lot of me just wanted to get round in a respectable fashion. When the claxon sounded and we all headed off, it was definitely a much more relaxed environment, either that, or my swim start position was too far out. I basically cruised to the first buoy with hardly any contact and then just decided to keep pushing at about the same pace for the rest of the race. I felt strong all the way round in the swim, I should probably kick some more in the wetsuit, but I suppose there is always the trade-off with tiring the legs. In the end, I exited the water feeling really fresh and I was pleased to see that I had swam about 26:30, so that was roughly where I wanted to be, I certainly did not feel tired anyway and I was ready for the bike.


The bike course had been extended by about 5km this year so that we were now going to ride pretty much the correct distance. Out on the bike though, I very quickly decided that I was not going to go hell for leather and try and catch as many of the pros as possible. By just cruising along, I had caught a fair few of them and made up a good few places but it was not long before I was pretty much maintaining my position within the field. I could see at the turn points that the pros were not exactly putting much time into me, so I just decided to stay steady for the rest of the ride.

Thankfully, I found that averaging just under 40kph (it was a pretty windy day) was not hard really and my Garmin shows that I maintained about 15bpm lower than I would if that had just been a bike ride. I did however take a tumble on one of the roundabouts going out of Oriente. For some reason, it was the only wet place on the course and I am not sure how it happened, but before I knew it, I was on the deck, sliding across the floor. A scar on the shin, ankle and bum - but, at least the bike seemed okay and I was able to get back on and continue with the race.







The main reason behind the energy conservation strategy was that I did not want to make a fool of myself on the run. My running has been no where near as structured and regular as I would have liked recently, largely because I have been focusing on the bike. My last run of more than 12k was when I did Milton Keynes Half - so a long time ago and hence running a half off the bike was not going to be too much fun. I had decided to try and get to 15kph as quickly as possible and then try and maintain that for as long as possible.







In the end, I managed to hold it for about 10k and then I definitely started to slow down quite a bit as my lack of running took hold of the legs. Still, the 4 lap layout of the run helped a lot as it was easy to break the race up into manageable chunks. In the end, I managed to go under 1:25 for the run, albeit, it was about 800m short - so, about a 1:30 half I think.

Finally, some 4:13:47 after starting off, the race was over. I had managed to complete my first middle distance race and, all in all, I was pretty pleased with how it had gone. I finished 16th overall and of those that were in front of me, 12 of them did triathlon as their full time jobs - well, they were entered as pros anyway. So, I was 4th of the Age Groupers so not a bad out at all. The next middle distance race is Antwerp in August. I am planning to concentrate pretty much entirely on my running for about a month before then though as I really need to make some big improvements if I plan to race well there. Thankfully, the National 25 and Team Time Trial will be out of the way by then.


Garmin Output is HERE

Dragonslayer Duathlon 2009

Even on the way to this race, I knew that today was not going to be a good day in terms of racing. My legs were not feeling that good after yesterday's TT effort and the thought of doing a very hard duathlon course just didn't really fill me with anticipation.

I arrived and quickly had a little spin around the Redbrige bike track which was going to be the scene for the 20 laps for the 40km bike section. Quickly realised that a road bike would not be the best choice (what I had) even though the course was both technical and hilly in places. There was still enough places to get aero and really get an advantage that would come from the TT bike. The run was more akin to a BMX track as well with sharp switch backs and some very steep hills in places....so, in summary, not really a race for me.

The first run was a nightmare from the moment I realised that the legs were not playing ball (about 1km in). The bike was a bit boring really, just round and round. The second run was very slow indeed. In the end I finished up 12th and can only really rate my performance as good domestique for the rest of the Turbos who did well to get second place for us in the London League for this one. I would have been more than willing to hand over a wheel to get me out of there to be honest. In the end, I got home in 2:06:47, more than 10 minutes off the pace.

Results are HERE

Farnborough & Camberley '25' - New PB

I had been looking forward to this TT ever since I had my first outing a couple of weeks ago. I knew that the course was good and I was pleased with some of the training I had done recently and how I was feeling on the bike. My previous best time on this course was a 55:10, but I managed to get that with a back tire which was slowly going down as I went round the course - it was flat by the time I got back to HQ on that day. Alas, I was hoping to make it round without as much excitement this time.

On the day, we had a slight wind which meant that things were not going to be complete plain sailing as the wind was a headwind on the way back to the finish. So, in light of this, I decided to take it a tiny bit easier in the first 30k so that I would have enough in the tank to be able to get me home and not lose too much time. I had set my Garmin's Virtual Partner up so that if I could beat it, I would break my PB of 53:17 for 25 miles. By the time I got to the roundabout before the last drag up to the finish, I was just under a minute up on that time...at this time, I was just hopeful of a sub 53 ride but as I crept up the dual carriageway, the lead was narrowing all the time as I struggled to remain above 45kph.

In the end, I crossed the line with a time of 53:16, so a new PB, but only by one second! Still, a PB is a PB and given the conditions, I am more than happy with it. I also managed to beat some very respectable names in the world of Time Trialling and was only 1 minute off the winner (I was 2nd) and he is a bit of a legend in TT circles.

Thames Turbo Sprint - Race 1

This weekend also saw the start of the tri season for me with the Thames Turbo sprint race...the exact race where I started my triathlon career some 3 years ago.

I was initially quite worried about where I had been seeded in the start order as I knew that the person behind me was firing on all cylinders and would be hard to keep at bay for the 15s gap that I would have as we started the pool swim. Alas, this ended up being the first time that I have ever caught someone in the pool and I even managed to keep Mark at bay, albeit, he definitely put some time into me over swim.

Transition went okay, although it is fair to say that this could have been a bit faster. I suppose a lot of this is just practice though and with this being the first of the season, it's better to take a bit longer and get it right. I decided to put my cycling shoes on in T1 for this one as I am sure that the loss in time is easily recovered as you head out on the bike. Instead of spending the first few hundred metres sorting the shoes out, I can get straight on with the racing.

It wasn't to be my day though....I jumped on the bike and instantly felt that something was not quite right with the bike. It just seemed to be going pretty slow and I knew that something more serious was wrong. I eventually looked down to see that the front tub was flat.....this was not to be my day.

A quick dash back to the pool and before I knew it, I was heading out on a friend's commuting bike, complete with mudguards and pedals which did not have the same fittings as my shoes. On top of that, the bike was about 2 sizes too small....so was more akin to riding a BMX or something. Still, I tried to make the most of it and even tried to keep pace with a couple of people on proper TT bikes, albeit, that was hard work without having my shoes clipped in etc.

Copyright: David Spencer - us2design

I eventually made it round the course though and headed back to T2 and out on to the run. I figured I may as well complete the course anyway. The run went okay, but not really being in the thick of the competition probably lowered my willingness to hurt myself properly.

Ended up 35th with a 1:04:26 which is slower than my first ever attempt I think. Still, not too bad considering that this includes the time taken to swap the bikes and then doing the ride on a commuter.

Salford Harriers 10k

Well, I don't think that I have ever stood at a start line of such accomplished runners in my sporting career as I did at this one. From what I can now tell, this race is a big race in the North West. The record for the course is an astounding 29:33 and there were a few people at the start who were all talking about the low 30's. Still, there seemed to be a good number of runners there so I was hopeful of not making a fool of myself.

The pace at the start of the race seemed high, but I decided not to look at the watch for a while to see how things went. I quickly went through 1, 2 and then 3k and then I decided to have a look at the watch....woops, I had averaged 3:30/km for the last 3k. I knew full well that this would not bode well for the remainder of the race. From that point on, I really struggled to maintain any kind of real pace and every look at the watch confirmed that things were slowing down.

Still, I managed to eventually find a decent couple of runners to sit in with and kind of stayed with them for the last 5k. The course had been described as 'flat', but I now know that this means 'northern flat' i.e., what people like me call undulating. Not exaclty big hills, but gradual rises and drops all the way round.

Eventually crossed the line in 36:57, so not that bad really as that is my second fastest 10k ever. Plus, based on my current amount of running, I am pretty pleased.




Strangely enough, as soon as I finished and the day after, I had no pain at all in the legs - very strange.

Redmon CC - First 25 of 2009

On Sunday, the Time Trialling season finally got underway for me with a 25 mile event that I have competed in for the past couple of years - the Redmon CC 25.

I was quite hopeful that I was fitter this year than I had been on previously, I suppose the problem was just knowing how much fitter I was. I have been doing more turbo work this winter and I certainly think that has helped but this would be the first real test of my fitness. My main aim was to beat my times from the previous two years which had been around the 55:30 mark. Secretly, I wanted to do a 53 something on this course as that would be just about the best I could hope for on this course - it is not the fastest course that I am going to race on this season, in fact, it is probably the slowest.

Anyway, after a mad panic at the start because I could not pump the front wheel up (valve extenders and stuck valves etc) I finally managed to get to the start line in time for my off. I started hard as I wanted to quickly get up to speed but in doing this, I think I pushed a bit too hard as I felt slightly lethargic straight away. Not sure if it was because I had not warmed up enough, or what really. Anyway, I decided to just try and settle down and start concentrating on keeping the speed as high as possible.

After about 5 miles, I was feeling a lot better and was now in to a good rhythm. The undulating section on the back part of the course was quite fast, albeit interspersed with a few short hills etc. Still, I was going well when I hit the dual carriageway for the last 10 or so miles. It was on here though that I really started to lose some of the speed that I had banked. There are a couple of drags and I wasn't as strong as I had hoped on these, although, I was going well as soon as I hit the flats or downhills again.

In the end, I rolled over the line in 54:31 which is 1:17 quicker than last year in what are probably quite comparable conditions. So, this bodes well for the rest of the season I think.

Results are HERE

Garmin output is HERE

I now have a 10k running race on Friday and then it's back to Hampton Pool on Bank Holiday Monday for the first triathlon of the season for Thames Turbo. I should be on my new bike for that one - as part of the Thames Turbo Race Team I am going to be riding a Ceepo Venom for a lot of my races this season. Just hoping that it is fast....