Kingston 16 Mile

My plan here was to see if I could run 4min/km all the way round the course. This was prompted by the fact that I had managed this back at the start of this year on the same run. My thinking process was that I had been doing a lot of running, so why not. In hindsight, what I should have done was look on a running calculator for the marathon time I want and then seen what it said for this distance.

I set off at just under 4min/km pace thinking that I would get some time in the bank for the second lap. This method seemed to be going well and I managed to get round lap 1 pretty much on pace. It was round about the 10 mile mark that things started to fall apart. I would like to blame this on the fact that there simply was not anyone else on the course at that time...there was literally no one ahead of me and I could not see anyone chasing me...it was effectively a very expensive training run. I think the last time I raced, I stuck to someone's feet for all of painful 10 - 16 miles. The headwind at this stage did not help either. Anyway, excuses really, I was just not as fast as I had hoped. Still, the comforting thought is that my time in the end of 1:47 is still in line with a sub-3 marathon run. Who knows, it may have been quicker if I had started out closer to that pace.

Rivington Pike - Half Marathon

Whilst in Manchester recently, we thought it would be a good idea to see if we could find a race to allow us to keep up with the training schedule for Dublin Marathon. The Rivington Pike half seemed a good idea, a hard hlaf marathon with a few hills sounded ideal.

The race itself was in fact a nightmare...right from the start, we had 2k of climbing to contend with, and not just a gentle slope either. This ensured that my HR was through the roof by the time that I got to the top and what followed did nothing to alleviate the situation - think Roman cobbled road not maintained for hundreds of years. The fear of braking an ankle ensured that there was not going to be much making up time on the downhill.

The following 10 miles pretty just continued in the same theme, don't get me wrong, some great scenery but all of it perhaps more enjoyable when the HR is not running at 180 - and that's before you see a bank of 50 steps heading to the clouds in front of you. 

Anyway, very hard race with my worst ever half time of 1:48...dreadful really but it was a hard day.

 

Thames Turbo Triathlon - Race 4

With this race falling so close to Copenhagen, I was worried that there would simply be no speed in the legs. The thought of sprinting for an hour filled me with fear really as I had spent the last 6 months simply going slower and slower it had seemed....no turbos since February and no hard runs at all. The swimming should have been okay though as my masters class meant that I had no IM specific swim training, just normal sessions.

I knew before the race that this was probably the best shot I have ever had of winning the overall series for the Thames Turbo triathlons, something I had not managed from the last four seasons, albeit, I have come close on a couple of occasions. Tim, my main competitor had told me that I could not let him beat me by more than two places...any less and I would be the series winner. 

The swim was a bit of a shock, I had not swam since Copenhagen, so suddenly being expected to knock out a 5:30 paced 400 was a bit of a shock. 100m and my arms reminded me why you needed to keep swimming. The good thing though was that I knew it would be over so quickly, anything after the IM was going to seem short. I think I exited the water in the same time that I always do, around the 6 minute mark for the 430m swim. 

To ensure that I managed to keep the gap down to under two places, I knew that I had to have a good run on the bike and I also needed to hope that I would be able to get through the set of lights. A stop there could have added on another minute or so to my time and I knew full well that would probably be too much to give away. As it happened, I got though and then had one of the best runs for a long time thanks to an earlier start time. No traffic and no lights, all good. Now all I had to do was to remember how to ride the bike quick. It felt quite lethargic on the bike, I could certainly feel how much power had gone from the legs since I had started the IM work. Still, I got round in a decent enough time, hoping I had not given too much time away.

For the first time, I was actually quite looking forward to the run. If there is one thing I had done since the IM, it was running - and quite a bit of it. On the week of the race, I had run 4 times (probably a new record for me). Out on the run and with no watch to let me know the splits, I had to just get on with it. I felt I was doing okay and probably running sub 4min/km but it did not feel as hard as it normally does. Anyway, eventually round in ~19:25 so pretty for me, especially considering the lack of speed work.

At the end of the day, I had done just enough to win the series overall as well. Tim had beat me, but thankfully this was only by one place. Both Tim and I appear to have raced almost identical races too...in all three disciplines there was less than 10s between us. Chuffed to have finally won the series too....and thanks to Paula as well for doing my marshaling duty, even though it was in the worst place possible on the course.

Challenge Copenhagen - IM Distance

In the months leading up to CPH, I was really starting to regret having ever entered the race. I was not enjoying the long, lonesome training, the constant 5am alarm calls and the feeling of constant tiredness from training or guilt from not training. Work had done a great job of ensuring that my training became a bit of a secret hobby whereby I would sneak in the odd session, rather than doing consistent weeks. An analysis of my Garmin training record from January up until two weeks before the race had me down for a weekly average of 8hr45. The plan all along was to try and go under 10 hours with less than 10 hours/week. However, this plan was not based on 3 hours one week, 12 the next, it was supposed to at least be consistent. In the last few weeks before the race, I started to relax a lot more as I stopped seeing it as a race and concentrated more on just trying to finish the race without having too many issues. I worked out a plan which basically just involved trying to swim round the hour mark, cycling 5 hours and then hoping for the best on the run...my main aim being to run to the half marathon point, any running after that was bonus time. There was a chance that this plan would work for a sub 10 hour, at the end of the day though, I was mainly aiming on finishing with a run that lasted as long as possible.

When race weekend finally came round, I felt pretty well tapered and was actually keen to get going (or get it over with). Travelling to CPH and then staying in a hotel which appeared, to any passer by, to be a Turbo hotel was quite cool. The only downside being that the hotel was in the midst of the most poorly organised renovations - the sort where they do all parts of the building at the same time. Anyway, they didn't make too much noise, that was my main concern. Pre race we had a few official things to get done, race briefing, registration etc...all done pretty much en masse without any issues, mainly as there was always one Turbo who had already done that and was subsequently assigned marshalling duties to get the rest in line. We had a little swim on the Friday and the water was cold, but my arms felt good, we also built the bikes up and then headed out for little spin to make sure all was in working order. I figured there was no need to try any running out...I was going to have a long enough warm up on the day and then a long time to get in to the run.

Race day itself rolled round and before I knew it, we were all headed back to the start to set off, on what seemed, like a ridiculous day of exercise...I was going to be exercising for about 10 hours?? Just seemed a bit impossible really. Mentally, I just broke the day down in to little blocks, nice hour swim, a few TT's and then 4 x 10k runs. That seemed, in my mind, to be a bit more manageable anyway.

The swim itself all went to plan, time wise anyway, I never chased anyone who went off in front, just concentrated on trying to stay nice and relaxed and just getting on with it. The buoys out there were a joke though, so much so, we all swam back in to the next wave on people after doing one of the turns. Luckily, no damage done so just kept on plodding away behind these two girls who had overtaken me at about the halfway mark. I got out in 56 something so everything was going to plan. I ran up the jetty in to the change tent - it was nice to have a little helper there to get you out of the suit and get the other bits of your kit ready. The offers to sort the vaseline out for the ride were less forthcoming. I cramped in a place on my legs where I was most concerned I would at this point....cramping after the swim was not a good start.

Out on the bike, and once you got out of town, the roads, scenery and tailwind were all exactly what the doctor ordered. I struggled to get the HR down in to the range that I wanted, but I decided to just keep on going, it felt super easy anyway, on and see what happened. Not having a Garmin which would last the distance meant that all I had was the HR and I had pasted the splits at which I should reach the aid stations to my bars. I went trough pretty much all the aid stations dead on time. I was up anyway, but knowing that the last 30k was in to a headwind meant that I knew I would lose some time on that leg. Still, the legs felt good and I managed to work my way through the malt loaf (this got very hard on the last few pieces). I had taken water at every aid station and used that to mix with my bottle of about 10 caffeinated gels. Coming back towards town, I was pretty confident that I felt okay and that I had almost managed to do the first 6 hours of the day to plan....this was good, I now had about 4 hours to try and cover 42k. My fear of cramping in the T2 tent never materialised and I headed out on the run feeling quite good about myself. All I had to do now was knock out some 10k runs.







The start of the run was good, I felt good and there seemed to be a lot of Turbo supporters out and about - this was exactly what I needed. I was going way too fast though so tried to keep slowing the pace down as best I could. I wanted to get as close to 5min/km as possible - preferably a bit quicker to give me some time in the bank for the inevitable collapse in times at the end. After about 5k though, I turned a corner and the cramp came back in the leg, same place as after the swim. This did not bode well, I had a long way to go and I had heard horror stories of people cramping and then having to walk for long periods. I decided to see if a policy of running it off would work - not sure what made me think this was a good idea - it worked though, amazing - the only problem being, I had to run a bit slower than I wanted to. Right from the start, I decided to walk the aid stations, taking gels for the first half and then moving on to coke, or whatever I felt like in the end. I had to stop for one (very long) wee after about 15k and lost about 2-3 minutes, but generally - believe it or not - by at the half way point, I was still running and even on track for 5min/km's. I just kpet on going, stopping about every 10k with cramp but then running it off every time - this was painful, but it worked. I eventually got to 30k and I realised that I had a whole bunch of time in the goody bag to get me under 10 hours....I couldn't quite believe it. This was improved upon when I went past the point at which I figured walking from a point in time would get me home in under 10 hours.

In the end, the last lap was not pretty, I was tired, the original high waves to fellow Turbos had now subsided, the cheers to other people were also now just faint whimpers in the wind. But....I was STILL running. I saw Paula on the course for the first time at about 32k and I was just so happy to tell her that I was still running at that point. Over the course of the last 10k, I kept on thinking about something a friend of mine had said about speeding up a bit at the end to make sure that you gave it your all. I did actually did feel capable of doing this and on a couple of occasions I tried to up the speed. The only problem was, this would be only materialise to be a short prelude to a cramp which induced a short stop and stretch. I had to just keep on at the same speed.

Happy = 10k


Not so happy = 30k.

Crossing the line was pretty good feeling, I had beaten the target time by 15 minutes with a 9hr45 and I had also managed to run a hell of a lot of the marathon. I couldn't quite believe it. All in all, I was pretty happy.

On a more retrospective note, even now, a week and a bit after the race, I have decided it is not for me this IM racing. The whole design of the race goes against my strengths and weaknesses. I have to sit around just getting through the swim and bike legs, the two legs I would normally go as hard as I could on to give me some time in the bank for the run. With IM, it was all just about saving myself for the weakest discipline, this is compounded by the fact that it is a marathon, you can't just fluke it, or get away with not being that quick for 40 mins. For me, I really had to save the legs just to ensure that I could run.

Next season, I'll be back on the shorter races I think. I like going as fast as I can for between 1-2 hours. I do have a marathon in Dublin in a couple of months however...main aim being to get a time that will allow me to run London in 2013.

Hampton Court Open Water Swim - 3.65km

I had decided to enter this race to just get a feel for what that sort of distance felt like in one go, it was pretty close to IM distance, so a fair representation. Starting with a bunch of other people would also give it more of race feel. Prior to starting, I was not really sure what to do, whether to race it as a swim and just see how quick I could go, or, alternatively, swim as if it were the IM swim. In the end, I did a bit of both. I started quite quickly but then decided to just settle in to a pace and see how that felt after a while. I was swimming in a small pack and this helped me keep the same effort, I am less sure how well it helped in terms of direction - I don't think any of us were sighting that well.



Once I went round the final bend and i could see Kingston Bridge, I decided to put a bit more effort in, I started to kick a bit more just to wake the legs up really.



Was out in 54:02 which was okay I think. I had privately wanted to go a bit quicker than that, but it at least should mean that a sub 60 minutes swim is on the cards in Copenhagen.

Cowman - Middle Distance National Champs

Cowman was supposed to be the one middle distance race that I was going to do before the IM in a couple of months. For some reason, the whole race just crept up on me and, as such, I didn't really have much of a chance to worry about it or have any preconceptions about how I would do. I thought I had the endurance and things had been going okay training wise, my one concern was that going quite hard for that long might be a bit of a shock to the system. My main aim of the day was to get it all done in less than 4hr30 - to me the bike course looked very hilly so I didn't think I would have a chance of riding that fast.

The race started quite well with a nice swim, I had chosen, perhaps not the fastest place to start, but it meant that the whole first 400m were pretty much pain free with little in the way of mingling with the others. Round the first buoy and I just followed some feet for a while, got bored of that so tried to go round the outside and then stayed there for a bit. Tired to spend the last 500m or so just trying to get a bit further up the field. All in all, good to be out in under 28 and I had hardly kicked at all, so good news for the legs.



When I exited the swim, I could see one club mate just ahead of me and I heard the commentator call out about another club swimmer. This just reassured me that I had not lost a bunch of time to people in the swim.

I had looked at the profile of the bike course in the week leading up to the race and had seen that there seemed to be a lot of hills. This did not make too much sense as previous times were relatively quick. In the end, I actually thought it was on eof th best courses I have ridden on. There were some good sections to just get your head down and then there were a few hills along the way. The sad thing about the bike course was the amount of drafting that was taking place, especially when this is right at the front of the field and thus where the medals will be distributed. Personally, I ended up in a situation whereby there were about 5 or 6 people who I would pass on every piece of flat road and then stay ahead the whole time. Every time I looked back though, they were all clumped together and doing a very good job of looking like a team time trial outfit. They would then catch me on the hill and I would have to put in a big effort to pass all seven of them as soon as we were over the top.


When I came in from the bike, I got a bit of a shock as the commentator announced that I was in about 4th place. I couldn't quite work out how I had managed to do that. I did not think that I had cycled that hard but I thought that after the swim there would have been a lot more people up the road from me. In my over-excitement of coming in from the bike in such a high place though, I made one of my worst ever triathlon decisions. I always used to run without socks, but recently, I had started to wear them pretty much for all my runs. So, why I ditched them before setting out on a hot half marathon is anyone's guess.

The run felt hard from the start, the legs were more tired than they felt on the bike. The hill out of the park was a bit of a killer as well. I figured I only had to get to the top and there would be some downhill etc. When the course did level out, I tried to get into a good rhythm but the one thing I had started to notice was that there was something going wrong with the feet. I could feel some blisters developing and with some 15k left on the clock, I knew this would not be pretty. After about 7k I stopped to try and put a blister plaster on....I had remembered to take them. Anyway, the act of sitting down brought cramp to the leg so I got back up and carried on for another couple of k's. Eventually, I stopped again and put some on....pretty sure they came straight off as the pain just came back straight away. Anyway. in summing up, the run was rubbish. I got passed by a fair few other Turbos as well so I went from leading the club champs to about 6th in about 10k.



The annoying thing is that the blister incident just meant that I did not have a good prep race for the IM. That race is now almost exactly a month away...

At this moment in time, I don't think I will be doing another IM once Copenhagen is done. The whole training and preparation side of it is just a bit annoying and time consuming I find and I kind of feel that it will be hard to do it justice with the amount of time that I have available to me. We'll see...maybe if I finish in a decent time, my views will change. It is just that at this stage, I think I much prefer trying my best to go quicker over shorter distances.

220 Triathlon - Eton Super Sprints

The old days...

My dad has just found this from way back in the 80's...

RTTC National 50 - 31st - 1:54:20

As this was a 50, it was obviously time for me to head down to Bentley - for some reason, the three I have now done have all been on the same course. It is not even a course I particularly like, especially as it always seems to be coupled with a fierce wind. Sunday was no exception with the wind blowing in the same way as it had for the last 50 I had done on that course - I think it may have actually be harder this time though. This made for a miserable out leg and a pretty quick return.

On lap one, things seemed to be going okay. I had started well and seemed to keeping a good speed going in to the wind. I tried to keep things under control as much as possible as I knew that the last 15 miles would be grim. At the first turn, I could see that I had lost time to certain people in front and behind me. I tried to ignore what was going on and just continued to keep my HR where it was (165-170) and just see what happens.

As expected, the second lap was pretty horrible, what with battling with the wind and the gradual departure of power from the legs. Funnily enough, I had ridden behind a couple of chaps on my way to the start, they must have been on their last lap. At the time, I thought these guys are going slow. Low and behold, when it was my turn on those last two laps, I think I must have been doing the same speed, if not slower. Over the course of the last lap, I went through some phases where I thought I would just pack it all in as the legs felt empty. My only light at the end of the windy tunnel was that once I hit the slingshot of the last roundabout, I would be homeward bound with the wind behind me. I think that the imminent finish, coupled with the sight of a mate of mine coming on to the roundabout as I was leaving, were enough to give me the strength to push on a bit and get it over and done with.

Crossed the line with 1:54:20 and 31st which was okay I think. It has become clear to me, both here and on the 25, that if you want to ride your bike at over 40kph, you really need to be on the turbo doing intervals which have you riding at power levels which would take you above the 40kph mark. I'm certainly missing that little bit of speed and power at the top end. I have tried to console myself with the assumption that this is just a byproduct of the IM training. I would like to think that I am getting better at doing long rides at a good average speed, just not so good at going fast for shorter periods of time.

RTTC National 25 - 42nd - 59:46

I think it is fair to say, I don't think I will ever do a harder 25 miles in the rest of my cycling career. I always knew that the course this year was not exactly going to be my dream course, i.e. flat dual carriageway, but there was always a hope that it would not be that bad. After arriving on Saturday, we all took a quick recce of the course to see what we had in store - it was not nice. The start involved a short ramp a la Tour de France style but there was certainly no need for this as the next few hundred meters were down a 15% descent in to a corner. I am not one for risking my life either, so I knew the start would not be that quick. Round the corner and it was straight in to a steep hill which kicked up and then dragged on for a few more miles at a gentle incline. This was the theme for the rest of the recce really, you were either going up or down - at least the road surface was good I thought.

Come race day, we managed to get a glimpse of how tough it was out there with seeing the ladies' times - only one of them had gone under the hour. I started to worry that I would not be able to sneak under the hour myself, especially as the only one who had gone under had beaten me the year before. In light of this, I set the Garmin's virtual partner to effectively ride a 59:59 as this seemed, at the time, to be the best case scenario.

The start ramp and the town centre start were quite nice in the end, almost felt professional for the 5 seconds before the fear set in on the descent...I was a bit of a wimp really, braked too hard and then gave myself more work than was needed on the ascent. All the bravado beforehand of climbing this in the big ring soon vapourised as I found myself working hard....I was in bottom gear though. My new plan was just to try and spin the hills and work the flatter sections. I figured any big ring work on the hills would only come back to haunt my quads later on in the day.

On the way out, this plan seemed to work and I was able to keep a pretty decent speed up. I hit the halfway point in about the right time and the tailwind home was now a gentle hand to help you up some of the hills. With about 5 miles to go I realised that the sub 60 was in fact on the cards and the thought of just missing it did not bear thinking about. Thankfully, my pacing seemed to pay off and I actually did not feel too bad for the last few miles, I was able to up the speed a bit and finally...across the line...59:46...phew.

I was actually really pleased with my slowest ever time in a 25. The course was far from ideal for a big guy like me and I had managed to pace it quite well. 42nd was nothing to write home about, but top 40 was my aim going down there and with the lack of turbos this year and the fact that I am happy with my running and swimming in the lead up to Copenhagen were good comfort.

The Garmin Output for the ride can be seen HERE

TTTC Race 3 - 1st - 59:11

Well, after 5 years of turning up for the Thames Turbo Sprint races, I have finally managed to break the habit, taking a win for the first time! The more bizarre aspect is the nature of the win itself.

In all honesty, my preparation had not been ideal, come Saturday and not wanting to waste the whole bank holiday training wise, I decided to set off on a long run. It initially felt quite easy so I decided to just settle in to the pace and see what happened. In the end, the idea of a negative split run came over and I managed for the first time to actually have a good long run, as in, I never felt like I was about to fall to bits at the end - for a rubbish runner like me, this came as quite a shock. So, 30k's later at 3:05 marathon pace meant that the next day was not going to be much fun. I had a wedding in the afternoon on Saturday as well, so that wasn't going to help with the recovery much either. As it transpires, the wedding ended up involving more drink that is commonly recommended, so much in fact, Sunday was a total sofa day.

So, come race day, although the legs didn't feel that good, my head didn't seem to be in the right place. At the back of mind, and having scanned the start sheet, I thought that I was about to blow my best chance of ever winning one. A lot of the normal fast people were mysteriously missing the chance was there....and as they say, you only need to beat the people who turn up.

The swim was the same as always, to the second, 6:02. Out on the bike though and I could feel the run in the legs now, I was just missing a bit of power. I decided to just try and get a bigger than normal gear turning, but all in all, it was not a star performance - coming to the finish, I knew that I was close to the 32's. At this point I knew I would be close to losing out, especially with the run to go.



The run was where I really struggled to get in to a good rhythm. I was not running much slower than normal, but again, it was by no means a speedy run. I eventually made it round in 20:14 which may well be one of my slowest times.




There did seem to be a general assumption that I had won on the day, but I was not sure. I knew that my time was only just under the hour and there are typically a couple of others who managed to break the 60 minute mark. In the end, I managed to take the win by 1 second. Was really pleased though, after first racing here in 2005 and finishing 13th on that day, finally in 2011, I was able to win....thanks mainly to the best executed preparation.

Turbo News: http://www.thamesturbo.com/archives/1233

Eton Super Sprints - 1st - 55:03

If I am honest, Eton is always a race that I wanted to win outright one day. I had made a number of attempts in previous years, but always been beaten on the day by better athletes. Thankfully, this Saturday, everything came together quite nicely and I was able to win...strangely, by more than a minute as well.

As a side note, I know full well that Eton does not really fit in that nicely with what is supposed to be a year of training for the Copenhagen IM, but I love racing at Eton. The Sprints are normally the first shot you get at racing around the closed roads that I now know so well. It has also become a bit of an annual pilgrimage to test how fit I am and to see whether the winds can be stronger this year than they were the last.

For me, the swim went quite well. From the off, I just swam to the left until I could see the rope under the water which leads you all the way to buoy 1. Made the turn in second place and then got a bit lost between the two massive buoys. Finally, they have installed a large banner thing for the finish so it is much easier to sight for the last 150m now. Got out the water in 5:18 which I was pretty pleased with, may even be my best time for the 400m there.

Out on the bike things did not go quite to plan at the start, it seemed to take a long time to get the shoes on, all the time wasted doing this meant my average speed had dropped off a bit. The wind on the way out was horrendous but I consoled myself with the thought that the return leg would make up for it. It certainly did as well, I think as the laps progressed, I was able to get the speed up higher and higher on that section. The last lap on the tailwind section had me just edging over 60kph. The wind can be a good friend when blowing in the right direction.

T2 went to plan, but with the first part of the run in to the headwind, it made for some hard work in the first lap. Thankfully, the turn on the run had the effect of a gentle hand behind the back. The second lap was a bit more controlled as I just tried to concentrate on the way up, knowing that the return would be a bit easier, especially when accompanied by the knowledge of being homeward bound.

All in all, it was good day of racing, apart from the shoes on the bike, most things went to plan. Was a bit annoying to see in the splits that my bike time was only 1 second in to the 29's....a 28 something would have been nice.

An overall win for the day still only gives you 66% of your entry fee back in prize money..not considering jacking the job in just yet.








REPORT ON TRI247
http://www.tri247.com/article_8547_Eton+Super+Sprints+%28Saturday%29+report.html?region_id=&category=

The Eton Super Sprints kicks off the Summer triathlon season for many in and around the South East, and once again took place over two days at Dorney Lake this past weekend, organised by Human Race (www.humanrace.co.uk). Here is a report on events from Saturday.

Full results HERE.

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With weather predictions for the weekend varying from the optimistic ‘sunny spells and showers' through to full blown thunderstorms, triathletes heading to the first Eton Super Sprint on Saturday 14th May did so with a hint of trepidation. They needn't have worried though as those arriving early were greeted to bright sunshine and blue skies and the rain held off all day to provide great conditions for the 2011 season's big kick off.

A strong wind meant for a challenging bike course and a bit of chop on the water for the swim but that didn't stop some fast times and competitive racing across all ages groups. First off at 9.30am were the two newly introduced ‘mate's waves' which gave anyone looking to race friends and relatives from different age groups the chance to go head-to-head. This gave Rory Sutton the perfect opportunity to get one over his older brother Kevin, as Rory explains; “My brother has done loads of triathlons and I said the only way I'd do one was if I could race him. I did beat him but he's ten years older than me so it isn't really fair!”

The age group waves followed the mate's wave and carried on right through the day and showcased a broad mix of abilities from first timers to experienced triathletes. For the men, Richard Legge (Thames Turbo) took advantage of a fast and furious M30-34 wave to record the fastest time of the day and take the overall win in 55:03. Second place went to M35-39 wave winner Matt Clarkson in 56:07 who was closely followed home by Oliver Pinchard (Ful-On-Tri) also from the M30-34 wave. In a day dominated by the over-thirties, the top 13 places were filled by those no longer in their twenties!

In the women's race, Ful-On-Tri made it two podium finishes on the day as Detta Guerrini went one better than her male clubmate to take the win in 1:05:23. Beverly Childs (RAF Triathlon) stormed through the F50-54 wave in a time of 01:06:41 which was more than good enough for second place. In third, Hannah Kitchen (Oxford Tri) ensured the twenty-somethings were represented on the podium with her 01:08:50 from the F20-24 wave edging out F35-39 athlete Bev Holmes by just one second.

You can read the report from Sunday's Eton Super Sprints HERE.

North Hampshire RC - 50 Mile TT

The last 50 I had raced in was a horrible affair, with the cold and some very tired legs as a result of going out a bit too fast. I had hoped that last weekend's trip to H50/8 would be a more controlled affair and hopefully a better time.

Things started well on the day, I got to the first round about after about 8 miles into the wind and I was down about 40s. I quickly made these up with the tailwind though and just assured myself that I only needed to do that section once more and I should therefore be able to sneak home in about 1:50.

It was only on the return leg of the second lap that I realised that I was just about the pay the price of not reading the course information. Coming up to what I thought was the finish, it dawned me I had to go around again. On the way back, approaching the hardest section, I was close to breaking point - the thought of a windy, bumpy section once more almost became too much. My speed had been dropping off up to that point, so had resigned myself at that point to a bad time.

It was only when the marshal highlighted the error in my ways and told me to turn round just before the start of drudgery lane that my spirits picked up. All I had to do now was to hammer the last 6 miles so see if I could break my previous PB. Thankfully, someone past me here and from that point on, I just did my best to keep him in sight. I was knocking out 50-60kph on the flat (that's how bad the wind was) and he was pulling away from me...there are some fast people out there.

Made it home, sore bum, arms, neck 1:53:06 after setting off full of optimism. The winners were about 8 minutes quicker than me. However, I console myself in that the time still represents 2 x 56:30 25's so not exactly a bad day. It just so happens that people are a lot better than me at this TT'ing game.

TTTC Race 1 - 4th - 57:54

My triathlon season for another year has now kicked off with with the now perennial trip to Hampton for the first of the Thames Turbo races. This is now the 5th year that I have done this race. I really did not know how this one would go as this is probably the first year where I have actually not been training specifically for anything that short. My main focus this year is to survive the Copenhagen IM race, and for me, that means just trying to be consistent and ensuring that I get the long bikes and runs in.

My biggest fear before this race was that my biking ability would simply not be up to scratch. In comparison to the last few years, the biggest difference this year has been that I have simply not done enough turbos for this stage of the season - not to prepare you for 30 minutes of hard riding anyway. I would imagine that a whole bunch of weeks have passed recently where I have not gone on the turbo, last year I was doing two a week. The main issue has been that work has been conspiring against my motivation when I get home...starting a turbo past 9pm when you are hungry is not really something which feels me with much enthusiasm for the turbo. All excuses I know..

For the first time in a long time I was in the first wave for this race with the best thing about this being that the traffic would be less of a problem on the bike. The swim for me was exactly the same as it has been for the last few years, it doesn't seem to matter how much swim training I do, I get out the pool in 6 minutes without fail. This year, I have mainly been doing long swims though, typically all in one block with a longer than normal breathing pattern - breathing on 3's rather than the normal 2's. Didn't make any difference though, 6 minutes and I was out.

The bike on this occasion was a mixed bag. For once, I had what could be described as a good run in terms of the lights, especially as there was an additional set on this race. I only had to slow down once, much better than the typical process of having to stop and wait for 30 seconds. The bad part was that I had a good cyclist in close company and with pretty much equal pacing, there was a lot of passing. Personally, I hate riding a TT like this - would much rather just work on applying a constant effort for the time. With the drafting regulations, you are forced to ease off and drop back to 7m on every occasion you're past. The upshot of this rest is that you feel that you are now capable of making the decisive pass to finally pull away. Going from 43kph to 46kph or so to get past means that you are really pushing and hence when you pass, the legs soon don't feel too great. All in all, very annoying.

The run on this occasion was the normal affair, start off feeling a bit rubbish, wondering why you bother with this triathlon business, telling myself I should stick to cycling, reminding myself that I should have lost some more weight blah blah blah - same for every race. Anyway, my main aim was damage limitation. I just wanted to see if I could pick the pace up a bit and then stick round about the 3:45/3:50km pace. I think I managed to achieve that aim and I got round in 19:28 which, although not a stellar performance for me, was not that bad for the first race.

The surprise of the day was that I had managed to record my second fastest time on the course. Largely down to having a good bike in terms of the lights on this occasion. There have certainly been times when I have felt more capable of riding a bit faster only to be scuppered by numerous lights etc. Still, 57:54 is a good time for...I was happy with that and 4th in what was a competitive field.

Redmon CC - 25 - 6th - 55:26

This race was never going to be that much fun, what with the heavy legs from the racing on the Saturday. It must be an age thing when you are not able to recover as quickly as you used to. I have been to the Redmon season opener for the last 4 years I think so it would have been a shame to break with tradition.

I had set the Garmin's virtual partner to do my best ever time on the course and the plan was to just see what would happen. I thought I would blow up at some point around the course, until that time, I planned on just seeing how hard I could go.

We started straight in to a bit of head wind which just made the legs feel even more tired. It was only when we turned after about 5k to head back down the nice country lanes that it was possible to really get some speed up. At about the half way mark, I was on target with the virtual partner but at the back of my mind, I knew I had a long drag back up to the dual carriageway to contend with and the another few drags on the DC. By the time I hit the DC I was down by about 30 seconds and then I proceeded to lose another 20 or so on the DC. I think that in the last few k's, my legs had pretty much packed their bags and left. I think I even tried a sprint to the line, but this probably just ended up looking like a slow motion replay.

So, home in 55:26 for me, but thanks to fellow Dynamos James and Martin, we were able to pick up the team prize and the biggest trophy of the day. The £5 prize money meant I was still awash with about £4 after tea and cakes.

Ful-On Duathlon 2011

I am never sure why I end up doing duathlons, they almost always have way too much of my least favourite discipline - running. The Ful-On duathlon formed part of the annual round of London League races so thought it may be a good time to do my first brick session and also ride the TT bike for the first time since Jekyl & Hyde last year.

The structure of the race always meant that it would be tricky for me, there was a 6k run at the start, followed by a short and relatively technical 18k bike course and then another 6k run. The only way I was going to have any hope of a good position come the end of the race was if I had a decent go on the bike section. I was not quire sure how well I would ride though, my riding of recent has been minimal to say the least, very few turbo sessions and only the occasional long ride - not great pre-season preparation anyway.

When we got going, I was instantly shocked at how fast people go out on these duathlons, I was quite a way back at the end of the first km. For me, I was running quite quick though, round about 16kph. I knew that was within my range so decided to run steady rather than blowing up. I would wait for the bike - it is all about the bike after all. Finished the run in about 15th or so I think and then headed out on the bike. It was good to be back on the racing wheels, not so good to be going round paved corners, dodging structures in the racing line and jumping on mats to cross the all weather track - all in all, not a great course. Still, I think I managed to work my way back up through the field and by the time we came in to T2, I think I was in about 3rd place.

The second run was always going to be a case of damage limitation for me. Having ridden quite hard, my calf instantly cramped but it wasn't bad enough to stop. I got round the second run in sub 4min/km's which was not bad for me really. I could have perhaps gone a bit faster, but at the back of mind, I was all too aware that on Sunday I would be back on the TT bike for a 25 and I wanted to at least have a fairly decent ride.

In the end, I finished 9th, which I was quite pleased with - especially considering all that running. Annoyed to have missed out on the fastest bike split in the results. Personally, I think it is a lap miscalculation by the holder of that title, that's what I am consoling myself with anyway.

Kingston 16 Mile Breakfast Run

Never quite sure why this is called the 'Breakfast Run', the only similarity is that it takes place in the morning, other than that, it is always a long, often painful, drawn out process of simply waiting to blow up with a number of miles still on the clock. Although this is only the second time I have done this run, I don't have many fond memories of anything beyond about the 10 mile mark on the last attempt.

So, for this year's race, I decided to see if I could lower the point at which I would blow up by going out on the TT bike the day before and doing a long ride. The plan was to just ride at a steady 30kph and try and get 130-150k's on the clock. The over-excitement of being back on the TT bike however saw me going closer to 35kph for the 140k - perhaps not the best preparation, but it did not feel like I was pushing that hard. My legs did feel a little tired at the end though.

So, at the start of the Breakfast Run, I just thought that I would see how things went, maybe start off with what felt comfortable and see how things went. I had set the Garmin to run about a 1:46, but in all honesty, I had no idea how I would run. At about 3 miles I took a look at the Garmin and I could see that I was up on the virtual partner by a bit, the problem was, the legs had not felt amazing really. I decided to keep drudging along, more out of interest to see how long I could keep the pace up.

I went through half way in a respectable time, but I only had one objective in my mind now. I figured I would just see if I could run a decent half marathon and then maybe take it easy for the last 3 miles. I was obviously just trying to work out how early I could stop the pain. In the end I went through the half in about 1:22 which was good for me as this was quicker than my time at Wokingham a few weeks back. I walked the drinks station after this, had some lucozade and another slimy ride shot that had been festering in my shorts pocket. I got running again and didn't feel too bad. Someone past me at this stage who I had run with for a couple of miles on lap 1. I sat in behind him for the next mile and then figured with only 2 to go, I may as well see if I can keep the pace up. Don't get me wrong, the last mile did hurt...the last photo below is bit of a giveaway.

Still, 1:43:01 is 2:35 quicker than my last attempt and not a bad run for me. Just under 4min/km for the whole race.

Wokingham Half Marathon

Back at the start of 2011 I realised that I had somehow descended to a new low in terms of my fitness. This was brought home by an attempt at the Turbo marathon in December which was interspersed with a holiday and the general gluttony of December. Anyway, I decided to do something about it and try and get some level of fitness back before the season started to get going. So, the whole of January has seen me training quite consistently, only really averaging about 10 hours a week, but that seems a lot these days, what with work etc.

I had done a fair bit of running during January, typically doing 3-4 sessions a week and combining some long runs, tempo runs and I had even been back on the treadmill in the gym. I could feel that things were starting to come back after a couple of weeks. My heart rate had lowered a bit and the scales were moving the right direction as well.

For Wokingham, my main aim was to see if I could hold 4min/km's for the race. This would give me a 1:24, which although off the PB by a bit, would be a respectable time given the circumstances. Come race day, there was a bit of a wind which someone reliably informed me would mean a headwind for miles 10-12 - not good.

I set off okay and I was going through the mile markers consistently, initially gaining some time on the virtual partner, but slowly losing some once I had gone through 6 miles. Still, I was 1:20 up on the partner at about mile 9 and that was when the headwind kicked in. I really struggled in those two miles, especially as they also contain the only two significant hills on the course.

Crossed the line in what I thought was 1:24:13 but found out later that the actual results have me down for 1:24:01. So, all in all, not a bad day. I stuck to the game plan and I actually did not feel as bad as I normally do in the last few miles.

I have Tunbridge Wells half marathon in two weeks now. Bit more of a hilly affair there.