Race was won by Martin Williamson (pictured: left) in 52:44
Monday, May 07, 2012
Redmon CC - 25
Raced in the Redmon CC 25 a few weeks ago (been struggling to update this blog this season). Managed to finish second with 55:04 which is not the best I have managed on the course, but the wind on the home straight made that portion a bit harder than normal. Dynamo managed to pick up the team prize on the day as well:
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Maidenhead & District CC - Sporting 30 Mile TT
My previous two attempts at this course had resulted in near polar opposites in respect to finishing. I had won the race in 2009 as a two up with Paul Callinan and then back in 2010, I was about 2/3's of the way round when my front tire went down. The net result of that was being taken back to the finish in the back of a builders van - not the most glamorous, but certainly better than walking.
This year I raced on my own and was keen to start the season off with a good ride. The training has been going pretty well since January (started a new job) and my turbo numbers were about where I could have best hoped they could be. The biggest incentive has been that the numbers had been going up consistently since January, but my starting point this year was probably the lowest for a few years. Anyway, I hoped a good ride was on the cards.
The race itself was a bit of a shock to the system - firstly, being back on the (new - see below) TT bike is good due to the speed you can go for the same effort as a road bike. Secondly, I had forgotten how quick the HR just shoots up and then has to just stay up for the whole ride. Mine averaged 172, but maxed out at 180 in the last 100m.
The course is basically split up in to three sections in my mind, you start with a gentle bit of climbing for about 10 miles and then you gradually descend for the next 15 or so. Part of that descent contains one very fast section where I think I hit over 70kph riding on the extensions - hitting a pot hole would have not been very pretty. The main part of the 'sporting' course is however all saved for the last 5 miles. The climb from Marlow back up to Freith is by no means easy and is also probably the last thing that you would like at the end of a TT. To really finish things off there is also a short sharp climb to the finish.
I felt I did a good ride however and it transpired that my 1:09:25 was good enough for the win on the day and also good enough to put over two minutes between myself and second.
Link to RTTC roundup
Garmin Output
This year I raced on my own and was keen to start the season off with a good ride. The training has been going pretty well since January (started a new job) and my turbo numbers were about where I could have best hoped they could be. The biggest incentive has been that the numbers had been going up consistently since January, but my starting point this year was probably the lowest for a few years. Anyway, I hoped a good ride was on the cards.
The race itself was a bit of a shock to the system - firstly, being back on the (new - see below) TT bike is good due to the speed you can go for the same effort as a road bike. Secondly, I had forgotten how quick the HR just shoots up and then has to just stay up for the whole ride. Mine averaged 172, but maxed out at 180 in the last 100m.
The course is basically split up in to three sections in my mind, you start with a gentle bit of climbing for about 10 miles and then you gradually descend for the next 15 or so. Part of that descent contains one very fast section where I think I hit over 70kph riding on the extensions - hitting a pot hole would have not been very pretty. The main part of the 'sporting' course is however all saved for the last 5 miles. The climb from Marlow back up to Freith is by no means easy and is also probably the last thing that you would like at the end of a TT. To really finish things off there is also a short sharp climb to the finish.
I felt I did a good ride however and it transpired that my 1:09:25 was good enough for the win on the day and also good enough to put over two minutes between myself and second.
Link to RTTC roundup
Garmin Output
Friday, October 14, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
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.
Monday, August 22, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, July 25, 2011
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.
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.
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