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.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, February 14, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Hounslow & District 25 - 1st - 53:58
Well, finally I have managed to win my first ever open TT. I have been racing for nigh on 4 years now and have consistently been able to finish in the top 3, but last weekend I finally managed to get the top spot, and by close to a minute as well.
I had entered the Hounslow & District TT on the request of a mate of mine who wanted to see if we could get the team prize, a lot of us liked the course (h25/8) and we managed to assemble 3 pretty good riders which should have put the team prize well within our reach on the day. However, come the day of the race, James was not feeling too well and Martin only managed to ride to the start line, only to clear his tire of flint and open the wound which led to a DNS. So, I ended up just riding with the intention of seeing how well I could do.
The conditions on the day were far from ideal, I remain wistful of a day when I turn up a TT and the conditions are ideal. There always seems to be some factor, be it rain or wind which means that a fast time is simply not on the card. For this race, it was wind which was going to prove to be the undoing any fast times. The headwind on the way out seemed to be picking up all the time and this was going to mean a nasty stint at the start and middle of the race as we went round the two laps.
Going out was tough, the headwind meant that it was quite simply a case of just hanging on and trying t push the biggest gear I could. The carrot on each headwind section was the roundabout at the end. On both laps, it was akin to a slingshot as you could feel the speed creeping up even before you had taken the exit. I was going from pushing hard at 35kph to cruising at 50-60kph. It's probably fair to say that the riding along in 56x11 on a flat piece of road, doing nigh on 60kph and still trying to go faster, is one of the best feelings you can get on a bike.
I crossed the line, covered in the obligatory snot and salt to discover that I had ridden just under 54. I thought it was good at the time as the conditions were so bad, but just had no idea how the other riders would have fared. I feared some of the smaller more agile framed individuals may have been able to sustain much higher speeds in the headwind. I saw Martin on the bridge back to the HQ and he showed me the favourite for the day going off into the distance, Martin's puncture had meant that he had time to check the splits. So, with the favourite still having 8 miles to do, he was down more than 40 seconds. I kind of knew at this point that I should be okay, mainly because I knew how fast I finished.
All in all, great day out and good to get a TT in before the season is over. Now it is time to (once again) see if I can spend a winter focusing on my running. Have decided to have another go at XC at least, so that should help.
News article on the Hounslow and District Wheelers page and in the local paper:
http://www.hounslowanddistrictwheelers.co.uk/news/10/open_25.html
I had entered the Hounslow & District TT on the request of a mate of mine who wanted to see if we could get the team prize, a lot of us liked the course (h25/8) and we managed to assemble 3 pretty good riders which should have put the team prize well within our reach on the day. However, come the day of the race, James was not feeling too well and Martin only managed to ride to the start line, only to clear his tire of flint and open the wound which led to a DNS. So, I ended up just riding with the intention of seeing how well I could do.
The conditions on the day were far from ideal, I remain wistful of a day when I turn up a TT and the conditions are ideal. There always seems to be some factor, be it rain or wind which means that a fast time is simply not on the card. For this race, it was wind which was going to prove to be the undoing any fast times. The headwind on the way out seemed to be picking up all the time and this was going to mean a nasty stint at the start and middle of the race as we went round the two laps.
Going out was tough, the headwind meant that it was quite simply a case of just hanging on and trying t push the biggest gear I could. The carrot on each headwind section was the roundabout at the end. On both laps, it was akin to a slingshot as you could feel the speed creeping up even before you had taken the exit. I was going from pushing hard at 35kph to cruising at 50-60kph. It's probably fair to say that the riding along in 56x11 on a flat piece of road, doing nigh on 60kph and still trying to go faster, is one of the best feelings you can get on a bike.
I crossed the line, covered in the obligatory snot and salt to discover that I had ridden just under 54. I thought it was good at the time as the conditions were so bad, but just had no idea how the other riders would have fared. I feared some of the smaller more agile framed individuals may have been able to sustain much higher speeds in the headwind. I saw Martin on the bridge back to the HQ and he showed me the favourite for the day going off into the distance, Martin's puncture had meant that he had time to check the splits. So, with the favourite still having 8 miles to do, he was down more than 40 seconds. I kind of knew at this point that I should be okay, mainly because I knew how fast I finished.
All in all, great day out and good to get a TT in before the season is over. Now it is time to (once again) see if I can spend a winter focusing on my running. Have decided to have another go at XC at least, so that should help.
News article on the Hounslow and District Wheelers page and in the local paper:
Hounslow & District Wheelers 25 mile Time Trial
Sunday 19th September
Richard Legge (London Dynamo) stormed to victory in the Hounslow 25 last Sunday (19th September), almost a minute faster than Ian Greenstreet (Newbury R.C.) and Brian Molloy (34th Nomads) who tied for second place. Legge recorded 53 minutes 59 seconds while Greenstreet and Molloy both did 54.56.
The event was held on the Farnham - Alton (A31) course which the previous afternoon in the North Hants RC 25 had been the scene of a shattering ride by Alex Dowsett, the young Trek Livestrong professional, who recorded 46 minutes 58 seconds. However Sunday morning proved to be a different proposition from the Saturday with a blustery south west wind blowing along the course, the general opinion being that the conditions made the Hounslow event about three minutes slower.
Primarily a triathlete, Richard Legge had not ridden any time trials since the National 25 Championship in early June, yet he seemed to find a way to beat the wind which left most of the field struggling. Richard commented: “I like to use big gears, I know there some who disapprove, but 60-70 rpm seems to suit me. I used 56 x 11 almost all the way on the tailwind sections.” And on the subject of time trials in general he said “I'm still surprised to find these CTT events are not flooded with triathletes: they are well organised, there is no problem with 'drafting' which is sometimes almost inevitable in triathlons because of the sheer number of competitors on the road, and the entry fees are much lower than triathlons.” He went home a happy man since this was his first ever outright victory in an open time trial.
Rob Gilmour was the Hounslow's best rider with a creditable 57.08 for 11th place. Club president Jeff Marshall recorded 1.02.06 which gave him the second best veterans' plus - the victor in this category was that frequent winner of vets' prizes, 73 year old John Woodburn (V.C. Meudon) whose actual time was 1.00.53. John complained about the wind and said he was a little tired having raced in the Rudy Project event the day before on Tees side! He won the age related event there too.
The best lady was Nicki Hunt (London & Home Counties VTTA) whose 1.6.28 was just over a minute too good for second placed Jo Wells of the Hounslow.
Chris Lovibond
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
National Triathlon Relay Championships
Ok, these happened quite a while ago, but in the interests of making sure I get every race on here, they need to be mentioned.
Our Thames Turbo mixed team had set out to see if we could (again) claim a medal in this often less fiercely fought category. We had got second a couple of years ago, so we wanted to see if we could better that this year.
Alas it was not to be this time round, if there is one truism of the relays, it is that they seem to get increasingly competitive as the years go by. As it is, you need to have 4 members in the team who are pretty decent at each of the disciplines, in the end, we finished up in 5th place.
The good news for me though was that I did manage to get the fastest bike split in the morning's races, I was the only person to sneak under 20 minutes for the ~15k course.
I raced again in the afternoon in a men's team where we had a good bit of intra-club rivalry going on. Thankfully, the team I was in managed to win that private race. Annoyingly though, someone from the army managed to push my second bike split in to second place for the afternoon races. Still, not a bad day to have the fastest bike split in the morning and the second fastest in the afternoon. Not sure how I fared I was in the other disciplines, certainly not as well anyway!
Our Thames Turbo mixed team had set out to see if we could (again) claim a medal in this often less fiercely fought category. We had got second a couple of years ago, so we wanted to see if we could better that this year.
Alas it was not to be this time round, if there is one truism of the relays, it is that they seem to get increasingly competitive as the years go by. As it is, you need to have 4 members in the team who are pretty decent at each of the disciplines, in the end, we finished up in 5th place.
The good news for me though was that I did manage to get the fastest bike split in the morning's races, I was the only person to sneak under 20 minutes for the ~15k course.
I raced again in the afternoon in a men's team where we had a good bit of intra-club rivalry going on. Thankfully, the team I was in managed to win that private race. Annoyingly though, someone from the army managed to push my second bike split in to second place for the afternoon races. Still, not a bad day to have the fastest bike split in the morning and the second fastest in the afternoon. Not sure how I fared I was in the other disciplines, certainly not as well anyway!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
London Triathlon - Team GB v. Hambro Institute of Sport
On the Wednesday before the big weekend of racing at London, I received a call from my mate Dion, they wanted me to do the bike section in a team relay where we would be taking on none other than three GB athletes. Ok, they were ladies, but beating them would by no means be pushover, especially as they had a few Beijing medals between them. They had received a bit of publicity prior to the event as they were going to make a stab at beating the girl's record for the team sprint at London Triathlon. We preferred to stay under the radar for fear of being totally shown up :)
The format for the triathlon was a 400m swim, 20k bike and 5k run with Dion on the swim, me on the bike and Tristan on the run. Dion managed to stick with Patten for a fair amount of the swim, but in trying to move on to her feet, she pulled away with about 200 to go. Patten exited the water with about a 60s lead, but this had reduced by the time that we handed over the band, mainly thanks to some deft transition skills in terms of bike placement and knowing how to run out of the water.
At the start of the bike, I think Romero had about 60 seconds on me. As I set out, I had a sinking feeling that she would just continue to hammer home the advantage from the swim. At the first roundabout, I could see Romero coming back and I realised at that point, they were certainly not putting any time in to us, in fact, I thought I must be catching her. Don't get me wrong, this was only a couple of k's in and my HR was already through the roof, I was feeling good though so continued to make my way past all of other athletes, just hunting down the black outfit of Romero. Within a few minutes, she was in sight and not long after I had managed to pass her as well (possible cycling career highlight).
Now, it was all about trying to see how much time I could gain to ensure that Tristan was not going to be too troubled on the run. By the third turn of the two laps, I could see that I put a fair amount of time in to Romero and was confident it should be enough. Tristan had told me he would not be happy unless I returned with snot over face etc, so had to make sure I pushed all the way back to the Excel.
Eventually came in with about a 90 second advantage which was well enough for Tristan not to get caught. He managed to knock out a 17:40 for the very long "5k" and we eventually all crossed the line in 1:01, setting a new record for the men and also beating Team GB by about 90 seconds.
Having beat the ladies, we were pleased to see that the story was picked up by a few of the tri related news sites, but most importantly the Sunday Times where we even had a mention!
Tri247
Tri247
TriFinder
The format for the triathlon was a 400m swim, 20k bike and 5k run with Dion on the swim, me on the bike and Tristan on the run. Dion managed to stick with Patten for a fair amount of the swim, but in trying to move on to her feet, she pulled away with about 200 to go. Patten exited the water with about a 60s lead, but this had reduced by the time that we handed over the band, mainly thanks to some deft transition skills in terms of bike placement and knowing how to run out of the water.
At the start of the bike, I think Romero had about 60 seconds on me. As I set out, I had a sinking feeling that she would just continue to hammer home the advantage from the swim. At the first roundabout, I could see Romero coming back and I realised at that point, they were certainly not putting any time in to us, in fact, I thought I must be catching her. Don't get me wrong, this was only a couple of k's in and my HR was already through the roof, I was feeling good though so continued to make my way past all of other athletes, just hunting down the black outfit of Romero. Within a few minutes, she was in sight and not long after I had managed to pass her as well (possible cycling career highlight).
Now, it was all about trying to see how much time I could gain to ensure that Tristan was not going to be too troubled on the run. By the third turn of the two laps, I could see that I put a fair amount of time in to Romero and was confident it should be enough. Tristan had told me he would not be happy unless I returned with snot over face etc, so had to make sure I pushed all the way back to the Excel.
Eventually came in with about a 90 second advantage which was well enough for Tristan not to get caught. He managed to knock out a 17:40 for the very long "5k" and we eventually all crossed the line in 1:01, setting a new record for the men and also beating Team GB by about 90 seconds.
Having beat the ladies, we were pleased to see that the story was picked up by a few of the tri related news sites, but most importantly the Sunday Times where we even had a mention!
Tri247
Tri247
TriFinder
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Antwerp 70.3 - 2010
For me, this was to be the highlight of my season with pretty much all of my preparation to date being focused on just doing well over this distance at this event. For the four weeks leading up to this race, I had been spending every Saturday just doing lap after lap of Regent's Park on the TT bike followed by a run. These were going well too, I had pretty much worked out (probably for the first time) how easy I need to take it on the bike to give myself a fighting chance on the run.
So, after all of this, to suddenly find that you have a bit of a sore throat on the Tuesday and by the time you arrive in Antwerp, this has developed in to a full blown cold, one can feel slightly disappointed and annoyed for putting all your eggs in one basket.
Still, I was not so unwell that not starting was on the agenda so I headed down to T1 on race day to get things ready. At the start of the swim though, and in doing the first bit of high intensity stuff since getting ill, I realised straight away that I was not good. I was coughing in the water, so decided to just find some feet and try and sit on them, the thinking was, I was only going to lose about 1-2 minutes in the swim so better to just get through it with the maximum amount of help.
Out on the bike though and things felt relatively good. I was sticking to my plan quite well in terms of drinking frequently and making sure that I was never pushing that hard etc. By the time I had got to about 50k, I had worked my way quite far up the field whilst still feeling quite good. It was when I looked at the HR though that I got worried. At breakfast it had been higher than normal by about 10-15 beats and on the bike, for the perceived effort, it was just as high. Not good I thought, but at the time I figured the only way I had a chance of qualifying was to keep going to the plan and see how long I could get away with it.
Towards the end of the bike, I had my disheartening 70.3 moment. I was caught by one chap and then looked behind to see that he was simply spearheading a group of about 15-20 riders who were pretty much riding in a peleton. Kind of makes you wonder why you bother. Anyway, not wanting to simply brake all the way to, and then off, the back, I road with these guys to the finish...albeit, I tried to stay away from them as much as possible by riding in the middle of the road etc.
T2 went okay and then out on the run things felt a bit worse than I was hoping. I felt hot but I was managing to stick with the 4min/km that I was hoping to stick to for the run. This all seemed to be okay for about the first 5k, but then all of a sudden, I felt really hot and thought I was going to feint in the middle of the road. I stopped for a quick walk, but at that point, I knew it was all over. I felt rubbish and the illness had finally got the better of me. So, I started to adopt a run walk strategy to wait for Paula to catch me who was one lap behind. We eventually ran one lap together with P almost dropping me on a number of occasions, I was perhaps more of a hindrance than anything else - still, I blocked the wind when I could etc.
I eventually finished in 4:33 which including a 1:50 half marathon...I had been working towards a 1:24.
So, no Florida for me this year.....
So, after all of this, to suddenly find that you have a bit of a sore throat on the Tuesday and by the time you arrive in Antwerp, this has developed in to a full blown cold, one can feel slightly disappointed and annoyed for putting all your eggs in one basket.
Still, I was not so unwell that not starting was on the agenda so I headed down to T1 on race day to get things ready. At the start of the swim though, and in doing the first bit of high intensity stuff since getting ill, I realised straight away that I was not good. I was coughing in the water, so decided to just find some feet and try and sit on them, the thinking was, I was only going to lose about 1-2 minutes in the swim so better to just get through it with the maximum amount of help.
Out on the bike though and things felt relatively good. I was sticking to my plan quite well in terms of drinking frequently and making sure that I was never pushing that hard etc. By the time I had got to about 50k, I had worked my way quite far up the field whilst still feeling quite good. It was when I looked at the HR though that I got worried. At breakfast it had been higher than normal by about 10-15 beats and on the bike, for the perceived effort, it was just as high. Not good I thought, but at the time I figured the only way I had a chance of qualifying was to keep going to the plan and see how long I could get away with it.
Towards the end of the bike, I had my disheartening 70.3 moment. I was caught by one chap and then looked behind to see that he was simply spearheading a group of about 15-20 riders who were pretty much riding in a peleton. Kind of makes you wonder why you bother. Anyway, not wanting to simply brake all the way to, and then off, the back, I road with these guys to the finish...albeit, I tried to stay away from them as much as possible by riding in the middle of the road etc.
T2 went okay and then out on the run things felt a bit worse than I was hoping. I felt hot but I was managing to stick with the 4min/km that I was hoping to stick to for the run. This all seemed to be okay for about the first 5k, but then all of a sudden, I felt really hot and thought I was going to feint in the middle of the road. I stopped for a quick walk, but at that point, I knew it was all over. I felt rubbish and the illness had finally got the better of me. So, I started to adopt a run walk strategy to wait for Paula to catch me who was one lap behind. We eventually ran one lap together with P almost dropping me on a number of occasions, I was perhaps more of a hindrance than anything else - still, I blocked the wind when I could etc.
I eventually finished in 4:33 which including a 1:50 half marathon...I had been working towards a 1:24.
So, no Florida for me this year.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)