Friday, June 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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=
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 TRI247http://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.
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.
Monday, May 16, 2011
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.
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.
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