Bedford Classic Tri

Race report from this weekend, lifted from my post on BCTTT.com for those that may have already read it.

Where: Bedford Embankment
When: 03/07/2010
Organiser: Galeforce Events
Distance(s): Swim 1500m/Bike 40km/Run 10K
Marshalling: Guys to pull you out the river. Marshals at every turn. Policeman at the one right hand turn to stop traffic
Facilities: Portaloos. Free parking 5 min walk from transition.Chip Timed. Refreshment van. Water stations on each of 3 laps. Tri store
Technical: Swim upstream and back downstream in river. Bike out into local countryside on 1 lap course with roads of good quality. 3 lap run around the river.
Freebies: Swim hat. Fleece top. Chocolate bar. Granola Bar. Juice box. Water.

Did this race last year and mostly enjoyed it  - the only crap bit was all the weed in the river, but that wasn't the organisers fault. This year it wasn't a big ETU qualifier so the number of entires was much smaller. Not really a bad thing. Transition was the same size with fewer racks, still had all the facilites, closed the road along the embankment and had a policeman to stop traffic on the righthand turn. The bike course was a little different, it was actually the course that they had meant to use last year but had to change at the last minute due to road works. This race for me was going to be an interesting test of fitness. Although in my usual style I got a bit carried away with a work fitness challenge and it took a terirble swim set on tuesday and Wednesdays hard run before I realised I was sailing a bit close to the wind on my rest week, so went sailing instead of swimming on Thursday and had a lazy Friday and Saturday.

Saturday morning and I was up nice and early, before the 0530 alarm I set in fact. As is usual with going back home to race I'd have the usual support team, mum to hold the bags and dad to ask the same questions as every tri before as I'm trying to focus (he was doing the supersprint and seems to stress over these things) and take pictures of the finish. After registering and getting my chip, which had been threaded the wrong way through the velcro strap it was time to rack. Unnumbered racking so I picked a nice spot on the first row where the hedge starts/finishes for visual reference. Hook my bike onto the racking by the brake levers as there was no way the saddle was going to fit under the rack. At this point some officious BTF ref walks past and informs me everyone else is racking by the seatpost. Maybe I looked like a newbie, although my Challenge Barcelona transition bag full of kit should have indicated I wasn't, but I felt a bit miffed by the tone of the comment and the 'Okay' I got in reply when I explained that my bike never fits under the rack. Why is is it something for the race official to comment on? Anyawy after racking it was time to stand around and make the obligatory couple of trips to the porta potty to ensure I was as close to racing weight as possible. It was getting warm so had to start taking layers off or I never make it into my wetsuit. Time to suit up came as Dr J sr. set off on the mini tri and got help with the zip and handed a bag of luggage over to mum. Wave 3 went and it was time to get in the water. Made sure I was early in to have maximum time to acclimatise. After some warm up strokes I lined up at the front on the right side, should give me inside line to the first mark. Not sensible on an upstream clockwise loop, but should give clearest water off the line. Had a little chat with the guy next to me asking whether I was a good swimmer, 'I'm okay' , 'So what time for 1500?', 'Err maybe 24-25 minutes, not very quick this week'. 'Oh so we have a modest triathlete here then, I start behind you then and try and draft you for the first few metres'.

Well the gun went shortly after and I tried to boost of the line pretty quick so I didn't get swum over, sighted on the first mark and after 50m eased off. Quick check around and I was one of the leaders. About 400m in I could see one guy about 20m ahead and a pack of 3 a few metres to my left. My Idea of getting to the left bank for slack water had backfired as I swam towards the middle of the river. Got on the feet of the pack and tried to settle in. Calmed my stroke and worked on the catch Sibs taught us, but I just couldn't settle as they seemed to be slowing so I went out front. I was now leading the chase group (male waves were split by projected swim time apparently) By the turn (maybe 800m in) I had a 2m lead on the pack that was stringing out and was about 20m back from the leader still, but knew I didn't have it in me to bridge the gap. Soon I was swimming through the back of the wave in front and sighting into the sun. Then with about 20m to go I saw a yellow hat as I took a breath. B****** the toe touchs weren't imaginary, must have been someone drafting off me Of course he know had the energy to blast past me as he swam me in towards the wall. Feck, just accept it. Swimming inside my limits though I had no dizziness exiting and had overtook him after 10m of run into transition and got the top half of my wetsuit off inside 20. May have been a bit leasurely in transition. 2 minutes by my watch from swim exit to bike mount, with ~230m of running, no clusters though.

Out onto the bike, down the embankment, left, round the roundabout, over the bridge and on the way out of Bedford. 2.5k in and some fecker wants to use the pedestrian crossing. Cue the first stop Then out through a few roundabout and around 'New Cardington' - the new estate that caused the route change last year. They have installed a wonderful set of traffic lights that ignore cyclists so I had to slow down to run the red light (we were told it was allowed at this set, but at our own risk) then onto a nice quick stretch of road before the first hill, a slow lead in to a 50m over 1km hill. Dropped down and ran it a nice high cadence, then out over the other side and the downhill. A nice 7km stretch of high average speed before the turn back at Shefford and my idiot moment, when I thought I could overtake a cyclist before the left hander, but ended up riding the white line through a left then a right as I was comitted to the overtake, thankfully with now traffic Then another nice quick stretch where I was riding well before the roundabout where I had to stop for two cars Once through there it was on to the right hander where the policeman stopped the traffic for me and off for the second incline of the ride. I picked up my future draft buddy at this point, I say buddy in the loosest sense of the word here. He saw a TT'r though and decided to follow him up/down the hill. I manged to work my way back to him after the TT'r dropped him and then he latched onto me. I could see his shadow behind me and it was fecking annoying. Onto to the turn and he thanked the marshal. We were so close together I didn't feel the need. Then a stretch on the busy road back where he must of sat <2m from my back wheel the whole 2k. As I slowed for the roundabout he got past but was then stopped by the cyclists using the pedestrain crossing, another fecking red light Anyway I got off the lights first and he decided to latch onto the guys overtaking that hadn't been stopped, thank christ. Back into T2 after a 1:16 bike. I fluffed the dismount. Slowed down and got off too early, oh well. Into T1 and a nice changeover.

Out onto the run and I was running very strong, no jelly legs at all. I thought I could do a good run, I was disappointed with the bike when I got off it. Frankly I didn't work hard enough and the goal I'd set of sub 2:30 as I set off on the bike was very unlikely now, bordering on the impossible. Of course with Mum, Dad and some other people they knew watching I set off on the run way too fast, running at well over my 5K pace, once past them though I eased off and got into a nice rhythm. Around the banks of the river back towards the finish, cup of water, and a sub 15 minute first lap round again and I was running fairly conservately at around 80% HRmax back around and sub 30 minute for 2/3rds of the run, still with plenty in the tank for a strong finish Last lap it started falling to pieces. By the time I got to the bridge for the run back my stitch had turned into full on abdominal cramp. Still I dug deep and went for it, putting in a nice sprint finish to do the run in under 45 minutes

Total time: 02:31:16 (47/141)
Swim: 27:14 (29/141)
T1: 01:18 (48/141)
Bike: 01:16:55 (71/141)
T2: 01:09 (93/141)
Run: 44:39 (51/141)

Overall pretty pleased. Some good improvemnts over last year, 1km/h faster on the bike (32.2 vs 31.2), 1:42 saved on the run. Swim was rubbish. 1 minute slower than last year, I'm hoping that is because I was out on my own and not swimming in the pack like last year, other possibility is the river is a little stronger this year.

First Tri of 2011: Ringwood

So as I explained yesterday today was the first event in the 2011 triathlon calendar for me. Ringwood Tri. Normally it is Winchester, but they are doing it at the end of the season this year. This was a new event, and in fact not much further than Winchester is either. Distances presented enough of a challenge too. 600m swim, 28 mile bike (45km) and 10km run. Longer than Winchester. Well, yesterday involved some of the usual panic, although for some reason I was a little more apprehensive this morning than I usually am before events. I guess I don't really know where I am fitness wise and if I could do it in a time I'd be happy with. Based on recent training I went today with a 10 minute swim, 1:35 bike and 50 minute run as the criteria for a good race, with a few extra minutes for transition.

Well this morning, up at 4am, shower, shave, food, packed the car, made sure that I had cleared and potential for AD and at 5:30 it was time to set off. Google said it was a 30 minute drive so that should get me there about right. I was slightly early but they had already set up registration so it was fine. Picked up my numbers and got marked, both arms both calves. Then it occurred to me no timing chip, so this wasn't going to be chip timed, oh well, best get the Garmin right!

Had a nosey around transition to get my bearings and recce the mount line/first bend then headed back to the car to get my stuff. Got the bike sorted and headed over to transition and got set up. Tried the far racking but realised because of the curb I couldn't get my bike in, OK try the next rack in. The usual dip bike to side to get it under (why can't organisers use racking that 6' people can get their bikes under?) and laid my gear out. Bex came over and said hi, (sorry I wasn't very chatty, communication switch off when I get nerves before an event). It was blooming freezing so I headed back to the car to pick up my clothes bag and bumped into Bex and Scotty on the way back, had a quick chat with Scotty before heading in to err, use the facilities (yes there was an OMPF). Warmed up a bit and watched the first wave go off. Then thought I'd go outside and catch a picture of Bex going out on the bike. Then it was a waiting game. Having chatted with Scotty I was having doubts over my strategy of just going with the lycra tri suit on the bike. It was fecking freezing. So went back and laid my bike jersey out, chatted with the guy racked next to me and explained reasoning (tree lined roads might not get the sun benefit!). Ade was racking a few bikes over and said hi. Then more waiting, then I got a picture of Scotty mounting the bike. Then it was time to go and bin the warm clothes. Thankfully it was pretty warm poolside and I managed to get warmed up nicely. It was running 20 minutes late, no surprises there - every tri seems to be 20 minutes late by the time I get in the water. Guy next to me asked about how to do auto multisport on the Garmin, we got chatting, he's doing IM wales then finally it was time to get in the water. The other person in my lane didn't turn up so I had it to myself.

I started on the second go (why I had to I have no idea), swimming up and down the black line for 24 lengths. I'd lost count by length 5 and was trying to catch a glimpse of the Garmin on the turns. Except my goggles had fogged up (don't know why, spit and rinse has always worked before). Swimming up and down the black line was quite handy now. Think I went through 400m on 6:16, so going well. Too well? Tap of the head cam and now for an nearly all out 50m to get the legs going. Out of the water and lap the Garmin. 9:33, so probably 9:25 in the water. Hmm, thank you very much, swimming quite well, I didn't even feel pushed. Maybe I should have gone harder?

A pitifully slow transition. Number on sunnies on, helmet on. F***, bike jersey! Helmet off, sunnies off (due to water) Jersey on, helmet on, sunnies on, socks on, damn stones. Bike shoes on and off we go. Down at the mount line and on the bike, through the usual bunch of people putting feet in shoes there and off onto the roads.

The first bit was OK, trying not to draft so putting a bit of speed in to overtake rather than drop back, then the roads straightened out. Had a (draft legal) chain gang session with another guy, he would pass on the flat, I would pass on the uphill as the route rolled away towards Sopley. Eventually I won but got passed by the guy I'd been chatting with poolside on his Boardman Hybrid (damn, beaten by a hybrid rider). Then the route worked its way out into the New Forest. Mostly uneventful. Some hikers, one who was riding a bike with his backpack on got a shock as I weaved through 3 of them using up the whole road. Then the Ornamental drive. Damn the road surface was pretty crappy, there was a photographer right before the crest of a nasty bit of hill. Then pelotons of riders started flying by. There must have been a sportive on. Then a very sketchy bit of road with some serious pot holes, all under the cover of the trees. made it damn hard to see them, thankfully I came through unscathed,  they had said there would be a marshal there, didn't see one. Then the highlight of my ride, being run off the road by a f***ing caravan. The driver had waited for two bikes 40m in front to pass then pulled back out right in front of me. W****R. Had to brake and pull onto the gravel at the side to avoid being hit by the thing. C**K. Road bikes don't like being ridden on gravel. Still made it thorugh alive without stopping. Rest of ride was OK, through some nice twisty sections and to the dismount line. Being a useless twonk after dismounting I pressed the wrong button on the Garmin, stop rather than lap, but realised straight away so restarted and moved to T2.

T2 was alright, hard to get the jersey off. Time for run shoes on, couldn't get the Greeper laces done up under pressure. Think Boy, Think! Gel down the front of my trisuit for later (wish it had pockets...) and out onto the road. Pressed the wrong flipping button again. Grrr.

The run hurt to start with, legs were screaming, after a mile my right hip was screaming too. 4:37 for the first K, not bad. Thinking about it now I don't remember any jelly legs, just aching. But after a procession of fast people passing me a guy of similar pace caught up and we ran side by side till the water station at 3.5K, where he went on while I attempted to drink a sachet of burning sugar. Just after 3K I passed Scotty running in the other direction where he shouted something about having retired. Can't say I understood. My powerbar gel was now about 3,000,000°, still didn't want to squeeze out of the packet either. Cup of water to wash it down then over the crossroads. I'd only lost 20m so picked up pace and ran behind for a few hundred metres then sensing an opportunity I took the lead, he was breathing pretty heavy so I could hear he was keeping pace, it is nice having a pacer to follow. I was trying to catch a new guy 100m in front, wasn't happening though. I was pretty glad by the time the water station came around again. Cup of water and what I thought was the final 3K. Seems it was shorter than advertised. As I turned the final corner just before 9K I realised I was now on the home straight. Final effort and through the finishing chute waited a couple of seconds (to account for earlier stop-starts) and stopped the timer. 2 hours 25 minutes and 25 seconds after starting. Hmm. Damn pleased with that.

Managed to have a chat with everyone after the finish too which was nice.
So crucial stats from the Garmin (awaiting the official results)

Swim - 600m - 9m33s
T1 - 2m7s
Bike - 45.06km - 1h28m40s, av cadence 85, av. HR 75% max
T2 - 1m43s
Run - 9.14km - 43m20s, av. HR 78% max

Tracks at:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/iYdv9fzCLJc
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/jL2AlnrEU-s

HR seems quite low, not sure why, was running as hard as I could. I've been playing with an interesting plugin on SportTracks that calculates your gearing too, so here is the crucial data (red= 3 favourites, green=3 least favourite)

So my favourite gear was 50x17 and I barely used the granny gear 34x25, although this is all interpretation from cadence, speed and wheel size. Quite interesting if your a data geek like me and perhaps justification for sticking with a compact chainset should I change bikes any time soon.

It was obviously sunny out on the bike as I now have the makings of a nice tri suit tan. Awaiting the official results, but feeling good about this race now. The run was short but I have a prediction of 47:39 if I'd carried on another 860m, under my target, and both swim and bike were under target too.

Recovery week before the first tri of the season

So I'm breaking tradition and writing this on Saturday, mostly so I can write about the first tri of 2011 without turning it into and epic post with the weeks training.  Well this week, it's not been easy, 4 weeks of build have taken their toll.

Monday was a desperately needed rest day, I just didn't have the energy to do a thing, especially as we were shifting at work again. Oh how I love getting up at 4am to go to work, but at least I get extra pay to spend on triathlon for the effort. So Tuesday was an early start and Masters in the evening. I just didn't have the energy in the pool and spent the session at the back of the lane. Just to ensure I felt properly tired there was quite a bit of IM to start, 2x200m IM was not nice and almost had me quitting. Somehow I managed to carry on but it wasn't pretty.

Tuesday was also the day I had treated myself to a new pair of trainers. The worn out Asics 2150's have been replaced with the new 2160's. The gorgeous weather on Wednesday was just begging for me to try them out. So I gae them a 10K blast around The Common. OK, so blast may be a bit of an exaggeration, but given how hard it was to get running and how slow it felt it was actually not a bad time for a steady 10K session. Also on the new shoes I'd stuck my Greeper laces, I'd been saving these for the shoes I think will last until IMDE, well these might, but race season starts this week so I need some anyway. Having spent a while getting the lacing right they were actually quite good. Feel just like real laces but easier to get on. I'll reserve total judgement until tomorrow but initial impression is very good, not that I ever had a problem with Xentex laces.

Thursday was Masters again. This hurt, as it always does, but was slightly easier than Tuesday and I wasn't relegated to the back of the lane either so that was a bonus. a bit of IM in the warm up but then a freestyle dominant session, with less rest than prescribed to! The second 6x75m set was meant to be off 1:45, but an over zealous leader was going off 1:30 again. Still Made it through and that is what counts.

Friday is run after work day. I managed to get my way asking for a shorter interval set as I had a race, far better than the long run that was initially suggested. We ended up doing the same set we'd done a week earlier. 6x400m hard intervals with 500m jog recovery. I managed to hit 1:37 on the first one, 1s off my best from last time, second one I knocked out another 1:37, then a 1:38, then another 1:38. Sensing the end was nigh I managed to go a bit quicker and get a 1:36. Hmm all within +/- 1s, going pretty well here! Was getting pretty pleased with myself, got the pacing right and just holding out, also the secret to beating me in the run was found. I shall not disclose it, but needless to say there is a way to beat me on short intervals it seems. So that final of the 6, buoyed up by the fact they were all so close I wanted to hold that, and went out a little quicker, and held that pace, putting in a very strong finish I looked down at the watch and ... 1:33, damn, there goes the +/- 1s, but 1:33! 3s improvement over my previous one, and I wasn't feeling as strong either. I've come a long way from the 3:00+ it used to take when I was made to do 400m as my track event on sports day at school.

So today, well I was going to go for a swim, but umm, didn't. I'm resting before tomorrows race, or that is how I am justifying it to myself anyway. I've dug all the kit out, dusted off my number belt, cleaned and oiled the chain on the bike, packed my transition bag. Kind of hoping I have packed everything, can't think of anything I have forgotten but there is bound to be something. Going to have to leave at 5:30, so just like shifting this week then, up at 4am to get food in me.

Feeling slightly more nervous about this one than I normally do, I think it is down to the distance. It is in effect an Olympic distance, shorter swim, longer bike, 10K run. Is my fitness good enough to get me around? All this long steady stuff, do I have the speed? Is 10 mins too optimistic for the swim, or maybe a bit pessimistic? Argh, why do I always do longer ones at the start of the season, this always happens. It is like being a rookie again.

Anyway weekly roundup (so far) Swim, 2 hours (5250m), Run 2hr 09m (22.3km)

Mon - Rest Day
Tues pm - Swim 1 hour (2600m)
Wed pm - Run 52min (10.3km)
Thur pm -Swim 1 hour (2650m)
Fri pm - Run 1hr 16 min (12km)
Sat - Rest Day

The balloon deflates...

This week hasn't been such a good week of training, culminating with my ballon of motivation going pop this morning. It was meant to be the final week of a serious of build phases before recovery next week. Stupidly I thought even though I was going away on a training course at work I'd manage to get enough training in. Ha!

Monday is my traditional rest day, however, after 2.5 hours in the car driving up to Stansted I just wanted to do something, so thought I'd try out the hotel pool. Now I knew it was going to be 10m, but I hadn't appreciated just how short 20m feels when you get in it. I amused myself for a while doing a few strokes, tumble, dolphin kick, 2 strokes, tumble, repeat. Then got bored and went in the steam room, then got hot and did and endless tumble turn thing again. I did notice that the water level in the pool was dropping. I think my turns may have been emptying the water faster than it was getting pumped back in. Whoops.

I had set my alarm to get up nice and early on Tuesday and then go and use the gym. Felt tired though, never sleep too well in hotel beds, so turned alarm off. Thought I set a 0700 alarm. When I woke up at 0719 I realised I had set the alarm for Sunday. D'oh. Scrabbled around and went down for breakfast. Nice breakfast, I actually resisted the cooked stuff as I'd been naughty in slacking off the gym. Naively thought I'd be going to the gym in the evening. Nope, course ran from 0830 to 1800, with a group dinner at 1900 so no time at all to get down to the gym. Wednesday I was good. I got up when the alarm went off at 0615 and was the first person there when the gym opened at 0630. Plan was to do a bike run brick with the gym bike and dreadmill. Man I hate gym bikes, it's like the saddles are made for elephant arses, give me my razor blade of a saddle anyday. Too upright too. OK so I'm a little picky. Still managed to do a 25 minute interval type session doing 1 on 1 off after a warm up. Then it was on to the dreadmill. Reinforcing why I hate the things. So boring, and so uncomfortable to run on. I really don't understand why my dad loves running on his one so much when there are all the lovely fields around there place. I was ready to bin it after 5 minutes, then 10, 15, 20. Pushed on and made it to 25 then quit sharpish. 2.67 miles covered -  I remember now, I run slower on them too. Treated myself to a cooked breakfast as a reward though. Then in for another 0830-1745 day. Dinner was a bit later so went for a swim. Again more endless tumbling. Although for some reason I didn't really care for swimming crawl. I was a bit of a merman (without the beard...) and just felt at home swimming fly kick underwater endlessly, with some tumble turns thrown in for good measure. The
α male in me came out after a while, some other guys from the company came and used the pool and were doing underwater lengths. Of course I had to prove I was the best. Managed to chalk up 3 lengths before surfacing. Not bad going, won by a few lengths of course ☺.
Thursday I made the decision not to train again, this time because I new I'd be up late. Friday. Hmm, well this brought my usual post work run at lucnhtime. The idea was to do a 7 mile fartlek set. This was going to hurt properly. As per expectations it did, in more ways than I'd have liked. Starting with the "University Run" in reverse we took a little detour. Through a rather hilly part of Southampton. Naturally all the intervals were timed to be up the hills. Good God it hurt, especially the 2 minute effort. The downhill recoveries were so nice. By 8km I could feel the blister coming back on my instep. Damn it. Having hitched a ride, and with all my stuff in someones car I couldn't quit early so perservered through some 'different' areas of Southampton, running is definately the right speed for them. More intervals up hills, and one timed to break me mentally apparently, up a hill and around a bend. the hill flattens before the bend so you would assume it is flat around the corner, but no, it turns into another f***** of a hill.  After that came a nice downhill interval, 60s on down the hill. The interval was cut short when I made it to the bottom after 50s. A split speed of 17.6 km/h. I felt totally out of control though, like my legs were getting away from me. Thankfully it all ended after 13.5k and 80 minutes. That just left a painful jog home. Instep blister was back and not pretty.

Saturday was going to be bike day, well the weather looked the best of the weekend days and a long run would have been stupid after 14.7k the day before. Planned out 90km route that took in a few different routes from last weeks 83k ride to lengthen it out and improve on it a touch. Decided to take the roadie out, it was summer weather after all. Of course that meant it needed a bit of work which was Friday evenings job, cue me redoing the operation of the front mech. Hasn't worked properly since I changed it after damaging the last one on the sportive in November. Having indexed it and got it shifting properly it was off to bed. On Saturday morning I went off and got the bottle cages it needed (put them on the cyclox bike) fitted them and by then it was 12. No time for lunch = mistake number 1, lack of energy may explain why my quads decided to die on me. t was nice getting out on the roadie though. Apart from all the little niggles. The spoke magnet was broken and kept twisting around. After 7 K I was so fed up I stopped and removed it, turns out the plastic is cracked and that is why it keeps loosening off. This bit me in the ass later when the Garmin decided my attempt at climbing the hills was so pathetic I'd stopped, and auto paused, I may not be worthy of the polka dot jersey, but I was still moving Garmin! Then my attempt at fixing the front mech failed when the cable slipped and I had to resort to using the STIs as if I were running a triple. An annoyance. Then my back hurt, then my quads gave in. So glad when I finally made it home.

That brings me to this morning, and my ballon of training excitement bursting. Really couldn't be arsed to go out for my long run. I had new socks to try, and a new way of lacing my shoes, but just couldn't find the motivation. Eventually I scooped up what little motivation I could muster and went out. It hurt, my legs hurt, I was sweating a lot, my heart rate was unusually high. All the signs were there that I should bin it. I didn't, after 5K things eased and I settled into my slow, slow pace. Similar route to last week, loops of the common with a large "University Run" loop thrown in to bulk up the distance without getting boring. Somehow I made it around. The price was a run where my HR was 10bpm higher for a 3% drop in pace. Should have listened to the body, high resting HR yesterday, sore legs this morning, salty sweat, then stopped sweating. Should have cut the run short at the very least. Oh well you live and (don't) learn.

The good thing was it was a blister free run. My new Hilly twin skin socks worked a treat, they felt great, and the new lacing method (Lydiard lacing) was also great, feet felt far more comfortable in the shoes, can sort of see why it is recommended for long distance running. Who knew how you tie your laces could have such a difference?

Weekly Roundup: Swim ??? (about 50 minutes, no idea how far), Bike 4hr 07 min (90km + 25min gym bike), Run 3hr 58mins (41.2km) Total 8hours 55 minutes

Mon pm - Swim 25 minutes
Tue - Rest Day
Wed am - Bike 25 min, Run 25 min (4.4k)
Wed pm - Swim 25 minutes
Thur - Rest Day
Fri pm - Run 1hr28m (14.7k)
Sat pm - Bike 3hr 42m (90k)
Sun am - Run 2hr 6m (22.1k)

Next week I'm going to listen to the body and actually rest properly, well almost, I've entered Ringwood Tri on Sunday. Distance wise it looks to be an OD with a short swim so think I can get away with replacing my weekends longer (60k bike, 16k run) sessions with a single event. And I can live with a nice taper too.

What a nice weekend.

So last weeks blog turned into an epic essay, much like writing a chapter for my thesis again. Don't have the time for that this weekend so going to attempt to keep things short and sweet. It has been an awesome weekend, the sun has been out and it felt like summer. Just what I needed to spur me on the spend most of the weekend outside.

The week kicked off with swimming on Tuesdsy night, after blistering my instep last weekend my foot was causing some issues in the early part of the week. Needless to say I am not a fan of Compeed and don't intend to buy more anytime soon. Sainsbury's blister plasters are perfectly good thank you. Anyway, the swim session, well it felt horrible, I had absolutely no energy and the 100-200m sets took there toll. Swimming 15 hours after getting up for work isn't always the best idea.

Wednesday was the first of the gorgeous days. Due to the sodding blister I decided a turbo set was in order. Local Hero it was going to be, I had to find out if I would be a hero in the hearts of the Sufferlandrians. After last weeks learning experience I was better prepared, lights off, window open, heating off 1.5 litres of fluid and 2 sweat rags. It actually felt easier. Average and max heart rates were a bit lower, but distance covered in the session was more. Hmm, maybe I'm starting to get fit. Of course with the window open the outside was calling and I thought I'd turn it into a brick session. Not the best decision to make 60 minutes after starting a workout. After a 10 minute transition (25% of which was waiting for the 310XT to get a GPS lock) I was off. Still had jelly legs but ran a good first km, the fastest in fact. Got a nice large loop of The Common in clocking up 6km for my efforts, at a respectable pace of 4m54 s/km. Off course when I got in the shower the impromptu nature of this brick session came and bit me in the behind, quite literally! Should have bodyglided the chamois in the tri shorts, apparently there is a seam that doesn't like me.

Thursday and there was to be no after work turbo, had planned on Revolver, forgetting I was going to stay at work for a webinar. Oh well. Arrived home to find two cards from Royal Fail on the doormat and a courier packet. My new Bluesenty swim gloves and Element goggles. Wohoo! Was looking forward to trying swimming in them. They didn't disappoint. The Thursday swim session was a killer. Loads of fly and IM. Main set kicked off with 12x25m of fly, of course it should have been 8x25m but the person leading didn't see it get revised down. Oh well. I was pretty dead by the end.

Friday brought another good day. After work run with some guys from work at lunch. Intervals on a section of The Common. A nice little corner with a 400m tarmac section then a 500m trail section back to the start. needless to say I tried to anhilate the intervals. Went out hard on the first one managing 1:38 for the 400m, a little easier on the second with a 1:41, a 1:37 next and they were starting to hurt, by the 4th Dave was starting to catch me at 200m and I was left to pace off him for a second 1:37, then a 1:38. I was seriously hurting on the last one, pushed myself to the limit and banged out a 1:36. Pretty chuffed with that. 5 intervals all within +/- 1s, and the whole lot with 5s. Consistency.

Of course not wanting to leave it there I went swimming in the evening, there was still and Endomondo challenge to have a go at, fastest 1000m done anyway, I chose 10x100m. Two hard interval sets in a day, bad idea? Well maybe not. Although I could still feel the run in my legs. scraped through the intervals on 01:29, 01:28, 01:31, 01:33, 01:33, 01:31, 01:33, 01:31, 01:35, 01:36. Again fairly consistent. They were hard efforts though no question, not having people to draft off made it brutal, not helped by my legs hurting still.

Saturday and it was bike time. BBC weather said the morning was going to be best, so up early, usual breakfast routine then got the bike ready for a 9:30 start. Major dilemas over what to wear. in the end I went for short bibs & top with long socks and arm warmers. Almost a good choice, the arm waremers were too warm. I'd lined up an extended route going out to the north east, up through Cheriton towards Arlesford then cutting back to the roads I am now getting to know around Bishop's Waltham. The weather of course didn't do what the beeb said it would. It was hot and sunny, gorgeous weather for spending outdoors on roads I pretty much had to myself for a lot of the time. Lovely ride and even the couple of bad driver incidents have blurred into oblivion.

Today was a repeat of one of my epic days from a month ago. Answering a call for crew I agreed to go sailing today, and frankly I would have been stupid not to with the weather. What I hadn't banked on was there only being 4 of us, and being the bowman as well as the #1 trimmer half the time. Well long story short, 4 hours on the water, 2 spent racing, couple of clusters but recovered well, a first and a second place in the 2 races. Got back to the bar and felt absolutely shagged. By the time I got home I have to say I was in no mood to go for a 20km run. Ironamn is not for quitters though and I had to MTFU and get out there, and I did. I was still a gorgeous afternoon so Camelbak loaded with water and energy foods I embarked on a trip around The Common and sports ground. Well it was actually not a bad run. Rather uneventful. Not exactly painless, but no injuries. I had a good go at choking myself at 14k when I decided to eat 2 shot bloks at once. D'oh. Then at 17k I sucked on the Camelbak and got nothing, I was out of water. Double D'oh. Also turns out the little 1k I added between 16-17 wasn't needed. My 20k run became 21k. Building a little fast, the original plan had today as 18k, but after going long last weekend I revised it. The hard day was good in the end, I think the sail primed me much like the bike leg would, little solid food and physically demnding work.

Well seems I've made it a long one again. Weekly roundup time, Swim 3 hours (7350m), Bike 4 hours 50m (83km + 1hr25m Turbo), Run 3 hours 19m (36km) for a total of 11 hours 10 minutes.

Mon - Rest
Tue pm - 1 hour swim (2650m)
Wed pm - 1hr25m turbo session
Wed pm - 30m brick run (6km)
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2200m)
Fri pm - 52min run (9km)
Fri pm - 1 hour 2m swim (2500m)
Sat am - 3 hour 24m bike (83km)
Sun am - 4 hour sail (not fully logged, counting as 2 hours)
Sun pm - 1 hour 57m run (21km)

Next week is a tricky one. Will be away for work so the session depend on what the gym facilites are like. I know it has a 10m pool, pretty useless but might be good for tumble turn practice. Next weekend should be a 20km run and 90km bike. Might do a 22km run, and may even consider the 58 mile Ride It sportive in Woking on Sunday.

A painful return to training

Following on from last weekend half marathon training resumed on Tuesday. The week has been a rather painful one though, the effort of the HM has remained in my legs throughout the week.

Tuesday kicked off with a 0545 alarm call so I had time to do some stretches and foam rollering before work. 20 minutes of lower leg stretches and foam roller action wasn't pretty, but it did the job and I had the use of my legs again. Tuesday evening kicked off the weeks proper training, a 2500m Masters set, finally done without the aid of a pull buoy (well almost - first couple of 200's done with just to check ankle was OK). Seemed to be keeping pace OK, in fact I think a couple of weeks of just pull may have even improved my times, felt much more powerful on the front crawl max effort stuff. The only slight issue was my legs, well my hamstrings really, from about 1500m into the set they were on the verge of cramping. Somehow I dodged a bullet and got through unscathed though.

Wednesday, I set the alarm early again to get up and do some stretching, but, well, umm, I was tired and went back to sleep for 20 minutes. Of course this wasn't to go unpunished. To make up for my very poor show I did Sufferfest's "Local Hero". Eighty five minutes of pure hell. Sufferfest makes Coach Troy look like the coach of an under 12's girls team. I knew it would be hard work, anticpating this I set up two bottles of fluids, 1500ml worth. After 70 minutes I had drunk all of this, my turbo towel was so sodden it wasn't drying the sweat off me, I had to wring it out, twice. The 3x6 minute pyramid efforts were unpleasant, but just bearable, managing to get my heart rate to just under predicted lacate threshold. The 5x3 minute road race efforts were horrible. The sprints at the end, were well, whatever word is a lot worse than horrible. The high cadence stuff was not nice, maxing out at 130. needless to say getting off the turbo came as a relief. What was more shocking was the fact that I weighed less than when I got on, even having drunk 1.5 litres of fluid!

Thursday, didn't bother setting an early alarm, I was only going to snooze anyway. Standard evening Masters session for training. Lots of short stuff, mostly front crawl but some fly and medley. The short stuff wasn't too bad, although the pacing made life very tough as it meant almost no rest.

Friday was a run with some people from work. I had hoped this would be an easier run, normally they are quite short. The session turned into a bit of a fartlek style one, with some hard intervals of varying length. On the way out we had a long interval down by the new OS building, where we did 1/2 mile intervals a couple of months ago. Then on the way out to Testwood lakes we did some further 1 minute intervals. Of course all this was being done in the rain, just to make things a tad unpleasant.  When we got out to the lakes there were of course plenty of puddles. These made quite a nice other game, bounding over the puddles. It was actually quite fun when there were a few strung together. On the way back we did some more intervals, starting off with some shorter intervals then we had some intervals of unknown length. Things got quite painful in those intervals. My quads and hamstrings hadn't recovered, man they hurt like something else. I ended up losing the last couple of intervals.

Saturday was to be my epic day, kicked off with an early morning run. Fridays run was a lot further than I'd counted on, and in fact only a few K of what Saturdays run was scheduled to be, still I was going to do it. Having been labelled an 'under achiever' earlier in the week I have to prove I can hit my 33 hour target for training this month. With a stag party to go to for most of the day my long run was going to have to be an early one. Hence the 0615 wake up call, on a Saturday. An hour and a half later after feeding and watering  it was time to commence the faff involved in seeing me out the door for a run. What to wear? Sunnies? Where are my sunnies? Camelbak or waist pack? Which bottle in the waist pack? What flavour gels to take? Ankle brace? Needless to say I left a few minutes late, but thankfully dressed appropriately. The start of the run was nice and uneventful, off out to the Common, a snake around it then out up to the sports centre to take in Golf Course Road. Approaching the sports centre and there was obviously something going on as there were coaches everywhere and lots of college/uni girls, netball tournament or something like that. First gel at 5K, lucky dip moment in back pocket, Vanilla! I like vanilla, sort of makes me think of coffee though, not sure why. Everything was going well and I even managed to get up Golf Course Road in one piece, without having to walk. Then back to the Common for a loop of that to finish. Then there was the decision, left right or straight over at the cross? Which way is going to get me to 16K? Lets try right, nice downhill and time for the second gel, Green Apple. Yuk, how foul, I just wanted to be sick. It was horrible and sour, but sugary and sweet at the same time. Urgh, how to get the taste out of my mouth? Sips of water and it was better but urgh. I shall not be having any of those during IM, Vanilla and Strawberry/Banana for me. Onto the final loop and what had been a really pleasant run started to go south. Starting of with do incident number 1. Two dogs that decided to have a fight around my feet why the owner(s) just stood by and chatted idly. Needless to say I was not best pleased.A few hundred metres later and my got much better again. A nice MEDSOC runner to follow, seems my pace picked up a little too much and I inevitably had to pass, shame. Only to spoilt a few hundred metres later by dog incident number 2. This one really hacked me off. If you have a large dog that needs to wear a muzzle in public places why the hell do you let it run a round a busy park off the lead? The flipping dog jumped up at me, paws on chest and nearly pushed me over. There were a couple of dog owners sat on a park bench that found it funny, don't know if it was their dog as no one seemed to want to control the f****** animal. I they had then they would have got a rather unpleasant string of words I think. The anger fuelled me up the hill and soon I was on the way back. 17K done, with 90 minutes to get ready for the stag do. Perfect.

Today was of course long ride day. I was a good boy on the stag do, drinking softs in the pub during the rugby, a few glasses of wine in the restaurant with dinner, softs again at the next bar and only a double in the club, not that we stayed that long anyway. Having go to bed at 2am waking up a 8am wasn't unwelcome. What wasn't welcome was the pain that greeted me as I put my right foot on the floor. It had hurt all afternoon evening, but the blister on my instep had gotten impressive. A glance out of the curtains and it didn't look like it had rained. Might be a nice day for a ride after all. Usual pre ride routine followed and the obligatory what to wear? A trip to the bins confirmed it was chilly but not cold. Club jersey, vest, arm warmers and bib longs then. Of course my blister chose this opportunity to burst, such a good feeling, but really not a good thing. Oh well. Having faffed around way too much I set off at 1030. Surprisingly I sailed across town and soon I was out on Alington lane on my way to Winchester. The plan was to do the Winchester/Hillier Gardens/Upper Sombourne/Ampfield figure 8 loop, around 75K from memory, longer than the plan but perfectly doable. The ride was actually pretty uneventful. Good speed out to Winchester, not so good down in Hurlsey, managed to refuel on the move on the Sombourne loop, swapping bottles and opening Cliff Shot blocks. I'd forgotten how good they tasted. They hills weren't wonderful, my legs are obviously still a touch tired, but no cramping. What wasn't nice was the pain in my right foot every time I climbed out the saddle. A quick pause as I got into Ampfield for the second time to get a gel down. My legs felt great as I set off, almost like new. So heading back and decisions as to which way home, I opted for the route I thought would make 75K rather than the longer or shorter options. Off course all these options would take in the uphill section I hate; North Baddesley to Chilworth. Doesn't look to bad, but it just drags on then goes around a corner and kicks up a bit. I've tamed it, but it is always at a point in the ride when my legs are shot. I managed to get up it with one gear to spare, but I am running a triple so it is a pretty poor show. Just over 3 hours for 76km, not the best speed, but given the week of training a respectable effort I think.

I discovered why it hurt so much when I got out the saddle on the climbs tough, I have blistered under my blister. A trip to the shops and I am now the owner of a pack of Compeed blister plasters, so hopefully the problem will be resolved soon. Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours (5050m), Bike 4 hours 34 min (76km + 1hr25m turbo), Run 2 hours 50 min (30km) for a total of  9hr25m training.

Mon - Rest
Tues am - 20 min stretching
Tues pm - 1 hour swim (2500m)
Wed pm - 1hr25 min turbo session
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2550m)
Fri pm - 1hr17 min run (13km)
Sat am - 1hr33m run (17km)
Sun am - 3hr09m bike (76km)

Next week is meant to be another build week. I think with my foot midweek training sessions will be turbo based, hopefully with shift working I can get some sessions in before Masters too. Next weekend should be an 18km run and a 80km bike. Will have to see how things are, but may be able to push them a little more given my over distances this weekend.

Telemetry from yesterdays run

A better week with a tough finish

So on the back of my ankle injury last week this weeks training was a little lighter than planned, and nowhere near what it needed to be to get me near to PB fitness for today's half marathon.

Monday was a complete rest day, thought I'd try and consolidate what training I managed last weekend. Tuesday was swimming time, another pull buoy session. Managing to keep up with people using just my arms though. Thankfully it was another session that could be done quite well as pull with some 'long' (200m) sets and shorter stuff, done as front crawl and #1 stroke, which is conveniently front crawl.

Wednesday I managed to fit in a turbo session, did Sufferfest: Revolver again. It really is a brutal turbo session and put that 'about to vomit' lump in the back of my throat. Hoping it will work it's magic and get me bike fit though, what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.

Thursday and I was back in the pool again. More pull, this time it wasn't as pull buoy friendly with some IM and IMO thrown in, along with some kick (didn't do). Still made it through and even managed some pull buoy less swimming during the sprints at the end. It even felt like I managed a proper dive, my arms definitely went in the water first.

Friday was another rest day whilst I drove back to the parents in preparation for the half. I managed to fit in a little training on Saturday though. After mowing the lawns I went the gym with dad for a swim. Managed to fit in 8 lots of 200m doing various drills and strokes. Even managed to fit in 200m without the aid of a pull buoy.

I suffered for that I think though. Woke up this morning and the ankle hurt quite a bit. Not a promising start to the day. Which brings me to the event of the week (and the month really). Today was the Milton Keynes Half Marathon. We arrived in plenty of time, so spent it walking around Xscape, with everything but the coffee shops and fast food outlets shut, but it was warm and dry inside. There was of course the security guards walking around, that informed a group of runners stretching on the floor out the way that sitting on the floor wasn't allowed. Get a life dude! The time came for the 10K start, Dad was doing this so we headed out. I needed the loo so decided to jog down to the loos. It didn't feel good, I wasn't sure if it was wise to continue. The 10K start came and went and I spotted a few others from the BCTTT so headed over and said hi before dropping of my hoodie with Mum just before the start. Then we were allowed out to the start line. What a cluster this was going to be. No pace groupings. Uh Oh, I was worried I was too far forward but went with it.  Turns out I wasn't really and the first couple of miles was a bit of a 'dodge the person in front' game. The road surface was terrible too. I was getting pretty afraid that I was going to roll my ankle, which was complaining slightly. I was also way off target pace. I was aiming to do 4:44 kilometres. I ran the first K in 4:11, next in 4:18, way way too fast. Coming up to 10K it looked like I was on course for a 10K PB (I still need to check the Garmin data, it still might be). By kilometre 14 the wheels were starting to come off the cart. km 13-14 was my first over 5 minute, I pulled it back over the next one, but looking at the limited HR data to hand it appears I was running well over where my lactate threshold should be, not a good thing to do with 6K still to run. That when my quads gave in. They hurt, a lot. every uphill section became a major chore, running was no longer 'fun' it was a matter of survival. Things got worse as the number of underpasses increased. The pain in my left quad started to radiate around my hip into my glutes. 15km in I had looked at my watch and thought, 6K to go, 30 minutes left for a PB, 5 minute kilometres, seemed doable. With 4km to go I could see the snow dome again, it seemed very far away, surely more than 4 kilometres again. The pain kept getting worse and I was now walking up every slope from the underpasses. Playing leapfrog with green jersey guy that was also struggling, I could run slightly faster, but he could walk faster. Then came the bridge. It was so unpleasant. I was so close to crying as I walked up to the top of it. Finally came the signs I had been waiting for 500m to go, 200m to go, people were sprinting past me left right and centre, but I had left everything on the course. I crossed the line 1:42:58 after crossing the start line. A few minutes away from a PB, but all things considered a very good performance. My ankle didn't cause me trouble, and is still fine. Post race wasn't fun, I staggered around the finishing chute, past some poor person that had left everything on the course judging by the ambulance staff. I had to sit down to take my chip off as my legs wouldn't let me bend down. After grabbing a bottle of water and my medal I proceeded to a clear section of car park, to go and sit in. After a few minutes my support team arrived, offered me warm clothes then I tried to walk back to the car. OMG it hurt, my brother, who we always need to wait for looked frustrated I was walking so slow.

Will post Garmin data tomorrow.

Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours 40 minutes (6330m), 48 minute turbo, 1hour 43 minute run (21.1km)

Mon - rest
Tue pm - Swim 1 hour (2450m)
Wed pm - 48 minute turbo
Thur pm - Swim 1 hour (2280m)
Fri - rest
Sat pm - Swim 40 minutes (1600m)
Sun am - Run 1:42:58 (Half marathon)

Next week is going to be a recovery week of swimming and turboing, plus I need to fit the weekends training around a stag party, could prove challenging.

Not the week I had planned

As the title says, this week didn't exactly go according to the master plan. In trying to maintain the volume of last week a momentary lapse of concentration almost bought the week, and the near term goals to a crashing end.

Monday was my rest day, and was rather enjoyable really. The day at work seemed like nothing compared to Sunday's efforts. In an attempt to stay fit I did 20 minutes of stretches to loosen up in the evening. Using Christopher Norris' "Stretching for Runners" I worked through the stretches in part 1 and through some extra in at the end. All was going well until I tried Conehead's special hamstring stretch. Having stopped doing this for a while it reduced me to the point of tears. My hammys are pretty tight again. D'Oh.

Since I wasn't earlies I decided to fit a run in on Tuesday morning before work. Alarm goes off at 5am, out the door for 5:15 and off around the streets of Southampton. F*** me it hurt, my heart rate was stupidly high for such an abysmal pace. I eventually settled into 5:30ish km's, should be aiming for more 5:10ish really. After about 2.5k I had a lapse of concentration. Rounding a corner I didn't notice a kerb stone wasn't dropped as I landed on it, cue my left foot giving way slightly. Didn't really hurt so carried on. Turns out it should have hurt, only the pain came later. Yes I'd sprained my left ankle again. Thankfully it is only a very light sprain, barely a grade 1, probably just stretched the anterior talofibular ligament. Having happened a few times before it was on with the deep freeze spray and compression bandage. Standing up at work all day didn't help it, but it never really complained so Tuesday evening brought Masters. Another opportunity to assess the severity of it, after 50m I know it will be better for MK half on the 13th, but the rest of the swim would be just pull. The set wasn't too bad for pull in the end. The only stumbling block was the last 300m. 12 25's done as a swim to the deep end, out, and dive back in on a 1:00 for the next 25. Pull without a pull buoy isn't quite as fun.

Wednesday, well given the state of my flat the turbo was out, and there was no way I was running on my ankle, so an enforced rest day.

Thursday and back to Masters, did pull form the outset, no point risking my ankle. The only time I didn't was on the few breaststroke lengths, it is only really flutter kick that hurts it. Again another set that was suitable for pull. I was lucky. The end of the set bought some relay takeover practice. 25m efforts starting from the blocks that were set up, tumbling mid pool. My inability to dive hampered things here with some pathetic belly flop starts. So I got a bit of extra dive practice at the end. Taking James' push off advice I set about improving, completely soaking him in the process as my feeble belly flop turned into a far more powerful chest/belly flop. Oops.

Friday, well like Wednesday I decided this would be a rest day again. I probably could have run on my ankle, but it would have been screwed by Friday evening.

Saturday's planned 16K run was never going to be a good idea, so I opted to do Sunday's 60K ride, taking it a bit easier so I didn't have to climb out of the saddle on any hills. It was quite a pleasant ride. Followed the same route as last weekend, but came back into Southampton a more traffic friendly way. The weather was much nicer and the roads dry. Felt a bit of a cross wind at the top of the loop, but the sun was shining so everything was good. Managed to go slightly faster, for less perceived effort, with a higher average heart rate. I'm sure some of those are mutually exclusive, but it doesn't look like the Garmin is lying.

Today was an odd one, I had decided to go for a 70K ride after yesterday, but I kept rolling over in my sleep and causing pain in my ankle so decided against it. Instead I did housework. That horrible thing I have been neglecting. So I spent the morning, and a large part of the afternoon polishing, hoovering, cleaning glass, wiping floors. All done barefoot without my ankle support. This has convinced me my ankle will be good, no pain you see. The bonus of all this housework is there is space to set the turbo up once again. So having read all the post about sufferfest I thought I'd give it a go. Having looked through them Revolver looked like it my suit me, 15x1 minute intervals. Feck me it was hard. I've done spinervals, but they just make me sweat and give me tired legs. Trying to do these intervals was brutal. By the tenth interval I had a lump in my throat, by the twelfth I was praying I would make it through without making a bee line for the bathroom. Then I got to interval 15, I was so pleased when it was over. Except it wasn't. The helpful on screen prompt informed me the women still had a minute to go, and that if I wasn't "weak and pathetic" then I was doing one more. Cue the start and "You're not going to let these women spank you are you?" Well if your going to wave a red rag in my face... I was soooo glad when it was over. Have to say I really like sufferfest. It's nice watching the structured cycling clips, and the soundtrack is alright too. I've got "Local Hero" to try next. At around £7 each they are pretty good value too, far better than Spinervals.

You can see my pain and suffering here:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/71602664

Weekly roundup, Swim 2 hours (4750m), Bike 60K + 47min Turbo, Run 8.4K for a total of 6hours 23 minutes.

Mon pm - 20 min Stretching+Flexibility
Tues pm - 1 hour swim (2250m)
Wed - Rest
Thur pm - 1 hour swim (2500m)
Fri - Rest
Sat am - 60km bike
Sun pm - 47 minute turbo

Next week is going to involve turbo sessions and swimming, might try an exploratory run on Wednesday before my half marathon on Sunday. The sub 1:40 goal has disappeared, finishing in one piece is now the goal.

The less glamorous side of distance training

So my big finale to the week is done, not without incident however. The day got off to a good start, the sun was shining, the wind was good, perfect for a mornings racing out on the water. This blog isn't about my exploits sailing, so I'll leave the details for another time. We didn't do too badly though, narrowly missing first place by <10s in our first race and coming 5th in our second race, only 5s separated the 3rd place boat and us. The second race wasn't picture perfect for another reason, the rain. The nasty front of rain came across for the duration of the second race, it bought wind too, so I spent 1/3 of the time grinding the spinny sheet, good upper body workout though. Still it brigthened up as we came back into the marina, ideal for the run I had planned. Just to make life better though having had a light lunch of penut buttre on toast and given it an hour to settle it started hailing on and off. D'oh. Still, 40 minutes later the sky looked like it was clearing more permantly so I headed out on my run.

It was feeling quite good as I headed out, running easy at a gentle pace. By 2K I was getting the impression it might be a tough run. 5 hours on a boat isn't exactly equivalent to a long bike ride, but it sure as hell took some energy out of me. So why I opted to turn left at the top of The Common and head up to the sports ground is beyond me. I mean what kind of idiot knowingly opts to through a few hills into a long run when they are not even feeling strong? Well this kind did. By the time I had run up the gentle drag to the pro's shop on the golf course I was regretting every footfall of it. Golf Course Road was still to come, an ~8-10% slope that lasts about 500m. It wasn't pretty. I made it to the top in one piece and had my brief respite while the traffic light changed. It was time for my first feed at 6K as I was now on a nice gentle downhill all the way back to the entrance of The Common. As I embarked on what I had intended to be the first figure of eight rumblings were occurring, Rumbling of the gastrointestinal kind that have been plaguing me all week. I guess this is in part down the recent changes in my diet. I've practically cut out the junk I like to eat in the evenings and now snack on apples/carrots/dried fruit/nuts. It's made me more regular, regularly inconvenient that is. Anyway back to my run, and the less glamorous side of distance training. I made it halfway round my figure eight when the rumblings became groanings. I knew then it was all going to go wrong so at 13K I made the decision to head home, by 14K I knew I'd made the right choice. After a brief interlude I was in good form again. And I managed to find it in myself to go back out and finish the run I started. So I knocked out a 5.8km loop. I managed it at a quicker average pace than the first 14.5K too.

At home with my feet up typing this and I feel knackered, but not broken. It has been a good week. Just under 9 hours of training shoehorned into this week (excluding the sailing, worth about 2 probably, but I don't log it). Swim 2 hours (5km), Bike 61km, & Run 49.3km

Mon pm - 6.6km Run
Tues pm - 6.8km Run & 1 hour swim (2300m)
Wed - Rest day
Thur pm - 7.1km Run & 1 hour swim (2700m)
Fri pm - 8.4km Run
Sat am - 61km Cycle
Sun pm - 20.3km Run

A busy start to the weekend

So I've managed to cram plenty in to the past few days. I managed a swim, run, and decent bike in the past 48 hours and the weekends not over yet.

Thursdays swim went much better than Tuesdays. The use of and energy drink certainly kept things moving. It was a pretty hard set in fact. The warm up included the requisite amount of IM to make it brutal. 6x75m of IM drill/swim with no crawl. The kick in the teeth came next, 2x200m of IM done as 100s, except the time we went of meant it was more like 4x100m IM with no rest. To make things even better then we moved on to lots and lots of pull. My shoulders we ready to fall off by the end.

Friday bought the runners club at work, the slower runner had a cold so I had a feeling it might be a hard run. Time wise it wasn't too bad, but with the faster guy I normally pace off going easy for a half marathon he's got this weekend I was holding back a bit. Still, the pace I managed might have been a bit too much for the coach, he had to walk /slow jog the last mile as his calf gave out. Oops. That drew the 'is the pace of these runs too slow for you' question at the end. Thing is, the pace was what is normally just right for me and it might have felt a little slow.

This morning I did my usual checks, resting heart rate is up to 46 and BP is a little higher than normal. Guess this means I'm getting a bit overtrained. Oh well, Monday can be a rest day. Today was a 'long' bike. Long in this sense meant 60k, not really that long, but tough enough given last weekends attempt. My usual route of this length was a bit crap last weekend, too much traffic. So I decided to plan a route in 'hills' to the east of Winchester. The weather was looking rather good as I got ready. Of course when I walked out the door the clouds came over. It was actually quite a good ride, I had no power on the hills but my legs weren't rebelling so that was a bonus. About halfway in I got a little drizzle but then the sun came back and the ride finished quite nicely. My plan to cross the top of Southampton on the way home almost back fired. Having had a rather uneventful ride one driver had his go a killing me. Why the hell he felt the need to look back at me then pull in hard to the curb is beyond me. I stopped soon enough to stay out of danger, but reminded me how much I hate trying to filter through traffic.

Once home I had a go at cramming as much as possible into the afternoon. After a quick lunch, hair cut and shower it was off to Tesco to buy some food for dinner. Got back with just enough time to spend 30 minutes getting my bike cleaned up, start cooking dinner and then sit down to watch the England match. I'm now filled up with one of my excellent chillies, with a couple of portions for after training tomorrow and on Monday night. Tomorrow could be an interesting day. I shall be attempting a jam packed morning of sailing combined with 20K run when I get back from it. Hopefully it will all go well. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Back in the groove, hopefully

Having sat down and worked out the schedule of pain I tired to jump feet first into training this week. After a bumpy start things are looking good and hormone release from exercise has hit and even a rubbish week at work isn't getting me down. Hopefully it will last better than my single good week earlier this year.

Monday didn't get off to a good start. I'd planned on doing my three loop 16K run as some long distance run practice for the impending half marathon.  Things didn't go so well. 5K in and I started getting some GI discomfort. By kilometer 6 I was on an all out sprint home. Who would win? Me or my GI tract? Well, by the narrowest of margins I did. Needless to say the effort involved in winning the 'race' left me feeling less than optimal about going back out, given the time and the 0415 alarm the next day I decided to think of the big picture. Wise move I think.

Tuesday was a pretty good day. The light at the end of the tunnel when starting work before 6am is that you finish just after 2pm, providing plenty of training opportunities in daylight hours. Having attempted a turbo session before Masters swimming a few weeks ago I thought I'd try a run. This run turned out to be a little quicker than planned, I ended up getting around the 6.7K loop in a time that would translate to an acceptable 10K time. Oh well. Come 1930 and time to get in the pool and I managed to hold on, well enough at least. Having refused to lead during the warm up knowing I would burn myself out I managed to finish the 2300m (including a 300m IM drill/swim set) having only dropped halfway through the group in the lane. Given my choice to fuel with water/Nuun 'as it's only an hour' I'm happy. Fueling with water/Nuun was a stupid choice.

Part of me had intended to do a Turbo session yesterday afternoon, but I talked myself into a rest day. I think this was a good idea. Well, it meant I was well rested for a tough day at work today. The weather was gorgeous this afternoon, so I decided to make the most of it and headed out for 7K run. Pleased with that one too, without trying managed to hold a decent pace, calves are a bit sore but hey ho. Masters tonight and I will be taking Powerbar Energize in the vain hope I'll be able to hold my speed better.

Hopefully my spirits will remain high, lots planned for the next few days, work run club tomorrow lunch, might squeeze a swim in in the evening, 60K bike Saturday, sailing Sunday morning and a 20K run for Sunday afternoon/evening. At this rate I may even stand a chance getting that little bit closer to race weight. Here's hoping.

Time to resurrect this blog

So it has been far to long since I last wrote about my training. Since then I have completed many races (which I have blogged about) and become somewhat deluded into the fact I can get around an Ironman course. I won't go into how deluded I have gotten about the time I can do it in. Today I had a major wake up call (more later) and have decided to attack this problem head on. I have formulated a plan, and part of that plan will included an, at least weekly, reflection on my training.

So I guess I'll start with reviewing the events leading up to this point. This week has not been a wonderful one in training terms. As ever we are working shifts, which means the oh so joyous task of getting out of bed at 4:15 to go to work Tues-Thurs. This of course meant the 15K run I wanted to do would eat into far too much of my evening. Still I went out and, when the heavens opened 10K in, I manged to stick it out and do a third loop, I was so ready to quit after 2 though. Needless to say by the time I got back showered and fed myself it was already bed time, but I had to paint a living room wall. D'oh. I'd much rather shift everyday of the week when we have to do it. 

Tuesday started far to early, still I finished earlier. In future I shall use this to my advantage a bit more and try to stick in a 5-10k run or a short turbo session before an early dinner and Masters. Not doing something before Masters was actually a good move this week though. My speed was there but I had naff all endurance. On the second 300m set I had to stop as I cramped in my foot, but I was also feeling a bit nauseous. Still, I persevered and made it through the 2350m session. Tuesday night was not good though, kept waking up as my throat hurt. Uh oh, I'm ill. The 4:15 wake up call bought confirmation, swollen throat glands, blocked nose. Yep I'd got a cold. Balls, Wednesday I had hopes of a cheeky little Turbo/run brick session. Cue rest days on Weds, Thurs, and Friday. Wasn't feeling too bad on Friday night, so if the weather cleared, I could try an easy ride on Saturday.

The rain gave way to a fine mist on Saturday morning and I opted to go for a gentle ride around my 54k loop. 3 drivers tried to kill me in the first 10k. Why overtake if you are going to turn left immediately after overtaking? Why do buses always pull out before indicating? And my favourite, what is the point in overtaking and practically doing an emergency stop before you've finished to let someone walk a horse across the road? How the hell am I meant to see the horse, and how the hell is the rider meant to see me? Well after all those shenanigans the rest of the ride went OK, I got around the 54K in 2:10, an acceptable speed, if not a little faster than planned. Whilst out on this ride I decided that I didn't want to push things too soon, so another, longer, ride would be more suitable on Sunday than a run.

Well, I learnt what a plonker I was on the ride today. My legs didn't feel good going up hills. At 34k when the turn onto the 20k loop appeared I told myself to man up and take the pain. I survived the loop, just about. Had to stop a few times to refuel, and my lower back hurt, but my legs just about held out. I was starting to worry I had remembered the distance wrong, I had, but a crafty shortcut would later fix that. There was a nasty little hill on that shortcut though, with a handily placed cyclist at the top to witness the pain on my face as I summitted the poultry 10m, 5% slope. 65 kilometres in and my world was about to fall apart. It was my nemesis hill, it is only a measly 3%, but it drags on for over a mile, and has a nasty sting in the tail just as you think you've done it. I knew things would be bad as I dropped down to the 30x20 early on. I was ready top cry as I reached the top, I had to stop and stretch.To make matters worse there was still over 8k left to get home. That was one of the more painful 8k rides I have ever made. My quads had blown big time. All I could manage as I walked through the front door was a stagger to the living room and lie on the floor. A few stretches and the pain would not budge. I looked at the foam roller, tried it but only got halfway down my leg. A touch of heat therapy and I was walking again. Great, enough movement to reheat the remains of the curry I made last night, and a couple of hours on the sofa in compression tights.

This ride was actually a good thing. It broke the cycle of delusion that I can do an Ironman of the junk training I have been doing. SO I sat down and applying a 3 weeks build, 1 week recovery, I have formulated a plan for my long rides and long runs over the next 4 months that will see me able to get around Frankfurt, at least I hope it will. Build weeks will go up 10k on the bike, and 2k on the run each week. The real scary thing is, that means 350km of running, and 1710 km of cycling over the next 4 months. This doesn't even account for training during the week, or the France training camp. It also doesn't pencil in any events between the MK half marathon and IMDE, and I really want to get a few sprints and some open water events in. Some hard decisions will have to be made, and that includes my social calendar too. Even though I've been tee total since new years eve, I can't see the opportunity for social drinking any time soon.

The road to IMDE starts here, hopefully I can hang on to the pain train for long enough. Let's hope the next week goes better than the last.

Last tri of 2010

What: Bedford Autumn Sprint 

Where: Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK
Organiser: Galeforce Events
Course details: http://www.galeforce-events.com/
Distance: Swim 400m (Pool), Cycle 25km (Road), Run 5km (Tarmac path around park)
Closed Roads: No
Marshaling: Marshals at every major turn and junction. Sign-posts at every turn.
Facilities: Toilets/changing/showers in leisure centre, lockers, café, warm up swim area, tri shop, massage (not free)
Technical: Chip timing. Mats at swim out, bike out, bike in, finish
Freebies: Technical T-Shirt (pretty reasonable), Mars bar, juice box, and water at finish

So after a pretty busy (and somewhat boozey) week I was off for the last triathlon of this year. Training this week consisted of 2 half hour long swims in pools that were too small to swim properly. This was going to be my 4th attempt at the course, having done it in June, posting a somewhat awesome time (for me) of 1:17:25. I'd already decided this wasn't going to happen again, so damage limitation was the object of the game.  I'd somewhat fudged the swimtime, I'd estimated it off a 100m time with 10% extra per 100m, so 6:40.  As it turned out one of my Dad's friends, and somewhat of a nemesis had put down the same time - we've been within a few seconds of each other at the past few races and I've lost, had put down the same time and was 2 numbers in front of me. So the game was on. The weather was the only wild card, heavy rain was forecast for about the time we'd be out on the bike course. Dad was racing too, so the first part of the day involved dealing with him, luckily he was off first so after he was out on the bike I had time to prepare mentally.

Swim time came and into the pool I went. Has to be said I felt quite slow, I didn't dare look at my watch  in case it was the bearer of bad news.  With a few lengths to go I overtook the guy in front, putting me dead behind my nemesis, a good T1 and I'd have the lead out onto the bike course. Swim done in 6:42. 1-0 to me

T1 wasn't pretty, the combination of rain and 320 people before me had turned parts of it into a quagmire. This was bad on 2 counts, firstly I got mud between my toes, which wasn't pleasant, but more importantly it was really slippery, especially with bike shoes on. I kinda fluffed it though, after 11 triathlons I forgot to put my helmet on before touching my bike, idiot, luckily I wasn't spotted before I corrected the foolish mishap. I made it to the bike mount first, although my slow attempt at getting my shoes in meant I was soon caught. T1 in 1:06, 2-0.

The first 2K's of the bike was a game of cat and mouse, I took the lead, I lost the lead, until the first incline, where I lost the lead and never regained it. Nemesis was only 20m in front though for the next 4K, when we got to a bigger hill and I couldn't keep up.  I passed Dad on his return leg after a few K, and gave him a shout, which got a smile. The bike has never been my strong point.  The conditions weren't pleasant.  The rain earlier hadn't dispersed and the roads were covered.  This made the draft box quite clear, get within 7m of the bike in front and you got a face full of water from the rooster tail off the rear wheel.  The bike was pretty uneventful, apart from getting overtaken by two TT bikes going up the hill, then passing them after hearing a pop as one of them had a blowout. Bike leg in 49:32, 2-1

Coming back into T2 I got a shout from Mum and Dad (who'd finished by that point) that I was about 3 minutes behind (looking at the results it was only 2). A quick transition was needed. The only problem was that transition looked worse than a field at Glastonbury. Got my bike racked then managed to cover my hands in mud tying to get my socks and shoes on. D'Oh. Still, managed to get out in 46 seconds.  3-1

The run wasn't pretty, within the first 500m my quads were burning, my HR was rocketing, and my breathing was getting uncontrollable. I often have problems breathing out, but now I couldn't breathe in either. Crap crap crap. Another 500m in and things were getting under control, first K in 4:31, on target. Another K and lap 1 was in the bag. A few hundred metres into lap 2 and I spotted nemesis 100m in front. I was clawing this one back, it wasn't until halfway round the second lap that I finally got the lead. All I had to do now was hold on for the rest of the lap and the half lap to finish. I was feeling pretty good. The final 500m hurt, the pain on my face must have been obvious as lots of people were offering me encouragement. I managed to cross the line after 22:19, not bad considering my lack of training, and I finally managed a win.

My first wet triathlon done (I've been really lucky so far) and a reasonable result.  Provisional results are showing a 1:20:27, my second fastest time for the course, placing me 81/297 finishers. More worryingly I seem to have managed a top 25 swim time.

Aquasphere 3.8km Swim Dorney Lake

Where: Dorney Lake
Organiser: VOtwo
Course details: 3 laps of rectangular course
Distance: Swim 3800m (OW- Lake)
Marshalling: NA
Facilities: Portaloos, rowing club changing rooms, hot food van
Technical: Number on hand
Freebies: Swim hat. Water. Various cakes

So, the third and final long swim day arrived.  I entered this as I said earlier in the season I would do as many of the 4 races as possible. Problem was after entering this a few weeks ago life caught up with me.  First I had an attack of vertigo that stopped me training for a couple of weeks, then, just as it was getting better the need to prepare for my PhD viva became a dominating factor.  These combined meant my last OW swim was at the Bedford OD, 5 weeks ago. My past three weeks training have consisted of two masters swim sessions and a 28km bike ride, most of which was in the past week. So not exactly well prepared.  After some analysis of the Bournemouth results 70 minutes was going to be my aim. I reckoned I was 5 minutes slower than the others there, so my 65 from Box End, with my 5 minute fitness disadvantage meant about 70 minutes to avoid disappointment.  The only fly in the ointment was I managed the first 100m of my masters swim the other night in under 1:25, an amazing time for me, so I have some speed, but what about stamina?

I turned up nice and earlier and watched some of the triathletes doing there stuff, but it was absolutely fecking freezing, they had said on the radio on the way up 'highs of 13'. Hmm that goes some way to explaining it. I went and used the changing rooms to get my suit on, had a a chat with a guy in there who was doing his first one, he'd done the distance in a pool (crazy? I've done it twice in a 50m pool, I think, if I counted right) and asked what it would be like, I said easier, which I think is true. As I was leaving a guy came in and sat down next to my stuff and said he thought he'd be the only one without a wetsuit. WTF? swimming in late September without a wetsuit, madness. I went down and tried the water out as there was 20 minutes till the start. This turned out to be both a bad, and a good idea.  It was bad in that I found out just how bloody cold the water is, ice cream headache time. Damn it hurt.  The lifeguard told me she couldn't feel her feet, I can understand why.  The good aspect was that by the time the briefing was over and I got back in the wind chill had made my feet, hands, and forehead numb so I didn't get the shock a second time.  Whilst at the briefing chatted with a couple of girls, who had commented that I had swimmers feet. I assume that was some kind of compliment and not a reference to my lack of clown shoes, they guessed from the fact I was wet that I'd been in and asked what it was like, cold I told them, but not as bad as April.  turns out it was the first long swim at least one of them had done.

Some how in the confusion I had ended up near the back in the middle. Crap crap crap. I now had to make my way through the washing machine. I didn't come out unscathed. After a couple of fists to various places I got one in the goggle. Whoever you were I hate you. I now had a goggle that was filling with water and a pack of adrenaline fuelled swimmers bearing down on me. Think. Go outside? I did and managed to find 10m of clear water after a minute, dead fish impression and the goggle was clear before I could be mown down.  Now I discovered the nice thing about Dorney, you don't really need to sight, you just find the right rope and soon enough you hit the buoy. Apart from the obligatory ruck at the first and second buoy the first and second laps pretty uneventful. I'd cocked the timing up royally. I looked halfway and saw 11:10 and thought I was on target. Turns out I was ahead of target as that was THE time, not elapsed time.  I only worked this out on the second lap. I saw 11:17 at the end of the first lap, and thought it had stopped, but when I saw 11:25 at the first turn I realised my mistake. Muppet. By now the wind had made the chop a bit nasty, it was into on the way up, then across it, but breathing to the right I just got it in the face, then at least you got it following on the way home.  Second lap 11:40, so 23 minutes, I was fading.

On the third lap I was getting overtaken, [insert more expletives here], I was obviously fading too quickly.  I just had to hold on in there.  And I did, I saw 11:52 in the top corner and knew I had a fair bit of work on my hands, I tried to draft the couple of people that overtook me and picked up the pace in the last 200m, obviously with some success as I failed to stand up first time when it came to getting out the water. Which I managed after 1:09:15 according to the provisional results, giving me an 82nd place. Out of 130 that's not wonderful, but after my refined sugar and sofa diet I'll take it gladly.

Bedford Autoglass Classic Triathlon Race Report

Where: Bedford Embankment
Organiser: Galeforce Events 
Course details: Instructions
Distance: Swim 1500m (OW- River) Bike 41.5km, Run 10K (Pavement)
Marshalling: Excellent, Guys to pull you out the river, marshals at every turn, police at major junctions to stop traffic 
Facilities: Portaloos, Free parking 5 min walk from transition, Numbered Racking, Chip Timed, Large burger van, 2 water stations on each of 3 laps, Tri store
Technical: Swim upstream and back downstream in river, bike out into local countryside on 1 lap course with roads of good quality, 3 lap run around the river. Race was a qualifying event for ETU 2011 OD Championships
Freebies: Swim hat. T-shirt. Chocolate bar/crisps/seed & fruit mix, Juice box. Water.


So the day started early with a 5am alarm call, seemed far too early to be honest but that's life. Luckily having registered yesterday there was no need to arrive there that early, especially with numbered racking. So arrived about 6:30, got racked and laid all the gear out before eyeing up the river again to see where the buoys were.  My dad was off in the second wave, after the paratriathlete, and I was off in the 10th and last wave. At this point pre-race AD started to happen, luckily mum was on hand with some Imodium, couple of tabs then off to the portaloos to empty the system.  Luckily I managed to get finished just before the race brief and headed back into transition and spotted Dad struggling into his wetsuit, sorted him out then listened to the brief.  Spotted CCS and said high after the brief then went to be the good son and cheer dad on.  After he left on the bike (he was doing the mini) I got suited up and joined the queue for the aquaruck.


At the 5 min warning we were allowed into the water, I got in and promptly found out they might have spent a week clearing weed out, but hadn't got this far. It was horrible. Bit of doggy paddle got me to the line after acclimatising and then it was time for the countdown.  Given the number of people wearing GBR trisuits there was no way I was going to start at the front, so I started at the back On the outside of the pack but mid-river. I think this was one of the best decisions I made. I managed to get 'clear' water as I skirted the guys in front, but wasn't going anywhere fast as the weed was so thick. Soon the water cleared at bit and I went from feet to feet until I was leading a chase pack.  About 150m from the turn buoy I saw the lead pack on their way back, not bad going.  Then I started to catch some tail enders from the previous pack. 180 turn at the buoy and back down river.  With about 500m to go the weed made a re-emergence. This time it was horrible, I almost beached a one point.  Then perhaps one of my worst swim experiences ever. I managed to swim into a patch of loose weed that covered my face just as I turned to breathe.  I now have a good idea what waterboarding feels like, I just couldn't get any air in through it, I'd spill all my secrets after a few rounds of that! Weed off, air in, focus, there is the bridge, not far to go. Some guy started hitting my feet. $%^&. Few hard kicks soon sorted him out. By this point i'd caught more tail enders from different waves and was feeling good. Got pulled onto the platform then out the water by the marshals. Wetsuit off shoulders and into transition.


Swim 26:00, given the weed which must be worth 2+ minutes I'm very happy with that.


T1 was OK, apart from my right calf cramping, then at bike mount my left calf cramped.


Off on the bike and within the first km I'd seen a guy come off his bike pretty badly, just did the u-turn on a roundabout then heard grating carbon, looked right and saw a guy wheels against the curb, his bike started going over and he was hurtling towards a lamppost. There was nothing I could have done so shouted to the marshals 150m down the road as I past.  Apparently he was spotted heading back to transition looking rather dejected 10 minutes later. The bike was pretty uneventful really. Had periods of great speed, others I was the wrong side of my desired average.  I thought it was really well marshalled with police at every right turn stopping traffic, and one in a busy roundabout to do the same on the way back, closed roads aren't really needed with a service like that. I thought I was burning through my fluids at bit quickly in the first half, but that was probably to help digest the 10 portions of veg I'd gotten in the swim. I went through the 40km mark in 1:15, if they hadn't need to lengthen the course then it would have been and awesome race. About a km out from transition I caught sight of the paratriathlete on his handbike. A sight that was actually quite inspirational, and I got to the dismount line at the same time as him. 


Bike 41.8 km in 1:19:54, averaging 31.4 km/h with a good cadence. Really happy with that.


T2 was pretty damn good, managed just over a minute to rack bike, take shoes/helmet off, socks on shoes on and run 100m. 


The run was, well, hard. After and hour and 45 minutes of swimming and cycling at the rate I was going it was going to hurt. No jelly legs thankfully, but almost instantly I couldn't breathe out properly. I must have sounded terrible, everyone was cheering me on though. They could obviously see the pain in my face.  A glance at the Garmin and I could see I was going strong though, bashing out 4:50 km's pretty consistently, my heart rate was just bordering on my predicted lactate threshold for the whole of the run, which goes some way to explaining it. The 3 lap run was a killer though.  I was only buoyed up by the fact that I was overtaking as many people as were overtaking me. With about a km to go I hit a brick wall. My heart rate went through the roof and my speed fell away. Damn. I new the gel would have only repeated, but maybe I should have at least tried to take it. Time to dig deep.  JFDI! Turned the last but one corner and the finish chute was in sight, thank god, picked up the pace. I now sounded like a tractor, but what the hell. Crossed the line in a time of 2:35:40. 


An awesome run of 46:21. Only a minute slower than my standalone 10K PB. I really can't fault that. But I paid for it, I could hardly stand at the end, luckily mum and dad were nearby and I got some water from then rather than join the queue for a small cup. But F me my legs were hurting.


Still, an excellent race. Nearly 5 minutes better than my best case scenario before they extended the bike course.