Triathlon Europe

Cambridge Triathlon win!

 

 

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Things haven’t got quite to plan since my last blog in March as although my season started well with a 5th place finish at the Dambuster Duathlon and a top 10 finish at Swashbuckler, I picked up a niggling hip injury in the St Albans Half Marathon in June which resulted in a DNF at Cowman and 6 weeks of rest/minimal training in the run up to Vitruvian. Not ideal preparation for my ‘A’ race, but an unexpected win at the Cambridge Triathlon on Sunday has given my confidence a welcome boost - good results are possible on little training if you have put in the hours during the off-season.
Last year I came an agonising 2nd to my friend Ruth who ran me down at 9km on the run after I had lead the race from T1 (but was incorrectly credited with having lead from the start – a girl did beat me in the swim, she just spent so long in transition that I overtook her before even getting onto my bike). This year, I am reliably informed (by everyone), I went slightly off course on the swim (I blame contact lens trouble that left me only being able to see out of one eye for the entire race) and so exited the water in a somewhat slower time than last year and in 3rd position. T1 was equally slow as I almost fell over, twice in fact, trying to take my wetsuit off nevertheless I managed to overtake one girl just after the mount line, and overtook the other girl about 1.5miles into the bike course.
As with last year I spent the rest of the bike course out front on my own, although this year the wind was blowing in the opposite direction so I had a fast first half and a not-so-fast second half. My bike split was almost identical to last year’s which was pleasing given that I haven’t been able to do any race pace efforts for 6 weeks. T2 was a much more professional affair until I tried to run into a bush rather than the run course (again, I blame my lack of vision in one eye), but once back on track I was determined to have a good run. I am not know for being a strong runner, but Fi and I have been working hard on my running over winter and so I was secretly confident that if I started the run in the lead, that I wouldn’t lose it this year.
That does not mean to say that I was not terrified when, at 4.5km, I dared to look behind me and saw that Ruth was only about 45-60 secs behind me as last year she overhauled a 3min deficit to take the win. My plan was just to survive the next 1.5km of horrible muddy track that sapped all the energy out of your legs, and then give it everything from 7km to home. It worked!  I put a real effort in and when I saw my mum at 9km she screamed that I was gaining on Ruth and so I just enjoyed (so far as is possible into a strong headwind) the last km, and crossed the line to win the ladies race :o)
So, although I haven’t managed to fulfil the aims that I set out in March, I have achieved a bonus one – winning my first ‘big’ race and doing so by performing well in my weakest discipline!
I suppose I ought to add, seeing as I started this blog thing by challenging him to race me, Stuart had a fantastic race as well knocking 2 mins off his swim time, posting another great bike split and a vastly improved run off the bike so as to finally be able to say that he can beat his wife! Well done, you deserved it.
Next stop, Vitruvian...

The Thrill of the Chase

My improvement continues with faster average speeds, an 8th place overall in the Hyde Park Sprint Triathlon on Saturday 24th July and a 3rd overall (yes, 3rd overall!) in the London Triathlon Sprint Distance on Saturday August 7th. 

Dextro Energy ITU Sprint Triathlon – Hyde Park

Hyde Park was a quite civilized affair – a nice sunny day, only 40 or so people in the wave (all neatly lined up against a pontoon for the swim start) and even a carpet to run along from the swim to T1. 

I think Coach Fi’s last bit of advice before the race was “nail the bike”… so I did. It ended up being the first time my bike split has ranked higher than my run split. I ended up pretty evenly ranked across the board and with a solid swim I managed to lead my wave, bag an 8th overall and a 2nd in my Age Group (only 6s behind the AG winner too) [Results]. A good day’s work and spectacular progress from the same race a year before – the course changed so I couldn’t compare total times but my 2010 avg. speeds on the 2009 course would have given a 4 minute improvement. I just had one question over my performance – why did I wait 5 years to get a coach?

The London Triathlon – Male Sprint

 London wasn’t in the original plan but, with the offer of a free place and the opportunity to race on the only August weekend not involving a wedding, it was too good a chance to pass up. There is something special about the London tri too. When you walk into the Excel centre and see the size of transition and feel the buzz of a few thousand competitors it is hard not to get excited and nervous just like your first tri. 

I was in the first wave of the Male Sprint, apparently the biggest London Tri wave ever with 540+ athletes – it probably wouldn’t be quite as polite as the swim start at Hyde Park then. I hatched a cunning plan: find as much room as possible at the front (preferably not right in front of someone in very small goggles); be ready at the claxon; and really hammer it… so I did, until after about 50m I realised I had clear water –  time to think if may be this time I could get the hang of drafting… Nope, but I did manage to gain on the leaders in the second half of the swim when I’m normally drifting back after going off too hard – good start. 

I think I exited the water in 3rd but with a massive T1 I managed to run into the lead and headed out on the bike; wobbling along trying to rethread the Velcro loop that had come out of the buckle on my shoe. And this is where the wheels normally come off (metaphorically) – yep, a Thames Turbo guy only yards behind me at the first dead turn – prepare to be overtaken – the chase is on… Still there at there second dead turn – remember the intervals and push the pace for the second lap… Still not overtaken – Hang on a minute, I might just hold him off until the run. 

Out of T2 and I’d normally be thinking about how many places that I’d lost on the bike could I make back on the run. But now I realise there is a downside to improving my bike speed: I’m up with better guys off the bike and they can run fast too! As my Thames Turbo chaser shows me at the first turn on the run – he’s closing fast and I’m getting worried. Time to think of the intervals again and Iwan Thomas (ex GB 400m runner) as a hare (as he starts his first lap a few hundred metres ahead of my turn onto lap 2). I pick up the pace as the adrenalin kicks in and the gap is still closing. I go past Iwan Thomas thinking: “it would be nice if my overtaking manoeuvre will make it onto the Channel 4 highlights” as the gap is still closing. Down the finishing chute and I need to hold on… so I did… to narrowly win the wave by 5 seconds… which was nice. 

I ended up getting 3rd overall and can’t quite believe it. I keep looking at the results online to check that it is still the same. It’s a strange new feeling being near the front but I like it. I want to get faster – over to you Coach Fi.

 

Challenge Roth 18th July 2010

As I crossed the finish line in under 11 hrs crippled with achilles tendonitis on Sunday 18th July 2010, I thought ‘never again’  - or at least not anytime soon!  But I was thrilled with my result, given everything that did and could have gone wrong in my training and the race itself.

 

Challenge Roth – 3000 athletes, 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run and 6 months of intense training, physio and sports massage just to get to the start line. It’s an emotional journey to say the least because of the time, effort and money invested and mine began in January 2010 after I had finally recovered from my accident and injury in Ironman Switzerland 2009.  Glutton for punishment or just insane?

 

The race itself was immaculately planned and executed, I couldn’t fault the logistics and organisation that made it a pleasure to race.  The roads were a dream to ride on, unlike my normal Surrey Hills and Windsor training routes and the weather was perfect, if not a little hot at 27 degrees.  The race itself starts and finishes in different locations with split transitions.  The start and T1 is in a small town called Hipoltstein south of Nuremberg, on the canal where the out and back swim course is located.  The bike course takes in 2 circuits of rolling countryside with some slow hills including the famous TdF-like Solar Berg and fast descents.  T2 and the finish are in the town of Roth approximately 10km from Hipoltstein.  The run course was an out and back T-shaped 1 lap course along the canal with turn around points in 2 towns and much to my surprise, mainly off road.  All transitions were clean with changing tents and volunteers to help out which was a novelty.

 

The day started very early in Allersberg, 10km from Roth, with my alarm going off at 3.15am and breakfast at 3.45am.  The hotel very kindly laid on breakfast from 3.30am so I got all my nutrition and drinks ready and my bike transition bag prepared with all my cycling kit in it, double checking that I had everything and loaded up on muesli and bread rolls with nutella (guilt free!).  The bike itself and run transition bag had been racked the day before.  We headed down to the start by car at 4.15am to get there before the traffic and parking became a nightmare. It was still dark!  I had driven over from the UK so it was a luxury, and actually a necessity, to have my own car!  Being at the start before 5am for a 6.20am start gave me plenty of time to check my tyres, set my bike nutrition up, do any last minute checks and then put my wetsuit on which can take 20 minutes! 

 

After putting my bike bag into T1 and my street clothes bag into the truck I made my way to the start and met up with Coach Fi and Georgie Ayre, also competing, for a good luck group hug. We were all very nervous and I could feel myself welling up, I was finally here!  Fortunately at Roth, there are a number of waves (12 in total?) so it’s not a mass start unlike some of the other ironman distance races.  That said, it doesn’t make the swim start any less brutal but the wave gets spread out more quickly.  The water was warm so wetsuits were optional but at 6am it felt cold and I needed the wetsuit buoyancy.  The starter horn went and we were off. I got kicked in the face early on so my goggles came off and found myself swimming on the wide outside on the anticlockwise loop so swam further than I needed too.  Note to self, practice sighting drills!  The swim felt very long as it was 1.5km out, 2km back and a 400m loop to the finish, there could have been more markers in the water but finally after an hour and 13 minutes I dragged myself/was dragged out the water.  I picked up my bike bag and ran into the transition changing tent where much to my surprise I had a volunteer pull my wetsuit off me and pack my wet kit into the bag, including my garmin which I had taken off so that meant emptying the bag out again to find it.  Once dressed and geared up, I exited the tent (leaving the volunteer with my bag) and headed to the bike racks finding my bike pretty quickly, I couldn’t fault the signage! I exited T1 and set off on the bike, keeping an eye on my heart rate. I was under strict instructions to keep to Zones 2 - 3 and as I was in zone 4 exiting T1 this meant a very steady start to keep things under control.  I didn’t want to ride 180km at 171 beats per minute!

 

Once out on the bike course, I started to drink and take on board gels and energy bars, trying to drink or eat something every 30 minutes.  The bike course felt fast and it was warm and sunny so I soon go into a rhythm and relaxed into it.  Going up the first big climb at 10km I found my gears had been knocked and weren’t shifting properly which was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, there were bike mechanics on the course at 50km so I decided to stop and get them tweaked rather than risk crunching my way round the remaining 130km.  I lost a couple of minutes and it was a bit demoralising watching everyone I had just passed, over take me, but it was well worth it as I was able to power more effectively up the hills, especially the Solar Berg, towards the end of the lap which is lined completely with spectators who channel you up the hill a la tour de france and are so close you could ride into them! I had a good strong bike leg and realised after the first lap that with 5 minutes in hand I was capable of going under 6 hours for the bike.  My target time was exactly 6 hours so it was at this point that I considered the possibility of going sub 11.  My second lap was harder work, it got hotter and the wind picked up, and 4 plus hours in the saddle was starting to take its toll. I passed the 150km mark at 5hrs and realised I had lost some time and might not make the sub 6hrs on the bike that I was now hoping for. I pushed on a bit and managed the last 30km in 50 minutes (it helped they were downhill!) rolling into T2 with a 5hr 50 bike split which I was over the moon about.

 

Again coming into transition, there were volunteers on hand to take your bikes off you and to help you with your run kit in the changing tent, which was slightly disconcerting. I like to do things myself! I took longer than expected in T2 (almost 5 minutes) as I was very tired but also made time to put on sun cream and vaseline and take a much needed visit to the loo!  Whilst out on the bike course, I saw a lot of male triathletes taking calls of nature its not quite so easy for us girls.  I then set off on the run, sporting the well documented ironman shuffle!  The first 2km were slightly uphill and I tried to maintain an 8 minute mile pace.  I had been worried about the run as I had been managing achilles tendonitis for 6 weeks prior so hadn’t got as much running under the belt as I wanted to (but a lot of aqua jogging!).  That said it felt fine to start with so I pushed on, but made an effort to take on water at every aid station and a gel every 30 minutes.  After about 6km I started to feel an ache in my calf and realised that the achilles was starting to play up.  Suddenly my race was no longer about going sub 11 but actually crossing the finish line.  I was in a lot of pain and started to walk through all the aid stations.  At the half way mark, my support crew were on hand so I double dosed on nurofen (not recommended) and carried on.  I started drinking coke as well which had a significantly positive effect on my performance and once the pain killers kicked in, I was back running 8 minute miles.  I passed two mates (male – I chicked them!), one who passed me earlier on the run, and one who had passed me two hours into the bike so I was doing well.  I continued to run from aid station to aid station, walking through them and drinking coke but had had a huge second wind in the last 10km posting some of my fastest splits.  I could still feel the achilles but was confident it would hold.  Unfortunately, the last 2 km of the run went over cobbles in the centre of Roth which proved my undoing.  At 800m to go, my calf and achilles seized completely which was utter agony, so I gritted my teeth and hobbled the last half a mile.  I have never been so pleased to see a finish line!  In fact I was so relieved I didn’t even cry when I finished, I was just glad I could stop.  I finished the marathon in 3 hrs and 41 minutes which was a huge achievement, and my overall time was 10 hrs and 54 minutes.   I was 11^th in my age group and 57^th out of 308 women in total who finished.

 

I enjoyed the race, it was excruciatingly painful at times (or for the best part of 10+ hours) and it will be a long time before I do another one!  But, if you are looking to do an ironman distance race, this is an excellent race to do. I am now reflecting on my performance from the sofa with an achilles the size of a football but it was so worth it!

  

Photos attahed here https://www.me.com/gallery/#100026

Ironman booze.

I woke up on Sunday morning with a thumping headache; my first hangover in years after my first drinks in 8 months. Saturday evening was a revelation. What was a group of strangers to me about a year ago, members of Triathlon Europe were at my home, drinking and eating.

It has been an exciting summer for us all, Ironman France, Challenge Roth and a plethora of hours spent collectively on our bikes and in our speedos. Sweating under the heat, sticky from the splash back of nutrition products and discoloured from botched kit/sun block jobs. We were a team and at our prime physical fitness (albeit reeking for most of it).

So what did we consume that night? About 4 bottles of vodka, 1 bottle of gin, 2 bottles of champagne, 3 bottles of wine and a bottle of vermouth. And what possessed us? Our achievements, we earned it!

As we take time off to recover and digest our "A" race, we look forward to planning our future events and strategy. As predicted, we are all addicts! Until then, to get us through our tough Ironman Blues, there are plenty of opportunities to catch up with out social lives.

After all, a team that drinks together, stinks together.