National Relays / Newmarket Duathlon and my alien friend!

What an amazing day at the relays with my newly found team members at NiceTri; I haven’t been a member of this club for long, and it takes quite a while for people to ‘get me’, so I was a bit nervous meeting everyone properly for the first time…brilliant bunch of peeps, made me feel very welcome, even though I am a weirdo!

Very proud to be part of NiceTri, an amazing club, with amazing people!

For some strange reason I got made captain of my team which proved interesting as I normally have a strict routine before a race, but I spent the whole morning worrying where my team mates were and if they were comfortable with the course etc. I managed to chill out for a bit and tried to have a sleep on the grass; didn’t really happen but I managed to chill out at least!

So I definitely had the team with the best personalities, Nick, Michael and Toni were absolute top lads and it was so much fun to have a bit of banter with them. Our team had very mixed abilities and really suited our team name ‘surprise us’.

The race itself was going pretty well, with the swim legs out the way, and some good efforts on the bike; we were on for a decent time. Then from out of nowhere Toni, who was so nervous before the race, decided he wanted to prove how strong he was on the bike by doing an extra lap before passing over to me. Well done buddy, I wouldn’t have been able to do an extra lap…you smashed it! ;)

The run was good for us all, until I decided to sneak out on the course and started to pace people round…didn’t think it was a problem until a marshal shouted “disqualification” at me :/ luckily he let it go! Phew!!

All in all, a brilliant day, loads of laughs and I sincerely hope I get the same team next year!

Newmarket Duathlon:

After a long day out the day before at the National Relays with my NiceTri Team I knew I wouldn’t be 100% as even though I promised to myself I would go easy at the relays I kind of went ‘all balls out’!

Turning up at Newmarket I had noticed a couple of my GBR team mates hanging around, only 1 I knew was racing so was feeling quietly confident; there was also a decent wedge of prize money so was hoping to grab myself some of that!

It was nice to see a lot of friendly local faces who I sometimes train or race with so had a good bit of banter before the race; the normal, ‘I like your wheels’ & ‘that crank looks light’ sort of talk!

So I went about my normal pre-race set-up: bike into transition, 1.5k jog, drills, 20 min nap, and I was ready to pull something out the bag with a very tired body, I think the 2 cups of coffee in the morning was suggesting my mind was more in tact than my legs at this point!

The Race:

I missed half the briefing so completely missed the info about the 1^st run leg, but I didn’t care; how hard can it be right? Couple of laps of a field, then a larger lap around another field on to a road and up some hills….simple! Bike leg was a three lap course; people I spoke to had said it was very undulating. The second run was two larger laps of a field and road. Fairly easy…right?!

Put it this way…apparently, bad things come in threes – I now believe this statement!

Run 1:

The gun went and the pace was slooooow! I didn’t want to kick because I had no idea where I was going, we were supposed to do two laps of this field before we headed out to a road so I asked a marshal while we were practically walking if this was the exit for the second lap…he replied yes! So at this point I kicked hard, it was only another lap, what could go wrong? 

After almost a full lap I had dropped the walkers with one other GBR lad behind me, only to be told by a marshal I had run the wrong way! I looked back and saw people running out another exit…oh lord! So myself and 2^nd place turned around, finding ourselves in the middle of the walkers.. I finally found the tarmac and decided to kick again to make my way through the pack, luckily it was downhill so I opened my stride and made it back into the front pack in no time at all, I decided to take a rest with them for a min, then kicked again to establish a gap before entering transition.

Transition:

A fairly good transition, at this point I was first by about 30secs so felt good; jumped on the bike and I was off!

Bike:

It was going well, I recovered from the run quickly using the down-hills to rest and pushed hard on the up-hills for the first lap. By the second lap I was at a comfortable pace and at this stage was thinking I had the race in the bag.

Suddenly (lap 3) a little alien wasp decided it would be a good idea to fly into my neck and work its way down the inside of my tri suit stinging my chest! I had no choice but to stop and get the little alien out…I managed to disable the wasp by crushing it on my chest, unzipped and got it out. I left it in the middle of the road and really hope someone ran over it to finish the little bugger off! (anybody that wants to kick off with cruelty to animals.. it stung me first and its not even from this planet…it’s an alien!!) I got on my bike and quickly got up to pace when out of nowhere 2nd place came past - it was my fellow GBR team mate, he also ran the wrong way so happy he made the time back but not happy he was ahead of me. I tried to catch him but had lost my mojo, I thought It would be ok as I could catch him back on the run…ha, no chance!

Transition 2:

Couldn’t find my shoes for a second but fairly quick I suppose.

Run 2:

So I needed to make up 30 secs, I made the same time up on the 1^st run - this could be done. About 20 secs into the run my calf decided that it would do its normal cramp malarkey; luckily it wasn’t impossible to run but man it hurt and it slowed me down, It took about a mile for me to sort it out and by that time 1^st had disappeared! I was not going to catch him so decided to take it easy and run in for 2^nd.

It was a good day at this race, and I would probably do it again, I’m really not keen on the running route – it’s not the best route! I’d recommend they stick to the roads! Even an out and back would work.

Gutted I didn’t come 1^st but with tired legs from racing the day before, running the wrong way, the wasp sting, losing my shoe, and the cramp, I am very happy with second pace.

I’m really looking forward to having a race where everything works out, I don’t think I have had one yet…it’s either that or I’m just very good at finding excuses! I’m sure I have a lot to learn and I need to make mistakes in order to do better in the future.

What next:

I have a few more races lined up over the winter but for me they will be incorporated into my winter training as I want to come out next spring with a faster bike leg and to move up to middle distance triathlon/duathlon.

I am also aiming to move up a few distances in my running, with the Great Eastern Run (1/2 marathon) just around the corner I would like to start there with a sub 01:11:00, but we shall see, I did post a similar/slightly slower time a couple of years back on this course under a different name (long story) so would like to do it again!

From there it all gets a bit confusing… I have a couple of races I want to peak for…

-London Marathon 04/14 (I will hopefully qualify for ‘championship’ at GER)

-ITU World Championships Sprint Duathlon 06/14

-Run leg for Outlaw Ironman  07/14

-Full Ironman (not sure what one yet)

So the two marathons seem to work out ok for a peak but not so sure about the Duathlon in the middle, I should be able to transfer the endurance into speed for it and then back into endurance for the 2^nd marathon.  At this point I expect myself to be peaking with my cycling after a good winter’s training and a few successful middle distance duathlons, so should be on point.

Somehow, amongst all this madness I will be having swimming coaching from Adam at Team GreenlightPT who will hopefully make some massive improvements. I will also be racing for Team GreenlightPT at the Outlaw ironman and probably a few other races over the next year if they will take me on.

So lots of things lined up, I’m sure there will be a few surprises around the corner, for now I’m just looking forward to my next race!

Massive congrats to Richard, Chris, Ian and Tom for 1st place at the national relays.. TOP FORM!!

ITU Ottawa Duathlon World Championships

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this out, I have had a few comments from people to hurry the heck up with it so here goes…

Where do I start? It was such an amazing experience to compete with a truly great and dedicated team. It was my first time competing at this level for duathlon; I wasn’t sure what to expect. I stayed in a different hotel to the official GBR hotel as the family came with me and we wanted to be away from it all. I was only about a mile away so wasn’t too much trouble to get there to meet up for training, course rekeys and team briefings. It was kind of nice as I prefer to be away from everyone before a race anyway.

So we all met up for a course rekey on the bikes, Jez Cox (team captain) let us know what to expect and basically the bike course was pretty much an out and back and the run wasn’t too much dissimilar. Off we went around the course in a big group, it was pretty hard to switch off to everybody chatting about various things, half of us hadn’t even met each other so there was a lot of whos who going on, I got to the front of the group and rode it myself, just so I didn’t miss anything (potholes etc..) Got back and went out to the run course to check it out. Couple of hills but nothing to worry about; the run route was about 300m longer than the said 5k route so that was a benefit for me.

 I managed to get out on my own the day after just to do another rekey so I was sure I knew what to expect. There were a few things you don’t get told until race day; where exactly the out and back turn in on the bike and run route is. But we pretty much guessed it, and we were right. All in all a pretty quick course.

The day before our race we needed to check in our bikes; the transition area was massive and had been set up by what looked like scouts - probably singing while setting up. That night after arguably hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of bikes and equipment were guarded by police (if it were me, I would have had the army guarding it), one of the racking bars holding around 75 bikes decided to fall down, I didn’t see it but apparently bikes were practically piled on-top of each other while they sorted out the racking.

Race Day Setup:

We were given the time we could go back into transition in the morning to do our final checks and set up. My transition area was in a great location next to a flag so I had no problem finding it. I was happy with the set up with my shoes on the pedals and helmet sitting on the bars. I made sure I was early so I could go for a jog on the run route and go for a little nap on the grass.

20mins before the race start and it was time to get my chip and make my way into the holding pen; it was so hot so I managed to find some shelter away from other athletes and just waited until they called me to the line..

I was very calm until they announced 5 mins until start, then it kicked in hard. I had my full race strategy constantly running through my head, and I kept on doubting parts of it…I was a mess!

Race strategy:

Run 1 – Knowing there was a faster 5k runner in the field I decided I would line up as far away from him as possible so I didn’t go out hard out with him. My plan was to go out easy until I was up the first hill, kick hard down it and hold steady for the rest of the way.

Bike – Smash the hell out of it, rest up in the ‘technical bit’, then smash the hell out the rest of it.

Run 2 – Try and survive!

Race Time:

There I was, lining up at the front of the World Championships; I knew people were trying to wish me luck etc. but I was so zoned out I didn’t respond.

Run 1 (5340m) - 00:16:51

The Claxon sounded and I went straight into an easy pace watching the guy I knew was faster than me practically sprint out with a few others. It didn’t take long (20m) for the others to drop back with their breathing already a mess; I on the other hand kept my pace up the hill in 3^rd place pulling another GBR athlete up with me…I could already hear his breathing was a mess so I knew it was only a matter of time before I was running on my own. This is a problem for me as I tend to ease off… which I did! T

here was no kick coming down the hill, I just held steady. I obviously started to nod off as it wasn’t long until I heard someone coming up behind me…luckily it woke me up and I kicked hard dropping him fast into transition..

T1: 00:00:38

I was very happy with transition, straight onto my bike and helmet on in record time and before I knew it I was running with my bike to the mount line, crossed the line jumped straight on, pushed up to 20mph and then feet straight into shoes. I would recommend these sworks-trivent shoes to anyone - they are so quick to get in and out of. Later I found out I had fastest transition overall! ;)

Bike: 00:32:09

So obviously my heart rate was high, but I was determined to go hard until I made it into the ‘technical bit’ where I would have no choice to slow down which would let me sort my breathing and heart rate out.  The technical bit was basically what looked like an industrial estate about 1K long in a square, I spent this time mostly off my aero bars sitting up and going easy. It wasn’t long until I was back on the straight road; it was time to get my head down and go all out when suddenly hills started to appear. I swear there weren’t hills on the rekey; just shows what you don’t notice when you’re not pushing 100%!!! 

Anyway, it wasn’t long until I saw the marshals at the end directing me through the turn-around point, so I sat up and took the welcomed breather, then it was back on the grind up another blummin’ hill! With only 4 miles to go I felt my right calf starting to twinge a bit and knew I would need to ease up or suffer a massive cramp. I eased up but not by much and kept it going up another few hills at this point practically every bump felt like a hill. The transition area was sort of in sight and it was on a long downhill giving me the opportunity to keep speed and get my feet out of my shoes before I jumped off. I saw a load of marshals on both sides of road flapping about so I slowed down and got on one side to jump off, getting closer there was no line and they were marshals for the run exit…it was back on the bike for another 100m losing me so much time.. easily 30secs!! I jumped off my bike at the same time somebody flew past me putting me down a position.

Transition: 00:00:37

Another brilliant transition, shoes on at the same time I got my helmet off and I was gone, taking back the position I had just lost.

Run 2: 00:09:27

I felt good until…wait for it…CRAMP!! It felt like my calf had literally folded inside out, I could barely stand on it; I stopped and hung onto railings kicking the crap out of it thinking it would help, it sort of did but left me with a dead leg! At this point I lost the position again and it was disappearing in the distance. I hobbled past spectators all looking at me with saddened faces as I was welling up at the same time; after about 150m I managed to find a slow stride and slowly managed to build back up to pace - unfortunately though, 3^rd place was way out of sight and all I could do was hang on to the finish.

The finish was such an emotional experience; the finish straight was the best bit of the whole race, I was handed a GB flag by a spectator and I ran in barely holding myself together doing my best not to cry some happy tears! That was it…I was 4^th in my AG with the most amazing team in the world! We placed 2^nd,3^rd and 4^th with some USA dude taking 1^st. I think I was in shock… I think I still am!

This race is a race I will never forget! Whatever my accomplishments in the future I will never forget my 1^st international duathlon race! 4^th in the world baby!! BOOM

I know I have done this before but…

Mike Smith, Ian Turner, Darren Preston, I could never have done this without your coaching, help and support. I am loving the plans for next year!! A massive thanks to all the amazing sponsors! And most importantly, Helen & Isla, the most amazing support team ever…thank you so much for helping me through this!

Kimbolton Triathlon - Sprint - 00:51:21

Finally, my first ever 'competitive' sprint triathlon completed, timed and out the way, although the official times were completely messed up! It’s still possible to work out the time you would of done to the actual times posted, more of that later.

The night before I set everything I needed out in the living room including Bert, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I tend to think my way through; from swim, into transition, on to bike, back into transition, to run, so I never miss anything! That done it was a carb loaded meal and an early night.

Morning came and I was up early to go and watch the start of the St Ives 10k, as I won it last year I wanted to go over and show my support to my fellow runners. My race wasn’t until 14:00 so had plenty of time to support a few friends on the run. Well done Matt Nash 42:18, Dan Hurst 36:57 and Paul Halford 33:35 with 3rd place, actually not so much Paul Halford, I expected him to do a lot better tbh.

So the gun went off, and I made a move back home to get the car loaded and set off for Kimbolton.

We arrived at the Kimbolton School approx. 12 o clock, in time for the 12:30 briefing. The day was perfect for the race with little wind and not as hot as the previous days; it was defo a PB day for most of us.

I started to set my bike up in transition finally having a chance to click my new shiny red shoes onto the pedals with my helmet/sunglasses/belt hanging off the bars. I had some time to kill so laid down on the grass and had a snooze for 20mins.

Swim - 00:05:44 (unofficial)

Probably the best and worst swim I have ever had. Worst been I practically drowned myself on the 1^st two lengths, not sure what happened exactly but it took me another length to recover, it was the best swim, as according to the time as it  was a PB by well over a min, which I didn’t believe for one second, and was thinking I must of only swam 14 lengths instead of the full 400m (16 lengths),  After the race I even debated the time with someone who was swimming in the lane next to me, on how my time was so fast compared to his. So the recorded swim time was 05:44 and it turns out that the top 20 athletes all swam about a min faster than PB so it put my mind at rest.  Chip error!

T1 – 00:00:37

So as I said previously I had set up everything ready to go for my cycle leg, but when approaching my bike from the swim this was not the case. According to Helen, who was watching the race my bike had somehow toppled over taking out two other bikes in the process, luckily one of the marshals had seen this so had put it back on the stand, unfortunately they didn’t see the helmet laying two bikes away so it was a scramble to find it and put on. The number belt was all tangled, and the elastic bands I had used to support my shoes in position had also snapped in the tumble making it very awkward to run out and get on the bike.

Bike – 00:30:50

After a slow T1 I managed to get in the shoes ok and start to pedal, it took me about 2 miniutes to get my heart rate down from all the running around I did in transition and then I quickly found a comfortable pace, I was a bit reluctant to push it too hard as I was warned of two big hills towards the end that I wanted to be prepared for. I was finding it comfortable around the 23-25mph on most of it until the hills that slowed me down on the way up but easily kicked +30mph on the way down. It was a good day out on the bike, I know it’s not my strongest event but I paced it well and left myself some energy for the run.

T2 – 00:00:34

Almost as smooth as clock work, jumped off the bike straight into a run to transition area where I quickly racked the bike and got shoes on for run, the only thing was my water bottle had been knocked over from when the bike fell so had to shout water to Helen who literally threw a bottle towards me at the speed of light, I grabbed it and I was off! At this point I was thinking I’m in for a good time and knew my strongest leg was about to begin.. the run!

Run – 00:13:33

So the run was supposed to be a 5k but somehow, somebody made a rooky error and forgot to mark out part of the course. This really annoyed me, as the run is the area where I make the most time up, basically the longer the run the better for me! And to top it off I only realized it wasn’t a 5k route when I had completed the 1^st out of the 3 laps, so looking back I might have kicked a bit harder. Unfortunately though, on the 2^nd lap I started to get stomach cramp, I knew it was only a matter of time before it would become unbearable while running at the current pace. I had a similar experience at the Cross Country National Championships and had to pull out. So I had no choice than to ease off for the rest of the run trying to get as much oxygen as possible. I was glad to see the finish line but couldn’t give my normal 400m kick as I was in massive pain from the cramp at that point. Looking back, I did take on a gel I had never used before so maybe this was the reason.

Just a little moan to the planners, the run finish is ludicrous, how can you have 4 tight corners in the last 20 meters.. would be a good idea to have a finish 'straight' next year! 

So all in all a fairly good day, I came 1^st in my Age Group and 4^th Overall.

I even enjoyed throwing-up on the side of the white van parked close to the finish line, The USN sales team were out in force this day, one of whom found me laying behind this white van looking rather white and gave me a bottle of electrolytes.. Thanks mate.. good timing!

So this race wasn’t exactly something I had tapered for, it was more the end of a big training week, with only 3 more weeks until my big comp I have one more big training week then I will evaluate the areas I need work and ease down concentrating on those pacific areas.

It was by far the toughest training week, and I am glad to see the back of it if I’m honest, as a few questions have been asked what I do for my training I have put together something for last weeks training.

Monday: 13 mile run

This was supposed to be at 7:30min miles with Daz as he had a bad crash on the Sat so wanted to take it easy, and for me to get home and jump straight on the bike for a brick session before work. Sadly Daz had other plans and decided to ‘do a kye’ and rock up an hour late. It was a terrible first 4/5 miles, I couldn’t seem to get my head into it, and with the heat I just wanted to stop but at about 6miles I was back on form and had no choice but to kick the pace up for me to get back to work in time! Unfortunately it was too late for me to include the bike so ended up getting a lift!

Tuesday: 12*600m @ 5k Pace / 10 mile tempo Bike / 3 mile tempo run (BRICK)

This was yet another hot day but I was determined to treat each section of the session as completely individual sessions to get the max out of me.

So I started at the track with Bert set up and ready to jump on (as I would in transition) ready to do a 10-mile course to work, with the run off the back.

The 12*600s went well, and was over before I knew it.. I would normally do these sorts of sessions slightly faster than 5k pace, but as it was hot I kept on exact times (that’s a first for me). I changed shoes and jumped on the bike, I had my rucksack on so wasn’t very aero but averaged a comfortable 22.5 mph on my route to work. Then it was case of T2 in my office, with my colleagues wandering what the hell I was doing as I’m trying to do it as quick as possible while dripping with sweat and gasping for air. The run was well paced and felt I got my heart rate up and working well.

Wednesday: NiceTri TT and some.. (8.5m TT)

The morning started with a pretty hard 10 miles cycle into work, and a slightly easier cycle back to taper for the TT in the evening. I was pretty nervous, as this was the moment for me to show my fellow club members how terrible I really am on the bike! Duncan the team captain thought I should start at the back. For those unsure of how a TT works basically you set the slowest riders out first one by one every minute or 30secs depending how big the group is, this way everyone has someone to chase! So two infornt of me was Tom Steed who I know is super quick on the bike, and I know I will never catch him, why the hell am I at the back! Duncan was obviously playing a joke on me.. ha ha very funny! It was a good session and a good indication of my bike fitness. I came 6^th overall with a time of 00:21:35 av 23.62mph.

 

Thursday: 20*300m @ 5k race pace off 100m jog

It was hot. No excuses, I bunked off and did a steady 10k instead! Coach is frigging livid with me. Sorry!

Friday: 40mile steady TT Bike

After not doing much the day before I knew I had to do something on what was meant to be my core/drills/stretch day. So I met up with Dan and AD for a well-paced 40 miles. As I wanted to get a decent session in I tried to take the front as much as possible but AD couldn’t resist getting involved. Think we averaged around the 22/24mph mark with a few faster bits. It was nice to get out on Bert without trying to kill myself on it!

Saturday: 8 mile run easy

I did my core and stretches and a slowish 8 mile recovery run. Didn’t want to take a day off but at the same time I dint want to have nothing left for the race on Sunday.

Sunday: Kimbolton Tri, Fun,fun,fun, with a little bit of sick!

So that’s pretty much my week.

I love the questions I get off the back of my blogs, so if you have any, be sure to send me them!