Pudding Catcher 2010

Race result here

Following on from the Hellrunner I was expecting this race to be a little less crazy, and at 12km a bit shorter and easier. Little did I know that it would turn out to be possibly the hardest running race I can remember doing.

We started at the top of a hill field on a very frosty Sunday morning with quite a lot of ice on the paths. Would have preferred a single loop, but discovered at the start that we would be doing two laps.

The 'Pudding' is a fast runner in fancy dress. He sets off with a two minute head start and whoever is first to catch him gets £100. I had no ambitions on this score - all I wanted was to do well amongst the other members of Evolution triathlon club - we had about nine or ten people entered.

From the start we hurtled down a steep hill which just kept on going. It wasn't easy to slow down at all, and about four minutes later I found myself in about 7th place at the bottom of a steep incline.

I've often thought I'd like to try a race this way - start fast and try and hang on to a good position. I'm more of a slow burner, gradually getting warmed up and usually doing a bit better near the end. That strategy however will seldom win any races. So by accident nearly, this was my chance to try to lead from the beginning.

I survived the first hill, I barely survived the rest of the course. There was a short run on the flat past some grazing ponies, and then we were running fast downhill again. The next hill I don't think I managed to run all the way up. After that, it only got worse.

I was ahead of everyone in the club except Christophe, who looked unassailable up ahead. But as we finished the last lap, staggering up through the long grass to the half way mark, my left calf gave way, and something happened to Christophe as well, and we crossed the line together. Some mutual support and we were off again.

Knowing what was in store and being sore and tired made the second lap so much more difficult. I was now limping and hoping my calf wouldn't completely give up on me, and walking more and more up the hills. Christophe pulled away again and I overtook another runner, and I knew I was still doing well in the placings.

Then Christophe stopped - something was too painful to continue running. I had less than 10-15 minutes to go to the end and hating every second kept on going. I kept thinking I was going to get caught by a group of runners who had been stalking me about 1 minute behind, being most scared when walking up the steep hills. They must have been walking as well as they were still a manageable distance behind as I rounded the corner and looked up the hill towards the finish line. I think I could have run if I'd had to, but thankfully I'd seen nobody ahead for ages so no point chasing, and there was enough of a gap behind me that a walk/jog strategy got me to the line without losing my place.

In the end it turned out I'd been racing those people behind me for first place in the veteran's race. And I had actually won! I came 4th overall as well making this the best race of my recent career. I think I last won a race when I was about 15 years old.

My time was 01:10:15. A normal 10K should take me about 42 minutes, so you can see how much harder this course was. The people ahead of me were a long way in front: around nine minutes to 3rd place, and another seven minutes to 1st. I don't know how they did that.

I had some hot custard at the end (I don't like Christmas pudding) which was a nice touch. Then after my presentation (I won the chance to come back and do another race on this insane course) we all went to the pub for a well deserved slap up lunch!

Hellrunner - Hell Down South 2010

trying not to fall in

Results currently here

I'd heard of this race as being a bit extreme. Not quite a Tough Guy, but well on the way there. So when some people in the Evolution triathlon club said they would do it, I was happy to sign up. It sounded a bit like Grim challenge which I did last year, but with extra water.

I've done some fairly long runs including a half marathon in Windsor recently so wasn't too worried about the 10-12 mile distance. It was a fairly tough race. But it had some flat running, and some narrow paths uphill that it was impossible to run up due to the people in front blocking the way, so there were opportunities to get your breath back.

I enjoyed the race and didn't mind the lake crossings, though of course that then meant very cold squelchy trainers.

that's me in the middle!

The "Bog of Doom" was something else though. The water had been ice covered as I walked past on the way to the start line, and I heard later than the leaders had had to break it as they went through. To say it was cold would be a savage understatement. I was quite prepared mentally, but when I'd waded in up to my shoulders it even became a bit tricky to breathe. Not to mention the slippery mud on the bottom and the uneven footing that threatened to drop me under completely at any second. It smelled completely rank as well. But I tried to keep smiling (for the cameras - you can see me right in the middle of this photo here) and made it out in once piece.

concentrating hard

After that I knew the worst was past, so even though there was a bit more water, and my feet were a bit sore from being so soggy (got some cuts on my ankle from the trainers) I was going fine until one of the officials said "only 2km to go". I was expecting about another 5km so started to push hard to the finish. The last hurdles were some sand dunes, but the sand was completely frozen so rather than being difficult to push through, they were more like hard rocks that jarred my legs.

So my result was a time of 1:31:12 giving me 25th place in my age group and 240th place overall. Not bad in a field of nearly 2000 runners. I think I could have placed a little higher if I had known the distance properly beforehand, and if I'd not had to push my way past so many people in the first 10-15 minutes. Really ought to make more of an effort to get to the front at the start. Think I've said that before :)

Robert Shiels 6219 Male Finished Vet40+ 1:28:19 240 219 25 0:02:53 1:31:12

Grim Duathlon 2010

Oddly enough, this was my first duathlon of any kind. Rather than pick some nice easy flat tarmac event, I've ended up running and biking round a very challenging course. But I think this is much more fun than a standard race.

The race takes place on an all terrain army training ground near Aldershot. I've been there before as I did the Grim Challenge last year - so I knew what to expect. I expected to get quite a bit more tired, but in the end it was about the same really.

I was very pleased to have fellow Evolution Triathlon club members Zoe, Hank and Elliot for company - I had a great time last year on my own, but it's even better with friends. We all met up in plenty of time on a sunny morning and racked our bikes in the muddy transition area. Some heavy rain during the week and overnight ensured that we would have a very messy day.

We warmed up with a bit of a run - and got to near the front of the start funnel. This was a very good move - I've been caught out too many times behind slower runners.

As usual, I was fine for the first fice minutes of the race, then struggled a little wondering why I was there. Settled into it quickly though, especially once my feet got completely soaked in the knee high water.

I finished strongly in a time of 21:32 - good for a tough 5K.

Out on the bike I was feeling good, when only 2-3K into the first 10K lap (a two lap bike course) someone overtook me and said my tire looked flat. Sure enough, I'd punctured and had to stop. I was not properly prepared for this - never really expecting it to happen on a brand new bike. I had a spare tube, but no pump. Sod's Law states that it must be the rear wheel, which it was. Decided I had to do whatever I could - my 'race' was over - but the day wasn't finished yet. I changed the tube and started running with the bike.

Hadn't gone too far when I turned a corner and found a couple of fellow competitors by the side of the track. They were very helpful, and pumped my tire up for me. Sadly there wasn't anything I could do to help them, and so I was on my way.

A few minutes later I overtook Hank, and Zoe, both with punctures - what a day. With no spare tube or pump, unfortunately I couldn't help them either. Hank did manage to get his bike fixed though and completed the race.

Loved the course, so much variety. Some scree covered hills, lots of watery gravel tracks, covered in mud and grass and even clay in places so that you just had to get off and push. Even a bit of cycling through the trees. I was way back due to the puncture but never got overtaken again and steadily made my way through the field. This was very difficult, as the person in front was always taking the easiest route, and to overtake them I had to pull out into more marshy track and really push. The second lap was better as there were a few less bikes to contend with and I knew what was coming up so could plan my overtaking spots a bit ahead.

Got back to transition for the interesting bit - how would I cope with another 5K run. My running has been good this season, so I expected to be OK, and I was. It was tiring, but I maintained my overtaking and passed quite a few more people - never being passed myself - very much like my triathlons where I come out of the swim near the back of the pack.

Was a little surprised by the crawl under the camouflage net for the second lap. This time it was covered in wet mud and I got plastered! How can you finish a Grim race NOT covered in mud :-)

Very pleased with my 22:58 time for the second 5K, and also with my final time of 02:05:51 - which placed me 106th out of nearly 350 competitors. If I hadn't punctured and lost 10-15 minutes I think I could have done very well - I definitely want to go back with stronger tires to have another go next year.

So even though this was a 5K/20K/5K duathlon, it felt similar to last years 8 mile pure running race - different muscle groups for the bike, and pacing myself, meant I was less tired this year in fact, even though it took an extra hour. Could be that I'm also fitter. Maybe my next race, the Puma Hellrunner, will show which of these options is true :)

Note: things to remember. Nutrition is much more difficult to handle - I didn't get much chance to eat of drink (my drink was a bottle in transition which I only went through twice). It was much too difficult to open gels on the bike. I need a proper plan for this for next time.

[Currently you can see the full results here]

Windsor Half Marathon 2010

This was my second half marathon race. I had quite a nice run in Stockholm a year ago, finishing in about 1 hour 43 minutes. I was pretty sure I was faster this year, but a little worried by the hills and by my lack of much distance run training.

I have managed a few one hour runs in the last two weeks, and though my calves are tight, they have survived.

I actually had a sort of race plan. I had tried to hydrate and carb load for two or three days before the race - mainly orange squash and pasta. I had porridge and wholemeal toast and some flapjack in the morning (1pm start). I had a large glass of water about an hour before leaving home. I had decided not to try and take on board any water out on the course - it never works very well for me and I only do it because everyone else is. Instead I had three gels, not the small thick pasty ones, the gels like SIS Go that are fairly watery. I aimed to take one of these every 20-25 minutes and had three in my pockets. Note to self - should have taken four gels and had one 15 minutes before the start.

I met everyone from Evolution Triathlon Club at the football ground car park and we headed to the start in plenty of time. I even managed to find my friend Andi in the crowd and we started together.

The crowds were terrible - and even though I was positioned in the 1:30 - 1:45 pace section I had to fight my way through the slow runners, and didn't actually get to run my own race until mile 3. Note 2 to self - push your way nearer the front next time.

But I was feeling pretty good and seemed to be doing around a 7:15 minute pace per mile - maybe a little faster. Poor preparation meant that I mentally thought I would be on for a 1hr 30 min finish at that pace - assuming a decent negative split.

Took my first gel on queue at 25 minutes and really think I felt the benefit about 10 minutes later. Took the second gel at 50 minutes. At about mile nine my leg started to ache - not the calf - a new problem with upper right thigh. This, combined with a fairly nasty hill at around mile ten, and my left knee starting to feel weak, scuppered my chances of speeding up. But I think I kept the pace steady - my endurance is quite good, I just had to try and ignore the soreness in my leg.

Thought I may as well take the last gel at 1:15 - maybe I'd get some benefit for the finish. There was a bit of a headwind at times, but this was cooling and not a real problem. The weather was almost perfect really.

Hit the Long walk for the final mile - and though I know this course so well from training - the length still surprised me. Started my final sprint a bit too soon, and had to reign myself back in again. But I finished strongly and got under 1:35 for a great time for me of 1:34:30 - around nine minutes faster than Stockholm for a harder course. I was also 231st in a field of over 4000 runners.

I have now entered Reading Half Marathon next March - if I can train properly, and race fast I want to get under 1:30. It should be possible.

Results Here

MDCC 25TT 12/09/10

It's lucky that I'm writing this post a few days after the event. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it was my very first 25 mile time trial, I was disappointed in my time and placing.

I started the day at 7am with a 1500M swim in the lake at Liquid Leisure. It was a glorious morning for the time of year. I didn't kick much knowing I needed my legs for the bike race in the afternoon.

Decided that I never properly warm up - so cycled to the start at the far end of Drift Road - approximately 7km. I hadn't prebooked a place and was pretty pleased to get number 12 (out of an eventual field of 19). Still, had a bit of waiting around which I didn't use properly. Need to really investigate the science of warming up - I'm always afraid to make myself too tired, but I think I suffer in the early stages of the race.

Anna and Andy were there from Evolution, it was sunny and warm, and there was a great friendly atmosphere. There was a bit of wind however, and in the 'wrong' direction.

My plan was to try and do the first lap (of the 2 3/4 lap course) in an average speed of about 35km/h. I was hoping that once properly warmed up, I could then push a little harder and hopefully get that up to 36-37km/h. I had no illusions of being able to do 40km/h - but I really did hope for a time of around 1:06.

The plan worked initially - I even got my average up to 35.7 at one point - but I suffered pushing into the wind on the downhill portions of the course that should have been fast, and so the losses in speed that are inevitable when climbing took far too long to recover from. I felt tired too and took my only gel at about 19 minutes. I think this helped a little - but I think I needed even more energy intake during the race. I also had some PSP22 drink which was mostly just to stop my mouth from getting too dry.

My average dropped to 34.9km/h on lap two, which I managed to get back to 35.1km/h by the end, but this was difficult to achieve.

Despite my best efforts, I just couldn't manage to cycle fast enough to get my speed average up past the 35km/h mark after it's dip to 34.9km/h again at the Bird's Hill golf course ascent.

I passed Anna and some horses (slowed down a little - not much) about 5 minutes from the finish. Even in the final straight where I wanted to sprint, I couldn't get above 40km/h.

I completed the course in 1:08:30 - a couple of minutes outside my target - and I was a bit disappointed. I guess I did learn a lot - and it isn't the easiest 25TT course around, and it was my first try, so I shouldn't beat myself up too much about it.

Result here.

Then I found out that there was a handicapping system that was applied afterwards to allocate the prizes. And by some magic I've been awarded 3rd prize in the race. My time is given as 00:55:12 which i really don't understand - I'll need to talk to the other club members about this at the awards dinner!

I'm really pleased about this, though a little baffled - I'm guessing that as it was my first go I get bumped up the standings a bit. I'm not going to complain though, and I will be getting a medal, which is the first one I think I've won for anything since I was at school :-)

Thanks to MDCC organisers, and to Andy again (who I pipped into 4th place in the handicaps!) for promoting the club and getting me involved in something I've been wanting to do for about five years but never got around to.

Handicap Result here.

Peter Bell took a photo of me last Thursday before the 10TT with my bike - reproduced here.

MDCC 10TT 9/10/10

Another Thursday evening, another time trial. This is the final one of the season as sunset is getting too early. It was a marvelous warm and sunny evening.

My excuse for my rather less than marvelous performance is a recent ramp up in my run training. My calf injury is in remission, so I did one hour Tuesday, one hour with Evolution club including three Legoland hill repeats on Wednesday, and a 6k lunchtime run today.

A good turnout from Evolution tonight - Anna, Andy and Sarah all competing, and Amanda supporting.

I went off a reasonable No 17 at 6:32pm, and within 3 minutes realised my legs were just not going to perform. Number 18 passed me half way round powering up an incline still in the saddle when I was getting up to push.

I gave it my best shot but even on the downhills I didn't have the strength to push my average speed up over 36km/h.

Finished with an approximate average speed of 35.5km/h - 27:04 - my slowest TT so far.

Results here.

Finished off the season with a pleasant pint and a bowl of chips (food of champions!) at the local pub The Beehive in White Waltham.

MDCC Track Day

This was a new experience for me - riding around a cycle velodrome. It's in Palmers Park in Reading, and isn't terribly glamorous like the steep sided ones with the shiny wooden floors you see on TV, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun. The event was organised by MDCC and we had a very pleasant Saturday afternoon - warm, a little sunny, with only a slight breeze.

There were about twelve riders in total, five of us from Evolution Tri club having our first experience on the track. We started off with some group riding in pairs. Every lap the front two riders would move aside and rejoin the pack at the rear. We try to do this on the Sunday rides but it's much harder on the pothole ridden roads with tailgating cars intimidating you. It was good to get some practice riding close with constant speed.

We split into groups of four for a team pursuit. The groups rode around the track until they were equidistant from each other a third of a track apart and then the whistle went. The idea is to ride as a team and try and catch the group in front. Harder than it sounds as all riders need to stay together - my group managed to drop a member.

Next were individual 200M sprints. You cycle round the track until you get the nod and then that is your time to race. There are markers 200M from the finish line, and the aim is to use the slope of the track to help you get to your full speed my the time you hit those markers. The timekeepers starts his watch at that point, and you have to pedal like crazy until you get to the line. I can't remember my time exactly, but it was approximately 15.6s. However, as I was on my TT bike, and used my tri-bars, I got disqualified and had to go round for another go. I didn't mind too much - I knew I'd not quite got it right the first time. I managed to get my speed up a bit higher at the start line for my second go, and beat the first time without tri-bars with an approximate 15.16 I think.

We got paired off next with our closest timed riders for a Kierin Race. This is a full lap race, but if you have ever seen it on TV, you'll know how odd it is. Riders start off really slowly, trying to use tricks to intimidate their opponent. Then suddenly one rider decides to go, and the race is on properly. I spent the first 150m messing with my gears, going slowly. Having chosen the second lowest gear, I was ready and decided to go - patience exhausted already :) I didn't look back, and my opponent didn't catch me. It's actually quite difficult to go that fast (approximately 47km/h for me) around a bend without veering out of the lane. He later told me that I'd caught him in the wrong gear - in a race like this that kind of advantage is almost impossible to recover from.

I hadn't realised that they were timing the final 200M for each race - and this time mine was even faster at 15.06 I think. Very pleased with that.

We finished off with a bit more group riding - quite a nice 30-33km/h pace depending on who was in the lead. By now I was pretty tired, having done 10 mile TT races on Thursday and Friday as well.

But the day wasn't quite finished - Anna, Amanda and I demonstrated our triathlon credentials with a few laps of the running track to test our legs. No running shoes, so went barefoot. This was also a lot of fun to try as I'm working on my forefoot striking technique.



A big thanks to MDCC and Andrew Crawshaw for organising (and taking the photos).

MDCC 10TT 02/09/10

Result here

After having had almost two weeks away from cycling due to holiday, and very little running too, I wasn't sure how my legs would hold out tonight.

It was a new time and course - 6.30pm (though as number 40 I went off at 7:10pm). HCC234 course has two laps with three shallow hills each - including two bridges over the M4.

Tonight was the Medium Gear 10 Mile Championship. I didn't have my Langster bike, but was able to measure out the correct gear on my Planet X and decided to give it a try. I didn't fancy chasing a PB tonight.

Beautiful evening with the sun setting and I felt quite good initially, getting a reasonable speed up - then realised I'd been going downhill and it got harder :) Nevertheless I maintained a fairly consistent cadence throughout the two laps and came in in a fairly creditable 27:53. This is only 90 seconds under my PB.

I even overtook number 39 on the first lap - though it was his first ever TT!

Checking the official results now I see I was quite far down the field, there were a number of MTB riders who I'm not counting. Still - 5th out of eight MG (medium gear) riders so all is not lost.

Physiotherapy

At the best of times, I have at least one, and usually two or three aches or pains that affect my triathlon training.

For the record - here are the current main ones and what I'm doing about it.

Calf(s)

Recurring calf problems, which I'd gotten rid of for over a year, have come back. On the Wednesday evening run following Windsor triathlon, my left one went, and left me limping home. I rested it and fairly quickly was ready for Worthing Triathlon. Then, the Wednesday after that 20 minutes running made it happen again. After a week's rest, I still had pain even walking, so went to John Cooke for some analysis.

I have scar tissue between the 'bellies' of my calves. He also mentioned the soleus but I'm not very good at remembering these details. This has probably been there for years he said, which doesn't surprise me, I've had the problem for years.

He took out some medieval torture implements and pummeled the area on both legs for a while. A week later, this was still very painful to touch. I also have to do some heel drop exercises on stairs.

The good news is that it should be fixable. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this injury, as it stops me from doing the endurance running training that I need for Ironman races.


Shoulder

I did something to my right shoulder upwards of 10 years ago, I can't even remember now what or when, but it has never recovered. I asked the doctor, and got referred to the local hospital physio department where I went and had it looked at by a young lady called Lorna.

I described the issues; problems lifting my arm up to take off t-shirts, a weakness when swimming that makes it difficult to breath on the left when doing front crawl and a complete inability to do backstroke at all, pull-up and press-up issues. It's the swimming that's a real problem now - I just can't pull hard with my right arm, and it is affecting both my stroke form, and my pull speed. I have to get faster at swimming, and I've made good progress in the last few weeks, but this could be a limiting factor.

She tested it and said I have a muscle imbalance and need to work on exercises to rebalance this. I will try and do these, but I'm not confident, the exercise was quite difficult to understand and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right.


Knee

I twisted my left knee on the stairs about 9 years ago - it never recovered and I'm aware of it almost all the time. The pain isn't severe and is actually more evident if I'm sitting or walking around than when exercising. It's much better now than it was before I started triathlon training - I attribute that to stronger muscles around it helping it out, but I've noticed it a bit when doing hard cycling recently.

I asked the doctor and she said not to worry about it. She didn't suggest any treatment, just painkillers. She said I was perfectly free to exercise hard on it, so I'll keep on doing that and see what happens. I may try for a second opinion on that sometime though if it restricts my training.

That's about it - I'll moan about my ankle and hip some other time :-)

National Club Relay Championships

Got a last minute entry to this event to be 4th man in a team of three girls - Becky, Sarah and Anna. Quite an early start in Nottingham so went up the night before in the car. Lots of Evolution Tri club people were competing, and had decided to make a camping weekend of it, so I took my tent.

The weather on Friday night turned very wet, but I stayed dry under canvas. Saturday morning was nicer and Sarah And I went over to the registration to pick up our numbers and t-shirts early. We met the rest of our team at the start line.

I've never done an event like this so wondered what to expect. All team members swim first, then we all bike, and finally all run. This means no worries about transitions - except handing over the 'baton' to the next person. It also means that you can put a little more effort in as you get a rest between disciplines. Would this translate into faster times? Unfortunately, for various reasons, this doesn't seem to have been the case.

Becky was off first on the swim - then Anna - then Sarah was off and it was time for me to go to transition to wait for her. Had to run to the lake and start swimming from a cold start - no chance to get acclimatised to the water. got kicked in the face right at the start and lost my right goggle so had to stop and put it back on. Not used to much argy bargy and there was quite a lot here. Also lots of weeds near the surface. I felt though that I was doing OK - not too tired, swimming as well as training. So I was pretty disappointed to see my time was over 11 minutes for the 400M. Maybe I lost more time than I thought with the goggle episode. Later in the evening I found that I had a bit of a black eye from it too.

After a leisurely change I had nearly one and a half hours to wait for my bike leg. The weather was still holding out and little bit of sunshine even peeked through.

Bike was three laps of the 5km lake. I started really well, but know that it was wind assisted. Just like Dorney, this rowing lake is exposed, and coming up the back strait the headwind took my speed right down to 30km/h. I tried to keep the average up, but I'm still not good in the wind so finished with a lower average speed than my 10 mile time trials. I did 24:15 with an average speed of 35km/h (course slightly short?) Not bad, but hoped to get 36km/h average.

Another long break before the run. This was my worry. My calf hasn't really recovered. I've rested from running for about three weeks, and did a short trial during the week to see if I could run at all. I survived it then - but went very slowly. Decided to 'go for it' as much as possible - but did feel less strong than a few weeks ago due to the inactivity. My leg did hold out, but the course was pretty empty by this time, so I was running on my own a lot with no one to get pace inspiration from. There were no markers to tell me how I was progressing, and as the rain started on the return from the single lap around the lake, it was very late in the day before I realised I wouldn't make my 20 minute target. But I did manage a final sprint to come in under 21 minutes at 20:51.

As a fun event this is a winner. I'm glad my team weren't competing for prizes as I was a bit slower than I hoped on every section - I should have been faster swimming, biking and running having had a good rest between them. Due to timing chip problems we don't have any official times for the team - except that we finished in 4 hours 14 minutes and 3 seconds. Well done everyone in Team Evolite (Number 16) and EvoTri club for what was a really fun day.

results currently stored here.


(Photo (c) Alan Davies)

MDCC 10TT 12/8/10

Results here.

Some heavy rain in the afternoon, and no promise of it stopping for good, but it was clear at 6:15 so I headed up to Drift Road to add my name to the list for my 3rd cycling time trial with MDCC. Their rules say that if you do four races you should join the club - so I took my cheque for £15 along tonight - one week early!

I managed to grab the number 20 slot - and had a few chats with the others there. Anna from Evolution Tri Club turned up at the last minute and headed off as number 8.

This week I did some checking, and spotted that number 21 beat me by around three minutes. This meant I'd certainly get overtaken this week. Number 19 was of a similar standard to me, but he had brought his spare bike (not wanting to get his good bike wet) so I stood a chance of catching him.

Had a good start, 40.2km/h average before the gradient got to me.

Disappointed with my hill climbing - pushed a harder gear and got out of the saddle a bit more than last week. I think this is a better style for me.

Got overtaken about 2/3 of the way round, and had to slow a little to let the rider get away from me as he wasn't exactly flying past.

As I turned into Drift Road for the final push down to the finish - I had number 19 in my sights, and chased him down. I overtook and got well away from him before the line. His start was delayed by a few seconds by problems with his chain - so I only really went 1 minute and 3 seconds faster.

My result was 26:45 - a bit disappointing to be slower than last week - but many people were. A quick analysis of the 13 people who did both weeks shows that all except two were slower, and the faster pair were 1 and 7 seconds faster which is hardly significant. It must be the weather. It did rain a little on me during the ride.

Once again, I'm good at the beginning, and at the end, but lack focus in the mid race.

10 Mile Time Trial 5/8/10

Results are up on the website here

Did my second 10 mile Time Trial with the Maidenhead Cycling Club.

The route start has moved from the A4 over near Maidenhead to Drift Road, which is a short 10 minute warmup cycle from my house.

I just turned up at the line and paid my £2 and got number 37. This left me quite a while to wait, but the evening was fairly warm and I cycled up and down a bit to try and keep my legs stretched.

Quite a few Evolution Tri club members turned out - Zoe, Anna, Amanda, Andy and Simon - which was nice.

Had a great start - mostly downhill - got my average speed up to almost 40km/h before the inclines started to bite into it. I had the advantage of knowing the course very well - but I've never tried so hard at some points and really noticed the quite small hills eating into my speed.

The final few minutes are downhill, so even though my average speed was down to roughly 35km/h at one point I was able to pick it up and finished with 36.53km/h average - that's a time of 26:26 for the 10 miles.

This is a few seconds slower than my first TT where I got 26:23, but I'm assured that it is a more difficult course, so I'm pretty happy with the result.

[How to get faster: work on the shallow inclines - losing a lot of speed on those. Smooth action pulling up and pushing down throughout the whole pedal revolution]

Worthing Triathlon 2010

Where to start?

Should I start at 5pm on Saturday, having driven down to Worthing to register, looking at the sea, being very scared and driving back home again.

Or should I start at 3.15am on Sunday morning, waking up before the alarm and stumbling out of the house to the car in the dark.

Maybe it would be best to start at the beginning - 6:19am (only 3 hours after waking up) - standing on the shingle beach in my neoprene suit waiting for the klaxon, looking out at the murky and choppy English Channel.

The womens race had already started, so I could see how the waves and currents were throwing everyone off. Rather than the controlled flow of swimmers approaching the first turnaround buoy, there were bodies everywhere. When I got into the water I realised why - it was very difficult to see where I was going, and even when I tried a few strokes, I very quickly veered off course.

The first five minutes were the worst. The second five minutes I didn't like at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline. I randomly couldn't breathe because a wave was blocking my air, got lost in the swell, and frequently switched to breaststroke just to try and survive. We had to swim straight out into the channel, turn right at a huge orange buoy then swim down to another similar marker and finally just make our way back to the start.

I did make progress though, and from past experience knew I'd settle into things, and was bilaterally swimming fairly happily when I turned around for home. The water wasn't cold, but even so, it would have been nice to get out of it before the following wave of swimmers started overtaking me.

I was quite pleased to check into T1 in 35:26 - an OK 1500M time for me. I knew I was quite far back the field though, so headed out on the bike course with purpose. Unfortunately, I never got into my stride here either. My chain came off changing gears at the bottom of a steep incline. I just didn't seem to have the strength to push my average speed over 33km/h - which is pretty much what I finished with. The course was fairly standard - out some residential streets, through some country lanes, then out onto a big dual carriageway. Traffic at that ungodly time of a Sunday morning was light, and the turns were well signposted and marshalled. I made some good gains on the hills, but there were not nearly enough of them, or steep enough, for me to make a real dent in the placings. 1:14 was the finish time - it should have been faster.

After a pretty speedy 49 second T2, I ran out onto Worthing promenade for the dead flat 10K run. Started with 3K wind assisted to the first turnaround, then 2K back into the wind which was pleasant as I was getting quite hot and the breeze was very welcome. I'd finally found my pace for the day and targeted people in front - picking them off one by one. Turned around again to get the tailwind and picked up the pace. I knew from my timings that I would need to do a sub-40 to get a 2:30 result. I didn't aim for that at all, but I could see people plodding in front of me, and wanted to beat them, so chased as many down as I could. One guy in an air force trisuit blatantly tried to draft me as we ran into the wind - I was able to give an extra kick to get rid of him :)

My running has been steadily improving all season - but I wasn't prepared for today's good result - 40:34. I did do a sub 20 5km time trial with my triathlon club on Wednesday, but that wasn't preceded by almost 2 hours of swimming and biking. I'm quite surprised at getting what is in fact my best ever 10K time by quite a large margin! Not complaining though :-)

I even broke my Olympic triathlon record set in Windsor this year by about a minute with 2:32:15. So overall I had a great day out - I conquered the sea swim and ran faster than I ever have. My placing isn't great (21st in age group of 33 competitors) but that's partly due to a significantly high turnout of good people as this race is part of the Taut Triathlon National Ranking Series. I was 154th of 302 people who started the race.

It was great to meet up with fellow Evolution triathletes Zoe Spain and Oliver Perez. Zoe did brilliantly in her first ever Olympic triathlon, and Oliver missed a 3rd place in his age group by a very narrow margin. We even had team support from Charlotte Maurissen who took cheered us on took photos and brought refreshments to tired survivors. Thanks so much to her; it was all most welcome.

Executive summary - I survived it, and got an Olympic personal best time, and also a 10K PB. Not a bad day at the office.

Results are currently here.
Moved to here

10 Mile Time Trial 8/7/10

Result 26:23 is recorded here

My first ever official 10 mile (or any distance for that matter) cycling time trial.

Prompted by Andy Crawshaw from Evolution Tri Club, and because I've been wanting to try this for years, I put my trusty TT bike in my car, and after misreading the directions several times made it to the A4 near Maidenhead for the start.

I hadn't booked, and I wasn't expecting to get an early start time, but was fairly surprised to be setting off last as number 32. Quite pleased though - at least there wouldn't be hordes of riders speeding past me :)

The start is a wide side road that is almost traffic free. I rode up and down it a bit, not sure how much to do to keep warm but not get tired. It was a lovely evening, with loads of midges swarming above our heads but not settling.

I've been getting faster at our Tri club TTs which are 15.5 miles, so I expected I could manage an average speed of 35-36km/h. It's shorter so I was hoping I could increase that - but the course was unknown and that makes a difference.

The course along the A4 was very straight and had no significant inclines. This meant my speed rarely fluctuated from the average. It was very hard work and I found it very different to a triathlon where there are many people around to judge your effort by. Just me against the clock. Couldn't seem to get above 40km/h even on the downhill sections. Quite a tough last 2 or 3 minutes to the end.

I was very pleased with my 26:23time, but when I saw everyone else's results I realised I have a lot of work to do if I want to move up the leader board.

Had a great evening; the club are a very friendly and very focussed lot. I'll be back!

[improvements: need to find long flat stretch of road, and see if I can cycle at 38.6km/h along it. This is my goal average speed for a TT to give me a 35 minute time - but it's quite ambitious I know.]

Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2010

This was my 4th Windsor triathlon in 5 years. It was also the one I felt most prepared for. I've been cycling like a demon for two years and running steadily all winter. I've also recently joined a local triathlon club Evolution and the regular sessions with them have really helped me to understand myself better, and assess my capabilities. More of that in another post.

My plan was simple. A standard swim would get me out of the water in about the same as last year - 37 minutes. Bike at 34-35 km/h for a 1:10. Then hopefully my run fitness would get me through in a tough 42. With reasonable transition I was hopeful that I might just beat my enduring Windsor target of 2:30 - but anything better than last years 2:42 would make me happy.

White swim cap this year in the 45-46 year old 6.55am wave. The morning was dull but not cold. I got up at around 4:45 (woke before the alarm) and had a banana and half a cup of coffee. Had an easy drive down to the cricket ground car park and got to transition with plenty of time to spare. Had a chat to another Robert racked next to me who I'd chatted to before at the Eton Supersprint. 6:35 had a gel according to plan.


Swim - 36:55 (174th of 189 finishers)

Have some nice new Zogg predator goggles, only worn twice, and double-hatted them. Got to the start and on cue slipped into the Thames. Quite warm. Felt rubbish as usual for 10 minutes, knew it would pass. Watched my wave disappear into the distance and may even have been in last place at one point.Got into a bit of a rhythm, only breathing to the right as to the left makes me dizzy these days. Think the gel kicked in around 20 minutes in as I was fighting through the weeds on the right bank.

Got to the turnaround buoy without much incident and kicked the pace up a little on the way back - passed a few white hats which was nice. Annoyed that people in waves behind me managed to swim across me as they passed. Reached the end feeling fine and checked my watch which said just over 35 minutes - pleased with that.

T1 - 1:47

Decided to take my wetsuit off right away while it was full of water. Think this worked well. Carried it through to T1 and stupidly ran down the wrong aisle. Only lost a couple of seconds though as I was able to duck under the bar to get across to my bike. Decided that I would take a spare inner tube after all and stuck it in the back pocket of my trisuit. Another wasted second.


Bike - 1:09:38 (27th of 189 finishers)

I've been doing this bike route in Evolution TT training so was pretty confident about my pacing. Hit the A308 hard - need to try and keep up at around 38km/h on this stretch. Straight away passed a few people trying to put their feet into their shoes and others just not trying hard enough :-) Once I got up to speed I had a gel and a sip of water to wash it down. Kept to the pacing plan, passed loads of people. some people passed me, but I overtook them again. Later on some serious cyclists with deep carbon rims and aero helmets overtook me and I could see the sweat dripping off their noses. I'm not quite that hardcore yet.

At the Drift road turnaround I had another gel. I had occasional sips of water and drank maybe 300ml during the whole race. This was part of my plan to improve on minor stomach problems I've had previously. No solids. No energy drinks. Nothing on the run.

Halfway back along Drift road was overtaken by a pair of cyclists who seems stuck together. To avoid drafting them I slowed a little, but they didn't pull away. So I speeded up again and told them they were drafting as I overtook. The lead cyclist complained, but I didn't wait around and never saw them again.

As usual there was a stupid driver getting his car in the way. He was sitting behind some cyclists refusing to overtake, hogging the middle of the lane, and just generally being annoying. Made me very pissed off as he was doing ~30km/h in a zone I know I needed to do at 36km/h. So I overtook him. After that it was plain sailing, though I was a little disappointed I couldn't push as fast as I wanted to up Mount Hill. Got back into town along the new route, spinning my legs a little and slowing down getting ready for the run.

T2 1:36

Had a job getting past slow people getting off their bikes. Note to self, do not let anyone sneak past just before the entrance to Alexandra Gardens. Not a bad transition, but could have saved a few seconds by having my laces looser. I dismissed socks totally this year and my feet didn't slide that easily into the trainers. Stupidly picked up a Nutrigrain bar, and as I put it in my back pocket running, felt the inner tube in there, so had to backtrack to throw it down. didn't even eat the bar.

Run 43:31 (17th of 189 finishers)

I've had a good year of injury free running. I've never done Windsor before without some kind of leg worry. My left knee has felt a bit weak, but mostly when sitting and walking, and I knew running wouldn't be a problem for it. No distractions with hats or sunglasses either today.

Got going immediately with a nice fast cadence - no wobbly legs. It was hard, but I felt in control. Kept an inner mantra going "This is what you came here for - you're ready" I did the whole course (all 3 loops) on Wednesday night. I'd managed 14 minute loops which give me 42 minutes for the course, and I hadn't been racing full speed. However, on Wednesday we'd neglected the extra section out past Browns. This is definitely what threw my estimate out.

I felt tired after the swim and bike, but I also felt strong and confident that I could do it. The hours and hours of running in the past year, especially all the lunchtime runs at Stockley Park (thanks guys) mean I know exactly what I'm capable of in a way I never have before. So I kept to a steady pace and enjoyed the many Evolution cheers of encouragement - sorry if I was too tired to acknowledge them all - I tried to give a smile and a wave. I lost track of time and only realised I wouldn't quite make 2:30 coming into the end of the second lap. I did know I'd get a PB, so pushed on to make it the best time I could and my HR shows increased effort on the final lap.

Total 2:33:27 (61st of 189 finishers in Age Group 45-49. 421st overall.)

Very pleased with everything. Once more I'm faster at every discipline than last year, and my run is 5 minutes faster which is really great. I am disappointed to be 61st though - I didn't look beforehand at past results, and thought a time like this would give me a better showing. It's phenomenal how fast those old people are :-) Obviously my swim lets me down badly and I will never catch the leaders unless I can take at least 5-7 minutes off that. I have been getting faster on the bike every week for 4 weeks in a row, and think with more TT practice I can improve there too. I could have gone a little faster - especially on the flat later sections - but will need to consider how that would affect the run. A run after doing the swim/bike feels weird. Mentally you are ready, and the run muscles are ready, but the tiredness keeps you from getting to your proper run speed. I'm much better than I was, but I don't think I'll ever get to 40 minutes on the Windsor course. But I only need to go 2 minutes faster to make Top 10 in my age group.

So if I managed to train properly, next year I want:

Swim 30, Bike, 1:06, Run 41:30 - 2:21 maybe with transitions - just outside the AG Top 10. I can dream !

Shiplake Triathlon Henley 2010

Results link here. New link here

My triathlon Club send an email during the week that I could get a reduced price entry to this local triathlon if I turned up on the day. Couldn't resist a bargain, and wanted to try out F3 events, and my new Evolution tri-suit, so got up stupidly early on Sunday morning and drove over to Henley to register.

Compared to Human Race or Ironman events this was very low key and informal. Nice if a little disconcerting. For example, bike racks were set up, but it was just a case of first come first served on where you put yours, unlike the strict numbering I'm used to. Not a problem though.

The swim was in an open air 25M heated pool. My first triathlon in a swimming pool. I can't say I like it :-@ People were setting off at seemingly random intervals and I was waiting around when a gap appeared - Martin the organiser asked me if I was ready - I was - so I took the place.

16 laps in a lane with four other people was a bit weird - I got overtaken a couple of times, and swam into the lane dividing rope which was pretty difficult to see, and emerged in average time. I think the 11:23 time includes the up hill run to transition to get my bike.

I really liked the bike course. An undulating road with very few cars. We headed left out of the college and down to a roundabout about 4km away. Then we rode back past the start and another 3km further on to a different roundabout where we did another u-turn and returned to the start. Two laps of that. Being able to see other riders so often is great and lets you judge your progress. I wasn't overtaken once and enjoyed sprinting up a few small hills past other people. My hill work recently has been my best riding. I've lost quite a lot of weight which helps with that.

I did make a schoolboy error though - I imagined that it was a 20km bike section. I got a bit confused when I realised the first lap was about 14k and had to shout to an official. Completely my fault and luckily I wasn't too tired to push on for slightly more than I had expected. Cycling is Ok for that find of mistake - running would be a disaster. Time of 50:35 is good I think.

The run was very pleasant - through some fields, and country lanes - almost flat. The weather was also fine, sunny but not yet hot. I calculate my time at 19:30 by subtracting the splits from the total. It must have been a bit less than 5km, and others commented that the route was slightly shorter than the one advertised. Very happy with that time and felt strong. Caught a few people in this stage too.

Overall time was 1:21:28 - can't compare this with any other races as the bike distance is unusual, but I came 11th out of 61 which is great. Some extra analysis shows I came 2nd in my age group - only 4 seconds behind the leader. This is by far my best result in any race since I was about 15 and came 1st in a local Boy's Brigade cross country championship (a feat never to be repeated!)

It was a really fun event - well done to Zoe Spain and Mark Hyde as well from Evolution Triathlon club - Mark came 2nd overall even though he ran a bit farther than he should have. And thanks to Martin the organiser - it would be great if I could always get a discount - I just can't bring myself to pay £45 for a sprint triathlon that often.



[bib no 179. 11th place out of 61 competitors]

Eton Supersprint 2010

16th May 2010 - link to results here

My A race this year is Windsor, but I like to do this sprint about a month before to see if everything is working OK.

I've had my best winter ever training, and have avoided injury. I've done more running than ever in my life - at one stage I ran on 8 consecutive days. My biking to work all winter has also given me strong legs. I'm still a slow swimmer unfortunately.

The lake water has been very cold, but I've braved it and survived in training at Liquid Leisure, so when I got in today the shock wasn't too great. Felt very calm and set off at my moderate pace. Came out of the water in a reasonable 9:41 (2008 9:49)

No idea what went wrong in T1 - struggled to get my wetsuit off. 2:28 is a poor transition time but maybe not too bad considering 2008's 2:52.

Out on the bike for 4 laps of the rowing lake. Pushed the pace and passed a lot of other riders. Lots of other waves of competitors on the course so it was difficult to judge position. A few people went past me, but not many. Happy with 36:48 (2008 37:44).

When I took my bike shoes off in T2 I discovered my socks were still sodding wet - so I dumped them and ran in sockless trainers. Decided there and then to not wear socks at all in Windsor. Time a passable 1:18 (2008 1:14).

Felt great going out to run - no wobbly legs. This is a soul destroying course however. 1.25km flat straight out, then back again - two laps for the full 5k. Obviously I was tired, but I knew from training that I could go hard for the distance. I trained a lot over the winter with no socks, and my feet can handle it, so I didn't even think about that. Again - I was seldom passed, and overtook a lot of people. Time 20:30 is I think my PB for the 5K - even non triathlon ones. (2008 22:14)

Total time 1:10:47 (2008 1:13:56)

In my age group I came 18th out of 108 people who started. This is a great result for me so I'm very pleased with my race - a good tryout for Windsor.

[bib No 879. 192nd overall out of ~1100 competitors]