Prudential Ride London 2019

Prudential Ride London 2019

View of the Olympic Park and route at 4.20am

I've done less cycling training this year than any other year and I thought about not doing this event. However, I had paid, twice (due to having to postpone last year), and it's not easy getting a ballot place. I then thought maybe I'd just turn up and have a nice ride, maybe join some friends and enjoy the freedom of the open roads.

But as usual, I did do the ride, and rather than taking it easy, I pushed harder than ever.

Me at the start

I had an early night and woke up next morning just after 3.30 am. I stayed at Olivia's flat only a 10 minute ride from the start so I had plenty of time. I drank some water, and ate half a cheese sandwich, couldn't face the rest. The remainder of my breakfast was a small banana The 5:52 start was prompt, and the weather was perfect at 15 degrees with little wind.

I can't go full speed from cold, and all the groups that formed were really sprinting. It took me a while to find some riders I could join, but once I got going I had a good run through early morning London. Saw a rider who was a similar speed to me (No 1001) and only lost him completely around the Newlands Corner climb.

It took just over an hour to get to Kingston, and my average speed had risen to 39km/h. I have a record on this course of just over five hours, which I found difficult at the time. I didn't realistically think it was possible to beat this today, until I got here. The section after Hampton Court is where I always struggle as the excitement of London is over, and the adrenaline depletes. But I was still feeling strong, and didn't get dropped by the group I was with, so I started thinking I could beat five hours here, and decided to go for it.

All went to plan and I had fun to Newlands Corner. I knew stopping would probably kill my chances of 5 hours, so even though the first real hill of the day was hard, I kept going over the top.

However, I'd lost the large group I'd been in, and my legs were tiring. My average speed started to drop. I couldn't get onto another group, and spent time on my own. Leith Hill was hard, and even Box Hill was a struggle. I've not done these climbs on very tired legs before.

After Box Hill there is only 30 miles to go. I had some niggling pain in my knees, and my right ankle for some reason. My back was stiff but that wasn't affecting my riding pace. I found a nice fast group eventually to take me into Kingston, then lost it on the Coombe Lane climb. Jumping onto the back of passing groups was taking a bigger effort than I was able to make.

My average speed was dropping to around 34-5 km/h, and I'd just about run out of liquids. I started the ride with 500 ml of water with an electrolyte tablet in it, and another 500ml bottle with 4 gels in topped up with water. On a cold day this would have been fine, but it was getting warmer by Wimbledon, maybe 21 degrees. Also my only food so far, a large Kendal Mint Cake, had just finished. I had more food, but didn't want to waste time and effort taking it out and opening it. I need to make my food easier to eat if I do this again.

I was getting tired and sore but was sure I'd make my target time. Found another group on the Embankment, who were not going really fast, but at least they could help me get home. Emptied my reserve tank with a final sprint down The Mall and was really pleased with my 4:38:05 time. Maybe with some proper training I can beat 4:30!

Because of my third wave start (B-Blue), and not stopping at all, I was one of the early finishers and so there was plenty of space to take my time at the end. No photographers this year however, but some tourists took my photo for me.

Me at the finish on The Mall

Results : Strava Official Prudential Results

Parkrun #12 - Portrush

14/04/2019

Semi annual Portrush Parkrun time.

Dropped Lyra with my Mum and drove down with Anna.

It was bright and breezy - very breezy, with gusts of 40mph - and around 5 degrees. Quite cold so I wore my light waterproof. over a t-shirt and shorts.

Bridge

The tide was out so there was a good hard surface of sand; I went for a quick warm-up down the beach. There is a small river of water going down to the sea, and a little bridge is placed for people to use to keep their feet dry. I decided I'd use it.

The start was directly into the wind - I went straight for the bridge, which was a mistake. It took me up the beach a little away from most of the runners who decided to risk wet feet. I didn't have the any and would have been better hiding behind some people to save energy.

It was really hard and I was slow. My HR was about 160 bpm as I slogged my way up the beach towards the White Rocks, but my minutes per mile were way down. It took me 12:51 to get to the turnaround.

Some runners

Finally the wind was on my back. I took some advantage of this, but my legs were tired so not as much as if I'd been fresh. Still, it was interesting, and in places I felt like I was running down a steep hill. My HR stayed at about 160 bpm, then with 1/2 a kilometer to go I pushed for home and got it up to 170. My return time was about 2 minutes faster than going out.

I came 35th  out of 232 runners.with a time of 23:46 (one of my poorest results). Last year I was 29th with 21:51 (278 runners) so maybe it was just the wind that I can't handle as I lost all my time there.


Links Strava
Parkrun

Evans RideIT London 2019

Evans RideIT London 2019

Seems like a long time since my last challenge, the Triathlon X in September 2018. This is fairly tame in comparison, but I was secretly hoping for poor weather (like snow maybe, which we had only a week or two previously) so I did no proper preparation for this 73 mile bike ride.

Olivia bought it for me for my birthday, and she and Luke joined me at the start which was a fairly short drive away at Osterley Park.

Me, Olivia and Luke at the start - Osterley Park

The weather was 6 degrees, but was forecast to go up to 13 degrees - so we dressed quite warmly, and as expected, overheated a little later in the day. My brand new Castelli Perfetto jacket (also a birthday present) did a great job in its maiden outing.

The route headed out of London west, then north into the Chilterns, then looped around some hills and came back through Eton and Datchet. It was supposed to be flattish, but had a couple of fairly nasty steep hills.

We kept it steady and stayed together. I got to see some familiar roads and a few interesting new ones too - I may try to build some of them into my usual long rides.

Near Slough

We had a stop after 20 miles, and I stuffed my face with cake. I hardly drank any water, maybe 700 ml the whole day. The road surfaces were damp mostly everywhere, so descents and corners had to be taken very slowly. After another 30 miles or so we stopped at Evans on the A4 for more cake and a very welcome comfort break at Costa next door.

After a quick stop in Eton to say 'hi' to Anna and Lyra who came out to support*, we headed back east to Osterley Park and the finish, in just over 6 hours.

Me back at the finish

I wasn't too tired really, but was aching a little in my arms (triceps), and right knee and ankle - nothing serious.

Strava
Evans Website Results

Photo Neil Taylor Kasia
* I was running the Glympse app on my phone, so Anna could track our position - it worked well enough for her to meet us.

Triathlon X - Half X

Triathlon X - 30.09.2018

View near the top of the run

So I did the toughest half ironman race in the world Triathlon X! And I did quite well, placing about half way in my age group, and overall.

Here's a 'brief' race report, the long report is way too boring.

This race is really hard on paper. It's a normal distance Half Ironman, but the 1.9km swim in Lake Windermere has water of around 13 degrees C, which is cold. The 90km bike route has six hill climbs at over 20%, and the steepest pass in England at 33%. Finally the run is a half marathon up a 1000 foot mountain, over rough terrain. It sounds horrible, and I was a bit scared.

Me, Pelle, Mette, and Lars training

I went to Wasdale a few days before the race to acclimatise with friends and fellow racers.
Waswater is the deepest lake in England, and it was beautiful, refreshing, but cold. I was shaking when I got out, even though the sun was shining. When I got to Ambleside I bought a warm hat to wear under my swim cap - I already have neoprene boots for my feet. My bike preparation was all done in the weeks beforehand by finding the hardest hills in my area, and cycling up and down them until I got bored. As to running, well, any run over 2 miles since August has caused a painful calf injury - so I've only managed 5k runs recently. My last run over 10k was several years ago. 21k up a steep mountain  - unknown territory.

Swim start, new warm cap

The weather in the Lake District is variable at best.
The morning came and it looked OK - overcast, but not windy, and not raining. I'd been very apprehensive about choppy water - thankfully it was like the proverbial millpond. I focused on the day ahead. I got into the lake for the deep-water start, and we were off. I thought I was being sensible, staying at the back, not rushing. But something happened after about 5 minutes. Suddenly I couldn't get my breath and I couldn't front crawl. I felt a bit dizzy. I breaststroked. Severe doubts about whether I could go on - I almost asked a nearby marshal in a kayak to take me home. It's not the first time I've felt like this - it's happened in triathlons and in cold water training. But I thought about how much effort it had taken to get there, and how disappointed I'd be if I gave up. After a minute or two I tried swimming front crawl again, it was manageable. I passed the first buoy, at least I was making some progress. There were still swimmers near me (some kicking me, and swimming sideways past me). I kept going. I never felt so bad again, though the worry was always there - was it too cold for me? Will I get dizzy again? Eventually I found myself alone, seeing swimmers in the distance ahead. Was I in last place? So many questions, your mind has nothing else to do when swimming long distances. I got to the finish after about 50 minutes with relief - and checked my watch, not as bad a time as I'd expected.

In transition, I noticed that it had been raining during the swim. I dried myself as much as possible, and got dressed. I saw some friends - they were taking their time changing into cycling gear too and it was good to know I wasn't that far behind them.

I was cold and a bit wobbly for the first few minutes on the bike. Luckily (!), almost immediately it was time for the first big 20% climb of the day - aptly named "The Struggle" - surely this would warm me up. As is normal for me, being a slow swimmer, I was behind the good swimmers who are slower cyclists. I started to overtake people on the ride. I'm a good climber, and most other people hate it. I was surprised to see some friends already, and passed about four of them here. The great thing about a mass start triathlon is that anyone you overtake and stay ahead of is one place gained on the leader board. They are not in a different wave, you don't need to do mental calculations, you are actually ahead. Of course, the same applies if you get overtaken again :)

Coming back down to Ambleside after the climb I started to get a bit cold in the wind, but my Gabba cycling top, and arm warmers did the job - I never felt too cold all the ride.

Enjoying the climb up Wryenose

The climbs are very, very hard, so my plan was to take it steady on any flat portions. It wasn't till the next steep bit that I passed another friend, and the next one, Wrynose East,  where I finally caught Lars, the person responsible for me being there (thanks Lars!). He overtook me again later as he is faster on the flat, and we swapped places till I finally lost him on the return climb up Hard Knott pass west. I caught another friend from my triathlon club there as well.

It started to rain a bit and the wind picked up too. The descents were treacherous - I know some people fell on the slippery surfaces, and one required an ambulance. It didn't help that there were so many cars on the single track roads, or that one had spilled oil on the steepest section. But we had supporters on the hills, cheering and playing music - that was very nice to see.

I got down safely, and was feeling good - I sprinted the last few kilometers into transition. The hardest 90km I've ever done was in the bag.

I again took my time in transition. The biggest unknown for me was this half marathon. Because we climb up into the mountains, we have to be prepared for dangerous weather which can suddenly appear. I had my mandatory rucksack packed with raincoat, leggings, water, food, map, compass and whistle, and emergency foil blanket. Running with this on my back would be a new first for me.

I ran a little way out of town, and when we crossed the main road into quieter lanes, took out my cheese and ham bagel for a well deserved snack. I walked a bit, ran a bit. The sun was out, then it started to rain - I put on my raincoat, then took it off again. I reached the mountain section and Nikki from my club was there with biscuits. She told me I was 2nd in the club to go past her - wow!

Raining on the run

It was a very steep climb - I had no chance to run, and no energy. As we got higher the views over Windermere, and in every direction, got better and better. Eventually the terrain became less technical, and some running was possible. Here I caught up with Pelle, another friend, but not in my triathlon club. There were many false summits where I thought I'd got there, only to see a long track going up again in the distance. The wind really picked up, the rain turned to sleet, and the temperature dropped to about 3 degrees. I didn't care - just pulled my raincoat hood tighter. It was fun to see Pelle. We didn't really run together, but we raced each other and made it to the top at the same time. Too good an opportunity to miss, the sun came out, and we got an amazing photo.

Descending

Going back down I slipped on wet rock and hurt my leg a little, and a finger (which went black over the next few days, and still hurts nearly two weeks later). I was more cautious after that, and Pelle with his walking poles, and his experience (he'd done this race many times before) gradually pulled away from me. I was feeling OK to run on any flat and downhill bits, but the very steep section was slippery so I was slow and careful.

At the final road section towards the finish I could only run for short periods before needing to stop and walk.I was definitely dehydrated by now but my water was at the bottom of my rucksack. I met a few others here, overtook one, and got overtaken. Finally found enough energy to run into town.

Finished!

Anna and Lyra and the rest of the supporters were there cheering.

And I got the biggest medal ever!

Some numbers:

63rd out of 132 competitors
Bib 157
Swim 49:21 T1 8:59 Bike 4:23:48 T2 7:44 Run 3:28:31 Final Time 8:58:24

Full Results here, for now.
Strava Swim Bike Run

Photos from the amazing Coast to Coast

Parkrun #11 - Maidenhead

11.08.2018

Up early on a Saturday morning and a bit of a rush to get everyone ready for the drive over to Maidenhead for our first family Parkrun.

It was a bright and sunny day, maybe even too warm even at 9am.

We met a group of other buggy runners, and the organizer of the Buggy group.

I wasn't going to try to be in the front at the start, but this was probably a mistake. Due to some earth works, there is only a narrow passage now to get through to the main path, and I got stuck for a while with no way to overtake. Not pushing the buggy into people's ankles is difficult, and I had to walk at times. Anna and I ran together for a bit, but then I saw a gap and pushed Lya into it and lost her.

After my slow start things got better, though it was still quite variable where I needed to overtake, or where I ran up the small steep hill - pushing was hard and a little slippery there.

Happy to finish my first buggy Parkrun - the time 26:01 (79th out of 279) doesn't really matter much. Anna beat 30 minutes again with 29:48.

Links
Strava - Link
Parkrun - Link
Photos on Facebook group

London Triathlon 2018

05.08.2018

I felt almost ready for this one. I went for a non-wetsuit swim this week and had no issues with around 900m. Last year I struggled with the end of the swim but this year I have had more practice. My bike times have been pretty good on the Evo Friday night TT. And my running is OK - I can do 5k, and hang on for the rest, as usual.

I stayed overnight at Olivia's, which was probably a mistake. I hardly slept at all and woke up very tired. Neverthless Olivia, Luke and I got out just after 6:30am for the short ride along CS3 to the start. I was in a wave 20 minutes after them (at 8:05) but we went together.

Registration was where we got our chips and numbers, which isn't ideal, as last year they were posted out and so there was less faffing around in the morning when you've got enough to think about.

I watched Luke and Olivia run off to their start at the last minute, and felt fairly calm - I was ready, and the weather was good, and the threatened non-wetsuit swim had not materialised.

In the water, I tried to start my watch, but it wouldn't find a satellite and so I had to give up when the horn went. I swam my own race, though masses of other fast swimmers came up behind me after only a short time and one bashed me on the lip. The advice was to stay on the left - but if you do that you have to swim farther. I got to the end without further incident, maybe I slowed a bit too much to sight, as my 40:32 time is pretty sedentary even for me.

A fairly poor wetsuit removal, and an average T1, and I was out on the bike. This was fun, my Garmin was working this year, and I felt fast. I overtook a lot of people, and was only overtaken once. Unfortunately the long tunnel we ride though skews the Garmin's figures so it's impossible to really know how you are doing. I pushed as hard as I could, knowing there was a 10k to run later. Very pleased to find I was nearly a minute faster than last year with 1:02:09. When I took off my TT helmet, a mass of sweat poured out.

As I was leaving T2 (where I had actually run down the wrong line with my bike and had to duck under the scaffolding poles - rookie mistake) I saw Olivia arriving. I must have missed overtaking her on the bike. Then I saw Luke and said hello. I hadn't caught him, he was on lap 2 of the 4 lap course (changed from last year's 3 laps)

I now saw Anna and Lyra who had arrived to support. I felt ok, tired obviously, but chugging along. Near the end of the 2nd lap something went wrong with my left calf. I assumed it was the usual problem. I limped for a bit, gave the calf a bit of a thump, stamped my leg hard and tried to get running again. I stopped and stretched it a bit, but not much, I was losing time. It was getting hot, and the segments inside the Excel were quite welcoming in their coolness. I kept going, not as fast as before sadly, but as good as I could. Watching my aveage speed, it seemed ok, with no real idea, I wondered if I was going to be able to finish near a time of 2:30:00.

In the finish chute I bumped into Luke again, who decided to sprint for the line - I had to let him go as my leg was hurting quite a lot, and I'm not a sprinter anyway.

Curiously, my run time was a MASSIVE 54:17. My Garmin reports 11:67k. As a lot of running was inside, I don't know what the real distance was. It wasn't 10k. I'm pretty annoyed they changed the distance - I have no way to compare against last year now.

Overall my time was 2:43:11. This is slow for Olympic, so the longer run (and they still report it as 10k) messes everything up.  I was 454th out of 1887. In my age group I was around 21st out of over 100. If I could swim I'd be top 10 there. Something to think about.

Olivia did 3:15:00 and Luke 2:57:40 - off the back of hardly any training.

Results
Sporthive here
Photos Unlikely to still be here
Strava Bike Run

Parkrun #10 - Portrush

28.07.2018

We were lucky with the weather today. Rain overnight cleared and thought it was cloudy and a little windy, conditions could have been a lot worse.

Anna and I went down first so that we could have a bit of a warm up. Carol and Jon arrived a bit later but still in time. It's actually 3 years since we all ran Portrush Parkrun together.

I wasn't going for any records as I haven't really run fast for a while. I know it's easy to say after the event, but I'd expect to be able to do around 22 minutes.

It's 2.5k out along the beach, and 2.5k back. I was doing OK on my average speed by the turnaround, though I could feel myself slowing. On the way back I seemed to be running with two other men, none of us willing to let the other gain any advantage. I pushed a bit harder, or so I thought; my speed was still going down. This is perceived effort working it's magic.

One of my rivals dropped back a bit, the other was on my shoulder. It's always amusing to see mid or low ranked competitors trying to outsprint each other for what is not really a very important victory - one place in a race that doesn't matter. But when you've spent 10 minutes trying to outrun someone, it becomes vital to win that meagre prize. I pushed as hard as I could with about a minute to go - there wasn't much left in my legs, and I have a feeling the other guy just didn't care and let me have the place anyway.

The rain was beginning as I finished, and Carol and Anna had to complete their races that way.

I came 29th out of 278, in a time of 21:51

Anna did 29:45 and was pleased to beat her target of 30:00
Carol did 25:12, and Jon did really well coming 5th with 19:35

Results
Parkrun here
Strava here
Flickr 1 2 3
There are photos on Facebook, but I haven't bothered to track them down for this blog yet.

Cliveden Cross Country 2018

07.01.2018

As is fairly usual these days, my run taining isn't up to scratch. I can run 5k, but rarely go over this, and 10k, paticularly a hilly off-road 10k, was always going to be a bit of a stretch.

I drove over in plenty of time. The weather was cold but OK - probably around 5 degrees C. I wore my Asics trail shoes, and joined a big crowd of other Evo people from my club around the start.

It was 2 laps, though lap two is a bit longer.

I felt fairly Ok for lap one, found my place and pace. I didn't like the massive steps but I was running quite well.

On the second lap I was getting more tired, the terrain was slippery and the up and down draining. Running along the river towards the steps for the second and final time I felt I could manage it, but then my lack of preparation gave me a surprise, a sneaky detour up another hill, then back down to the bottom of the steps. It was around here that my shoe lace came undone - oh well, put up with it, no time to stop.

I had to walk a bit up the steps - the Strava segment says 2:32 vs 2:17 for the climb on the first lap.

Feeling pretty weak I finally finished.

I sat and drank coffee for a while afterwards to recover.

Results look like this:
103 601 Robert Shiels 10k 00:48:27 Male 91 50-59 17

Placed 103rd out of 601, and I think 2nd in my club. 17th in the 50-59 category. 91th male. 48:27 is not a terrible time for a difficult 10k with not enough training. I think I'd like to be higher in my age group though.

Links
Burnam Joggers Results
Strava Cliveden
Flickr Chris Drew