HOT NEWS RACE REPORTS
|
Sunday 20th July 2008
Weekend Round Up |
| Julian get's the bragging rights this week with his report being the only one in so far - Claire was out at Milton Keynes - so there will be more race reports to come but here is Julian's day. Purbeck Velociraptor Triathlon. On Friday I decided to do the above race to make my final kit selection for Alpe d'Huez in 11 days time and for transition practice. So after surprising Graham by turning up to race we went over to set up transition. The unpleasant sight of a transition area with full racks and no space was not a great start so we started to set up with the bike leant up against the chainlink fence. Linda, who was the race referee called out that all boxes and bags were to be removed from the racks to make space and another pole was added to the rack at the end nearest to the exit. By helping put the extra section on I managed to secure the end position for my bike! After chatting to Graham we decided to try wearing our new race tri tops in the pool for the swim, so I placed my gels on the ground in transition next to my run shoes so that I could take one on the bike and the other on the run if need be. I returned to the rack to place these and discovered that the guy to my right on the rack had the largest storage box between our bikes and pushed so tight that I wouldn't be able to remove my bike from the rack without dislodging my shoe from the pedal. I asked theref if this was ok and she said NO whilst removing the box and placing it by the fence. Natural balance restored. As we were both in the last wave (well it is more of a beginners race) Graham and I went poolside and headed off for 24 (self counted)lengths of the 25m pool. I was the last of 4 in my lane to go with a 5 second gap and by the end of the first length there were three of us swimming on the first guys feet strung across the width of the lane! By various ways of going around each other and pushing off the wall on top of or under the others I found myself in the very unusual position of leading the lane by 100m! This was a little freaky for me as I declared a 11 min estimate and started conservatively! Well, I stayed in front and had a 25m lead by the 500m mark which was maintained as I got out at 10:55, which I am happy with. Naturally, there was no sign of Graham poolside as he had declared a 8:10 for the swim and did it. Into transition I went only to arrive and find that my helmet, race belt and glasses that I had set up on the tribars were nowhere to be seen! Not that unusual I grant you on a windy day but this was a very still day and a sheltered transition area. I called out to the transition marshall that they had gone after scanning the area around my bike and the big gap where matey boy's bike had been. The marshall asked if that was mine two bikes down upside down with everything as I left it between the back wheels of two other bikes! Hmm. Can you spell petulant? I grabbed it all and legged it out of transition, jumped on the bike and my shoes and headed off to Stoborough when, once up to speed, I niftily got my feet into my shoes and headed toward Creech hill(!). As I settled down I realised that the fiasco in T1 had meant I forgot to grab the gels and so I was going out for 24 lumpy Purbeck miles with water and no cals! Deal with it! SO up Creech I went passing some people that had failed to gear accordingly and chased down a coule of guys on the flat at the top before turning right and rocketing down Steeple hill at full tilt. A nice slight bank took me through the first right hander and approaching the second 120 degree bend with too much speed, some quick braking was called for, but my brakes didn't oblige and took their time slowing me down with the result that I headed for the grass area and the brambles that ended with me doing an endo as the front wheel dropped into a dip hidden by the brambles! Naturally, race mode means you jump back up, get back on and then think about it was you hammer past people to make up for it. As I did so I remembered that although it was now two weeks since I had new brake blocks on the bike I hadn't ridden outside and there for they hadn't bedded in! Once back to Corfe it was out to Swanage on the Harmans Cross road with some cat and mouse games with the other riders. The last descent into town prior to the Kingston turnoff saw me caught behind four cars tailing a female cyclist and I was stuck there until the far side of the railway bridge despite some (polite) hand signals through the back window of the last car. I passed two guys by the golf club only to watch the traffic lights turn red on my arrival. 26 secs on track stand later I started to go only to have all three of them fly past me and the girl summed it up by saying "you're not having much luck today are you" as she went! The last section of the bike was hard but uneventful as we rode up the hill out of Swanage before turning left and going back to Corfe via the golf course and the main road to Wareham. By the end of the cycle leg the lack of gels were making themselves known with some considerable emptiness in the legs. I necked one in transition before heading out on the run. Although it was not a hard run course, by the end of the first mile I was a toss up whether my lower back pain or the cramping at the base of my right hammy would be the reason I would be reduced to a walk. Finally, I had to stop by the river to pull on the bars of the fence to stretch my back before setting off. About 500m from the end Graham trotted round on his cooldown and I confessed that it was very much like my Ironman run legs, same pace, same pain, just no walking and thanks to him it stayed that way. At time of writing there aren't any published times for the 600m, 24 mi, 4 1/2 mi race but I have unofficial times of: Swim 10:55 T1 1:55 Bike 1:19:31 Run 33:54 For an overall time of 2:07:51 I have no idea where I placed but suffice to say that Graham took team honours and overall podium place. I will leave him to give his placing in his report. Summary: Don't get distracted and forget your gels. Brake pads need bedding in. 90 minutes is about as long as you can race without calories or cramp will come! |
|
Sunday 13th July 2008
Weekend Round Up |
| There are a few race\reports to come from this weekend- We know that Claire won her age group at the Andover Sprint; Melissa won the Hillingdon Tri Series, Bryce completely destroyed his 10 mile TT PB with a new time of 20.:21 – Bryce also shattered his previous power outputs with a high of 421w and a 30mph average speed and that Graham finished 6th in his age group at the Steelman race in Eton and grabbed his Team GB qualification slot for the 2009 European Triathlon Championships. However we do have Dave’s concise race report for the “ Race to the Bill Triathlon” This was the inaugral Portland standard distance triathlon very well organised by the Bustinskins crew. The race was centred around the National Sailing Academy (great facilities). The swim was a bit long but well sheltered in the harbour. The bike was more challenging consisting of three laps of the island (NB. good prep for Alpe D'Huez..Bryce,Lou and Julian). The run was a flat on/off road out and back course. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience; a local, small, friendly well organised event. I finished 9th out of 48 finishers in 2:33:39. |
|
5th July 2008
Charmouth to Golden Cap Challenge. |
| 11am on race day and the spectacular Jurassic Coast is looking magnificent in the bright summer sunshine. Unfortunately by 3pm and race start the same coast is being lashed by gale force winds and driven rain. This event is classified as a fell race and runs off road from Charmouth to Golden Cap and back. Not even Scott could describe this one as flat. Still despite(or because of)the terrain and weather this was great fun. I reckon I was running at about 15mph on the downhill bits with the wind behind me but struggling to stand upright and walk against the wind on other bits. I finished 68th out of 242 finishers in 68:37. Dave. |
|
Monday 7th July 2008
Bryce's bits |
| That's not a comment on his saddle sores..... Anyway, back to the racing. Sat 28th June: District 25m TT Champs A bit of a disaster as I realised that a power meter needs to be recalibrated in exactly the same weather conditions as it is going to be used. I have not always done this and found out my meter read high as a result on this day. In this race I did 56 minutes and finished fresh because my reliance on the technology for my pacing was too great. Live and learn....... Thursday 3rd July: Moreton Kermesse By now I was into my antibiotics and in a small scratch group with the elite made me get a good working over. I left a gap at a critical stage thinking someone else would fill it. They didn't and the good riders behind me jumped right after I'd taken a turn on the front. I spent the last lap chasing to get back on and never got to contest the finish. Live and learn part 2............... Sunday 6th July: National Team Time Trial Champs, Leicester. On team duty for the bike squad this weekend even though I knew I would not be at my best. The horrendous weather led to a major course change from the 30 mile sporting course to a 26 mile dual carriageway up and back - bliss but mega high winds. I was in our 2nd 3 man team and had a good day out. In the end we finished only a minute off our 'A' team and we were 8th and 12th overall. We would have been 11th but I crashed out on one of the turns when my brakes failed and I couldn't get round the bend. Instead I aimed for the marshal, hoped for the best and steamed into the kerb at high speed. Live and learn part 3.............. Bryce. |
|
Sunday 6th July 2008
Big Cow Middle Distance Triathlon |
| Melissa & Graham were out racing this one - Here is Melissa's take on the day - BIG UP whoever invented half-ironman races!! I love them, genius! Yesterday was only my second ever attempt at the distance (my first being a last minute entry into New Forest last September just to see what the event "felt like"....masochisitic I guess!) As per my last race report, the weather forecast was grim, but at least I was prepared for it with half my tri-wardrobe in transition. (As it turned out we had the better end of the day's rubbish weather with moderate rainfall and moderate strength winds, not the scene from "Apocalypse Now" that set in after we finished)! The swim was a 2-lap lake swim, very well laid out with huge yellow buoys, very easy to sight. I knew that I had a long day ahead so I kept my effort pretty relaxed, concentrated on long strokes...and found a good pair of feet to follow all the way round!! The bike leg was undulating and consisted of 2 longer laps and one short loop. Having recce'd the course 2 weeks before, I was able to switch onto auto-pilot and plonk myself on the aerobars for virtually the whole of the leg, bar the climb at the end of each route and to stretch out my back. I took the first lap very steadily and then picked up the pace a little for laps 2 and 3. Generally though the pace was quite even and I kept my cadence high rather than grinding a big gear. By the end of the bike, I’d pulled up from 22nd to 8th place in my cat. My right quad has a tendency to tighten up on long rides at pace and it was annoying me a bit on lap 2, however I managed to get it to ease up by working my hamstrings on the climbs and giving it a break. Into T2 was where the drama started. Basically to get into transition, you have to cycle up a kerb covered by matting, through a hole in the hedge and do a sharp right onto a footpath. This is the most technical part of the course! I made it up the kerb and through the hedge but as I went to make my right turn, a marshall was stood right infront of me and I thought "Im not gonna make this"! So I went to unclip and yep you've guessed it, my foot didn't come out and I hit deck!! I gashed my knee open pretty badly but luckily the bike was ok! The other bit of luck was that I had some industrial-strength ibuprofen that I’ve only found in Lanzarote in T2, one of those and the crash was forgotten! Well apart from the stream of blood pouring down my leg which got me a shout- out from the PA which went "and here comes one of our leading ladies and “Ooooh that's a nasty gash on her leg, was that a bike incident?!" I nodded, smiled and picked up my pace as until that point I’d no idea if i was doing well or dismally, just that I felt good, very good. (It's such a shame that Scott wasn't there with his lactate machine as we could have got a reading every lap!) When I did the New Forest, I had an amazing middle section of the run, then dropped my final gel and ran head first into the "wall" in the last mile and a half, which reduced me to a stagger! So yesterday I went into the run with a bit more respect for what it could do to me after already having raced for over 3.5 hours. Ironically as I ran out of Emberton Park on lap 1, one of my gels fell out of my back pocket...this time I retrieved it. I decided that my tri-suit pocket wasn't secure enough for the sachets so there was only one place to stash them..... So at the start of lap 2 I ran through with my amazing new double D's ;) This time the pacing worked - lap 1 very easy, lap 2 steady, lap 3 and 4, well I just kept running faster and faster, even managing to sprint the last 600m with some fantastic crowd support telling me that I was going to break 5hr 30, (6th fastest in cat). I was so pleased to find that I’d come 7th over all in 5 hours 24, granted a different course but still about 30 mins faster than New Forest. I’ve got loads of confidence from this build up race on route to my A-priority Vitruvian...bring it on! :) Here's what Graham thought of it all - Well, what can I say. British Summer time. Isn't it great. No seriously, this was more like racing in November to February sort of weather - i.e. windy, wet & cold. So cold in fact that Nikki stole my hat & gloves to keep her warm while I was out enjoying the Buckinghamshire countryside. As this was my 'B' race of the season & looking to improve on my run after the Beaulieu Middle Distance race five weeks ago, with a week's rest after Beaulieu and a solid three weeks worth of training consisting of 12hrs each week which was followed by a weeks taper into this race, I wanted to see where I was at with my schedule. Race day morning arrived dry but very windy with very threatening clouds on the horizon. With the forecast of rain mid morning I knew that it was going to be an unpleasant day at the office. The swim was a two lap course round an island in the middle of Emberton Park lake which was quite clear, probably due to all the rain, & relatively warm. The swim started well with a countdown from five to one, but with me going on two!!! Ooops. I got to the first buoy in third place but then in the next 300mtrs we started to catch the first wave who started 5mins beforehand, so lost track of my position. After that the swim went OK with no untoward problems. Into T1, which Nikki described as having a picnic lunch followed by pudding (where I could just imagine Scott in the background shouting "pizza for Starmer"!!!!). However, my version of the event was I had to put arm warmers on wet arms, number belt on, heart rate monitor on & then get out of transition. Oh, & remembering to also put my hat on. Off onto the roads for two laps of 22 miles of undulating roads which seemed to be more up hill than down dale almost after every corner followed by a shorter lap of 12 miles which, again, was undulating. After eight miles into the ride the heavens opened & down came the rain. At the same time we turned into a headwind but I just had to get on with it & do the job in hand & not worry about getting overtaken, because the main aim of this race was to improve the run off the back of the bike so I just settled into my own rhythm with an overall average HR of 157, an average speed of 21mph over 56.72 miles. Into T2 with a good dismount & no time for pizza on this occasion cos I was now on a mission to get out onto the run which was four laps around the back roads of Emberton Park, through a farmer's corn field, through a caravan park & then back in the Park for the next lap etc. The first lap seemed to be OK. The second lap didn't seem as good as the first but now there were lots more runners on the course & on the third lap I just seemed to be overtaking people all the time which gave me a good incentive for the final lap which went well. Times are as follows: Overall Swim Bike Run 4:45:31 00:29:45 02:42:24 01:30:09 PS: Conclusion of the race: I'm very pleased with how the run went because that was the main reason for the event so now I've got eight weeks to go before my 'A' race of the season which is the National Middle Distance Championships in September. Gra |
|
.
Melissa's musings |
| Hi all, Bit of a mixed couple of weeks since Vancouver. I was really surprised by how much the jetlag affected me, this was my first long-haul trip and I naively thought Id be over it within a couple of days...hmm not! Probably didn’t help that I was straight back into work and then up at between 4-5am Sat and Sun for training and racing the weekend I got back, so the story goes: Sunday 15th June 2008 - Windsor Triathlon, standard distance. I’d entered this race before qualifying for Vancouver and as its local I thought id go anyway and enjoy the day. My wave was off just after 6.30am. The swim is in the Thames and is basically 900m against the current and 600m back with the current. I’d read all the literature about swimming close to the right hand bank on the way out...but so had everyone else by the looks and it was a complete bun fight, some bits were so shallow that people were standing up and walking!!! After about 300m I decided to move out a bit and get some clear water, this worked to my advantage for about the next 400m and I made good ground. However when I got past the bend in the river and about 150m from the turn buoy I began to regret this move, lets just say "endless pool effect"!! I kept putting my head down, ten strong strokes, sight, still in the same spot damn it!! Eventually I managed to get on the feet of a stronger swimmer who pulled me forward and I managed to get around the defiant yellow inflatable, unlike a large number of people who I saw turning without going round it, tut!! Apparently there was a chunk of metal near the swim and bike exit timing mats so we lost T1 and T2 splits but I bet I was in that damn river for 35-36 mins!! The bike was a much better affair and I was passing people (swimmers!) all the way round. Not too technical apart from one dead turn in the road, a good time trial course. Bike of 42km plus T2 was 1.15. I kept a steady work rate but not flat out, thinking Id save something for the run.... ....but I may as well have just hammered it, as on the run, Vancouver, travelling and jetlag finally got me, I had nothing left in the tank anyway and staggered round 10.2km in 45mins!! The hill up to the castle was a killer, we had to do it 3 times, the first 2x I plodded up, but by the 3rd time some poor guy overtook me and for some reason that hit my annoyed nerve so I somehow sprinted back past him and had a reasonable run to the end. Apologies to all who I was grumpy to en route including a certain F1 driver who said hello as he ran past me and got a somewhat vacant reply!! Ok so Monday night, I decided to be sensible and go for a 1-hour spin at the cycle circuit then watch the club duathlon. ...Yeah well that was the plan, but somehow it didn't turn out like that and the next thing I knew there was a number on my back! This ironically went much better than the day before, first lady for 2mile / 10miles / 1 mile in 12.02 / 26.47 / 5.54.... ....then I paid for it as I felt rather ill after I crossed the line and I spent most of Tuesday in bed with a tummy bug feeling utterly wiped out (I later discovered that 2 other girls from Hillingdon also picked something up post Windsor so I will be on flat Cola after my next race!!) Wednesday I felt much better and I found myself at Eton Aquathon. WHY??!! I swore Id never do an Aquathon as long as I live, I can't swim for toffee! Ok I admit I quite enjoyed it at the end of the day. The swim is in an odd shaped pool at the college, you start in the middle, swim 50m, climb out, run round a post, dive back in, swim 100m, climb out, run round a post, dive in and repeat 7 times to give 750m. Then ditch the wetsuit and run 5.5k on trails (3 laps). My swim was hilarious, someone grabbed my shoulder at the start and pulled me back so I spontaneously threw a fist and later found out it was my mate Stuart who had panicked as it was his first Aquathon too, he apologised, I felt guilty..but more importantly passed him on the run grrr! ;). My first lap of the run was good but on the last 2 the remnants of the stomach bug started and it was a bit of a struggle to concentrate! Still managed to catch 14 people and finished 4th lady in 14.26 (swim and running round poles), 23min T1 plus run. That’s all for now, sprint tri this weekend and then the big un (Cowman) the week after. Melissa (Coach note – not a text book, long-haul recovery week!!) |
|
Thursday 19th June 2008
Moreton Kermesse |
| It needs to be expressed that after the 10k on Tuesday I haven't been able to walk too well. For those that have done a bit of Ironman will be all too familiar with the 'walking down the stairs backwards' routine as well. This has been how it has been for the last 48 hrs. I went to race on the bike again though to get some blood circulating to the damaged areas and see how I was faring. I couldn't even walk across the car park properly............. The race was extremely windy and we got straight down to business. Unusually, there were a lot of attacks and I got stuck in a few times. In fact the breaks were repeated virtually every lap until the last one whereby one, than the odd rider would jump across. I saw the danger and went after them 3 or 4 times but in moments of indecision didn't make it the whole way across or went to late and was worried about losing the ability to sprint at the end. This was a costly mistake as the last break wasn't pulled back and every time I got dragged back another strong rider would counter attack and then get across. That’s inexperience on my part. Either way I got a perfect lead-out to win the peleton bunch sprint (giving me 8th). |
|
Tuesday 17th June 2008
Forde Abbey 10k run |
| Bryce never seems to pich straight forward events - You know when you’ve gone to the right event where it says in the information pack “more river crossings than ever before” or “watch out for the animals”. This race was something I did with my Dad a couple of years ago but I decided to return to rediscover my ‘love’ of run racing. A good event that started as a low key jaunt between expedition instructors now pulled in 230 runners to be pitted over insane terrain for roughly 10k in the middle of nowhere. The race begins at Forde Abbey in its grounds and begins….. with a 3km (yes, that’s 3km) uphill ascent. At which point everyone starts like an 800m flat race because of being caught up in the excitement (and because of the mad rush to get over a stile section). Masses of mud (I lost a shoe 4 times), multiple stiles, massive boulder strewn downhills. I took the first climb steady knowing that I’d catch a lot of people once they blew at the top (which I did) and on the descent (for those that have been in the team for a while it’s worth mentioning that it was during the race I bumped into ex team member Will who was visiting some relatives in the area). I only realised this as I later got lost running across a barley field and it was him who called me back to the route ! At about the halfway mark I heard a voice behind me utter “oh sh*********t !!!!!” as we then got charged by a load of cows from behind who didn’t seem that pleased about meeting us. A mad dash for the fence ensured. All races should have this level of panic as standard. I can’t say I was enjoying the distance, it had been a while since I’d run that hard and it showed. Be that as it may, I continued to progress up the field although with the numerous shoe losses I dropped a bit of time I shouldn’t have. As we hit a river crossing at 8km there was a rope line supplied and involved a knee deep wade (for me !) where I made few gains but when I climbed out my legs were completely empty only to find another shallow crossing at 9km but a bit of the old lifeguard surf running came in handy. The final 500m was a run at a wedding cake style tiered grass bank which was just a wall and I hit the line in 44 minutes dead which considering the terrain, the fact I was about 20thoverall, and the fact it’s been a while for me was surprisingly pleasing. Will just nipped in the next place ahead of me but it was a great event and was said by many of the fell runners that it is hardest (non novelty) run race they have done. Recommended……………… no more run racing for me for a while (getting out of bed this morning was, how you say, ‘interesting’ – recovery tights can only do so much)… |
|
Sunday 15th June 2008
Wimbleball 70.3 |
| Wimbleball is the World Triathlon Corporation's only UK qualifier for the World 70.3 Championships in Clerawater, Florida. Matt & Lou were both racing this one - Here is Matt's account first This was a main race for me and it seemed to come and go in a flash. I arrived shortly before the 14:30 registration cut off on Saturday, then came the race briefing at 15:00, bike racking 16:00-17:00 then off to find b & b then pack bag for race morning, dinner then bed (although didn't sleep much). Up at 03:40 for breakfast, then me and the other 7 people who I was with headed for the lake and 05:40 walk to race start for 06:00. To quote Scott this was one heck of a bun fight - 1000 or so people going for it like things possessed, I have never been hit/kicked so many times and it was relentless. The water was muddy, there was a light fog on the waters surface so visibility was poor. I just tucked in and followed those around me - big mistake. Once I got to the first buoy (the swim was in an anti-clockwise triangular shape) I realised that we had gone too far left and had to swim right to get around the first buoy, it was literally a case of the blind leading the blind. Anyhow once the swim was over it was time for the 400m uphill dash to transition. Once at the mount line where my swim was sooo slow I was waiting for people who had blocked the road trying to mount their steeds and were doing 'a Lisbon' as me and Lou called it, falling into the hedge, lying on the road etc etc. total amateur carnage! Once past this the bike was good although pretty hilly and I felt fine until a hailstone storm on one half of the course (incidentally the other half stayed dry) made me so cold that my left hand couldn't change gear, I was struggling in the big ring for a while until I managed to change both shifters with my right hand - not ideal. Next came the run and I felt good at the start coming out with Julie Dibens just behind me (its not that great she was on her 2nd lap) so I gave her some words of encouragement as I overtook her considering the result she probably wasn’t that impressed.... The run was 3 laps of off road undulating terrain I felt good on the first 2 and was overtaking lots but on the final lap the wheels came off. I was scrambling for Gatorade and bananas at the aid stations instead of water and I even had to partially walk up the steep hill on the 3rd lap, I have never had to walk on a run before but an elderly ladies encouragement thankfully got me going again. In the end I was happy with the time although am a teeny bit gutted it wasn’t a bit quicker - 5 hours 20 mins 63rd overall, 9th in my age group and thankfully good enough to get a rolled down slot for Florida Half Ironman world champs so USA here I come!! Hopefully it doesn’t clash with November’s training day? My splits were: 1.9km swim 37:39, T1 4:16, 90km bike 3:04:53, T2 1:20, Run 1:32:50. Now this is Lou's take on the day If I had been writing my race report at the end of the 1st lap / start of 2nd lap of the bike, it would have quite simply read “miserable”. By the start of the final run lap, it had progressed to something more like “wicked”. So.. After a delightful 3.15am alarm (my earliest race ever), I drove from Honiton to Wimbleball Lake, arriving at 5am. We had to be ready to parade down to the lake at 5.40am, so there wasn’t much time for faffing around. I felt surprisingly awake but nervous. Got in the lake for a quick warm up and took a moment to take in the scene. No big countdown to kick off (quite literally), then off we went, just as the mist descended. Trying to sight anything was impossible and it was a case of follow everyone else. I thought I had picked a good starting spot, keeping wide, but I was soon surrounded and being battered – this was worse than 2500 people at Ironman Austria! Started panicking, unusual for me as I generally try to give as good as I get, so I eased myself out of the mayhem (whilst still being dunked) and paused briefly to get myself back together, telling myself that I can swim, I can deal with this and that my race is not going to finish this soon. Got going again and managed to settle down. Sighting on the 2nd side of the triangular lap was equally impossible due to swimming into the sun and the sheer number of bodies churning up the lake but I felt I was starting to make some progress through the field. On the final 3rd, my right calf started to cramp, probably due to the cold and I was glad to see the finish. I was annoyed with myself as I know I can do better – I think this was the worst open water swim I have done. Got onto dry land but couldn’t see properly – my contact lenses had moved around on my eyeballs so I was trying to wiggle them back in position. That pre-race paranoia of loosing contact lenses and putting spare pairs in bike & run transition bags may not have been such a bad move after all, but thankfully I managed to sort them out. Next issue was not being able to run properly due to calf cramp & numbness and I was scared it was going to pull but it eased slightly by the end of the 400m run up to T1. After a not very swift transition I was out onto the bike, feeling useless, annoyed and nearly burst into tears. Pathetic. My mood didn’t improve for the 1st lap of the bike, especially as I was freezing despite putting on a top, and my feet were numb the whole time. A sudden storm was the icing on the cake, and had I punctured at that point I think I might have said “stuff it”, or words to that effect. I did have one good moment on the 1st lap - when getting to the top of Pylon hill I thought “lovely jubbly”, a rather strange thing to think of after a lung busting climb. (the 2nd lap thought was “thank **** for that”) Hmm. Got to the start of lap 2, Looked at my watch which was just about the 1hr 45 mark and realised that if I could maintain my effort, I could get a 3.5 hour bike split. Suddenly things looked up especially when my legs recovered from the slog of the last 1/3rd of the lap (lots of climbing) and I told myself I could do it. If I was suffering, then others would be too. Got a banging dance anthem into my head which pushed me on during lap 2 and I caught quite a few people by the end of the 2nd lap who had gone off during the 1st which cheered me up even more. However, my right calf was tightening and the cold was making my stomach feel crampy – there could be trouble ahead on the run, I thought. I was so glad to get off the bike. T2 was quite good, although not reflected in my time cos about 2 mins of it was spent weeing for England. (sorry, too much detail?) Out onto the run and I couldn’t feel my feet for most of lap 1, which was rather slow. Ivan told me I was 21st female after the bike – I said I was going to finish this damn race even if I had to walk the run. I wanted a finishers T shirt (turned out to be orange, not really my colour but I’m prepared to make exceptions). Lap 2 was uneventful, other than having very painful feet as they thawed out…and then came lap 3. At the 9 mile marker, I looked at my watch which said 11.29am (not sure if it agreed with race clock). Just 30 mins to run 4 miles for a 6 hr effort. Not likely on this course, I thought, but hey, it will be fun to try a negative split on my last lap (a really sensible idea at the end of a hard course). With that last lap mentality, I went for it. Being a bit bored of energy stuff but realising I was feeling suddenly rather hungry, I decided to try some coke. Only done this once before in a race (Austria) although it didn’t seem to have any adverse effect then, so I thought I would take a chance and suffer the consequences – I could walk 4 miles and still finish if necessary. Ivan had rounded up some rather loud girls and as I started out on my final lap, I got a huge cheer from my new fan club which spurred me on. I hammered round, overtaking loads of people, absolutely flying and feeling stronger and stronger. It was nice to pass lots of people struggling as that is usually how I am. I got to the finish branch off point and somehow picked up the pace, thinking that I would probably manage a 6:05 – 6:10 effort. As a turned the corner, I saw the finish – the clock said 5:57. I jumped up in the air like a spring lamb, punched the air and crossed the line with the most stupid grin on my face. Saw Richard Iles & Ivan by the finish, went over and was even more delighted when Richard told me my “Special edition” baseball cap was cos I’d finished in the top 250. I later learnt I had finished 3rd in my age group. With 4.5 hours of hanging around until the prize presentation, there wasn’t much to do. I discovered Matt in the food tent so joined him for a while, went off to sort out my stuff, returned to find Matt still in the food tent, wandered off again, came back to find Mr Popcorn Man (matt) still in the food tent. We continued to pass away the time nattering during which I learnt Matt’s secret training weapon. Another athlete who I met in Lisbon then joined as and so, come presentation time, it was nice to be able to share our moments of glory with some familiar faces. There were 3 qualifying slots for the Worlds in my age group, so I qualified. Unfortunately I had to decline my slot as I just can’t afford to go, and it wasn’t really in the plan, although for a brief moment I was very tempted to say yes. However I knew that, given the response I got when mentioning a race I want to do in Scotland, it was a definite no go-er. The short, sharp pre-race taper seemed to work, as did the pre-race croissants (there’s only so much muesli you can eat in one go) and coke on the run. My times were as follows: AG rank Swim 35.28 8 T1 5.50 4 Bike 3.24.26 3 T2 3.18 12 Run 1.48.24 3 Total 24th female (including 7 pros) out of 132 female finishers 3rd out of 26 in AG ( + 2 DNF’s) 222nd out of 799 finishers (male & female) + 97 DNF’s I was well chuffed with my time. My prediction (here comes a telling off) was 35 – 40 mins swim, 3.45 bike, 2.00 – 2.10 run. So, 3 prizes in 3 weeks must mark the end of my winning streak. Got lots of work to do to knock huge amounts of time off my bike and run. I need to sort my head out on the bike but I already know one thing I can easily do to improve that. I have to say a huge thank you to Ivan (Whitehead, Zoom Tri) for all his support around the course, and also to his girlfriend, Wendy, who bailed me out at the last minute and kindly put me up for the night in Honiton when the person I was supposed to be staying with let me down at short notice. I even managed to smile at Ivan when I was going round, although I was disappointed he didn’t hurl abuse at me as promised! And also to Richard, for his ever calming influence pre-race! So, there we go. Short and sweet as usual. Just wait til an Ironman race report. Coach Note - a great effort by Lou & Matt on a tough race course. Fantastic opportunity to race at the World 70.3 Championships as well, could be a long season for some of the athletes!! |
|
Sunday 15th June
Matt's meanderings |
| Gloucester Sprint 25th May 08(SW Series) It absolutely hammered down with rain from start to finish and the organisers knew this from last year in that we received an umbrella with our race numbers and we got a free mug of soup and a roll with a voucher after the race that was as good as it got. Again the race went ok and I finished 8th overall in 59:32. (was 31st last year 3:21 slower). Splits are as follows: 400m - 7:00 (50th), 18km bike - 29:10 (7th), 6km run - 23:22 (3rd) Tewkesbury Sprint 18th May 08(SW Series) This was strange in that it was an afternoon race and my start time was 17:02, I was seriously dozing off on the drive up there which wasn't a great indicator of a good performance to come. However the race went ok and I finished 9th overall. Splits were: 400m - 7:16 (42nd), 20km bike - 40:04 (9th), 5km run - 14:22 (2nd) and not far off a european record for a 5km off road i think, bit dubious of the run distance/time. Burnham on Sea sprint 1st June 08 A mix of sunshine and showers for this race. It was 500m in the pool which puts me at an instant disadvantage with my slow swimming followed by a 20km bike and a 5km run along the beach and back. There is an infamous bit of the beach in front of the finish where competitors try to cut off a corner for a more direct route but then can suffer the humiliation of sinking to their waists and losing shoes, it is definitely worth hanging around the finish to watch those who ignore the many marshall’s instructions! My splits were as follows: 500m - 8:34 (49th), 20km bike - 33:36 (7th), 5km run - 20:10 (2nd). I was 5th overall from 255 starters in 1:02:20 and won my age group. I looked at the time improvements from last weekend and compared last years results and just like Scott the predictions were really accurate. I improved by 3:29 from last year. Including Lisbon I raced every weekend for 4 weeks so decided to take a week off before Wimbleball, (don't wish to steal Gra's racing every week crown!) thought I had better get a long bike/brick in somewhere, its ok Scott i had been biking Saturdays instead! |
|
Saturday 14th June 2006
BJW 10 mile TT |
| This was the last race of my first half of the season before I rebuild for the second peak in September. Otherwise known as my ‘last chance saloon’. With the previous disappointments, this was my only race left whereby I could redeem myself. Up to Andover where many of my annual PB’s have come from in the past and we were welcomed with dry conditions but with an unwanted light to moderate headwind on the way back. Early postings showed that the times were typical but not exactly quick (I felt due to a slightly cooler air temp, an unusual lack of traffic, and the headwind on the return). My warm up wasn’t great but I got upto the start with an open mind and a firm plan (underpace the first 4 minutes, hold at 390w from miles 3-5 and then ignore the meter and go full tilt on the return)…… and that’s pretty much how it went. I knew the return leg would be hard when I ran out of gears at mile 3 cruising at 40mph. I got round the turn ok and made my return. Aside from a rare stitch it went ok but upto that point I just didn’t feel like it would be my day again. I just couldn’t get on top of a gear and was back to spinning a high cadence (a sure sign of when I feel like I’m lacking power) to keep moving. There is a bridge at 2 miles to go and I realised that despite the wind, I was now in with a chance of something. Things got blurry at this stage but I hit the line in 20:33 carving another 13 secs off my PB. I put out the same power as the TT earlier in the week (which only proves how non beneficial a pre race race actually is). The graph trace looks like a ramp test – 360w for the first 4 mins, 380w average to the turn, 420w average on the return leg, 470w over the last 2 mins !!! Too wide a swing in terms of first half/last half pacing but the wind was probably a factor. Either way, I felt I’d salvaged something from my first peak (and when it mattered). I did the sums beforehand and predicted that 20:30 was achievable in my current set up and output so I’m getting as good as Scott in the forecasting stakes. I’m doing some testing at the velodrome this week on arm position set up to try and find a bit more free speed as I think I’m diverting too much into my chest cavity. I’m now rebuilding for my 2nd and final peak in September. I’ll be possibly doing the British TT circuit champs, The European offroad tri champs, the Duo Normand, and then a 2 day stage race - one week after the other. My priority is the Triathlon and Duo races abroad. Lots more to play for. Bryce. |
|
Sunday 8th June 2008
World Sprint Championships Vancouver |
| Sarah Wheeler who raced with the team up until this season has shared her experiences of the World Sprint Triathlon Championships at Vancouver. Hi All Thought I'd send you all my report from the World Sprint Champs in Vancouver. After all, if it wasn't for Team Synergie, I'd never have aimed so high! I had trained hard and well for this event and was as ready as I thought I could/would be. As a family we took the opportunity to stay the week before the event in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. There is no way I can do justice to the amazing scenery and wildlife we saw. The old cliché of picture post card was oh so true. I ran and cycled up snow covered mountains and alongside lakes that looked like mirrors with their reflections and swam at the foot of mountains - stunning! Vancouver was a complete change. Breathtaking in its own way with sky scrapers and very noisy. Weather was poor, lots of rain, low cloud and chilly. It suffered its coldest June day since 1954 on race day as air temperatures peaked at 11.1°C alongside relentless rain. My wave started at 6:50am and suffered water temperatures of just 10.9°C and frigid wet weather. A standing start on the beach for a sprint into the sea had us all nervously waiting for the off. We were suddenly distracted by a seal that had decided to have a play just in front of us! However, we were soon off with a great surge to get the swim over with as soon as possible. The usual shoving and pushing took place before settling down into some sort of breathing pattern. This was a point to point swim across English Bay which turned out to be nearer a kilometre swim. Despite being so cold in the water it was a good swim. T1 was far too slow, couldn’t feel my hands and feet, struggled with removing the wetsuit, then getting onto the bike, I was starting to suffer with the cold. However, I was there to do my best and pushed on. The bike section was quite technical. One long slow climb followed by a very fast hair raising decent! Various sharp corners with hay bales just in case you came off the route, terrible rough roads, and a wooden bumpy bridge added to the fun. For the first time ever, I was actually starting to shiver on the bike. My extremities were really beginning to suffer! The location of Stanley Park was very pretty, even in the rain! T2 was quicker, but still not up to my usual speed. Legs were freezing, and judging by photos and comments, they looked even worse than they felt!! However, I had a great run, and pushed on to make up a few more places. I crossed the line in almost relief to think I’d done it! Another World Championship under my belt, yippee. I was soooo cold. Triathletes were being taken straight to ambulances due to the cold and dozens were treated for hyperthermia. What a relief I have a good covering of fat!! Finished 8th in my age group which I was pleased with, especially as I had improved on last year and 5th Brit home. |
|
Saturday 14th June 2008
Lou's latest |
| Finally got time to get sit down and put pen to paper, so to speak. Here is a round up of my activities over the last month. Get a drink first. For the first three weeks in May, training was sporadic due to various interruptions and then a pesky virus which lingered for weeks. I felt all my efforts in Lanzarote had gone to waste and was panicking about the imminent season. Looking back I probably shouldn’t have raced the New Forest Tri on the 4th as after 2 sleepless nights I was wiped out before I started, and developed a sore throat the next day. For the next 3 weeks, my training basically consisted of 1 x 30min easy jog each week, a grand total of 2 easy technique swims with 2 weeks completely out of the water, and a handful of easy bike spins. Not great. But then things got better…. May 24th: Day 1, Tour of Wessex – 95 hilly miles Even up to 6pm the day before, I wasn’t sure I was going to do this due to still recovering from fore mentioned virus. However, I was so desperate to do something that I thought I would go and take it easy. I had naively and foolishly entered thinking I would know lots of people riding who I could tag along with. How wrong I was. I arrived in the car park to find lots of very pro looking people and thought “what am I doing here?” Anyway, I eventually attached myself to a group of four who seemed to be going my pace and felt ok. I had decided to ride my Trek workhorse with a triple chainring as I knew there would be some stonking climbs. Some may call this cheating, I call it tactics! It soon became apparent that this was a wise decision as the first big climb of the day to Alfred’s Tower saw many chaps getting off their bling to walk up. I slogged up it, resorting to my granny ring, stubbornly determined not to get off – I made it, hitting my max HR in the process, and wondering if this was sensible after 3 weeks off. Oh well, it would be kill or cure. Two of the group I was with must have done the shorter rides as they vanished so for a while it was me and a guy called Ernest. After 1.5 hrs, he went into TT mode with another bloke so I let them go as we had been riding harder than I knew I really should be doing. Spent most of the middle section riding by myself, enjoying the scenery and thinking what a lovely day it was. Two sections of hard climbing over the Mendips saw me overtaking lots of people which was rather satisfying and triggered an obsession with finding good hills to cycle up! After a rather yummy second feed point, the best bit was soon to come – whizzing down Cheddar Gorge was exhilarating especially as I didn’t have any cyclists or cars in my way to make me brake so could swoop round the bends. I had a big cheesy grin from ear to ear and let out a few “yee ha’s!” I looked up briefly at one point to take in the stunning gorge but thought it best to keep my eyes on the road. The only really horrible bit of the course was on the main road round Glastonbury into a headwind. I found another bloke to latch onto and kept with him for the last 20miles – he gave me a bit of a tow along some sections into the wind which was appreciated. I absolutely loved the day and am now looking for more to do. I was really pleased with how strong I felt despite not having enough miles in the legs. June 1st, St Ives Bay Tri – Olympic distance Elliot’s Christmas present in 2006 was a day’s cooking course at Rick Stein’s seafood school in Padstow – might not be everyone’s cup of tea but Elliot likes his cooking (rather fortunately!) We were going to go down there back in March but then a Votwo brochure arrived in the post and whilst scanning through it, I saw this race, used a bit of female cunning and suggested it would be a much better idea to go down in June when the weather would be better…..oh and by the way I could also do a race that weekend! So this was a race purely for fun. Whilst Elliot was cooking on the Friday, I spent the morning in the sea learning how to surf - I am now completely addicted and have found a new reason for doing press-ups! I had planned to take my bike out and further satisfy my desire for climbing steep hills but got back too late from surfing, so did a brisk 5.5 miles walk around the headland to Padstow instead. Woke up on the Saturday with a few upper body aches but I wasn’t too bothered – this was how serious my race prep was. A very leisurely 10am race start meant that a civilised breakfast could be consumed and I ended up eating more than I usually do, but this turned out not to be a bad thing and I was glad of extra fuelling on this gruelling course. Thankfully the sun came out as it had been really misty and grey on the Saturday, making the sea look cold. A 70m sprint down the beach started the swim, a two lap course. The sea was flat but there was quite a swell. Nothing too eventful – I worked my way through the group and thought I was reasonably well up. Out for a further 70m sprint back up the beach, up some steps and into transition. Immediately the bike course went up a steep hill, a very steep hill, with some people zigzagging across it (and someone wobbled off). Out of St Ives, the road went up again and so it continued. I was now rather glad I hadn’t gone out and hammered my legs on the Friday. I didn’t get overtaken by any girlies but caught one right at the end and I kept overtaking lots of males on the climbs, only to be overtaken again on the descents. It was a tough but beautiful course, with some nice climbs, some fast and technical descents and sharp blind bends. Managed to hit 38mph at one point and pedalled frantically to try to reach 40mph but couldn’t quite make it! Had it been wet the course would have been quite lethal – apparently it was wet last year and 2 people ended up in A&E. I did see one guy climbing out of a hedge as he had overcooked it on a bend and someone else cycled into the back of a car as he was going too fast round a narrow bendy bit and wasn’t paying attention, but he was ok. Back down the steep hill into transition, with an imposed 10 mph speed limit which spoilt the fun, then out onto the killer run. I just beat Helen Parkinson out of T2 but then she went flying off into the distance, being an awesome runner - she was inspirational to watch. The run course was EVIL: two laps taking in the scenic coast path from Carbis Bay to St Ives, then back along the not so scenic road, with a nice lap of soft sand on the beach to finish. Only about ½ mile of the course was flat. I was suffering a bit at the end of the first lap but then managed to pick it up for the 2nd lap. At the start of lap 2 I was told I was 3rd female so I was trying my hardest to keep pushing on. I thought if anyone went by me then fair play to them, cos I couldn’t have done any more. I managed to hold my place to finish 3rd female with the fastest girlie bike split – well chuffed. Unfortunately Elliot missed the “presentation” on the beach as he took my bike back to the car at the B&B, and ended up having to show the owner how to start his lawnmower. He didn’t miss much though! So, all in all a rather jolly weekend and I have already booked in another weekend surfing in Cornwall in September. Last Sunday: 50 mile TT on G50/10 An obscenely early morning (but not as bad as this Sunday will be) and more bling. I used to find TT’s quite intimidating but now I find them rather amusing especially when one bloke said to me “I can see you’re a triathlete”. Yeah, whatever. Ended up having to ride my Cannondale as the Planet X has spent more time travelling to and from Doncaster over the last 6 months than with me, so I haven’t had chance to ride it properly and didn’t think my neck & back would appreciate 50 miles in extreme aero without practise. My instructions were to ride it all out. Think I took this a bit too extreme and overcooked the first 10 miles so then settled into a more sensible pace. Actually enjoyed myself initially but that soon ended and I started wondering why on earth I have entered a 100 miler in a few weeks time (oops, just remembered I haven’t actually sent off my entry yet). Well, if I will do these daft long distance events, I have to make myself suffer. Think I’ll do shorter stuff from now on as at least the suffering is short lived. For some bizarre reason they had me starting off 5th from last which was not good as I like people around me to chase. So I eventually trundled in, only to find that the blokes had eaten all the nice cakes. Not happy as the only thing keeping me going was the thought of a nice cup of tea and piece of cake. My time wasn’t quite what I had hoped but apparently it’s not a fast course. Still, it was a good training effort and I managed to finish 1st female. Tuesday: 10 mile TT on P164c Deciding I hadn’t worked hard enough on Sunday, I did my 1st 10 of the year (and if previous years averages are anything to go by, probably my only one!) Shock surprise, I really enjoyed it – first TT I have ever enjoyed. After doing a 50, it was just sheer joy for it to be over so quickly. Did a PB but not sure if this was due to improvement or just good wind on the night (weather not personal). Wednesday: 6.40am open water swim – I have gone completely MAD. And so, after experimenting with a short sharp taper this week (don’t think I do well on big tapers), I now face HIMUK this weekend. Should be interesting and a good learning experience if nothing else. Having a few panics about the bike and run so that only leaves the swim as being vaguely calm about….TBC Oh, confession time….there were only 2 females in the 50 mile TT last Sunday so finishing 1st female wasn’t quite so impressive! Coach Note – not a bad selection of stories – with two podium slots thrown in for good measure - press ups for surfing, now why didn’t I think of selling them like that!! |
|
Friday 13th June 2008
Vancouver Thunderbirds 10k |
| A race where your BBQ & ice-cream are included in the entry fee....must be Julian.... Well, I thought I needed a run workout and there was this 10k going on at the Uni, so.... We got there early on this lovely sunny evening and what a contrast to a local 10k. The race finish and parking was at the Thunderbirds stadium where the area outside the front was set up with registration and chip (!) tents and the smell of real food being cooked on the BBQ was in the area. All around were tables groaning under the weight of freshly chopped fruit, bagels, home made potato salads and BIG cuts of good meat marinating! This would all be provided in the race fee too! I went for a 3k warm up with Linda and after a visit to the clean toilets we ambled over to the start line to take out places and some light stretching. Strangely enough it wasn't seeded and there were a handful of girls in their gym outfits complete with ipods on the front row! The gun failed to fire to get us away so 'GO' was bellowed as we set off on the two lap course. The first k was all downhill with a right-hand 90 degree turn, so I sidestepped the ipod crew and pegged it downhill to find some space. Another 90 right sent us uphill and a left and a quick right into the third k. This was a seriously technical course Bryce and Melissa would have gotten lost were it not for the calibre of the marshals! There the fourth k sent us uphill and around three sides of the uni quadrant before plunging downhill on the same straight toward the finish. As the first k was downhill and the second up it was difficult to gauge whether I was truly up or down on my 4 min/k repeater but it seemed to be 20 seconds to the good so I tried to keep the same pace to achieve my sub 40 aim. About 7 k when it went uphill again I was reminded of my race on Sunday and mountain hill climb on Wednesday by my legs having trouble unsticking themselves from the sidewalk! I just thought if I could keep the cadence for 2 more k I would survive and possibly go sub 40. At this point Khai appeared on his bike and told me to step it up and stop cruising; thankfully he didn't hear my response and rode off! At the 9k marker I finally realised that I had 4:20 to make the last k and I would be ok, a quick shoulder check confirmed that the next guy was 400m behind (the same distance as the guy in front) so I pushed on to try and finish in good form. As I crossed the line I looked up at the clock and saw I had done 39:33, happy camper. I was eclipsed by Linda who had cut 4:30 off her PB to go 44:33! A quick bag of ice to attend to my left calf and a small slice of cherry pie were required after the cool down run and it was straight in the car to adjourn to a local restaurant for a well deserved meal ending with a modest (honestly) ice cream. Another good Friday 13th for me and a night wearing skins should make the morning group ride bearable before I leave for the airport! |
|
Sunday 8th June 2008
World Triathlon Championships, Vancouver |
| Ok, now Jules has thrown down the competitive gauntlet for report writing, here is my race report from Canada!!! ;) The weeks leading up to the race had included some solid training and time trials that gave me confidence-bike 10m in 26.06 and 25m in 1.08.23 then running- 5k tt in 19.48. I flew out to Canada on the Tuesday before the race and had my first long haul experience, which was a bit challenging for someone who gets bored stupid just getting through a 4hour flight to Lanza! Suffice to say that the trainers were on within 20mins of checking into the hotel! First thing to say is that we arrived in the cold and pouring rain and it has barely stopped all week! The race venue was based around Stanley Park and English Bay. The swim was a point to point course in the Pacific Ocean, temp hovering between 10.9 and 11.5 degrees C, this was a bit of a concern as i have had previous races where I have got too cold to be able to perform on the bike. So to try and avoid this I did a run warm up and just got in the water very briefly. A fellow team mate offered a tip of keeping a pair of socks on my hands until the off-looked silly but these tactics did the job and the only extra kit I needed for the bike was my track mitts! However the swim was not all plain sailing. The course was on the short side-probably a good thing with the cold, especially for those from sunnier climates than our own (although none of the age groupers tried the Portuguese elite tactic of wrapping themselves in tin foil!!!!). However, we were definitely not let off lightly as within 20 mins of the start the waves were huge and I felt like a rag doll being flung around. The water got so rough that the last 7 women’s waves and all of the men had to do a duathlon, much to the annoyance of many. (Coach note – due to the water temperature they cut the swim to 1100m) Despite the fact that it was tough, I was glad to get a chance to swim, took about 26mins. The organisers had put hot tubs by transition but I didn't go anywhere near them, fear not!! The bike was 4 laps of the beautiful Stanley Park, pretty technical with some rough road surfaces, but over all a pretty fast course (1.09ish-still awaiting official results). The pre-race info had described this 2-3km 6 percent hill....but I didn't see it, the hill took about mins to climb on each of the 4 laps!! Big ring all the way round and pulled up quite a few places after the swim. Run was fairly flat with 2 short inclines (again no sign of the 400m hill???), lots of out and back loops so good to keep an eye on the competition. Managed to pick off another 11 girls in my age group and came home in 2.23, 48th out of 85, still not magnificent but an improvement on my 66th place last year! Team support was amazing with 'Go GB' resonating from every side of the bike and run course virtually all the way. When cheering in the um duathletes later in the day I was amused to hear a poor little Aussie referring to our team GB shouts with 'why don't we get that?' (Bless....he, he) and then a group of Americans stood next to me joined in with the 'Go GB' shouts and when I gave them a bemused look they just said 'well that's all we've heard all day'!! The elite races were awesome to watch and I will email over some photos when I finish the film this weekend. Melissa Coach Note - Great result from Meilsa given the weather conditions, the only other athletes that they allowed into the cold, breaking sea was the AWAD athletes!! On a personal point I got a note of appreciation through from Graham Kiff, the AWAD athlete on the development squad that I worked with at Loughborough, saying that some of the training structures we put in place over that weekend helped him win Gold at the Worlds. |
|
Sunday 8th June 2008
Bryce's road (racing) back. |
| My first TT in a month. This was purely done to make some mistakes in and remind the legs what a hard ride is ahead of this Saturdays annual PB hunt at Andover. To cut a long story short I did a 22:53 on the P303 course (short version of we use for our 20km Synergie TT) shaving a full minute off my previous course best (set in March this year. I finished 15 seconds behind James Gifillian who said he was going flat out and was tapering down for half iron UK this weekend (and I see him as the fastest Tri biker around) so not too bad. I was hoping for more though - I only put out 402w and I was hoping for 430 but I've been unlucky twice this year with poorly timed illnesses. My previous plan for the first half of the season was that I was going for 3 attempts to break 20:30 for a 10 and 420w should be enough (weather permitting) for me to do that. Due to my bouts of man flu I'll have one chance only to do this and it's now just a question of taking whatever form I have before I re-focus for the Alpe tri. For what it's worth, expect a running race race report next week (and that won't be pretty!). Bryce. |
|
Sunday 8th June 2008
Escape from Alcatraz triathlon |
| Julian picked an iconic race to make his comeback: As you can imagine this is a serious race that lets you do some sightseeing as you race, so the race report will reflect this and you can skip the non-race bits if you wish as you read my first tri report since 2006! Raceday began at 0430 with a ride down to the transition at Marina Green in the dark without lights! That was a pretty hairy experience as although the streets were deserted the hills were still as steep as ever and required heavy and concentrated braking as the rucksack hit the back of my helmet each time. At least I wouldn't be wearing that in the race! Racking went smoothly and quickly as Katy, Ben, Andy and I laid out the transition before taking the bags with shoes in for the run from the swim to T1 (more on that later). Next we had to get straight onto buses to be driven along the wharf to pier 9 where we were to be bodymarked before boarding the Hornblower to be ferried to the start out by the island. Fortunately, the ocean was like a millpond at the wharf and I hoped it would stay the same for the race. After 25 minutes to load the other 1800 athletes we got underway and all stood nervously looking out the windows trying to sight the buildings that were to be used for the crossing. Despite two briefings from Joe Oakes and Gary Emick, who have over 600 crossings between them, there was still some confusion on sighting markers based on your swim estimates. They said the Sutro tower 950 metres about the city should be at 1 or 2 o'clock depending on your speed, the locals were saying to use Fort Mason, the Twin Towers, MOMA Dome and then the yacht club roofs, so there was plenty of confusion. Just before the boat started to manoeuvre into position we were treated to the sight of a seal showing off and porpoising along the side of the boat, amazing! The captain announced that we were ready in position and like lemmings we walked to the outside of the boat and got ready to throw ourselves off two by two (paratrooper style!). I was pleased to discover that the 25' drop spoken about at the briefing was kidology and that it was barely 5'! That said it was a shook to the system as we jumped in and had to swim away from the boat immediately to avoid the next swimmer dropping on our heads! The conditions were excellent with a very calm (for the Bay) sea except for the centre third where the ebbing flow made for some very high sighting. Despite my originally protesting that it was a race and I would be focused, I did what was suggested and flipped on my back for a quick glance at the island and the prison standing over us before continuing on whilst breathing to my right so that I could watch the Golden Gate bridge as I swam on. Despite the confusion with sighting points I navigated ok and even managed to come up to the beach avoiding the riptides on the rocks to the left and being swept away from the strong currents on the right. Not everyone was so lucky; Katy (who swam unsuited) was caught and swam for 15 minutes extra as she was in the current despite being local and this being her third crossing. Once on shore we had to find the bags with our shoes to run the 3/4 mile on the sidewalk to transition and the bike. Since my 33:52 swim got me out of the water in rush hour the start of the bike course was VERY congested as the ride started with two flat miles along the front before the first climb up through the Presidio and onto the coast road via some very sharp climbs and similar descents. As I had been told pre-race, it's not the course for a tri bike or race wheels. The road surface is very rough and potholed for the majority of the course and required a couple of bunny hops on my part. Despite this knowledge there were a lot of people riding on their full TT rigs and swerving all over the place, at one point I had to push a guy away, when he tried to cut back in, otherwise his cassette would have gone through my rim! The climb back by the Cliff House was great as a tailwind in each direction along the coast road, the seal bach, meant we got a free ride up the first half; sadly this did not extend up to the two blocks cliff face at Camino del mar. It did afford myself and an Irish athlete to smile wryly as we stayed seated spinning up on compacts as the others were taking uphill out of the saddle on their TT rigs! A really fun fast descent full of shouting 'left' as I flew past riders took me into the flat 2 miles at Crissy Field back to transition. Loud cheers from new friends BT and Trailbait sent me out onto the 8 mile trail run and to the infamous sand ladder! I decided that since this was my first tri since 2006 I would run as hard as possible keeping a fast turnover and forgetting the pain by counting off those that I passed. So 2 miles on the flat had me counting runners as I enjoyed the view of the GG Bridge from the land this time. We climbed up the trails to pass under the bridge and through the Presidio headlands as Andy Potts and the first 5 men came flying past on the down trail with about 12' between us! Next was a great downhill section which saw me pass 40 people in the mile from the top to the bottom and straight onto the beach, seems American runners can't do downhill any better than the Brits! Baker beach was an out and back of less than a mile but was sapping sand< even at the water's edge, and just an excuse to get us to the base of the sand ladder! So, the sand ladder. Hmm, 400 step of sand rising up to the road at the top of the headlands. Basically, think of 7' sections of telegraph poles laid 3 foot apart and just strung together with wire cables and there you have it. They move around under you and if someone heavier is on the other end you go up in the air too! Despite running it twice in training come race day I did the same as Macca and strode up pulling on the hand rail! Now it was another hill with a narrow trail so I used it to pass people where there was no space since they wouldn't! The same tactics were employed to get me back under the GG Bridge and onto the last two miles of flat but with 158 people less in front than when the run began! Ok, so 2 miles, I figured 15 minutes of pain, so I dug even deeper and kept it redlined aiming for 200 places by the finish. As we cut onto the last 1/2 mile of pavement I was up to 186 and feeling good. Most people weren't even trying to come back so I thought I would Bryce it in until a female runner decided to try and come back. A good 30 seconds of anaerobic effort saw me fail as she got pass my shoulder only for me to see that it was someone completely different! Once into the finishing chute a lot of runners did the usual surge with the energy they had saved during the race and I looked back to see if I could get a good finish photo devoid of families of strollers and eased over the line in 2:47:30. The best part of the time was that it's the same time as my local hero, Denzil Hunt, posted when he raced the Escape. This was a fantastic race which I STRONGLY recommend to everyone. So get registered for the (free) lottery when it comes up in November and enjoy an amazing experience. For Bryce the times and AG positions were: Swim:33:52 67th T1 and run: 8:02 Bike: 1:01:20 57th T2:1:49 Run:1:01:00 22nd and 37th in AG and 191 overall. Bring on the Alpe! |
|
10/06/2008
Cuba update |
| For a number of years now Synergie Coaching and it's athletes have tried to assist triathletes in Cuba - this usually consists of someone going on holiday there and carrying out a bag full of training & racing kit. Javier Clavelo Robinson is our main point of contact there and is a great guy, we have sponsored him to come and race in the UK and the guy is just a positive life force,full of energy, salsa and a little rum. Javier was in contact recently to thank the team members for taking kit out this year and told me that over 20 members of the Cuban National Senior & Junior teams benefitted from the stuff sent out this year. So well done Team Synergie |
|
Sunday 8th June 2008
Arundel Triathlon |
| Clive Agate, one of the stalwarts of Team Synergie up until last season has been back in touch and sent us through this race report on teh Arudel Triathlon - 800m swim, 38k bike & 10k run. What a lovely setting, worth getting up at 4am! My rather conservative swim estimate saw me in a lane of multi-stroke swimmers, with no lane discipline or etiquette. So i was pleased to exit in a time of 17min 23sec (no need to worry just yet Dave). A swift T1 and out on to the 2 lap bike course. Bryce you would have loved it. The first 15/20mins of each lap was all uphill(I kid you not) followed quite naturally by an equal amount of downhill with a nice dual carriage section to complete the circuit. I felt great with no sign of the cramp that plagued me at Milton Keynes and clocked 69mins. I was looking forward to the run, especially after my exploits in a local 10k road race on Wednesday. The run course is a delight passing the old corner shop and then onwards to the Trig Point with stunning views across the countryside. It's at this point i ought to say that apart from the first 2k, the rest of the course was HILLY very HILLY. I can see why Hannibal used it in preparation for crossing the Alps! - But, i have to say i felt strong throughout and managed to claw out a time 42mins 58sec. So i'm guessing like you, the course was short! A total time of 2hrs 10mins was enough to secure me 1st place in the 50+ AG and 14th overall in a field of 77. I'm off to Cornwall for a holiday and return to do battle at the Marlborough Tri on 22nd June - hopefully i may see some of you there. Clive |
|
Sunday 8th June 2008
Graham's last couple of races |
| As mentioned there were some race reports to come so here is Graham's offering for the last two weekends. Beaulieu Middle Distance - 1st June 2008 This race was a C race as far as I was concerned, which I was using as a base to see how my training was going in the lead up to The Vitruvian in September. The race itself was set in the beautiful location of Bucklers Hard near Beaulieu. Swim - 19:21 (it was a short distance due to tidal surge moving the buoys) - 3rd in my age group & 9th overall Bike - 2:25:45 for 53.50 miles - 4th in my age group & 16th overall Run - 1:47:37 for 14 miles - 10th in my age group & 72nd overall Overall time 4:32:46 - 31st overall & 10th in my age group Conclusion of this race - the swim is very good, the bike is OK & the run was crap off of the bike, so more bricks & distance work need to be done before September. Blenheim Sprint Triathlon - 8th June 2008 This was never in my race plan for the season but my Dad shoehorned me into doing it as he wanted to see Blenheim Palace. Also he did pay my entry fee so I thought that I'd go & do my first sprint event to see how fast/slow I could go. The weekend consisted of 5000 competitors in 14 Waves on Saturday & 16 Waves on Sunday & just to make life even more difficult, I was off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon when the temperature had reached 25 deg C (boy it was hot out there!!!). As well as the competitors, there was also approx 12000 visitors over the two days so picking a landmark to find the car on both days was vital. As for the swim, it was a one lap, 750mtr lake swim & we were put in the water 10mins before the start time so had a warm up & then hung onto the start buoy until the claxon went. However, I nearly had to swim over one of the canoes when the claxon went as he was right in front of me but after that I quickly found myself in the unusual position of being able to see the lead canoe, which was a bit scary. I got to the turn around buoy & found myself in second place with the leader about 10mtrs in front, so I gave a big push & we got out of the lake side by side but I managed to drop him on the very long climb up to the top of the steep hill heading towards T1. When I passed the Gatorade drink station (other energy drinks are available) & handed a cup, I to spit it back out because it had obviously been sitting on the wall heating up in the sun & tasted horrible. Yuck. Into T1 & had a quick transition & the commentator shouted that I was the first out of T1 for Wave I. Now onto the 19.5K, 3 lap bike ride around the grounds of Blenheim. The first lap was a bit cautious because we weren't allowed to ride it before the race as races were going on throughout the day from 8am to 5pm. In the second lap I was able to relax & go a bit faster but in the third lap, someone overtook me who I think was in my Wave. Now into T2 & yet again another quick transition & out onto the run up a steep man-made bridge which went over the bike & run course. The run was 5.4K, 2 lap run in undulating parkland. I seemed to run quite well but was getting a little bit hot by now & yet again only one person overtook me at the beginning of lap 2 (again, I'm not sure if he was in my Wave). He sounded like a goose being strangled but you would've had to have been there to realise what a lot of noise he was making while he was running (to save you the trouble, I know I make a lot of noise in the swim!!!!) Now into the finish to collect a big bit of bling & hopefully I'll get the results soon to see where I came, but the splits are as follows as the organisers sent me a text as soon as I had crossed the line: Swim - 12:26 Bike - 34:33 Run - 22:16 Total 1:13:19 (Stuart Hayes won the elite race in just over the hour) Overall, it was a great weekend with good racing by all & excellent weather as well. I would highly recommend it to everyone as it was a good weekend away & an opportunity to not to take your racing too seriously. |
|
08/06/2008
Weekend Updates |
| Busy weekend this weekend so no doubt we will get a couple of race reports through in due course. Graham did the Beaulieu Middle Distance race last weekend finishing 10th in his age group with a time of 4.32.41. Overall Graham was 31st out of 381 competitors. Graham will have two race reports pending as he went to the other extreme this weekend and did the Blenheim Sprint race, coming home in 1.13.19 - 750m swim 12.26, 20k bike 34.33 & 5k run in 22.16. Update the reults are now up on the Blenheim site, looks like Gra was third in his AG and 14th overall out of the 2639 male athletes that started, let's hope it wasn't a mass start!! Julian is out at the iconic Escape from Alcatraz event and if anyone wants to track him live his race number is 1276. Update - Julian finished the race in 2.47 - 35 min swim for 1.5 miles, 61 min for the 18 mile bike and 61 min for the 8 mile run including the infamous sand ladder. Melissa is out at Vancouver at the World Triathlon Championships where the air temp is about 10 degrees and the lake is not much warmer. Due to the weather conditions only half the female AG field did a triathlon, after that it became a duathlon with a 3k run replacing the swim for the rest of the athletes. Looks like it was a pretty brutal day at the office. Update - Looks like Melissa did 2.23.09 for the 1100m swim, 40k bike & 10k run -no split times are up on the ITU website yet. |
|
Thursday 29th May 2008
Moreton Kermesse |
| Here is Bryce's latest instalment - With my resting HR back within 5 beats (just) but still with a nose running for England (more so than for I am !) I did my first hard effort back last night at the Kermesse in what was the strongest field yet. The sporting year so far really has been an annus horribilis so I wasn't expecting too much here. Nonetheless, despite struggling on the first few laps, some tweaking of the bike during the week improved my handling massively on my cornering. This gave me a bit of confidence and I decided I would chance the bunch sprint finish. Unfortunately, going into the last corner I was till 30 odd riders back and boxed in but with a 100m to go the peleton all fed to the left hand side as it strung out into a line and the option presented itself. I went down the right hand hedgeline gutter on my own (with no lead out) to then get involved in a 3 way drag race style sprint. I made a few errors with my gearing but Man flu or not, it came down to max horsepower so I pulled through vet elite mountain biker Roland Tilley and ex GB team rider Stu Bowers to win by 5 metres. Bearing in mind I'm still in no mans land with respect to my key races in the first half of the season it's not much of a consolation, but a wins a win ! Bryce. |
|
20th May 2008
Bryce's build up |
| The penultimate week before my first peak of the year. I did the a3crg club 10m TT event which was being held on the course I'll race on at the national champs this Sunday. I wanted to nail the turns and the roundabouts rather than completely exhaust myself. Either way it was the most competitive event I'd been at all year with 60 riders, 3 pro teams and a TTing who's who all showing up to practise the course. In the end I came 13th and the numbers looked good (circa 440w for the majority)although unfortunately I accidentally deleted them from my meter so we'll never know. All things considered, a bit of ignorance about what shape I'm in may not be a bad thing as by now it's too late to worry about it. The day after I headed down to Moreton for my weekly tempo ride at the criterium. This weeks pace was a little more competitive and early on I struggled a bit but due to fading light the event was shortened meaning we could not catch the slow group in time. Either way, the bunch finish happened as per normal but this week was more of a drag race than an organised sprint with lots of us hammering side by side. Much more of a question of horsepower rather than tactical nous. I put in a hard last kilo to win our groups sprint overhauling a rogue rider with a throw of the bike. Pleasing but gutted we did not catch the slow group otherwise that would have been my first win of the year. It's now taper time and having set a few good interval PB's in training in the last one or two weeks I'm about as good as I can get. How good we'll know on Sunday but it's worth noting that despite my 20:45 entry time, that still only saw me ranked 72nd fastest out of the 150 that have qualified for nationals. The slowest rider got in on a 21:55. Bryce. Coach Note - Bryce has struggled all this week with a heavy cold and was talking about taking the sensible option and not racing, we'll keep you posted. |
|
Sunday 11th May 2008
2008 European Triathlon Championships |
| Here is Dave Pratten, European Bronze Medallist's take on the race. Sorry for delay in writing this but I have had a hectic week including moving house on Thursday. Matt has described the course so I will just describe my race. The swim was a bit crowded with all age groupers 50 or over together. With 96 line up in a narrow start zone my first target was a sprint start for some clear water. I achieved this and had an incident free swim. This was my first competition since my eye operation and it does help being able to see marker buoys! I exited the water in sixth place to be greeted with the support of the Synergie crew Scott, Di, Matt, Lou, Kev and Sally(latter two are associate team members). The bike was a bit of a drag..windy,drizzly and a bit long(45km)..the good news was that not many went past me and I didn't fall off on the wet cobbles. The run was two out and back laps. Great support from various Brits including the Synergie crew and fellow team members. Throughout the run I tried to gauge my placing by spotting race numbers and where these were not visible guessing athletes ages. I knew that nobody from my age group had gone past me on the run and figured I was in the top six but they didn't give you times and results at the finish. Being among the first home meant I could have a post race massage within minutes of finishing and followed by a double espresso and custard tart. I ate this in a waterside cafe watching Matt zoom past on the run, he is quick, imagine what he will do when he starts to train seriously. I didn't find out my result until several hours later when Di phoned me. At first I couldn't believe it. So here are the details: 3rd in my age group First Brit in my age group and the one below. Overall time 2:29:32,swim 21:25,T1 1:50,bike 1:21:21,T2 1:23, run 43:04. It was great to stand on the podium with the Union flag around my shoulders, receive the medal and to get a kiss from Rosa Mota the 1998 Olympic marathon champion. I was chuffed to bits and still am. Here's the Oscar acceptance style speech bit. (Pause for applause! Clutch medal to chest. Kiss it, Wipe away tear.) Big thanks to Scott and Di from whom I have learned so much about the sport and who have supported encouraged me through good and bad times. Most recently when my eye condition threatened my future in triathlon (I literally couldn't see me continuing to race). Special big thanks to Sally for literally picking me up after two bike spills, cleaning the kit,and putting up with the early wake up calls for training and races, the bike in the bedroom, the wetsuit in the bathroom(I like to keep dry under the shower) and all the rest of it. Ta also to Synergie and GB team mates for messages of support and congratulations. ...and to my late dad,my role model in life and sporting inspiration.(I would wipe away genuine tears but he would think I was a woos for crying.) Dave |
|
Sunday 11th May 2008
2008 European Triathlon Championships |
| Here is Matt's take on the event; Hi all, I am sure Dave's race report is the one we all want to hear about (medallist - phenomenal) but as I have been asked for my report of Lisbon by a couple of you - here goes! Sunday morning got the metro over to the race start where I bumped into the team manager and his team (Di, Lou and Kev). Scott was in yet another unusual location for the benefit of getting 'that perfect shot' but I shan't go on about his commitment to photography. His best photo was probably a simple close up of Vanessa Fernandes - she even smiled for him after being instructed but he can tell you all about that. My start time was pretty late at 10:05 so I watched Dave doing the swim and exiting transition out onto the bike. If only I could swim like that...I then watched with Lou and Kev plus Dan the bike mechanic about 20 minutes of the most hilarious attempts at T1 that I have ever seen, it was carnage!! Cyclists blocking the road, taking shoes off, slipping on the cobbles, falling off bikes into the fencing it was pure comedy but it then hit me, was this going to happen to me? My wave involved 89 guys who started but it was quite a bun fight as Scott calls it, even for a slow swimmer like me who started quite near the back. I don’t know what 1500 people at Wimbleball is going to be like next month!! I was kicked a few times, elbowed, swum into etc. but I quite enjoyed it until I exited the swim to discover that my watch was lost in the melee - nooooo!!. I was now running scared with no idea of time. The swim was an M shape, the water was quite warm and clear so not too bad at all. Then into T1 up the slipway covered by the glorious blue carpet grab my bike and head for the cobbles. No problems for me thankfully and it was time to play catch up. The bike course was supposed to be 2 x pan flat 20km out and back loops however this was not strictly the case. Each lap was in fact 22km and there was a strong headwind coupled with one long hill at the end of the out section so this didn't particularly help me in my quest for a quick Olympic distance time. On the first lap I caught a group of 3 guys who were working together (2 x Portuguese and a Spaniard) so I rode with them for a while but as we came in to go under the stadium and back out onto the second lap the leader headed for transition and the rest of us followed. I didn’t go too far, probably cost me a few seconds but when some of the crowd shouted 3 of us realised but a Portuguese guy just carried on. I noticed several others making the same mistake as I exited the stadium area and on lap 2 a sign was erected pointing to transition - hmm 1 lap too late. Anyhow only 1 bike went by me during the bike leg and I was overtaking riders from my wave as well as other age groupers so that felt good - For Bryce’s benefit the bike that went by was a rather nice looking Cheetah with a guy in an aero helmet - I thought of you Bryce. Into T2 I was pretty quick here, didn't quite manage Scott's 7 seconds from bike racking to out but my T2 time wasn't too bad. The run was 2 x 5 km out and back loops along a flat concrete path interspersed with small rows of cobbles. I found that I could jump these perfectly by using a stride pattern of 5 strides then jump the cobbles. The path ran along the waters edge with the Vasco de Gama bridge as a backdrop. I took one quick look at this but that was about it as I was constantly overtaking runners. Only 1 guy overtook me during this leg and I came back and overtook him just before the finish chute so that was pleasing. Scott gave me some vocal encouragement on the way out - some comment about doing no run training but it kinda worked. My splits were: swim 28:04 (76th) T1 1:51 (54th) bike 1:16:47 (36th) T2 00:58 (10th) run 37:15 (19th) TOTAL 2:24:55 (44th) I was reasonably pleased with my race overall but I know my swim needs some serious work, I lost a lot of places because of this in fact more than 10 mins on the leaders. However I totally loved the experience milling around in GB kit and I would recommend it to anyone who is yet to do it. Thanks to Scott, Di, Lou, Kev, Dave and anyone I have missed for enhancing the experience in Lisbon. I look forward to catching up with you all soon. Kind Regards Matt p.s Come on Dave tell us all how it should be done!! |
|
Sunday 11th May 2008
2008 European Triathlon Championships, Lisbon |
| 2008 European Triathlon Championships, Lisbon, Portugal. Over 1000 athletes from 20 different Countries raced this year’s European Championships. Team GB took out a team of 153 athletes, 40% larger than the team that went to Copenhagen last year, given the size of the field the competition was always going to be tough – particularly in some of the men’s age groups where Spain & Portugal appeared to have blatantly ignored the 20 athletes per age group rule. Transition area was in a large covered space, easily accessible from the swim and with a bike out & bike in exit that you could cycle up to – so very little running to be done. The swim was in a dock area, very clean water and some huge, jumping fish!! It was a M shaped swim with 4 x 180º degree turns, there were 13 waves with approximately 100 athletes per wave so it was always going to be a bun fight through the first two or three bouys. The bike course was a little bit technical to start with, nine 90º degree turns – on cobblestones – in the first 400m before a blast straight up and down a dual carriageway. This was to be done twice. Race info supplied by the organisers showed the course as fast & flat, however that related to the Elite’s course whereas the AG course had a long drag up to the turnaround point. Dave took great delight in telling the other athletes that all my courses were described as fast & flat – a phrase I use to describe the Winchester 10k course – so I am now receiving hate mail about the bike course!! The run was also a two lap affair, now whoever said that you can’t get lost on a two lap, out & back course should have come to Lisbon. To be fair the marshalling and signage was poor but athletes still took the wrong turn on the bike & run courses. It was a great venue to race in and Lisbon has a real good feel about it as a place and the feedback to date is that the team athletes enjoyed the experience – and didn’t they do well. 25-29 Gold Emma- Kate Lidbury, Silver Jacquie Slack & four Top 10 finishers. Emma was the overall race winner in a time of 2.14.55. 35-39 Silver Shona Forrest, Bronze Lisa Greenfield and four Top 10 finishers. 40-44 five Top 10 finishers. 45-49 Gold Juliet Vickery, Bronze Jo Crotch and eight Top 10 finishers. 50-54 Silver Liz Clegg, Bronze Julie Williams and four Top 10 finishers. 55-59 Bronze Rani Sinniah 65-69 Gold Carol Killick. 18-19 Bronze James Sedgewick, two Top 10 finishers. 20-24 Bronze Phillip Fishwick 25-29 Gold Alex Lewis 30-34 Gold Chris Stuart, Silver Richard Legge, five Top 10 finishers. 35-39 Gold Richard Wilder, Silver Euan Lees, three Top 10 finishers. 40-44 One Top 10 finisher. 45-49 One Top 10 finisher. 50-54 One Top 10 finisher. 55-59 Bronze Dave Pratten, four Top 10 finishers. 60-64 Bronze Michael Smallwood, six Top 10 finishers. 65-69 Two Top 10 finishers. 70-74 Bronze Arnott Kidd. 75-79 Gold Peter Howard. AWAD Dave Corrigan finished Top 10. Sprint Race Gold Paula Caplan. (Not ETU) ETU Championships Medal Tally 7 golds, 5 silver, 7 bronzes and 54 Top 10 finishes in total – not a bad day at the office!! For those that have too much time on their hands then go and have a look at the photos http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/synergiecoaching.com/AGRace2008EuropeanChamps http://picasaweb.google.com/synergiecoaching.com/2008EurosElite http://picasaweb.google.com/synergiecoaching.com/LisbonHoliday02 |
|
Thursday 8th May 2008
Moreton Kermesse 1 |
| I decided to bring some road racing back in to sort out my bike handling (and my current inability to get round corners). It was the usual 10 laps of the triangular course over about 75 minutes. The group I was in was hopelessly disorganised and not helped when we got held up by a cow in the road (on two separate laps !) but I felt I had good legs and have had a decent last 2-3 weeks of training. I later hatched an agreement with a couple of local TT aces that we would go off on our own with about a mile to go but the pace got ratcheted up too high I felt, so it was going to come down to a bunch sprint. I had decided to lead out a friend of mine (who needed a result more than I did) but despite my cornering being questionable, my position in the final bunch sprint at wheel 6 or 7 was perfect. The peleton was quite tidy for a change but apparently there was some elbowing going on behind to get on my wheel. One rider decided to chance going earlier and this started to fragment the front. I went with 300m to go to try and get the lone rider back but just fell short (but still slungshot my friend to 2nd). I took 3rd overall. My only disappointment was that I still can't control the bike well enough to sprint out the saddle full tilt at 40mph. It's a practise thing but the fact remains I have the power to go far harder but I'm not sure I have the ability to control myself safely enough..... Bryce |
|
Sunday 4th May 2008
New Forest Triathlon |
| New Forest Tri: 04/05/08 1.1kS, 20.6M bike, 6.4M run Not the best day out I’ve had but it didn’t really start out too well – I was sick Friday night and felt pants most of Saturday, then spent Saturday night lying awake wondering if Elliot had crashed out at the party he went to or if he was lying in a ditch somewhere on the way home. As it turned out he had fallen into a cider induced sleep in an armchair, apparently getting more sleep than I did. So when my alarm went off at 4.30am on Sunday morning, I was not feeling too great! Due to the warm spring we’ve had (not), it was a bit touch and go whether the swim was going ahead as the lake was still very cold. Fortunately it had warmed up enough in the week for the full distance to be done, which pleased me as I prefer a longer swim. Got in for a warm up – oh my, how cold?! My face went numb instantly and suddenly I wasn’t so sure that wanting the full distance was such a good idea! I was so glad I put on a neoprene hat. Richard decided to have a mass start so people didn’t get cold hanging around after warming up. I rather bravely / foolishly decided to seed myself at the back of the fast wave and to the right which wasn’t a bad spot as I didn’t really get bashed – it was a bit tight at the first buoy but ok. After the first main turnaround buoy, I found my rhythm, my breathing settled and I went into” turbo mode”. There was clear water, with one person to my right who I made myself keep up with. My hands were numb by the end and I was struggling to feel the water but I found myself close to quite a lot of the fast wave coloured hats so was pleased with. T1 would have been ok but in my wimpish old age, I stopped to put on a top only I couldn’t get it on as I was too wet. I wish I hadn’t bothered as it turned out quite warm on the bike. The bike started off ok and it was rather novel riding across the top of the forest to Fordingbridge with the wind behind us. I had to ease off a few times so as not to get caught up in a drafting situation, although some others didn’t seem to be playing by the rules. Got to Godshill when the legs suddenly stopped working, with nothing to give. Still not entirely sure why, which is rather annoying, although I now have a few possible theories. T2 was not my best either. I put my right shoe on but my foot was so cold that felt like the orthotic was scrunched up so I took the shoe off again to check but it was fine. I then dropped my gel and had to pick it up, by which point I was cursing myself! The start of the run was quite bamby-like due to numb feet and it took a while to find my run legs which is unusual for me. I eventually managed to pick up some sort of pace but it was a pretty atrocious run all in all, although a nice off-road route. Initial reaction was slightly disappointed, but on reflection I have drawn some useful information from it, and it was a good early season test against a quality field. Finished 11th female out of 62, 4th in age group out of 14. Swim = 20.35 (16th female / 3rd AG) Bike = 1.04.06 (8th female / 4th AG) – actual time was 1:01:17 but there was a long run from transitions to mount / dismount Run = 48.23 (18th female / 6th AG) Total time = 2.13.06 Off to Portugal tomorrow to see how it should be done.. think I'll stick with my long course lolloping Lou. |
|
3rd May 2008
Melissa's Update |
| Here is a quick update from Melissa; I’ve just sat down to put a race update on an email after 2 weeks away in Lanzarote and a ridiculously busy couple of weeks penance in the office!! That said, things have been going really well in preparation for the 1st A-priority race (Vancouver) which is going to be here before I know it. Lanzarote gave me 2 solid weeks training, over 500km each week on the bike (riding in Lanza is constantly "up" and at least 50% of each ride is guaranteed to be "into the wind"), 2 x 110km mountainous time trials (actually the second one turned out to be 130km cause someone did really well navigating the first 96km then took one tiny wee wrong turn, oops la, la, la!!) 2 half marathons (week 2 I ran the course 4 mins faster with my average heart rate 1 beat lower!), 2 triathlons plus various track sessions, off road runs, brick sessions, daily swim sets, the works! On the mid-camp change over day (some did 1 week only), the choice on the schedule was "Rest or ride the Ironman course"...so what could I do?! I was a bit nervous as I was the only person taking the latter option who wasn't training to actually do one in the next month or 2. However, I ended up having a fantastic, if challenging day out and have subsequently put my name down to race the whole damn thing next May...bring it on! ;) Since I have been home I have received a barrage of abuse for being too brown...oh and I’ve done a few races too!! 2 days after coming home I rode a local Sportive, I have raced 2 evening sprint duathlons (won both) and on Sunday did the Bank Holiday Du (won that too). I was pleased with my run times especially - averaging 5.41 min miles on run one and 5.50 on run 2. After my disastrous time over the winter, I think I’m finally getting some form back. Whilst on a roll, I jumped into the "Pednor 5" road race last night and came home as 3rd lady in 32.58. My legs were a bit achy from Sunday but once I got going I felt pretty comfortable. Great route in beautiful countryside, the 1st 2 miles are flat, then mile 3 is all "up", mile 4 is rolling then the last mile is a steep descent so a good mix of everything there. Hope you are all well and best of luck to those who are off to Lisbon Melissa x |
|
Sunday 27th April 2008
Sandie Randford Memorial Road Race |
| If it's to do with bikes then it must be Bryce - I’m into the final month pre first peak now and I’d backed off TT racing completely as I wasn’t happy with the return but I have drafted in a few road races to sort my bike handling out and give me a slightly more interesting tempo session to get on with. This was a 60km 3 loop affair over rolling roads but with a sting in the tail of a final small loop which involved a monster climb which was tackled twice and nearly a mile or two in length. The impression I took was that it would be a peleton roll around seasoned with a few doomed breakaways and then a mad dash for survival up the climb twice. That said, 4 riders went clear from the gun (2 we brought back but the other two were elites that were long gone). I’ll be honest; I’d been training on the turbo at midnight the night before and didn’t have the legs for anything other than a tempo session so over the first 90 minutes I probably wasn’t seen very much. Come the last climb though and I started moving up towards the front with the view that I was pretty heavy compared to the specialists and better to be at the front and slip back then to be at the back and get dropped completely. As the climb steepened (and we all started running out of gears) the peleton soon got shredded from about 70 down to half that as we tackled the final small loop before we had to do it one last time. On the last climb the 30 or so of us that remained started the last desperate push and it was at this point that I again moved up into the top group and was in select company. On my left was current 12 hour TT national champ Eamonn Deane and I was being led out by (and resplendent in rainbow jersey) current Paralympics World Champ Darren Kenny. As we hit the last gradient my tyres started slipping (yes, it was that steep !) but I held on for 11th overall. I started my ‘sprint’ too far back and too late but that’s the difference between a bunch sprint and an uphill finish. Considering my size it wasn’t a bad showing. An unspectacular but satisfying endeavour over 2 hours |
|
20th April 2008
Matt's Updates |
| Swindon duathlon - 6/4/08 Not much to add to Gra's report really, was very cold with snow on the ground but tropical by comparison to Steyning i hear! My bike handling skills could definitely do with improving as there were 5 laps each with 4 U turns i think and I don't think I was particularly quick around any of these. That will teach me for training in the recent bad weather on an old mountain bike. The timing chip method used here left a lot to be desired also with 3 x squares of velcro being stuck to a wristband and each of these had to be affixed to a towel on a table at each transition. When wearing gloves, having v. cold fingers and a long sleeve top this became one of the most difficult aspects of the race!! I did learn that the 2nd run is an absolute killer and it felt like the longer run of the race (10km not 5km). Well done Gra and Melissa for taking these events on, think I need some extra training before any more duathlons are attempted. Did 2:08 and had I registered for the worlds (thankfully i didn't) I missed out on the 6th qualification place by 1 age group place (3 positions overall) and 23 seconds. Frenchay 10km - 20/4/08 600 hundred odd in the field and I turned up thinking this was gonna be a flat race and the opportunity for a good pb. BIG MISTAKE, there were several hills and one stonker to finish, the course record is only apparently 33 mins so gives an idea that its hilly, should have done some research I suppose although sometimes ignorance is bliss... I started what I thought was slowly in about 20th-25th place and gradually picked off several of the leading runners during the race. I had been away in Spain for 10 days running at altitude in the mountains and around a running track up there and I think this helped. Felt good for most of the race and eventually ran the last 5-6km with one other guy each of us taking turns to lead when the other started flagging although nothing was discussed it just worked out like that to keep chasers at bay. I eventually left him with about 1/2 km to go for a new pb, although it was only my 2nd 10km ever and my first was run when i was injured so hopefully this can be further improved upon. Position 6th overall in 37:24, 2 mins off the winning time. Mile splits 5:49, 5:50, 6:12, 6:07, 6:04, 5:57, 1:35 last 400m. Max HR 192 |
|
Sunday 20th April 2008
Winchester Triathlon |
| Dave was racing at this one - This was my first triathlon of 2008 and intended as a 'warm up' and transition practice prior to ETU championships in Lisbon. I was a little apprehensive before the start as I had only recently recovered from a calf injury picked up at the last training day (I blame 30cm side jumps). The swim was uneventful as was the long gravelly run from pool to bike. The next bit between rack and mount line was more problematic as I managed to get stuck behind a motorised buggy the driver apparently oblivious of the fact that there was a triathlon taking place. The bike was an undulating affair up and back along the A33 dual carriageway. By the time I arrived at the turnround an ambulance was picking up a damaged (not life threatening)cyclist who had had a brush with a car. T2 went smoothly enough and the run felt comfortable. I finished in good shape physically and have had no reaction from calf. Overall time 1:46:29, 68th out of 284 finishers (event was full) and 2nd in my age group. |
|
20/04/2008
Who's at the majors? |
| Well the team has been training and in some cases racing hard already and we are just about to start the triathlon season. As well as racing individual sports and local triathlons there are always a number of major races that tend to get the athletes attentions, so if all goes to plan you will find team members as some of the “biggies” Age Group Championships. National Duathlon Championships, Milton Keynes 13th April. Graham Starmer. National Triathlon Championships, Wakefield 6th July. Claire Fraser Middle Distance Championships, Vitruvian 6th September. Louise Gould Melissa Arkinstall Graham Starmer International Age Group Championships. European Triathlon Championships, Lisbon. 11th May Matt Langdon Dave Pratten. World Triathlon Championships, Vancouver 6th June.< |