National Club Relays 2012

This weekend was my last Triathlon for 2012 & what a fantastic event it was to end my season.

7 Triathlons done since April, I hadn't even thought about doing one this time last year.
Of the list of challenges I set myself for this year I only have two left now.

 'The Great Barrow Challenge" & Norwich Half Marathon http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz

Did no training really last week following the Ely middle distance Tri. I had been suffering with a dodgy knee & ankle, so good to rest them a bit. Bike rides were only to work & back.

Monday - 2 mile bike
Tuesday - 2 mile bike
Wednesday - 2 mile bike & 1 mile swim
Thursday - 2 mile bike
Friday - 2 mile bike
Sunday - Club Relays

National Club Relays - http://www.onestepbeyond.org.uk/national-club-relay-champs.php

Finished work early on the Friday & set off to Nottingham around 4pm. Arrived at Holme Pierrepont at 7pm, located the Tri Anglia gazebo & set up our weekend home.
Campsite was good with decent facilities, although they did run out of water a couple of times & the toilet block had a couple of floods due to volume of usage.
There wasn't much space between tents as we were crammed in, in true festival style.

Trianglia members continued to arrive till around 10.30pm, a few of us then went down to the water centre to set up another club gazebo for the next days event. Rain throughout the night & the best part of a bottle of red led to a good nights sleep.

Woke up around 6 ish, fry up & coffee for Arleya & me. I wasn't competing on the Saturday but was off to support the other club members. We had 4 teams on Saturday, one mixed & 3 ladies teams.

T1 & swim

First to start were the mixed teams. Becky, Kate, Tony & Ian were representing Trianglia & they had a fantastic race, finishing 8th out of the BTF clubs. The ladies then had to rest up as they were in a female team on Saturday afternoon. Amazing, i struggle to even walk for a couple of days after I've done one sprint Tri.

Even though they raced in the morning, the girls still managed a brilliant 10th place finish in the afternoon. Need to appreciate that they were also competing against British Elite triathletes in this competition.

Woman's swim start

Weather was sunny & really hot for most of the day but we had the occasional downpour. One was particularly heavy & included some bonus big lumps of hail to sting the poor cyclists out on the course. The other two teams also had a great time with PB's being broken.

Sunday, men's race day. We had 6 teams competing. Breakfast was a couple of bowls of crunchy nut cornflakes & numerous cups of coffee.

Got my bike out, unscrewed the dust cap & the inside of the valve popped out. grrr, good start. Managed to screw it back in & pump up the tyres. Although it was niggling me now, thinking it could pop out again during the race. Should have replaced the tube really. All was good though.

Registration was at 8.45am with race start at 10.15am. Only Stan & myself were here from our team so we couldn't register yet. Headed down to the venue & found our other team members. Registered & sorted out what order we were going in.
1 - Stan
2 - Ian
3 - Me
4 - Jonathon

So for those who don't know how it works, this is what happens (skip this bit if you were there yesterday). Stan swims first wearing a rubber band. He finishes the swim & passes the band to Ian & so on. Stan & I  had discussed a plan of doing a MoBot to identify each other. Soon discovered this wasn't going to work as loads of teams were doing a MoBot as a signal.

When Jonathon comes in, he passes the band to Stan, who's bike is racked at the swim exit. You then cycle 3 laps of Holme Pierrepont, come in to T1, rack your bike & hand the band to cyclist 2, & so it goes on.

Cyclist 4 (Jonathon) then passes the band to Stan who starts his run from T1. he does one lap of the lake & hands the band to Ian in T2. The final runner then completes one circuit & carries the band down the finishing tunnel & over the line. Did that make sense?

So, I took the band from Ian & entered the water. Bonus of not starting first is not having to deal with a mass start, negative is you don't have chance to acclimatise. My plan was to do about 20 metres breaststoke to get used to the water then front crawl the rest.

Started to plan but again i went too quick on the FC & found i couldn't get a breath properly so had to revert to breastroke again around half way. Once I'd had a word with myself  i got into a relaxed front crawl & finished the final 300 metres comfortably. Handed the band to Jonathon then i headed back to the gazebo to get ready for my bike leg.

Bonus with the relay is you have a break in between disciplines. Only one team member could be in transition at a time so I had too wait for Ian to leave T1 before i could rack my bike. Got my bike ready & waited till i saw Ian come past on his first lap.

Bike racked & stood in the pack waiting for Ian to come in.

Ian hands me the band in T1

The bike leg as amazing, first time I've raced on a closed road. You leave T1 like your coming out of an F1 pit lane (not quite as quick), keeping to the right as riders are already flying round the course on their various laps. The first bit is past the bulk of spectators who are cheering & shouting, it was such a buzz. It's true about support from crowds, it makes you go harder.

Course was great, heading in an anti clockwise direction it got a bit narrow down the far end of the lake on the left handers & you had to make sure non of the fast boys were not coming round you if you were overtaking. Coming round the bends near the swim start then back up the spectator straight again gave you a boost hearing the cheering & shouting.

Starting another lap

Into T1 & rack the bike

  

                          

Band handover to Jonathon. I put it so far up his arm it was nearly round his neck

Part deux completed

Ave a MoBot

I now had a good hour before my run leg so took my bike back to the gazebo & changed in to running shoes etc. Race nutrition so far had just been a gel before each stage plus drinking ISO drink all day. Didn't bother drinking on the bike as i knew i had the break after.

Run went well (for me) didn't get a PB but it was my second all time best. Felt the most comfortable I've done for ages on a run.

Final stage of the run passing the trianglia cheerleaders

My splits for the race were

500m swim - 14.51 min (PB)
15k cycle - 24.27 min (PB)
5k run - 25.04 min

There are 141 pictures of the event & all Trianglia members on 'The Ironman Journey' facebook page. Some great pics, well worth a look.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/

It was a brilliant weekend. Great for racing & getting to know other club members.

It is up there as one of my top Triathlon highlights of the year. I would strongly recommend to anyone who is not in a club, join one & put this in your diary for next year.

That's all for this week folks. Will increase the training this week, although running may be an issue as my ankle is quite painful after yesterday.

Happy Training




Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journey

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/

Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP=

My charity page for event listings & making a donation

http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz


The allotment Journey Blog

http://allotmentjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Ely Monster Triathlon 2012

Well, another first accomplished this weekend with the completion of the Ely Half Ironman distance Triathlon.
Hard to believe I've done it when i look back through my blog for this year. First dualathon, First sprint triathlon, First century ride, learnt to swim front crawl, longest non stop run of 90 minutes & now First Half Ironman. Feel quite proud of myself.

Will give a full race report in a bit, just do a quick run through of this weeks training, eased off completely due to the weekends activity

Tuesday - 2 hr 30 min bike ride
Wednesday - 30 min run
Thursday - 1hr bike ride
Sunday - Ely Triathlon

Race report - http://monsterracing.net/triathlon2012.html

Went down to Ely at 12pm on the Saturday as we were camping for the weekend. Registered as soon as i got there & set up camp. Transitions were open till 6pm. T1 was at the camp site but we had to go for a bit of a trek out to T2 to drop off the running gear. Sorted all that out by 5pm & relaxed for the rest of the day.

Race start was 7am so got up at 5am to go check my bike & lay out my T1 gear. For breakfast i ate a bowl of cornflakes, two bananas & drank 2 cups of coffee. I also started necking water as the days temp was expected to exceed 30 degrees.

6.15am we headed off to the swim start, this  involved walking the length of the swim course. There was a bag drop off just before the start for you to leave your shoes etc. These were later returned to your T1 spot. Drank an ISO drink on the way & ate the first of many gels.

Seemed to be a bit of faffing at the start & so it was a bit after 7am by the time everyone had got in the water. Was a bit tricky getting in the river, god knows what my feet were sinking into, but once in it was lovely.

I manoeuvred right to the back of the pack on the far side, one so i didn't get biffed, two as i know i would be one of the slowest swimmers & didn't want to get in anyones way.

So, off we went. Learnt from previous mass starts about going off too quick, so i casually went off at the same pace i would normally do at my Wednesday Whit lane open water sessions. Loved the swim down the river, went past lots of old long boats etc. You then swam past the exit point for an out and back round a giant space hopper. There was a safety guy paddling  right next to me on a surf board so i assumed i was at the back of the pack. Started to get thoughts that i wouldn't make the cut off but just plodded on at the same pace regardless.

Got back to the pontoon & was helped out, looked at my watch, 51 minutes. Chuffed already, fastest swim I'd done & the furthest I'd ever swam front crawl. Not tired or out of breath at all.

Mind you, i was the 231st person to exit the water out of 234

1.2 mile scenic swim

It was then time to negotiate the wobbly pontoon, across the wobbly planks then up the bank & through a woody bit & down into to T1. Feeling great & even had time to do a MoBot.

MoBot

Took a bit of extra time in T1 as the distance was a lot further than i had ever done. Ate a banana, stuffed 4 gels in my pocket. Shoes & socks on then covered myself in suncream ready for the expected days heatwave.

Banana time

Bonus of being a slow swimmer, loads of room in T1 :-)

Leaving T1 for the 56 mile ride

Bike ride was great. Nice and flat, it was pretty much all on main roads but marshalls did a great job slowing & at times even stopping traffic. This was the longest ride i would have ever done in a tri suit & i had been a bit concerned about ass pain. This fear came true with the pain in the backside feeling arriving after just 30 minutes. However, after a bit of jiggling, this vanished after another 15 minutes.

Ate a gel each hour & one just before i came into T2, also had a flap jack after 2 hours. Here's the route. http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/168626061
There was a little loop to do which involved a horrible bumpy road so glad we didn't have to go round that more than once.
Nobody passed me on the cycle stage, probably because there were only 3 people behind me after the swim :-) I overtook at least 10. Steady 17 mph average, still felt good as i came into T2 although my knee was starting to ache a bit. Also experienced a bit of lower back ache which i think was due to the extended time i had spent on the aero bars.

Transition to bike. Took my time again, ate another banana & drank a load more ISO drink. Left transition area & made use of the portaloo which cost me a couple of minutes queue time. Sun was right up & temperature must have been touching the 30's.

Set off a bit quick & covered the first mile in around 7 minutes (very quick for me), i think this was my downfall as i was suddenly shot from 2 miles on & the half marathon turned into a run walk which i was a bit disappointed with. Baking hot now, i made use of every feed station, pouring bottles water over my head trying to cool down, drank loads of the running energy drinks on offer. I also ate 3 gels during the run.

Got to about 6 miles & some lovely locals had set up their hosepipe so it sprayed water across the road. Stood in it for a good 30 seconds, think it's the best shower I've ever had. Felt invigorated after that and so my pace & running bursts increased. Turnround at the half way point & headed back. Completing the tri in under 7 hours was looking promising. Stopped for another shower on the way back, trainers were now rather squelchy.

Knee & ankle were starting to hurt in the last few miles but i knew i would get sub 7 hours even if i had to walk the rest so this thought spurred me on to run even more. Came in at 6 hours 40 mins, well under my 7 hours 30 min goal. I finished 201st out of 234.

Split times were

Swim 51.51 mins
T1 3.51 mins
Cycle 3 hrs 10 mins
T2 2.32 mins
Run 2 hrs 32 mins

Overall 6 hours 40 mins

Great event, would recommend it to anyone

Having a rest for the week now, may pop out for a little bike ride & swim at some point during the week. National Club Triathlon Relays at Nottingham coming up this weekend which i'm looking forward to. I'm racing on Sunday but going up Friday to camp & support the club on Saturday as well.

And that will be the end of my first Triathlon season.

Happy training


Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journeyhttps://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/

Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP

My charity page for event listings & making a donation
http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz

The allotment Journey Blog
http://allotmentjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Get back on track

What a fantastic few weeks i've had. Olympic road races, day at the Olympic park, a week at Butlins (well we love it).

Training has gone a bit off track & i have certainly over indulged with bad food this past week. Fried breakfast everyday, a vast variety of cake & other delights on a daily basis. A tad too much alcohol on two evenings. Probably leave a weigh in for a a week or so.

Anyway, back on track from tomorrow in my preperation for the biggest event of my journey so far. Not rode a bike in over a week, so looking forward to getting out on that again.

The ECF middle distance Triathlon (Half Ironman) next Sunday.

This involves the following distances for those that dont know

• 1.9km swim
• 90km bike
• 21km run

The whole event needs to be completed within the following running clock time limit

	Swim		1 hour 10 minutes
	Bike		5 hours 30 minutes
	Run		8 hours 30 minutes

Heres the link if anyone fancies popping along to support or even take part
http://www.monsterracing.net/triathlon2012.html

So heres last weeks training, yep, i managed a feeble amount

Tuesday - 20 min swim
Wednesday - 30 min swim & 34 min run
Thursday - Walk 2 mile - Open water swim 16 min
Friday - Open water Swim 30 min
Saturday - 1 hour run
Sunday - Hangover

Open water swims were in the sea without wetsuit. Felt totally comfortable. Swam most of it front crawl with no probs. I can just switch between both strokes now without any issues. In fact, love doing front crawl now, even like swimming which i never thought i'd say.

Once Sundays event is out of the way i will be concentrating on cycling ready for The Great Barrow Challenge. I will still run & swim a couple of times a week.

No event pics for you but i've selected some photo's from our recent travels. Sorry FB friends, you will have already seen these.

The Baxters

We arrived at 9am just in time for Velodrome action

Velodrome

National Anthems Aus v Can

 

   

 

National Anthems. GB v Aus

Team GB came back from 3-0 down to draw

 

We stayed in the park to watch Bolt win the 100m final

Time to go home

 The Olympic experience has to be up there as one of the best moments in my life.

Thats it for now then, full Ely race report next weekend.

Happy training



Join the Facebook Group - The Ironman Journeyhttps://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/287319678021088/

Say hello on the Fatman to Ironman forum
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=&UTN=191464&last=1&V=1&SP=

My charity page for event listings & making a donation
http://www.bmycharity.com/clearseaz

The allotment Journey Blog
http://allotmentjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Olympic fun

Just a quick update as i'm currently on holiday, sat in Hotshots bar at Butlins in Bognor Regis. Awaiting the start of the mens Olympic Triathlon where i'm oping to witness a Brownlee Brothers Gold & Silver.

Had a fantastic day on Sunday at the Olympic village, what an experience. Watched a couple of basketball games, USA v China & Austrailia then mens Hockey. GB v Austrailia. Never watched a Hockey game before but wow, exciting stuff. GB 3-0 down to come back and tie. Great atmosphere, you'd have thought you were at a world cup final.

I'll post some pics up once i get home next week.

Training

Monday - 2 mile bike
Tuesday - 91 min run & 1 hr bike
Wednesday - 1 hr open water swim. Managed a new PB of  around 1600m non stop front crawl. Took 46 mins as well so on target for next weeks half Ironman. 45 min bike ride done as well.
Thursday - 1 hr 50 min bike
Friday - 2 mile bike
Saturday - 2hr 30min bike

Doubt much training will ge done this week. I have brought my running gear & wet suit to Bognor though so hopefully find some motivation to do something.




For anyone still seeking inspiration to get fit, even if you dont fancy an Ironman event (yet), have a read of Andy Holgates book. Link to the books FB page below.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cant-Swim-Cant-Ride-Cant-Run-by-Andy-Holgate/162628350446288