Woodhall Spa Triathlon race report

Where it all started, and my favourite Sprint Triathlon race !

This would be my fourth Woodhall Triathlon, seeing previous finishes at 1.31, 1.21 & 1.14. Today I just wanted to see a little further improvement. This is how things unfolded :

Swim 8.19
I was shivering at pool side as it had started raining, however, it was bloody great in the pool as the water was so warm. Had clear space ahead of me at the start and felt very fast in the water for the first six lengths. As things settled a little I still found myself swimming OK and flopped out of the pool at c.8 minutes for the sprint into T1 which took me a whole 58 seconds to navigate.

Bike 40.37
Head down, time trial mode ! To make any headway I had to beat an average of 21.3mph gained at 2012's effort. For the first part of the ride it felt like a headwind and that average was just out of grasp. The second half had more backwind and I was able to hold better speed. It was wet though and I struggled to see out of the visor which had misted up. The average rose and rose and hit a pleasing 22.5 mph as I jumped off and ran into T2. Didn't mess around - 49 seconds !

Run 20.32
Forgot my Garmin, so ran this one blind. Chased down a Tri3 guy and then ran with him at pace all the way round. 20.32 not bad for how I was felling on the day.

1.11.16 overall so a 3 minute improvement over two years ago !

TLI Lincolnshire Road Race - Grantham

Well, it was my second ever road race after my first effort last year at Ashby. After managing to finish almost plum last at my last effort on a flatter course, my main concern was completing and picking up some points in the clubs rider of the season competition.

The HQ was held at Grantham Cricket Club, and I was on the ball, arriving early to bag race number 2. The course was a three lap affair of approx 12 miles each on apparently underlating roads. I graded myself as group 2 and joined 10 other group 2ers waiting for our start time of approx 7.05pm. This is how it went :

Lap 1
Started off well with the group working as a solid chainganging unit. First four miles flew by until a couple of riders decided to have handbags and at that point it disintegrated. Being at the back of these two, we fell off the group and it was a real struggle to get back on. I had a rest, and then started taking turns again at the front. There was a long hill at mile 11 at the end of the first lap and I drifted off the back...... again :-(

Lap 2
Could see my group tantalisingly close for about three miles but could not get back with them. Spent the next 7 miles riding solo waiting for the faster groups to come by. When they did, I was too slow to get on and then there was the hill back up to the start/finish line - no hope ! I crossed the line and heard the bell, I had 12 more solo miles to go !

Lap 3 
It really hurt but I kept on pushing solo. Marshall were taking signs down and deserting their corners in some cases. The chaps at the finish line were still there though as I completed my 36.5miles and finished...erm... probably plum last.... again !

ECCA 100

5.06am is an insanely early time to be pulling up to a start line for a time trial, but there I was none the less, having a crack at my second only 100 mile time trial.

For ease of my brain, I had decided to again break down  again into smaller 25 mile chunks and targeted last years average speed per 25 of 22.8 /21.8/22.4/23.1.

This year, I put them in descending order and set my targets accordingly :
23.1mph
22.8mph
22.4 mph
21.8mph
- I took 2 x 750ml bottles of high 5 zero, 3 flapjacks and 2 gels.

Easy peasy then - what could go wrong ?
Well initially nothing. The first 15 miles are single carriagway going North, and I managed to negotiate this well, catching the folks that started 4 & 5 minutes in front of me. I even had time to go round a roundabout when I made an error.
When I got onto the A11 my average was tapping 22.8 and at as the first 25 mile section ended this had improved to 23.2mph - job done then for the first quarter and ahead of the game !  Miles 23 to 50 had a target average of 22.8mph then, and being dual carriageway albeit quiet, this was achievable and so it proved with 23.3mph achieved.

At the start of the third section I had to stop and fish a fresh bottle out of the grass verge that I had secreted the night before ! So with 5 minutes gone my average had nosedived. With more traffic on the road however, this soon improved and despite the stop, miles 50 - 75 proved to be the fastest of the day at 23.4mph against the target of 22.4mph.

So, what could go wrong ! Miles 75 - 100 to negotiate, and initially all was well, I managed the first 15 miles of this at an average of 24mph - and then the wheels fell off ! We turned back onto the single carriageway due South for the last 10 miles and I had nothing left. Small climbs were taking an age, and any power in the legs had gone !  Every mile hurt, and I fould myself counting down and hoping for a short course. Eventually I saw the finish and whooped for joy as I crossed with a final quarter average of 22.2mph.

Still a nine minute personal best but it could have been so much better :0(

Summer Soltice 10k

This event is put on each year by Grantham Running Club and is popular with local running clubs - to be frank though, I had never heard of it until this year, so I thought it rude not to enter and tick another local race off the list.

Held on a hot, sticky, windless Friday evening, I was uncomfortable in the sun as we walked to the start and chatted as we waited to get away. My secret target for the night was a steady run at approx 46 minutes something as I had been doing less and less short fast stuff recently.

When the start came hough, I found myself latching onto green vests and then getting sucked in to actually racing one of them - nooooooooooooooo - I knew I shouldn't have done it and should have relaxed - but the racing eyes were on and I pushed through the first mile in 6.48. The second mile was a slower 7.00 and the third a slower even 7.09. At the halfway point I was still battling a team mate and went through in a low 22. I had a decision to make....

Do I........ A) Take the second half of the race a little easier knowing that it would be a good time or
                B) Continue racing like a madman, pushing the limit, and hope to hang on ?

Yep, B every time !

I was slower in the second half, clocking mile splits as high as 7.31, however when I got to mile 5, I put everything into it knowing I had a chance to go sub 45 for the first time. During that last mile back into and through Long Bennington, I knew I had done it, then doubted I had done it, told myself I hadn't done it, and then had to cut the final corner and throw myself at the line to do it !

Running event no.70 and finally, I have gone sub 45 for a 10k :-)

LRRA 50mile TT

As I have said before, my recent time trialling has left a lot to be desired !  For this 50 mile event, I took my bike in for a fitting the night before because the position had been set up aggressively in the past for short time trials. As this would be my all round time trial bike from now on, clearly something would need to change !

I arrived at HQ 45 minutes before my start time and chatted with other Wheelers. I didn't feel any pressure, as I knew I had been 'off' the pace over the past few weeks and didn't expect much from the day. This was also the course that I managed to put in a terrible 2.23 performance last year - so the day was just about doing better than that.

From the off, I felt faster and crucially more comfortable in my new position. My undercarriage was definitely relieved and I was able to hold the correct position for longer. By the first roundabout at c.3miles I could see that I was catching a club
mate which gave me a little boost.

Round the roundabout then and back along the A15 to Osbournby roundabout and then third exit right to begin the drag upto the Grantham roundabout. This went better than expected to although I suspect there was some back wind action going on here to make things easier ! At the roundabout, I was up on all 3 club mates that I could track and now it was a straight 17 mile headwind drag to the next turnaround.  I did have a carrott which made things more interesting, however, after a caught that one, I didn't have another for some time.

I had a gel, and most importantly kept munching the odd jelly baby on the way round which seemed to work very well. At the 2nd to last turn, I was still up on the others but 35 miles in the new position had taken its toll !  I found myself having to stretch regularly by climbing out of the saddle and by 40 miles I was beginning to feel like I'd had enough.  

I turned onto the Sleaford 10 course for the last 10 miles and found some more concentration when I really needed it, That last 10 was ridden competently and I could see by the very last turn that I still had my club lead. The last 3 miles were mostly downhill and I hammered through it anxious to get the whole thing over with !

2.08.14 on the day improved last years time by 15 minutes and emphasised the importance of a good bike fit. The clubs 50 handicap trophy will also be making its way to me at the end of the year !

Recent round up...

Over the past few weeks following virtually back to back Half Iron distance efforts, my time trialling had started to suffer. Getting the balance right between the three disciplines is difficult for me and it always takes its toll on one of them.

This time it was cycling....

20th May Wispington 32.56
The start of the decline - two laps of the Wispington course - took the Guru, but used the Planet X tubs as the Clinchers were set up for the upcoming Outlaw Half event. Struggled all the way round and huffed and puffed my way to a 32.56.

27th May Wispington 35.32
Terrible weather, rode last years bike which was set up for Outlaw Half, it rained, I decided to wear a rain jacket and what unfolded was just a horrible horrible ride which was three minutes slower than the week before !

7th June Newark Parkrun 23.17
Post Outlaw Half and a trot around Newark Parkrun for its 1st anniversary.  Managed a 23.17 which was a course PB and good because it was so congested and it also included a downpour which started halfway round the first lap !

10th June Wheelers 20m Champs 48.12
I made some adjustments to the Guru in anticipation of a bike fitting on Friday evening and raised the bars a little bit given that it was a 20 miler. Well. nearly a 20 miler as we had to shorten the course slightly when some roadworks popped up within an hour of us starting. I felt stronger all ride and although the chaffing kicked in again felt it was nearly back to my best. The time was dampened by a wrong turn after 17 miles - jeez - you'd think the Racing Secretary would know the course ;-(

Outlaw Half Race Report

Buoyed by the result in Mallorca three weeks ago, I went into todays Outlaw Half hunting a PB on a course that is renowned for being properly pancake flat and with so little wind that it failed to turn the blades on a wind turbine we saw on the way to Holme PierrePont (HPP). It was game on........

Swim 39.00
In the water nice and early and it was cold ! 14.6 degrees ! Got the face freeze out of the way before we were set on our way at 6.30. I seeded myself in bay 1 where you could go if you thought you would be 40 mins or less and placed myself towards the rear. What h

appened next was a completely biffy swim - not in an aggressive way, but there were bodies everywhere swimming in every direction - you wouldn't have thought it could be so hard to follow a shoreline ! It was also a completely minging swim as well as the weeds and shit in the water made it less than enjoyable. Still, I got round OK, but disappointingly, only 90 odd seconds faster than Mallorca which was a non wettie swim ;-(  Either Mallorca was short (as rumoured) or Outlaw Half was long - which is entirely possible too !

T1 3.45
No change tents - no Sir ! This was a dump your wetsuit next to your bike and crack on job ! :-)  I put a cycle shirt on and...er... cracked on with it !

Bike 2.39.37
My best ever longer distance bike split happened at full Outlaw last year where I managed the first 56  miles in approx 2.45 - so I set myself a target of 2.40 today with an average of 21mph. All was well as I left HPP via the perimeter road and soon was seeing an average of 22.3mph held. One iccle trip up Oxton Bank saw that dive to 21.4, however the silky smooth and ever so downhill drag strip into Southwell saw that rise again above that 22 figure. Indeed, I held 22.0 exactly over the Southwell Tri humps and all the way past Lowdham island and onto the bottom loop and that's where it began to dwindle away :-(
I toiled away with the average dropping to 21.4mph for the 56.8mile course. Just the half marathon to go...

T2 1.52 A quick change from cycle shirt to running shirt and I was off :-)

Run 1.52.47
It was hot, not as hot as Majorca or Outlaw, but a bit waaaarm all the same. Did my usual fast first mile, and then my usual pee stop at first portaloo, but then it was down to business - sensibly paced miles interspersed with a quick walk at each aid station (every 1.4 miles ). I also wore my LDR running shirt to try and convince myself that I was in a standalone HM!  End of the first lap and a big shoutout as I passed the finishing chute - one of the perks of being Lincoln Tri :-)  Once the first lap was in the bag it was a case of making sure I kept moving forward and not slipping into walking mode as that has been my downfall at full distance :-(.
A 1.52 HM split in the end then and a 5.17 finish giving me a 20 minute PB - happy days :-D