Brigg Poppy Run 2014

Yesterday saw a non start of the Wheelers final circuit race of the season when I punctured within a minute of the start - this meant that I had a bit of pent up energy ready for today's Brigg Poppy Run 10k,

I knew some things from last years race:
- The first three miles are into a head wind invariably
- You get two hours free parking in Brigg

That was it - decision made, drive to Brigg, time the parking, and work hard into the headwind - and that was today's game plan.

About 350 starters for the race today in total, and maybe another 20 or so that took part in the 'Military Challenge' of completing the course with full backpack. That wasn't for me, and after those lads had departed at 10.45 I took my place three rows back from the start and waited for my start at 11.00am.

Boom, away we went and I had about 20 metres before heading right out of the car park into that headwind. Right, work hard, and I did - can't put my finger on it but it felt like my cadence had improved - which I should put down to the last three weeks turbo programme ! 6.49 for the first mile and then 7.02 for the 2nd - this was setting up a very fast race. The 3rd mile was a toughie though, slight up hill then right turn into a farm track and out in exposed farmland to the turnaround point - 7.12 for the third mile and an average of 7.02m/m at the turn - an improvement on last years effort.

Homeward bound then and for a PB I would need to keep the average below 7.09 so tried not to mile anything above that mark. What goes up must come down, so mile four not only benefited from a back wind but also had a little downhill element to it - 6.58 for that one so job done. 7.02 from mile 5, but I was getting tired and was losing a place or two. Into the last mile and a big effort - I lost another couple of places to strong finishers and the mile itself seemed to take forever - a sure sign of how it was beginning to hurt. Not sure what I did for the last mile but when I crossed the line I had completed my first sub 44 min 10k and had a 7.01m/m average overall to negative split the race.

Stroxton Cyclocross

Put on by Witham Wheelers and held in a field or two North of the small village of Stroxton - this
was my third Cyclocross of the season and part of the overall Lincs Cyclocross league.

So far the courses have been hard and hilly (Ancaster), flat and grassy (Spalding), and now Stroxton which is a lumpy pasture but not a fast one !

I started about halfway down the field, with two aims, not to be last and not to be last Wheeler- this was going to be a tough ask though, cos my legs were destroyed from yesterdays Duathlon and I could feel it on the warm up lap.

At 12.15 we were off and in that opening straight I dropped quite far down the field. After not such a good start though. I did settle down and rode consistently. The uphills were a real struggle, but other than the course being slow, the weren't any part where I was ever in any danger of falling off :-). The only real obstacle to negotiate was a couple of boards to dismount and jump as the hay bale obstacle disintegrated on lap 2 and we were able to ride through that one which made things easier !

The hour took so long to complete and my legas were screaming at me to stop by the time the bell rang for the last lap. I kept an eye on those behind me all last lap and was happy enough to finish in the end without being last or last Wheeler so job done in the end by hook or by crook !

Clumber Park Off Road Duathlon

How to keep busy racing in the off season ? Well I am a Duathlete now, so to compliment the Cyclocross racing, I thought I'd enter the One step Beyond Off Road Series of Duathlons - the first of which took place at Clumber Park:

Run 22.34

OK, so earlier in the year, I completed the World Champs Duathlon qualifier which was on hard roads and concrete paths. This was completely different. I also was still struggling and stiff from football on Tuesday. It was a 5k/17k/2.5k effort which went out on the same path as the spring event but then goes skew whiff and off road completely. I wore road shoes but didn't struggle with the 1st run in truth, albeit I had to concentrate on foot placement, especially on a 200m or so section that was JCB rutting ! 

Back into T1 after mile splits of 7.27/7.33&7.23 I think - anyway, not a full 5k but just about 3 miles.

Bike 54.24 

T1 took just 40 seconds as I kept run shoes on and used flat pedals for the bike course. A bit muddy and damp, some single track where hard to overtake, and also some climbing surprisingly. Struggled obviously as it is cyclocross after all, but never felt unstable just very unfit ! 

Two laps and back into transition having lost places I think (a first for an OSB bike section).

Run 13.21

Legs completely gone, and mile splits of 8 something showed that - fell further down the field I think, and happy to see the end of the hardest Duathlon I'd ever done. Lots learnt and some fun had. Another great event from OSB.

Lincoln Wheelers Trike Weekend 11 & 12 October

10m Event Saturday 11th October

This came around very quickly indeed. Just two weeks ago I was introduced to trike riding and had a go on a tricycle, which I found to be a very hard experience. Basically, whichever way you want to go, the trike wants to go the other, and over the past couple of weeks I've had some crashes and some very near misses with traffic. I did start to get the hang of it though, and was looking forward to this weekends Lincoln Wheelers Tandem &Trike Weekend by the time it came around.

My events started with the 10 mile time trial which uses our Thorney 10 course, so I knew the layout and the junctions. I went off at No2, and immediately knew that the first stretch of road was not even at all, with a bad surface and camber towards the inside. I rode in the centre of the road which seemed to be the safer option. One I was on the main road, I was able to hunker down properly into the tri bars and settle into a hard pace.  Whenever I felt tired, I dropped a gear and replicated the high cadence that I had been getting used to on the turbo. My pace was over 21mph, which I though was good for a first timer and with a back wind on the home stretch this climbed to 21.6mph !

When I got back to HQ I found out that I had won the event with a time of 27.43 for the day. £15 in prize money was well received too.

25m Event Sunday 12th October

Back at Harby then next day, for a misty morning time trial (see photo), but this time the longer 25 mile distance. Buoyed by yesterdays wim I was a little bit more confident going into this one, albeit apprehensive about the longer distance !

Again, I strarted brightly, but struggled to get down in the tri bars as I had bruised my arms the day before and this made trying that uncomfortable. I found myself down more and more in the drops, but felt really good for the first lap. The second lap of the course was really hard going, and I found myself counting down the miles to the finish.

2nd this time on the day with a finish time of 1.12.52 and 20.6mph. a further £10 and the Lincoln Wheelers Fulwood trophy rounded off a successful first foray into Tricycle Time Trialling.

Autumn Parkruns

22.11.14 Lincoln 22.29
Got the end of a cold, and used this one to get a round trip of 6.3 miles in. Felt like it would be a 24 minute easy effort, but ran a reasonably quick first mile of 7.01. It drifted off on miles 2 & 3 with splits of 7.13 & 7.25 respectively, but I was not at full pelt. 22.29 sets me up for some faster efforts during December.

01.11.14 Lincoln 24.09
A nice easy one in preparation for tomorrows Duathlon.

11.10.14 Lincoln 24.26
Trike TT in the afternoon, so an easy one this morning. Each lap a little faster than the last and 24.26 was a fair result on a pleasant parkrun.

04.10.14 Lincoln 21.25
So after last weeks better than expected effort and two good club runs with my club this week, I decided to ditch the Duathlon I had planned for tomorrow and have a good crack at Parkrun and then a ride out with the Wheelers instead. Bad weather was forecast, but not until later, so it should have been dry as I headed to an overcast Boultham Park for my 28th Parkrun.

Mile One - 6.40 - I ran this hard and began to wonder halfway through if I wasn't setting myself up for a massive fall ! Got into a good stride at the end of the lap, and started the second lap determined to keep a level pace.
Mile Two - 6.52 - Another fast mile, and felt on the edge of a redline in parts but pleased with it and set me up nicely for the last lap. Is that rain I can feel ?
Mile Three - Yes it was, the heavens opened and we all got drenched ! soggy and tired, I posted a 6.59 last mile, but with nothing in the tank, I couldn't pick it up over the last 200m for a fat finish - mind you 28th was excellent on the day.

27.09.14  Sheffield Hallam Parkrun 21.54
It's a target to complete all of the Parkruns in sheffield at some point and Sheffield Hallam is the oldest and busiest with 480 runners taking part and finishing today. I DNF'd with an injury niggle earlier in the year so had to go back. Having already bagged Sheffield Castle & Sheffield Hillsborough this was the next on my Sheffield hitlist. The course was half climb, half descent with no real steep stuff - a 7.11 first mile told me I was not where I need to be speed wise, ans a 7.15 2nd mile confirmed this. However, a final downhill mile brough the overall average down to 7.07 and with the course measuring 3.07 miles (short then), a time of 21.54 was a good return for the mornings efforts - an improvement seen on last week.

20.09.14  Lincoln 23.53
Less than a week after Ironman Wales and less than 12 hours after 5 pints of beer, I made my way down to Boultham Park for my first Lincoln Parkrun since April. In a cold sweat kind of way, I ground out a decent hangover run before toddling back home at a snails pace. Number 26 though and over halfway now to the 50 !