February - a short month and that is most welcome

Rauceby Ripper 2023 1.07.42  29th 

It's early Feb-rue-rar and that means that one race is indelibly marked on the race calendar - the Rauceby Ripper - a race that has been around since 2011, and I have run on 8 occasions , with a 9th not fit to compete but being there running in between to cheer on other runners, so with a Covid cancellation, my attendance record for this event is pretty good. 

Today was probably the best of the condition over those runnings - there has been little rain for a few weeks , and as a result the ground is firm and dry , and even the notorious far lane at mile 1&2 was almost dry as a bone. As a result, it was a fast affair and I was nicely rested for it. I had team mates that were primed to beat me today so I was bang on it, focused for a hard effort from the off. Obs I had to temper the first mile as we wound ourselves up and out of the estate , and then down the aforementioned farm track. I didn't look back for 4 miles preferring to keep a strong effort. I would put in a little spurt when facing a headwind, and worked hard up the climbs and strided out down the descents.  The miles passed by quickly, and I found myself starting to hurt in the last mile or so. 

I tried to take a place over the last half mile but ended up losing one , for a 29th place finish overall and a PB of 1.07.42. Good performance on this one - I wouldn't change anything that I did.

The rest of the month was just a case of knuckling down to some big weeks on the bike. In mid February we went over to Nederlands and stayed in the Limburg region (Heel), this saw a peak week of over 14 hrs of training and took in the Amstel Gold Sportive Route. 

Some really good base building going on and as at time of writing, week 18 of the 30 week plan for Ironman Lanzarote has been put away.

March is livening up, there's a half marathon to start it, a Triathlon to finish it, and in between a return to time trialling !