BUPA 30th Great North Run

This is the first time that it has taken me a couple of days to write and post a race report. This is due to two things: firstly due to the massive congestion exiting the event which meant it was really late by the time we got back to Lincoln, and secondly, I wanted a couple of days to reflect on the day before I started typing.

I had been struggling in the weeks following Antwerp with knee pain, and doubted at that point if I would be able to rock up fit enough to the start line of the GNR. However, week by week, steady progress had been made and although things are not sorted 100%, I was able to complete two 8.5milers and an 11.5 mile run in the two weeks before. So not what I would call Antwerp fit, but able to complete 13.1 miles at a steady pace if I was sensible.

Race day itself started with a 4.45am alarm call (Black Sabbath's Ironman) and away in the car at 6am in the wet. The route was not overly complicated being mostly A1 and we arrived with no fuss into the centre of Newastle by 8.45 and managed to park near to St James' Park football stadium for only £1 for the whole day - bobsyfandango !!

From our handy little car parking spot the start area is about a mile away, so it was a slow steady walk to try and eat up some time. The start area on Claremont Street really is a sight to see as it stretches back a good kilometre and was full of people, as well as a line of yellow buses which were used to collect baggage, as far as the eye could see. I think it was the busiest place that I had ever been in my life and I think that it was then that the full scale of the event really hit home. I stretched, I stretched some more, jogged for a bit, went to the toilet, stretched some more and then decided that I could not kill any more time and then made my way to my start pen like a good competitor a good twenty minutes before the pens closed. These pens were rammed with people and I had to chuckle when the warm up guy was going through his routine whilst 40-odd thousand people attempted to do the same in a squashed cramped fashion.

The elite women were announced and were sent on their way first, and then the elite men with the largest cheer of the day going to Mr. Gebrselassie, the distance legend who had turned up for his third race against me. Ant and Dec were todays celebrity starters (thank f**k it wasn't Sting) and they got us underway pretty much bang on time - it then took a good further 20 mins for my wave to get past the starting line. Once I had gotten going finally, I tried to keep a sensible pace on my Garmin and also tried not to get pulled into zig zagging around people too much. the plan was too run the first half of the race and a steady pace and hope that in the second half I had some mojo left in the tank to finish at a good pace. The first mile went very smoothly and I loved the 'oggy oggy' chants as we passed under the bridges - truly memorable ! I passed the first mile in about 9.30 and realised that I was getting pulled along by everybody else and of course the occasion. Again, I focused on trying to bring the pace down a touch in the second mile and again tried to calm it down and take in the surroundings which I tried to do going over the famous Tyne Bridge( see phot at the top). At the end of the second mile the pace dropped sensibly and I was able to get into my running.

Just after the two mile mark I passed a chap carrying a fridge on his back ! A fridge ! For 13.1 miles - now thats hardcore. At the 5km mark the clock showed just past 30mins, which would be a bloody fast HM if I could keep going as I was. Truth be told though, the first few miles are slightly downhill and I found this out with a bang as at about 3.5miles there is a slight incline for a good two miles on this course and this is where the legs start to feel tired. You are also out of the city and running mostly on dual carriageways, which touch on a few estates where the locals were doing their best to be very supportive of the runners. I got to 6.2 miles in about 1.01 and normally the race would have strung out a bit, but no not this one - we were still congested at this point.

At about 8 miles something really strange happened - I had a complete loss of power in my legs and the speed just disappeared. This was to be my slowest mile by far and when I reached the water station at 9 miles I walked through it and drank the whole bottle of water which seemed to do the trick. I found a comfortable pace at this point and tried to work on 11 minute miles for the last four miles in an effort to gain an all HM (including triathlon) personal best time of 2.12. However, the legs did go again a bit and I walked the water station at mile 12 just to get the water on board, and this left me just too much too do in the last mile along South Shields seafront and I missed out by 30 seconds or so. I was disappointed, but on reflection, I could not have run any harder or faster on the day, I was just not fit enough race day to grab that PB. I crossed the line and gladly took posession of my finishers medal and commemorative t-shirt which actually fits me - yay !!!

Good things about the GNR - well organised, great atmosphere, large screens at the start, some of the supporters were excellent, great goody bag.

Bad points about the GNR - very congested, zig zagging is no fun for 13 miles, other competitors lying about how fast they would be, chav supporters squirting water, 1.5 hour queue for the metro to get back to the car at Newcastle.

2.14.18 then for my second standalone half marathon, and three minutes quicker than my first in Coventry last year.

Coming up.. I'm going to have a few weeks off and will be getting married. I will rehab the knee and start some light run training in early November. I've entered an Aquathlon on 21st November , and then a couple of 10k's in December to finish the year off and to give me a running start to 2011.

Great Yorkshire Run 10k

I had never been to Sheffield in my life and I was expecting today to be a bit grim to be honest, as really Sheffield as a place hasn't ever been the most appealing venue I could think of travelling to, and after seeing the Full Monty, I think I could have lived without going.

Nevertheless, as todays race fitted in nicely with my Great North Run schedule, I had decided to enter another of the Great Run series - the Great Yorkshire Run 10k - in grim old Sheffield !

I like the BUPA races for two clear reasons, firstly, the field starts in waves of similar ability which means that I don't tend to be overtaken by hoardes of people and coversily don't get held up behind fat fairies ! Secondly, and most importantly, a nice medal to put in the old medal treasure chest aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggh ! (pirate noise)

We arrived in plenty of time, which gave me plenty of time to do some proper stretching for a change and have a walk around, so that we knew where to meet after the finish. Todays race was also the first race that I will be doing without an ipod. I know that I haven't been using ipods during triathlons and managed a half marathon without one, but stand alone running races have been a different animal and I have always 'needed' one - well today that comfort blanket was most definately being removed !

Sheffield itself was surprisingly un-grim in the end and it was shaping up to be a good day out. The race itself starts in the city centre and heads out towards Hillsborough before looping around and finishing back in the city centre - it is a lot like the event in Manchester.

I set off at intentionally even pace, and tried not to get too pulled along by the excitement, as I didn't want to blow myself up too quickly. The first couple of kilometres went by without incident and by 3km I had overtaken todays TV celebrity (not in the same league as Rory Underwood so I'll keep quiet this time !) I saw a bloke with triathlon calf protectors on, and then a young lad with a cheaper version of these - knee high football socks ! still, I bet they did exactly the same job.

At 5km, we reached the turnaround point, where there was a large screen showing all of the runners running towards the bend. I looked for me, found me, then tried to smile as I could see myself looking a right miserable bastard on the massive screen !

The rest of the race was a battle to try and keep a the pace a good one with an eye on trying to achieve something near my PB time for the distance. At 8km I was convinced that I was on for a personal best and felt really good, however, this dissipated along with the potential PB when we hit a hill just before the 9km mark. A hill was not really what I wanted at this point and it took a lot out of me. Once at the top of this incline I tried to make up any lost time and thought I was making inroads and then with 400m to go....... another f@@**ng hill !!! That was it I'm afraid, it was only 200m long, but the energy had gone out of the legs and I struggled over the line in 57.22 which is less than a minute outside of my PB.

In all then, happy to finish in a decent time in the end, happy that my knee held out and seems in good order, and of course happy that there is more bling in the treasure chest ! aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgh ! Oh, and running without an ipod is the dogs nuts ! you get to take in so much more !

I am seeing the physio tomorrow evening about my runners knee injury and hopefully will get the go ahead to continue on to the Great North Run in two weeks time. I will post again after that event !

National Club Relays - Race report...

Yesterday, I turned out for one of the Lincoln Tri teams at the National Club Relays event held at Holme PierrePont near Nottingham.

I was the third man in a four man relay team for the afternoon race, in a team called the 'Horny Imps' - boy, it was gonna be a long afternoon !

I followed my usual routine of turning up at the event about an hour and a quarter before my published start time, which usually gives me plenty of time to have a good look around, set things up, register etc. Well, next time, remind me to turn up a least a day early, cos it was very, very busy with what looked like every triathlon club in the country represented. First job then, find the rest of my team, this took an age, cos there was so many people milling about. I found the club's gazebo, where another team were looking for their last team member, who also had inconveniently forgotten to turn up at least a day earlier !

Eventally, I found them , we sort of got ourselves organised and I started to be able to relax a little bit. I made my way upstairs for a race t-shirt, but they had run out !!!! There was a pile of XXL left and that was all, a bit piss poor really....um ! Nevermind at least there was the beautiful summer weather to look forward to......or not!!

It rained ! When it wasn't just raining it was raining torrentially, conditions were very wet to say the least ! As a team we did a walk of transitions and agreed where we would stand so that we could find each other to hand over the baton (or purple elastic band as it is otherwise known) at the end of our individual legs of the relay. this done, I lubed up, slipped on the old wetsuit and we made our way on mass down to the start line, where we stood for many minutes in the pouring rain, trying to make out what was being said in the race briefing. This was my part of the race..

Swim - 9.56

I stood where we had agreed would be the best place to find each other to exchange the baton, seems that every other team had picked the same spot and it was like trying to get served at the bar in a very busy city centre bar on a saturday night. There were arms waving everywhere, and how my team mate saw me I don't know but see me he did and it was time to gracefully ?!? enter the water in a sort of stumble come belly flop ! I swam well, sighted very well and thought I had made good time, but when I stood up at the end of the swim, we all had to negotiate walking along a cobbled section before getting onto the matting. This wasted a lot of time, so the time of 9.56 was my first sub 10 minute 400m swim, but it was a minute faster than that in reality at least !

Bike 25.34

The good thing about the relays is that you have lots of time between your legs, so I was able to go back to the gazebo to get changed at a more leisurely pace. I walked the bike down to the transition area and then waited for my team mate to bring me the hallowed elastic band( baton). Whilst I was waiting it absolutely bucketed it down, and once I had the baton, I was off in the pouring rain. It was balls out(not literally cos that would have been painful and cold) the whole way round for me, and knowing there was going to be a lot of time to rest at the end, I gave it everything that I had. There was also a new addition to the animals that have tried to kill me whilst out on a bike - this time it was Geese !!! I had to do a last minute swerve to avoid becoming geese feed !

I overtook some people on the ride, and was overtaken by lots of people, and when I got in their wake, I enjoyed a spray of mucky water that freckled me. 25 minutes and 34 seconds gave me an average speed of 21.5 mph which is 2mph faster than I had ever managed before. Bobsyfandango !!!

Run 27.19

From the end of my bike leg to the start of my run leg there was a gap of around an hour so once I changed into my run gear I had lots of time to have a look around and spent most of it in the Planet X stand trying hard not to give in to temptation. I eventually made my way down to the holding pen where we were waiting for our runners to come in and hand over. Whilst we were waiting the torrential rain came hammering down again. Brilliant ! To be honest, we train in it, we swim in it, we should be used to it !

My run leg started in the hammering rain, and apart from not being able to start my garmin, my pace was good considering the first quarter of the lap is run on grass which I hate, and was hilly which I'm starting not to mind too much. After about three minutes, I managed to start the garmin so that I could be sure of my pace which I tried to keep fast to have a good chance of beating my PB. I ran 58.18 in a 10k around this course last year and knew what I needed to do to be under 29 minutes. I had though, forgotten how bloody boring running around the lake at HP really was so I tried to catch the man in front of me to break up the monotiny - but I couldn't quite manage it though, however, by tracking this athlete, I got round in a very good time. in total the Horny Imps came in 137th out of 237 teams with a time of 3.39.35.

Overall then a very wet day, three personal bests, no t-shirt, no race pack freebie at the end, no impulse bike purchases(thankfully), injury no worse than it was , and a great feeling that I did my absolute best for my team. A good days work !

Post Antwerp knee pain !

As I write this entry, which I apologise for, as it won't be a exactly a 'war and peace' effort today, I have been unable to start run training due to pain in my right knee.

After the race a fortnight ago, the knee has been tender whenever I put weight on it, either going up or going down stairs. I did try a run on Tuesday evening of this week, but half a mile told me that it needed more rest.

Interestingly enough, I can cycle and have completed two sessions so far, just as long as I don't get out of the saddle that is ! And my training partner is back !!

Today, it feels on the mend and I will have another go at a run later in the week. I was scheduled to run the Jagermeister 10k in Nottingham on friday evening and as much as I really wanted to do it, I pulled out in the end which was the right thing to do.

On a brighter note, today, I marshalled out the Outlaw Iron Distance Triathlon at Holme Pierrepont, and I was humbled by the athletes as they toughed their way through the day. I certainly will need to have put in the training miles before I start my Ironman next year. These guys were awesome !!

Next up for me ( provided the knee is in working order) is the National Relays on 21st August - I will let you know how I did, or did not get on !

Ironman Antwerp 70.3

Race Report


Pre Race

This is my second season of Triathlon and my first attempt at a half iron race distance. I wanted to do an Mdot event, so the close to home choice was either Wimbleball or Antwerp. I chose Antwerp because my fiance is from a town just outside of Antwerp, so it was handy for tying in both a trip home with handy accommodation.
We drove from Lincoln to Dover on the Wednesday, and took the Norfolk Line ferry to Dunkirk, happily on this occasion we turned up on the right day and avoided having to pay again as we had done in January. From Dunkirk, Antwerp is about 2 hours away, and once we passed into Belgium, I was pleased to see that at least some attempt had been made to repair the pot holed roads that I had seen back in January.

Once we arrived all I had to do was try and relax , and avoid blobbing out as there was a very real danger of being fed to death by my in laws !!
Anyway, I didn’t turn into a massive fatty, managed to gracefully decline the 24hr food offerings, kept away from the gorgeous belgian beer, and even managed to get out for a spin and a bit of a jog to keep things ticking over.

Pre- race Pasta Party and registration
Registration is at the RYCB hall, and once inside and registered you get your event T shirt and sports bag, which I thought were great ! I then went on the hunt for more Ironman branded gear which I though was totally overpriced so didn’t bother. There was a 10 euro Ironman jumble with some fetching early 90’s style two piece crop top and pant specials in there, but I dodged those bad boys and decided to go back and join the family and let other bargain hunters bag those babies!
I was really looking forward to the pasta party from what I’d read and heard from other Ironman events and even invited the in laws to come along, ‘’it’ll be great’’ I said, and then we turned up..and..oh....its not really a party and theres not a lot of pasta !!!!! Honestly, it was spag bol and that was it. How I yearned for my usual homepride tuna bake right there, but beggars can’t be choosers and I made do with what I was given. Another competitor offered around his pasta ticket and not surprisingly there were no takers.......

Raceday
11am start.....nice !!!! Not the 7.44am starts my slow swim times afforded me in the past !
Plenty of time to get the bike in the back of the car and check that I had everything I needed about a gazillion times....Triathlon does nothing to ease my OCD ! We drove the short distance into Antwerp and parked the car in the cobbled car park next to Transition 2. I dropped my run gear into T2 which saved a bit of time as I was supposed to drop it off back at Race HQ, but T2 was open, so it made sense. We then had to get the bike and swim gear over to T1 and the start, whic meant we had to walk through the Sint Anna pedestrian tunnel which is very long and very boring, and it was weird taking my bike up and down escalators.
To those people who do Ironman all the time – T1 was alright.
To those of us who have only ever done the smaller regional sprints – oh my god, T1 had carpets everywhere, individual racking, a box for your gear- it was brrrrrrilliant !!
However there were not many toilets(about 3 or 4) and about 1300 triathletes who all wanted to go through their pre race ‘routine’. We were placed in age group pens for a staggered start after the pro’s had been sent on their merry way. Eventually my wave made it into the Galgenweel and I had time to turn on my back to get some water down my suit and we were off too.....

Swim
I was looking forward to a bit of biff but didn’t really get any as I started towards the back of the pack and really didn’t advance much due to my lack of speed. I had to swim around a couple of breaststrokers having a nice day out, but all was quiet until the next wave caught up and tried to swim over me, pull me under, kick me etc. I was worried that the timing chip was going to come off at one point but that was the height of any real panic. In fact I quite liked the tussle and held my line the best I could. After the turnaround I felt better as I myself started to catch some of the earlier wave. It was hard to see exactly where to aim for so just went with the majority of the swimmers that I could see. It was cool to have a helicopter overhead, you don’t get that at Woodhall Spa !
Eventually we climbed out of the water and up the stairs where I managed a run into T1, I still don’t know where that came from. My time was 41.37 where I was expecting around 45 mins so was pleased with the start.

T1
Went to plan, other than I had to go for a pee detour on the way to the bike. Pretty smooth, made sure I had everything I needed, decided not to top up the sun cream as it was still dark with cloud which turned out to be the right choice.

Bike
Straight out of T1 and within 2km you are in the tunnel going back under the Schelde. I was looking forward to the descent and not looking forward to the climb out at the other end. It was a bit underwhelming to be honest as I though it would be greasy fast, and although I went past people on the way down, it just didn’t feel that quick. The climb the other end was nothing to worry about and it was great to pass more people on the way up.
Now, Antwerp really is a beautiful city, with historic buildings and a great atmosphere. Antwerp Docks however is not, smells really bad in places and is really boring ! This is where we spent the majority of the bike course, and as it was windy and long and flat, I stayed down in the aero bars for longer periods than I ever had before. I managed to pass some people on cervelos and the like which boosted me no end. Being at the arse end of the field drafting was never really going to be much of an issue for me and I was passed many times by draftbusters on motorcycles who seemed to be doing a good job of stamping on anything that they saw, however, I nearly fell of my bike when I saw what can only be described as a peleton of 15 or so riders coming back the other way !!!
I kept to my gel/powerbar every 30 mins routine and filled my aero bottle at every aid station. Whenever my legs felt tired, I dropped a gear or two and span them back into life. When it got hard, I tried to pick out targets in the distance to aim for and started overtaking stronger swimmers on the leg back into Antwerp. I completely misjudged my distance from T2 and as a result rode the last kilometre and a half with my feet out of my shoes as I got ready for the dismount a tad too early !!!!! Overall time was 2.57 which again was much better than the 3.15 I was hoping for.

T2
– ouch, ouch, ouch, cobbles, ouch, cobbles, ouch ! I hobbled around to my parking space, broke into my double bagged run gear, got ready and was off ! I still don’t know how it took me 5 mins in total!

Run
I couldn’t slow down for the first kilometre, I really tried, but could not get my run pace on my garmin to slow to where I wanted it to be and I started to worry about burning out. I got to the first aid station at 2km and made myself walk it, I took my first powerbar gel and made sure I drank all of the water in the cup. When I started running again, I had calmed down and managed to maintain a more sensible pace. It was the longest run without an ipod I had done in my life I i was liking it. I kept myself busy by weighing up wether or not compression socks really worked and should I buy some or not ! The first lap ended with a run through the finish area, and past the pile of medals I could see on the table which encouraged me. All around the run course there was great support, and anything you needed at the aid stations was catered for. The second lap was a more sedate lap , which livened up when it started raining for a short while. By the time I entered the last lap, the course had really thinned out and I spent a lot of it dodging old people who had started to walk on the course. I spent a good couple of kilometres talking to a nice young lady doing well on her first HIM as well, as well as passing some people having their own bad days. Halfway round I knew I was going to finish as it would have further to quit and from then on in, it was the best run of my life. My team of supporters were on hand to cheer me on and give me a lift on each circuit - they were amazing staying out there for all those hours !

I finished in 6.00.24 , which was nearly an hour faster than I had anticipated, I was over the moon and happy that I had finished while there were still medals left !
Thats my first middle distance effort and it appears that my ‘one pace racing’ is suited to longer distances. I have signed up for Ironman Austria next year to have a crack at the full distance, but at some point I’d like to return to Antwerp to shave off those pesky 25 seconds!

Just over a week to go - excitement is building !

As I write this, there is just over a week to go before I attempt my biggest challenge to date, which is to compete and hopefully finish an Ironman 70.3 triathlon. i think I'm ready, I've done the distances (nearly) and feel ok at the moment. I think it might be useful to look at the distances and the preparation that I have put into it....

- Swim - Ironman race distance 1.9km in open water.

Training high point - 2.250km in open water achieved twice at South Hykeham, plus I managed 1500m at the Dambuster in race conditions and hope to duplicate that performance in Antwerp. Since that start of the year, I have been going to the local pool with Heidi for lane swimming. I could have gone to tri club coached sessions, and would have benefitted from them I'm sure - but the problem is that I just don't like being told what to do, hence I may be uncoachable !

For the year my swimming total has been 48.4km, next year I will start to do longer sessions in the pool earlier to build that endurance base.

- Bike - Ironman race distance - 56 miles

Training high point - 54 miles, achieved on the tt bike last sunday, I am really loving this bike now and think I could even make a fist of hills on it if I really wanted to, the gearing and torque is just so good.

Along with this long fast ride, I've managed 50 milers at least twice, which took in lots of hills, I learnt to ride a bike in a more efficient manner and I think I broke a training partner, although not permanently !

The year started out in January in the snow and the cold weather on the mountain bike and back then everything else seemed so far away. Cycling has been the discipline I have enjoyed most and improved most in my eyes. Next year, along with a full distance Ironman, I would love to take in some 112 mile sportives. Training total for the year - 1470.8 km's !!!!!

- Run - Ironman race distance - 13.1 miles

Training high point - 11.5 miles achieved on Tuesday this week.

I have been running all year, and have included 3 x 10k races into my schedule to help me focus on what is actually the discipline that I dislike the most - which is strange because its also the one that makes me feel so good afterward. I am though, looking forward to the Great North Run in September and possibly the London Marathon next year if I'm really lucky in the ballot.

Training total for the year - 321.6 km.

Thats it - hopefully it is enough, I just hope I stay fit, ytake my time, be sensible and complete my challenge !

I will update when I get back......

Three weeks to go.......update

Since Juneathon officially expired at the end of June, I have managed to keep my levels of training up where they need to be :

Thursday - Cycling - This was a very hard session as I was beasted up and down a mile stretch of straight road to start to build some speed into these bulky legs of mine.

Friday - managed to cram in a 5 mile run, before I went to a BBQ and ate far too much !

Saturday - Open water swimming again, 3 laps this time and 2250 metres minimum, meaning that I have completed the distance for my next event. I was feeling really good as well halfway round on the third lap, I seriously thought about going for a fourth time.... then I started feeling really queezy and decided the time was right to get out.

Sunday - 31 mile bike ride, first 22 miles against the very strong wind and very slow, but then 15km from home, wind on my bike all the way, a very fast time trial time of 25.41 - I really flew and that was the benefit of those tiring stretches on Thursday night.

and then today is a rest day, I'm making the most of it because my next rest day is next Monday !