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Gullane Beach Triathlon
A bonus race with a bonus result!
After Craggy Island I had three weeks in my plan to get my calf sorted and get well before the next race. It seemed feasible. At the race, Marie had mentioned she was doing the Gullane Beach Tri, which is almost my most local event, and asked if I was too. I wasn’t, but it made me think maybe I could, and I checked the website. Sold out and too late for the entry list.
I mentioned it to my coach, Scott, then forgot about it. A few days later I got an email.
Turn up on the day early – organiser says you will race.
Sure enough, this is also what the website suggested. Suddenly I was interested again! There was a risk to my calf though … so I waited until my first interval training since the half marathon, to see how it went. I was ‘controlled’ with my efforts, and all was well.
Ten perfectly paced intervals, with a special effort on number 9, just to see if I still could!
Next mission – getting a lift to the start early enough to get on-the-line entry. Marie offered to pick me up at 7 … too late I thought. I could camp the night before – but left work far too late on Friday to get sorted and get the train over. Scott was going the night before to set up the swim course. Friday evening I texted Glen … and got the reply … we can pick you up at 6:30!!
I was (hopefully) going to race!
This coincided with my first full week of feeling well, so on race day I was high as a kite and bouncing off the walls.
A beautiful beach
After a high speed dash along the coast, we got there very early, I got a spot no problem, and a great position in transition at the end of a row. It was chilly, but I was confident it would warm up when the sun came out.
Hey! They’re all following me!
The swim was really tough! I think I always say that, but this time I really mean it :-D. The waves looked tiny from the beach and there was only a bit of a breeze. This was my first ever beach start – we ran into the sea and it was wall to wall bodies. Then we headed into the wind toward the first buoy and I realised how wavy it really was. It made sighting tricky as it was luck whether I got a view of the orange marker, or the side of a wave. It was even harder on the way back as it was quite a long way between the buoys. I was drinking far too much sea water and completely failing to draft, as always! The course was two laps, and we had to run out, round a flagpole and back in again. I was shocked that I could hardly breathe when I launched myself into lap two.
Heading in for more
Blackberry-lined transition run
Still, it was soon done and I was running up the sand dune and along a path back to transition. I was tempted to stop for a few juicy blackberries, but resisted.
The bike course takes in some of the country lanes of East Lothian. I passed teammate Louise, who was the fastest female swimmer. Then I was riding up the hill. I concentrated on keeping my speed up and trying to chase down someone in blue up ahead. He turned out to be a great carrot for me – as he’d get away a bit, I’d re-focus, pull him back a bit – until I finally caught him with just a few km to go.
My favourite bit was overtaking a man on a proper time trial bike with a big disc wheel on lap 2. You can have a fancy bike, but you’ve still got to pedal fast and no free wheeling!!
Transition carnage!
I hadn’t seen any other girls, but didn’t know what my position was until I started the run. This is when some of the marshals told me I was leading! Yay! My plan had been to have a hard swim and bike, and keep it steady on the run, if I could. This would be a good test of my calf without pushing it too hard. So I kept a decent pace, but took time to thank all the very friendly marshals. I was too out of breath to say much though, so little hand waves had to do.
The course was two laps, with an out and back at one end. I saw the other girls behind. Only one looked close enough to catch me. I kept going and was still in the lead as I set off on the out and back again. There was a little loop in some trees at the far end and as I emerged I couldn’t see ‘the girl in black’ going the other way. Uh-oh, I thought, she’s probably closing in and already on that loop! As I approached the last few hundred metres I looked over my shoulder and could see two people in black approaching. Things were no more defined than that! So I picked the pace up and pushed hard to the end. Good job I did, as Megan Mowbray had a storming run and flew in just 7 seconds behind!
You’ve been chicked!
A very exciting finish and a fantastic race for me. Fellow Celtman competitor, Laura Sarkis was third. Full results here. The prize was more than I expected – a £100 voucher for the Tri Centre. The free post race food even included a decent veggie option and I picked up another bottle of speciality beer for Andy.
Lots of the club were out racing and supporting and there was a great atmosphere. Thanks for all the cheers! Whilst we’re on the thanks, Lesley Marshall took some great pictures, Scott always gives good advice, whilst Kirsty works her magic on my legs when I keep abusing them. Finally a special word for Glen and Heili for picking me up so early. Couldn’t have done it without you guys :-).
Craggy Island Off-Road Tri
This triathlon has the best setting and concept of any I’ve done!
When I first planned to do this race, I intended it as a bit of post-Aberfeldy fun, a chance to get back out on my mountain bike and, if I was lucky, maybe my fitness would be enough to carry me through to a championship (Scottish off-road tri) podium.
It turns out I only got two out of three, but I had a great time anyway!
If you’ve seen my Aberfeldy report you’ll know I got ill the week before. Somehow this one just wasn’t letting go and it was still lingering for this race. And no, I don’t really think the racing made it much worse as plenty of people in the office toiled with it for an extended period too!
Coming up in the car from Glasgow, Elizabeth didn’t sound too good either, but she’s a stalwart and brushed it off.
Here’s an idea of what the race is like. You actually swim to an island with no roads, mountain bike around for a while on some proper single track paths as well as wider gravel tracks. Then you have to ‘run’ to the top of the island. I say ‘run’ because I was using my hands to help me up at one point!
I was determined to have a good swim, because Aberfeldy had been so bad. In training the week before we had done a drill where we sprinted in a pack for 50m before easing into race pace. That’s what I did in this race – really went for it for a minute or so then settled down. I had to breathe to the right the whole time because the chop was quite bad. Three quarters of the way over I had a minor panic as I couldn’t see anyone, but it turns out I was 7th out of the water (with 6 men in front), which explains the lack of company! Really pleased with this bit of the race.
Thanks to Bob Millar for the photo
Onto the bike and my friend Caroline was chasing me down right out of transition. When she came past I tried to keep up, but she edged away gradually and then took big leaps away on every technical section. I was actually now in third as the eventual winner had nipped past when I was messing about in transition. My legs weren’t responding enthusiastically to the little uphill digs. I reminded myself that this race wasn’t a target and I was supposed to be here for fun. Then I relaxed and enjoyed the riding a whole lot more! After a while off, I was reminded how mountain biking can really put a smile on my face. The support of the spectators and marshals was great – they cheered and yelled a lot! Even when Marie sped past me on the hardest bit halfway round lap 2 I couldn’t respond, but I didn’t stress.
Thanks to Bob Millar for the photo
The run was not only a test of fitness but also of my dodgy calf, playing up since the half marathon. Luckily it held up fine. I could see Marie as we climbed and I thought I was gaining ground … that is, until the ground went downwards and she ran away! 😀 I just stuck at a good pace, though it was hard to get past slower people from the shorter race, who were now in front.
A reminder of my day
In the end I came 4th. I was a teensy bit disappointed and had all my excuses ready. But to be honest, I was just well and truly beaten and it was great to see friends in positions 2 and 3! Kerry MacPhee was the deserved winner. Results.
We headed to Fort William to stay with Marie for the night, and the next day went mountain biking at the Nevis Range in the drizzle. Marie raced around like an over-excited rabbit, while we tried to keep up. Elizabeth fell out of love with her bike (turned out the frame / suspension was bust!). We enjoyed the company and I headed home satisfied with the weekend :-).
Marie gave me these amazing socks to say thank you for lending her a wetsuit a few weeks ago. Thanks Marie, I love them!
Uswim Salford and Dundee Half Marathon
July and are August are busy racing months for me this year! So you get two races for the price of one in this report :-).
A few weekends ago my boyfriend was swimming a 10km open water race. Yes, that’s 10km swimming. I don’t know what had taken over his brain when he decided this was a good idea. After having had to drag him into the water literally kicking and screaming, in just a couple of years he has turned into a swimming fanatic.
Nothing wrong with that, but even I thought 10km was mad. Anyway, he needed a supporter and Uswim were running a 1500m race starting at the same time. So I entered that one on the basis that I could swim, get out and be ready at the feed station when Andy first needed me.
It was a bit stressful getting to the start because it was HOT. And I was desperate for the toilet. And there were queues. And Andy was anxious. But it all sorted itself out and soon I was in Dock 9 at Salford Quays ready to go. I was on holiday after the 2 day adventure race and there was no way there was any room for a wetsuit in the packing, so I was ‘doing it skin’. It was so hot I was quite glad!
Andy racing!
The hooter went and I practiced drafting and swimming hard and sighting. In 27 minutes I was finished (think the course might have been a bit long). 8th female, though also only beaten by 5 men! The results didn’t say who was in a wetsuit or not (wetsuits make you faster due to extra buoyancy).
The feeding and lap counting platform
I threw a T-shirt on and ran round to the floating platform to support Andy. The long course swimmers were doing 10 x 1km laps. For the next 3.5 hours I handed out snacks and drinks and took photos. The bits of sticky iced bun were well received! As was the coconut water. I also took to helping some of the other swimmers and the lap counters on the platform with me. Time passed quite quickly – nipping back for the prize giving for my race and watching the race developing at the sharp end.
The leading male almost lapped second and third, who were having a private battle. The leading female only opened a significant gap after about 7 laps. It was great to be cheering and encouraging people.
As time went on the locals started getting in the way, jumping off bridges and generally messing around. Andy was the last finisher not to be stopped before the end. A superb 3h57! He didn’t seem to understand why he was tired when he got out and the next day. Strange.
Here’s his report.
He made it. “I’m not tired” … yeah, right.
The following week I decided on Tuesday to enter a half marathon on Sunday. It was a bit of a scramble to organise a lift with a club mate and get entered before it sold out, but I was sorted. This race was in preparation for the Aberfeldy middle distance triathlon, where I will have to do a half marathon to finish off. The last time I ran this distance was in 1999, in a race in Germany. Back then I was ‘a runner’, but afterwards I didn’t run for 10 years. I hoped this one wouldn’t have the same effect!
I’m just tucked in on the far left about 3 or 4 people back.
I got picked up early, we drove over, were practically first to arrive and had ages to get ready. Running races are funny … no kit to get sorted! After several trips to the toilet I was ready and waiting near the front. I had read that it could get congested on the initial hill through some woods and I didn’t want to get held up. The people near me were all discussing their target times. I subconsciously took a step back, but trod on someone’s toe and had to stay where I was! In the end, it was fine. We started, I ran.
This was sort of it the whole way round! It’s so long since I have done a running race not requiring the use of a map, or watching footing over uneven ground, or with marked changes in speed. I felt like a metronome as my legs turned over and my arms pumped. At first I wondered if my mile splits might be too quick. But I kept maintaining them – my middle 3 miles were identical speeds, to the second! I drank at drinks stations and ate two gels on the way (keeping hold of my wrappers, unlike some people).
Near the start. Testing gel holders on a race belt for the first time.
I kept thinking, is this even real? I was having a sort of out of body experience. The mile markers kept ticking by. Suddenly I was going up a hill at miles 9-10. Then a downhill mile, which was inexplicably my slowest. Then the final run along the shore with a tailwind for the first time all race.
Actually, I was starting to feel tired now, and my calf was sore. But I was nearly there and kept going. I saw the clock as I approached the line: 1:34 and counting – quick! I can get under 1:35! I also tried to outsprint the two guys near me to much cheering from the marshals and crowds :D. The marshalling and local support had been excellent all the way round.
At the end, I took my shoes off and found big blisters on my poor little toes – oops! But the sun had come out (luckily it had been much cooler than recent days in our heatwave) and Peter (who had brought me there) and I relaxed and waited (and waited) for the prize giving. He had come first male supervet in 1h23 – fast!
I was 10th female in 1:34:44, which I was delighted with. 5 minutes quicker than 14 years ago! There were 300 female competitors. I was 75th overall out of about 750. Results.
Next up: two standard distance triathlons two weekends in a row!
Open Adventure 2 day race – Wales
My adventure started on Wednesday evening with The Packing Challenge. Although I was getting a lift down to Wales, I had a 10km ride to my pick up point and I was catching trains later in the week so I couldn’t sprawl too much. Luckily, by Thursday evening after a hectic day at work, I had a wind-assisted cruise along the coast to meet up with Jon and family. My holiday had started!
All of this …
… into this!
Our location was Trawsfynydd, in North Wales. Friday afternoon was spent with my dad investigating old viaducts, coach roads, Roman roads and an amphitheatre on a hill. Then it was time to set up camp and commence battle with the midges :-).
The race started on Saturday with an early morning briefing and handout of the maps for the day. First of all we had to get to the start line – a 45 minute cycle away, over that old coach road my dad had showed me!
The first race stage was a 2h run. I have got used to racing with Lucy, but today I was on my own. I set off confidently, found the path shortcut that most people missed and then took a sort of invisible path to find my first checkpoint. It wasn’t there! I wasted too much time bashing around in dense forest. I could hear voices just the other side of some thick undergrowth, but couldn’t fight my way through. Eventually, covered in scratches, I gave up and came out of the trees the way I had come, set off up a fire road and … found the control. It was later confirmed that it had been misplaced.
Having fun biking on one of the easier trails!
After that I was more cautious, which slowed me down a bit. The going was tough anyway, with lots of footpaths barely visible on the ground and lots of paths on the ground not on the map. I was careful to use all the clues I could; streams, walls, contours. Things were going OK until near the end, when I crossed a river on an unmapped bridge. I lost more time going the wrong way before I was off again. Running hard now – I had rapidly gone from feeling I had loads of time, to knowing I was likely to be late!
Penalties in this race are harsher than an Open 5. 2 points a minute for 5 minutes, then 5 points a minute for another 5 then it’s straight up to 10 points a minute! I squeezed in just over 5 minutes late = 15 penalties. Not too bad, and some people were caught out much worse.
Hot, tired, but not too midgy at the moment!
I was looking forward to biking, though a bit apprehensive about how hard the navigation might be in the woods. We had an hour’s break to eat, drink and plan some sort of route. It went very quickly and soon it was time to go again. I settled down into the 5h stage and was loving riding my bike! My legs were feeling fantastic and I was whizzing up the hills. I was a bit slow with the map, but there was a lot of detail to read.
We had to get back to the campsite to finish, backtracking the way we had come in earlier that morning. I wanted to leave 40 minutes for this. About an hour before the end I got lost in the forest when a bridleway I was happily bouncing down disappeared. I righted myself eventually and was faced with a choice. Go the other side of the main road and pick up at least one control, or head straight back.
I made the wrong choice! And I knew it as I was slogging slowly up another fire road on the other side of the road. When I eventually passed the start area I only had about 30 minutes left. I scoffed a gel and got ready to ride as hard and as fast as I could. The last haul into the campsite was into a headwind and not entirely flat. My legs were on fire and I skidded into the finish over 13 minutes late. Darn! 75 penalties!
Just follow that footpath sign to get lost in the dark.
Next up was the 1.5h night stage on foot, though we had to wait for it to get dark. I got some route tips from Lucy, who was marshalling as she injured her ankle last week. All that was for nothing though, as I made an elementary mistake at the start. We had to run up a footpath flanked with ‘out of bounds’ areas. I didn’t think in advance how to spot when I came out of that into the open land. I was following other people and not keeping an eye on the map. When they all went through a gap in a wall, I blindly followed.
Although it was soon clear we had gone wrong, I couldn’t work out where exactly I was on the map. It was dark, there were lights everywhere, the midges were biting and I panicked a bit. I backtracked and found team FGS who assuredly said they were on the footpath as they zoomed past. I managed to relocate and from then on doggedly did my own thing, actually used my powerful light and did a little safe loop without futher incident.
Although that went well, I had lost a lot of time and second placed female, Sharon McDonald, was catching up fast! Time for a short sleep and ready for the next day.
Ah, kayaking, a stage that mostly went well, somehow!
We had a 1.5h kayak to start with. I haven’t been in a sit on top by myself before, and it was quite hard work! After the first two controls, I had a good idea how fast I was going, and it wasn’t quick enough to go all the way round the lake. I cut across and had another mini panic when I couldn’t work out what the lump of land in front of me was. I had mis-aimed slightly, but once that was sorted I was on my way again.
There were two solo females in front of me and I was trying to catch them up. I also got a little spurt of energy when two teams passed me – first Mountain Hardwear whooping at me to go faster, then FGS suggesting I get in their slipstream. (I tried and failed!). Rounding a point it was all out for the finish. I actually went faster than expected, came back early for the first time all race, and got a really good score compared to the other solos.
Just like last year, I had come into my own on the kayak leg, which just isn’t right, considering I never normally go kayaking!
Final effort was the 17km trail run. I was really looking forward to this. Not much navigating to mess up, no strategy, just go as fast as possible to the end. It would be a good test of my improved running fitness. I started off in a little group with Sharon, the FGS team and a male pair. We kept changing the lead as we worked our way to the top. Despite slipping in bogs I felt good, except when I went over on my ankle. Ow! But the pain was short lived. Phew.
Going downhill another couple of teams came streaking past. When we got to a long road section, myself and Sharon stopped duelling and ran along chatting instead. We steadily made ground on the teams that had overtaken and were all back together again as we turned off road.
Sharon and I on the trail run, before I overheated
As we splashed through a stream some of the others stopped to wet their heads and necks. I thought, nah, why waste time doing that, I’m keeping going … About 5 minutes later I started to feel very bad. I felt sick. Then I started shivering. Hmmm, since it was about 30 degrees C and we were in direct sun, that wasn’t right! I slowed down and Sharon stopped to ask if I was OK. I wasn’t really. She tried to get me to stop, or sit in the shade, or take a tow off her, but I was being stubborn. I wanted to finish, and finish quickly! We had 3km to go.
Still in full race kit. Sent into a lake on medical grounds: there’s a first for everything!
I tried drinking more and it might have helped a little. Sharon gave up arguing with me and ran on ahead to send the medic. I had had a chance to dip in a couple of streams by the time he met me though, and the route had become a little shadier. I had a tiny revival and made it to the finish line, where I collapsed. For the first time ever, I was sent into the lake on medical grounds suffering from heatstroke! Some time later I seemed to have cooled off to something approaching normal temperature and got out to have a picnic lunch with my dad.
I had kept onto my lead in the female solos (results here), but must say a massive thank you to Sharon who looked after me instead of racing away on the final stage. It was a morale boost to have her with me and if things had got worse I’d have needed help.
Overall, the weekend proved that I am fit and fast, but out of practice with strategy and racing solo! That’s what triathlon training does for you.
Many thanks to all the people who helped transport me to and from the tricky-to-get-to race location. Jon, Andrea, dad, Stu, Ian, my brother – epic logistics!! Also to Open Adventure for a great weekend’s racing with plenty of time to catch up with friends in between stages.
Kendal Sprint Tri
My first ever win in a triathlon!
But back to the beginning …
After the Tranent triathlon was cancelled, this was my only ‘warm up’ before the Slateman in May, which is one of my target races this year.
I wanted to practice transitions, clothing, coping with race nerves and also to get a confidence boost, if possible :-). It’s easy to get carried away thinking I’m a great biker when I race triathlon, but doing the Tour of the Meldons a couple of weeks ago was a pertinent reminder that up against cyclists I have my limitations!
This way home
So, I set off to Kendal on Friday evening, thinking how simple all the packing had been compared to an adventure race. What, no first aid kit or foil blanket?! Things got a bit epic just heading into town to catch my train. I set off in sunshine but was pelted with pea-sized hailstones halfway there. I leapt under a bus stop, but too late to entirely save my bare legs, still bearing little bruise marks 3 days later!
Kit laid out for transition practice.
Saturday was warm and sunny. I had met up with Andy and we went and rode round the course. It was good to practice a couple of bumpy sections, awkward bends and a tricky fast, narrow descent with gravel all over the road. I did that bit twice! After a fab lunch at the Waterside Café, we practiced transition a few times in our hostel room. Time well spent.
The race was large with 200 competitors, plus a kid’s event straight afterwards. Because it was a pool swim, everyone was going off in waves. The first was at 8am, mine was at 09:15, Andy wasn’t on until 11:00. After a basic poolside warm up it was time to go. I started much too fast and felt sick. I had to tell myself to calm down and get into a rhythm. After 500m / 7 minutes and 53 seconds (not amazing, but respectable enough), I jumped out of the pool and exited through a side door into a wet, cold, drizzly, windy day.
Before the race I had worried about whether to put on an extra top for the bike leg, and had laid one out in transition. In the event I decided to stop being a wuss and just get on with it. A big relative improvement in my transition time compared to some races (even with putting socks and gloves on) and I was off again. I soon flew past the few girls who were ahead of me from my swim heat and was racing round the hilly bike course.
I like to ride my bicycle – picture thanks to James Kirby
I was a bit disappointed with my time coming back to transition – way off target (38:11 for 18km). But afterwards, I realised my target had been faster even than the best men’s times. I think I had been a bit optimistic and not taken full account of the 27mph headwinds, the ups, steep downs, twisty roads and the couple of minutes spent on the grassy run in and out of transition!
I had started to catch a few people from the previous heat out on the road, and heading out on the run there were a few more. But it was still quite a solitary affair, just passing a few people here and there. I had to mentally tell myself to keep working and run fast (it was only 5km after all). I was back in just under 22 minutes – pleasing given there had been a big hill in the middle of the run. It’s not like doing the Cramond Parkrun!
With a race like this, you don’t exactly know where you’ve placed. I sprinted under the banner with no ceremony and then waited. By the time Andy had started I was changed, warm and dry. After his swim I checked the computer screen for the latest results. Darn! It said I was second. But wait … had first place really been 12 minutes faster on the bike? The bike course went out, did two shorter laps and came back in again. I suspected she had accidentally missed one of the bike laps out, so I put in a query, later backed up by Andy.
Andy had a good race. At least, he finished, which was better than his last event in the rain! And he had a good run, though he didn’t manage to get within 60 seconds of me over the 5km as promised – being 60.3 seconds slower :D.
Later in the afternoon, we got an email with the final results. But I was still second, with another girl ahead whose bike time was 6 or 7 minutes faster than the winning men. I felt unsporting making another query, but it was important to me that it was right. I eventually found out at about 9:30 at night that I had won! The potential immediate excitement had worn off, but I was still chuffed to bits to do so well.
Hilly time trial and new mountain bike trails
April’s turning out to be a busy month for me. Somehow I seem to have lined up a race every weekend 5 weeks in a row :-). Of course, not all of these are target races, some of them are training in aid of the bigger goals. The last two are in this category.
Because the Tranent triathlon was cancelled I hadn’t even been out on my road bike since the New Year’s Day triathlon. I was also worrying that with a greater focus on running I might be losing speed on my bike. So I entered a hilly 40km road time trial organised by my club. I’ve done this one a few times before. But this year it was also the Scottish Championships.
It was only a week after the last Open 5, which was a tough one. I was lucky to have just about recovered in time :D.
The forecast wasn’t great (to put it mildly), so Andy arranged a lift to the start. Meanwhile, I rode over in a raging headwind and intermittent downpours … someone actually stopped and offered me a lift when I was partway there. I declined thinking I felt OK, but just after that I was at an exposed moor section and it all got a lot harder.
The Meldons are very scenic in good weather when you’re not racing!
© Copyright Jim Barton.
On the plus side, I only got to the sign-on about 30 minutes before my start time. I decided I had done plenty of ‘warming up’, got changed and didn’t go back outside in the cold until it was time to go. I ignored the weather and just got on with the job in hand. After the first hill, we turned into a headwind that I knew would last for at least 12km. It was actually longer, as we turned another bend and the wind still bore down on us. The final turn up and over the Meldons was the exhilarating payback. I have never ridden up the hill so fast!
I was set off first and somehow wasn’t caught up, so had the enjoyment of crossing the line first. That was as good as it got … I was almost dead last and only beat someone recovering from being ill and someone coming down with a bug! Mind you, that was out of the people who; signed up, turned up, started and finished. I think there were dropouts at every stage ;-). One of them was Andy – his tale is here, but don’t worry, some good home cooking cheered him up!
I cruised home 50 minutes faster than it took me to get there, and it felt good to have had a fast, hard ride. My average speed was fractionally faster than last year over a longer course in significantly tougher conditions.
Jess marshalling in the wind and rain (thanks to all the marshals!)
The next week I decided at the last minute to enter a local SMBO (Scottish Mountain Bike Orienteering) score event in Mugdock Park, which is just on the outskirts of Glasgow. I got a lift over very early in the morning. Too early, considering I was out late watching an Italian film the night before.
This event was very low key, with only three female solo competitors. I was pretty relaxed about the race which is unusual for me. And the result was just a second place – I wasn’t concentrating or working hard enough and one of the other girls was strong! The map was challenging, with intricate detail I’m not used to for mountain bike navigation. There were also many controls seemingly placed ‘on a tree, in a wood’. They weren’t joking at the start when they said the descriptions would give you a ‘clue’ as to the location …!
Never mind, I had a good time riding my bike in new places out in the sunshine and won a few things from Alpine Bikes. I then took the opportunity to meet up with a friend in Glasgow and spend a lazy day eating noodles, chatting, sleeping and eating brunch.
Next up … a sprint triathlon in Kendal. No slacking on this one. Despite it not being a target race, it’s important for me as my only actual triathlon before the Slateman in a month’s time. I want to get everything right and have my own goals in mind!
Bowhill Long Duathlon
Beer as prizes!
A month ago I did the medium length race in this series and came 3rd. I wrote all about it for 220 triathlon magazine, due out in the shops next week. I can’t wait to see it! This month everything was back to normal. I got a lift down with a friend from my club. We left Edinburgh in an unexpected snow storm and were wondering whether we would ever make it before the race started!
Favourite quote of the journey: “Well, I like wearing my tights because, er, because they’re tight”
Favourite tune of the journey: something funky from Austin Powers!
At the venue there was no snow in sight, it was even sunny on occasions :-).
Apart from standing on my already rather ripe and squishy banana, my pre-race prep was uneventful. Soon I was on the start line, the hooter was going and we were off! This time I didn’t wobble. The bike leg was good fun, but in contrast to the last race, I lost sight of the two leading women fairly early on. I’m not sure why – but I didn’t quite have my normal race mojo. However, I’ve been concentrating on run training recently and was also a bit tentative (even more than usual!) on the downhills. My hip is still a sore from my heavy fall a month ago and I didn’t want a repeat incident. Having said that, I still had fun and loved the single track through the trees. Then the marshals gave me such a cheer I even manged to get up the final steep bank. Success!
My transition was terrible! I fumbled with my shoe laces and changed my mind about what to wear on the run. Eventually I set off again. A key aim for me in this race was to test my running. Last time I felt like I plodded round but this time I intended to race. The first part of the course undulated but we were soon heading up and up. We picked our way along a narrow mossy bank and wove through tightly packed spindly trees. Great fallen tree trunks across the route added some spice and made my legs ache even more! We turned round at a memorial stone with a lollipop as evidence we’d been there!
This course was an out and back, so I could see where all my competitors were. Shona and Jo were already well ahead and the next two girls were about 3.5 minutes behind. I wasn’t sure if this would be enough and it spurred me on! I did my best on the tricky technical bits, felt like I swooped through the trees and made a conscious effort to pick the pace back up on the ‘easier’ sections. I struggled for about 10 mins at one point, but then got my second wind and really surged for the last 10 minutes. Sprint finish as a matter of principle!
I was 3rd lady again, with 1st about 5 minutes ahead, but I also held my lead over 4th. Overall, I was very pleased with my efforts and cheerfully collected my finisher’s creme egg and another podium beer for Andy 🙂
Success for our club – Jo was 2nd female and overall series winner, Chris tied for 3rd in the senior male series and Glen (my lift!) finished well inside 10 minutes of me 😀
Haglöfs Open 5 Cheddar
The February Open 5 was in Cheddar. It was so far away from home (one big train, one little train and a 17km cycle) that I decided to make a long weekend of it. As a result, my pre-race prep consisted of squeezing through tight holes underground, admiring the cliff top views, buying cave aged cheese and eating pasties, Somerset cider and apple cake and local ice cream. I was even lucky enough to be treated to a dose of actual sunshine. Nice!
Squeezing through a small, muddy, underground hole!
Me absorbed in the map. Lucy feigning interest in the map!
On to race day and the more serious business of the weekend. Lucy had requested a bike start this time. On our own, she normally bikes first and I normally run first. Since we’ve done it my way the first two times, it only seemed fair to switch!
In fact, for this race it was probably the right thing to do anyway as the bike course was very committing. Many people who biked second got caught out, and there were some big names rolling in very late with large penalties.
It all started well and we were picking up lots of points. I was happy that we had made the right choice of direction (anti-clockwise), because we got up the first very steep hill on a road and weren’t spending a lot of time pushing. Although there were sections of tarmac, they were frequently punctuated by fun off-road excursions. We were bouncing down one such rocky track. Lucy was having a great time; I was at the limit of my technical ability. Then another guy squeezed past me very close, I lost my nerve and suddenly I was crashing to the ground. I lay there winded for a few seconds assessing the damage. Sore arm, bruised hip, knocked knee, squint bar end. Nothing broken, so slightly shakily I set off again.
Biking, smiling
I was under instructions to navigate a course lasting 3h. Not long after the crash we had to make some choices about controls. I lost the ability to decide and Lucy had to step in and do it for me! We were off on a short detour with a few extra hills. It looked like we would get back to transition 10-15 minutes later than planned, but we were moving well and it didn’t make sense to ride past them. In retrospect, the control we should have missed to save time was the very first one we got!
After that the course got slower, but I perked up again and felt confident. We had a long, rough fire road climb through some woods followed by another rocky, slippy descent. I even managed to stay upright. But Lucy was beginning to tire of biking, and it wasn’t a good place to try and push or tow. Despite a speedy finish through town (straight past my B&B) we had been out much longer than planned.
Jacob’s Ladder – down we go!
We were in and out of transition quickly, but only had 1.5h left for running. I don’t think Lucy was best pleased with my timing! We started well with a leg burning trip to the top of the lookout tower and back down the steps of Jacob’s Ladder. It was then a walk straight back up a very steep hill to a dark cave with the control hidden in a corner.
I was still feeling cheerful but Lucy was not her usual sprightly self. Though we were running again through sticky mud off the top of the hill, I was keeping up just fine and not dying like I usually do! I started trying to help with the navigation but this was a big mistake. I wasn’t taking an overall view of our route and distance / time travelled so my interjections weren’t properly reasoned. Meanwhile, Lucy had hit a wall (not literally!) and didn’t have the energy to tell me to shut up and let her get on with it.
All this meant we ended up lured to Totty Pot – after the mistake of Titty Hill in the South Downs, this should never have happened! And then we were cutting it short, dashing for home, but too late. We jogged in 12.5 minutes late = 35 penalty points.
Synchronised running!
This was a bit disappointing. If we’d kept clear heads on the run we could have made a sensible loop and got back on time. When I first started racing solo I made mistake after mistake. I learnt from all of them, though you can’t always eliminate or predict everything. Racing as a pair is different from being solo. It’s like going through it all again. This one is definitely going down in the book – don’t interfere with the other person’s nav unless they ask you too! Racing with someone else is also about getting to know each other, so that you can still be an effective team even when the going gets tough.
Despite it being a hard race for us, it was still enough for a win in the female pairs. And for now at least, we are leading the series :-). Full results here.
The only challenge left for me was how to carry my prize purple Haglöfs holdall back home!
Haglöfs Open 5 South Downs
Lucy and I had a plan. A plan to race the Open 5s together. Until last Wednesday that wasn’t going to start until January though. I was going to do the South Downs Open 5 solo as a warm up (against my better judgement about the practicalities of travel to these far flung locations). Lucy decided to come last minute – and suddenly I was pairing up!
After a ‘slightly arduous’ train journey to Leeds on Friday afternoon, I met up with Dawn and Tom and we set off for Liphook. A smooth run through and we ready for a nice ride round the area on Saturday morning.
Well, two of us were ready and one of us (Tom) wanted to sleep in and needed encouragement to come out and play! Then one of us (me) decided to pop into Liphook Cycles to get some new cleats (my foot kept flying off the pedal). I’m glad Dawn told me to change them right away – as it was practically impossible! After much drilling, rummaging in boxes for shoe plates and tutting at the state of my old bolts, the new cleats were safely installed by the mechanic. I thought for a moment I was going to have to buy new shoes on the spot! Many thanks to the guys in the shop who helped me out :-).
Finally we were on our way. We started with a nice pootle along a bridleway which was promising in parts, but interrupted by sticky mud holes. This was followed by a lovely ride up the only hill we could find. Even Tom was heard to say “it isn’t much of a hill”, though you wouldn’t know it from the complaints that followed later! Highlight of the ride were the Belted Galloway cattle, christened ‘pandas’ by Tom.
Race day was bright and cold. It was exciting to be racing as a pair. Number 1s on our bikes and legs. A good omen?
I went through my usual planning routine for the bike, with Lucy breaking from her traditions to do it with me! I wanted to look carefully as the map was covered in different rights of ways and not-rights of ways. Lucy did most of the run route planning and we were ready to go.
Planning, my style
We ran first – I prefer it this way though Lucy normally goes the other way round. With five more races to go there’s time to experiment. Straight out from the start we were sprinting! Yikes, I was thinking I wasn’t sure I could keep this pace up … then we promptly got lost!
Who has done / said these things before?
- Maybe that path just isn’t on the map?
- The fences must be different now.
- What we see doesn’t fit where we think we are. Let’s just ignore it!
- I think my compass isn’t working properly.
- If we just run up here maybe it will all be alright …
After narrowly avoiding getting sucked into ‘crowd indecision’ with everyone else who was lost, we nipped through a gap in the trees marked ‘serpent trail’. I knew it should go past one of the controls eventually, as we had ridden some sections of it the day before. Then we were saved! An info board! With a map and a ‘you are here’ arrow! As Andy will tell you, I love info boards and have never loved one as much as this.
After a 20 minute / 2.5km detour we were on our way again and Lucy navigated the rest of the run faultlessly. I huffed and puffed behind her and felt guilty for asking her to slow down sometimes to let me drink / eat / breathe. I did well at being trusting as I never looked at the map once we got moving, though I didn’t have time to anyway!
We timed arrival into transition perfectly – we left after exactly 2 hours and started bombing it along a road. My legs felt the run in them when we hit the first hill, but I soon recovered. I loved going up Blackdown hill on the firm trails and racing down a fast descent. The rest of the ride was nearly all on road, punctuated with little off-road forays. This suits me from a race point of view, though it can be less interesting.
We finished the riding on a similar note to the way we started the run – with a mistake! I was looking after bike map reading. We wanted to squeeze in an extra 15 pointer and get ourselves over 500. We were also lured by the control location … ‘Titty Hill’. Unfortunately, I under-estimated the distance to get this and get back. On reflection, my route choice between the last 5 controls was also sub-optimal by about 3km.
How is Lucy smiling?! I feel sick!
We ran out of time 3.5km from the finish, just after we had been reduced to pushing our bikes up a road bit of hill. I had missed the fact we were on the Roman Road, and couldn’t savour riding through ‘Shufflesheeps’. My legs were empty, I felt a bit sick and I longed for the finish line. I told myself since giving up is never an option, the only thing for it was to turn off the brain, urge Lucy on and get us up to the end as soon as possible.
Glasses all steamed up and still not recovered!
I was grimacing as we approached the finish banner and was glad it was over! 14:25 late = 45 penalty points giving us 465 overall. Slightly disappointing. However, with two significant errors it wasn’t so bad … and you never know how anyone else’s race has gone until you get the results. So we were delighted to find we had won the female pairs category. A lovely purple Haglöfs fleece in the prize bag made my day. I even found energy to help push the car back onto the road for a bump start when we found it with a flat battery :D.
I feel like we have room to improve and could get stronger as a pair than we were solo. All fired up for next time now! Scarborough, January 2013 – the date’s in my diary!
Here is Lucy’s report.
And the full results.
Kendal Mountain Festival Trail Run
Andy has a new-found love of both running and adventures in the hills. This had lead him to enter the Kendal Mountain Festival trail run, organised by our friends at Open Adventure. At first I was just going to watch – I have had an iffy knee since the Terrex. But then I decided that because any running I have done has made the knee no worse, I’d rather take part than travel all the way to Kendal to hang around watching!
After an early start, our train from Manchester arrived 5 minutes late. Doesn’t sound like much, but we were cutting it fine anyway! We had to run quite fast to the registration point, with me navigating from a map in my head that I had tried to memorize the previous night. No worries, we got to the back of the queue before 10:30 – though not the front!
Me on the top of the hill having fun!
Then Andy wanted to ‘warm up’. I stood near the start watching him do his stuff looking pro in a proper running vest from his new club. He said: “If only you could see what was happening to your VO2 right now”. I said: “Running around now just means less energy for the race”! 😀
The crowd seemed reluctant to move to the start area, so I positioned myself on the second line. I wasn’t going to begin at a disadvantage! The route was flat for a few km, but muddy with pungent smells wafting over from the fields. A couple of girls came past who I tried to hang on to, but in the end this race was just for fun and I wasn’t motivated to kill myself too much! I decided to wait for the hill.
Turns out that sneaky Andy was also tucked in just behind me. I have a general ‘don’t look back’ policy (if someone in front of me looks back, I know they are worried and it spurs me on), so never knew it. He was thinking about flying past but was biding his time … too late! As soon as we started going uphill I dropped him – ha ha!
The weather was gorgeous and sunny. I thanked the marshals, checked the views and told myself I wasn’t going to walk a single step, no matter how steep the last little bit of hill got! I could still see a couple of girls just in front, but I wasn’t making any ground even on the ups, so I left them too it. On a very slippery bit of descent my shoes had zero grip in the mud and I found myself on the floor. No damage done, though just then another girl came past! I urged her to catch the next one as we hit the road. The sole of my shoe is falling off and I keep delaying getting new ones (so expensive and they don’t even seem to last 6 months). It slapped on the road as I ran.
Andy … taking it more seriously. Or is he just more cool than me?!
More fields, more mud, back under the railway and suddenly rounding the last bend to the finish gantry. Hurrah! Andy came in 5 minutes later – a massive improvement on his previous off-road ventures. It was a moderately hilly and very muddy 9.8km. I was 6th female in 51:55. My knee complained a bit but felt better afterwards. The only trouble with doing events like this is that my legs get so stiff and sore the next day! Maybe 30 minutes a week run training just doesn’t cut it.
The day was rounded out with a visit to the Quaker Tapestry veggie cafe for lunch and a wander round the shops. We bought homemade marmalade and lime curd from the market, spinach and feta bread from an enthusiastic Italian and VPud from Booths for Andy (he just can’t resist). There was still time for a sojourn to the Chocolate House for some fine hot chocolate, cake and a bar of my favourite chocolate that my local stockist has dropped (I can’t have been buying enough). We finished with a trip up to Kendal Castle before our train home.
All in all, a fun day!
Planet Byde 