Blog Archives
Haglöfs Open 5 Innerleithen
My return to racing after a ‘rest’ period!
Before the Open 5 … Where have I been for a month?!
Well, after the Snowman race, I was due a break and really needed it. I was a bit tired of racing and spent the week at my dad’s relaxing. OK, so I included a couple of long bike rides and a ‘romp’ up and down a mountain in that time, but I also had nothing else to do except cook, eat, sleep and laze around!
A short break at the top of a Welsh hill road, with views out to sea
That was fun. The next couple of weeks I rode my bike to work and did the minimum of running to keep things ticking over. That included a couple of 5km Parkruns – still chasing that elusive 20 minute barrier though!
Hallocross
On Thursday 31st October, I marked the end of recovering by heading out for a local Halloween special. A cyclocross race in the dark in fancy dress! It was a whole lot of fun and I had an excellent battle with my friend Elizabeth – though she got the better of me in the end and accused me of cornering like a roadie … oops. She came an excellent 2nd. I was a bit frustrated to come 4th. I was beaten by 3rd place by less time (18 secs) than I gave away at the start (74 secs) by not being assertive and waiting near the front of the mass of riders. Hey hum, it wasn’t a serious race and it got my legs working at a speed I’m not used to! It also forced me to abandon my fear of slidy mud riding, at least temporarily.
Ghostly Hallocross riders: thanks to Addy Pope for the picture
Haglöfs Open 5 Innerleithen
I missed the first race in the Open 5 series because of the Snowman. I wasn’t going to do the same for the next, especially as it was almost on my doorstep. At least, it was at my local trail centre, 45km away. I raced with Lucy all of last year, but she couldn’t make it for this one. Not to worry, Caroline lives just a few hundred metres from the event centre and agreed to race with me. I was excited, as we have been trying to get together for a few times now, and this was the first time it had worked out. The fact that after she had agreed to it, she asked ‘oh, is there running in it too?’ didn’t faze me – she was in now, no going back 😀
A happy prize giving!
I wanted to ride over the day before, but the weather was rubbish. I settled for an afternoon and evening catching up with jobs before heading out for a lift from the bypass the next morning. Halfway through town, a car with bikes on the back came past, pulled over and offered me a lift. Many thanks to Anna and Chris!
Because I had been at home the night before, I didn’t really feel in race mode. But once I arrived and got the map, I was soon right back into it! We struggled to decide what we might do for the bike, though I knew from experience that it was a good idea to study the contours in the forest very carefully.
At the start we got the control values and set off confidently straight up the hill on the run. We had a nice circuit ready for this. At one point we considered crossing a pathless felled area. I pondered that ‘Lucy would make us go that way’, but we decided not to. That is, until a few hundred metres later an easier opening appeared and we took off! Caroline was good at finding a route through the tricky bits and confidently led us back down hill next to a stream. At a sheepfold we debated whether to go up again before we went back … going back was the right decision as we arrived in transition after almost exactly 2h. The last couple of km had been tough for me – nothing new there then!
Views from near the top of Minch Moor
Onto the bikes and we were straight back up the same hill we had started on the run. We nearly made it before we spun out and then were soon on a singletrack leading to the top of Minch Moor. I love that hill! Steady gradient, rocky and a fabulous power climb with huge panoramic views at the top. We didn’t stop long to admire them though, as we headed for a muddy out and back on the Southern Upland Way. Apparently at the control we bumped into my friend Andy, but I totally ignored him … I mean … failed to notice him! On the other hand, we unwittingly gave him a ‘good tip’ as we confidently stated out loud that it was definitely not worth going out further to the next control along. Tales back at race HQ confirmed it!
The ride had plenty of technical challenge. As well as the rocky climb, we now had a muddy ascent, where you had to search for firmer ground, feeling whether your wheels would grip and constantly adjusting position and scanning ahead. Next we were screeching downhill again on the man-made trail, and I was working hard to keep up as Caroline demonstrated her superior descending prowess!
The points allocation for the bike leg made it hard to come up with an ‘elegant’ route. We had to do a few out and backs. Later, back at home, I spotted a potentially better route, but I am not sure we would have had time to execute it anyway. As the race drew to a close we did one last long out and back. I wanted to collect at least two, maybe three controls out there, but the clock was ticking and we were slowing. I faced one of those difficult decisions as we stood at the track / road junction and Caroline said ‘you decide’. I was feeling good, but I could see she was not, and we had 9km into a headwind to go.
Drafting. Not far to go now!
I decided to just turn back and faced the final technical challenge! We didn’t have a tow line, but the headwind was strong. We decided Caroline would draft me, so I had to find the right pace and then use my internal power meter to keep a consistent effort back to the finish. 😀 Another good decision for the day, we got in with 3 minutes to spare. How unlike me!
At prizegiving we found out we had won our category and come 7th overall. So despite the pain, we had achieved a respectable score and it was safe to ask Caroline if she had enjoyed the experience :-). She said she did, and we certainly appreciated the lovely Haglofs gilet we both got as a prize. I don’t know if I will persuade Caroline out again now that she really knows what she’s letting herself in for, but in any case we had a great time out in the autumn sunshine!
Many thanks to Open Adventure for putting on the race and to James Kirby for the Open 5 photos.
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!
Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon
A Scottish Championship event for which I dragged myself to the start and in which I got a surprise.
This was my main target event for the year. In the run up most things had been going well. I got a pb at my club time trial. I was consistently doing harder swim sessions. Even my running was going OK, except when I slightly pulled a calf muscle ‘practising’ a half marathon.
The race was on Saturday. On Friday 9 days before, I noticed a slight sore throat. I thought nothing of it, though it was still there on Saturday when I went up to Aberfeldy to ride round the bike course. By Sunday I was struck down and barely made it out of the house to get food in. Yes, even when ill I thought the most important thing was to get some food so that I could cook and eat healthily for the rest of the week. How else would I get better?!
Unfortunately, this bug was more like something I’d expect in the first week of January. I got headaches, sore throat, a cough, croaky voice, wheezy, gunk in my chest … hmm … lovely. By Thursday I did feel a bit brighter, though on Friday I felt worse again. By now we were up in the area, sightseeing, but had to abandon plans and go back to the B&B for a lie down. Yikes!
I was determined to race anyway, so I registered and got ready to go. There were some advantages to being ill though.
- I was very rested – no training in the previous 7 days!
- I stopped worrying about my calf
- No energy or enthusiasm to get over-stressed about the race the week before or succumb to negative performance pressure
Race morning began very early. Too early. 5:15am is not my kind of time! We drove the length of Loch Tay to the swim start in Kenmore. By the time I had got kit out of the car, walked half a mile to the transition area and racked my bike, I was short of time. But I needed to go to the toilet and the queue was huge. I waited for a bit then gave up in a panic about getting my timing chip and missing the briefing. I got my chip and found Andy. He insisted I went back to the toilet. He was right, I suffered with tummy craps from at Celtman last year from not going when I needed to and it wouldn’t be good to get that again. Slowly the queue diminished, I went as quick as I could and then raced back down to the start. Andy filled me in on the briefing; “go round those buoys anti-clockwise”. And then I was getting in the water.
Swim start
It wasn’t cold, but it was a bit of a swim out to the start line. After waiting a while the hooter went – some people had barely got in and were a long way off the start! Just like some other races I’ve done this year, it was rough and crowded. I was a bit surprised, as the start line was very long and we were heading all the way over to the other side of the loch. I expected to have more space! After the turn west at the first buoy we were going into the wind. It got choppy and harder to breathe, and still it was crowded. My goggles were nearly knocked off and someone else almost pushed me under.
Swim exit: on the right next to the people walking with my head just out of the water!
On a different day in a more combative frame of my mind, I would have done better on this leg. As it was, I just swam and tried to survive. I could feel I was a long way down the field when I got out. Looking at the results later, this was indeed the case. Times aren’t much to go on as course lengths can be so variable from the quoted distance. In this event, it was definitely short, but my relative position told me I hadn’t had a good day in the water.
Later it turned out neither Andy nor Chris (my two supporters!) had seen me get out and they were having a bit of a panic. The organiser even checked the chip times to confirm I was on my way. On close inspection of Andy’s photos when we got home, we found one with me in it!
I had a slightly slower transition than usual as I ate a banana to keep me going on the long bike. This is the first time I’ve done this length of triathlon so it was a bit of an experiment.
I enjoyed the start of the ride and got up the big hill alright. Everyone was sorting out their positions at this stage so about equal numbers overtook me as I overtook. Over the top of the hill and round the back of Schiehallion (a big mountain!) we were suddenly exposed to the wind. Some very strong gusts made me wobble and almost lose control of the bike. Small twigs were flying off the trees and bits of dust were getting my eyes. I slowed down and took the sharp winding descent rather cautiously.
The effort from the climb induced a minor coughing fit, but as soon as we got to the bottom I knew it was time to get my head down and get my average speed up!
Funny shaped course profile
This section of the race is very long and potentially monotonous. It’s a 35km lap of Loch Rannoch. The road is almost flat. The views consist of trees and water. By now I was riding almost alone. I tried to keep anyone who went past in sight for as long as possible. I also kept looking at my speed. I was consciously trying to keep it at about 34-36km/h. This was taking a lot of concentration as I ‘naturally’ seemed to want to go at about 30km/h! But I knew it was a test to see if I could make my legs hurt like this and still run afterwards. I managed to drink and eat well here too – chomping on some bars every half hour. That liquorice allsports Mule bar was the business!
Over the final bridge into town
At the bottom of the return hill my overall average was 30.7km/h. I knew this would drop as I climbed. From my recce I also knew that even though the hill was steep, it was short! Pleasingly, I overtook quite a few people who appeared out of nowhere in front of me on the climb. But it was still blowing a gale and the going was much tougher than the last time I had been this way. At the top I was down to 29.4km/h – I had time to make up!
And so I descended back towards Aberfeldy at speed. The rain was coming down hard now and felt like needles pinging off my face. I scrunched my eyes up and hoped nothing would jump out in front of me! Coming back into town after a fast tailwind assisted run alongside the river, my average was 30.4km/h on a slightly long course. Before I got ill, I had done ‘dream day’, ‘realistic day’ and ‘bad day’ target times. 30km/h was my ‘bad day’ target time so I was pleased to be over that, at least.
And so it was time for the run. I started stiffly, with tight hip muscles and suddenly noticeably cold and numb feet. I tried to keep a rhythm and an eye on my pace. My new watch came in handy here! It bleeped cheerfully after every mile and slowly I could see the distance add up. Lots of things went through my mind on the run. Like: This road is quite dull and I would rather run up a hill. I should keep my arms high and my feet light. Where are the leading women coming the other way? Is it gel time? Where was that drinks station? Hmm, I wouldn’t fancy a marathon like this. Are girls with numbers 600+ in a relay even if their number isn’t red? Ow, my calf is sore again, but it lasted a while. Maybe this distance on a road isn’t so bad after all. Oh, this run suddenly seems so easy (mile 8). I am dying, can I stop yet (mile 9)?…
The finishing straight
Finally I was back at the road junction where we turned towards town and the end was almost in sight. I had looked over my shoulder a few times and was fairly confident no-one was chasing me down from behind. I still worked hard to the finish. As it turned out, the next girl after me was having a blistering run – so I’m glad I never let up!
In the end, I was disappointed with my swim time, thought the bike was OK and was thoroughly relieved to have survived the run in what for me was a respectable time at an untested distance in a race like this (1:40 – though I measured the route a bit short at 20.3km). My overall time of 5:15 was close to my ‘realistic day’ target.
Waiting at prize giving, I thought I was 5th. So I was very surprised to hear my name being called for a Scottish Championship medal for third! This is because one of the girls I thought was ahead was actually in a relay, and another wasn’t eligible for the champs.
Yay! 🙂 It had definitely been worth taking the risk of racing when not 100% well, even though I felt awful the next day!
If I had had a good run up, I am confident I could have gone a bit quicker. However, the result would have been the same as Eleanor Haresign, Allison Stewart and Jen Stewart are all great athletes and finished in times ranging from 4:41-4:51. Something to aspire to – though first I need to work out how to find 5 minutes on the swim, 15 on the bike and 10 on the run! 😀
One question I had for this year was whether this distance would suit me. In my second year of triathlon I am still working out what I am best at. Well, so far I was definitely better at this than the standard distance and I did quite enjoy it. So there’s a good chance I’ll give it another go.
Next up – another championship race – this time the off-road tri, which I have entered for fun. It will be too short, but we get to swim across to an island devoid of roads for the rest of the race – how cool is that?! One thing is for sure, I will be attacking that swim if nothing else!
Knockburn Standard Distance Tri – Scottish Champs
No pictures … I will keep this race report short and to the point!
I entered on a whim, thinking it would be good race training for Aberfeldy. As it was, I went into it with a dodgy calf after my half marathon / St Mary’s Loch exploits. Being a championship race, most of the fast girls in Scotland had also descended. So my expectations weren’t very high!
Getting there
It was much further away than I imagined when I entered! But the time passed quickly as I chattered away to Jo (also from my club and driving us up there). Most exciting incident was that she had mislaid her cards, so I had to pay for the petrol. Being a non-driver without so much as a single lesson in my life, this felt almost illegal!
Swim
We swam to the start as a warm up, in a small man-made loch. We were all in a single wave, everyone fought for position as we headed for the first buoy, which was quite close to the shore. We squeezed through and then it was round and round for 2.5 laps. I was caught between swimmers at times, but didn’t panic. Fronds of weeds wafted beneath me. My time was OK, but not as good as the previous week.
Bike
Despite it being a course of three laps, it was fun. The roads were very quiet and surfaces were good. I enjoyed riding into the headwind on my tri bars (weird), though I saw people pull away from me on the hill. The descent with a tailwind was fast! I was pleased with an improvement in my average speed.
Run
I was scared of this. Faffed in transition putting my training shoes on (with orthotics inside, rather than my normal race shoes). Plodded out, along a rough track and straight up a road hill. Urgh … what hard work, I was fighting not to walk. It was hot. We got to the drinks station and a loop round the forest – it was about here I started enjoying it a bit more.
Jo caught me up but then had to stop to stretch out a cramp in her hamstrings. We were back on the road and downhill all the way to the finish. Soon we could see the loch inviting us down. I overtook a clubmate who I’d been following all run and then there was just one lap of the loch between me and the finish. My calf was actually sore now, but it was nearly over. I could hear footsteps behind me and they sounded suspiciously female – I didn’t look back but thought it must be Jo. It was, but I held her off by 3 secs as we crossed the line smiling 🙂
Results
I was 8th female. Jo was first female veteran. Penny from our club was first super-vet. Full results here. The race was well organised and had an interesting course. I recommend it. I was just relived to have survived with my calf seemingly no worse than when I started.
Just two weeks to go until Aberfeldy! There I’ll be lining up with Alice, who beat me here by 20 minutes, Eleanor, who took 8 minutes out of me at Trident and Catriona, who just came 3rd in the European 70.3 championships. What illustrious company!
St Mary’s Loch Triathlon
So, I’m still doing pretty well at following ‘the plan’. I had chosen this new standard distance race as prep for Aberfeldy middle distance. It’s well-timed at three weeks before the big one. It’s also organised by Paul McGreal at Durty Events, so I knew it would be fun and scenic! 🙂
Saturday had seen the ‘Durty Tri’ – the off road version of our race at the same location, which I had forgone for more specific training. My friend Marie was competing but had all her kit stolen the day before. Somehow, she managed to get a whole set of everything together (my contribution was the loan of a wetsuit), raced and came second. Another friend of mine, Elizabeth, won – so with mates 1, 2 on the podium on Saturday, I felt anticipation at trying to join them on Sunday!
Although Saturday’s weather forecast looked pretty good, Sunday was dire. Heavy rain all day until 4pm?! At least it wasn’t going to be windy. Andy was doing this race as well. I had persuaded him to do it instead of a more local race, informing him that it would be fun (true), there were lots of people from the club going (true), and the course was really flat and fast (erm …).
Looking at the route profiles and descriptions on Saturday night, I found it wasn’t so flat on the bike – especially with roadworks meaning we had to do two laps of the first bit, which was up and down a moderately sized hill and back! The run was definitely flat, so that was something.
Bike course elevation profile – doesn’t look too hilly to me
My good friend Chris picked us up in his “popemobile”, aka a really practical car for going to races in. Both bikes fit in upright without any need to deconstruct, and the back door opens up like a roof for getting changed under in the rain.
At the race HQ, welly boots were a definite advantage. I practised my smug look as I waded right through all the muddy puddles between the car park (a field) and transition (a different bit of field). I wasn’t so smug at forgetting about the possible midge factor.
After the usual nervousness of getting ready, it was time for briefing. I was waving my arms around and practising dry land swimming, whilst everyone else stood stationary. Straight into the water, and some people were oohing and ahhing about how cold it was. I was thinking it was like a warm bath! There wasn’t much time for more warm up before the hooter went and we were off.
I was determined to put in a decent race effort on the swim. I realised a few races back that I’ve just been cruising the swim and losing valuable time. I’ve also been making more of an effort to attend 5:30am swimming sessions with faster people than me, and didn’t want all that hard work / torture to go to waste!
St Mary’s Loch – scene of the swim and run
© Copyright Andy Stephenson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
One of the GREAT things about this race from my point of view, was that all the women and super-vet males went in wave 1, with everyone else about 10 minutes behind in wave 2. This meant I was near the front of the pack for the swim. I was doing some great drafting as we rounded the first buoy. I tapped someone’s feet and they sped up, but not for long and I soon struck out away from my little group. There were 3 or 4 people in front but I couldn’t bridge the gap and swam the remaining 1.5 laps on my own.
I was delighted with my time of 24:25, which included the run up to transition.
I was in and out quickly (11th fastest overall), even with putting socks on. After over-taking one or two people on the road, Paul shouted to me that I was second ‘girlie’ at the turn :D. The one up at the front looked very fast though. Since we turned around three times, I could check where everyone was. I was confident of a top 3 finish.
Because we were set off first, we also had clear road up at the front. A few of the supervets passed me, but not many. I didn’t have to worry about drafting, or getting caught up with middle-of-the-pack men who like overtaking and then slowing down. Really, did I mention how great having our own wave was?!
Coming back into transition a car was coming the other way up the rough drive. I hesitated. They stopped for me to pass just next to a big puddle. I went into it with a BANG! Yep, immediate burst tube and flat tyre as the water was hiding a big pothole! Luckily it was right in front of the dismount line, so I jumped off and bumped my way back in.
This transition was more clumsy. Although my average bike speed was disappointingly slow (I need to sort that out) I did feel a bit weebly wobbly standing on one foot trying to get my running shoe on. So I must have worked moderately hard. Eventually I was on my way again.
Andy’s lent me his race wheels for the next two races. Do wheels which double the value of the bike make you go double the speed?
Looking at the results, I was 4:40 minutes down on the leading lady at this point. I was close to 8 minutes clear of the next person though – I didn’t know I’d got that far away!
What I hadn’t realised about the run was how technical it would be underfoot. Although it was flat, we were soon off camber on narrow paths, sometimes grassy and sometimes stony and uneven. It also twisted this way and that through the trees.
I had been really up for doing this run fast after my half marathon success the week before. But the first thing I was thinking was how heavy my legs were feeling. Then after a couple of kilometres my calf started hurting. Uh-oh! This was the same thing I’d had at the end of the half marathon, but I had thought nothing of it since then. I carried on and it didn’t worsen, but never went away.
A couple of guys overtook and pulled away. Then there was an open gate through a field and what looked like a trodden path across the grass. But we had been following red and white tape markers. I hesitated. There was a stile to the left of the gate. It had tape all over it. There was an orange arrow pointing across it and away from the field. And there was a Southern Upland Way sign (we were told at briefing the route stayed on this path the whole way). I leapt (slid) over the stile and was in woods – still worried, but then I saw more tape and knew I was right. My adventure racing skills extend beyond reading a map and choosing a route – I’m also good at arrow-spotting of all kinds :-D.
People cheered loudly from a boat out on the loch, which was fun!
As the path joined a fire road, the guys who’d overtaken appeared – they knew they’d gone the wrong way but hadn’t lost a lot of time. To my surprise, the lead lady was also just in front. She had also gone the wrong way, but had perhaps spent longer getting back on track. I slowly, slowly started closing and just made contact as we turned at the 5km point. I paused for a cup of water and to eat a gel and she opened the gap back up. All the way back along the fire road, I was making no ground.
Andy (boyfriend) and Tom (clubmate) both passed going the other way and yelled at me to catch up. It was encouraging, but secretly inside I was feeling tired and heavy and my calf was hurting. I couldn’t up the pace. However, Tom told me later that I looked the more comfortable. We got back onto the rougher, uneven section. I suddenly noticed that the girl in front was less at ease on this section and I was doing better on the little downhill slopes. I decided to capitalise on my off-road experience and go for it. I ran past and held my pace.
I was concerned I had seized an opportunity, but too soon. We still had a way to run. I didn’t dare look back until the next stile, but when I did, she had vanished. I couldn’t believe it. I just needed to keep this up until the finish. Another stile, another look. I was on my own, and the finish was in sight about 800m ahead of me! Wow. I made a final effort, Heili (erstwhile support of Glen and I at the Bowhill duathlons) cheered, and I crossed the line.
After the Slateman finishing order debacle, I wouldn’t believe I had won until someone who knew for sure confirmed it. Anne was on finish line duty, taking our timing dibbers off us. “You’re first lady” she said. Woweee!!!
Much excitement, and I loved climbing on the very high finish podium to collect my silver plate. My first Scottish race win of the year! Even Andy had forgiven me for the hills and my course mis-descriptions as he had fun. Full results here.
Car with both bikes and rain cover, me with welly boots and silver plate!
The only tarnish to the day was my calf – which immediately seized up after I stopped. The last few days have been a cycle of it getting sore when I sit down, easing off when I walk and generally being a pain. At my pre-booked sports massage with Kirsty, she confirmed it was fatigued, very stiff, but not torn or knotted. Next race only a week later and Aberfeldy (the important one) two weeks after that. She said I would risk injury if I did the weekend, but it was my call ….
And the call (after consultation with my coach and Andy and a full consideration of many factors) is that I will race the Scottish Standard distance champs near Aberdeen. This race wasn’t on the plan and was a late decision a few weeks ago. The competition is likely to be stiff and I may have to alter my usual approach to account for my calf. So I have set my expectations accordingly. The non-stop summer racing continues … but gingerly!
Dechmont Law 10km Trail Run
Random extra race = extra blog post!
Last Thursday at the club running session, the coach did his usual round up of what was happening at the weekend. He mentioned a 10km race not too far away. I thought this sounded like quite a good idea, and suddenly I was hatching a new training plan for the weekend!
The race was the Dechmont Law 10km trail race. It was out in Livingston, West Lothian, about 30km from where I live. I set my alarm early (for a Sunday morning, anyway) and was soon pedalling out past work and beyond. Apart from a minor navigational hiccough as I hit town (nasty large roads and roundabouts) all went well and I was soon ready to race.
Because this was a mini practice for next weekend’s 10km run at the Trident triathlon, I experimented with taking a gel just before the start (my second ever!), then it was time to line up. There were a lot of people in running club vests! The hooter went off and we all jostled for position as the path began to narrow. I was near a girl who is in my training group, which was encouraging. The course was a complicated set of loops along forest and heathland tracks. I had tried to memorise it but didn’t need to, as the marshalling and signage were faultless!
The distance markers were somewhat randomly spaced – first update at 3km and I was going great! Same again at 5km, but then I started to feel a bit rough. I suspect this is what comes from running lots of 5km Parkruns and not much else at speed! We might have been going uphill at that point as well. By this time there were 4 or 5 of us girls quite close together. I was using the ones in front to keep me going. I thought that if I stopped, I might never start again and it was like my body had gone into a trance…
… wait, hang on a minute, this was a 10km race, not some sort of 16 hour epic! Luckily I soon felt a bit better and started vying with one of the girls. A kilometre to go though, and she took off. Part of me thought I should grit my teeth and hang on, the other part just didn’t really mind that much as I was there to have fun and practice what the distance might feel like next week.
I finished 6th girl and 36th overall out of 139 – which I was pretty pleased with, even if my time was a little slow. Results here. The course was undulating and you had to be quite careful with your footing in some places, so it was OK. I’d had over a week of hard training as well. A winter spent chasing Lucy downhill in the Open 5s seems to have had some side benefits – I was overtaking plenty of people on the downs, which is most unusual for me. It’s still not my forte compared to fell runners, but seems I’ve become not too bad compared to club runners!
At the end I sat in the sun, ate the proffered homemade flapjack and chatted to a few people I knew. Then it was time to pedal home again. I had a different route set up, with fantastic views of the Pentland Hills and Edinburgh as I zig-zagged along quiet country lanes. I was almost home when my legs threatened to go on strike, but I made it back safely and felt like I’d had a mini adventure!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As an aside, James Thurlow, who is race director for Open Adventure, is taking on his own challenge this week. He is doing Wainright’s coast to coast trip of 190 miles on his own two feet to raise money for diabetes research. He has been recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes himself. This makes the challenge extra hard as he has to manage his blood sugars as he goes, which is tricky. It certainly hasn’t all been plain sailing so far.
If you want to donate or find out more, you can do so here. And if you do it before midnight on Wednesday, you can put in a guess for how long it will take him and you might win some kit he has got together as a prize.
Adidas Terrex Sting in Stirling – reports from the race
Last week I spent 5 days ‘holiday’ competing in a team of 4 at the Adidas Terrex Sting in Stirling. This is a non-stop 5 day adventure race. You can read all about it here.
During the race we had to do mandatory blogs … Well, we were told they were mandatory but not every team did them, and we almost missed one or two because we didn’t know when we were supposed to write! But I was very keen to fulfil my allotted role as team blogger, even when we were grumpy, ready to go, and had to wait 5 minutes for a computer to be turned on for us! I don’t know how the team let me get away with that one – thanks guys :-).
Our team were ‘AVT Asset Management’. Here’s our profile, some photos and links to our reports from the race. I don’t know how long this page will be up for though, so I have copied the content here too, for safe keeping :D. There’s also a few extra pictures in the reports – many thanks to James Kirby and Open Adventure.
Team profile
Reports from the race
Trail mail
Reflections on the race to follow!
Celtman – the final countdown
I’ve been very quiet since the Slateman triathlon as I’ve had my head down doing final training for the Celtman. It’s now only one week to go!
This race won’t be the longest I’ve ever done. I expect it to take about 18 hours, though I’m still finding it hard to judge my bike pace. This compares to four 24 hour races I’ve done in the past. The difference with this one is the fixed distances and strict time cutoffs! I won’t be able to rest between laps or miss a few checkpoints and still be able to finish.
The race is also unusual for me because I’ve invested more time and effort into it than anything else I’ve done before. I’m not sure why – except that my Ironman-finisher friends got me scared way back in November and made me feel like I had better put in some really hard work!
It’s been fun though. I‘ve got used to swimming (rather than just squawking and playing!) in waves and finding out what it’s like to swim to a distant point that never appears to get any closer.
Redstone Rigg: on the way to Duns
On my final big training weekend I celebrated the Queen’s jubilee by making the most of the amazing place I live.
I did a delightful 165km loop over the Lammermuirs. This is the view up Redstone Rigg, which I have only discovered this summer.
And later I persuaded Chris (a car-owner!) to take me further north to some inviting Munros. I did 5 of the summits on the Ben Lawers ridge. I set off a bit scared about tackling such big looking mountains by myself in insubstantial running gear and carrying my small pack containing the mandatory race kit list.
Here’s the ridge:
The Ben Lawers ridge – 5 Munros!
It was much colder up at the top than down at the bottom and I was glad of my woolly hat and gloves, even in June ;-). The route I took was from MunroMagic and was a good one – not too many crowds except for the stretch between Ben Lawers itself and Beinn Ghlas. One of the best feelings about this day was being fit enough to enjoy such an adventure so easily.
Cold water therapy, Loch Tay
After helping some girls with a photo, I took off down a tussocky grassy spur with no path. Even with my poles I managed to nearly twist my ankles several times before making it to the bottom in time for a quick dip in Loch Tay to cool off!
Several stiff days followed, so I am under no illusions as to how long my legs might hurt post-race!
And now I am into ‘tapering’. I was warned I might feel rubbish in these two weeks and it’s true. I get paranoid when I meet an ill person, I freak out every time a car drives too close to me, I imagine I am coming down with ‘something’ every other day and my body is throwing in aches and pains pretty much everywhere!
I am trying to stay calm and get plenty of sleep. This weekend I had fun swimming up at Thriepmuir Reservoir in the rain with some fellow racers and then getting totally lost running on Arthur’s Seat. People who know Arthur’s Seat will realise this was a bit ridiculous – but the fog was right down, I couldn’t see any of the usual landmarks and I lost all sense of direction! Luckily in the race, Kate will look after me on the mountain should a similar situation arise :D.
And so with 5 days to go I am into final preparations: buying my favourite foods, making lists and waiting expectantly for my supporters to arrive. Hurrah!
Planet Byde 