Monikie Duathlon Series Race 1

Monikie Winter Duathlon 1 Cycle.

The Monikie Summer Duathlon series was my introduction to multi-sport racing earlier this year. The improvement in times between the three races, without much in the way of training, certainly no structured training, is what gave me the bug to keep on with the training, and take it (more) seriously. So the winter series is another chance to get more enthusiasm, and a gauge of where I have got to.

But racing on days like this isn’t the idea of Triathlon racing I have in my mind – swimming in still calm, ice blue lakes, running in 18 degree sunshine, light cooling breeze, cycling on mirror smooth roads in dead calm…. Temperature this morning was 1.5 degrees, there was ice on the car, and snow on the ground up in Monikie. No question that I was still going to do the race, of course, but it wasn’t massively enticing!

The run went well – I took it very steady. I was very wary of killing myself on the run, leaving nothing for the cycle. So, I took it steady. The second 1km was slow, but it was into the wind, and I was able to wind it up for the second half. Negative split. I suspect I could have pushed on harder, but I didn’t know the cycle route, so I really didn’t want to be left wanting come cycle time.

Cocked up transition. I put the shoes on the bike before hand, to speed up the process, but I forgot to open the straps!!! So when I got on the bike I couldn’t slip my feet into the shoes. I took the first 20 seconds pissing about getting my feet in the shoes, at a slow wobbly speed. But, once I got going, the bike went really well. First time riding the new bike in anger, so I was a bit cautious to start off with, but the bike is pretty stable, very quick, and the position on the bars is very natural. Of course it’s not so great on the hills, but the Apex WiFli is wide range, 11 to 28, so plenty of bottom end to push up the hills. It’s not great stamping on the pedals, though – not a lot of room between the saddle and the cockpit. But, I managed to average 230W, 252W normalised, and over 30kph on the whole route. Hard work, but I was pleased with it. I was overtaken by about 3 people – on pretty flash bikes – and one fat bloke, but I overtook plenty of folk too.

Results are here. 24th overall, 10th in category, 26th on the run, 23rd on the cycle.

This is a bit of a turnaround from Summer – I was always higher placed on the run, and lower on the cycle. Swings and roundabouts. Push harder on the run, I suppose!

Back to training on Tuesday!

Swimming swimming swimming

Back in the pool. My eyes are not as bad as they were, but my eczema is bad, and it’s needing a lot of emollient to keep on top of. I have new goggles, and new spray, so I think the sore eyes are just a consequence of my atopy and dry eyes, rather than the chlorine, or the spray.

Warm Up
———-
400m swim
8x50m alt kick/drill
———-
Main Work
———-
2×400 pull on 7:00 – 6.35 then 6.45
4×100 on 1:50 swim tempo – 1:42, 1:42, 1:38, 1:38
4×50 on 1:00 hard pace – 42, 42, 38, 36
———-
Cool Down
———-
200m easy

I was much better with the pacing this time. Didn’t try to kill myself at the beginning, and tried to keep it steady for the 100s. I felt much better after this week’s swim, over last week’s.

Thinking about it, I am hovering between a full TI stroke when I want to glide along and take it easy, and a Swim Smooth stroke when I sprint. The longer the distance goes, the more TI I swim, and the shorter and quicker, the more it’s Swim Smooth. It’s nice to have the ability to change my stroke according to the situation, which I wasn’t able to do at all earlier this year.

Races. I contacted the organiser of the Aberfeldy middle distance triathlon to see when it’s going to be – it clashes with our anniversary, so I won’t be doing it, then. We are going to do the Walk For All instead. Then I got e-mailed about a middle distance race in France – it clashes with Etape Pennines. BUT, there’s the Irish Triathlon Half Ironman in September, Galway bay, ride and run around Connemara. I’m very tempted.

And today I had e-mails from the guys who are doing the Etape Caledonia with me asking about doing a training weekend in April.

And I need to sort out a training camp for the week we had planned to go to Majorca. We have the time off, and JEdge wants to go out. I will phone the company tomorrow…..

Peebles Duathlon

Last event of the season, Peebles Duathlon, sprint distance, 5/20/5. Got there nice and early, registered, and met up with JEdgcombe and family.

Tried to warm up with a wee jog – ankle sore from the very start. Not great prep at all. Decided to wear the slightly more cushioning RocLite 295s rather than the lighter, faster Road X 255s.

Run 1 – JEdgcombe set off like a rocket. The Garmin helps me here, knowing that I wanted to run at 4:20 per KM to start off with meant that I did just that, and just plodded around. I did think that Jedg was going to blow after the first lap, but he hellf on to it, and I just overtook him going into T1.

I had a good T1, but the run up the bridge to get to the transition line was a bit odd.

The cycle went well. Easily my fastest ever 20K on the bike – 35 mins. I over took a number of people, and was overtaken by a few, too. Jedg had a shocker of a T1, but caught up a minute on me on the cycle, overtaking me up one of the hills. I was able to pull back and overtake again on the flat parts – my standard chainrings trumping his compact at last!

T2 was long – running down the bridge again, and then through gravel in barefoot. But I was quick, quick enough to pull 20 seconds away from Jedg.

The second run was the usual horrid slog of just trying to get one foot in front of the other. I settled down into 4:25 kilometres, and just tried to hold on. It was enough to push a bit of a gap away from Jedg, which was reassuring – I’ve trained all year, and he just turned up! Total time 1:19:18. Personal bests for each section, and total time. Definitely one to do next year, and compare times.

Monikie Standard Distance Triathlon

My first olympic distance triathlon. Not a great start – I forgot my cycling shoes.

I got all the way up to Monikie before realising, but Emma was coming up later on, so I phoned to get her to bring up the shoes. Further mishap as I managed to drop my kit box onto Peter F’s box, destroying the both of them. I did manage to sign in, find the right spot, and get ready, but still no Emma, and still no shoes. Off down to the North pond for the swim, and Emma appeared, with shoes, and children!

Father in law asked me yesterday what time I expected to do it in. I didn’t really know. Obviously 2:30 is the rubicon to cross to become a “proper” triathlete, but to beat that on my first ever standard is aiming a bit high. The Allerthorpe sprint was flat as a pancake, and I managed that in 1:15, but Monikie is hilly, and twice as far…. I told him that I’d be happy with anything under 2:45….

Acclimatisation swim was fine – a bit cold at first, and quite murky in there, but fine. A land start, and a bit frantic at the start – got punched in the head a couple of times, and dragged back a we bit, but once 300 metres in, I was with a couple of others, and no real problems. As ever, I kept the SPL right down, tried to swim long, not quickly, and when I got out, completely fresh legs!

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A long T1, with a run down into the bike bare foot over concrete paths. It took much longer than it should have done, really, but better safe than overly rapid.

The bike leg – fresh legs from the swim, which makes a change from the Duathlons where I’ve been stuffed from the run! My previous best for 20K on that route is 41 minutes – this time I managed the first 20K in just under 40 mins, and pushed on….. 40K in 1 hour 20, by far the fastest I’ve done that course. I managed to get stuck behind a tractor at one point, so I lost a few seconds there…. It was windy – into a headwind for the first 7K at least. But, I overtook a fair few people, and was only overtaken by about 3 people.

T2 – much more like it. 50 seconds only.

The run was tough. I felt I was barely walking at the start. But, I reeled in a couple of folk on the first loop, another 6 or 7 on the next loop, and came in by by myself in a time of 44:52 – quicker than I could run a single event 10K 8 months ago!

Total time 2:36:30!!!

Loch Ness Monster Swim 2011

5:30 start this morning – off up the A9 to Inverness and the inaugural Loch Ness Monster Swim. Long drive up, but worth it for the opportunity to swim in Loch Ness. Got there at 8:30, registered and looked down to the shore to see something more like a sea than a loch. Big waves. Boats bobbing around all over the place. Sun shining though. “It’ll settle…”

The Sailfish wetsuit guys were there with their new range. My wetsuit is pretty goosed – at least a size too big for me, baggy and saggy around the midriff. It’s a big like swimming whilst pulling two buckets along with me…. So, I chatted with the guys, and they suggested I borrow a suit. Their Vibrant suit is their entry level suit, and available for a £10 trial – so I plumped for it. Encouragingly when I suggested I’m a “Medium tall”, they scoffed and told me that I’m a “Small long” – quite a change from “Large” of 18 months ago. Anyway, once I’d got the suit on, I realised my old suit really is a terrible fit. Really terrible.

In the tent were two ladies who were after suits to do the swim in. I offered my old suit to either of them if they wanted it, given that it doesn’t really fit me. One of them was of suitable girth to fit it, so £50 changed hands (Not too bad for an 18 month old suit). Of course, once I’d sold my suit, I realised I didn’t actually own a suit. And the Monikie Tri is tomorrow. So, I asked them how much for their midrange suit. They didn’t have the right size, of course. But they did have the top of the range G-Range suit in my size. Tried it on – it’s amazingly comfy, incredibly flexible; a second skin. So I bought it. Once you’ve tried silk, why have cotton? Exoensive? Yes. Worth it? We’ll see tomorrow…

The swim today – rough. Very rough. And cold too. It was a very difficult swim. The way out was very rough indeed. I was rolled over by a wave, had to stop, catch my breath, swim 25 metres of breaststroke, and get back into it.

Into the waves for 500m. With the waves for 500m. Across the waves for 500m. All different challenges, all tough. Total time on my Garmin was 36 mins. A good 10 minutes over what I was hoping for, but in the conditions, not bad at all. The suit performed very we’ll, however. Very flexible, so not the same stresses on the shoulders as the old suit.

Perhaps not the best preparation for my first ever standard distance triathlon tomorrow, but the suit should be great tomorrow, if nothing else.

York Run For All 10K

Another day, another race! This time the York 10K Run For All – I entered after the Swim For All a few weeks ago. It’s been a long time since I did a 10K race – the Edinburgh 10K in 2003, I think. On that occasion I managed 46 minutes, I seem to recall. I certainly feel fitter now than I was then, and certainly my 5K times are much better than anything I’ve ever done before.

So, not wanting to be too ambitious, I set off aiming for a 22:30 first 5K, and then see how things are, and go for it. The Garmin data is here. A reverse split, with a 21:34 and a 21:09. I had more in me, certainly. I will try to find some more 10K races to enter before the end of the season, and try to get close to the elusive 40 minutes!

I enjoyed the race, and it’s given me a bit of an appetite for some more straight running races. One of the triathlon magazines suggests focusing on single event races; I think it’s a great idea.

Loch Ness in a fortnight, and Peebles Duathlon in three weeks. There’s a triathlon in Monikie the day after Loch Ness, and I’m very tempted to enter it – it’s a Standard distance, so double the distance I’ve done before – twice the sprint duathlon route, plus a swim in a pond. It’ll be a long way, but I really would like to step up to Olympic distance before the end of the year…..

Monikie Summer Series Duathlon #3

Mixed bag, to say the least. My preparation was much better, having some miles, but nothing too mental in the nights before the race. Conditions, much better than either of the previous races: not raining, not boiling hot. I managed to actually charge the Garmin fully before the race, too. I didn’t manage to press the buttons for the Auto-Multisport at the right time, obviously.

The plan for the run was to aim for 4:!5 kilometres, to keep it steady, try to push the last K, and aim for 21 mins. In the end, I managed a 20:40, and felt comfortable going into T1.

The cycle started well, into the shoes easily, bit of a faff with by gloves, but a solid start. Pushed up the hill to Kirkton of Monikie in the big cog, and all was well. The hill out of Kirkton of Monikie requires the top half of the small cog gears – on changing down, HUGE graunching noise. Fiddled with the adjusters whilst riding, but no joy, so back onto the big cog. Dug deep, pushed on, got to the top of the hill, but tired legs. The downhill to Balumbie went very well – overtook some people, maintained good distance over some others, and all was well, again.

On turning up Drunsturdy road, tried to change down again, and the same awful graunching noise. I managed to get it into the bottom cog, but then once back on the flatter section, I pushed it back into the big cog – graunch, crack, wedge, fall off. Got back up, put the chain back on, and chose a gear to get on with – 4th was the only gear it would stick in. The fall mashed the rear mech, and stuffed up any changes. Gears jumping around all over the place. The group I had been riding with disappeared into the distance, and people started to catch me. Stuck in one gear, chain jumping, and very tired legs.

Despite all that, I still posted my fastest time of the series by nearly 2 minutes. The series times showed steady improvement through the 6 weeks, despite the ankle injury, the bike disaster, and all the rest of it. Next season – sub 20 for the run, and sub 40 for the cycle, sub 1 hour for the whole thing. Definitely.

Tomorrow the plan had been to go for a 70 miler with JEdg on the Kuota, but I’ll have to take the bike up to Cycle-World to get them to have a good look at it, see if they can get it right for the afternoon. Fingers crossed.

I wish there were more of these events, they’re a great distance, and a lot of fun. No honestly, they are.

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/100571568

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/100571572

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/100571577

The whole series results

Race 1 – 1:04:32
Race 2 – 1:03:40
Race 3 – 1:01:59

Jane Tomlinson’s Swim For All 2011

Jane Tomlinson died in 2007 having raised £1.85 for cancer research. She was from Wakefield originally; her family still live there, and they continue her fund raising efforts. Although Jane was known for her running, she was a keen swimmer also, so the Jane Tomlinson appeal now organises a Swim For All in Pugney’s lake, near Wakefield. I registered to do the 1 mile swim, and registered Emma to do the 500m swim.

Emma had never done an open water swim before, not even a practice swim in her wetsuit.

She did very well – 16th out of 50 entrants to the race. She managed the first 1/3 doing crawl, but the cold got to her face, and she reverted to breast stroke. Still, she finished, without stopping, and was the 8th fastest female.

My swim went well – usual steady start from me with everyone thrashing off like mad things. I kept my line, and made it to the first buoy in the top half. Round the first bend, and onto the end of the lake I overtook maybe a dozen swimmers, and pushed on for a pretty good finish – 25:27 on my own watch to the finish line, 26:29 to get to the timing mat 100m further on. The reeds/weeds were a particular nightmare for the last 1/3 of the race, but other than that, it was nice and warm (19 degrees), not too much fighting for space, and it went well.

One thing is that I seem to have one pace – I felt as though I could have swum the same pace for another mile, but when I tried to pick up the pace I could lengthen out, and slow my SPM, but kept the same pace with less effort, rather than speeding up. I shouldn’t worry, really – 33rd out of 318 isn’t bad, given my short experience with swimming.

Loch Ness swim in August to come.

Monikie Summer Duathlon #2

The Summer Duathlon series, race number 2. I was so pleased with the first race, particularly the run, but at the same time disappointed that I was so far off the pace, relatively, on the cycle. Last time I was 5th off the run, but 10th overall – dropping 5 places on the cycle was disappointing.

This time, with the ankle injury to worry about, but the excitement of the new bike, I had mixed feelings about going. The weather was hot – contrast to last time when it rained constantly during the run – and I was under-hydrated. Stupid, but I just didn’t leave enough time to drink before getting to the race. Also, I managed to forget to charge up my Garmin, so it ran out of batteries during my warm up!!!! Very frustrating. It meant I had no idea of my pace during the run ( I still don’t have a decent perception of my own pace) and then as I haven’t yet got a back up speedo for the bike, I didn’t have a decent idea of speed on the bike either. So, a bit of a disaster, really.

The run was tough – hot weather coupled with tentative running on the ankle, and not enough running training, meant I was 40 seconds slower over the 5K run this time (21:40), and it was hard work through the run. Transition went wrong because I managed to run straight past my bike, and tried to get onto someone else’s grey and white bike….. But the cycle went very well – I was only overtaken by 4 people this time, and overtook 2 people, meaning I was only pushed down 2 places on the cycle this time. The wee lady who overtook me with 5K to go last time overtook me on the last 500m this time!

My ankle is now pretty stuffed. It’s my own fault for doing essentially nothing, then going straight into a race. I should have missed the race, done some training, and worked towards the final race. But, it’s easy to say that now. I am taking the positives – I managed the run, and was only 40 seconds slower; I was over 2 mins faster on the bike. And a PB. Out of 2 races….

So, no more running until the ankle is better. I should get some physio tomorrow, that might help.

I need to get swimming again, too – not been for a proper swim for nearly 2 weeks.

Great North Swim

Ankle still sore, and not made a lot better by driving 3 hours down to Windermere.

I met Mother in Bowness, after a wee bit of confusion over where the car park was. A mile walk along to the Ferry, then another mile walk at the other end to get to the Swim area. Particularly ludicrous place to hold the swim, to be honest – single road goes through there, and there’s far too much traffic for 16,000 people to get changed and swim a mile in the lake.

Anyway, I managed to get changed, and get ready for my wave. We had a quick acclimatisation swim, and then a ‘rousing’ speech from Cassie thingy, the girl who won the bronze medal in Beijing. And then into the water.

After cocking up the Derwent water swim back in May, I’m still more apprehensive at the start of these swims than I could be, but it certainly focusses the mind. One of the other swimmers told me immediately before the swim that someone dies whilst doing the swim yesterday…

The water was warm – 16.2 degrees. It was calm – apart from the far end of the course, about 800m in, where it got a wee bit choppy. Many folk went off like the clappers, but I kept it long, and calm. Lots of time to think about keeping the form during a 1 mile swim in a lake – early entry, deep hand position, balance, catch, streamlining, the whole lot. The official time was 30:23, my Garmin time was 30:12. But my swim was very nice – I was able to really feel the glide for the last 800m, certainly. I think the course was long – the best guys were doing 23 minutes, so I reckon the course was at least 200m long. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter – the swim went well, I felt grand from 100m in, no one overtook me after 100 m in, and I really enjoyed it. Just a shame P-Dub couldn’t have done it with me. I suppose there’s still time to enter the other Great Swims this tear. And there’s still the Loch Ness swim to do.

There wasn’t quite as much carnage at the start, and not so much thrashing throughout the race – still had a few folk grabbing my leg, bum etc, but from about 200m in basically I was only over-taking other people, and gave them a wide berth. One guy was along side me for about 500m. He was trying very hard, and there was a big temptation to up the effort to match his effort, but I kept the rate down, tried to lengthen out, and pulled away after the 1000m buoy. Actually, I swam into the 1000m buoy.

My wetsuit is a wee bit big for me now – I suppose losing 8kg in 3 months leads to that. I think it’ll do for the rest of the season, and I can look at a new one for next season.

Ankle very sore this evening. The 4 miles of walking, and the driving has left me with an effusion, and limited flexion. Frozen peas, conpression, elevation and analgesia for the next few days. I have to hope that the ankle is better for Monikie in 10 days..

Race Result