Dundee Park Run – Nearly

Park Runs – they’re springing up around and about the place. But there isn’t one in Dundee, yet. I was e-mailed the other day by someone who wants to organise park runs in Dundee, so I said I’d turn up to support.

Monikie park is the chosen venue, which makes sense – it’s large enough to get a decent run, even though it’s a bit of a way out of town. It will be a great venue for the runs in the Spring and Summer – it’s essentially the same route as the Monikie Duathlon/Triathlon, so it’s familiar to me, and it’s nice and flat.

This week there was one guy, didn’t get any names, and two ladies. We went round the reservoirs once, only 4K, did some circuits, then warmed down. It was very windy. VERY windy.

It didn’t stop me heading out for a second go around the reservoirs, though. Another 4.5K around the Duathlon route. It was windier, if anything.

Dundee Park Run by tom.fardon at Garmin Connect – Details.

This afternoon I have the scheduled turbo session, on the new bike!

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!!!

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

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.

Monikie Sprint Triathlon Series, Race 1

I signed up for the Monikie Sprint Duathlon series a couple of weeks ago. The Angus Chain Gang people are serious cyclists, so my expectation for this was to be there or there abouts for the run, and be obliterated on the cycle.

First appearances certainly supported this – the bikes in transition looked tasty. Kestrels, Cervelos, Ribble, mostly TT bikes, and plenty of carbon on show. And it was pissing it down with rain.

So.

Run.

Pleased with the run. I went of a wee bit quickly, and the 3rd K was a wee bit slow, but I pushed on, and do found a bit more speed by the end. I can’t be unhappy with 21:00 for 5K in a Duathlon.

Cycle.

Transition went well, but, as predicted, the field were strong on the bike. A number of guys came streaming past me, tubular tyres thrumming along, aero positions, high cadence, and carrying plenty of speed.

To be honest, I was pretty pleased with it. I’d not cycled the route before, and I really didn’t know what to expect from the hill at the end. The last hill was a real chest burster.

10th overall. Not bad, really. If I can drop my cycle time by a minute, I’ll be up to 8th. With another minute off the run….

But, another race, another PB. Although, I’ve never done one before, of course.

But, I think I need a race bike.