Euro Champs & IMUK

It's been a difficult year 2013 for me, my training & racing mojo has been up and down all year, I've gone from putting some seriously tough training blocks together to nothing and struggling to get back on it for days, even weeks. I guess there's a few reasons for this, none of which I really want to go into detail on this blog but extra commitments as Club Chairman in a difficult year where we tragically lost a club member & friend have certainly made me question many things.

I have however raced for Team GB again, this time was at the European Triathlon Championships, Alanya, Turkey at standard distance. Sarah (my wife) came out with me this year, so we had a few days holiday as well before the race which was excellent. I decided to stay away from the hustle & bustle of Team GB this year and book a small apartment up on the peninsula, lovely place to stay, just a bit of a hike up & down the hill every day, but the views were excellent.

I had hoped for a higher finishing position at this years Euro Champs, I never have been happy with last years 12th in the Sprint distance race, even though I have excuses galore with my broken collar bone 4 months earlier and being knocked off my bike in training just 3 weeks before the race. So this time I'd qualified at Standard (Olympic) distance, not my preferred distance at all, I can go eyes out for 60 minutes in a sprint & I have the strength in body and mind to take on Iron distance & beyond, but standard distance,  its not a distance I really enjoy if I'm honest, but it does mean I only need to race for Team GB at long distance now to get the set #TeamGB at Sprint, Standard & Long, a challenge I set myself some time ago.

The race went well, a 7:45am start meant that it was not hot initially but by the time we got to the run it was already well over 30 degrees. The swim went really well, I was even leading the arrow head out to the first buoy, loved that. A great T1 and 59 minute 40km bike put me in a great position for the run, heading out of T2 I was in 8th place. However a combination of the heat & dehydration (I lost my hydration bottle on the first corner of the bike, so it was getting on for 90 minutes before I could take on any fluid) I was over heating big style, but nothing I could do, no matter how much water I took on or poured over my head & body now, the damage was done, this was going to be a painful 10km run. I came in 14th in a time of 2 hours 11 minutes, a PB so can't be too disappointed. The run should have been at least 2 or 3 minutes quicker which would have placed me top 10, still a few minutes off the leaders so it didn't effect any podium potential.

My club mate in the 60-64 age group won bronze medal, was so pleased for him, he's had a year of on/off injury so it meant a great deal, I can still see his face, total disbelief that he'd got 3rd, I had to repeat it to him several times, very proud to see him climb the podium and we all had a fantastic celebratory meal afterwards.

The only other races I've done this year are;
- Brigg Bomber Quadrathlon, which is an event our club organise and as well as British Championships this year it was also the European Championships, which I am really pleased with as a number of years ago this race was cancelled, so I took hold of it, very proud to see what it had become this year, with over 100 athletes racing, it was a great day, so when 3 disciplines just aren't enough, try quadrathlon !! www.lincsquad.co.uk

- I won my age group at Southwell Sprint Triathlon, one of my first ever triathlons back in 2007, so it was great to go back and smash a PB out, a sub 55 minute pool sprint triathlon, very happy with that. The company that run this race, One Step Beyond Promotions, organise some great triathlon events in our area, Sarah (wife), Georgie (daughter) & myself have helped quite a lot this year marshalling and setting up their races, a great group of people and friends. If your looking for a quality event then look now further than One Step Beyond Promotions!

Just got back from Bolton the other day after racing Ironman UK, a really tough course, but very enjoyable (for most of the day!). A great swim, 66 minutes, still slower than I did The Outlaw swim in back in 2010 (by 5 minutes) but at least I'm starting to feel fast again, I think I've been trying to play far too much with my technique over the last year or so, it wasn't that bad in the first place, so recently decided to stop thinking & just swim, early days but so far so good.

The bike course is up & down & up & down, only small opportunities to get down in aero and get some serious speed up, but then the cross winds made me question whether that was wise, so had to sit low on the bars on some fast sections to keep control of the front wheel.

Came into T2 with a 6 hour 2 minute bike, which was 15 to minutes slower than I thought I would do on this testing course, apparently over 5,000 feet of climbing but I was doing this race "garmin free" so can't confirm that. My garmin had died as I racked my bike the day before, shame really as I'd worked out all the bike & run pacing variances in my head over the previous weeks, I knew exactly what I had to do, and what that meant if I was slightly in front or behind at any point. Anyway absolutely no point in letting it get to me so I didn't let it phase me, I'd get times off my supporters around the course, it actually became more appealing the more I thought about it, Ironman racing on feel, free of data, free running, quite refreshing really.

 

Felt strong running out of T2, I had eaten & hydrated well on the bike, however as I was soon to find out, in hindsight the last 30 miles I'd let nutrition & hydration plans slip, 1 mile into the run, I started to feel empty, I found myself with absolutely no energy so started walking up the hills, every time I tried to run, 200 metres later I came over dizzy and had to walk again, I was wandering across the road, I couldn't keep a straight line, this continued all the way to the 8 mile mark, but at least now I was on the town centre loop where my family & friends were.

I got to the feed station at 8 mile, I had been determined not to use gels, I don't train with them, don't particularly enjoy them and quite often when I've raced using them I've developed painful stomach cramps. Well I decided I had nothing to loose, I'd still got 18 miles to go and it just wasn't happening for me.

So water, caffeine drink, 2 bananas, ritz crackers & a berry powerbar gel were consumed as I walked to the top of the hill. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but the course now took a steady decent for over a mile into the flat town centre section, so I picked my legs up and ran, the more I ran the better I felt, the faster I went, I felt like a different person. Sarah couldn't quite believe it was me racing past her, I'd got that Double Enduroman feeling again, awesome.

And so it continued, alternating between gels & water and banana's & caffeine drink at each feed station, steady jog up the hills, raced the downhills & flats, I was making ground and getting faster & faster.

Support team kept showing me Double Enduroman photos as I passed them, this amazingly was my 12 year old daughters idea who was glued to Ironman Live at her grandparents and knew I needed some extreme motivation, I'm very proud of my little girl, it certainly worked.

Before long I'd collected my last band and had less than 3 miles to go, a quick drink at the turn then back on it. With less than 1 mile to go I could see another athlete in my age group 20 metres ahead (we had letter codes on of legs) We where both running strong, I sat a few metres behind him, and dug deep up the small incline to the last couple of turns, I was slowly very slowly closing the gap. With the last corner to go and extended my stride and accepted the pain, I slipped past him on his blind side and set for the line .... job done, 23rd in age group, 221st overall (1600+ competitors) and an 11 hour 30 minute finish, not what I wanted or set out to achieve but if I think back to mile 2 to 8 on the run, if I'm honest, I was ready to pack in, so really pleased I managed to ride the rough period, get through it and finish strong, a real character building race.

So what's next, well National Team Relays at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham at the end of this month, I've put another over 40 team together, we've finished 5th & 7th in the past, but this is definitely our fastest over 40 team yet, so will have to see what it brings, whatever though this is my last year, I've got other plans for next year, long & very long plans!, so sprints are out the window, I've really enjoyed mixing the distances up in the past & enjoyed the craziness of juggling Sprint to Long & beyond but its time to focus next year, its all about long.

I've entered a Triple Iron, yeh that's right TRIPLE !! so everything I do will be centred around that, I will do another Ironman next year but have learnt from last year and will give myself more than 3 weeks to recover from the crazy long one, the triple is end of May so looks like August for Ironman, I said I wouldn't but I can see myself being drawn back to Bolton for IMUK here ;)

As part of Triple Enduroman prep, the only other race on my radar at the minute will be a 24 hour run race in March, I don't think I've ever had next year's race plan sorted this early before !!

So I think I might make use of the blog again to write down my training, thoughts and feelings as I draw closer to the Triple, so until next time ..... enjoy