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Porthcawl Triathlon. Another big step forward

Posted on by libero56

3 months ago we moved to Brecon Beacons. By chance, we found an old farmhouse with land and outbuildings in the most dreamy location. The views are spectacular, the house has tons of potential and the outbuildings are perfect for creating our new cycling business. Despite not knowing anything we about the area nor having any guarantees that we’d get planning permission to transform the smallholding we simply had to follow our hearts and buy the place.

Everyday since I’ve woken up with a smile on my face. This area is delightful and I still can’t quite believe its now home. Its an amazing place to be.

As a training environment its simply world class: Quiet roads with a multitude of choices for every conceivable type of training session on the bike. There are short punchy climbs, long steep ones, even longer steady ones. You name what you want for training and this area has it. Oh, unless you are looking for flat roads. There is a distinct shortage of these, which having moved from Cheshire is exactly what I was seeking!

For running, I’ve got the most beautiful canal tow path in the country for doing tempo intervals. I’ve got forest trails and the open Beacons for steady running. There are lakes and reservoirs to choose from and if time is tight I’ve always got the quiet undulating lane that winds its way to the head of our valley that is literally right outside our front door.

For swimming there are a choice of two pools for lap sessions and now that we have settled into our Mediterranean climate for the summer I can simply use the Usk and Wye for impromptu open water sessions. Less than an hour away I can be testing myself in the Ocean and this brings me to my latest race, Porthcawl Triathlon. I chose to take part for two reasons. Firstly it is now one of my local races and I’m keen to support  events in my new home area and secondly it involves an ocean swim. I’m not that experienced in sea swimming and given that the upcoming World Champs involves an ocean swim I wanted to build confidence ahead of this big race.

So at 5am on 1st July, literally the crack of dawn, I jumped in the car to take the one hour journey down to Porthcawl.  When I arrived the sea was nowhere to be seen. There was a magnificent expanse of golden sand and somewhere out in the distance lay the water. Given that race start was only an hour away I thought it needed to get a bit of a wiggle on. Clearly, like most non-triathletes, the sea likes to have a lie in on a Sunday morning and it wasn’t to be hurried. Much to the dismay of the race organisers they had to delay the start to give the tide a bit more time to do its magic (apparently the day before it had been 100 yards further up the beach by the same hour of the morning) and when the klaxon eventually sounded we still began the race with approximately 100metre run to the water. I, of course, wasn’t complaining as the more of the race that plays to my running strength the better!

The swim was two laps with an Aussie exit at the end of the 1st lap. This means that you swim back to the beach, splash through the shallows onto the beach, then run up the beach around a couple of buoys and then back into the water. I was surprised at just how hard this was and my legs were really screaming as I struggled to get blood back into my legs after my upper body had been doing all the work during the swim. The swim itself was really good. I felt extremely comfortable in the water. Whilst it was definitely a calm day, the sea still creates a chop that is rarely found in lakes and so I was happy to be so relaxed in there. I was also encouraged by my growing ability and confidence to swim on the feet of others. Its not so long ago that I used to choose to swim away from the main pack as I was unsettled by the close proximity of other swimmers, even though I knew this was making life unnecessarily difficult for myself. But there is more. I clearly had a strong start as when I got to the first buoy where we needed to turn right it was carnage. There were arms, legs and bodies flying everywhere. I took confidence from the fact that I was right in the mix and ploughed straight into the middle of the action. I was intent on fighting for my position to get around the buoy as quickly as possible. Without any conscious thought, I instinctively flipped onto my back, completed a couple of back stroke strokes ( and I can’t even do back stroke!) and then flipped back onto my front turning right in the process. Remarkably, I was clear of the chaos at the buoy and back in relatively clear water. How this happened I have no idea but it certainly brought a smile to my face as I ploughed on.

After the 2nd lap it was back to the beach, up through the soft sand, a series of steps, past a few ice cream vendors, across a road and into transition. Good news. There were still most of the bikes in there. I’m definitely improving as a swimmer. Maybe it was that miraculous manoeuvre around the buoy!

Out onto the bike I went. Adrenalin got me through the first few miles and then I found that I needed a period of adjustment whilst my body was struggling to understand where to send my blood so that it can be useful in powering me for the next phase of the race. The bike course was two laps with the first half of each lap being largely uphill. The 1st time up was tough. I think my blood was still in my arms and so the legs felt dead. I couldn’t settle into any kind of rhythm nor find a comfortable aero position. This woke my chimp and he was niggling away at me telling me that my bike set up was all wrong and that I wasn’t as fit as I thought. Ignoring this internal voice whilst racing is not easy but I am becoming so much better at focussing on the process of what I’m trying to do, remaining in the present moment and not allowing these kind of negative thoughts to hijack my race. So, I think I realised that sitting up would help me to get up the climb and that once over the top I could recover and reassess. Much to my relief, the rest of the lap was either downhill or undulating. It was certainly quick and I was able to relax in a much better aero position. Lap two seemed much easier as I had a sense of how the terrain worked and cracked out a faster lap. On the 2nd half of the lap I started to think about the run.

The run was the main focus for this race. It was going to be the 1st 10k of the year and so I was excited to discover if the achilles was going to be happy and how I’d deal with the distance after a hard bike and swim. I took it out quite steadily, focussing on being relaxed. The achilles was good. My body was happy. My brain was happy, my chimp was happy too!

After the 1st lap I tried to increase pace slightly, reeled in a few more athletes ahead of me and finished with a final flourish to claim 19th place overall and 2nd over 50. This was a really satisfying performance and another positive step towards my main goal for the season. A 42 minute 10k after all the injury problems was really encouraging and I was buzzing for the next hour.

After the endorphins wore off my chimp woke up again. That little voice in my head started nagging me about my bike position. The first 15 minutes of the bike leg felt really uncomfortable but with the benefit of reflection I have concluded that I just need to be kinder to myself. My position is good, its just the transition from swim to bike that takes a bit of time for the body to adjust and on this course the toughest section was over the 1st 5 miles, so its no surprise that it hurt and was uncomfortable.

Chatting to my son after he also pointed out that I spend much more time riding my road bike than I do on the TT bike, especially since we’ve been in The Beacons. So the learning point is to train as I want to race and so I must put in lots more hours on the road on my TT bike. The more hours I put in , the more comfortable I’ll feel in the aero position.

Onwards and upwards towards South Africa.

Its great to be back racing

Posted on by libero56

I think you can tell from the smile on my face that I’m happy to be back racing.

Blenheim pre swimThe last six months have been a little frustrating, to say the least, dealing with that tricky Achilles injury. So as as soon as it started to heal I just wanted to get back involved and Blenheim Palace seemed like the perfect place to reintroduce myself to racing. Bright and early on saturday morning we arrived, excited to be there.

There was such a relaxed atmosphere around the venue and in fact with the scale of the event and the whole family feel I’d describe it as more of a triathlon festival than a race. There were over 5000 people taking part over the weekend and as huge numbers of these were competing for the first time there was a truly celebratory atmosphere around the beautiful surroundings of Blenheim Palace. The organisers did a brilliant job of creating an event that worked for both competitors and supporters. The race course was set up in such a way that supporters got plenty of chances to see their racers and cheer them on plus there were lots of other things going on for all the family and the choice and quality of food on sale were outstanding. For anyone reading this who fancies trying a triathlon in future I would thoroughly recommend Blenheim Palace. It really is a great celebration of the sport.

 

I’ve only been back running for a month and so far its all just been easy or steady miles so I was very conscious of setting a realistic goal for the race at Blenheim Palace. I just wanted to enjoy the occasion and particularly enjoy the sensation of running again. I did want to post a good swim and show that all the pool time is delivering results but other than that was not concerned about putting any pressure on myself about overall times and splits.

Before the start I was really relaxed. News that the water temperature was 19.5 degrees settled me down further and I knew I wouldn’t need an extra swim cap to keep warm. As I head down the pontoon to enter the water I normally have a moment of dread, a “why am I doing this?” thought, but on this occasion it didn’t happen. I was so looking forward to it.

We lined up between the buoys, the hooter sounded and we were off. I went off as hard as I could, smashing out as fast a cadence as I can muster and managed to get myself a good place in the water. I don’t remember anyone coming over the top of me nor me having to navigate my way around others. It was a really clean swim. I probably spent too much of the outward leg on my own on the right of the field out of trouble but as we rounded the buoy to turn for home I found a few feet to latch onto and practiced the art of swimming in the slipstream. This felt good and gave me a boost of confidence to try more of it in future races. I made a good exit from the water and was pleased to get straight into my running up the hill towards the palace courtyard where transition was based. This swim-bike transition is probably as long and tough as it gets so I was encouraged with how easily I dealt with the hill.

 

However I didn’t quite deal with the switch to the bike so well. The first few hundred metres were fine and then as I hit the first little incline my legs simply had nothing. I was really struggling and felt like I went deep into the red. I knocked the gears down the block and tried to spin my way to the top but my heart rate was going crazy. It took most of the first lap to settle down but then each lap of three got quicker and I was able to spend more time relaxed in the aero position. With so many people on the race course at the same time Blenheim is a course where care needs to be taken and so I didn’t allow myself to drop into my own little bubble. I was on high alert at all times. 33 mins later I was hopping off the bike and heading back into transition. Bike racked, socks on, shoes on, helmet off, time for running. Everything felt like autopilot. That’s good. Just then my concentration was broken by the misguided thought that I was heading the wrong way. I kept running but looked around to check. At that moment I must have stepped into one of the uneven sections of the carpeted area within transition and tripped over. It was a proper comedy fall. Heads over heels I went, landing heavily, a bit dazed but other than bruised pride there was no damage done. And in fact I was heading in the right direction afterall. “I hope no one noticed” is what I thinking as I left the main transition area.

Blenheim run 1Once out onto the road I soon settled down, found a comfortable rhythm, relaxed and enjoyed the simple pleasure of running. It felt so good to be doing it again. Nice short steps, high turnover, relaxed shoulders and hands, running felt natural again. Two laps of the course soon went by and even the long drag back up to the Palace from the pond was tackled easily. I was now in the finish shoot and crossing the line, tired and exhilarated. Everything felt good. It was job done and time to enjoy a cold Erdinger Alkoholfrei.

 

The race had gone pretty much to plan. Without the comedy fall it would have been almost perfect! I’d achieved my PB in the water ( 13:24 swim), I’d had a solid bike leg ( in fact I was 43rd fastest out of 4132) and I’d run relaxed and pain free. Much to my surprise I’ve now seen the results and discover that I was 2nd in my AG and 66th overall.

More reasons to smile.

My achilles heel

Posted on by libero56

Where did the 1st 5 months of the year go? How has time flown by so fast when at times its also felt like ground hog day?

Well I guess that time will fly by when massive things are happening in life. Moving house, starting up a new business, my wife taking part in Clipper Round The World Yacht race, sadly losing my wife’s father have all been pretty massive events that have been all consuming at times. They have each created a rollercoaster of emotions that have distracted me from the groundhog day sensations connected to the recurrence of my old Achilles injury that has been lingering around since the end of 2017.

I’m not very good at being injured. Injuries get me down, especially the ones I’ve had before that I know take lots of patience and commitment to heal. Injuries challenge my belief in myself and my ability to achieve the goals that I’m working towards. The recurrence of this old injury has been particularly difficult to deal with mentally and physically so I’m just so grateful that I’ve had these massive things going on that have stopped me from becoming too self focused.

As it was an old injury I thought I knew what I needed to do to sort it out. So whilst it was frustrating to not be able to do any quality run work around Christmas I didn’t think it was a big deal as I’d spotted it early and I could focus on swim and bike improvements instead. However it didn’t respond how I’d imagined it should.

It crept up on me and then before very long was no longer that 5 minute irritant at the start of each day as I got out of bed and struggled to get off my heels until a bit of blood started flowing and the tendons warmed up. A 3/10 pain whilst running slowly became a 7/10 and despite lots of ice, manipulation, rest and strengthening work I couldn’t shake it off. So towards the end of January I decided that a 200 mile round trip for a consultation with my brilliant physio Adam Eustace of Modus Physiotherapy in Crowthorne was required. He gave me reassurance that it shouldn’t derail my season as biomechanically everything was pretty good but I needed to rest it before beginning the rehab road. So that’s what I did. No running for 3 weeks, then aqua jogging, eccentric calf raises and once I could hop for 30 secs pain free I could then begin the return to running. At this point I cancelled my early season duathlon race programme and whilst this was disappointing I was very clear in my mind that this season was all about being in tip top form for the 70.3 World Championships in September, so it was definitely the right thing to do.

The return to running was a real high point of my winter even if it simply meant one minute jog followed by one minute walk, ten times and then building very slowly from there. However, it wasn’t straightforward and after about a month of building slowly I got all the way back to running easily for 40 minutes when it went again. I was now back to square one, total rest followed by the same disciplined approach to rehab. Still no change and by end of April I was starting to panic a bit inside. Was I going to be able to run again? Adam had once told me that an Achilles injury is like a dog: its for life not just for Christmas and that it needs to be constantly looked after. Despite doing everything to keep it strong I was beginning to have real doubts about my body’s ability to bounce back again.

Taking the decision that I wouldn’t be able to compete in one of my favourite events, the European Middle Distance Championships in Denmark was really hard and it did begin to catalyse my doubts about whether I’d even be fit enough to take my place on the start line in South Africa in September. So I got back on the phone to Adam and through a few chats he both reassured me that there was nothing fundamentally wrong and also identified a possible hole in my rehab. The Achilles is supported by both parts of the calf (soleus and gastroc) and I had been focusing predominantly on exercises that would build the gastroc. Perhaps I’d still got a weakness in the soleus which was causing the continued pain? This seemed to make lots of sense and I couldn’t wait to get going. He set me some very specific exercises and every day after swimming I was straight into the gym to carry out these new strength building exercises. Within a week the Achilles was feeling very different with the key difference being that I didn’t notice it anymore. It felt normal for the first time in 5 months and I’d forgotten what normal felt like. No aches, no shooting pains, no stiffness, no tension. No nothing. It was brilliant. I got back to running and whilst this felt very wooden at first it is now beginning to feel natural again. Slow yes, but natural and I’ll take that for now.

Last week I managed to complete a 40 min run alongside my Coach Annie. Once we finished she told me that we’d begun at 8 min mile pace and finished the session with the last two miles at 7 min mile pace. This feedback gave me such a boost. I’ve now got 3 months to build a bit of speed before South Africa, but I’ve rediscovered my confidence as it feels like the Achilles is now healed. Sport like life can change so quickly. Its only a few weeks ago that I was beginning to question if I’d be able to compete at all this season and yet now I’m excited about pulling on my tri suit for the 1st time this season. This weekend I’ve decided to give it a go at the Blenheim Sprint triathlon. I plan to take it very easy but am so excited to be taking part again and I really want to just go there to enjoy the sensation of being healed, healthy and getting my heart rate racing again. Most importantly I want to savour a well earned Erdinger Alkoholfrei as I cross the finish line. Cheers.

Another Season of Achieving Faster After 50

Posted on by libero56

Its now the end of November.

My race season has officially ended and I’m keeping myself amused with cyclocross racing through the winter. I’m treating these races very much as fun and they’re really helping to lighten the impact of hard winter training. Cyclocross is new to me and I’m finding it really refreshing to challenge myself with completely new things to learn. Each of the races I’ve entered so far has been different to the others and so I find myself constantly in that invigorating place between being consciously incompetent and consciously competent. Thankfully I can report that as each race progresses I spend more time in the conscious competence zone!

So the focus for this post is a review of the season. It’s certainly had its ups and downs with results seeming to improve as the year went on. I thought it would be useful to look back at my Development Plan for the year and see how I have done as objectively as possible.Slide1

You can see that I broke my 2017 plan into three parts.

Part one is my ambition for the year and whilst I know it is not within my control, it is the articulation of why I do it all. I’m driven by a desire to be the best I can be and recognition of this through winning medals and qualifying for world championships is hugely important to me. The dream of achieving my ambition excites me and motivates me to work hard, to work consistently, to do those sessions that I don’t really feel like doing. It gets me out of bed on cold dark mornings to swim when I’m feeling really tired. It gets me out on the bike when its chucking down with rain outside. Without a clear ambition I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be as consistent in my approach to training as I have been. So achieving my qualification spot for South Africa next year has been deeply satisfying.

Part two are the performance goals. They represent the “what”. What do I need to nail in order to achieve my ambitions? These were very specific, should be within my control and represented a step change from what I had been doing in performance terms in 2016.

Finally part three are the development objectives, the “how” that provides day to day focus and if I could follow them consistently would give me a fighting chance of improving my performance in line with my goals.

So how did I get on with my development objectives ? These were the key areas where I felt there was most room for improvement. Well, early morning swimming has gone from a chore to a great way to start my day in 2017. I’m proud to confirm that I now enjoy rather than endure swimming and as a result I hit the 15 sessions a month target with an average set of 2500m. This consistency has been key to my improved confidence and speed in the water.

I have definitely been consciously experimenting with my cycling cadence and have also been much more focused on training how I race and thus spending many more hours on the TT bike in the aero position. 3_m-100767682-DIGITAL_HIGHRES-1912_000318-8521799Doing this has helped me to find a cadence that works for me and given me more confidence for race days, so another big tick. However, I have to confess that I failed miserably with my objective to race more TT’s in 2017. ( I think I did one!) I can’t explain this, as I love the simplicity and purity of a TimeTrial and I even have a regular Thursday evening event that goes virtually past my house. Maybe I was just unrealistic in what I could fit into my training programmes?

I set myself some clear nutrition objectives for the first time this year because I thought I would benefit from losing weight for racing. I’m so pleased that I constructed these objectives in such a way that they focused on food types and better meal planning rather than trying to hit a weight number. As a result I really enjoyed learning more about cooking and the way that food influences energy levels and didn’t get negatively hung up on whether I was losing weight. I don’t remember stepping on the scales at all throughout the year but do know that I went into races confident that I was full of the right stuff to perform.

When I put this plan together I remember thinking hard about the specifics of my performance goals. I thought that I needed benchmarks and so deliberately developed a goal for each of the three triathlon disciplines. I imagined that they would remain clearly at the front of my mind throughout the first half of the year and become a real driver for training performance. However, they didn’t. My marathon goal was nailed in early April and this gave me such a boost. Soon after however I was into triathlon race season and so the opportunities to really test myself against the other targets didn’t seem to occur. The reality of my training workload is that most of the time I’m feeling relatively fatigued and so perhaps don’t feel that PB chasing in training is realistic and I didn’t get myself organized sufficiently to enter any individual discipline races during the tri season. Hence, no focus on the PB speed goals. I need to rethink how I approach this for next year. Ultimately though, the important thing to look at is what happened in races and did I manage to improve ? The year was about middle distance racing and I’m pleased to report significant improvements versus 2016. Despite not putting all three disciplines together as well as I’d like I still managed to beat my 70.3 personal best twice throughout the season. I delivered a 10% improvement versus 2016 in my swim splits and a 15 minute or 6% improvement in my bike splits from the previous year. The run, which has always been my strength, was an enigma in 2017. I don’t feel that I went so hard in races on the bike that I’d got nothing left when it came to the run and yet for multiple reasons I didn’t manage to put in a strong run performance until the final race of the year. I’m confident though, that next year I’ll be banging out impressive runs to finish off my races( and maybe set some more PB’s)

My conclusion therefore is that its been another great season. I’m another year older, another year more experienced, I’ve learnt new things and importantly its been another year of getting quicker.

This is really encouraging and a mighty endorsement of Coach Annie’s work.

You really can be FasterAfter50.

A few highlights:

  • Marathon Personal Best of 3:12:33
  • Qualification for Great Britain AG Triathlon team for 2018 Euro Championships at Standard and Middle distance
  • Qualification for Great Britain AG Duathlon team for 2018 Euro Championships at Standard and Middle distance
  • Silver Medal at English National Duathlon Championships ( Standard Distance)
  • 70.3 Personal Best in Dublin of 4:53:16
  • Qualification for Ironman 70.3 World Championships in South Africa 2018

Huge thanks to my Coach Annie Emmerson, my sponsor Erdinger Alkoholfrei, my physio Gemma @ Anatomy in Chester and most of all to my amazing wife Kathy for encouraging me to follow my dreams.

Nailing My 2017 Goal

Posted on by libero56

I’m not really sure why its taken me so long to capture my thoughts after Dublin 70.3  especially as it was my big race of the year. Given what happened, maybe I just needed time to process it properly before sharing. Anyway, here goes.

2017 has been about getting my head around Middle Distance triathlon racing with the hairy goal of achieving a qualification place for the 2018 70.3 World Championships in South Africa. There have been plenty of ups and downs this year and with Dublin being the first race in the Ironman 2017 calendar that was offering places for 2018 World’s my thinking was that if the race went perfectly to plan then I could be in the luxurious position of going into the winter knowing that I’d secured my place on the startline in Nelson Mandela Bay next September. I could then plan my whole 2018 really early and given all the other things going on in our lives this really would be a massive bonus. Simple, heh?

To give some context to the “other things” comment, Kathy is taking part in the Clipper Round The World Yacht race next year, taking on the two massive legs across Pacific and Atlantic and so I want to be able to support her as much as possible by being there on the quayside to wave her off and cheer her back in again at every stage. In addition we will be moving to Brecon Beacons to set up our new Cycling business. This is a huge project that will require energy, patience and clear thinking to navigate our way through the complex planning process.

So if I could, maybe, somehow please get qualification nailed in Dublin it would make next year so much easier to manage.

No pressure then!

Given all of that potential self induced stress it is so helpful to know that I have learnt to focus on the controllables and ignore the uncontrollables. I had to put “the other things” out of my mind and the more I race the more I’m realising that what I love about racing is the “all consuming mental” place that it takes me to. From the moment that I wake on race day until the moment I cross the finish line nothing else in the world matters. I can leave everything else behind. I’m in my own bubble, striving to eek out the maximum from my physical self and the only battle that takes place in my head is the inevitable one with my self doubting Chimp and this is a battle to which I increasingly look forward.

Back to the controllables. I knew I couldn’t control how others did so I simply had to focus on my race and look to execute another personal best. If I could do this, then who knows what might happen…..

I knew I was really fit as evidenced by my recent training volume and the excellent form I’d shown in my warm up race at Grafham Water. I also knew that I had solved my overheating issue by changing my cycle helmet. I knew I would be well looked after in Dublin as I was staying with Paul, my brother in law and his family on the other side of the City and this would also be keeping away from the stress of nervous athletes. I was travelling over by ferry so had my bike with me at all times and so didn’t need to worry about what might happen in the baggage hold of an aircraft. Everything that could be, was under control.

However, just when things seem to be coming together, life can give you a little reminder that things don’t always go smoothly. I picked up a slight injury in my final proper training session on the Wednesday before the race. My right calf tightened up so did the sensible thing, abandoned the session and went off to see Gemma my brilliant physio. She got to work and went really deep into the muscle, taped me up and told me I should be ok. That was good enough for me. Hearing this expert point of view was just what I needed to avoid getting too anxious about the impact this setback might have on my ability to race on Sunday. We agreed that it was best not to risk trying it out before the race so left home on Friday morning with only the slightest anxiety about whether the calf would hold up. Kathy wasn’t with me as The Clipper Race was beginning in Liverpool on the same day and I knew that she wanted to be there to support her crew mates as they set off on leg one.

I enjoyed a smooth journey across the Irish Sea and then had a seamless registration in the Ironman Village on arrival.

I then drove most of the bike course (to take away another of the possible unknowns) and was excited to discover that it should be fast with pretty good road surfaces. There seemed to be just one tricky section of 2-3km of speed bumps and I decided that I’d probably take no risks here by riding it all off the tri bars and mostly out of the saddle. On race day this proved to be a good tactic and gave me a bit of a breather before heading out into the countryside section.

Saturday was swim practice. Down in Dublin Bay the wind was howling and the water was very choppy.

Dublin swimSurely, race day conditions wont be this bad I kept telling myself as I summoned the mental courage to leap into the water on Northside. In I went feeling much trepidation. Out I came ten minutes later feeling total exhilaration. My swim demons had been well and truly dealt with as I now knew that I could cope with lots of chop and swell in the water. If I could enjoy swimming in those conditions then race day was bound to be a breeze I told brother in law Paul as we drove back to his house for a much needed hot drink and breakfast.

After a quick spin on the bike, I was ready to head back across the city to deal with dropping kit in transition. Everything was done. I was ready to go.

At 5.15 the next morning my Taxi arrived, bang on time and we were soon speeding through the sleeping city following the first section of the bike course. I was feeling good, excited and calm. I could sense that it was going to be a great day.

Conditions in Dublin on race morning were perfect. The wind and swell from yesterday had gone. The sea was like a mill pond. Just how I like it. The sun came up with a smile and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. This was not typical Dublin weather! It really was going to be a great day.

My head was clear and positive. I knew that there was no benefit to me in having a warm up jog as I would be risking filling my head with doubts that may come from any calf twinges. So instead I just had a good stretch and made my way down to the swim start area early.Dublin pre race

When the race began at 0710 I watched closely as the swimmers were released 4 at a time every 6 seconds into the bay. There seemed to be lots of space. There seemed to be no chaos. The mass of triathletes shuffled their way towards the start chute. Nerves and anxiety was rapidly being translated into excitement. I wanted to be in there. Soon enough it was my turn.

It was a beach start so I took it very gently, mindful of where I was placing my feet and careful not to run too hard. I didn’t want to risk irritating my calf so early in the race. In I went. The water was perfect. Temperature was ideal, no waves nor chop and the Irish Sea was as benign as could be possible. I had an amazingly clear swim. There was no agro at any point, even around the turn buoys and I was soon heading towards the exit pontoon on the final leg. I had thoroughly enjoyed my swim and had even had time to reflect on just how much I had improved. 1900m in race conditions now feels normal. 36:04 was a solid start for me.

Onto the pontoon I climbed and headed up the jetty towards transition. My focus immediately went to my troublesome right calf. There were a few odd sensations rumbling through it as I trotted towards the changing tent but nothing to cause concern.

Wetsuit off, helmet on, race belt on, goggles and wetsuit in bag, bag handed over and I was then moving cautiously through transition area for my bike. Encouragingly there seemed to be most of the bikes still here. That reinforced my perception that I’d swum well and I was excited to get out on the bike.

However, the bike leg didn’t start well as my chain came off and got jammed as I mounted. This was a new mistake for me. “Don’t panic this will only take a few seconds” I told myself and I was soon on my way again with some encouraging cheers from the crowds surrounding the bike exit area. Importantly I didn’t go too hard over those first few miles to make up for the time lost with my chain mechanical, instead focusing on finding a smooth rythmn, a strong sustainable cadence that would get me into my own zone. I did notice that I was passing lots of riders and no one was coming past me as the first 10km flashed by.

Into the city centre we went. The roads were closed off with Garda patrolling every junction and it was such a buzz to be travelling so quickly through this area that would normally be so busy with traffic and people.

Before I knew it I was out of the city, passing Pheonix Park and heading into the countryside to the west of Dublin. The route seemed exactly as I’d logged it in my recce. Other than that one nasty section of a couple of miles with speed bumps every 200m the roads were really good. I was clearly going well as I continued to pass lots of riders and there were only a handful of others travelling at a similar speed to me. At around 35 miles we turned back towards Dublin and there was a long section on the road towards Dunboyne where I did not see another competitor for miles. It felt as though I was the only person in the race. I had the road to myself. At first this was exhilarating but then my mind started to wander. I began imagining what it must be like to be leading these races. However, It wasn’t long before my prevailing feeling changed to exhaustion. With no one ahead to focus on I suddenly became much more aware that my body was beginning to fatigue. It was time for a caffeine gel. With this on board I was able to dig deep and rediscover the smooth cadence that enables me to stay in the present moment. “That’s better. Just keep cracking out those 75-80 revolutions each minute and the rest will take care of itself” I told myself. When I hit the speed-bump section again I knew I must be getting close to the end and as we got to the top of a nasty hill we turned sharp left and were into the park. This had come more quickly than I’d expected. It was time to prepare for the dismount. How would the calf react? I’d soon find out. The bike leg had been done in 2:27:47 which I’d later find out had put me strongly into 1st place.

I got my feet out of my shoes in good time, landed just before the dismount line and was jogging into transition. With every step I took I realized that the calf was sending signals to the brain that it wasn’t entirely happy. Was it cramp,was it muscle tightness or was it normal fatigue at this stage in a race? I wasn’t sure. Should I stop and stretch it out, should I ignore it and carry on or should I begin conservatively? I opted for the latter.

I lost a few precious seconds in the T2 tent as the racking was set up differently. In Dublin the two transitions are in totally separate areas of The City and the athletes only get to see the Start area transition. In T1 my bag had been on the bottom row of hooks but in T2 it was on the top row. In my state of exhaustion and concern for my calf I struggled to compute this information and was totally disoriented for a moment or two. Thankfully I eventually found my bag, put my shoes on and was headed out for the run. I could feel the calf tightening so slowed to a jog. At this pace it seemed happy. On a scale of 1-10 the pain settled at a 3 and so I was happy to crack on. Lets get to the 1st km marker and reassess. It felt like it took an age to get there but the positive aspect of this was that the tightness was not getting worse. Other than this I was physically feeling good and mentally I was determined and positive. With 20km to go it didn’t seem worth pushing on just yet. Once I got to 3km I tried to increase the pace, but got instant feedback that the calf didn’t like it. By slowing down the pain reduced immediately and so I took lots of confidence that I could manage this niggle and if necessary I could keep going at this pace. The run was 3 laps and during that 1st lap I seemed to be taking just under 5 minutes for each kilometer. Whilst this was slow I did think that it should be good enough to get me home. Once out onto lap two, the calf was beginning to behave. The longer I went the easier it was feeling. I stepped up the pace by about 15 secs per km and this felt better. I now knew that I would definitely finish and so my thoughts turned to the time. Using the finish line clock I did some crude calculations that suggested that I was going to set a new PB despite this calf issue. The last 5km was hard as I was tired. Its at these moments where its so important to maintain focus on the mechanics of the run action and ignore the growing fatigue. Keep it going. Don’t try anything silly in the last mile or so.Dublin703run

Making the final 180 degree turn and heading down the red carpet was brilliant. I felt so happy. I crossed the line and saw Paul, my brother in law. As usual at this moment a wave of emotion totally overwhelmed me.

Somehow I held back tears but was probably blubbering all kinds of nonsense about how happy I felt. He told me I’d finished in 4:53 and that I was currently in 2nd place in my AG. This was great news. I was bursting with pride. Could I really have finished in 2nd place? Might I possibly earn a place in the 2018 World Champs? Might another step towards my dream be taking place?

I’d find out in a few hours. We had time to go back home to change before returning for the awards ceremony. The result was confirmed . I was 2nd in a time of 4:53:16 and that meant a place on the podium but not necessarily a place for South Africa as there was only one guaranteed slot in my AG. Picking up my first trophy for an Ironman event felt significant. I was really proud. Dublin703podiumIMG_5035-3Then came World Championship slot allocation. I waited nervously to discover if there was to be more than one slot for my AG. It was confirmed that there was just one slot available. Damn, maybe it wasn’t to be on this occasion as the slot is obviously offered to the winner. Liam Williams, my AG winner did not respond when his name was called. Three times they called him and still he didn’t respond. Wow, the slot was going to be offered to me. I didn’t need to be asked twice. Yes please I’d like to take it. Thanks Liam, I owe you one.

South Africa here I come in September 2018.

Over the next few days I walked around with my World championship coin in my pocket at all times. I kept showing it to people, whether they wanted to see it or not. I was so proud. A few months on I’m still just as proud and I’m still just as excited about what next year has in store. It really feels like a breakthrough and given that I’ve set a new PB whilst carrying a calf niggle I know that there is still so much more that I can do.

 

Faster after 50 is real. Just how fast though, is the exciting unknown. Bring on next year to find out.

The perfect way to finish the season….a bit of championship Bling!

Posted on by libero56

 

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My season finished on Sunday with the English National Duathlon Championships at Oulton Park.

Having achieved my goal for the year in Dublin in August by qualifying for World 70.3 Championships in South Africa 2018, I’d eased back in my training and came into this race feeling very relaxed. So relaxed in fact that I’d had a few too many drinks on Friday evening before the race with friends in our local. I’m not advocating this as pre race preparation and I’m certainly not suggesting that this led to my race result on Sunday, but every now and again its important to have a few drinks when the mood takes you.

I’ve always enjoyed racing at Oulton Park, partly because its really local and partly because the circuit is super smooth, giving me the confidence to attack it on the bike. It never ceases to surprise me though, just how much the undulating course takes out of the legs. By the 9th lap on the bike I’m always glad to see the back of Clay Hill for the final time (albeit there is still one last ascent on the 2nd run to deal with!)

This was an Erdinger Alkoholfrei sponsored event and so I went along early to help with handing out drinks to the Sprint competitors after the morning race. It was great to chat and share the finish line stories from everyone taking part. The highlight of my day, maybe even the highlight of my year in fact came towards the end of the morning just before I needed to go and start my race preparation. One of the final athletes to finish was an elderly gentlemen who came over to our bar, and whilst he stood there composing himself I asked him “Have you been racing duathlon for years?”. “No” came his reply. There was then a momentary pause before he continued “This is my first ever duathlon”. “ Would you mind telling me your age ?” I enquired. Again a pause and then he looked me squarely in the eyes and proudly confirmed he was 78 years old. He went on to confess that he’d been a bit wobbly on the bike, felt better running and that he’d definitely be back for more next year. I was truly blown away at his attitude and approach to life. Taking on new challenges is what life is about. He is a true inspiration. Looking at the results his name must be John Foord. I salute you, Sir.

I went into my race feeling very relaxed. I felt no pressure. I wanted to enjoy the race, avoid any incidents on the busy track whilst pushing hard on the bike and just see what I had left for the final run. As usual, I probably went too hard at the beginning. I can’t stop myself thinking that I’m 25 years old when the start gun goes off and I go chasing after all the young whippets. At Oulton Park it encourages this fool hardy behavior even more as it is a downhill start so after the first kilometer I realise I need to find a more sustainable rhythm. For a while I then appear to go backwards in the field, before settling down and running a solid 2nd lap. 33:56 is not my best time for 2 laps but it seemed to set me up well for the bike leg. I knew I needed to be lapping in under 7 minutes to knock out a good bike split and so as I came through the pit area each time I glanced at my garmin to see 6 something every lap. This was good. I took confidence from the numbers that reassured me that my body was accurately telling me I was working hard enough!

I came into T2 to find my area empty, bar one guy who arrived at the same time. He got out onto the run just ahead of me and I used him to pace myself into this difficult last leg. As we headed down hill towards the lake I went through my mental checklist. Shoulders relaxed, arms swinging freely, hands, keep them loose, core strong, hips forward, legs moving freely and calves nice and loose. Finally are those feet tapping away with a gentle mid foot strike? Yes, all was in order. Now, what about this fella in front of me, is he likely to be in my Age Group? It was hard to tell, so I told myself that he probably was and therefore I mustn’t let him get away from me. About a mile in the leading lady came flashing past me. She was really going well and I used her to close the gap on the fella ahead. I was now only 10 metres behind him and given that we were closing in on others ahead I felt we were moving pretty well. I didn’t need to be concerned about anyone coming up from behind. I felt a real catapult effect from the hairpin at the bottom end of the circuit and used this to cruise past him as we went up the first of the small hills on this backside of the circuit. Down the other we went went and I could sense him sitting in behind me so I prepared myself for a huge effort up Clay Hill. This is where I wanted to gain an advantage. I really dug deep, shortened my stride and pushed hard to the top. I felt I’d done the trick and more importantly I still felt good. The legs weren’t on the edge of collapsing. I was ok and so pushed on, rediscovering my rhythm. Only 800 metres to go and I was continuing to pass people. This felt good. I must surely have broken him. But then with 400m to go, he came past me. He was giving it everything and hed taken me by surprise. I responded and held him at about 5 metres. Could he sustain this? Not only sustain it, he stretched out down the final dip before carrying his speed into the last climb upto the finish. He beat me, fair and square. Well done, Mick Flaherty, you deserved your win.

I think I ended up with my fastest ever result here, 1:55:20 so great news for my FasterAfter50 mission!

I was delighted to pick up my silver medal, resplendent in full Erdinger blue kit ! Thanks for all your support again this year guys. It is hugely appreciated.

DLorOz-WsAAPxEk.jpg-largeIt was a real bonus to end the season with a championship medal after the frustrations earlier in the year and a great little birthday present to myself.

I think its now time for a break in Northern Spain.

From Terror to Joy. The 60 minutes of a cyclocross race!

Posted on by libero56

Its important to keep learning. Its important to keep taking ourselves out of our comfort zone. And its really important to keep doing it as we get older. Being the wrong side of 50 is no excuse for not experiencing the terror of not really knowing what you are getting yourself into.

Mold Cyclocross race

This happened for me yesterday. For a while I’ve been dreaming about doing some cyclocross racing, but not having a CX bike or even a mountain bike meant that it remained exactly as an idle dream. Most dreams remain just that because we don’t put a plan together to make it real.

So I bought a bike. A beautiful Merida carbon frame CX bike. I took it out a few times off road and loved the freedom and sense of adventure that it instilled in me. Next, I entered a race. North Wales CycloCross Group organise a series of races throughout the region each winter and the first in the new season took place yesterday in Mold. Mold is only about 15 miles away so I had no excuse.

I rocked up nice and early. Picked up my race numbers, got my bike out of the car and set off onto the field to have a bit of a warm up.

Oh dear. Within a couple of minutes I was experiencing total terror. Narrow woodland trails that could only be reached by heading down steep muddy slopes with 90 degree turns at the bottom. How was I going to control my bike down these? The answer was, I wasn’t. during my warm up laps I ended up in a heap more times than I can remember. I withdrew to the car park to get my thoughts together.

DLC50MgXcAAiLPq.jpg-largeIf pottering around slowly was creating challenges that were proving difficult then how would I cope in the heat of the race battle? I was very quickly realizing that riding offroad in deep mud was very different to my usual road cycling. I was way out of my comfort zone, deep in the land of the conscious incompetence and concerned that I may visit unconscious incompetence several times more before the day was out! But, heh I wanted a challenge. I wanted to test myself with some new stuff and it felt like I was being thrown in at the deep end, only this time it was deep mud rather than deep water.

In the hour leading upto the start I picked up a few tips from seasoned racers. “Take the air pressure in the tyres down as far as you dare as this will provide more traction through the sticky stuff” was the technical tip and “enjoy it” was the morale boosting tip. So I set off for the start with a simple goal. Enjoy doing something new.

The race began with a couple of laps around a field to stretch out the 120 riders before heading onto the narrow course. All went well around the field and then we were let loose on the brown stuff. The first 180 degree turn came up more quickly than I’d expected and in trying to get around I took out one competitor going into the corner, managed to stay upright myself for a couple of seconds before colliding with another wheel on the way out. I went down, bringing the wheels’ owner down on-top of me together with several other totally innocent, unlucky riders who just happened to be in the wrong place (ie in my vicinity ). We’d only gone a few hundred yards and I’d caused carnage. Luckily no one was hurt and more importantly nobody took much offence to my incompetence. After apologies all round and I was on my way again. Adrenalin was definitely pumping and we headed across the open field towards the next obstacle, a steep drop down a grassy bank. I think I got down this without incident before creating more mayhem on the next 180 turn. Crikey, this was the only the first part of the first lap and I hadn’t even got to the tricky technical wooded section yet. Simply surviving to tell the tale seemed like a more realistic goal at this stage.

Mold Cyclocross 2Somehow I got through the technical section without causing anymore damage to the other racers, but I did block the route a few times as I lost my balance and ended up in brambles and undergrowth. Once back out onto the open section we headed up hill and my strength became an advantage. I started to overtake people as the first lap ended and this gave me a bit of confidence. With confidence came the ability to assess what was happening. I broke the course down into sections, some of which I could attack full gas and others where I needed to take it steady. As the laps went by I also began to learn how to ride through the thick sticky mud. It needed to be attacked with a high cadence in a straight line. As each lap went by I went quicker and quicker and was definitely making my way through the field. 60 minutes went by in a flash and I could now hear the last lap bell. After a very tricky start I’d really enjoyed my debut at cyclocross and didn’t really want it to end.

I crossed the finish line, totally caked in mud, beaming from ear to ear. Cyclocross is such a buzz. I loved it. I’ll be back to do more of the series and can hopefully shake off my Captain Carnage reputation before the season is out!

Inspiration comes in many forms

Posted on by libero56

Here I am aboard the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin en route for Ironman 70.3 Dublin on Sunday.

I’ve got a few hours to just sit and relax. It’s a rare treat.

So with nothing more to do than sit, my mind has started to reflect on a few non racing highlights of the summer so far.

DHgOEK-WAAEo4kV.jpg-largeI do most of my swim training in the local leisure pool, between 7 and 9 in the mornings. At this time of day the pool is rarely busy and attracts regulars who are mostly in the age group that my blog is intended to inspire, the over 50’s. In fact, I would imagine that most are well into their retirement years.

Retirement is one of those words that I don’t like as it is too often associated with slowing down, becoming entrenched in comfort zones and reluctance to learn new things…..all pet subjects of mine and hence my Blog!

Amongst the retired group in my local pool the key subjects of conversation each day( other than the weather of course) are how busy the pool is (or isn’t) and who is ill or sadly passed away. I’ve noticed that they tend to swim in the same spot and swim the same number of lengths each day. Routine is clearly important for them. When a fellow swimmer is missing for a day or two, they worry that something catastrophic has happened. Over the last couple of years I’ve grown very fond of my new swimming friends. Our relationships have progressed from silent daily acknowledgment, through daily greetings, to small talk, and I now seem to have been welcomed into various circles of trust. Me being me, have used this as an opportunity to encourage them to break their routines a bit.

My racing seems to be a subject of real interest to them and so I occasionally use it to challenge them to do things a bit differently or to set new goals for themselves.

About a month ago one 85 year old lady was telling me that she wished should could swim faster. Much earlier in her life she had been a swim instructor but as the years had gone by she had stopped swimming and has only recently returned to the pool. Getting from one end to the other was a challenge in itself and she would battle her way to 10 lengths before getting out. We discussed a strategy for improvement. First aim for 12 lengths, then reduce the rest period after each length, then aim for 14 lengths, then 16. 16 lengths would represent a massive improvement and at that point she could look to try going harder for a couple of her lengths. As she listened, I could tell that she was remembering many of the techniques and tools that she would have used years ago to improve others. She smiled and told me it was nice to talk to me.

Each day afterwards I saw her and made a point of telling her how much quicker and confident she looked in the water. She told me she was increasing the number of lengths she was doing. She is now upto 14 lengths and is definitely swimming so much smoother and quicker. She now smiles whilst she is effortlessly breast stroking her way up the pool. She is an inspiration. 85 years old and still open to breaking her routines and achieving new goals.

Another of my swim “buddies” is also in his 80’s. He reminds me of my Dad, with his use of certain phrases and mannerisms that are features of men of Chester. He’s a very good swimmer. Each day he ploughs up and down knocking out about 1000m in a metronomic front crawl without taking a break, then gets out. He always asks about my races and I can see in his eyes that these exchanges dig up memories for him of his competitive past. I tell him he could try a triathlon or maybe an open water swim event. He chuckles and changes the subject. But I keep on at him at every appropriate occasion. Then last week he told me that he’d been to watch the Dee Mile. The Dee Mile is an annual swim race in the river through Chester that has been taking place since 1922. It always attracts hundreds of swimmers and it’s one of the events I’ve suggested he try. He told me that he was surprised how many “ald fellas” were taking part. Watching these “ald fellas” had clearly got him thinking that if they could do it, maybe he could too. I could tell he wanted to give it a try.

Next year he’s agreed that he”ll borrow one of my wetsuits and have a go. I can’t wait.

Yet more inspiration. Thanks.

Breakthrough Performance at Anglian Triathlon

Posted on by libero56

I was back racing again this weekend after my mid summer break. Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire was the venue and I wanted to use this event as a warm up for Dublin 70.3 in two weeks time. My goal was to perform smoothly through each of the elements of the race, ensuring that I went hard but not so hard that I was empty on the run. I’m delighted to report that my race execution was pretty damn good. It was as good a triathlon race performance as I can remember.

The usual early morning start time for races meant that I needed to go down the night before. Premier Inn did themselves proud with a quiet clean room, comfy bed and TV to watch the World Athletcics champs. The whole evening in the Olympic Stadium was built around Usain Bolt’s last individual 100m and whilst I had a spooky feeling that he wouldn’t win I really did not expect his conqueror to be his old nemesis Justin Gatlin. I felt a wave of disbelief surge over me at the fnish. This was not in the script and whilst I disagree with gatlin being given the opportunity to compete I think his mental fortitude needs to be admired. The real villains in this in my view are the IAAF who fail to create a system where clean athletes can thrive .

My usual sense of outrage at this kind of hypocrisy passed fairly quickly as I settled down to sleep and prepare for my own race the next day.

I slept pretty well and awoke just before my alarm was due to go off at 5am. I like to eat my pre race brekkie upto 3 hours before the gun goes off and within 30 secs of opening my eyes I was tucking into my “Performance Chef “ bircher that i’d brought with me and kept in a coolbag overnight. This has become my staple start to most days and I never get bored of it. Varying the fruit does the trick to keep it interesting. By 6am I was out of the door and heading for Grafham Water.

Sunday was a beautiful morning. Blue sky, cloudless,  and a slight breeze over the lake. Perfect conditions for racing.DGhpte1XkAA-wIQ.jpg-large

By arriving nice and early I got through registration quickly, strolled back to the car where I put wheels on the bike, checked tyre pressures, gels on board and went through to transition. I had a flawless set up, went for a good warm up jog and was feeling very relaxed and ready for the start.

The only concern I had was that with 650 competitors going off in only 4 waves, the swim start could be carnage. I was in wave 2, all men over 40. This was by far the biggest wave. Mamils were out in force!

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I decided that with my new found swim confidence I was going to take my chances at the front of the wave. I positioned myself on the far left which was technically the outside of the group as we were swimming in a clockwise direction. I chose to go out as hard as I could for as long as I could and just hope that this would help me avoid too much of the human washing machine effect. I got away pretty well held my nerve, kept relaxed so that the stray limbs would slide off me and smashed it for as long as I could. My lungs were burning and fatigue was setting in after a minute or two but I did manage to find clear water. I then took my effort levels back a notch, slowed my breathing down and found a good sustainable rythmn . I’m a left sided breather so was reassured that I could see a few guys outside me and knew that if I could still see them then I wouldn’t need to sight the turn bouy too often as we headed up the lake for approx. 600m to the first bouy. Everynow and again I checked and was reassured to see plenty of orange hats around me. Soon we were heading back down the lake with only one more turn to make and from here it was approx. 150m to the swim exit. A really short run into transition gave me just enough time to get the wetsuit down to the waist ( this new Snugg suit is a joy to get on and off). I was pleased to see that my area of transition was still full of bikes so that suggested I’d had a pretty good swim. It certainly felt that way, but I’d forgotten to start my watch so could only guess at how long. Once out onto the bike I realised that it was just after 0830 and given that we’d started at 0805 that meant I’d flown round by my standards.

 

I got settled on the bike quickly, was picking people off with ease and had to concentrate over the first section as the road was pretty full of athletes going at various speeds. Just as I was beginning to think I’d made it through the early rush hour traffic, someone about 20m infront of me seemed to go straight over his handle bars for no apparent reason. I swerved, missing competitors coming the otherway and took it a bit easier for a few minutes. Its amazing how quickly a slightly different intensity can begin to feel normal and I was jolted out of my comfort zone by a couple of atheltes going past me. I never like this and so it made me realize I needed to push on harder. It was really fast course, with good road surfaces and very few potholes ( but poor old fellow Erdinger athlete Garry hit one and blew his back tire…race over, sorry Garry). I was now working really hard and picking off riders with regurality. It was a pretty flat track so it was big gears all the way. I took on a second gel a few miles before the end of the bike leg to set me up for the run. I remember thinking at this point that my legs were tiring but my head felt pretty cool. I was triallng my new Scott Cadence helmet and it did seem to be regulating my temperature much better. I knew I’d gone hard and so wondered how the legs would feel over the 10k run. The answer was pretty good thanks.

As I came into T2 I scanned the area and noticed that it was totally empty. There did not seem to be a single bike in my section. “Maybe I’m leading” I thought. This would prove to be an important error. As I headed out of T2 I heard the announcer confirming that the 1st lady was just going out onto the run. She came alongside me as we headed up the reservoir and I remember thinking lets aim to stay with her for as long as I could. I got in front and began to tap out a really good cadence with short light strides. I imagined she was tucked in behind me and that was fine. At the end of the lake we turned and came back on ourselves so I was surprised to see that I’d put about 25m into her. Keep it going. I was passing people and none was coming past me and this made me think that I was going really well. At the next turn point after approx. 4 miles I”d really put more distance between myself and the 1st lady and managed to convince myself that I was flying. All the external cues were suggesting I was running really well. I was going quicker than the leading lady, I was passing lots of others and none were coming past me. I convinced myself that I was on my limit, but I’m not sure I realy was. I felt a stitch coming on but ran through it ok. With 400m to go I noticed a fella infront who looked like he could be a similar age to me, so despite thinking I could be leading I did pick up my pace to overtake him, just in case. It was a good job I did as he was in my AG and I managed beat him. I looked at the clock at the finish and saw that it was just coming upto 1013. By my calculation that would mean a sub 2 hours 10 time. Wow that felt good.

 

The Erdinger Alkoholfrei bar was just beyond the finish line, so I had jubilant chat with the team and then picked up my official finish time. I’d done a swim under 25 mins, a sub 60 min bike and a 41 min run for a total time of 2:07:56. I reckon this is my fastest ever Olympic distance race. I was buzzing with excitement. Even the discovery that I hadn’t won the age group but had finished 3rd didn’t bother me. This was a qualifier for 2018 European Championships so had attracted a quality field and this was triathlon and not duathlon where I am used to picking up the odd AG victory or two. In a quality tri I’d never finished so high up. I was hugely pleased and learnt that I mustn’t ever get ahead of myself thinking I might win. The only way to try and achieve this is to give absolutely everything throughout.

I finished my morning by jogging back to the finish area to help out with serving the Erdinger to all the deserving finishers. It was great to see so many satisfied, exhausted faces. The positive energy was intoxicating and it was a joy to chat to so many athletes about their individual race stories as we gave them a taste of the isotonic recovery juice, that is Erdinger Alkoholfrei.

 

After the frustrations of my first two “A” races this year it is a real confidence boost to head towards my 3rd biggie with such an encouraging performance. I’d put together probably my best tri race to date. Lets see if I can build on it in Dublin in two weeks.

A Tunnel from Elsinore to Dublin!

Posted on by libero56

During the first few weeks since getting back from Denmark I struggled a bit with motivation. I felt distracted by other things in my life and training wasn’t quite giving me the same sense of positive structure to my weeks. I was still putting in the hours, still completing the sessions, but it was all a bit flat and I didn’t feel that I was making any forward progress. I was still getting up and heading off to the pool, but I was lacking my usual zip first thing each day. There was definitely a period of going through the motions and even though I knew that this was simply a short temporary low phase I did need to give myself a good talking to on a couple of occasions to ensure that I stayed with the programme. I do believe that it is these difficult moments that define us. How will we react when things get tough? Will we remain focused on our long term goals when they start to seem so distant?

It felt like I was in a tunnel that was so long that I couldn’t see the light at its end and the darkness was disorientating me. Would I be able to find my way out, what would I find at the other end and importantly would I like whatever was awaiting me?

Good news. I have found my way out and I have found that I’m reinvigorated by my long term goals and they even look slightly more achievable than they did before I disappeared into that tunnel of self doubt and demotivation.

My next 70.3 race in Dublin is now around the corner. Its only just over 2 weeks away. This weekend I’ve got a warm up race at Grafham Water near Cambridge and I’m getting really excited again.

Training has been going well since returning from Italian Dolomites where I took a group of cyclists to ride the iconic climbs of this stunning area of natural beauty.

That week of pure cycling disrupted my routines in a really positive way, built new levels of leg strength and helped to remind me about the simple joy of riding for pleasure. At times I find my pursuit of huge goals to be overwhelming and so to get back to a really simple recipe of exercising for pleasure was pretty invigorating. Add the fact that during that week I was there to serve others, to ensure that a group of 8 cyclists had the perfect holiday. It wasn’t about me, my goals, my training during that week. It was about them and that was really healthy for me. Dolomites really helped me to find my way out of the tunnel.

The net outcome is that I’m buzzing again and looking forward to Dublin. I’ve even got hold of a new cycle helmet that I’m hopeful will make a difference to controlling my body temperature so I can run better off the bike. I opted for the Scott Cadence Plus that was used by Sebastian Kienle when he won Ironman World champs in Kona last year. If its good enough for him, then surely it must be helpful to me. I can’t wait to try it out this weekend and see how it compares with my Kask Bambino that I’ve been using for a number of years.

As I’m right in the middle of a block of training for Dublin, the race at Grafham Water will be treated more like a big training session, with no taper into it. I’m curious to see how I’ll perform after some pretty tough sessions this week.

I’ll let you know how it goes.