The night before I set everything I needed out in the living
room including Bert, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I tend to think
my way through; from swim, into transition, on to bike, back into transition,
to run, so I never miss anything! That done it was a carb loaded meal and an
early night.
Morning came and I was up early to go and watch the start of
the St Ives 10k, as I won it last year I wanted to go over and show my support
to my fellow runners. My race wasn’t until 14:00 so had plenty of time to
support a few friends on the run. Well done Matt Nash 42:18, Dan Hurst 36:57
and Paul Halford 33:35 with 3rd place, actually not so much Paul Halford, I expected him to do
a lot better tbh.
So the gun went off, and I made a move back home to get the
car loaded and set off for Kimbolton.
We arrived at the Kimbolton School approx. 12 o clock, in
time for the 12:30 briefing. The day was perfect for the race with little wind
and not as hot as the previous days; it was defo a PB day for most of us.
I started to set my bike up in transition finally having a
chance to click my new shiny red shoes onto the pedals with my
helmet/sunglasses/belt hanging off the bars. I had some time to kill so laid down on the grass and had a snooze for 20mins.
Swim - 00:05:44 (unofficial)
Probably the best and worst swim I have ever had. Worst been
I practically drowned myself on the 1st two lengths, not sure what
happened exactly but it took me another length to recover, it was the best swim,
as according to the time as it was a PB
by well over a min, which I didn’t believe for one second, and was thinking I
must of only swam 14 lengths instead of the full 400m (16 lengths), After the race I even debated the time with
someone who was swimming in the lane next to me, on how my time was so fast compared to
his. So the recorded swim time was 05:44 and it turns out that the top 20
athletes all swam about a min faster than PB so it put my mind at rest. Chip error!
T1 – 00:00:37
So as I said previously I had set up everything ready to go
for my cycle leg, but when approaching my bike from the swim this was not the
case. According to Helen, who was watching the race my bike had somehow toppled
over taking out two other bikes in the process, luckily one of the marshals had
seen this so had put it back on the stand, unfortunately they didn’t see the
helmet laying two bikes away so it was a scramble to find it and put on. The number belt was all tangled, and the
elastic bands I had used to support my shoes in position had also snapped in
the tumble making it very awkward to run out and get on the bike.
Bike – 00:30:50
After a slow T1 I managed to get in the shoes ok and start
to pedal, it took me about 2 miniutes to get my heart rate down from all the running
around I did in transition and then I quickly found a comfortable pace, I was a
bit reluctant to push it too hard as I was warned of two big hills towards the
end that I wanted to be prepared for. I was finding it comfortable around the
23-25mph on most of it until the hills that slowed me down on the way up but
easily kicked +30mph on the way down. It was a good day out on the bike, I know
it’s not my strongest event but I paced it well and left myself some energy for
the run.
T2 – 00:00:34
Almost as smooth as clock work, jumped off the bike straight
into a run to transition area where I quickly racked the bike and got shoes on
for run, the only thing was my water bottle had been knocked over from when the
bike fell so had to shout water to Helen who literally threw a bottle towards
me at the speed of light, I grabbed it and I was off! At this point I was
thinking I’m in for a good time and knew my strongest leg was about to begin..
the run!
Run – 00:13:33
So the run was supposed to be a 5k but somehow, somebody
made a rooky error and forgot to mark out part of the course. This really
annoyed me, as the run is the area where I make the most time up, basically the
longer the run the better for me! And to top it off I only realized it wasn’t a
5k route when I had completed the 1st out of the 3 laps, so looking
back I might have kicked a bit harder. Unfortunately though, on the 2nd
lap I started to get stomach cramp, I knew it was only a matter of time before it would
become unbearable while running at the current pace. I had a similar experience
at the Cross Country National Championships and had to pull out. So I had no
choice than to ease off for the rest of the run trying to get as much oxygen as
possible. I was glad to see the finish line but couldn’t give my normal 400m
kick as I was in massive pain from the cramp at that point. Looking back, I did
take on a gel I had never used before so maybe this was the reason.
Just a little moan to the planners, the run finish is ludicrous, how can
you have 4 tight corners in the last 20 meters.. would be a good idea to have a
finish 'straight' next year!
So all in all a fairly good day, I came 1st in my
Age Group and 4th Overall.
I even enjoyed throwing-up on the side of the white van
parked close to the finish line, The USN sales team were out in force this day,
one of whom found me laying behind this white van looking rather white and gave
me a bottle of electrolytes.. Thanks mate.. good timing!
So this race wasn’t exactly something I had tapered for, it
was more the end of a big training week, with only 3 more weeks until my big comp
I have one more big training week then I will evaluate the areas I need work
and ease down concentrating on those pacific areas.
It was by far the toughest training week, and I am glad to
see the back of it if I’m honest, as a few questions have been asked what I do
for my training I have put together something for last weeks training.
Monday: 13 mile run
This was supposed to be at 7:30min miles with Daz as he had
a bad crash on the Sat so wanted to take it easy, and for me to get home and
jump straight on the bike for a brick session before work. Sadly Daz had other
plans and decided to ‘do a kye’ and rock up an hour late. It was a terrible
first 4/5 miles, I couldn’t seem to get my head into it, and with the heat I
just wanted to stop but at about 6miles I was back on form and had no choice
but to kick the pace up for me to get back to work in time! Unfortunately it
was too late for me to include the bike so ended up getting a lift!
Tuesday: 12*600m @ 5k Pace / 10 mile tempo Bike / 3 mile
tempo run (BRICK)
This was yet another hot day but I was determined to treat
each section of the session as completely individual sessions to get the max
out of me.
So I started at the track with Bert set up and ready to jump
on (as I would in transition) ready to do a 10-mile course to work, with the
run off the back.
The 12*600s went well, and was over before I knew it.. I
would normally do these sorts of sessions slightly faster than 5k pace, but as
it was hot I kept on exact times (that’s a first for me). I changed shoes and
jumped on the bike, I had my rucksack on so wasn’t very aero but averaged a
comfortable 22.5 mph on my route to work. Then it was case of T2 in my office,
with my colleagues wandering what the hell I was doing as I’m trying to do it
as quick as possible while dripping with sweat and gasping for air. The run was
well paced and felt I got my heart rate up and working well.
Wednesday: NiceTri TT and some.. (8.5m TT)
The morning started with a pretty hard 10 miles cycle into
work, and a slightly easier cycle back to taper for the TT in the evening. I
was pretty nervous, as this was the moment for me to show my fellow club
members how terrible I really am on the bike! Duncan the team captain thought I
should start at the back. For those unsure of how a TT works basically you set
the slowest riders out first one by one every minute or 30secs depending how
big the group is, this way everyone has someone to chase! So two infornt of me
was Tom Steed who I know is super quick on the bike, and I know I will never
catch him, why the hell am I at the back! Duncan was obviously playing a joke
on me.. ha ha very funny! It was a good session and a good indication of my bike
fitness. I came 6th overall with a time of 00:21:35 av 23.62mph.
Thursday: 20*300m @ 5k race pace off 100m jog
It was hot. No excuses, I bunked off and did a steady 10k
instead! Coach is frigging livid with me. Sorry!
Friday: 40mile steady TT Bike
After not doing much the day before I knew I had to do
something on what was meant to be my core/drills/stretch day. So I met up with
Dan and AD for a well-paced 40 miles. As I wanted to get a decent session in I
tried to take the front as much as possible but AD couldn’t resist getting
involved. Think we averaged around the 22/24mph mark with a few faster bits. It
was nice to get out on Bert without trying to kill myself on it!
Saturday: 8 mile run easy
I did my core and stretches and a slowish 8 mile recovery
run. Didn’t want to take a day off but at the same time I dint want to have
nothing left for the race on Sunday.
Sunday: Kimbolton Tri, Fun,fun,fun, with a little bit of
sick!
So that’s pretty much my week.
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