Training Duathlon

The last in this year's series of winter training duathlons. A beautiful morning, and - as always - a very well organized event.

First time racing on the new Orbea Ora TT bike. It felt very comfortable so I think the set up is about right, just need to spend more time on it. Plan to do a few more time trials this summer as part of my training.

Completed the 15.5 k bike leg in 26:31, got through transition in 31 seconds then finished off the 5.4 k run in 21:28, giving a total of 48:30. Pretty happy with the performance, 2 mins 50 secs faster compared to this time last year.

Lakeland Loop

Yesterday, I took part in the Lakeland Loop cyclosportif, organised by Epic Events. Starting off from the New Dungeon Gyhll Hotel in Langdale, the route is ~112 km, finishing off with climbs over the infamous Hardknott and Wynrose passes. It was a great day; perfect weather, a well organised event and great guys to cycle with. (Pic shows me and George at the top of Hardknott).

I really enjoyed the ride but Hardknott and Wynrose are total b@st@rds!! I was doing pretty well on all the other hills, managing to stay in the saddle most of the time. But when I hit the 1:3 sections and had to get out of the saddle, my power drained fast and I struggled. About four fiths the way up Hardknott, on one of the 1:3 ramps, I got caught up in some stones at the side of the road, lost my balance and fell off, bashing my right thigh. George very generously sacrificed his own climb, hopping off to help me back on my way with a big push. Using every ounce of energy left, I ground my way up the last few ramps and got to the top. After a recovering at the top and down the other side, I did ok most of the way up Wrynose but then, ~100 m from the end, out of the saddle again, I just ran out of juice, ground to a halt, and fell off for a second time, this time bashing my left side!

Got back to the New Dungeon Gyhll Hotel in just under 6 hours, which included generous rests at the feed stations. So, a great day but I certainly feel that I have some unfinished business; definitely plan to sign up for this again next year and, with a bit of power training in the meantime, I will get to the top of Hardknott and Wynrose without falling off!

Wilmslow Half Marathon

A great day, perfect weather and a fast course. Finished just under 1:29; my target was sub-1:30 so very happy. The thing they warn you about on this course is not to start out too fast, so guess what I did!!

Despite setting my GPS watch to the exact pace needed for 1:30, I set out way too fast, doing the first 10k in ~ 40 mins . The fast start made me suffer later, the last 2 k were excruciating and I had to really hang on.

Today, I can hardly walk but hopefully a sports massage will sort me out.

Plans for 2010

I've now entered all the races I have planned for 2010. Only a couple of weeks to go 'til the Wilmslow Half Marathon.

Wanaka Half January 16th - DONE!

Wilmslow Half Marathon March 28th

The Lakeland Loop - cycle sportif April 11th

Swashbuckler triathlon May 23rd

Day in the Lakes June 27th

City of Manchester 10K July 4th

Antwerp 70.3 July 25th

Lake Wanaka Half

What can I say - just awesome!! I couldn’t have asked for more from my first “half-iron” distance race. Spectacular scenery, tip-top organization, fantastic support, glorious weather, and a great course - challenging but not killer.

The Challenge Series have run a full distance race in Wanaka for the last 2 years. This year they introduced a half-distance race to run alongside. As I was in New Zealand visiting family, there was no way I was going to miss it.

My race went pretty much to plan. My dream time was 5 hrs 30 mins. I wanted to be on the bike within 45 mins and was almost spot on, completing the swim and T1 in 45:46. The water was cold at 13.6oC but it was crystal clear and I never noticed the temperature. I did however wear a neoprene cap and booties (HTFU!).

My goal for the bike was 3:00 hrs and I made it (+T2) in 3:06:03, which was great considering the route was hillier and windier than I expected. My nutrition plan worked fine and I felt good getting off the bike.

Both my transitions were excellent, not sure what a lot of others were doing to take so long. Maybe that’s the benefit of doing sprints all of last season. I was hoping for a 1:45 half-marathon, so finishing the run in 1:49:02 was not bad considering most of it was on gravel. This gave me an official time of 5:40:51.

Can’t wait for the next race! Bring on the Swashbuckler!

Overall Result: 05:40:51 (78th out of 131)

Swim (1.9k): 42:16 (122nd)

T1: 3:30 (26th)

Bike (90k): 03:04:22 (88th)

T2: 1:41 (19th=)

Run (21k): 01:49:02 (66th)