Almere Redux - 12th September 2021

Challenge Almere is a fantastic event; I had a great race in 2017 so after a couple of years off full-distance, I signed up for the 2020 edition which, thanks to Corona, was postponed until September 2021. 

The original schedule was a multisport festival including a variety of races throughout the week. But again due to Corona it was scaled back to just a middle-distance race on the Friday followed by the Long Distance Triathlon and Aquabike World Championships on the Sunday. Alongside the championship was an Open Series event to make up the numbers, still full ironman distance: 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42.2 km run.

Enjoying myself early on in lap 2

Training had gone well; at the end of July I came 2^nd in the Castle Howard aquabike, and after that I got in plenty of big workouts, including three open water swims of more than 5 km, and plenty of TT bike action, including three solo rides of over 150 km. I’d also bounced back from a mid-season running injury, building up my long run to over 30 kms.

So I was quite relaxed going into the race. Indeed, I had no big expectations or targets for either a time or position, I just wanted to finish in style, and by that, I mean completing the full distance with a decent run, even if that meant a slow plod.

Well, it didn’t work out quite that way; unfortunately the run degenerated into a painful death march!

Death March Dejection!

The elite men and women competing in the World Championship went off in deep-water mass starts at 7 am and 7:05. The rest of us then went off in waves of rolling starts, with four swimmers entering the water every 15 seconds, and each wave distinguishable due to different colour swim caps.

The 18-44 male age groupers in the World Championship went off at 7:35; the 44+ males at 7:45; and the women at 8 am. Me and the 160 other choppers in the Open event started at 8:10.

In keeping with my relaxed approach, I loitered at the back of the yellow cap corral, in no rush to get in the water, so by the time I set off most of my wave was ahead of me. I was determined to stay relaxed for the first of the two laps. At 21 degrees, the water temperature was nice, and with swimmers well spread out due to the rolling start, there was no aggro, so very quickly I settled down into a nice, relaxed rhythm.

Hanging out with the yellow caps

But next thing you know, I am scything my way through the Open wave, overtaking yellow cap after yellow cap! This was fun; conditions were good and sighting off the buoys was easy. There was some wind making it a bit choppy after the final turn, but no bother.

Before you know it, I’m back in the changing tent stripping off my wetsuit. I noticed that the floorboards around me are dry and there’s no one here. As I’m getting on with it, more yellow caps start coming in and the tent gets busier. I must have had a pretty good swim; despite starting close to the back of my wave, I was now much nearer the front. Indeed, when I get out to T1, there didn’t seem to be many bikes missing in my area. 

Scores on the doors; out of the 148 yellow cap finishers, I had the 12^th and 7^th fastest swim and T1 respectively. Not bad for a relaxed start to the day. My time wasn’t particularly fast, 1:07, my slowest iron-distance swim in fact, but looking at the overall times and people’s Strava files I think the swim was slow, maybe a bit long and/or maybe the wind and chop was a factor. But nevertheless, very happy with my swim, a fair reflection of the training I’ve put in in both the pool and open water.

Bike route

But the trouble with getting out of the water ahead of the pack is that all the uber-bikers are now chasing you down and indeed, while it was fun overtaking stragglers from the earlier waves, quite a few from my wave were overtaking me. But no bother, I was determined to ride conservatively so that I could finish the day in style.

If the swim was a bit slow, the bike was fast! In contrast to 2017 it was bone dry, light winds and the temperature was rising. The wind was coming from the West, so the 25 km stretch along the exposed dyke running East was once again a joy, especially as you get to do it twice! My aim was to keep everything down: heart rate, power, cadence, and head.

Head down, grinding a big gear

The roads were closed to traffic, all the junctions well marshalled, the surface was immaculate, and the riders well spread out; absolutely perfect, this is why I came back to this race! 

With no distractions, it was easy to get into a nice time trialling groove and grind it out in a big gear. The small chainring was dead weight and I spent much of the day in 53-11, resulting in an average cadence of 62 rpm! Power was about 20W lower than 2017 but after the first lap I knew I was making good progress and I finally got off the bike in 5:16, just a minute or two slower than 2017 despite that big power gap – as I said, it was a fast day for cycling!

A well paced bike split

Looking at the data, my pacing was conservative with average power at 70%, maybe 5W lower than anticipated. I kept it steady, with a variability index of 1.01 and an even split across the two laps, and heart rate in Zone 1 throughout. This gave me a TSS score of 257, so in the safe zone. Job done and really happy with my bike split.

Dismount and T2 all went smoothly although I didn’t much care for another long bare foot run through the gravel infested car park where bike racking was situated. More blue carpeting next time please!

As soon as I got out on the run I didn’t feel right, strong stitch-like cramp on the right side of my stomach. Never mind, I just cracked on and made my way around the first two laps at a reasonable pace, averaging 5:15 mins per km. But now I had cramps both sides. I walked some of the aid stations to try to alleviate the cramps, take on board gels/water, pop to the port aloo. But it was heavy going, I just had nothing left in the tank.

Run pace - the data tells the story

On lap 3 I just got slower and slower. Lap 4 I started taking long walks at the aid stations, and on lap 5, the running was very slow, 7 mins per km, and the walks got longer. When I did try run, my calves felt shredded, I was totally depleted. Supporters all around the course tried to encourage me but to no avail. Jacky was unwavering, greeting me with enthusiasm at the end of every lap. 

Rather than risk injury, I decided that the only way I was going to finish this in one piece was by walking, and so began the Death March. This was actually quite liberating; I now knew I was going to finish and I kind of enjoyed the final lap as the sun approached the horizon.

I mustered a very short run to finally cross the finish line, for the benefit of the crowd of course! Run time of 4 hrs 55 giving a total time of 11:28. Not my finest hour, and I certainly didn’t finish in style, but proud of myself for a good swim-bike combo and seeing it through to the end.

Finally finished!

So where did it all go wrong? The usual suspects are (1) lack of training, (2) poor pacing, especially on the bike, and/or (3) nutrition. I and 2 are related, you have to pace it based on your fitness levels, but I think I was in decent shape and paced the bike quite well. This leaves nutrition and indeed, in retrospect, my relaxed approach was a double-edged sword; I think I was too complacent, in particular when it came to my nutrition. I didn’t follow my usual rituals in the final 24 hours leading up to the race. I didn’t eat much in the morning; after breakfast at 5 am, I didn’t feed again until T1 at about 9:20 am. After the race, I realised that I had two slugs of nutrition left in my drinks bottle, meaning 40 mins worth of nutrition missed. Because of the stomach cramps I didn’t have my first gel until 8k into the run.

No. 1 cheer leader

So what next? On lap 5 I was adamant that my triathlon career was over; this just hurts too much, why would I ever put myself through this again? 24 hours later I was over this nonsense, determined to learn from my mistakes and put together a decent race in 2022. See you then!

Outlaw Half 2021

So with the highs come the lows. Part of me just wants to bury Sunday’s race but if you are going to claim the victories, so you have to also own the defeats.

Outlaw Half Nottingham is probably now the UK’s #1 middle distance race. Over 1600 people on the ‘start line’ and with Covid still limiting travel abroad, this was going to be a competitive year.

Three major changes to this edition. The compact square-ish transition at the end of Holme Pierrepoint rowing lake was moved to the side, creating an enormous, long thin racking area, about a kilometre long. Getting through T1 and T2 would easily take over 10 minutes.

Swim course

The run course: rather than two out-and-backs along the narrow river tow path, it would be three laps taking in the kayak course and the rowing lake. Let’s hope I would get that far.

No mass swim start: due to Covid, the normal 4-5 waves 10 minutes apart were replaced with a time-trial-style, swimmers launching themselves off one of three pontoons every 9 seconds. There were some great dives, some belly flops, but I didn’t see anyone go for the classic ‘bomb’.

New run route - would I get that far?

We camped again but this time hired a camper van rather than tenting it. A new experience, we had a lot of fun and I slept so much better. Arriving late Friday afternoon gave us a leisurely Saturday to get ready for the race.

Great to see some familiar faces over the weekend including Rich H and crew; the Manchester Triathlon Club relay team made up of Natasha, Chris and Annie (supported by Nanette), and nice to chat with Rob Arnold on the start line.

The weather wasn’t great; the worst of the night’s rain had passed, but it was still very overcast with a strong wind coming up the rowing lake. However, it wasn’t cold and if the rain stayed off, it would be just fine for racing, no need for extra layers on top of the trisuit.

Top 3 finishers in the M50-54 age group - blistering!

I was in good shape and confident, at least for the swim and bike. Since peaking for EpicMan I had maintained my fitness. But the big unknown was running; I’d picked up a niggle so no running for two weeks to give it as much rest as possible. The two testers had not gone well so in the back of my mind I knew I wasn’t going to make it around. But denial is a powerful thing.

The race started around 6-ish, and I was in the water early. Due to the time-trial-style start, swimming was very civilised, no bunfight, no biff. I found good feet so benefited from drafting over the first 500m or so. Then I settled into my own rhythm and next thing we are turning and heading back. Out of the water in under 34 minutes, job done.

The damage was done in transition number 1. Running close to 1 kilometre from swim exit to my racked bike then out to the mount line, all in bare feet, is probably what killed my left calf. Once on the bike, getting out of the saddle and standing on the pedals was sore. Hey-ho, focus on the now.

Out of T1

I really enjoyed the bike; it’s a relatively flat course and this was my 4th attempt so the route was familiar. A lot of the roads have been resurfaced, it was early Sunday morning, some of the roads were closed to traffic and all the junctions were well marshalled. Plus I was out on the course relatively early so not many other cyclists to contend with. Hammer time!

Aiming for an NP of about 190W, I was pushing a bit too hard early on, but my heart rate was low, and I felt good. Slugging UCAN every 20 minutes to keep fuelled, no need for extra water as it was a cool 8 degrees. In the second half, there was a bit of back-and-forth with a few riders of a similar ability, but the aggregating peloton thinned out quickly enough. I paid the price for the early over-effort and faded a bit during the last 10km. But no worries, almost home.

Bike route, pretty much the same as previous editions

Nailed transition number 2 and was out on the run in just over 5 mins. 20 minutes later I came screeching to a halt as finally my calf blew up. As expected, as soon as I got off the bike, I knew it wasn’t good, but I had hoped I might just be able to slug it out and get around. Denial is a powerful thing.

On the bright side, I had a good swim and bike, and raced well until the end of T2, so a lot of positives to build on. Hopefully the rehab will get me back on my feet sooner rather than later so that I can get back on track for September.

Another big positive is that my Just Giving campaign is gaining momentum - we have now made it to over £3,000!! Thanks ever so much for all your support, sorry I couldn’t match it with a good performance! Hopefully I will leave the best till last!

EpicMan Windermere 2021

EpicMan was one of the few races that ran in 2020. Jacky enjoyed it last September so signed up again for the May 2021 edition. Because Volcano was postponed, I was looking for a warmup for Outlaw Half, so I signed up as well, our first time taking part in the same triathlon.

Almost time to go. (Thanks Hugh for the photo)

The main event is the middle-distance race with about 225 starters, including some very strong athletes, but with 110 starting the side event, a shorter, standard distance race comprising a 1500m swim, 40k bike and a 10k run.

We drove up on Friday afternoon and all the talk was how the weather was changing from the wettest May on record to what promised to be a scorchio bank holiday weekend. The forecast didn’t disappoint. Indeed, Sunday morning was perfect for racing; clear skies, temperatures rising, dry roads and no wind.

The swim course.

Due to Covid restrictions no mass start, rather athletes forming an orderly queue to get into the lake with your clock starting when you cross the timing mat just before the water’s edge. By getting in the queue early, I was in the first group to get in the water.

The swim was incredible. Out to the first rubber duckie buoy, turn left and make your way up the lake. Before long I was on the front. Swimming isn’t my forte so with mass starts I’m in the pack, fighting for space and sometimes it seems, survival. So to be leading out was an amazing experience. The water temperature was ‘unnoticeable’, 15 degrees or so, and with zero wind the surface was like glass. Swimming into unbroken water, with great views to each side as you breath was wonderful. This was one of my all-time favourite swims!

Turn left at the rubber duckie then straight on

The kayak marshal guided me around the top of the course – thank you. I was working hard but felt ok so just carried on. On the return section, I was overtaken by a female competitor. Thoughts of drafting her faded quickly as she opened up a gap. Someone else got close to catching me near the exit but I made a dash for it and think I was second out of the water.

Part 1 done and dusted

Supa-motivated I charged through T1. Out on the bike, the back roads down to Newby Bridge are twist-turny and undulating, there was bank holiday traffic plus I was catching up the tail end of the middle-distance race, so hard to find any ‘flow’. Once on the dual carriage way to Ulverston it was TT mode before heading North towards Coniston Water. The middle-distance course peeled left at Lowick Green, so it became quieter from then on and a marshal confirmed that I had regained the lead out on the course.

Hammer time

More twist-turny and undulating roads back to Lakeside, largely uneventful except at about kilometre 32 there is a nasty steep section up The Causeway. It’s only short but at 20% gradient it’s tough. But worse, my bike is geared for flat time trials, not hills, so no way I could ‘spin it out’ – killer! 150% power for a minute really sapped my legs, so the descent back to Newby Bridge was welcome.

First in T2

Even though the middle-distance race started earlier in the day, they were all still out on their longer bike course when I arrived at T2. Being the first back in off the bike was once again supa-motivating and I charged out of transition onto the run course.

In the moment

Coach’s instructions were to take the run easy; this was after all still a warmup race. This posed a real dilemma; I wasn’t just going to roll over. Due to the time trial start I wasn’t necessarily in the actual lead, but I was certainly at the pointy end of the race, and c’mon, it’s a race! In the end, the nature of the course came to my rescue. It’s all off road, through woods and across fields, undulating and twist-turny, so you can work hard without trashing the legs - 10k on tarmac would have been a different situation altogether.

About 3 km, ‘Callum’, the eventual winner overtook me. He looked strong, and I was working hard already so no way I could go with him. I never sensed anybody else behind me and felt I was keeping up a decent pace so wasn’t worried about more overtakes, but with the time trial start you never quite know where you are in the field, you can lose position without ever noticing.

Even though it was getting quite hot, the shade through the woods meant that we didn’t fry. Kept up an even effort, maybe a minute slower on the second lap and next thing you know, and it’s all done and I’m second ‘in the club house’, a position that I hold onto as the rest of the field finishes.

I see Jacky on her first run lap so know that she is safely off the bike. Cheered on a few club mates; Cathy and Jamie in the middle-distance, Hugh in the standard. Once we are both done it’s off for Sunday lunch and swapping our stories of the morning. Jacky had a good race, with good gains on the swim and bike compared to September.

Jacky out on the bike

Nutrition. 35g overnight oats and coffee for breakfast. For the bike, I’ve been experimenting with Ucan slow-release super starch. Drank about 350ml containing about 60g. Picked up an energy gel at the start of the second run lap.

Lots of road bikes and not many disc wheels out there; maybe a lighter aero set would have been a good choice but if I was to do it again, I’d make sure I had a few extra gears for The Causeway.

A word about the organisers. As always, Epic Events put on a great race, the bike and run courses were very well signposted plus plenty of marshals. An advantage of Covid-time is the move to online briefings, maybe we can keep it that way? Great pictures also from Mick Hall Photos.

Scores on the doors: 27:37 for the swim, 1:10:17 for the bike, and 45:04 for the run for a total of 2:25:49. Looking forward to Outlaw Half in a few weeks!

And finally, it's great to feel some form returning, so thanks to coach Nick Thomas for getting me back into shape. 

Oulton Park Duathlon

Quick report on my first race of 2021 and my first race in quite a while. Both Jacky and I took part in the Oulton Park Duathlon on Sunday.

Several distances were available, but we opted for the Standard, so an 8.6k run to start followed by a 38.7k bike leg then a 4.3k run to finish. Why those specific distances? Well, it was laps of the famous motorcycle circuit which is 4.3k in length, so 2 laps, 9 laps and 1 lap.

The Oulton Park circuit

We didn’t set off until 9:45 so a reasonably leisurely start to the day, light breakfast, load up the car then a short trip down the M56 into Cheshire.

Due to Covid restrictions, no spectators allowed so it was pretty quiet at the start and all very relaxed as we checked in and got all our kit organised. Also, no mass start; after racking our bikes we formed an orderly socially distanced queue and were set off in ~30 second intervals.

I had planned to take it easy; this was a warmup race after all, but once you’re off, you’re off and it’s a race! Plus it was a bit chilly, and the first section was downhill, so I found myself clipping along at a nice pace pretty quickly.

A bit of to and fro as I overtook some of the slower earlier starters and some of the later and faster runners overtook me. But I felt good and carried on, getting a bit faster on the second lap.

Feeling good on the run!

I had been nursing a bit of a niggle all week so had backed off the training to let my legs rest up ahead of the race. However, once I started, I didn’t notice my niggle and it was all about being in the moment.

This was my first time doing this race, so the first lap was all about getting my bearings. It was more undulating than I realised. The weather was perfect, clear and sunny but quite windy. I was enjoying myself.

A fairly “relaxed” transition out on to the bike, beautiful smooth tarmac, no traffic or pedestrians to worry about and not many racers on the course so it was into as tight an aero position as possible and hammer time!

Hammer time!

Downhill section again into a sweeping left hander, that was fun, then pushing the wattage into the headwind and back up a more gradual ascent.

Kept an eye on my power meter to keep the watts up, energy drink on laps 1, 4 and 9, only getting out of the aero position occasionally to get out of the saddle. Saw Jacky a couple of time, she was clearly enjoying herself!

Another “relaxed” transition then one final lap running and it’s all over. Felt pretty good all the way through. Over the finish line. Devoured what was in the goodie bag. Great to bump in to a few clubmates and chat about the race. 

But then my niggle came back to haunt me. My right foot/ankle just seized up so collecting my bike and walking back to the car was pretty painful.

Jacky arrives at the finish, quick photo op then back into the car and home in time for lunch!

Jacky crosses the finish line!

Overall, very happy with performance, run pace and watts not great but a fair reflection of my fitness/capability at the moment, and I paced it pretty evenly, so a great way to start PROJEKT 2021! 

It’s  Wednesday evening as I write this and now my injury is already a lot better thanks to a really good physio session yesterday, so a couple more days taking it easy and I’m sure I’ll be back on it the weekend. Onwards!

Outlaw Half: Nottingham 2019

My race account was opened last weekend at the Outlaw Half. I’ve done this race twice before, in 2016 and 2017. Those reports were quite detailed so I'll keep this short. 

As per previous editions, it was a great event; really well organised, lots of supporters and on the day, conditions near perfect.

Setting off on the run!

Since inception in 2013, this race has become one of the premier half distance triathlons in the country; it attracts a pretty competitive field and this year there was a strong contingent from Manchester Triathlon Club.

If you don't train you can't expect to compete!

Will Clarke took out the win on the male side in a course record of 3:51:44 before jetting off to take 2^nd at Ironman Brazil a week later. In the women’s race, our own Naomi Keira Wright came third in 4:46:01 – bravo!

48 minutes slower than 2017

I had a great day out; racing again felt good and the whole process was pretty seamless. And while my performance was well below par, considering the amount of training I had done it was a fair reflection of my current fitness. Indeed, I’ve always reckoned that you could blag your way through a half. Now I know you can! 😃

Faded in second half of the bike

The water was “ok”, once we got going the temperature was fine but it was very murky. I had no idea where to pitch my effort on the bike and with very few miles in the tank I faded on the southern loop. Started steady on the run and kept a fairly constant exertion but again, with so few hours on my feet, my pace got progressively slower.

Ironman tactics: walk the aid stations!

A part of me was of course disappointed not to be mixing it up at the pointy end and pushing for a place on the age group podium. One could ask why was I not prepared as per previous years? But the answer is relatively trivial: I simply haven’t put in enough training hours.

A much more interesting question is how on earth did I put in so much training previously? Hopefully I can figure out how to answer this question long before next year’s edition.

Another great aspect to this year's race was that on the Saturday, Jacky took part in the Nottingham Sprint Triathlon. It was her first open water swim race and only her second time in a wet suit. She had a bit of a wobble before the start but then got stuck in and nailed it - supa-proud! 

Jacky exits the water!