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!

Challenge Almere 2017 - perfect execution, almost!

A common question is “What sort of time are you going for?” However, a specific number wasn’t at the forefront of my mind going into Challenge Almere, my A-race for 2017. After cracking out an amazing time in Roth 2013, part of me has been chasing that number ever since, leading to getting sick, a DNF and two sub-par performances.

Crossing the line - BOOM! Nailed it.

So my goal for this race was not a time or a ranking but to try to execute a perfect race. This might sound strange to iron-virgins but once all the training is under your belt it’s all about execution; nutrition, pacing and the decisions you make on the day have a major impact over 226km of swim, bike and run.

The Almere Dream Team: John, Paul & Rich

Talking of training, I was well prepared. I was already in good shape for Gladiator back in July, and since them I’d had a good 8 week block including plenty of big sessions. A short taper to shed the fatigue, then a few short high-intensity sessions to sharpen up and I felt great. Now it was time to execute.

It was lashing it down when we arrived in Almere Friday lunchtime, with rain also forecast for race day - not great for the mojo. But then the Dream Team arrived and the mood lightened. Club mates Rich, John, Paul and Gary were also racing. We hung out at the race briefing, registered and carbo-loaded at Woodstone Pizza & Wine.

Fully loaded, Jacky and I checked into our hotel, the Apollo, right next to all the action. We were only there thanks to some terse negotiating by Jacky. The week before, Apollo staff tried to transfer us to a different hotel some 10 minutes drive away. I’d booked and paid for it in October 2016 so Jacky wasn’t having any of it! Of course I was annoyed too but I was trying hard not to let anything derail me psychologically. Once again, Jacky saves the day!

View from our hotel window!

It was a big relief to finally get to our room; now I could relax, get all my gear organised, sort out my bike, check it into transition and drop my transition bags off. Time for one final leg stretch, an easy 4k run with six sets of strides. Then early to bed for a second great night’s sleep.

Race morning rain!

Come race morning and it was still raining, quite hard. But once in the water it was all good. After the pros, the age groupers were due to start in two waves; the ETU Championship racers at 7:30 then me and the rest of the choppers at 7:35. However, at the last minute the organisers told us we would all be going off in one wave of about 600 people. No complaints from me, hopefully with a good swim most of the field would be behind me once I got out on the bike.

Game on!

There was the usual biff at the first couple of turn buoys but then plenty of clear water. Out in 1:04:xx, an enjoyable swim and a good start to the day. In about 100th position, over 80% of the field was behind me. It was still raining so in T1 I donned a gilet but not the arm warmers and gloves. Slug of EFS Liquid Shot and off to the mount line.

Smoothly on board, a few corners and narrow bike lanes to navigate before getting on the loop proper. Some congestion so a bit of overtaking, plus a series of roundabouts, but tried to control my power and minimise spiking.

Good start to the day

And here was a key part of the plan. At Gladiator, I aimed for 170W but averaged 180W for the first 50km then suffered big time later. Learning from that, today’s #1 objective was to target 165W and stick to it like glue, regardless of what happened around me! Plus, focus on minimising spikes when overtaking and coming out of corners etc. The wet roads necessitated caution which helped with the latter.

Bottom line: I nailed it. Once on the dyke road, I settled into a nice rhythm; keeping a close eye on my Garmin, I easily held 3s power and 10km auto-lap NP close to 165W. Heart rate and cadence were also in nice places, Zone 1 and below 70 rpm respectively.

Nutrition was also going down nicely, every 20 minutes like clockwork; 500ml 10% SiS GO Electrolyte for the first hour then EFS Liquid Shot pre-diluted 1:1 thereafter, i.e. all liquid and calculated to deliver approx. 1g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight per hour. I picked up two water bottles at the aid stations but with an air temperature of 15 degrees I only drank a few hundred mls. Most of it was used to wash myself down after *ahem* teaching myself how to pee on the fly early on in lap 2.

Enjoying the tail wind

Post race analysis showed a normalised/average power of 167/164W with an Intensity Factor of 0.72 and 269 TSS points; that put me right in the sweet spot for a good iron-distance bike leg. Compared to 0.75/305 at Gladiator where I clearly over-biked, this was a much more realistic effort.

Being conservative on the bike pays off!

All I knew at the time was that I was on target and feeling good. On the first lap I had the impression I was being overtaken by quite a few riders. I thought that some might be half-distance racers; they started later but with only a single 90k lap to complete before a relatively easy half marathon they were pushing hard, so I didn't react. However, analysing the results, 32 slower swimmers past me while I overtook 38 faster swimmers, i.e. a net gain.

Whereas many Ironman-branded races are over packed, participant numbers at Challenge races tend to be lower meaning less congestion on the bike courses - a big attraction IMO. And indeed, it was perfectly possible to ride legally at Almere, keeping outside of the 12m drafting zone and overtaking within 25 seconds. I only saw one pack that was suspect and 1 case of blatant wheel sucking.

Feeling good!

By lap 2, it had really thinned out, and boy was I enjoying myself. It had even stopped raining! Because of the flat exposed nature of the course, wind is to be expected. The forecast predicted only 15-20kph winds, so I elected to go with my disc and deep section front wheel. But what was sweet was that it came from the south west, so we had a perfect tail wind along the entire 25km stretch of dyke road. Clipping along at over 40 kph was awesome - this is what it’s all about baby! I was so in the zone I didn’t notice I was overtaking Rich until he shouted out hello!

After Gladiator I raised my front end by 20mm and this worked a treat; I was very comfortable in the aero position, staying low for pretty much the entire ride, only coming out on tight corners and when fuelling.

Bike course; with the wind from the south west, the dyke road was fast!

Back to transition, an elegant dismount with 5:14:xx on the clock, really pleased with that. No dramas in T2; another slug of EFS and I was off on to the first of six 7km laps, with Jacky there cheering me on at the start of every lap.

And here came major objective #2 for the day; for the first lap, keep the pace below 5:00 minutes per km then pick it up a bit if I felt good. And again, the difficulty here is holding back. Before too long, the bike was out of my system and I was running freely. The first two kms passed by in 4:59 - easy tiger, slowed it down a bit, completing the first lap in about 35 mins. At the top end of where I wanted to be but nicely restrained nonetheless. Last year, I went too hard too soon and paid the price.

Aero-tastic!

Picking up a gel and some water from the aid stations every 20mins, my stomach was doing fine. Indeed, I felt goooooood and the pace increased a bit. I kept smiling and staying positive was very easy. This was helped by all the crazy spectators at the various hot spots where there was loud music and lots if cheering, great atmosphere!

By half way I was still averaging just under 5:00 per km but with all the gels I was starting to feel a bit bloated. So I eased back on the gels and started picking up cups of energy drink, then finally on the last lap, cups of coke. With aid stations every 1.5k regular fuelling was easy.

Run course, 6 laps around the lake we swam in.

I knew that with kms being ticked off every 5 mins I was on for a 3:30-ish marathon, and with a sub-1:05 swim and a sub-5:15 bike under my belt, this meant that a sub-10 finish was possible. However, I tried hard not to think about the end result and just stayed focused on the process of 5 min ks. The plan was to see where I was with a lap to go and take it from there. The last two laps required more and more mental focus but I still felt strong.

As I started the final lap, I looked up the finishing chute and saw a 9:35 on the race clock. If I managed 35 mins for the last lap, a sub-10 was long gone but a really solid 10:10 was in the bank.

For those with a keen eye, the story of the ride can be seen in the data.

In retrospect, that was the one mistake I made all day; I had no idea whose time it was and thinking about it now I suspect it was for one of the female pros who set off ahead of us. At the time, I decided to just carry on, looking to hold pace for the last lap. If I had only switched my watch over from (pace/lap pace/HR/run time) to (total race time) I would have realised that with a solid last lap I would be bloody close to 10 hours. With that knowledge, surely I could have found an extra 25 seconds?

In the end, I finished the run in just under 3:32 for a total time of 10:00:24, placing me 98th overall; 70th age grouper and 7th in the M45 age group, out of 570 and 103 respectively. Not bad considering about half the field were competing in the ETU Long Distance Championships.

At first we thought I had scored a 9:55:xx; that’s what it said on the race clock. But remember, at the last minute the organisers sent us all off in one wave, and I guess they didn’t adjust the timing system accordingly. So all the people due to go off in the second wave had swim times and total race times 5 minutes faster than actual. Indeed, my watch read 10:00:28 so it didn’t take me long to figure out there was a mistake somewhere.

Am I irked about the 25 seconds? Of course, but only slightly. While another sub-10 would have been wonderful, I am just totally stoked that after a few races where I underperformed due to execution errors, this time I totally nailed it and executed close to perfection. Not my fastest race but definitely the one I am most proud off, and really pleased how I implemented lessons learned from both Gladiator and Roth 2016.

I was planning on retiring from long course after Almere; now I’m not so sure. Yes, the last 10k hurts but when you get it right, boy does it feel fantastic!

A big thanks to the Almere Dream Team of Rich, John and Paul; we had some great training sessions in the final build up and doing them together was not only productive but also a lot of fun. Training on your own in the final build gets a bit gruelling but having some great training buddies made a big difference. And as always, big thanks to Jacky - no. 1 cheer leader and best ever support crew!

Gladiator - July 2017

Gladiator, my “warm up” iron-distance race for 2017. Based at Buckler’s Hard in the New Forest, this race had been on my radar ever since my first proper triathlon in 2009. Race New Forest have organised a long distance race for many years; originally the Forestman, it was re-branded as the Gladiator in 2016, named after a warship built at Buckler’s in 1782.

Figurehead from HMS Gladiator

The field was small, only about 60 of us but with a similar number taking part in the Boskman, a middle distance race running in parallel. At 5am, all the wannabe Gladiators in their wetsuits climbed aboard a coach to take the short journey up to the town of Beaulieu where the swim was to start.

The downhill swim course

We set off shortly after 5:30; it was high tide and with a good hour of slack water and no wind, it was like a mill pond. Air temperature about 14 degrees but warmer in the salty water that had flowed in from the Solent. Perfect conditions!

Sunrise over the Beaulieu River

Navigating the bends of the Beaulieu back to Bucklers was one of the most fun swims I have ever done. Little jellyfish and moored boats everywhere but only a few people ahead of me. Exited the water in well under an hour, so probably a slight current helping us along the 3.8km swim.

Quickly through T1 and I knew I was one of the first few out on the bike. The two guys who mounted along side me shot off up the road as I settled into the 180km two lap tour of the New Forest. The bike course was also great fun; not fast thanks to typical UK tarmac, plenty of turns and the odd stop to shoo large animals out of the way, but great scenery and not many cars despite the open roads.

Bike course; out via Lyndhurst to Burley, two laps then back via Norleywood

However, I didn’t pace it well at all. My target power was 170W, but I was going too hard. I knew it, but I felt good and was enjoying it. My normalised power for the first 100k was 179W and I would have to pay for it eventually. Indeed, I lost the plot later in the ride; I was struggling to stay in the aero position and my average power for the last 75k fell to 159W.

Good swim

Jumped off the bike in just under 5:40, i.e. 32kph average, not bad for that course although I knew I hadn’t executed it well. But never mind, it was a massive relief to get on the run; two out-and-backs that we had to do four times, a mix of trail and road, not flat but nothing too steep.

 I started out steady but never really found my running legs;  I wasn’t enjoying it much, never felt in control. Jacky kept supplying me with energy gels and encouragement each time I ran through Buckler’s, so I just tried to keep going.

The first half was completed in 1:55, i.e. ~5:25 per km pace, so respectable considering the terrain, but not where I hoped to be. Then came the war of attrition; the temperature climbed to over 25 degrees and my pace slowed to an average of 6:10 per km.

There was nothing wrong with my legs but my brain had had enough; it was constantly trying to convince me that it was okay to quit and that I  was “never going to do this again”.

Finally, after just over 4 hours and 6 minutes, the run came to an end, my slowest marathon to date, for a total of 10:51:17. Yes, good enough for 6^th overall but remember, it was only a small field - 42 male finishers

Lost the plot on the bike

 However, I was pretty despondent; I’d had enough of this game and I convinced myself that it was going to be okay to bail on Almere later in the summer. 

Over the next few days, a sense of perspective returned and I dusted myself off. Sub-11 on a honest course like that was a damn fine effort. And after a bit of reflection, I made three decisions to ensure I had a chance of racing better in September:

1. To adjust my bike position to allow me to hold aero for the full 180k.
 

2. To revisit my power target, maybe 170W was slightly too high?

3. But most importantly, discipline! Whatever the new power target is, bloody well stick to it.

Almere here we come!