K-Swiss City of Manchester 10k

One of my goals for 2010 was to go sub-40 mins in 10k road race. I avoided the BUPA Great Manchester Run in May as this race attracts >25,000 people, making it hard to get a good time. So I signed up for a smaller event, the City of Manchester 10k organized by Sports Tours Internationals, which attracts about 2,500 runners. The race started and finished on the athletics track at Sport City - see here for the route - making it good for spectators.

The weather was cool and dry so good for running, but not perfect as there was a bit of a headwind in places. The legend that is Ron Hill took part and got the race underway. Encouraged by Howard, I pushed right to the front for the start so got off to a flyer. I then settled down into a good rhythm and in the final 3k still felt strong.

I had been checking my watch periodically so I knew I was on course but I only ever looked at my pace, not the actual time, so I was shocked when I came around the final bend and saw the official clock reading 37 mins something. I pushed on and finished in 37:32 - a massive PB, placing me 32nd! In 2007 and 2009, my 10k times were 45:41 and 41:22 respectively, so well chuffed with this big improvement.

Had a good chat with Neil and Howard after. Will do this again next year!

A Day in the Lakes

Another cracking event organised by TriHard. Arguably the hardest half-iron distance race in the UK, starting with a 1.9k swim in Ulswater, a 90k bike ride taking in Kirkstone Pass and Shap followed by a 21k fell run which involves two big hills. My goal was to do it in under 6 hours and I came in in 5:56 so pretty happy.

The pic shows the view from the top of Kirkstone looking back down the hill. I put a 12-27 cassette on my TT bike specially for this race.

Swim 00:37:33 139th out of 227 male finishers

T1 00:01:22 37

Bike 03:11:44 84

T2 00:00:54 22

Run 02:04:46 66

Total 05:56:10 77

I'm an Overglider!

I have been a fan of Swimsmooth for a while and this week I went to one of their swim clinics up in Bolton. It was a fantastic day; together Paul and Adam put on a great set of classroom and pool-based sessions. What I really like about their approach is that they don't treat everyone the same, culminating in their new website, www.swimtypes.com. So, it turns out that I'm an Overglider, so a key thing for me to work on is increasing my stroke rate a tad and improving the early phase of my catch. Off to the pool tomorrow to put what I learned into practice.

Swashbuckler

This weekend was the Swashbuckler, a middle distance race in in the New Forest. A beautiful day started at 6:15 am with a 1.9k swim in the Beaulieu estuary at Bucklers Hard. Two loops of an out-and-back, with the out against the incoming tide giving a slow swim for all, ~50 mins for me. Then, 80k on the bike through great scenery and quiet roads. This was my first tri on the new TT bike and I was very hapy with a split of 2:28. Finally, a 22k run; although I finished feeling strong, 1:55 is slower than I was hoping for. In the end, I finished in 5 hrs 13 mins, placing 127th out of 307 finishing men. Couldn't have asked for a better day for my first race of the season.

Bike Set Up

Spent some time today looking at my bike set up. It's not particularly aggressive but it is comfortable and to my eye looks ok. As I get more used to it and develop the flexibility I'll try lowering the front end. This might necessitate moving the seat back a bit as well?