Wyre Forest Multi Terrain

I can't believe February is upon us already! This makes me so happy as it means 
a) the days will soon start getting longer
b) it should (possibly, maybe) start warming up and 
c) race season will soon be here! 

Lots of my friends were racing this weekend and enjoyed successes at the Wokingham Half Marathon, Cross Country Leagues, Park Runs etc which were all great to hear!  I too ventured out for a run at the Wyre Forest 8 hoping to improve on last year's 3rd place.

It really isn't my type of race. Hills, mud, swamps and more hills is a long way away from the flat tarmac runs I prefer! But nevertheless it's all good training.  The first 2 miles are fab (because they are down hill!) and I clocked a 6:11 and a 5:52 feeling like a 'real runner' before dramatically slowing!  It was interesting trying to curl your toes up to keep your trainers on so as not to lose them in the mud and after a while of carefully picking my path through the swamps I gave up and just ran hell for leather through the most direct route (isn't it funny when you run through a puddle though and it's much deeper than you think - anyone know that feeling?)

The last climb (as you can see from the above elevation chart) is a killer! Of course this is where my lovely boyfriend and friends chose to stand to cheer me on, I was practically stationary!  It makes such a difference having that support though and my efforts were rewarded with finishing 2nd female, top 20 overall and nearly 3 minutes quicker than last year (despite tougher conditions).  A nice shiny medal, trophy, bottle of bubbly and £30 vouchers were also thrown in for good measure!  My friend Paul also had a fantastic run and Chris's cousin Phil came an impressive 8th in what was his first cross country run in 18 years!

Still smiling? This must be a grimace!

This race comes on the back of a hard block of training.  I've really found my mojo for training again and feel like I'm training with a real purpose this year.  There's things I'd love to achieve this season and I'm working on developing the right mindset to achieve them.  On top of that I'm surrounded by fantastic people and have recently started working and training with other local athletes who too have their own personal goals that with hard work and commitment, are well within reach.  Training is fun and varied but I've come to learn that the only real way to achieve my goals is not through magic pills, secret tips or some mysterious science....it's through consistent training.  So that's what I plan to do through the rest of February....oh except for Althorp Duathlon next Saturday, I might actually taper for that one?

Happy Training & Happy Racing Everyone....

Resolutions and Positive Thinking

Resolutions & Positive Thinking

13 days into the New Year and I thought I'd write a quick blog of recent tales.  New Year's Day went off with a bang with a 10K race to blow the cobwebs away.  Well I say a 'bang', my performance was more of a 'flop' than a bang, and the '10K' felt more like 10 miles after they had to move the start to a new location due to ice (not to mention the hills and climbs!) But nevertheless it was a productive start to the year, and makes up for all the cross-country races I keep avoiding!

I've recently  joined a new gym which is fantastic and has given me all the motivation I need to get going again this winter.  I'm loving the weights sessions, although I walk like a granny for a few days afterwards! The watt bike sessions are good too and after reading a chapter of Chris's "How to train with a Power Meter" book I'm starting to appreciate the benefits of working with different data to train smarter, so that's been a real learning curve.

I've enjoyed training with fellow athletes from my tri club Triks, as well as going out on the bike a few times with Chris and more recently, clocking the miles up with my lovely iron-woman friend Charlotte.  Although it was slightly freezing we enjoyed the climbs and mountains that Worcestershire and Herefordshire has to offer and enjoyed sights of snow on the hill tops (who needs the Alps)!?

  
It also made me realise what fantastic training venues there are on my door step; with the mountains in the Malverns to cycle up and the canal, nature reserve and Wyre Forest for some off road running it's nice to feel like I'm making the most of what I've got.

My New Years Resolution of reading a book a fortnight has gone to pot already; probably because I'm trying to read 4 books at once (I'm easily bored!)  I found an old book called 'Decide to Win' that I was glancing over the other day.  It selected 10 attitiudes that it claimed would achieve better results which I thought were interesting:

1. I have a positive mental attitude
2. I can do it
3. I accept responsibility for myself and my performance
4. I'm in competition with myself 
5. I live in the present moment
6. I am fearless, bold and courageous
7. I deserve to be successful
8. Failure is not defeat
9. I shall persist until I succeed
10. I enjoy what I'm doing.

If I read the book properly it would probably be quite a useful thing but I should really finish the others first (50 Shades of Grey, From Fatigued to Fantastic, You Are What you Eat and not to mention the new blogs from my fellow triathlete friends). Take a look:

• http://jennylathamtriathlon.wordpress.com/
• http://bigsuztri.blogspot.co.uk/
• http://drdaniellestewart.wordpress.com/

So now that I've started training again properly I'm digging in for another   7 days before I have a well deserved few days off in Krakow with Chris for my birthday.  We've been out to buy new winter coats to prepare us for the minus 10 temperatures out there so I'm hoping when I'm back in the UK and getting ready to race some duathlons in March it won't feel half as cold as it does now!

Telford 10k & Winter Training

Last Sunday I had a good run out at the Telford 10k, taking just over a minute off my Leeds Abbey Dash 10k the month before.  I'd not done Telford before but it seemed to attract a really good field of athletes and even boasted an elite 'sub 40 min start' and a mass start race 45 minutes later.  I tagged onto the very back of the first run, the rear was brought up by a marshall on a mountain bike so I think the fear of being the last runner made me try that little bit harder! It was a really nice run with slippy parts and fog thrown in for good measure.  It was nice to see some familiar faces there too; Cath who I've not seen since uni ran a great sub 40 time and looked really strong, Stu clocked a low 34 and kept up with all the speedy ones and the very talented Phil Wylie was close to a sub 30.  I was relatively happy with a 42:39 for this time of year but it's pretty pedestrian compared to them!

Check out the puddle of ice behind me!

So the winter weeks have been ticking by, as has winter training.  I've set a few fun goals for myself for the next couple of months:


To build strength
 



To be able to touch my toes

 





To master my inner chimp based
on a book by Steve Peters



To plan 2013, Turkey is my only definite race so far



To rekindle my love for off road running
(maybe not this extreme!)

The weekend of the Telford 10k I also put the tree up, actually rode my bike for a couple of hours on the Saturday for pretty much the first time since Nancy, pleasantly surprised myself with making some mince pies, (under Chris's supervision haha!) went Christmas shopping with Mum, finished hand making the last of my cards and wrapped the presents so now it's safe to say, I'm all set for Christmas!

 

As this is my last blog of 2012 it's worth mentionning I've really enjoyed racing, training and blogging this year and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.  See you in 2013 x

Party Season

Well race season is well and truly gone.....and PARTY season is here (and I'm feeling it already!)  We seem to have spent most weekends attending various awards do's and weddings! The weddings were kicked off with the wonderful Mr & Mrs Booth tying the knot.  I was honoured enough to be bridesmaid and couldn't believe how quickly the day went.  It was fantastic!  The bride was beautiful, the service was lovely, and the partying was hard core!  Then the awards dinners kicked off with Chris's cycle club dinner where I was really proud to see him pick up a few trophies, mostly for everything he has achieved on the tandem with his cousin Phil.  It was great to meet so many new people and it was nice that the work done with the juniors in the club was recognised and valued.

My gorgeous friend Sarah on her big day

The following week we went to my cycle club's awards dinner where we had a brilliant time.  It was held at a venue a good hour and a bit away from ours so we treated ourselves to a room in the hotel (which we booked part way through the starter and main course!) so that we could make the most of the free wine on the table! I was fortunate enough to win the Triathlete of the Year Award and even better.....we won a bike rack in raffle! What a great prize! I love a good raffle!

A couple of vinos later....

A week later we went to the Midland's Time Trial Series Award Presentation where I picked up third overall in the series and second in the improvements table.  I barely recognised the girls without their lycra and helmets on! It was a good night mixing with mostly just cyclists and it was interesting to hear how their training varied from mine.  I really admire what the series organiser, Ruth Eyles, is trying to do too, with an aim of encouraging the participation of women in cycling.  I have definitely noticed an increase in the number of women attending local TTs as a result of this which has been good to see.

Rosie Armitage of Echelon Cycles ~ a very worthy winner of the Midland Series

24 hours later we were back at the same venue as last week for my triathlon club's awards dinner.  Rugby Tri know how to put on a good night and the whole experience was great.  There was another brill raffle (....and yes....we won another prize :-) !), a host who dressed up as Superman, and a whole load of dancing!  There were more prizes galore and the 2 club champs that I raced meant I picked up the Women's Olympic and the Women's Middle Distance Awards.  The club also recognised the successes of many other women and it was great to see and hear how much the girls had improved over the season.  Some had gone from never doing any open water swimming to completing their first olympic distances, others had continued to make constant progress and many had achieved age group wins throughout the year.  The club also had 4 men that had completed an ironman for the first time, which is massively impressive!

Rugby Tri Award Winners

Our Club Person of the Year Award was given to a very worthy winner; Ross Wearing.  Ross has completed a vigorous (and crazy!) challenge each month throughout the whole of 2012.  These range from rowing a marathon to swimming the length of Lake Annecy and the money he is raising for Macmillan Cancer makes it all the more worthwhile.  Needless to say Ross got a standing ovation when he went to collect his award and I felt really choked myself, despite (I'm ashamed to say) having not gone to watch Ross in action in any of his challenges.  But I have sponsored him (and you can too) at www.justgiving.com/ross-wearing

Our star of the year

So once all the Awards Dinners finished, we had got used to living the high life so have been out for dinner with various friends (on a week night too!).  Seeing the pubs and restaurants so busy makes me realise "this is what normal people do!" haha!  We have started a bit of Christmas shopping and I even found myself at an all night rave on Saturday night which was a pretty good work out actually, what with all the squats I did on the dance floor and the amount I jumped up and down in one night....I should go more regularly to get quads of steel!

So keen to party I didn't even have time to take my coat off!

I've been a bit slow getting back into winter training.  I've roughly been doing 3 swims, 3 bikes and 3 runs a week but it's been a bit hit and miss. Working 7am-5pm is taking it's toll too and I've felt pretty tired (especially with other socialising antics!) but that said things seem to be clicking into place again over the last few days and as long as I'm enjoying it and maintaining a good lifestyle balance that's all that matters.  I keep meaning to write a blog on the enjoyment of the sport vs the pressure we put on ourselves, but I'll save that one for (another) rainy day.

It's felt a bit too cold to cycle lately!

For the next few weeks I'm hoping to just chill out and calm down a bit and actually enjoy some time at home with my feet up!  Apart from next week's Level 2 Triathlon Coaching Course and a Christmas Shopping Trip in Worcester arranged with Mum, I think I'll actually have sometime to chill out between now and Christmas!  I'm still toying with the idea of having a run out at the Telford 10k in 2 weeks, or on the other hand I could have a well deserved lie in and a day of nothing!

Leeds Abbey Dash

Well after pretty much a month off and a couple of weeks of getting back into training I thought the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k would be a good measure of how unfit I've got!  It was really nice to do a race with no pressure and no expectation, but more for a benchmark and a good bit of training.  My sister raced as well and so it was a good family day out!

Leeds Abbey Dash 10k

Having not been out training much I had forgotten how cold it was and so we hid in Wetherspoons until the very last minute before dashing to the start.  This meant we had completely missed the calls for the appropriate pens and with over 8,000 runners it made it hard to get to where we supposed to be! This made the first mile a bit hectic once we finally got going as I was weaving in and out but it broke the run up and the course itself was quite wide so plenty of room to overtake.

Last year's Jane Tomlinson 10k in Leeds

 

I clocked 43:36 which is actually a bit better than I was expecting.  Having only run a hand full of times since Nancy I thought I had lost a lot more form than that.  It also gives me confidence to go away and actually do some decent training before another 10k in a month's time, perhaps the Telford 10k in  mid December.  My sister narrowly missed her sub 60 target but finished with a massive smile on her face and as her training had been hampered with injury, I was really proud to see her finish.

One of my first road races....going off too quick!

Once upon a time I would have been overjoyed with a 43 minute 10k.  When I first started road running in my early twenties I just could not break 55 minutes.  I used to get 56 minutes or 55 minutes and so many seconds and it just seemed impossible to break.  I ran with a lovely bunch of girls at my local running club for about 6 years and although I loved it, and went on warm weather training camps, I never seemed to improve.  It wasn't until the winter of 2009, once I started tri and cross training, that I could put in any decent performances, recording a massive PB of 42:50.  To take such a chunk of time off after doing far less running was mind blowing.  2010 saw me running some 41s and 42s at the end of triathlons and in 2011 I got a new PB of 40:41 which still stands to this date.  Needless to say, I am now in pursuit of a sub 40minute run which seems to have evaded me for some time now (just like my sub 55min goal did!).

Running for my old club back in 2009, on the verge of improving

Current PBS -

• 5k - 18:49
• 5 mile - 33:51
• 10k - 40:41
• 1/2 marathon - 1:41:59 (end of a half-ironman)

It's funny that whatever your times, or whatever your goals, they are no more or less important, or no easier or harder to achieve than the goal before.  Although running remains my weakness, it's nice to reflect on how far my running has come in recent years (despite a particularly bad year for running this year) but I think a bit of perserverence and a bit of smart training will be the key to some running PBs in 2013.

Season Summary

With my 2012 season well and truly over, I thought I'd have a quick reflection before I start my winter training to do it all again next season! With 2 bike crashes and a hospital trip this season hasn't been without it's drama! So what have been my ups and downs.......

The Great

1.  5th at the European Champs in Eilat. This was definitely my favourite race of the season and my best result to date. I loved the whole experience and have never been anywhere as exciting as Israel! It was fab to spend time with the lovely Sarah Rhodes and I was really chuffed to bits for Emma Holt improving on her bronze in 2011 to take the Gold here! 

2. 6th at the World Champs in Nancy. I can't believe I nearly decided not to go this! It was a brilliant trip, a wonderful venue (although the bike was a bit too technical for me), and a decent-ish enough performance.  I was hoping to hold onto Suzie Richards as I'd finished not far behind at the British Champs but she had improved so much and it was great to see her with a podium finish!

3.  Winning the Apollo Triathlon by 13 minutes. I had never done this race before, it was my first one of the season and it was a great result for me. The organisation was fantastic, I hope I can fit it into my race calendar next year.  It was really nice to see the mad Yorkshire Lass Helen Nutall too! 

4. Time Trialling. I finished 2nd in the Midland Sportive Time Trialling Series, 3rd in the Women's Midland Time Trial Series, won 4 open Time Trials and improved my 10 mile PB down to 23:10.  It's been nice to give the cyclists a run for their money.









5.  Age Group win at Apollo Duathlon.  I had a terrible first run, an average bike but was over the moon with my second run.  Hopefully I can rekindle this kind of running off the bike  next year.

The Good

6. 6th at the British Age Group Middle Distance Championships. It was great to finally complete a half-iron man! I was really pleased with my swim and bike, faded on the run, but it was never about times for me, just a brill achievement to have finished.  My biggest inspiration of the day came from Amy Forshaw who, despite getting cramp and puncturing, nearly ran herself back into the medals!

7. 5th at the British Duathlon Champs. I was really disappointed with this as the time but in hindsight I had a pretty good race.  Kate Mapham won the 25-29 AG with massively impressive run splits!

8. Overall win at Northampton Olympic and Grafham Waters Olympic.  Both of these started with a good swim and an OK bike.  I had a bad run at both events but it's nice to race under par and still come out with the overall win and some nice prizes :-)  I also met Kate Scotter at one of these races who turns out to be a top journalist and has just had a great race at the Worlds in New Zealand.






The Not So Good

9.  2nd in Age Group at Grendon. I had been sick for 4 days leading up to this and shouldn't really have raced at all. The positive was I qualified for the Europeans in Turkey next year but I felt awful the whole way round. 

10. Overall win at Three Spires Sprint. Although on paper this was a good result as I won by over 6 minutes, it didn't come without a price and this time it was slipping on some diesel at a roundabout and getting a bad case of road rash and damaging the gorgeous Cervelo in the process!  I managed to get back on my bike and do the run before I burst out crying! It also meant I missed the Mallory Park Triathlon the next day.

The Awful

11. Bedford Triathlon.  I think I was down in 5th in my Age Group. It was my most horrific race to date and a massively disappointing performance. Thankfully since then I seem to have been able to take control of my wheat intolerance and sickness reflexes whilst running, let's hope this continues!

12.  DNF at the Forest of Dean Duathlon along with the worst case of road rash I have ever had and a trip to the hospital.

13. DNF at the Maltese triathlon. I felt a million times worse than I did at Bedford which is saying something!  To travel all that way, be in great shape and not finish was really disappointing.


What's Next?

First of all I want to take the time to thank everyone who has helped me this season.  I'll never forget my roots with Rugby Tri! Thanks to Northbrook for getting my running up to scratch at the start of the season and of course my new tri club Triks for making me feel so welcome.  My swimming has massively improved thanks to Steve and after a severe lack of winter training last year thanks to Paul who helped get me fit enough for Israel in just 2 months.  Thanks to all the Age Group girls all over the UK for making the international races so fun and for motivating and inspiring me to keep training hard.  Thanks to Mick and everyone at the cycle club and all our sponsors for helping me out.  Thanks to Boss and Boss's Boss for advising me to finally buy a road bike that fits and for helping me sort out my inner chimp! Thanks to everyone for the constant good luck messages and well wishes and most of all thanks to Mum & Chris for all those 4am get-ups and for travelling here there and everywhere with me!

There are lots of different options to consider for next year.  My main target will be the Europeans in Turkey in June.  I've qualified for both the sprint and standard distance so need to decide which I'm going to do.  I'd also like to do the Worlds at London and I'm hoping to race a lot stronger.  Before then there's a lot of hard work to be done through the winter, I'm sure I'll be blogging about winter training and about how much I hate the cold weather!

Thanks for reading & Happy Training :-)

Malta

It's become a little tradition

To go to Malta every year

So off we went in high spirits

To drink the Maltese beer!

 

Malta

 

It's a chance to catch up with friends

And for a bit of winter sun

We throw a race in the middle too

But mostly eat, drink and have fun!

 

Getting ready to eat out.....again

We arrived at Thursday lunch time

And thought we'd hire a car

Which meant we could see the sights

The ones both near and far.

 

That said the drivers were very dangerous

Bordering on a little mad

The traffic jams were like Britain

And the road works just as bad!

 

Bad news for us, we got a parking ticket!

This happened by just day 3

Of course both my Mum and Chris

Immediately blamed me!

 

We visited Valetta

What a beautiful place

Walking in the sun

With a smile on my face.

 

Valetta

I had a sudden urge

To jump into the sea

But then couldn't get back out

.....typical me!!!

 

The silent city of Medina

Was next on the list

A walled paradise

This is not to be missed!

 

A coffee shop on top

With the most wonderful view

Places with such beauty

There are so few.

 

We ventured to the beach

For some fun on the sand

Soaked up all the rays

On this hot land.

 

Of an evening at night

We were never at a loss

As many great things

Were organised by Bill and his Boss!

 

Boss and Boss's Boss

Like going to the Plum tree

For a beer and some food

Having a laugh with Malc

For my Mum he had wooed.

 

Smooth talker Malc!

 

On Sunday we woke up

At 5am for a reason

Today was the day

Of my last race of the season.

 

I started to get nervous

I want to do well

Could I hold my form?

Only time would tell.

 

Exiting the swim in 4th place

I had done the race before

Back in 2010

But I'm a much better athlete

And have improved so much since then.

 

Off we cycled to transition

To rack our bike and kit

Then 10 mins after the sprint start

I thought "right, this is it!"

 

But the race was a disaster

I struggled in the heat

By the time I got on the run

It was hard to stay on my feet.

 

The bike is usually my strength.....not today

 

Black spots in my vision

Made it hard to see

Then when I was sick

I knew it wasn't meant to be.

 

I went from bad to worse

As my form started to diminish

I was struggling so much

That I stopped before the finish.

 

I don't think I have ever felt this bad in a race!

I instantly felt like a failure

And had a little cry

The crash and falls are hard to take

When you set your sights so high.

 

Disappointment springs to mind

And lots of frustration too

But these things are sent to test us

There's no point in feeling blue.

 

I was quickly cheered up

When the whole bay came to life

Dermot had proposed at the finish

And asked Johanna to be his wife!!!

 

Finish line proposal

The proposal made the headline

Of the news the following day

And Johanna had said "Yes!"

(we're all relieved to say!!!)

 

Danica won the race

for the 11th time in a row

She is such an amazing athlete

One of the best I think I know.

 

Michelle raced amazingly too

To take victory in the sprint tri

And with Ide second, and Linda third

The Brits were on a high!

 

The Crew

Pammie babes smashed her PB

Vicki & Jen were great too

So were all the guys

For which the support just grew.

 

Pam had a storming race

 

Malc got a special award

For being the oldest in the book

And thanks to Emma for all that clapping

With your silver hook!

 

After the race it was party time

This is how we roll

In fact Mum even got into it

By dancing round a pole!

 

We joined in karaoke

And met in the cafe most nights

Lemon Cheesecake and sundaes

were some of our delights!

 

We hired pedalos and canoes

Surfed the waves of the Golden Bay

Visited Popeye's Village

Made the most of every day

Popeye Village

 

Our friends have made our trip

All the more worth while

I'll remember the experience

With laughter and a smile.

 

Thanks to Bill & Pam

For inviting us to come

We really appreciate your efforts

And eveything you've done.

 

Outside the Plum Tree on our last night

Thanks to the Geordie lasses

And the Leicestershire crew

And good luck Dermot and Johanna

Here's to both of you!

 

As for me and my race

It was more of a low than a high

But I'm sure I'll be back next year

To give it another try!