Oulton Park Duathlon

Well what a mad two weeks the last few have been! I was on a real high after Althorp Duathlon but began to feel very ill very quickly and so took some time out to rest and recover. I was absolutely gutted to miss out on the British Duathlon Championships but forfitted my entry in the hope to shake off whatever mystery illness I had.  By the end of the middle of the week I felt 100% better and was back to normal training so entered Oulton Park Duathlon last minute in an attempt to cheer myself up.  I loved the race and was over the moon to win but then 2 days later collapsed in pain and was rushed into hospital.  Never a dull moment here! The doctors and nurses were great and ended up diagnosing an infection that has been spreading  for some time since an old kidney infection so hopefully now I'm properly on the mend.

So where to start over the last 10 days? Well first of all a big well done to everyone who braved the  elements at the British Championships, the weather was horrific.....maybe it wasn't such a bad weekend for me to miss after all? I promised my friend Emily I would big her up in my next blog (Paul B it's your turn next time!). She had a storming performance to be crowned AG 20-24 British Champion! Well done Em! Very well deserved & really proud of you! See more here:

I went to race at Oulton Park the week after.  I had done the race last year and had many fond memories of it; there's no traffic to worry about, no pot holes, it's great for spectators, the road surface is lovely, there's laps (and lots of them) and I love laps (especially for the geeky stats afterwards!), and with it being the final GB Qualification race for the Europeans it was bound to attract another strong field.

My lovely team mate Caroline picked me up at 5:45am and we hit the road to Cheshire (looking a bit like zombies) but were excited by the day ahead.  Chris was coming over later with his cousin Phil who was competing in the standard distance event.  I have got into good habits of setting 3 goals per race (it gives you more chance to meet a goal if you have 3!) The 3 for the day were:

1. To enjoy it
2. To establish a good warm up routine and improve preparations for the race
3. To cycle harder than at Althorp and push myself more on the bike

So about 40 mins before the race Caroline and I started a warm up,  I put my ipod in (Caroline does talk a lot) so that I could switch off a bit and get ready for the race.  Nothing like a bit of Planet Pitbull and Snoop Dogg! We listened to the race briefing and were then good to go!

Early birds setting up in transition

When the gun went off, the speed of some of the men was ridiculous! I've never seen people charge off so fast! I was conscious not to get too caught up in the fast pace too early on so settled into my own rhythm.  Although I was settled in about 25th place overall I was aware that I was the first woman which in one respect is a good thing, but in another you almost feel like a sitting duck waiting to be caught!  The course was only 4.5k but nevertheless I was really pleased with my time of 16:43 and felt strong.

Onto the bike and it was time to execute goal 3.  Chris had told me that just because I feel good and feel like I am going fast, doesn't mean everyone else isn't feeling good and going fast so I tried to concentrate a bit more this week and replicate a bit better that feeling of Time Trialling.  It was really windy in parts, much tougher conditions than last year.  My front wheel kept catching the wind at times and I felt a bit blown about but dug in and tried to stay powerful.  The laps seemed to go really quickly and I was pleased with my bike leg of 35:40 which was almost 3 minutes quicker than the next fastest bike.

Thanks to www.eventphotos.co.uk for this action shot!

I didn't feel quite so fresh on my second run as I did at Althorp; maybe a sign that I had pushed harder on the bike?  I quickly closed down 2 guys that started about 100m ahead of me, they seemed to speed up when I caught them but that was nice to run in a group of 3, each one of us trying to drop the other.  I knew I had a big lead but wanted to keep pushing to the line, like you would in any other race.  The climb on the last bend seemed to massively increase in gradient on the second run and my legs did feel pretty sapped of energy so I was chuffed to run the second run in 16:55, only 12 seconds slower than my first.

A very dramatic newspaper write up!

Winning the race by nearly 5 minutes was a massive bonus.  I had achieved everything I had set out to do and had thoroughly enjoyed the day.  Caroline was not far behind in 4th place which is a great start to her 2013 season especially as she has been plagued with injury this winter. Well done Caz!!!

		RUN	T1	BIKE	T2	RUN	TOTAL
Sam	Anderson	16:43	1:01	35:40	0:50	16:55	1:11:07
Holly	Ferrar	17:21	1:12	38:35	1:03	17:49	1:16:00
Jenni	Muston	17:36	1:38	40:46	1:08	18:21	1:19:27
Caroline	Cresswell	18:33	1:20	40:21	1:12	18:53	1:20:17
Katherine	Bancroft	18:20	1:00	42:11	1:11	19:06	1:21:47

We stayed to watch the standard distance event afterward with some great performances from the girls (Sam, Flic, Christine, Kate).  Phil finished 11th which considering he only took up running at the end of last year was fantastic! Thanks to Extra Mile Events for a fantastic race and for the Timex that I won (what a great prize!!!) - you can enter their events here, also to Event Photos for my free high resolution pic (check out their great pics here) and to all the other spectators, supporters and marshalls.  I even celebrated with a glass of prosseco!  

What's next? Well after spending the last few days in hospital on a drip, first and foremost is rest and recovery!  I may even have some time for none related triathlon things (there are actually quite a lot of hours in the day when you're not training!) Its 4 weeks to Holland so I'll just have to see what I can do between now and then but at least we have booked into Centre Parcs in Holland so if the race is a disaster or my fitness has deserted me we can make the most of the splash pool and slides!  

Althorp Duathlon

This early season duathlon was the perfect way to blast the winter cobwebs away and see where I was at following recent training.  I chose to do the Sprint distance race which consisted of a 5k run, 20k bike and 5k run, all in the beautiful grounds of Althorp.  The race had  initially been scheduled for the 16th February and then postponed due to water logging so it felt like it had been on my mind since forever!!!  It was also an ITU and ETU qualifying race so the standard was pretty high to say the least!!  There were lots of names I didn't recognise on the start list so I had no idea what the strengths of the other girls were but I went into the race planning to stick to my own tactics with 3 goals to meet:

1. To break the course record of 1:21:37

2. To come in the top 3 overall

3. To run strong off the bike with a time as close to my first run as possible

My team mate Jacqui and I were so busy yapping before the race that we almost missed the start (typical) as we were running the opposite way still warming up! With 10 seconds to go we pushed our way to the front and the hooter went and some of the girls just flew off! There are some super speedy runners in duathlon! I stuck to my own plan and let them go.  I felt really strong on the first run.  I knew I was running quick and wanted to push on but also wanted to hold back to keep energy for the rest of the race.  I came in 9th off the first run in 19:14 and tried to get my breath back in T1! 

I was off out on the bike in no time and felt great.  I was whizzing past everyone and quickly caught a few girls back up.  I was overtaking men with their disc wheels (girl power!) and felt pretty smooth.  I think the problem in hindsight is I felt too good.  When I do 10 mile TTs I can really dig in and hurt myself but I never seem to replicate this feeling in triathlons or duathlons, definitely something to work on! More time out on the roads is needed I think! That said I had joint third fastest bike split.  My team mate Jacqui had a great ride with the 2nd fastest bike split and flew past me on the dismount line.  I entered T2 just behind her and was now in sixth place, not sure how far behind the other girls I was.

I was definitely on track to break the 1:21:37 course record; it was now time to try and execute goal 3.  I ran so hard out of T2 that I thought my legs might give up on me part way round the course but they didn't.  I still felt pretty strong and pushed hard right to the end, catching another girl in the final 1k to complete the second 5k in 19:38.  To run within 25 seconds of my first run and to run both 5ks at sub 20 pace was really pleasing.  I finished 4th overall in 1:17:02 and with lots of positives to take away from the race.

Thanks to Chris goes without say, but also to Mark (Jacqui's husband) for all his support and all the Rugby Tri crew for their encouragement and cheering.  What a lovely way to spend a sunny Saturday morning.  So it's back to the drawing board now to get that cycling back on track and to keep working on areas that need improving.  Well done to everyone else who raced at Althorp and further afield.  

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.