Today I should have been at Althorp. Though due to waterlogging it has been postponed, so I went to Reading parkrun instead. I cycled there and back to get some bike miles in too.
In a related vein, Reading parkrun is currently on detachment to Dinton Pastures due to waterlogging of the Reading parkrun course!
Dinton is a lollypop shaped course; a small out leg, 2 loops around some lakes then a return along the out leg to the finish chute.
I was in the lead for a couple of hundred metres so tempered my pace and slipped back 3 places. Shortly before the first km mark I was overtaken again and I latched on to his heels. I crossed the line 5th at 19:22. A new PB.
Saturday 16 February 2013
Thursday 14 February 2013
Althorp duathlon postponed
The past week and a half have been incredibly busy.
A muddy club run with Finch Coasters followed the day after the Dorney duathlon. Followed later in the week with a short-tempo run, a track session and a long-tempo run, pacing one of the club's VLM entrants.
For the bike I rode TrainerRoad's Gray - a classic 2 x 20 minutes at FTP. I followed this two days later with Sufferfest's Hell Hath No Fury, again on TrainerRoad. The weekend was a long bike.
On the Sunday I flew out to Germany for the week with work. Luckily the week was taper so I managed a long run whilst away and had plans to hit the hotel gym bike for a light spin. Due to rescheduling appointments I was home late Wednesday evening. This allowed me to do TrainerRoad's HalfDome as a quick power interval session for my taper. Once I'd tidied the turbo away I check my emails and saw that Althorp was waterlogged, so the Qualifier would take place on the 2nd of March rather than the 16th of February.
These things happen - nothing can be done, though I was a little annoyed as the week had been used as a taper, when I could have been doing some bike/run maintenance.
I'll put the taper to good use and blast a parkrun this Saturday instead.
A muddy club run with Finch Coasters followed the day after the Dorney duathlon. Followed later in the week with a short-tempo run, a track session and a long-tempo run, pacing one of the club's VLM entrants.
For the bike I rode TrainerRoad's Gray - a classic 2 x 20 minutes at FTP. I followed this two days later with Sufferfest's Hell Hath No Fury, again on TrainerRoad. The weekend was a long bike.
On the Sunday I flew out to Germany for the week with work. Luckily the week was taper so I managed a long run whilst away and had plans to hit the hotel gym bike for a light spin. Due to rescheduling appointments I was home late Wednesday evening. This allowed me to do TrainerRoad's HalfDome as a quick power interval session for my taper. Once I'd tidied the turbo away I check my emails and saw that Althorp was waterlogged, so the Qualifier would take place on the 2nd of March rather than the 16th of February.
These things happen - nothing can be done, though I was a little annoyed as the week had been used as a taper, when I could have been doing some bike/run maintenance.
I'll put the taper to good use and blast a parkrun this Saturday instead.
Saturday 2 February 2013
Race report - Gatorade VoTwo Dorney sprint duathlon
This week was a light week, with a taper designed by myself. The aim was to increase my Freshness as much as possible, without decreasing my Fitness too much. I do this by monitoring my training load with TrainingPeaks.
Today started early, no malaise or laying in bed today, straight awake and up! I've gone off porridge after the best part of a year of it for IM training but it is good bang for buck, and washed down with a cup of tea is the best start to a race day; and the first multisport race of the season.
I knew it was going to be cold today so I had a new short sleeve base layer under my tri-top, I wore my trusty 2XU LD tri shorts - the TVT club kit was still delayed. I'd bought some running gloves during the week too, in case it was this cold.
I arrived at Dorney lake and registered (number 3) and put my number stickers on everything. Instead of a proper ankle chip we had a 'dibber' to stick to our finger. Each stage would have a marshall to put the dipper into a socket. I thought that would slow things down, but the organisers swore by them.
A quick spin around the bike course (5km) proved that the outbound bike would be downwind and fast with smooth tarmac, but the return bike on the farm road in to wind would be hard. At the beginning of the spin I tried to mount with my tri shoes already attached, having spent a few hours yesterday sorting this. Unfortunatey the socks I had on got stuck to the velcro on the shoes. Change of plan needed...no socks for the race. I racked my bike, then went for a lap of the run course (2.5km). Again, the wind would be fun. I managed to keep the lid on the effort for the in-to-wind return run. Time was ticking on so took trackies and jacket off and went to the start line. Armwarmers and sunnies on.
I lined up on the second row at the start and GO! we're off. I had some idea of the pace I wanted and was aiming for ~21 minutes for the first run. Lost a load of places in the start melee, but soon settled down and started to recoup places. 2 laps of the 2.5 km run course were needed. It quickly became clear I would break 20 minutes for 5km, and it didn't feel too hard. Running without socks was causing some rubbing.
Ran in to T1 to find the course was slightly long - 5.15km in 20:15.
T1 was over in 42s - shoes off, helmet on, drink sip, run.
I got to the mount line and threw myself on the bike, and managed to get my feet in to the pre-attached shoes OK too (this was a major worry). I had to cycle 4 laps, and on each lap the downwind leg was ~45 kph and the in to wind dropped to ~30 kph. A tight turn at the top end of the lake was interesting, with mud on the road surface, but marshals were present with advice to slow down! I stayed in the top ring, but on the return legs could feel the legs building to cramp so eased off a bit. As I came towards T2 I took feet from my shoes, but the lack of socks meant my feet were cold and I couldn't feel them.
Bike 33:48 for 20km.
T2 done in 43s. Rack bike, helmet off, runners on.
Last run - the cramps that I kept away on the bike started to creep in on the run. Little stabs every 5s or so. Took a good kilometre to run it out then I could ramp the pace. 2 laps of the 2.5km course again, in to very strong wind. It felt a lot harder this time, and though I may not have shown it the support from some club members was well appreciated.
Finally the finish chute appeared and I crossed the line after 21:27, making 1:16:55 in total on the Garmin.
I grabbed a cup of gatorade from the finish. It was mixed like treacle and burnt my throat, so I struggled to talk for a few minutes. No idea on placing yet as the machine went down during the race...
All in all a good opener for the season. What made the day was the wide group of competitors - people doing the supersprint (2.5/10/2.5), or the sprint like me (5/20/5). People on mountain bikes, people on expensive TT bikes. People sprinting people walking. It was a great sight, and hopefully one I'll continue to see throughout the year. A great Olympic legacy!
Update - 25th overall and 1:16:37 officially. No proper Age Group results, though comparing some names on Tri247 shows that I achieved 7th in the 35-39 AG. A very good day.
Today started early, no malaise or laying in bed today, straight awake and up! I've gone off porridge after the best part of a year of it for IM training but it is good bang for buck, and washed down with a cup of tea is the best start to a race day; and the first multisport race of the season.
I knew it was going to be cold today so I had a new short sleeve base layer under my tri-top, I wore my trusty 2XU LD tri shorts - the TVT club kit was still delayed. I'd bought some running gloves during the week too, in case it was this cold.
I arrived at Dorney lake and registered (number 3) and put my number stickers on everything. Instead of a proper ankle chip we had a 'dibber' to stick to our finger. Each stage would have a marshall to put the dipper into a socket. I thought that would slow things down, but the organisers swore by them.
A quick spin around the bike course (5km) proved that the outbound bike would be downwind and fast with smooth tarmac, but the return bike on the farm road in to wind would be hard. At the beginning of the spin I tried to mount with my tri shoes already attached, having spent a few hours yesterday sorting this. Unfortunatey the socks I had on got stuck to the velcro on the shoes. Change of plan needed...no socks for the race. I racked my bike, then went for a lap of the run course (2.5km). Again, the wind would be fun. I managed to keep the lid on the effort for the in-to-wind return run. Time was ticking on so took trackies and jacket off and went to the start line. Armwarmers and sunnies on.
I lined up on the second row at the start and GO! we're off. I had some idea of the pace I wanted and was aiming for ~21 minutes for the first run. Lost a load of places in the start melee, but soon settled down and started to recoup places. 2 laps of the 2.5 km run course were needed. It quickly became clear I would break 20 minutes for 5km, and it didn't feel too hard. Running without socks was causing some rubbing.
Ran in to T1 to find the course was slightly long - 5.15km in 20:15.
T1 was over in 42s - shoes off, helmet on, drink sip, run.
I got to the mount line and threw myself on the bike, and managed to get my feet in to the pre-attached shoes OK too (this was a major worry). I had to cycle 4 laps, and on each lap the downwind leg was ~45 kph and the in to wind dropped to ~30 kph. A tight turn at the top end of the lake was interesting, with mud on the road surface, but marshals were present with advice to slow down! I stayed in the top ring, but on the return legs could feel the legs building to cramp so eased off a bit. As I came towards T2 I took feet from my shoes, but the lack of socks meant my feet were cold and I couldn't feel them.
Bike 33:48 for 20km.
T2 done in 43s. Rack bike, helmet off, runners on.
Last run - the cramps that I kept away on the bike started to creep in on the run. Little stabs every 5s or so. Took a good kilometre to run it out then I could ramp the pace. 2 laps of the 2.5km course again, in to very strong wind. It felt a lot harder this time, and though I may not have shown it the support from some club members was well appreciated.
Finally the finish chute appeared and I crossed the line after 21:27, making 1:16:55 in total on the Garmin.
I grabbed a cup of gatorade from the finish. It was mixed like treacle and burnt my throat, so I struggled to talk for a few minutes. No idea on placing yet as the machine went down during the race...
All in all a good opener for the season. What made the day was the wide group of competitors - people doing the supersprint (2.5/10/2.5), or the sprint like me (5/20/5). People on mountain bikes, people on expensive TT bikes. People sprinting people walking. It was a great sight, and hopefully one I'll continue to see throughout the year. A great Olympic legacy!
Update - 25th overall and 1:16:37 officially. No proper Age Group results, though comparing some names on Tri247 shows that I achieved 7th in the 35-39 AG. A very good day.
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