Whilst we’ve been here we’ve managed to take in a 5k fun run/race and I (David) did a little ironman distance triathlon two weeks ago.  As we’re preparing to leave the south island and are in Christchurch a little hunting around found me the website of Saturday Runners – organised running/training groups that run regularly in the city.

The plan for this weeks run, starting at 7:30am (prompt!) was distances ranging from 3k up to about 16km.  This sounded perfect – we could decide what we wanted to do on the day.  Even better was that we ‘know’ one of the coaches/organisers – Bevan from the IM Talk podcast that I listen to religiously.  I dropped him a message beforehand to let him know that we were thinking of coming along.

The first session is free and then you can sign up for a five or ten session plan.  There’s a lot of people involved and taking part and just like at a parkrun event people appear from seemingly nowhere shortly before the 7:30am start.

David and Bevan - with hair looking like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards!

After parking up our ‘monster’ campervan near the meeting point we strolled over.  Bevan spotted us (he knows I’m pretty tall) and came over to say hello.  We had a good chat with him and then got chatting to another guy who’s hooked on this kind of thing – group running and fitness.

Just before 7:30 some pre-run announcements were made, maps of the route distributed and the group ‘leaders’ introduced (who were on bikes).  It was an out-and-back route and you could choose what you wanted to do whenever, although for some groups (there’s a 5k and 10k training group they had slightly ‘stricter’ schedules to try and work to).

Saturday Runners pre-run briefing

Shortly after setting off I was running with a couple of others and then one lady mentioned that she’d done the Wanaka half ironman triathlon a couple of weeks ago (the same event where I did the full distance race).  I kind of recognised her but she recognised me and said “David, what brings you here today…?” – it turns out that it was Nicolette, a lady who I’d met at Wanaka on the day before the race when I went out for a swim practice and met up with a couple of other swimmers (Nicolette being one of them) and we swam and chatted for about 45 minutes or so.  Although I am useless at recognising people and putting names to faces, when you’ve only seen someone from the head up wearing a swim cap, wetsuit and out swimming all bets are off on me remembering anything!  I knew she was from Christchurch but certainly wasn’t expecting to ‘bump’ into someone here!

Anyway, the two of us ended up running for just under 10 miles (around 8 minute mile pace) and had a good old chat about Wanaka, the Saturday Runners group, our travels around New Zealand, the Christchurch earthquakes and other bits and pieces.  The time flew by.

Heading back to the start/finish area Bevan came alongside on his bike and told us to pick up the pace for a final sprint race to the finish!  Oh dear.  There was even a small crowd of people there at the finish area (some drinking coffee as there was a coffee van at the finish just for the runners) who cheered us on.  We had quite a race to the finish which was a bit of fun.

Afterwards finishing our runs Sharon and I had a coffee from the van (lovely it was too) and chatted some more.

At the top of the picture are peoples houses. At the bottom are shipping containers there to try and protect the road from any further falls from above!

Before long it was about 9:30am and time to head off on our travels for the rest of the day.  During our short stay in Christchurch we’ve done some pretty cool things and seen plenty of ruined buildings from the events of the past 12 months.  The city seems to be strong and coping well and although we’ve been self-sufficient in our van for the past four weeks we were more than happy to ‘throw some money’ over the counter to some of the local businesses to try and help support their efforts during these tough times.

I did an ironman distance triathlon called Challenge Wanaka in New Zealand.  It was an amazing race.  It was hard work.  I think I did pretty well.  The end.

The long report…

Before I get on with it I wrote a number of posts in the week leading up to the race which may (or may not) be of interest.

Race start was set for 6:30am and as we like to be well prepared in advance the alarm was set for 3:30am. As we woke the van was moving around with the breeze outside. Damn it. Today could just be a tough one. Just after 4am we arrived at the race site in the campervan and found a car parking space literally 3 minutes walk from the main race marquee.

Coffee, suncream, and half a bowl of porridge (I'd already eaten a bowful and was just 'tidying up')!!!

Breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a big bowl of porridge, although actually probably no bigger than I’d have at home on a normal day! Sharon and I headed off to the transition area where I made final preparations to the bike – this involved filling up the little ‘storage box’ on the top tube of the bike with energy gels and then filling up both drinks bottles with some Powerade drink that we bought in a supermarket a few days ago. Once the bike computer was turned on everything was ready.

The flags close to transition were blowing frantically in the wind and almost directly onshore. This meant that it would be a choppy swim when daylight arrived.

5:15am and a little apprehensive about the day that lies ahead

Shortly after 6am I put my wetsuit on, had a couple of Immodium tablets (to keep ‘things’ at bay!) and an energy gel. Then it was time to head off to the swim start.

The Swim

The race starts on the beach where we run into the water and after about 30-40 metres in it is deep enough to start swimming.

Returning to the beach after a short 'warm-up' in the lake

Before the start most of the competitors (there were 238 finishers in the full ‘iron distance’ event myself included had a little swim to try and get acclimatised to the water temperature (16 degrees). A few minutes before the start a helicopter appeared overhead and we were all called back to shore. A few handshakes and ‘good luck’ messages and suddenly the race began. I rushed into the water, took a few leaping steps (handy when you’ve got long legs) and then got straight into front crawl.

I started near the far right of the field on the outside as I’m really not a big fan of a crazy swim melee that takes place and especially so with the water being rough. Although the water was rough it actually wasn’t as bad as it had been the last few days when I did practice swims (on Wednesday and Friday). It still was choppy but not horrifically so.

The first leg of each of the two swim laps was going to be the worst as we headed directly into the waves. It was very bumpy and being able to bi-lateral breath (breathe either side) whilst swimming was a great benefit as most of the out I had to breathe to the left to minimise the chance of getting a gallon of water in my mouth each breath.

The lake was cold but with my neoprene swim hat and the adrenaline of the race I didn’t feel the cold one bit. There wasn’t a great deal of contact between myself and other swimmers – the occasional contact of arms, legs and feet but nothing excessive. Everyone just seemed well behaved.

Although the lake was choppy the visibility underwater was still a few meters, which meant on much of the course you could see the sandy bottom of the lake. I saw a couple of other competitors swim caps on the bottom during the swim. One was an elite woman’s cap so perhaps whoever it was had got involved in some feisty action with someone else out there!

Sighting was nigh on impossible on parts of the course as you were heading directly into the sun, which was coming up over a clear blue sky. You just had to try your best and keep an eye out for the marker buoys every 50m apart.

I spent a fair bit of the swim very close to a female racer – she must had been tiny as her wetsuit didn’t stop half way down her legs (like mine) and she had these little neoprene booties on. I tried my best to stay close to get some sort of a draft but towards the end we drifted apart.

Exiting the lake and reaching for the wetsuit zipper

Coming to shore was a welcome relief – as soon as I stood up when the water was quite shallow I glanced at my watch which said 1 hour 11. That’ll do nicely all things considering.

Coming out of the water there was a good crowd of supporters on the beach (including Sharon) which was great and as I ran past her I said something like ‘that wasn’t too bad at all.’

Transition is actually quite big – I got my wetsuit unzipped to my waist (swim cap and goggles still on my head as there’s no point me holding them at this point), ran to collect my swim-to-bike bag and then you have to run about 100m or so across some grass, head up over a temporary bridge that crosses the main road, go back down and then run into the changing tent. Wetsuit off, socks and bike shoes on, arm warmers on (it’s pretty cold at 7:45am), sunglasses on and then run to my bike.

The first pirate 'sighting' of the day! Arrgggghhhh!!

Total swim time was 1 hour 12 minutes and 3 seconds. This was 82nd fastest, 64th male and 26th in my age group (30-39).

Transition one time was 3 minutes 56. This was 39th fastest, 30th male and 9th in my age group.

I think the nature of the entire day was a case of JFDI (just f**king do it), or just get on with it, or HTFU (harden the f**k up). This theme continued all day…

The Bike

Getting on the bike was a welcome relief. I had a plan which was just to push to a power output hopefully in the region of 230-235 watts. On the uphills I’d not get out the saddle and push like hell or anything like that. The idea is to put a constant and steady effort in throughout and not have any extreme ‘spikes’ of effort, as these will haunt me later!

Bike training has been reasonable lately although I’d not managed to get in all the rides I wanted to for a variety of reasons. I put in some good miles before Christmas but from 30 December to 17 January I didn’t ride a single mile on my road bike. Far from ideal but those were the facts and I had to deal with it. Maybe the ‘extended’ taper would help me feel fresh on the day.

Heading out of town I immediately overtook one of the female ‘pro’ racers. Perhaps she had a bad swim or is a great biker/runner (I don’t think I saw her again all day). I find that it’s so easy to get carried away early on in the bike (and run) and I really wanted to avoid this.

Bizarrely after about 40 minutes as I approached an incline I changed down from the big ring at the front to the small one and my chain came off. I cannot remember the last time my chain came off like this and typical it happens mid-race. Well, I tried about two of three times shifting back and forth to get it back on and it was having none of it. I was just about to slow down and get off the bike after one last attempt to re-engage the chain and lo and behold it clicked in place. Lovely. 30 seconds saved works for me.

There were a few other cyclists around me and in the first 15-20 miles I overtook a handful of other riders. After about 22 miles you head back through the centre of Wanaka and got some good cheers from the crowds. For the remaining 90 miles there’s very little support – just a few people here and there – and the aid stations. It’s just you, the bumpy roads and some other cyclist a quarter of a mile up the road that you’re chasing down (or trying not to lose sight of!).

When you get to about 70 miles you reach the town of Cromwell – which is where it has been said that this is where the race begins. This is often because of the headwind you normally face all the way back to Wanaka (oh, only 40 or so miles then!!). The wind on the first part coming back was mostly side-on so not too much of a problem but then later on from about 85 miles in you make a left turn heading back towards Wanaka and that’s when the headwind hit you. The wind had been increasing throughout the morning and oh my, it was howling at times. Everyone was in the same boat and you just get on with it but I have to say it wasn’t very pleasant!

One thing I like about this size of field is that it is pretty much a 112 mile solo time trial on the bike. There are no packs of riders like you get at a big Ironman event (which you can spend time and effort trying to avoid so you don’t get penalised for drafting). You just spend time on your own pushing the pace and doing what you can to stay fast and powerful. I didn’t see any drafting at all and everyone I went past dropped back out of the ‘draft zone’ that’s specified in the race handbook and likewise I dropped back whenever anyone overtook me. It was a fair race all round from what I could see.

As for myself, I started fast and powerful and then it got tougher. Early on in the ride I was comfortably pushing above 230 watts and then watched the number slowly decrease! I just found it difficult to keep the effort up. Perhaps I over-estimated what I would be able to do after a 2.4 mile swim and not the ideal taper (about three weeks!). Anyway, as the ride went on I think most people around me were in the same sort of position as my actual position in the field didn’t change much at all. After 34km I was 38th fastest on the bike, I then moved to 32nd, 28th, 29th and then 30th and by the end of the 180km bike (112 miles) I was 31st fastest rider.

Regarding on the bike nutrition – I had about eight PowerBar gels that I’d brought from home and then took High Five gels that were given out at the aid stations. I took one gel approximately every 20 minutes during the bike. After you’ve ridden for a few hours the time flies by and you look at your cycle computer and say “Oh no, surely its not 20 minutes already.” You just have to get on with it even though they’re not the most delightful things to ‘eat.’ I will have had around 15 gels on the bike, together with the one before the start making it 16 so far! Drink wise I took regular refills of the High Five electrolyte drink that was available and also took two or three bottles of water to help wash down the gels.

I set my GPS to give me a bike split every 10 miles. Not for any real reason other than to get a feel for how the headwind/tailwinds were helping (or not!). The first 40 miles I was very close to 30 minutes for each 10 miles. Then I did a super fast 23:45, 26:39 and then 26:21. This was the lovely tailwind down towards Cromwell. The splits then ‘fell apart’ because of the headwind back to Wanaka. The splits then went 30:02, 33:08, 36:19 and 35:51. It just got tougher and tougher as we headed back to transition.

It was lovely to return to Wanaka and my bike computer had the distance down as 111.72 miles. Spot on I’d say.

Total ride time was 5 hours 37 minutes and 23 seconds. This was the 31st fastest of the day, 25th male and 9th in my age group. Clearly I’m a better cyclist than swimmer!

After finishing the bike you run into the transition area and rack your bike. Cycle helmet comes off and then you pick up your run bag and head to the changing tent. I put clean socks on (my bike socks seemed to be a little, er, wet ;), running shoes, grabbed a bit of Vaseline to put on where I thought there may be rubbing, got my GPS turned on and away I went. Much like in Transition 1 you have to run up and over the little bridge that goes across the main road. Sharon was cheering me on and no doubt pleased to see that I was off the bike and onto what I enjoy the most.

Transition two time was 2 minutes 30. This was 35th fastest, 31st male and 8th in my age group.

The Run

Heading out onto the run I got my usual cheer from Sharon who’d been patiently hanging around the main race/transition area as this was the best chance to see me during the day. The run is two laps – of 13.1 miles…

Weather wise at this point it was quite warm (low to mid 20′s I believe), the sun was blazing but the wind was truly howling. It must have been getting close to gale force in the gusts – it really was that windy.

After a slight climb away from the main ‘high street’ you head onto the gravel off-road ‘outlet track’ which goes on for around seven miles (11km). Earlier in the week both Sharon and I had separately run the first few miles of the course and we both agreed that it was ‘a bit like Richmond Park.’ Little did we know…

Before long the gravel turned into sand and you were running very close to a beach. I’ve no idea how the bikes that follow the race leaders got through that section at any speed. It was actually only sandy for about a minute or so but this pretty much marked the start of a whole new section of the run course…  In addition to the ‘terrain’ it was hot, sunny and blowing a gale in exposed parts of the course.  I had to pull my visor down slightly over my ears to try and stop it from being blown off of my head.

About 2/3rds along the outlet track the path narrowed (just wide enough for two people to pass – not run together side by side) and entered a densely wooded area. It went up, down, left, right, all of those together at the same time and was frequently covered with large tree roots (and trees) as obstacles. I wasn’t expected this at all!! It was tough. You couldn’t get any sort of steady pace going in this section. There was even a narrow wooden ‘bridge’ to run across (obviously without any sort of handrails). This was more like a cross-country running race than an iron-distance marathon!

On a couple of occasions during this segment of the course (seemingly in the middle of nowhere) you’d come round a corner and be ‘met’ by one of the official photographers! Bizarre.

Some crazy looking trees out on the run course

There were aid stations dotted around the run course offering a selection of items – water, electrolyte drink, coke (for the caffeine and sugar), high-five gels, bananas and some little chewy sweets. Additionally at the ‘start’ of each aid station was someone with a dustbin full of water and big sponges.

At every aid station I took a sponge and squeezed it over the top of my head to try and get some cool water over me. I then took an energy gel and then water and electrolyte drink. After the first couple of aid stations I got into a more efficient system – when I saw an aid station approaching have a gel (as I’d try and keep at least one or two in the back pocket of my top) and then use the aid station liquids to wash it down and get a new gel.

Coming out of the wooded section at around seven miles you then reach a road called ‘Gunn Road’ – this is a nasty incline that gets steeper and steeper are you reach the summit.

It is about half a mile long and was guaranteed to sap every bit of your energy and slow you to walking pace no matter how prepared you were for it! At the top was a (very welcome) aid station and then you were back on more gravel for the return to Wanaka. On my first ‘ascent’ it took five minutes.

After a while you head into a residential area and are running either close to the edge of the road or pavements. There were a couple more hills (most unwelcome!) and then about 2.5 miles from the end of the lap you look over Wanaka from above. You see the race marquee. You see the main road. You see the finish line. You are so close (probably about half a mile direct) and then the bloody course makes you turn right and head away!

I’m not being negative in any way about the course – much of the scenery and surroundings were beautiful. It was just hard work to run and even harder to enjoy the view!

During this section I could hear a helicopter overhead meaning that the race leader was closing in on me (him of course on his second lap). A few minutes later I was overtaken by the eventual winner (who crossed the line in 8 hours 41 minutes and 53 seconds).

Hard work heading back into town for the turnaround and another 13.1 miles!

You eventually head back towards the start/finish/turnaround area and it’s slightly downhill. I passed Sharon who was about 500m from the turnaround point and I said something like ‘it’s f**king tough’ as I ran past her.

As there was a half-iron distance race taking place at the same time there were many runners of that event on the course and as you head to the finish area on Ardmore Street you head left if you’re finishing or right if you’re one your first lap of the marathon. Unfortunately I headed right as I had another lap to go. My first lap took me approximately 1 hour 48 minutes 32 seconds. An even split second half would mean a 3:37 marathon time. Hmn, quite unlikely as I’ve never even splitted in a marathon! Not least an ironman where it really gets tougher as the day goes on. Maybe I should try and even/negative split it one day…

Heading back out of town when I ran past Sharon she said to me ‘I know it’s shit but keep strong’ or something very similar. After running the first of two laps I knew exactly what I’d be up against for the next 13.1 miles and I knew it would be tough.

Every aid station on the second lap I walked (rather than ran) through (I started this practice towards the end of the first lap) and followed the same routine – have a gel, grab a sponge and squeeze it over me, take a cup of water, electrolyte and coke and briskly keep walking (with the three cups). Drink them all (in any old order!) and then discard the cups and continue running.

Beautiful scenery on the Lake Wanaka Outlet Track

Three iron-distance races in and I firmly believe that (at least for myself) a nutrition strategy consisting of gels and no solid food seems to work and not cause me any real stomach problems. I’ve always tried to avoid coke on the course (although I do remember having I think one cup at Challenge Roth in 2010) but I had no problems with it at all this time and was happy mixing up coke/water/electrolyte drinks! Sharon does say that I have a ‘stomach of iron’ which I think is pretty handy. I’m of the opinion that if it’s good for me then I just have it and get on with it – no matter how it tastes.

About half way through the second lap I remember being overtaken by two men – I thought that it was likely that they were in my age group although the only way to tell is from their race number – which on the run is worn to the front.

From here on I tried to keep them in my sights. I had no plan to ‘race’ them as such but didn’t want to lose them. The run was very quiet (competitor wise) and it made a change to have someone close by running at a similar pace. Second time up ‘Gunn Road’ one of the guys walked it whilst I was about 20 metres behind I mentally didn’t want to walk so kept running/jogging. It wasn’t fast and was in fact pretty much the same speed as the chap walking ahead of me but I wanted to not walk the hill. I kept running. It took about 5 minutes 30 or so to get to the top.

I look like I'm having fun here. Oh how the pictures hides a whole world of hurt!

Although there was not a great deal of support on the run course it was really good to receive. I got a few pirate related comments and ‘aaarrrgghhh’ sounds from people and it really provided a welcome boost. I recall seeing outside one house a family had put a sofa and a couple of chairs out in the road and were cheering runners along from a very comfortable setting! On two or three occasions during the run course local residents had put garden water sprinklers in the road to give us a spray. This was most welcome. I also recall a couple of children with binoculars who were looking at you from a distance to see your name (which is printed on your race number) when then personally cheering you on when you passed them.

I’d been doing all sorts of calculations about finishing times during the run and I remember hoping that a sub-11 hour race was my ‘public’ goal (to be honest, it was my only goal!). Well, it looked like I was safe for sub-11 hours and then I was thinking about the possibility of going sub 10:45. I was thinking things like, ‘If I can get my last three miles under 9 minute miling it’s on.’ For someone who’s run all their long runs normally under 7:30 milling this should be a ridiculously easy but I tell you, after 10 hours of constant exercise, the heat, the hills and the wind things are very very different. However, it seemed I could just do it…

Heading into the final 4k (the bit where you see the finish but are nowhere near it!) I decided it was time to make my move and dig really deep. It’s only 4k – less than a parkrun!

At the last aid station I took my usual cocktail of drinks but didn’t walk through – I ran through trying to balance three drinks at the same time! I just didn’t want to slow down at all – I was on a mission!

I didn’t take a gel at this point as it was so close to the finish (and quite frankly I’d had enough of them during the day already!). I’d say my gel count probably totalled around 25 for the day!

I dug in hard and slowly made progress against the men who’d previously overtaken me – and before long I slowly edged past each of them. I now just had to hope that they’d got nothing left in them and that my move was decisive.

Thankfully it was, and they were both in my age group.

Heading towards the finish on Ardmore Street was fantastic. The hard work was done and all I had to do was try and savour the moment. My watch was on 10 hours 39 minutes and I knew I wouldn’t get to the finish before it hit 10:40 but that wasn’t a problem – I was well inside of 10:45.

It was 5:10pm and there were lots of people out and about. The finish line looked busy (ok, nowhere near as busy as a race like Challenge Roth or an Ironman branded event) and loud music was playing and a guy was welcoming home the runners. I headed left this time (I’d probably die if I tried a third lap!) and ran straight for the line. I saw Sharon near the finish which was great and as I ran past the MC he said something like ‘this guy’s tall – he could be a basketball player.’ The man then raised his hand to high-five me and I jumped in the air. Mid-air I thought ‘this could all go wrong!’ but somehow I landed on both feet and kept going without any sort of embarrassing tumble!

Seconds later I crossed the line. What a f***ing relief! That was tough. My GPS has recorded the run as 26.19 miles and everyone of them being tough. My run time was 3 hours 44 minutes and 22 seconds. I’m really happy with that seeing as though my time on the much flatter course at Challenge Roth two years ago was 3 hours 35 (and I didn’t measure 26.2 miles there either although you should never fully trust these GPS devices). In Switzerland in 2009 I ran 3:47:26 on a very very flat course. For info my second half split was 1:55:50 (1st half was 1:48:32).

So… overall my time was 10 hours 40 minutes and 15 seconds. I was 30th overall, 23rd male and 7th in my age group. These numbers (overall and male) include all the ‘pro’ athletes who raced as well. Had I not have got past those two other chaps in the last few km’s I would have been 32nd (and 9th in my age group). Digging in that bit extra was in my opinion well worth the effort. If I could have swim, biked or run 15 minutes faster that would have made an even bigger difference and put me 3rd in my age group!

Straight after the finish you are presented with your medal (ah, lovely) and then you head to the ‘recovery tent’ – what this means is you get weighed, get fed, get massaged and get a finishers t-shirt.

First stop… the weigh in. I’ve not had this at a race before and they promptly told me that I’d lost about 7kg during the race. I think it must have been slightly less as when I was weighed at race registration a couple of days before I’d just eaten lunch and had more clothes on. Either way, around a 5kg weight loss it not ideal! I sat down, drunk a few cups of electrolyte drink and then headed back out of the tent to see Sharon who I knew would be waiting for me. After meeting up and trying to describe the day in about 30 seconds I decided to lie on the ground to rest my legs. Sharon suggested that I was looking a little pale and should probably head back to the recovery tent for more drink and some food.

We headed back and spent about 30 minutes near the St. John Ambulance staff who kept an eye on me and told me to keep drinking. Sharon fed me with hot soup and plenty of other drinks and before long I was feeling much better. The post race food was sponsored by Subway, so it was sandwiches all round!

'Coach' John from the IM Talk podcast (he's tiny compared to me) and, er, me, wearing my awesome cycle jersey that I paid good money for to help support his excellent podcast!

A few minutes later we saw ‘Coach John Newsom’ from the wonderful New Zealand based IM Talk podcast which I’ve been listening to for a few years now. He’d run the marathon as part of a relay team and I just had to introduce myself. He sat down with us and had a chat about my race and his (which didn’t, er, quite go to plan). A lovely chap, and compared to me, a rather short chap! Meeting him was a highlight of the day and in the podcast they (he records the show with a chap called Bevan) recorded a few days later Sharon and I got a nice mention.

I then moved from the food/drink area for a massage, and really it was just an excuse to lie down for 20 minutes and have some lass rub oil on your legs and back. Lovely!

Returning to our van which was all of 400 metres from the finish line!

After leaving the recovery area Sharon and I watched a few finishers come in, had a little walk and then headed the whole two minutes stroll to the van and I had a shower. It really was great to have the van right by the finish. After cleaning myself up we had a takeaway pizza and then headed back to the finish line area to watch and cheer the rest of the finishers in. If you’re able to walk and talk after a race like this then I think it’s only fair to go back to the finish and support and celebrate those who finish after you. We had a great time at the finish area chatting to locals and other racers and also joking around with the two MC’s who were great at getting the crowd going – especially in a small race like this where there aren’t many finishers coming in later on in the day. The last ‘official’ finisher (before the 17 hour cut-off) was greeted by a great fireworks display. The end of an Ironman (or ‘iron-distance’ race) is really enjoyable and well worth staying around for and getting involved.

After leaving our campervan site at about 4am we returned back shortly after midnight. Long day! The following day we were back at the race marquee at 10:30am for the prize giving and breakfast buffet – which was superb. I ate like a horse and had two huge platefuls of breakfast. It was lovely! Easily pleased I am… especially when it comes to food.

In summary…. Challenge Wanaka – a fantastic race, a fantastic venue, well organised and far from easy. What a day.

Ironman race finish line 'party' fireworks for the final 'official' finisher. Superb.

We took the campervan straight down to the beach this morning. Sharon had her breakfast whilst I sorted out getting myself ready for a swim. Conditions were marginally better than on Thursday. It was still quite rough but the wind wasn’t blowing a gale! There were quite a few groups of swimmers on the course.

Self portrait during Sharon's long run checking out the Challenge Wanaka marathon course

Sharon headed off for a long run – taking in the first five miles or so of the Challenge Wanaka run course that I’ll be doing tomorrow whilst I jumped back into the lake. The first few minutes were once again pretty horrible – I think its mostly just getting acclimatised to the cold water and the chop. On race morning I will try and get in the water for a bit of a splash around/warm-up prior to the 6:30am start. I met up with a couple of other swimmers – from Christchurch (the one in New Zealand that is!) and we had a good chat whilst swimming gently to the first main turn buoy.

After getting back from the swim it was off to the race briefing in the main marquee. When the Run Course Director came on to talk about the course she let us know that they currently had people out on the course picking up ‘road-kill’ and that they’ve been quite busy! One thing we’ve noticed from driving around the island is that there are a large number of squashed animals on the road. It’ll be nice not to have to swerve round them tomorrow!

Sharon finished her run (pleased to have managed her planned 10 miles) and we headed back ‘home’ for me to sort out my transition bags (the bag I pick up after the swim which contains my bike gear and the one when I transition from bike to run containing my shoes and GPS) and get everything ready for tomorrow.

At around 5pm after a little snooze we headed back to the race site as I had to rack my bike and hand some bags in. One of the bags was the compulsory ‘Special Needs’ bag which will be available at about 90km into the bike course. This has to contain a long sleeve thermal top to wear on the bike if it gets cold (which can happen very quickly in an alpine environment – even with the forecast set to be in the low 20′s on race day.

It’s now gone 7pm. I’ve had a pile of pasta for dinner and am washing it down with some ‘lovely’ Gatorade sports drink! We’ll then have an early night before an even earlier start tomorrow.

If you’ve nothing better to do on a Friday evening then you should be able to follow my progress via this link. My race number is 358 and I’m doing the ‘Challenge Wanaka Individual’ event (there’s a half-ironman distance race taking place the same day). The race starts at 5:30pm UK time on Friday evening (6:30am Saturday morning in NZ). If that link doesn’t work here’s the main link to the results section of the site – http://www.challengewanaka.com/challenge-wanaka-live

The weather forecast for tomorrow is for hopefully a slightly less choppy sea, but increasing westerly winds during the day. The later they increase the better as I’d much rather them affect me on the run than during the bike leg.

I’d like to swim around 1 hour 15 minutes and anything quicker would be a bonus. In silky smooth lake Zurich 2.5 years ago I swam 1:08 and in Germany in 2010 I swum 1:04. This time if I’m close to 1:10 I’d be chuffed to bits. It all depends on the conditions in the morning.

Bike time is much more of an unknown. I’ve turned off the speedo display on my bike GPS as it makes no difference to me. I’m going to try and go purely by my power meter and try my best to not push too hard or too easy. Constant effort throughout is the plan. I hope to push about 230-235 watts during the bike leg. I’m not so sure how long it will take but lets just say something close to 6 hours is what I’m anticipating.

As for the run, a sub 4 hour marathon is what I should be capable of. A 3:45 would be nicer though.

So… ignoring transition times something around the 11 hour mark is my current estimate. In events of this length anything can happen on the day so I just have to play it by ear and hope for the best.

Stay tuned for a later update or feel free to keep an eye on Sharon’s twitter account as she hopes to post some updates during the day.

We then headed back to the beachfront so that I could register for the race. The registration tent was empty and I was done in less than five minutes after arriving. This compares slightly differently to the 45 minutes+ at the Challenge Roth in 2010.

Sharon and I then walked round the expo (which consisted of about 10 stands) and whilst chatting to a nice guy at the K-Swiss shoe stand (after buying a pair of shoes) I helped him and his colleague hold the gazebo thingy down as the wind had strengthened even more and was threatening to blow the expo stands away! It really was that windy!

Back to the van and I spent close to an hour watching a couple of people out windsurfing. Nobody was out swimming.

Lake Wanaka - Thursday

Later in the afternoon I rode a gentle ten miles on the bike and then went along to the event pasta party in the main race marquee where I ate a huge plate-load of food before heading back to the van to top up with a chicken curry that Sharon had made. I believe my carbo-loading is pretty much complete – but then again I did start ‘loading’ about six months ago!!

On Friday I plan to swim (again) and then go to the compulsory race briefing at 10am. Sharon’s planning a long run and then in the afternoon I need to take by bike and get it racked and ready in the transition area.

Finally… here’s a photo of what the lake looked like on Tuesday afternoon.  Quite different from today don’t you think?

Lake Wanaka - Tuesday

The weather has fine with some cloud but the strong winds we had last night had made the lake quite choppy. When I say ‘lake’ it really is quite a large lake – its New Zealand’s 4th largest lake (192 km2), 45.5km long and 311 metres deep. We were told that the water temperature was 16 degrees celcius so this convinced me to put my new neoprene swim cap on.

It’s a two lap course (each lap about 1.9km) and my plan was to swim a single lap. The last time I swum was a few days before Christmas so lets just say that my swim training hasn’t been that great! I won’t keep trying to think of excuses. I just need to get on with it. Once I’m out of the water on race day I’ll be happy to just get onto the bike. Then I can start to enjoy myself!

I got into my wetsuit – which I last wore at the Vitruvian Triathlon in 2010 (yes, about 16 months ago) and it still fits just fine. It’s not the perfect racing wetsuit (it’s a bottom of the range 2XU suit that cost 100 pounds new a few years ago but its good enough for now) and after registering (so they could check that the same number of swimmers getting into the lake got out later!) headed to the briefing close to the waters edge.

After the briefing we headed to the water and set off at our own pace towards the first turn buoy – about 625 metres offshore.

It was bloody horrible. There was a lot of chop in the water and it was hard to get used to the cold water. On the plus side the visibility was great and the water was lovely to drink! I really didn’t enjoy the swim to the first marker buoy.

Once we reached the buoy and swam side on to the waves it got a lot better. I was in a much happier place, it wasn’t too busy and from here I just got on with it. Round the next couple of turn buoys and then I headed back in towards the beach.

I got to the beach in a little under 35 minutes which I considering the conditions I was quite happy with. If the weather is the same on race day I’d hope to complete the swim in around 1 hour 10 and anything quicker would be a big bonus. A lovely calm lake is what I’d love to be greeted by on Saturday but sods law means a storm will come over the lake on Friday night just to make things tough!

After getting out my wetsuit I had time to relax over breakfast. Sharon then headed off to volunteer at the main race HQ area whilst I started this blog entry and will shortly head out on my bike to check out another part of the course, before stopping in to see Sharon.

After the crazy amounts of driving we’ve done over the past week it is lovely to just kick back and try and relax a little as we head towards the weekend.

Late afternoon update – I rode another 20 miles of the course and it’s all looking good – I believe I rode up one of the steeper climbs as well and it wasn’t too bad either.  I think a lot of how Saturday pans out will be due to the weather, which right now is looking like it might be fairly alright.

I rode out for 30 minutes then turned back and headed for town. I’d say none of the route I rode was at all flat but then not again too hilly. Just general undulations all the time.

It was great to get back out on the bike again and remind my legs of what they need to do for 112 miles on Saturday morning.

On the way back I took my bike to the local bike shop for the mandatory pre-race check-over which it passed and I got a sticker to say that I can rack my bike in the transition area on Friday.

Back to the campervan site for lunch and then Sharon and I took a stroll into town (which is about 1.5 miles away). We had a wander, bought a postcard and then strolled back. Later on I headed out for a one hour run along part of the run route. This could be interesting. I had an idea of what to expect but much like the bike route it’s very undulating. The surface of the run is 75% gravel paths and 25% road. My hour run was mostly on the gravel paths and for those who live in London I’d say its similar to the path around Richmond Park but much more twisty. Settling into a steady pace on the run isn’t going to be easy. On the plus side the scenery was superb.

We then headed to the volunteers briefing (as Sharon is volunteering with some of the pre-race preparation on Wednesday) and then back to the van. Wednesday has more fun in store…

Wanaka as a town is lovely. Not too big, not too small, situated right on a stunning lake with mountain ranges all around. It truly is a stunning location and I can believe it when it is referred to as “The World’s Most Scenic Iron Distance Triathlon.”

After tons of driving/sightseeing and a good dose of rain (i.e., about 48 hours worth of the stuff – non-stop!) training opportunities have been rather limited (my running mileage for last week was about ten miles in total!). My bike has only just been put back together after flying it round the world (which only cost £35 when we checked in at London – bargain!) but first things first, the Radio Wanaka 5km Fun Run on Monday evening.

It’s amazing that the whole town is fully behind Challenge Wanaka. Event flags are flying on lamp posts all down the high street – the regional newspaper had a 12 page event ‘pull-out’ in it a few days ago with details of the race and a full entry list – my race number is 358. The local radio station is always talking about the race and what’s going on in town this week. It really is something special and amazing to be a small part of it all.

Sharon and I arrived in Wanaka on Monday afternoon to be met by blazing sunshine and a very light breeze. Going out for an evening run was meant to be refreshing!

Recycling is big in NZ - So much so that they're re-using last years sign

We jogged down to the lakefront and paid our 10 dollars each (about £9.50 pounds or so) for the two of us to register. The money all goes to a local cause so that’s good. Well over 200 people signed up for the run (or 5k walk) and it was really really warm.

When I went off for a warm-up Sharon kept an eye out for any serious looking athletes and she spotted a few out there. We had a race briefing where we were told that the course had changed slightly to make it a more accurate 5k and before long we were lined up.

Right in front of me were a group of young lads (early teens I’d say) and one of them had a Triathlon New Zealand Squad vest on! Hmn, this could be interesting!

So… the hooter sounded and away we went. A group of four pushed hard from the start and I thought I should try and stick onto them. After about a quarter of a mile I noticed that I was running about 5 minute 15 second milling, which is something like low 16 minute 5k pace. Not bloody likely I’d say!

I eased off slightly and dropped back to sixth place at a pace I was more comfortable with.

About a minute or two later a shout from behind us said “You’re going the wrong way!” – oops! We all turned around, then followed this chap (who was going mighty fast) as he led us back to the ‘real’ course. Sharon had run the correct course all along and it was only a large group of us at the front of the race (I mean fun run) that didn’t turn off at the correct place (the lack of a marshal or sign didn’t help!).

Anyway, back onto the course and before long the positions had re-established themselves and I was in sixth place and the fast guys were back at the front. At this point there were plenty of marshals in place and we were led in the direction of a golf course. We literally ran up a grass bank and across the middle of the course – including one of the putting greens from a hole. I was probably 15 feet away from a golfer as he just watched us all (whilst waiting to take his shot) run across his lovely course!! From here we headed off onto a lakeside path and into the grounds of a local vineyard.

Vineyards like to be positioned on hills. Oh dear. Next thing we were directed up a dusty path and it was hard going. The weather was baking hot – the sun was out and there was nothing ‘fun’ about this run! Well, it was fun but in a painful kind of way!

Eventually we headed back onto the path close to Lake Wanaka and back in the direction of the finish. I spent much of the race running close to the chap in 5th place and in the final km I edged ahead of him and pushed on to take 5th spot. The slight course ‘directional issue’ didn’t make a difference to the overall placings so that’s good.

My GPS measured 3.39 miles and a time of 20:36. Had I had run 5k my time would have been 19:03 which I think is not bad going on the hilly course.

It was a great fun event, lots of people at the finish supporting and spot prizes for a number of the runners (sadly Sharon and I didn’t win).

Sharon finished in 29:19 and her GPS said it was 5k spot on. Lovely. Her first words after finishing when I asked how it was were “Hot, it was hot.”

We then jogged (very) gently back to the campervan site, had dinner and watched the sunset. Lovely.

So, after a slight lack of tapering (meaning a 17:33 ‘one second away from my PB’ at Bushy parkrun on Saturday) I got my bike ready for a very early start. A 5am wake up call on a Sunday is never a good thing but sometimes you just need to get on with things.

I left home just after 5:40am for the 55 mile or so ride to the start of the Bedford Harriers Half Marathon. Although it was cold on the plus-side there was a slight tailwind which I wasn’t complaining about. With sunrise not until just before 8am it was going to be a dark ride for a couple of hours.

The roads around west London were lovely and quiet – even the North Circular up to Hanger-Lane. You rarely get to say that! The route I chose avoided most big roads and I headed up through Harrow and up to Elstree. After crossing the M1 motorway there was a stretch of about 3 miles or so with no street lighting at all so it was pretty damn dark and I had to rely on my (reasonable but not great) bike lights for visibility.

I next headed up to St. Albans, Harpenden, Luton, Clophill and then across to the start in Wooton. I arrived shortly before 9am having ridden for 3 hours 1 minute of cycling at an NP of 237 (TSS 218). Sharon had the car conveniently parked nearby so I packed the bike away and got changed into my running gear. A couple of energy gels before the start and away we went at 10am.

The run was pretty uneventful. I enjoyed it and it was nice to be in such a large race.

I hoped to run close to 1 hour 30 and I think I did myself pretty proud! Going through half way in around 45:10 I crossed the finish line in 1:29:57. Close enough I’d say. I can’t say it was particularly easy. Well, the first half was pretty steady but towards the end I had to concentrate pretty hard to stay on pace and not get dropped by any groups.  I didn’t want to kill myself out on the course today so did hold back a little as this is just one piece of a much bigger picture.

My finishing position (at least in the provisional results) was 173rd out of 1,523 finishers.

Job done.

On Thursday of this week my good friend Danny convinced me to come along to the speed training session that he does on a Thursday. A few of us went along and although we got a good kicking by many of the youngsters of the Harambee running group and got absolutely soaked to the skin in the pouring rain it was a good hard session and I felt good on Friday and ready for more!

Saturday morning at Bushy was setting up to be a fast morning. Conditions were great (cold, firm ground and next to no wind) and in addition to a ‘mob-match’ between two local triathlon clubs the Harambee runners were there for a pre-Christmas blast round the park.

With the team behind the excellent parkrun show and Marathon Talk podcasts in attendance it was set to be lots of fun down at Bushy.

I planned to push pretty hard and see if I could get close to my personal best of 17:32 from a few weeks ago. After a bit of a confused start (a few chaps started early and the starting sequence got a little muddled) over 800 runners headed off towards Teddington Gate.

I don’t have much to say other than I pushed really hard throughout. The field was absolutely ‘stacked’ with fast runners and there were plenty of people around me. Lots of surging, lots of competitive running. It was ace.

Just before the 4k mark Martin Yelling came powering past me looking strong. He looked like he was on a mission and that mission was to take down parkrun show podcast host and co-presenter Danny Norman (which he almost did). The last km was tough (hmm, much like the previous four!).

Sharon was there taking photos and got a great photo at about 4.5km of Danny, Martin and myself in the background…

I crossed the line in 26th position with a time of 17:33 – one second slower than my personal best. Excellent. I have no complaints about that time at all. With four sub-18 minute finishes in the past six parkrun events (OK, we all know the southern courses as ‘soft’!) I firmly believe that I’ve stepped up a level to a new range of times in my running (well, over 5k at least).

Finally, to give an idea of the strength of the field at Bushy here’s an example – last week a friend ran 19:45 and finished 29th. This week he ran 19:43 and finished 102nd! There were admittedly around 23 percent more people this week (810 versus 655) but that means he should have been around 35th place! Talk about top heavy!

The Three Molehills - Course Profile

The race is a three leg event that can be run as an individual or as a relay team.  Individual all the way I say :)

Leg 1 – ‘The Box’

A fast start saw me get to the bottom of this Box Hill in probably 15th position or so.  Although I’d raced off at just slower than 6 minute miling pace I knew that this wouldn’t last – and Box Hill would take care of that!  The first obstacle was some stepping stones across a river.  Well I wasn’t expecting those.  Straight after the stepping stones came the steps – around 270 steps that take you up to the top of Box Hill.  These were tough.  You couldn’t run up them – it was just a quick powerful walk/climb up the hill with many other runners all around you.  There was no real room to overtake and everyone around me was going at a speed I was happy with.

Once at the top you run to a turnaround point (a lovely viewpoint which has great views of much of Surrey) and then down Box Hill.  With a severe lack of any kind of hill training (for months if not years) I knew I’d not be prepared for some of the downhills – which I find much harder than going up.  I restrained myself a bit coming down as I didn’t want to completely destroy my quads and because of this I was caught up and passed by a few people on the downhill section.  Once we got onto the flat parts I could keep up a good pace but going down I didn’t want to risk things too much – as this race was more for fun than a position and is just part of the grand race plans for the next few weeks/months.

After 3.63 miles of running and 27 minutes 11 seconds, most of it up and down, you return to the start/finish to start the second leg.  There was stacks of support from spectators and other runners who were running the event as part of relay teams.  I like this style of race as you get plenty of support and as there’s a lot of ‘out and back’ you see other runners who encourage you and you can encourage/support back.  I was very surprised to see an average of 7:23 miling.  Surely I couldn’t keep that up…

Leg 2 – ‘Norbury Manor’

The second leg headed off in the direction of Westhumble and then up yet another incline!  This was a much gentler climb – still hard work but not one that you had to walk up!  It did go on for quite a while but that’s the nature of this event.  Near the top there was a water station with PowerBar gels (the only time I’ve been given gels in a race before I think is in an Ironman triathlon – so top marks to the organisers for sorting this).  I took a gel and some water and continued on.  During the downhill a couple of runners flew past me.  Whenever anyone came past I’d try and see from their race number if they were an individual or relay entrant.  Unfortunately these were individuals.

Two more runners then closed in on me and I decided to try my best and hang on with them.  At the bottom of the descent the three of us were all together and we pushed on as best we could (around 7 minute miling pace) alongside the A24 on the way back to the start of leg three.  My GPS measured leg two as 6.04 miles and it took me 42:31 (7:02 miling).

Leg 3 – ‘Ranmore Ramble’

Leg 3 began in a different direction and headed straight uphill.  A steep incline took us up, up and up and it was just a constant climb all the way up to the top of Ranmore Common. At the start of the leg I heard one of the chaps right behind me say, “I think he’s overcooked it!” about one of the runners ahead who overtook us a couple of miles ago and was now walking.  The three of us ran past him and didn’t see him again.

Once at the top of the hill you run along a quiet road and then through a muddy wooded area which was rather energy sapping.  Another water station at the turnaround point (where I walked for a couple of seconds just to get some water in) and then it was time for the race back down to the finish.  I was still with the two other chaps at this point and we’d helped each other on the climb up.  If it wasn’t for them I don’t think I would have made it up there so quickly.  During the final descent to the finish I couldn’t quite keep up with the other two and they moved off up ahead.  I kept pushing and was really happy to cross the finish line in 1:41:22.  The 4.37 miles that I measured for this leg took me 31:40 (7:14 miling).

In the overall results I was 21st out of 106 individuals (the winner finished in 1:30:50).  Looking at the team relay entries I was beaten by 7 teams (out of 46 overall relay teams).  My overall miling pace for the 14 or so miles was 7:12 miling – which is what I need to be running a marathon in – although I have no plans to run a marathon that hilly!

So, two longish runs in a week – on Tuesday I ran a half marathon in La Santa in Lanzarote.  That I thought was a hilly course – altitude wise that run had a total elevation gain of 620 ft.  I thought that was pretty hilly for a 1 hour 37 run.

As for this run, well, the elevation gain was 1,697 feet!  That’s probably more hill climbing that I’ve run in a whole year!!  As I write this the following evening my legs are truly screwed and I feel like I’ve almost run a marathon.  A couple of hours easy riding on the bike today surely must help.  Only time will tell…

Finally I have to say the course marking was excellent, the water/gel stations fantastic and the marshalls superb.  They were everywhere!  Top marks to Events To Live for a really well organised event.  It was also a nice touch to be greeted by Alan (the race director) as you cross the finish line.  Oh, and I made my best effort with my big hair to get onto the blog of the race photographers for the event – I think I did a good enough job :)

Within a week I had flights booked and I was going to stay as the third person in their apartment.  My work is much more flexible than Sharon’s so I was heading away without her.  The other trusty love of my life who enjoys a good ri…, er… What I mean to say is I also booked my road bike on the fight as well so I can train on that (although there’s well over a hundred bikes at the resort it’s always good to train on what you’ll race on).  40 quid return for the bike on the plane.  Good work Thomas Cook Airlines.  Just sort out the legroom and I’ll be happy (I ended up paying extra for decent legroom seats – although lets not mention that ‘large’ lass sat next to me on the way home who needed a seat belt extension!).

Club La Santa…. If you’re after a beach holiday with endless cocktails by the pool then I’d strongly suggest going somewhere else.  If you want to stay in an environment where you can train to your hearts content and know that there are others doing the same then you’re in the right place.

The days mostly had a general routine to them – a morning warm up (known as ‘morning gymnastics’ in the programme) with about 75 other guests and then a 3, 4 or 5km run. Followed by a bike ride and maybe a swim somewhere in there as well.

The overall aim of this week away was to get some good bike mileage in and also some more swimming.  I’m not a fan of swimming and just see it as something that needs to be done in order to get me onto the bike and run!  I’m a middle of the pack swimmer off of limited training so would just be happy to get a few regular sessions in this week.

My running is in a strange place right now as I have recently got a pain close to my right shin.  Running doesn’t seem to make it worse, or better and prior to going away I had 10 days of zero running and it wasn’t feeling any much better.  I decided to play it by ear (or feel) with regard to my running this week.

So this is what I got up to – partly to show that it wasn’t really a holiday in the lazing-by-the-pool-all-day look of things.

Friday

A 4k easy run followed by my first ride on the island.  Just getting out on my own bike felt fantastic. So much happier than using one of the club bikes here.  I know my bike, I know how to ride it and I am responsible for the brakes, gears, whatever.  It’s also got my lovely power meter on it so I can train better and get some great data out of it at the end when I load my cycle computer data onto a computer.

I had downloaded some bike routes in advance of going away as well as getting a detailed map of the island onto my GPS.  This was a great help if ever I decided to go off of a planned route.

So back to Friday – a solid ride up to the North of the island following part of the Ironman bike course.

Actually it’s pretty difficult not to come across parts of the Ironman course as there aren’t that many main roads on the island.  The climb on the way to Haria was pretty much never ending.  I’d say that it started at Famara beach and just goes on and on (there’s one very small downhill but generally its all up up up).  Looking at my GPS logs the climb took me about an hour and was over 14.5 miles long!  The view at the top is great, but even better than that is the ride down complete with multiple switch-backs on the road (which unfortunately do force you to slow down).  The nearest you get to switchbacks back home is Box Hill in Surrey and this climb eats Box Hill for breakfast!

I then continued riding up to the North of the island which had another climb – a simply stunning one all the way up to Mirador del Rio.  Once at the top (having taken a few photos) the descent to Arrieta was awesome and I clocked over 45mph on the descent. A right turn then takes you onto a long long climb through Tabayesco and then ends up just before the switchbacks outside of Haria which you then have to climb back up.  Nowhere near as much fun as coming down them but plenty of time to enjoy the scenery.  The ride back had plenty of descending which was lovely and I got back to base mid afternoon in time for a swim.  For the power geeks out there my NP for this ride was 247 watts with over 8,700 feet of climbing.  TSS was 310 (VI 1.09).

3km in the pool and I was done!  That’s probably the furthest that I have swum in a long time and although I could go further if I had to, I didn’t and was knackered.  I’ll just do little and often with the swimming this week.

• Totals: 2.5m run, 64.5m bike, 3k swim

Saturday

Saturday started with a parkrun – well, not a real parkrun but a 5km run.  I then took myself back out on the bike for 51 miles which took me down to the south of the island (lovely view and very steep downhill section from Femes), a lovely coastal road through lava fields and then and then back up through the volcanic Timanfaya National Park. Lovely scenery all round.  As soon as I got back to the apartment Ray and Ann were heading out for a little bike ride on their own so I decided to join them.

A couple of easy runs of 4 and 5km on the first two days and I felt happy to get a few more miles in.  We got back to the apartment at about 4:30pm so this gave me 45 minutes to decide whether to run in the 5 or 10k running races that were taking place at 5:15pm. What the heck.  It would make a reasonable brick session, even after a little break.

Race time… I had no plans to really race as I’m just being cautious about my leg at the moment so the plan was to run 5k and if all felt ok then run the second lap and make it 10k.  The course is set that you run a 5k lap (including going across the finish line) and if you want to run the 10k race you just keep going and run a second lap.  I set off and before long found myself comfortably in third place.  Positions don’t mean much here as the standard from week to week varies widely but either way I was running well and pretty comfortably.  It was very windy and as I came onto the running track for the end of the 5k I saw the two chaps who were ahead of me cross the line and stop.  This meant that I had a choice… I could take third place in the 5k or hopefully take first in the 10k.  I think that was an easy decision to make.   The first 5k took 19:22 and I felt very comfortable running this pace.  I then just carried on running with me now in the lead.

Another steady lap and there was no sign of anyone close behind me.  I came back into the stadium with plenty of support from other runners and spectators and crossed the line in a time of 38:50 (just looking back in my records from when I came here in 2007 – we called it a holiday and not a training camp back then – I finished in 39:28).

• Totals: 3.1m run, 66m bike, 6.2m run (10k race)

Sunday

I skipped the morning run and went straight to the pool and did 2k. My shoulders aren’t used to swimming more than once a month!!!

Sunday is market day in Lanzarote so I upped on the bike and rode to the old capital of Teguise to walk round the market and then rode back to La Santa via Famara.

Later in the day I went out for a little mountain bike ride with Ray and Ann and covered about 7 miles.

• Totals: 2k swim, 34m bike

Monday

After the morning warm-up by the pool I decided to join the organised 5k running group.  The group leader lady said to us “I shall run at 5 minutes per kilometre pace. If you all run faster then I shall run faster.”

We set off and after about 2k I had drifted off of the front together with another chap.  We pushed on and had a good little bit of back and forth between us.  An easy run turned into a bit of a speed session!  Oops.

I wanted to get a long ride in today so after breakfast (Alpen rules!) I headed out.  Once again it was very windy but that didn’t matter as I was trying to ride to a fairly constant power output whether into or being followed by the wind.  Back up to the north of the island and then down into the wine growing region of La Geria and back through the volcanic national park to La Santa.

On the way back I managed to come across Ray and Ann who were on a group bike ride so I tagged along for the last 6 or 7 miles (which was at a much gentler pace than the pace that I’d been riding all day).  As we came into the final descent from Tinajo to La Santa the headwind was fierce.  You really had to push hard to get any sort of speed (and it’s all downhill) and the group of riders with me at the front were pushing hard.

I immediately noticed that one of the riders wasn’t keeping a clear gap between himself and the rider in front – his front wheel was overlapping the ride leaders rear wheel.  This is a big no-no in group riding.  I planned to tell the ride leader about this once we’d finished the ride (it was too windy and dangerous to start making hand gestures at this point) so I just pulled right away from the other riders and kept my distance.  I found out later that the riders had been told not to overlap wheels at the pre-ride briefing.

Within less than a minute there was an almighty crash as the man who’d been causing the overlap went tumbling to the ground.  We all stopped as quickly as we could and ran up to him.  He was lying on his back and there was blood all over his head.  He didn’t look good at all.  It turned out that one of the riders in the group was a paramedic (I think) and she took control of the situation whilst calls were made to the emergency services and a few cars pulled up.  Ray and Ann appeared a few moments later and then one of the ride leaders rode back to La Santa with about half of the ride group.

This was one hell of a frightening thing to be so close to (I was probably about 10-15m away from it when it happened) and it reminded me for the most part I am much happier riding solo rather than in groups.  Two days later I heard that the man had been flown to Gran Canaria with spinal injuries and was in intensive care in an induced coma.  Poor sod. Really not good news.

• Totals: 3.1m run, 86.5m bike

For the power geeks out there my NP for the ride was 235 watts with over 8,100 feet of climbing.  TSS was 382 (VI 1.1).

Tuesday

Tuesday is half marathon race at Club La Santa do I thought I could use it as a hilly long-ish run (I’m meant to be running 19 miles in training right now but this will have to do).  I set off at a steady pace at the early start time of 7:45am and had a good solid and comfortable run.  Once again it was blowing a gale on the top of the hills but this make a good workout.  I finished in 1:37:24 (much slower than in 2007) but then I was racing hard then and hadn’t ridden nearly 90 miles the day before.  I came third.  The winner did a great time of just over 73 minutes which considering the windy conditions was pretty damn good indeed.

Another visit to the pool for a 2k swim and after a steady 27 miles on the bike the most important sport of all – a game of ‘compact golf.’

• Totals: 13.1m run (race), 27m bike, 2k swim

Wednesday

My legs were really starting to feel tired at this point and my right knee was hurting (I believe all the hill climbing on the bike) but I really wanted to get out on the bike to enjoy the weather and scenery once more. After a gentle (25 min) morning 5k I headed out and rode just over 16 miles, came back to base and then went out with Ray on the bike for a further 27.5 miles.

I nearly went for a swim later in day but didn’t quite make it.  I’ll count that as a ‘half session’ as I did have my swimming shorts on, but just didn’t make it to the pool. I almost went windsurfing in the afternoon but instead just watched and supported the windsurf race.  Much drier on land.

Early evening it was time to pack the bike for the journey home tomorrow.

• Totals: 3.1m run, 43.5m bike, intent-to-swim-but-not-quite

Thursday

I went for a bit of a hilly off road run – headed in the direction of Famara close to the coast.  I got to Caletta de Caballo and then headed inland and uphill to Soo, then back on the road home making it 5 lumpy miles.

I followed this with a breakfast and a 2k swim and then it was time to head back to the airport for the flight home.

• Totals: 5m run, 2k swim

Summary

• 321′ish miles on the bike over 6 days. That’s an average of just over 53.5 miles each day. Nice.
• 36 miles running (not bad when I would have been happy with just 3!)
• 9k swimming. No comment.

The cycling is fantastic in Lanzarote.  The roads are for the most part lovely and smooth (ignoring 100m in Famara and the part of the Ironman course after Arrecife when you turn left just before Nazaret).  I really liked having maps of Lanzarote on my bike GPS so I could see exactly where I was at any moment.  It’s windy, warm, hilly and there’s often other cyclists out there who nod hello to you.  Cars give you tons of distance and there’s actually not very many of them.  A bit of a bikers paradise.  I just wanted a few more cafes and bakeries to get supplies from but I had plenty of food and water on my rides to be completely self sufficient anyway.

Running is great with off road tracks if you want them.  Be prepared for hills though.

As for swimming, the 50m heated outdoor pool at Club La Santa is superb.  I just wished that I actually enjoyed swimming.  The first couple of lengths of each session is good but then I just want it over with.  I see swimming as a means to getting on the bike.  Maybe that’ll change one day but right now that’s how it is.

Two months out from my third Ironman distance triathlon and think the timing was ideal.  I’ve never cycled so much in my life and I really enjoyed it.  I think the weather back home will take some getting used to in late November and December but I just need to man-up for these rides.

Running is still a concern with my leg but if I can keep ticking over and get some good physio in over the coming weeks I’ll be happy.

As for swimming – lets just not go there.  I’ll go to the pool and get plenty more swims in but that’s all I have to say on the matter.

At the outset I said this would be a training camp and not a holiday.  Over the week I have probably read about 10 pages of a book and came home with more magazines (there was a copy of Triathlon Plus in the room on arrival) that I came out with – all of them unread!

Finally I must mention the evenings as it wasn’t all training.  The entertainment laid on by Club La Santa was very good, although we never made it up past 10pm.  Food wise we ate on site every night and I was happy with what was available.  A couple of beers with dinner together with the lovely company of Ray and Ann made it a lovely little break.

I just need to recover now!

Following on from a 10 mile personal best and a good 18:02 5k run at Frimley Lodge parkrun a couple of weeks ago.  The Frimley course is fast but has quite a few turns in it to slow you down so I was really pleased with 18:02.

A week later I was at Bushy parkrun.  I’d not run there since August (shock horror!) and had a nice little warm-up with Sharon before the start.  Conditions were ideal (cool with little wind) and as the 700+ runners set off I found myself pushing hard.

I chose not to look at my watch and just go on feel as much as I could.  As I went round the corner at the end of the first straight (about 1.1km in) I could see Mark G., Chris W., and someone else up ahead about 20m away.  I was feeling good and tried to see if I could slowly reign them in.  There was no rush.  This isn’t a sprint!

By about 2km I was with them and I tucked in close behind.  It felt comfortable being in their draft and before long I decided to push on ahead.  As I moved ahead I expected to see Mark and Chris right behind me (as they’re both much faster than me over 5k) but they didn’t.  I was then off on my own, with no idea of my time/pace other than knowing that either I’m doing very well or Mark and Chris are having a ‘mare!

At 4k I decided to take a glance at my watch.  I didn’t see the timer but did glance at my pace, which was about 5:37 per mile – a few seconds per mile quicker than my PB pace.  OK, all I had to do was try and fight through to the finish and I was looking good for a personal best.

Coming down the final straight I dug real deep – didn’t quite catch the runner ahead of me but crossed the line in 17:32 – a 19 second person best.  As soon as I saw my time I was pretty stunned – then I realised how tough it is going to be to get near it again!  Ho hum.

Fast forward a week to today and I’m on the start line at Richmond parkrun.  I’ve not run here since new years day and its a little challenging course.  The downhill is too steep to be comfortable, and there’s very little comfortable about running uphill on the way back!  I wasn’t expecting anything special today as I’d run 17 miles on Friday as part of my marathon training.  The legs were feeling it but a 10-15 minute warm-up and a few ‘strides’ got me ready.

Over 250 runners set off in ideal conditions once again and it was pretty chaotic at the start as everyone goes off in a mad rush to find clear space.  As I came round the first corner before the downhill I was probably 12th or 13th and I could see the leading two runners moving into the distance.

I pushed on at a solid pace and went through the first mile in 5:33 (there’s a fair bit of downhill during the first mile).  I’d slowly moved up to about seventh place by this point.  As we headed along the grass towards Sheen Gate I caught up with the runner ahead of me and pushed on past him.  I was feeling pretty good but know it was literally all uphill from here!

In the last half mile I caught up with another runner ahead of me and pushed past him on a short steep uphill section.  I opened up a gap and just kept on pushing.

Crossing the line in a time of 18:13 was much better than I’d hoped for at the start.  I was fourth overall and my time was 22 seconds faster than my Richmond parkrun PB of 18:35 (from September 2009).

So, at 10am I was on the start line ready to see how my legs would cope with 10 miles of hard effort, especially after a surprise 18.02 time at Frimley Lodge parkrun yesterday (which doesn’t really lend itself to fast times).  I’d not planned to run that hard but had a couple of people were breathing down my neck and that spurred me on.

Anyway, back to today.  Ignoring whoever was around me (there were about 60 runners from Ranelagh Harriers in the race) and just going at my own pace I started off and settled into a pace around 6:15 minute miling.  This would get me over the finish line in 1:02:30 which I’d be really happy with, compared to my previous years times…

• 2006 – 1:11:47
• 2007 – 1:03:09
• 2008 – 1:06:02
• 2009 – 1:02:22
• 2010 – 1:11:48 (was part of a much longer run)

After two or three miles I was running around 6:12 pace on average and thought I’d just try and stick to it.  The first half should feel fairly ‘steady’ which it did and I crossed the 5 mile marker in 31:11 – bang on my PB pace.  I knew the second half would get much tougher, especially when I’d not trained for this race any way whatsoever (my current training is more about going longer and slower as part of my marathon/Ironman prep) so this could get interesting.

Looking at my GPS I went through 10km in 38:31 (28 seconds slower than PB pace).  Interesting…

During the second half of the race I think I kept myself together very well.  Only three people overtook me – one from The Stragglers running club, a Thames Turbo Triathlon Club member and just before the 9 mile mark it was Ranelagh Harriers clubmate Sean P. who drifted past.

I pushed on as hard as I could through to the finish where I crossed the line in 1:01:56 – giving me a new personal best time over the distance by 26 seconds.  I also managed to negative split the race (first five miles was 31:11, the second five was 30:45).  I finished in 125th place overall (there was some really quick times ran this morning) and my age grading was 73.95%.

A good mornings race, that’s for sure.

More decisions were made for me in the shape of the three of us running a lap of the course with the intention of a reccy and a warm-up. I am very glad we did, as we saw the canal path before it was full of runners!

Anyway, soon enough we had listened to the first time runner briefing and after a “welcome” from the Race Director for the day to us visiting from Bushy, we were off to the start. The course isn’t fast underfoot (though I think a slight downhill gain) and is rather twisty turny but there are marshalls and arrows, so no getting lost. You run in a melee around a football field at the start, then up onto the canal path, OMG! It’s so narrow and tree stumps everywhere!!! It’s so hairy scary, especially given you can’t really overtake anyone including people who set off nearer the front who clearly shouldn’t! Then you go through a lovely little wooded “cross country” area, over a weird hard to run on path during which time I feared for my ankles, through a quagmire squidgy bit and then finally over another football field. Oh, then you repeat it :) I rather like a multiple lap course I must admit…

I don’t know what I was thinking really about my pacing before the start, certainly the canal path on the first lap slowed me down when there was no over-taking but when I glanced at my watch at the start of the second lap, it said 14:01, so I was happy enough with that. I tried really hard to keep pushing but with half a mile to go I was really starting to feel tired. Soon enough though, the end was in sight. I pushed on and crossed the line, my official time was 27:56 – my fastest parkrun time since 22nd March 2008. I was over the moon :) I was even more pleased when I looked at my splits and saw my miles were 9:09, 9:05 and 9:04 (obviously plus the last bit), so pretty much even.

Then of course, the boys made me run another lap as a cool-down. It’s my favourite apparently. Ahem.

We headed off afterwards for a coffee and a chat with some of the Frimley Lodge volunteer team. By the time we got to the cafe, we had received our text messages from parkrun with our official times, super-quick service! All in all a lovely day, lovely run and great, friendly people. I would thoroughly recommend it if you fancy a visit to a different parkrun.

The past weekend Sharon and I went along to watch, support, shout and take a few photos at the Catford and Bec hill climb events in Kent.  I’ve posted a blog about the events over at our photography website so take a look and then see the gallery of photos that’s linked to near the end of the blog.

Anyway, following this blog post my good friend Richard suggested on facebook that I should give one of the hill climbs a go.  Having watched these events I’ve wondered what it would be like to be the one fighting their way up a steep hill with crowds all around.  The nearest I’ve got to this has been climbing the (much less steep) Solera Berg during the Challenge Roth iron-distance event a couple of years ago.

Following Richards suggestion to me I decided that todays long bike ride should head south-east towards Yorks Hill, the home of the Catford Hill Climb.  I planned a route using the excellent Running Free Online website, loaded it into my bike GPS and off I set.  About 40 miles later (and lots of short – and long – climbs and descents) I found myself at the bottom of Yorks Hill.

I didn’t know where the start of the climb was (as it was almost too steep to walk down on Sunday!) so as I was cycling along the lane the road levelled out and with an incline just ahead I hit the lap button on the GPS and dug deep.

Two minutes later the road levelled out (again) and I saw a painted white line on the road!  Bugger.  That’s the start of the climb and I’d just expended two minutes hard effort (and two and a half hours cycling) to just get there.

I pulled over, got myself down to race weight (meaning, I had a pee in the bushes) and prepared myself.  My bike clearly wasn’t ready for a steep climb as it was laden with tool kits, bike pump, spare inner tubes, water bottles, energy bars, etc. etc.

I stood on the line, clipped into the pedals and hit the start button.  My heart rate was at 121 (much much higher than resting) and away I went.  Within a few seconds the incline ramped up and I had those thoughts of ‘you’ve gone off too hard.’  Too late to worry about these things now.  I was in my easiest gear (and remained in it the whole way up).

This incline then flattens out a little before the real fun begins.  A lung bursting 20+ percent-er which was painful to say the least.  Out of the saddle, gasping for air, convincing myself that this is good for me and pushing up the hill as quickly as possible.

I’m sure my style wasn’t great but when I saw an opening in the trees up ahead I knew the end was near.  At the top of the climb just before the entrance to a small car park there was another white line painted on the road.  I pushed to the line, hit the stop button again and then unclipped and came to a standstill as quick as I would be if I were about to ride off of a cliff edge!  Bugger me that was tough.  My heart rate peaked at 174.

Shortly after the finish. Looking a little worn out!

Looking at the clock my time was 3 minutes 11 seconds.  This would have put me in 88th position (out of *cough* 102 finishers) in the 2011 Catford Hill Climb.  Surely with an easier warm-up, less ‘crap’ on the bike and screaming crowds I could go under 3 minutes…?

Looking through my cycling logs I’ve got my heart rate higher than 174 before so clearly I wasn’t trying hard enough.  Finally, here’s a little summary graph of the effort from my GPS/power meter for those who like this kind of thing.  Click for a larger version.

This means I need to go back sometime and ride it again!  Watch this space….

As for the overall bike ride, I rode just over 77 miles, around 5,300 feet of climbing, 4 hours 51 minutes of riding (5:09 total ride time – which includes stops for traffic lights/junctions/getting lost).  Normalised power was 235 watts.

This morning saw us heading to the inaugural Nonsuch parkrun, in Cheam.  I was so impressed at the organisation and the turn-out for a first event was brilliant, very nearly 200 people.  Wow!  The Lady Mayor is a member of one of the local clubs (Epsom Allsorts) and she was there for the first event too.

We set off, a slight downhill on a path, which swiftly became a little uphill, then along some weird grassy stuff, over a little flint path, through a hedge, over a little bridge, more grass, a bit more uphill, then a slight down to the finish.  The course is two laps, I was just hoping I wouldn’t be lapped!  It was a leg-sapping course I thought (or maybe that’s just a measure of how rubbish I am!) but I enjoyed it.  It was certainly nice to push myself.

David has been twittering on about my doing a sub-30 for the whole week.  I had a great run on Wednesday night, which made me think I might have a chance depending on the course.  I haven’t been sub-30 since 23 March 2009 (29:39).  In fact I finished in 28:51, which was my fastest time since 25 October 2008, when I did a 28:32.  So, suffice to say I am as pleased as punch.  David thought I looked, “a bit tired” when I finished, so I had obviously tried hard!  In fact, our Bushy parkrun visiting group of four were all pleased with how we had run – I managed 155th place out of 199 runners.

The other lovely thing was that we got to catch up with some of our Ironman pals and then went for a latte (skimmed milk, yay!) and chat – David also had a yummy-looking piece of cake but then he had run 11 miles to get to the start of the parkrun, so he more than deserved that.

All in all, a great event, pretty location, nice cafe, good cake (by all accounts), super organisation :)  Thumbs up for Nonsuch parkrun!

I’d planned to kick start my swimming a few weeks ago but whilst doing some maintenance work on my brothers mountain bike I somehow smacked my ribcage against his bike, which caused a great deal of pain for a good 2+ weeks.  Coughing, turning in bed, sneezing – all really painful.  The pain started to get less and less and this meant I had to go swimming again.  I managed three swim sessions (in just over a week) prior to this race which is pretty good for me!

From a self-timed 400m time trial swim at the pool at the start of the week I swam a steady 6:50 which was the same as I’d estimated for the previous race – so it looks like my 400m time hasn’t changed in the past few months.  That helped no end with my swim confidence going into this one.

Once again I was in the second swim wave but I’ve decided that apart from the long wait from signing in to the actual start I’m happy to go in the busier second wave. It’s not busy as such in the pool, but there are lots more cyclists around my speed to work with (or against).

Happily I had a good uneventful swim. I felt comfortable throughout and didn’t get overtaken. I did catch up with one swimmer ahead of me and rather than overtake him (he was very similar speed to me so it would have taken quite some effort) I conserved some energy and just swam right behind him for the final two lengths.

Transition 1 was fast and efficient, with the only pause being when I turned on my ‘on-board’ video camera! More on that later.. I also didn’t wear socks this time round as I have some triathlon specific cycling shoes (and running shoes) that don’t seem to rub when not wearing socks.  My swim time (including transition to the bike) was 8:40 (53rd fastest).  Looking back… May 2011 (9:06), August 2010 (8:50), May 2010 (9:17).  These previous times did involve me sitting down and putting on a pair of socks – which because of the times there show that my August 2010 swim was very good indeed (I’d estimated 6:40 for 400m for that race).  Note to self… must swim faster – or give myself a faster swim estimate so that I can really push hard to keep up with the people around me.

Putting my cycling shoes on in Transition 1

As I got onto the bike I found myself in lot of traffic heading down the main road from the pool. It was not safe to try and overtake the cars so I just pedalled steadily alongside them until I got onto Hampton Court Road. At the roundabout by Hampton Court I then had to slow down as there were people at the pedestrian crossing! Very frustrating.

Before long it was back to full speed and racing towards the dreaded traffic lights at the turning to Lower Sunbury. As I neared the lights there was a large van ahead that slowed down as the lights were red.  I eased off the speed knowing that the lights would be green before long but I then was shocked that the flippin’ van was also turning left. I and two other riders were then stuck behind the van for what seemed like ages.  I think I only lost about 20 seconds during that segment but it was long enough!

Once the van had turned off into another road it was back to full steam ahead. There was a bit of back-and-forth between myself and another rider but when I saw him slow to have some drink I pushed hard past him and gained some valuable time. I didn’t see him again.

It was just a case of head down and push hard all the way to the turnaround point. This first half of the bike route was into a slight headwind and I knew that it would feel easier on the way back – well, I’d be pushing just as hard but hopefully going a little quicker with the wind behind me. It wouldn’t ‘really’ be easier. As I did the 180 turn at the roundabout I saw Dean, a fellow competitor who I seem to race close-by at these races quite often. He took a tight inside line and got ahead of me.

I chased hard behind for a couple of miles or so. As he overtook one chap ahead of him the guy being overtaken changed gear quickly, pushed hard and sat right on Deans back wheel – big time drafting. I didn’t want to be anywhere near such activity (!!) so dug in and got past them both. I then kept pushing all the way to the finish.

At the end of the bike leg you get 7 minutes to return to transition 2, where the run begins. I rode gently back to transition ready to give it some in the 5k.  The best sight of all was when I ran in with my bike to put it on the rack and there were no other bikes around!  This ‘never’ happens with me – so clearly I had a pretty good bike leg!  Transition was nice and quick and it was off on the run I went.  My bike split was 34:48 and 15th fastest.

The view coming into T2

Here’s a bike split table showing my bike form in this race together with some power data (a link to the full power data is towards the end of this report)…

My increase in speed certainly is related to the increase in cycling that I’ve been doing the past few months and also (at least I hope) related to the new ‘go-faster’ wheels that I recently bought.  One thing I do know is that because of the traffic on the course I did lose probably in the region of 30-60 seconds on the bike.  Give me a traffic-free route and I’ll smash my time (hopefully!).

Onto the run… Normally there’s quite a few runners around during the run (one of the things I like about being in the ‘second wave’ of starters) but today it seemed really quiet.  I overtook a few (much slower people from the back of the first wave) but there was nobody close to me that was anywhere near my pace.  I just had to get on with it and run as best I could, overtaking (and giving support if I had a spare breath) to other runners.

On each lap I had some fantastic screams and shouts of support from family and friends that were really appreciated.  The final push came to the finish and I crossed the line with a run time (including transition) of 18:57 – 12th fastest of the day.

I felt that conditions on the day were ideal and on top of a great bike split I also put in an awesome run…

• May 2007 – 21:06
• August 2007 – 20:08
• August 2008 – 20:00
• May 2010 – 19:18 (slightly shorter course)
• August 2010 – 19:56
• May 2011 – 19:33
• August 2011 – 18:57

The results came out later in the day (all times are from the provisional results) and my overall time was 1:02:25, 15th overall and 9th in my age group.

Here’s how my times have improved over the four years that I’ve taken part in these races…

• 08/05/07 – 1:20:27 (using my mountain bike)
• 27/08/07 – 1:07:51 (on a borrowed road bike)
• 25/08/08 – 1:06:33 (using my recently purchased road bike)
• 31/05/10 – 1:04:55
• 30/08/10 – 1:04:37
• 02/05/11 – 1:03:59
• 29/08/11 – 1:02:25 (same bike, new wheels)

I’m really happy with how the race went and as this is really the start of my triathlon season (I’ll be training during the winter for a big race in January) this is a great boost for me.

Finally, for anyone who’s interested – here’s my full power data from the bike – viewable at the TrainingPeaks.com website.

Finally I mentioned something earlier about a video – well, here’s the video I took during the bike using a camera fixed to the aero-bars at the front of the bike (or click here to view it at YouTube.com).

Recently my 5k times have been good and after a cracking run last year I felt that I should be able to better that performance if everything went alright on the day.  I actually had a pretty lazy week of exercise having been working away from home (lots of travel messed things up a bit) and enjoying the delights of hotel food so I’d either arrive at the start feeling lethargic or fresh.  Only time would tell.

After the 2010 ‘fun’ that I had racing with Duncan M. from Ranelagh (see last years blog for that) he decided to adopt a different, but perhaps more sensible strategy.  Rather than race it like a 5k and die towards the end he was after even splits and if all went to plan he’d come cruising past me close to the finish.  Interesting tactic… however, it could just work.

Conditions were ideal, a light breeze and temperature probably close to 20 degrees.  A lovely summer evening (for a change!) and a good crowd of over 400 runners.  I was lined up on the front row and as the start signal went we were all off like rockets (kind of!).  Naturally getting carried away with the faster runners I settled into a pace that although comfortable at the time I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain.  After about a half mile I eased back ever so slightly.  I was still at around my 5k personal best pace and it took a while to gently ease back some more.  It was good to have a few other runners around me at the same sort of pace so we were all pushing each other pretty hard.

Shortly after the start as we settle into pace

At around 3k I saw the first casualty – a chap who had gone off way too quick early on and was paying for it – unfortunately well before the half way point!  I had no sympathy as he was wearing an MP3 player with music blaring out (I could almost make out the words as I ran past him).  So antisocial.

At this point I was running close to Mark H. from Ranelagh and a chap from Cambridge Harriers.  The guy from Cambridge pulled ahead and I sat right behind him.  As we turned off of the grass alonside Chestnut Avenue and headed back into the park he started to open a gap which I wasn’t able to close down on.  It turned out that he had a fantastic second half and gained quite a few places on me.  Nice one.

From here on in I was running alone.  I went through 5k in around 18:05.  This was three seconds slower than in 2010 but I was feeling a little stronger this time around and I remember how much of a struggle the last bit was last year.  Hopefully this time I was more under control.

The final 2k were hard work.  I was slowly closing in on two or three men ahead of me and as I headed into the finishing straight I’d got past two of them but one put in an almighty sprint finish to take me before the line.

This wasn’t really an issue as I crossed the line in 26:08 – a 17 second personal best on last years time.  I certainly cannot complain about that.  I finished 29th out of 487.  Although my time was much better this year I was further down the field.  Last year I was 19th out of 505.  As for Duncan, he just wasn’t feeling it on the night so was unable to test out his even pacing strategy against my ‘go like a nutter and hang on for dear life’ approach.

Following the race it was time to enjoy a picnic out on the field in front of the cricket club with friends.  As with last year (and the previous times that I’ve run this race) it was back to Bushy parkrun the following morning where I ran a nippy 18:33 which I followed up with a 50 mile bike ride.  Busy busy busy.

Finally looking at my times at this race over the years – 27:03 (2007), 26:44 (2008), 26:25 (2010), 26:08 (2011).  What will 2012 hold?

The website at Southwark Cyclists site describe it (in their excellent FAQ) as follows:

“Simple. A turn-up-and-go challenging slightly-scary free-entry overnight on-tarmac just under 120 mile bicycle ride to the lovely lonely Suffolk sea at Dunwich.  It’s not a race. It’s unsupported. There’s no van following. It’s a long way for nearly all of us. There will be times when you wish you were tucked up in bed.  But you’ll love it. The adrenalin buzz, the experience, the achievement, the smiles will cling forever. For a lot of us it’s almost the highlight of our bike year.”

The weather forecast for the weekend was generally pretty foul so I was fortunate enough to have been able to take advantage of the good weather on Friday and get a bike ride in down to Box Hill in Surrey. A solid 49 miles banked. That was my cycling plans for the weekend all sorted, so with Bushy parkrun 5k on Saturday I’d be able to do a long run on Sunday.

This was all before I learnt about the Dunwich Dynamo on Friday evening.

6:53pm. Leaving home - Pirate Style!

Come Saturday morning I was seriously considering doing the ride, but was concerned about the weather. I just wouldn’t commit to it! I ran Bushy parkrun in the morning in a good time of 18:02 (to finish 8th quickest out of 664). In the afternoon whilst I looked at weather forecasts and watched the Tour de France on television I prepared my bike lights (new batteries all round), found some energy gels and bars, found a GPS route for the ride for my cycle computer and generally got myself in a position to do the ride but without committing to the ride (well, there were some rain showers forecast and I didn’t fancy that at one in the morning!).

After a short (far too short) snooze of about 30 minutes I got myself ready and left home shortly before 7pm.

I cycled to Twickenham, then a train to Waterloo and a 4.5 mile ride to the start of the Dunwich Dynamo at the Pub On The Park at London Fields in Hackney.

When I arrived the place was buzzing. There were many hundreds of cyclists, on bikes ranging from road racing, mountain bikes, single speed ones, fold up bikes, recumbent and tandems.

8:05pm. The pre-ride meetup point at The Pub On The Park, London Fields, Hackney.

I tracked down Simon, who was a chap I found on Facebook with a van who’d offered to give me a lift (along with a couple of others) back from the finish. Phew. This meant I didn’t have to worry about trains back to London in the morning (they do lay on coaches if you book in advance, but understandably 24 hours is not quite enough notice!).

Shortly after 8:30pm I set off with hundreds of other cyclists onto this 112 mile (that’s what my GPS route said it would be) overnight ride with a sense of apprehension. Not least for the first few miles in the hustle and, as the official route sheet said, “Bandit Country” of Hackney and Walthamstow. In previous years there have been reports of bike muggings and other bad things during this slow start to the ride. At each set of traffic lights there were about 20-40 cyclists with all their ‘bling’ (flashy bikes and flashing lights!).

At one set of lights a big 4×4 BMW type vehicle pulled alongside and the passenger said, ‘Oh mate, that’s a nice bike. Where you off to?’ My response was ‘Off to the seaside, and there’s much nicer bikes than mine’ (as I quietly moved away).

The first half an hour was very stop/start and through all the traffic I averaged just over 11mph. Surely in bandit country I should have just had my head down and raced to safety? Some poor chaps were seen within a mile or two of the start fixing punctures. How frustrating for them.

Once we headed into Epping Forest the roads got quieter and all you ever saw ahead of you was a constant stream of red flashing bike lights disappearing into the distance. It was quite a sight.

After a while things settled down and I got into a reasonable pace. I would cycle past quite a few people, and then some people would come flying past me. This continued pretty much for most of the miles to the feed station at 50 miles.

After leaving the big city we moved onto much smaller roads where were all completely unlit. The only light was the moon (a full moon was just starting to come up) and the thankfully clear night sky. Relying on the moon for ambient light and your bike lights for actual road vision made me grateful for having a fairly good set of lights (and brand new batteries).

10pm. The White Hart in Moreton.

Around 21 miles in came across a lovely little country pub (the White Hart Inn in Moreton) where I pulled up and called Sharon to give her an update on progress. A few cyclists pulled over (I’m not sure how many were actually stopping for beer) and there was a couple sat at one of the benches right by the road watching as tens of cyclists flew past their local village pub.

Around 30-40 miles or so in my legs were aching a bit which was a little concerning. Perhaps it was a little residual tiredness from yesterdays 50 miler and this mornings 5k running time trial, or perhaps my fuelling of a bowl of muesli and a banana a few hours before wasn’t ideal. Either way I decided to ease off ever so slightly. Every now and then I’d take the opportunity of catching up with riders as a chance to just ease right off and relax for a bit. Then I’d sometimes push on ahead.

When you’re moving ahead off of the front of a pack you’re the only one lighting the road ahead and you’re just looking ahead to see where the next cyclist is (from their flashing red light). There were times when I was on my own for 5 or 10 minutes without seeing another bike. I’d then see a light in the distance and slowly it would come closer.

You ride through quiet villages. You pass a few houses where the residents have come to their front gates to clap and applaud the riders. You pass pubs that are busy. I went past one pub that was absolutely packed and I could hear a band playing inside. You go past parties and wedding receptions. People are outside pubs smoking and watching you fly by. It was surreal.

12:06am. Food station in Sible Hedingham.

Shortly after 50 miles looking at my GPS map we were going to be doing a strange route around a village rather the going directly through it. I just followed the map and next thing I found myself at the feed station in Sible Hedingham. It was 11:50pm. I found somewhere to rest my bike, transferred some sports drink from my handheld bottled to the fixed one attached to my handlebars and headed inside. The hall inside was fairly busy (although no where near as busy as I’m sure it got later) and I bought a couple of flapjacks a large cup of coffee (with sugar) and then sat down and had a sandwich (cheese and marmite if you’re wondering) and a flapjack. I took a few photos and then filled my bottles up with water (and threw in some energy drink powder) and went back to my bike.

Quick techy bit… During this first stretch of cycling (3 hours 8 minutes of pedalling and 51.75 miles) my normalized power was a steady 189 watts and an average speed of 16.5 mph.

Just before I left I spotted the ‘Boris Bike’ (London Hire Bicycle) of Leo Tong who was riding to raise money for charity. Read more about his ride over at www.justgiving.com/londoncyclehiretodunwich

“…Two other challenges are is making it to the beach in time before the coach leaves back for London without me and also making it without getting a puncture or breakdown — apparently I will need an electronics manual and welding kit for any on-the-spot repairs…”

I left the feed station at quarter past midnight and as I was leaving there was a mass of people arriving. Many thought they were going the wrong way as there were cyclists (such as myself) going in the other direction so I had to assure many that there was food and drink straight ahead. After heading out of the village I settled into things. After a 25 minute stop I was feeling a little cold and did think that I should have got my long legged cycling tights out of my bag but didn’t. Clothing wise I was wearing a base layer (one I use for winter running) and a gilet. Lower half was just cycling shorts and my regular ‘clippy’ shoes/pedals. Within about 5 minutes I was warm again and happy, so I didn’t put on an additional layer of clothing.

Although I thought a 25 minute stop was on the verge of excessive, I’m thinking that many other people stayed there much longer as the roads were much much quieter from here on. My legs were feeling fresh again and from here on in the time flew by. I kept drinking, ate some food (a couple of energy bars – saving my ‘apple strudel bar’ for later in the ride – pudding perhaps)…

At 60 miles in you head through (or rather round) the town of Sudbury. Although my GPS told me everything I needed to know there were some flashing signs and lights attached to a few of the road signs which were good to see.

At this time of night it was a really strange experience. I’ve never ridden my road (racing) bike in the dark before, let alone along unlit country lanes that I’m not familiar with. The only time I ever ride a bike in the dark is normally when I’m heading home on my mountain bike from the pub and I’ve got a few – but of course not too many ;) pints inside of me!

From here on in it was quiet. Most of the ‘slower’ riders (you know, the social ones just out for a fun ride and challenging themselves on a distance perhaps never ridden before) were long gone so catching up with riders ahead took a lot longer. In fact there were times when I wouldn’t see another cyclist for maybe 5 or 10 miles. You feel very alone, but not in a bad way.

You could say that riding in the dark of night is a great time to think about things. In fact all I could think about was concentrating really hard on where I was going. My bike light was the only thing illuminating the road ahead and you have to keep a constant watch of whats ahead of you so you can avoid any holes in the road or large manhole covers. A lot of concentration was required.

I did have a few near misses though on route…

• At one point right in front of me was a large duck walking across the road. As it was so quite I could hear its feet flapping on the road surface. With only my lights providing visibility I didn’t have too much time to get onto the brakes and avoid it!
• Going round a sharp bend at speed in the dark when your lights are fixed to the handlebars can be difficult to see what’s ahead of you. A powerful head-torch may have been useful. Coming round one such corner a large white coloured animal (probably a cat) ran right in front of me. I was so close to hitting it! That got the heart rate going, that’s for sure.
• I almost hit a hedgehog! I just saw in the nick of time a light coloured ‘ball’ in the middle of a road. I was able to gently swerve out of the way as it didn’t seem to be travelling too quickly.

70/80 miles in and I was feeling good, didn’t feel at all tired or worn out and was riding at a steady comfortable pace. I wasn’t at all racing (as it is not a race) but was riding steadily and getting some good endurance training out of the ride. At about 85 miles I caught up with four guys who were riding pretty well. We all pushed the pace and at one turn where they were unsure exactly of which way to turn and I shouted out ‘right – that’s the way’ they realised I had a GPS. This was a sign for them to ‘push’ me to the front of the group to lead the way – as I was the only one with GPS. There were no hills, just a few (and quite a few) undulations. The road surface for most of the ride (meaning all of it other than in Hackney at the start) was very good indeed and no real potholes (at least I didn’t hit any).

I pushed on, didn’t bother flicking-the-elbow to get them to come forward on push on as I ‘knew’ the way ahead. We were a group of riders, we didn’t really say a word to one another and just rode strongly with us all as a collective lighting up the road (read very quite country lane in the middle of nowhere) at 2:30 in the morning racing our bikes. A truly strange experience. One thing I had to do a lot of was tap a button (any button) on my GPS for it to light up and show the current map. This would tell me if there were any sharp bends or turns coming up ahead so I didn’t get any surprises (other than crazy wildlife running out on me!).

Just before 95 miles in I drifted ahead of the group and the faded into the distance. I continued on into and through the town of Framlingham. There was a sign here that said “Dunwich 16 miles. Food 0.7 miles” or similar. Nice. This would be a fine opportunity to stop and say hello to whoever was kind enough to stay up all night to support the cyclists.

I could see a house in the distance with a string of coloured lights along what I guess was its guttering. As I got close by I saw a gazebo outside and also a chap standing in the middle of the road. I pulled up and next thing there was a large flash of light! That’ll be his camera then!

2:54am. 95 miles in at the food stop just outside of Framlingham. Photo copyright www.nearthecoast.com

Photo (left) copyright www.nearthecoast.com.

Although I had plenty of food and water with me I didn’t need to buy anything but I stopped to have a chat with the food chap and also the photographer. They said that a police car had been past and asked them what they were up to. The police had never heard of the Dunwich Dynamo ride and were initially concerned that there was a ‘peleton’ of 1500 cyclists heading in one large group through ‘their turf!’ This was not to be the case as people would be drifting to the finish over a period of quite a few hours.

During our conversation I said that I’d hardly seen any bikes for the past couple of hours. I was then told that only six other cyclists had been past them (who hadn’t stopped) and I was the first one to stop.

A small report on the nearthecoast.com website said that the last riders went “through around 10:30am, all the cooked food went and he (and his family) served over 500 drinks not counting water from the hose!”

I had arrived at 2:50am and left just under ten minutes later. A number of photos from the feed station have been posted on Facebook and I’m in the first few photos.

I set off just as another cyclist appeared and although he/she was behind me for a while within a few minutes they were gone. I’ve no idea if they were just slower or didn’t follow the route.

The last few 15 or so miles flew by and took some crazy little country lanes. There were a couple of roads I was flying down going 20 odd miles an hour. It was pitch black as I was under heavy tree cover so I couldn’t see anything other than what my lights were illuminating. Additionally, they were such country lanes that you couldn’t really cross the middle of them because there was (I assume) grass/twigs/gravel so I had to stick to the edges. This kind of thing really keeps you on your toes.

3:28am. Seven miles to Dunwich.

One lovely sight was seeing a sign that said Dunwich – 7 Miles. I had to stop and take a photo of it (under the power of my bike light).

A little while later my GPS showed the finish on the map and also the sea. I was getting close. The sky was starting to get lighter although no sign of sunrise. The moon was also now starting to get hidden by cloud cover.

The final road is a long straight one direct to the beach. It was just before 3:50am as I was heading to the finish – and more importantly the cafe by the beach! I noticed that coming up from behind me were two cars. Probably people who work at the cafe. As the first one came past it slowed down alongside me, the lady wound down her window and shouted “You’re nearly there. WooHoo!!!” I said something like “Oh Yeahhhhhh” in return. She shouted, I shouted. Brilliant.

One final stop to get a photo of the ‘Welcome To Dunwich’ sign (see facebook link at the end of this report) and then I cruised along to the cafe. I stopped the clock and it said 3:54am. 6 hours 36 of cycling, 113.3 miles. Total elapsed time of 7 hours 23. My normalised power for the entire ride was 202 watts.

The second ‘half’ of the ride – 3 hours 38 of cycling and 61.5 miles gave me a normalised power output of 212 watts. Not bad for being in the middle of the night, almost entirely on my own, on roads I don’t know and on very little sleep. A great test of endurance.

4:08am. Now that's more like it. Breakfast.

After parking my bike I walked into the cafe by the beach and the first thing that hit me was the light – I was really bright in there (well, it seemed really bright). I took a seat (there were a few other riders in there), took my rucksack off and ordered the full English breakfast and a cup of coffee. Lovely.

From here on it I just sat around, chatting to other people who came and went. I wandered to the beach to watch the crazy people swimming (and some sleeping) and just generally hanging around.

6:41am. Quick photo opportunity.

I actually ended up hanging around for a good four-plus hours waiting for my lift back to London but it was actually quite pleasant. I ate a little, drank a little (non-alcoholic although some people were on the beer) sat around and generally didn’t ride anywhere on my bike. It was great to see people heading in to the finish and the look of relief and satisfaction on their faces having made it.

Shortly before packing up and leaving I saw both the Boris Bike arrive and also a chap called Chris who I’d seen many hours before and had ridden a cargo bike with two dogs sat in a box in the front. Check out the photo and find out more at his JustGiving web page.

Although I didn’t walk through the front door until about 2pm on Sunday afternoon – some 18 hours or so since leaving home (and without any sleep, not to mention being up from about 6am on the Saturday morning) it was a very enjoyable and different way to spend a Saturday night.

Although there was very much a sociable side to the ride, I ended up using the ride as a good training session and although this was quite a jump in distance for me (my longest ride this year was 75 miles at the start of June) and before that a 60 miler in April. The last time I rode this kind of distance was at Challenge Roth Ironman distance race last July.

Once I’d got to the finish I could have happily put some running shoes on and clocked up a few miles on foot but alas I didn’t have any other shoes with me. Later in the year I’ll need to do similar ride (but closer to home and in daylight) with a run at the end – part and parcel of Ironman training…

My route of the 2011 Dunwich Dynamo. 113 miles. Overnight.

Would I do the event again – yes. Would I recommend it – yes. Would I have done anything differently – no. I did think that a small head-torch would have been useful – especially if having to make any kind of repair to the bike in the dark but thankfully I didn’t have any mechanical issues whatsoever.

Those who didn’t bail out before the ride because of the weather forecast were treated with a great night out in ideal riding conditions – clear sky, tailwind, a good temperature and a lovely breakfast at the end.

The Dunwich Dynamo 2011 gets top marks from me.

Finally, Monday morning and I was up and about for a 5k run and a good swim at the local pool. #legsfeelfine

A more complete set of photos has been uploaded to Facebook so feel free to take a look as there’s a few other good ones there!

I wanted to get in a long run on the day of the race so the plan was for a moderate warm-up and then a slightly harder ‘race.’  The warm up was just under 4.5 miles – almost a lap of the single lap course and this was followed by waiting around at the start/finish area for about 25 minutes or so chatting to others as I waited for my start time (as its a handicap race).

When you’re eventually lined up ready to go it’s interesting to see the people who set off in front (who you want to chase down and beat) and the ones behind you (who are racing after you!).  This adds some pressure onto the race as you’re not just all starting together and seeing the super fast runners race off into the distance.

I last ran the course a year ago immediately before driving over to Germany for the Challenge Roth triathlon race.  Apparently I had a ‘steady’ run and completed the course in 34:56.  My best time over the course was in 2009 when I ran it in 32:03 (a few hours after a fast 5k at Bushy parkrun).

As I set off today I planned to push pretty hard and just see what happened.  I didn’t fancy being overtaken by too many people and once I caught the sight of the runners ahead of me I pushed on.

It took close to two miles before I was overtaken by the first of the faster runners.  When overtaken it gives you the impetus to try and stick with them, even though they’re faster.  This helped no end and I ended up having a good little run with Mark H. where we swapped positions with one another on three or four occasions (he got the better of me in the end).  One point of note during the race was about 1.5 miles from the finish, when a young deer ran out of some fern that we were running alongside and almost took out Mark.  It was so so close and he almost jumped out of his skin as it flew in front of him!  The perils of running in Richmond Park.

Very few other runners came past me (perhaps two or three others) and in the final couple of miles I was flying past many of the slower runners ahead of me.  Very motivational.

Conditions underfoot were very firm – the weather was cool and there was a fresh breeze blowing – which was really quite gusty in some of the exposed areas of the course.

As I crossed the line my time was 31:04 which put me at 11th position overall, and (more importantly) 11th fastest (out of 70 runners).  This was a 59 second personal best on the course so an excellent result.  The course is measured at 4.95 miles which equates to 6:17 minute miling over the bumpy terrain.  Finally, looking at my individual age graded performance chart at the Ranelagh Harriers website for club cross country courses this is my best ever performance – with an age grading of 72.2%.  I’ve never made it over 70 percent for the club before so I’m really pleased with this.

I ran this in 2007 and 2008 and missed the past two years as I felt that close to 10 miles running through very uneven terrain a week or two before an Ironman triathlon was far too risky.  This year I’m not doing an Ironman so it was great to go back and take part again.

To learn a little more about the run please see the post from 2007.  When I’ve done this run in the past the weather has been beautiful.  This time it was different.  It was pouring with rain!

A group of 7 or 8 of us headed off under the lead of Chris Owens who knows the park like the back of his hand.  With no maps he led us along paths, through undergrowth, through gates, across streams, over tree stumps and through woods to get to (I believe) 20 different ponds.  The route he took was excellent and without a GPS I wouldn’t have a hope in trying to do it on my own.

Although the weather was shocking the run was great fun and was nice and sociable.  I very rarely go social running with other people so this was a nice change.

Unfortunately my GPS had no battery power when I turned it on before the run so I the only information I have is that it was around 9 miles and took us about 1 hour 15 minutes in total along a route from the Ranelagh clubhouse back to the clubhouse.  The route I believe was the same as I’d run previously (maps available in the earlier posts).

We arrived with plenty of time to spare and after a cup of coffee I headed off for a warm-up.  The race is a flat figure-of-eight course completely on footpaths around a large housing estate – ideal for a fast time.  Weather wise it was great – warm but only a very light breeze.

Although it’s only a small race (in 2010 there were 157 finishers) the winning time was quick (25 minutes – 5 minute miling pace) so I knew I’d be some way back off of the front.

The start was pretty empty and I found myself on the line.  My only plan for today was to push hard and if I could hang onto something like 6 minute miling for a time of around 30 minutes I’d be happy.

The first couple of minutes I pushed off a little too quickly but that seems to happen in most races.  I then settled into a pace and had a runner very close to me for a couple of miles or so.  The leading runners were way up ahead and the next group up from me were two chaps and the leading woman.

Going through 5km my time was 18:39.

I then edged ahead of my nearest rival and kept the pressure on.  One of the men ahead of me pulled to the side with an ankle injury and I found myself closing in on the woman ahead of me.

I continued to dig in, hold pace and in the last mile I got past her and pushed on to the finish.

As I crossed the line the clock showed 30:01 which was close enough to 30 minutes for my liking!  I really pushed hard this morning and I think I had a great run.  It was hot out there and there was no drafting to be had for the entire 5 miles.  Extrapolating this time out to 10k a sub-38 minute time is certainly possible.  Perhaps something to aim for.

The winning time was 27:15 and my 30:01 put me in 9th position overall (out of 100 finishers).

Following the ‘main event’ it was time to run the 2 mile fun-run with seven year old Grace.  I can’t say that her pacing was up to much but although we ‘sprinted’ about 20 times, watched her sit on a bench to rest and also stop to look at a birds egg on the side of the path we ran the 2 miles in 21:55.  This was 10 minute 58 mile pace so not bad at all I’d say.  During the fun run, Harry raced off with his pals and finished in around 19 minutes, he looked pretty pleased.  Harry and Grace both beat their Mum, Kate ;)  Clearly she let them win…

The day continued with a visit to a Donkey Show (a bit like a dog show, but with donkeys!) and then lunch by the River Thames.  Good times.

Anyway, the Longest parkrun.  From the Longest parkrun page at parkrun.com…

“Started in 2010, the idea is simple – On the first Sunday after the longest day of the year, to visit as many parkruns as possible. But while the potential total distance is quite large (35km or 21.7 miles), this isn’t a heavy duty running event, it is first and foremost a social day – there’s no official timing, runners can turn up at as many (or as few) of the runs as they want, and do as much of the courses as they want.”

In 2010 I didn’t take part during the main activities as I was out for a long 90+ mile bike ride but I did run the final run in Bushy park and go for pizza afterwards.  This year I planned to run all the runs, with the added challenge of cycling between them all.  This was an easy decision – although I’m sure it would be tough later in the day the beauty of being on the bike mean that traffic/parking would not be an issue, especially in places such as Richmond Park in the middle of the day.

The schedule for the day was: Bushy Park (09:00), Bedfont Lakes (10:30), Old Deer Park (12:00), Richmond Park (13:30), Wimbledon Common (15:00), Kingston (16:30) and Bushy Park (18:00).

So, just before 9am on what was to be one of the hottest days of the year (!!!) around 50 runners lined up at Bushy parkrun for the first of 7 5k runs, with a little bit of driving/cycling between them.  As I was on my bike I firstly had to find someone to look after my bag of supplies (suncream, sports drink and food) and found fellow Ranelagh Harriers member Ted – who gave me some room in the boot of his car :)

9am – Bushy parkrun – 22:10

I ran Bushy parkrun fairly steady knowing that this would be a long day.  It was a fairly relaxed run and once we got to the end it was off on the bikes in convoy with about seven or eight others as we headed to Bedfont Lakes parkrun.

10:30am – Bedfont Lakes parkrun 23:16

We arrived with about 15 or so minutes to spare so not much time to get ready.  Bikes locked, quick toilet stop and then it was off.  This was tough.  The sun was shining brightly (a little too bright) and there is no shade at all on the course.  In addition a combination of suncream and sweat made my left eye water like crazy and I probably ran half of it with one eye closed!  I was happy to get to the end of that run – although the longest bike ‘transition’ (to Old Deer Park) was next.

12:00pm – Old Deer Park parkrun – 23:57

The bike ride to Old Deer Park took quite a while and we arrived at about 11:50am – with only a few minutes to spare.  Us cyclists were lucky – we had no trouble with traffic.  Drivers on the other hand had a nightmare – the combination of a ‘Race For Life’ event taking place in the park and an accident on the A316 road very close to the park which closed the main road made it very difficult for some runners to get to Old Deer Park.  Some parked their cars about a mile away and ran to the start, and others headed directly to Richmond Park (no doubt to join the queues getting into Pembroke Lodge car park!).

At midday those of us who were at the start decided that we needed an alternate course because of the park being so busy with ‘Race For Life’ walkers runners.  We chose to run to the Thames towpath and then do an out-and-back route of 5km.  Thankfully this was fully shaded and it was much more pleasant than it would have been had we been running the usual Old Deer Park parkrun course.

Now, because of the traffic problems my supplies bag was not at the park so my food and drink was nowhere to be seen.  Thanks to fellow runner/cyclist Martin he said he’d arrange to allow Ted to park his car in his work car park right by the start of Richmond parkrun and we’d all hopefully meet there before 13:30.

Danny and I gently made our way to the meeting point and I had to stop at a newsagents to get a bottle of coke and some water to drink.  It was hot out there and I hadn’t drunk enough.  We found some shade where we eventually parked our bikes and waited in the hope that Ted would arrive with the car.  About 15 minutes before the start of the parkrun he appeared so I stuffed down one of my sandwiches (a lovely chicken and bacon wrap), had a drink and topped up the suncream.  We then strolled over to the start.

1:30pm – Richmond Park parkrun – 22:53

Richmond I’d say is the toughest of the courses because of the long uphill drag to the finish.  A large group of us set off and before long I found myself running with Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun.  We chatted away and then he pushed on right towards the finish.  I was pleased with my run – especially as after four runs down I’d ‘broken the back’ of the days running and was getting closer to the finish.

3pm – Wimbledon Common parkrun – 22:38

Danny, Martin and myself made our way on bikes to Wimbledon with plenty of time to spare before the start.  Another cup of coke later and we were off.  This was a fairly uneventful run – nice and shady although I did almost get hit by two dogs that were in the park and decided to run directly in front of me!!  One of them so so nearly made me fall over.

All the cyclists regrouped after Wimbledon and headed to the Hawker Centre in Ham, which was the start of Kingston parkrun.

4:30pm – Kingston parkrun – 22:59

Before the start of Kingston I met up with my ‘supplies bag’ and took some more drink, food and ever important suncream.  I think my ‘stomach of iron’ meant I was able to eat just about anything and get on with it – even with a few minutes to spare before the start.  I did get a bit of a stitch during a couple of the runs but just pushed on and ran through it.

I was happy with this run and pushed fairly hard throughout.  About 15 minutes after finishing a few of us jumped on our bikes and headed off to Bushy for the finale.

6pm – Bushy parkrun – 21:24

The atmosphere was great at Bushy.  A few people who were there at 9am and were busy elsewhere during the day came back to support at 6 and we had time for a couple of group photos.

Run wise I found myself running along with two others (Ian and Tim) at the front of a (albeit unofficial) Bushy parkrun.  I’ve never experienced that before and probably never will.  I was pushing hard (well, this was the final run of the day) but just couldn’t keep up with the leaders.

About 1.5 miles in Paul Sinton-Hewitt made another appearance (he hadn’t run since Richmond earlier in the afternoon) and raced past me.  I couldn’t keep up him…. well, until he started to fade that is (!) and I dug in and pushed on.  Perhaps it was a combination of this being the last run of the day and the promise of a free beer at the finish line in a cool-box that kept me going!

After the finish - these are not my shoes by the way!

I then watched all the other finishers come in and then we slowly headed off – with a number of us heading for a well earned pizza and beer in Teddington.  It was a great day out and one that I’d thoroughly recommend to others.

So my complete times were as follows:

1. Bushy Park – 22:10
2. Bedfont Lakes – 23:16
3. Old Deer Park – 23:57
4. Richmond Park – 22:53
5. Wimbledon Common – 22:38
6. Kingston – 22:59
7. Bushy Park – 21:24

Total running time was around 2 hours 39 minutes for the 35km (21.7 miles) – an average pace of 7 minute 16 seconds per mile.  Add onto this the stop/start nature of the event and the cycling in between (of over 30 miles) and it turned out to be a pretty tough day.

Of all the starters there were 19 runners who completed all seven parkruns and there were five of us who ran them all and cycled between them all.  I was one of the five :)

I got a last minute entry and shortly before registration was dragged into a bit of a ‘smackdown’ with some friends (James, Danny and Stefan). Excuses were flowing strongly amongst us (Danny: “I can’t swim” — David: “I’ve not swum for weeks” — James: “My knee hurts”) but (multiple Ironman Lanzarote finisher) Stefan was keeping quiet.

The four of us registered in a pre-arranged order as this dictated your starting time (everyone was set of at 15 second intervals). Stefan, James, myself and then Danny, the fastest runner.  This would hopefully ensure that there’s a bit of overtaking of one another during the run – and as for the swim… this is anyone’s guess!

After the race briefing we headed to Bushy Park for the run start. The race was set to start at 7:30pm and based on our running numbers we’d be starting just before 7:40pm. Danny requested a final toilet stop so I followed went with him for a bit of a warm up and thought I may as well go to the toilet as well. We jogged across to the toilets at the cafe in Bushy Park hoping they’d be open – thankfully they were. We both scrambled in, struggled out of our one-piece triathlon suits and did what grown men do in public toilets!

As we left Danny said we had 10 minutes to get to the start line. Plenty of time. We started jogging through the park and then I saw some of the runners who had started. Perhaps the race had started a few minutes early. Either way we needed to get to the start quickly as we were starting in positions 38 and 39 (with Stefan and James 36 and 37). We certainly pushed a bit to get to the start to find that we were almost late! Danny said we had plenty of time and showed me his watch that said 7:33pm. I then checked mine that said 7:38. We were off within a minute of arriving at the start, much to the amusement of some of the competitors behind us.

So… after a quick team (smackdown) photo we were off, in the planned order.

After about 1km I had caught up with James (who started 15 seconds ahead of me) and at the same time Danny (who started 15 seconds behind me) came past – in what is known officially (at least if you listen to Marathon Talk) as a ‘three way pass’ – albeit we were all going in the same direction.

A little hurling of encouragement abuse at one another we pushed on… and were running a little too quickly for comfort!  About 1.25 miles in I caught up with Stefan and slowly edged ahead.  I needed to gain as much as possible on Stefan and James as they’re better swimmers than I am.

I pushed pretty much as hard as I could all the way to the end of the run leg.  I had my goggles stuffed down the top of my tri-suit about 30 seconds before the end of the run I got them out and put them on ready for the swim.  At the end of the run it was just a case of quickly getting my shoes and socks off and getting in the water for the 12 lengths of Hampton Open Air swimming pool.  My 5k time (including ‘transition’) was 18:45 and was 6th fastest.  The fastest run was 18:03 (by Danny).

I had a very uneventful swim.  I passed Danny before not too long and only caught up with one other swimmer.  During the second half the swim it got tough.  I also had the added distraction of knowing that I was being chased down by James and Stefan.  In fact I could see the blue of James’ triathlon suit in the lane beside me.  This spurred me on to push even harder and I happily got to the end of the 12 lengths (and thus the race) before them (actually I could have lost 15 seconds to Stefan or 30 to James because of our staggered starting times).

Within about two minutes of me finishing we were all out of the pool absolutely shattered from a great little race.  With the final results in my overall times were 18:45 for the run (6th fastest) and 7:51 for the swim (17th fastest).  My overall finishing time was 26:36 which was 6th overall out of 70 finishers.

I’m happy with this performance and may well have another go next year.  The added challenge of the ‘smackdown’ with friends made it even more enjoyable.

As I’m not racing an Ironman distance race this year I chose not to do the full 100+ miles (which is now 111 miles due to a change of race HQ) but instead opted for the ‘medio’ route – a mere 75 hilly miles! This would be my longest ride since Challenge Roth (112 miles) from July last year (I’ve ridden no more than 60 miles in one ride since then) so was sure to be a good little endurance test.  Although I’d been cycling a lot on my mountain/commuting bike into London for about 6 months or so – endurance was the main thing I don’t think I have – so this would be a good test.

Sharon and I arrived at the event HQ with plenty of time to spare before the start of the ‘medio’ ride which gave me time to realise that my clothing choice was very wrong for the conditions! I had opted for shorts and my triathlon racing top (no sleeves) and with the moderate winds and cool air, this certainly didn’t seem ideal.  My only choice was to go back to the car and grab a cotton t-shirt out of the back and wear this on top.

I believe I was the only person wearing a cotton tee during the event and I bet many people thought I just didn’t have a clue about proper cycling gear! At least I wasn’t head-to-toe in ‘pro team’ kit (Sky, Liquigas, etc.)!

OK, from here on in I’m going to be spouting out a few numbers. Not the usual heart rate stuff (especially not in this post as I left the heart rate monitor at home!) but more related to cycling power output. There’s going to be plenty more of this over the coming months so if you’ve no interest in this kind of data then feel free to skip the cycling posts in future.

After a 55 mile ride to my parents a couple of weeks before which I found really tough for the last few miles I decided to try and ride as much as I could to a steady power (215 watts – around 70% of my FTP) as this was similar to my 55 miler. I was prepared to slow right down on the uphills in order to keep the power as low as possible. The plan was that people could happily ride past me at these points and in the latter stages I’d still be able to maintain power and pass them all again :)

So… I set off and the job was just to concentrate on power. Out on the road it’s tough to stay steady because of all the different variables at play (wind, traffic, junctions, hills, etc.) but I tried my best. When it came to the climbs it was pretty much impossible to stick to 215 watts without slowing to about 2 mph and falling off (which I didn’t) – I just rode as slowly as I could to stay upright! Because of the number of hills (the race pack says 1760m of climbing) this pushed my average wattage up and looking at my data for the first four hours of riding (I’ll tell you why in a minute!) I had an NP of 224 watts.

I chatted to a couple of other riders on some of the tougher climbs (as I was riding ‘easy’) – one nice chap who chatted about Ironman racing and another guy who shouted to all around him at one point that ‘this is just like climbing the Zoncolan‘ – which almost made me fall off my bike with laughter!

On another hill I saw Sharon supporting by the side of the road so gave a quick flash of my ‘pirate’ top from underneath my ‘I don’t know how to ride a bike’ disguise t-shirt!

At the four hour point (after stopping very briefly for a quick toilet break and drink refill which will have cost a few minutes) I was just over 64 miles in (so 10 miles to go) and in the back of my mind I had my first thoughts about my overall time. Sportive events normally provide some timing ‘standards’….

“Although Sportives are non-competitive, riders often like to set themselves targets to aim for. The table below shows the time and average speed required to achieve either the Gold, Silver or Bronze standard at this event.”

The gold standard for the medio route was 4 hours 40 minutes. With 10 miles to go I thought I could have a good chance of getting this – however, with the refuelling stop I wasn’t sure exactly how much time I had and I also wasn’t sure about the hills in the final 10 miles.

I had a quick think and thought – ‘sod it, lets give it a go – I’m only 10 miles from the finish.’ So at this point I put the hammer down and started pushing hard. I was constantly overtaking people in the last 10 miles although it did seem that quite a few people were starting to put some extra effort in.

In the last 2 or 3 miles there were a couple of guys ahead of me who were pushing real hard and trying to work together. I’d ridden the entire ride on my own without any drafting whatsoever and had to push really hard to get near to them.

With under a mile to go I caught up with the two guys just as the one on the back shouted to himself something along the lines of ‘keep going’ – or something just as motivational! A few seconds later he stepped off the gas and I was beside him. I said ‘come on, less than a mile to go’ and his response was ‘I just cannot do it!’ so I pushed on and tried to get close to the guy ahead.

We ‘hammered on’ till the finish and as we crossed the line we stopped, shook hands and congratulated ourselves for a job well done – and a ‘gold standard’ time.

My finish time was 4:34:55 which was safely inside of the gold standard time of ’4:40:00′. Looking at the results (after getting them into Excel) I was the 13th fastest out of 241. Very happy with that.

Looking at the data from the final 10 miles my NP was 276 watts (up from 224 in the first four hours). Overall my NP was 232 watts – understandably more than my original plan to go for 215. Once I understand more about the figures and the graphs that I can get out of these sessions I’ll be able to pinpoint things I’m not doing right in order to get better.

So in summary, I rode much better than expected. If I can keep this fitness up (and build upon it) over the next few months then I hope to put in a good Ironman bike split next year. Only time will tell…