So here we are, Bank Holiday Monday and I’m up at 5:30 with my porridge in the microwave.  Shortly after 6 with a bit of panic when my bike computer decided to not turn on I cycled to Hampton Pool to register and rack my bike.

For these pool based swims there are two waves of racers – in May I was in the first wave and spent much of the race entirely on my own – although you do get the benefit of very little traffic on the roads at 7:15am.  This time I was in the second wave – and started at about 8:20am.  In the end there were actually no traffic problems and I quite enjoyed watching the first wave of swimmers.

Pre race I once again I estimated my 400m swim to be 6 minutes 40 (which is what they base your start time on) and the (426m) swim was pretty uneventful.  There was a lady who started ahead of me and after four lengths I tapped her toes to request to get ahead.  She let me past her and I swam in clear water for the rest of the swim, although I did feel her tap my toes a few times – which was more from nice close drafting as opposed to wanting to overtake (as we’d end up just swapping places with one another each length).  My swim time including transition was 8:50 (9:17 last time).

Transition 1 was fairly quick and before long I was onto the bike for the 21k ride.  The weather was bright and sunny, about 12 degrees c and a 9/10mph NNW wind.

I was overtaken by one person (Matthew) on the bike as he raced past with his fancy TT bike and disc wheel (I’ll have a decent bike set-up one day!)  Him racing past gave me someone to aim for and for the rest of the big leg I tried to keep him in sight.  We overtook a few people from the second wave and quite a few of the slower riders from the earlier first wave.  It’s great to see people of all abilities out on the course taking part in these races and if you ever want to give triathlon a try, then I’d strongly recommend the Thames Turbo races.

After the race in May I looked at my bike stats and wrote the following:

Looking at the bike leg data on my GPS I averaged 22.2 mph for the 36 minutes or so.  Interestingly (well, for me!) my cadence averaged 102 – all of my other rides this year have averaged about 91 rpm cadence.  Is this indication of me ‘spinning’ faster related to miles already in my legs [as I'd ridden 60 miles the previous day], or is it just how things are when you bust a gut and race hard for short distances.

In my recent rides I’ve started to slow my cadence down a little.  This may be partly because I’m no longer riding a ‘compact’ chainset on the bike but is also as a result of me moving into the world of training with a power meter (which I will post about one day!).  I currently seem to be getting better wattage from a slightly bigger gear.

Today was no exception and I chose gearing to slow my cadence down – today it averaged at 93 RPM.  Similar to the race in May, on the previous day (that’ll be yesterday) I did a longish ride (50 miles) so my legs were not completely ‘fresh.’  My official bike time was 35:51 (36:20 last time) and 23rd fastest (out of 362).  I’d love to know how many of the faster riders had aero helmets and time trial bikes – maybe I’ll take a look at the official photos and have a look.

From my GPS my average speed was 22.6mph (22.2 in May) and I don’t think I was anywhere near as exhausted at the end of todays ride as last time.  My heart rate averaged 161 and maxed at 167.  I didn’t have an HRM on in May.

Power wise I averaged 329 watts for the 35:32 which I clocked on my watch (the 19 second discrepancy to the official time will be because the official time starts a little way before the bike mount point).  Unfortunately I don’t have second-by-second power data for the ride so just have an overall average…. and there I was looking forward to spending hours trying to analyse it all in detail.

After the bike finishes you have a few minutes ‘non-compete time’ to get back to transition 2.  This was pretty quick and then I was out onto the run.  I didn’t plan to run this all out as I want to not put my right calf under too much pressure, but having said that, once I get racing I do get a little carried away with it all!  I soon overtook Matthew (who once again – see my run notes from 2008 – wanted to ‘hang onto the back of me’ – sorry… maybe next time?) and from here on in everyone I overtook I was moving up a position (at least, as they all started ahead of me) in the overall results.  In my eyes that’s encouragement to push on…

I overtook a few people, had some great pirate aarrrgghhh support on both laps and nearly got overtaken about 3.5k when I went past someone and he sat right on me.  I soon made sure that wasn’t going to last long and pushed on ahead to the finish.  My 5k time (including transition from bike to run) was 19:56, which was 11th fastest overall.

In May my time was 19:18, although it turns out that this was on a slightly shorter course – about 20 seconds quicker by my calculations.  The course change was because of a wasps nest that we were not aloud to run right past! The official run course is also measured as being about 70m long as well (thanks to a clarification post by TTTC at tritalk.co.uk) so that’s another few seconds in my favour :)

My run was comfortable throughout and I could have pushed harder if I had wanted to, but I kept things under control (just about).  My average heart rate was 167 and max was 177.  Funnily enough my Bushy parkrun from the past weekend had the same HR figures for exactly the same time.

Once again a cracking race at the Thames Turbo Triathlon.  Overall time/position wise in the provisional results my time is 1:04:37 (compared with 1:04:55 last time) and my position was 20th out of 357 finishers.

After getting packed up it was off to a local cafe for a late breakfast with Danny, Kirsty, Heather, Kath and Mr and Mrs Wilson.  Lovely.

Last Saturday was the first event so I popped along with a few others to give it a go.  The course is entirely on grass so I wanted to at least get a run in whilst the ground was dry and firm.  I’m not sure I’d want to run this course in the middle of winter.

60 of us lined up at the start for this three lap course.  I’d no plans to race particularly hard as my right calf is pretty tight at the moment (and has been probably since the Wedding Day race a few weeks ago) so wanted to get in just a solid run.

Early on the first lap a few of us got a little confused and ran a little off track (as there was a large group of other people exercising pretty close to the racing line) and when one person runs around them you all seem to follow…  Adjustments were made and I was sat in about fifth place.  As I started the third lap I moved into third place and maintained this position till the end, finishing in 19:44.

I don’t think the course is particularly fast, partly because of the grass surface and also the 6 (yes, 6) 90 degree turns you made on each (yes, each) of the three laps.  Its a lot of stop/start/stop/start on this course – maybe it could be used for some great fartlek training.

This weekend we had a couple of friends (Tom and Helen) staying over, both Ironman athletes with Tom being third place male overall at the Outlaw triathlon race last weekend (I’ll be writing about this race in the coming days).  His 5k best is 18:17 from a couple of years ago.  He was impressed that I came back from Challenge Roth a few weeks ago and ran just over 18:30 a week later and he (and I) wondered if he too could pull out a great performance.

Friday night was off to a local Italian restaurant.  I’m not sure that the beers were ideal preparation but Bushy parkrun is never really an ‘A’ race – it’s just that if you drink the night before you’re unlikely to be on top form at 9am on Saturday.

David and Tom (Williams) on the start line

As Tom and I lined up on the startline he asked me what I was going to aim for – I said about 18:30 and agreed that would be fine.  After a few award presentations (Paul, the founder of parkrun had completed 50 runs so was presented with a t-shirt) we all set off – and were honoured by the presence of 5000m Sydney 2000 olympic silver medalist Sonia O’Sullivan running alongside us.

To run 18:30 we need to be running 3:42 per km.  Tom planned to sit right behind me for as long as possible and at 1k we went through it in about 3:35.  The second km was in 3:33.  Oops.

Somewhere close to 3km Tom pulled up beside me.  I said something like ‘I think we’ve gone off a little too quick!’  His response was along the lines of ‘we’ve done 3k, no way we’re giving up now.’

We worked together and encouraged each other along from 3-4.5k.  It was really hard work and my heart rate was sat at about 185bpm.

Coming round the tree near Hampton Court Gate there was another runner right in front of me.  Tom was just starting to fall back at this point and I heard a shout of ‘Go Dave’ to which the guy in front of me put his foot down!  He was pretty tall and I’m always a fan of getting a good draft off of someone so I tried to sit behind him.  That didn’t last long.

Before long I was in the final straight – I wasn’t sure how close to 18 minutes I was going to be (as we were still both running much faster than originally planned) and as I crossed the line my watch flashed 18 minutes, 0 seconds.  Result.  HR averaged at 180 and maxed at 190.

This is my best Bushy parkrun time since October 2009 and I’m really pleased that I was able to get this time – especially after a solid 60 miles on the bike the previous day.

Tom couldn’t quite stick with me (fair dues though, he did podium the week before) but came through with a time of 18:14, which is a new personal best (PB).  Smiles all round.

That was the extent of my exercise for Saturday, and then Sunday morning it was off to Richmond Park for a 13.5 miler which I pushed pretty hard for the second half.

So, right now training is going well.  Lets see how long I can keep it up for as consistency is the key.

“Of the 52 Pirate finishers I finished 6 minutes ahead of the next placed Pirate – so was presented with a lovely wooden shield which I shall treasure for the next 12 months.  I felt honoured to have won this – especially with some of the other names on the trophy and I had to make an acceptance speech when I was called up to collect it.”

'Fastest Finisher (even though it says Novice) 145' Shield

So, 12 months is up and a couple of weeks ago I had to hand the shield back in readyness to be re-distributed at the prize-giving post Challenge Roth.  Unfortunately I wasn’t the fastest finisher at Roth so the shield has gone to a new owner.  I’ll hope to get it back in my possession again one day… ;)

You’ll see a photo of the shield here on the blog but I’m not going to explain what the strange engravings are beneath the names/races (oh, and the meaning of ’145′ on the shield).  To find out more I’d suggest trawling the forums at Runners World or coming along to the big pirate race in 2011 and asking someone.

In addition to getting the shield I am now slowly building up my pirate ‘ranking!’  This is a virtual hall of fame that was devised by Candy – one of the original pirates back in 2005.   Back in December 2005 he wrote…

Obviously we need a hall of fame, and I was sufficiently bored on my long ride last saturday to come up with a pirate rank system based upon experience.

The Rank system.
On a points basis, where only IM distance or longer counts for points. Its not a knitting club. 1 point per IM finish. 1 bonus point for doing the extra hard ones (norseman, lanzarote and [but only if you get in by the honourable route, qualification] hawaii). 2 points for double IM finish. 3 points for Triple, 5 points for Deca. 1 bonus point for every time you win a shield or set a record (above). 1 bonus point for becoming “reasonably competent” (i.e. the first time you crack 12 hours). 1 bonus point for becoming “outstanding” (i.e. the first time you crack 10 hours). -1 point for a DNF (its not a quitting club). Note that if you miss cut off but still finish the course (even if it takes 20 hours) then you still get the point.

There are a number of ‘ranks’ that you can get to over your Ironman career, which are as follows:

Ranks

-2 tritalker
-1 plank
0 landlubber
1 scurvey dog
2 seaman
3 junior pirate
4 pirate
5 2nd mate
6 1st mate
7 commander
8 captain
9 admiral
10 admiral (2 parrots)
11 admiral (3 parrots) etc
15 pirate king blackbeard

So, two years into my Ironman career and I’m doing alright having got myself four points and now at ‘pirate’ status:

1. Ironman Switzerland 2009 = 1 point
2. Breaking 12 hours = 1 point
3. Winning a shield = 1 point
4. Challenge Roth 2010 = 1 point

This is all a bit of fun, nobody really knows how many points anyone else has, and nobody is keeping scores.

Well, this year things are a little different. I’d competed in an Ironman 12 days before but earlier in the week of the Wedding Day race I thought I’d give it a go. I seem to recover very well from triathlon events and knew I had a good 5k in me after last weekends 18:32 at Bushy parkrun. I wondered what I could do over 7k.

For this race I have a time honoured pacing strategy – treat it like a 5k then hang on for the remaining 2k until the finish. Well, lets just say that I followed the plan like a treat!

After a short warm-up (and a 4 mile bike ride to the start) I made sure I was near the front row and set off close to Duncan and Chris from my club (Ranelagh Harriers). The pace was quick and we all raced off into the park.

The start of the Wedding Day 7k. Photo: Guy Watson

I knew we were going a bit too fast but this is the fun of this race – you know the last 2k is going to be painful so you might as well make it one to remember! As my watch beeped after a mile I glanced down and saw it say 5:41. Oops – just a little too fast. I turned to Duncan who was right beside me and said something like ‘I’m blaming you for this.’ His response was ‘I’m just following you!’

From here on in it was just hard running. Conditions were ideal – not hot although there was a little breeze in places. I found myself running very close to Joseph from 26.2 Road Runners Club who looked like he was running very comfortably. I was puffing and panting and really giving it some welly! Just after 2 miles I edged past him and tried to bridge the gap between myself and the runner in front – a runner from The Stragglers running club. It took almost a mile to get to him.

At the 5k point I looked at my watch and it said 18:02. Oops! That’s 9 seconds off of my 5k standalone PB. I knew for sure at this point that the final 2k would be hard hard work (hmn, much like the previous five were!).

I then drifted past Simon from Stragglers, we both gave each other words of encouragement and away I went. With just over half a mile to go Joseph came back past me and I tried to stick with him as long as I could.  I couldn’t quite stick to him ’til the finish but I certainly tried.

A few hundred metres before the finish I saw Roger W. supporting – he said something like, ‘take it easy David’ – he could see how hard I was working at this point.

Seconds from the finish. Photo: Guy Watson

I then turned onto the grass area, raced to the finish and stopped my watch. My overall time was 26:25, a 19 second PB on my time from 2008 and I finished 19th overall out of 506 finishers. Brilliant. I was chuffed to bits with this – a great hard run. This is the hardest that I’ve run over a short distance for a long long time – my heart rate averaged 179 and maxed at 190.

As with all local races the Ranelagh Harriers ‘stats’ man and webmaster, Ken, was there making notes on everyone’s finishing times. He also had his list of estimates for people and had mine down at 29:08! Shocking. I went over to him and jokingly complained at his poor estimate and he commented something like ‘but you hardly ever race.’ Fair point. Also I have to admit that my previous Ranelagh races haven’t been raced hard at all – so his data will be a little skewed to how I’m really running at present.

The evening finished off with a beer, some food and watching some of the European Championship athletics on the TV in the cricket club in the park. Another great Wedding Day race done and dusted. See you next year.

PS. Saturday morning dawned and I put in a steady 19:08 run at Bushy parkrun. That was my running done for the rest of the weekend. A good 60 miles on the bike on Sunday was all I could manage…

The Roth adventure began last year when I knew full well that David would enter another iron-distance race, despite saying originally that he was only doing one! Training went reasonably well for him (besides the broken metatarsal!) and before we knew it we were off to Germany.

I have to confess to feeling apprehensive – after such an awesome debut performance last year, I could sense that D was feeling pressure regarding what his finishing time would be this year. I don’t think this in intentional from anyone but it must make it tough. I was also feeling apprehensive about how I would be able to support him as the Roth course takes a different form to Ironman Switzerland in that it has split transitions. If I was a more confident cyclist, I would have taken my mountain bike and ridden around, as lots of people did, but I am not, so I couldn’t. If I had known what the day would bring, I would have done bike training myself!

Race morning dawned, cooler than it had promised and once more I was stood watching people prepare for the off. There is the most bizarre atmosphere in transition – it’s full of anticipation, yet calm and eerily quiet, especially in the half-light. You can see athletes lending each other things like pumps and goggles, not talking, just “being there”, some going off for quiet time, some with friends and family.

David did his prep, I took a few things back to the car, chatted to a few pirates and pirate supporters. Before I knew it, he was half in his wetsuit and it was about 30 minutes before the start. We decided it would be good for him to be away from people, to go and get himself ready. It’s hard, all those months of training for one day. There was no way I wanted him not to be in the right place in his head. As he left me, I was suddenly terrified. I haven’t been like that before, I have been nervous for him but this felt different. Little did I know that perhaps I felt like that because my day was not going to go according to plan! When he went off into transition to get ready for the start of his wave, I must confess to shedding a tear. Never done pre-race crying either. Oh dear.

I went and hovered around a bit, tried to get by the canal for a few photos, another trip to the car to drop off more of David’s kit, then I was back to transition. I heard David’s swim wave start and gave a little cheer and went to wait. His race times are detailed in his blog so I won’t go into that, suffice to say I was so pleased when I saw him come out of the water faster than we expected. I screamed at him in T1, but he didn’t hear me. Shouted at a lot more Pirates too, mixed bag of swimming fortunes I would say. Also did a bit of tweeting to update the Home Support Crew with how the Pirates were getting on.

After all Pirates were off on the bike, I headed off with Gill and Rick to the Solarer Berg and literally as we arrived I saw the back of David go through. I screamed and shouted and almost wondered if he heard as there was a little turn of his head. Apparently he hadn’t heard. We found a comfy spot and made camp, ready for the shouting. I have to say it was difficult for the 3 of us to be heard, some Pirates heard the shouts, some didn’t. I tried to get photos but they are not my best work and I knew at the time I would be disappointed. I was getting text message alerts about David’s progress on the bike, which showed he was going well.

The first Pirate we saw on their second lap was Melli who was looking really strong. I knew David should be fairly soon behind and I had received the 153km text alert. We waited, and waited, and waited. Terrible thoughts were going through my head. Had he come off? Where was he? Tried to keep myself under control, difficult to be honest. Still no sign of him. Started to see other Pirates. Oh feck. Where was he? My heart was beating like mad. Suddenly my phone bleeped, another text message: “David Rowe is out on the run”. What. The. Feck. How did we miss him? It’s not like Pirate kit is subtle is it. I was gutted I hadn’t been able to cheer him. I was worried he would notice I wasn’t around – of course in sensible mode I know that wouldn’t be on his mind, the race was on his mind – but I was being irrational!

Shortly afterwards, things started to go a little awry. Not for David, for one of our other Pirates. I shall not detail it here, suffice to say all is well but it’s bloody scary being the wife of someone when all is going, shall we say, not to plan. We needed to get to T2, or the finish, to check out what was going on. It was a nightmare. We ended up going about 35 km to go 6! I was worrying for our Pirate, and his wife and (at the back of my mind as I knew D was OK from the text alerts) I was worrying that I hadn’t seen David. I just wanted to cheer him on.

We got to the finish and found out all was well with our Pirate (thank goodness for that!!) and by that point I was weighing up whether I could get out on the run course and back to the finish. To be honest, I was panicking that if I went out, I wouldn’t get back. I know it’s ridiculous. I was not at my most rational by this point in the day. I decided I was going to find a spot and stick to it and await David’s arrival.

I had about an hour to wait, I busied myself cheering people in. I was getting the text alerts still, he was running so well! I was starting to get excited, trying to work out possible finish times. Soon enough, I saw a flash of yellow! I was absolutely screaming my head off as he looked so focused, I was worried he wouldn’t even see me there if I didn’t. After what seemed an age, he locked eyes with me. We had seen each other! Finally! After the whole bloody day! I watched him run under the gantry and almost immediately I got my text alert with his finish time. 10:10:58. Wow! I believe my tweet was something like, “David is fucking awesome”. He is.

This time he appeared out of the finishers area really quickly. I saw him, ran over and gave him a massive hug. It was the kind of hug that you don’t want to end and then once again the tears flowed. It did of course end and before we knew it, it was the finish party :)

I am so proud of him. I really am. He is so motivated and determined and strong of mind. Once David sets his mind to something, you know he will give it his all. To say I am proud doesn’t seem enough – it’s a massive understatement. He knows how I feel though. I am also so proud of our Pirates, they demonstrate the very same qualities. They are seriously tough to be out there for more than half a day. It’s an honour to be standing on that finish line cheering them on. Joy and pain, all in one day, who could ask for more?

After running a steady 5 mile race for my running club on Tuesday evening we raced home, quick shower and some food and then jumped in the car for the drive to Dover. We caught a ferry to Calais shortly after midnight and the plan was for Sharon and I to just drive and drive, swapping over whenever the driver felt like a snooze! This continued on and on and after a couple of short breaks and plenty of driving we made it to our campsite in Roth. The weather was boiling with the temperature measurement on the car reading over 35 degrees centigrade. We were hoping it wouldn’t last until race day on Sunday. That night we had a huge thunderstorm which cleared the air a little – Thursday was much more pleasant.

Transition bags at registration

Thursday lunchtime we headed to the ‘race village’ and registered. I picked up my goodie bag, timing chip and transition bags. A stroll round the town centre and then back to the campsite. I then went out on the bike for just over an hour to get my bearings and test out a couple of the hills. The roads were silky smooth and it was lovely. Bring on race day!

At the canal for a test swim

Friday morning started with an early swim in the canal where the swim was taking place. This gave me a chance to get a feel for what it was like (visibility was very very poor, but the water was lovely and warm) and also to understand where everything was in transition. It was another very hot sunny day today so at lunchtime I went out for a three mile run to get a feel for how hot it could be. The short answer is… VERY! In the evening a large group of us headed into town to watch one of our younger fellow ‘pirates’ taking part in a smaller triathlon. It was great to support Jack in the race and he did really well.

Saturday was a day mostly of rest. I sorted out my bike and also my transition bags, as the run bag (containing shoes, socks, suncream, gels and a running visor) needed to be handed in today when I racked the bike in transition. At lunchtime we took the bike to the swim start/transition one to get everything racked.

Challenge Roth doesn’t have a mass swim start – we all go in waves. The pro’s start at 6am and then there’s regular groups setting off for a good couple of hours or so. My start was at 6:50am.

The alarm was set for 3am and soon afterwards I was enjoying a hot cup of coffee. Shortly before 4 I had a big bowl of porridge and then we set off to the start, following the advice to get there early. The weather was cloudy, hardly any wind. Result.

At the race site I made the final preparations to the bike – pumping up my tyres, attaching the saddle bag and ensuring I had plenty of energy gels attached to the bike. I had 10 gels attached to the bike and I planned to get a few more from the aid stations on the course.

Breakfast

At about 6:15am I got into my wetsuit and had the first of many energy gels. I gave Sharon a kiss (with a tear in my eye) and headed off for a final toilet stop. I then went over to the swim start area about 10 minutes before my ‘wave’ was to start. Its a really strange feeling waiting with hundreds of other people minutes before a very long day that we’ve all been training months for is about to start. A strange old feeling.

As soon as the previous wave began (five minutes before mine) about 250 of us headed into the water and had a couple of minutes or so to get accustomed to the canal and to get to the start. I deliberately chose to start about three people back from the front row as I didn’t want any (or much) kicking and punching early on in the swim. In the minute before the start most of the swimmers were saying good luck to one another and then there was a round of applause. At approximately 6:50am the gun went and that was it – we were off.

Competitors nearing the end of the 2.4 mile swim

The swim is a single lap 2.4 mile course, so no getting out of the water briefly at the half way point as in Ironman Switzerland last year. Because of the poor visibility I found it really hard to draft off of anyone and pretty much swam the entire swim on my own. I had no idea if I was swimming well – I just got on with it and kept reminding myself to concentrate on good technique.

Coming into the race I was expecting a slower swim than last year because I’d only been swimming once a week this year compared with at least twice a week last year. I’d also only swum over the 2.4 mile Ironman distance once this year, whereas in 2009 I’d done it eight times in training. Swimming in the canal was really cool as every time you breath you can see people cheering at the edge of the canal. Also, as you head nearer to the start/finish part of the swim course it gets really noisy from all the supporters – there were thousands of them out there.

As I came out of the swim I glanced at my watch – it said 1:04:09 – flippin’ ‘eck I thought – that was good. My swim last year was 1:08. I’ve no idea where that came from but I wasn’t complaining. I was expecting it to be more like 1:10-1:15. I ran up to the transition tent collecting my bag on the way.

I was 508th in the swim (out of 2,828 who completed the swim). The fastest swim time was 46:51 by Pete Jacobs of Australia.

The transition tent is a funny old place. I’ve never competed in a race with one before (normally my transition gear is all by my bike) but I really liked it. You run in, find somewhere to sit and get your wetsuit off and your bike shoes/socks on. I put my wetsuit into the bag and left it for the volunteers to look after it ‘til after the race.

Heading out of transition 1 to begin the 112 mile bike leg

I ran out to my bike, and knew exactly where it was amongst the hundreds of bikes in the transition area. One thing you really should do before the race is rehearse transition – tracing the steps from the tent to your bike – and noting anything that will help you find the bike quickly – like trees, waste bins, etc.

I got to the bike, put my helmet and sunglasses on and ran to the mount point. There was a big cheer of ‘Go Pirates’ from somewhere in the crowd which really cheered me up. I jumped on the bike and headed off for 112 miles miles of fun/torture (delete as applicable!)….

Transition 1 time was 3 minutes 10 seconds.

At the start of the bike its a relief to be doing something different for a change and after lying horizontally in the water for over an hour its good to be ‘upright’ again. My heart-rate was high at the start of the bike (averaged 162 for the first mile) but this was to be expected and I knew/hoped that I could bring it back down and under control soon after. After a few twists and turns on the course I settled into the ride ahead of me. About half an hour into the bike leg I overtook my first pirate – Lou. We gave each other a little encouragement and continued on our way. Because of the wave starts people are on the course at all different times and it’s really difficult to determine how you’re doing compared to other competitors.

I’d say that there are two main hills on the bike course, the first main one at Kalvarienberg, just outside of Greding at the southernmost tip of the course. This is about 22 miles in and has a short sharp climb early on and then just goes on and on. The race pack describes it as follows:

“At the southernmost point of the bike course this hill stretches the athletes to the limit. The ascent, which is about 1.5 km long and up to 10 % steep, must be passed twice. But don’t be afraid: The crowds of cheering spectators almost carry the athletes up the road. So even this steep hill feels as if it was flat.”

Once you get to the top of the hill, it seemed to keep on going. There was a bit of a headwind and the road just remained undulating upwards until the peak at about 27 miles. There then followed a fast little descent with a few hairpin turns as we headed towards Obermassing and then it was back to normal with some gentle undulations.

There were plenty of other cyclists nearby, and we were all doing a pretty good job to avoid drafting (which is not allowed – it’s meant to be an individual effort). On the first lap of the bike course I saw lots of motorcycles go by who were looking for and penalising offenders (they get shown a card and have to stop at a penalty station further up the course).

Although the bike course is fast, its certainly not flat. The roads are beautiful and smooth but its continually up/down/up/down throughout. I thought there were few long flat sections out there. Looking at the profile of the course and what my GPS measured, it said there was 1,504m of climbing on the overall route (both laps). Looking at my data for Ironman Switzerland it says 1,457m of climbing. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the comparison (last year it was recorded on a Garmin 305 and this year a 705) but I’d rate the courses as being very similar overall in terms of climbing.

Course Profiles - Challenge Roth (top), Ironman Switzerland (bottom)

The next big climb is the one that everyone who’s ever raced at Roth remembers – the Solarer Berg. This is shortly after 43 miles and is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. After a little incline a few hundred metres before you race down into Hilpolstein and take a right hand turn. This is where it begins. The climb is described in the race pack as follows:

“It’s Franconia’s most famous hill and also a synonym for the fascination of triathlon in Roth. Every athlete who has ever climbed that hill only once during the Challenge Roth, and has made his way through the crowds of enthusiastic spectators, is inadvertently infected with the triathlon virus! This is something you just have to experience!”

Solerer Berg

There are literally thousands of people here cheering and supporting. Before the climb begins proper there are barriers at the side of the road. They then suddenly disappear and the crowds are everywhere. You can’t see where you’re going for all the people – you can only see the wheels of the person in front of you. Without riding Le Tour de France this has to be the closest you’ll ever get to the kind of support these guys get on the mountains. It was amazing. As you get to the top there’s another aid station (they’re very frequent on the course) so you can refill drinks/gels etc.

A few miles later you go past the bike start area and begin your second lap. Looking at my first lap I measured it at slightly over 52 miles, an average HR of 18, a max HR of 170 and an average speed of 20.3 MPH. Cadence was 96 RPM. I’d planned to keep keep my heart rate around about 140 BPM and it was all going to plan. I also wanted to ensure I kept my cadence comfortably over 90 RPM (don’t worry, I have a cadence sensor to do the counting!).

Shortly into the second lap as I went through Eckersmuhlen and the “Beer Mile” was in full swing. This is an area in the centre of the village where local bars put tables right up beside the road and there are a few hundred people sat there drinking, eating and shouting support right beside the road. It’s really uplifting and you can’t help but smile.

During the second lap I saw a few more ‘pirates’ on the course. I cycled past Grant, who was sat at the side of the road with a mechanical failure that unfortunately messed up his entire race and then shortly after the hill at Greding I saw John (who was on his first lap of the bike having started in a much later swim wave). This was his first (and planned last) Ironman event and the thing that amazed me was that he’d never ridden further than about 60 miles in one go before! I’m not sure I’m a fan of his preparation but he was getting on with it. He’d recently suffered a puncture and had to walk up the hill to the mechanical aid station for assistance, but he was back on the bike and working hard.

One of the highlights of the bike course had to be a sight that made me chuckle. A man by the side of the road, in full view of everyone, squatting (to have a, er, number two), with his cycle shorts round his ankles and his long pointy ‘aero’ cycle helmet on. What a sight!

I could see my heart rate dropping a bit during the second lap so I really had to work hard to get it back up to where I wanted it to be, which in turn kept my speed up where I wanted it to be. Towards the end of the second lap I crept past Emma who said I was the first pirate she’d seen all day. This wave start business is really strange. Lap wise, I kept my average HR at 138 (max was 153) and my average speed for the lap was 20 MPH.

After heading through Eckersmuhlen for a third time I turned off to do the final few miles to the bike finish and transition two. There was a group of pirate supporters here who gave me a great big cheer.

The rest of the bike was uneventful as I cruised along to transition. As I got to transition I unfastened the velcro and took my feet out of my shoes, and then as I came to a stop I handed my bike to one of the volunteer helpers and then ran (in some sort of zig-zag i-have-not-walked-for-5-and-a-half-hours type running motion) to the transition tent where I was handed my run bag.

Total bike time was 5 hours 25 minutes and 50 seconds with an average speed of 20.2 MPH for the 109.8 miles that my GPS measured. Heart rate was 138 average and 170 max with an average cadence of 95.

I was 909th overall on the bike. This is OK, but I think I should be quicker. I don’t have fancy race wheels or a time trial bike, and I know my riding position could be improved but I can’t complain at cycling over 20 miles per hour non stop for nearly five and a half hours straight!

Nutrition wise I drunk energy drink probably 90% of the time (water the other 10%) and had about 14 or 15 gels (last year I had 7 gels but a few more flapjacks/powerbars). Half a banana was had at one of the early feed stations and I ate a very small piece of flapjack that I’d put on the bike (I threw the rest away). Although I didn’t feel hungry I was ensuring that I had a gel every 20-25 minutes whether I wanted one or not. It is these kind of nutritional plans that help to ensure you don’t have a bad run later in the day. Things you do/eat at 9am make a difference to how you run 7 hours or more later. I also had three or four electrolyte capsules.

Before I talk about the run I will say that I cycled the bike leg with a power meter. I’ve only recently bought it and do not yet have it set up to alert me to zones etc. I had it on the bike today just to record data. I turned off all power related screens on my bike computer so I couldn’t get confused or try and ride to power – I just wanted to record the data for later analysis. When I eventually get around to doing it I’ll post some more information about how I rode the Roth course from a power perspective and whether I paced myself well or not. Stay tuned….

Transition two consisted of changing socks to a nice clean pair and also putting on my running shoes (I’m using Asics 2150’s at present). I grabbed my running GPS, visor and a bag of ‘goodies’ to sort through during the first few minutes of the run rather than when in transition (my transition time from bike to run was 2 minutes 50 seconds). The bag consisted of the following:

• four caffeinated energy gels. All the gels prior to this were ‘normal’ ones. I had these four with me to give myself an energy ‘boost.’
• suncream.
• vaseline.

I managed to drop one of the gels but got the other three stuffed up my shorts (which is a great storage place!). I put some suncream on my shoulders and arms as the sun was really starting to come through and also put a little vaseline on to stop my top from rubbing.

My plan for the run was to aim for a 3:45 marathon. This would be running 8:30 miling pace. I’d also keep an eye on my heart rate as well and make adjustments as necessary.

I seem to have a habit of flying during the early part of the run and although I tried to ease back I went through the first (slightly uphill) mile in 7:46 (heart rate 145). I needed to ease off some more and eventually I did with the following miles being 8:06, 8:13, 8:26, 8:24. I wanted to keep my heart rate around 145 and I was running very comfortably at this point.

The run consists of mostly running along the ‘towpath’ of the canal along with some tarmac roads/paths and a little grass/mud by a forest. It’s a single lap run mostly as an ‘out and back’ so you can see other runners coming the other way almost all of the time.

About 3 miles in it felt like my sock was folded or something in my right foot. It didn’t feel right and I knew at some point I’d need to get my shoe off to sort it out. Every bench I ran past had people sat on it and I eventually found somewhere reasonable to sort myself out at about 10km (6.2 miles). I took my shoe off and noticed that my sock was fine – it was probably just a blister on its way! I can deal with that.

At this point you head off of the canal path and through the village of Schwand. Running through the town (about 1:15pm) there were people everywhere supporting, eating, drinking and enjoying the carnival atmosphere. The smell of BBQ food at one point was really quite strong (and tempting!).

At 9.4 miles it was back onto the canal path for just over six long miles. It seemed never ending. The weather was really getting quite hot and the aid stations every two kilometers were the main thing that kept me going. Knowing that I could get some sports drink, an energy gel and some water soaked sponges to cool myself down with was a great way to break the run into smaller segments.

At 15.7 miles you head off the canal, through a small forest area and onto a road that climbed slightly uphill to get you up and onto a bridge that goes over the canal. Once you get to the turnaround just after 17.5 miles I knew that I was on my way back. At this point my average pace so far (after about 2 hours 25 running) was 8:21 minute miling with an average heart rate of 146. Everything was on track. Heading back to the canal path I stopped briefly for a very quick wee. This, the turnaround point and when I had to take my shoe off were the only times that I stopped/walked during the run.

Once I got back onto the towpath I started doing a few maths in my head. I knew that I was on time for a sub 10 hour 30 Ironman and if I could increase my pace I could maybe just get very close to 10 hours 15. This would be unbelievable if I could but I had to give it a go. In an Ironman distance event some say the race doesn’t start until 20 miles into the run, and at this point I started to race proper.

At Ironman Switzerland last year although I was knackered after crossing the finish line I knew there was more in me. This time I wanted to make sure that I used every bit of energy in me to get to the line and anything less meant that I wasn’t trying hard enough. I’d trained through the winter and spring for this event, spent a lot of money on entry/travel/nutrition etc. and wanted to ensure that by the time I finished I’d given it everything I could.

Less than a mile to the finish and pushing as hard as I could

So, shortly after 20 miles or so I started to pick it up. My heart rate moved up to 150, then 152, 153, 156, 157….

Throughout the run I worked on a nutrition strategy similar to the bike – gels every 20-25 minutes and I also took a caffeinated gel on the hour, each hour. They tasted disgusting (just as bad as they did last year) but I know they do me good, so I just had to HTFU (harden the f**k up) and deal with it!

At about 22 miles you leave the canal path for the last time and head back towards Roth. At this point I was giving it everything I could. There was every possibility that I’d blow up from the effort involved and end up finishing in similar style to the famous Ironman Hawaii finish by Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham in 1997. There was only one way to find out…

As I headed into the town centre I was overtaking quite a few people, my pace during the last few miles had gone from 8:20 miling to 7:35!!! I was running as fast as I could and giving it everything I had. It wasn’t pretty but I didn’t care – I just wanted to get to the finish as quickly as I could.

Through the town centre there’s a few cobbled streets to run on which I barely noticed. There was a couple of sharp turns in the town square and there were people everywhere supporting. The atmosphere (from what I could gather from outside of my own ‘hurt zone’) was electric.

I then saw another km marker in the distance. From my watch I was expecting it to be the 40km marker but I was hoping to see 41km. Thankfully it did! A couple of turns later (and a grunt at the pirate support from one of the town centre cafes) and I was at the triathlon park and the finish area. The blue carpet was ahead of me and I was going to smash 10 hours 15 out of the ball-park. As I ran down the ‘chute’ I caught a glimpse of Sharon screaming and cheering, I believe I high-fived her and just carried on. It was the first time I’d seen her all day since about 6:15am this morning. I wasn’t planning on any showboating or anything – I just wanted to get the best time that I could.

Straight after the finish, and smiling again!

As I crossed the finish line I raised my arms in joy. My official time was 10 hours 10 minutes and 58 seconds. I was ecstatic. I was given my finishers medal, then as I walked away someone else came to me and asked if I was OK. I replied that I was ‘fine, thank you for asking’ and continued on (some people collapse at this point!). I had my photo taken by one of the official photographers and was then given an alcohol free beer. It was bliss!

My marathon time was 3 hours 35 dead. This was 11 minutes faster than at Switzerland. Awesome. This is only just over 15 minutes slower than my standalone marathon time (London 2009) which I think I need to address!

Run wise I was 354th fastest out of just under 2,700 finishers. The quickest run was 2:39:43 by overall race winner Rasmus Henning of Denmark (who finished overall in 7:52:36).

Looking at the results I was 436th overall (out of just under 2,700 finishers, and over 2,830 who finished the swim but not the bike/run). I was 413th male and 110th in my age category (male 35-39). In Switzerland last year I was 572nd out of 1979, so much much better this time.

With beer in hand I found my way back to Sharon and the pirate supporters for a big hug. I was in shock at how good my time was (so was Sharon) and was just grinning away. She’d been getting official SMS text updates all day long and then other text messages and twitter/facebook messages were coming in on my mobile from friends back home watching online.

A while later I headed back to the ‘athletes village’ area, had some food (not much though, as I find it hard to eat straight after a big session) and then went off in search of a shower.

I got to the shower area, stripped off (there was nudity everywhere to be seen in this area – and to be honest I couldn’t care less) and got in a queue. The heat from the steam in the shower area didn’t help and I started to feel really faint. After a couple of minutes or so I gave up, stumbled away and just lay on the grass for about 10 minutes. I eventually got some composure, made it back to the showers and when one became available I had the quickest ever rinse/wash that I think I’ve ever had. I just had to get clean before I would pass out. I made it out of the showers just in time and sat back on the grass and dried under the early evening sunshine. After getting changed I stocked up on food/drink/beer and headed back to the supporting area.

From here until the very end (about 11pm) I watched, cheered, screamed, shouted, took lots of photos and generally had an absolute blast. The finish line party at an Ironman event is something special and you have to be there to experience it. Watching people come in to finish with either smiles on their faces or signs of pain is unforgettable.

As darkness fell and the official timing and end of the race neared race winners Rasmus Henning, Chrissie Wellington and the other top end professional athletes were by the finish handing out medals. A huge (and I mean huge) firework display took place and as the last finishers came through the athletes made a human ‘arch’ at the finish line.

I found myself conveniently right in the middle of the area about 10 feet from the finish line (having a camera with a big lens makes you look rather professional so security seem to turn a blind eye to you) and got a few great photos of the finish area.

After 11pm we all slowly drifted away from the finish area. Sharon and I headed to the car and headed back to transition 2 to find my bike and my swim/bike bags with all my gear in. We then drove back to the camp site, had a drink and retired for the night.

Roth is an amazing race and one that I’d love to do again one day. If you’re a supporter you’d do well to get yourself a bike and move around to support that way as going by car is really tough because of the road closures that are in place.

So, what next…. the trouble with most of these Ironman distance races is that you have to enter them a year in advance and I’m not sure I want to commit to one next summer. What I’m currently thinking is concentrating on getting a better standalone marathon time under my belt and also getting some good cycle training in next year. If I don’t do something like the Outlaw Iron distance race in the UK in August 2011 then my next big race will be in 2012, and it could be any of them…possibly even Challenge Wanaka in New Zealand.

My plan was to run steady, not hard and also be very very aware of any uneven ground – the last thing I want now is a twisted ankle!

I followed my plan well and ran the 4.96m course in 34:56 – around 7 minute miling.  Not bad for a cross country course in Richmond Park.  As it was a handicap race and I was taking it easy I finished 49th out of 55 competing runners.   In the order of speed I was a more respectable 25th fastest out of 77.  The extra 22 runners were ‘guests’ – those who do not have an official Ranelagh Harriers handicap time.  Only those who do (55 of us) were eligible to race and win the Coad Cup.

I was happy with the run and straight afterwards Sharon and I raced home, grabbed a bite to eat and headed off to catch a ferry from Dover to Calais…

Sharon and I left for North Wales mid-morning on Friday and after a leisurely drive we arrived at the camp site late afternoon.  The weather was lovely and there were a few other ‘pirates’ already set up and relaxing so they were able to watch Sharon and I put up our tent in this highly pressured situation!

On Saturday I went for an easy spin of part of the bike course, partly to test out the fancy deep rim HED race wheels that Andy had let me borrow for the event.  About 18 miles done and all seems well with the bike.

LLyn Celyn

Sharon and I then did a little sight-seeing and had a watch of some of the action at the National White Water Centre.  One day I think we’ll have to get a bunch of us out on one of the rafts.

After a quick spot of lunch it was time to register for the race.  I jogged the 2.75 miles from the campsite to the sports centre whilst Sharon cycled alongside.  After registration we met up with many of the other pirates for the traditional Saturday afternoon swim in the lake.  The water was cold, and certainly refreshing.  The weather was stunning so we spent probably a couple of hours or so relaxing by the lake.  After running back to the campsite Sharon and I then headed out to get our pre-race meal….. In the past I’ve tried pasta, rice, etc. but thought we’d go for an altogether different option – fish’n'chips.  Actually I had a large sausage and chips but you know what I mean.  There were certainly plenty of carbs to be had from the chips.  I’d soon find out if it was a good decision or not!

Bike, race wheels and tent.

Sunday morning and an easy ride to the start.  Sharon followed in the car with my transition gear.  Got myself body marked with my race number and then setup in transition – including walking the route from the swim exit to my bike to make sure I knew where to go.

Swim – 2km

I do this everytime – that is, get myself into a bit of ruff’n'tumble in the swim.  I normally do this on purpose so it will make me more confident when it happens again.  I think I’m getting better at dealing with the kicks and punches but it’s really not my idea of fun!

Swim start.

The water at the start was as always very shallow – not much more than waist deep.  So much so that a few seconds after the start Sharon saw people walking rather than swimming through the melee!  The water was fairly smooth (nothing like in 2009) although there was a bit of a breeze coming in.

I decided to start near the middle of the start line and right on the front row – expecting a bit of action from the go.  The plan was to swim hard for the first 50 meters or so and then find a fast swimmer to draft off of for the next 1,950 meters.  A great theory!  I swam hard, and then a couple of seconds after easing off I started feeling arms and legs and people starting to swim all over the top of me.  At one point I went to breath and got pushed underwater so ended up taking on board about a pint of lake water!  A few seconds later I decided that this wasn’t for me so I swam to the outside edge of the pack and swam on my own.  In fact I had clear water until the first turning buoy.  The rest of the swim was uneventful.  I didn’t enjoy the first few minutes of the swim and it took me a while to get settled.

My swim time was 36:04, my quickest ever swim at Bala, although two years ago I hadn’t done much open water swimming before and last year the conditions were rough, but I’ll take this time quite happily.  I was 234th out of 626 (including relay teams) in the swim.

Swim: 36:04 (2009 time: 38:22, 2008 time: 37:37)

My swim position was 234th out of 626.

Transition 1 was pretty quick – 1 minute 58 compared with 2:25 last year.  No complaints.

Bike – 78.5k

The bike is always a tough one and there was a bit of a breeze this year to make matters worse.  The weather wasn’t hot sunshine like in previous years but it wasn’t too cold for just my tri shorts and top.  Nutrition wise something wasn’t right.  I had a bit of a stomach ache during a good part of the bike.  I don’t know why (surely not last nights dinner) but this made it harder for me to take my gels onboard and I gave up on my PowerBar bars after a single bite.  I drunk plenty of sports drink so at least that was good, but my stomach wasn’t right and I hoped it wasn’t going to give me trouble during the run.

On the bike...together with tan-lines from the day before!

Other than that I think I had a good solid ride to the turnaround point at 25.6 miles.  I got there in 1 hour 18.  Last year I got to the same point in 1:17:32.  Pretty similar.

Shortly before the turnaround the lead female (Louise Collins) flew past me on the way to a 2:24:45 bike split.  The women started a few minutes after the men and she was absolutely flying.  I’m not surprised after only a few weeks before she finished 2nd female overall at Ironman Lanzarote.

During the second half I battled on.  I had trouble getting my heart rate up and being able to push hard but I did what I could.  Once I’d past about 39 miles (and the biggest climb of the day) it’s all downhill back to Bala so I pushed harder and had an enjoyable end to the bike.  Maximum speed on the bike was 40.8 mp/h.

Bike: 2:37:39 Average/Max HR: 142/167 (2009 time: 2:36:50 HR:147/170, 2008 time: 3:05:13).

My bike position was 173rd out of 627.

Transition 2 took me 1 minute 14.  In 2009 it was 1:33.

Run – 20k

I’m not sure if I really enjoy the run or not at Bala.  I love running but this is a tough old course.  It’s relentless and never ending up/down/up/down.  About 1k into the run I was getting plenty of pirate ‘aaarrrgghhh’ support from people on the early part of the course.  As I’m strong on the run and have more of a background in this sport I enjoyed it when I went past a chap who moved over slightly to let me pass and said to me “I read your blog and there’s no way I’ll be able to keep up with you.”  I thanked him (whoever you are) and continued on.

The first half of the run was mostly into a headwind and also has most of the climbing in it.  It was tough.  I overtook quite a few people in the first half and very few people went past me.  This is how I like it :)

After the turnaround I knew I was on the ‘home straight’ so was able to push on with it.  A veteran competitor from Oxford Tri club came past me and I decided to stick with him as much as possible.  I kept close for as long as possible but during the final mile or two he drifted away.  I think only one other person overtook me during the second half of the run.

The final 100m of the run.

The pirate support was great during the run and I was able to cheer ‘Go Pirates’ every few minutes to people running the other way.  Now that I’ve done it (three years in a row) I really wouldn’t want to do this event not dressed in the ‘classic’ yellow/black pirate combo!  It rocks.

Run: 1:31:18 Average/Max HR: 159/173 (2009 time 1:32:45 HR:162/181, 2008 time: 1:40:58).

My run position was 94th out of 624 runners – clearly my best discipline.

It was a relief to be headed to the finish after a very tough race and when I crossed the line I was very pleased to find that my overall time was once again sub 5 hours.  I was happy with how the run turned out – with it being my fastest time here at Bala.  Next year I’d like to dip under 90 minutes for the run.

Overall: 4:48:15 (2009 time: 4:51:58, 2008 time: 5:23:28).  120th out of 629 finishers.

Race wise I would have liked to have been quicker on the bike.  My cycling has gone pretty well so far this year and I thought the race wheels I’d borrowed would have made a big difference.  Well, maybe they did (it was windy out there so made things tough).  I guess I’d need to ride the same course in similar conditions again for a time comparison to be more measureable.

After the prizegiving Sharon and I bought some food in a local shop and headed back to the campsite to relax and have a beer with many of the others who were staying over on Sunday night.  It was a lovely relaxing end to a good weekend – well, when it wasn’t raining and we all had to squeeze into our tent whilst we waited for the weather to clear!

On Monday we took a very leisurely drive home.  We drove down through Wales and then across to Ross-on-Wye for lunch followed by a walk at the top of Symonds Yat – where we saw some peregrine falcons nesting on the cliff site.  We arrived back home at about 6pm ready to unpack and prepare for the week ahead at work :(

A small group of us set off at about 8:25am for this 105 or so mile hilly ride.  The weather was great – cloudy, a light breeze and not too hot.

Within about five miles my legs were telling me that there were tired and aching.  Hmn, not a great start.  After a while they started to feel better – I guess they just weren’t warmed up for cycling.

There were a few groups of people chain-ganging their way round the route but as I’ve said before this isn’t really for me as it won’t reflect how I ride on race day.

I found this a pretty tough ride.  Sharon was armed with her camera at the top of Whiteleaf Hill (at around 60 miles) and when I got to her she asked “Are you alright D?” – I said I was but Sharon thought I looked terrible and really cold.  I wasn’t cold but could have quite happily jacked in the ride about 10 miles ago.  However, if I did take the easy option and drop out I’d feel bad and like I’d wasted an opportunity for some good training.  Deep down I knew that this is one of the most important rides of my training year and it will make me stronger.  Hill wise, race day will be much easier than today – that’s for sure.

After the second feed station at 75 miles I started feeling much better.  All was going well until 90 miles.  Half way up a short sharp hill the bike just didn’t feel right.  I knew I had a rear puncture and hoped I could get to the top of the hill before having to change it.  Within about 30 seconds I could feel the wheel rim on the road so it was time to get straight off and fix it.

According to my GPS it took my 9 minutes to replace my inner tube.  I need to make this quicker.  One thing that slowed me down was unscrewing the CO2 cannister from the holder on the bike.  Next time in a sportive/race I’ll have them in my saddle bag instead.

It’s always demoralising watching people cycle past you as you’re at the edge of the road making repairs but once back on the bike you want to reclaim as much lost time as possible.  In an Ironman when there’s a marathon to run at the end it would stupid to do that but here I knew I could push a little harder – and I’d just had about 10 minutes rest!

The final 15 miles were great.  There were very few hills and I felt strong.

Before long I was back in Great Missenden and through to the finish.  105.9 miles in 6:33:58 chip time and according to my GPS it was 6:19:12 of riding time.  My average speed (when moving!) was 16.7mph.  This earned me a ‘silver’ standard for the ride.  HR wise I was 138 average with 165 max.  Average cadence was 89.

Looking at my 2009 time my average speed then was 16.2mph with a ride time of 6:35:38.  Because of missing a turning this includes 6 minutes extra time, so an accurate ride time for 2009 would be around 6:29:38.  HR wise I was 132 average with 162 max.

So, all in all coming off the back of a big few days of training I was 10 minutes faster in ride time than in 2009.  I even managed run of just under a mile back to the car after I’d finished.

Will I be back next year…. If I’m Ironman training then almost certainly.

I’d seen a few days previous that there was some sort of national family week going on this week and events were being held all over the country.  Twickenham Rugby Stadium was hosting a sports day on Saturday which included a 5k ‘fun run.’  Brilliant, this could be fun!

Sharon, Kirsty and myself went along to register for the 1pm run.  After registering (the run was in aid of poor children in Calcutta, or something like that) we found shelter from the midday sun and awaited further instructions.  After an organised warm-up (we decided we were warm already) we headed to the start.

A short briefing was held ‘run six laps round the stadium and then you run in to the stadium to finish on the famous pitch’ and then a horn was sounded.  Everyone (about 30 of us) then looked at each other and said ‘which way do we go?’ – they’d forgotten to tell us whether it was clockwise or anti!

After clearing that up we began, and one chap ran ahead of the rest.  I sat about 5 metres behind him and just jogged round gently for a lap.  After a lap I then opened up a little and ran past him out into the front.  From here it was just lap after lap after lap…

There were two water stations and with a six lap course meant 12 water stations in 3 miles.  No excuses for dehydration then, that’s for sure.

As I completed six laps (my GPS was all over the place because on each lap you have to run through a tunnel) it was a further half lap to the finish.  I’d lapped a few other runners and as I turned into the finish and my moment of glory running onto the pitch I was stopped by one of the organisers.

“We can’t get onto the pitch until quarter to two.”

It was about 1:40pm at this point.  There was something else taking place on the pitch and we were not allowed on until a set time.  My steady 21 minute 5k was much quicker than they’d planned for!  The lady also congratulated me and pointed at some ‘child’ and told me he was the winner.  Eh?

Apparently if you run 4 or maybe 5 laps and then finish, but tell them you’ve run 6 then that’s good enough for a win.  Ah, whatever.

A few minutes later we were suddenly told we could ‘sprint’ onto the pitch to cross the finish line and collect our certificates.  What joy!

I knew from the start that it would be a shambles and the run lived up to every one of my expectations.  Because of this it was actually quite enjoyable and provided an opportunity to run somewhere different.

The Thames Turbo races are held on bank holiday Mondays so it wouldn’t interfere with my normal training.  I chose not to taper for this race and just treat it like a good hard workout to help back-up a solid weekend of training.  The weekends training consisted of an 18.5 mile run on Saturday, culminating with a 21 minute 5k just to finish me off.  Sunday I was up early for a 2.5 mile lake swim and then a hilly 60 miles on the bike to my parents for a BBQ and family birthday party.

Monday morning dawned and at 5:20am I was busy having my breakfast of porridge and coffee.  After an easy cycle to Hampton Pool I got ready for the start – I was in the first wave of swimmers in the pool and was the 13th person to set off.  I’d not swum in a pool for about a month (having only been swimming once a week in a lake) so didn’t really know what to expect, but thankfully I had a solid clean swim with nobody overtaking me (or me overtaking people).

I came out of the water feeling good (and more hydrated than when I entered the water!) and ran to transition.  Socks, bike shoes, helmet, glasses, race number belt and away I went.  My time for the 426m and transition to the bike was 9 minutes 17, which was 64th overall (22nd in my age group – male 30-39).  Although I was 13th in and out of the water in my wave, there must have been lots of faster swimmers in the second wave, and also people with faster swim-bike transition times than I (my T1 time is always going to be slower as I’m putting on socks and bike shoes here – whereas many others don’t wear socks and have shoes already clipped into their bikes).

The bike was fairly uneventful.  I overtook about four people over the course of the 21km bike leg and straight from the start pushed as hard as I could.  It was giving it my all and no doubt my legs were feeling it from the weekends training but I did as best as I could.  My bike time was 36:20 (26th fastest and 9th in my age group).  Of the people in the first wave of competitors I was 4th to finish the bike.

Looking at the bike leg data on my GPS I averaged 22.2 mph for the 36 minutes or so.  Interestingly (well, for me!) my cadence averaged 102 – all of my other rides this year have averaged about 91 rpm cadence.  Is this indication of me ‘spinning’ faster related to miles already in my legs, or is it just how things are when you bust a gut and race hard for short distances.

After the bike you have a seven minute ‘non-compete zone’ to get back to the transition area and head off to the run.  This transition was pretty quick – throw the bike on the rack, helmet off, slip my running shoes on (elastic laces make this super-easy) and away I go.

After about 1k I met up with Danny and Kirsty who were on the course supporting.  Danny was on his bike and gave me some good words of encouragement for a couple of hundred metres of so (and again at about 3.5k).

Being in the first wave of runners meant that there were very few people on the run course so it was a lonely run with nobody in sight to chase down.  I got some great support from the marshals throughout – especially the children at the drinks station at about 2k and 4k during the run.

By the time I got to the finish I was absolutely spent but very happy with how things went.  After a lovely late breakfast in Hampton Hill I headed home and awaited the final results.

My 5k run time (including transition) was 19:18 (8th fastest and 3rd in my age group) which after the pounding my legs took on the bike I was chuffed to bits with.  Run wise the first km was run at 3:57 pace (although I went past the 1k sign in about 4:30 according to my watch!) and then my GPS splits were 3:39, 3:45, 3:45 and 3:42.  This gives a time of 18:48 (GPS logged 3.1 miles) – one of my fastest 5k’s in months!  The extra time that makes up to my ‘official’ time includes bike-to-run transition and running through the car park onto the pavement (which is when I started my watch).

Overall my finishing time was 1 hour 4 minutes and 55 seconds and I finished 15th overall (out of 330 finishers) and 5th in my age group.  Looking back at the same race in August 2008 I finished 20th overall in a time of 1:06:33.  Update: final results were posted a week later and my position dropped to 17th.

Overall for a race I’d not planned to enter I really enjoyed doing a short incredibly tough workout (similar effort to a 10 mile running race) on what would normally be an easy training day.

I decided to walk/run the 2.4 miles to the start as a warm-up and arrived at around 10:15am in readyness for the 10:30 start.  I lined up in position, dumped my sports drink and got ready for the off.  The ‘elite’ guys were at the front and I kept myself a good few rows behind.  Speaking of people at the front, there were a couple of chaps with long shorts, football socks, polo shirts and well groomed hair – the type of runner who I wasn’t expecting to see there.  I wonder if they’re any good….?

My plan leading up for today was to aim for a sub-40 minute time, and run at around 6:20 miling pace.  Over the past few years my garmin has always measured the course longer than 6.21 miles so I’d planned to run based on a slightly longer distance.  This would hopefully get me to the finish in about 39:45 give or take a few seconds.  The only problem today was the wind – which would be hitting me firmly in the face for the last 4.5km.  I chose to pace myself evenly throughout and just push harder to maintain pace in the second half – a plan that worked well last year.

At about 3.5km

As per usual plenty of people overtook me in the first km – I was happy to leave them to it – I was sure I’d see a few of them later!  1km marker in 3:52, 2km marker in 8:08 (OK, that marker must have been wrong but ho hum).  I plodded on, with the wind behind me for the first 3 miles or so.  At about 3.5km I heard Sharon cheering me on (but didn’t see her!).

Just after 4k I saw the first casualty of poor pacing – one of the ‘chavs’ I saw at the start was walking and not looking great.  Ooops!  At about 4.5k I ran past my mum who was marshalling and then I went through the 5k mark at about 19:50.  Good stuff.  I knew things were going to get tougher when we headed up onto the promenade but I can handle that – surely.

As I headed up onto the promenade thats when the wind hit me.  Looking at the weather stats from Felpham Sailing Club (where we run past) it was blowing about 15.5 knots (that’s over 17.5 mph), pretty much directly in my face!  Lovely.  This was time to work on some drafting.  There were a few people dotted around and I took advantage and slowly moved up the field – one at a time.

6.5km - big hair!

I saw Sharon again at about 6.5k where she was with my dad, who was also marshalling and this time I saw her, and heard the shout of ‘run strong.’  I stuck with it and clearly had to push much harder than during the first half of the race.  I found myself running in a small group (about four or five of us) and we worked a little bit together in the strong breeze.

A guy in a brown tee-shirt was running strong with us and pulled away.  I stuck behind him as much as I could until the final few hundred metres when he pulled away.  At this point I’d also pulled away from the small group of runners that I was with and battled through to the finish.  It was hard work but I really pushed all the way to the finish.

As I hit the line the clock was a few seconds under 40 minutes and my chip time was 39:53.  Excellent.  I also found out from the results that I was 32nd overall, out of 1,446 finishers.

After finishing I grabbed some water and then set off on the 2 mile run back to meet Sharon.  Heading towards the finishing straight was one of the guys who started at the front and set off far too quickly – he was stood still and bending over in pain.  Oops ;)

Almost all of this run back to Sharon was running against the flow of runners still racing and every few seconds I heard calls of “you’re going the wrong way mate” or “now you’re just making us feel bad.”  I did my best to support and clap the runners still out there battling into the headwind.

So, as this race is over for another year I have to say I’m very happy with how it went.  My training for it has been non-existant (my only real speed training has been semi-regular 5km parkruns and apart from that lots of cycling and a few longer runs).  However, I did what I wanted to do and I can only hope that in 2011 I get closer to my 10km personal best of 38:54.

Sharon didn’t run today as she’s slowly getting back into running again after hurting her back at work earlier in the year.  Instead she was on full camera duties and did a great job :)

6:15am on Saturday morning and Sharon and I jump in the car to head to Lakeside Multisports in Eastleigh for their second parkrun 5k run.  Why so early?  Well, as the run is organised by the same people who run an open water swimming session in a lovely little lake.

After being welcomed by a couple of lovely ladies at the swim ‘sign-in’ I donned my wetsuit and went down to the water where I was given a briefing (the water isn’t deep and if you’re in trouble just shout!) and sent on my way.  Each loop of the lake buoys is a little shy of 400m and in my opinion its a great distance.  There’s plenty of time to concentrate on your stroke and sighting, but also plenty of buoys to navigate round and with a ‘small’ lake there’s always plenty of people nearby – rather than being all out on your own in a huge lake.  The water is also pretty shallow and as such it will warm up quickly over the coming weeks and months.  Today it was 13 degrees.

After just over 2km of swimming I cheered on some of the competitors in an aquathlon (swim/run) that was taking place and then it was time to get changed and ready for the 9am 5km Eastleigh parkrun.

Sharon and I lined up at the start with just over 50 others and were given a briefing by Brett, the race director.  We were then set off on our way.  The course is lovely.  You start by running round a couple of lakes, where there were plenty of fisherman and geese and their goslings dotted around the edges.  After a right hand turn you head up a slight incline, through a wooded area and then have to content with the first obstacle – the local minature steam railway!  Across the tracks and then you head alongside the tracks for a little while towards something called ‘the bowl’ – a little like a volcanic crater but without the lava, or something like that!

After running round the top edge of the bowl you cross the railway tracks twice more, avoiding any trains (!!) and head back towards the start.  Two laps of this and there you go.  The course is mostly gravel paths and grass, and expect a pair of trail shoes would be well advised for the winter months.

I’d left my GPS at home and was happy to run without it and just went at a medium/tough pace.  After about a minute I’d settled into sixth place and just stayed there, running pretty much on my own for 4.5km.

Although I don’t yet know my finishing time (the results aren’t up), I believe it was around 19:30 or just under.  No complaints there.  UPDATE: the results are in and I finished in 19:46.  Still no complaints.

In the afternoon I then went out sailing and then headed to the pub to watch the second half of the FA cup final football match!

David out for a little sail in Sharon's boat.

• 2004 – 52:59
• 2005 – 46:28
• 2006 – 44:26
• 2007 – 39:27
• 2008 – 39:17
• 2009 – 40:24

To be honest I’ve not really trained for running performance over the past few months. What with my foot injury that ruled out December, January and February and since March my main effort has been to not aggrivate the foot and to do plenty of miles on the bike. I’ve done next to no structured training for short distance (10k) races. To top this off my right hamstring has been painful for about a month or so.

OK, so that’s my excuses over and done with. Whats the plan for this one. Well, after last year when I just crept over 40 minutes (I blame the strong wind along the seafront on the day) after a couple of years in the lowish 39′s, I’d love to revisit the 39′s again. I want to plan to do two 20 minute 5k’s and then see what’s left (if anything) in the tank during the last couple of kms.  I know I can run sub 20 for 5k without too much difficulty – the issue is that I don’t know if I can do two of them back to back.

As we get closer to race day I felt that I needed to test myself out to see if I can hold together a 40 minute 10k. Last week I was working away and the hotel gym had a fancy treadmill (the ones with TV’s built in – not that I was interested in ‘MTV My Super Sweet 16 Teen Cribs’ or whatever it was called!) so I thought I’d test myself out for a 40 minute 10k. I punched in the numbers and then got on with it. The last 10 minutes or so were not particularly pretty but I finished in just under 40 minutes (39:47) and that was a real mental boost. Provided I have a good nights sleep, a cup of coffee and a bowl of porridge for breakfast (and the weather gods are on my side) I’d love to dip just under 40 this coming Sunday.

This week I’ve done an forced running taper. Last weekend I had a BIG weekend of cycling (just under 150 miles) and my legs have really been feeling it the past few days. However, I’ve got myself some new Asics shoes (I’m a big fan and have been going through the 21xx range for the past few years) and did a 5 mile treadmill run last night. All was good. At a minimum I’ll squeeze in a parkrun on Saturday morning (as you do!) prior to Sunday’s race.

Stay tuned…

The last few weeks I’ve decided to make amends (starting with some better tyres for the horrific road surfaces I’ve been riding on – not getting punctures every ride really does help with morale!).

Looking at my long bike rides over the past two months, things are starting to look consistent…

• 30 April – 86 miles
• 24 April – 86.5 miles
• 17 April – 90 miles
• 10 April – 65 miles (including a 5km time trial run in the middle)
• 2 April – 76 miles
• 27 March – 76 miles
• 15 March – 15 miles :(
• 13 March – 74.5 miles

This past weekend I planned a big load of cycling. I’m not following any kind of training plan other than cycle a lot, build up running as if I’m marathon training (i.e., build up to some 20 mile runs) and swim in between all of that!  I’d entered an 85 miles sportive bike ride in West Sussex, not too far from my parents house.  As Sharon was working all weekend my plan was as follows…

• Saturday – open water swim (first of the season for me), 5km parkrun, 60 mile cycle to my parents house
• Sunday – 85 mile sportive bike ride

Saturday started with a visit to Princes Club – where I did most of my swimming last year.  Lets just say the water was very, er, ‘fresh’, at 7:30am on a cold rainy morning.  I swam about 2km and it wasn’t great.  I’m clearly slower than last year but I’m sure it’ll come back to me in a few weeks time.

At the end of the first lap. Credit: Kath

After the swim I headed over the road to the Bedfont Lakes parkrun.  I’ve not run this since June last year and it was good to be back there.  After a little warm up a large group of us set off.  I found myself in about fifth place early on and by about 2.5km I was in third.  I ran hard and hung on and finished in 18:58, which is my fastest parkrun time in six months.  Things seem to be getting back on track again with the running (even if I’m heavier than I was this time last year – a downside of months living in a hotel during the week!).

Jumped in the car, headed home and got the bike ready for an easy ride to my parents.  60 miles later and a lovely tailwind the whole way (averaged 17.9 mph) I arrived by the seaside at about 2pm.  I got the bike ready for Sunday and that was pretty much it for the day.

Come Sunday morning I wasn’t overly in the mood for another long bike ride but sometimes you just have to get on with these things.  My father drove me to the start of the sportive (the Duncton Sunday Sportive) and shortly after 8:30am I set off.  The condition of some of the roads was pretty horrific, and there was very little flat riding – it was all up, down, up, down throughout.  Although there was plenty of opportunities to get into ‘chain gangs’ of riders – which would allow the workload to be shared amongst a group of riders through drafting I purposely avoided these groups.  Come race day I will be doing an individual 112 mile time trial with no drafting – so I didn’t want to have an easy ride of it today.

The final climb - less than 50m to the finish.

There were a few really nasty hills and after about 50 miles I was really feeling tired and worn out from the past few days of exercise.  The last 7 miles or so I cycled mostly alongside another chap and it was good to have some company near by.  We both pushed each other which got us to the finish sooner.  As I headed up the final short climb to the finish it was great to be met by my parents who gave me a lift home.  If I had to I could have ridden the final 20 miles home but boy I was glad to finish at this point.

The total distance clocked on was 86.49 miles with an average speed of 16.7mph.  Ride time was 5 hours 10 minutes according to my GPS and the total duration was 5 hours 17.  These seven minutes consisted of two fuel-stops and a ‘comfort’ break.

I’ve been doing a few calculations on the published results and after removing the 10 riders who somehow rode at around 40-50 mp/h for the last 20 miles (i.e., impossible) of the 163 finishers I was 40th fastest.  To see how I progressed throughout the ride in comparison to others I worked out my position at each of the feed stations.  At the first one (after 34.5 miles) I was 42nd.  Looking solely at the second segment (from 34.5 to 65 miles) I was 43rd, and in the final 20 miles I was 34th – so although I was finding it incredibly tough, there were plenty of others who found it tougher!  This is all good reading for me, especially when I know that I rode every mile on my own and not in any of the groups of riders who worked together.  Remember…. Iron rusts… Ironmen don’t!

Adding things up, the past seven days I’ve ridden 172 miles on the bike, a record amount for me by some way, and during the weekend I rode just shy of 147 miles.  That, in my eyes, is a big bike weekend.

I now plan a few easier days as I prepare for a 10k run this coming Sunday.  I’ll get another 60/70 miles on the bike before then though.

In 2009 I did a similar thing by getting a few miles in on the bike before the Baker Cup race but this time I chose to pace my run a little better and not blow up in the second half.

As we lined up at the start based on handicap timings I was horrified to see where they’d put me – I’d been screwed up good and proper!  I was not impressed to be starting 20 seconds after club ladies captain Marie and knew I’d have a tough time trying to not be last!

Well, I took the run at a steady pace (averaging 6:51 miling for the 3 mile hilly course) after about the first mile was in last place.  Ho hum.  Not much changed until the last few hundred metres when I overtook a couple of people, one of them being a ‘guest’ runner.

I crossed the line second from last (oops!) but was actually pretty happy with my run.  I ran the 3 miles in 20:45 with my splits for each lap being 10:22 and 10:23 – so great steady pacing.  Speed wise I was 15th fastest out of the 43 finishers.

This week I decided to give it a go.  I was running a race in the afternoon and needed to get a bike ride in as well so decided to put a 5k/3mile run either side of my bike ride.  This meant that my Saturday morning started with a parkrun.

The course has changed since last week (which was a change from the original course) and 38 of us took part.  I’ve had a good running week (for a change) and got a 10 mile run in on both Monday and Wednesday evenings.  In anticipation of a long days training I took it steady and crossed the line in 20:02 in 8th place.  There was some confusion over part of the course during the turnaround, where you run into Ham Lands and this will explain my GPS measuring 3.02 miles (4.86km).  I’m sure there’ll be more marshalls/markings out next week.

Apart from the towpath being a little muddy (as always down that stretch past Teddington Lock) its a lovely course right alongside the river.  Great stuff.

• Start around 9am
• Start at the Bushy parkrun current finish line.
• Run the Bushy parkrun course as many times as you like, looping round the start line and finishing line trees.
• Anyone can join in and run any number of laps at any time at any speed, either alone or in groups.
• No official timing, time yourself if you’d like.
• Friends and supporters congregate at the parkrun finish line to give encouragement and support, or maybe just enjoy an alfresco picnic/refreshments and a social.
• People can run as many laps as they like.
• It’s Not the London Marathon, cos it’s not a race, it’s not a marathon distance for everyone, and anyone can join in anytime.

In 2009 Sharon and I took part along with about 15 or so others and had a great time.  Today we did it all again…  At about 9am a group of 25 of us lined up at the start (ok, so there’s 24 in the photo, but Tom Morgan turned up too late for the photo!) and started our watches.  A few other runners joined in during the first ‘lap.’

Not The London Marathon 2010

After a (pleasant if you can call it that) 75 mile bike ride on Saturday my legs were in need of a little stretch so I planned to run 10km – two laps of the Bushy parkrun course.  Because of my dodgy left foot (read about it elsewhere on the blog) and visits to other parkrun’s I’d not run in Bushy Park since the 1st January.  It was lovely to be back in the park and oh I love it being so flat!

After setting off I watched the fast runners head into the distance whereas I settled in to a moderate long run pace for me (about 7:30 minute miling).  One lap down…. two laps down…. and then I decided to do a third.  After crossing the finish ‘line’ after the third lap and heading back to where some of the others were watching/supporting my GPS had clocked me at 9.5 miles in just over 71 minutes (7:28 miling).  Lovely.  This is the furthest that I’ve run in almost four months so I’m really pleased with how it went.  My 5k parkrun times were approximately 24:04, 23:08 and 22:27.

Not The London Marathon is turning into a little fixture in our unofficial racing calendar.  Just don’t remind Roger about his idea to do a 12 hour version later in the Summer!

7am on Saturday morning and Sharon, Kirsty, Paul and myself jump into the car for the drive to Greenwich – or Avery Hill Park to be precise.

There’s ample car parking, toilets right by the start and its a small 3 lap course with each lap being just over 1 mile in length.  This is a perfect parkrun for those who are not yet up to 5k (3.1 miles) of running, as you could run a lap, walk a lap, run a lap etc.  I’d also say its a pretty child friendly course as you’re never more than about half a kilometer from the start/finish area if you need to stop short.

After recent rain the past week has been dry and Saturday was no exception – the trouble was that part of the course was a bit waterlogged and extremely muddy – and thus slippery underfoot.  I didn’t bring trail shoes and just had my standard ‘runners.’

After an introduction and course description we were off, all 18 of us (nice low key numbers for this first Greenwich parkrun).  Immediately I found myself in the lead and I was glad I’d run a warm-up lap beforehand to work out the course (there’s great signage on the course which makes it extremely difficult to make mistakes).

I kept my position at the front and just ran solidly steady.  It was hard work on the slippery mud/grassy area (in the summer the lower part of the course will be just fine, but for the other three seasons it could get messy).  Towards the end of each lap you head onto a tarmac pathway and there’s a slight incline to the finish/lap point.  Plenty of marshals were on hand to let you know where to go, and to encourage you to keep on pushing.  Thanks.

My run wasn’t fast but I led the field home to my third parkrun victory (after Bedfont and Bromley in 2009).  My finishing time was 21:16 and probably one of the slowest ever winning times.  According to my Garmin my mile splits were fairly even (6:48, 6:43, 6:43).  This, er, winning time means that I currently hold the course record for the parkrun.  A record that will surely fall this coming Saturday.

As for the others in our little ‘outing’, Paul finished in second place, and Kirsty was first lady.  Sharon’s back was playing up (she hurt it at work a few weeks ago) and she was way off of her best.  Her form/fitness will return.  You just mustn’t rush these things.

Overall it wasn’t an easy course, and this was mainly because of the mud and I’d say hill-wise its got a little more climbing that the Bedfont Lakes parkrun.  I’d say this is a lovely little parkrun, even though the cafe was being re-furbished and wasn’t open on the day!

Because of the cafe situation we had to head into Eltham, just up the road for a coffee and some cake, so all was well.  I then spent most of the journey home fielding mobile phone calls for Paul as a result of a little computer issue back at parkrun HQ.  I think I spoke to probably most of the parkrun race directors during that journey home!

Since last weeks Glasgow parkrun I thought my preparation was going well until I read that the length of the mob match was just shy of 8 miles!  I’ve run 3 miles at most in a ‘session’ since the end of November so this week I needed to get a few miles under my belt.  Two runs of five miles each on a gym treadmill was the best I could manage and that was my prep.

First thing Saturday I was out on my bike and put in just over 30 miles riding.  A few hours later I was back in Richmond Park for the start of the mob match.

My plan was to run the first lap easy and then depending on how I felt I would potentially run a little harder for the second lap.  Well, lets just say that the plan didn’t quite work.

The first lap was quite pleasant and it was lovely to be out in the park.  My average pace was 7:33 minute miling – around the pace of my long runs during marathon/ironman traning.  During the second lap I felt OK from a fitness point of view, but my legs just failed to keep up and my pace dropped to 8:33 miling!  That explains the number of people who overtook me!  For the entire run my pace averaged 8:07 miling.

I crossed the finish line as the 74th out of 123 finishers with a time of 63:16 for the 7.8 mile course.  The winning time was 43:40.  Looking back through my records I last ran the same course in November 2007 and averaged 6:34 miling to finish in 51:05.

Although much slower than before (12 minutes to be precise) I’m happy that I managed to get round the course in one piece.  The next few days will tell me how my foot coped and whether I’m able to sustain my training.  I just need to ensure that I don’t rush into running too many miles (er, like I did this week!)….

Anyway, back to the present.  Sharon and I had been wanting to come and visit some friends of ours who live in Glasgow for a long time and we found a date that fitted in all of our diaries.  So here we are, up in Glasgow.

With our friend Richard being one of the Glasgow parkrun race directors (and our parkrun addiction) we had to go for a run whilst we were visiting.  In my preparation I managed to run 5k on a treadmill earlier in the week with no real difficulty so felt I was good to go for the 5k parkrun this weekend.  I’d run 6 miles in January and 5k on the treadmill so far this month.

Saturday morning – 9am came and passed – which wasn’t a problem as Scottish parkrun events take place at 9:30am.  Glasgow parkrun is currently going from strength to strength and they’re puling in fantastic numbers – this week being their third record attendance in a row – with 286 runners taking part.

My plan for the run was really just to enjoy it but put in some decent effort and see how my fitness (and foot) was holding up.

Coming into the finish - photo: Gill Williamson

The Glasgow course is lovely – it’s not easy but not too tough (I’d rank it similar in difficulty to Richmond parkrun).  All the hilly bits are fairly short so you’re never having to slog uphill for long – and the down-hills are not too steep as to make it difficult.  The course is on a great surface and running through the woods of Pollok Park is lovely.  I’m sure it is stunning in the springtime.

I started steady and after a few minutes settled into a solid pace.  There was little movement between myself and the runners around me and we all just got on with it.  After the first lap (it’s a two lap course) I did wonder if I’d be able to hold my pace for the next 2.5-3k as I’ve not run this fast since November.  Thankfully I was able to do so.

Before long I came into the finish in 38th position and my watch stopped at 19:44 – a time that I was very happy with.  My legs certainly felt it but my (dodgy) foot felt no worse than before so that’s all good.  Sharon had a reasonable run and finished in 33:35 considering the lack of running that she’s been doing of late.

As with almost all parkrun events we followed it up with cake and coffee which was lovely.  A top morning out with great friends on a great course.  Well done Glasgow parkrun.

Interestingly my last seven parkruns have all been at different events – I wonder if I’ll find another new parkrun to try next time or whether I’ll just play it safe and go back to Bushy Park…

In 2009 I took part in the Hell of the Ashdown cycle sportive event and after cycling through a snow blizzard I thought it couldn’t get any worse…

This is a good season ‘opener’ for me in that it forces you to do some winter training on the bike otherwise it’ll be a long horrible day in the saddle cycling 65 odd miles round the hills south-east of London.  Thankfully I’d done a few rides so was ready for this.

Because of recent clear skies and sub-zero temperatures last years snow probably wasn’t going to happen but ice was well and truly a concern and because of this the organisers made a couple of minor modifications to the route in order to avoid the worst of it.  Well, after riding the route and seeing the amount of ice that I saw and had to ride/walk over, I’d hate to see the roads that were avoided!

Partly because it was cold and partly because I just wanted to get a solid ride in I had no real plans to stop today – just get out there, ride the miles and come home again.  I pretty much went by this plan – stopping only once for a couple of minutes to get a snack and a cup of water.  The only other stop was when I was pushing the bike up an icy hill when I made a quick call of nature.

The ride was pretty good – that is when I wasn’t scared to death of slipping on ice!  Much of the route was perfectly rideable but there were some roads that were treacherous.  A couple of times I had to get off and push the bike, and then there were times when I just unclipped from my pedals and pushed myself and the bike across.  My speed was severely restricted over much of the course – especially on the downhill sections.  On more than one occasions whilst hurtling down a hill I shouted to myself “Sheeet….ICE.”  Lets just say it was a little scary at times.

After 67.43 (from my GPS) miles I wheeled into the finish and clocked an overall time of 4 hours 32 minutes 56 seconds.  My GPS had me not cycling for a little under four minutes, which was the food/drink stop, call of nature and a set of traffic lights.  Other than that it was solid cycling all round.  I’d say that very few people (less than 10) overtook me during the event and I overtook plenty of people during the ride.  I wasn’t using every last ounce of energy out there, but did feel that I was riding pretty well.

My GPS recorded an average speed of 15.02 mph and over 5377ft of climbing.  Not a fast ride – the ice was responsible for much of the slowness.

Although these events are not races I was interested to see how my time compared with others – in the results posted on the official website there were 514 finishers and I was 47th.  In 2009 (over a slightly shorter course) there were 541 finishers and I was 316th (although I lost a few minutes because of a ‘directional malfunction’).  So from this I’d say that I’ve improved – or all the fast riders stayed at home!  Either way as a friend of mine says… “Winter Miles, Summer Smiles.”

Now would I do this again…. On the one hand I think I’ve tried it twice and the weather has been against me both times, so why try again, but then I think I’ve got unfinished business and I’d love to give the ride a good blast and see how well I can really do without have to forcibly slow down because of the weather.

Hmn, I guess I may be back there in 2011 then…

The fortnightly challenges have continued and so far we’ve had to time ourselves over 400m, 100m, 400m, 200m, 400m, 800m and the current ’round’ being another 400m.

Although my best performance was over 100m, the regular 400m time trials are an excellent way of seeing (any) progress and I’m pleased to say I’ve improved each time – with my best times for each 400m ’round’ being 6:48, 6:47, 6:39 and this past week 6:35.  I know I’ve got plenty to do to work to improve my efficiency in the water and look forward to seeing things continue to improve.

After some discussions last week at Bushy parkrun a few of us decided to ‘tick this one off of the list.’

First thing Saturday morning (7:30am) Sharon and I collected Kirsty and headed out west to Black Park parkrun.  Pre-run toilets were all locked so although some people chose to ‘water’ the plants themselves, we chose to wait till the obligatory post run coffee shop visit.

My running has pretty much been non-existant of late.  I did a parkrun on the 28 November, then one on 1 January and nothing else until today.  My foot still hurts all of the time, but doesn’t seem to get better (or worse) – so I’m kind of thinking that this is probably just how its going to be from now on.  As the Black Park course is mostly soft ground and any running I plan on doing right now will be on soft ground, I thought I’d give this a go.  I had no plans to try and run fast (I’ve forgotten how to anyhow!) so just wanted an easy run…

I set off close to Kirsty and the main mass of runners who finish between about 22-28 minutes.  We had an easy first mile and then I started to warm up (actually, my hands took a couple of miles to get vaguely warm!) and speed up a little.  I slowly but surely worked my way past people and at the same time ensured that I wasn’t racing or pushing too hard.

David a few seconds before the finish - photo: George Mardall

After about 20 minutes I made the turn into the final long long straight and just about managed to glance back to see Kirsty running strong (having a great run by the look of things).

I crossed the finish line in 24:26, so only 6 and a half minutes away from my PB but happy to have got round with no additional foot pain.  Kirsty came in a few seconds behind me and then Sharon came in a few minutes later.

As we waited in line to register our positions we chatted away, congratulated Darren ’250 parkrun’ Wood on his 3rd place and generally admired the surroundings.

The parkrun is located in beautiful park and I’m going to try and make sure I head back there in the spring to run or at least take some photos.

Following the run we headed to the coffee shop, had a drink and refuelled ourselves before going to the local swimming pool for a swim…