14

Dextro Energy Race.

Oh boy. What a race. I was out doing the Dextro race in Hyde Park last weekend. The race started out so well! I rode to the start in 10 mins, something I am rarely able to do from my W1 address. It was a very civilised 11:45am start, which meant I was going to have some friends scattered around the course to cheer me on. Transition was tight, but well marshaled and organised so whilst you didn’t have much space for racking, there was plenty of room between each row. I headed to the swim start in good time to meet The Dutchman (my beloved) and Terry (my coach). I was NOT thinking about how gross the water was going to be and was very pleased to have my Aqua Sphere Icon wetsuit to protect me even though the wetsuit was optional.

It was a mixed male and female start which always makes for more jostling and I was a bit surprised when the race started and not positioned correctly. So off we went to hit the first turn point about 50m in which was chaotic. As everyone is still sprinting at that point it was all rough and tumble going around the corner and I got a huge kick in the stomach which meant I sucked in loads of Serpentine water. Gross. Gross. Gross. I was coughing and spluttering so much that this lovely guy, number 2081 if I remember correctly and who I now know is Dr Robert Adam, stopped and asked me if I was OK. Very nice of him, Thank you Robert.

After doing some breastroke and suppressing the panic of not being able to breathe, I untangled myself and got going again. By this stage I had managed to miss the front pack (again! A constant in recent races!) but worked hard to get into a smaller pack to recover and then surge forward to the next group. This seemed to work and I came out of the water with a new PB of 25:52.

I did a speedy transition and onto the bike for my 2nd PB of the day with a 1:08:14 bike split. Very happy and I felt so great! The bike was really windy in places but that’s where I excel on the Focus Izalco Chrono by keeping my head still wearing my Briko aero helmet and just powering away. I had some friends around the course and it is always so motivating to hear your name called out. It was a 6 lap bike course and counting laps is not my forte, especially after hearing that even the pro men had managed to mess it up the day before. I had little sticky tags on my bike to help count and had the Dutchman there to help! I know it sounds silly but when you are pushing so hard physically, you really can forget where you are!

Back into T2 and I was feeling a whole new Olympic distance PB coming on. All I needed to do was run 39 min for 10km and as it was a flat course I was more than a little bit confident. The run was 5 laps and I powered through the first 2 laps in my Pearl Izumi Streak’s, I was running well but had this awful pain, almost like a bad stitch in my side that was stopping me from really putting some speed in. (I still don’t know what caused it, maybe the kick I got in the swim, but it is still sore 3 days later when I write this). I was in 2nd place by this stage and had 3-4 mins on the 3rd place girl. Lap number 3 the pain really started to intensify and I had to run and walk. Halfway round lap 3 I was doing more walk than run and now crying like a big baby. I was hurting and had just been over taken! That just made me cry more! I spent the rest of the run hunched over clutching my side and sobbing with tears streaming down my face. It was so frustrating that I couldn’t run and also now couldn’t stop crying! After 2 PB’s I had a PW (personal worst) run time of 51.30.

I managed to finish the race and ended up in 9th place. I crossed the line to hear my friend Sam who was commentating say how I was the recent London Tri age group winner and what a great result in Hyde Park today. He was a little surprised when he saw I was crying and helped me get it in perspective that it is just a race and not really worth getting upset about. I can see that now, and I can laugh about the princess performance, but at the time it was like the world was ending. Once the pain had started subsiding I started watching others cross the line who were so happy to have finished in under 2:30 and it made me realise how ungracious I was being, but it also made me aware of how much pressure I put myself under to perform. The race didn’t go perfectly, but it wasn’t my A race of the season and I certainly would have had reason to be upset if this had happened at the London Tri.

Terry sent me a nice note the day after the race asking me to take 5 positives from the race and put a line under it. So my 5 positives are as follows:

• New swim PB by over 1:30, even after being kicked!
• New bike PB in windy conditions
• Great transition times, I am getting faster and faster with each race
• Nutrition strategy is working and I have stopped over eating during the race
• I can say I have taken part in a race on the 2012 Olympic course!

So, I have 2 races left for the season. The Nottingham relays on Saturday which is just for fun and then the 4th and final 220 evening race at Dorney Lake where I will be looking to win and make it 4 out of 4 wins for the series. I have a couple of busy weeks coming up as I am off to France for 4 days over the long weekend and then back again the following week for 10 days cycling through the Alps. What a wonderful way to end the season.

Happy training.
Cx

13

My London Triathlon Victory!

I am so pleased to report that after 6 months of hard work, I achieved my season goal of winning my age group at the London Triathlon. To say that I am over the moon is a complete understatement! Everything I have done this year has all been in preparation for The London Triathlon and it paid off…big time. I won the 30 – 34 age group with a 6 minute margin, posted a new Olympic distance PB (2:17:15) and a new run PB (37:22). I am still grinning from ear to ear :)

A month ago Paul from Wiggle gave me the shock of my life when he forwarded me an email conversation he had been having with the organisers of the London tri where he had ‘guaranteed me to win’ my age group. I went very pale at that point and my work colleagues had to pick me up off the floor. Training took on a whole new intensity after reading that email. I became so focused on the goal that everything else was put aside until post 3 August. Thankfully I have very patient friends and The Dutchman (my beloved) was behind me 100%.

If you have been reading previous posts you will know how rubbish I am at transition. This year alone I have managed to get stuck in my Aqua Sphere Ironman Icon wetsuit (no bodyglide), couldn’t clip my shoes in (was wearing cleat covers) and just when I thought I was getting a little bit better the best I could do was enter T2 with one cycling shoe still on and the other on the bike. I did however win all of those races despite the problems but I knew I couldn’t take that chance at London.

Transition training took on a life of its own. As I was getting up so early to practise for race day as my race started at 6:30am, and I was tapering I had all this extra time in the mornings before work. I used the time to plan, practise and practise again. I mastered getting my wetsuit off whilst running, I minimalised what I would need in my transition area and I practised putting it all on and off in the correct order. I taught myself after watching some useful YouTube videos how to run with my bike, throw my leg over and get my shoes on my feet on the move. After I had the hang of that, I moved onto dismounting the bike without reducing too much speed and hit the ground running. After almost crashing countless times in Regents Park whilst trying to master these new skills and no doubt providing amusement for the morning joggers, I got better and better.

On race day I was up at 3:45 and I was in serious race mode having spent the Saturday preparing all my gear as well as visualising each aspect of the race. I was feeling relaxed but really up for it. I couldn’t wait to start! If you worked out over the past 6 months the average I train is around 14 hours a week, I had spent 336 hours preparing for a race that I was hoping was going to take me around 2:20 to complete. Driving to the event through Shoreditch was entertaining as people were being turfed out of clubs. I was pretty sure we would be having completely different Sunday’s!

My wave was the first on Sunday morning which was great as that allowed me to see who was ahead of me coming out of the swim when I would start trying to claw my way back to the front. I am never going to be the best swimmer so the plan is always to go out hard, catch a good draft and hang on. I did exactly that and had a good swim without any issues, except for the brownish green sludgy coating on my face when I came out of the water (gross!). I flew into transition and was off running quick as a flash having overtaken at least 10 people in T1 and a few more with my new slick run and jump move to get onto the Focus Izalco Chrono.

I pulled in the girls who were just ahead of me in the swim and was in 10th place at the first turnaround. By the 2nd turnaround I was in 6th and was loving every minute of the race. I have only recently learnt that I can hammer the bike leg and I am still able to run well. A few years of Ironman it was ingrained into me that if it hurt you were going too hard and to slow down immediately. I now trust my legs that I can ride and then run well so I was putting it to the test. The bike course went all the way up to Westminster and it was really cool being on the closed road in such a great part of town. Unfortunately I wasn’t paying too much attention to the scenery! Turning into T2 I had moved into 3rd place and was looking forward to running.

Another speedy transition and I was running hard. I caught the 2nd place girl at the 3km mark and blew past her as she has really slowed down. I timed how far ahead the lead girl was and was very disappointed to learn she had 3 mins on me. By the 2nd loop I had managed to pull her in a meagre 5 seconds after upping my pace! I took a good look at her as we went past each other and she had very youthful looks. I was hoping that meant she was in a younger age group and not just a very lucky 30-something woman with great skin!

I never did manage to catch her and I ran just over 37 minutes trying to pull her in. My previous best on that course (9.4km) was 41 minutes. It certainly showed as I pretty much collapsed over the line and stumbled towards a vacant chair huffing and puffing. A nice lady from St Johns Ambulance were hovering over me thinking there was something seriously wrong with me as I couldn’t even speak to tell her I was OK. There is something very satisfying knowing that you really did give it everything.

Each wave has a mix of age groups so you never know where you are in the rankings until the results are published. I was jumping around my flat Sunday night I was so excited when I opened the results to see my name in that glorious number 1 spot. If that wasn’t great enough, I went into AOL HQ Monday morning to be greeted with a round of applause. My wonderful work mates knew how important this race was to me and had been checking the results. I could definitely get used to the applause greeting every morning ;)

So this week I am taking it easy and having a recovery week. I’m heading out to Nice Friday to catch some rays and do some training in preparation for the upcoming Nottingham Relays. Terry (my coach) also trains another athlete who has done a couple of the same races as me this year and he has always managed to beat me home by anywhere between 1 to 3 minutes. After some very technical calculations we have agreed that he gets a 40 second handicap for the Nottingham Relays. The loser gets to consume many tequila shots. Given I am tipsy after ½ pint these days; it has given me great incentive to kick butt out there!

Happy training!
Cx

12

Bedford Classic & 220 Sprint Race 3

It has been a busy few weeks! In between moving house and a hectic work schedule I managed to fit in the Bedford Classic and another 220 Evening Series race. I am very pleased to say I got 5th place in my age group at Bedford and I won the 220 Sprint race. Unfortunately my house is still in complete disarray!

Bedford was an Olympic distance (750m, 40km, 10km) and I was using this as a benchmark for the London tri which is my ‘A’ race of the year. In busy tri starts I always wear 2 swim caps with my goggles between the 2 hats to keep them secure. The plan was to go out fast and stay on the feet of the lead girls and just hang on for dear life. Well, that was all great in theory until 2 strokes in I got hit in the face and the right side of my goggles filled up with water. After some one eye swimming for 200m I pulled over to the side, fixed myself up and kept going. Unfortunately the break was enough that I couldn’t stay with the lead girls. I was happy with my swim, less happy with all the reeds I had to swim through on the last 100m.

Onto the bike and unlike the many flat races I have been doing this season, I had to actually change gear on the Focus Izalco Chrono which was a new experience. Usually put it in gear and hang on! (Wiggle are currently selling the Focus with a 30% discount! If you want a fast TT bike, this is it and now is the time to buy!) The bike leg was quite windy and the rain was threatening. I am completely hopeless when it rains so I was just hoping it would hold off until the run. It was a great course in that it was a 40km loop which makes a nice change from an out and back. I got a few places back on the bike that I had lost on the swim and was really focusing on keeping my aero position and really powering along. I had learnt my lesson a few weeks previously at the Timex Women’s event about eating too much so was careful not to overload my stomach and just had 1 gel plus energy drink.

Back to transition and I did a fast change over and onto the 3 lap run course. It had started raining by this stage but that never bothers me for the run leg. I felt strong and really went for it and was quite pleased with my time. I’m not always a big fan of courses where you run laps but this one was quite nice as you ran along the river through the park, over the bridge and back down again and as it was a large race there was some great support. Overall I managed 5th in my age group and 18th overall which I am very pleased given it was the World Cup qualifier and attracts a stellar field.

Last night was the 3rd race in the 220 Evening Series out at Dorney Lake and I won again! So far I have won all 3 events and will be trying to make it 4 for 4 at the end of August to take out the series. I am constantly surprised that I am enjoying the short distance racing so much and I am showing real improvement. My time for the first race was 1:14, down to 1:12 for the 2nd race and last night to 1:08. I suspect the dramatic improvement last night was also down to the bike course being slightly shorter than last time.

The swim was good and I jumped on the feet of Brad who I train with in Hampstead Lido on Tuesday nights as I know he swims faster than me! I really need to practice swimming in a straight line, I’m sure I did 800m rather than 750 last night as I keep veering off course. If Terry (my coach) is reading this I suspect next week I will be doing a load of sighting drills. :)

It wasn’t as windy as it has been for previous events which meant there were lots of bugs hanging around. I ate at least 10 of them and was so intent on catching Fay who was 15 seconds ahead of me on the bike I stopped bothering to spit them out and just starting swallowing them. It was great to have Fay in the same wave as me as she really pushed the pace on the bike which in turn made me pay more attention. We swapped around for the first few laps and then I sat back about 20m behind her for the last 4 laps to see what she was going to do and pray that I could catch her on the run!

My T2 was fast which means I am getting better, although I did dismount the bike with 1 shoe on the bike and the other on my foot, so maybe only 50% better :) further work required I think. My feet were numb but I could see Fay and Brad out on the run course and they became my target. So ignoring the weird I-can’t-feel-my-feet sensation I caught Fay about 300m in and congratulated her on her bike leg as I went past her injecting a bit of speed to hopefully scare her off coming with me. Thankfully it worked and I managed to build a lead over her. I was running well and feeling as good as you can feel when running sub 4 min km’s. I did the first 1km in 3:30 which opened up the gap and meant I only had to maintain it. On my 2nd and final lap I spotted Rob who always catches me on the last lap of the run and beats me home. This time I was pretty sure that I could hold him off so really pushed hard and beat him across the line! Little did I know he had started the race late so when the timings came in, he had once again beaten me by 1 place! My run leg was the best I have done in ages and I broke the magical 20 min mark that I have been hovering around for some time with a 19:21.

I managed 13th place overall and set a new PB of 1:08, so once again a great night out. Now I am resting for 2 days in preparation for the London Triathlon. Good luck to everyone taking part!
Cx

11

I won the Timex Women’s triathlon!

WoooHoooo!!!! I did it! I won the Timex Women’s triathlon last Saturday. It was a tough race and I had some really speedy girls snapping at my heels which kept me moving and racing hard!

Due to last weeks warm weather the water temp had reached 23.5 degrees out at Dorney Lake so the organisers banned wetsuits which was a bit concerning for me given that the swim is my weakest leg. Terry has been training me to go out hard in the swim and stick with the lead girls to reduce the number of places I have to make up on the bike and run. I had on my new Pearl Izumi tri suit which I love despite saying some time ago I would never wear a one piece tri suit :) Having the tri suit reduced the drag of a shorts and top and I went out hard at the start, a little surprised at my own pace and how good I felt. It was relatively easy to get some space and I could see 4 girls ahead of me so I latched on to some feet and tried to hold my position. I couldn’t keep hold of the lead 3 but managed to keep with the number 4 girl and went past her with about 100m to go, coming out of the water in 4th place.

Into T1 for a speedy turnaround and onto the bike to try and pull the 3 girls back in. I was having some problems getting my feet clipped in and quickly realised the reason was because I was still wearing my cleat covers! Stupid mistake that cost me 20 – 30 seconds and yet another addition to the ever growing list of things to do before a race. I did some acrobatics on the bike to get them off and throw them to my 3 girlfriends Antoinette, Corinna and Megan who were there to cheer me on and be official photographers! Once I got going I was feeling great. In the past I have had issues with counting the laps on this course so I had stuck 6 Powerbar Ride Shots to my bike frame and as a little treat had a power shot after each lap and at the same time keep count. I was pretty sure I was in 1st place coming off the bike but it was hard to know because there are people on the course from other waves. Judging by the 3 girls I had gone past and where on the course I passed them, I figured I had maybe a 2 minute lead.

Another speedy transition into my Pearl Izumi Streak running shoes that are as light as a feather and onto the run for 3 out and back loops. I asked my posse if I was in first place but they too were having problems distinguishing between people in my wave and those from earlier waves. Another spectator shouted at me that I was first, so I took his word for it and tried to inject some speed. I was feeling sick and had a cramp which was making it difficult to keep the speed up on the first lap. I slowed down for 50 or so metres to try and clear it but decided to just try and run through it, all I could think about was those girls who would be hitting the run course right then and now was the time to build on my lead! At times like those when I am struggling, I start singing Eye of The Tiger in my head. I know, I know, so cliché but it really works! :)

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10

Win #2 At Dorney Lake!

I am very pleased to report that I won the 2nd 220 Evening race at Dorney Lake last Wednesday night. Not only did I win, I managed to wipe almost 2 mins off my previous time from a month ago and had a 3 min lead on the 2nd placed woman. I have been training hard and really pushing myself and it is starting to pay off!

Before the race I spent a 3 day weekend in Nice with The Dutchman doing some awesome training. Originally we had booked the 3 day weekend so we could do La Fausto Coppi Gran Fondo in Italy, a 210km race with 4500m of climbing. Unfortunately the highest pass is still not open due to large amounts of snow over the winter so the race has been postponed to August and clashes with the London Tri so I am going to have to give it a miss this year. We decided to cycle over to Italy anyway and went to Ventimiglia which is on the coast for a quick pizza on the beach and caught the train back to Nice. I love the novelty of cycling into another country for a few hours, certainly not something you can do in Australia :)

I felt really good going into the race, and I have been using the evening races as training races for the Women’s Only Timex race this coming weekend, also at Dorney Lake. This time we swam in the smaller of the 2 lakes and I came out of the water feeling strong. I had managed to latch onto some feet for half of the swim which was very handy as the person I was drafting off had an amazing kick which made it a lot easier for me! Into T1 and out of my new Aqua Sphere Ironman Icon wetsuit kindly supplied by Wiggle and Aqua Sphere. This is the 3rd wetsuit I have ever swum in and I feel like I am in the Ferrari of wetsuits. My first wetsuit was one I bought off eBay to do my first wetsuit based race 3 years ago at London Tri. It was 2 sizes too big and was more like a bin liner, there was more water in the wetsuit than in the docks!! Despite that I was bitten by the tri bug and upgraded to a 2XU elite wetsuit the following year in preparation for Ironman UK. I have been in the 2XU suit for the past 2 years which has been great but I have always had issues getting it off in T1. The Aqua Sphere Ironman Icon wetsuit peels off so easily and is of course a must when doing short distance. It made a huge difference to my T1 time at Dorney Lake and is very comfortable to swim in. If it is good enough for Faris al Sultan, it is good enough for me!!

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9

Chilterns 100 Challenge.

…and what a challenge! Jason from Wiggle kindly sent me a SRAM Force Rival cassette with some smaller gears for my Kiron and without those I would have been walking up some of those steep climbs as many people were having to do. The weather was perfect for this day out and I loved every minute of it! I had The Dutchman, Toby and Sten with me who did a great job of keeping me out of the wind all day. I did eventually take my turn at the front…for the last 2km but they signed up as my trusty domestiques knowing that! The aim of the day was to try and get the fastest time for the women and due to a flat and an extra stop we had to make we managed to get me 2nd fastest and gold standard which was great. Thanks guys!

The ride started at Missenden and after getting out of the town we went straight up. It didn’t feel like there was a flat bit the entire day, it was either up or down and really hard work. I haven’t done any long rides this year so was a little bit worried about how I was going to hold up on the day. The longest ride had been 104km a month before but my secret weapon, and a hangover from my IronMan days, is that I am a pro at eating on the bike. I eat every 20 mins and whilst this may sound like overkill, I have tested it time and time again and it actually makes me get stronger as the race goes on. The feed stations were also really well stocked and the volunteers who make these events possible were wonderful. There were some little kids on the 2nd stop and didn’t quite know what to do when asked where we get the fish and chips from. :)

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8

1st Tri…1st place!

As mentioned in my last post, I had signed up to do the 220 Dorney Lake Evening Triathlon. This was going to be my first triathlon of the season and I was really looking forward to it. I am very pleased to say that not only did I have a great time, I managed to win!

Dorney Lake is easy and fast for me to get to, it’s a short train ride from Paddington to Slough and then I cycle the 5 or so miles out to the lake for a 7:30pm start. I was one of the last ones into the water and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t freezing. We set off for the 750m swim and I went out fast to try and find some nice big feet for me to draft off. It didn’t quite happen like that and I lost the front pack within the first few minutes and ended up doing most of the race on my own between the faster group and ahead of the 2nd pack. I had done a very hard 4km set in the pool Tuesday night with Terry so my arms were tired and were not willing to co-operate. My stroke was disintegrating so I decided not to push it too hard and just settle into my Olympic distance race pace and make it up on the bike.

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7

Mid Week Racing.

A long weekend is one of the rare times I feel like I can have my cake and eat it too. In this case get in some great training and have enough time to enjoy the weekend. Terry has started a Saturday morning coached session in Hampstead Lido which is a very reasonable 9:30 start for a hard hour of swimming. The lido is even starting to warm up from the 10 degrees it was a few weeks back and I would even go as far to say it is ‘pleasant’. If only my Aussie based friends could hear me say that. There was a time I wouldn’t get in the water unless it was at least 25 degrees.

On Sunday The Dutchman and I met a friend in Stevenage and went and did our 100km loop around the country lanes. It is very deceiving how tough the ride is as it is short sharp hills and never flat. As our friend is from Cambridge we rode back with him and did some sight seeing in the beautiful sunshine. One of the punters on the river even obliged and fell in whilst we were watching. He was a good sport and very entertaining.

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6

Wiggle Thunder Run 10k

Last weekend was the Wiggle Thunder 10km event. The race was on the Saturday and weaved in and out of the bike course to be used for the night time trial and Wiggle Enduro 6 the following day. It has been years since running a cross country race and I loved it! Not one for usually getting out into the mud (with the exception of Tough Guy!) I surprised myself and really enjoyed being back out in the paddocks.

I caught the 6:24 train out of Euston with the Focus Izalco Chrono equipped with a bag of food that I munched through for the 2 hour journey. I am an expert when it comes to cycling from train stations to events, but it proved to be a bit more of a challenge riding the Focus as it isn’t really a bike to be ridden with a back pack along an A road :) It was only a 20 min ride so I got to the race site with plenty of time to spare. Registration was easy and I went next door to say Hi to Jason, Rob and Ben from Wiggle who were manning the Focus tent with the collection of demo mountain bikes as well as taking part in the night time trial scheduled for Saturday night.

After a quick warm up in the pouring rain, I headed out to the start chute for the final countdown. Lucky for us the rain stopped just before the race started which I thought was a nice touch from the organisers ;) The race started and we went out across the timing maps straight into the fields. It took a while for me to get into my stride as I was wearing my cross country runners which feel a lot different to my normal running shoes. I was having a bit of a laugh with some of the guys I was running with as it was all a bit fox and hound. There was a ‘runner with dog’ category in the race and the 7 or so dogs at the back of the pack were all excited and making a lot of noise when everyone started running. I think it was why I went through the first km in 3.50 and realised I had better slow it down if I wanted to finish :)

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5

A Perfect Five Days.

I have just come back from an amazing 5 days in Provence cycling around with The Dutchman and 4 friends. We all met in Nice last Wednesday night with Midori flying in from New York, Oskar from Amsterdam, Pete and Ian catching the train from St Pancreas and The Dutchman and I flying in from Gatwick. Everyone got their bikes together and we pulled out the maps to check out where we would be going. I prefer not to know. I have been riding with The Dutchman long enough to know it will always be ‘up’ and it doesn’t pay to know what’s in store!

Day 1 – Thursday
Nice to Entrevaux 101km 2040m vertical.

We set out in convoy along the promenade and then as always with leaving Nice, you have to go up. We started climbing and it was then that people got a little envious that I wasn’t carrying any luggage. The Dutchman had agreed to carry everything for me because I knew I would be the weakest rider in the group so for The Dutchman to get on his bike he had to perform a gymnastics routine to get over the tower at the back of his bike. I had been given a list of things I was allowed to bring but managed to sneak in some contraband makeup and clothes without him knowing :)

We were soon onto the peaceful quiet roads and headed up to Vence where we had some beautiful views of the valley. It was a little overcast but dry so it was perfect cycling weather. We continued climbing and had a 10km climb that started to bite a little near the end up to a tiny little village. We hadn’t had time to stop for lunch due to some earlier mechanical issues so people were starting to blow going up the longer climbs such as Col de Trebuchet (1141m) and Col de Felines (930m). I was OK, I made it up all of the climbs but completely lost it on the last decent of the day down the Entrevaux where it was technical and steep. I had to stop and have a quick gel after I was about an inch from missing a switchback and launching myself over the edge. It made me realise how much even descending can take out of you. Maybe that is an indication of my current shape that I even blow up going down hill!!

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