End of Year Blog
It’s been a funny year. Since I raced Challenge Roth in July I did very little racing and training. I did get married in Majorca, move jobs, move to a different area of the country and am awaiting our new house to be built. So, it’s been action packed year but not in a triathlon sense.
I think after I hit the goal time in Roth. It felt that I had completed the major goal for the year which put out the fire out for pushing for more. Training took a dive and with all the life changes my focus was elsewhere.
I am now working for Race Hub near Loughborough. Which is a fantastic little triathlon set up, with its own lake, wattbike studio, café and retail space. So my life is now even more triathlon 24/7. Race hub was built around a club that is vibrant and engaging. It has made the move so much easier to be inserted into such a positive community.
Next year I will be representing Erdinger and Race Hub and hope to have a more action-packed year now everything has settled.
I wanted to finish 2018 with a bang so I tried to scrape together some form for an end of year hit out at Long Course Weekend (LCW) Majorca. I really wanted to return to the island and defend my title. LCW is such a fun format and its really great to see it expanding. LCW is a triathlon stage race with the swim on the first day the bike on the next and the run on the final day. It is a format that suits me well as the bike at LCW Mallorca is fully drafted on close roads, which creates a completely different dynamic.
Here is how the race went.
SWIM Day
We had a beautiful few days before the event in glorious Spanish sunshine. I made the most of it by getting in the water every day in a vague attempt at cramming. A classic technique used for exams. Not sure it would work as well for fitness, but I had swam no more than 3 times in the preceding month so this little block of 4 days was like a month’s worth of swimming to me.
Standing on the start line I was hoping to swim anywhere between 55-1hr and hopefully give away no time to Mark Livesey who I knew would be one of the contenders for overall. 55min 11sec later and I was pleased I had executed a solid swim that placed me 3rdout of all the LCW athletes. But that bloody Livesey put 3min into me! When did he become such a rapid swimmer? Probably swims more than once a week!
BIKE DAY
Leading up to the event it was becoming clear that the weather was going to take a dramatic turn for the worst. The apocalypse struck in the afternoon of swim day and in Mallorca when it rains it pours. Only recently there had been fatalities on the island due to flash flooding.
The roads turned to rivers and I was convinced that the bike day was going to be cancelled, how could we race in those conditions. It would be crazy. The organisers who did a really good job considering the weather decided to make the call as late as possible. But I went to bed that night to the sound of torrential rain convinced it would be a lie in and a lazy day.
7am and I check twitter too find ‘ITS ON!’ The weather had given us a window, so it was all action stations. Now I got quite nervous before this bike race as there were so many different dynamics and uncontrollable factors that could affect the race. Whether it be crashing, punctures, missing the break or getting dropped. I would have been happy to just get to the end limiting my time loses.
We started in the dry, but it didn’t last long. A flash of lightning followed by clap of thunder marked the arrival of the down pours. In a peloton of 50 guys of unknown skill and riding ability it was an unnerving experience. After one crash it proved too much for Gossage who decided to drop off the back and ride at her own pace. The saving grace was that the bunch decided to take it easy no risks were taken through corners. 1 chap made a jump off the front by himself, but other than that we went really steady for the first half.
The 2ndhalf it dried up and it got faster. Livesey who was always in the front 5 riders and looked so comfortable marking all the moves, suddenly disappeared. I assumed he must have had a puncture as the pace was steady and he a strong old boy on a bike. Turns out he just had a bad day and bonked. This put me in the virtual lead and heading into run day which was my strongest leg. I just needed to finish with the peloton safely.
On the hilly section about 70 miles in it started to line out. I found myself near the front and looking back I thought just a little pressure here and we could drop a few guys, so I got on the front and kept the intensity high. The gap opened. Only 20m or so but enough. Fellow Race Hub athlete Alan Nicolson then drove the pace hard to make sure they didn’t come back. He was like an express train doing monster turns and burying himself. The gap held for a while but then exploded. We were out of sight and out of mind. A group of 8 but only 4 of us were doing the LCW. This is where you could see that two different races were going on. The gold numbered LCW guys were keen to work and put time in on the groups behind. The black numbered straight bike guys just wanted to save their legs, so they could either get away or win the sprint. This resulted in the 4 LCW weekend guys doing all the work with Alan and Alister Wood doing the lion share. We caught the solo breakaway rider and ended up putting 4min into the next group. The black numbers jumped us all in the sprint. Bastards with the guy who had been out by himself all day winning the sprint. But it was a more than successful bike race.
RUN DAY
With the time taken on the bike I now had a comfortable 10min buffer on the next strongest runner John Collier, who crashed on the bike so wouldn’t be at his best. So short of disaster the win was there. I set off with the half marathon boys and it felt nice and comfortable after 2km they turned onto their slightly different loop and I was left by myself at the front. I had planned to run with John or the whoever was at the front of the marathon field as I thought it was easier to run in a pack than by yourself, but the pace felt very comfortable, so I just kept the rhythm and carried on by myself. I even walked a few aid stations ironman style to preserve my legs. I did think mid run that I would make sure I beat Livesey by more than the margin he took in the swim, so that would quash the ‘what if he had not bonked’. I’ve never felt so comfortable through a marathon. My tempo and form were the same in that last 10km as the first. The year before it felt a lot harder and I ran 2:51 and was fitter. I crossed the line in 2:45 which was a great way to finish the year.
Really amazing event. Cant wait to return and defend my title next year!
It’s been a funny year. Since I raced Challenge Roth in July I did very little racing and training. I did get married in Majorca, move jobs, move to a different area of the country and am awaiting our new house to be built. So, it’s been action packed year but not in a triathlon sense.
I think after I hit the goal time in Roth. It felt that I had completed the major goal for the year which put out the fire out for pushing for more. Training took a dive and with all the life changes my focus was elsewhere.
I am now working for Race Hub near Loughborough. Which is a fantastic little triathlon set up, with its own lake, wattbike studio, café and retail space. So my life is now even more triathlon 24/7. Race hub was built around a club that is vibrant and engaging. It has made the move so much easier to be inserted into such a positive community.
Next year I will be representing Erdinger and Race Hub and hope to have a more action-packed year now everything has settled.
I wanted to finish 2018 with a bang so I tried to scrape together some form for an end of year hit out at Long Course Weekend (LCW) Majorca. I really wanted to return to the island and defend my title. LCW is such a fun format and its really great to see it expanding. LCW is a triathlon stage race with the swim on the first day the bike on the next and the run on the final day. It is a format that suits me well as the bike at LCW Mallorca is fully drafted on close roads, which creates a completely different dynamic.
Here is how the race went.
SWIM Day
We had a beautiful few days before the event in glorious Spanish sunshine. I made the most of it by getting in the water every day in a vague attempt at cramming. A classic technique used for exams. Not sure it would work as well for fitness, but I had swam no more than 3 times in the preceding month so this little block of 4 days was like a month’s worth of swimming to me.
Standing on the start line I was hoping to swim anywhere between 55-1hr and hopefully give away no time to Mark Livesey who I knew would be one of the contenders for overall. 55min 11sec later and I was pleased I had executed a solid swim that placed me 3rdout of all the LCW athletes. But that bloody Livesey put 3min into me! When did he become such a rapid swimmer? Probably swims more than once a week!
BIKE DAY
Leading up to the event it was becoming clear that the weather was going to take a dramatic turn for the worst. The apocalypse struck in the afternoon of swim day and in Mallorca when it rains it pours. Only recently there had been fatalities on the island due to flash flooding.
The roads turned to rivers and I was convinced that the bike day was going to be cancelled, how could we race in those conditions. It would be crazy. The organisers who did a really good job considering the weather decided to make the call as late as possible. But I went to bed that night to the sound of torrential rain convinced it would be a lie in and a lazy day.
7am and I check twitter too find ‘ITS ON!’ The weather had given us a window, so it was all action stations. Now I got quite nervous before this bike race as there were so many different dynamics and uncontrollable factors that could affect the race. Whether it be crashing, punctures, missing the break or getting dropped. I would have been happy to just get to the end limiting my time loses.
We started in the dry, but it didn’t last long. A flash of lightning followed by clap of thunder marked the arrival of the down pours. In a peloton of 50 guys of unknown skill and riding ability it was an unnerving experience. After one crash it proved too much for Gossage who decided to drop off the back and ride at her own pace. The saving grace was that the bunch decided to take it easy no risks were taken through corners. 1 chap made a jump off the front by himself, but other than that we went really steady for the first half.
The 2ndhalf it dried up and it got faster. Livesey who was always in the front 5 riders and looked so comfortable marking all the moves, suddenly disappeared. I assumed he must have had a puncture as the pace was steady and he a strong old boy on a bike. Turns out he just had a bad day and bonked. This put me in the virtual lead and heading into run day which was my strongest leg. I just needed to finish with the peloton safely.
On the hilly section about 70 miles in it started to line out. I found myself near the front and looking back I thought just a little pressure here and we could drop a few guys, so I got on the front and kept the intensity high. The gap opened. Only 20m or so but enough. Fellow Race Hub athlete Alan Nicolson then drove the pace hard to make sure they didn’t come back. He was like an express train doing monster turns and burying himself. The gap held for a while but then exploded. We were out of sight and out of mind. A group of 8 but only 4 of us were doing the LCW. This is where you could see that two different races were going on. The gold numbered LCW guys were keen to work and put time in on the groups behind. The black numbered straight bike guys just wanted to save their legs, so they could either get away or win the sprint. This resulted in the 4 LCW weekend guys doing all the work with Alan and Alister Wood doing the lion share. We caught the solo breakaway rider and ended up putting 4min into the next group. The black numbers jumped us all in the sprint. Bastards with the guy who had been out by himself all day winning the sprint. But it was a more than successful bike race.
RUN DAY
With the time taken on the bike I now had a comfortable 10min buffer on the next strongest runner John Collier, who crashed on the bike so wouldn’t be at his best. So short of disaster the win was there. I set off with the half marathon boys and it felt nice and comfortable after 2km they turned onto their slightly different loop and I was left by myself at the front. I had planned to run with John or the whoever was at the front of the marathon field as I thought it was easier to run in a pack than by yourself, but the pace felt very comfortable, so I just kept the rhythm and carried on by myself. I even walked a few aid stations ironman style to preserve my legs. I did think mid run that I would make sure I beat Livesey by more than the margin he took in the swim, so that would quash the ‘what if he had not bonked’. I’ve never felt so comfortable through a marathon. My tempo and form were the same in that last 10km as the first. The year before it felt a lot harder and I ran 2:51 and was fitter. I crossed the line in 2:45 which was a great way to finish the year.
Really amazing event. Cant wait to return and defend my title next year!