My routine and access to familiar to cycle and run routes is broken at the moment. This is, to put it bluntly, crap.
I'm naturally a cautious cyclist (a "what if" worrier) and I've got very used to the routes I've been cycling the last 2 years. I know them well. I know which bits are good for what sort of training. I know the exit points and danger points for mechanicals. I know where the good refreshment/social stops are. This means the barrier to getting out there and doing a ride is pretty low. Take away those familiar routes and the barrier leaps up a long long way.
So I've not ridden a bike in, er, quite a while. Not since 21st September! Yes, I've been on the Wattbikes and spin bikes in the gym, but it's not the same thing at all.
Today I have to do that and from and to unfamiliar places. On an unfamiliar bike. (to get fitted on that same bike).
*fear*
(it's a gorgeous bike, but still...)
Showing posts with label Freespeed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freespeed. Show all posts
Monday, 25 November 2013
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Race Report: Racing the Valencia F1 Circuit
Thanks to Virgin Active, a bunch of Team Freespeed went down to Valencia to race the Valencia triathlon at the weekend.
A week after Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See, Mr TOTKat and I would have just about enough time to get over lead-legs and needing to sleep a lot, and get out and race an Olympic distance with a good degree of fitness and energy. We swapped bikes in the bike boxes, TT bikes out, road bikes in - Valencia is a drafting race so TT bikes aren't allowed (or rather, long aero bars aren't allowed as they're pretty dangerous at close-quarters riding). Plenty of clip-on, stubby aero bars in evidence at the race, but I'll get to that in a bit.
We flew out on Friday morning from Gatwick and into 28C an sunny skies in Valencia - gorgeous! The forecast was for cloud and still warm across the whole weekend, so no need for a wetsuit (though we both packed one, just in case) and no need for socks apart from the fact I really want to be sure my feet are good for the next few weeks into the Rotherham 80km Ultra marathon. Fun and games at the airport with 9 people and 5 bike boxes to get to the hotel and only normal-sized cars as taxis. No mini-buses, no people carriers. We managed somehow and got to the hotel, which was really lovely and welcomed us with cava and orange juice as well as little gift packs with maps and travel passes in them.
A little unpack, then off for a swim down at the beach and back to the hotel for an early night.
Next day we put bikes together and headed out down to the sea front to have a look at the race expo. Not so many vendors there but a few stalls with general sports kit and the registration tents for when that opened later on in the afternoon. Back to the hotel for a huge nap and then out with the other guys again to register and rack up bikes.
Sunday morning was an earlyish start at 6am to get to transition before it closed at 07:45 in time for the first race start at 8am. I popped into transition to set up my shoes, helmet and take the plastic cover off my bike that'd been protecting it from the potential rain overnight. I said I'd take the plastic cover off Matt's bike for him so he could have a nice lie in for his race start at 10:30 so I did that and checked his tyres were OK - they were.
Mr TOTKat was due to be off at 08:20, so those of us off later went to check out the swim course while he got ready to start and then watched the swim leg for the first few waves and then saw Matt burning off the front of his wave before Jenny and I headed to get ready for our start. We were herded into the start pen for a pre-race talk; 5 minutes in Spanish, no English for the International athletes. Oh well! We then plopped into the water, which was gorgeous temperature for swimming in! It was so very very salty too.
Bang went the start cannon and I tried really hard not to just mow over the row of women in front of me who were really slow, but got over the reticence and got on with it. It really wasn't very fighty as deep water swim starts go, just a little jostling at the start then I had clear water. Having recced the swim course earlier, we had a great idea of how to sight for almost all of it and I put some good effort in for the first few hundred meters before easing off a bit, slightly distracted by the salt water in my mouth.
With the beautiful water, the temperature and the freedom of just a tri-suit maybe, the swim felt really really easy. I didn't put a whole lot of effort in, if I'm honest, but it turned out I led the second pack for quite a way until getting under the bridge for the final few meters and a couple of women overtook me, and I let them as I wasn't sure where the exit was so I'd rather follow them. I scrambled out, up the ramp and jogged the long long carpet through to transition and around to where my bike was racked. On with the helmet, race number, socks (paranoid about blisters at the moment), bike shoes, sunglasses, unracked bike and jogged with it to the bike exit.
Over the line, mount the bike and clip in. I heard cheers from the spectators of "Go on Kat!" etc. I guessed that was Nick and Mr TOTKat as he'd've finished by now. Start to pedal as I just hit the left turn for the bridge and *THUB*THUB*THUB* er... not a good noise. Stop, unclip, feel back tyre - fine, feel front tyre - flat as a pancake.
Bugger.
My repair kit was not with me, having lost a chunk of it last week at Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See I'd not replaced it yet and decided not to carry a reduced kit for an Olympic distance race. I unclipped my other foot, dismounted and hugged the fence back to transition against the flow of other athletes. I had to find a race official, to withdraw from the race so they wouldn't worry about a missing athlete. I found one with a radio and made the international sign of the glum face and pointed at my dead wheel. That worked. Mr TOTKat had by that time made his way level with where I was and shouted that I should use his repair kit from his bike. I politely declined at that point - it'd've taken me ages to find his bike, get the kit and wrestle the still fairly new tyre off and by that time I'd've lost over 10 minutes and I'd be the last person over the finish line. I didn't much fancy that and I'd had a lovely swim, so why get cross and have a horrible run by myself in the blazing sun when I didn't really need to?
I racked up my bike and joined the boys to cheer the rest of the team home over the line. Turns out I was 3rd in the Vet Females in the swim. Which was nice.
Matt won the Veterans race, and Jenny was 4th woman overall and 3rd in the open women's race. Pretty darned good for her seeing as she'd had the twins only 10 months ago and not been able to train for a long time!
All in all, I really enjoyed the race and the weekend. The swim was really very nice and although it was a shame not to have been able to ride the bike course, there's always another year and we'd be more than happy to go back again. The short of it, the Valencia Triathlon is a good 'un and at a good time towards the end of the season to keep spirits up in the sun.
[Thanks to Nick for the use of all of his photos in this article!]
A week after Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See, Mr TOTKat and I would have just about enough time to get over lead-legs and needing to sleep a lot, and get out and race an Olympic distance with a good degree of fitness and energy. We swapped bikes in the bike boxes, TT bikes out, road bikes in - Valencia is a drafting race so TT bikes aren't allowed (or rather, long aero bars aren't allowed as they're pretty dangerous at close-quarters riding). Plenty of clip-on, stubby aero bars in evidence at the race, but I'll get to that in a bit.We flew out on Friday morning from Gatwick and into 28C an sunny skies in Valencia - gorgeous! The forecast was for cloud and still warm across the whole weekend, so no need for a wetsuit (though we both packed one, just in case) and no need for socks apart from the fact I really want to be sure my feet are good for the next few weeks into the Rotherham 80km Ultra marathon. Fun and games at the airport with 9 people and 5 bike boxes to get to the hotel and only normal-sized cars as taxis. No mini-buses, no people carriers. We managed somehow and got to the hotel, which was really lovely and welcomed us with cava and orange juice as well as little gift packs with maps and travel passes in them.
A little unpack, then off for a swim down at the beach and back to the hotel for an early night.
Next day we put bikes together and headed out down to the sea front to have a look at the race expo. Not so many vendors there but a few stalls with general sports kit and the registration tents for when that opened later on in the afternoon. Back to the hotel for a huge nap and then out with the other guys again to register and rack up bikes.
Sunday morning was an earlyish start at 6am to get to transition before it closed at 07:45 in time for the first race start at 8am. I popped into transition to set up my shoes, helmet and take the plastic cover off my bike that'd been protecting it from the potential rain overnight. I said I'd take the plastic cover off Matt's bike for him so he could have a nice lie in for his race start at 10:30 so I did that and checked his tyres were OK - they were.
Mr TOTKat was due to be off at 08:20, so those of us off later went to check out the swim course while he got ready to start and then watched the swim leg for the first few waves and then saw Matt burning off the front of his wave before Jenny and I headed to get ready for our start. We were herded into the start pen for a pre-race talk; 5 minutes in Spanish, no English for the International athletes. Oh well! We then plopped into the water, which was gorgeous temperature for swimming in! It was so very very salty too.
Bang went the start cannon and I tried really hard not to just mow over the row of women in front of me who were really slow, but got over the reticence and got on with it. It really wasn't very fighty as deep water swim starts go, just a little jostling at the start then I had clear water. Having recced the swim course earlier, we had a great idea of how to sight for almost all of it and I put some good effort in for the first few hundred meters before easing off a bit, slightly distracted by the salt water in my mouth.
With the beautiful water, the temperature and the freedom of just a tri-suit maybe, the swim felt really really easy. I didn't put a whole lot of effort in, if I'm honest, but it turned out I led the second pack for quite a way until getting under the bridge for the final few meters and a couple of women overtook me, and I let them as I wasn't sure where the exit was so I'd rather follow them. I scrambled out, up the ramp and jogged the long long carpet through to transition and around to where my bike was racked. On with the helmet, race number, socks (paranoid about blisters at the moment), bike shoes, sunglasses, unracked bike and jogged with it to the bike exit.
Over the line, mount the bike and clip in. I heard cheers from the spectators of "Go on Kat!" etc. I guessed that was Nick and Mr TOTKat as he'd've finished by now. Start to pedal as I just hit the left turn for the bridge and *THUB*THUB*THUB* er... not a good noise. Stop, unclip, feel back tyre - fine, feel front tyre - flat as a pancake.
Bugger.
My repair kit was not with me, having lost a chunk of it last week at Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See I'd not replaced it yet and decided not to carry a reduced kit for an Olympic distance race. I unclipped my other foot, dismounted and hugged the fence back to transition against the flow of other athletes. I had to find a race official, to withdraw from the race so they wouldn't worry about a missing athlete. I found one with a radio and made the international sign of the glum face and pointed at my dead wheel. That worked. Mr TOTKat had by that time made his way level with where I was and shouted that I should use his repair kit from his bike. I politely declined at that point - it'd've taken me ages to find his bike, get the kit and wrestle the still fairly new tyre off and by that time I'd've lost over 10 minutes and I'd be the last person over the finish line. I didn't much fancy that and I'd had a lovely swim, so why get cross and have a horrible run by myself in the blazing sun when I didn't really need to?
I racked up my bike and joined the boys to cheer the rest of the team home over the line. Turns out I was 3rd in the Vet Females in the swim. Which was nice.
Matt won the Veterans race, and Jenny was 4th woman overall and 3rd in the open women's race. Pretty darned good for her seeing as she'd had the twins only 10 months ago and not been able to train for a long time!
All in all, I really enjoyed the race and the weekend. The swim was really very nice and although it was a shame not to have been able to ride the bike course, there's always another year and we'd be more than happy to go back again. The short of it, the Valencia Triathlon is a good 'un and at a good time towards the end of the season to keep spirits up in the sun.
[Thanks to Nick for the use of all of his photos in this article!]
 |
| Nick on the camera bike |
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Race Report: 70.3 Zell Am See 2013 - I have never raced so hard
Cutting the long and boring flights story short; we arrived and our bikes didn't. They weren't loaded onto the plane at Heathrow when we were and arrived at out hotel at 6pm on Saturday. Thankfully, we had some advice from a friendly MC we know (thanks Paul!) and a quick chat with one of the organisers gained us permission to rack up in the morning - thank god for the race start being from 10am!
So, most of Saturday was spent doing a fat lot of nothing, accompanied by ze alcoholfrei, which the Germans & Austrians seem to do really rather well and with copious choice.
Nice and early to bed and as we were settling down, we heard a weird noise. It sounded like a cross between an air-brake and a high-powered water hose. I got out of bed and walked towards the window then realised, as I got level with my bike, that the noise was coming from my back wheel and it was air rushing out of the inner tube into the deep-section rim. (See in the photo below the thick bit of black on my back wheel - the valve extension goes through that from the inner tube and out so you can attach a pump to it.)
Time to whip out the tyre levers and fight off the still relatively new tyre to replace the inner tube and/or find out what was going on. Thankfully it was nothing bad, just the rubber at the join between inner tube and the valve had failed. So all I needed to do was replace the inner tube. I say all... with deep-section rims as deep as this, you have to use valve extenders and seal them in with PTFE tape; of which I had none. Cue sitting on the floor and crying. Mr TOTKat was a total hero, and a lot calmer, he let me have one of his spare inner tubes which had an extension pre-taped to it for field repairs. Sorted. Back to bed. Sleep.
Up at 7am (lie in!) to get some brekkie and go to rack up at 8.30am as agreed with the race officials. All went smoothly, nicely checked in and racked up. It was raining lightly as forecast. Mr TOTKat was due to start in the first wave at 10am and I was 25 minutes later in the "all women and relay teams" final wave. We kissed and he headed off for race start while I tried to keep from getting too cold by hovering in the cafe area, having already handed in the street-wear bag with shoes, socks and warm clothes for after the race packed in it.
Time passes.
(Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.)
10:25 and I'm in the water (which is nice and warm at 19Cish) and the cannon goes off to start. And I make what I think is the most accurate route to the first buoy I've ever managed in one of these races. No feet to draft off, which was a shame, but a straight line out for the 890m or so to the first buoy, no argy-bargy at all and none really around the turn point. Felt a bit sick, but that usually happens when I'm trying reasonably hard, so I ignored it. Dead straight again to the 2nd buoy another 230m so onwards and the nausea I'd had for the first leg wasn't fading. I just thought I was putting in some good effort. Turning the 2nd buoy I couldn't see where to aim for and am pretty sure this third leg wasn't all that straight. But, I overtook an awful lot of people from the earlier wave in their yellow hats.
Up the steps, yanking at the arms of my wetsuit which is a sod to get over elbows and wrists... to the carpet through to transition, to grab blue bag, get out of the wetsuit and into bike kit. I'd packed light for this race as it was never going to be that cold, so all I needed to do was put on race belt, glasses, helmet and bike shoes (yep, I still haven't got around to learning to mount the bike into shoes that are clipped into the pedals). Even if it rained really hard, it wouldn't matter - no point wasting time and effort putting on rain jackets or long-sleeved tops on the bike as the rain was probably going to be pretty hard and I'd only end up with a lot of wet fabric clinging to a lot of my body, making me really cold. I did shove my remaining bike tool into my back pocket and then as I was trotting to the bike mount line I thought I'd dropped it and spent a good few seconds worrying and looking, but gave up pretty quickly - no replacement inner tube, no tyre levers, no pump. Plenty of mechanical problems I could fix with that little multi-tool, but I'd just have to live without it.
The bike course was wet, it rained on and off, but mostly on and I got cross with a lot of people. There was drafting galore and blocking. The course may well be technically quick, but you'd need to be familiar with it. There aren't that many straight sections, there are some, mostly out around Piesendorf, and it's narrow in places, with wooden bridges to cross too. It is pretty darned flat though.
Still. I overtook A LOT of people. Including a GBR male age-grouper who may have been having a bad day. (I looked him up afterwards, he started the race 15 minutes before me and was 25-29, poor pup!)
Strava estimates my highest average wattage of any ride I've ever done:-
Compare a reasonably hard training ride with this race...
and again...
Putting aside the well-organised draft trains and blocking from a certain Austrian age-group female, it was the hardest effort I've put in on a bike ride. Ever. By the end of it, my quads were pretty unhappy and as I reached the dismount line, I had to hold onto the hedge to unclip my second foot. I then burst into giggles as I could barely walk, never mind jog through transition. Guess what? I still felt pretty sick.
My auntie was there at the entrance to transition, waving and cheering me on (thank you for travelling 200km on that day to see me for all of a few minutes!), so I gathered enough beans together to jog really slowly through transition, my legs feeling like two logs strapped to my backside, flapping about underneath me.
T2 was just as simple as T1. Bike racked, bike shoes off, helmet off, number belt swung around to the front, visor on, running shoes... oh! Oh man! My feet were covered in grit from the bike course. Really scratchy grit. So, I used about half of the water in my bike bottle to wash it off as best I could before putting on my running shoes. No way did I want grit in my shoes for 21.1km, stripping the skin off my feet.
I chugged the remains of my bike bottle, ditched it into the red bag, grabbed 2 gels and ate one. Off out onto the run. Just about to exit transition I felt something banging about in my back pocket - my bike tool! I was drawing parallel with where the blue bags were hanging up so I thought I'd drop it off in my blue bag. I just couldn't find it though, so left it on the ground at the side near the bags and hoped it'd be there later. Off out over the timing mat now and up the long spur out to the 3x loops.
Starting out on the run, my legs were pretty shot. They felt like lead - never have they felt so awful from bike to run. And within the first kilometer, my right inner thigh just above my knee (around the end of my VMO) started to niggle. Within the first two kilometers I wanted to stop or at least walk. I was pretty broken. It took a lot to keep moving. My first boost came from one of the couple we met the day before the race when they didn't have bikes arrive either. The chap gave me a good shout out and it helped keep me going.
Up into town and onto the loops. Winding around town and out along the lake side, each km seemed to take forever. I felt ill still and that gel had done nothing for me. I struggled to keep my legs moving as they started to hurt more and more. There were a couple of little rises in the town and a dip under a bridge which made walking more and more tempting. I made a deal with myself to walk the aid stations to drink water as I'd only had 1/2 a bike bottle so far, the rest going over my feet to get that grit off.
Plenty of support out on the course, lots of bells, whistles and "hop hop HOP!" from the supporters. Lots of "go on Kate!" when they saw my race number and I passed the lady of the other late bike couple twice and each time she gave me a good old shout out - I could do no more than grunt. It hurt. My legs really really hurt. I passed Mr TOTKat for the first time (going along the bit where you meet people on another part of the lap) and he shouted out to me, giving me the fight to keep going some more. I didn't think I'd see him again before the finish line. Then more support from familiar faces, Freespeed team-mate Declan gave some great encouragement right on one of the little rises and I simply didn't recognise him the first time. I was in quite a dark place with sore legs and continuing rising ill-feeling. Added to that was quite a hot spot in my left shoe, but I was ignoring that. I'd felt worse and it'd been fine before. The temptation to stop or just walk was huge. The bad voices in my head kept saying "What's the point, hundreds of people have passed you anyway; you're not going to get a podium place anyway, your run is far too weak for that and you went too hard on the bike. Why bother? Just walk...". Those voices are the ones that make you slow down, or give up. You have to ignore them if you want to achieve your goals. Have to.
By the third lap, I felt pretty awful in the guts and had no idea why or how I was still going. To my huge surprise, I saw Mr TOTKat again and realised either he was having a terrible time or I was having a great one (it turned out to be the former) and then Declan and other familiar faces again. The final run back from the far end loop the sick feeling reached a peak, I let out some wind and then... realised I needed one of those portaloos. Right. Now. Except I was way past them and there was nothing but path, grass, lake and the odd tree.
Not Good.
I walked a little, hoping it would ease, but there was no stopping it. I found some sort of tiny bush, better than nothing, and yanked down my shorts. A passing athlete asked if I was OK and I grunted a "yes" as I sympathised with Paula Radcliffe rather deeply. It was that or basically run with shorts full of poo. And I mean -full-. I felt quite a bit better after that and got my act together for the last couple of km to the finish. A couple more bits of run/walk and with my three lap counter bands in place, the fourth time through the band gates meant I could go left and hit the final 100m to the finish line. Grim determination made me run that last 100m and I crossed the line, bent my head for my medal, was wrapped in a foil blanket and then collapsed at Mr TOTKat, saying "I couldn't have given any more".
And despite my usual post-race over-analysis and self-criticism, I really believe that. On that day, I could not have given any more.
So, most of Saturday was spent doing a fat lot of nothing, accompanied by ze alcoholfrei, which the Germans & Austrians seem to do really rather well and with copious choice.
Nice and early to bed and as we were settling down, we heard a weird noise. It sounded like a cross between an air-brake and a high-powered water hose. I got out of bed and walked towards the window then realised, as I got level with my bike, that the noise was coming from my back wheel and it was air rushing out of the inner tube into the deep-section rim. (See in the photo below the thick bit of black on my back wheel - the valve extension goes through that from the inner tube and out so you can attach a pump to it.)
Time to whip out the tyre levers and fight off the still relatively new tyre to replace the inner tube and/or find out what was going on. Thankfully it was nothing bad, just the rubber at the join between inner tube and the valve had failed. So all I needed to do was replace the inner tube. I say all... with deep-section rims as deep as this, you have to use valve extenders and seal them in with PTFE tape; of which I had none. Cue sitting on the floor and crying. Mr TOTKat was a total hero, and a lot calmer, he let me have one of his spare inner tubes which had an extension pre-taped to it for field repairs. Sorted. Back to bed. Sleep.
Up at 7am (lie in!) to get some brekkie and go to rack up at 8.30am as agreed with the race officials. All went smoothly, nicely checked in and racked up. It was raining lightly as forecast. Mr TOTKat was due to start in the first wave at 10am and I was 25 minutes later in the "all women and relay teams" final wave. We kissed and he headed off for race start while I tried to keep from getting too cold by hovering in the cafe area, having already handed in the street-wear bag with shoes, socks and warm clothes for after the race packed in it.
Time passes.
(Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.)
10:25 and I'm in the water (which is nice and warm at 19Cish) and the cannon goes off to start. And I make what I think is the most accurate route to the first buoy I've ever managed in one of these races. No feet to draft off, which was a shame, but a straight line out for the 890m or so to the first buoy, no argy-bargy at all and none really around the turn point. Felt a bit sick, but that usually happens when I'm trying reasonably hard, so I ignored it. Dead straight again to the 2nd buoy another 230m so onwards and the nausea I'd had for the first leg wasn't fading. I just thought I was putting in some good effort. Turning the 2nd buoy I couldn't see where to aim for and am pretty sure this third leg wasn't all that straight. But, I overtook an awful lot of people from the earlier wave in their yellow hats.
Up the steps, yanking at the arms of my wetsuit which is a sod to get over elbows and wrists... to the carpet through to transition, to grab blue bag, get out of the wetsuit and into bike kit. I'd packed light for this race as it was never going to be that cold, so all I needed to do was put on race belt, glasses, helmet and bike shoes (yep, I still haven't got around to learning to mount the bike into shoes that are clipped into the pedals). Even if it rained really hard, it wouldn't matter - no point wasting time and effort putting on rain jackets or long-sleeved tops on the bike as the rain was probably going to be pretty hard and I'd only end up with a lot of wet fabric clinging to a lot of my body, making me really cold. I did shove my remaining bike tool into my back pocket and then as I was trotting to the bike mount line I thought I'd dropped it and spent a good few seconds worrying and looking, but gave up pretty quickly - no replacement inner tube, no tyre levers, no pump. Plenty of mechanical problems I could fix with that little multi-tool, but I'd just have to live without it.
The bike course was wet, it rained on and off, but mostly on and I got cross with a lot of people. There was drafting galore and blocking. The course may well be technically quick, but you'd need to be familiar with it. There aren't that many straight sections, there are some, mostly out around Piesendorf, and it's narrow in places, with wooden bridges to cross too. It is pretty darned flat though.
Strava estimates my highest average wattage of any ride I've ever done:-
Compare a reasonably hard training ride with this race...
 |
| 80km training ride in the UK |
 |
| 90km race in Austria |
and again...
 |
| 80km training ride (no I don't think I actually hit 74.9km/h - mad thing!) |
 |
| 90km race |
My auntie was there at the entrance to transition, waving and cheering me on (thank you for travelling 200km on that day to see me for all of a few minutes!), so I gathered enough beans together to jog really slowly through transition, my legs feeling like two logs strapped to my backside, flapping about underneath me.
T2 was just as simple as T1. Bike racked, bike shoes off, helmet off, number belt swung around to the front, visor on, running shoes... oh! Oh man! My feet were covered in grit from the bike course. Really scratchy grit. So, I used about half of the water in my bike bottle to wash it off as best I could before putting on my running shoes. No way did I want grit in my shoes for 21.1km, stripping the skin off my feet.
I chugged the remains of my bike bottle, ditched it into the red bag, grabbed 2 gels and ate one. Off out onto the run. Just about to exit transition I felt something banging about in my back pocket - my bike tool! I was drawing parallel with where the blue bags were hanging up so I thought I'd drop it off in my blue bag. I just couldn't find it though, so left it on the ground at the side near the bags and hoped it'd be there later. Off out over the timing mat now and up the long spur out to the 3x loops.
Starting out on the run, my legs were pretty shot. They felt like lead - never have they felt so awful from bike to run. And within the first kilometer, my right inner thigh just above my knee (around the end of my VMO) started to niggle. Within the first two kilometers I wanted to stop or at least walk. I was pretty broken. It took a lot to keep moving. My first boost came from one of the couple we met the day before the race when they didn't have bikes arrive either. The chap gave me a good shout out and it helped keep me going.
Up into town and onto the loops. Winding around town and out along the lake side, each km seemed to take forever. I felt ill still and that gel had done nothing for me. I struggled to keep my legs moving as they started to hurt more and more. There were a couple of little rises in the town and a dip under a bridge which made walking more and more tempting. I made a deal with myself to walk the aid stations to drink water as I'd only had 1/2 a bike bottle so far, the rest going over my feet to get that grit off.
Plenty of support out on the course, lots of bells, whistles and "hop hop HOP!" from the supporters. Lots of "go on Kate!" when they saw my race number and I passed the lady of the other late bike couple twice and each time she gave me a good old shout out - I could do no more than grunt. It hurt. My legs really really hurt. I passed Mr TOTKat for the first time (going along the bit where you meet people on another part of the lap) and he shouted out to me, giving me the fight to keep going some more. I didn't think I'd see him again before the finish line. Then more support from familiar faces, Freespeed team-mate Declan gave some great encouragement right on one of the little rises and I simply didn't recognise him the first time. I was in quite a dark place with sore legs and continuing rising ill-feeling. Added to that was quite a hot spot in my left shoe, but I was ignoring that. I'd felt worse and it'd been fine before. The temptation to stop or just walk was huge. The bad voices in my head kept saying "What's the point, hundreds of people have passed you anyway; you're not going to get a podium place anyway, your run is far too weak for that and you went too hard on the bike. Why bother? Just walk...". Those voices are the ones that make you slow down, or give up. You have to ignore them if you want to achieve your goals. Have to.
By the third lap, I felt pretty awful in the guts and had no idea why or how I was still going. To my huge surprise, I saw Mr TOTKat again and realised either he was having a terrible time or I was having a great one (it turned out to be the former) and then Declan and other familiar faces again. The final run back from the far end loop the sick feeling reached a peak, I let out some wind and then... realised I needed one of those portaloos. Right. Now. Except I was way past them and there was nothing but path, grass, lake and the odd tree.
Not Good.
I walked a little, hoping it would ease, but there was no stopping it. I found some sort of tiny bush, better than nothing, and yanked down my shorts. A passing athlete asked if I was OK and I grunted a "yes" as I sympathised with Paula Radcliffe rather deeply. It was that or basically run with shorts full of poo. And I mean -full-. I felt quite a bit better after that and got my act together for the last couple of km to the finish. A couple more bits of run/walk and with my three lap counter bands in place, the fourth time through the band gates meant I could go left and hit the final 100m to the finish line. Grim determination made me run that last 100m and I crossed the line, bent my head for my medal, was wrapped in a foil blanket and then collapsed at Mr TOTKat, saying "I couldn't have given any more".
It turned out that hot spot in my shoe was a problem and the blood soaked through my shoe. I sweated, bled, cried, and worse for this medal. But I did it honestly, unlike many out on that bike course - the only sour note to the day. 12th in my age group, but an age group twice the size of any other Ironman branded race I've done to date. Best placing in age group in an Ironman branded race, best time in a 70.3 by 36 and a half minutes, and the first time I've really left it all out on the course in any race.
And all for this medal.
P.S. a little comparison with Galway, the race that wasn't.
Compare Zell Am See (above) in 2013 with Galway in 2012 (below). The coloured bands are set at the same thresholds of heart rate (ignore the drop outs for Galway, my strap was less reliable then and I forgot to turn it off at the end - actual race time was 06:18:58). Much more effort. Much less crashing and breaking bones too :o)
Monday, 5 August 2013
Event Report: Ride London 100 2013
I've been training for 70.3 Austria in September this year and that has meant no rides longer than about 3.5 hours since I've got back on my bike early this year. 80km max, I think, though I'd have to look at some of the ones in Spain to be certain. Ride London 100 is 100 miles... 160km. So I was apprehensive to day the least.
Mr TOTKat and I agreed we'd take it gently, enjoy the day out and see how we felt. So we planned the logistics of the days around it, I got stressy about it all and he figured it out sensibly. I think I was just so focused on fear of the distance, the second longest ride of my life to date after Ironman UK last year and that was not a lot of fun at all at the time. But with it all figured out and no pressure on the day and days around it, we headed into the weekend relatively calm and prepared.
4am on Sunday and the alarm went off... having spent the night in a very humid, cheap hotel room nearing to the finish, we hadn't had a lot of sleep when we were dragged to consciousness by the familiar sound of ducks quacking. Brekkie was posh instant porridge with California Raisins stirred in and a black coffee before we turned all the bike lights on and headed out to the road to ride to the Olympic Park for the start.
The route got thicker and thicker with riders until we reached the park to drop off bags, find people and filter into the pens for the start. The plan never was to try to hang on to the rest of the Freespeed guys as they really are a lot faster than us and had different plans for the day than we did. The start was announced and we rolled off out onto the course shortly after dawn onto the most fantastic course imaginable. Like the London Triathlon weekend, London's closed roads were absolutely dreamy to ride on and I quickly got caught up in turning on some speed after the first few tens of km. And by the first hub, I was starting to think that perhaps I was going too hard.
We stopped at the first hub, situated in Hampton Court Palace, and had a nice cup of tea with some salty crunchy Sunbites having crunched through a Clif bar at the first toilet break. We spent quite some time there and when we started off again I really did start to have some fun.
Then Leith Hill actually happened. Mmm, that was fun. I wouldn't mind giving it a go again when it's not covered in a bajillion other cyclists. As it was, it was quite narrow and a bit tricky to get up as I really only have one climbing speed and if people are slower than that and in front of me taking up the width of the road, I have problems. I did manage to find a route through with a chatty woman who helped keep my mind focused on getting up in one piece and not getting off to walk when I realised I was incredibly hot, really quite spectacularly hot indeed, so much so that my sunglasses steamed up even in the heat of the day.
With the one hill I was worried about over with, and Box Hill come and gone with a stop for a last tea and a shared treacle tart, there was one more loo break required at a small station before the third hub and some aid from the St John Ambulance chaps for my elbow which was getting very sore and not supporting me very well any more. I iced it for 15 minutes at that aid station along with my wrist as well and we saw that there were reports of pretty awesome medals at the finish line, so we decided to get a move on and get to the end without any more mucking about.
Starting off at a reasonable pace and then winding it up more and more, I dropped Mr TOTKat pretty convincingly again - he was actually impressed and there was no latching on to big groups this time, just really really enjoying riding and swooping around roundabouts on the wrong side of the road; I had a whale of a time! We swept through Kingston's one way system backwards and onwards on our normal route home from there, which was a lovely surprise and meant the little rise out over the A3 wasn't a surprise and then through Wimbledon, up the hill and all in our stride while many very tired people got off and walked.
Invigorated by that last part of the route and knowing there was less than 10km to go, it was time to enjoy the course back into town and then up The Mall to the finish line, arm in arm.
Ride London 100 was a fabulous experience. We absolutely loved it! So well organised and smooth with no hitches or real stress on the day. I think we failed to find the festival at the end in Green Park, but otherwise the atmosphere was truly lovely and at no point was anyone difficult, aggressive, short with other riders in any way and the St John Ambulance guys reported being pretty much bored all day; perfect! We even saw Boris a few times 'cause we spent so long at the hubs :o)
Bring it on again in 2014!
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Race Report - Virgin Active London Triathlon 2013, Sunday (Olympic distance)
Having had a bit of fun on Saturday and a lovely meal with team and some of our sponsors in the evening, the alarm went off at 04:30 on Sunday morning. I wasn't due to race until 12:25, but Mr TOTKat was off at 06:30 for the Olympic Plus (1.5km swim, 80km bike, 10km run) so we had to be up, breakfasted and in the Excel centre at 05:30 to rack up and get him ready.
For the second time in 9 months I had porridge for breakfast, with a healthy handful of California Raisins (oh how I have missed raisins!) and some actual sugar in it. I figured that as I'd taken a good chunk out of my carb stores on Saturday by having a bit of a burn above the threshold where I start to burn carbs at an appreciable rate, I wanted to make sure I'd topped them back up again before my midday effort.
I cheered off Mr TOTKat and the rest of the Freespeeds who were doing the Olympic Plus and went to get a coffee in the 20 mins I then had before they'd start to come in off the swim.
After cheering them all back in from the swim; Dion, Matt, Hobbo, Cat, Ali, Dec and Mr TOTKat I then needed to go and find some food to bridge the gap I was going to have between a 5am breakfast and finishing my race some time around 3pm. Food scored, I headed out onto the bike course to wave at the guys with Jenny, Mette, Richard and the twins. Then a quick look at a bit of the run course to take photos and it was time to get myself into a wetsuit and head for the swim assembly point.
Having put in a 15 minute easyish, fully-drafted 750m in the sprint on Saturday, I wasn't sure how the swim would go. But I tell you what, I did the one thing I really wanted to do in every race for the last 10 or so and I started out really hard. I led the whole wave for the first 200m! Then faded a bit and fell into a rhythm, sadly in clear water with no toes to draft off. I dug in and just decided to try to stay as on-course as possible and make sure I got some water into my wetsuit at the top just before the end so it would slip off easily given I struggled a bit on Saturday with my shoulders (they're big shoulders and they didn't get all that wet, so that does make it difficult.)
Best Olympic distance swim ever! PBd by 21s and without putting a huge amount of effort in; 9th in age group too. Quite pleased with that. The run up to transition was a long one, thankfully it was compulsory to take off wetsuits before running up the stairs to transition. My choice of racking point, although easy to find, meant that I had a long ol' run to get to my bike, but a shorter run on cleats from there to the bike exit.
Helmet on, followed by race number belt, bike shoes and sunglasses. Bike unracked and then a trot off to the mount line. A two lap route, with some roundabouts, undulation and the Limehouse Link. Fun!
Garmin had a little trouble in the Limehouse Link tunnel, as you can see from the plot straight-lining below on the map...
And I was *shifting* on that course. Yes, it was a bit windy and I got a good few hard gusts that pushed me across the road a couple of times. But I had some fun and I got up the confidence to let go through the Limehouse Link and let the speed really pick up - the shame is that Garmin loses coverage through there so doesn't show the speeds I managed through the tunnel - reckon I probably gained an extra 15kph on top of the speed I was doing entering the tunnel (you can see the blue line on the graph stops each time I go through the tunnel - 6 times in all).
I got back to transition to find my bit of the racking void of other bikes, the odd one hanging but really only the odd one. I felt great - in an "on the edge" kind of way at times due to the windy gusts and the speed through the tunnel down on the aero-bars and with no way to get to the brakes in an emergency - but I did ease off a little at times, so I know I could have gone harder. I did remember to get into a low gear before that nasty little trick hill up into transition at the end of the bike, but slipped gears quite a bit and worried myself that I might fall over like a couple of ladies did in front of me on Saturday. 1 hour and 8 minutes, only a minute quicker than 2011 where I had had no idea about anything, had done the odd bit of cycling and was on a road bike. That said, it was quite a bit windier this year and I did come in 4th in my age group this time. I'll take that.
The run was a 3 lap course this year, only 3 times up the slope into transition, but a lot wigglier, and hot and windy too. I felt horrible throughout the run, but while I was doing it I completely forgot that if I feel terrible, it means I'm not slacking on effort too much. So despite failing to be able to get my heart rate to go over 170bpm (proper effort running at that distance puts me 180bpm+), I managed to PB the run by a couple of minutes over my all time Olympic and several over last time on a course & conditions that have been recognised as a bit tougher than 2011.
Over the line in 8th place in my age group, up from 32nd in 2011. I think I'm happy with that, given I've not been training for this distance specifically, but for 70.3 really. It's a shame I have no finish line photo, but I do like this one from the run course.
All in all, it was a great weekend and I really really enjoyed it. Above and beyond my own racing and having fun with the team around the expo etc., Mr TOTKat got out and raced for the first time since IM Wales last year (knee injury for months since a half marathon in October); he had a great race, hit his goals and I'm really happy for him too!
For the second time in 9 months I had porridge for breakfast, with a healthy handful of California Raisins (oh how I have missed raisins!) and some actual sugar in it. I figured that as I'd taken a good chunk out of my carb stores on Saturday by having a bit of a burn above the threshold where I start to burn carbs at an appreciable rate, I wanted to make sure I'd topped them back up again before my midday effort.
 |
| Somewhere around 160BPM there's a knee point in my ratio of fat:carb burned |
After cheering them all back in from the swim; Dion, Matt, Hobbo, Cat, Ali, Dec and Mr TOTKat I then needed to go and find some food to bridge the gap I was going to have between a 5am breakfast and finishing my race some time around 3pm. Food scored, I headed out onto the bike course to wave at the guys with Jenny, Mette, Richard and the twins. Then a quick look at a bit of the run course to take photos and it was time to get myself into a wetsuit and head for the swim assembly point.
Having put in a 15 minute easyish, fully-drafted 750m in the sprint on Saturday, I wasn't sure how the swim would go. But I tell you what, I did the one thing I really wanted to do in every race for the last 10 or so and I started out really hard. I led the whole wave for the first 200m! Then faded a bit and fell into a rhythm, sadly in clear water with no toes to draft off. I dug in and just decided to try to stay as on-course as possible and make sure I got some water into my wetsuit at the top just before the end so it would slip off easily given I struggled a bit on Saturday with my shoulders (they're big shoulders and they didn't get all that wet, so that does make it difficult.)
Best Olympic distance swim ever! PBd by 21s and without putting a huge amount of effort in; 9th in age group too. Quite pleased with that. The run up to transition was a long one, thankfully it was compulsory to take off wetsuits before running up the stairs to transition. My choice of racking point, although easy to find, meant that I had a long ol' run to get to my bike, but a shorter run on cleats from there to the bike exit.
Helmet on, followed by race number belt, bike shoes and sunglasses. Bike unracked and then a trot off to the mount line. A two lap route, with some roundabouts, undulation and the Limehouse Link. Fun!
Garmin had a little trouble in the Limehouse Link tunnel, as you can see from the plot straight-lining below on the map...
And I was *shifting* on that course. Yes, it was a bit windy and I got a good few hard gusts that pushed me across the road a couple of times. But I had some fun and I got up the confidence to let go through the Limehouse Link and let the speed really pick up - the shame is that Garmin loses coverage through there so doesn't show the speeds I managed through the tunnel - reckon I probably gained an extra 15kph on top of the speed I was doing entering the tunnel (you can see the blue line on the graph stops each time I go through the tunnel - 6 times in all).
I got back to transition to find my bit of the racking void of other bikes, the odd one hanging but really only the odd one. I felt great - in an "on the edge" kind of way at times due to the windy gusts and the speed through the tunnel down on the aero-bars and with no way to get to the brakes in an emergency - but I did ease off a little at times, so I know I could have gone harder. I did remember to get into a low gear before that nasty little trick hill up into transition at the end of the bike, but slipped gears quite a bit and worried myself that I might fall over like a couple of ladies did in front of me on Saturday. 1 hour and 8 minutes, only a minute quicker than 2011 where I had had no idea about anything, had done the odd bit of cycling and was on a road bike. That said, it was quite a bit windier this year and I did come in 4th in my age group this time. I'll take that.
 |
| Check that lean :oD |
The run was a 3 lap course this year, only 3 times up the slope into transition, but a lot wigglier, and hot and windy too. I felt horrible throughout the run, but while I was doing it I completely forgot that if I feel terrible, it means I'm not slacking on effort too much. So despite failing to be able to get my heart rate to go over 170bpm (proper effort running at that distance puts me 180bpm+), I managed to PB the run by a couple of minutes over my all time Olympic and several over last time on a course & conditions that have been recognised as a bit tougher than 2011.
Over the line in 8th place in my age group, up from 32nd in 2011. I think I'm happy with that, given I've not been training for this distance specifically, but for 70.3 really. It's a shame I have no finish line photo, but I do like this one from the run course.
All in all, it was a great weekend and I really really enjoyed it. Above and beyond my own racing and having fun with the team around the expo etc., Mr TOTKat got out and raced for the first time since IM Wales last year (knee injury for months since a half marathon in October); he had a great race, hit his goals and I'm really happy for him too!
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