Windsor 10k Race Report!

 "Race Report:" Well I never thought I'd be typing that again - dare I dream - yes I do.

Anyway... Windsor 10k was last weekend!

I'd done a bit of semi-structured training for that - in that I kind of followed a Garmin 10k program. I don't think I actually completed a full week of all the 4 run days prescribed because, well (a) I like to do other things and (b) my body doesn't seem to like running more then 3 days a week (I am still hugely paranoid for my left knee that got injured 18months ago)

Race Day!

Despite a month load of rain in the preceding few days we woke to a pink then very blue sky. Exactly what you wish for in a late season, dare I say early autumn run.

I prepared like days of old having some porridge for breakfast and a coffee ... not sure the porridge was so wise as I've not eaten the stuff for a long time and something gave me stomach pain later on in the day ... could have been the oats, the race or just a bug... who knows... but I digress

Three of us were car pooling to the venue so I left just before 8 to head to the RV. Short trip down the M4 and we got to the race venue in plenty of time... not quite too much but enough to not have to stress for anything. The event was held in Windsor Great Park and if you know the area it's towards the bottom of the long mile. The venue was a bit wet under foot but nothing too dramatic and a well organised kit drop area and very clean porta-loos.... It's actually the same place for the Windsor half marathon held the next day.

Anyway. After a bit of phaffing about we piled in all our excess layers into my bag and I dropped off - got suddenly jumped on by my friend Vida who was down there with another group - we hugged said hi and then bye and as it was 0945 and we had to go to the pens.. ... the three of us had signed up for the sub 70min group but Leanne and I had chatted in the week and agreed I'd head to the front of the pen whilst she and Beth stayed towards the back - they are used to running with each other and I wanted to run at my own pace... all good! Took a couple of pics and a selfie with the sub70min pacer (I don't know they manage to run with those big flag things strapped to the back)... a few more tunes and suddenly the count down began and we were off! 

Now I did this race before (with Vida actually!), in 2019 and I did remember the first hill... so my plan was to pace myself through the first 3k, to not go out too fast (which would be anything under 6:30/ km pace) and be ok with the second km being 7min... the sun was hot the sky was blue and I did manage to kerb my excitement but bloody hell that hill around the 2k mark .. oomppffff...

Anyway... I recovered and was happily around the 19:30min for 3k so about on track... we had a water stop - it was actually surprisingly hot by now so I needed some water but the water was freezing!! So, as I didn't want to create a problem for my tummy, I sipped and had to keep the water in my mouth to warm up before swallowing - this created a little of a breathing problem however .. ha... still through the 3k and we got a nice whizzy down hill... wooo hooooo... didn't remember this but I ran like a dog enjoying it until I looked up... swearing quite considerably I saw a somewhat steepish climb (relatively speaking - it felt like a mountain) an unexpected hill up towards the 5k mark... it was actually about 1k up... gah... There were some people up there stopping to take a picture (or maybe just stopping to recover)... but honestly the views were amazing - to the left is a statue of Queen Elizabeth II on horse back and to the right was a view all the way down to the Windsor Castle. It really was amazing ... I thought about stopping for a pic but I really wanted to get in under 1:05 so frankly I took in the sights and got my breath back before beating on.... because I knew that we must be now nearing the top top and it should (hopefully be down hill all the way!) .. yippee... Time for my new unicorn shorts to give me wings and fly down back to the start line!

Around the 6k marker we had another water stop and you could see that everyone ahead was down on a downslope... I had got to 5k in a surprising 31:34mins ... so I knew, failing injury or totally blowing up I would be able to get in my aspirational 1:05... woohoo... I began (momentarily) to wonder if I could actually get in under the magical hour... but figured there was little to no chance of running a sub 28:30 5k even with the down hill... so I decided that I'd start to take a few pictures instead! 

Running down I was just really chipper - I couldn't stop grinning - I really never thought after the last 4 years of stop start, of trying to get used to what I call my "new body" (menopause sucks), I rarely thought I'd be up for "racing" again... but here I was like a dog in the fox poo loving it... then we got to 8k where some magical little hill snuck up and walloped me in the face .... yes some swearing happened... but it was short and then the down started again.. turning left to go down the long mile was brilliant - what a view... so great I took a picture with a marshal and then woo-hoo'd my way down the hill... the end was in site!

..... god it went on and on and on... 

..... like the longest home straight...longer then that 400m at the end of the London Marathon.. I was still gleeful when I got the 9k marker... where I definitely thought bloody hell... but carried on in my own very happy way - my watch clicked through 10k as we got towards the finish line.... people sprinted past but there was nothing left in my tank, I rarely had a turn of speed in the good old days so I just grinned, and raised my arms in victory -  I crossed the line in 1:01:29 !!! Like OMG

Stats:

5k:          31:34

10k:        60:52 < Yes a negative split, well done me - thank you hills!

10.14k    61:29... I was clocking every km from the start about 100m before the km sign. I think the race runs slightly long.. honest guv

Photo's on Insta: 

I'm recovering well - could walk absolutely fine Sunday but my knee growled at me Monday due to lack of any kind of stretching activity... I've swam and biked a bit this week and looking forward to seeing how my running legs feel tomorrow!

Cotswold 113 2015 Race report

'It's been a couple of weeks now so better get this down..... !!

Pre-Race

Before about Thursday of race week I had planned on getting (us) up early at 0330 as we live just over an hour away from the venue. My Sherpa (Alison) wasn't much looking forward to this and when I realised somewhat belatedly that registration was the day before it seemed like a return trip the day before would be a bit wasteful.... Having quickly looked at hotel options I quickly saw none available but thought I'd try the next day as typically people have 24hr cancellation policy. Luck would have it indeed that on Friday some rooms were available at a big hotel about 3miles from the race. So at least that would mean no wasted return journey and an hour extra in bed! Nice.

So I had a relaxing day on Saturday, last minute decision to fit tribars (I found last year I was mainly on my drops but thought I'd prefer a choice on the day). So bars fitted, bags packed and car loaded I had an easy drive down Saturday pm. The hotel was massive and we got a really nice room with a balcony over the lake. There were quite a lot of birds nests (house martins we thought) up under the roofing which really was amazing, and given we were going to be up at the crack of dawn was not at all disturbing

Race Day

I woke before the alarm, something like 4:15, boiled the kettle for my instant porridge in pot and slurp of instant coffee, trying not to awaken my Sherpa as I knew it would be a long morning for her too! With everything lined up on the floor the night before I bleary eyed got into my tri gear, put my race chip on and fed my face. Pre race excitement building. This day had been a long day coming..... In some ways almost three years given this was the race I was supposed to do which I had to pull out of 2 weeks prior due to an ovarian cyst the size of a peanut butter jar being found in me! I have been working with a coach for the first season in years so my training has been more consistent for sure. I was excited to see how I went in the swim, and was hoping to not walk in the run (flu and a calf strain has really walloped my running most which isn't the best anyway! So I was excited for what may happen and to be back racing again.

The drive to the venue was easy, quite a lot of cars exiting the hotel and a convoy of bleary eyed triathletes and Sherpas. We had to queue a bit to get into the car park where a £5 day parking fee was levied (fair enough given the car park was in a commercial one which would normally charge anyway)

Off to racking. Now the racking was pretty tight. Not so much the distance between bikes which was tight but manageable but actually the distance between the rack behind ... So close my shoes were in danger of embedding themselves in the wheel spookes of the bike behind. I couldn't attach elastic to hold up the rear shoe, just wasn't happening. But this a very small issue in what was a really really well run event.

I found some clubs mates had a nervous natter (as you do). The person next to me had decided his/her space should be as big as possible so I tidied their crap (and I mean kit explosion) up a little so I could get my bike in and lay my trainers etc out. Transition soon thinned down as the first wave starting at 06:00 move out to the start line. The race briefing notes stated that transition would be shut at 0550 which it wasn't (thankfully) as I still had phaffing to do.... Pretty sure everyone was out by 06:00 but the officials were pretty good about a little flexibility with this (especially as the car park queue had made some people later then they wanted to be I think). Given I wasn't off until wave 5 at 06:40 I had plenty of time to reccie the swim course and see where everyone else was starting. 

I decided having watched a couple of starts (most people now wanting to be at the front placed themselves I a madly congested middle), that I was going to start front and to the right. This meant a sharper turn at about 100m but probably more clear water.

Couple of words of advice for the final 20mins; wear flips flops, I got into my wetsuit in transition and wore flips flops around to the swim start, it was warm enough to not have to do my wetsuit up until 10mins before. It was pretty muddy and you wouldn't want to be barefoot. Plenty of people wore flips flops and left them lakeside at the start. I recovered mine from the same spot post race no problem. The other advice is to carry some spare toilet paper (or have your Sherpa have some to hand)!!! Whilst the portaloos were pretty ok (for portaloos!) mine had run out of loo roll and I had to, well, improvise!!!

Swim

We were allowed in the water as soon as the previous race cleared so it was good to get some acclimatisation. It's been a little chilly start to the OW season and I've been swimming in 14 locally... So having had a few warm days prior to the race and wat with the lake being shallow it was a balmy 16.5 degrees which is a pretty perfect temperature I think. The swim course is a kind of squared M shape, starting in the middle right gap of the M and heading out to the bottom right of the M at the start.... So quite a few buoys and sightings to be done. I swam out strong at the start and only had one side on collision! Before the first buoy I had clear water and was a bit surprised to find not many people coming past, I think one person did (the waves are mixed sex), and after turning left at the first bouy I did manage to swim at lower side of someone so got a bit of a draft but either they started to tire or I got into a strong rhythm as I soon found myself going past without any perceptive change in effort. Coach words were to swim strong but not fast (when I try and swim fast I tend to swim slow!), so I focused on timing of my recovery arm to catch (as that helps keep my rhythm without over gliding and stalling) and just swam! The only real time I had trouble spotting was the way back down to the middle point of the M shape, I think they had a boat with a sail up in the lake but I couldn't see what I was aiming for for toffee! So I took bearings off a mixture of swimming hats ahead, shoreline and a canoeist!! Through more luck then judgement I found myself right in line with a set of floats tied together which marked the v shape turn. Heading back up there were even less swimmers near me. I wasn't at the front of my wave I knew that as there had been a small group formed at the start, but there really was few people near.... In fact I only recall seeing one pink hat near me for the rest of the swim, I was already in and through some of the previous waves tail markers. Midway back up to the next bouy the lake got a bit weedy... Mostly they were low enough not to effect your catch but there were the occasionally had through weedy bit. I do remember thinking and being thankful it hasn't been a really warm and sunny May or this bit would have been quite horrible I think. The pink hat swimmer near me was off to my left and I suspect in clearer, deeper water (I bet they had done the race before!). Another turn bouy approaching I caught some more swimmers from the previous heat so given they were back markers I gave them some space (as didn't want to freak them out!)... Coming back down near an island the water got shallow and weedy again.... My recomendation is to do swim so close to the island even though it is probably the straightest line...  

Having then made my final turn I began to spot the exit ramp every three strokes feeling strong and feeling like I had had a good swim. Approaching the ramp it got a bit congested, a guy on the ramp was shouting something and as I got nearer it was him telling people to keep on swimming... Evidently some people were slowing maybe thinking they would get their feet down sooner.... I'm always one to swim until my hands can touch the bottom so I swam thorough these people before reaching the plastic ramp (when I say ramp I mean it... It is quite steep), where a hand was offered to help drag me out, followed quickly by a second as I stood up! Happy exit, felt strong hit my lap button to see a swim time of under 35mins which is what I was hoping for. Very pleased with that and overall my swim had felt strong and consistent. After 300m no one in my heat came past me which for me means I probably swam a more consistent pace as in prior years I've found people come past in the final quarter. 

T1

Having exited the ramp you are right by T1 although have to jog down the side to enter.... The side being grassy and wet was marshalled with someone calling out the slip hazard and apmaking you aware and asking to take it easy. So I tiptoed and jogged my way down pushing up my goggles and taking down my suit. Jogged through a couple of chaps who were walking and chatting hearing them say "we've just been overtaken my a pinky!" (Which was my wave hat) so that felt quite good (for me anyway)... Getting into transition I found it quite hard to spot my position which was mid way down... Had a just looked for the messiest one it would have been easier.... So the arsehole (as I now refereed to him as) next to me had scattered wet suit, googles and other detritus all over my kit and even managed to spread his wetsuit as far as the bike the other side of me. What a selfish prat. If ever there were to be penalties for being like this then this guy deserved one! So I kindly moved his kit back to under his bike position (note I left his shoes nice and tidy despite having the urge to not do so), took my wetsuit off and placed it, my hat and googles folded under my bike. Put my race belt on, gillet on (I felt better to be safe then sorry as the forecast was for 11-14 degrees and possibly rain... Although it was probably already 14), I also put on arm warmers (laced with talcum powder so they could slip on properly)... Hat on, sun glasses (orange tint) on, grabbed bike and away we go!!! Of out of transition, across a muddy stretch before hitting the bike mount line.... Now it was because of the muddy stretch I decided to have my shoes on my peddles already, with one elasticated to the bike. Have to say there was no flying mount as it was a 90 turn out of the muddy path and onto the road/ mount line.... So ungracefully  swung my muddy toes onto my bike, put my feet on my shoes and peddled off. Not the fastest transition but it wasn't bad and I felt like I had the right amount of layers on for this time in the morning. T1 done.... 

Bike

I'd love to say I jumped on my bike and peddled smoothly off.... But that would be a lie... The mount line was a 90o turn left out of the transition exit some kind of just got on with my feet on the pedals.... And this is when I realised that I had forgotten to open my velcro wide so my feet could slip in easily (I blame the tight space, lack of ability of elasticate the shoes on and, well frankly a lack of practice (even though I had done one of my three transition training sessions!!).... So I peddled and phaffed and peddled and phaffed... Got my left foot in ok but my right was a nightmare..... The inner was folded the Velcro was stuck in the wrong places and I almost decided to just stop and do it properly.... And then my foot went it. I had a power range to keep to supplied by my coach the day before. This was my first race with power and I have to say it really helped keep me both honest and also stop me pushing too hard (or helped with gear selection). I was just getting into a proper rhythm a few miles down the road when fellow TVT club mate Jamie came flying past.... I saw the blur of "TvT" on his tri shorts shouted good luck and he was gone! Flying! The bike route itself is a flat fast two lap course with one lump of a hill midway through the lap. A few twists and turns and even a badger set to go past on each out and back section! It was both quiet country road and really beautiful. About half way to the hill another TvT club mate and wife of Jamie, Kathryn came haring past me. She wasn't hanging about and looked as strong as her husband!! I have to say the Cotswold bike is a great location, even if on occasion the roads were pretty narrow, some very pretty scenery!! It is also really well marshalled as well, everything was pretty clear (although I nearly did over shoot a couple of turns)! Coming towards the end of the first lap the sun came out and I decided it was a good time to ditch my gillet (which was annoying me a bit anyway as the bottom of the zip kept opening causing a bit of flapping).... I have to say I utterly impressed myself by being able to take off my jacket, ball it up and throw it at a marshal at the drinks station whilst also throwing an empty bottle and grabbing a new one!!! 3 miles straight back to transition and the turn point and I realised that actually I was biking well. With little wind I had only been watching my power, cadence and HR and had little idea what speed I had been traveling at... So was more then a little surprised to see my watch time (I switched it to see) was a startling 1hr25 at the half way point. Now I had been thinking I would be happy with a time of 3:15 before realising the course was a little short so thought maybe 3:05-3:10.... I felt pretty good, pretty in control and definitely not blowing ... So with a smile on my face I headed out for lap two... My nutrition continued to go down well and whilst the course was thinning out of people it was still as pretty and windless as the first lap with slightly more sunshine (so much I was beginning to wonder why the hell I hadn't put some sundress in transition... !).... At the hill I met one final TvT guy David... We had a quick chat up a hill before he took off although some point later I over took him before he came back past me again as we were in the last mile or so before transition..... It was as I was turning left to go right and into the final few hundred metres to T2 that I heard the awful sound of carbon on road and saw David on his side having chewed on some tarmac. So I stopped and checked he was ok as some marshalls came running over, he didn't look too dazed although did have some fresh shiny road rash which did look nasty. He reassured me he would be ok and to carry on and as we were near T2 and marshalls on the scene I thought I probably couldn't do much more anyway.... So I headed off up the lane to the dismount line and managed to get off my bike without falling over (felt like a bit of an achievement!!).... Back through the muddy bit and into T2. Bike done in a bloody fantastic (for me and my expectations) of 2hrs51.... Now all I had to do now with a half marathon.... Oh how we laughed...

T2 (longest writing t2 in history as started this blog post in June but seem to be continuing and finishing it from here, it's now September!!)

The biggest thing on my mind in T2 was should I risk the T2 portaloos or should I risk that I can get into the public loos about 400m out of transition.... Given I ran past the portaloos to rack my bike I decided I didn't want the extra yardage and risk the public loo.... So quick rack of bike, quick application of Vaseline between my toes, helmet off, cap on, grab gels and go!

Run

Always entertaining trying to find your run legs and more so with a full bladder! Luckily I found and was able to access the public loo quite quickly after the exit from T2.... The loo was queue-less and very clean... And blissful!! Having got myself sorted got back into my shuffle... Main focus from my watch point of view was noting my cadence primarily and then heart rate... Cadence because when I tire that drops, my running gets heavier and slower... My aim was to tap around 170 ... My HR I wanted to try and keep in an easy zone for at least the first lap. The course is mostly off road, there are a couple of pinch points on the course but nothing too off putting. I smiled to and thanked all the marshals, primarily because I am grateful for the attendance but also it keeps me positive and out of the "unhappy" place you can get into! The first lap passed rather faster then I expected, coming in around 41mins for the 7k which included my loo stop.... My second lap was predictably for difficult... Now I had done a big training session (metric half which ended in a 13.2k run)... So whilst the second lap was hard I figured in my brain I could do it as I'd done it already in training... My lap time had dropped towards 45mins but I had survived without walking! The third lap was then a case of just running towards mental markers on the course. My main overall aim for the run was simply to keep going and not walk - well apart from the aid station - but to keep going, when my cadence dropped to run taller, lighter with short steps... The last 2-3k were a bit of a blur but I was determined to keep running... With the words of my coach in my head when it gets tough, when it gets painful, just dig in. Well I dug deep and didn't walk and was well chuffed to have completed the run in 2:13... Quite a bit outside my pb for a middle distance run, but to be honest this surpassed my expectations of where I am right now... And my pb was done in 2009 so I was a bit fitter and younger then!! 

Overall results:

Overall I was over the moon with this race. A psychological success as well as a physical one. 

Janathon day - damn it...

Janathon came and went and I made it half way.... *sigh*.... started stumbling just due to work pressures and then I got flu so that just ended it all really... two and a bit weeks of being pathetic, although to be fair for 3 days I (well we actually because we both went down with it) had high fever, aches, pains and general nastiness ..... so that really wiped me out frankly.

Which brings me to actually the main topic of conversation for the blog which is a race report (gasp! shock! horror!) for Wokingham half marathon... I say race in a loose version of the word. Whilst there were plenty of people chasing each other and PBs there were (in turns out from several coversations on course) quite a few of us just seeing what we could do and enjoying a little run on a wonderful winters day.

Background then: This time last year I had an entry to Wokingham Half and had sort of done some focused run training.... then it rained (and rained and rained and rained) and the race was cancelled because the roads were under a couple of metres of water. The race was cancelled quite at the last minute so my friends who had entered still came up and we had a bit of a social gathering and fun run anyway. The good folks of Wokingham Half though carried everyones' entry into this years race (I guess they had an insurance policy which paid out).... So one year later and coming off the back of having flu and little to no training the preceeding weeks it was here again.

Now I confess - I was actually thinking running the race wouldn't be a terribly good idea. I had made it to 10miles a couple of times in my training but not for some weeks. With the flu I did nothing for two weeks - so I gave myself a test run of 20mins 9 days beforehand - recovered ok from that. Then the week before I did a long run - 8miles which took 1hr30... so was pretty slow and the thought of another 5 miles was frankly a little ludicrous.... BUT then I saw my training plan...

My coach - who does know best - basically had scheduled the race and basically said relax don't worry about it and enjoy it.... WTF

My thoughts... " Really - "enjoy" it.... Really.... Hasn't he seen all the RED missed session in training peaks... does he not understand how long it took me to do 8 miles... Enjoy... ennnnnjoyyy  PAH!.... sigh... but if he thinks I should that means he thinks I can so maybe I could ... OK THEN I'm BACK IN!!"

Friends arrived and my plan was to enjoy a day out. We were luckily blessed with stunning winter weather - cold but bright and glorious - if it had been dull, cold and raining I'm not sure the prospect of a 13 mile adventure would have been so enjoyable. My better half who was marshalling then text to say she would be at station 10 - which was a perfect place for a drop out at mile 10 if I needed. I wasn't feeling proud and given my state I did go into the run leaving myself options to bail out if I wasn't feeling it or if I felt unwell.

.. and so we gathered.. stripped off and put kits bags in tents - shivered and found a sunny spot in amongst the queue to get warm before the start! Jules was aiming for 1:30, Sue for under 2 and me for whatever it was - give my run the week before I was thinking 2;20-2:30 would be about right. My plan was to run at a comfortable HR, keeping it below or around 148 for the first half and then whatever... I had two gels which I planned to have around 7.5 and 15k. I had my Garmin on but the only view I was looking at was cadence and HR. Time and pace were not of any concern... and more then anything else... the aim was to ENJOY and do what I could.

Without a blow by blow account the following graphic kind of sums it up... Before the hill between mile 10-11 the only walking I did was vaguely just to have a sip of water....

Approaching the 10mile marker someone's phone went off announcing in a computersed female voice  "10miles in 1hr 47mins" .... and I have to say it totally pysched me out... Not only was there a bloody great big hill (ok slope but that the time it looked like a mountain) ahead of me but I literally thought "shit - it's taken me that long and I thought I was going ok, so it will be at least another 30mins"... so frankly it demoralised me quite some. And despite the nun who ran past me I doubted a bit and lost faith.... I took on some water at the aid station ... walked a bit on the up over the motorway bridge... jogged on and then .. because other people were.. I walked on towards the top of the hill. Hurumph... The Nun and I ran near each other every now and again which was quite good fun as they were getting some good support... but eventually I pulled away (relatively speaking)... I was now counting down the kms to the end... I played cat and mouse with several runners the last 2-3k which helped just keeping the rythm going... arriving towards the home straight I had a good shout out from some supporters from my Tri Club and further down from Jules (who had come an agonizing 40s outside his sub 1:30)... I trundled towards the line with my arms aloft very happy to have finished... only for a little lady to come flying past... well I wasn't about to be beaten on the line so we ended up sprinting together I'm sure I got the photo finish ;).... we ended up with the same clock time and had a laugh and gave each other a hug as we crossed the finish mats... it was quite a funny end.

I then turned my watch off and was more then a little surprised to see my final time was 2:11:42 ... so whilst not close to a PB actually much better then I thought and expected. Once downloaded I saw to my 10k time was a surprising 59:57 and more surprising 1:38:27 for 10miles... You can see my pace slowed quite a bit in the second half which is not surprising and my HR going higher as I carried on (no surprise there)

Ulimately I was very happy to have got out and tried and was very surprised by the result. My form however must have gone to pot the last few miles - I battered two toes such that I have two blue nails (yuk) and I spent the next two days walking down the stairs backwards (it was the only way)... So the coach was right ... the weather was excellent.... and we all had lots of fun. Jules missed his time by seconds few and Sue ended up somewhere around 1:55 having taken it easy - excellent result.

It was a good race and not massively busy which was good. Also the atmosphere and camaraderie for the runners around me was really great - so I thank them for their support as well as all those supporters on the course.

Apparently my coach thinks I will be able to run 1hr 30 tomorrow.... he is hilarious.... but I have been walking forwards down stairs for a few days now so who knows - there is only one way to find out!

CTS Sussex Race Report

Friday night the weather promised to be sunny throughout - hurrah

Saturday morning we woke to a lovely blue sky spring day - hurrah

What we didn't realise was how cold the wind chill was, drove 2 hours to the coast and got out the car to have the warmth sucked out of me, so I chose to put on everything I owned whilst we registered and see what happened before I decided what to actually wear for the race!!

The venue for this Coastal Trail Series was the world famous Seven Sisters

http://www.endurancelife.com/event-new.asp?series=82&location=264

Or to be exact the coastal path along them and some in land walk ways. I don't call these events "Races" as such as they are, as the organisers title suggests, "endurance" events... they are never going to be "PB" events, but they always guarantee amazing coastal views and usually some lung bursting climbs and thigh-blowing descents. Even "just" the 10k (which was 12.5k on this occasion) is an endurance effort, as for the half, marathon and ultras... well probably slighlty barking..

My plan for the event was to;
(a) ENJOY myself - especially remembering to take in the views
(b) WALK up anything which was either too steep or promised to be long enough to warrant a walk rather then run
(c) RUN LIKE A DOG down any hill - pinning my ears back and going for it (I did however try and keep my tongue in my mouth rather then lolliping around like a dogs).

I went in to the event pretty fresh having not done any Swim,Bike or running since Tuesday... (long days at work and feeling a bit wobbly led me to having a lazy Weds, total break Thursday, and busy Friday). So definitely feeling fresher for the days effort compared to the Ringwood Rabbit a week last Sunday.

The start was close enough to the car park to be able to register and wander back and leave all our warm layers in the car. I opted for t-shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, light jacket, buff and gloves to start with to help combat the biting wind.

We (the 10kers - all the other distances had begun quite a bit earlier) lined up along a narrow grassy track for the off... run back to the car park, through that then up a track to head on to the coastal path - the start was a bit congested, then spread out well up the track only to be thwarted at the top by a kissing gate - so the inevitable stop and wait as we all took our turn to go through - which was ok as gave you some time to get your breath back! Having negotiated that and another gate we found ourselves on the coastal paths, with clear skies, the views were thrilling - white cliffs and menacing seas or miles ahead! Beautiful! Despite my pre-race decision to run like a dog down the hills I found myself at the first couple taking it very very carefully - they were slippery mud on chalk and very steep - so decided better safe then sorry. We had a couple of cliffs to go down and up before turning right and heading in land. Almost immediately with the wind behind you it felt very warm - everyone around me at this stage started taking the odd layer or two off, myself included.

Buff, gloves and coat came off with the coat holding the others and itself wrapped around my waist. We were quickly (it seemed) at the first check point, I dibbed in and then grabbed myself  4 nice little jelly babies.. YUMMY!

Soon and another kissing gate later I DID get to run like a dog down hill through a field - had I realised it was like some sort of rabbit hole minefield I would have perhaps been a little more cautious! As it was a sprinted down to become an semi-out of control, arm wheeling, long legged middle aged woman avoiding rabbit holes in a manic sort of fashion... type of person.. the rabbit warren soon gave way to a chalky incline which you could only do single file - which meant walking as people ahead were.. and I was fine with that. Exciting chalk alley we got to the corner of the field and came across not a kissing gate, not a fence stile but a wall... which had steps up and over... but still a wall!... Needless to say this was single file so we queued up and over that... next more down hill!

RUN LIKE A DOG! Only to have to have to put the brakes on sharpish as we were on single track and the woman in front was phaffing with her headphones and not paying much attention (although was moving)... Found an oppotunity to pass and pinned back my ears again... this time to be thwarted by a gate - why do gates always have to swing towards you when you are running down hill like a dog?!... Anyway - that section was fun.. .through another kissing gate and back to the lane we ran up at the start... 8k done and we were sent back up hill towards a lighthouse and away from the finish line.. I was glad I had (a) been expecting this - because I had looked at the map and (b) knew beforehand that the race was 12.5k, not 10k - this fact caught a lot of people out.

Anyway - uphill (walk), downhill (RLAD), as we came over what I thought could be the last hill only to see another cliff ascent ahead... ah well... RLAD down and then bimble up ... thankfully most of this section the wind was behind you so even when you were walking you were definitely getting a helping hand! We reached the top and the split point - 10k turn and all other distances went onwards (on more like upwards).

Now all there was to do was RLAD about 2k down hill - WHOPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE! It really was fun, and I didn't twist my ankle in any rabbit holes either!

Gave it my all in the last few hundred metres, regardless of the headwind. Finishing in 1hr 23mins 11s. NICE!

Ringwood Rabbit Race Report

A nice bright morning saw us leave early for the 1.5hour drive down to the beauty of the New Forest last Sunday (16th March) to take part in a really well organised event ran by the local Scout Group.

http://www.ringwoodrabbitrun.org/

Drawn to the race by the name and location we weren't disappointed. A fair valued race to enter, with the option of purchasing a race t-shirt if you wanted .. I think this is a good option as often you get t-shirts included which just end up not being worn... and particularly good that you could also choose your colour!!

Anyway - to the race..... the first race outing of the year. Given I had had one of my biggest if not the biggest training week in over a year (ok it wasn't that much but was much for me) I wasn't expecting much and given the offroad terrain and expected undulations I was hoping to take it kind of easy for the first half then speed up and hope to come in around about the hour mark.

The start/ finish location was at a campsite in the middle of the forest and due to lack of sufficient parking spaces for all the competitors they had a shuttle service running from a school about 1.5miles away - which worked well.

About 20mins before the race started a group warm up took place - which started off with the usual start jumps and lunges but when it got to burpee star to pressup to star jump I thought that was a bit much! After that we were herded to our respective start areas (there was a 5k and 10k race race going on), with the H&S warning to avoid the cow pats which were down the lane as they were slippery!!

At about 10:30 the man at the front shouted "GO!" and we shuffled up the lane until there was enough room to break into a little jog.

The route was fantastic - we started on tarmac which soon turned to unkept road and then to a fire track into the forest. The faster runners quickly broke free and everyone spaced out nicely so there was plenty of room. Despite the recent flooding the track was pretty dry (normal trainers were fine for the terrain). As we headed into the forest we say a few of the New Forest Ponies huddled under a tree... the path continued to meander upwards and generally I was comfortable as intended, even during the inclines... Until that is we got to the hill around the 4k marker... this was a cheeky beast... and named "corkscrew hill" by Popey as it kept on going up, steep, you'd hit a bend thinking it would be the top - except it wasn't - and then went up again.. and repeat... many people were walking this but despite the temptation to do so I decided not too.... having finally got to the top we broke out of the forest and found ourselves at the top of a great expanse with views for miles - it was a gloriously sunny day! Across this top we came past the 5k marker - hurrah I thought!!! Also thought it must be down hill from now onwards - surely!!.... Despite the unseasonal warmth I decided not to worry about taking in or pouring any water over my head .... and headed back into the forest from some shade and welcome down hill... my theory for downhills is not to use them as recovery but run as hard and as fast as I dare! Having some targets in sight I quickly sped up.... which was a mistake as it turned out my legs were actually MUSH from the previous days 2hr45 ride and 15min run.... I discovered this around the 8k marker when we turned a corner to find a short steep cheeky little HILL... MEH MEH MEH! My pace dropped, my legs whined and my brain said PAH... and so I walked ... for about a minute... as my hamstring shouted abuse at the gradient... broke into a jog again towards the top only for my hamstring to say no.... up the next rise it was down hill back on to tarmac, up a short bit of road before a right turn back into the lane and heading to the finish line!! The hamstring was fine when back on the tarmac so with my head high I paced myself into the red zone, having seen my time could still be in under the hour mark, I turned into the field withe marshall on the corner telling us we had 30s to make it under the hour... clearly I dipped at the line!!

UN-CHIPPED FINISH TIME: 59:39.57
PLACED 45/ 94 (Women's results)

You can see how "undulating" the course was below - the lines on the right side of the elevation graph are my walk intervals!!

Phewy! Having wanted to "take it easy" I definitely managed that until the hill at 4k.. then I definitely took myself way out of my comfort zone - but it was such a wonderful location, the marshalls were plentiful and super... I was very pleased to make it under the hour. Worth a revisit I would say! After the race we had a quick clothes change i the camping site showers before queuing for the shuttle bus back.


Rather then coming home via the motorways we meandered our way up the A and B roads. We came across a few packs of New Forest ponies roaming the lanes around the forest. Despite the fact it hadn't rained too badly during the last week or so the flooding we saw on our way home was still fairly substantial... it is going to take some time before some communities are back to where they should be I would say.

CTS Suffolk 10k Race Report

Last weekend saw us take a road trip to the county of Suffolk - a very lovely historic county on the mid-eastern side of the country. Started off just in time for the rush hour on Friday evening with a planned overnight stop at a Premier Inn just near Chelmsford (which was about half way).... got to say I was slightly surprised and happy with the Premier Inn, basic but clean accomodation and we had pre-paid for the meal deal and breakfast - both of which was where the surprise came from. Both delicious and good value for money..... the poached eggs on Saturday morning were some of the best I've had in ages!!

But I digress!!.... So having had hearty food and a good nights sleep we were onward again heading North East and another 90 odd miles to the small village of Dunwich, a quaint coastal village which was in the process of being invaded by cars carrying runners when we arrived - luckily it did have a beach side car park which seemed to be coping! The event main venue itself was actually in the grounds of some old medieval friary ruins!




The format of the CTS events is fairly straight forward - they offer Ultra, Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k ..ish ... distances... I say "ish" because they are off road and so by nature or often longer then the prescribed distance out of necessity. The Suffolk one (given it is where it is) is described as "Moderate"... some coastal runs are "Extreme" and these ones tend to have cliff face ascents or descents in them... Suffolk is a pretty flat area of the country and so whilst this did have some gentle hills in the race there was nothing really to get too worried about.

The race is organised such that the start times are staggered - with the ultra's and marathoners heading off early doors - which meant we had the luxury of a 11:30am start - on a gloriously sunny Autumnal morning :).... Now I haven't been running well (or consistently) of late so I had planned to take this slow... although I had managed to not pack any electronic device other then my £5 watch from Decathlon... so it was sans Garmin etc that I was to do this little race. I had no expectations, but was hoping to do this at a comfortable canter in about an hour... The event was pretty small compared to some that I do about 100 people had registered for the 10k!

After the briefing - which included ensuring we looked out for tree stumps, tree roots and low pokey branches it was to the "start" line to begin, We did a quarter circuit of the friary before going down a country path and a short stretch of road before getting off road onto tracks. As usual everyone went off at a fast pace, including those running with dogs (the dogs got so excited at the start it sounded more like the start of a hunt rather then a run!)....

Sans Garmin I tried to start off slower then the rest (although probably way too fast) - and felt ok for the first 15mins or so - then we went up a slight incline where I began to catch some people who had gone off at break-neck speed. I got into a somewhat uncomfortable rhythm... I should have known this meant I was probably running beyond my current fitness level... but once in the zone your are somewhat in it.... so stayed with it and the crowd pretty much had sorted itself out by 2+ miles.... I was thinking I could just hang in to the half way point have a quick break and some water and then carry on.... however... the "half way" feeding station wasn't actually half way... it arrived 38 mins into the run by which time I was feeling really rather grotty! I know at some point I was trying to find "fault" with my body so as I had some good reason to stop for a bit (yes well I guess I could have just throttled it back instead).... at some point I was out of touch from anyone else in the race - couldn't see anyone ahead or behind so I thought I must have gone wrong... but that wasn't an excuse to stop either as I soon came around a bend and saw people!

When we got to the marshal at the "not" half way point, I dibbed my timing dibber in the hole and was grateful to hear "only 2 miles to go"... which was as well as the time on my £5 watch said 38 mins had gone by... around the corner from the man was the drink/ feed station. Whilst I had a gel with me I decided (probably foolishly) not to have it, but did have a sip of water and trudged off again. It was at this point I was hating myself and every step and every minute... and then I remembered to look around me and enjoy what I was doing.... have fun... remember!!...oh yes this is why... . and so whilst the last 2 miles I did dry retch at time I enjoyed the experience a bit more and took in the landscape and changing scenery. Whilst that was fun I was, I have to say, just a little disappointed our route didn't actually take us to a place where we could see the sea! But the trees, woods, trials and heather sided pathways were actually not a bad substitute :)

I have to say I physically struggled the last bit (although in a much better frame of mind) and was pleased to get back into the friary ruins and finish. I can't remember dibbing my dibber at the end but apparently I must have done as I had a finish time! The race organiser greeted everyone by name as we filtered through the finish area giving us a print out of our time... I could barely speak to him and actually apologised for that saying I thought I was about to be sick !!! How charming!!

Some dry retching behind the marquee later I reappeared (having not been sick but with a sprained tongue) and was proud to hold up my finishers medal!




I finished in a little over an hour... Which actually given it was 10.2km wasn't too bad, although given how I felt throughout I think has helped recalibrate my understanding of my current fitness levels... quite a bit away from my PB territory set a couple of years ago!!

It's been a long journey back from the pains of last summer - and I'm glad I hated as much of the run as I did and glad I didn't have a Garmin on to play mind games with me.... sounds strange but you can only enjoy yourself sometimes when you realise you are not.

My fitness levels have been recalibrated for sure. I have some way to go before I am back to anywhere near half ironman fitness.... I have 7 months to work on that.. and it will be fun as we've more CTS races planned in some lovely places around the country. I have a local half marathon entered for February time - which I plan on both doing and finishing without wrecking myself!

The thing I have realised is whilst it has been a slow journey back to some fitness over this summer I may not get back to my fastest from a few years ago.... I may do but I may also never get there - what I want to achieve though is that feeling of running and floating along effortlessly with enjoyment... for that, right now, I definitely should be going slower then I ran on Saturday!

The only thing to do after the race was to get changed - see the seaside for a bit then check in to our lovely hotel in the village of Southwold (also the home town for Adnams Brewery) eat local sausages with mash for dinner with several halfs of Adnams beer!

Juneathon Day 23 - Wokingham Bikeathon

Yesterday was the day I literally got back on my bike - inspired by some live action at the IG London Nocturne and also some Channel 4 TV showing of triathlons I decided it was about time I got back on my two wheels as it has been some weeks. It also helped that my local town was running the annual "Bikeathon" which is a family friendly affair with two route 15miles or 35miles... My thoughts were I could do the 15miles but I could really challenge myself with the 35 - now I used to regularly be able to bash out this distance or longer when I was training for an IM a few years ago - but that was a few years ago and if I did the 35miles it would be the longest ride in over a year... and the longest ride of this year by some 12 miles (and that doesn't include the 3miles to and from the ride itself)... luckily I knew that if I felt awful at the 15mile mark I could always finish as the first bit of the challenge is the same.

So at about 9am off I pedalled to down town Wokingham to see what would be!

Whilst in the "registration on the day queue" I was surprised and very happy to see my oldest friend and her family - they were doing the 15mile ride - what a challenge for all of them! It was a fortunate moment so we had a quick catch up and chatter and agreed we should meet up for lunch sometime soon as she is one of the people I've not yet managed to catch up with since getting back home.

The ride itself started a little late and I have to say was, well not disorganised, but very crushed at the start. This isn't a timed ride or anything and the organisers did let batches of riders out on to the route every few minutes. But it was a VERY busy and a popular day for many groups of riders (of all ages and on all bikes which was great to see).... I have to say I even found the initial mile a little nerve-wracking - and I'm not a 7 year old and I'm 5'8 so could see what was going on... but it was congested, there were a lot of inexperienced bike riders (so weaving about the place)... I think perhaps if it is going to be this popular in the future the organisers may want to change the way or the place they start.... Still - it all worked out and the route was excellently marked up and food stations very well stocked!

The ride itself - well I went off far too fast... excited to be out and around cyclists I think! After a while I decided there was every chance I would blow up, especially if I were to do the longer ride as I had quite forgotten to stock my pockets or water bottles with any carbs! ... and whilst I did cycle past the first food stop it was because I wasn't expecting it and was too far past on a very narrow lane before I realised what I missed.

I saw the route split for the short to long ride and despite feeling a little tired decided there were enough people heading straight on and I should just carry on as well! So - now committed to the 35mile ride, unless of course I canned it as I went within .5mile from my home!! I soon felt my legs whilst going up a couple of small ascents - and I mean small... but then my bike legs are not what they were!... but still felt okish - just in need of a little bite to eat!! At about mile 18 some guy came past me and I decided sucking into a wheel would be the order of the day - he was actually pacing another guy around and so like a clam I sucked onto their wheels - which was hardish going but not as hard as taking the wind ;)

We finally made it to food stop 2, which thankfully they decided to stop at too, where I literally inhaled 3 mini Mars bars - and I don't particularly like Mars Bars usually but at that moment the sticky sugary sweetness of them was just what I needed!

We soon departed and headed off for the final 9-10miles, I had thanked them for their wheels and they were happy enough for me to continue.... although I struggled to keep in contact in parts... but still managed (I think they slowed up for me!) to be with them to the end...34+miles ridden, knackered and job done!...  I didn't get to thank them as they cycled straight through the town and didn't stop for their finishers medal and goody bag (at least I somehow missed them at the finish so assume this is what they did). So numbers 200 and 335 THANKS!!

Having finished, got my medal and sucked on a piece of orange (there was no chocolate at the end!)... I changed into my granny gear for some easy spinning on three miles home!

Total time 2:28:55 for 40.3miles which includes my easy poodle to and from the ride and some time stopped.

Thanks Wokingham Council for putting on a great event!

Race Reports, Caffeine and other stuff

Ha ha ... like a sprinter I've just dipped before the line to ensure that it's not quite a whole month since I last posted ... phew!


I'm going to keep this short.. yeah like you've heard that before... but I am... because I have rubbish in the garden which needs to go to the tip (green waste for the green waste recycling pile.... I also have wood and a rather large box of empty wine bottles .....so I may be going to the tip but I actually only have one bag of true rubbish the rest is for recycling.... but I digress)...


Soooooo.... since my horrid bout of flu it sort of went like this...


Got over flu, felt good for 4 days
Got up to fly to Klagenfurt for Ironman Austria (sherpa duties mind not a sneaky race) and felt bleah with a sinus/ throat "thing".. Felt bleah for about 5 days and did little training (miffed)


Nearly throw my toys out of the prame for feeling bleah for so long and not able to train... but luckily my body did me a favour and I got over myself so got better and thus enjoyed an outing down to the New Forest for the New Forest 10.


Feeling good again, I'm pleased to say normal training has resumed (phew, I was beginning to really annoy people through being a miserable non-training triathlete... which is never a good thing... you can call me Hedgehog if you like.. I was prickly..)... anyway... threw in a rather hilly half marathon (it was a "race" but as I wasn't race fit it was a training run...).... and have had some lovely rides....


.... and the worst of it all.... well since I got the lurgies I seem to have developed a reaction to coffee!! Seriously. People this is bad bad news... I was a particularly prickly hedgehog when I withdrew I can tell you.... since the lurgy whenever I have coffee I get a spotty rash on the back of my throat... I am hoping this is a temporary thing because my defences are low... There should be support groups for this sort of thing... for my friends and family if nothing else. I WANT MY ESPRESSO!!.... GIVE ME A CAPPUCCINO... uggghhhh .... currently drinking some herbal "cleanse" tea if you are interested..... 


Anyway.... So basically I owe you all the following race reports;
Ironman Austria - experienced as a sherpa
New Forest 10
High Wycombe Half
and probably a wrap up of July training somewhere too....


this could be a busy blogging week ..... of given my current blogging prowess... month/ year... ha ha ha ...


Righteo... must go ... I have bags to load and a man at the rubbish tip to go see!

Etape Caledonia Event Report!

Yes this did happen over a month ago - who said I was fast at getting my reports in... not me ;)


The first question of the day concerned was how on earth do you get about 5,000 cyclists to start an event in an orderly fashion?! Well I have to say the start of this was incredibly well organised. Essentially the road was cordoned off and into two lanes (also with barriers), and there were start times every minute per wave... with alternate sides of the road going off... so with I guess over 300 people per wave and a wave start pen of about 100m this lead to a busy start area! Jules and I having stumbled out of the hotel on the start line could see people and bikes for as far as the eye could see! We shuffled down the road to find an entry barrier about 200m down the road which we could get in... timings worked well and we entered exactly when our Wave letter was being called and fortunately found ourselves pretty much at the very front (give or take 6 people), which given the slight incline and need to clip in p.d.q. was quite a relief :)


We headed to towards the starting gate and didn't have to wait long before the horn went and the tape went up (well sideways to be honest) to release us.... as you can imagine this was HIGHLY exciting... and this was reflected in my HR which my garmin was telling me was 206... WTF... like yes - that was wrong or I was dead already... ha ha .... we set off at a nice excitable pace and soon caught up with the rear markers of the previous group. It quickly became obvious to me that (a) I had had breakfast far too late (my porridge was threatening to erupt out of my tummy) and (b) that Jules really was race fit and I really was not.... I clung on to his wheel for a bit but soon dropped off on the first incline.... he looking svelt like and me feeling more like a giant sea lion... bloated, full and a bit big to be flapping my flippers on a bike... STILL... I caught up with him and was having fun... then there was another hill and I was dropped again... and so the pattern began!! 


The weather wasn't helping my cause too much, although it wasn't actually raining it was blowing a complete hooley .. in to my face (ok and everyone elses but I had bigger thighs so reckon was catching more then the majority).... I got to admit after the first mile of enjoyment I settled in to a sensation of utter DOOM... what the hell was I thinking doing exactly 3 training rides for an 81 inclement ride in the highlands... oh how I laughed (mwah ha ha ha).... my spirits were briefly lifted about an hour in to the ride, cycling up through a woodland suddenly the ghostly sound of a piper could be heard in the wind... it was somewhat magical and took away the feeling of porridge heave for a brief moment.... on reaching the brow of the hill the pipers came into view and have to admit I shed a tear ... not sure what it is about Pipers but often the sound will make me cry (no it's not just the noise of them).... must be genetic or something I am a bit Scottish after all.... ahem...
.. moving on...


My watch alarm was going off every 30mins, which I had set up from the Ironman last year as a reminder to eat.. by the time in went off for the 2nd time, I really was ready to rip it off my wrist..... like I was going to eat anything when my belly was fighting to digest my breakfast (still) and my HR had been showing over 180 for the first hour (WRONG - don't know what is going on with my Garmin at the moment).... and settling in to 150 (err right... I was huffing and puffing a lot).... still I knew I had to get something in me so opted for small regular drinks from my water bottle, had one with carbs and one with electrolytes and swamped between the two - this helped I think.


After about an hour and quarter we exited a woodland area and found ourselves at the bottom end of what on a normal day would be a very picturesque loch... Loch Rannoch... but on this day I couldn't think anything but "sod me that wind is evil and WTF I've got to cycle around this monster.... woe is me".... We literally almost halted the wind felt that strong trying to blow us back... There were white tipped waves of at least several inches... it was around this point that I said to Jules that I was dieing and that, given this was supposed to be a training ride for him that we ought to split up... he hesitated and chivalrously said no as this was to be a social ride together... I quickly told him I could blow up any minute at this pace and he was hardly even getting a workout (given he was having to sit up in the saddle for me to catch up every few minutes)... so semi-reluctantly but with a secret smile of a dog off the leash he pinned his ears back and went off. To some relief to me and my heart rate!! I spent the next few miles trying to stick to any peleton coming past for brief few seconds of relief from the wind, whilst allowing my HR to lower and my porridge to go down.... about 30mins later we turned the head of the loch and 30miles done... everything then quickly got better, faster and easier as I literally got blown back down the other side of the loch - did I mention that it was a windy day!?


Before I knew it I was approaching the 40mile marker and my spirits were feeling much better - "already" half way and finally feeling in control and not about to barf or anything - I'd even go so far as saying I was now fully enjoying it !!.. There was a pit-stop at 42miles which I decided to utilise... Quick stop in the porta-loo... I grapped a banana (I had my own gels and bars but figured how full and sick my tummy had been feeling a banana sounded good)... stuffed the banana down and then decided to eat a lovely looking morsel of flapjack .... as reward for not feeling sick anymore and being half way you understand. Now Jules and I had had this conversation earlier about the "hill".... King of the Mountain section... he thought this came at 40miles and I thought 60miles.... now as the feed stop was at 42 I thought he must have got it wrong... imagine my surprise then having stuffed my banana face with a morsel of flapjack too when I crossed a timing mat about .5 mile after the feed station... UH OH ......


Sure enough ahead of me was a 10minute climb.... ohhh how I laughed again... the challenge here was not going to be the climb but keeping my banana down!!! ha ha ha.... The climb wasn't too bad, several rises with slightly flatter bits for relief... I managed to overtake quite a lot of people - I'm not a particularly fast climber so not sure why, surprisingly too I managed to come 5th in my age group on this section (must be the power of banana yes?!)... Surprisingly got to the top without losing my stomach contents and despite the chilling wind was dripping with sweat down through my helmet! Nice work Karen!.... Tempted at this stage to remove my outer showerproof jacket I soon decided not too having unzipped my layers a bit and heading down hill only to freeze!


Having "summitted" the hill the ride became a fast largely down hill or flat affair... for me some descents were scary fast, I am still nervous about downhills for some reason since coming off my bike last year, although by the end of this event I have to say I was more confident and not riding the brakes as much. I saw one rather nasty looking accident, the guy just being loaded into an ambulance in a neck brace - later this was reported as a serious (although non fatal) accident . It did freak me as I cycled past though as I had to check it wasn't Jules... relief that it wasn't but the guy didn't look too good at the time. I got into a relatively good tempo and managed to hook on to several packs on the way back (this is not hard given the number of people on the course)..... We were skipping along at a pretty descent lick - partly because of the wind coming in from behind and partly from the fact we were group riding - by now it became a rather enjoyable affair and I was in fact overtaking quite a lot of people and feeling rather comfortable (by now I was even eating on the required 30mins intervals :)...) .. I knew from my coach and from Jules that  somewhere around the 70mile marker there was a left turn with a short but sharp 1:4 climb... paranoid that I'd be caught out by this I elected to stay in my compact gear at the front with a nice gear on the rear - I was literally spinning down the hill ... I caught a guy and got into conversation with him about the turn ahead - he said it was about 3-5miles away!! ha ha ha... so I changed up to the big ring and had a great time on the fast straight and ever so slightly downhill road from Aberfeldy.


As it happened the dreaded sharp left turn was pretty obvious... having spotted it I quickly shifted to small rings and turned the corner - yes it was steep ... quickly up and out of the saddle I hoofed it up the only danger coming from the guys in front who hadn't been as prepared and were 4 abreast almost stalling up the hill... A little encouragement from me in the form of "come on fellas"... (I usually find a girl shouting at men to hurry up a hill makes them find an extra gear)...  ensured I didn't crash into their stalling rear wheel as they found enough puff to get up and out of my way.... I stupidly thought this would be the last significant hill of the day and proceeded to put the pedal to the metal as I knew I was now in the last 10miles.... HOWEVER there were a few little cheeky climbs waiting which became real thigh burners!!


The final ride in to Pitlochry was brilliant, I cruised up the hill with nothing to prove. I had hoped to do this event in around 5hrs 30 which I thought was optimistic given lack of training... I did however manage to come in in 4hrs 52 (including the 4mins at the pit stop)... which I was somewhat chuffed and amazed at..... to be fair I do think the drafting involved in the mini peletons which formed helped a lot!.... My coach said I would have a lot of endurance this season off the back of the IM last year - I hadn't believed him but as I crossed the line I did... although I don't want to fall into a false sense of security and think I can get away with this event distance again without the proper preparation!!


Having crossed the line some nice person removed the timing chip from my wheel and someone else gave me a bottle of water and hung a deserved medal over my neck.... I dismounted and somewhat staggered up the road towards the hotel to find Jules just finishing his run, having done a brick session after finishing in a staggeringly awesome 4hrs 28mins and that having been hindered by my slow arse for the first 1 and quarter hours!!


Reckon we both deserved our medals!!

All in all I rate this event as first class - excellent logistics, excellent support  on the route (mechanical, marshalls, food stops and supporters), good road conditions (being closed roads was brilliant), atmosphere was great and the medal nice and chunky!!


10/10 on all fronts :)


Some interesting graphs;


Heart rate - I tried to flatten out the abnormal readings at the start so not sure if this is a true reflection or just dodgey readings.... you can see where the king of the mountain section was about mile 43!

And you can distinctly see my speed go up around mile 30 when we turned the head of the loch and got a tail wind!...

You can also click here for the official event route


Pleased to see I came 31st from 110 in my age group and somehow 5th from 110 in my age group on the KOM section! ha ha ha ... Even more pleasing was that I took people in the 2nd half of the course (overall I was 2218 from 4200 competitors but placed 2012 for the course section after KOM) proving my endurance was indeed better then I anticipated!

Participant Summary

No	2141
Cat	F40-44
Cat Pos	31
Time	04:52:12
Pos	2218

Stage	Time of Day	Elapsed Time	Position
Start	07:07:23		0
Finish	11:59:34	01:57:34	2012
KOTM	10:02:01	00:09:30	1137