How did that happen?

I'll keep it brief as I'm still in shock.....

Got an invite from Leanne for a 60k ride in the hills around Henley-upon-Thames with an offer of a roast dinner after who was I to decline such hospitality, despite the fact I've never gone 60k before and the last "long" ride I'd done was London Oly at the beginning of August.

So off we set yesterday (Sunday) afternoon - Dan (much acclaimed super hero from previous blogs) leading the way..... it was when we were at 45k and the bottom of another monster hill that he said "well ladies - I think we're about half way"..... and then we climbed (again!)... with absolutely no getting out of the saddle allowed!

and as I'm playing with my Garmin - here's the route and the gradient.....

We climbed over 1.1km .... and we didn't get out of the saddle once!

At least the downhills were enjoyable - if a little scary, trusty Garmin says max speed was 60kph... which is about 40mph... and yes I was on the brakes big time and hoping I was going to stay seated!

Average HR was 122 so comfortably Zone 2 which is exactly what I need for half-ironman. So apt "punishment" for not being able/ ready for the half-mary I should have been doing ;o)

In summary - I'm in a state of shock that I've done 85k - wasn't planning that for some time. Managed 4.5hours in the saddle - longest ever by 2.5hours ... nothing like racking it all up slowly (not!).... so all I need to do is another 5k, oh that after 2k of swimming and before 21k running... but hey there's loads of time to go right?!

What of the rest of last week? Well no swimming, 1 session of MTB riding (1.5hrs), 2 runs (30mins and 60mins) and 1 game of hockey umpiring. Not a bad, if completely unstructured, week! :o)

Coincidence or fate?!

So do you believe it fate or just coincidences which can happen?

Here's what happened on Thursday.....

Was traveling up to Durham (the far north of England for those who don't know), for the day for a work meeting so got up nice and early, leaving home at 6am for taxi ride to the mainline station. Got up to London and schlepped across to Kings Cross getting there 0730, 30mins before my train was due to depart at 8am..... Decided to see if I could wing it and get into the first class lounge... well I had first class tickets, albeit cheapo fares so unlikely to be let in - but you if you don't ask you don't get right?!

So the conversation ensued with the lovely old security man;
"Can I come in, I have first class tickets"
"Can I see them"
"Of course - here you go"
"I'm very sorry young lady" (luv 'im as my friend from Devon would say - how very sweet calling me young) "but you can't use these tickets for the lounge"
"Oh"
"I'm really sorry it's just the people who pay a full first class fare get a bit sensitive, but there is another lounge you can use"
"Do they have a toilet in, or do I have to use the public conveniences?"
"Well really you should use the public ones, but if you promise to be quick" " you can use the ones here"

Humm.. so I did blag my way in but only to use the facilities!! Still saved me a whole 20p and they were far cleaner ;o)... and I am getting to this coincidence thing I promise.

So off I trotted (not literally I hasten to add) and I found a ladies purse in the ablutions. Not in the bowl or anything yuk like that I hasten to add, but on the side by the sink. Hummmm so being the upstanding citizen that I am (thanks Mum and Dad) I wanted to make sure I did the correct thing by whomever had left it. So I first looked in to see if there was any photo id... didn't rummage or anything but immediately saw it was pretty full, cash, credit cards etc but no immediate ID. So hastily closed it (feeling guilty for having even looked in it!) and proceeded to leave. There was one lady in the lounge so I asked her if it was her purse - no. So went back out and handed into the the nice gentleman doing security who'd let me in.

... and that's where you'd normally expect this story to end...

So after that, met up with my work colleague, found which platform our train was going from and boarded. Coach L, seat 33.......... So on we got and sat in our reserved seats; a simple two seater with the seats opposite, perfect! Until we realised we were sitting in the seat numbers for our return journey - should have been in Coach L, 16.... so off we went, found the new seats and found them to be two next to each other opposite two guys - not so good for business conflab. Hummm. So my work colleague looked to see if there were another 2 seats, not reserved for travel, free in the first class coaches.... Yep, back behind us in Coach M. So we made camp there and settled down for the 3.5hr journey.

About 30mins into the journey a lady sitting on the 4 seater to my left started looking for something, the lady next to her helping her out. They searched the table, under the table, got passengers to move and searched under their feet. I don't know what got me to say anything, so I asked the helper what they were looking for. Yep - you guess it a purse. So I asked the little old lady who had lost the purse if it was brown, so big, with a golden clasp... and you never guess what it was - and this was the purse I had found back at the station!

So what a bizarre coincidence. There are tens of trains leaving Kings Cross between 7:30 and 8:00am, there must have been about 10 carriages on our train and I shouldn't have even been in the carriage I was in, let alone sitting next to this lady! Was this fate or just a coincidence? Bizarre either way! Suffice to say the lady was very pleased when the guard confirmed it was her purse and it was waiting for her back at the station so she could pick it up on her way home that evening! How things work out :o)

What else I hear you cry - what of your training....

....Hummm... maybe more on that later - suffice to say I've decided to have a weekend off next weekend and stay at home and not do the half Mary - have a revised schedule for the October one which I feel more comfortable doing. I think if I were to attempt the one next Sunday I'd be able to finish, but would risk injury (as I'm stubborn once I start there's no way I wouldn't complete it), and I'm simply not up to 2.5hrs run or run/ walk.

OK - that's it for now - there's some people state side racing today which I'd just like to say - KEEP GOING! As I think you're all still racing as I'm blogging and it's nearly time for my bed!

More tomorrow/ Tuesday :O)

OH YES - how could I forget ... WELL DONE Angel..leeky for your first Oly distance today! Paulo and I had a blast shouting "encouragement" and the moment when we surprised you on the run by jumping out of the bushes is still making me chuckle!! Well done!

PS: Just seen Lisa was a finisher in her half-mary - WOOHOO! Well done Lisa! YOU ROCK!! (that is how you Americans say it isn't it?!) :o) and achieving you "A" aim on the way. Really well done!

Now watching out for Tri-Shannon who's on her Ironman dream race today at Wisconsin!

Newbury Race Report

I can hear you all shouting: "Keep it brief! Keep it brief!"

Yes, yes - alright already ;o)

Pre-race:
Woke up Sunday morning strangely and unexpectedly really nervous! Texted Leanne (training bud) who was doing the race but starting earlier then me... it was ok I wasn't alone - she was nervous too... she questioned why do we do this to ourselves??!! A good question at 7am on a sunday morning!! Luckily the weather forecast was good, a bright morning but not too hot and not too windy. Excellent!

Anyhow, had some muesli, banana, water and packed my kit bag. Strange not putting the wetsuit in it! Kept on thinking it was too light!

Finally dragged my arse into my car about 8am (slightly later then I anticipated!) and set off for the short 30min journey to Newbury. Thankfully I have reccied out the location and bike route the day before - the map which was in the application form was not terribly helpful!! Still having been there the day before I got there straight off! Phew! Parked up, unloaded and had a brief hug, natter and good luck to Leanne who was 20mins away from starting and wanting to join the swim queue. I did the whole registration thing, even got marked up (first time this season!) and went to transition. Now this is the only real complaint I have about the whole event. Transition was too small (not enough width between bike racks) and the racks themselves were too low. My bike didn't slide underneath, both my handle bars and seat were slightly too high! So the only way to go in and out was to go in at an angle - not ideal - but not as bad as the guy racking two to my right who was so tall that his bike, although it went under, couldn't hang off anything as both his bars and seat were higher then the rack height!! DOH! I think he had to go to the end of the rack and lean his bike! Still I unpacked my kit, grabbed my camera and headed to the swim to get some piccies of Leanne... well that's what I intended until I realised my camera batteries were flat!!

Still I yelled some encouragement and after she exited the swim got changed into my trisuit, got more nervous and finally headed to the swim queue myself!

The Swim:
So an old (old) outdoor swimming pool 75 yards in length, one lap one side of the rope before passing under and another lap the other. Two people were starting every 30s, which led to a slightly choppy event! As usual I got chatting to people in the queue and found my starting partner. We'd both put in an ambitious 6min swim time, he reckoned he could do this if the adrenaline kicked in, so I told him I'd take a tow!! A bit cheeky I know! I wasn't sure how I was going to swim, I generally always hate my 400m warm-up when I do a swim session and I wasn't sure what I'd think of the 75yd pool.

Well we got in and got our 10s warning and we were off! We swam together for about the first 5 strokes, then I found myself edging ahead and then within 20 odd strokes I was ahead and feeling good. Loved the length of the pool - allowed me to get into a really good rhythm and I was at the end of the first length before I knew it. As I turned I saw ahead of me a girl who had started in the set before me (she had missed her start time so would have been slower), and midway down the length I caught her and sailed right on past. Finished the second length and duck dived under the rope. At this point I was still feeling pretty good but worried that I was about to blow up! Still got flapping down the next length back into a nice rhythm and before I knew it I was on the final turn for home. Another good lap and I was jubilant to see a water exit time of 06:05 - YIPPEEE! The split is more like 06:24 I think but that includes time out of pool and run toward transition where the timing mat was.

Very happy with the swim! To put this into context when I did a 300m time trial (training test) back in April my average for 300m was 06:54! So I've cut my time since April by nearly 50s - oh sweet joy!

T1:
To be honest this could have gone smoother, but what with the narrow lanes between racks and rack height problem I guess I'll just have to accept it. To hinder further there were guys either side of my bike getting themselves through T1 and I missed my spot (a first!). At least the transition length was really short! Not sure of my split but it'll be disappointing I think, although having said that I did get in and out whilst those two guys either side of me were phaffing about! So I'll have to wait for the times. Actually they may be posted by now so let me check.... Oh ok so it was better then I thought: 01:15!! I'll take that! Oh and swim split update 0:06:18 :o)

Bike:
Well I didn't feel great on the bike. It started off straight out of transition and into a small but cheeky climb. How rude is that! Luckily I was already in my small ring at the front and before long I was in my smallest gear and out of the saddle! The course itself is undulating through some lovely countryside (if you get the chance to to take a quick look). Managed to avoid the stones on the roads and the odd pot hole so no flat drama's of the previous day! I don't think I did too well on the uphills, this has always been a weakness and something to work on during the winter. However I do think I got all the gear changing about right, got out of the saddle and powered up when I needed to and stayed in the saddle for the longer inclines. I must confess the bit I did enjoy was the final third which was mainly down hill and a great opportunity to get down on my aerobars and peddle like a lunatic! Brilliant fun! Only had two minor delays at roundabouts when cars decided to turn which I had to give way to - how inconsiderate! ;o) In summary I found the bike harder then usual but that would be down to the inclines!
Bike split, 22k: 0:46:34

T2:
F-A-S-T... although did leave my rack for 2 steps before I realised I hadn't grabbed my epipen from my bike.. went the 2 paces back and legged it!! T2 split: 0:00:56! Yep 56seconds... wheeez!

Run:
Started off feeling pretty darn good! Then I worked out this feeling of euphoria was probably down to my caffeine gel I had had about 15mins before on the bike!!! Passed a lady suffering from cramp and had my sights set on this guy who had come past me during one of the bike climbs - I could see him there in the distance and he looked like he was going slower then me - it's good to have a target! Caught him before the half way mark! Then the fast boys started coming past me. That was actually quite good really because it spurred me on a bit. The first part third of the run was a little country path, middle section was running alongisde the A34 - a really busy dual carriageway (not terribly inspiring!) and the final section down alongside the Kennet Canal, which was lovely! It was on the turn off the roadside onto the canal that I asked the marshall if we were half way - to which he said there was only 1.5k left. It was then that I realised that, unless I had supersonic jets in my trainers that the run was going to be well short of the 5k advertised. Still I wasn't really complaining. This was the first point during the race that I considered my end time - decided that sub 1hr 20 was doable, said hello to some people in a barge waiting at a lock and headed for home! 3mins later I got the worse stitch ever! Similar to Friday night but a lot worse! Grrrr! Determined not to stop I just tried blowing it out.... struggled for sometime until I saw a bridge up ahead and the sports centre just beyond! Yippee the end was in sight! The whole up and over a foot bridge right at the end was a bit rude though! Got a big yell from Leanne as I came down from the bridge and off I went for a lap of the sports field and the finish!
Run, not 5k but more like 4.2k: 0:23:14

Total Time: 01:18:20
:oD
15/44 in Female Open

Lots of smiles all around!

Leanne had an aim of doing the race sub 1hr 30 in 2008.. .well she was a year ahead of schedule and got in 1:28:45. The club did well too - with one of the guys winning the race in something silly like 57mins!!!

Will write some more about my tri thoughts in a later blog.... as for post race recovery Monday: No rest for the wicked, did a gym session last night: 20mins x-trainer for 4k and 30mins run/walk for 4.6k - no problems with the calf muscle either! Intended to go swimming yesterday morning or this morning but alas the duvet caught me both days and didn't let me get out of bed ;o)