Rip it up and start again (for 2014)

My triathlon season for 2013 officially ended 11^th September. It ended as a damp squib with two DNF’s at the most important sporting event I have ever taken part in – a triathlon world championship. It ultimately ended due to a flat tyre in heavy rain. But that masked an Achilles injury I was carrying which would have, in any case, resulted in disappointment for me.

The season had all started so well.  5km Parkrun PB’s in Jan/Feb/Mar which saw me improve my PB at every run.  A half Marathon PB by over 5 minutes at the Llanelli Marathon in March and then a Marathon PB at the London Marathon in April by 25 minutes. OK – this last one was from a not very fast first marathon. In May for my first tri of the season an 8min PB at the Llanelli Sprint, even with a longer swim than normal. Then finally 1^st June British M55-59 Sprint champion at Nottingham and then 6^th at the ITU AG European championships Olympic distance event in Alanya, Turkey 14^th June.

I guess that’s really where I should have stopped as a week later my Achilles tendonitis started and progressively got worse through July and August to the extent that I wasn’t run training at all and just doing an easy jog around the tri races I’d entered. In the end I didn’t even do the runs and pulled out after the bike. All this despite twice weekly physio, massages and constant strengthening exercises for over three months to try and get me to the start line at the World Championships in London.

After London I had an overseas business trip planned and therefore decided on complete rest for my Achilles. No training whatsoever for a month at least. And after all that rest my left Achilles was still swollen!

 

So here we are at the end of 2013 and the current scenario. I’ve started to do some light running again. No more than a couple of easy 5-8km a week. I’m still not sure which way it’s going to go. After running my left Achilles is still tender to touch but I’m not getting any pain or inconvenience when I run or walk. I’m still doing all the strengthening and stretching exercises, icing after the run and I now sleep with a foot brace, as was recommended to me. That all seems to help but I can’t help wondering what’s going to happen when I up my run intensity. This I will have to start doing quite soon.

I managed to blog through most of 2013, which was my objective. The idea being that, with my goals set, it would motivate me to train and train better.  I think it just about worked. Without really knowing if my body is going to stand up to 2014 I’ve decided to keep the blog going through 2014. My “A Race” for this year being the ETU Age Group sprint race at the European championships in Kitzbuehel, Austria in June.  I qualified via being British champion, rather than through one of the qualifying events.  I’m pretty certain that the AG at Kitzbuehel will be fairly flat. Not like this year’s elite race, whose bike profile was something like this!

 

 

 2014 is not going to be as “focused” for me as 2013 was. Apart from the injury I’m going to have more family, work and travel commitments and I put myself up for couple of administrative rolls in the sport that will cut into my training time.  So we are just going to see how it goes. One positive that did come out of my injury and lack of running during the last part of 2013 was the improvement in my swimming.  I think my increased running, and probably cycling, reduced my flexibility for swimming. Also training for 750m or 1500m frontcrawl tri swims doesn’t exactly help for shorter swim races. As 2013 went on my swimming times got worse. But then with the rest and very little time in the water I managed in December to do three “all time Masters” PB’s in 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly and 100IM. By “all time Masters” I really mean any time after I was about 17 years old and faster than when I was at my Masters best about six years ago. If the running injuries are still there in the next few months I can always concentrate on swimming again.

DNF Times Two - My London Story

It wasn’t a case of all’s well that ends well for me. I set off on a business trip to Australia just after the World Champs so I’m just getting around to putting my thoughts down. In the end, it was all a bit disappointing.

Although my Achilles felt slightly better in the few days leading up to the World Champs, even if it did hold up the fact that I hadn’t run for over three months precluded any real chance of doing anything except trying to finish. After I had qualified for London there was a plan with family and friends for a bit of support and a party in London but as my situation deteriorated I really put those ideas on hold. As I was an early qualifier I had managed to secure a “cheap” luxury apartment on Hyde Park for the family to stay, so in theory, that would be ok, except I had qualified for the Aquathlon on the Wednesday. Registration for the Aquathlon was on Tuesday this meant traveling up to London on the Tuesday and staying with friends outside of London and travelling in both days. In fact doing two events was getting a bit complicated with various times to register, be briefed, have photos, massages, team get together etc. and getting on the right trains/tubes at the right time I had to develop quite a complex Excel spreadsheet to track it all!

Made it to London and signed in on the board

 

 

 Nice thing about Aquathlon - minimalist equipment in transition!

 As mentioned in my previous post I was pretty sure my Achilles wouldn’t stand up to two 5km runs in three days so I had already decided to pull out of the Aquathlon after the swim. In fact I was only doing it (apart from already forking out £95 entry) to get some practice on the swim as no pre-race training on the courses was allowed. It was a good idea as I learnt so much of the system and where to place myself in the various pens to get the start position I wanted on the pontoon for the Sprint. There were 46 “Aquathletes” from 14 countries in my age group. The swim was 1000m rather than the 750m for the Sprint tri. It was the same course but with one further extra buoy to swim around near the end. I was pretty happy with my swim. We were combined with a younger age group and I was about 6^th out overall. The times show I was 3^rd out in my age group. The plan was I would try and do a quick transition and then pull out. I did do a quick transition, 7^th fastest and only 4 seconds behind 1^st fastest. The problem was this was in front of the stand. I didn’t really want to stop there in front of people so I ran on (slowly) for a bit. My Achilles didn’t actually feel that bad so I decided I would go very slowly and do a run recce. I would do one of the two 2.5km laps. This I did and resigned myself to all these guys passing me. I stopped just before the start of lap two, went to the ITU officials, reported my withdrawal and handed in my timing chip. As it turns out Brits got 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd. On reflection if I had run hard without thought of the Sprint two days later I probably would have placed 3^rd or 4^th. But hey – I was saving myself for the Sprint tri race.

Calm before the storm

I managed to get a massage right after the Aquathlon from the BTF support masseurs, which was great and I and now I thought I would at least finish the Sprint. However the next day DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) set in – in my quads! I remembered I hadn’t run for 3 months. And my Achilles “tweeked” a little bit. Oh dear.

Thursday came. The day of the Sprint registration, team briefing, team photo then official gear checking and bike racking etc etc. Except I had already registered and was feeling a bit of an old hand at all this AG “World’s” stuff. Met the family off the train at Paddington and walked them the short distance to the apartment. Dinner was of (pre) homemade pasta Bolognese and a few beers and then an early night. Now the whole time I’d been in London they had got the weather predictions wrong and this was even only two hours ahead. Friday dawned and it was supposed to clear up by the time of the race. Except to cut it short – it just rained the whole race. This wasn’t too pleasant. I put all my gear in transition. Nothing extra was allowed except what you were racing with so no towels or covers so of course everything got wet. But it’s the same for all. You had to be out of transition by 7.30am and my AG start was only 11.00am so I went back to the apartment (10mins) and went back to bed for a while before a second breakfast.

Is my elbow that high?

The build-up was the same as for the Aquathlon so I was well prepared, got my pen positioning right and was exactly where I wanted to be on the start pontoon. 94 triathletes from 23 countries started the M55-59 AG sprint race. Again I was pretty happy with my swim with a good clear start and then a good draft (off a German as a turns out). I was 7^th out of the water and also had a reasonable T1.

 

Out of the swim

  As we were an age group on our own in the 500m or so to the start of the three lap cycle course I could see 4 or 5 guys in front of me. I had caught a couple before the getting onto the course proper and then flew past a German and Australian on the first long stretch of the three lap bike course. I was feeling really good. I guessed I was probably now top three and I knew that I could catch the GB guy would I knew would be first out of the swim.

Flying at the start of the first bike lap

The rain was hammering it down but it didn’t worry me. We hit the first technical bit of the course with some turns, speed bumps and more turns and I was now passing lots of other AG’s who were already on the course. I was feeling as confident as I could be that this was going to go well. Then, about 2km into the bike course I hit a speed bump and blah. I’d burst my rear tyre. I looked down trying not to believe what I thought had happened but no, the road was getting rougher, the bike was vibrating and sliding and I was going slower. I knew that was it for me but I remember someone saying that you could ride on flat tubs so I kept going. The bike was sliding more, I was going slower and now the German and the Australian went past. I kept going as best as I could but when I came back to the 90 degree bend before the long straight my rear slid like I was on ice. I have no idea how I stayed upright. That was it. Now a long slow ride back to transition only one lap done (in reflection I should have got off the bike and not risked my v. expensive Bontrager wheel, but I think it survived). I got back to transition and after the Aquathlon, I had experience of what to do.

So – two AG world championships in three days and two DNF’s. That must be fairly rare.

Not flying!  It's all over
 

Tyre pressures - Spot the difference!

Analysis and comparison of times afterwards leads me to believe if I had not had the blowout I probably would have been 1st or just 2^nd off the bike. With the best run I could have done that day I probably could have finished somewhere 5^th -10^th and maybe (just) best Brit. But I will never know and history says I’m a DNF. In hindsight if I had just gone for it in the Aquathlon I might have got a medal or at least a top five but then for sure it would have stuffed me up for the sprint and then would have been frustrated for what could have been for that.

The disappointing thing is the amount of money, time and effort I’ve put in trying to get over my Achilles over the last three months with doctors, physios, massages, exercises, stretches and all to no avail. It’s nearly three weeks since the Aquathlon, I haven’t done any exercise or even walking and my Achilles, although not painful, is still swollen. I have no idea what to do. Everyone and every internet article I find say just rest and don’t put any impact on it. Apart from walking in the course of a working day I haven’t, but there is still no improvement. It’s difficult to know what to do. I’ve already pre-qualified for the 2014 ETU European sprint tri championships in Kitzbühel. The qualifiers for the World champs and the 2015 Euro’s are out and it all starts in earnest in June next year.  I’m also on the NHS waiting list for an op which they tell me should be in the spring. They say recovery from this will put me completely out of action for about two months. I have a feeling this triathlon thing is not going to get any easier as I get older.

Seven Days to London

Seven days to the Aquathlon World Champs on Wednesday. It’s all approaching far too quickly now. For the Aquathlon my race number is 10640 and my start time on the pontoon is 10.20am for the M55-59 age group. However I’m pretty sure I’m going to be the first DNF for the Pru Health world triathlon championships. At this point I’m only planning to do the 1000m swim and then withdraw. My Achilles won’t be up to two 5km runs in three days so I guess I should save my one shot for the triathlon on the Friday.  In reality it’s a risk just doing the swim as having seen the Serpentine a couple of weeks ago there is a good chance you could catch something in it, and I don’t mean fish! But I’ve paid my entry fee so I might as well do it. A DNF gets listed on your athletes’ page at triathlon.org, whist DNS does not.

Yes, Battersby’s Bane is still that. Although, after a particularly bad weekend where it was more swollen and painful despite doing absolutely nothing except resting, the swelling now seems to have gone down a bit and I actually walked today without limping for the first time in 3 months, What an advance!  If it can stay like that for the next week my chances of finishing the sprint tri are looking better. As the footballers say “I’ll take it one day at a time”.

Due to the aforementioned Battersby’s Bane I had my first ever “Did Not Finish” at the Tuska Triathlon in Porthcawl. I’ve competed in all sorts of events; tri’s, marathons, long distance swims, cycling etc, so I guess I’ve been lucky to get to my age without a DNF against my name. Although I had planned to pull out of the run I had a good swim and a really good bike that put me around 10-12^th overall into T2. For a short time I did think about jogging around the run course. Luckily for me Alan Kerr of Pencoed Tri was marshalling by the run exit. Alan is an experienced triathlete (a former AG world champ I think) and in my sprint age group in London. I’d met him the previous day at registration and where we’d compared our various ailments. When he saw me limping out of T2 he shouted – “do you really want to do this before London”.  And the answer was definitely no. What he said registered with me and I realised how bad I was limping and how sore my Achilles was, and I’d only just started on the run.  So I pulled up after about 200m, walked back and handed in my chip. End of race. Even so it had been a good race for me. Although I could have actually swum a bit faster I was really happy with my tactics – start position, sighting and swim line to get the best of the tide & current which I’d studied from previous Tuska races. Only thing was I didn’t get to draft off anyone as there was from the start a gap between me and the swimmers in front. Although, I found out later, it appears I dragged along quite a few behind me from the 1^st turn buoy, including Dan Miles of Cardiff Tri. I didn’t mind this as Dan has been faster than me in the swims. He was 30secs better than me over 1500m in Turkey. Even with no flying start on the bike I did a fast T1. I then flew past 3 guys/girls weaving all over the place trying to get their feet in the shoes. None of them caught me.  Again, I was really happy with my cycle. I only got passed by one person near the end, James Manson of Cardiff Tri, who is a good couple of minutes faster than me on the bike. In an almost direct comparison to previous years (slightly different T exit/entry) I set a cycle course PB by 4 mins 34 secs. Also good is the fact that I think I can go faster still on the bike.  OK – after that it wasn’t so good. Screwed up my dismount into T2 and then ........ the rest is DNF.  As an aside, although I thought my DNF was disappointing it wasn’t as bad as Sam Webster’s DNS. I wondered at the time why Sam wasn’t racing as he was in contention for being Cardiff Tri champion. Just found out from his blog he wrecked his bike on the roof rack driving under a barrier in the car park before the race start. Now that is a bummer! http://www.dontbeasalmon.net/archives/2013/08/end-of-the-summ-1.html

As I’m sure anyone reading this would have already surmised, I’ve written off any chance of actually doing well in London a long time ago. My aim for the last month or so is just to make it to the start, complete the course and hopefully enjoy it. As the entry fees, travel & accommodation are all paid for there is not much else I can do. That’s just the way it goes. A few months ago I was thinking I might be competitive, whilst not getting near a medal (there are a lot of seriously good triathletes in my AG) at least vying to be one of the first three Brits. How underdone am I?  I keep a training log and in the 10 weeks since the Llandudno tri (29^th June) I have run (actually not run but jogged or limped) a total of 22.27km. That’s an average of only 2.23km a week!  Not exactly peak performance training. On the other side looking at the logs I’ve swum 75,57km in the same period. I’ve swum over 3 times as far as I’ve run!

The one saving grace in all this is that I somehow “peaked” in time for the Nottingham tri and became British AG champion. That gives me pre qualification if I want them to both next year’s euro and world champs in Kitzbuhel and Edmonton respectively.  That’s If I can get my Achilles sorted by then.

I think there are ten Cardiff Triathletes at the world champs representing Great Britain and NZ. Some of us managed a photo in Cardiff last night. No doubt we make another photo opportunity when everyone is there together in Hyde Park.

 

Born to Run?

Someday girl I don't know when were gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

Or not, as the case may be.  But I did walk in the Sun!

Despite Battersby’s Bane I decided to start the Gower Sprint Triathlon. This was mainly because we had planned to camp down there anyway for an extended weekend with family and friends from afar. Also, as I can still swim and cycle, I thought I might as well get some more race experience. The plan, like at the Cymer tri two weeks before, was to swim and cycle hard and just see what happens on the run. I would walk or pull out of the run if necessary.

We camped at the Carreglwyd camp site which is right next to Transition. We camped there because we were staying for a few days more and its user friendly for kids. It also is very convenient to rack you bike as we were only about 200m away from transition. I was up early when transition opened and got the first rack position closest to the bike exit. As Sam Webster of Cardiff Tri commented “no one’s going to miss your bike”.  I went back to bed for a while before a leisurely breakfast and then wandering back to finish transition preparations. I wish all tri starts were like this.

Happy campers but Saturday evening clouds look a bit menacing

I’ve done the Gower sprint tri a few times before so I thought I would at least be able to compare my swim and cycle times to previous efforts. However the tide was further out than in previous years so it meant a shorter swim, a running beach start and worse (for me), a longer run to T1 in bare feet. Not exactly what I wanted with my Achilles. I was pretty happy with the actual swimming bit. Normally, for deep water starts I have a good sprint out to clear the pack and can be in the first few, for a few metres anyway.  With this run start and my running issues by the time I was actually swimming I was mid pack but I soon cut through without too much difficulty and progressed forward during the whole swim. Again, quite a few passed me on the long run up the beach and into transition. Apparently I was sort of limping along into T1. Overall in the swim I was 19^th out of 310 finishers which isn’t too bad and was faster than previous years but that doesn’t relate to anything. If it had been just a 750m swim (and short distance to T1) I might have just made the top ten.

Me about to get passed by more triathletes before I get to my bike

 I had a good cycle, which was directly comparable to previous years. I improved my cycle course PB, which I set last year, by 4 mins 4 secs. That is pretty pleasing and I was 26^th overall for the cycle.  Then the run!  OK, it wasn’t really a run but more of a “walk in the sun”.  Whilst I knew I had to go slowly, it was still quite demoralising being passed by so many, especially by fellow age groupers who I’d beaten earlier in the season. As I was quite recovered by the end of the run I thought I would do a good “finisher” pose down the finish tube.

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up 52^nd overall, but still managed to finish 2^nd in my age group in the Welsh Grand Prix Series.

Last weekend I met up with some friends in London for a lads night out. I took the opportunity of getting up early on the Sunday (ok, with a bit of a hangover) and cycling into central London on my mountain bike to check out Hyde Park and the sprint cycle course for the World Champs. I’m glad I did this because it hit home quite hard the enormity of what is going to happen in three weeks.  The cycle course, because the sprint race is during the week – Friday, is all inside Hyde Park and I was a bit concerned about the track surface, 90 degree turns and 180 degree dead turns at both ends of the three lap course. But the course is fine. It’s actually on the perimeter road that is all inside the park (South, West & North Carriage Roads) which are as wide, or wider, than normal roads and a good surface. With my Achilles I guess it is still touch and go if I manage to finish the run but it has got me exited.

 Hyde Park - Looking down at what will be the swim exit, run course & finish in a few weeks time

Over the last few weeks I’ve been practising my T1’s and trying out all sorts of things. I’ve come to the decision that I’m not going to attempt shoes clipped in the bike – flying start out of transition. The reason’s being that I know that I’m going to get a groin strain jumping on the bike; I’m then not stable (enough) before engaging my feet with the shoes; but the biggest reason is that I get cramp in the foot when I try and put my feet into the shoe whilst on the bike. It happened EVERY time I tried it over a couple of weeks, which was more than 20. So I resigned myself to losing 10-15 secs by putting my shoes on in T1. But will try and claw some of that back by making my T1’s as fast as I can, importantly, getting up to speed as quickly as I can (whilst hopefully passing those less successful in getting their feet in the shoes!).

This weekend is the Welsh Triathlon Championships at the Tuska sprint tri at Porthcawl. It’s also Cardiff Tri’s club championships as well. So just like the last few triathlons I’ve done I’m going to do it for more swim/bike and transition experience. I’ve done Tuska quite a few times before so hopefully I can compare my times. This time on the run I really must be careful and not over do it. I have to consider a DNF because I do want to make it to that start line in Hyde Park in three weeks.

Whats going on

What's going on (Marvin Gaye 1971)

I’m not going to go on about it, but my injury has now been renamed “Battersbys Bane” - as an injury that triathletes get. I don’t know this Achilles guy but he seems to have his own problems. I’ve been on to Wikipedia and the definition will be up soon. Anyway, for my Battersbys Bane problem the physio is still ongoing, doing the exercises, flexi-icing all the time and not running. Although trying to keep going with various step machines. The outlook for London looks bleak.

Anyway it’s been an interesting few weeks. I’ve spent a week in Germany. The family have been staying at the in-laws for a while so I drove over to pick them up. I took my mountain bike with me as there are some great trails in the area. I’d forgotten how pleasant cycling is in Germany. The area where the in-laws live is semi rural but there are hundreds of km of joined up cycle routes that are all good quality and you rarely come in direct contact with cars, and when you do they don’t just slow down, they actually pull over and stop as you go past. Even in the towns the bike paths are all nicely set out. There’s a new bike path built only a few years ago joining the two major towns of the area. It’s about 10km long double bike path set off parallel to the main road on one side. So it’s not just an historical thing they actually spend proper money on these things. This is why most people who can cycle – do.  Anyway, as recorded by my Garmin, I managed to do 270.9km on the mountain bike for the week. Not bad.

I could put up any great photo of the bike trails but here is one of an amazing wild flower meadow by the side of one of the trails

With my “Battersbys Bane” on-going I still decided to do the Cymer off road triathlon. The idea was to do the swim and the bike and then to jog, walk or, if it was really bad, pull out of the run. I wanted to do it as I’ve never done an off road tri and I really didn’t know what to expect on the bike leg. I have a reasonable mountain bike but for the last two years it’s had a child seat on the back and a basket on the front!  So to not look too ridiculous I did actually remove them for the race. Cymer is a little village up one of the valleys north of Port Talbot in South Wales. It’s very pleasant and picturesque with the Afan forest and mountain bike centre set all around it. The swim was a 600m (24 lap) 25m pool swim. As I’m a reasonably fast swimmer I prefer open water swims but normally these pool swims go ok, but not in this case. There were four lanes with 3 swimmers in each, with staggered starting i.e. when the last of the first 4 swimmers across the lanes gets out the next wave starts and so on. It’s supposed to be seeded with the slowest in first and fastest (based on the time you provide) last. So obviously at it goes on the swimmers are getting faster and there is the need to pass the slower swimmers still in the lane. With three in a lane this is normally not too difficult to pass at the end of a lap or overtake down the middle. I started and passed one swimmer within the first couple of laps. I then came up quite quickly to the second swimmer in the lane. I followed him to the end of the lane expecting him to pull over but he didn’t. So I thought I would have to pass him in the lane which shouldn’t have been hard as I was quite a bit faster. He was actually swimming near the middle of the lane so I waited until the 3^rd swimmer had gone passed and moved out. But then he completely moved over to the other side blocking me. Again I had to wait until the end but again he just pushed off. Up to now I hadn’t touched him but he knew I was there, but again this lap he did exactly the same thing. I’m pretty tolerant in these sort of situations and this time when I knew I wasn’t really racing for an overall position I left it hoping he would mend the errors of his ways. I would say if I was racing and it was important I would have swum right over him by now, water polo style. This lap I tickled his feet but again he moved out and blocked. Now this was deliberate. Next length I waited for the 3^rd swimmer, who was actually going at the same speed as this guy, to pass (it had nothing to do with him and I didn’t want to hinder him) and I forced my way out and passed. He had moved over again to block so at the tumble turn at the end I made sure I was “strong” and gave a really hard push off and came up. I’m hoping it looked like he was flicked out of the water like you see in those whale/seal nature films but I was probably more a glancing blow. He wasn’t happy.  Until he got out I was gaining one lap out of two on him without too much effort which now really irritates. I’ve put it down to just one of those things; an unlucky draw. But I still can’t understand this guy’s thoughts. It was obvious I was much faster. He knew I was there and he could have moved over without losing any time and in the end he finished middle of the pack (I worked out who he was) so he wasn’t racing for any podium position or anything.

The WORST thing was that because of all this I had completely lost count. When I came to the end I was looking for the “2 laps left” board from the official, but nothing. So off I went again. Next lap I knew I must have done more so I stopped. The official said I had done two extra! I asked about the 2 lap left board and she said she had put it up. It turns out from others that she had – when I was up the other half end of the lap. Not really very helpful. Glad I wasn’t really racing!

Compared to the swim the bike was uneventful except for my own incompetence in going downhill fast on a mountain bike. I put too much air in my tyres and on the hard gravel/rock fire roads I was bouncing all over the place. My hands had already gone numb and I was hanging on for grim life going too fast approaching a 180 degree bend on a steep hill when I struggled to reach the brakes. For a few seconds I thought I was going to go over the edge until fear made me reach those brakes. The 24km bike finished much sooner than I was expecting so I guess I should have ridden up the hills harder. I did finish the run but it was really a slow jog, getting out of the way of the fast racers on their second lap looking for victory. I was about 10mins slower than I would normally be for 5km. But with plenty of energy left I did manage a “victory” wave for the camera. Overall I really did enjoy this format and will do Cymer, or some other off road tri next year.

Next up is the Gower triathlon in Port Eynon. As I write this, “Battersbys Bane” hasn’t got any better so again it’s going to be a swim – cycle race for me followed by a walk in the sun. It’s a nice out and back sea swim which I normally like so hopefully no swim rage. We shall see!

Running on Empty

I’ve got those injury blues again. I was going to title this “My Achilles heel is my Achilles heel” but thinking, that’s not too original, I googled the exact phrase and guess what – only about 90,300 references. Looks like anyone who writes a blog about sport has been there. So I changed it to something from my Uni days’ record collection (Jackson Browne 1978).

It’s becoming a drag now. I’d upped my run training intensity only a little leading up to the Llandudno sprint triathlon of two weeks ago but during the run I started to feel a twinge in my left Achilles. This was a worry as for the last 5 years my issue has been with my right leg and for the last 6 months I’ve been doing daily strengthening exercises for the right; heel drops and eccentric loading exercises, but stupidly completely ignoring my left leg.  Aaaargh!  I was quite happy with my run at Llandudno and although I could feel the Achilles tightening as the run progressed I decided to still push as hard as I could. As a result I was happy with my 2^nd place in the age group and getting a lot closer to the winner than I had been in at the Deva tri the month before.  Some beer and wine after the race meant I wasn’t too aware of any worse than normal soreness around the Achilles but the morning after and though the long drive back to Cardiff it became all too apparent. Here we are now over two weeks later and apart from a few light jogs I’ve not really done any running. I have had some physio and massage to the leg and I’ve been constantly doing eccentric heel drops and stretching. I still have difficulty in dropping my heel on one leg and it’s still a bit painful (although apparently that’s good, but I can’t see how).

The injury meant I had to pull out of the Welsh Aquathlon championships at Poppitt Sands the week after and also then the British Olympic distance championships in Liverpool last week. This was the final qualifier for London but as I had already decided that I would probably do better in the Sprint distance (5km less to run!) it didn’t matter. As it turns out looking at the Liverpool results it appears my rubbish performance at the previous Deva tri qualifier was just enough to get me the last qualifying roll down place for the Standard. That’s inconsequential now as I have already accepted and paid for my place in the Sprint in London. And with that came a little bit of respite from the spiralling costs of being a GBR age group triathlete – a wopping £70 discount on the sprint entry because I also accepted my place in the Aquathlon. Whether my Achilles can stand two 5km run races in three days is another matter.

Well that’s it. September in Hyde Park – Wednesday 11^th, the Aquathlon; Friday 13^th the Sprint triathlon World Championships. Less than two months away. As it is getting very close and my Achilles hasn’t really responded to two weeks rest I’ve decided to follow a regime from Runner’s World found on the internet. Basically it’s intensive eccentric straight knee and bent knee heel drops to “retrain” the Achilles tendons. It says it will probably be painful (which it is) but continue through. Also continue with light jogging if it’s not too painful. We shall see!

 

Getting back to the Llandudno triathlon apart from the resulting problem with the Achilles I really enjoyed it. I’ve lived in Llandudno in two periods in the 80’s and then in the late 90’s so I knew the course backwards. I’d walked, run & cycled around the Great Orme hundreds of times. I can’t say I’ve swum much off the North Shore beach, preferring the swimming pool near the front. So I don’t think it was any local knowledge that allowed me to have such a good swim. I was in the first wave and the course was set parallel to the beach with a deep water start about 300m out along a line of buoys, turnaround and back the other side with a final turn to the beach. In races I breath to me left so my plan was to start next to the nearest to the beach start buoy so I could see the rest of the field and make sighting/swimming straight easier. The two start buoys were quite a distance apart making it easy for the whole wave to line up. When I got to the buoy I stopped to de-mist my goggles. Seconds later I had drifted about 5 metres. There was a strong current out. I swam back to the buoy and held on to it. You could feel the drag out. As the swimmers lined up I could see them all drifting away. When the air horn sounded for the start most had drifted out to near the end start buoy. So for the first half of the swim they had to swim against a current that was pushing them out. Even after the turnaround most didn’t realise about the current and swam again parallel to the marker buoys. I aimed diagonal to the shore but ended up in perfect position right by the final turn buoy. Even on a short 750m swim I must have got about a minute current advantage on most of wave. It’s not often that happens.

The cycle was twice around the Great Orme, which, when I used to run from my office in the centre of the town at lunchtime was 10.2km. Due to my large frame I’m not the fastest going up but with the help of my local knowledge I’m sure I was certainly one of the fastest descending. I’d have given these guys in the Tour de France a run for their money!

 

 

A nice, but painful run along the promenade and it was second place in age group. I was 1min 15secs behind the first, who had beaten me by over 8 minutes at the Deva Olympic distance tri a month earlier. So that’s quite a big improvement.

 

 

If I could only nail this running lark.

Hot Turkey – The ETU 2013 European Age Group Championships.

This was written out in Turkey but without internet access where we stayed after the race I left it to post on return to the UK.

 

So the Result: 2:16:40 Sixth in age group in Europe, 2^nd Brit in age group and 144^th overall for the Olympic distance out of … I have no idea, but I would guess about 600, of which probably 400 were Brits.

And the Conclusion: Overall pretty happy with the result at my first GBR age group representation at an International event. I was second out of the 14 Brits who qualified in my age group and as I remember, with my roll down spot from the Bala triathlon of last year, I was actually the last but one qualifier who came out to Turkey. So I think that’s a good improvement on last year. Although it wasn’t all great as I didn’t really perform on the run which on reflection I could and should have done better, maybe even enough to not let that pesky GBR Mark Elliott pass me in the last sector of the last lap to take the first British guy home.

But hey, it was a fantastic experience. To be able to get involved with serious age group triathlon, watching (and mixing a bit) with the elite juniors and seniors of the sport, the paratriathletes and racing with the best of the age groupers was great. I had a fantastic time.

Once I found out I had qualified for these championships (see first ever blog) I had planned it all out. Upping the training was the easy bit; the hard bit was fitting everything around work and family. Luckily, as soon as I was advised I had a roll down spot, Alysia thought it would be a good idea to make a trip to Turkey as our summer family holiday. My in-laws are based in Germany and also thought it was also a great idea and joined in the party, making a bike touring holiday of Turkey based around Alanya. This was in training for their “family” bike tour around the Black Sea in August – crazy, yes. But this is the family group of 10 - 20 who have over the last few years cycled from Northern Germany to; Morocco, Moscow (via the Baltic countries), Prague, Poland and Splott (that’s in Cardiff, Wales if you didn’t know). We found a cheap house to rent via AirB&B in the area in Kargicak, about 17km east of Alanya and settled in for two weeks around the event.  By luck the house was just what we wanted. Alanya is a bit of a German/British/Russian tourist trap something akin to Benidorm or even Blackpool (not that many German/Russians holiday there). We ended up in this huge house, with a pool, lovely garden on a hill about 10 minutes’ walk from a really nice beach and, thankfully, well away from the touristy bits.

The swim start at Alanya looking from the Castle across the harbour

Arriving seven days ahead of my race day I had a bit of time to acclimatise and swim, cycle and even run the courses ahead of any official course familiarisation, so on that front I haven’t any complaints. In triathlon preparation is everything. The Olympic distance start was on the Friday, starting at 7am and my combined wave start for M50-54 & M55-59 was at 8am. So I had decided a long time previously that the house was too far out to travel in for the day of the race. I managed to book the Thursday and Friday nights in GB team hotel in Alanya (directly and cheaply with the hotel, rather than through the official travel agents). All the family came into Alanya during my hotel stay and availed themselves of the facilities, especially Scarlett & Gethyn who loved the kiddies paddling pools.

Thursday was registration followed by the GB race briefing and then down to the start for bike check-in and tri-suit check. I hope it wasn’t going to be an omen but my chain came off on my way down to transition for the first time since I’ve had this bike. In the evening there was the official Parade of Nations. This was actually a bit better than I thought it was going to be – led by the Officials in Suits followed by two men in Bananas (official emblem of Alanya), the Turks, the Swiss (I still don’t know why), a Turkish ethnic band and then everybody else in a procession through the streets of Alanya from the Culture Centre to the Harbour. Scarlett was fascinated, but also scared a bit, by the Bananas!  A good pasta based pre- race evening meal with the family followed and then early to bed.

The Parade of Nations at the ETU European Triathlon Championships

 

A good night’s sleep then up early for a muesli and banana breakfast (what else) and onto the bus to take us down to the start. I’m normally the perfection of organisation and awareness. However on this day I had a total fail. I had decided to take all the gear I needed plus my track pump in a mesh bag and the goodie bag that the organisers had given us at registration, containing the timing chip, swim cap etc. I don’t know how but I managed to leave the goodie bag on the bus. I was only made aware of it when the team manager, Ian Kitchen, came through transition asking who had left it on the bus. My first thought was who could be that stupid. Then realisation set in that, in fact, that idiot was me. In the end no harm done but if some kind person had not seen it on the bus and given it to Ian it would probably have meant no race start for me.

I’d noticed from the earlier waves that there was a bit of a bun fight in the wave assembly area (the “competitors lounge” as the organisers had called it). Athletes mulled around only to be then told to line up in single file against a low wall. What happened then was something similar to musical chairs with guys trying to find a gap in the line, or having to go to the back of the line. This was quite important as you got to choose your starting position on the pontoon for the swim from your position in this line. As there was a definite distance advantage to the first buoy from starting on the right of the pontoon and I breathe to my left I wanted to start as far to the right as I could. So I was already there waiting in the reception area for the wave in front to move off. As soon as they did I moved against the wall, second in line. The photo below taken by Alysia shows the line-up. Remember there were over 50 in this wave. I don’t think it is any coincidence that the first 6 out of the water (and four of the medallists) are in this picture at the front of the queue and all of us lined up to the far right on the pontoon in the same order. My swim was ok. As I mentioned the leaders of the swim all started in an area together and soon pulled away after the start. I drafted for a bit but was soon left by a group of four (3 Swiss and a Greek) who pulled away. I was left swimming with a fellow Brit from the other age group (Stuart Robinson I later found out, who came 3^rd in his age). I drafted off him most of the way out, and then he off me after the turn buoy until about the last 400m when we swam parallel. It would have been nice to been in that first group but on reflection they were faster than me and I would not have made it. They ended up 80secs ahead of us. It should really have been at least another 20secs but they screwed up on their direction and went way right off the course line.

Swim line up for men's 50-54 and 55-59 age groups

 

T1 was ok for my standards, but in the scheme of things of an ETU championship it should have been better. I again did not attempt a flying start with my bike shoes clipped into the bike. And again I lost about 40secs in T1 to the leaders. That is the last time I will do that. From now on I’d rather crash & burn putting my shoes on the bike rather than get such a crap T1 time recorded. After that the bike leg went well being 3^rd fastest with only about a minute or so behind the two best. T2, due to not getting out of my bike shoes before transition was also slow compared to the leaders.

Then the run. Oh the run. Oh, how I hate it. I’m now thinking it’s psychological. I really can see no reason or have no excuses as to why I’m so slow. If I can do a 21mins 5km why can’t I do at least a 45mins 10k? Why do I do a near 50mins 10km when the first three do a 40min 10km. I feel pain on the run. I feel it very hard. I feel if I try and go any faster I am going to die. Then it is over, and hey, it’s fine. I have no pain, I didn’t die and immediately I wonder why I didn’t run any faster. OK it was hot and I had pushed the bike leg hard but still no reason why I was so slow. Anyway what happened happened. I can’t change it now. I just must work much harder on my running, and running off the bike if I’m going to improve. For the record from timing splits around the run course I was in third place up to the second of four laps. Then a Russian passed me, followed by a Swiss who went on to take 3^rd. Then finally the first Brit, who passed me in the last 400m.

Feeling the heat on the run

 

I’ve got lots of thinking now to do before the London World champs in September. At the moment I’ve qualified for the aquathlon on the Wednesday and the sprint on the Friday. Should I do both? I’m racing the Liverpool tri Olympic distance qualifier 13^th July so I might be able to qualify for that, which is on the Sunday in London. That would give me a couple more days after the aquathlon. I also really have to think about my training and especially the running bit.

Again I will say it was a great experience and well worth it. I can admit that I had a few (all inclusive in the hotel package) beers in the afternoon following the race. I then went to the awards ceremony as I was quite intrigued to see the guys who won and the guys who won the age group below. Then a few more beers before tiredness took over. I was up early the next day to see the sprint races. I met up with the other two Cardiff Tri guys who raced on the Friday and we watched and supported the three from the club who were racing the sprint. I hypothesised that if I had entered the sprint in my age group with my current times and comparing it to other GBR triathletes I probably would have been in contention for 3^rd, but then there were three triathletes with very close times and no doubt they would have all run me down in a sprint finish before the end!

Here are my splits for the Olympic distance race.

 

 

The Morning After…

So Nottingham went well; British AG sprint champion etc. etc, but there was no time to bask in any glory as I had to get to Chester for the Deva Olympic distance triathlon the next day. I had entered five of the six qualifying events for the sprint and OD ITU champs in London. This was basically because I was out working in Australia last November when I found out that the Dambuster qualifier had already sold out. I went straight on line and saw there were only about 20 places for Deva left so I registered there and then. The next day I looked at the other qualifiers and saw they were also just about sold out so in a fit of panic I registered also for Nottingham, Bristol and Llandudno. The 3^rd OD qualifier had yet to be announced so I thought best to get into the Sprints to at least give myself a chance. Also Bristol is just about a local tri and I’ve lived many years in Llandudno so that also would be like a home tri. The outshot of all this internet activity from down under was that I didn’t realise that Nottingham and Chester were on consecutive days. Oh well, I just thought I would see how well I could do at Notts and treat the Deva tri as a block session! I managed to get a good post-race massage in Nottingham.

I went straight to register for Deva on the Saturday afternoon and then went to stay with a friend in North Wales. I’d arranged another massage there with John Clayton who came highly recommended in North Wales. He was excellent and not only gave me the massage I needed, also offered heaps of good physio advice for my various ailments. After Notts a bit of a celebration was called for so out we went for an Italian and carbo loading, some beers and a nice bottle(s) of red. I was in the final wave on the Sunday so luckily no need for too earlier a start. However, as always; I was awake early, so set off for Chester so I could see some of the earlier waves start. My Cardiff Tri buddy, Sam Webster, has already written a far better descriptive blog of his race at Chester (here) http://www.dontbeasalmon.net/archives/2013/06/deva-triathlon.html.

Based right in the centre of a city, on the river, space was always going to be tight. So getting from the car parks to transition and then onto the swim start was a bit convoluted but I have to say the organisation, marshalling and assistance was excellent throughout the event in what I could see was quite a difficult location (Chester Sunday tourists all over the place).

I guess due to focusing of Notts for the first time in a triathlon I hadn’t even looked at the cycle and run courses. I obviously knew the 1500m swim was in the river but that was about it. I racked my bike, worked out the in’s and out’s of transition and went down to the swim finish to see how that worked. As the swim course went first up river around the bend and then back down stream, with no footpath on this side of the river what was around the bend was a bit of a mystery.

Start time came. By now I’d worked out my race strategy. I’d already qualified for London and raced the previous day so just go nice and easy and see how it pans out. Although as my best event is swimming and our last wave was only males my age and older I thought I would see if I could do a good swim. Well I did. The actually time for the 1500m (actually over 1700m by all Garmin gps accounts) on such a upstream/downstream river swim is irrelevant but I managed to draft just about the whole way. At the swim start three of us went clear very quickly I just tucked in behind the third and away we went. The first guy was a bit ahead and in retrospect a good sighter and perhaps I should have tried to get on his heels. The guy I was following was zig sagging a bit but I think was slightly faster than me and so was pulling me along nicely. I haven’t checked specifically but I think we ended up about 3 or so minutes ahead of the pack. I managed to overtake the 2^nd guy before getting to T1 and then the first guy before the exit on the bike (later he past me on the run). So once again I was in the lead on the bike in my age group and thinking this tri lark was easy. That was to about the 20k marker when someone in my wave past me. I don’t know whether it was being passed or if I had just reached my limit but that’s where I bonked. I had no energy left. I was also cramping in my arms and elbows in the aero position. I was passed a few more times before T2. I think I was in survival mode on the run and just really jogging around. Lots in my age group with red numbers passed and my aim was just to finish. I had no motivation whatsoever to give myself pain. Although I realised there were two guys coming up behind me as I went over the bridge towards the finish I really could do nothing about it. That was it. The cold fact was that in the end I finished 15^th in my Age Group.

It’s taken me a few days to recover but thinking about things I’m now pretty happy with the race. There is no way I could expect to perform well on two consecutive days. I think I had the best swim leg I’ve ever had and practised my swim drafting to perfection. Although I bonked on the bike and then had someone take over 13 minutes off me on the run I know I can do better. In the end it was a good training race for me.

The one gripe I have about Deva – It took me days to scrub off the tattooed race numbers and lettering from my arm and leg! After trying every industrial solvent (from work) I have to no effect it was just hard scrubbing that got them off and left me a bit raw. I guess not the worst triathlon complaint you could have.

British Age Group Sprint Triathlon Champion

Well. I wasn’t expecting that!  On Saturday, 1^st June 2013 I became the Male 55-59 British sprint triathlon champion at Nottingham. It has certainly mixed things up for me in respect as what I’m now going to do, what are my targets, how I’m going to train, work/family priorities etc.  Oh god, there is just so much to taking in.

I’d looked at the start lists for Nottingham and with my vastly improved performance at Llanelli two weeks ago I’d realised that for the first time in triathlon I would really be in with a shot in my age group. However, as just about anyone who was at Nottingham will tell you, it was very competitive with just about everyone attempting to qualify for the London world champs in September. In fact of the over 1000 or so entries I think there were very few there just for the fun of it.

So how did the day go for me?  Well first I made a good decision the day before. I was planning to travel up on my own very early (3am!) on the morning of the race. In the end I decided that was a bit much, especially having entered the Deva tri in Chester the following day. So instead I bought a cheap but good small tent (our family tent is massive and takes hours to put up) and camped the Friday night. The campsite next to the Nottingham National Water Sports Centre is great and the weather was perfect. So I had an enjoyable evening planning things, doing a course recce, getting well fed (and a few beers) and a good night’s sleep.

The race was split into 5 waves with 2hrs 15 between waves so it lasted the whole day with the last wave off at 4.30pm. I was in the 2^nd wave starting at 9.45 so I got there early to see the start of the first wave and pick some tips up. It was the first time I’ve raced where there was a split T1 & T2 transitions, but it was quite straight forward. I met up with some Cardiff tri who had done it before and got a few more tips. Luckily I’m a strong and confident swimmer (it was the water polo) as us oldies (55-59) were lumped in the same wave with the testosterone of males 20 to 34 and the swim start was as brutal as I can remember. I’ve got a good sprint so cleared out pretty quickly and then largely had clear water to settle into my rhythm. A few passed but I don’t think I touched anyone all around the course.

Getting out of the wetsuit (All photos courtesy of David Gunthorpe, Cardiff Tri)

Good in T1. I had decided again not to do a flying start but put my bike shoes on in T1. So my T1 time (69secs, 317/893) looks worse than it probably should, however once I was on the bike I passed many in the first 200m going slow still trying to get their feet in the shoes on the bike whilst I was already in aero. I guess if you can get your feet in quickly and go, it’s faster.

Bike was 4 times around the outside of the rowing course anticlockwise. The course is essentially a rectangle with the ends slightly rounded. I was already warned by one of the guys that the second corner curves more and comes back on you and that he went on the grass in wave 1. So what did I do on the first lap? The same! I only just made it inside the post of the gate. Apart from that I flew around. The new Trek Concept TT bike is magic.  Being a single track road around the lake the course was narrow. I could see many groups bunching up. I guess it is so difficult not to draft in these situations. Luckily (or unluckily if you look at it that way) I was just about always on my own so no problems. I see in the whole event they only busted a few drafters. But as I said, it’s difficult on that type of course. I had the fastest bike time in my AG.

On the bike exiting transition and looking good

T2 was also OK. I had thought of getting out of my bike shoes on the bike but with the final two corners coming quickly and tight I decided to err on the side of caution. I managed to get my run shoes on without the hint of cramp which normally occurs when I do this in races. The run was back the other way clockwise around the cycle course with a couple of diversions. Apart from the first 500m is was flat. Due to managing my Achilles issues I’ve not really done proper run training in the last couple of months but it felt alright and as I was going so well I decided I might as well push it for all my worth. It was a flat course after all! My run ended up at 21.58 which I’m pretty happy with although there were six or so in my AG with around 20mins or under run times.

So coming into the last 400m to the finish I knew that I would qualify in the top 7 for the worlds but I also thought I was probably 1^st or 2^nd so I gave it all. One guy sprinted past me but he was just a kid! Coming over the line I could hear the announcer say “here’s the first 55-59” and then my name and club and then some very complimentary things. It actually took me a little while to realise that I had, provisionally anyway, won my age group. I waited to see who would come in and it turns out 2^nd & 3^rd had a huge sprint finish. One second difference and some guts left on the finish line. That’s how good the racing was. Although I was  2 minutes ahead of them. My time for the 750m/20k/5k was 1.05.41

It was still a provisional result so I went back to the camp site, showered and had some food. When I came back I went to the computer to get a print out of my result. It said 1^st in age group. I happened to ask the official if I got anything for it and he said the presentations were already going on outside. I quickly walked outside just as my age group presentation was about to start. Thirty seconds  later I was up getting my trophy and medal, standing on the podium with the 2^nd and 3^rd and getting our photos done. So that was it – confirmed British age group sprint triathlon champion!

A good day out as they say.

I didn’t hang around as I had to drive to Chester to register for the Deva Olympic distance triathlon the next day, which stupidly, but due to circumstances at the time, I had also entered. That wasn’t as good day and I’ll tell why in the next blog.

So here I am qualified for the first home World Triathlon Championships in London in September and qualified as British AG champion. No pressure then!  Oh and I already qualified for the World Aquathlon Championships earlier in that week in September. The good thing is that on reviewing both my races this weekend I don’t think I’ve yet reached my full potential. I know I can go faster in the swim. I’m only just learning how to get the best on the TT bike (I still couldn’t hold the aero position for the whole race) and, if my Achilles allows me full training, I think I can run a bit faster.
Next up, next week, is the ETU European Championships in Alanya, Turkey. This is becoming fun!