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Training for a shorter Tri
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Small run today - Uni to Beeston station then LB station to the Tescos so about five-ish k - was going to run the whole way home but I was drenched by the time I hit Beeston and decided it was too hot
Cheers razor might give it a go sometime usually swim with a couple of guys from work on same shift so should be safe enough
Good luck with the marathon Pete when / which one is it
JP aren't our calf muscles supposed to be in constant pain
Hats off to you buttercup seen the weather went swimming instead of running the local gym has an outdoor pool so really enjoyable
UTC well done on the swim
morning
UTC - well done on the swimming
buttercup - do you mean you were going to run from Nottingham to your place?
yay sunshine..... Boo i am stuck in work all day. hey ho calf still killing from a nasty attack of cramp as i got out of the river a few nights ago. Hope it goes by sunday tri.
hope marking going ok mc
Fab swiims UTC and GL, and fab run BC.
Glass - is the outdoor pool big? Most I've seen are titchy.
Hahahah no I meant the whole way from the LB station - I thought running down by the canal would be nice in cool in the drizzle that in my head was going to happen yesterday afternoon but didnt! It's 30k from Uni to home and while I can bluff my way through 21 and a bit I think 30 might be a bit much at the moment
Well I've been thorough jabbed with needles and poked and prodded but I'm sad to admit no miracle cure happened. Neck is a less tight but knee is still sore when I walk up or down any steps.
Also looks like I will need my waterproofs and brolly for the whole weekend.
Upside is I went to a new club swims session last night and thoroughly enjoyed it so I'm hoping that will set me up well for the next few months.
Busy weekend ahead and I am finally looking forwards to it, stuffing goody bags tonight, helping set up site tomorrow morning then onto race registration tomorrow afternoon. Then on Sunday I get to race myself, I had originally wanted to beat my previous Olympic time but now I'm just aiming to have fun.
Not sure I could run 21K at the moment SBC!
I found cupping to be better than the needles
LSR done... Legs hurt! Work has kicked my arse the last few days. Missed a couple of training sessions. Plus, missed posting.
Good luck to all racing the weekend and those getting pummelled by physIos. Positive vibes to all of you
well done MrsD
Ali - have a great weekend
finished the marking
Pre-race prep of eating pizza done. Currently ensuring I'm fully hydrated by drinking a couple of large bottles of San Miguel. Obviously heading for an Ullswater course record tomorrow.
Alibear - good luck with your race with or without the same hydration technique as DB!
Can i use the same excuse to carb load for a standard distance??
Well done MrsD and MC on todays achievements!
Ullswater is a standard distance, so yup! Pizza for carbs, beer for carbs AND hydration. It's what I like to call a super fuel.
good luck DB, I think razor is there too, so goodluck to razor too
morning
well, went ow swimming, didn't manage to pull one of the wetsuit sleeves up properly I think though because it was uncomfortable and made it difficult to pull my arm back properly. did 1 mile though, was intending to do more, but the wetsuit thing was bothersome and didn't want to end up with a sore shoulder. Discovered that the lake at Lincoln is now doing more ow sessions during the week - Tues/Wed/Thurs so I think that this week I will aim to go to a couple of those to get used to the wetsuit and getting the damn thing on properly.
Was lovely being in the water though, little fishes, weed not too bad, although there were a few patches where it was all the way up to the surface
Camlo... Any race is a good excuse to Carb load
Good swimming Maths! Hoping to get out on the bike later. Most tired today though.
Keep thinking of Buttercup on her turbo
Turbo is tomorrow chook - decided doing it while it was stinking hot was silly - so the cooler weather (cross fingers) will be better!
Think good idea bird! Muggy as you like today!
Good to meet Razor and Horse
Hey guys
I MADE IT!!!! Sooo happy, such a fun day although am currently exhausted and feeling like I want to call in sick to work tomorrow
Happy to be not last in any of the 3 disciplines and more than delighted to overtake about 10-12 people in the run... including 2 pirates (Razor and Horse?)... felt strong for the run which is unusual as normally am gubbed and often suffer cramp but it didn't happen and I was able to keep my pace and up it throughout the run. Delighted doesn't cover it... even sprinted past a guy just as we ran up to turn into the finish.. the race aint over until it's over
Just an awesome day... now looking at which one I can do next now that I know I can actually swim 1500m OW and not be last or drown (although I wasn't far from last for the swim... but for me that's ok
). Bonus - it stayed dry too!!!!
Hope everyone racing has had fun today/this weekend.... sadly I have a 12hr shift tomorrow which is a bit of a bummer but I feel I will be on a high all day anyway!!
UTC, I had cramp in my Quads so I was suffering a bit, Horse had already finished and was keeping me company on my last lap. Why did'nt you give us a shout when you passed.
Razor, my bf informed me that one of you guys had finished and was jogging round with the other (he finished 8th btw, smart arse!
)... hope your quads are ok now!! I'm feeling tired but a bit hyper... given that it's been a 530am rise, that's not surprising
I would have given you a shout but I think I was in that "determined to get this thing done" phase... exhausted but happy mind you.
Work beckons now... oh joy!!
Well done guys though, everyone who finished did amazing. Ullswater is a really great event!! Now onto the next!!
well done UTC, razor and horse
razor - hope your quads have recovered
so hot and humid this morning I really struggled on my run, but 6 miles done
spending the day in a country park with the kids performing with their bands, will be there from 10:30 to about 6 - which is going to be good but a bit of a long day. Not sure I will have time to make it to swimming tonight
and can't go tomorrow night either because eldest son is playing in the school concert so have to watch that too 
Well done UTC, Razor and Horse!
And good work everyone else who is training!
Went for a mtb ride yesterday but the damping on my full-sus has gone and it was bit of a nightmare so only did 4 miles and had to wait for bf when he did another loop in Swinley.
I've been off here cos I've kind of lost direction/motivation after realising Wild Boar wasn't going to happen for me. I think my main goal now should be weight loss as it's getting me down. But I feel lost.
In good news, my sister is coming to visit for a week and really looking forward to it.
Ullswater Triathlon - 12th July 2014 - Intro
This would be my second attempt at the Ullswater Triathlon, having entered it as part of a relay team last year for it’s inaugural run. Last year it didn’t go particularly well, but it’s a cracking location for a race so I was keen to give it a second try, and do it in full. It would be my second open water swim event after Keswick last month, and it was the swim I was most concerned about going in to the event.
During the briefing we were informed that like last year there would be police officers on a couple of the junctions, though unlike last year they would actually be stopping traffic for us which was a nice touch. New for this year however was the lead police motorbike, which although I was not going to be anywhere near shows a good bit of prep and work between the event organisers and the local authorities.
After the briefing I managed to find Razor and Horse and introduced myself and the wife, and had a quick chat with them on the way down to the water.
Swim
This was the part of the race I was most concerned about. My swim at Keswick hadn’t gone well, and that was only 800m. And if I’m honest, I hadn’t done much swimming since then either. So I got into the water, which was a pleasant temperature, and told myself to just set off steady and take it easy. The lake was nice and calm, and when the horn went to signal the start, off I went. I was near the back of the wave and managed to find a steady rhythm. It dawned on me exactly what was ahead when I looked up and saw how far away the turn bouys seemed to be, but I wasn’t getting too tired so managed to keep myself going. Spent a fair bit of the swim alternating between front crawl and breaststroke, as my front crawl stamina just isn’t there at the moment but I did manage to keep swimming. This is down to a couple of factors, the first and main one being a complete lack of any volume of swimming recently. The second factor is taking too long on my turns in the pool, thereby giving myself a bit of a break every 20m, which obviously isn’t an option in open water. So two lessons learnt already, get swimming more, and be more disciplined when I do go swimming.
Not long after turning to head back to the exit, I was passed by my wife so I was having a slow swim as the women’s wave had set off 5 minutes behind the men. This didn’t bother me though, as with my concerns going into the swim my strategy was simply to not drown. Plodding along slowly and getting out at the end under my own power having swam the distance was all I could ask for. After turning round the final bouy to avoid a submerged barbed wire fence, the short straight leg back to the beach seemed to go on forever. Every time I looked up it seemed to be no closer, but eventually the water was shallow enough to stand and nearly fall over. Wobbly legs and submerged rocks led to an interesting attempt at getting back onto dry land! Plenty of support at the beach and all along the path up into T1.
Swim time: 44:13
Bike
Got into T1 feeling a bit wobbly and tired from the swim. Saw the wife as she was just heading out, and then found my bike and started trying to release myself from the grips of my wetsuit, nearly falling over several times in the process. Considering steadying myself on the racking but had visions of it collapsing underneath me and didn’t fancy being responsible for that. Once I’d got myself sorted, wrestled some socks onto my wet feed and made sure my helmet was on I quickly knocked back a gel of a type I’ve never had before and almost immediately started to regret it. Shoes on, bike off the rack, and did a very wobbly jog up to the road to start the bike leg. T1 time: 4:53.
Got the legs going and headed out on the bike course. Overtook a couple of the girls who had passed me on the swim. Then noticed the wife up ahead so obviously I had to make sure I overtook her. As I did so she mocked me for taking so long to get out of transition and catch up with her. An undulating couple of miles saw me passing through Tirril and on to the right hand turn onto the lap part of the bike course, where as promised, a marshal and a police officer were stopping oncoming traffic to allow us to make the turn without having to stop. Onwards then to Askham, which is a fairly steady uphill slog, before a fast descent through the village itself. Over the bridge into a sharp left hand bend trying to carry as much speed as possible before hitting the main climb of the route. Down into lowest gear for this one and just keep those feet spinning round to climb past Lowther Castle. Once at the top, that’s the bulk of the climbing done for that lap, so it was mainly downhill from there. I wasn’t feeling too bad at this point and got into the groove for the faster sections. Again thanks to the combined efforts of the marshals and Cumbria Police, I was able to carry good speed straight onto the A6 and get on with the fast ride down to Clifton before looping back round, heading over the M6 and starting the second lap.
And the second lap is where I started to struggle. The initial stage of the climb to Askham is barely perceptibly uphill, yet it seemed to be taking everything I had. Aches and pains were cropping up on my right side that made it all seem so much harder. Upon reaching the top of the climb I was seriously considering turning round to head back to transition. Feeling of nausea were creeping in and at one point I thought I’d had to dive into a field to empty my guts. Been a bit under the weather over the past week or so, and that combined with the unknown quantity that was the energy gel just seemed to ruin me at that point. Normally the bike leg is my strongest discipline, and I’ve never struggled at that point before, and the mental effect that had on me was horrible. However I had a word with myself and decided to at least finish the bike. Perked up a bit on the return back to transition and decided I’d at least start the run.
Bike time: 1:46:16
Run
Got into T2 and drank a fair bit of water as I’d struggled taking it on during the bike. Took a couple of minutes to catch my breath and calm down a bit before heading out on the run. T2 time: 3:26.
This year the run course was slightly altered from last year. A dog-leg section involving a narrow path onto part of Park Foot campsite had been removed, which was a good move as it was often full of dog-walkers and there wasn’t much room to pass them. However the missing distance was made up with a seemingly random route around the event field, which sees you run about half a mile to end up more or less where you started. However it also provided an opportunity to pass other people and offer support and encouragement, and pass the water station twice. It was here where I passed Horse a couple of times and exchanged encouragement, and saw Razor once. The run course than headed down to the lake and along into Waterside campsite, where plenty of campers were enjoying beer and shouting support as I passed. I more or less immediately employed a run-walk strategy, but did manage to run fairly regularly. Other competitors helped keep my spirits up and halfway round the first of 3 laps I was feeling much better than I had on the bike. On along the road back up to Park Foot campsite which was the base for the event, and back into one of the camping fields where more people were lighting bbqs, knocking the beers back and cheering people on with friendly banter. Loads of kids wanting high fives, and even one camper van on the approach to the main event field belting out Eye of the Tiger. On my 2nd lap I saw that Horse had finished, and told me to get running again as I was walking at that point. More of the same for the remainder of that lap. Then as I was heading past the water station for the second time on lap 3 I saw he had joined Razor to keep him going for his lap. True pirate style. As I was leaving the event field the wife was just on her way in to start lap 3, and this was the first time I’d seen her since passing her at the start of the bike. She seemed to be in high spirits which buoyed me up a bit. Knew it wasn’t going to be a fast race for me, but also knew I should do it in under 4 hours. Forgot to stop my Garmin after crossing the line until I’d downed a bottle of water and ate some orange, but it wasn’t far off the proper time.
Run time: 1:20:32 (will be a bit less, which I’ll check when the full results go up).
Event time: 3:58:32.70 (from the provisional results)
Summary
So a bit of a challenge to get through the bike for me this time, which really knocked my confidence and left me wanting to pull out. Training has been lacking recently due to a few niggling aches and pains and feeling a bit under the weather. It also left me seriously doubting whether or not I’m up to doing the Bamburgh Castles Challenge middle distance in 2 weeks, but me and the wife have decided to go out and do it together. We’ll stay far enough apart on the bike to avoid drafting but other than that stick together and keep each other going.
As for the event itself, really well run. There were a few organisational problems last year but it was a new company running a new event. This year it all went smoothly and I’m sure to be doing this as an annual event. Without exception the marshals were brilliant: supportive, friendly, eager to offer help if you looked like you were in need of it. Also the officers from Cumbria Police were professional, friendly, helpful and a credit to their force.
Was great to meet a couple of pirates and I look forward to meeting more!
Back on the horse today after a 2 year break with the last club sprint tri of the season. . 750M pool swim, 18K bike and a 4k lumpy run. Got round but my word I am knackered now. Still bouncing off the rev limiter early and nursing a very sore back which is new for me on a sprint distance, which slowed me down on the run early on and hasn't really let up since. I think I might still struggle with an Oly.
However, at FOUR QUID all in including some of the best home made bread pud on the planet, I'll happily bank that and pleased to be back!