Two weeks after my European Long Course race it was time for the Vitruvian Triathlon. What do you do with 13 days between a long distance triathlon and a middle distance. Well apart from spend a few days sulking after being so close to the podium on the Wednesday (3 days after the race) I went for a 4 mile steady run. Thursday I did a 3.5 hour mountain bike ride then rested again Friday and Saturday. On the Sunday I did an 11 mile run followed by a 1 hour mountain bike ride then on the Monday I cycled to work the longer way in (18 miles), swam 1500m during lunch then cycled 12 mile home. Tuesday I did the same again then Wednesday I cycled 12 mile to work, decided at 13:15 that I was going to do the Scampton road race so got changed and cycled at race pace to Scampton leaving enough time to change my shorts and shoes before the race started. The course was 5 miles (measured by gps) and I ran 27:59 which is a nice 5:35 average per mile and good enough for 2nd place. Thursday was a cycle to and from work with a swim at lunch then Friday was a cycle to and from work. So Saturday morning at 03:50 and the alarm goes off, I get up but feel tired and really can't be bothered with the race but seen as i'd paid £110 to enter I thought I better do it. I was surprised at the temperature when I arrived as its usually cold down there at this time of year but it was a pleasant 15 degrees at 05:30 which put me in a better mood for the race. After registering and collecting my race pack up which had a nice gillet in it I set up transition then moved across to the RAF Tri gazeebo to change and exchange some banter with the others. At 06:50 I was in the water and the race started, I set off swimming at a good pace and at the end of the first lap thought I was swimming well. At the end of the second lap I thought i'd done a good swim but looked at the watch to see 31 mins so not as quick as I thought, I ran into transition and struggled to get the suit off over the top of the timing chip but once done had a good transition and set off on the bike.
I left transition and got going on the bike, took a gel then got down to business moving through the field. During the bike I was going well and due to the fact I was on the road bike (the TT bike still not fixed) I was able to big ring the whole course only having a 50 tooth compact chainset. Towards the end of the second lap I needed to release some of the fluids i'd taken on during the bike and was planning to go for a p.b on the run part of the course so I stopped briefly. Once i'd emptied the bladder I got back on the bike and quickly passed the 4 people who'd passed me whilst at standstill. I pushed on towards transition and completed the bike in a reasonable but not outstanding 2:22.
Transition 2 was swift as I'd opted to not use socks for the first time in an half ironman after a recommendation from European Champion Pete Norris, so using no socks and the superb Saucony Kinvara I set off to try and run faster than last years 1:22 at this race (a very rapid time anyway) and tried to focus on pace control and work out when I was going to fuel with the 3 gels I'd planned to use. After about 500 meters and a quick think to when my last gel on the bike was I decided that a gel immediatly would be a good move. The other 2 were taken at 8k and 16k. I was moving well and felt strong so kept focussed and concentrated on my cadence, I was aware I was moving through the field at a much quicker rate than most people and came home with a 4:16:30 overall and it wasn't till later when the results went up that I found out i'd ran a 1:19!!!! I'm very happy with that, and I feel that was a nice way to end the season. It was the 6th quickest run on the day too.
4 days after the Vitruvian I had the opportunity to run in the Cranwell road race so I cycled into work 12 miles, at lunch time cycled 12 miles over to cranwell for the run, did the race (5.8 miles) finishing in 2nd place then cycled 23 miles home.
On Thursday I'm sailing to the Isle of Man for my usual end of season mountain bike enduro event/see the family. This is always a fun day out but incredibly hard work, if you've never done a mountain bike race you need to try one to appreciate how much harder a day on the bike can be compared to riding in the time trial position pushing a big gear at a nice constant pace. It really messes you up with the crazy cadence involved for very little gain on the climbs balanced out with keeping your weight in the right place.
I don't know if I will do an end of season sprint or not but I might have a go at the Peterborough half marathon in October as I think if the weather is good a sub 1:15 could be on the cards. 10 days after that is the Henlow 10 and then I will look at some down time before planning out next years racing.
1 comment:
Jeepers! Your running is super speedy! And that is some big block of racing that you just conpleted! Would like to run Henlow myself but I can't see myself being healthy enough. It will be interesting to see how you go there if conditions are good - maybe 56. . . .
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