....Daz Sharpe's Triathlon Page Sponsored Xterra Wetsuits

Sunday long run

2012-02-12T11:36:00.001Z

Just done a long Sunday run, had a red wine hangover and there was lots of snow and ice on route. The course was on and off road and lots of concentration was needed with the ice, always being careful where to place your feet. The slow mile (7:15) was in a technical section of the woods with some very tight turns and logs to jump over but you can see the bits where the ground was good by the variation in the pace. Happy with the run and it felt comfortable, will enjoy trying this route in the summer to see how fast I can do it. Anyway details of the run are in the link below, I think you can change the map view to satellite to see the terrain changes?

Sunday long run by triathlondaz at Garmin Connect - Details

Wittering cross country Garmin 910 data

2012-02-11T09:17:00.001Z

I raced the Wittering cross country on Wednesday, very cold with plenty of snow and ice on the course meaning you had to be cautious when placing your feet on every step of the course. It was a chance to test the new Garmin 910xt out as well. Hopefully details are available via the link in this post? let me know if they don't come up. I had a good run given I was on a big bike week finishing 3rd. Hopefully if the link works you will see the mile splits etc with mile 1 and 4 being slow as that's the hill on the course otherwise all sub 6 min miles. Not sure what happened at the end, stopped the watch but it seems to have recorded part of the journey home? Still learning!

Talking of bike week, I clocked 225 - 230 miles commuting this week despite the horrible weather, just got to pop a 25 mile TT in on the turbo later today to reach my objective in the last post of 250 miles. Lanza grows ever closer only just over a week to go :-)

Also tested the pool feature on the 910 this week, did a very steady 1500 to see if it's as accurate in a pool as they say and it's superb. Lots of features available but I chose time, distance, average pace and stroke count. Outcome was 1500m, average 1:39, 25 mins, stroke average 8.4 per length (obviously double so average 17 per length).

Untitled by triathlondaz at Garmin Connect - Details

New training partner iminent

2012-02-06T20:01:00.000Z

I always train on my own and have done for many years. I've decided its time to get a training partner so hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. I've spent lots of money and gone for a Garmin 910XT as its time I upgraded my Garmin Forerunner 201 that I bought in 2005. This is one serious bit of kit and I look forward to using it. It has many features that I like and hopefully I will use it to its full potential.

Last week I had an fairly easy week as follows : Saturday run 8 mile, Sunday 25 mile TT on the turbo, Monday Run before work 5 mile, swim lunch 1500m and cycle home (22.5 mile). Tuesday cycle to work, 2k swim at lunch and drive home. Wednesday drive to work, race the RAF cross country champs finishing 14th and drive home. Thursday cycle to work, swim 2.2k lunch and cycle home. Friday and Saturday were rest days. This week is big bike week again and weather permitting I should rack up 250 mile on the bike by Friday evening. Only 2 weeks until Lanzarote :-)

Easier week this week

2012-01-23T19:52:00.000Z

This is an easier week this week, managed to get just over 18 hours in last week. This was broken down as follows
38 mile mountain bike
25 mile time trial on the turbo
3 days commuting on the bike
total 200 mile of biking for the week

31 mile of running broken down into
17 mile long run
10k run
8.5 mile run

swimming
4 swims of 2k
8k total for the week

Saturday and Sunday were well earned rest days. This week is planned as follows
Today 5 mile run before work, drive to work with the bike in the car, swim 2k at lunch and cycle home
Tuesday Cycle to work, swim lunch, drive home
Wednesday drive to work, cross country race, drive home
Thursday cycle to work, swim at lunch, cycle home
Friday run before work, drive in, swim at lunch and drive home via Stamford to pick Beth up from school.

Saturday and Sunday are pencilled in as rest days again.
Only 4 weeks now until I head out to Lanzarote for my holiday/training week, looking forward to my usual hotel in the same resort as I've stayed the last 4 years. Fingers crossed the weather will be kind.

Another week closer to racing

2012-01-15T13:02:00.000Z

After last weekends training I commuted to work 3 days by bike, giving another 135 mile on the road, I swam Monday and Tuesday lunch and on Wednesday I finished at lunch to cycle back to Market Rasen but not to go home, to do the Lincs league cross country race. I felt tired as I was on day 4 of my training without rest but set off near the front of the field, I was running well on the first lap and moved up into 2nd place briefly and was battling with 2 others for the position. All was going well until the top of the climb on lap 2 when I felt quite ill and after about 100 meters of feeling ill proceeded to throw up a large amount of fluid. I didn't really feel much better afterwards but continued on to the finish although I had lost the pace a bit and ended up finishing 7th. Not really the result I was after but a good days training, after the race I got my bike gear back on and cycled the 1.5 mile home. Thursday was an easy day with just a swim at lunch as I'd drove to work and decided I would drive Friday as well because I had planned a long mountain bike ride for Saturday. Friday I ran 5 mile before work and swam at lunch but the swim was tiring after being bullied by the physio as my shoulder still isn't 100% yet from the crash 10 weeks ago. Saturday morning was very cold and crisp, I checked my planned route on the map (putting the map in my back pack just in case) and set out. Once the sun came out it was glorious, I really enjoyed the ride covering 38 miles in 3 hours 20. Sunday was planned for a 10 mile run with a 1 hour turbo effort later in the day, again it was cold and frosty when I set out on the run but somehow I missed a turn onto the viking way footpath so ended up on a longer route (hilly loop about 35% off road) and picked up part of the previous days mountain bike loop extending my run to 17.25 miles @ 6:50 average. At the time of writing this update I am undecided about the 1 hour turbo session? I think I might can it and save it for tomorrow evening after work or possibly get up early and do it before I drive in in the morning. I have now entered the Dambuster Duathlon on the 10th March, this will be my first race of the year, I still havn't decided what other races I will do yet.

A Good weeks training

2012-01-08T17:14:00.000Z

The first week of the year has gone well so far. I cycled to work 3 of the 4 days giving me 135 mile on the road bike plus the 2 hour 20 MTB ride on Monday. I've managed to swim 4 lunch times (that swimming thing hurts after 2 weeks out of the pool!!!). I've ran a 7 mile loop, 2 5 mile loops, and a 11.7 mile loop today. Today's was done on the GPS so the stats were average of 6:13 with mile 10 through to 11 done at 5:50 as I couldn't resist the urge to chase someone down who was further up the road, I guess that's the racer in me!!

Next week I plan to cycle Monday to Thursday which will clock 180 mile with swims Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as Wednesday I will be cycling back to Market Rasen for a cross country race, will be interesting to see how the race goes with 45 or so miles in the legs?

I've also booked my week in Lanzarote for the end of February and can't wait for some warm weather training. 10 days after is the Dambuster duathlon which is the National Champs so some fast athletes out to play, I'll then find out how the winter training has gone?

That's all for now I think.

A New Year - Time to reflect and a time to look forward

2012-01-01T16:42:00.000Z

Happy New Year to all who follow my blog. Its been a while since my last post but at this time of year there is little to report. Today is the start of a new year so it's a good time to look back and also to look forward to 2012. Last year had many highs and a couple of lows for me, some of the highs include a silver medal at the standard distance national championships, winning the RAF sprint championships again, podiums at every sprint race I took part in, 4th at the European championships (this was also a low as I should have been on the podium but that's another story) and some great running results. Non sporting highs include selling our house and moving to Market Rasen which we love and are very happy here.

Other highs include the continued sponsorship deals from the following company's

Hilderthorpe Cycles
Xterra Wetsuits
Greepers Laces

Some of the lows were hearing the sad news of the loss of Ant Downing at the end of the year, a tragic loss of a great man. Another low was being hit by a car whilst cycling home from work in November and 8 or so weeks later the bike is still hanging in the garage awaiting the drivers insurance to either fix or replace it.

2012 has started well, i've clocked a 7 mile off road run this morning and a 2 hour 20 min mountain bike ride this afternoon. I've not set out my objectives for the year yet but hope to have a plan very soon.

8 Days, no training :-(

2011-11-12T17:41:00.000Z

Well after a great 230 mile week commuting I went for week 2 of the same. So 210 miles into week 2 and bang, crash ouch! I suppose with the amount of miles i've covered in the last 18 months of training and commuting its inevitable that I was going to get knocked off the bike by a car. I was in the left hand lane which was clear and the right hand lane was static waiting at the lights when some idiot didn't check his mirrors before flashing the lights to let someone traveling in the opposite direction turn right. The guy pulled through after being flashed and I collided with the front corner of his car but with my forward momentum and the fact that he was also still moving forward I was thrown about 2 foot up in the air with enough time to see that I was going to land in the middle of his bonnet. As I landed the bike unclipped, hit the road and bounced back up about 3 foot and fell to the floor and I slid off the bonnet to land next to the bike. I've got off quite lightly considering the hit I took, left knee joint still sore, after 8 days I can now move my shoulder but can't take any weight through it yet and the bruising on my back has settled down. The bike took it quite well, carbon forks broken, front wheel broken, frame seems in tact but i'm not keen to get back on it even though visibly it seems fine. I had to drive all this week but i'm going to see if I can ride next week a couple of days, just don't know what bike to ride though, don't fancy using my good road bike but don't fancy using a mountain bike either. This is the problem with an accident like this, if it was my fault I would pay to get the bike fixed asap but its not my fault and unfortunately I now have the hassle of claiming for the damage to be fixed which can take weeks and at this time I don't have the £445 the bike shop are quoting to repair the bike. I personally would rather see it written off because if the frame breaks at a later date due to fatigue cracking I won't be able to go back to the drivers insurance so would be happier to have it replaced. Crashes are so inconvenient and i'm now really annoyed at being in this position. Not a happy bunny at the moment. Grrrrrr

230 miles

2011-10-28T20:02:00.000+01:00

Well I managed to commute all week this week by bike from the new house so i've managed to clock 230 miles of cycling in 5 days! I went swimming Monday and Wednesday, and managed to run 6 miles Sunday, 5 miles Tuesday and Thursday. All in a good week, I think I will have a couple of rest days this weekend and then I plan to bike the 230 miles next week too. I won't do it every week but will try to do it often.

Henlow 10 and commuting

2011-10-20T09:06:00.000+01:00

Well I survived the Henlow 10 yesterday, I had trouble increasing the pace as it set me off on coughing fits so had to control my heart rate and breathing. Still despite the remenance of the man flu in my system I managed to run a 58:54 to give me my slowest ever Henlow 10 but still not too shabby. Its strange really as although a fast run, being just off the top end of my pace has made a big difference in the fact that the legs were tip top this morning. So today is my first commute to and from work giving me a round trip of 46 miles to bike, it was cold this morning on the fingers and toes despite overboots and gloves, Anthea called me at 8 O'clock to check i'd got in ok and said it was -1.5 degrees at 7:20 when she got home from nights so I would guess about -2.5 at 6:00 when I set off. I think the winter cycle boots will be out next week if its that cold again. On the plus point my very nice Castelli winter jacket I bought in Belgium in July was just the job, all I had on was a base layer t-shirt and the Castelli jacket and I was toasty warm! Loving the jacket :-)

I've moved house :-)

2011-10-18T20:59:00.000+01:00

Well it's been a long time but after 18 months my house sold and i'm now happy to say i'm in my new house. Ohh the space!!! after being stuck in the worlds smallest married quater at Scampton I've finally got some space. I'm now living in a nice 4 bed detached house in Market Rasen, the move went as well as it could do given that I got a really nice dose of "Man Flu" a couple of days before we moved. I was not well for about 10 days in total so i'm just starting to feel better now. I had my first chance to look around on Sunday afternoon at the trails in the woods. Its less than a mile to the forest and I think i'm going to like it hear :-) Off to Henlow tomorrow for the Henlow 10 but not expecting much given the illness last week. If I hadn't paid the entry up front I wouldn't have bothered going to be honest.

Manx End 2 End Enduro

2011-09-28T19:53:00.000+01:00

I would have liked to blog this race report earlier but its been a busy couple of weeks. The great news is my house has finally sold (completed today so I don't own it anymore) so Anthea and I have been busy. We've nearly bought our new one and hope to complete on that one on the 10th October. We are moving to Market Rasen which is north east of where we are at the moment. The house is a really nice 4 bed detached with garage and conservatory so at last I will have room to swing a cat (if I had one). This will be a big difference in my commute too. I will be around 23-24 miles from work. The plan is to drive Monday's with my kit for the week and commute the rest of the week on the bike. How this will work I'm not sure yet, I am looking forward to the challenge but don't want to get trapped in the mind set that its a chore which would make me get fed up with cycling. I will drive occasionally if it gets too much but plan to cycle as often as possible. Also the area i'm moving too has lots of woodlands within 5 minutes of the house and i'm on the Lincolnshire wolds so some nice cycling ground too.

Anyway onto the race. I went across to the Isle of Man for what has become my traditional end of season blow out. This year I didn't have to borrow a bike as I got a carbon Cannondale hard tail in August. The bike is superb and a real out and out race bred machine. I took my hope vision light across with me and my sister and I went out for an off road night ride while I was over. That is some serious fun and I think I will be doing much more of that when I move next month. 1700 people had entered the race this year but I didn't know they had seeded the top 100 based on the previous race last year to form an elite start group at the front of the field. This was nice to be at the front and not have to battle too much to get in the break away, and within a couple of miles I was in the lead break of around 50 riders. We hit the first climb and I felt good, moved through the field to around 20th. Once up the 1200 foot first climb I settled into a good pace as I was aware that i'd blown in the last 10 miles of the race in the previous 2 years and didn't want to do that again. I had 1x750ml bottle of High 5 Extreme on the bike as I don't like camel backs and my sisters boyfriend was doing the fuel stops for us. At the first pick up I grabbed the next bottle containing 4:1 and a caffeine plus gel taped to it and felt strong. It was the third pick up point that I had my first problem, Ian wasn't there with my bottle and I had nothing left in the one I had. I knew it was only about 30 or so minutes to the last place I was getting a bottle so during this time I took 2 High 5 Iso Gels to keep me going. It was during this stretch I had my second problem, I dropped off a ledge that had been a lot lower in previous years and stupidly looked back at the height of it, my front wheel caught the edge of a rut and I was off and rolling down the hill side but it was a nice soft landing on the heather. At the last fuel stop I grabbed the bottle of 4:1 off Ian I had missed at the other stop and was surprised to see my sister there. She had had a mechanical and pulled out of the race, Ian had gone to get her and that's why he hadn't been at the other fuel stop. I also grabbed the bottle of flat coke I was getting at that point and downed it in a oner. I then hit the last climb of the day and did 3/4 of the climb on the big ring, I knew I was in good form as i'd really struggled on this climb in the past events. On to the last big decent of the day and crash number 2 happened. Too much speed on a single track decent and I once again caught the edge of a rut only this time I landed in a gauze bush, not so pleasant. I still have splinters from my ankle to my arse!!! I got up quickly and ran back to the bike, jumped on and set off again. The hard work was nearly done, the last 2 miles is on the road with a big climb to the finish but on the road its much easier. I finished in 30th overall from 1700. To get an idea of how tough this event is only the first 85 finishers got a gold standard finish (sub 4 hours) and my time was 3 hours 35. I can't wait for next year :-)

Vitruvian Triathlon - Rapid Running

2011-09-13T09:43:00.001+01:00

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.

Race pictures from Finland

2011-09-01T19:34:00.004+01:00

A few pics that i've had sent from the photographers in Finland.

Antwerp 70.3/Inter-Services/Finland Long

2011-08-27T20:09:00.002+01:00

I've been very lazy on the blog front lately so settle in, probably best to get a brew and I'll bring you up to date.

First up - Antwerp 70.3

The short version, slower but faster!
I took Anthea and Beth with me to Belgium for the race this year and we camped at a site about 40km from Antwerp. This was nice as it kept the race and race atmosphere away from the family and as a result we could enjoy the trip as a family holiday as well as a race weekend. Saturday we just popped into Antwerp to register and then headed back to the campsite. We got a nice backpack as part of our race pack up and even better a bottle of sparkling Jacobs Creek wine.

Antwerp 70.3 starts at a more sociable 11am so I had a good sleep Saturday night and enjoyed a slow time breakfast Sunday. We drove into town for the race and I cycled off to T1 while Anthea and Beth had a steady walk through. I caught up with friends Daz Cole and Haldane Van Horan and had time for a quick chat before the race. The time came for us to enter the water and I went to the front right of the pack to try and get some clear water, as the whistle sounded I set off fast and managed to keep the clear water all the way round. I exited after what felt like a good swim on 29 minutes and ran the 150 - 200 meters to my bike and did a good job of stripping off the wetsuit. I had a good transition and set off on the bike but it was very clear that it would not be a p.b day as it was incredibly windy from the off. The course was different from last year with the ride out to the industrial area as normal but 3 shorter laps instead of the 2 long laps. I was pushing hard on the bike and felt good as I entered T2 but was slower than last years bike split but knew it was harder for everyone. Another smooth transition including putting on socks for the run and I was off. I felt good all the way round the run and was overtaking a lot of people and managed to pull a 1:23 half marathon out of the bag to cross the line in 4 hrs 25.

Initially I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to beat last years 4 hr 19 but given the wind I guess it was a good time, the proof was in the results as I was 50th overall but remove the elites and I was the 36th age grouper to finish and the 4th British athlete. I finished 6th in my age group and had the opportunity to take a slot at Vegas 70.3 World Championships but this wasn't on my calendar or in my budget for this year so once again for the second year running I turned down the slot.

3 days Later and its the Inter-Service race at Belvoir Castle.

Race day at Belvior I didn't know what to expect having no time to recover from Antwerp but it was better than working so I raced anyway. The swim was a bit of a fight with the shallow water, lack of space and before I knew it my goggles were knocked off, I stood up in the knee deep water, got the goggles back on, but within a 150 meters they were full of water again so I had to stop and re-seat them again. These delays had set me up with a 27 minute swim (my worst of the year by a long way). I got up to transition and set off on the bike, being further down the field meant I ended up having to battle with some small groups of cyclists who either didn't know the rules or had decided to draft for the sake of it but it was frustrating as every time I would pass them they sat on my wheel, worked together then all came back past. Very annoying to say the least, but my day was to get worse as approximately half way round the second lap I could feel the front tyre going down and I had no spares with me. With about 5 or 6 miles to go my tyre was flat and I knew my race was now a training day. I nursed the flat tyre back to transition with the intention of trying to run strong off the bike but had lost about 6 minutes on the competitive end of the field. I flew through transition and chased hard on the run. I managed to pull a 34 minute dead run out of the bag on a hilly course which I knew was an accurate 10k as it was gps measured the day before. Not a bad run just 3 days after a 70.3!!!

Next stop Finland.

This was billed as my "A" race for the year with a very realistic chance of a medal. Unfortunately I didn't!!!! Things got off to a bad start with a bike failure while packing the day before I flew to the race. I had been having problems with the front mech and it became apparent what the problem was and that it was not going to be getting fixed for the race. The mech had been dropping at the back end and catching on the chain ring in the big ring and whilst trying to resolve it I found that the mech braze on was not tight and the bolt holding it to the frame wouldn't tighten. With no time to get it fixed and no way of using the big ring I knew that the TT bike wasn't going to Finland. This was a problem for me, I've used this bike all last year and all season this year and now I was going to have to take the road bike. I'd gone from a TT bike with a 53 tooth rotor ring to my road bike with a 50 tooth compact chainset. I also had no tri bars but was lucky to borrow a set from Pete Norris. I arrived in Finland feeling stressed and concerned about the bike situation, not a great start. I set up the bike with the clip on tri bars and got the best position I could but although a fairly good position was achieved it was far from perfect. We went out for a couple of hours on Thursday afternoon and the bike was comfy but I felt slower than Pete, Frank and Mark all looking incredibly aero.

On Race day I entered the water the same way I'd done all week with a forward somersault before we lined up ready to start. The race started and the first 300 meters was a bit of punching and kicking but I soon found space and at the halfway point I felt strong so increased the speed and exited the water in 1 hour and 38 seconds, a new 4k p.b in the bag.

I ran into transition had a gel, glasses and helmet on and I was ready to do the 120k on the wrong bike, I tried not to think too much about it but I could tell I was not going as fast as I would be on the race bike. Towards the end of the bike leg I got passed by someone and looked behind to see a small peleton of about 15 coming past. A little frustrated I shouted the obligatory abuse then thought it would be a good time to stop for a pee, this would save stopping on the run and let the group go so I didn't risk being innocently picked up for drafting.

I got into T2 and socks and trainers done I set off on the run, as I left the stadium the GB team manager told me I was in 8th in my AG. (Last year I was third by the end of the bike) I think this is where the race started to go down the pan for me, looking back now I probably ran to hard on the first 2 laps due to the frustration of being down in 8th and by the 4th and final lap I'd blown up. I was still running but not anywhere near the pace I normally would be and got overtaken with about 3k to go by a lad I'd passed on the first lap. I didn't know at the time because on a 4 lap run you can't work out who's on what lap but I had been in 3rd place until this lad passed me. He went on to put 1 min 49 seconds into me and I was disappointed to find out I was 4th in my age group and effectively let the medal go past me.

It's taken a week to blog this race as I've had lots of ups and downs this week, even had a little cry to myself. I'd spent the last 8 months training and racing for this event, I'd planned my whole season around it and seen my dreams disappear with less than 3k to go. The questions I've asked myself time and time again this week are did the broken bike the day before I flew cost me the race, the wrong bike I feel has cost me at least 5 minutes in which case I'd have been battling for the silver not the bronze, was it frustration that cost me the medal causing me to run to hard early on and blowing up towards the end or was it a combination of lots of things.

I'm slowly picking out the positives from the race, these are as follows,
1. P.B on the swim
2. P.B for the whole race distance
3. My highest finish at a European or World Championship as part of Team GB.

Cest la vie, time to move on and start thinking of next year.

David Lloyd Lincoln Sprint Triathlon

2011-07-11T21:05:00.004+01:00

This Sunday was the David Lloyd Sprint Triathlon in Lincoln. This is only 7 or 8 miles from home so I cycled down in my race kit with a set of trainers in the back pack. I arrived about an hour and forty before my start as I had to register by 9. It was perfect weather, sunshine, warm and very light wind. There was a big field for this race (in fact 425 finished), and I was in the 2nd to last wave to start. Due to the size of the field the swim waves were only 2 minutes apart and when I got in the water there was still 3 swimmers in my lane which I wasn't too pleased about. As you can imagine this lead to chaos on the swim and at 70 meters the inevitable happened and I had a head on collision with someone pushing off the wall not looking where they were going causing us both to stop in our tracks. I tried to stay calm, got to the wall and set off again and not 50 meters later I was tapping him on the feet to let him know I was there but he chose to be completely ignorant and continue without letting me by and I had little room to overtake him but eventually blasted past. My swim time was a lot slower than Cranwell on Wednesday and my time into transition was 6:28, I had a fast transition and set off on the bike passing the only person from my wave who had beat me out of the swim in the first kilometer and never really saw any of them again. The bike course was fast with the exception of the 12% climb at about 5k into the race, I passed a huge amount of people on the bike from earlier waves and kept setting myself little targets of who to catch and where I wanted to be past them by. As I got back to transition I had a smooth dismount (demonstrated in the great picture Anthea took) bike time 36:35, and a swift transition before setting off on the run. The run went well for me and I crossed the line in 1:02:18 with a run time of 18:21. I was 3rd overall and 1st in my age group, this was a close race and the winner only beat me by 7 seconds and 2nd was only 1 second ahead, they were both in the last wave and without blowing my own trumpet too much I am sure I would have beaten them if I was in the same wave and battling directly against them. This is becoming a habit getting a podium at sprint races, perhaps I should focus on sprint racing next season! I got a very nice glass trophy and a voucher for TFN Nottingham for my efforts. I cycled home with Anthea and we had a light lunch then went out together for a steady 30 mile bike in the afternoon. Things seem to be going well until today when my doctor called about my blood test from Friday. My white blood count was already a lot lower than it should be (despite the fact that it should be low due to my medication) 4 weeks ago but its gone lower again so things are not as they should be. I've been in a little discomfort since Tuesday last week but have been training and racing OK so not sure what's happening at the moment. I am in for a chat on Friday to see what they plan to do with me, she was calling my gastro specialist at Northallerton Hospital today to see what they think.

A win at the RAF Sprint Championships

2011-07-09T15:56:00.004+01:00

Wednesday was the RAF Sprint Championships at RAF Cranwell. I arrived in good time so I could speak to Nick Davies as I needed to go in an early wave so I could be finished and get on my way to Stamford to pick Beth up as it was the last day of term. Nick put me in with the 8 minute swimmers with strict instructions to be considerate of the slower athletes in the water. There was lots of abuse being thrown at me by fellow competitors regarding the fact I was in wave 10 but a bit of friendly banter is part of the fun. I started my swim and was quite lucky really as I only got held up at about 200 meters for probably 5 seconds at most. I exited the water not knowing what time I'd done as I didn't start my watch but as it turns out I did the 2nd quickest swim of the day, a bit of a result for a "non swimmer". I had what turned out to be quite a slow transition all though it felt fast at the time and was out on the bike and on my way in very windy conditions, the new course is much better than the old one and quite a challenging route. After about 18 or so kilometers we picked up the old course and the road back in to camp was a strong tailwind and involved some high cadence in a 53x11 gear so I would think around the 40 mph mark. As I entered transition Pete Norris and Jase Walkley were spectating and told me I'd done an 8 min swim which gave me some concern so I bolted out onto the run and pushed very hard. I was passing people at an alarming rate but don't forget I was in the middle of the race and not with the fast boys. I continued to run hard and finished with the only run under 20 minutes to take the win. I then did my first ever T3 as I threw everything into a bag, chucked on shorts and t-shirt and ran to the car to set off for Stamford arriving with just 2 mins to spare. I didn't find out I'd won until about 4:15 when Mat and Pete text me to let me know. So that's it, RAF Sprint Champion for the 2nd year on the run, I guess I'll have to go for it again next year now!

Tomorrow (Sunday the 10th) I am racing again in the David Lloyd Lincoln Sprint Triathlon, fingers crossed for a good result then on Tuesday its back to the important business of longer stuff with a long bike/run brick planned, this will be the last big outing before Antwerp 70.3 on the 24th July.

Humber Bridge Half Marathon - How hot!

2011-06-27T12:08:00.000+01:00

I entered the Humber Bridge Half Marathon about 6 weeks ago as I thought I could use it as a good training brick by cycling to the race and after the race cycling back. This seemed like a good plan, I checked the map to plan my route avoiding the A15 and trying to use smaller quiete roads. Using map my ride I measured it to be about 39 - 40 miles each way. The plan was in place. On Friday and Saturday the weather forecasters were busy telling us that Sunday was setting up to be the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures maybe reaching 30 degrees. I got up on Sunday and it was warm already, I filled a 2 litre bottle of water with High 5 for the return journey and 2 750ml sports bottles for the ride up. I took a lot of gels with me but didn't use as many as I thought. I arrived at the start area and found somewhere safe for the bike and my bag with about 15 minutes to go before the start and just changed my shoes as I'd worn tri shorts and a sleeveless cycle top to ride up, a quick wee and I made my way to the start. As the klaxon sounded I set off at the front of the 1800 strong field in a small group but at 2 miles in just 11 minutes I decided I wasn't going to play at that pace because of the ride home. I normally would have been happy at that pace but made a sensible decision to remove myself from the group and do my own thing. At the 4 mile mark we had the first of the climbs on the course, and I didn't feel great to be honest but was still on sub six min mile pace so cruised the next mile, the heat was really kicking in by now. I was moving at a good pace but at 8 miles I started to feel better than ever and lifted the pace a little before getting to mile 9, this was the main climb on the course which is about a 10% gradient and goes on for nearly a full mile. I felt strong on the climb and overtook another athlete who was struggling and once up I passed another, I was pushing on but the bridge its self is a bit of a climb with 11 miles in the legs. I felt good all the way to the finish and crossed the line in 1:21:10 which was good enough for 11th place overall. This is a tough course, check out the reviews on runners world, most people say they have clocked their personal worst on this course! At the finish I had a bottle of water, changed my shoes and top, packed the bag then cycled the 40 mile home, lucky for me it was a head wind all the way back just to keep it interesting. All in good days training, I had a 750ml serving of protein shake then went for a shower, I weighed myself before showering and was 2kg lighter than I was in the morning, so realised I would have to get a lot of fluids in during the rest of the day.

Dambuster Triathlon - National Championships

2011-06-19T20:28:00.002+01:00

Well Saturday was the Dambuster Triathlon incorporating the National Championships. I am now the very proud owner of a National Championship silver medal!!!

I got up at 04:15 knowing the forecast wasn't promising and when I got down stairs to let the dog out it was tipping it down, needless to say the dog refused to go out and got straight back in bed. I must admit I was tempted to do the same! I had a latte and some toasted fruit loaf for breakfast and set off down to Rutland Water. I probably should have got up slightly earlier really as it was a bit of a rush getting down in time to register and pick up my race numbers etc. I was in transition with just half an hour to go before the start and only saw Brad Goggin out of the 40 or so RAF athletes until I got to the waters edge where I saw a couple of the others. We were called forward into the water and I swam out to the start. I somehow ended up right on the front of the start line with nobody in front of me. I've never started right on the front before and as the whistle was blown I set off and it was great to have clear water, I swam quite hard for the first 200 meters and never got knocked, kicked or punched once. At the first turn buoy I still had clear water and maneuvered into a group of 5 who seemed to be going at a pace I was happy with. The swim was totally uneventful and I stood up and had my goggles and hat off in 22:14 (actual time over the mat was 22:34) and for those that know me will know that's the fastest I've ever swam at Olympic distance (maybe the extra swim work is paying off or it could be the Xterra wetsuit). Anyhow I thought this could be a good day until I got to my bike, I had the suit off except for one leg because my timing chip had rolled down into a big knot and I was struggling to get the suit over it.

Eventually (after 1:29) I got out of transition and set off on the bike. I didn't feel on fire on the bike like normal and the first couple of miles I had a bit of a battle with one athlete but I got the better of him and didn't see him again and started to pass lots of people. It was a strange feeling as it felt slow but I was passing lots of people all the way round as there had been a wave starting 10 minutes before us. This was still within the first week on the new wheels and I didn't enjoy them at all! I was cursing in fact and swore blind I was selling them after the race as I was just getting blown all over on them and was very worried on the fastest descents as I kept having to feather the brakes to keep it under control. I was glad to pick up the A606 for the last few miles as it was a head wind and felt happier with the handling. The bike was done in 1:07:58 which is far from my quickest time round this course. After the race I spoke to others with 80 - 90mm wheels and they all had the same issues so it wasn't just me and I don't feel so concerned anymore. Apparently a couple of riders with deep wheels were blown off the road and crashed into the hedge.

I arrived back at T2 and had a smooth transition at 38 seconds and was off running and it felt fast. I felt strong and was running well passing lots of people but couldn't be sure who was in my wave so just kept the pace as high as I could. I got over the finish line in 2:06:38 giving me a run time of 33:59. I had to wait for a couple of hours as they didn't have the computer up and running to see how I'd done but once the results were available I found out I was second in my age group and a national silver medalist. This is the first time I've had a national medal and as you've probably guessed I'm very happy.

Next race is the Humber Bridge half marathon on Sunday 26th June. I am using this as a training day for my longer races in July and August so I'm cycling the 40 miles up to Hull, running the half then cycling back. Should be a tough day but a quality brick session.

Dambuster looming, weather forecast pants!

2011-06-16T09:25:00.001+01:00

Well this weekend is the Dambuster triathlon and the weather forecast is looking pants as usual. Not feeling fired up for this event at the moment, Sags suggested we register, get the T Shirt, have a bacon and egg sandwich and go home! It's sounding like a plan at the moment.

On Friday I’d been emailing Sags for advice as I wanted to get a long bike/run session in but I was tired so needed a couple of rest days so didn't know what the best plan was. I would have struggled to fit it in Saturday as I had things to do and as I said I was tired from the weeks training I’d done. Sunday was a non starter as I was down in London all day at Wembley for the Capital FM Summertime Ball. I was getting a bit stressed about it as I felt I needed to do the long session, but I was struggling for time and was tired. Sags gave me the idea about taking Monday off instead thus giving me 2 rest days and no worries about time.

Plan in place Monday I was on leave and did the long bike/run brick I wanted to do. I had a lie in (8:15 which is a long lie in for me) got up and had breakfast with a large latte and about 10:30 had another large latte and prepped for the session. I took 2 x 750ml bottles of high 5 4:1 and 5 gels (1 of them was caffeine plus) with the plan of 1 gel every half hour. I laid out the shoes in the kitchen and 2 more gels for the run and set off. This was also my first ride on the new wheels, it was suitably windy which was a good chance to see how much more of a handful 80's can be over the 50's I was used to. Yes they do keep you busy! But they do feel fast. Anyway the bike went well and I arrived home on 2 hours 45 mins but could probably say the ride was more like 2 hours 35 - 2 hours 40 as I’d been delayed a couple of times at level crossings. I did a race style transition grabbed the gps and gels and went for the run. I was planning to do a minimum of 10 mile but a half marathon if I felt ok. I didn't feel ok, I felt great at 9 miles so went for the half marathon. Now here's the bit that made me happy,

I ran 1:21:47!!!!! My fastest half off the bike ever. Let’s just hope I can stay in one piece and not burn myself out before the Euro long distance champs in August but its looking good.

Odiham race and new carbon bling

2011-06-11T19:30:00.005+01:00

Went down to Odiham on Wednesday for the sprint race. Not really planned this but a late decision (5 days before) realising I could have a full day off work to do it!! I didn't do any sort of taper (not that I would for a sprint anyway) and went down a little bit tired after a hard few weeks of training. It was good to meet up with the old crew and we (Sags, Turbo, Roy B, Jase and Mal) sat in a group after the race brief as the heavens had opened. We were talking about how many new faces were about and how few people we knew. There seems to be some new and upcoming talent in RAF Tri at the moment which is great as I'm sure the "old crew" can't be relied upon for ever to sure up the RAF Team. We also discussed (Sags please take note) that we would be better off putting our vets in the vets team for the inter-service race in July rather than using them in the men's team as we have more chance of winning the vets race against the army.

Anyway, on to the race. I had Brad, Sags, Paul Fullalove and myself in my wave (2nd from last) and as the swim started I felt my pace was nice and even throughout. Not as fast as I can do but consistent, and exited the water on 6:01 and at the same time as Paul. Brad was already out and suspect he swam about 5:35. I had a good transition and saw Sags as I was leaving so he wasn't very far behind. I set off at a fast pace on the bike and as we joined the main road I could see Brad at the bottom of the first decent. I wanted to catch him as quick as possible and pushed hard up the first climb. I caught Brad just about half way round the first lap and moved ahead. Unfortunately when we got to the main town I was delayed a little in traffic and Brad came past (on the kerb lol) I passed him on the climb up out of the town and never saw him again. I later found out he punctured but am confident I would have dropped him anyway. The second lap my heart rate settled and my pace got faster (plus I knew the corners this time). As I got back to T2 I had a quick glance back but saw no sign of the chasers. A good transition and I set off on the run, after leaving T2 I was about 50 meters up the road when Sags came in off the bike. I pushed hard on the first half of the run with only a slight delay for a cyclist and car at the road crossing. As I neared the turn around I saw Mal first then not far back was Jase who shouted that the turn was just ahead. On the way back I saw Sags who looked to be going well and then Nick Harris on his run and he looked fast. I pushed on and had a clear run over the road on the way back. I finished 2nd just 21 seconds behind Nick so I'm happy with that given I'm not a sprint athlete.

On to the new carbon,
I decided it was time for a change having been using the Cosmic Carbons for 3 seasons now and the disc for the last 18 months. I sold the disc to Breezy on Wednesday and Mat Stephenson is having the Cosmics for his girlfriend so was on the lookout for something around the 80mm mark. I had done a bit of research on weights etc and had a short list. I ended up with the Profile Design Altair Carbon 80's (which were on my short list anyway). I've just put them on the bike today and changed the brake pads out for the carbon specific pads so just need a test ride now. Hopefully they ride as well as they look because I think the look superb. They weigh in 14g lighter than Zipp 808's which were also on the list and for those interested that's 1906g. They came with spare spokes, spoke key, brake pads and valve extenders and I've set them up on a set of Schwalbe Ultremo R1's.

You Tube

2011-06-04T10:57:00.002+01:00

I had to share this video with you, it makes me laugh every time! Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

That is all

Beaver Pics and Stats

2011-05-31T20:19:00.004+01:00

A few pics courtesy of Marc Preece (borrowed from his blog!) and a couple of stats.

Swim 33rd (happy with that as I claim not to be a swimmer) swim time was 32 mins which included the huge run to T1. (Only one person in the top 10 went sub 30!)

Bike 8th (only passed by 1 person so finally finding form)

Run 9th (took a lap to warm up but picked up for the last 3 laps)

Beaver Fest

2011-05-29T18:09:00.002+01:00

It's the day after the Beaver Middle Distance. Legs not as bad as I thought!! So how was it?

This would be my first proper test of the fitness building up to the long course in August in Finland, and I am happy with the current fitness level.

The weather didn't look to friendly when I got up Saturday morning, I could hear the rain on the back door and could see it was windy too. When I got down to Belvoir Castle I met up with Pete and we went up and racked the bikes. Transition set I went back to the car and got changed into my superb XTERRA wetsuit (love it, its amazing to swim in) and we walked down to the lake, this turned into a brisk walk/jog as we were being called into the water for our wave to start. It was very crowded and when the klaxon sounded the first stretch up to the turn point was a bit of a battle. It settled down a bit after that and I got into a bit more of a rhythm. I felt good on the swim and the second lap picked up the pace. I exited the swim on 30 min 15 seconds by my watch which I was happy with as the course was technical with a lot of hairpin turns. For those that have done the course you'll know all about the run to transition but for those that don't it's about 3-400 meters up the field. I opted to strip the suit at the waterside and run with it and on arrival at T1 I popped the socks on to save doing it later for the run.

The start of the bike is hard on that course, it doesn't appear to be much of a hill but it's enough to stop you getting up to speed. You quickly hit the first decent but the cross wind made it interesting and then at the bottom you started the 3-4 mile straight which was into a hell of a headwind. I took a good 7 or 8 miles of the first lap to get going on the bike but then felt strong as I was passing lots of people. I continued to pass loads of people as there had been a wave in front of us made up of women and I think some of the young age groups. During the bike I only got passed once which boosted my confidence and it seems I'm finally getting the bike back to where it normally is for me. On arrival back in T2 I was very pleased to see just 9 bikes on the racks, I had a good transition and set off on the start of the 4 lap run.

The first lap I was beginning to think that I hadn't brought my running legs to the party, especially going up the hill as cramp kicked in to the front of the quads. Once up the hill I tried to get into a rhythm but was thinking it could be a long half marathon. Coming back down the hill seemed just as hard on the first lap but when I got onto the field to start lap 2 the runners legs arrived and I felt great. The next 3 laps up the hill were fine, after the first lap it was hard to tell where the 9 runners ahead of me were but I could see Pete each lap and he was holding his lead he had over me. By the 3rd lap I was almost sprinting down the hill and on the 4th lap I could see I'd made some time on Pete but not much. With about 500 meters to go I passed a guy I recognised from the first lap (he was leading on the first lap) and he offered no resistance, by the finish he was some 25+ seconds behind but he was later Dq'd anyway for a biking offence.

I finished 9th overall and 3rd in my age group. Pete managed 4th overall and was 6 minutes clear of me. I'm pleased with my race I feel it all went well and can't really pick fault with any of it, not very often that I'm happy with everything but the overall package is coming together nicely. No pictures yet but I think Marc Preece might have some so will post them when I get hold of them.

Lack of internet access = lack of blogging

2011-05-26T12:09:00.003+01:00

Well the reason I haven't blogged for a while was the 2 week course i've been on and I had no internet as well as no tv, mobile signal etc. The course wasn't a difficult one and infact I had a lot of spare time and as a result probably over trained!!! Since getting back I've been a bit busy so today I finally get to update the blog.

Whilst at Collingwood I managed to swim (a lot) 12k on the first week and 10 on the second week. OK it might not be a lot to some people but for me that's a lot of swimming. I was in a bit of a catch 22 situation on the first week. Do I take advantage of the spare time and do a big week or keep things steady so as not to be to tired for the inter-service time trials at the weekend. I did train quite hard but felt OK for the 10 on the Saturday and the 25 on the Sunday.

The 10 was probably the most windy day I've ever raced, as a result the time was poor at 24:02 but then everybody was off the pace. I got back to Collingwood feeling very disappointed with the time. The 25 looked promising on arrival as there was no wind but about 10 minutes before the first rider the wind whipped up again. I did a 1:01 which again I was disappointed with but when I got back to the car I stuck the trainers on and ran a strong 10.5k and this cheered me up again. That afternoon back at Collingwood I popped out on the road bike for a steady 25 mile spin so a good days training.

I probably didn't ride anywhere near the miles I wanted to during the 2 weeks down there but felt very uninspired by the local terrain. It was just so busy all the time, even the morning I set off out at 0600 there was already tailbacks!!

On Saturday I met up with Pete Norris to check out the Beaver race route, we did 3 laps in practice for the race this weekend and then did a couple of laps of the run. I was reduced to walking the last mile due to fatigue but not from the morning alone but the fact I had ran Thursday late evening for 10 miles at sub 6 min miles for 9 of them only slowing down for the 10th mile to start cooling down, in fact mile 8 - 9 was ran at 5:40! as a result I would say that's why I was a little tired on the Saturday morning. Pete is in superb form and I predict a podium for him this weekend, as for me? who knows, its all just part of the game plan and a long build up towards the European champs in August.

Quick update

2011-05-05T21:29:00.003+01:00

Wow I've been really rubbish at updating the blog lately. After a week in Germany with no Internet access and then a week of being too lazy I've just not been fussed about doing it. I've only just today got round to reading everyone Else's blogs too. So anyway just to update, while in Germany I did no biking and little running and that may have contributed to my poor performance at the IS duathlon. I had an OK first run but felt lifeless on the bike, I was going OK but lacking something and just had no pace. The second run was pants too, and I had cramp in both calves, I've never had this problem before and couldn't understand why. Was my performance due to lack of training? was I tired from the 10 hour drive back from Germany the day before? Who knows but something just wasn't right. Anyway I did manage 3 open water swims in the Mosel River in the new XTERRA wetsuit. Now I'm not just saying this due to sponsorship but it is awesome. I love it, it's just so much more flexible than my old suit. I did another ride at the weekend on the TT bike and still wasn't happy with the bike and on closer inspection noticed the seat post was set on number 6 instead of number 5 so was in fact 1cm lower than I normally have it. I must have set it up wrong after I got back from Lanzarote earlier this year, i've done 3 rides on it this week at the proper height and it feels much better. Hopefully that will not cause any more problems. I've joined Lincoln Tri Club now and did my first open water swim with them on Monday at Hykeham, its a good lake with an 800m circuit marked out so I just did 3 laps for my first week. I'm off to Portsmouth on a course on Sunday night so hoping to hook up with Turbo Man for a couple of rides. I was going to do the Isle of Wight next weekend while down there but I've now opted to do the Interservice time trials instead. On Saturday the 14th I will do the 10 mile TT and on Sunday the 15th its the 25 mile TT. I've not done any TT's for a long time especially the 25, my last one would have been 2004 in Cyprus. Be interesting to see how it goes.

Its been a while

2011-04-19T07:37:00.004+01:00

Been a while since I blogged, not done loads to be honest. 10 days ago I was out on the mountain bike with Beth cycling into town. Beth was on the cycle lane/footpath and I was on the road. Decided to hop the kerb to get behind Beth (the kerb was 3 foot lower than the road) poor timing and lack of speed ended with me not getting my foot out of the pedal and taking a heavy fall landing with all my weight and the bike weight going through my left arm. Needless to say sore wrist, sore elbow, sore shoulder. Went to the docs and they seemed confident it was all soft tissue damage but now the muscle and joint tissue seems to have healed my wrist is still unable to take my full body weight and really aches in the middle of the joint although I do have full movement available. Not much in the way of swimming going on but hoping to swim in the Moselle River this week when I go camping in Germany. Will be a great chance to try out my Xterra Vendetta top of the range wetsuit which arrived about 2 weeks ago, along with some other goodies. Hope to see some of you soon at the IS Duathlon.

Why does the tri season have to start at 5 a.m?

2011-04-03T15:47:00.002+01:00

Reality check, not

done a triathlon since the Vitruvian in September, forgot about having to get up at 5 a.m!!! So today was crunch day, how has the winter training gone? am I in any sort of form? My training has been going well but I knew I was off the pace for the swimming. Chatting as you do with the others in your start wave I predicted a 6:20 for the swim and ended up with a 6:19 by my watch. Not sure of the official splits yet but will need to add some time from climbing out of the pool to crossing the timing mat. Quite a long run to transition and I also forgot how hard your breathing after the swim. I had a good smooth transition and set off on the bike and within 10 meters was ahead of the others in my wave. The course has quite a long gentle climb at the start but once up I felt like I was going well and got some 53 x 11 action going on. A left turn and then the course climbs again and seems to keep climbing. After a fast decent and a chance to recover I felt like I was flying and had a glance behind to see no one anywhere near me. I also started to catch others from the earlier wave who started 5 minutes ahead. I was pushing hard on the bike and it was hurting a little but I knew if it was hurting me then it was definitely hurting the chasing riders. I arrived at T2 and racked the bike, a smooth transition and off on the run. That also was a wake up call, I've only ran off the bike once this year in training. I quickly found my feet though and was moving well, at the first dead turn I did a time check to have a look where the others were and things looked good. There was only one wave behind mine and I seemed to be ahead on time by a big enough gap. I ran hard on the second lap and crossed the line feeling tired. I had the 2nd fastest time of the day and no one beat me from the wave behind. So 2nd overall, very pleased with the result and very pleased to have my first triathlon of the year under my belt. My prize was a set of commemorative £5 coins by the Royal Mint for the 3 year countdown to the Olympics. Very nice and a nice change from trophies. All in a good day and glad I've raced now as before the event I was unusually nervous, letting the pressure get to me after lots of people telling me I was the one to beat having won the event before.

One season ends and the next starts Sunday

2011-03-30T20:27:00.004+01:00

Well the X Country season finished today with the Cranwell race. I managed to do 7 out of the 8 races in the Lincolnshire league, on Sunday my triathlon season starts with the Humber Sprint. I wanted to run nice and steady today so I tried a negative split for the first time in a race. The course was 2 laps so I ran the first lap behind Pete Norris and then on the second lap picked up the pace and opened up a gap quickly on Pete and passed another lad to move up to 5th. The league is your best 6 races to count and I managed to finish 3rd overall getting a nice trophy, and also picked up a prize as a member of the winning "A" team from Waddington. I'm a bit nervous about Sunday as its my first tri since the Vitruvian way back at the start of September. I don't know how my biking is and swimming isn't going great but looks like i'm running ok. Guess i'll find out Sunday!

Fantastic new sponsor on board!

2011-03-24T20:51:00.005Z

I've been exceptionally lucky to have found the backing from a new sponsor who will be supporting me through the 2011 season. My new sponsor will be Xterra Wetsuits http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/ and I must first of all thank the US rep Glynn and UK rep Victoria for all their help so far. I am looking forward to getting my new wetsuit and getting it in the water. You will notice the company logo on the side bar of my blog which will take you directly to their site. I have also been given the opportunity to offer a very healthy discount code and should you be considering a new suit for the season please feel free to contact me, my email is available through this blog. I will update soon about the new suit.

Why the Inter-Service race will be harder than usual

2011-03-23T08:41:00.000Z

Well I've just realised that the Inter-Service Championship race this year will be harder than ever for me. Its all about recovery and the fact that I am doing Antwerp 70.3 on the 24th July and the Inter-Service race is on the 27th July. Never thought that through very well when I put my season race plan together. Still i'll have a go anyway, i'm sure I will get through it somehow.

Sponsorship

2011-03-20T16:08:00.003Z

It's great having a sponsor, Paul and Lisa at Hilderthorpe Cycles/Cyclelife have now been sponsoring me since 2008. They have been great and are firm friends as well as sponsors. The race bike needed some work done before my first race on the 3rd April in Hull. I went up to see Paul and Lisa on Saturday and Paul spent a solid couple of hours putting new cables on the bike (a real pain in the you know what due to them all being internally routed) set up the gears and also had to tighten up the bottom bracket. As a result the bike is running like clockwork now and has been cleaned and degreased, re-oiled and is now ready for the first race of the year. Hopefully I can do the bike justice in 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to racing, it's been a very long winter. I see that both Sag's and Pete Norris had superb results in their first race of the year at the Dambuster Duathlon, congratulations to both of them. I've just been away for a week on a course for work, I managed to get some training in and of course I had the bike with me. I will try and get back into a routine this week, and I have cross country on Wednesday afternoon to look forward to. I think that's all for now.

Edit,
Pete was DQ'd, not sure why but I believe he would of been top 5 overall.

My kind of day at work

2011-03-10T14:19:00.000Z

Yesterday was a good day at work, 12 mile cycle to work, lunch time 10 mile cycle to Digby for the XC race, 5.5 mile XC race, 18 mile cycle home to Scampton. Great day's training. I think the winter training has gone well so far as I feel really strong at the moment. First race will be a sprint on the 3rd of April, then I will know just how well the winter training has gone but I feel in better shape in comparison to other years. I'm ready to race :-)

Its a Family thing

2011-03-05T20:01:00.002Z

Check out my super cool little sis on her Giant XTC Carbon hardtail! Must be in the genes.

Feeling good after a 14.5 mile steady run this morning. A couple of hours playing on the mountain bike in the morning I think is on the cards.

Main races now in place

2011-03-04T20:23:00.002Z

I've gone through a few weeks now thinking out what would be my game plan for this season. I qualified to represent GB at the European Long Distance Championships early Feb although I knew I would given the results I had last year. I've now entered 5 races so far for 2011 although it's 6 including the European Champs. So my races so far are The Beaver middle distance in May, The Dambuster in June, Antwerp 70.3 in July, European Champs in August, The Vitruvian in September and the Isle of Man End to End Mountain Bike Race. I will fill in some of the gaps with a couple of sprint and Olympic distance events very soon. Antwerp 70.3 is a month before the European Long Course, the timing couldn't be better for me as I will recover well and hopefully be in great shape at the Euros. I've been very lucky with great support from the RAF Sports Lottery/Sports Board who have given me a healthy grant to assist in funding this years racing. Things look like they are finally starting to fall in to place, fingers crossed things will work out as I've planned.

Ouch

2011-02-20T17:12:00.002Z

For those that didn't see the crash on the track at the weekend. Ouch!!

General round up.

2011-02-18T08:43:00.001Z

Back from Lanza.
Great week with great weather, actually I lied about the weather because on the Saturday it rained for 5 minutes!! I had a great time, we arrived Tuesday lunch time and the weather was superb so Anthea and I sat in the sun all afternoon. That evening I built the bike and went for a 35 min run up the volcano (the same one I recked my knee on last year). Wed was a 1 hr 45 bike loop followed by more sitting in the sun and another 35 min run in the evening. Thursday 1hr 45 bike loop with a 30 min sea swim in the evening. More sitting in the sun. Friday I did a 2hr 15 bike with a 35 min run off the bike up the volcano. Saturday I did a 2 hr walk with Anthea to the market (where we had our 5 min of rain) but after lunch is was lovely sunshine so mid afternoon I did a 1hr 30 run taking in 2 trips to the top of the volcano. Sunday was another 1hr 45 min bike loop in the morning and a 30 min sea swim in the evening and i'm sure you guessed it more sitting in the sun. Monday, the last day to train was 1hr hard on the bike with a transition to a fast run up the volcano. More sunshine and then packed the bike in the evening. All in I feel I didn't do mega miles but I did do quality sessions. Not loads of swimming you'll also note but the sea was quite rough most of the week as although it was warm and sunny it was a windy week.

Weight loss.
I've raced for years at 74/75 kg's but last year lost some weight and dropped to 70/71kg's and p.b'd at most events. Over the winter I went back upto 75kg's so the last three weeks I have been wanting to get down to 72kg's. I've not done much in the way of carbs for a couple of weeks (p.b for those that know) and yesterday weighed in for the first time since the hospital check up 3 weeks ago. I was most pleased to weigh in (first thing in the morning before breakfast) at 70.2 kg. Weight lost I would like to now maintain that for the season.

Cross country.
Had a cross country race on Wednesday after only getting back from Lanza on tuesday night, went well considering, running 37 mins for the 6.1 mile course. Finished 6th (again) ahead of Pete Norris (again). Pete and I have had 3 close races now so it will be good to see how we compare on the tri scene this year. I will need all the bike and run form I can find though as Pete will be out of the water well ahead of me so I will be chasing him down in most/all of the tri's this year. Look forward to that.

European Championships.
I've received confirmation that I will represent GB for the 4th time on the long course at the European Championships this August. I hope that things work out and I can go to the race. I would like to try again after last year, where I was in a medal position by the end of the bike. My run let me down on that occasion but I was on the comeback from injury. Had I of run my normal time I would have got a medal. Fingers crossed I can put it all together this time round.

Think that's all for now.
Daz

Not much going on

2011-02-05T22:39:00.002Z

What's been happening? Not much is the answer. Raced at Wittering for the lincs league cross country race 10 days ago, first time i've done any sort of speed work since November. It was hard work but managed to finish 6th so quite happy with that. Had a good battle with Pete Norris all the way through the race with a constant gap of just 10 seconds (to my advantage) and finished 10 seconds ahead of him. Wednesday just gone I got asked short notice to go down to Halton for the RAF cross country champs to help secure a team win for Waddington, we won! I finished 15th overall which i'm happy with due to the lack of speed/effort sessions this year and put a healthy 30 seconds into Pete this time. Thursday I was on a course so no training and Friday I just did a 20 mile ride on the mountain bike, it was a tad on the windy side. Today (Saturday) I did a 32 mile ride in the wind and rain this morning and this evening did an 11 mile run taking in Lincolns "Steep Hill" a cobbled street of approx 20% gradient. Feel quite good now too. Not sure what tomorrow will bring yet, probably a turbo session and Monday will be packing the bike down as Tuesday at 0730hrs I fly off to Lanza for a week. Beth is at school so its just me and Anthea going and she's cool with me training out there so should be a good week. Hopefully get some sun on my skin and more importantly I don't want a repeat of last year when on the second day out there I tore my patella tendon :-( so fingers crossed for a good weeks training. Really looking forward to some good weather, biking in shorts, running in the sun and sea swimming. Will do updates and pics as the week progresses.

And a front puncture on the way home!

2011-01-13T21:15:00.003Z

Well after this mornings rear puncture on the way to work, I got a front puncture 3 miles from home on the way back tonight. I had used my gas cylinder this morning so decided to ride on a flat tyre as I didn't fancy the walk. All was going OK (or as OK as can be) until the last mile where I broke a spoke as well. Managed to ride all the way home but need to do some work on the bike now. Never mind it could have been worse.

Cold Showers and a Puncture

2011-01-13T08:20:00.000Z

First week of commuting after the Christmas period, how's it going? Well the building I work in has no hot water and is not likely to have until at least the end of the month. Icy cold showers for me this month then. Its been hard work getting up at 5:30 everyday this week but only tomorrow and then its the weekend. Swimming has been hard work too, why does the swim fitness dissappear quicker than the run/cycle fitness? Today I had my second punture whilst commuting, can't complain though at 2 punctures in six and a half months of cummuting. Tube replaced, co2 cannister emptied and back on my way, still made it to work on time too :-)

Marathon decision has been made.

2011-01-09T14:33:00.003Z

Got up this morning and something has happened since earlier in the week. I felt positive about things. Maybe its because the sun has finally made an appearance! So I finally got to where my new Oakley Radar BMX Chrome Edition whilst doing a long run. I scanned the map and decided on a route, got ready and set off with the GPS on to measure the new loop. With a new list of tunes on the ipod I was enjoying the nice (yes you heard me - nice) weather. As I got to the last junction before heading back up towards home I had a check on the GPS, I was 9.4 miles in at an average of 6:30 per mile. I decided to push harder for the last few miles to try and lower the average and finished at 13 miles on the dot with an average of 6:25 for the total run. So at the end of the first week of training for 2011 I would say my base fitness isn't too bad. Back to work on Monday so the biking and swimming starts again, I think by Friday night I will be quite tired. So onto the Marathon decision.........................I'm going to give it a miss. Once I check the roster at work on Monday I will hopefully be able to enter the Clumber Classic Duathlon in March, I hope to carry the running form from last season and think I will go well in the duathlon.

Shall I rename the blog?

2011-01-07T10:47:00.002Z

Daz Sharpe's whinging page? might be more appropriate the way things are going. So is it just me or is everyone else getting sick of the bloody weather? Struggled to run the first and last mile of a 7 mile loop this morning due to black ice on the road and pavement, no traction = no speed! Not that i am in any shape for going fast at the moment anyway. It's time to try and get some consistency into my training and hopefully that will come next week when I go back to work, the commuting and swimming at lunch times should get me back in a more positive frame of mind. Still no game plan for the 2011 season yet, or at least nothing set in stone. All I have entered so far is the Vitruvian and the Dambuster. I'm still sitting on the fence with regards to the London Marathon, I have the entry form here but can't yet decide if I want to do it. Its a big commitment and my history with this event isn't good! Decisions?

The year ends, mixed feelings

2010-12-31T18:25:00.002Z

Well its the end of another year, I have mixed feelings about it. The good feelings are that despite a disastrous start with a patella tendon injury forcing me to pull out of my first 3 races it was in fact a fantastic years racing for me. I had p.b's at Henlow, The Vitruvian, Antwerp 70.3, The Dambuster, I won the RAF Standard distance championships and won the RAF Sprint Championships at Cranwell. Can't grumble at that, I had some other great races with top 5 overall at the Yorkshireman Triathlon, the first ever triathlon to be held in the Humber River, and also top 5 at the Driffield Triathlon, the first race back from injury. The only other race was the European Championships for GB finishing 7th, I was happy with that result but my run cost me a championship medal. On reflection I would put that down to too soon after a serious injury, although I was capable of the distance of the run I just wasn't fit enough to cover the distance quickly. So all in a good years racing.

The bad feelings are with the rest of life. After being posted to RAF Waddington things have gone from bad to worse. The house sale fell through, my car I was selling fell through the same weekend of the house sale falling through, and then just another load of trivial things none of which on their own would be an issue but all of them added up are really getting me down. I still don't know what racing to do in 2011 as unless something comes up soon I just don't think I can afford to race. I will have to spend my Christmas money on the Dambuster Triathlon and Clumber Duathlon, I've entered the Vitruvian thanks to the sale of an old frame from the shed. I think the end of 2010 will be a good thing to be honest and I hope 2011 is better.

So to change the subject I did have a nice Christmas in the Isle of Man, not much training, 2 runs and to mountain bike rides in 8 days. I got some very nice Oakley Radars after loosing mine in 2009, I have got the BMX Chrome edition, very shiny and in your face. I got a Specialized Stumpjumper full suspension bike too from my sister, her old bike but it was a men's medium so fits a treat. I had some good fun on that on boxing day, 3 hour ride in the snow all off road. Pictures of both the glasses and the bike in the next day or 2.

All that remains is to wish all the readers of this blog all the very best for 2011, I hope its a great year for you all and a better one for me.

Being priced out of the sport?

2010-12-18T21:15:00.002Z

Well I've entered the Vitruvian Triathlon this week. I have a couple of issues with this, the first is timing. We all know that this event will fill completely, we all know it will fill quickly, what bothers me is them opening it the week before Christmas. Why? If its going to fill and fill quickly why not wait until the new year. Not many people have a spare £110 lying around the week before Christmas, but some might have Christmas money they can use to pay the entry. As I said I'm entered but only because I have just sold my old training bike frame could I afford it. This brings me on to the second concern, the price. £110 is a lot of cash for a race. I was reading a thread on Tri Talk forums this week about entry fees for events. I have never wanted to do the Windsor Triathlon, it doesn't really appeal to me, but even if I did I would not pay £87 for an olympic distance race. The cost of entry to any triathlon is getting silly in my opinion and soon I fear that the only people racing will be those that can afford it. The average working man/woman is being priced out of the sport. The thing is that this is only going to continue because the quicker the events fill the more the organisers are going to put the price up and it would seem that it is just becoming about the profit rather than the race. I bet that if you put an Ironman entry fee up to £1500 they would still fill in less than a week? I have some provisional ideas of what I would like to race next year but being able to afford to enter the events and having the money to enter them before they fill up is debatable. I can see me retiring from triathlon due to the cost of the sport long before retiring due to age/injury etc.

A weekend doing nothing

2010-12-13T11:20:00.000Z

When I got home Friday night I had managed to clock 191 miles on the bike for the week which was the turbo session from Sunday and the rest was commuting to work. Was planning a long-ish run for the weekend but decided in the end to just do nothing. I cleaned out the shed in order to make space for the mountain bike which will be coming back with me after the christmas holidays in the Isle of Man. I then cleaned and de-greased Anthea's old winter bike and my old winter frame in preparation to sell as they are no longer required and are just taking up space. So that was my weekend of nothing, no training!! Not done that for a while.

And another record

2010-12-07T19:21:00.002Z

How cold? Yes I've broken another p.b for the coldest ride i've done after cycling to work today in -15.6 degrees. I thought it was colder than yesterday but had to wait until the news and weather tonight for confirmation. Bring on some warmer weather!

Coldest since records began

2010-12-06T20:15:00.002Z

Cycled to work this morning, it was cold!!! The news tonight says that Scampton recorded the coldest temperature for the area since records began. -14 degrees, no wonder I was cold riding in.

3/4 Mile sheet of Ice

2010-12-05T20:17:00.002Z

That's what I have to get across in the morning to get to the main roads on my bike. So today I didn't go out on the bike I set the turbo up instead. 3 hours later I'd covered 66.5 miles. Not the most exciting way to cover the distance but its another good session in the bag. Its about time the weather sorted itself out.

Don't like this weather.

2010-11-28T19:48:00.002Z

When I woke on Saturday and opened the curtains to a crisp white blanket of snow my face dropped. I really don't like the snow and ice, it puts a stop on the cycling. Hopefully at Christmas I can pick up my mountain bike whilst in the Isle of Man, its my sisters old bike, a specialized stump jumper full suspension (its a men's medium) so should be ideal and I can't wait. Then the snow won't bother me as I feel more confident on fat tyres in this weather. So the weather ruined my plans for training this weekend so I adapted and overcame. Saturday I did a 15.5 mile run mainly on trails, nice and steady at 7 min miles. This morning I took the turbo trainer to the gym and did a 40 mile turbo at 25mph average followed by a 5km run on the treadmill in 18:28. Should of done the first 1km of the run at 16.1 instead of 15.1 and I would have been sub 18 as the last km was 18.5. A good weekends training, don't know how much more time I will be on the turbo this week looking at the forecast, its not good.

Henlow 10 - New P.B

2010-10-25T20:20:00.002+01:00

Last Wednesday was the Henlow 10 incorporating the RAF 10 Mile Championships. My 10 mile P.B was on this course anyway so a fair comparison. Some say its not a fast course and that a good course would be at least a minute quicker. The conditions seemed good and although it was cold stood at the start I soon warmed up. I went through the first mile in 5:55 although it does have a quite large up hill section so not to bad really. I felt strong and pushed on throughout and my worst mile was 6:00 through 7 - 8 which also has a long up hill drag. I finished in 57:14 giving an average of 5:43 per mile so some of the miles must have been near to 5:30. A new p.b taking 43 seconds of my previous time. Now I can't say that I could of gone quicker (or I would have) but I am confident to say I could have held the pace up to half marathon which would have given me a sub 1:15 half which is championship qualifying time for the London Marathon. Happy with that but I do feel there is more to come yet. A week Wednesday and I start the Lincolnshire cross country league, should be fun. Not much else happening at this time of year.

House sale fell through

2010-10-09T17:03:00.001+01:00

My house buyer has pulled out 3 weeks into the sale............................ar$eholes!!!

Preparing for winter

2010-10-03T17:49:00.004+01:00

Ok so its been a month since my last post, what's happening? The week after the Vitruvian triathlon I went to the Isle of Man for the End to End Enduro mountain bike race. I borrowed a bike again this year, a carbon Specialized Epic. I got my first ride on it the day before the race, not ideal but luckily it was a perfect fit and I only had to adjust the seat height. It was a great bike to ride and if I had the money I would be easily tempted with one. Anyway the next day was race day, quite a sight seeing 1368 mountain bikers on the start line!!! As the race started I made my way through the field, being an ex road racer really helps. By the time we were about 6 miles in I was in the leading group containing no more than 25 riders. I climbed well on the first monster climb of the day and moved into the top 20. Over the top of the first hill and you get chance to pick up speed on the first decent despite it being very rocky and loose stones. I was progressing nicely until I got to one of the new sections of the course at Ballacraine farm where I had a crash on wet tree roots. No issues really just a bit of a commando roll across the floor and after picking up the bike I was on my way again. Things were going great until the climb up the pipeline where out of the blue my legs just went bang. I hadn't really felt fatigue coming on and was surprised how quick I blew. With about 10 miles still to go this wasn't good! I pushed on as best I could but was loosing lots of places now. I slipped down the field and ended up crossing the line in 59th. Happy enough with that, not sure if it will feature in next years race plans though?

After the race I had a sore throat and the next day I had a full blown cold. This dragged on for about 10 days so training really went down hill during this time. I am now training quite hard for the Henlow 10 mile road race. I did a 9.6 mile run on Wednesday in 1 hour 5 seconds, then a 12.5 mile run today in 1 hour 19 mins 57 seconds. Things are on target for a sub hour run if the weather is right on race day but how much under the hour I don't know?

I have also been getting ready for winter, been spending lots of money!!! I've bought a new bike as I felt it would be best with all the commuting I am doing, I have also bought some winter boots to try and combat the winter weather, last but not least I have also got some cross country running shoes. I plan to do the lincolnshire league this year but was advised that spikes are not ideal for all the courses. I noticed that a lot of off road shoes have a tread more suited to the likes of woodland trails but think they would clog up with mud to easily so I went for the adidas ones with more of a rugged tread pattern. That's all for now I think, only other news is my house is sold subject to contract, this is a worrying time as many sales fall through at this stage so fingers crossed it all works out. If all goes through then I will be on the move again, and it will be this side of Christmas due to various circumstances. Time will tell and i'll update more as I know myself.

Vitruvian Triathlon - Targets Smashed

2010-09-06T07:53:00.007+01:00

I travelled down to Rutland water on the Friday afternoon as I was camping out this weekend with Anthea, Beth and the dog. We had booked for both Friday and Saturday so that I could have a more relaxed race weekend instead of the usual turn up after a mad dash to get there, do the race, pack up and drive home. It was very hot on the Friday and I was dripping with sweat by the time I had put the tent up with Anthea, Beth went off for a paddle in the lake and the dog was panting away until we got him a drink. After setting up the tent I drank 2 x 750ml bottles of high 5 to help re-hydrate, and then we took a slow walk down to the registration area although we were about an hour early. Despite being that early there was a lot of activity going on and a couple of trade stands to have a look at, I managed to escape without spending any money on shiny new toys. I met Marc Preece and Al Hadnett also waiting to register and after a quick catch up chat we managed to get registered. I also met Reg Swallow on my way out of the tent, then headed off to get a nice cup of tea and relax for a bit. After a brew, i popped back down to rack the bike so that I had finished for the night. As is usual with these events you end up running into other friends and what should be a ten minute job took 45 minutes as I popped over to see Sags, Julie and the girls on the way back to my tent.

The Swim,

After a cold night I woke and had 2 cups of tea, 2 toasted tea cakes and 1 tin of rice pudding for breakfast. I drank 1 x 500ml of high 5 4:1 slowly whilst in transition getting ready. The swim was very foggy and you couldn't see the first turn buoy. The first two waves went off and I entered the water ready to start but they announced a delay of 6 minutes. Finally we got away and the first lap despite the fog was uneventful, I didn't feel 100% and felt a little sick. I exited the water at the end of the first lap, ran round the barriers and dived in for the second lap. The next wave had just started and at the first turn I caught the back of that wave, I managed to work my way through and had no problems, I was even feeling better. I exited the water and crossed the timing mat in 32:47, a bit disappointing given my sub 30 swim at Antwerp. I have never had a fast swim at Rutland water, I don't know why?

The Bike,

I decided due to the cold I would put my socks for the run on before starting the bike in some hope it would help keep me slightly warmer on the bike. This would save some time in T2 though and to be honest I was happy with my first transition of 1:35. I ran out and jumped on the bike, quickly got my feet in the shoes and decided to just spin the legs up the short climb to the main road to get the blood flowing. Once on the main road I settled into a good but steady pace with the plan for an even split over the two laps. It was so cold on the bike and the fog was causing visual problems with water gathering on the lenses of my shades. The roads were very busy which surprised me at that time of day. I completed the first lap having passed loads of people yet not being overtaken myself. I decided to push harder on the second lap as I still felt strong and passed lots more people but got overtaken by 1 person. I tried to match him after I had dropped back about 15 meters but couldn't. I didn't let it worry me too much and thought I could maybe catch him on the run. As I entered T2 I knew I would have to stop for a wee but decided I would start running and stop on the course somewhere. I had completed the bike in 2:16:38 and for those who had voted on Sags's poll I had beaten his bike split by 2:30.

The Run,

I set off on the run extremely focused as I had made claims to a lot of people that I was going for a sub 1:25 half marathon. I have always ran 1:26 half's in triathlons but thought I could go faster based on my training and other races this year. I stopped after the first 800 meters at the same bush I had a wee on last year. After about 40 seconds I felt much relief and set off again. The first couple of km I was moving at a good pace but had cramp in both quads and a little bit of back ache. I thought the sub 1:25 was off but I pushed on hoping to either get as far as possible before I blew or that I could run it off. The result was I ran off all the aches and pains. I knew I was running well and it felt great, I was passing loads of people but never got passed by anyone. At the end of the first lap I saw Sags setting off on his run and wanted to catch him. This spurred me on and I kept pushing, just after we crossed the dam I could see Sags and as I caught him I asked him to run with me but he declined. As it turns out I was running an average of 6:15 per mile and after crossing the line found out I had ran a 1:22:16. I was chuffed to bits with my result, I had said I was targeting a sub 4:20 and finished with a 4:14:03 smashing my previous time of 4:22.

It was nice to be able to relax after the race without packing up and rushing home. I went to the Inter-Service presentation where we were told we had come second to the Army, watched Sags get his vets prize, then went to the main presentation to see Sags the trophy hunter collect another vets prize. What a great day for him, so pleased he pulled everything together at the right time.

So what's next? The same as last year, I have a week to recover before racing in the Manx End to End mountain bike enduro. I think I will then look for a sprint to finish off the tri season and possibly do the Dalby forest off road duathlon if I have time.

brass monkeys

2010-08-31T08:42:00.003+01:00

Bit chilly this morning on the ride to work, had to break out some of the autumn gear, so on my ride to work this morning i had on the following,

1. Socks
2. Specialized shoes
3. sidi over socks
4. Dhb Knee warmers
5. Tri shorts
6. Base layer t shirt
7. Dhb Arm warmers
8. Short sleeve cycle top
9. Gore wind stopper gilet
10. Full finger running gloves (not good enough for the job today)

Was cold for the first 2 miles but warmed up except my fingers, I need some mid season (not winter/not summer) gloves if anyone can recommend some.

So I see Sags has a poll on his blog at the moment, I did laugh when I read it and it's very good fun. It will be interesting to see how the vote finishes and how accurate it is. I think Sags will be quicker on the bike to be honest as I haven't trained since Antwerp 70.3, just been commuting and I also had a big 11 day lay off this month while on holiday. Historically both of our bike times have always been very close so which ever way things swing on Saturday I think it will be close. Sags is swimming well too at the moment it would be great to see him put in a good swim split on the day.

My concern for Saturday will be the temperature when we start the bike leg, given this mornings experience it will be hard to know what to do for best. Do you waste time putting on a bit more clothing? or do you stick with the tri suit only and hope it warms up quickly? so many decisions to make.

So I will be camping at Rutland for the first time and plan to be there about 2pm on Friday so I can set up camp and have plenty of time to chill out instead of the usual rush around on race day.

So to sum up my final blog entry before the race I am going to say that wheel choice is still unknown, clothing choice is still unknown, weather forecast looks ok and if all goes to plan and I get everything right on the day I am going to target a sub 4:20. There you go I've laid it on the line now for all to see, best I pull my finger out now and try and live up to that bold claim.

usual question - disc or 50 rear

2010-08-26T08:34:00.002+01:00

So its only just over a week to the Vitruvian triathlon so I need to start thinking about wheel choice. The question i am asking myself is does the extra weight of the disc balance out over the advantage it will give, specifically thinking about pulling it up the ripple on the second lap? I am not sure so will have to have a think. I am swaying towards the cosmic carbons front and rear but as a strong cyclist could I drag the disc up the ripple on the second lap, and if so will I lose any time compaired with that gained on the rest of the course. I'm not really fired up for the vit at the moment as unlike Sags my swimming has taken a real hit. I had 12 days out of the pool whilst on leave and since then it would appear that my swim fitness has packed its bags and left for the year. Also during that 12 day period I only ran 3 times, and cycled twice. It was nice to have a break and spend some time with Anthea and Beth, we went to Germany and Belgium camping, followed by a few days in the Isle of Man at my mum and dads. Whilst over there I did get roped into a mountain bike race using my sisters spare bike. Now that was a hard day at the office. It was 85% single track with loads of tree roots and extremely technical, something i struggled with to be honest and the cadence/gearing needed for this course was crazy. To give you an idea of the difficulty of the course it was 3 laps of a 6 mile circuit and it took me 2 hours 40 minutes to finish!!! On the last climb my legs went with just 1/2 a mile to go and I lost a place dropping down to 10th. As a result of such failure I gave the bike to my dad to take home for me and I ran home to punish myself for not being good enough. I hope i perform better in the Isle of Man End to End enduro race the week after the Vit but the course is less technical with more open fire tracks etc with a chance to get the power down.

I qualified for Clearwater!!!!!! but i'm not going :-(

2010-07-26T16:46:00.002+01:00

Sunday saw me take part in the Antwerp 70.3 triathlon and world championship qualifier. When I entered the event back in December I stated my intention was to qualify for Clearwater. Mission accomplished!!! So why am I not going? Well I went to the slot allocation ceremony as i've never been close at the full Ironman distance but seen as I was 8th in my age group in Antwerp and there was 4 slots available I thought I had a very good chance. I was offered the 3rd of the 4 slots and felt quite emotional as I didn't take it. At the end of the day it all boils down to cost. The truth is racing in Spain last month and then in Belgium at the weekend on top of all the other costs for this years season means I simply can't afford it. When I entered we planned to go on holiday as a family if I qualified but that was last year. Everything changed this year when Anthea got in the police and I got a posting. Beth went off to boarding school and we moved in to married quarters and put our house on the market which left us paying a mortgage on an empty house and rent on another along with Beths school fees!!! It is such a shame but that's life. If I took the slot it was 270 euros on the night to pay the entry and even if I went on my own I reckon I would of been at least another grand for travel and accommodation in the states plus any spends on food etc. So enough of my moaning and sulking how was the race?

The swim was in a lake and I have to admit its the most beat up i've been in a swim since Ironman South Africa. I didn't ever find any room in the water despite it being started in waves as we were only 3 minutes apart so we were catching slower swimmers from earlier waves before half way. I exited the water on 28 mins but crossed the timing mat on 29:16. A good swim and I was pleased with that. The run to transition and out the other side was long but there were no dramas and I got on the bike and started to get into a good rhythm on the bike. After about 3km you go under the river through a huge tunnel (as big as the tyne tunnel for those who have driven through that) a really fast decent and a nice climb back out. The disc wheel sounded awesome in the tunnel :-) The bike course is fairly straight forward for the first 30 km with a few tram lines to cross. The back of the course you do 2 laps of and its quite technical with some very tight corners. I was feeling good on the bike and fueling well, making up lots of places but getting very angry by the amount of blatant drafting going on. You would get overtaken so sit up for a couple of seconds to let the gap get draft legal and then a train of riders would come past leaving you with a line of 8-10 riders to go back past. Occasionally you would see groups of 30 + riders and wonder where the race officials are and if they are paying any attention. As you come back into town you spend the last 5k or so on cobbles which really take it out of you after the previous 85k. I clocked a 2:19:56 on the bike. Into transition the legs felt ok and after putting on the socks and trainers I left transition. This is the only point in which my race didn't go to plan, about 500 meters into the run 1 of my 2 gels I was planning to fuel with fell out of my belt. I wasn't stopping for it which left me with 1 gel as the fuel stations were giving out power bar gels which I hate. So 1 gel and 21k of running left me with no choice. I was to take the gel on the 10k mark and that's what I did, the only other thing I took on was a couple of mouth fulls of water. The pace I was running was good until 17k when I slowed a little. As I hit 20k I did a time check and realised if I gunned it I could go sub 4:20 which was my objective, I turned up the cobbled street towards the square and onto the finish line carpet crossing the line in 4:19:23 with a half marathon time of 1:26:26. All in a great day, chuffed to bits with the time, the position of 64th overall (including the elites) and the fact I qualified for Clearwater!!!!!!!!! Happy days.

Cranwell Sprint and RAF Road Relays

2010-07-20T11:07:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday the 7th July I went to RAF Cranwell for the RAF Sprint Triathlon Championships. I was a little unsure how I would go due to having recently (10 days before) raced the European Long Distance Championships. Some people don't believe that you can be competitive over all the distances in triathlon. I have a different belief, having won the RAF championships at standard distance the week before the long course and then racing well in Europe followed by winning the sprint championships at Cranwell. My race went well with a P.B in the swim, I left transition on the bike and it was a very windy day which made the bike course hard but I had a strong bike leg and made good time. A swift transition saw me out on the run and in fine form. I felt fast and was catching lots of people from earlier waves and crossed the line in 1:03:58 to take the win by 32 seconds.

A week later I raced for RAF Waddington at the RAF Road Relay Championships at RAF Wittering. I was running the first leg for our team of 4. I ran a 16:40 officially and was pleased to be part of the winning team overall.

European Championships Race Review

2010-06-28T12:17:00.005+01:00

Saturday was race day, we left the hotel at about 06:45 by coach to travel about 18km to the start/T1 and the sun was starting to shine. The lake was stunning, clear fresh water and the view across the course was great, you could see the whole course, 1 lap of 4km. The first turn was exactly 1 mile out so plenty of time for the field to spread out although with the different wave starts it wasn´t busy anyway. I didn´t draft on the swim as people didn´t seem to be able to swim in a straight line so I spotted the bouys and chose my own line. At the first turn I felt I had paced myself well so picked up the speed a bit. After the next turn which was another 500m I was spotting the next bouy and could see a group of swimmers ahead, a couple were in orange hats which was my wave and a lot of yellow hats from the wave that had left 5 mins before us. I thought I would try and bridge the gap and this helped me to push on during the swim. I did bridge the gap and went past most of them. I exited the water in 1 hour 5, a good swim by any standard I feel but as someone who classes themself as a weak swimmer I was very pleased. The bike course was a rolling course and due to split transitions it was 1 and 3/4 laps. I would liken the course to the dambuster course to be honest, and despite the heat building I seemed to be fueling ok and taking on plenty of fluid. The last 20k of the bike was a bit dull as it was very long straight roads and I didn´t see anyone in front of me for most of the last 20k and started to think I had missed a turn on the course. Eventually I reached the town and back into the crowds to end the bike on 3 hours 23. Now here´s the thing, at this point I didn´t know it but I was at this stage in a silver medal position. I left T2 but unlike most races I didn´t feel like I was going to run fast and straight away felt I was running a steady enough pace to get round but could tell I wasn´t going to be racing. I don´t know why this was, it could have been the heat I guess or maybe i´d over done the bike. I still can´t put my finger on it but I ran the whole 30k and seemed to be hanging on to a steady sort of pace. The run course went through some country wetland sights which were very humid then back onto the streets but the only cool part of the course was the run through the arena on each lap. I ran a 2 hour 28 which is 18 mins slower than the last 2 times i´d raced this distance. The winner of my age group was only 20 mins and 1 second ahead. Had I ran my usual 2 hour 10 then I would have got a silver or bronze depending on the transition times being added. So how can I view the race, it could be seen as negative for blowing the chance of a european podium medal but i´m taking the positive outlook which is that I swam and biked to medal standard, and also that it was a great days brick training before Antwerp 70.3 in 4 weeks time. After crossing the line my body decided to shut down in a big way and I lay on the cold concrete floor for about 30 mins just shivering and unable to take on any fluids. I sat up after a while and then threw up just a water/gel combination. It was about another 30 mins then I cycled back the 5 min ride to the hotel, showered and went to bed for an hour, then tried to drink some coke, this proptly returned back up the body and was sick again. At about half nine that night I finally got a Forgoodness Shake down and kept it down but went back to bed. The day after I felt fine and after breakfast went for a gentle spin on the bike for about 40 mins. Today I did about a 24 mile bike with a very gentle 10 min run at the end before packing the bike ready for the long journey home. My next outing will be the Cranwell Sprint in about 9 days time. I hope to get some pics sorted of the race etc when I return home.

Arrived and the bike is ok :-)

2010-06-24T15:11:00.002+01:00

Always a worry when the bike is on the plane that it will get here in one piece. Well both the bike and I are ok, the bike is now built. I opted not to bring the disc as it looks like a hilly/rolling bike course so played it safe with the cosmic carbons. The flight was delayed, they got us all on the plane, pushed back then we sat on the pan for 2 and a half hours :-( I'm tired now as I got up at 2am this morning to drive to the airport so will sleep well tonight. Race brief this evening and parade of the nations. Will register tomorrow and test the bike out. Thats all for now.

Last run out before the European Champs

2010-06-21T20:02:00.002+01:00

Well this weekend was the last race before the European Champs, the Dambuster Triathlon. I only had an hours drive now that i'm Lincoln based so that was nice. I took my cosmic carbons and the disc wheel and had a quick wander round transition to see if others were using the disc as it was quite windy. I seen a few people with the disc so decided to "man up" and go for it. The swim was uneventful and I was a little disappointed with a 24:12, the bike was going well and I passed a lot of people all the way round especially on the climbs. I felt I was going well on the bike and tried to keep the pace as high as I could. I got in to T2 and the bike time was a 1:05:56 which was quicker than I did 2 years ago by about 1:30. A good transition and I set off on the run and pushed really hard all the way round, I felt strong and although working very hard felt it was within my limits. I ran a 33:50 about 1:30 quicker than 2 years ago and crossed the line in 2:05:56. The time was good enough for 18th overall and 1st in the RAF Championships. I got home that lunch time and in the afternoon had a 2 hour sleep as I was really tired. Felt good the day after and this morning cycled 18 mile to work at a high tempo which also felt good. Next stop Spain!!! I fly out on Thursday to take on Europe, I hope I carry the current form with me. Jase Walkley had a scary moment on Saturday but luckily for him the only damage was a flat tyre. Must have got his heart rate racing though. Glad he's ok and not suffered from it.

Back on the world wide web..........at last!

2010-06-15T19:12:00.002+01:00

Well I should have been back on the web on Thursday last week but Virgin were being a bunch of useless gits. Still i'm back now, not really missed much anyway as i've only been training since my last race. I am racing the Dambuster Triathlon at the weekend then 5 days later I fly to Spain for the European long distance championships. Got my new GB kit as you have to have kit with the rear zip on it now and I think i'm about ready to race. Only set back is i've just had results of my blood test from last week and my white blood count is very low so I have to have another blood test tomorrow then I will hopefully find out what the problem is this time, they don't yet know if its to do with my medication so I guess I will find out next week. That's about all for now I think.

Getting there slowly

2010-06-07T16:32:00.003+01:00

Just a quick update from the work computer. No broadband until Thursday this week, its proper rubbish not having Internet at home. Moved into the AMQ the last week of May, bit of a come down from our own house but hopefully not for to long and once ours is sold we can buy again. Raced in the Yorkshireman Triathlon on the bank holiday weekend, the swim was in the river Humber, the first time a race has been held in the river. It was an assisted swim as the tide was coming in but the slower swimmers were finding it harder as the tide started to turn. The run to transition was about 500m up a hill and some steps, you had to leave trainers at the swim exit for this bit. Bike course was fast along a dual carriageway for a lot of it with about 8 miles on normal roads and rolling. The run was up onto the Humber bridge and then 2 laps across it and back. The wind really picked up during the run which made for a tough race with the curve of the bridge. Managed to get 4th overall, with a 2hr 2min time. Next event is the Dambuster in a couple of weeks then its of to Spain for the European Champs. Trying to settle into a new routine being a Monday to Friday worker but it does help having a pool on camp which is always nice. Will hopefully get back into the blog updates later this week when the home Internet is switched on.

Finally started a race this year :-)

2010-05-21T10:18:00.003+01:00

I entered the Driffield triathlon a couple of weeks before the event as I was doing a bit of running after my knee injury and thought I could actually make it round after my 3 non starts this year. Unfortunately I got a virus of some kind and was wiped out for the 2 weeks leading up to the event. I got up on race day and still wasn't sure if I was going to go and do the event as I was feeling sick a feeling I had had for about 10 days along with flu like symptoms. I decided to go as I though if I don't start today will the season ever start for me this year? Luckily its a local event and only a 20 min drive. I started as the first swimmer in my lane and in the second to last group of the day. The swim went well considering the lack of swim time lately and I exited the water on 6:10 with an actual time over the timing mat of 6:20. How I achieved that I'm not sure! A short run to T1 and then it was off on the bike. I was using my new Raleigh Carbon TT from my sponsor for the first time in anger and I was also using my disc wheel for the first time in a race too. I didn't feel great on the climb, my chest was really burning and lots of bright green snot getting coughed up but after the climb I settled into a good rhythm and clocked a 27:31 (about a 1:15 quicker than I've ever done in the last 3 years on this course). It turns out it was the 2nd fastest bike split of the day :-) that's where the good part of the race ended. I got onto the run and immediately felt sick and dizzy. I thought about walking but kept running but it felt slow. I crossed the line with a finishing time of 55:30 although I didn't know this at the time as I packed up and went home and slept the rest of the day. I thought I had made a mistake racing whilst still not 100% well but on Monday I felt great, it was the first day I hadn't felt sick in a long time. I checked the results and my time had got me 5th overall from 217 finishers. As you can see from the picture I was making hard work of the run!!

On Monday I trained quite hard, Tuesday/Wednesday I was at work and then on Thursday it was my last chance to do a ride I've always wanted to do but never got round to it and we move house next week so Thursday was the day to ride from my house to the Humber Bridge and across it. What a great ride, 78 miles in great weather and with a great sound track, I chose the Ministry of Sound Chilled 1991-2009. Just the right tempo for a relaxed ride out in the great British summer, here's hoping the weather is here for the whole summer!!

Just when you think your making progress........

2010-05-09T13:01:00.004+01:00

I've been making steady progress and was really hopeful of a race next weekend (16th). On Tuesday I had my longest run since February when I picked up the injury and seemed to be getting over the knee problem. All set for my first race then? No :-( Tuesday night I came down with a virus of some kind and by Thursday I was wiped out and spent the day in bed. Its now getting better and is just like a bad cold but to kick me while i'm down my body hasn't been able to handle it with my compromised immune system and i've got a bit of a colitis flare up starting. I just don't know when my luck is going to change this year but i'm not a happy bunny!!!! I will have to increase my medication and start on the predfoam (no prizes for guessing where that has to go). If I catch things early enough I might still be good to race at the weekend fingers crossed.

Hopeful return to racing

2010-04-29T11:54:00.002+01:00

I have entered the Driffield Triathlon to be held on the 16th May 2010. Hopefully this will be my return to racing. Hopefully I will start this race as I haven't managed to start any other event so far this year. This is going to be my first race since injury in early Feb and my first race since the 11th October 2009. I have been doing a bit of running and even managed a couple of bike to run bricks in the last week so given its only a sprint event I feel all being well I should "get round it". I've not really been finding any form what so ever in the pool so i'm not holding out any hope of a fast swim but the biking is going ok although i've done little on the speed front and can comfortably get round 5k with no knee pain so I will just see what the day brings. I am looking forward to it though, seems like a lifetime ago that I last raced.

On a change of subject Beth seems to be settling in to school now and dare I say actually enjoying it a little. She's home this weekend for the bank holiday so it might be hard getting her back on Monday evening but I know its for the best. I think she will really enjoy it once she settles completely.

Beth has started boarding school

2010-04-20T08:50:00.002+01:00

Well yesterday was the day that we set off for Stamford High School for Girls. A car full of bags and coat hangers full of neatly pressed uniform. Beth has started her new school. She seemed in good form when we left so hopefully she will settle in quickly. She has only got a 2 week stretch to push before bank holiday weekend and then she will be home. Didn't think I would miss her so much already :-(

Consistent Swimming

2010-04-15T20:27:00.002+01:00

Yes my splits were consistent in the pool today, unfortunately they were consistently slow! I did some 400m splits as my first race will be the Driffield Sprint Tri on the 16th May. I hope I actually start this race given the start I've had to this year so far. I have decided to focus on what I can do instead of what I can't do and I know I can run 5k at the moment so a sprint race makes sense. I've had a good week on the bike this week managing to clock 178 miles which is my best week on the bike since Lanzarote and that knee injury. A week on Sunday will see me watching the London Marathon on TV for the first time in three years having ran in 2007/2008/2009 so I think it will have to be done in style with good coffee and bacon butties!

I had an email today saying that the latest day to pay the entry fee for the European Championships is the 15th May which gives me a bit more time to see how the running progresses before I decide if its another non starter for me. Will this year be a complete write off? hopefully not as I have Antwerp 70.3 in July as well. I watched the Abu Dhabi Triathlon on Eurosport today, that looks fun, especially when you get to cycle round the F1 track, I think that race will have to go down on my "to do" list before I give up triathlon. Not much else happening at the moment, bye for now.

What's a faster race set up?

2010-03-30T18:48:00.004+01:00

I've been wondering which will be a faster set up for this seasons flatter races? Both have the disc on the rear but which is a faster front? I didn't buy the spinergys to race on but reckon it could be a fast wheel on the front but the cosmic carbon is a quick wheel as well. Any opinions would help thanks.

Time to accept facts

2010-03-25T16:21:00.002Z

Ok so this season was due to begin a couple of weeks back at the Clumber Classic duathlon, entered and DNS. Next up should have been the Fleet Half Marathon, entered and DNS. Next race should be the London Marathon, entered and you guessed it...........its going to be another DNS. There is a bit of a pattern going on here and its not very good! When I first injured my knee in Lanza back in Feb I thought I would be back in time for London but with only 4 weeks on Sunday until race day its time to give up that hope/dream that I will be fit and ready to race. I am actually doing a little running but not a chance of any distance or speed. I feel at this stage its far more important to avoid further injury and try and recover for the European Championships for the GB Age Group squad in June and the Antwerp 70.3 in July. Being an athlete really sucks sometimes I hate injuries.

Champions bike for sale!

2010-03-19T16:13:00.004Z

Ok so if you've seen my previous post you will be aware I now have a new time trial bike from my sponsor this season. As a result I don't need my other time trial bike which was the very machine that took me through last season to become the Yorkshire and Humberside Champion. This is in very good condition as you can see from the pictures. Its been fitted with a brand new set of michelin ironman tyres and is ready to go. I'm looking for £900 for it. Also I've popped a quick pick on of my TCR with my retro wheels I picked up recently for a bargain price. Nice set of wheels for training on and despite the age I think they still look cool.

New bike pics

2010-03-14T19:46:00.005Z

Ok, so a quick update, total hours training last week...........zero, hours training the week before.........zero, hours spent painting the house before it went on the market 18-20. So i've been a bit busy lately, but it didn't matter much as my knee is still not fixed. Finally got my arse into gear and picked up the new bike from Paul and Lisa at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ / Cyclelife. So Friday was the first ride on it to sort out my position. After a 20 mile loop I went back to the shop and swapped the stem from my Giant Trinity TT bike which is now in the shop for sale. I fitted the stem and then today (Sunday) did 26 miles on the turbo trainer so I could finish tweaking it, only changed the saddle position by moving it forward on the rails. I am now sure of the tri bar length and will speak with Paul to get about 2 inches taken off the length so the bar end shifters are closer and that should be it all set up. Initial thoughts after Friday's road ride are its a nice ride. It corners well and descends nice and steady. Haven't climbed to hard on it yet due to the knee injury as its still not ready to be pushed hard. Its a full carbon frame with full carbon fork and topped off with full SRAM Red groupset. So what are your thoughts, do you like it, be honest with your comments.

All Change, loads to do

2010-02-25T18:49:00.002Z

Well its all change in the Sharpe house. I'm posted to Waddington 1st June, if I get my admin done in time and Beth passes her tests she's off to boarding school after Easter, and Anthea has managed to get her posting with the police changed to the south side of the river Humber. Loads to sort out between now and then, got to find out how to sell a house? never sold one before so need to see the estate agent at the weekend to find out. Only sad thing is I've just spent 10k on renovations in my current house and another 1k on putting in a drive! never mind whilst I know I won't see the return on the investment I hope it will make for a quick sale.

Deeper into depression :-(

2010-02-22T21:31:00.002Z

Well now 2 weeks since knee injury, managed to continue to cycle in Lanza but last week had a full week off training to help the knee and try and get over the man flu. Sunday knee felt ok so thought I would try a run. Keeping it sensible I thought I would just do my 3 mile loop, didn't even get half a mile :-(
Walked the dog this morning and after a 1 1/2 mile walk knee was very sore and stiff. Off to get the big bad steroid injection in the morning (Tue) hopefully that will do the trick. Really missing the running now, cycled this morning just 20 mile and it seemed ok on the bike but not sure if I'm doing more harm to it. Think it has to be total rest after the steroid injection? will find out at docs. Must be bored as I did an ironman swim in the pool today! still at least its some training.

Injuries, man flu and a new bike

2010-02-18T08:50:00.002Z

Well Lanzarote didn't really go exactly to plan! The knee injury stopped me running and I'm not sure when I will be running again. I have seen the doc and he believes its patella tendinitis, the normal plan would be a high dosage of anti inflammatory but with my stomach problems I can't take any. The plan is to rest until next week, if it feels OK I can strap the knee and try to start building back up. If its not OK then its back to the doc for a steroid injection directly into the knee joint (ouch) followed by 2 weeks of no training. Hope its better for next week! I also have man flu which Roy quite rightly pointed out on Turbo mans blog is far worse than any other kind of flu or illness!!!! Still get it out of the way while I'm on forced rest which I suppose is the best time to have it if your going to be ill. Paul my sponsor at www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk has come up trumps again with a plan to get me on a new bike this season which I hope to pick up early next week. Until then I will just leave you guessing what it is (Sags and Mat your not to let the cat out of the bag until I post the pics and details after picking it up). I don't see me making the start line for the Clumber Park Duathlon on the 6th March so will now consider trying to qualify at Cambridge in May alongside Mr Saggers. Might be getting a mountain bike to play on as well in the next few weeks :-)
Hope you are all keeping fit and well ready for the season to start and Mat hope your injury heals well mate.

More on the bike next week
Daz

Lanza Day 3

2010-02-10T18:08:00.002Z

Day 2 ended in disaster. Out on the volcano run and just starting the decent my left knee went big time. Agony, had to get down the hill and back to the hotel, by the time I got back I couldn't straighten my leg. I thought it was going to be a wasted week but this morning although still in pain I thought I would try the bike out. No way I was going to get up the 20% climb I thought so I did the loop in reverse thinking I can turn back if its to painful. It wasn't too bad to be honest and I completed the loop as the climb is no where near as steep on the back of the hill, I would guess at about 14% so I could stay seated and spin the 39/19 most of the way and onto the 39/21 for the last bit as it got a bit steeper at the top. Neadless to say no running tonight, I put the wetsuit on instead and got in the sea for a swim. Can't see me running again this week if i'm honest but should be ok to carry on biking so not a total loss. Fingers crossed its not a major injury as I have Clumber Park Duathlon on the 6th March.

Lanza Day 2

2010-02-09T12:46:00.004Z

Woke up to glorious sunshine this morning. Coffee and toast at breakfast and then off round the loop. Got a few pics this morning on the way round, didn't want to take the camera yesterday because of the rain. The main climb on the route is a tough one, starts at about 5-6% and gets harder and steeper as it continues for about one and a half miles and once you get to the roundabout it gets harder still increasing to approx 12% and then the last part increases again to 20% which is hard going on a 39/21. Over the top and its fast with a good surface fairly flat for a mile and then the decent starts with some great flowing corners. Later on in the route it passes through the lava fields and then along the coast which nice new tarmac and rolling before the fast road home which is straight and gradual decent of about 2% for 3 or 4 miles. Last night I did my volcano run, a 7 mile loop with the climb up the volcano of about 250 meters from the hotel at sea level. A tough run but loving every minute of it. Running the same loop tonight then might be doing my long ride tomorrow of 3 - 4 hours. As you can see I'm adequetly dressed for cycling in February! although still sporting a british winter tan in a nice shade of milk bottle white!

Lanzarote :-)

2010-02-08T13:22:00.004Z

Well after a couple of weeks training in snow, ice, and general cold gray and wet weather I decided enough is enough. Wednesday last week booked flights and accommodation and flew Sunday to Lanzarote for the week. Had to drag Beth out of school for a week (she's gutted as you can imagine) and Anthea got the week off short notice but needed to use her holidays up for work reasons (career change - Finally got in the Police depite passing everything and being due to start 2 years ago). Got a nice hotel and upgraded to all inclusive and brought my bike with me. Tired last night so didn't build the bike until this morning. Not planning mega miles as its a family holiday but found a good loop of 29 miles so will do that most mornings and have planned to 3-4 hour ride mid week so should clock around 200 mile bike week and doing some running in the evening too. I have my wetsuit but not too worried about swimming to be honest. It rained this morning for the first 15 mile of the ride but then cleared up but even in the rain I still had shorts and short sleeve top on and was warm. Oh well that's all for now, hope you all enjoy the UK weather :-)

Lance Armstrong or Sags - greatest sporting bluff?

2010-01-21T12:40:00.005Z

Back in 2001 on the first mountain stage of the tour Lance Armstrong sat in all day playing a great poker game, he had the Telecom team convinced he was in trouble all day and Telecom tried to capitalise on this and put the whole team on the front to try and break him. After a couple of kilometers up the climb Lance stared Ulrich in the face for 2-3 seconds and then attacked, destroyed the field and went on to win the tour. Sags has sat there and told us all of his injuries, lack of training and talked of retirement all winter, he then goes out and does a 3k TT on the running track in 10:30. For those who haven't bothered to work it out or just not clicked as it took me a couple of days before I realised is that 10:30 for 3k is at the same speed an 18 min 5k! That's fast for a man who has "done nothing, not been training etc" in fact that's just fast full stop! So who has the greatest poker face? Lance or Sags? On a serious note, its good to see Sags getting back into it and I think the talk of retirement is rubbish as I know for a fact he's just bought some new trainers! Welcome back Sags.

On a change of subject but sticking with trainers I have just received my new ones, I like to be different and I don't like many of the colours of the UK models so I contacted my inside man (in this case inside lady) and got some Pro Grid Ride 2 in a nice red, only available normally in France and Germany. I have also been privileged enough to get some Fastwitch 4 which came today as well despite the fact they don't go on sale until the first week of February :-)

Life on the turbo

2010-01-07T14:11:00.003Z

Well its the 7th Jan 2010. I have ridden on the road on the 1st Jan and since then I have been on the turbo 6 times!! Already sick of it, I am struggling to get turbo motivated this year, don't know how I did it last winter, must of been the fact it was vital for the early Ironman in South Africa. Still today's session was interrupted by the post man (well parcel force actually) who were not due until tomorrow. I wasn't bothered though as it was my disc arriving. Its made by Pro and retails at about £900 but mine is second hand, it has a dura-ace axle fitted, ultegra 10 speed cassette and conti tyre + the wheel bag and all for just £350 :-) Already had it fitted for a photo session, stickers have been removed as I will be putting custom stickers on it (most likely to be name and sponsors web address) just deciding what font and colour to have them done in.

The New Year Has Started

2010-01-02T15:27:00.002Z

So that's it, a new year has started. Happy new year to those that have been and still do follow my blog. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. I worked most of Christmas but was off for the end of the year. So what's been happening? Not too much to be honest. I have been doing little bits of training here and there but nothing too consistent yet. I have been doing most of the cycling (which isn't much) on the turbo after the big freeze took over in Bridlington and you couldn't even walk safely let alone get your bike on the road. I finally got out on the road on New Years day for a nice ride of 1 hour 40. At the 10 mile point it started to snow heavily but I carried on and after a couple of miles it eased off only to start again on the main climb of the route. I got back just before my feet started to freeze so it wasn't too bad. I ran a 10 mile loop on the 30th Dec at a steady and comfortable pace and got round in 64 mins so quite pleased with that. Today I am in work so I brought the turbo in and set up in the gym next to the treadmill and did a brick, 10 mins run at 10k race pace then 20 min bike at Olympic distance pace repeated the set 3 times. Quite tired at the end but a good work out.

I didn't get any triathlon kit at Christmas this year, I opted to save the money towards a disc for the 2010 season, I looked into buying new but have gone for a used one as I don't know how much I will use it yet but going on past experience I will probably have it up for sale by mid season hence not spending loads on a new one. I also am now on the look out for a second hand tri spoke for the front. With the cosmic carbons I already have I will have plenty of set up options if I pick up a tri spoke as well. I have advertised my TT bike for sale as I may be getting a new race bike but at the moment its hard to say as the one I might be getting is rather difficult to get hold of. I hope to know more in the next 2-4 weeks what the likely hood is of me getting the new one. I have been well behaved over the Christmas/new year period and haven't over indulged so at the moment I seem to be fluctuating between 73 and 74 kgs but if I could only stop eating chocolate and danish pastries I might be able to get down to 72 kgs for the race season.

I have entered Clumber Park Duathlon and Antwerp 70.3 so far and also the Fleet Half Marathon and London Marathon. I will be applying for a slot at either the World or European Long course races for team GB but I don't know if I will qualify so time will tell on that front. I haven't worked out yet what smaller events I will do as warm up/training races but will start to look into it soon. I think that's all for now? so the only other thing is I changed the colour scheme on the blog just to freshen things up.

Daz

I don't usually vent my frustration on here

2009-12-19T17:35:00.003Z

I've just been watching the news and I feel that so many people need a reality check. All the people who were stuck on the trains in the euro tunnel being interviewed on the news crying and sobbing about being stuck on the train with no drinks or food and dirty toilets. Then they had the bare faced cheek to stand there and say that the so called ordeal has ruined Christmas. How dare they when on the same news programme there was the story of another British soldier who has been killed on duty in Afghanistan. Come on people its time for a reality check! get a grip on reality you sad pathetic losers.
Whilst I'm in the festive mood, remember if you get chance to buy Rage against the machine even if you don't like it and prevent "the crap factor" from being number 1 this weekend. The song is rubbish anyway but the point is do you want to be dictated to as to what your Christmas number 1 will be or would you like to choose for yourself.

2010 - The big plan - Ambitious? - Maybe

2009-12-05T21:04:00.004Z

Ok, its time to unveil the game plan for 2010. I have now put some things in place and decided what the season goals will be. I am aiming high and hope I can bring the form I had at the end of the 2009 season through into next year and try to improve on it. So what's on the cards? I have ambitions to qualify for 3 World Championships!

Part 1 of the plan - I have entered the Clumber Park Duathlon which is the national champs and also a World Champs qualifier. I am hoping to qualify for an age group slot for team GB and race the World Champs in Edinburgh in September.

Part 2 of the plan - I will submit some of my previous results from 08 and 09 to hopefully be selected for the World Long Course Champs for the GB age group team which are being held in Germany at the end of July.

Part 3 of the plan - I have entered Ironman 70.3 Antwerp with a goal of qualifying for Clearwater age group World Champs held in November in Florida.

So there you have it, my extremely ambitious plan for 2010. Is it achievable? I guess time will tell! I am also doing the London Marathon in April and hope to finally get it right. I have not had much luck at London over the last few years so fingers crossed it might go well for a change. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? probably but if you don't aim high what's the point in trying.

This, That and Man Flu

2009-11-22T14:17:00.002Z

Well its "off season" so not a lot going on really. I had a full month off the bike after my last race and have only just started getting going on the bike. Done a few 1 hour rides but no distance yet. I have fitted a set of crud road bike guards which seem to do a great job and are the only guards I have fitted to the Giant OCR winter bike with any success. Its not time for the turbo yet as its not quite at the snow and ice stage of winter so still out on the road. I have been offered a Hope vision 2 front light to borrow for the winter from my sponsor and should have it fitted this week. I have spent the week watching Anthea suffer with a heavy cold and matched her symptoms at about 1 - 2 days behind her. Of course me being a man, my condition is a lot worse!! I have "man flu" but I am still managing to do a bit of training as its only a head cold and not on my chest. I am stuck in work today so have been surfing the web a bit and found the bikes pictured. If I had between £4000 and £6000 (dreaming, I don't have any money for a bike) I would of course do a custom build but for an "off the shelf" bike from those shown I think I would opt for the Bianchi, which would you choose?

More media coverage

2009-11-05T13:45:00.003Z

This weeks coverage is of the End to End Mountain Bike race I did in the Isle Of Man, it was shown 4 times over the 3rd and 4th November on Sky Sports 3. I was filmed leading the main pack of 970 riders trying to close down the 3 breakaways. I even had my name called out by the commentator! Beat that Turboman!!! Next weeks media coverage is the main story on the sports pages of the weekly newspaper "The Bridlington Free Press" and no its not free before you ask!

I now have a provisional game plan for next seasons targets but will reveal all after I find out a bit more info about the races planned and will then make it public knowledge but lets just say its ambitious.

Hear my radio interview - for one week only!

2009-11-01T22:42:00.003Z

For those that don't know I was interviewed for BFBS radio at the weekend regarding the Yorkshire and Humber title. If you want to hear my embarrassing interview click on the following link http://www.bfbs-radio.com/pages/extranet/listenagain.php and scroll down to "From the touchline" its Saturday part 3 and starts at 29 mins just as the Saturdays record is finishing. Try not to laugh at me. Yes I know i'm a sad man but its as near to fame as i'm going to get!

2 wins in 1 day

2009-10-23T12:24:00.004+01:00

Well that's it, the season is officially over for me. I had my last race on the 11th October at Dalby Forest. It was an off road duathlon and I had to race it as I needed the points for the Yorkshire and Humber Championship. The championship is a series of 20 races with your best 4 to count. I was in 2nd place in the league and hoped my 2nd place earlier in the month at the Hull sprint would have been enough to take the title but it left me .4 of a point away from winning the league. This left me with no alternative but to enter the off road duathlon at Dalby Forest. I had to do some smooth talking with my sponsor Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ to borrow his Giant Anthem XO again for the event. Paul was very kind and agreed to lend me the bike and for the first time in years I actually went out to reccy the course (how serious is that?). I knew I would struggle with the technical sections of the course but hoped the big climb and sections of open fire track that I could use my power to stay competitive. I had to have a game plan and stick to it as I needed a podium finish for the points. Run 1 was 2.5k around a couple of grassed fields before dipping into single track with lots of decents and climbs through the woods. I arrived back in T1 in first place by 30 seconds and set off on the bike. The bike course was 4 x 7.5 k and by the time we had covered the first technical part of the course I was down in 3rd. On lap 2 I had dropped to 6th and was thinking of stacking it as I would not get the points I needed but decided I could still get some time back on the run. At the end of lap 3 I was gaining confidence on the technical stuff and had got back up to 4th and on the last lap regained 3rd. Arriving in T2 the leaders were 2 1/2 mins ahead and I set off to give chase, at the end of lap 1 the gap had closed and I pushed harder on lap 2. The gap was still falling and on lap 3 I took the lead with about 3k to go. I continued to push hard and pulled clear to take the win by 1 min 5 seconds. My run was the fastest of the day by over 3 mins!. So a great result, I won the race and I also won the championship. I am now officially the Yorkshire and Humberside Champion. I won a pair of Spuik MTB shoes worth £85 and a UKMTB cycle top. I am awaiting confirmation of what I have won for the championship and should hear this week. That has topped off the year for me and I feel the season has been a success after a bit of a dodgy start. My 4 races to count in the championship were 1st/2nd/2nd/5th. I can now enjoy a bit of a break before planning next years races and targets but think 1/2 IM is the way forward with an aim of qualifying for Clearwater and hopefully I might do a GB long course either world or european champs.

Last triathlon of the year but not the last race.

2009-10-10T20:45:00.002+01:00

Well the Humber Sprint Triathlon was the last tri of the year for me, however its not the last race of the year. The weather was cold but nice and dry and not to windy after the previous days storm. I was off at 10:10 so by the time I had got out of the water in 7:24 which included the long run to T1 it was quite warm and getting warmer. I was about 10 seconds behind Dean Kirkham who is also a GB age grouper so new I would have to push hard on the bike and for the first couple of miles we were draft legally very close until the main climb started and I pulled ahead and opened a bigger gap of about 40 seconds. There was a nice fast decent and a tasty little climb about 1 mile from the end of the bike course. I arrived back in T2 with a bike time of 33:20 which was a bit slower than I would normally expect although it was the second fastest bike of the day. I changed into the fastwitch 3's and I was off on the run. This was flat with the exception of the 2 return crossings of a main road flyover which I felt very strong on. I crossed the line in 1:00:33 which was the fastest time of the day until about a minute later when the very talented junior (only 16 years old) Ollie Dixon crossed the line in 59:53 to beat me by 40 seconds. I was still the winner of the open category as Ollie picked up the junior prize. So another podium finish for me to end the tri season. It would have been nice to have won it outright but I will settle for second.

Only 2 races left now, the Dalby Forest Mountain Bike Duathlon on Sunday 11th Oct, then I have a bit of leave before the Henlow 10 on the 21st Oct. I am looking forward to that if I manage to hold on to my form as I did a 59 min 10 mile run in training a week ago. If I keep up that sort of form I would hope to run a 57 at Henlow all being well.

Manx End to End Mountain bike enduro

2009-09-18T21:23:00.006+01:00

One of the hardest races this year! I was very fortunate enough to be lent a tasty top of the range Giant Anthem XO from my sponsor and friend Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ for the event. The only problem was not borrowing it sooner to get used to it. It was nice to be back in my homeland for the first time in 2 years. The Isle of Man is a beautiful place, just a bit too quiet. Anyway on to the important stuff, the race. I must admit I did underestimate how hard it was going to be. After doing Ironman events and other long course races the thought of a 47 mile ride seemed easy. I would soon find out that the off road thing is quite hard. The massive climb of Ballacob was the first wake up call, its so different to the road bike as the cadence is crazy, spinning away and not getting anywhere, sit down and the front lifts up, stand up and the back wheel spins. The other issue for me was lack of off road experience when picking lines, I had my foot down loads of times and also in ruts I would often pick one too deep and hit the pedals on the side. On the descents though I was as crazy if not more crazy than the experienced mtb riders and was hammering down them with no concern for crashes. By the half way point though I was already suffering from cramp. The inside of my thighs were killing me, I put it down to the wider cranks/chainset as I had never had pain in these muscles on a bike before. I only had to stop once, I had a minor crash in some deep mud, got up and carried on about 1/2 a mile up the track and when I went to put my glasses on realised they had fell off in the crash. The track was too narrow to ride back down so I had to leave the bike and run down, I found the glasses and ran back up to the bike. There was no way on earth I was leaving my oakleys behind!! I think it cost me about 5 or 6 minutes but cheaper than funding a new pair of glasses. By the end of the race my upper body was feeling a bit beaten up from all the bumping around and as I crossed the line I felt relieved it was over. I finished in 3hrs and 37 mins, in 52nd place from a starting field of 970 riders which was a gold standard finish, gold cut off time was 4hrs which should give you an idea how hard the think the course is. My sister was on form and finished in 4hrs 17 mins to take 3rd lady in her age group and my dad was awesome having only taken up mountain biking a year ago at the age of 59 finished in 5hrs 59mins. The race will be shown on sky sports at the end of October/early November if you want a chance to see the course, I may well have to do this race again but with a bit of practice.

Pics

My fast sister Nikki with family friend Chris, me at Ballacraine enjoying it because I was about to do a short stretch on the road! the one of my sis and me on the same bit of off road is Creg Ny Crock and the last 2 are looking tired coming up the Howe which is the climb to the finish. Still looking for a pic of my dad but I will find one!!

Vitruvian Triathlon

2009-09-08T10:45:00.002+01:00

Plan "A" Friday 4Th depart Bridlington 0730hrs to arrive at Liverpool 1000hrs to collect Beth off the ferry from the Isle of Man as she had been on holiday staying with my mum and dad. Return to Bridlington at approx 1330hrs, lunch, load up the car and set off for the Vitruvian to register at 1700hrs, meet up with Mat and then go to his house for dinner and sleep over. Race Saturday and drive home. Sounds good so far? Plan A goes tits up at 0950hrs when my dad rang to say the ferry had broke down half way across and was returning to the Isle of Man. The ferry company had decided to put everyone on a new boat when they got back and set off again. They finally got under way at approx 1130hrs but due to extreme weather didn't arrive in Liverpool until 1550hrs!! I then had the pleasure of driving Beth back to Bridlington during Friday rush hour traffic and didn't arrive back until 1930hrs. OK plan "B" no chance of getting to Mats until at least 2200hrs so plan "B" is have some dinner and go to bed at 2120hrs and try to sleep, get up at 0200hrs on Saturday and drive down for the race. Got a phone call from Mat asking how far down I was at 0430hrs and told him I was in a lay by about 20 miles from Rutland Water having breakfast. Arriving at Rutland at about 0500 I joined the long Que for the car park knowing I still had to go and register, set up transition and be out of transition for 0600 for the race brief. This was achieved with relative ease and I could finally relax and start thinking about the race.

The swim started and I tried to stay on the outside of the group and managed not to get knocked about too much, I exited lap 1 and ran round to start lap 2. I think I was on about 16 mins when I looked and lap 2 went well exiting the swim with a time of 31:39. Not too disappointed with that but would have liked to have been nearer the 30 min mark. I had a slow T1 as I put my socks on so I didn't have to mess about in T2. Out on the bike and I set off at a sensible pace and found we were straight into a head wind. Once over the "Rutland Ripple" with the change in direction it was a nice tail wind and 53 x 11 time. I passed a lot of people on this section of the course. I went through the first lap avoiding the drinks station as I had plenty of fuel on board and made up a couple more places in that area. On lap 2 the ripple had become a hill and I managed to make up more places on the climbs as people started to fade. I finished the bike in 2hrs 22 mins and 2 secs. The legs felt quite tired and I was not looking forward to the run, I set off from T2 and as soon as I dropped down the hill to the lake side I stopped to empty the bladder, this took over 30 seconds which I was pleased about as it meant I was well hydrated and could push on the run. I ran hard and was catching loads of people. I finished lap 1 and started lap 2 feeling really good. I pushed on across the dam and out to the turn point. On the way back I tried to pick up the pace and was going well to the 19.5 k mark. At this point the speed took a turn for the worse and I felt the small rise in terrain, I ran down the hill to the dam with good speed using gravity to the max and managed to recover a bit so the last little climb from the waters edge didn't present a problem and then its down hill to the finish picking up the pace as I approached the line. I ran a 1hr 27min 02 sec half marathon. My finishing time was 4hrs 23 mins and 32 seconds which was good enough for 25Th overall.

So my first ever Vitruvian done, I will now have another go at it with a target of sub 4hr 20 min next year. The drive home was a killer, I was sooooooo tired. I had to do a espresso coffee stop to wake up a bit. I got home at 1530hrs, sorted out the kit, had some dinner and was asleep on the sofa by 1930hrs. A tough day at the office but I really enjoyed the race.

Beverley Triathlon

2009-08-28T22:24:00.002+01:00

A great race from start to finish, that's the first time this season. I had a good swim, exiting the pool at the same time as Ed Charlton Weedy from the Army tri team. For those that don't know he is the Interservice Champion this year. We left T1 together and I got my feet into my bike shoes quicker and led out the first mile through the town. Once we hit the road Ed showed his true strength on the bike and passed me. I don't get passed very often on the bike in a triathlon so was surprised at how easy he seemed to pull away. I tried to go with him and held the gap at 1 min 10 secs. I knew if I stuck with him I would be leaving the rest of the field behind. I got back to T2 and was as slick as ever, I set off on the run knowing that I had worked hard on the bike and was destined for the podium unless something went badly wrong. I ran hard and could see Ed in front of me at the turn. I was closing in on him but couldn't get close enough. I finished just 50 seconds behind him. I had the 4th fastest swim of the day, the second fastest bike of the day and the fastest run of the day. My reward for the effort was £20 cash, a free entry into any of the freebird events next year, a trophy and a bottle of wine. I reckon I raced faster due to wearing my new Oakley Jawbones LOL!

Ultimate bling, oh yeah a race report too

2009-08-17T21:16:00.004+01:00

Blingy Bling Tastic, yes after a 4 1/2 week wait I finally received the ultimate bling item of the year - my Oakley Jawbones in Livestrong colours!!!! You know you want some!

Anyway on to the race, the Allerthorpe Classic standard distance tri. It was to be the first swim in my new Blueseventy Helix, maybe not the best plan to do my first swim in it on a race but it seemed to work out ok. I swam a 23:22 and 29th out of the water. I had a bit of a struggle in T1 as the new suit has different cuffs and I struggled to get out of them (a bit of lube on that area next time). I got on the bike and it was a flat course but very windy. I was going well but didn't feel anywhere near as fast as other races this year, not sure why but it just wasn't quite there. I made good progress and got back to T2 with a bike time of 1:01:19. Had a flyer in T2 with a sub 20 second transition, and off on the run. This is where I feel cheated. I know everyone had to do the same distance but I feel robbed due to the run being very long. I was running well and catching people as I went, I thought I had done a good run but found that I had only run a 40:23. Obviously the run was long as Phil Graves and Andy Fisher only ran 37 and a 1/2 for it. I finished with a 2:05:04 but had the run been accurate I reckon I would have beaten my p.b of 2:01:10. I finished 8th overall so a good result on a tough day due to the wind. I now move on as its back to doing a sprint on Sunday then a couple of weeks before the Vitruvian.

New Wetsuit

2009-08-12T18:23:00.002+01:00

I've parted with some cash and got a new wetsuit, the old one was only just hanging together after lots of repairs over the last 4 years. I now have a blueseventy helix from Simon at www.thetristore.com for a bargain price of just £299.99 delivered. I will give it a test on Sunday in the Allerthorpe Classic tri, no time to test it prior to the event so will have to race test it! Review will be on here after the race along with race report, stand by!

Interservice Race

2009-08-09T13:43:00.003+01:00

The interservice race took place on Wednesday 29th July in the stunning grounds of Sherborne Castle in Dorset. The forecast was for rain and lots of it, but on arrival the roads were dry. The swim start was really wide which meant it wasn't too much of a fight during the first 300 meters. I had lots of room and settled into a nice rhythm straight away. I exited the water in 23:17 which is a good swim for me. I had a good transition and then set off in pursuit of the fast swimmers knowing I would pass most of them on the fantastic long hilly bike course. I knew the course would be hard and the weather made it harder which played into my hands. I finished the 50k bike in 1:20:05 the 4th quickest bike of the day and the fastest RAF bike time by nearly 2 minutes. A faultless 2nd transition and I was away running and feeling good on the 10k run. I managed to put in a 35:17 run and a total time of 2:20:01. I had a good all round race with no real weakness on the day. I finished in 10th place and was the 3rd RAF finisher. A satisfying race for a change :-)
Next week I have another olympic in yorkshire, the week after is a sprint event and then just 2 weeks later its the Vitruvian.

I've swam across the river Humber

2009-07-19T20:49:00.004+01:00

Organised by the Barracuda tri club www.barracudatriclub.com

I had a great day today. Today was the day I got to swim across the river Humber. We met at 3pm for a safety brief and after being told how dangerous the swim could be we then went to the rivers edge to get on board the lifeboat that was taking us across the river. On arrival at the other side we got into the water in 2 groups based on pace. The first group (my group) set off with the other group setting off 30 seconds later. We had to try and stay together for safety reasons and so the safety boat could keep an eye on us. The first 2/3 of the swim the current was pushing us up stream. As we got to the middle of the river it got a little choppy, the current was still pushing us up stream. With about 800m to go the tide turned and before we knew it we were having to review our approach as we were being moved towards the sea by the strong current. We arrived on the shore after covering the 1.5 mile swim in 38 mins. A fantastic afternoon swim with amazing views of the Humber bridge.

Ironman

2009-07-16T22:20:00.002+01:00

Just looking at the rest 0f the RAF guys and was thinking of joining them in the Ironman Switzerland fun but have decided enough is enough, I am not paying 420 Euro's and that's that. No way on this earth will I pay that ransom to the Ironman franchise!

A couple of races with decent results at last

2009-07-15T20:32:00.002+01:00

Last week was the RAF Sprint Championships at RAF Cranwell. For me it meant finishing a night shift, driving for 2 1/2 hours to Cranwell, racing and then driving home for a shower, shave, and then driving back to work for another night shift. A bit of a tiring day!
So the race, I found out I was in wave 22 of 23 waves along with Mat, Brad and JC. Its the first triathlon that JC has been at with me since our trek down to Ironman France. I had a terrible swim, including T1 (which was slick) I was 7:19 which I'm not happy about. This left me a large gap to close on the bike which fortunately I managed to do. I thought it was Mat I was catching on the bike but couldn't be sure until I got close enough to recognise the M dot tattoo on his calf. I thought it best to make sure I passed him as fast as I could and to look smooth as well (its all about mind games) so he would think he couldn't catch me and pass me back. At the same time the same plan was being used on JC as well. I got to the turn and seen I had a gap on them so pushed hard back too. I arrived back at T2 surprised that I hadn't caught Brad. I had another good transition and set off on the run to get Brad. It took a while and when I passed him I had about 1500m to go so worked at a comfortable rate all the way back. The result was 4th overall which was a good result for me especially after doing the night shift.

This weekend was the Ripon Triathlon (Black Sheep) run by the NYP Tri club. I had a faff getting there and only just made it on time to register. After setting up I went through my kit to double check everything. The race was split into three waves based on your swim time, the fastest swimmers were in wave 1, then wave 2 and 3 all 5 mins apart. I was in wave 1 and when we started I struggled through the weeds, when I got into clearer water I settled into a good pace but got caught up in weeds again at the top of the course. I exited the swim on 24:54 which I wasn't impressed with. Leaving T1 I heard the race commentator through the loud speaker, I was in 106th place. I worked hard on the bike passing lots of people but inevitably there were people trying to draft off my wheel. I told them where to get off but they still tried it on. I made great progress through the field and on hitting T2 I heard the loud speakers say I was in 16th (that means I passed 90 people on the bike!!!). I did a 1:07:01 for the 44km rolling bike course. I tried to run hard but couldn't lift my pace although I wasn't going slow! I made up a couple of places and finished 11th overall. I ran a 41:15 for the 10k (I know it was long so not worried) as the winner only did a 37:43 and he normally runs a 32 min 10k. Pleased with the finish but disappointed with my swimming at the moment. I am looking forward to the Inter-Service race as the bike is 50k which will make up for my poor swimming!

Off to swim across the river Humber on Sunday afternoon, it should be a good experience swimming near to the Humber bridge, it will provide a quite unique view of the bridge.

Finally got a couple of things lined up this month

2009-07-02T12:51:00.003+01:00

I've now got a couple of things to do this month to keep me going. Next week I am going to attempt to get to Cranwell for the sprint champs, this is provisional as I am on nights the night before and will have to drive down straight off the night shift, do the race and drive straight back to do another night shift. A couple of days later I have the Black Sheep triathlon at Ripon race course. The week after that I am taking part in a swim across the river Humber. This is not a race its a group swim as we will be escorted across the river by the life boat due to the health and safety issues with the swim as the river is very busy and has an extremely strong current. I can't wait to do this as its a very rare opportunity. A week later I have a 100 mile sportive ride that I did last year and a few days later its the Inter-services at Sherbourne. All in a busy few weeks. Can't wait for the weekend for the tour to start as well :-)

Oh dear a month with no posts, sorry.

2009-06-25T09:20:00.004+01:00

Wow it really has been a full month with no posts? I don't really know why but I've just lost my way lately and not been focused on much to do with triathlon or anything else for that matter. After Driffield I did train for a couple of weeks, and then went on holiday to Lanzarote with Anthea to celebrate her birthday so I was under strict instructions that the bikes were to stay at home!! I was very happy to see that our hotel http://www.princesayaiza.com/ had a very large pool (my guess is 35 meters) so that was great for training, I did swim training 4 times during the holiday. I also found a great run which involved a climb to the top of a volcano which had a track around the top, this was approximately a 10k run but with lots of climbing as you can see in the pics taken from the top. We hired a bike on 1 of the days we were there and Anthea and I did an 80km ride taking in some of the Ironman route. Anthea had a Giant TCR and I had a Trek. By the last day of the holiday I was starting to get stomach cramps and the day we flew home I felt quite ill. This was the start of another 10 day period of Colitis problems. I have worked out that I have probably been ill in total for at least 5 of the last 12 months. This has been the main contributing factor to my lack of drive and motivation of late. The other contributing factors have been that I got totally screwed over by the promotion board (again) due to the wan**r techies getting all the slots thanks to the ridiculous joint trade I now work in. Also the next race on my calender got cancelled which didn't help, and the following event I was planning to do (The Cleveland Steelman) I can't race as the organisers are ****** (you fill in the blanks). I emailed them over 3 weeks ago to ask if I could have someone Else's slot as he wouldn't be going. I had no reply so I emailed again this week and they replied this time saying you can't have someone Else's slot and the event is now full! great!! So whats next, well unless I get some races sorted out its the Vitruvian in September?

I do have some positives from the last 10 days, I ran 10.1 miles from Fylingdales to Whitby over the very hilly roads on the Yorkshire moors in a charity event for Help for Heroes and clocked 58 minutes. I also ran a 9.8k training run at home in 34:14. I have done a couple of club time trials on the bike too and seem to be going well in those.

The photos are me in the pool on holiday, a view from the top of the volcano I was running up, the trainers now pink due to the dust from the run up the volcano, me at the top and the bike I hired for the day.

Driffield Sprint Tri

2009-05-22T14:33:00.003+01:00

Having completed the London Marathon I started running on the Wednesday (3 days after the race) and the thighs were still tight but moving OK so I ran on the Thursday as well. I felt OK and just did 4 miles. On Friday I woke with severe pain in my right foot. I walked the dog and had to keep stopping to take the weight off the foot. It was very painful and very worrying. I got to the Tuesday and it was still giving me lots of problems so I went up to the hospital to get it checked out. I was told it was a damaged tendon. I rested it for a week and then it seemed better. I did a couple of 3 mile runs and it was holding up so tried 10k which went well for 5 miles but the last mile it was sore. I rested it a couple more days and tried again and it seemed OK. This took me up to the Driffield triathlon with little running since the marathon. I arrived at Driffield in a confident mood as I was sure I could swim sub 6 mins for the 400m and I was biking well in the cycle clubs TT's but was unsure how the run would go. I started in wave 10 of 12 as last year I had to slow down a couple of times to let faster swimmers past and didn't want to do that again so put a slower swim time on the registration form. This turned out to be a mistake as I was first out of the water in my wave. I didn't check my time but i'm sure it was sub 6 as including the quite long run to T1 I was 6:27. I had a great transition but new the bike was going to be hard as I had no one to chase being first out the water. The roundabout was the only place I had competition as I had to stop for traffic and a rider behind managed to get past as I set off again. No problem as we then started the climb and I soon passed him and left him behind. As we got back to the roundabout on the return leg I had chance to see how far behind others were but couldn't see anyone behind. I got back to T2 and had another fast one. I set off on the run and felt strong but knew I wasn't as fast as I should be. I think looking at the times the run was long as all of the top 5 ran 19:50 and over. I finished in 5th overall and 3rd in my age group. The 4 who beat me were in the last wave of the day. Maybe if I was in that wave I could have caught them and finished higher, but then maybe not? I will never know. I'm pleased with the result as I havn't really done the short fast stuff after preparing for an early season Ironman and then the London Marathon. Next event is the Allerthorpe sprint, this is open water so a mass start and a chance to chase the leaders knowing that anyone in front has to be caught!

I love the smell of rapeseed in the morning!

2009-05-01T19:24:00.003+01:00

I managed my first long ride since IM SA this morning. It was warm but overcast and quite windy but a great day for cycling. I did a rolling route with quite a few hills in it. I cycled for 3 hours and loved it, a great soundtrack was playing with a selection of tunes on the ipod. I love this time of year because every few miles you get the lovely smell of rapeseed growing in the fields and the view is always great with the bright yellow fields. Pictured is the fantastic TCR Advanced supplied by Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/