Sundowner Middle Distance Triathlon

We are somewhere near York at Allerthorpe for the Sundowner Middle Distance Tri, an event that is in only its second year. The race starts at midday for those planning on taking over six hours and at 1pm for those planning on being a little bit quicker. After recording 5:52 at the Outlaw Half I recklessly place myself in the latter group. The aim is for everyone to be finished by the time the sun goes down. The only problem is somebody forgot to book the sun.

This leisurely lunch time start is pretty unique in the world of sport and makes for a relaxed morning unless your other half has opted to enter the Sprint distance which kicks off at 9.30am.

So first a spot of supporting. L has to do one and half laps of Allerthorpe Lake, which is so shallow in places that when they start some folk walk or run the first section before diving into the water. This is followed by a 20k bike and then a 5k run, all of which takes part in steady miserable rain.

The rain has stopped by my start time although the black clouds overhead are clearly promising that this is only a temporary lull. My own swim involves four laps of the lake and as I’m hopeless at counting lengths in the pool this could pose a bit of a problem. My swim watch, I’m guessing, will be unable to help me here by counting the laps without a definite side touch to set it off.

Already unsettled I mess up lap one by going off way too quickly but somehow I manage to stave off an impressive attempt to drown. After a bit of breast stroking, a touch of embarrassing backstroking and even a spot of walking in the shallow bit I pull myself together but I still emerge from the water in 43:18, five minutes down on my Outlaw time. Maybe I did an extra lap.

The rain that had serenaded L’s event is now back as I set out on the first of two laps of the 45k bike course. Lap one is completed in a satisfying 1:26 and I’m sure I can go faster and break 2:50 but the weather has other ideas. Pretty soon it’s hammering it down and the roads are awash. I finish the bike in 2:55. Still not bad though, ten minutes up on the Outlaw and without the aid of L’s fruit and brandy cake. It was probably more due to the lack of a loo stop and an absence of any attempt to break my thumb this time.

I did almost have a mishap at the end of the first lap when they handed me a drinks bottle with a screw top. How the hell are you supposed to remove that whilst cycling? Eventually I manage to chew it off with my teeth and without crashing.

Then it’s the three lap run, each one involves a loop around the lake before heading out onto the public roads for an out and back section. It is only along a minor B-road but it’s possibly the narrowest and most congested minor road you’ll ever see. Every lap sees everyone dodging their way through a never ending stream of land rovers and tractors. It’s almost as if it’s some deliberate protest against the race.

It’s not helped that the puddles either side of the road are making the strip of tarmac we are running along narrower and narrower. Conditions on the run are no better than on the bike. Bouts of persistent rain are interspersed with more torrential wind assisted offerings.

They had warned us that anyone starting the final lap of the run after 7:00pm would need to carry a head torch and a red rear light. I’m hoping to beat that deadline unless my calves explode.

They don’t and I run every scrap of the distance recording a 1:57 half marathon, which I feel was a triumph for my pacing which I got spot on. Then as I cross the line, the rain stops. Typical.

I did try and up the pace on the final lap to see if I could push myself under 5:40 or even 5:30 but the calves refused to co-operate. My time though was just over 5:40. 12 minutes up on the Outlaw Half. Get in there.

Despite the weather, an excellent event.

Cycle 4 Life

Today I do the Cycle 4 Life Bike Ride from Nottingham University, this is in aid of Children's Brain Tumour Research. There’s a reasonable entry and we are released in blocks of twenty from 9.30 onwards. The roads are very busy by then, clearly the garden centres are already open and it’s a bit of a trawl before we break out of the city boundaries.

The first excitement arrives when they take us through Shipley Park because either their signage is poor or someone has nicked all the signs. Everyone gets lost and there are huge groups of cyclists riding round in circles looking for the way out of the park.

Eventually we follow a group of people carrying their bikes up a bank and see a bit of yellow sign just visible through some bushes. Sorted.

After the feed station at Belper, where there are some nice snack biscuits, we’re onto quieter country roads and some fairly serious hills.

After missing one right turn and back tracking, the signage really isn’t great, I miss another one after the second feed station at Stanley where they have done us sandwiches for lunch. I’m in Kirk Hallam before I realise I’ve missed it and by now I’m on autopilot, on one of my regular routes home. So I keep going and rejoin the route further down in Wollaton Vale. That hacked about two miles off the route I reckon.

I complete the 50 miles in 3:13.

Islay Half Marathon

On the Saturday of our holiday I plod around the Islay Half Marathon which is hosted by the island’s capital Bowmore, home of the famous whisky, but the race is sponsored by Ardbeg, one of the rival distilleries on the island of which there are eight.

The race was tough on a fairly hilly course and it rained throughout. There are some pretty serious straights on the course and I swear that as you come up to one mile marker you can actually see the next in the distance. Perhaps, if your eyesight was better than mine, you’d be able to see the next one too.

I finish in a very pedestrian 1:54 and gagging for a post race pint. Unfortunately Belhaven Best on keg is the best they could offer. I did swear I would not have another one but I do and again it is awful. Much better at the race presentation is the free whiskey from Ardbeg. They give out loads of prizes including gallon bottles to the winners. Clearly they are keen to upstage the local Bowmore distillery but it’s all too late for us. We’re already sold on Bunnahabhain after an excellent sales pitch by their rep on the ferry over, as in free samples. 

 

Notts 5

A bit of light relief to start off two weeks of holiday comes in the shape of the Notts 5 Mile race on the Victoria Embankment.

My injured knee flares up during my warm-up but that seems to get the pain out of the way for the race which goes ok, at least on that front. My pace however does feel rather slow and laborious but looking at my times after the event, I was up on last year’s time all the way to mile 4. Then I slowed over the last mile and hobbled home about 40 seconds down on last year.Not bad I suppose, on no training.

Notfast 10k

We have been attempting to do the Notfast 10k near Newark for a number of years but one of my vital dog qualifiers always clashed. This year there was no clash, so here we are at Newark Rugby Club. We have left the boys at home as it’s hot.

The race can best be described as no frills. It’s cheap and cheerful but not the most exciting of courses with a section down a busy main road. It’s well marshalled though with distance markers, three water stations and sponges. I do love a good sponge. There is just one hill at just over halfway but not a particularly bad one.

The run goes alright, although I’m slow as I suffer first with my dodgy knee then with my dodgy fitness. I come in in just under 49 minutes, shoot me now. L comes in 62 something, for which she’ll be doing cartwheels.

Great Nottinghamshire Bike Ride

Today it’s the Great Nottinghamshire Bike Ride and I pedal off at just after 6:30am to head for the start of my 100 miler. L will follow on the 50 a little later.

I queue up at the start on the Victoria Embankment and I’m away at 7:35 in glorious sunshine. So different to the wet conditions of last year. It’s a popular ride and it’s no problem finding a large group to tag along with. This enables me to bomb along and bypass the first three feed stations, which are mainly for the shorter routes anyway. I finally stop at Car Colston after 41 miles purely because I have run out of fluid although most of the group I’m with carry on. They’re hardy souls or perhaps it’s because they’re carrying two drinks bottles each to my one. They probably won’t stop until the first of the free feed stations at Norwell after 62 miles. All the feeds on the shorter rides charge but as I found out Hi-Five energy drink and gels are free even here. It’s took me only 2:06 to get here, so I’m flying.

The organisers should be commended for taking notice of people's opinions last year. Well I assume it was everyone’s opinions and not just mine. As well as the free Hi-Five and the two free feeds on the 100, as we head out on the extra loop of the 100 we find mile markers out on the full course as well as on the 50. They are nowhere near accurate, some are over two miles out, but at least they’re there.

With my group having headed off to Norwell without me, I get down on the aerobars and time trial my way there. When I arrive having taken 3:18 to do 62 miles, well up even on my Outlaw Half pace, it is to find the most awesome cake selection. I text L to tell her but she just reckons I’m trying to tempt her over to the deep dark side of 100 mile cycling. Well I reckon this lot is well worth the 15 or so mile detour off her route, particularly with the cups of tea thrown in.

I make the last stop at Wellow at 75 miles in 4:03, traditionally the best but now, after Cake City Norwell, it’s a bit of an anticlimax. I still grab a sandwich, another tea and a slice of cake.

I set off on the last bit. It’s all downhill from her apparently but they always say that and they’re always lying. Problem is I’m now so full of cake I can hardly pedal.

L texts to say she’s finished the 50 and has set a PB by 51 minutes and says ‘Bring it on’. Blimey, she cheerful.

As I get to the end, I find that somehow the organisers have also solved the problem that is Adbolton Lane. They’ve filled the potholes in, not with tarmac but with grit yet it’s still a vast improvement.

I complete the 103 miles (?) in 5:41, that’s my first time under 6 hours having pretty much raced the whole distance. Very pleased with that.

The 100 mile ride has again proved to be pretty fantastic. The only improvements you could possibly now make are to introduce chip timing and bike numbers rather than body numbers. Only about half the 100 field wore their numbers on the front, as this is so impractical and it must drive the photographers’ nuts.

Nottingham already has the best triathlons in the country (Outlaw/Outlaw Half), now I think we have the best Sportive. I wonder if the organisers could sort the Half Marathon out for us to complete the set.

Outlaw Half

The day finally dawns, that is if 4am is dawn? I pile all my kit into the car and get my WAG to tattoo me. It seems a bit of a waste to me, as I’ll be putting a wetsuit over the top of them unless they’re just for bragging purposes in the pub afterwards.

As L applies the number 622, not quite the number of the beast, to my arms and legs she reassures me that it’s only in case I drown. She’s just jealous; she only ever had numbers in felt tip pen.

By 5am we are on our way, taking the short drive to the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, recently rebranded Holme Pierrepont Country Park. They have segways now you know.

Twelve months of planning and six months of training has lead to today. Six months of injury disrupted training that is. The swim training had gone as well as it could have done for a reluctant swimmer like me and I am now capable of swimming 80 lengths of a 25m pool in one go, without stopping and without drowning. That’s some achievement.

The bike training has also been fine. 100 mile sportives have never scared me, so a 56 mile ride was always going to be a doddle and is sure to be my highlight. It has been my preferred discipline, the run, which had failed me. I had hoped to be popping out regular half marathons by now, as I was in my youth (a year ago) but knee, thigh and calf niggles has really kept my training down, so the run will be tough.

I rack my bike in the transition area and lay out the rest of my kit in readiness. Then just as I get head off for a last minute loo break, my Dad turns up nice and early. He’s got a surprise coming. L has had t-shirts made for the two of them, professing their support for me. I feel honoured.

Today I manage to put my wetsuit on the right way round, unlike at Peterborough. So that's a good omen and also because taking it off again might have taken those fetching tattoos off with it. Then I’m in the water realising, as predicted, what a long way it seems to the orange buoys marking the turnaround point.

With the first wave already gone, it’s only minutes now until us number two waves are off. We were then instructed to wave to the crowd on all three sides. I nearly drowned doing that and afterwards the race in comparison seemed a bit of a breeze. The water proved to be much warmer than at Peterborough and I managed to get my front crawl going straight from the off without any need for any bouts of doggie paddle.

It was mad though. There were 300 of us in each wave, which meant bodies everywhere. I was so hemmed in by swimmers to my left, right, back and front, that I simply had to hold position where I was. Which I think helped my pacing no end. Before I knew it I was banging my head on the orange turnaround buoy and heading for home.

Then, sooner than I expected, I exited the water and realised that the swim had gone surprisingly well. I had taken just 39 minutes. Wow. My best swim by some distance.

A slow four minute transition followed as I donned long sleeves, gloves, socks, shoes, helmet etc before heading out for a lap around the lake on the bike before reaching the open road.

There was already a worrying steam of expensive carbon flying past me. Worrying for two reasons really. Firstly if it continued I’d end up last and secondly... had I really swam faster than all these people?

The bike section was really well organised. Many side roads and junctions were totally closed off, red lights were switched off and where there was traffic it was held back my men in yellow jackets with stop/go boards. You really never had to touch your brakes.

I did have three problems though. One. The no drafting rule, which was completely impossible to obey when you have 1100 bikes travelling practically nose to tail. Two. My bike computer which was being incredibly annoying clanging away against the frame of my bike again but I wasn’t going to stop to fix it. Note to myself, get something better. Three. I was bursting for the loo.

That one got solved at the first feed station after 21 miles. They really had thought of everything at the Outlaw Half and had even provided a girlie to hold your bike for you whilst you went for a pee. With that issue resolved, I settled down onto my aero bars and went for it.

My nutrition plan worked, I think. I ate every ten miles. Taking on one caffeine gel, one normal gel and a chunk of L’s notorious fruit cake. It’s a bit heavy on the alcohol but it seemed to keep me going.

The route’s only real hill came at Oxton and this was the only time I changed down off the big ring. It was also at this point that the lead women caught me, one of them singing ‘If you're happy and you know it clap your hands’ as she went past. No. I don’t think so.

At 38 miles came the second feed station and my first experience of the bottle drop on the move, as I loo stopped at the first one. You lob your old bottle on the grass and then grab a new one off a helper. Doddle. That is unless you are still the bottle into your bottle cage when someone else offers you some gels... You hurriedly attempt to grab the gels but drop them and bend your thumb back against your own handlebars in the process whilst almost going over the front of the bike. Like I did. After an impressive recovery I carry on but I'm no longer able to put any weight on that hand.

I had planned to complete the bike section in about 3:30 but did it in 3:05. Wow again. So I was at least half an hour up on schedule and I also felt pretty good as I changed into my running shoes and headed out onto the run course.

I got named checked by the announcer as I went through transition. Then got named checked again as I turned around and went back in, for my hat. The temperature was rising quickly.

The run was a two lap route around the lake and along the river path to Lady Bay Bridge. The original plan was for a two hour half marathon which would bring me home in under 6:30. I had now worked out that I was so far ahead of schedule that I could now run a 2:10 half and break bot 6:30 but 6:00. Easy.

After the first lap I was even further up but the legs were fading fast. I knew I had time in hand, so I could walk a bit, which I did after each feed station which were roughly every mile. At each one I would grab two cups of water, one each for the head and for the stomach. Occasionally I’d have a little High 5 as well or maybe a gel but I didn’t have many, I had eaten loads on the bike and felt a bit over stuffed.

Then I rounded the final corner of the lake and headed for the finish, stopping briefly to snog my WAG and the boys on the way. Entering the finish, I high fived several people I’d never met before, finally crossing the line arms aloft in five hours and 52 minutes. Gimme that medal and the T-shirt.

The only blip in the whole excellent organisation was that they had ran out of water at the end, I had to have coke instead and another AF beer, which they were handing out again. You then rather cruelly have to negotiate a flight of stairs before you are offered food. Which I couldn’t face anyway, although I did go back for some later. I needed to lie down and found a patch of grass somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. Everyone checked if I was ok but no one moved me.

After a while I went out of the finish compound to find L, the boys and some shade. The only patch of which they had inconveniently placed at the top of some banking, which I then had to practically crawl up.

I recovered eventually, we even found my father, watched a few others come in before heading home for a well deserved hot bath and to thank my WAG personally. The tattoos seem permanent by the way; at least they don’t come off in the bath.